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Getting on Twitter means a lot of things, but let’s make sure it means a lot of good things. You can so easily look amaturish or way too newbee if you take to long to come up to speed on the right protocols. And there actually is some ettiquette and rules of politeness you gotta follow so you look just right.
To help you with this, I’m publishing a link to this article I found. It’s called 32 Twitter Best Practices. Read it through (it’s not too long) and bring your Twitter skills up a notch. You never know when you’re going to come in contact with that next contact that’s going to make a difference in your job search.
The Financial Post reprinted an article by Susan Adams from Forbes that gave some really good advice on using these social media sites to get ourselves some real job hunt value. You can get to the article by clicking here.
It not only gives some good specific and practical advice. It gives links to six articles at Forbes that include additional advice.
I wanted to share with you a list I discovered online. It contains some really solid online employment sites. Check them out and tell me what you think about using them to find your next job.
When we change our thoughts we can change our life. Consider adapting the BACO and BAPO concepts to the way you manage your career. It’ll be a huge leap outside your comfort zone but the pay-offs will be in direct proportion to the stretch!
Here’s an article by Seth Godin that says it as well as anyone:
BACO and your career
Brian Trelstad and his team at Acumen have had great success using a metric they call BACO (the best alternative charitable option). They can compare the results of the development and investment work they do to the results that direct aid or charity would generate instead. In short: when you understand the alternative, it’s far easier to not only measure your work, but value it.
If you are familiar with a great restaurant just down the street, that raises the bar for a new restaurant to get your business…
If you live in a one-company town and have but one skill, you don’t have a lot of options. The boss tells you what to do and you do it. On the other hand, if you’re a world-class Ruby on Rails programmer with a reputation on Stack Overflow, you have plenty of options, and as a result, your boss treats you with more respect… and you can be a lot more choosy about which projects you take on (realizing, of course, that you stake your reputation on everything you do.)
Call it your BAPO… best alternative professional option. It changes your posture when you have an option. If you’ve got another client more interesting or better paying than this one, you can confidently act that way–it raises the bar in the way people treat you. When St. Luke’s was the hottest ad agency in the UK, they made the decision not to grow–in order to take a new client, they had to fire an old one.
What do you think that did to the behavior of the current clients?
Corporations and organizations brainwashed generations of people to believe that they had no option. Go to school, go to the placement office, get a job, do what you’re told. The amazing reality of our time is this is no longer true. And yet. And yet few people are developing their alternative, building an external reputation and yes, even moonlighting on the weekends. When you have the option, not only does your confidence change, your work does as well.
 “Everything You Do MUST Have Value to Others.” That’s the title of a Career Opportunities podcast I listened to recently. It made a recommendation we should all consider when we doing just about anything.
I see this problem over and over again. Someone takes an idea for a new business, a product idea or even something they’d like to do as a career and when they execute the idea, it flops. It gets flat out rejected by the target audience. Then everyone sits around staring at each other asking, “What happened?”
Those in denial might be tempted to blame the economic climate, the user’s inability to grasp the concept, a lack of support, distribution network, etc. etc. There’s no shortage of excuses.
The BIG, BIG, BIG question to ask is:
What value does it have for others?
It’s tough to stay objective when you work on something for a long time. Your passion takes over and it’s tough to stay objective. That being the case, you’re typically the last one that’s going to call your baby ugly. But unless you ask yourself this question and really work to get the true answer, you could be making a huge mistake.
You have to ask yourself:
- What do other people see in it?
- What’s your spouse, friends and fellow business contacts think?
- Did you ask them?
- Are you afraid to?
I know when someone presents me with an idea, my first question inside is, “What’s in it for me?” The podcast says just that. It’s just the way people think. People have so many options. They need a way to quickly trudge through things and pick out what matters from what doesn’t.
So if you are considering a move, deciding upon a new business, product or some other new venture, here are some steps you can follow to force yourself to identify its value before you spend a lot of wasted effort.
Step 1 – Explain the Idea to an Outsider. The key here is to get outside your head and the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together” plays against you here. People in the same industry or the same age group or the same peer group often see things from the same perspective. This develops a blind spot that can prevent you from seeing how your audience could miss your value.
If you can’t get someone to understand the value in a few paragraphs you’ve got to go do some homework. Either your idea sucks or you have to work on the value it provides. Remember: If your audience can see the value, there is no value.
Step 2 – Ask your spouse. (Careful here. This one’s dangerous. It just might hit your ego.) If you are married or in a longer term relationship, you and your other half probably see the world differently. Figure that half of your potential audience sees your product from the other person’s perspective. Also figure your spouse isn’t as tied to your idea as you are. They can be a little more objective.
