The Emerging Professional

Five Tips for Decision Making

I write a great deal about finding a job. Finding the right job that fits your skills and a good work environment that makes you want to stay is equally important. This is why I named my practice, Best Fit Forward: I think it's essential to know your own skills--as well as what you are looking for--throughout the process.

Taking a job is like jumping off solid ground on a rope swing: Once you've made a decision to move forward, you need to ensure a safe landing. As soon as you leap, you have no choice but to hang on with all you have, and pay attention with hope for an easy entry. It's okay to be picky selective in deciding when to jump. You should be. After all, when you accept an offer you are making a commitment. Can you believe you just signed up to spend a significant percentage of your waking hours with individuals who you've only met once or twice? Would you choose to spend over 40 hours every week with a potential partner after two dates?  Probably not.

Recently, I asked my dad an ethicist--for advice on how to weigh a difficult decision. Here is his suggested guide, modified slightly for the job search.

1. Take the time to write your thoughts down. What are the specifics. Do you have all the information you need to make a decision? Will the position allow you to leverage your natural strengths? Are there aspects of the job that will challenge you to work in ways that don't play to your strengths? (If yes, how will you overcome your weaknesses  compensate or adapt?)
   
   
2. If you anticipate a gap in your job function or potential problems with organizational dynamics--how will you "mind the gap"? Are there people in your current network or in the new organization who can help you? Determine the best way to approach the problem.
   
   
3. Assess the opportunity and figure out where it fits into your overall career "life cycle." It's easy to think about year one, but what are your goals for the next 3-5 years? 5-15? How will this opportunity help you prepare for others? How will your decision affect others in your life--your friends, your family, your community?
   
   
4. Is your opportunity aligned with your values and ideals? Can you imagine yourself working with your potential co-workers? Do your prospective co-workers appear to be on the "same page" as you are in terms of organizational mission, goals, and style?
   
   
5. How can you best manage uncertainty? If you find that the job you've been offered is not the right one for you long term, how will you proceed? What's your game plan for future success--how will you seek out an opportunity that does fit?

Once you've got your "list," mull it over with trusted friends and advisers who know you well and can support you in following through on whatever decision you make.

After you've weighed all your options, lean forward into the decision you've made. You should now have full confidence that you've put your best fit forward.

Do you have any additional criteria you also recommend? If yes, please share!

Innovation vs Quota: A New Paradigm for Recruiting?

This post is about making cars, but it's more about how the recruiting process works.

In a former life, I was a matchmaker for the automotive industry: I spent time with students who made cars and worked hard to woo employers to recruit them. I learned what a dynamometer does (measuring force or power), observed the power of reverse engineering (always good to start with the end in mind), and why the economic hardships of the "big three" are huge news (there are hundreds of other supplier companies, known as OEMs--or original equipment manufacturers who the trickle down cripples as well). It was a great experience.

Several years ago, I accompanied a team of these students to the annual Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula Racing Competition in Michigan where they subjected their pride and joy--a car designed and constructed in less than six months--to rigorous review and testing. They had reason to be proud, as they came from a small school with less than 400 students, had no automotive engineering department, and were competing with over 120 entrants, many of whom hailed from engineering meccas such as Georgia Tech, Texas A & M, and Cornell.

To our collective delight, they were one of a handful of teams picked for the design finals--over five hours of exhaustive interviewing by a team of judges (as I recall, it did not end until midnight).

Success came with a price tag: Participating in the design finals meant that they couldn't attend a Big Three recruiting reception. So I struck out on my own to meet the recruiting team and to market my champions. I brought resumes and information on their accomplishments. But the recruiter couldn't have been less interested:

"We have core schools for recruiting, and we only recruit actively at those core schools. For each school, we have a set number of offers that we make based on interviews. On average, we make 10 offers from each school. We also review other applications received online, and we do hire from this pool as well--but generally those decisions are made after we interview on campus."

Translation: Your students don't have much of a chance. (Unless they know someone.)

