Author Archives: bryandilts

How to win the rigged game of getting a job

Posted on August 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

Of course the game is rigged.  Don’t let that stop you—if you don’t play, you can’t win. (Robert Heinlein)

Games can be deadly serious

Chess, poker, basketball and football are just games.  Some people study those games intently and never play themselves.  Others study the games and get into the competitions, contemplating victory and risking defeat. Those who watch from comfortable chairs and never participate, can never know the struggle and thrill of victory, nor the cleansing scourge of defeat.  The quiet careful critics will never grow a hundredth as much as the rankest loser grows.

Look at your job search like your favorite game or sport

That job or promotion you have applied for 5 or 10 times may really be out of reach for you.  That doesn’t mean you should stop trying.  At least you are in the game.  You will never win if you quit the field of battle.

Out of work?  Every job you apply for is a new game. Every time an employer calls you is a victory.  The next game is the interview.  Another game starts in the second interview.  Negotiating your salary is another game.  The day you start the job a new competition begins.

Look at it as a game. For a game you study techniques and practice them over and over. You also study the great winners and losers.  If you want to be great, you also study the mediocre masses because you have to find out why they are merely mediocre.  If you want to win, you have to know how to defeat each of your opponents.  A coach is also essential. Your coach will be called a mentor, recruiter or friend. Find the most successful person you can and ask for them to give you advice on what you should learn, study and practice next. Practice, prepare and then execute.  If you lose 20 times it won’t really kill you.  Look at it as a game.  The only thing that really kills you is giving up and leaving the game for good.

If there is a job or promotion you want but just can’t seem to win, make a game out of it. Play. Have some serious fun with it.

Something To Do Today

Make your job growth a game.  How can you learn to play it at a Super Bowl level?  Who can be your coach?  Get back in the game. Play.

Out of work?  Job hunting?  Make it a game. Study.  Keep trying.

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Tomorrow:     Before you know it

Later:              Who is driving?

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Perseverance

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Should you spend money on training?

Posted on August 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Greatness is more than potential.  It is the execution of that potential.  Beyond the raw talent.  You need the appropriate training.  You need discipline.  You need the inspiration. You need the drive.  (Eric Burns)

Employers should pay for training for their employees.  The employers get the benefit of employees being trained so it is only fair employers pay.

That’s true except for one thing, you can leave tomorrow.  They cannot clean the training out of your brain and put it into someone else’s brain.  The fact that employers EVER pay for training is a tribute to their vision for the future.

I hear the excuse, “My employer should pay me to learn”, every week.  Many people won’t buy a book about their job. They won’t spend 2 hours a night studying for 3 months to pass a certification exam.  Some won’t even stay late at the company training center because they aren’t being paid to learn. There are many short sighted people.

When you get trained you have bettered yourself for the rest of your life. When you get a new job you get paid to keep your skills and your old employer loses out.  If you are in a hurricane and lose your house, computer and car, you get to keep your skills.  How much did you spend on your car and how much did you spend on your skills?  What will your car be worth in 10 years? It really does make sense to invest in your skills and knowledge. There is very little else that someone can’t take away from you.

Financial counselors say, “Pay yourself first.”  Make that first payment into your skills.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of certifications, books, courses and seminars that would help you stay ahead of the gang in your field.  Why not start on one of them today?

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Tomorrow:     Make a game out of it

Later:              Before you know it

Who is driving?

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Posted in Attitude, talent, Training

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3 ways to re-enter the workforce, 1 is reliable

Posted on August 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

America’s greatest strength, and its greatest weakness, is our belief in second chances, our belief that we can always start over, that things can be made better. (Anthony Walton)

The most common scenario:

“I took 4 years off and started a business. It has been fun, but I want to get back into a real job. I programmed on the old mainframe computers.  I don’t want to spend my money getting training. What do I do?”

Two people called me with this basic question last week.  There are three things you can do:

  1. Keep looking for work until someone retires where they desperately need your skills and then hope you get lucky and get the job when 100 qualified people apply.
  2. Start a new career as a beginner at unskilled labor wages and learn on the job.
  3. Pay for your own training.

