Author Archives: bryandilts

The secret of Bill Gates’ momma – do you dare network?

Posted on October 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.  (Jane Howard)

The secret of Bill Gates’ momma 

When Bill Gates was trying to sell a PC operating system to IBM, his mother was on a charity board.  The president of IBM was on the same board.  Was there a possible connection?  Sure.  I doubt Bill Gates’ momma got the deal for him, but I’m sure it helped.

An unemployed salesman asked me, “Can you help me find a job.  You know I’ve been looking for months.  What can I do?”

I didn’t have a job for him, so I asked him about his job search.  We talked about networking.  It turns out he already was in touch with some very influential people.  They even offered to introduce him to other leaders.  He was afraid to take their help.

This salesman had convinced himself that, despite what these leaders thought, he just wasn’t worth their time.  He didn’t feel comfortable networking at that level.  He couldn’t see a reason why they would help him.  Here is why they would help him:  That is what President’s do.  They help people succeed.  They are focused on it.  They spend all day thinking about helping others succeed. I put that salesman in a verbal headlock and got him to promise he would use the help he had already been offered.

Remember Bill Gates?  He sold a PC operating system to IBM that he did not create or own.  Bill Gates had gotten the right to sell it from the creator.  He outsold a guy who owned a demonstrably better operating system.  Bill Gates did it by using every string, every avenue and every potential aid he could find.  Lots of people wanted him to succeed, not just his mother.  He got everyone’s help he could.

Don’t be afraid to use every bit of help you can find to get your new job.  Others wouldn’t help you if they didn’t believe in you.  Now, believe in yourself.

Something to do today

Make a list of the most powerful and influential people you know.  Ask for help.  If they are in your current company, ask for help growing where you are.  If they are out of your company, ask for help finding a new job.  Go to the most powerful and influential first.

You are worth it.

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Next:   “Safety First” and job ethics

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Are you eating the seed corn in your job?

Posted on October 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

The first winter in Plymouth Colony killed a third of the Pilgrims.  During that winter one of my ancestors was caught eating the seed corn.  He knew the whole colony would fail if the seed corn disappeared, but he talked himself into eating it anyway.  I’m glad he was caught.  I’m glad he learned.

Every job is the seed of your next job, even if you are changing fields entirely.  Your future boss will be looking back at your accomplishments, drive, leadership and enthusiasm for your current job.

When you decide to sit back and relax at your job, you eat your seed corn.  No one wants to hire an “average” person.  They want to hire a superstar, or at least a hard worker.

Figure out how to make a difference.  How can YOU make the company more profitable?  Is there some way you can prove you are above average?

When I was doing janitorial work at 4 a.m. every morning, I excelled.  I only missed 2 days in a school year and I called in advance for those.  I did my entire job no matter how tired I was.  That work got me promoted to the afternoon shift.  It was a lot nicer. The early morning job was the seed of my next job, and that was the seed of the next.

Don’t relax.  Be at least above average.  It will be the seed corn for your next job.  And invest some of the money you earn to get training.  Use it as seed corn.

Something to do today

Be honest. Are you sliding by?

List what makes you above average.  Put it on your resume.

List what makes you below average.  Eliminate it.

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Tomorrow:     Bill Gates’ momma

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Posted in Resumes, Time management, Training

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3 interview follow up questions and how to use them

Posted on October 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Most people have no clue what happened in a job interview. Did you do well?  Did they hate you. Is there a big mistake you keep making? You lose sleep, hope, talk to yourself, and re-live the interview, praying to find a clue.

It is like when you want to see the back of your head.  Or worse, if you want to see the middle of your back. It takes at least two mirrors and a lot of luck, twisting, and patience.

