Category Archives: Accomplishments

Making milk and getting the raise you deserve

Posted on September 17, 2015 | Leave a comment

Is there something you do that is critical? How many are there? Do you get credit for them? A raise?  When the kids were all home, I wrote this.

I make the milk

With up to 9 kids (we have 10) and 2 adults at home, we drink a lot of milk. There isn’t enough room in our 2 refrigerators to keep enough fresh milk.  We use powdered milk instead.

Where the milk comes from

Me, in the morning, getting ready to make the milk.

Every morning I get up early and write.  When I am done I make breakfast for myself.  The milk is usually gone.  Sometimes I grumble a little.  Why is it always me?  Everyone uses it.  Can’t they make it too?  Then I go ahead and make the milk.  Occasionally  I remind my wife that I made the milk.  She can’t leave me for another man. He might not make the milk in the morning. (Truth be told: she makes it more than I do, but I can’t have her believing I am totally useless.)

Do you “make the milk” at work?  Are there indispensable chores you do?  Then you need to remind your boss of them every week or at least quarterly.  Put them in your weekly, monthly or quarterly reports to your boss. He needs to be reminded.

Since you are reporting what you do as routine every week, you’d better add what the extra things are that you do every week. Write how you saved money, speeded things up, or made a customer happy.  Don’t forget to include training you gave or received.

There is no way that your boss can possibly know all the important things you do.  He has his own job.  Giving him a weekly, monthly and quarterly report reminds him.  It also gives him a weekly opportunity to think of new projects to give you.  It forces him to think of your career.

Make the milk. Then make sure you get the credit.   It really will help your career.

Something To Do Today

In your job journal make a list of the things you do every day, week and month.  What do you take care of so your boss doesn’t have to worry?  Keep adding to the list.  Friday, write up the list and give it to your boss.  You may just surprise him with how much you did this week.

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Tomorrow:     Guerilla gardening

Great ideas are…

Forgetting

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Raises, Time management

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Get a job by being like the guy who invented running

Posted on September 14, 2015 | Leave a comment

Experts are hired quickly.  They rarely look for a job very long. An expert knows all the answers – if you ask the right questions.  You can become an expert, just like Jim Fixx.

The guy who invented running died

Jim Fixx transformed himself into more than just another old runner like this guy.

Runners were either late to an interview or just weird before Jim Fixx.

Jim Fixx passed away in 1984.  Some obituaries said, “The man who invented running died.” Before his book, The Complete Book of Running, jogging and running were not sports.  They were just weird.  Jim Fixx didn’t revolutionize running, he just brought it acceptance.  In 1977 his book was the best selling non-fiction hardcover book ever. He is a legend in the running world.

Every month I run across at least one or two people whose names are synonymous with excellence in their field.  Hailed as legends and gurus, they aren’t necessarily the brightest people, but they are smart.  What they have done is study extensively, had a few successful projects and published a few articles or a book.  If the field is broader, they get involved writing the certification tests in their discipline. They all command a 30% to 100% earnings premium compared to people who are merely better than they are.

Hiring managers feel embarrassed to admit they don’t know who these people are.  It is obvious from their resumes that they are the “go to” guys in their narrow field.  I have to emphasize, these guys are smart, but not geniuses.  They have figured out how to be impressive.  They have psyched out managers, consultants and experts.  They have become the gurus in their field.

Can you become the legend or guru in your field?  How about in your company?  In your team?  Your name can become synonymous with a particular subject.  You may have to teach a few classes, write an article or a training course.  What can you do to become a legend?

Something To Do Today

Who are the gurus in your field?  Ask them how they built their reputation.  Scared to call them because they wrote a book?  Truth to tell, authors are human too.  They will succumb to the rapt attention of an informed audience.  Call them, email them or write to them.

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Tomorrow:     I make the milk

Guerilla gardening

Great ideas are…

Forgetting

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Posted in Accomplishments, References, Resumes, Selling

The trick to working less hours and getting promoted

Posted on August 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

You don’t double your productivity by doubling your hours. Working lots and lots of hours may get you a promotion and a raise.  It may also get you burned out and fired.