People are successful at all three every day. I help people do all three as a recruiter.

Financially, #3 is the best investment of your time and money.  You will earn much more over the next 10 years doing #3.

People do #2 all the time, but it takes a few years more to get to the earning level a person with training is at right away.  It really is a good option if you don’t mind taking the extra time to get there.

I know people who are still programming in computer languages that were abandoned 20 years ago.  Others are running mainframe computers that are 30 years old.  They have good reputations and keep in touch with 20 or 30 companies that occasionally need their skills.  #1 is definitely a viable option if you work at marketing yourself.

3 ways to re-enter the workforce.  You can do whichever makes the most sense to you.

Something To Do Today

Write a plan.  What would you do if you were struck down with an illness and completely recovered in 3 years?

It’s the end of the month.  Have you written and handed in your monthly list of accomplishments and projects?  Do you have a copy in your job journal?

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Tomorrow:           I don’t want to spend my money on training

Later:                    Make a game out of it

Before you know it

Who is driving?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Training

10 ways to prove you are a fast learner

Posted on August 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

“I know I haven’t done that job before, but I’m a really fast learner”, so the applicant says.  Then I read the resume and can see nothing to back up their claim.  They have a “C” average in school, worked at a manual labor job and their hobby is woodworking.

I tell them, “Prove to me that you are a fast learner.”

Few have thought of how to prove it.  I ask more questions and try to find out if the person is a fast learner. I ask questions like:

   What do you learn quickly?

   Do others come to you for help with a particular kind of problem?

   What do you excel at?

   What projects did you lead?

   Are you particularly good or renowned at your hobby?

   Which were your best school classes or subjects?

   Who were you favorite teachers or supervisors and why?

   What have you written about?

   When have you won a contest?

   What do you do that causes you to lose all track of time?

Those questions can lead to a list of proofs of fast learning, or not.  If you are a fast learner, prove it on your resume with your accomplishments.

To be honest, being a FAST learner is less important than being a steady learner.  If you pick up new skills and apply them regularly, you can get farther than someone who is occasionally brilliant but lazy.  Employers respect someone who is a consistent learner and worker.

Show consistent learning and how you picked up new skills every year and that is enough. Prove it with new accomplishments on your resume, and I’ll think you are a fast learner.

Something To Do Today

For some reason many people don’t think what they learned is important.  Keep track of new skills you learn so you can brag about them. Prove how fast you can learn.

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Monday:           Re-entering the workforce

Later:                 I don’t want to spend my money on training

Make a game out of it

Before you know it

Who is driving?

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Interviews, Promotions, talent, Time management, Training

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The most important thing to say to get a promotion

Posted on August 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, “Certainly I can!” Then get busy and find out how to do it. (Theodore Roosevelt)

 Certainly I can! What an inspiring phrase.

My story:

Microfocus COBOL was a total unknown.  It had been used to program a small but critical insurance application two years before.  The manager of 70 people asked among his employees for a volunteer to fix it. No one stepped up. Finally he asked if anyone else could do it.  I replied, “I can learn how.”  I wasn’t an employee.  I was an expensive contract programmer being paid to do something else.  He gave me the assignment and I learned a new skill.  It was interesting that as I worked on it some of the employees who didn’t volunteer came by and told me how lucky I was to know those skills.

If you look at real leaders, technical, managerial, and sales leaders, you will find that they volunteer for difficult projects.  They hear about a problem or project and ask themselves, “Can I learn how to do that?” They lobby for the chance to take on significant problems that will have a big payback for the company.  They often find and solve serious problems no one else could even bring themselves to admit.  Then those leaders take appropriate credit for their personal learning and growth, and they are given more chances to solve difficult problems.

“Certainly I can” is a critical phrase in a leader’s vocabulary.  It isn’t a matter of being able to do the impossible this second.  It is knowing that given time and appropriate resources the problem can be solved and I can do it.

Something To Do Today

Look for problems.  Look for screw ups.  Listen for moaning, whining and complaining.  Make lists of all the difficulties you can find.  Decide which of them will have the biggest payback for the company.  Tell the right person, “I can fix that”, and watch what happens.

