Mr & Mrs Smith's Employment Survival Guide

Tips on how to navigate the interview process from husband and wife team Odie and Daval Smith.

Do You Need Someone to Help You Rescue Your Resume?

I had a great talk with someone who cares about resumes even more than I do. So much so, she helps people make theirs better.




For more information about Lauren's company, visit her website.

Career Sudoku

I had a great talk about strategically planning ones career with author Adriana Llames.

For more information about Career Sudoku visit the website.

Creating a Powerful Brand -- An Interview with Paige Arnof-Fenn

What is your brand? Have you taken the time to think about what is means to craft and cultivate a powerful brand? It doesn't matter if you are a corporation, a small business, or just an individual professional, your brand is your reputation, the calling card that precedes you.

What is your brand? Is it working for you or against you?

I had a great conversation with marketing expert and founder of Mavens & Moguls, Paige Arnof-Fenn about creating ones brand.

Enjoy.

For more information about Paige and her business, visit Mavens & Moguls online. http://www.mavensandmoguls.com/

Improving the World One Meeting at a Time -- An Interview with Miri McDonald

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who says they love meetings.  But they'd dislike them a little less if more meetings were productive and dare I say it...fun.

I had a great conversation with Miri McDonald, an organization development and communications strategist about how we all can have better meetings.

For more information about Miri McDonald and her services, contact her through her website http://www.mirimcdonald.com/.

Happy meetings everyone.

Interview with Author Jeffrey J. Fox of Fox and Company

Are you fierce?!?

Author Jeffrey J. Fox has written a new book --  "How To Be A Fierce Competitor".   I had an opportunity to talk to him about some of the things he feels are necessary to be and remain successful in our society; to be not just a competitor, but to be a fierce competitor.

I hope you enjoy our talk as much as we did.

For more information about Jeffrey J. Fox and his latest book, please visit his website.

http://www.foxandcompany.com/

Interview with Grant Harris of Image Granted

It's so amusing to me that in recent years, men who have shown an obvious choice to put forth some effort in their grooming and attire have gotten so much attention.  It has even warranted new vocabulary...can you say metrosexual? 

I guess my perspective is very different. For me, men putting forth some effort to look well groomed was just a given.  I grew up with a father who knew how to dress and dress well. In fact, it wasn't until I was in college that I recalled seeing my father in a pair of jeans. Between him and my mother, I'd much rather have gone shopping with him.  He had better taste and wasn't afraid to pay for quality.  He knows his stuff.  To this day if he asks me if I know of a certain designer and I say no he looks at me with a "how could you not know" look. He taught me what it meant to purchase "investment pieces" and how to build up an accessories wardrobe. I learned a long time ago, that although clothes don't make the person, you say a lot about yourself by the package you present to the world through your choice of attire.

So when I had the chance to talk with image consultant, Grant Harris, who specializes in helping men develop and improve their personal style, it wasn't hard for me to appreciate the work that he does.  For although many things may be obvious to folks like me and my father, there are still many a male out there who could use their own session of What Not to Wear.

I hope you enjoy our talk.

 

For more information about Grant Harris and his company, Image Granted, LLC of Washington DC, contact him at corporate@imagegranted.com.

Interview with Constance Hoffman of Social & Business Graces, Inc.

Well with this being National Business Etiquette Week, what better way to start the week than a conversation with a business etiquette expert.

It was my pleasure to have an excellent talk with Constance Hoffman of Social & Business Grace, Inc.  We discussed her tips for making a good first impression.  Enjoy.

If you'd like more information about Constance and her company's services, visit her website at www.LearnSocialGraces.com

Note:  The National Business Etiquette Week was started by the Protocol School of Washington.  Their website indicates the week as June 1st through the 7th.  However, many other mentions of the week on the internet has it celebrated the week of June 7th through the 12th.  Since there is never a bad week to show class and respect for others, we are recognizing it this week too.

Interview with Cynthia Kazalia of New Directions Career Center

This is the time of year that many young college and high school grads are looking to secure that first real job.  Getting a job and keeping a job always requires putting forth the right effort and making good choices.  Yet, now more than ever, those entering - or re-entering - the job market have to be more professional and strategic in their daily actions and interaction with colleagues and supervisors.

I had the pleasure of talking with Cynthia Kazalia, a Placement Specialist at the New Directions Career Center in Columbus, Ohio.  We discussed Cynthia's tips for how one can survive and thrive in the workplace.