A friend’s eye is a good mirror.  (Celtic proverb)

Find a couple of job interview mirrors.  Like to ones you use to see the middle of your back. You need a friend who won’t just parrot back what you say.  Someone who listens and will feel comfortable telling you what they really think is critical. They need to walk you through three questions.  Not just ask them, but make you stay on track.  They need to pull you back to reality and away from your emotional state. Have them explore these three questions:

  1. Walk me through the interview like a movie.  What exactly happened without any emotional coloring?
  2. In the interview, what were their hiring priorities?  What did they explore and worry about the most?
  3. In your gut, how do you really feel about it?

You can go through those questions yourself and it will help.  But, there is something about having to answer to someone else that often clarifies the situation.  That’s one reason that a recruiter earns his keep.  He becomes a sounding board after an interview for both the candidate and the client.

Something to do today

Find that mirror.  Who will be honest with you?  Who will YOU be honest with?

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Later:        Eating the seed corn

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Posted in Interviews

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6 things about your job search and job security that you can learn from India

Posted on September 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

People doing business in India have told me how difficult business there can be.  Basic utilities like electricity and water are very unreliable.  The legal system is subject to corruption.  Government regulation depends on your relationship with the bureaucrats, not the rules.  Business partners don’t want to offend you or lose face, so they agree to do things they can’t get done.  Bringing you bad news is avoided at all cost.  Labor costs are low, but people will switch jobs for the slightest increase in pay.  And it goes on and on depending on the city, industry, neighborhood, and your ancestors.

Indian businessmen do incredibly well in the US because they have practice overcoming complex problems. You can learn how to prosper in your job search and job by applying the few basic principles they live by.

These job security, success, and business principles are applicable to accountants, help desk techs, managers, and CEO’s. They especially matter if you are in a job search.  They will give you an incredible advantage in every company you apply at.

  1. Trust others but make sure they are actually accomplishing what they say they will do.  Even experienced partners occasionally screw up.  Have an alternative plan in case things don’t get done on time. Get commitments from recruiters, managers, friends, and anyone you talk to.  Follow up.
  2. Don’t rely on your relationship with one person, like the HR department.  Establish relationships 3 or 4 people deep.  If one leaves or fails, you need the others to keep going forward.
  3. Spend time cultivating people.  Get to know them.  Find out about them personally as well as from business.  It is amazing how often this will give you the leverage you need to succeed. Some of our greatest success as recruiters comes from being friendly, open and honest with the receptionist, as well as with HR and the hiring manager.
  4. Help others constantly.  Go out of your way to encourage, help, and promote others who are growing.  That help will often come back to save you in a crisis. Helping someone else get a job will improve your abilities and give you a strong supporter on the inside of their new company.
  5. Constantly focus on doing things quicker, cheaper, better, and with less people. This alone is the greatest job security guarantor in the USA.  And when you prove you can do it in your resume, you will always be a hot commodity on the job market.
  6. Take time to read, plan, and think.  Americans are terrible at this. Sit down with a sheet of paper and write for 15 minutes or an hour each day. Brainstorm things you can do for your job or job search.

In India it is essential to have multiple layers of preparation.  In America we get by without them.  Americans also often wonder why they got laid off and how they will survive when laid off.  Preparation, getting to know more people, and fearless execution will do more for your earning potential than anything else.

Something to do today

List where you only have one layer of protection.  Then list how you can improve that.

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Next:   Interview follow up – get help

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Networking, Perseverance, Promotions, References

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17 non- obvious signs your company is in trouble – The tsunami is coming

Posted on September 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Some signs of company trouble are easy to ignore.  They aren’t obvious signs of trouble.  They can even look like progress.

In the great Indian Ocean tsunami some people survived because they knew the signs of a tidal wave of disaster waiting to happen.  They had learned, “When the sea retreats far past the beach, run for the high ground.  It will soon come roaring back.”  It is a natural occurrence before a tsunami.

Job disasters have signs of impending doom like the tsunami causing water to retreat from the shore.  Think about it.  What happens before a car plant closes down entirely?  Work is cut back.  Minor layoffs occur.  Sales are obviously dropping.  Cars stay on dealer lots for longer and longer.  Rebates and special incentives are used to sell cars.  Managers, supervisors and foreman are laid off.  Finally the plant closing is announced.