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Tomorrow:     But I’m a really fast learner

Later:              Re-entering the workforce

I don’t want to spend my money on training

Make a game out of it

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Perseverance, talent, Training

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The 2 ways they determine your salary

Posted on August 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

When you tell me, “I won’t tell you what I am earning now.  I want to be paid according to what I’m worth. You get me an offer and I’ll tell you if it is high enough.”

I always reply, “No, I don’t work that way.  I have to know what you last earned. I never make an exception for anyone.”

Most people think that there is a chart in the hiring manager’s office he uses to determine the pay rate of a new hire.  The skill level is carefully matched to years of service and a scientifically determined salary is offered.

That would be nice, but it is totally wrong. What you will be paid at a new job depends  mostly on two factors: what you were earning before, and how well you interview. Your last pay rate is critical because it shows what someone who worked with you daily thought you should be paid. If you convince your hiring manager that you are underpaid, you will earn more.  If he’s convinced you are overpaid, you’ll earn less.  There is no magic, just gut feeling and guesses.

Your job interview is critical.  In sales and managerial jobs you must show your ability to deal with people.  In more technical positions you might be paid well even if you can barely speak, but still get the point across that you can do the job.

Your resume gets you an interview.  Your interview and previous pay determine your pay rate.

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Tomorrow:      Certainly I can

Later:               But I’m a really fast learner

Re-entering the workforce

I don’t want to spend my money on training

Make a game out of it

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Interviews, talent

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Post It notes to meet your goals

Posted on July 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it. (Robert Heinlein)

Making a goal a constant irritant is critical.  Anyone can set a goal and then forget it.  An effective tool for making goals a constant irritant is Post-it notes.  Write a single achievable goal on each note, then:

  1. Post your achievable goals on the bathroom or bedroom mirror
  2. Carefully read them when you get up and when you go to bed
  3. When you accomplish a goal, paste it in a permanent record

All three steps are critical.  You have to use them as an irritant and as a reminder that you can meet the goals you set.  You’ll find that you want to put up goals you are going to meet.

Remember the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: the mere act of measuring changes the thing being measured.  Putting those goals on your mirror, measuring yourself against them, then cataloging your successes can change your life.

Something To Do Today

Take a pad of Post-it notes home. Write achievable goals on 3 of them.  Make at least two of them very short term.  Create an archive where you can keep all the Post-it note goals you achieve.

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Tomorrow:           How they determine your pay rate

Later:                    Certainly I can

But I’m a really fast learner

Re-entering the workforce

I don’t want to spend money on training

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, Perseverance, Time management

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Promotions, new job hiring, and “The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle”

Posted on July 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

A biologist told me, “One chipmunk was trap crazy. That’s a technical term. Every time I set out an array of traps that one chipmunk ran right into one of the traps.”  Wildlife biologists have to deal with the strange changes that happen when they measure something.  The mere act of measuring changes the thing being measured.  That is the basis of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

What happens depends on our way of observing it or on the fact that we observe it. (Werner Heisenberg)

Tracking performance alters what happens.  For instance, I worked on one set of computer programs where the programmers were paid per line of each program.  Those were the longest programs I have ever seen.  As a salesman I was once rewarded for each call I made.  I made a whole lot more calls but sold no more of the product.  I was gaming the system.  I was winning the contest and losing my job.

So how does this get you a new job or a raise?

Bosses want performance.  They use reasonable, useless, and ridiculous metrics to decide what your performance was.  That is true whether it is a hiring manager at a job you want, or your present boss.

First: Figure out what is the most important measuring stick

Second: Figure out what will keep your boss (or hiring manager) happy.

You should know and care about every measurement of your performance that your boss takes.  It is absolutely critical to decide which are the critical measurements.  Some of those measurements will get you a raise and a new job while others will get you fired.  Most of the rest exist to get you to change the way you work. Look at the message you get from the non-critical measurements. Make your boss happy if you can.  Be prepared to fail on the minor measurements to win a spectacular success on the critical measurements. Keep a record of how well you do on the most critical measurements.

