Manager Tools Blog

Don't Answer!

wendii — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:18:49 -0400

Whilst this blog post applies most obviously to those of us currently searching for a job, it applies equally to anyone who is out and about answering work calls on a mobile or even those of us sat at a desk, deep in thought or creating complex Excel spreadsheets.

Candidates who are currently actively looking for jobs often answer their mobile phones wherever they are: in the supermarket, in their echoey bathroom, or at the beach. It's incredibly difficult to have conversations with them - the sound quality is often terrible, they are not prepared and often also distracted. If a recruiter calls with an opportunity, except for temporary work which is often first come first served, you don't have to answer immediately. It can wait an hour or two, till you are somewhere quiet and distraction free, with your paperwork around you.

Similarly, sitting at your desk, deep in an Excel spreadsheet, answering the phone distractedly does not give a good impression, jolts us out of what we're doing and looses our focus. Phones go unanswered all the time - we leave our desks to get coffee, go to the bathroom, go to meetings, go to the postroom, do some photocopying and eat. As long as we return calls within the same half day, we can still have a reputation for being available, but not sacrifice our concentration.

Employability

wendii — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:23:43 -0400

It occurred to me recently that in my thoughts, the candidates who get offered jobs are more employable than others. 'Employable' is a shorthand in my thoughts for something which I see and hear, but have never broken down into behaviors. Given that Manager Tools is all about behaviors, here are some of the behaviors which give employable candidates the edge:

First impressions: Employable candidates are appropriately dressed, clean and tidy. They make eye contact, smile, shake hands well and are respectful but not subservient. If there's a need to make small talk, they continue the conversation with appropriate questions ('how many people work in this building?' not 'how many people are you interviewing for this job?').

Communication: Employable candidates answer questions clearly and succinctly, give work related answers not personal ones and answer the question asked. They give short answers (no more than 5 minutes) but have more information if probed.

Questions: Employable candidates ask appropriate questions, which demonstrate their interest in the job, not the pay scale. For example: 'What are the department's main priorities in the next six months' not 'When do I get paid?'.

Why you must include team size on your resume

wendii — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:31:37 -0400

One of the elements we recommend managers include on their resume is the number of direct reports they have. Recruiters are a critical bunch, and they believe that if you've only ever managed 2 people, you probably can't be trusted with 200. It's the same with budgets: if you've only ever been let loose with the petty cash, we're unlikely to let you play with a million dollar budget.

Thinking back to your resume, you might have included 'managed a team developing software'. This isn't specific enough. You must have the number.

I came across a blog post recently which explains why: it's one recruiter advising another on how to find resumes for a software development manager, using internet searches. If you put a search into the internet for software development managers in Seattle, there are 205,000 results. A few too many to look at! If you narrow as suggested in the article, there are 18. As a recruiter, I'd flick through those 18 quickly, and see if there were any matches and then start another search. But if the perfect Manager Tools candidate came up in the first 18, then I wouldn't need to look any more.

Any marketing effort entails knowing your audience. Understanding how recruiters search, helps you be found. http://recruiting-online.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!85B563D573918AEA!444.entry

The Small Stuff

wendii — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:58:16 -0400

I've had a plumber in my house for the last two weeks. I didn't enjoy it. He brought vast amounts of stuff - I mean, seriously, who needs 10 toolboxes?! - and created concrete dust everywhere, and I had no hot water to clean after him. However, I'm glad I now have a shower that works!

This blog isn't really about my plumber though, but about the heating he installed. On the control panel are millions of settings including one which I can press when I go on holiday and when I come home, the heating will heat the house ready for my arrival. A picture of suitcases appears on the display so I know it's set.

Someone somewhere, thought it would be nice if the house was warm when I came home from holiday, but I don't want to waste heat while I'm gone. They thought of a solution, and then suggested it to their boss, who suggested it to his, who invested his budget in some other companies to get the parts and gave it to someone who put it together and tried it out a few times till it worked. Then it was put into the boiler, which was a contribution from many people, marketed, and bought by my plumber.

Business is amazing. That someone had that thought, and that started something that ended in my warm house, which I will appreciate every time I come home is amazing. That hundreds of people all over the world contributed is amazing. It doesn't matter what your job title is, what you do today will affect millions of people. Do it well.

Finding time

wendii — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:57:13 -0400

Monday's blog post recommended the Marshall Goldsmith at Google video on YouTube. Any of you that clicked through will have noticed it's 66 minutes long, and perhaps wondered when you're going to get time to listen to that.

I have 37 podcasts I'm subscribed to on ITunes, eight books on the read now pile beside my bed, (and another 20 downstairs on the read next pile and 60 on my wish list at Amazon) a dozen magazines on the read right now pile, two books on the go, and 284 subscriptions on the Google Reader. Some days, I wish I could get a usb port implanted and have it all go straight into my brain.

Here's some hints which stop me falling too far behind:

Turn off the TV. The summer schedules are out, there's nothing on anyway. Get into the habit of not watching everything. If you really want to watch your team, make it a treat for having caught up with something.

Listen while you work. I can't think or write and listen to a podcast, but I can clean, iron, drive, file, walk and get dressed. I have a podcast on in my bedroom and listen as I wander in and out in the mornings.

Let the technology do the work. Use RSS feeds or subscribe so you don't have to visit websites more than once (apart from Manager Tools of course!). Every time I read an article or see a book I want, I put it on my wish list at Amazon. It's an easy way of keeping that list and I can do it from anywhere.

Use odd moments. I read my Google Reader on my IPhone at the station, during lunch and in the queue at the supermarket and the post office.

Prioritize. I was never a big socializer but now I restrict myself to one night a week. Any more and I'm too tired to concentrate and too drained to be polite.

Those are my hints. Anyone got any for me?

Changing Your Behaviour

wendii — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:25:16 -0400

I watched this video of Marshall Goldsmith at Google this weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBeGAAYWg8. There are many nuggets of information which I noted in the video, but the one that struck me most was "the way you get better at everything is don't try change everything. Just change something".

