Oh God – you’ve looked up and 5 years of a boring job hell have passed you by! After ridding yourself of the grogginess of being a career zombie, you remember that you’d like to have real professional journey as well as something to tell your grand-kids.

Enter the less than stellar resume. The details may be different – but the story is pretty much the same:

Worked two years as a receptionist – [insert 1st job of out college company name here] merged and decided that they rather have an automated system answer the phones than YOU.

After feeling sorry for yourself for 2 months, you temped off and on for 4 months. Got hired as an office assistant for a year – got fired.

Temped again for an entire summer doing project management work at  [insert uninteresting company name here]. Then, found a really cool job working at [insert cool company here] for 8 months.

The company went bankrupt and dissolved. Temped again for 2 months - found another job as an assistant to the Director of [insert whatever department here] for a year - came to your senses and QUIT.

Not everyone has this particular kind of story to tell in their career journey – but for those of you who do, your resume looks like a bad case of career schizophrenia and professional ADD.

What do you do with such interesting luck?

Don’t beat yourself up! You can overcome this – you’ll just may have to work a little harder (and little differently) to get your potential career on track.

Find the links and focus

If you were doing poorly in the last string of jobs you had, you probably aren’t ”built” for those professions.  Yes, there may be some outlying factors that contributed (lack of maturity, directionless, job ego), but if you don’t like administrative work- DON’T KEEP GETTING JOBS AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT!

If tasks like calendar management, scheduling, and making sure that the phones are answered in a “pleasant and upbeat manner” make your skin crawl - don’t kid yourself into believing a happy career as administrative personnel lies ahead.

Also, you will need to decide if it is worth it to you to take an administrative job as the stepping stone to getting into the type of career you may want.

As more workers become specialized (and degrees as well) – the old-fashioned way of becoming the “secretary” and working one’s way up the ladder will become increasingly irrelevant.

There are other ways to enter the profession of your dreams. Instead, take the time to figure out what you want to do and craft strategies to realistically pursue it.

Moral of the Story: Denying yourself the career you wanted only caused you to be unhappy – be honest with yourself and go for what you want.

Aggregate accomplishments

I seriously doubt all that time you spent job hopping was a true waste. I’m also sure you’ve done something worth talking about in a job interview.

Yes, it’s demoralizing to realize you may not have as much professional development as your peers – but this isn’t about feeling sorry for yourself anymore.

You’re taking a pro-active role in getting professionally on track. Think hard about scenarios where you were asked to work on projects – “projects” being the all encompassing word that even includes the following:

• Running the mail room
• Training other people to do your job
• Filing Systems (complex or not)
• Having to organize any sort of electronic data
• Being charged with performing “other duties as assigned”

Believe it or not, all you will need to do is truthfully “glamorize” these mundane tasks – hire a resume writer or take a look at this by Penelope Trunk.

Resume tip: Anything can sound interesting if you word it right. Avoid buzz words and don’t lie!

Be selfish and volunteer

Not all volunteer work is created equal. Also, in that case, neither are the seemingly altruistic motives for volunteering.  A lot of Gen Y-ers volunteer to develop contacts, build their network, or enrich professional skills they already have (or wish they had).

So, if you are woefully between jobs, temping or currently preparing yourself for the pink slip – start doing volunteer work that focuses on your interests and strengths (as well as engaging in an opportunity to learn more about yourself).

Job Hunt Strategy: Volunteering can actually get you job, but it also can make you look “extra” competent to potential employers. It shows you can manage time and put your professional skills to abundant use.

Put yourself out there

This means you will need to pack a super punch into your networking activities. Let people know you need help. Take advantage of any professional relationships you’ve developed so far.

This is no time to start being proud.  Trying to do it all “on your own” is most likely what got you in your current predicament.

Plead for help, press for advice and look for mentors where you can find them. If you haven’t tried social media sites like Linked In - get on board. Blogging isn’t too bad, either.

Networking Idea: Don’t underestimate talking to strangers (in familiar places), usurping a friend’s professional network or joining professional organizations (whether or not you are currently working in the field in question).