Job Hacking

Been thinking about the best next career?

I've had a number of conversations with people of late regarding the economy, their career, and what the future may hold for them.

One thing I've always heard about the future is that it is tough to predict. But not impossible.

Today's NYT has a highly thought-provoking article about jobs that are in demand right now(MBAs with no real-world experience need not apply). Definitely worth the read.

As to the future, these roles may well point the way towards your next career. All of these rolls have common elements: hands-on, long time to gain the necessary experience to be good enough, and focused on areas that were known to be needed at least 5 years ago based on demographic needs. 

For software development, and technologists in general, I keep wondering about how we create better products for an aging population that, based on death rates, will trend more female. How about specializing in UX for those over 50? 

Be Bold!

There are so many ways to make your resume stand out.

For example, use an Objective Section.

You can also include short recommendations from key supervisors in your career.

And, of course, you should include a line or two at the end of each career entry to detail the technology used, such as: Java, Javascript, CSS, HTML, MySQL, Linux, C++

You should, of course, make the resume short. And use declarative sentences.

And above all, BOLD random words. Because that's what all the best developers do to help the really dumb recruiters see all the key items on their resume.

- or -

Focus on clean, crisp formatting. It makes it easier to pick up the phone and call you.

Is your kid about to drive you nuts?

One of the fun parts about being a parent is when your child gets bored and starts bugging you for something to do. 

If you're in this predicament as we get into summer break, you might want to check out the beta release of Nanovor. 

Nanovor is a turn-based battle game that works much like Pokemon, except that it's largely on-line, and it's much more fun. It is being developed by Smith & Tinker, the company I joined back in January.

We put this product into a limited beta phase several weeks ago, and we are very happy with the results we've seen to date. Since this has been a success, we're opening up the beta to broader use,  and are looking for people to get into the game and help us understand where the problems are. Oh, and during the beta, it's free of charge!

Download here.

A few more adds to my blogrolls

I've been falling behind a bit on updating my blogroll, and today I had a moment to address that little bit of housekeeping.

The new ads are:

• Malcolm Gladwell
• Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist 
• Career Horizon's: The Blog! 

  
Malcom Gladwell doesn't need an intro, and his work should be on the top of everyone's reading list, especially if you're seeking talent, or you're seeking a new company to work for.

Penelope Trunk is a blogger/writer/entrepernuer I've been following for some time. In all honesty, I'm ambivalent about her posts. But, one thing I won't argue with is her advice: She is so spot on so much of the time that you should read her blog regularly. I guarentee that you'll cringe from time to time, but you'll never walk away from a post feeling bored!

Finally, we come to Matt Youngquist's blog, Career Horizon's: The Blog!Matt's great at what he does, he's local to Seattle, and he's always got good insight into what's going on in the job hunting world. Definitely worth a read if you're on the job hunt!

What's wrong with the Democratic Party?

Today was a 'Perfect Storm' of political events in my life.

To set the stage, my mom, a very true-blue Republican is up visiting. Then, Paul Krugman writes this most excellent analysis of the source causes of our current economic difficulty. I described this article to mom, and she had a fairly violent negative reaction to it, actually going so far as saying, "So, you think all the good times of the 90s are due to Clinton?" 

This rather amazing non-sequitor brings us to right to the core problem of the moment with the Democratic party: They have no competition.

Right now, the only things out there keeping the Democrats sharp are the admitedly huge, once-in-a-lifetime economic/governance/international relationship problems we are facing down. And, that should be enough, I suppose, except that it won't be. Because they are political animals. They need to rail against an opponent. And right now, the Republican party just isn't there.

Can't wait for the next political competitor to the Democrats to appear. We need them, and soon!

Launch: When the real work begins

As many of you have noted, my posts have been few and far between of late. Just a little busy getting ready for our beta launch.

Two days ago, we launched our beta. Yesterday was the first BIG day of product use. And, despite all the nail biting, things went fairly smoothly. Big sigh of relief. Now, we get to run the rest of the race!

From my end, there have been some remarkable learnings that are germane to most anybody starting a company, getting ready to service customers. In no particular order:

• CRM Tools are very capable, and very inexpensive. I'll be talking a bit more in several coming posts about both MailChimp and Zendesk.
• Getting help, particularly through third-party channels has familiar options, and new, and more flexible choices. I'll talk about a few of these in the coming weeks, and one very special one when the firm in question says it's O.K.

All in all, launches are big fun. You place you bets, you see what happens.

Just like most everything else in life, but with a known deadline.

One thing you can learn traveling to Salt Lake City

Yesterday, I made a 1-day excursion to Salt Lake City.

Before I left, I lost my Driver's License. I did not know this at the time.

You know how there are some things in your life that have bad ju ju, so you usually avoid them? Well, New Year's Eve and Salt Lake City are mine. Which is not to say the primary mission of my trip was a failure, far from it. But, the stuff happening on the sidelines was, um, attention-getting.

