There are few things people procrastinate more than working on their resume.

I chalk this up to a mental block. After all, a resume is a sheet of paper — or, more likely, an electronic file — that’s supposed to represent you completely. It’s a lot of pressure, and most people would rather do just about anything else than work on it.

But if you’re looking for a job, you’re not going to make any progress until you get that resume done — and done well.

Here’s my advice:

1. Just get it started. Your first draft can be a sloppy mess.
2. Sleep on it, then go over it again.
3. Rinse, repeat.

Once you’ve spent a few days to a week working on your resume, hand it over to someone else — this might be a professional coach, an HR expert or just a friend who happens to be great at grammar. Getting another set of eyeballs on your resume is critical to catching typos and quirks that don’t work.

The important thing is to get started. Perfecting will come with iteration.

You can’t fake leadership on a resume.

If you want to move into a leadership role, but you don’t quite have the experience, it can be pretty tricky. Who’s going to take a chance on you after reviewing your resume?

What you can do, in a completely candid and authentic way, is highlight leadership experience beyond professional managerial roles:

– Leadership roles in volunteer, networking or social engagements. Did you head up the Kindergarten PTA? Cub Scout Leader? Terrific.

– Projects you spearheaded and owned — even better if you can cite success metrics. Within your roles, what have you taken initiative on and gotten great results from?

– Language in your resume that conveys vision and teamwork. In the same way they say, “dress for the job you want, not the job you have,” you should “talk like the person you want to become.”

And if you’re ever unsure what to include and not include, talk to an expert. Those of us at Newcastle Associates who deal with hiring every day can offer you a perspective on how your resume reads before we submit it to a potential job opening.

Finding your passion will help you find happiness in a career. Everyone knows this. There’s only one problem. How, exactly, does one find their passion?

In her TED Talk, social entrepreneur Noeline Kirabo offers up two questions you can ask yourself:

1. If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you spend your time doing?

2. What makes you happy or gives you a deep sense of fulfillment?

These might sound like simple questions, but not everyone can answer them off the cuff. Taking the time to sit with them, and reflect, is important to gaining clarity on your future career.

Disclaimer: Kirabo admits that “Not every passion can be turned into a career.” But you might be surprised at which ones can.

If you’d like to discuss how we can infuse your career with your passion, let’s chat about your next job role. As an Executive Recruiter, I have a lot of experience translating passion into tangible career moves.

When you submit a resume to a prospective job does it sometimes feel like you’re just sending a paper airplane into the abyss?

The startup Merit has an interesting perspective on hiring that could potentially shift the way people apply for jobs.

Merit focuses on hiring in a particular market: VC firms. Applicants for internships compete by gaining points for accomplishing tasks. For instance, they might evaluate a new startup and write an analysis, which is then graded by other applicants.

The whole thing is anonymous; no resumes are involved. The idea is that this “prove yourself” mode of applying is more equitable and fair — no more connections in high places to get through the door.

It’s also a 6-week process, and quite a commitment, so hiring managers at VC firms know that any applicants who make it through are serious.

As an Executive Recruiter at Newcastle Associates, I look forward with curiosity to how Merit fares in the real job market. This new model could shift the way we do things and help create more diversity in many kinds of fields.

A recent thread on Twitter started with a simple question:

“Tell me why you went into your field in 5 words or less.”

The tens of thousands of comments were a rabbit hole of entertainment, but some of the answers were actually quite thoughtful.

A psychiatrist wrote: “I love hearing people’s stories.” The founder of volunteer organization End Climate Silence wrote: “Decarbonize now or we’re dead.”

Finding out why people went into their field is at the heart of my work as a Recruiter. For 30+ years I’ve helped people make smart professional moves based on that motivation.

So what made you do what you do?

Like the psychiatrist on Twitter, I love hearing people’s stories. What’s yours?