Re: My Bass Career

[Tin]

Spelling and grammar, spelling and grammar....

[Megastink]

Really, its unnecessary and unprofessional. I doubt youll make it very far talking to people like that. To be a professional, you must act like a professional. You must be likable and you must have people skills. And you, my young friend, arent displaying any of what it takes to achieve success. I think a good long look in the mirror may be able to cure your hostility. Honestly, if you dont have anything positive to add, please keep it to yourself. Unless, YOU want to sponsor me?

[Gatorbassman]

Perhaps you are missing something. This section was put here for one main purpose. It is a place for the members to post their resume. Doing this leaves that resume open for critique and criticism. If you can't take it, then don't post it. It's as simple as that. Tin is not attacking you he is only pointing out the flaws in your little resume.

Yes sponsors may see it here but I have yet to see anyone get a sponsorship from posting their resume in this section.

[earthworm77]

Mega, Tin is pointing something useful out to you, not being a tool. In order for you to be professional, it goes beyond how you publicly portray yourself. You really do need to spell and use proper grammar in your resume.

I own my own bait company and look at many resume's each week. I delete any that have the word sponsor mispelled, right off the bat, without even reading the body of them. As I said in the other mssg, it is a reflection of you, if you submit something that has mistakes, it makes one feel as if you don't care enough about yourself, your work etc.....it would make me feel that if you don't care enough about your end, how could you care about mine?

Joe, you need to convince a potential sponsor that you can help them out. You need something to offer them and I don't see it in your post. I think asking for someone to support your habit is a bit bold. In this day and age, few companies are giving free rides and if they are, you have to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

I think that your post is a start but it needs much more to be convincing. you need to sell yourself as if you were selling a product. Why should anyone be interested in you over the next guy. The accomplishments you mentioned are basic, you need to blow the reader away with something relevant to selling his products.

I for one am not really interested what you did when you were 7 or 11 or 16. I hate to use this but what have you done lately? In my own resume, I use the past couple of years of tournament experience to show I am still active in that field but I don't bank the whole resume on that. In fact unless you are fishing some high level circuit...mainly the elite series, tx results mean little, very little.

Read some of the threads on this to get an idea about how to improve your resume. There are some things to keep, and some to get rid of. Good Luck.

Take a look at the Marketing Yourself The Intelligent Way posts. You'll see that everything that has been discussed here and more is in there...including spelling. Nobody is picking on you. They just want you to make your last mistakes here and have your presentation polished up for the big game.

[BadKarma42]

I find humor in the irony of your post.  You write of your public relation skills, of which you claim to be improving and also state that you are approachable and friendly.

I further enjoy the sarcastic response to feedback that has been provided to you.  It is absolutely hilarious since it appears to be the OPPOSITE of what you claim in your resume.

Thank you, my young friend, for providing me this while I wait for the coffee to brew.

Oh, I noticed you state you are a "former" Megastrike pro-staff member...why former?  I'm sure the good folks at Megastrike are always looking for folks that have good PR skills and are friendly and approachable.

[Ellesar]

Really, its unnecessary and unprofessional. I doubt youll make it very far talking to people like that. To be a professional, you must act like a professional. You must be likable and you must have people skills. And you, my young friend, arent displaying any of what it takes to achieve success. I think a good long look in the mirror may be able to cure your hostility. Honestly, if you dont have anything positive to add, please keep it to yourself. Unless, YOU want to sponsor me?

I think informing you that your spelling and grammar are horrible is something positive. Would you rather no one bother telling you that? Would you rather be sitting around wondering why no sponsors are contacting you? Or would you rather get some constructive criticism that just might make a sponsor give you more than a cursory look?

A few things I noticed :

1) If you are a "busy college student", would you have time to put into promoting my product if I were a sponsor?

2) How on earth did you get past your freshman year of college with spelling and grammar as bad as you've displayed?

3) When you say things like "domination" you make me think you are immature and a braggart. Neither of those things are characteristics a sponsor is looking for.

4) You may love the limelight and all the attention you can get, but as a sponsor I want my product to get the limelight.

5) As others have mentioned, what you did when you were 6 or the fact that you started at the age of 5 really isn't going to make a difference now.

One of the things you will learn in life as you continue to mature is that constructive criticism is one of the most beneficial things some can provide you. And you will be well ahead of your peers if you learn to not take it personally and instead evaluate it and try to make some changes in the way you are going about things. If you take a look at a person who is successful in just about any career you will see that is a skill they have mastered. If you get defensive everytime someone says some negative to you, you will never improve yourself. People on this forum are glad to help you and show you how to make improvements in your resume, so that you may be able to get a sponsor at some point in time. And there are some folks here that do have lots of sponsors and speak from personal experience, you would do well to listen. Another trait that you often find in those who are successful in their chosen careers is that they are good at recognizing opportunity when it pops up and take advantage of that. This forum, and the expertise that visit here, are an opportunity for you to learn how to better market yourself to sponsors. Don't blow that opportunity by being disrespectful and immature to those who have taken some time to try and help you out.

