Don’t Forget

So…what’s the first thing you thought of when you saw the title of this blog? What did you remember? Ha! Or have you forgotten? 🙂 Ok, a little wacky, I know.

If you’re like me, you might have trouble remembering what you had for breakfast yesterday (or maybe even this morning?), or what your spouses’ favorite food is (really?!?), or what time you needed to pull something out of the oven.  

But this blog isn’t about the myriad of things we might forget. This blog is aimed at people who are unemployed or unfulfilled, and there is a long list of things you should not forget.  

Let’s start with being unemployed. Don’t forget some facts, like:

• What dates were you employed at the last place you worked? (Top of mind? Tip of your tongue?)
• What do the acronyms stand for in your resume? (I interviewed a candidate who couldn’t remember)
• What are some of the metrics for your success? Numbers, data, stats? (Many resumes don’t have these)
• Does the place where you’re interviewing dress casually or formally? (Flip a quarter?)
• What is the salary range you’re targeting? (Uh, I just want more than I was making?)

Continuing, don’t forget to be able to tell me something about yourself, like:

• What do you recall about this job description that fits you best?
• Why are you the best candidate for this job?
• Tell me why I should hire you?
• Tell me about an accomplishment you’re especially pleased to have achieved.
• Tell me about a problem you solved and walk me through the steps you used to solve it.

Whew, you made it through those? That’s actually just the tip of the iceberg, but the list hopefully triggered some thinking and perhaps some need for preparation. Not just mentally preparing, but actually saying the answers out loud to see if they come out of your head the way they sounded in your head! 🙂

Let’s now turn to what we should not forget if we feel unfulfilled. You might think this is a bit more nuanced, and you’d be correct, but there are still some concrete areas to wrestle to the ground for answers. Questions like:

• What strengths and skills do you possess? (Not a trick question – many people struggle with this)
• What type of supervision do you appreciate? Micro management or hands off (two ends of the spectrum)
• What did you like best about your best boss? (Might be a big thing or a little thing, but still a thing!)
• What were some crucible times in your career? (Times where you had to make decisions about your work)
• What are some easy questions you can answer about yourself? (Check out our blog exercise entitled, “Career Preference: Is it This or That?” for some support HERE)

And then there are the broader, perhaps even more esoteric questions that nudge some deeper thinking, like:

• What are your core values?
• What makes you mad, sad, and glad?
• What was your best job and why?  
• What was your worst job and why?
• Who are you…really? What is your identity based on? Money? Status? Relationships? Beliefs?

Ok, now if you’re through those 20 questions and don’t want to face any more, then you’re probably like most people. Yet, I would submit that we’re just getting started. The list of things we should not forget gets highlighted brightly when we’re at a crossroads in our career.  

But like we do in each of our blogs, we will take a look at Scripture and see what God has to say about some of these questions. No, He doesn’t have much to say about acronyms, resume prep, or practicing interviews, but He does have quite a bit to say about what we should not forget:

Psalms 103:2-8 gives us some good reminders: 

“Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me.

He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.

He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

He revealed His character to Moses and His deeds to the people of Israel.

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.”

But wait, there’s more! Don’t forget…

• He created you to be a masterpiece in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10)
• He will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8)
• He will supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19)
• He promises peace to all who trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3)
• He will forgive us and give us salvation (John 3:16)

Similar to the list of items you could forget when you’re unemployed or unfulfilled, the list is long of things that are easily forgotten when we get caught up in our situation and circumstances. To step back and remember God’s promises are worthy of recall and reflection. To have our lives encouraged and filled with hope because of who He is, not what we’ve done! Wow!!

My prayer for you today is “Don’t Forget” because HE will NEVER forget you! Blessings!

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Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.