He points out that if you improve your listening skills, your coworkers will be believe you are more caring, your supplier relationships will improve and your wife will believe you love her more.

There are now so many Manager Tools and Career Tools podcasts you might feel lost. Marshall's advice would be just to start with one thing. Pick the one thing which is bothering you most, listen to that cast and start. It's the only way to change.

The World Is Small

wendii — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:46:13 -0400

One of Manager Tools' friends, Tom Hausmann, sent me an email recently, letting me know that a choir from the college he worked at was visiting England. The UK has a fifth of the population of the US, and we're all squeezed into a country a little bit bigger than Minnesota. Despite this, we think that travelling from London to Manchester in a car is too far for fun.

Remarkably, the choir was visiting a church just five miles from my house. When I told Tom I'd try to go, he told me that one of his direct reports, a Manager Tools fan, was escorting the choir, and I should be sure to say hi.

The choir was amazing. I had tears in my eyes as they sang, and more tears when I saw the joy in their faces from the standing ovation. Tom's direct, Matt Kehl, was charming and proud to tell me about his O3s with his student workers.

So what did I learn? That it is very easy to make others feel special. It was easy for the audience to stand and clap to show their appreciation for the work the choir put in. It was easy for me to drive five miles and then find Matt and say hi. It was easy to send Tom a thank you for introducing us. And yet, all those easy actions made a difference to their days.

You don't have to do something big and dramatic. Just do something simple - make a connection, and make someone's day.

Working Smarter

wendii — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:42:23 -0400

There are days when I wonder if I'm just making what I do look hard. Some days I write 5 blog posts in an hour, and some days I take all day. Sometimes the words just flow onto the page, and sometimes they stop and stutter and stall and I delete whole posts.

I have a whole bunch of ways that I try and change things up when I get stuck. Most of them are about being smarter, not working harder. Here's one for those of you looking for a job right now. There are lists produced all round the internet of companies, locations and industries which are currently hiring. Target them, rather than looking aimlessly.

Some links:
http://www.linkup.com/trends/
http://corporate.monster.com/Press_Room/MEI_DMA.asp
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobtrends/home
http://www.rileyguide.com/trends.html

Meetings

wendii — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:39:33 -0400

Whenever I get invited to a meeting, I think about a manager I had when I was right at the start of my career.

My feeling was that if someone invited me to a meeting, the polite thing to do was to go. So I'd get invited, and then say to my boss: "I'm going to a meeting with procurement". And she'd say "Why?" and I'd say "Because they invited me?". It took not more than one of these conversations before I realized that this was not the right answer.

The right answer apparently, was to consider the meeting and what I wanted out of it. Even if they invited me. I was young and naive and this took a bit of thinking about.

Eventually I got it and when she asked "Why?" I could answer: "I want them to agree to do X ahead of me getting Y", or "They want to talk about adding approvals for high value transactions and I want to keep it the same".

My upbringing still means that if I'm invited to something, I go. But I think about that manager every time I go to a meeting, and try and work out what I want to get out of it. If I really can't think of something, I use it to practice Effective Meeting Behavior. I don't get as much quality doodle time as I used to, but I think I'm using that time more effectively.

(Effective Meeting Behavior; http://www.manager-tools.com/2008/05/effective-meetings-behavior-part-5-...)

Handshakes

wendii — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:20:53 -0400

As an interviewer, you get to shake a lot of hands. I spent a year living in Germany, where shaking hands is practically a national pastime, so it's a real habit for me when in a business setting to shake hands. I learnt when I was there, always to move whatever I'm holding to my left hand when I'm waiting for someone to come out of their office - it's another habit which has saved me dropping papers on the floor countless times.

I've noticed, that whilst men will often shake hands at the beginning and end of a interview, women tend to do this less. They are often surprised when I reach out, which leads to that moment of awkwardness, when I'm there and they are not!

So, I was interested to read this study this week: http://tinyurl.com/nwgqsn which suggests that shaking hands well is a competitive advantage for women. Obviously, what you say and do is more important, but if you want to give yourself an edge, listening to the handshake cast again can't hurt. It's at http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/04/secrets-of-a-great-handshake

Spaces, dashes and periods

wendii — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:05:23 -0400

Sometimes, I think it's just me. Sometimes I wonder if every other recruiter is as irritated as I am by spaces which aren't consistent, dates abbreviated differently through a document or apostrophes in the wrong place.

It's not just about resumes, it's about emails, websites, newspapers, anything written or spoken where the grammar or punctuation or spelling is wrong. The whole point of these things is to make communication easier, not loose us in a forest of verbs which don't agree with their subjects, weird use of capitals and missing periods.

Just to make myself feel better I bookmark webpages where the author agrees that spelling, grammar and punctuation are still important. This week it's the Harvard Business Review. I feel much better now I have the heavyweights on my side! http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/silverman/2009/06/how-to-write-a-resume...

Elevator Pitch

wendii — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:50:02 -0400

Recently I have been calling candidates whose resumes have been posted on the big job boards. I've been surprised and disappointed at the responses from candidates. When we post our resume on a job board, we're hoping someone will call. The least we can do is be prepared.

We're likely to be asked the big four questions: What's your current situation, what are you looking for, what's your location preference and what's your salary expectation?

At the very least, work on the answers to those questions, and when a recruiter calls, you'll sound prepared and decisive: two essential characteristics of good candidates.

Another Reason To Develop Your Network

wendii — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:59:57 -0400

Research from IBM shows that deeper networks have financial value to
companies: http://tinyurl.com/ccu5ff. The average email contact was
worth $948. However, there wasn't just value to the company.
Stronger ties to a manager produced an increased in personal financial
success. But being the bottleneck in approving every request or emailing
the same people over and over had a negative effect.