A coupla months in the laboratory can save a coupla hours in the library. (Westheimer’s Discovery)

What you really need to do is double your productivity. Here is how to do it.

A friend sold me a chainsaw cheap.  She was doing me a favor.  She admitted that it ran, but it did not cut well at all.  I took the chainsaw home and reversed the chain.  It works great now. I could have just run the chainsaw more and eventually cut through any log (maybe). A little while ago my son decided to cut some monstrous tree roots with the chainsaw.  Suddenly it wouldn’t cut anymore.  The dirt on the roots had horribly dulled the chain.  I took it into my basement and spent half an hour sharpening it.  Now it cuts again.  But, I could have just worked a lot more hours cutting logs with a dull chainsaw.

The career trash heap is littered with the bodies of people who thought 20 MORE hours a week at work would get them promoted. While they were slaving away, someone else reversed the chain or sharpened the saw.  The thinker and planner got promoted.

You need to do your basic job well.  Other than your basic job, what will set you apart?  What will make you the best?  What will make you the natural leader?

How for YOU to get a promotion or raise

Your boss wants to look good and get a raise and promotion.  What can you do to help him? Is your working more hours the only thing that will make him look better?

Your company wants to make more money, spend less, and keep the customers happier.  Can you do something a little better while you are doing your basic job? Can you get involved in highly visible projects?  How can you set yourself apart?

In addition to being better, you have to get noticed, respected, and appreciated. Give your boss a weekly, monthly and quarterly report of exactly what you did better.  Then in your next annual review, you have ammunition.  And if you go job hunting, you have proof.

Take a careful look at your job.  Can you reverse the chainsaw chain somewhere?  Can you just sharpen the saw?  What do you need to do that will move you forward the fastest?  Is just putting in more hours really the most important thing you can do?

Ask your boss how HE is evaluated.  Now ask yourself how can you help HIM get a better evaluation?  Sharpen your chainsaw, don’t just work more hours.

Something To Do Today

Ask your boss how HE is evaluated.  How can you help him get a better evaluation?

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Tomorrow:    Confronting your boss

Later:              How to leave your job

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

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Getting past a glass ceiling

Posted on August 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

True story: She can’t get a promotion.  Not even a bigger title.  The “Good Old Boys” all admit she is doing a great job.  She saves the company literally 5 to 50 times her salary every year.  She will never be promoted.  It is because she is a woman.  I know her.  I know her company.  There is no way up.  Even shooting her boss will only get a different man promoted ahead of her.

She can make her own life a living hell by suing the company.  She’ll lose even if she wins.  They would figure out a reason to fire her in a few years and then she’d have a hard time finding a job.

There are two ways to deal with a glass ceiling.

  1. Go around it.
  2. Get a new job.

Go around it

To go around the glass ceiling you need a mentor.  It is doubtful that your own boss will really help since he isn’t helping you now.  Invite someone 2 or 3 levels above you to lunch.  At lunch, don’t condemn your boss. Ask for help to grow.  Write down the advice you get.  Set up an appointment to have lunch again in 3 to 6 months.  Go over your progress with the person.  Report on how you have improved.

Scared?  Do you have to go to the owner, CEO or chairman of the board?  Do it anyway.  What have you got to lose?  You may be surprised that the person that far above you really wants to help winners like you succeed.  And if they refuse to help, try method 2.

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read, “President Can’t Swim”.  (Johnson)

Get a new job

Keep your old job as you search for a new one.  Chronicle your accomplishments in a job journal.  Report to your boss every week on your progress at work even if he doesn’t want to see it.  Take the reports and put your greatest accomplishments in your resume.

Network, contact recruiters, apply to good jobs at good companies.  Set criteria for moving and when you find the job, move.

Something To Do Today

Seriously ask yourself, why haven’t I been promoted this week?  Why haven’t I gotten a raise or a bonus this week?

Now write down in your job journal what you can do to get a promotion, raise or bonus as quickly as possible.

