My Journey from Dead End Job to Success

[passit1]

Writing things down makes them real. Putting the plan in print means all that's left is to execute the plan one day at a time, right? So here goes:

In summer 2014, after finding the company with whom I was employed for 15 years had decided to stick me in an unpromotable pigeon hole, I decided to get another job. Only to find the recruitment computers (and the recruiters who are no better than computers) were sorting my resume out.

Hating a system that reduces abilities and experience to key words, I had no choice but to analyze why I was not a viable candidate and do something about it. 3 things became clear:

1) an associate's degree was not enough to get me in front of a hiring manager - my expertise is operations and I'm very good, but interviews go to applicants with bachelor's degrees or higher
2) my experience as an operations manager in healthcare kitchens is not understood by those outside of the industry (don't you just have people microwave the frozen food you bring in?) Nothing is further from the truth, but irrelevant if I can't explain my experience to a hiring manager who thinks this as they look at my resume
3) before, I was promoted and hired based on my reputation but the world has moved on - without being networked I don't have a chance at the choice jobs

Goals:
1) get a bachelor's degree and research what other certifications would get me into the "maybe" pile instead of the "no dice" pile
2) expand my operations knowledge and experience outside of healthcare - although operations skills are transferable anywhere, having something else on the resume will help get me past the initial screen
3) get a network

The current state:
1) finished last 2 classes for bachelor's degree in June 2015 thanks to the good folks on these forums teaching me to test and self study for credit; studying for a Six Sigma Green Belt exam I plan to take this summer; will start graduate school in the fall for my MBA; with a BSBA in Operations Management, a green belt certification, an MBA and 15 years of operations experience - I DARE them to find a reason to put my resume in the NG pile!
2) had to take a step down to get a job outside of healthcare - no longer a manager but learning a ton of real info about supply chain, logistics, importing, shipping and warehousing
3) still not so great at networking - if anyone reading this is an operations type person and would like to network, PM me

I'll update as things progress....ciao for now.