So, how do you begin to expand your network? Sit next to someone
different in a meeting; make small talk over coffee; when someone
picks up the phone in a department and it's not who you expected,
remember their name and leave a message... they will remember you; go
to events; talk to PAs and receptionists; ask your boss who was at her
meeting and what they do; pay attention to organization announcements,
as a start.

You might not want to do it, but to quote Mark: Professionalism is
putting effectiveness above what you want to do. If your career is
important to you (and it must be, why else are you here?) then doing
what is effective is the best way to get what you want.

Higher Standard

wendii — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:46:49 -0400

A conversation on the forums caught my eye this week: Mark and a member discussing his late night posting habits. At one of the conferences someone asked me if I realized I have the best job in the world and the answer, of course, is yes!

My bosses, though, obviously work to the Olympic standard of bossness. For those of us, bosses and individual contributors, who think that working to a higher standard will have a negative effect on their team and their peers, I wanted to share what happens when there is someone who works that hard.

It's REALLY hard to say 'I'm tired' when your boss is working at 3am....regularly. It's REALLY hard to be grouchy at 5am, when they are not. It's REALLY hard to indulge your inner high D when the highest D in the room does not. It's REALLY hard to turn in inferior
work, when you see the standard being set is WAY higher than that.

Actually, one person setting a higher standard moves everyone up the productivity and effectiveness scale. There is evidence to this (download the Legal and General case study from this website: http://www.a8i.co.uk/en/resource-centre/case-studies), but you can just believe me, working at 10pm on a Saturday night, because my boss would :-)

Now, how are you going to set a higher standard?

Starting Over

wendii — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:00:17 -0400

One of the comments we've had on the resume review service is that
when looking back on their careers and being forced to find quantified
achievements some people feel that their previous performance was not
what they wish it was.

I felt sad when I read that, but sadder still that someone was
worrying about it. Everyone has moments or longer periods where they
did not perform, for personal reasons, from youth, from innocence,
from emotional immaturity. Everyone has situations which they know
they could have handled better, and will next time because of having
had that experience.

Every day is a chance to start over. Sit down with a cup of coffee
and write out a plan for the next six months. Write down all the
things you would do if you were a stellar performer. If necessary,
go to your boss, and tell him: "I know I haven’t been performing as
well as I should. Here is what I'm going to do differently". He
might be skeptical. But keep going. Your self-respect depends on it. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Another Reason To Clean Up Your Facebook Page

wendii — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:11:22 -0400

One of the holy grails of recruiting is a passive candidate. The
theory is that candidates who are actively looking for a new position
are doing so for a reason (that they were let go, fired or generally
otherwise ineffective) and the stars are happily climbing the ladder
within companies and are not even thinking about looking. Whilst I
think this is a harsh characterization of the active candidate, it
doesn't stop recruiters discussing all the ways they can reach passive
candidates.

New technologies mean that recruiters looking for candidates search
more than just the job board CV databases. Facebook, Linkedin and
Twitter are popular search targets. Research by AIM group suggests
that 16% of recruiters rate the social networks as 'great' for finding
new candidates.

Whilst this research is focused on finding candidates rather than
checking them out, it's just another reason for ensuring that your
social network pages do not embarrass you.

http://www.cheezhead.com/2009/05/14/ved-recruitment-advertising-2009/

Why Personal Branding Is Not For You

wendii — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:21:23 -0400

Everywhere I go on the internet it seems someone is talking about
personal branding. Just in case you haven't seen it, personal
branding is about thinking of yourself as a product and ensuring that
others are given a consistent, positive impression of you at all
times.

Whilst I do think it can be helpful even to those of us who work in
corporations to think of ourselves as 'Brand You' as Tom Peters wrote
in 1997, I'm worried that this obsession with personal branding has a
cost when it comes to working within a corporation.

Companies do not care who you are or what values you have. All they
care about is what you deliver. It's not about you.. it is about what
the company wants and needs. To a certain extent, the brand you want
to transmit is immaterial, because it is always the same: that you are
an effective, efficient employee who contributes to the company's
profitability.

Image

wendii — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:11:54 -0400

I rarely interview in my office. Usually, I interview with a hiring
manager in their office or a conference room nearby. That means
taking the candidates' resume, the job specification, the standard
question set, my interview structure cheat sheet, any paperwork the
candidate has to fill out, my interview notes book, a pen, my phone
and my pass to a building five minutes walk away. If I'm interviewing
all morning, this might mean two or three candidates' worth of stuff.

Sometimes the hiring manager arrives without any of his copies of the
paperwork, without having thought about his questions or the candidate
or even late from another meeting. My internal train of thought goes
'Seriously, how much are you paid? Can you not get it together? Is
hiring this person important to you? Am I just here to take the work
from you? Shall I just pick someone from the taxi line?’ Of course,
my outward expression is calm, professional and seeks to cover all his
flaws.

It does serve to remind me though, that having everything with me, in
a folder, looking neat and prepared gives a much better impression
than the hiring manager's disorganization, and that that image is
important. Whilst I wish it were not so, we all make
judgments based on other people's appearance and behavior. People are
making judgements about yours, all day, every day. What impression
are you giving?

Relationships

wendii — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:15:49 -0400

I read somewhere, sometime ago, that we earn the average of our 5 best
friends. So if all your friends are millionaires, you don't need to
carry on reading. In the same way, most of us have jobs which at a
similar level to those of our friends. And, in our workplace, most of
us have relationships in our teams, with the teams that interact with
us and mostly at our level, maybe one level below and one level above.

Relationships, as Career Tools will tell you endlessly, are one of the
building blocks of career success. Knowing people, and having people
know you, is useful in getting things done on a daily basis, is
essential during the steel cage deathmatch meeting, and means you hear
about the great opportunities to move onward and upward first.

From an even more mercenary standpoint, having friends on the level
above, or two levels above you means your friends have a higher
average salary - and this is likely, over time, to increase yours.
Walking up to the CEO and asking him if he'd like to go for a beer is
not the way to make friends. However, if you do see more senior staff
making coffee, waiting in reception or even getting in the elevator
with you, there is no harm in saying good morning, introducing
yourself, and commenting on their great new product launch, the
customer you heard they just landed or asking how year end is going
for the accountants.