Will that make you happy?  Is that what you really want?  If yes, go do it.  If no, better figure out what you really should be doing.  There is no time like the present to change your life.  You get to be happier longer if you change today.

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Later:  The hours game

Confronting your boss

How to leave your job

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Perseverance, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, Raises

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7 ways to hide what is NOT on your resume

Posted on April 7, 2015 | 1 comment

Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.  (Hoffer)

Hiding what is NOT on your resume may be the hardest part of writing one.  Someone is going to get that job. Most successful candidates lack some of the requirements.  Some lack major components and still get hired.  Let’s look at one of the world’s greatest experts.

Many people say Saddam Hussein was the foremost expert in hiding what is not there.  Rather than argue the facts, let’s exploit his methods.  It works when you are trying to get a job or promotion to do something you have never done before.

Saddam showed great enthusiasm for the weapons he was not supposed to have.  He built expertise in their design, construction and use. He got hold of parts of the technologies required to build the weapons and made sure the world knew it.  Tests were done openly with related weapons and delivery systems.  His experts visited seminars, arms factories and suppliers of illegal goods.  There were even articles published by “insiders” who “blew the cover” of the program. Last of all, he refused to prove he didn’t have the expertise.

Here is how to apply Saddam’s tricks towards getting a job or promotion you have no experience for:

  1. Show enthusiasm for the job.
  2. Learn on your own.  Get certifications.  Join societies.  Read related magazines.
  3. Start doing what you can.  Programmers (to be) can create games and databases.  Salesmanagers (to be) can lead popcorn sales for the Boy Scouts that gross a quarter million dollars. A computer technician (to be) can put together a network in his basement.
  4. Get a job in or volunteer to work somewhere that is doing what you want to do, even if you are not directly involved.
  5. Talk to people doing what you want to do.  Attend their seminars and trade shows.  Discuss the latest ideas in the field with people in that field.
  6. Start a blog.  Write articles for trade publications–they are always starved for good thoughtful articles.  Call reporters with ideas and quotes.
  7. List what you have done in your resume or job review.  Do NOTapologize for lack of experience.  Emphasize what you have done.

In order to get the first shot at your future, you have to prepare. Eventually your enthusiasm and persistence will get you an opportunity.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Resumes

The secret to getting credit and a raise

Posted on March 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

Eventually every great plan deteriorates into hard unexpected work. The trick is to get credit for it, and a raise.

A newly minted Psychologist went to a new elementary school.  Her job was to help children develop strong characters, overcome problems, and become fulfilled individuals. At 11:15 that morning the Principal poked her head in and said,  ”Come with me.  We need your help.”  A crisis intervention? Her training would really pay off now.  They both went to the lunchroom.  The Principal took the Psychologist over to the milk cooler and told her, “At lunch you sell milk to the children who bring lunches from home.” That Psychologist said she nearly quit.  It took her weeks to realize that every job has some work that just needs to be done.  Someone has to sell the milk.

She works for the children.  She really does change their lives, just not always the way she expected to.

You work for people.  Your boss is one.  He is a customer.  Your coworkers are customers.  The people who see and use your work are customers.  The people who buy your company’s products are customers.  Are you giving them what they need and want?  Are they satisfied?  Can you prove it?

In a job journal you can keep track of how you have served your customers.  Tracking what good you have done will improve your performance.  Telling your boss exactly what you contribute each week will get you a raise as you improve.  If your boss doesn’t give you the raise you have earned, your job journal will help you get a new job.

So, who did you help?  What was their problem?  Did your answer save time, money or frustration?  Write down and report on your expected duties.  Also report on the times you just have to sell milk.

It is not hard.  It’s a great plan.  It just takes a little work.

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Something To Do

Do you have a job journal?  Create one for as far back as you can remember if you don’t have one already.  Unemployed?  Create one for your last job.  Write down what you accomplished. What things are better because you were there?  Did you save money, earn money or keep a customer?  Write it down.

Here is the gutsy part if you have a job. Managers need to know what you accomplished, but most are afraid to admit they don’t know what you do every day. Submit a report to your manager in a format he can use to show his boss.  Do it every week.  Give your manager something to brag about every week.

