That’s exactly the situation I found myself in last March when the Canadian retailer I worked at told me they wouldn’t be renewing their lease and would be shutting down U.S. operations. I was devastated. I absolutely loved my job, the company, and my coworkers. The timing wasn’t great; I had just ended a relationship, was dealing with some health issues, and on top of it all was out of a job. Needless to say, I felt overwhelmed.

First, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I could continue my career in retail where I was moving up the ladder fairly quickly, or I could turn on my heel and take the years I had spent pouring over my own social media (and the accounts of the companies that I worked for) and use the opportunity as a time to change gears within my career and apply for jobs outside my current field.

Then I had to decide exactly how I was going to do it. I had no idea where to begin my job search and I turned to what probably isn’t the most reliable resource out there-- Google. I spent what felt like endless hours scrolling through job boards and sites, trying to figure out what the heck I was qualified to do, and how the heck I was going to stand out in a sea of applicants.


Fast forward to last week’s Cocktail and Careers event at Bleacher Bar with Monster.com; endless resources at my fingertips, FREE resume analysis, Traitify Career Assessments, and a panel of expert HR and hiring managers. I felt foolish for not looking beyond the quantity of job listings on the site and missing out on all of the incredible resources from Monster.com. Their Graduated & Unemployed guide is packed with information for someone in a similar situation to mine. I’ll never know but I’m pretty sure I would have been called back for 50% more interviews had I passed my resume through Monster.com’s free online resume analysis tool…


After running my resume through the online assessment I realized so many mistakes I wish I could do over. Improving key words, common mistakes to avoid, getting resume feedback, to name a few. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, huh? After interviewing for a few jobs I didn’t feel super passionate about (and being effectively rejected) I took some time off and headed home to Texas. During that trip I decided there was no time like the present and I actively began building my own business.

It’s something that is certainly not for everyone, and I feel so extremely lucky to have had a steady flow of clients that keep Style Wire Services in daily operation. I wake up excited to shoot, excited to create content, and excited to help grow my clients’ accounts.


While I didn’t land the traditional role I set out after, I am so happy and grateful and fulfilled that my career allows me the flexibility to make my own schedule and can still blog and be creative in my downtime, but I can’t help but wonder what type of job I could have landed with the help at resources from Monster.com….