If they’ve been down on your idea from the beginning, explore the reasons why. If it’s because of the risk or issues it brings up in their life (like a reduction in security), you have some other things to discuss. Maybe I’ll write about that one in the future.
However, if you can dig and discover why they don’t see value, you have ammunition for improving it or deciding against it.
Here’s some food for thought. If you have avoided updated your spouse on the idea, if it feels more like a scheme, ask yourself, “Why is that?” Are you hiding something from them? Are you hiding something from yourself?
A spouses is an inexpensive sounding boards vested in your outcome. Leveraging the relationship can reveal some interesting info.
Step 3 – Take advantage of organizations. If you have a business idea, take a look at your local SCORE office. They have program where experienced executives review your idea and provide you with some feedback. If you are considering a job change, make a point of meeting with a recruiter or two. Get their thoughts on your career change idea and how best to go about it. If you have an idea for a product, check out what your local business schools have available. Sometimes faculty or entrepreneur programs there are eager to hear about ideas like yours so their students can apply what they’ve learned on real world projects.
I’m sure you can come up with other ideas, but the key is to confirm the value of your project in the early stages before you commit a lot of time and resources to it. That way as you proceed you have the assurance your own passion and biases aren’t your worst enemies.
Anyone have examples of an approach you took the look over the value of your idea?
 Even if you’re my age you’ve probably heard of her. In a very short period of time Lady Gaga has become a phenomenon – an internationally celebrated and very successful icon. So, the question is, how did this young, 24 year old performer – a total newbie – climb to the top of pop music and to the top of charts?
One thing we know for sure – it took more than just talent. The music industry is one of the most difficult and competitive of any professions.
So how did she do it?
Rather than simply rely on her talent, Gaga also used a superb business instinct, a unique style and the desire to incite attention that makes her a standout.
If you’re finding that your job search and/or your business is flat, you might want to try a few of Gaga’s strategies.
First: Flaunt your talent. Get it out into center stage – but keep something in mind. You use your talent for your personal satisfaction, but you give of your talent to provide for others. While Lady Gaga loves to sing, she gives of her talent to entertain others. She “flaunts her talent” by adding “over-the-top” costumes and an element of surprise to her persona. That attracts and retains interest.
If your talent is sales or marketing or designing, or consulting or teaching or whatever, what does your talent give to others? What about your talent attracts others and retains their interest/support? (If your answer is nothing – get an agent (or in your case a coach) to get from the audition stage to become a headliner!)
Once you figure this out – sing it loud and sing it proud. Just make it a song that your
target audience wants to hear. Gaga didn’t try to reinvent the sixties. She’s hip and now. You need to be current and relevant too.
Second: Get business savvy. Gaga studied success. Her look was inspired by models like Bowie, Grace Jones, Cindy Lauper and others. Gaga has said that she wants to set a revolution in the pop music industry surpassing the queen of pop Madonna. So she started by studying Madonna’s success to see how she could improve upon that business model to make it her own unique brand.
The lesson here is to embrace competition and learn from it – especially from people/professionals/companies/businesses that are more successful then you. Then take that information and make it authentically yours.
Three: Be unique. From the time we’re old enough to know what it means we
all want to “fit in”. But in business this is the kiss of death. If nothing makes you better, smarter, more valuable, nicer, more affordable, more dependable, more productive, more interesting, easier to work with, higher quality, more consistent… why should I care?
And, like Gaga, you can’t just talk about it – you have to demonstrate it.
This is a “performance piece” for everyone.
Four: Incite attention. None of us want to be the industries best kept secret. Gaga aligned herself with people in the business that could help her. She wrote music for others besides writing for herself to get more exposure. She took her look and made
it extreme to attract attention in an industry that is all about fashion and image. But
rather then create a “signature look” she created a signature brand that’s all about
change and innovation. Gaga knows getting attention is one thing. Keeping it is another.
The good news is you don’t have to bleach your hair platinum or walk around in see-through clothes (although if you went to a networking meeting dressed that way I’m sure you’d be highly memorable).
Just a few ways you can become a rock star in your own rite is to build a strong network, get testimonials, referrals and endorsements for your work, stay current, be visible on line and off, watch and set trends, get out into the industry and/or community as a known expert or leading provider by participating in associations, organizations, civic groups, boards of directors and Chambers. The key here is to participate. You must get involved – give of yourself and your expertise.