Write down your failures in your journal too.  That way you can show how much things have improved later on.  Report failures along with how you have fixed them and how much money your improvement will now save.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Promotions, Raises

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Make your job search 50% more effective

Posted on February 23, 2015 | Leave a comment

The first step to making your job search 50% more effective, is to really know what is happening.  Yes, get a job in half the time. Let me give you an example that changed my life that applies to your job search.

I was overspending by 20% every month. I had an absolutely fixed income.  So I bought a notepad and kept track of every expense.  In one week it was obvious where the money went.  In a month it was unavoidable.  The truth? 20% of my very limited income was going for lemonade from cozy little shops in Murcia, Spain.

Your time is very limited.  You only get 24 hours a day.  You can’t buy more time. Do you really know how you use it?

Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace. (Sawyer)

Buy a small notebook.  Exert incredible discipline for one day each month.  Every time you shift tasks, write it down.  A phone call is a shifted task.  An internet link can be a shifted task.  Write it down.

It may help to create 15 minute intervals on the paper and write down what you did for each 15 minute period.

Now get out the chainsaw.  What was really REALLY productive?  Do you spend 2 hours daily trying to avoid offending people by chatting amiably or reading their useless emails.  Cut out the unproductive stuff.

Make sure you do what is important.  Education is essential. Networking is critical.  Talk about the NCAA tournament with Larry—don’t kid yourself.  That email of funny things kids do—delete it.

I tried it. I found I was spending hours each day with candidate email that wouldn’t do any good.  I did a 2 month experiment.  I took all my job openings off the internet. Instead I started calling up people.  In the recruiting business that is taking a chainsaw to your daily schedule.  Nothing neat and clean, I just cut 25% of my time wasted.  I have since added back some job ads, but not where everyone else advertises.  Now I get better candidates and less time wasters.

Create the log.  Keep it for a day or a week.  Get your chainsaw out.  Cut off the termite riddled, least productive part of the log.  Use the time you save to get the most useful things possible done.

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Something To Do Today

Create a time log.  Use it for your job or your job hunting.  Keep it. Analyze it.  Chainsaw it.

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Next:      Unbelievable networking facts.

Later:               Take unfair advantage of those networking facts.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Focus, management, Perseverance, Time management

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Your choice: Inferior or vastly superior job

Posted on January 21, 2015 | Leave a comment

Kids always made fun of the way I dressed.  I had two shirts and two pairs of jeans for the whole school year.  That’s all.  I had cheap shoes.  For dinner our family had beans every night, literally.  We drank powdered milk.  I brought peanut butter sandwiches to school every day with homemade quince jam.  I was different.

We were paying a price.  It was worth it.  My friends had nice stuff while we saved and scrimped for every penny.  We did something they never did.  Each summer we went traveling in our VW Camper Bus.  We visited most of the USA, Canada, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, Europe and Africa.  Most summers we left school two weeks early and got back into school two weeks late.

Being different is not being inferior.  It can be a distinct advantage.  Be different in a way that can make you superior.

How can you be different?  What can you do to dramatically improve over the long run?  I know two guys who never walk anywhere in the office without having a manual in their hands to read as they walk.  They are both considered a little odd, but they are both the undisputed technical experts in their field.  They are paid well for it.

Your goal should be to out-prepare and out-perform everyone else in critical areas.

Critical areas to stand out in are the most visible areas that: 

  1. Earn money
  2. Save money
  3. Improve customer service.

Here’s how you find the critical areas for your next promotion, raise, or job:  Ask.

Your boss wants you to be more valuable, he’ll help you.  The people you look up to at work will want to help.  Go ask them what you should excel at.

Then do it.  Do it in your own way. Eccentric flair or plodding dullness does not matter.  Just excel IN A WAY THAT MATTERS.  It will change your life, not just your pay and job title.