Of course, having this conversation requires that you already have
your ears up for information about other departments and know the
players in it. If you're not doing this already, do it now. You
never know who will be making the coffee in the morning.

Looking for...

wendii — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:02:49 -0400

There's an article in this month's Inc magazine about classic examples
of innovation. One of the examples is that of Direct Tire and Auto
Service. The founder, Barry Steinberg, wanted 'to ensure employees
would be chipper no matter the time of day' so 'he interviewed
applicants on three days at three different times' so he could see if
they were cheerful at all ends of the day.

Interviewing isn't an art, it's a science. First, know what you're
looking for. Second, find the easiest way to test whether the
candidate has that quality. Interview candidates at 7am and 6pm to
test their energy levels. Ask the receptionist how the candidates
treated her to test their relationships skills. Tell them you're
thinking of not hiring them to test their persuasion skills.

Simple practical tests like coding, in tray or triage exercises,
having them do a presentation or write a marketing piece can all work
too. It might be science, but it's not difficult.

Standards

wendii — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:45:23 -0400

Interviewing with different hiring managers is always interesting. Though our
organization has a standard set of questions for them to choose from, as
any individuals do, they always want to include one of their own.

Some of them are weird (if you're in a boat on the ocean and you drop
a spanner over the edge, how long does it take to reach the bottom?),
some are bordering on illegal (how will you manage childcare in this
role?) and some of them make me wonder how I would answer.

One of our standard questions is 'how do you maintain your personal
standards under pressure?'. One of my hiring managers follows that up
with 'what are your personal standards?'. It's interesting that
candidates can answer the first and often can't answer the second :-)

Personally, I can't stand an email not being answered or a phone call
not returned within 24 hours. Returning calls is an obsession with
me. What are your personal standards?

Inside The Box

wendii — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:41:29 -0400

One of the elements which makes looking for a new role difficult is
that most people have no idea what goes into a recruiting process. We
don't know what the criteria are for reviewing resumes, don't know
what a successful interview looks like (how could we when we've only
ever been in our own) and we don't know what the hiring managers are
looking for. As with all secret societies, rumors and myths build up
about what's actually going on inside the box.

One of the things that are going on inside the box is the measures
HR/Recruiters use to see how effective they are: one of which is the
resume/screen/interview/hire ratios. A relatively low interview/hire
ratio for example, perhaps 4/1 or 3/1 would suggest that the screening
was effective.

One HR blogger this week published his ratios -
http://www.hrcapitalist.com/2009/05/whats-the-right-mix-of-interviews-in....
He suggests that phone screening 20% of candidates is high - and in
fact, one of the commenters says they only screen 6.25% of candidates.

What does that mean for you? For every time you submit your resume to
a company for a position you have a relatively low chance of being
screened. There are things you can do to improve that percentage:
targeting your resume, applying to roles which are relevant, having a
good cover letter, but other candidates will probably be doing those
things too. Like fishing, if the fish are scarce, you need to be at
the pond more often. That doesn't mean indiscriminately applying, but
it does mean applying for roles more often than you think you need to
be, and that might also mean relaxing your requirements in terms of
title, salary, industry or location.

Interview Preparation

wendii — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:21:19 -0400

One thing I've noticed interviewing with hundreds of hiring managers
is that the ones who are most prepared get the most out of the
candidates. It can't always be done, of course, but if you have time
to prepare, do so.

One of the simplest, quickest things you can do is write a bullet
point list for your introduction. Things like remembering to tell the
candidate how long the interview will last, what kind of questions
you'll ask and the things you want to tell them about the team and the
job really helps.

I still do this, and I've done thousands of interviews. If I don't, I
get distracted by there being someone new to talk to, and I forget.
You only need to do it once, it'll take less than 5 minutes and it
will really help.

Specificity

wendii — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:55:44 -0400

One of the things I write often in resume reviews is 'Be specific'. I
can imagine the thinking process: thinking back over the
accomplishments from one role, we can see similarities between 3 or 4
different projects and we want to include them all. So we generalise:

*Successfully completed several projects delivering customer
satisfaction and additional revenue.

The problem is, the resulting generalisation gives a weak impression.
Consider this instead:

• Completed conversion project to Salesforce.com for 4000 salespeople
on time and on budget.
• Upgraded callcentre software for 1000 heads with no downtime
• Sold additional £1M project extension for callcentre upgrade for
additional 2000 heads.

Are you beginning to believe that this person is a customer focused,
business focused and able to successfully deliver projects? The
specifics are much more convincing than the generalisation, even
though the generalisation encompasses more accomplishments. And
that's why we say: Be Specific.

Multi-Tasking is Harmful to Programmers - And Managers

mauzenne — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:04:11 -0400

A friend of mine, recently shared with me this article by Joel Spolsky – Human Task Switches Considered Harmful. Well, if world-class programmers (folks who LOVE the idea of mutli-processing, parallel processing, grid computing, etc.) tell you that multi-tasking is bad for programmers, shouldn't we pay attention?

No doubt, programming is a complex mental task. Joel's right – keeping a dozen or more variables, complex APIs, data structures, database definitions, and a hundred other things in your head at one time is tough! [And you wonder why programmers can be cranky when you stop by and interrupt them for just a few seconds to ask them a simple question.] Having experience in both, I can tell you that effectively managing a team is no different. "John's got issues at home, but is critical to this project. Mary's on 5 OTHER projects, yet I need her focus for the next 5 days if we're going to get this in on time. The VP isn't terribly excited about this project and wants to slow-roll it, but MY BOSS wants it done ASAP ... I've got a communications plan to deal with it, but ...." Yep, management is a piece of cake.

Stop task switching every 5 minutes ... put away IM, Twitter, email, and turn off your phone for periods of time and FOCUS! Your organization and your directs will love you for it.