We had a lot to discuss...the talk is just over a half hour.   Enjoy.   And you might want to pass this on to a recent graduate you know.

For more information about the New Directions Career Center...visit their website at www.newdirectionscc.org

4 Reasons to Update Your Resume

Despite what I think is an obvious practice for any professional -- updating your resume on a regular basis -- many professionals’ resumes have cobwebs on them.

In a way, it’s easy to understand how one falls into this habit of inactivity. You may be a long term employee of your company and feel you will never look for another job in your life; so why do you need to update your resume? Maybe you feel your profession doesn’t require a resume as part of the application process. So even if you do apply for another job in your lifetime, you won’t need a resume. Or maybe you are one of those people who feel “I’ll cross that bridge when and if I need to so why bother until it’s absolutely necessary”.

Well I’m here to tell you, no matter what your reasons for not updating your resume in the last year, two years or two decades, even if no one but you will ever see it again, there is value in updating your resume on a regular basis.

Reason #1 -- Career Reality Check

Updating your resume is an opportunity for you to look back on your career and assess the strengths and weaknesses. If when you do take the time to update your resume, you find that you have very little to add or update since the last time, that’s not a good sign of the health and vitality of your career.

In my workshops on resume and cover letter writing, I have advised participants that their resume should be a snapshot of a successful career, and therefore should include milestones and accomplishments they have achieved. If it’s been over a year since you have updated your resume and you have no new accomplishments, achievements or newly acquired skills to add, that’s a clue that you need to work on your career.

The process of updating your resume can be a very valuable barometer of how well you have managed various facets of your career. Does your resume reflect a desire for continuous training and education in your field? Does it show that you have taken on new and increasingly more difficult responsibilities over the years? Does it show positive outcomes and results that benefited you, your company or your customers? If the answer is no to any or all of these questions, then your exercise in resume updating can serve as a kick start to your working on any of the weaknesses in your professionalism.

Reason #2 -- Resumes Are Not Just for Job Searches

Just because you’re not looking for a job doesn’t mean your resume doesn’t have other uses. If you are in the public or non-profit sector, it may be a necessary piece of an application for funding. Likewise, many companies have employee recognition programs and almost all have annual employee evaluations. Having your resume up to date can prove valuable in both of these situations.

Having been in the non-profit, community action arena as a Director myself, I was often involved in grant writing to fund key projects. Many grantors wish to know the people they are potentially investing in as well as the programs. Therefore, they request applicants included resumes of the key staff members who will be running these programs. Imagine your program is submitting a grant with a tight deadline and your supervisor says she needs a copy of your resume. Ooops, it’s been three years since you updated it and it doesn’t even have your most recent promotion and increase in duties. Do you give it to your boss as is, or take the time to update it and hope you don’t make a mess of it while you try to get it done by tomorrow?

Sometimes resumes can be an essential component of expressing your personal benefits and value to your company or agency. Does your organization have a merit award program to recognize outstanding achievement among its staff? Imagine how much easier your case for recognition would be if you were able to include an up to date resume that details many of the significant contributions you have made to the success of the company. Even if you aren’t looking for a specific merit award, during that annual evaluation process, having taken the time to contemplate your career for your resume means you will be that much more prepared when you and your supervisor analyze your job performance over the last year.

Reason #3 -- Always Be Prepared

When I was a Director in a non-profit, one day a staff person called me up to ask if I’d help her with her resume. She was interested in applying for a newly opened position within the program, which would be a promotion for her. I had helped individual staff before, plus she knew I had presented resume and cover letter workshops for staff and clients. Most of my staff knew I have high expectations for resumes, even for internal candidates.

Although I was more than willing to help her, I had to also bring to her attention that she was asking one of the persons who, in part, would be involved in the hiring decision making to help her with her application package. Had she come to one of my resume workshops she would have known that I was a strong advocate of always having your resume ready, just in case an opportunity presents itself. She in turn said she didn’t feel she needed a resume until she found out about this new position within the program. This is exactly the kind of thinking I try to change.

I like that saying… luck is when opportunity meets preparation. The opportunity for advancement within your current company may present itself when you least expect it. However, you will not be able to take advantage of this opportunity if you haven’t prepared yourself, both in your daily work performance and your ability to present that positive work ethic in written form.

Reason #4 -- Life Happens…Never Say Never

There is no such thing as complete job security these days. About the only people who have true job security are the Supreme Court Justices and the Pope.