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

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How to motivate a recruiter to find you a job

Posted on January 20, 2015 | Leave a comment

Many recruiting offices have a button that rings a bell.  You can only push the button when you make a placement.  Some recruiters live only to press that button.  When they do press it, they keep their finger down for a full minute.  It drives everyone else nuts with envy.  Recruiters are competitive people.

Placing someone in a job motivates recruiters.  Sure recruiters want money.  That’s not their base motivation.  Their whole job is centered on making placements.

Want to motivate a recruiter?  Convince them they can place you quickly.

Some things that help:

  1. A great resume showing accomplishments, not responsibilities
  2. A positive attitude
  3. Talents that are in strong demand
  4. Winning interview skills
  5. Reasonable salary expectations
  6. Motivation to take a new job
  7. Little job hunting done on your part already
  8. A list of companies you would like to work for
  9. An exclusive relationship with the recruiter
  10. Your spouse and kids back you in the move
  11. Willingness to relocate or commute
  12. Ability to interview at a moment’s notice
  13. Great references that can be checked immediately or that are already on LinkedIn
  14. A current job

If you bring me all of the things above, I’ll start salivating.  I’ll drop everything I am doing and find you a job.  So will any other recruiter worth his salt. With that list, you should find a recruiter who will market you.  Get his commitment to report back how his marketing is going. If he won’t commit, he is the wrong recruiter.

The way to motivate a recruiter is to be a great candidate.  If you have a motivated recruiter, soon you’ll have a new job.

 Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score.  The real excitement is playing the game.  (Trump)

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Something To Do Today

Go back over that list.  Can you figure out how to line up more of those things for your next job hunt?  Ask a recruiter for his honest opinion, AHow marketable am I and what can I do to make myself irresistible to employers? You can, get a commitment from your recruiter of how much he’ll do and when he will call you back to report on his results.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Recruiters, Resumes, talent

How to overcome an employer’s resistance to hiring you

Posted on December 10, 2014 | Leave a comment

Why won’t they hire you? Do desperate employers resist hiring anyone?  Do they resist change? Or is it something else they resist?

Would you like to win a million dollars tax free?  But isn’t that a change?

If Oprah gave you a new car and money to pay the taxes on it, how hard would you resist? That is also a change.

Did you notice that I added that line about taxes in each question?  I had to add that because you might resist otherwise.  It isn’t the taxes, it is what the taxes represent in your mind that may cause you to resist.

Employers have the same resistance to hiring you that you might have to accepting a new car or even a million dollars.  They are afraid there is a hidden tax, a hook, a hidden problem.  They are afraid they will be forced to do things they don’t have time or energy for.  It can all be boiled down to their fear of losing control. People are afraid of losing control of their million dollars or their new car due to taxes. They are afraid of losing control if they hire you.

They lose control when they make you a job offer

As long as the employer is looking at resumes, interviewing, testing, talking about candidates, doing reference checks, and thinking about making offers, they are in control.  The second they make you an offer, they lose control.

Suddenly it is all up to you.  They get edgy.  To regain some control they will put a time limit on their offer. Usually they will give you overnight.  Sometimes they will give you up to a week.  But they want to have control over the process.

They have even less control when you start working for them

I am sure your new boss has worked with someone who was hired and was an absolute disaster. That person looked like the solution to their problem and was a horrible mistake.

You look like the perfect solution to their problem.  But, if they hire you, they lose control. When you come on board, there will be training, detailed supervision, review of your work, correction, adjustments to team duties, interpersonal conflicts, and a lot of other things that change. They will lose control of all those things the second you start with the team.

You have to help them regain control before you are hired

In order to soothe your potential boss, you have to give them as much control as possible.  If you can prove a few basic things, they will hire you immediately.  You need to prove:

  1. You will take the job and keep it
  2. You can do that job
  3. You won’t take too much training
  4. You will take the initiative to do things within their system
  5. You learn quickly
  6. You get along with all kinds of coworkers – good and bad
  7. You will quickly take other burdens off the boss’s back and give them back control.

How do you prove it?

We’ll talk about that over the next few days.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, Followup, Interviews, Networking, Perseverance, References, Resumes, talent

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