I worked in Career Services for eight years, and this response was not unusual. But I did find it to be particularly disturbing, especially given at least one of their "core schools" was not participating in the automotive competition, was based in a major metropolitan area, and had very few students interested in moving to Michigan. But, there it was...nonetheless. The impetus was on my students to take creative steps to attract employer attention, otherwise, employment prospects with this employer was unlikely at best. My students finished in the top 20 for the competition.

Today, I'm watching the school I once worked at become a national leader as the "Big Three" company emerges from bankruptcy. I'm proud of the continued strength of Formula Racing on my old campus: Three years ago, the school founded their own hybrid Formula Racing competition. It's been so successful, that Texas A & M no longer competes at the SAE Formula Racing competition--they only participate in the hybrid challenge.

I visited the school recently and saw most recent hybrid car showcased in the lobby. Less than ten miles away, the former showroom for the local dealer of the "Big Three" company is actively enjoying a second life--as a dance studio. "Big Three" dealer didn't even take the logos off the building.

I see a moral for the future of recruiting and automotive innovation here, do you?

Celebrating & Advising "SPAM"

Did you know July 5 is not just "post-Independence day"? Today is the anniversary of another American icon—it’s the 72nd birthday of SPAM—otherwise known as pseudo-mystery meat in a can?

According to my friends at The Writer’s Almanac, the origins and meaning of the name SPAM are debated even at SPAM manufacturing headquarters. Does it matter? SPAM’s brand recognition is undeniable part of our culture. Are you familiar with the Monty Python skit about the diner which serves nothing without SPAM?

Waitress: Morning!

Man: Well, what've you got?

Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam…

Did you know the skit led to adoption of the “catch-all” term SPAM to cover everything from unsolicited e-mail and snail mail communications to naming the process whereby you send out your resume indiscriminately?

So Happy birthday, SPAM! Even if it’s clear we may all live longer, happier, and more productive lives without you—it’s still appropriate to recognize you for your origin and impact…

But as birthdays are a great time for reflection  and personal growth, I’d like to take the liberty to suggest a few ways that you can improve.  After all, you haven't won my favor. Like many, I strive to live a SPAM-free life. It’s nothing personal; I just have a preference for the uncanned.  Here are a few recommendations:

1. Try a fresh approach and be more discriminating. Your current diversification into communication is getting old—and isn’t doing you many favors.
   
   Think I’m wrong? Check out my friend Rob Blatt’s collection of SPAM received in the job search:  http://resumespam.tumblr.com/
   
   He put the collection together because he’s not a fan of SPAM, either—and doesn’t want job seekers to fall for your tricks.


2. Rethink your marketing plan. I know a large part of your marketing strategy has been to focus on a broad audience for a long time, but that doesn’t always work—stop using bad pick-up lines that sound just like what you think your audience wants to hear. Be truthful, concise, and specific.
   
   Micro-target and customize. Write only when you have something real and valuable to offer: a majority of your end-users are highly educated and aren’t going to fall for your games.  See Rob’s smart suggestions on how to find SPAM between the lines of a purported job posting? We know how to avoid you…
   
   Do you really want your message to end up in a filter—or worse—in the “complaint pile”?


3. Stop hoping to make a comeback via mass job search campaigns. Canned resumes and cover letters don’t sell well. In a tight market, job seekers need to distinguish themselves through customization: It may seem like applying to more opportunities increases the speed to a successful job offer, but a better approach is to customize and specify how the position fits pre-existing skills and experiences.

So, in closing, I applaud you on your milestone of longevity, SPAM, but I encourage you to refocus on what you do best of all—providing sustenance to those hungry and brave souls who need and appreciate your long shelf life! Keep it in the can…

Making the Most of a Social Media Resume

Recently, a CBS piece on innovative job hunting strategies caught my eye. I asked one of the segment's featured participants, Robert "Bobby" Hoppey, to share tips with us. A native of Setauket, NY, Bobby is a recent graduate of Elon University  in North Carolina. He is seeking full-time work in New York (leads are welcome). Here is his story--and his suggestions for how you can create your own social resume.