Simplicity

wendii — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:08:15 -0400

Floating around the internet this afternoon, I found an interview on
Lifehacker.com with Steve Wozniak. It's a couple of weeks old, but
what struck me was this quote about why he uses Safari over Firefox:
"I still keep Firefox around for when I need it, but I like to reduce,
when I can, to the simplest tools that get me where I want to go, and
that's Safari right now".

I wonder how many of us spend our days playing with our systems for
doing things, making our lives more and more complicated, when
actually a simpler way would be just as, if not more effective.

Technology has it's place: I'd never give up my tracking spreadsheet,
but my To Do list is written each day on a notepad. Email is great
for sending information around, but I'd rather call or actually go
visit someone at their desk. Our applicant tracking system is
wonderful, but it's amazing how often a colleague recommends the right
candidate. Next time you think about making your life more
complicated, consider making it simpler instead.

It Pays To Ask

wendii — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:46:27 -0400

Occasionally, our resume review customers ask me to recommend a
recruiter or another good source of jobs for them. Though I often
don't know anyone directly in their location or industry, I often know
someone who does, or someone who could otherwise be helpful.

I was thinking about this when I was doing some research on a new
project, and came across a very simple question on a Linkedin forum
which had got 20 or so really useful responses.

Those people could have sat at home wondering, but instead, they
reached out to their network (both known and unknown) and asked.
Useful help is out there for the asking, and people do want to help.
So don't be shy - what do you want to do, or know, and who do you want
to connect with?

The Rules Of Being A Job Seeker

wendii — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:54:53 -0400

One of the rules of being a job seeker which candidates don't always
seem to understand is that the company who has the job has the power.
It is unlikely that the candidate is absolutely the only one in the
country with specific skills and experience, and even if it will cost
significantly more to get another candidate, companies are willing to
do that if the candidate doesn't demonstrate their understanding that
they can.

This is why Manager Tools doesn't recommend we negotiate over salary.
When we get an offer, the company likes us. When we try to negotiate,
they like us less... and less and less. Though rescinding the offer
is unlikely, any goodwill we had before we started is gone. Either
accept or do not.

Candidates also try and negotiate about the process. Sometimes they
won't fill in my paperwork until I give them the offer, not
understanding that this extends the processing time by weeks. Or they
don't make any effort to find the paperwork which demonstrates their
employment status, which in our company is a government requirement,
and without which they cannot start.

We don't ask them to follow the process just because. We ask them to
do it because it's a requirement. Not following the rules creates
delays and makes us like the candidates less. That makes things
harder for them when they finally start. Don't tell me how to run my
process. Just be as helpful and obliging as possible. I'm much more
likely to be helpful in return.

Structured Knowledge

wendii — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:07:28 -0400

One of the skills I've noticed successful senior managers who I have interviewed have, that more junior managers tend not to have, is an ability to summarize very complex situations. Jack Welch says in Winning, that the book was borne out of the many questions he was asked. "In order to answer them," he says "all I had to do was figure out what I knew, codify it, and borrow their stories".

That sentence reminded me of an article from the Scientific American which says that experts have different minds than beginners, but only in those things which they are experts. The concerted study of a particular subject allows experts to 'chunk', essentially create metadata, which in turn allows them to think through problems faster.

I remembered that part of the article and in reading it again, found the second section which says that "The one thing all theorists agree on is that it takes enormous effort to build these structures in the mind". One of the foremost scientists in this area Herbert Simon, believes it takes 10 years - sometimes it's quicker, but only because the person starts earlier and works harder. The only way to create these structures? 'Effortful study'.

The article is nearly 3 years old and some of the studies date back to the 60's. So it seems that Gladwell's 10,000 hours and Colvin's 'Deliberate Practice' are not new. They are just popular reworkings of what scientists have known for some time. Experts are made not born. If you still doubt this, read 'Winning' and see if Welch was an expert the day he started at GE.

Managerial Economics 101 (Video)

mauzenne — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:34:27 -0400

Download Video File (mp4)

Recruiters Aren't There To Help

wendii — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:58:22 -0400

You may have noticed that nearly every recruitment company has 'Find The Perfect Job For You' somewhere on their website. You may imagine that your job search will be you and your recruiter working in partnership to find the perfect job, easy hours, 10 minute commute and $10,000 more than you're making now.

When I was in training we were told: "this is a business, not the social services" about once a week. New recruiters often make the mistake of liking candidates or feeling sorry for them when they have been out of work for some time. 8 years later, I still struggle with this.

But a recruiter's job is to find the best person for the job. The one who has the maximum number of applicable skills and at minimum cost to the organization. It doesn't matter how much we like someone, if another candidate is better for the organization, we put our personal feelings aside and offer the better candidate.

Your job as a candidate is to present yourself in the best possible light. To take charge of your search and be clear about your strengths and your requirements. To do your research, practice your answers and interview well. To be on time, responsive and organized. It sounds like a lot of work. That's because it is. But you want a job, and recruiters have jobs. They have the power so they work less in the relationship - whatever their website strapline says.

The Utility Of Twitter

wendii — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:19:05 -0400

After Mark told us in the 'Attention Management' casts that we may now check Twitter for five minutes an hour :-), I thought I'd share my experience of increasing the utility to me.

I started by following everyone I was remotely interested in, impressed by or had heard of. Celebrity CEOs, tech gurus and TV stars. This was not the best strategy! Firstly, I could barely keep up with the stream of tweets. Secondly, very few of the tweets had any interest to me.

Then I found a list of career coaches, writers on careers and HR experts who were on twitter and I added all of them and resigned myself to never keeping up. However, I quickly realized that I clicked through much more often on those tweets than I did on those of the celebrity CEOs. They were actually talking about things which were interesting and important to me. I reluctantly unfollowed all the 'cool' people, and immediately realized that I now can keep up with the tweets and the utility has gone way up.

