Job Hacking

Will Business Lead the Way?

The U.S. is in the midst of the Great Recession, and there has been some signs of renewed growth, but it sure as heck ain't that vigorous. 

We also have a bunch of folks who like TEA a lot, and they seem to think that reducing government spending, and bringing the U.S. debt down is the way out. The idea being that if taxes come down, business investment will increase.

Based in this post, they seem to be saying that business leaders are somehow different than they were in the 20th Century. Put another way, business investment tracks VERY closely to unemployment. Get people more jobs and business investment will increase.

My guess: Since our Federal Government seems likely to either not change or reduce spending, that is, they sure as heck aren't going to be adding jobs, nor are they going to be doing much to increase hiring. In other words, neither the Leadership of the Federal Government, nor of Big Business is going to lead us out of the Great Recession. So, with the exception of Software Developers, the market for talent favors the buyer, and salary increases will be modest at best.

Envy

Over the course of the last six months or so, I've become reacquainted with covetousness or envy through my work. Specifically, people ignoring their gifts, their capabilities, and thus, completely missing the market's view of those gifts.

There are plenty of ways to mess up your career, and envy is one of the saddest. It's like eating food that's bad for you (say, sugar) because it's doubly bad since you're replacing food that moves you in a positive direction with food that moves you in the opposite way!

How do you identify if you are falling victim to envy? These thoughts might be a marker:

• Why did Joe get the promotion over me? I've been here much longer...
• Look at Marg, over in Marketing, just made Director. I should be a Director. How did HR miss that?
• Phil's ideas always seem to get traction with Angel investors, and mine are technically much better. 

If you have these thoughts, how can you be focusing on the work you need to do, or on improving yourself? Or servicing your customers? You can't because these negative thoughts consume your mental cycles.  Drop the thoughts, move on. You'll be better off if you step away from negative thoughts and move on to thinking about how to achieve your goals, your dreams.

Undertow

Sometimes you just gotta realize you're in the undertow and it's time to start swimming parallel to the shoreline. Which just about sums up my recent several weeks.

The good news is that there's a lot to think about as you work your way back to shore, slowly, oh so slowly. And then there's the long walk back home...

Until those thoughts become posts, here's David Brin's latest, Interesting Times: Lessons to Learn from a Flood of Changes.

Which raises the following questions: Are you driving a car built in 1971 or earlier? Kinda needs maintenance, and certainly doesn't have all the great safety gear of a car built in 2011, right? So, why shouldn't we believe that a 40 yo nuclear reactor is maybe a bit past its prime?

re: The limits of evidenced-based marketing

I was reading this post by Seth Godin, and it occurred to me that as much as this is applicable to big stories, it's also applicable to your job hunt, your resume, and interviews to come.

Here's how this plays out. 

First, your resume should have bullet points for each job that directly address how you helped improve revenue, reduced costs, or improved profit. For example:

• Designed a feature based on customer feedback, and working with Program Management, implemented it in 8 weeks. This feature secured two more contracts worth $2M.

So, this is interesting, but it's all evidence, with little story. To create the story, you need an amusing story for the interview that speaks to how you came to realize this feature was important, how you overcame institutional push-back, and how the sales people used the feature to win the contracts. It's even better if this story emphasizes the top aspects of your brand. To cap it all off, you also need references which speak to this win.

Yes, you need evidence of greatness. And yes, you need stories where the evidence can live.

re: 8 Personal Branding Tips by Maren Finzer

I read through this post by Matt several times and thought it was a great point to begin thinking about one's future career possibilities. 

This type of excercise can drive people a little nutty, and a recommendation if this is you. When asked about your Vision, Values & Passions, Strengths & Skills, the best place to turn is your past. Starting at about the age of 13 or so, look at each segment of your life and remember those times you enjoyed the most, those things you easily accomplished, stuff that others noted about you which resonnated fully with your being, as well as those things that are the opposite. Write them down, with one column being "This is Me", and the other being "Stuff that's not Me". Or maybe, "Things I love to do" and "Things I hate to do". Again, break them down by time segment, e.g. Jr. High, High School, College, 1st Job, 2nd Job, Grad School, etc.

The outcomes from this should help you to craft your story, and assist you in answering the tough questions that come up when people ask you about what you're doing, or what you've done, and what you want to do next.

 

 

 

re: The workforce should be segregated. Maybe.

Penelope posted a thought-provoking, and what will be a very controversial article about work, lifestyle, and men & women.

It's a great read.

I don't know the science behind all she has written about. What I like about her article is that it directly attacks some of the conventional wisdom regarding work that developed during the heyday of the feminist movement, and in making this attack, she gets under those concepts and helps you hold up the magnifying glass to your own work behaviors, and career choices - choices which may ultimately be holding you back.

It's not that I don't like what the feminist movement has achieved for our country, creating a shining example to other societies to enable EVERYONE. But, like unions, feminism is an old, tired concept that has outlived its usefulness. It's high time to move on to the next topic. 

Which, I think, is going to be more and more about you, the individual. As we get better at understanding the details of our makeup (DNA, brain scans, etc), I predict that we'll come to a moment where we'll know much more about ourselves. My guess is that if we look closely at our performance at various things, and then layer over that a study about our DNA, or brain makeup or whatever else comes up, we may have a much better understanding about our poor performance regarding we've been attempting to delude ourselves about. 

For example, you might have been really bad at running in PE while in school. Or maybe, you really liked solving math problems. Or, you were always the center of social attention. In looking closely at these tendencies, you'll likely see a path forward which is more in alignment with your talents, and finds you with a better fit in the marketplace.