An old Thai proverb says,

At high tide fish eat ants.  At low tide ants eat fish.  (Thai proverb)

A healthy company succeeds by doing effectively what a dying company struggles unsuccessfully to do over and over.

Signs of doom I have seen where I worked included:

  • A new quality program annually.
  • No more flowers sent to funerals of workers and their family members.
  • Business travel cut backs.
  • On the job training cut back to “just in time” training.
  • Payments for outside tuition cut back.
  • Technology innovation specialists moved back into production jobs.
  • Promised bonuses cut back or not paid.
  • Refusal to let employees transfer to other areas in the company.
  • Relocation expense reimbursement eliminated.
  • Sudden personal interest in the workers by the company president and chairman.
  • Empowerment training during declining markets.
  • Not replacing people who quit.
  • Reorganizing more and more often.
  • Stock price dropping.
  • Replacement of salespeople at a quick clip.
  • A frenzy of competitor acquisitions.
  • A sudden focus on getting “good press” or being in trade publications.

When you see the signs of impending problems, you may still have years to prepare.  Or you may have days.  The important thing is to start preparing without being part of the problem.  Take positive steps in your own sphere of influence.

When the water retreats from the shoreline, it may look like a great time to go out and pick up the fish left behind.  When your boss is sacked, it may seem like the perfect time to get into management. And it may be true.  But be careful and look for signs that a tsunami is coming to wash your whole company away.

 

Later I will talk about how businessmen in India cope with far worse problems than Americans can even begin to understand, and do it with a smile.

Something to do today

Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper.  On the left put signs of company strength, reasons for optimism.  On the right put a list of troubling signs of decline.  Now pick how you can help accentuate the positive or eliminate the negative.  Not only will your actions help your company, they will insulate you from layoffs and prepare you for a new job.

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Tomorrow:     Businessmen from India

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Posted in Economy, Focus, management, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, Training

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50 job hunting tips from recruiters

Posted on September 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Need a job? Recruiters see every possible mistake, and some unusually successful ploys.

Here are 50 job hunting tips from good recruiters.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Counteroffers, Finding jobs, Focus, Interviews, Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance, Quitting or Fired, Recruiters, References, Resumes, talent, Time management, Training

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How to stop foreigners from stealing YOUR job

Posted on September 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

In 2007 the country that lost the most jobs to cheap labor markets was China.  No, it was not the USA.  Manufacturing plants are moving out of China at a record breaking speed.  They are moving into China even faster, it is true.  But, China is not the cheapest place on the globe for low skilled labor. Outsourcing is a huge problem in China, the USA, and India.

I compete every day with people living in India.  More and more recruiting is being done in India.  They aren’t stealing jobs, they are taking advantage of their skills and work ethic.  Am I frightened?  A little.  So far I am much better skilled than they are, but that may change.  I’m going to continue to work like crazy to stay ahead.  I’m going to help others do the same.

Play to your strengths is my motto.  My strengths are:

  1. I communicate well
  2. People trust me
  3. I am a technology geek and quick learner
  4. Connecting unrelated things is natural for me
  5. I get things done

Your strengths are different.  These are my deepest skills.  What are yours?  You need to know what they are to stay ahead.

Foreigners will always want to steal your job.  Someone in your city will also be applying to your company to steal your job.  If you earn one dollar above the minimum your company pays, one of your coworkers wants to steal your job. Get used to it.

Figure out your greatest strengths, improve them, and stay ahead.

Something to do today

List your greatest strengths.  Don’t put down what you learned most recently.  Don’t put down your job description.  Why do people want YOU to be the person doing your job?

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Tomorrow:           The tsunami is coming

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Training

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Are you more professional than my grandfather?

Posted on September 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

My grandfather was a modern farmer in 1930.  Stubborn too.  The local farm bureau agent came by and said, “The government will pay you to rotate your crops.”  Grandpa replied, “That is the stupidest thing I ever heard.  I already rotate my crops because I can grow more that way.  My land doesn’t get worn out.  It gets renewed.”