I am one of the country’s many job hunting 22-year-olds and my background to date lies largely in public relations and social media.  I am an open book when approaching career prospects, but I ultimately want to do work that is creative, relevant and (with any luck) located in my favorite city in the world--Manhattan.

It recently occurred to me that the concept of a resume is deceptively simple. Don’t get me wrong: It is an essential document to market oneself and will never go out of style. However, when looking over bullet points summarizing some of the accomplishments I am most passionate about, I felt there was a certain spark missing. 

I wanted to provide prospective employers with a window into who I am, as well as capture the elusive “way to stand out” in today’s undeniably competitive market. Like most of my peers, I am well versed in Facebook. I also worked as a social media communications intern for General Motors. So, making greater use of social media seemed a logical next step for my job search. I chose to create a social media resume on VisualCV.com.

The Visual CV site serves as a colorful and interactive supplement to my traditional materials.  Created fairly recently, my page has already opened doors for informational interviews with established professionals and was featured on a national segment for CBS Evening News.  This summer, I am on a 4,000 mile cross country cycling trip to raise money and awareness to help individuals with disabilities. I'm keeping a blog to document my trip, and am maintaining networking leads through my use of social media in preparation for my full-time job search. 

If you are a social media resume rookie, and would like to supplement your own job search with a Visual CV or other resume, here is some advice:

• Think buffet style. When crafting a social media, don’t hold back in terms of diverse content.  If you have created multimedia assets in your professional or educational endeavors, show them off!  My VisualCV page includes videos, a podcast, writing samples, screenshots, a PowerPoint presentation and web site links that are easily aggregated together.  If you don’t have similar resources under your belt, or would prefer a more simple approach, you might consider alternative ways to make things pop and encourage a viewer to learn more--graphs, photos, etc.    

• Don’t take yourself too seriously. This is not to suggest a radical breakaway from professionalism, but rather a chance to have some fun and provide a broader look at who you are.  On my page, I have included a comedic (yet tasteful) YouTube video I created for a presentation, as well as photos of me "cheesing it up" at some of the places I have traveled abroad.  By including possible items as simple as a filmed introduction to the page or photos of you engaging in your favorite hobbies, you are presenting a well-rounded depiction of yourself and can stick out in the applicant pool. (As I see it, it is easier for people to relate to you when you've shared information about yourself.)

• Shout from the rooftops. Once you have created a page to be proud of, don’t allow it to linger in "cyber" obscurity!  While your competitive side might be hesitant to let your personal network in on the still-emerging social media resume trend, these people may ultimately be the best place to start.  I opted to announce the creation of my page (and request feedback) on both Facebook and Twitter, while also incorporating it into my email signature and “link” section of online spaces such as LinkedIn.  By choosing to throw myself out there, I was able to establish relationships with new job search advocates and even receive news coverage.  There is no telling where your page could lead!
  
• Make it a committed relationship. Once you have made the rounds with your eclectic, exciting page, there is no reason to let it fall to the wayside.  Whenever you have a new accomplishment or professional undertaking that enhances your credibility, pass ‘Go’ and report directly to your social media resume.  By consistently keeping your page fresh, you are maintaining an accurate living document online and advancing your personal marketability at the same time.

Hats off to Bobby for sharing his advice! If you have any additional suggestions or leads, please share 'em!

Onions, Hepburn, & Jr. High: Commencement Wisdom

One of my favorite pastimes in May and June is to read commencement speeches, and scout for anecdotes. Put together a diverse audience of parents, grads, and visitors, combine it with the need to be concise, interesting, and not "too preachy"--and voila--a unique challenge for even the most seasoned of speakers. It's a unique challenge. (Here's some advice on how to do it well if you ever find yourself in this position.) 

My favorite commencement speeches are ones that are short, funny, and provide concise "timeless" advice. Without further ado, here are three of my all-time favorite snippets of wit and wisdom.

