How To Bake A Pie and Find A Job While You Are At It

In our family, everyone knows I prefer flower gardening to cooking. That said, I can cook, I do cook – I simply do not find it as enjoyable as creating and tending a beautiful flower garden, or writing a poem, or helping a client. Maybe I should qualify my cooking interest by saying I am okay with baking. I do like to bake – on occasion – such as yesterday. I wanted to surprise my family with a strawberry-rhubarb pie thing I make. I have a rhubarb patch and as I was planting more flowers last night, I noticed the rhubarb and it occurred to me to whip up a pie. As I was whipping up the pie, I was thinking about its ingredients…few and simple -- it even makes its own crust. I totally suck at making good pie crusts – even my Mom would agree.

Whether it is a pie recipe or a job search you are whipping up, ingredients matter. If you do not have the right ingredients, the end result may not be as desirable as you wish. Have you ever thought about the ingredients you are putting into your job search recipe?  Here is a starter list, just in case:

1 Heaping Cup of Self-Assessment

2 Packed Cups of Focus

3 Brimming Cups of Project Management/Organization

4 Huge Cups of Transition Team Building (Allies & Advocates)

5 Jumbo Cups of Detective-style Investigation/Research

6 Chock-full Cups of Branded Career Management Materials (professional résumé, cover letters, emails, LinkedIn profile, tweets, etc.)

7 Sizable Cups of Interview Excellence

8 Enormous Cups of Rejection Management/Coping Strategies

9 Colossal Cups of Motivation

10 Voluminous Cups of Positive Attitude

11 Walloping Cups of Implementation/Execution

12 Massive Cups of Performance Evaluation

*Add in compassion, respect and consistency to create an outstanding mixture. Blend all together; no substitutions to main ingredients.  Do not execute job search recipe until you have assembled /combined all ingredients for best results.

P.S. Here’s that easy-as-pie recipe for the strawberry-rhubarb concoction:

2 eggs

¼ cup flour

¾ cup sugar (I add a little extra)

¾ teaspoon nutmeg

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups rhubarb cut into ¼” pieces

1 cup strawberries cut into ½” pieces

1 Deep Dish pie crust

Place strawberry/rhubarb pieces in deep dish. Blend dry ingredients; beat eggs one at a time and add to batter. Mix all until creamy. Pour over s/r pieces. Bake as follows:  425 – 15 minutes; then 350 – 45 minutes. Everyone will love your yummy pie -- guaranteed! Optional: if you do not like strawberries, substitute with rhubarb.

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