Grandpa was stubborn and wouldn’t take the government’s money to do something he knew he should already be doing.  The guys from the conservation bureau had problems with him.  He always implemented the latest ideas without waiting for them to come up with a program to get him to do it.  Crazy old coot?  Well, really he was a visionary farmer.

Do you have to be paid to prepare yourself to earn more money? 

Reading trade magazines and books is the best way to keep current in your field.  College courses in the evening are a great way to build the basics you need for a foundation for growth.  Enthusiasm will get you into seminars and conventions.  Pay for it yourself if you have to.  It is worth it.

Try to be a better professional than my crazy, successful grandfather.

Something to do today

Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?”  Try it today.

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Next:     Foreigners stealing jobs

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Posted in Attitude, Training

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Picking up a hundred dollar can halt your career

Posted on September 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Do you pick up money you see on the ground?  Do you stop your career in order to do a menial project or take a job someone else should do?

Bending over to pick up a hundred dollar bill is a bad investment of your time if you are Bill Gates.  He has averaged earning more than that every two seconds since Microsoft started.  I did the math.

Bill Gates has focused his career on multiplying his effectiveness.  He has focused on using internal and external resources to dominate the computer industry.  Microsoft did not create the PC operating system they sold to IBM.  They sold IBM something they didn’t own, but had negotiated a right to buy.  Bill Gates saw an opportunity and ran to make it happen. He passed up other opportunities to make that happen.  That is the way Microsoft has grown — a little internal innovation and a lot of focus on using other’s ideas. The most important ideas he could find.

Can you figure out where the biggest changes are happening?

If you focus on the innovations happening around you it can change your career.  When an idea, technology or procedure is new, it takes a week to become an expert.  A year later it takes a year to become an expert.

I became a database expert in a week when Oracle 1.0 came out.  I talked my boss into springing for $100 to get a copy.  I parlayed that into becoming a DB2 guru by buying a book.  One book.  I became a data modeling expert because no one else had a clue what that was.  One innovation led to another, and my bosses had no desire to stop me.  All the industry magazines and experts were using the buzzwords I could implement.  I was on the leading edge.  I was riding the wave of innovation. Every career progression was caused by taking 2 weeks to prepare for an upcoming, essential, mystifying technology.

Do like Bill Gates and I did. Do a little internal innovation and focus on using other’s ideas and new technology.  It is always easier to become an expert when technology and techniques are new.  What is new in your field?

Something to do today

Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?”  Figure out what the buzzwords are that people are barely starting to define in your field.

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Tomorrow:     Grandpa rotated crops for free

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Posted in Focus, talent, Time management, Training

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Fingerprint locks and getting hired

Posted on September 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship…the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.  (Peter Drucker)

I saw another ad for a notebook computer with a fingerprint reader.  I want one.  It is so cool.  You just draw your finger over the reader and it unlocks the screen because it knows who you are.  Talk about geek chic technology.  I gotta have one. I will have a computer that only responds to me.

You need to be unique, like that computer.  Every year thousands of people get great new jobs with massive pay raises because they have learned something new and exciting.  I know average programmers who are earning $120,000 per year.  They learned the latest technology, SAP, Oracle Financials, or neural decision software.  They have been riding the gravy train for 3 or 4 years.  Accountants that can implement new systems are still worth their weight in gold. Today I am searching for just such a person for my client.

What is it that you can do to set yourself distinctly apart?  Is there an innovation rearing its head in your field?  Even help desk techs can earn $90,000 per year if they find the right niche.  You have to innovate.  Become different.  Be a rare breed.

That fingerprint lock sold thousands of laptops to geeks like me.  New technology, techniques, and skills can sell CEO’s and managers on your value.

What can you learn today?

Something to do today

The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field.”  Try it today.

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Tomorrow: Picking up a hundred dollar bill

Grandpa rotated crops for free

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Posted in Accomplishments, Focus, talent, Training

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