You may have heard this little ditty as a child, or perhaps some wise college professor referred to it at some time during your blurry-eyed, groggy-headed freshman year.
It goes like this:
For the want of a nail, a shoe was lost.
For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For the want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For the want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For the want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.
This poem has been referred to for several hundred years by everyone from William Shakespeare to Benjamin Franklin to some recent references in everything from lawsuits, to TV shows and movies and songs.
Mr. Shakespeare’s version referred to the death of Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth Field. It is widely accepted that the proverb and its reference to losing a horse is directly linked to King Richard famously shouting, “A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse!” as depicted in Act V, scene 4, from his play around 1591.
An abbreviated version appears in the preface for Poor Richards Almanac, written by Benjamin Franklin around 1758.
No matter who makes the reference, it always refers to some little detail being left out with catastrophic consequences. Some minor adjustment overlooked, some link in the chain breaking down, and always with the same result.
How many shoulda, woulda, couldas did it take for the Kingdom to be lost? How many job interviews have you walked away from wishing you had just said this or that? How many wasted opportunities have been caused by a subpar resume because you refused to have a professional help with the minutia we can all agree can make the difference between getting that position and collecting unemployment for another month or two or three?
I’ve often wondered how many prospective clients have reached out to CareerTrend and decided the cost was out of their reach, only to still be looking for work a year later, while the person who got hired went on to make more than 100 times what the resume service would have cost. I can promise you one thing dear job seeker, if you don’t think your career is worth the price of a good resume, you are exactly right, it won’t be!!
Don’t let the cost of one nail, left unchecked, cost you your Kingdom.
by Rob Poindexter
[…] Manufacturing Production Manager: Western Electronics Here are a few related blogs on this subject: For the Want of a Resume, a Career Was Lost | Career Trend – You may have heard this little ditty as a child, or perhaps some wise college professor referred […]