Thea Andrews, who until recently was Entertainment Tonight’s senior correspondent
covering music and celebrity has said of Gaga, “She’s got that faux-edgy, boundary-pushing persona that makes people feel like they’re indulging in something just a little naughty and cutting-edge.”
Consider this – my thesaurus says “naughty” can also be defined as playful, mischievous and lively. “Cutting edge” has lots of positive connotations like superior, progressive and innovative. So go push a boundary and let people in on your progressive self. You may not get a recording contract, but your professional star power is sure to rise.
Let me know how you’ve used ideas like that to grow to the stardom you want for yourself.
When filling any position a hiring manager’s biggest headache (or pain in the ass depending upon your point of view) is finding the right set of “potential” candidates to begin the interview process. After getting a pile of resumes, they have to trudge through them figuring out what these characters bring to the table. I’m sure every hiring manager wishes and prays for the applicant that does tells them, “Here’s why you should hire me.” Note this statement carefully. It’s “Here’s why you should hire me” not “Here’s why I want to work for you.”
There’s a difference here. Read your typical resume and what you’ll find is a list of former jobs followed by a bulleted list responsibilities for each one. For example, I read the following under the Director of Operations title:
“Carried out manufacturing floor operational responsibilities overseeing 12 supervisors and running quality assurance functions.”
I’m mean like, duh. Operations Directors do that kind of stuff. Otherwise you’d be the Finance Director or HR Director or Marketing Director. Of course you need to make sure your reader understands what you did, but your main focus must be telling the reader about your accomplished.
Here are the kind of bullets I’m sure your next boss prefers when looking over your resume:
- Increased sales from $1M to $1.7M over an 18 month period.
- Outsold every fellow sales rep 4 out of 12 months and consistently ranked in the top 10%.
- Improved plant floor efficiency increasing production capabilities by 7.5% over six months while maintaining high quality levels.
- Improved team moral ratings from 50% to 72% during my first 12 months in the position.
When your next boss read bullets like these on your resume, they start picturing how the person can help then in the position they are needing filled.
Now I completely understand your apprehension. Coming up with these kinds of facts for your resume is no walk in the park. It’s work. This is especially true:
- if what you did isn’t easily measured,
- if you’re changing industries and accomplishments in your former industry aren’t easy to explain to those on the outside and
- if you never spent much time thinking about your work this way.
Here’s my challenge to you. Take just one position on your resume and dissect it. For each bullet put a check mark next to each ones that describe an accomplishment. Put an “X” next to each one that describes a job responsibility. If you have more “X”s than checks, you have some work to do. You’re better off making it 75% check marks.
If you dedicate some time to reviewing what you did on any job, you’ll run into a problem that’s common for many of us. We’ve done what we do and done it well for so long, we don’t consider it a big deal. Well it just might be and you’d better be able to tell people why it was a big deal.
I’ll give you the example from one of my clients. This guy ran an IT department. One of his many tasks was moving the firm’s data center from their corporate offices to an outsourced data center. It took the team he led six months of planning and execution to get the job done. When it was over, his users experienced zero downtime and they pulled the project off under budget.
For all of his work, this guy was surprised that his boss was most impressed with the fact that he didn’t exceed his budget. His supervisor had never seen an IT project of that magnitude get delivered on the originally projected budget.
My client thought that was the least of his accomplishments. He considered that the basic part of his job. My response to him was,
“If you boss was that impressed, it goes on your resume.”
So that made it on his resume as follows:
- Delivered a six-month, $750K data center migration project on time, under budget and with zero user downtime.
Now I’m not in IT, but here is a measurable accomplishment even I understand. I can read an accomplishment like this on a resume and envision how this guy might be able to help me with my problems.
So take a look at your resume, and do your next boss a favor. Make it high on accomplishment and low on job responsibilities so the boss doesn’t have to work so hard.
Let me know how this made a difference on your resume.
Whenever I run into someone who’s a bit odd, I find myself whispering to myself, “What’s with that guy?” I know. I know. I shouldn’t. But I’m so used to having people behave a certain way that when they fall outside my version of the norm – whatever that is – it’s something that calls my attention.
Now I’m not always a fan of the heroes Hollywood lifts up for us, but let me point out a few that definitely inspire me and better yet – cause me to spend a little time thinking about how I can improve myself.
Take “Forrest Gump.” Here Tom Hanks plays a simple, unintelligent (“Stupid is as stupid does”) Alabama boy that:
- reaches outrageous success on Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide,
- is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam and
- starts a shrimp boat empire after Hurricane Carmen that makes him a millionaire.
