We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jan Melnik a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jan, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I really felt there were two linked questions that tell my story authentically.
How did you develop your confidence and self-esteem?
As someone who delivers a number of keynote talks every year and have been told that I effectively channel confidence and self-esteem in doing so in a way that’s very engaging, I acquired this ability from extremely humble roots. I was moderately shy in high school—I could sing and enjoyed performing with the chorus—but I didn’t want to perform solos and I absolutely dreaded having to deliver speeches in my English and history classes. I decided the best remedy was to take Speech 101 my fall semester as a freshman in college. There—with under a dozen theatre arts majors—I was required by Professor Jack Gaffney on the first day of class to stand alone and vulnerable on the proscenium stage of Mills Theatre. I had to deliver a 30-second address—stating my name, hometown and state, major, and reason for enrolling in the class. I stumbled through, nervous and unsteady, while fervently hoping that the floor boards would open up and allow me to fall through and disappear completely.
Well, the solution to my problem was in the making. I had to prepare a variety of speeches (demonstration, persuasion, argumentative, political, and so forth) in the weeks that ensued. Because I’d also chosen other electives in that program (I must have had a bit of masochism going on), I was learning about the other professors in the theatre arts program and the upcoming musical being staged that year, “Hello, Dolly!” As I mentioned, I did love to sing, I enjoyed music (I played organ, piano, and guitar), and I really liked musicals. So Little Miss Quake-in-her-Boots on stage went on to perform in the college’s next musical, “Mame!”—cast in the dual role of Mama Burnside and Madame Branislowski. I discovered that I loved acting and singing and performing.
Jump out a year following college graduation and then in my first job (you’ll read a bit more about that below), I was invited back to my alma mater as part of their Saturday “Career Planning” Workshop that was required for all juniors and seniors. There’s a bit of foreshadowing here that I’ll also reveal shortly. As the guest speaker, I addressed about 100 students for 45 minutes, sharing with them the foibles of apartment living in a big city as a new graduate, managing my first credit card (and long-distance phone bills—yes, they were once a thing), and living on mac-and-cheese (before ramen became the go-to for poor college graduates in their first jobs). My objective? To impart practical advice and uplifting (often humorous) inspiration to the next year’s crop of graduates.
This was the beginning … and as my career evolved from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial side of free enterprise in the decades that followed, public speaking always held a place near-and-dear to my heart. I never turn down an opportunity to speak—whether it’s to a small civic group with a dozen or so attendees anxious to learn that year’s top tips for job-search during a recession to more than 1,000 educators at a national conference on strategies for helping college students build an impactful resume and LinkedIn profile.
The takeaway? “Practice makes perfect.” And, “If you hate doing something, do more of it so (a) you get better at it and (b) you learn that you actually love doing it!
How did you develop your ability to communicate effectively?
I credit my all-time favorite teacher, Donald J. McCarthy, Stanley T. Williams Elementary School, for planting the seed and then cultivating it in fifth grade. Of course, there’s a backstory! Back in that day, students didn’t know their following year’s teacher until the first day of school. You’d sit in the cafeteria and nervously wait with your friends to see which of the teachers standing at the front would call your name. I was wearing black patent leather shoes and white anklets. I don’t remember my dress (and, yes, it would have been a dress), but I was looking down at the floor when this large (6’4”) imposing male teacher called my name. It was the first time I hadn’t had a female teacher. I was petrified and joined the line proceeding to his classroom. He’d played football and he had a gregarious personality with a booming voice. Within just a few weeks, though, as with every student in that classroom—his first time teaching out of college—we all adored him. The bond solidified when his first-born son, D.J., was born on my birthday that June. The catalyst for my love of writing? He wrote on my report card (which was done manually), “Jan was born to be a writer.” He was the first teacher to call me Jan (and not Janice, which I disliked). And I took those words to heart, feeling the inspiration from his vote of confidence. We are friends to this day (he’s approaching 80). One of his daughters was my summer nanny for my three little boys some 20+ years later. And we would visit him and his wife at their beach house.
Writing, speaking. Themes of my career—unknowingly—because as with so many young people, I didn’t exactly know what I was going to do once I got out of college. I share more about my first job later on, but this role morphed into several others, all corporate, in my 20s. I got to do all sorts of interesting things: edit a book about private independent schools for a one-title publisher… take minutes at union negotiations during a 6-month labor strike when the UAW-represented employees of a large brake manufacturer called a wild cat strike and I was forced to be a scab (attending union meetings once a week around packing brake cables on the manufacturing floor with the other office workers)… develop a newsletter for regional offices of the world’s (then) 2nd-largest computer company after IBM: Digital Equipment Corporation (ultimately acquired by Compaq and then Hewlett-Packard)… manage a $35M administration unit comprising 16 women handling field service calls, contract administration, and accounts receivables.
All of this served as an excellent foundation for launching my own home-based business in 1983 (yes, I just celebrated my 40th year in private practice). This was back before working remotely “was a thing”—and it also preceded the desktop/laptop computer and the internet. At its essence, my business, Absolute Advantage, specializes in private career-management. I love helping C-suite clients, their graduating kids, and virtually everyone in between with career collaterals ranging from resumes, bios, and cover letters to LinkedIn profiles, 30-60-90 day plans, etc.