RISK HUMILIATION

During her undergraduate years at Dartmouth, author Louise Erdich worked as a cook for a campus dining hall. Here's an excerpt from her commencement address at her alma mater in which she recounts peeling 60 pounds of onions before going to class--and what the experience taught her.

My problem that day was that I smelled like an onion.  You know how it is when you smell like an onion.  You can’t smell how badly you smell.  I walked into class and everybody moved away from me.  I was frozen with embarrassment.  Now, I was sure anyway, coming from North Dakota, that everyone was smarter than me.  And at the moment, not only were they smarter, but I was the only one who smelled like an onion.

Lesson?  If you smell like an onion, hold your nose and take notes.  I passed the class, but did not become a philosophy major.  Instead, I became a writer.  Even if people were smarter, I had the advantage of knowing onions.  I had stories.  Most important of all, I had humiliation.  If there’s one this we all have in common, it is absurd humiliation, which can actually become the basis of wisdom.

The experience caused me to invent The Law of the Onion.  It goes something like this:  you have to risk humiliation if you want to move forward.  But the Law of the Onion also states: don’t take things personally.  If other people’s opinions are not personal to you, good or bad, you have a kind of freedom to be who you are.  You have the freedom to do the work that is most meaningful to you.

BET ON YOURSELF

ABC News Correspondent Cynthia McFadden was the first in her family to go to college. Her father worked for a telephone company in Maine. When she graduated from Columbia Law School, her dad told her: " just remember one thing little girl, you've struggled real hard to get this degree…. Now it is up to you to find work that gives you joy. Anyone can have a job they don't like. " Her advice: Make sure you don't.

In a 2008 Commencement address to Columbia Law School graduates, McFadden provides additional "life lessons" that may play out particularly well in a "down economy" (as many job offers today start out as contract or "temp to perm" assignments). This advice comes from a glamorous source--her friendship with Katherine Hepburn.

I was offered a new job. My first as an on-air reporter.   I wanted it desperately but was afraid I would fail. I went to Kate's (Katherine Hudson) for dinner. --- I told her--- "the good thing is he's offering me a three-year contract--- so even if I stink I am still employed!"

She looked at me with horror. "HEAVENS NO! You must sign for as short a time as you can. If you're good you want them to have to pay you a lot more money and if you're bad you want to be able to get the hell out. "

'When you are young," she continued, " you must always bet on yourself.' I signed for one year. I was good. And he did pay.

So ... Bet on yourself. Take a chance. I hate to quote a greeting card on an occasion as important as this one but here goes "what would you do if failure weren't an option." What indeed.

EXPECT SEVENTH GRADE TO REPEAT ITSELF

I'm often surprised by how much "grown-up" life resembles childhood. I've had jobs where corporate e-mails sent by senior leaders ended up in the wrong in-box--and the result has felt like a "passed note" gone bad, and I've worked for companies which have changed bathroom policies based on poor "seat behavior." And, never mind the fun of occasional office politics...

And with that, here's my all-time favorite piece of graduation advice, courtesy of Tom Brokaw's 2005 Commencement speech at Dartmouth College:

..You have been hearing all of your life about this moment - your first big step into what you have been called and told is the real world.  What, you may be asking yourself this morning, is this real life all about?  Ladies and gentlemen of the Class of 2005 at Dartmouth, it's not college - it's not high school.  Real life is junior high.

The world you're about to enter is filled with adolescent pettiness, pubescent rivalries, the insecurities of 13-year-olds and the false bravado of 14-year-olds. Forty years from now, I guarantee it, you'll still be making silly mistakes, you'll have a temper tantrum, you'll have your feelings hurt for some trivial slight, you'll say something dumb and at least once a week you'll wonder, "Will I ever grow up?"

You can change that.  In pursuit of passions, always be young.  In your relationship with others, always be a grown-up.  Set a standard and stay faithful to it.

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