I've seen lists of IT experts, personal branding experts, journalists and mobile experts who are on twitter. If you're struggling with utility, find a list which is relevant to you and see if following those people increases the relevance of tweets to your life or work.

Complementary skills

wendii — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:52:10 -0400

There are a number of things I'm very good at. Getting a group of people together to solve a problem, remembering phone numbers of useful people and finding stuff on the internet. There's also a (limited :-) ) list of things I'm not so good at. I used to own a spreadsheet for the department, which had 800 lines and 52 columns. There was always at least one mistake on it. I'm just not great with detail.

Knowing my strengths and weaknesses is very helpful. When I'm working on a project with lots of other people I can negotiate to have the tasks at which potentially I will be successful allocated to me. Even when there isn't a project team, I can ask my team to check my work, when I'm doing something I'm not great at. Using their complementary skills is advantageous to me, the team as a whole and the organization.

That said, there is a difference between not being good at something and not liking the activity. This isn't an excuse to shirk responsibilities you should be doing. It's a way of ensuring that all your activities, including those which don't come naturally to you are done well.

Manager Tools ONE DAY Effective Manager Conference - Newark, New Jersey

mauzenne — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:01:39 -0400

June 16, 2009 — Sheraton Newark Airport Hotel, Newark, New Jersey

"This was the best management course I have ever taken!"
— Alberto Magano, January 2008 Attendee

We’re pleased to offer you an opportunity to attend a ONE DAY Effective Manager Conference (EMC) on June 16 in Newark, New Jersey.

We’re aware of the pressures on everyone’s budgets and schedules. We know it’s harder than ever to justify training and travel. It’s our intent this year, in response to the economic situation, to focus even more tightly on value and hands on training, by holding smaller, one day conferences, at reduced rates: $995.

We’ve condensed our 2 day EMC into a one day event, cutting out some of the “teaching”, and focusing even more on the practice that so many attendees love.

You’ll be able to practice the entire Trinity: One on Ones (yes!), Feedback, Coaching, and Delegation.

WE HAVE ALSO ADDED FOLLOW UP COMMUNICATIONS TO HELP YOU IMPLEMENT THE MANAGEMENT TRINITY MORE QUICKLY AND EFFECTIVELY.

We guarantee it will be the best training experience of your life, and likely the best value as well.

See previous attendees' comments in our forums.

Go to our registration page to sign-up now!

Who:: We’re limiting attendance to THIRTY attendees. Everyone says they love the personal attention when conferences are smaller. That’s our intent throughout 2009.
When:: June 16, 2009. One day. Local attendees will save a bundle versus traveling to a two day EMC. If you do fly in, there are rooms at the hotel. The day is going to be PACKED – come ready to learn, and expect to be tired when we’re done. (Agenda below)
Where:: Sheraton Newark Airport Hotel in Newark, New Jersey.
How:: Go to our registration page to sign-up now!
How Much:: $995. There is no early registration fee for our one day conferences, but this investment is roughly half of our two day EMC. We’re addressing your tight budgets and schedules this year!

Go to our registration page to sign-up now!

"Simply the best, most exciting and informative conference ever. The personal feel to and for individuals set it apart."
— Stephen Hay, January 2008 Attendee

Our Agenda:

8:00 – Welcome/Purpose/Agenda/Groundrules
8:15 – Introductions
9:00 – One on Ones – The Basics. Everything you need to know to get started
10:00 – Break
10:10 – One on Ones (continued)
10:30 – Feedback Model
11:30 – Break
11:40 – Feedback Practice – You will practice and get feedback from us and others.
12:30 – Working Lunch – Coaching Model
1:30 – Coaching Practice
2:30 – Break
2:40 - Rolling Out the Trinity
3:30 – Break
3:40 – Delegation Model
4:10 – Delegation Practice
5:00 – More Feedback Practice
5:20 – WWW/TALA
5:30 – Close and Begin Open Q&A

Please Sign-up Now and Join Us!

"The podcasts are brilliant but being there,
hearing it from you guys just makes it perfect."
— Martin Harvey, January 2008 Attendee

Attention Management "Tricks"

mahorstman — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:56:25 -0400

I am beginning to think that my definition of an executive is simply one who does not suffer from CPA: Continuous Partial Attention.

[Mike and I touched on CPA in a recent cast on Attention Management, which is the opposite of CPA].

Today I stumbled across some "tricks" folks were sharing for beating their CPA problem. And if you don't think that CPA is a problem, well, then, I refer you back to my first sentence ;-) .

I guess I'm okay with tricks, if that's what we want to call them. But I really like what Martin Luther said about prayer: we ought to pray the way his dog looked at meat on his table.

Train your mind to focus. Focus is where the value is. Tricks or not, FOCUS.

Just like Martin Luther's dog. ;-)

And don't even get me started on "multi-tasking".

Lessons from a Lipstick Queen

wendii — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:47:23 -0400

This weekend I've been reading Lessons from a Lipstick Queen by Poppy King, who at 18 started a company which grew to be a multimillion international concern. There's some controversy around the end of that company, but that's not the part that interested me.

The first chapter is about ideas. She says "If you ... realize that ideas don't have to be grand to be bona fide, you'll quickly see that you have just as many ideas as the next person. There is one simple understanding that allows many people to become successful: instead of raising the bar as to what constitutes a good idea, they lower it."

This sparked two thoughts for me: firstly, that lowering the bar on many things makes it easier to start. For example, I don't have to write the perfect report first time, I just have to get the headings right. I'll get some rough numbers for my taxes and then refine them. I'll get all the filing in one place, then sort it alphabetically and then do the filing. Making the first step smaller makes the job much easier.

Secondly, how important the groundrules for brainstorming are. They encourage more ideas and discourage censorship of the ideas whilst the brainstorming is going on. More ideas, in any situation, is better. By lowering the bar as to what constitutes an idea, you get more ideas, and that increases the chances of getting a good idea.

