Today we cover part 2 of our series on mergers and acquisitions. Hopefully, with this podcast, the idea of a merger or acquisition will be just a tad less scary. Put some of the ideas we discuss to work today and you’ll benefit handsomely even if there isn’t a merger on your horizon!

Good business practice demands good relationships - with customers, suppliers, team members, and bosses. And good relationships usually means breaking bread together. So, are you up to speed on how to have a business meal? Or even worse, HOST the meal yourself?

You are? GOOD! Then you already know when to start talking business, and whether it’s different at breakfast, lunch and dinner. You know how much alcohol to drink, and how many glasses of wine there are in a bottle. And the ideal way to pay for a meal, or what to do when the check comes. If you know all THAT, then we bet you also know where to seat your guests, and yourself, whether there are 2 or three of you. And, of course, what to order, and what NOT to order. Soup, you say? NO.

And if you’re not sure… that’s why there’s a Manager Tools podcast covering all that and more.

Can there possibly be anything more to say about business meal etiquette?

Yep! Today we conclude our 2-part series on Meal Etiquette.

Most folks just don’t realize HOW important resumes are, and not just as pieces of paper.

In our Resume Cast, we talked about the PURPOSE of resumes: to create an interview. Now just imagine…wouldn’t it be great if its value didn’t end there? It doesn’t! yes, the resume itself gets you the chance to sell yourself, but buried in the resume are the PERFECT seeds of success, if you’ve followed our guidance.

Listen in to an interesting cast about how your resume and your interviews can be perfectly connected.

In a previous cast, we talked about how many managers don’t understand the importance of taking recruiters’ calls, and walked through step by step (hey, this is Manager Tools) how to handle those calls. What to say, and what to learn, and how to proceed.

But there’s another side to the recruiting relationship, isn’t there? What if you want to contact a recruiter, without waiting for them to call you? Maybe you’re recognizing a change in opportunities where you are, or you want to move in a different direction, or perhaps it’s as simple as suddenly inheriting a terrible boss, and alarm bells are going off in your head.

How does one contact a recruiter? What are the basics to consider, and how does one approach them when you’re going to initiate contact? It’s easy if you do it step by step, the Manager Tools way!

Note: During the show, we mentioned we would post a couple of links to some recruiter resources. Hunt-Scanlon is a provider of information about the executive recruiting business - great resource for access to recruiters. Kennedy is a well known technology executive recruiting firm.

• Hunt-Scanlon Corporation
• The Kennedy Partnership

It’s getting that time of year again for much of the world, when you’re going to be invited to holiday parties. Many of you will choose not to go, because you don’t love your co-workers, or because you get enough of them at work. Both of these are normal feelings, but the resultant decision just proves that there are good reasons for doing dumb things all the time. (You really must go).

We have observed so much behavior at these parties - whether hosted by the boss at her home, or by the company, or by a friend at the firm - that we’ve learned that folks apparently don’t seem to know what the rules are.

And, careers often come down to small factors, two of the most powerful of which are manners and social graces. So often at work, those are not in evidence, so executives at your firm DO pay attention when they have a chance to see them on display… or, … not… on display.

Herewith, then, some guidance about handling yourself (and your career) with grace and dignity during the holiday party circuit.

We’ve talked about the importance of interpersonal skills before, with casts on handshakes and meal etiquette. While for many, they might not sound like managerial subjects, the fact is that career management skills are part of the modern manager’s repertoire. And, as surely you’ve read, business gets done at dinner, at parties, at conferences, at conventions, at product launch events, at annual meetings, on the golf course, and at non-profit fund raisers.

So what do you when you walk into a party and you don’t seem to know anyone there?

In this cast, we walk through a simple technique for introducing yourself into a small group in an unobtrusive, polite fashion. Everyone can do it … of course, the question is, will you? Are you willing to stand in the corner and have everyone think you painfully shy, and therefore surely not managerial or executive material?

I answered a post this morning about male managers’ dressing habits, and left something out.

If you can’t shine your shoes, you have on the wrong shoes.

Managers shoes are able to be shined.  If yours are not, you’re leaving out an important part of your wardrobe.

If you don’t know how to shine them… maybe there’s a cast there.  Mike and I are, thanks to school, quite adept at it.  I stumbled over this early in my corporate career, and felt like a fool for not using the skills I had been given.

Ladies, many of your shoes are shinable as well…. and therefore, yes, we recommend it for you too.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about how to make your resume stand out… and they agree with us. One page, reverse chronological, accomplishment bullets under responsibility paragraphs.

And for those who doubt that responsibilities alone are not enough, consider the first paragraph:

Listing your job responsibilities on a resume may get you on an employer’s job-candidate roster, but if you note some solid accomplishments as well, you may be able to make the jump onto a recruiter’s short list. Terry Gallagher, president of Battalia Winston International, a New York-based executive search firm, says he places “three times as much value on results versus responsibilities on a resume.”

Just in case you haven’t heard me say it, consider this when you look at your “responsibilities only” resume: The people who are most likely to do their resume that way are those that were fired.

You think about that, you’ll figure it out. As long as you’re okay with being lumped in with them, leave accomplishments off. MUCH easier to get it to one page, too.

Mark recently blogged about the crazy advice being given - by the Wall Street Journal! - about how to handle the perennial interviewing question, “Tell me about a weakness.” He was stunned by how wrong some of the suggestions were, as well as the implication that a clever interviewee could trick the interviewing manager into accepting a non-responsive answer. We think it’s funny how many folks think that “they” can fool “their” interviewer, but of course, if “they” were the one “interviewing”, why, “that would be different”.

Yeah right.

In this cast, we share one of the best interviewing answer templates you’ll ever hear. It’s simple, elegant, easy to deliver, and surprise, surprise: it directly answers the question.