Dustin Hoffman plays another one of these types. As the autistic “Rain Man” he plays opposite Tom Cruise, the “normal” brother, who learns a lot about himself when his father passes away. He is left to care for Rain Man – a brother he never knew he had. Another great example and a super movie.
Finally take a look at Cuba Gooding’s role as “Radio” a true story about a developmentally challenged man who is taken in by a high school football coach. He becomes the team and the town’s inspiration.
Gooding was nominated for Best Actor for his role and both Hanks and Hoffman took the Best Actor Oscar for their performances. Though in real life the challenged or oddballs get pushed aside, there’s something inside us that feels inspired by them. It’s like by being around these folks something inside gets activated and we feel called to be better people.
I’m the first to admit we are definitely too uptight as a society. As working professionals we feel we must fit a certain mold in order to “get ahead.” This runs contrary to what we learn from these film characters.
Whether it’s something that’s been bred in us or something we’ve conditioned ourselves to do, this “uptight-ness” or need to fit the mold decreases who we are and pigeon holes us into being something we’re not.
My recommendation? We should all spend time doing some personal self-reflection to expand our self-awareness. If you don’t spend some time doing this at least once a year, you are long overdue. How would you go about this? My own “Breakthrough” book has some exercises for doing this. There are books like “Now, Discover Your Strengths” that have both an assessment and an explanation of people with different areas of strength.
You may consider taking a Myers-Briggs assessment or maybe even a 360 degree teamwork or leadership assessment. There are books like “Emotional Intelligence” that help you become more aware of the non-technical skills that are necessary for success because of the relationships they can help us foster.
Any one of these or many others can help you explore the real you versus the conditioned you and help you tap into the strengths that can contribute to your success.
A certain television station likes to pitch its programming with the slogan: “It’s not reality it’s actuality.” It’s an interesting statement, although a bit confusing – much like today’s job market.
The reality is if you read a variety of articles or talk to a group of “experts” you’ll actually get a broad range of opinions about the current state of the job market.
The National Association for Business Economics reported statistics indicating there has really only been a marginal increase in jobs due to the stimulus money. However, government reports have shown job losses have actually slowed throughout country for the past four quarters.
If we flip over to the recruiter community to look at the Recruiter Confidence Index, 53% of the industry is confident the job market is picking up. However, if you’re actually waiting for your phone to ring from a recruiter with a job offer, the reality is, you’ll be out of work for a very long time.
A 2009 ExecNet survey polling over 8,000 professionals provides an interesting perspective from the trenches.
- Only 5% of companies polled are still cutting back or have hiring freezes. Many “cut back too far”, with 14% adding positions and 57% looking to “trade up.” These numbers are actually up significantly from this time last year.
- Companies have taken their focus off of retention. The reality of this shift will be a different kind of bail-out with disgruntled employees “jumping ship” once the economy becomes more stable. The irony is that this turnover will place more of an emphasis back on retention making the job you land more stable.
- There are expanding industries. Healthcare and Clean/Green Technologies lead the pack in opportunity with Energy, Pharma/Med/Biotech and Environmental-related industries rounding out the top five.
So what does this really mean for you? What do you have to do to get employed – now?
Here are a few tips that actually work so you can too:
- Be positive and action oriented. Shake off the fear, dump the negative perceptions and get to work on your search. You’re still the same competent, skilled and experienced person you were when you had a job. So print up some business cards using your expertise as your title and start networking. You could be a handshake away from your next great success.
- Get comfortable as an expert. There is something you do really, really well and probably enjoy doing more then anything else. Run with it. Mrs. Fields was an expert in cookies. She was never nominated for the Nobel Prize but she made a big batch of money.
- Be relevant. No one cares what you’ve done for the past 20 years. Everyone cares about what you can deliver in today’s economy, industry and market. Tell them in simple, concise, personable language. Dump the jargon and be authentic,
- Be solution-oriented. Forget about the laundry list of responsibilities you’ve had. Talk in terms of bottom-line results. Be the “aspirin for their headache”.
- Be a master networker. There are no short cuts. This is still the best and fastest way to get employed. Create a profile on LinkedIn (www.linkedIn.com) and join some groups related to your expertise and interests. Interact with groups, associations and other industry experts you can become aligned with. Go to networking meetings each week and be actively engaged. Give and get business cards and follow up with the objective of building relationships. Offer assistance, provide value and make introductions. The more you give, the more you will receive. Remember, people help and hire others they know, like and trust and this takes time. So speed it up and whatever you’re currently doing – double your activity to reduce time in search.