For instance:

• Yes, it is possible to get on a plane without a Driver's License or Passport. It is a highy educational experience.
• TSA professionals are sympathetic and helpful when confronted with this problem.
• If you are HUGE, like me, you will be uncomfortable in the seats on a Delt flight. By HUGE, I mean 5'10", and 180 lbs.
• There are Delta Customer Service personnel who are nice and helpful. They just don't occur as frequently as you think they ought.
• The Customer Service personnel at Fox Car Rental all seem to be far more interested in their co-workers, their co-worker's immediate families, their co-worker's cousins, and upselling you on insurance than actually getting you into your rental car in a timely manner.
• It is possible to get carded as a middle-aged male. And, no, the id you use to get onboard the plane will not get you a drink.
• Drunk, aggressive, muscle-bound guys have an impairment to getting luggage in overhead bins. And being nice to the only good Delta flight attendant in existence in the Western U.S.
• No matter what, chewing tobacco, and using a spit bottle on flight is not attractive. Especially if you're a drunk, aggressive, muscle-bound guy.
• No amount of cologne will improve your attractiveness if you are a drunk, aggressive, muscle-bound guy.

The one thing? Don't leave your driver's license or passport behind.

CRM for the little companies

Once upon a time, companies paid A LOT of money for CRM systems. And, these costs were prohibitive for startups. So, if you ran a Sales Team, you usually cobbled something together with Act or Goldmine, and if you ran Tech Support/Customer Service, you maybe even created your own thing.

Don't need to do that anymore.

I've been putting together the necessary infrastructure for Customer Service/Tech Support at my current employer, and have been highly impressed with a new entry in the CRM space, Zendesk. It is very functional, highly customizable, scalable and incredibly inexpensive ($19/month per agent, all in!). Oh, and I should also say very, very easy to implement, e.g. you don't need to hire consultants for the deployment.

According to this post, a lot of other people have signed on, to the tune of about 1,000 other companies, with 700 or so of those being in the U.S.

Zendesk. Check it out if you need a Customer Service or Technical Support system (and if you have customers, you do).

All Apologies

Tom Peters has what looks like a great post about the skill of apology. In it, he cites a new book (release date 5/1) by John Kador, Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust.

I've not read this book, and it looks good. Going to add it to my ever-growing list of must-reads.

This book, along with stumbling into a couple of situations from my long-ago past made me think hard about this topic. Here's the thing: When it comes corporate apologies, they have to occur in an environment where everyone is on-board with the apology. And, in addition to the apology, the company in question HAS to take action to address the base cause of the error as fast as possible. 

Were I the CEO, I'd have one or two people I'd turn to in these cases, just to make sure there is no weaseling around going on with either the apology, or the actions. 

Aside from being good corporate advice, what does this have to do with you, the job hunter? Simple. Your brand will irrevocably be tied to your employers. Before you accept a given job at a given company, check out the stumbles the company has made, and see if you're O.K. with their response. If not, add that to 'Against' column on your For & Against list.

Which economy are you in?

There is no question that we live in a very interesting time.

First, there's all the bad, mainly macro-economic news. You've heard or read about most of it: Mortgage-backed securities, construction collapse, zombie-banks, bailouts, auto industry collapse, etc.

Then, there are instances of other aspects of our economy.

For example, the AP reported today about a bill in Texas that approved incentives to graduate more nurses. Because there's a nursing shortage.

Another example - I know of two people who landed new roles within very reasonable search time-frames. The common elements? They were Software Developers. In Seattle.

Recommendation to all those college-aged kids out there: Medicine, Computer Science. Oh, and Food!

Are you against salary transparency?

Great article in INC, Why I Never Let Employees Negotiate a Raise.

Should be great grist for the SHRM mill. And, a great recommendation for those starting up their new company.

One nit I saw was that if market salaries decline for certain level, then their logic probably would state that they'd also reduce, too? Looks like a morale killer to me, if they were to pursue such a course.

Who owns Fox News, and why do you care about it?

David Brin has another bright post, this time focusing on tea-baggers, revising the tax code, and oligarchs. 

You might disagree with him, but his posts are always insightful and thought-provoking. We need more of this, methinks.

Think about this the next time you interview...

Susan Boyle completely rocked my world today, and she should do the same for yours.

After you watch & listen, think real hard about the people you've interviewed of late, and what you thought about them.

Have you gone back and checked to see how your candidates have done after they passed on your, or after you declined them? You're a numbers-oriented leader, so why not?

Aye, prepare to be boarded!

Mark Anderson has a very thought-provoking post about Corporate Board composition.

To whet your appetite, he starts with the notion that intellectual honesty in the business world went by the wayside a few years back, and we have been off track ever since (how things work v. how they ought to work). And then, he goes on to make a suggestion as to what should be done about it.

I love that about Mark's writing. He tells you what is wrong, and then almost always, makes recommendations about what to fix.

Here's the link to An Open Letter to The Board of Directors.

Do you know your ABCs?

Auren Hoffman's post on Why Hiring is Paradoxically Harder in a Downturn was clearly of high interest in the recruiting world. 

And, yeah, he's right, there's a very high signal to noise ratio when you go looking for talent in this market.

But that whole A-Player thing? Not so much.

All bosses think they are A-Players. But, if you think about the whole A-Player framework, it's a fallacy, because once you move up a level, you automatically get assessed by a new set of criteria. And, this is where the A-Player framework breaks down for me. I've experienced too many BAD BOSSES who think they are A-Players when it comes to building a team. And guess what they say after they've hired someone who doesn't work out? 

"Oh, they just didn't meet expectations, they aren't an A-Player"

Um, yeah, right. Did you look in the mirror before you said that?