Walter Mitty's Resume

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I recently stumbled upon the story of Walter Mitty. Not the original 1939 story I read in high school, but the 2013 interpretation portrayed by Ben Stiller in the movie, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” The movie was not a box office hit, but I watched it anyway when it came out on DVD. I’ve watched it several times since then and it’s caused me to ponder several things about my career. Why?

There was something about Stiller’s character that I identified with. Maybe it’s because Walter Mitty was going through not just a career change, but a life change. Many of us go through career changes that are really life changes. I am going through one right now. I was unexpectedly laid off this summer due to reorganization not long after I took the position. 

Maybe it was the beautiful music or the cinematography of faraway places many of us will never see. I’ve greatly enjoyed the oil & gas industry because it allowed me the chance to travel to beautiful faraway places around the world that were off the beaten path.

Maybe it was the way Walter Mitty’s potential was locked away in his daydreams about a more exciting imaginary life.  We've all been dreamers. I started my career living one of my dreams as a newspaper reporter. I always wanted to be in the middle of the action. I did it for a while, but children and responsibilities took priority and dreams took a backseat.

I really can’t put my finger on just one thing that endeared me to the story. I’m definitely not a movie critic, but I do know there are some life lessons Walter Mitty can teach us all – especially about our careers. Take a look at the 2013 version of Walter Mitty’s story.

Who is Walter Mitty (spoiler alert)

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In this (very loosely) adaptation of a once popular story by James Thurber, Walter Mitty is a daydreamer working as the negative assets manager for Life Magazine. He is portrayed as a simple man with a simple, yet responsible and safe life. Although he takes pride in his job of 16 years, he often imagines a much more exciting and adventurous life where he isn’t afraid to put himself out there.

In the movie, Walter also develops a crush on a coworker, who begins to show up in many of his farfetched daydreams. This is something else he can’t seem to attain in real life. As his company begins to transform into an online publication, Walter is entrusted with famed photographer Sean O’Connell’s negative for the magazine’s last printed cover. Unfortunately, the negative is nowhere to be found. As a trustworthy employee, Walter feels he has no choice but to track down the photographer so he can find the negative. From there, his life becomes much more interesting as he takes on various adventures around the world to retrieve the lost negative that he had all along, but threw it away.

Taking a leap of faith

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Walter does something he hasn't done in 16 years. I think this takes a lot of courage. He takes a leap of faith to go after the negative and inadvertently begins living his dreams. He can no longer resist the calling to be the person he always wanted to be. He breaks out of his comfort zone hidden away in windowless archives of his office building and he is suddenly living his dreams. He is beginning to find that lost potential. 

About the third time I watched the movie, I hit pause after Walter is inevitably laid off and he is shown posting his resume on a career site. 

This is Walter Mitty’s resume:

• Life Magazine – Negative Asset Manager, 16 years
• Reference: Sean O’Connell (address upon request)
•  One of 3 known non-Navy Seals to helicopter “free release” into gale-force waters (North Sea)
•  In a single day: Biked, ran and long-boarded over 17 kilometers to Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption
•  Scaled highest peak of Noshaq Mountain (northwestern Afghanistan face)
•  On Icelandic fishing trawler, earned keep as a boar swain (unpaid deckhand) for one day.

Are we like Walter Mitty?

I’ll admit that this is probably a resume that most companies’ applicant tracking systems would spit out for lack of relevant keywords. A recruiter would probably never find your applications. However, I do see the symbolic nature of his resume. The first line of the resume is an example of the typical employee who is comfortable with their career track. How many people can identify with this? You might be that person who just wants a job with stability. There is nothing wrong with that if you are happy or if that’s your life’s dream.  

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The first line could also be representative of those of us who find ourselves stuck in a career track because it is safe. We never apply for anything outside of our relevant job titles. 

Is this where professionals tend to get a little off track when it comes to attaining career dreams and goals? Maybe. The job title is descriptive, but it’s not who you are as an employee. Somewhere along the way many of our career aspirations and even our self worth got very tangled up in our job titles. This is something I have been evaluating all summer. To help me identify my next career move, I’m mentally trying to break up with my old job titles so I can focus more on my experiences, skills and attributes. It’s still a work in progress.

The unexpected side of Walter Mitty

The rest of Walter’s resume shows a different and unexpected side of him than the first 16 years of his career. Notice there are no job titles on the next four bullets. It’s really about experiences. Do you exist in your career or are you having experiences? I’ve had some really exciting experiences over the course of my career, but I rarely talk about them in a resume or job interviews, yet these are important to me and make me who I am as an employee and a person. 

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In Walter Mitty’s case, I see someone who realized his experiences were dreams tucked away in his mind. They were only allowed to surface in his reoccurring daydreams. Only in the midst of a potential and unforeseen career change did those dreams become real experiences.

I think we all have a little part of Walter Mitty inside of us. Are you on the comfortable career track or do you seek experiences that sometimes takes a leap of faith? Are you the daydreamer or living the dream? As I strip away past job titles, I am starting to see that I have been living the dream. It’s just much clearer to me now.