Unwilling to Impress Bots

 I am not very good at promoting myself. Not an attention-seeker in general, I find it challenging to “sell” my skills and abilities to others. It’s not about lack of confidence (although, honestly, sometimes that is a factor), it’s more that I have no desire to charm or woo people into giving me a chance.

I’ve been looking for a 2nd job, and a lot of that is coming up with the best language to display my skills and experience. As with past job searches, I get more responses from actual humans as opposed to the bots that screen for key words. I don’t do buzzwords well. I get that it’s part of the job-search game, but sometimes relying on catch phrases feels like downplaying my actual experience.

For example, many “resume tips for teachers” include direct references to classroom management. On my resume, I don’t mention classroom management. Instead I talk about the variety of labs and learning experiences I carried out, the diversity of my students, and collaboration with colleagues and parents. None of that could happen without solid management skills. Since any reasonable human connect to education understands that, it feels like a waste of space to add another line.

Maybe I’m being a snob, but I don’t really want to work someplace that requires me to prove basic knowledge while ignoring my more advanced understanding.