- Be focused, proactive and strategic. Set objectives for each week and break them out to daily activities. Create a target list of companies where you’d like to work and network your way in. ExecuNet reported that 58% of hires last year were for existing positions. That means 42% were newly created jobs (otherwise known as the hidden job market) and landed by people who acted on this strategy.
- Be aligned with people and resources that can help you. Get a coach; create an advisory board of positive, connected peers; and build a strong diverse network and nurture long-term relationships.
- Be smart. Do your homework and conduct research so you can make fact-based decisions about your career to ensure you’re actually working with reality not hype. Just yesterday I actually met five people over 50 who had landed great jobs….really.
Share with me examples of you putting this to work and getting results. The rest of us want to know.
People come to me looking for help with their careers and businesses and I tell them if we are going to partner, they have to adhere to my three “golden rules”. Thou shalt not prejudge, compromise or assume.
Now that sounds simple enough, right? But how many times each day do we do that?
Many people prejudged Grace Groner and assumed a few things about her, including the folks at Lake Forest College in Illinois.
Since it’s been big news this week, you may have heard how sweet Grace gave the school a donation that will enable their students to pursue internships and study abroad. Grace was a lovely, unassuming basic senior citizen so perhaps you can imagine the surprise when the College received her donation. It was seven million dollars.
No one would have ever guessed in their wildest dreams.
In a Chicago Tribune report “Secret millionaire donates fortune to Lake Forest College”, I learned that at age of 12, “Amazing Grace,” as they papers are calling her, and her twin sister were left orphans. They were taken in by a local leading family who paid for them to attend Lake Forest College. She graduated in 1931, never married and worked as a secretary at Abbot Laboratories for 43 years.
As a child of the Depression, her friends described her as “exceptionally restrained with her money.” She shopped for clothing at rummage sales, walked instead of buying a car and lived in a one-bedroom house near the college. She only moved into the tiny, scantly furnished house because a friend willed it to her. It has a smaller living room than most people’s closets.
You might think she was a miserly old hag, but that’s not the case. She had plenty of friends. After retiring she traveled widely and would occasionally give anonymous donations to needy locals. She remained connected to the college all her life, attended football games and donated $180,000 to create the scholarship fund.
When she passed away this January at age 100, God bless her, she gave them her fortune. She made it off a $180 purchase of Abbott stock. Since 1935 she’d been reinvested the dividends and after all the years, it added up.
If you’re in a job search, I’m sure you’ve heard to the point of nausea that networking is key. You probably know that most people get the best leads and introductions once they get beyond their small circle of immediate friends and family.
The problem is we all have a tendency to prejudge, assume and compromise.
There is a little voice in our heads that says:
That person can’t help me…..
They wouldn’t know anyone……
They’re too old, too busy, too important, too removed, out of my industry, out of my life, blah, blah, blah.
This is when I get sick. See, this is the stuff that trips you up and makes any challenge harder than it needs to be.
 Grace built her life on a foundation of values. She could have moved up given the very affluent area where she resided, but it wasn’t something that mattered to her. Because she needed so little, she probably had so much. You think she had too many worries. I’m sure her most valued wealth was her relationships and the love she shared with those around her. Even the house where she lived was given to the college for use by the students receiving her scholarships.
As you work your search, I challenge you to build your network based on real values not perceptions and assumptions. Consider what’s important to you in terms of respect, trust, integrity, honesty and perhaps even legacy. How do you want to be thought of and remembered by others?
Then let’s knock the challenge up a notch…… I challenge you to go out and meet 10 new people this week. (Ten a day if you’re highly motivated)… And Don’t Compromise. Lock in your number and make it happen. (If you get stuck, send me a post and I’ll “unstuck you” or as my clients tell me, I’ll get your ass in gear again with a not so gentle nudge).
Make a phone call. Go have coffee. Attend a meeting. Talk to folks. Learn more about them. Find out how you may be able to help them. (Their need could be something completely unrelated to you – which is why a diverse network is quite handy). Share you marketing plan and ask for their feedback.
Am I making you cringe? Is the challenge too much? Well think about it anyway. There are very few times in our lives where you reach a crossroads like a job hunt. Besides the worry and anxiety, it opens up options for you. You are given choices and the decision you make can take you a lot closer to where we really want to be. Life is full of surprises….. Surprise yourself with a whole new level of productivity, contacts, information, direction and maybe even a new friend or two. You’ll end the week feeling like a million… or maybe even seven million.
Share your thoughts with me.
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