Archives for Social Media

If you are a compulsive business card collector, please stop it. Handing out your business card to 50 people you talked to for about 30 seconds each, not only makes you look self-serving and desperate, it also sends off a clear message that you’re most likely going to spam people with your newsletter, resume or webinar invites.

This means you and your communications are likely to be considered spam and sent to a place that will get you blacklisted in more ways than one. There was a guy in Chicago who did this at practically every event in town and was on so many blacklists that I’d been warned about him repeatedly weeks before I even encountered him.

What do you do when you encounter someone like this? If they shove their card at you, go ahead and accept it so that you’ll know to keep an eye out for them in the future, but don’t feel like you need to give them a card in return.

Just smile and say thank you, but if they ask for a card, and you don’t want to give them one because you know nothing about them or how you might be able to collaborate with them, just say, “I’m sorry, but I’m almost out and I have another event to go to,” — which at some point you will — smile and move on.

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Archives for Globalization

Who Moved my Job? is a short story about globalization and the migration of work throughout the world. I’ve written several more formal books on the subject, and my next book is entitled Talking Outsourcing so you can guess what that’s about, but I wanted to try exploring some ideas of migration by using a story.

The English sheepdogs who live on Manor farm find that they are charged with training some new foreign dogs who join them on the farm. They are eventually replaced by the newcomers and they need to find how the skills they learned in the country might be applied to life in the city.

Here is the moment when the new dogs arrive on the farm:

It was dawn. The piercing whistle of the farmer brought Winston, Charlie, and Blair running from the barn where they liked to sleep. The barn was more comfortable than the farmhouse, even though the farmer would never mind them entering the house. In the barn they had protection from the cold, the sun, fresh water, and just the occasional rat to chase when they were not working – the young rats that had yet to learn about avoiding the dogs.

The farmer was down by the house and he had three dogs there alongside him. They were all sitting in a line looking rather like sentries guarding some historic treasure. These dogs were new on the farm. None of the Collies had ever seen them before.

Winston was perplexed at the strange sight. A sheepdog should only look like a Collie. A Collie can vary in height and weight a little and can be a mixture of black and tan and white, but a Collie is always a Collie. What could the farmer be doing with these strange new animals? They were all clearly dogs, but for certain none of them was a sheepdog.

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Archives for Career Advice

Americans have a funny way of dealing with our lack of global business experience – we typically import the expertise.

Alexis de Bretteville, CEO of the Americas at Michael Page International in New York is a case in point.  The European born executive, who heads up the Americas region for one of the world’s largest executive recruiting firms, addressed the American Business Forum on Europe recently on the Risks & Opportunities of Managing an International Career.

When it comes to exporting globally experienced executives, we’re a little undersupplied. “Companies are always struggling to find good people to move abroad,” says de Bretteville, who offers advice about positioning yourself for a global opportunity.

“Offer or propose new products for new markets abroad,” says de Bretteville. “Show interest, passion and commitment and make people (especially your mentors) aware that’s what you’re looking for. Show that you have language, skills, adaptability to moving to new environments. ”

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Archives for Coaching

In the book Executive Stamina: How to Optimize Time, Energy and Productivity to Achieve Peak Performance, authors Marty and Joshua Seldman make the case that by “optimizing your effectiveness,” you can enjoy a “long, balanced and successful career.”

The book might also be called Get Your Act Together, Dude!

Marty, the father, is an executive coach and clinical psychologist, skills that must come in handy in many boardrooms. His son, Joshua, is an endurance athlete, champion cyclist, and trainer.  Together they offer practical insights about mind, body and career management that break little if any new ground yet usefully survey a lot of recent thinking in a wide range of areas – down to yoga in the office and stretching exercises.

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Archives for Employment

Are you unhappy at work–with one foot out the door? If so, you’re not alone. The new Conference Board report  on employee attitudes found that well over half of American workers (55%), and a full two-thirds (66%) of workers under 25, are dissatisfied with their jobs. Meanwhile, a Monster.com survey found that 89% of employees would be prepared to switch industries. Nearly half were actively doing just that.

If avoiding the unemployment line is the main reason you’re hanging on to your job, you are at risk of losing it at any time–to someone who is enthusiastic and passionate about work. Employees who lack passion are prime targets for layoffs.

The time to look for a job that fills you with passion is now. Here’s a proven, structured process that can land you your dream job.

Step 1. Think of yourself as a business and assess your strengths. Imagine you are a business and your managers are your “customers.” What do they need most from service providers such as you? To what extent do you meet those needs? How would they rate you in relation to your competitors, that is, your fellow workers? In which areas do you shine? Where could you shine even brighter with a bit more focus? These are your strengths.

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Archives for Coaching

In a job interview, you may field questions about your situational behavior and decision making. That’s based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Behavioral questions (often not even framed as a question) typically start out: “Tell me about a time…” or “Describe a situation…”

Example questions are: “Tell me about a time where you confronted an unexpected problem,” “Describe an experience when you failed to achieve a goal,” or “Give me a specific example of a time when you managed several projects at once.”

Equip yourself to answer the questions thoroughly. Obviously, you can prepare better for this type of interview if you know which skills the employer has predetermined to be necessary for the job you seek. Researching the company, studying the job description, and talking to people who work there will enable you to zero in on the kinds of behaviors the company wants. In the interview, your response must be specific and detailed. Candidates who tell the interviewer about particular situations that relate to each question will be far more successful than those who respond in general terms.

Ideally, briefly describe the situation, the specific action you took to have an effect on the situation, and the positive result or outcome. It’s also helpful to think of your responses as stories. Frame each example as a three-step story, usually called a S-A-R, P-A-R, or C-A-R statement: 1. situation (or problem, challenge), 2. action, 3. result/outcome. Become an engaging storyteller in your interviews, but be careful not to ramble.

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