{"id":275,"date":"2020-05-16T16:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.camcobra.com\/home\/?p=275"},"modified":"2025-06-01T03:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T03:13:07","slug":"stop-looking-at-me-on-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/2020\/05\/stop-looking-at-me-on-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop looking at me… on paper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published November 21, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years I\u2019ve been blessed to land jobs along my career track, whether or not I seemed qualified on paper. Every time I change jobs, though, the journey to land the next one has been riddled with struggles to help prospective employers see past what one outright called \u201cyour lack of degree\u201d, as if it were a disease or other contagious condition that could spread if allowed in an organization. A savvy recruiter, upon meeting with me, once told me, \u201cI have to get you in front of clients because on paper, you\u2019re a hard sell. If employers meet you, they\u2019ll want to hire you.\u201d There are traits and characteristics that are hard to express in a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 or cover letter, and his desire to get me to the interview stage reflected that we both want(ed) the same thing: for employers to stop looking at the paper version of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little twist of irony is that I\u2019m writing this just after submitting all my assignments for my first week of studies with University of the People, where I\u2019m enrolled in the Bachelor in Business Administration program. And though it\u2019s early in my four- to five-year journey toward that goal, I\u2019m already preparing myself for making a decision about pursuing my MBA. With 20+ years of work experience and high achievement in the nonprofit accounting arena, I\u2019m reaching deeper within myself than ever for the strength, resolution and faith that I\u2019m on the right track at all by pursuing a degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony is that I still want prospective employers to recognize the value of my background and experience and to consider it in lieu of a degree\u2026 while I\u2019m pursuing the degree. I\u2019m hoping against hope that some hiring managers will get me into the office for an interview so they can know me, not the \u201cme\u201d on paper that screams, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t meet your job description\u2019s academic requirement\u201d\u2026 while working toward the piece of paper they so desperately want to see. By looking for work that potentially makes the most of all I have to offer, I\u2019m acting in faith that some employer will behave as my previous employer did in hiring me over degree-carrying candidates because she sensed in me what those others couldn\u2019t evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not to say I know everything. Surely, I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t pretend to either. What my r\u00e9sum\u00e9 tells prospective employers is that after high school, I didn\u2019t go on to complete a college degree. In some ways, it tells them that I didn\u2019t stop learning, though. Between on-the-job training, independent and self studies, and certifications, it should be evident that I believe in introspection and personal and professional growth. Whether or not that message is clear is subjective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the struggles associated with convincing people on paper that I\u2019m worth an interview and possibly even the job in question, I\u2019ve come to recognize that the piece of paper over which employers have their britches in a bunch could be a worthwhile endeavor for someone like me, committed to growth and development, eager for opportunities to gain and demonstrate new knowledge. I\u2019ve enrolled in school primarily to add a slice of formality to my information-absorbent nature. The intended degree is a mere byproduct for me. In the world where my r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and cover letters get lost in a sea of job descriptions whose only requirement I don\u2019t meet or exceed is the academic one, the degree is the thing, and whether or not I\u2019ve learned anything in the process of getting it is the byproduct. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want employers to stop looking at and judging me on paper. Still, I\u2019m willing to meet them where they are and pursue a degree \u2013 and maybe a higher one still \u2013 over the next few years. Whether it makes any difference in my employment outlook in future is irrelevant to me because this new journey pays off for me one way or another. In the end, though, I look forward to giving prospective employers a piece of paper worth judging. Maybe then they\u2019ll stop looking at me on paper and bring me into their offices to discuss me instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published November 21, 2018 For years I\u2019ve been blessed to land jobs along my career track, whether or not I seemed qualified on paper. Every time I change jobs, though, the journey to land the next one has been riddled with struggles to help prospective employers see past what one outright called \u201cyour lack… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,25,41,42,11,34,13,24,26,15,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accounting","category-aspiration","category-branding","category-careers","category-education","category-employment","category-goal-setting","category-inspiration","category-motivation","category-reclaimed","category-self-improvement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1017,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/1017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcobra.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}