Interviewing Series Testimonial

mahorstman — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:54:55 -0400

Simon Speichert recently shared his interviewing success with us, and was kind enough to attribute some of his success to the Manager Tools Interviewing Series.

"Hi Mark and Mike. About a month ago, I sent you both a private message expressing my thanks for the interviewing series and letting you know about my first experience interviewing having prepped the MT way. I thought I'd share what's happened since then, and some good news.

"After the interview, which was with a large department of the provincial government, I sent thank you notes to the two managers that conducted the interview and one to the lady from HR who'd been my contact but couldn't make it to the interview due to illness. She called me the next week to let me know I wasn't the successful candidate but I was second in line should their first offer be declined. She asked me if I'd like to be considered for future positions - I said absolutely.

"I kept drilling all my index cards, and it paid off. Last week the HR lady contacted me about another position, and asked me to come in for a short-notice interview. Evidently I had done well enough in the interview for the first position, as she referred to the previous interviewers' notes throughout. When I closed with her, she literally started jumping up and down in her seat! She explained, saying it was part of her job to get people excited about working there. In my close, I emphasized people, and how great everyone had been throughout both of my interviews.

"She called my references two days ago, and I got offered the position this morning. I know that everything I learned from Manager Tools made the difference - highlighting my effective behaviours, showing my results with relevant accomplishments, and showing enthusiasm. Thanks again for the work you do, gentlemen. The trajectory of my career has changed, and I couldn't be happier with where I'm headed."

We're thrilled that our work is making a difference, with Simon and many others. Please let us know how Manager Tools or Career Tools are helping YOU become more effective.

Why We Have The Forums

wendii — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:48:09 -0400

In a recent forum thread one of our members talked about having introduced feedback. It didn't go so well and the poster stopped doing it. Two or three people chimed in saying, yes, that's happened to me, and there was a sense that everyone felt better for not being alone.

The discussion continued with both ideas for improvement and support. For those people in the same situation the original poster's honesty and commitment to try again inspired them to try again also. It was an example of the best of the forums. You can read it here: http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-3856

The forums are a supportive, helpful place for when you're feeling alone. They allow you to post specific questions when you don't know how to apply the advice to your particular situation. They provide inspiration. Sometimes, they make me laugh out loud. I've loved them ever since they started, and I encourage you to visit and participate if you haven't already.

It's Never Too Late

wendii — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:56:50 -0400

Recently I read a blog which quoted Jim Rohn as saying "Things will get better for you when you get better." It resonated with me, because that's what Manager Tools and Career Tools are about. You want to get better and so you listen to the podcasts and (please) put the actions into practice to get better.

At the same time I was thinking about the people in organisations now, who most need that help. People who have just had negative feedback from their boss, or a standard pay review or a meeting that's gone badly or even worse, think they might be laid off or fired. How hard it is it for us when we are in that space to take the risk and try and be better?

If you see someone in your team or your organization who is at the bottom of the curve, support their efforts to change. If it's you, we know it's hard. But really, things won't get better unless you take action. There is such a thing as a comeback - I see it all the time in candidates I interview. Pick something, and take the risk and take action now.

Age And Resumes

wendii — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:17:16 -0400

One of Manager-Tool's friends, Rich Ruh, sent me an email this week, suggesting a blog topic. It seems he has been recruiting for college level staff recently and has noticed a trend of college leavers not having their GPA on their resume.

Now, if you've been paying attention, you will know that in general, we don't recommend you put your GPA on your resume. I realised though, as I thought about this, whilst the generalisation is true, the specifics are a little more complicated. There are three ages of resume, and they required different treatment.

Entry Level: At entry level, with less than five years in the workplace, you absolutely need your GPA on your resume. Your work history is so limited that the recruiter needs more information. You can also include internships, holiday work and volunteer work as standard.

Mid Level: For the next fifteen to twenty years, only your work history goes on your resume. At this point, we no longer care what your GPA was. It can have been awful or fabulous, but it is your results in the workplace which count. Your resume will be one page long and filled with responsibilities and accomplishments.

Senior Level: If you have moved into the senior ranks of the company, are responsible for direction setting and the profit and loss of the company overall, you get two pages. Everyone else, stays at the mid level, at least as far as your resume is concerned.

So yes, if you're just out of college, include your GPA on your resume. Especially if you want a job with Rich!

The Pinch Crunch Model (Video)

mauzenne — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:27:45 -0400

The Pinch Crunch Model Video (M4V)

Tolerations Lists

wendii — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:27:04 -0400

One of the common activities you will be asked to do if you read self-help books is to create a toleration list. This is all the things which are on your mind and with which you're putting up day in, day out. If you've read Getting Things Done, it's similar to the clean sweep which Allen suggests you start with. So you write a list of: the door handle which falls off every time I use it, the fact my bank isn't open on a Saturday and I can't cash my checks without leaving work early and the annoyance of knowing I need to get my car serviced and haven't. In most people's lives these lists are very, very long.

I keep a list on my computer of the things which I know there must be a shortcut to but I just haven't found yet. So things like: every time I search for a document, my entire internet history comes up and I can't find the document I want amongst them, the irritation of not having a 'podcasts I haven't listened to' playlist or not knowing how to use canned responses in Gmail.

I love doing research and so looking for answers for these things is a treat. But even if it's not for you, when you have ten minutes spare, having a list really helps you use that ten minutes productively. You can just google 'how do I' and enter in your frustration and 100 times out of a 100 you will find a step by step guide to fixing that problem. It might not be as productive as having fixed it initially, but incrementally, you improve your life.

Sources of Advice

wendii — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:01:25 -0400

The Easter weekend in the UK is a four day weekend, and between Easter eggs and seeing friends, I wanted to catch up on my reading. One of the books I read was 'How to become an expert on anything in 2 hours'. Unlike Mark, I don't have a great heuristic for choosing books, I just pick what appeals. For some reason, one I'm not even sure I can remember, that did.