We may think we have a job for life, but as we see in this current economy, your company's economic health can change directions like the wind. Having taken the time to update your resume on a regular basis means you will not be caught ill prepared should the day come when your secure job gets eliminated or outsourced.

Understanding Your Brand

What is your company brand? What is your personal brand? In business, people often confuse the company logo with the brand and assume they are one in the same. But actually, the logo is just a symbolic representation of what your brand has come to mean in the minds of your customers and potential customers.

The Brand Is the Relationship

Put very simply, your brand is your relationship with your consumers or stakeholders… your reputation. It is the level of expectation that has been set and will continuously be renegotiated upon each new interaction with the consumer.

To illustrate, think of what your personal “brand” is as an individual. As an individual, are you seen as trustworthy, intelligent and responsible? Or do you in fact have a negative brand? Are you seen as rude, combative or lazy?

Based on the long or short term relationship that has been established, you have set up a certain level of expectation for current and future interactions with others. If your reputation is positive, you will have to work less to continue the relationship. Even if you have small slips in your performance as a friend, spouse, family member or colleague, your past positive relationship will give you the “benefit of the doubt” and the relationship can survive.

However, if your reputation or personal brand is based on negative previous experiences, even if you seek to change that reputation and improve, you will have to work that much harder to overcome people’s bad opinion of you.

Branding In Business

Now that’s your personal brand. And ones personal brand can certainly have an impact on ones business brand. For some they are one in the same. Just ask Martha Stewart.

As a business person or professional in any industry, you should be aware of your organization’s brand. And don’t think your stakeholders won’t remind you of what they think it is.

Why I love IKEA

I’m reminded of an incident when I was in my twenties and furnishing my apartment, and I had to remind IKEA of their brand.

I had bought two tall black cabinets to put in my dinning room. I got them back to my apartment and began to assemble them. I had bought assemble-it-yourself furniture before, so I was pretty secure in my abilities to put them together.

I got to the point where I was supposed to put on the doors and I came to a problem: there were no pre-drilled holes to put on the door hinges. Even a muscle man would not have been able to get these screws into that black laminate covered MDF frame of the doors. Frustrated but determined, I stopped the fruitless efforts and put the project aside. I’d have to borrow or rent a power drill; which I did a few days later.

Being a twenty-something, not mechanically inclined, individual, my efforts at using an unfamiliar power tool were not exactly stellar. So after a couple of even more frustrating tries I gave up and called IKEA.

The Specs Don’t Call For Pre-Drilled Holes Ma’am

Now IKEA’s customer service representatives were more than civil and respectful, but they were also being absolutely no help what so ever. When I told them my item didn’t have pre-drilled holes, more than one representative told me, “Ma’am, the specifications for that item do not call for pre-drilled holes.” As if I were calling them because I thought the manufacturers had simply forgotten to drill the holes. And this is where I had to remind them of their brand.

I reminded them that one of their major brand identities (no I’m sure I didn’t put it that way, but I was close to saying this) was the ease of assembly of their products. According to them, I should be able to put together all of their items with a screwdriver, a hammer, and that ubiquitous little “L” shaped tool that they supply. If the item required me to use a drill to assemble, that went against the established promise they had made to me the consumer.

They offered me the option of bringing the items back to the store of course. But since I was in Delaware and the two closest IKEA stores were at least 45 minutes away from me, and the two cabinets were already mostly assembled except for the doors so they wouldn’t fit back in my little car, AND because I still wanted my cabinets, that was not an acceptable solution for me.

Truth be told, I really hadn’t a clue how to resolve this situation. I wanted them to figure out how to make me happy. I can’t remember if I came up with the ultimate solution or they did, but I do remember that I ended up speaking with a supervisor. Since the front line reps were no help, I asked to speak to a supervisor, because I learned from my parents early on, “Never accept no from someone who doesn’t have the authority to say yes in the first place.”

IKEA Customer for Life

So once I heard the same line about the specs and the lack of pre-drilled holes from the supervisor and she realized I wasn’t going to let them off the hook or the phone that easily, she finally said the words that will make me an IKEA customer for life…”Ma’am, we will send a carpenter to your home to assemble the cabinets for you at no charge.”

Needless to say, that option made me very happy, and even if it wasn’t exactly the solution that was most cost effective, it was the one that saved my relationship with them. It saved my opinion of their brand.

That was more than a decade ago and I’m still talking about it and still purchasing from IKEA. And even more important…those cabinets have seen two other apartments and are now sitting in the lower level office of my home.