[Jay_G]

I will try to help you out a little. You do not have anything in your resume that stands out to me. From the description of your accomplishments, though admirable, are a dime a dozen. You are simply a tournament fisherman of which there are thousands.

Support your career????? We are not in the business of supporting your career. Until you understand that, you will never move forward with this. If your career happens to go well while you are associated with a company, great, and we hope it does. We are in the business of supporting our product and partnering with staff. Can you honestly say at a job interview that you would ask the interviewer how he or she is going to support your career?

I really do wish you well, but I think you have a poor understanding of how this business functions. Don't feel bad, you are not alone. I don't know who or what the culprit is that makes people think that businesses are rushing to give away money and product so that someone wears their logo, hat, shirt, etc..

I have three staff presently. Only one fishes tournaments, and at a local level. They test product, they answer questions in my absence, among other things. Only one approached me about becoming staff, the other two I approached based on being good customers, good communications skills, and just being down to earth guys.

[Ellesar]

I will try to help you out a little. You do not have anything in your resume that stands out to me. From the description of your accomplishments, though admirable, are a dime a dozen. You are simply a tournament fisherman of which there are thousands.

Support your career????? We are not in the business of supporting your career. Until you understand that, you will never move forward with this. If your career happens to go well while you are associated with a company, great, and we hope it does. We are in the business of supporting our product and partnering with staff. Can you honestly say at a job interview that you would ask the interviewer how he or she is going to support your career?

I really do wish you well, but I think you have a poor understanding of how this business functions. Don't feel bad, you are not alone. I don't know who or what the culprit is that makes people think that businesses are rushing to give away money and product so that someone wears their logo, hat, shirt, etc..

I have three staff presently. Only one fishes tournaments, and at a local level. They test product, they answer questions in my absence, among other things. Only one approached me about becoming staff, the other two I approached based on being good customers, good communications skills, and just being down to earth guys.

But I'm sure he will be willing to wear your hat if you give him some worms or stuff!

[Megastink]

OK, you all make very good points. First, Tin, I apologize. I should have been more formal about it. I did't take this seriously enough. Thanks for all the advice, I'll consider it all. Tight Lines!

[fishfordollars]

Mega, congratulations on the above response. Shows you may have an open mind after all. Everyone is trying to help you. Spellcheck is a very easy function to use.

Remember, it is what you can do for a company that matters. That, and nothing else.

The best of luck to you in your future business, fishing, and life choices.

[bait__Monkey]

all da spouncerrs liks me

i hep dem out

u got mor monie, yes?

i hep u, we go buy sumtin

i mak um liks u, 2

[Megastink]

You help me? They like you? You speak english? lol. Thanks for lightening the mood!

[zellamander]

I am actually really suprised about your response on that comment. Actually, I would go as far as being impressed. Congrats. Keep up the good attitude. These guys on here will nail you if they see fit but it's only to help you. You just have to be honest and prepare for any critique they give. Kind of like my grandpa tells me, "Take it like a duck, and let it roll off your back".

[Tin]

I'll tell you one thing that has helped me. Forget all about all the Junior Bassmaster accomplishments you have, and go do something now. Like fishing BFL's, Stren's, Weekend Series ect. ect. Granted they look good on a resume, but as soon as your out of it, you need to go out and fish the big boy stuff and get things rolling.

For example, to expand on what Mr. Grande said and to give an example. We have acctually fished against each other if you fished Norman in 2004. (Thats funny ;D, small world). We both have been to a couple of Junior World Championships, and "dominated" the Junior stuff. So how do you make your resume look better than mine if we have the same success? And how do you make it more appealing than the hundreds of other guys who have fished Junior World Championships?

Hopefully I have got you thinking......

[Megastink]

Very good point Tin, thanks. I am indeed thinking. I guess i jumped into this whole deal a little too soon. I am, in fact, TOO busy to offer ANYONE anything as far as S-P-O-N-S-O-R-S go. I do have to fish the big boy stuf. I gotta make a NEW reputation for myself. By the way, I WAS at Lake Norman in 2004. That is a great lake. Small world.

[Cade Laufenberg]

I agree, don't be a "clubber."

There are sponsored clubbers out there, and some are decent fisherman. But you need to fish real stuff. I suppose this makes me a bit of a hypocrit, because I too participate in club tournaments and Junior State, Divisional, etc., but the difference is I'm not looking for a sponsorship. I fish BFLs as a co-angler and this year I made a little money, however I still don't feel that's good enough.. I'm fishing the full circuit next year and maybe even a Lake Erie Stren if all goes right. Repetition and consistancy in my opinion is the key to getting noticed. You have to fish a lot of tournaments, and finish high in most of them. We all feel like we are noticed on a small local scale, perhaps, but on a national scale, we're nothing. You've got to swim big when you're in the big pond