What YOU decide to pay the most attention to will change how you work.  You have to concentrate on the measurements that will get you to your end goal.  Again, the mere act of measuring will change the thing being measured.  That is the basis of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Figure out how to use that to reach your goals.

Something To Do Today

Do you know what you want out of your job?  Money, a promotion, free time or a place to hang out?  Write in your job journal what the most critical measurements are to help you reach that goal.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, Promotions, Time management

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How to show excellent customer service on your resume

Posted on July 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

“You will be successful if you don’t screw up.” That was hard to swallow, but proved to be critically important.  I started watching how often we failed our customers.  Then I started tracking the failures and had coworkers help fix the problems.  My supervisors loved it and rewarded me for merely cutting down the screw ups.

Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in.  It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.  A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe.  This is incompetence.  Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value.  Nothing else constitutes quality. (Peter Drucker)

Meeting expectations is often excellent customer service compared to your competitors. If you go out of your way to just meet expectations, you should write it down and report it. Note how much total revenue the customer is worth.  If you teach others to meet expectations the same way, take credit for the customers they help.  Creating a system to get rid of errors is a powerful accomplishment for your resume.

Giving customers better service than they expected should be tracked too.  Did you figure out how to give better service without spending money?  Did the service improvements save money because there was less rework or returned merchandise? Have you actually been able to charge for better service?  Are you getting more customers because of the better service? Did you cut down the amount of time a customer waits for something?

Remember to take credit for everyone in your company who starts doing something you started. It may seem small to you but multiplied by every customer your company has, it could be gigantic.

Managers look for ways to improve customer service.  If you track problems and then report on how you made things better, you will stand out.  Even if you just do what others suggest, take credit for it.  Track it.  Put it in your resume and job journal.  It may just get you an interview and a job.

 Something To Do Today

In your job journal track screw ups and how you help improve service. Report it.

Have you been giving reports to your boss?  Go back over last week and write a report of how well you did and turn it in.  Now do that every week.  Your boss will appreciate getting information he can use to show how well his team is doing.

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Tomorrow:     The Heisenberg uncertainty principle

Later:              Post-it notes

How they determine your pay rate

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Resumes, talent

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How to show you increased company revenue on your resume

Posted on July 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

There are always opportunities through which businessmen can profit handsomely if they will only recognize and seize them.  (J. Paul Getty)

The CEO of an internet marketing company told me that he can give detailed reports of how successful his campaigns are.  He offers the reports to all the marketing managers who hire him.  Often they say, “We don’t want your reports. Measurable results don’t matter.  We are going to spend the money and get long term results you can’t measure.”  I think, in reality, those marketing managers are saying, “I’m afraid to report how much I increase revenue because I’ll be fired if it is too low.”

Salespeople and people who work for customers at an hourly rate can all figure out exactly how much money they bring in to their company.  Most do not track the figure over time.  They worry about getting paid and then throw away the information.   Every dollar they generate should be tracked, recorded, reported and bragged about in the long term.

Even if you are not in sales or directly billable, go about your day thinking about how your actions generate money.  An accountant who suggests expanding a line of business has generated revenue and should take credit for it. A clerk who gets slow customers to pay up has generated revenue.  Have you given leads to salespeople?  Did you assist in sales presentations?  How many people did you sign up for the new marketing program?  Many people bring in revenue and never think about it.  I would hire the guy who says, “I HELPED bring in $180,000 last year”, over the one who says, “I worked really hard”.

Make sure and write down what you did to bring in new revenue.  Every month, quarter and year you should report it and put it in your job journal. Estimates are fine. And put it on your resume.  It will set your resume apart. It may just be the thing that gets you an interview.

Something To Do Today

Spend a full day noting down the ways you help bring in money.  The projects you work on and the individual things you do all count.  Take credit for your team’s accomplishments too.

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Tomorrow:     Show better customer service

Later:              The Heisenberg uncertainty principle

Post-it notes

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Posted in Accomplishments, Resumes, talent

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