Along the way, getting involved with my community was a big part of who I am. Besides being room mother for my sons’ elementary schools (twins plus one—two years apart), I started the first Mothers-of-Multiples organization in Connecticut when my babies were first born and served as president and newsletter editor for ten years.
A cover story in the longest continually published newspaper in the country, The Hartford Courant, included a color photograph of me working in my home office with three playpens and my twin toddlers and baby surrounding me. This led to an invitation from a publisher, Globe Pequot, to write a book about starting a home-based business. The contract came with an attractive advance (generally unheard of for a first-time writer in this space) and a tight deadline: I had to complete the 80,000-word manuscript in three weeks. It was summer, I didn’t have a babysitter, and I’d just signed up the kids for three weeks of swimming lessons. A bit Type-A, I simply divided the words by 21 days, building in a little wiggle room for editing: 4,000 words. Done! I loved writing the book—and have gone on to author seven more books and co-author three additional books—including recent titles: Resume and LinkedIn Strategies for New College Graduates: What Works to Launch a Gen-Z Career … Modernize Your Executive Job Search … and Executive’s Pocket Guide to ROI Resumes and Job Search—as well as my first novel, Telling Tales: On Merlin’s Island (https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0157LY4EE).
Writing and speaking *are* my thing—and I have many fascinating clients. I write the annual report of one of the largest credit unions in the nation (something I’ve done for 25+ years)… I write white papers and strategic plans for top-tier universities and ivy league colleges… I write confidential position documents for various federal agencies… and I’m a ghostwriter/speechwriter for many C-level executives across the nation.
Active in my industry, I have served as an inaugural member of the board of directors for Career Thought Leaders since its founding in 2009. I speak regularly at careers industry conferences in the United States and Europe—including the invitation to deliver the closing keynote address at the April 2024 conference of the Professional Association of Resume Writers-Career Coaches/PARWCC (my topic? Making it as a $olopreneur: The Missteps. The Milestones. The Magic. And the Best Tips for Making it Your Way!). I was very humbled and proud to have received PARWCC’s first-ever Frank X. Fox IV Service to the Industry Award at last year’s conference—recognizing the support I’ve provided to hundreds of entrepreneurs in our field—and thousands of private-practice career clients.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’ve interspersed so much of my story in the other questions—but I definitely would love to impart how passionate I am about helping people actuate their career dreams and achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves along their career trajectories. Helping folks do a deep-dive and discover their unique calling and purpose—and the signature strengths that define those objectives—is about my favorite thing to do. I love being introduced to C-level executives and partnering with them confidentially to build their portfolios and tell the next stories in their successful careers.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
• Being able communicate effectively—both verbally and in writing—for any audience • Empathy and a gift for making people feel welcome, cared for, and supported
• Optimism and resilience—my joie de vivre!
My Advice
Pursue where your passion leads. If there’s not a clear pathway, look for those side doors. And make connections: Ask for introductions, seek to gain a little bit of insight and knowledge from a lot of different sources. Practice what will make you stronger and more effective. Be brave. Be daring. And what I say to my clients: Be inspired. It’s your career. It’s your life.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
Made me take typing in high school… seriously. Of course, they did many other wonderful things to inspire and support me. But ‘forcing’ me to take typing (What? I’m college-bound! Why should I take that?) led to winning contests in New England for my accuracy/speed, earning a college scholarship, and pushing me to go into business. I wanted to teach, but there were no jobs available in the late 70s; it was before the Educational Enhancement Act and teachers made very little money. My first job out of college was as an executive secretary.
But it was within the Public Relations Department and Internal Communications Unit of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company—which meant visiting the city of Boston for the first time in my life, getting an apartment on Commonwealth Avenue with my best friend, and working on the 54th floor of the JH Tower in downtown Boston. And I got to work with all the internal magazines and ‘house organs’ (as newsletters were called), plus my boss was the chief speech writer for the chairman of the board and the president of the company. I got to attend many meetings in the board room, listen to the senior leadership team, and type (and edit) those speeches. These were incredibly valuable learning experiences that were foundational to my future work as a writer in many different realms.
Returning to the subject of teaching, I never lost my desire to do this formally. Of course, in my private practice, I was teaching my clients how to strategically position for their next roles, interview effectively, and manage their careers. In my late 40s, though, I decided to return to school and earn my master’s degree—which would let me travel down that pathway of becoming an educator as a sideline. I completed my MA in the Humanities summa cum laude from Wesleyan University and have been teaching English and Communications (first as an adjunct, then as a Visiting Professor of English) for 12 years.
My visiting role led to a full-time opportunity to cross over to administration at the University of South Florida in Sarasota-Manatee where I am an assistant program director for the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Success. And what do I do? Write! I just co-authored the institution’s 100-page Carnegie Community Engagement Classification application and am working on the college’s strategic plan. And speak! I recently addressed the Assessment Institute conference of academics in Indianapolis as well as delivered a program about LinkedIn for USF graduate students. I’m completing this application from 26,000 feet above ground, hurtling toward Seattle where I’ll represent the Vice Provost and Regional Vice Chancellor at the annual conference of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.janmelnik.com
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/janmelnik
Image Credits
Andrew Gargano (photo with me in black suit)
