What's In Your Go-Bag?
- Christine Lusk
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
It's Guest Blog Time!
In 2008, I worked at a luxury hotel managing remarkable events to dazzle our guests. The passion of the event's host(s), the professionalism of our banquet team, and the attention to detail made these events memorable. I enjoyed my work for many reasons — the people, the tangible nature, and the chance to meet some pretty amazing people along the way. I'll never forget giving a nod of quiet acknowledgment to Alicia Keys as she strolled through a cocktail reception of one of my weddings. No one else even noticed her slip through the crowd and we were accustomed to seeing many celebrities in our spaces.
So when it was time to leave all of this behind and start over I really struggled. I had found my place, my people, my life. When I asked to chat with my boss to tell her the news of my pending move, she thought I was going to say I was leaving for a new job and was ready to counter offer with a raise. On top of everything, I felt appreciated by my leadership.
We don't always find these spaces and places where we enjoy the work, the people, and feel appreciated — it is a career trifecta. As so many people are facing these career and life transitions, we turned to expert, Marcelle Yeager about the concept of a career go-bag. And she happened to be working on it already because of course she was!
Guest Blog by Marcelle Yeager
Overseas, we’re told to have a go bag in case of emergency. If you live somewhere prone to earthquakes, fires, or floods, you may have an emergency stash or a bag with supplies. Have you thought about this for your job or career?
We are often faced with challenging circumstances and high amounts of stress at work, yet we don’t prepare for a potentially life changing event surrounding our career. Here are three things you can do to make sure you’re ready.
Track Your Successes
Recording your successes monthly is game changing. You can create a document, spreadsheet, Note, or use a journal. Set aside 30 minutes on your calendar the last day of each month or first day of the following month. Think back on what you did and ask yourself the following questions.
What projects did I work on?
What events or training did I attend?
Did I write or present anything internally or externally?
Did I receive any compliments from clients or my colleagues?
Maintaining this information and updating it regularly will allow you to update your resume, LinkedIn profile, write cover letters, performance appraisals, and apply to professional programs. Having it all in one place saves you time and headaches.
PRO-TIP: Recording your successes regularly and in one spot will save you when it is time to update your resume.
Keep Your Resume and LinkedIn in Shape
This is easy to do if you’ve been tracking your successes monthly. Set a time on your calendar to pull all the important information from your success tracker into your resume. If you don’t want to do this monthly, you could schedule it quarterly. If you don’t have a result or direct impact for a task you’ve done, think about the purpose or end goal because that will help you strengthen your narrative. While AI is a great tool for brainstorming, be careful of using it to draft your materials. A study by resume.io found that 49% of hiring managers rejected AI-built resumes. However, AI is useful for distilling job descriptions and identifying the types of skills and examples to feature in your resume and LinkedIn profile.
PRO-TIP: While AI is a great tool for brainstorming, be careful of using it to draft your materials.
Talk to People
The more people you talk to, the more opportunities you’ll have. I’m not talking about engaging with people only at professional events – you should talk to EFMs, embassy staff, neighbors, alumni from your school, and parents at school. Reach out to people who you think could be key decision makers at organizations of interest or people who have jobs in which you’re interested. Your goal is to learn and build your network. Referrals are essential these days, and they don’t need to be by your best friend or a former colleague.
PRO-TIP: Reach out to people who you think could be key decision makers at organizations of interest.
If you’re unsure about the path you want to take, this is also an excellent strategy because you can learn directly from those who work in a particular field. Getting to know people can get you in the door for interviews and help you learn of future job opportunities without all the searching! How’s that for a go bag item?
Marcelle's Bio
Marcelle Yeager is an award-winning entrepreneur and expert in helping professionals take the next step in their career. Her work has been published in the U.S. News and World Report On Careers blog and ClearanceJobs, and has been featured on the podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz. She has also been published in Forbes, MONEY Magazine, Business Insider, The Ladders, Monster, and FlexJobs.
Marcelle launched Career Valet in 2012 and co-founded and ran ServingTalent, a boutique recruiting firm for military and government spouses posted overseas from 2015-2019. She is an advocate for Foreign Service spouses in Congress, and her initiatives led to the introduction of the Foreign Service Families Act in May 2019 by Senator Van Hollen (D-MD) and Senator Sullivan (R-AK).
Prior to starting Career Valet, Marcelle spent 10 years in strategic communications in Washington, D.C., and overseas. She has an MBA from the University of Maryland and a BA from Georgetown University. She’s lived and worked in Chile, Hungary, Lithuania, Panamá, Russia, and Uzbekistan.