I have been following some friends on Facebook with their Alphabet Gratitude challenge. I think it is a great idea, but I was thinking for me a Facebook status update would be a bit limiting for me to express how I felt about each word and what it means to me.

Today is day one, which would make it letter A for Ability.

Being out of a job last year at this time was very traumatic for me. I had been told many many times that the resume I had was great. It was, if I was looking for a travel agent job. I wasn’t sure if I was looking for that or not, which was also traumatic to try to figure out after 25 years what would work look like outside of travel.

After attending a workshop at The Employment Hub on resume writing and determining I needed a skills and ABILITY based resume it was time to get to work. As I started to completely change the focus of my resume I had to dig down and search for all my abilities that made me the person and professional I am today. It was hard at first, but the more I added to it the easier it became.

Once I had this new ability and skills based resume ready and complete it was time to start sending it out. That was also hard and at times discouraging. If you have had to job search in the ever changing job world you will understand the pain of job searching. Every job posting is an employers dream list candidate. It is so imitating. You start to question your ABILITIES, which is hard since you know how capable you are to do any and all of the jobs you are applying for, but just need a chance.

I applied for a lot of jobs before I was hired for the job I have now. When I say a lot, I do mean a lot, over 50 to be accurate. Each and every resume I sent out showcased my abilities to show that I could do the roll I was applying for. My abilities were not what these potential employers were looking for. It didn’t mean I wasn’t able to do the job, I just didn’t have enough of their ability wish list.

I am grateful for the abilities that I do have and that I make an effort every day to showcase the best of my ability.

Letter A – Ability.