So, I'm reading the introduction and it's saying how important appearing to be an expert can be in management, and then the next paragraph reads: 'In my world of interrogation...'. I stopped, read it again, read the back cover, frowned a bit and then carried on reading, slightly confused.

I quite enjoyed the rest of the book, which covers understanding your audience, their reactions and strategies for appearing to be an expert even with limited knowledge. It wasn't what I thought it would be, but I was ok with that. However, my mind kept saying, I am really surprised to be learning this from an interrogator.

At the Manager Tools conferences we do an exercise which involves potential sources of learning for the direct. It's amazing how hard that is initially and how limited the lists are. After a couple of times, the lists get longer and the sources wider. As was my experience this weekend, the most surprising sources can be valuable, so don't be afraid to break out of the 'x For Dummies' box.

4 Things You Need For A Job Search

wendii — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:31:43 -0400

A current career management document. This is the document on which you keep a list of your jobs and EVERY duty and accomplishment you had during your tenure. It can be 15 pages long; as long as it needs to be to keep together all the information about your career. There's more about the career management document here: http://www.manager-tools.com/2008/04/resume-update-2008.

A current resume. Ok, so this one is obvious!

An education document. List out all your schools, with addresses, telephone numbers, websites and email addresses. Then for each school, the courses you took, the dates and the grades. Application forms often ask for this detail and it's useful to have it all in one place.

An employment reference document. This time, list all your employers, with all the contact details and your referee from the company with their title and current contact details (you are still in touch right?).

When you're looking for a job, especially if you're still in a job and have limited time, these four documents will make it easy to fill in web-based application forms or answer recruiter's questions. If you're in front of the recruiter, you give a great impression of your organization skills too.

Too Busy To Improve?

wendii — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:10:11 -0400

We all have busy jobs. My day usually feels like I'm on one of those travelators at the airport.. I'm walking fast, but the direction is dictated to me and I can't get off at the gate I want to because there isn't an exit. And, it's all on the flat.

In order to do something different, to improve, we have to create some space in our day. Given that our calendars reflect our priorities, we have to book some time to stop, get off the travelator and THINK!

What am I spending my time on?

Does it reflect my priorities?

Is it time to add something new in?

If it is, what am I going to give up?

I know, we can't give anything up - it's all important. There are opportunities though - learning a shortcut which means reporting goes faster, delegating more or not being a control freak and checking on others continually (who me?!), or reducing the weekly meeting from two hours to an hour by having an agenda.

It is only by consciously making choices about our time and priorities that we change the travelator into an escalator and start moving upwards.

The Patron Saint of Managers: Susan Boyle

mahorstman — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:52:47 -0400

One of the sad things I have noticed over the years is that cynicism has moved from the realm of poor failures into the milieu of professionals. Managers, it seems, have to adopt a cynical humor to survive. We have to believe the worst is about to come, so that we can be ready for it.

Our directs think like Dilbert and we're the pointy-haired boss.

Our favorite website is despair.com.

It's all crap.

Here's what good management feels like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

It doesn't matter how you look, or how old you are. What matters is how much you GIVE.

Faith, Hope, and Love. And the greatest of these is Love.

And cynicism is not love.

Morale (Video)

mauzenne — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:44:54 -0400

Download Video File (m4v)

What Makes Good News, Does Not Make A Good Strategy

wendii — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:59:09 -0400

A number of people sent me links in the past week to the story about Michael Stearns, who's wife created a website called myhusbandneedsajob.com. There's been a number of these stories around since the beginning of the downturn (in fact there is every downturn) because they make good news stories.

The guy sitting in his home office carefully crafting a resume, creating a cover letter to fit a particular opening advertised on a company's website, spending hours rehearsing his interview answers and pressing his shirt just does not make riveting news.

And yet, I have never seen any of these stories end with 'and Bob got a great job with...'. There is a maelstrom of activity, interviews with different media and then, nothing. As an employer, a minor celebrity during their five minutes of fame is probably more of an inconvenience than a good hire.

Millions of people get new jobs every year. They do it the slow, boring, hard work way. It never makes the news, because the strategy that works in 99.99% of cases isn't good news. It's a good strategy though.

Indulging 2 Weeks To Quit Syndrome

wendii — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:29:37 -0400

In this week's Recruiter magazine there is a short article on British company Peer 1 which is offering recruits £1000 to leave within the first two weeks of employment. Actually, this isn't unique; Zappos have been doing it since they opened (http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/taylor/2008/05/why_zappos_pays_new_empl...).

The logic according to Peer 1: "It will create quite a buzz locally and you will get an increase in people applying for jobs because of it". I'm not sure why you would want more applications from people who are attracted by the opportunity to get paid to leave. Whilst I understand that turnover is a significant cost to companies, would it not be better to a) have an effective attraction strategy which attracts the right kind of candidates who want to stay, b) a thorough evaluation program ensuring the candidates you take are the right ones and c) invest in retention strategies which keep them engaged and working effectively?

Maybe it is just easier to throw £1000 at people who want to leave after two weeks. But the investment in retention is still required: if all the candidates who stay past the first two weeks only last a month because the company is not onboarding them well, the cost is the same as if they lasted two years, with none of the upside.

This is investment in the wrong places for the wrong reasons.

Checklists

wendii — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:47:42 -0400

The example of Peter Pronovost who created checklists of basic patient care and greatly reduced hospital infections has been quoted in several books I've read recently. He's also one of Time's Most Influential People for 2008.

I use checklists all the time: when you have to get 10 individual forms per interviewed candidate, sort them, send them to 3 different places and get 3 responses before you can send an offer out and you have 20-40 candidates at this stage at any one time a checklist is essential.

But they can be useful for simpler situations too. Monthly reporting is always a nightmare - you can't quite remember the steps from last time and so you have to go through the process anew, using vital mental energy. It takes some time to write down the steps including where to save the file and who to send it to, but it saves time in the long run. And, when it's time to leave and you have to do a handover, you don't spend your final 3 weeks writing instructions!