Category Archives: Focus

The 2 biggest internet job site scams

Posted on January 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

A banking jobs website salesman called my partner one day.  They have the best, the greatest, the most useful banking jobs website ever.  They want us to have all of our candidates put their resumes up on their website.  Then any employer can pay a fee, find the resumes, and hire the candidates.  There are a whopping 175 resumes in the database. It is useless for anyone to go there.  Don’t waste your time putting your resume on that website.

1.

Wasting your time online is the biggest internet job site scam. Many sites sell hope, and not results, ever.

Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.  (Mary Ellen Kelly)

You need to talk to people.  Your resume only has one job, to get you an interview.  If you can call up a company and talk to a real person who might tell you to come in for an interview, that’s the best use of your time.

2.

One other job site scam is the high fee “We’ll help you find a job” website.  I have nothing against legitimate resume preparation companies.  Someone who helps you prepare for interviews for a fee is fine.  Resume rabbit will post your resume on 75 websites for a small fee.  Companies that send your resume to 10,000 companies do a service, even if it is mostly useless.  The problem is with companies that will charge you $5,000 or $20,000 for those services.  Sorry, that’s where I draw the line.  So, let me give you some guidelines on top fees you should pay.  Paying a fraction of these fees for great service is common. This is the MOST you should pay, ever.

  • Resume preparation:   $800
  • Resume posting to jobsites $150
  • Interview coaching: $150 per hour
  • Mass resume blasts to employers: a few hundred dollars

Consider the internet a helper in your job search.  Your goal is to talk to people who can hire you.  You can’t do that on the internet yet.

Something to do today

Call a potential employer or recruiter today.  Talk to someone.

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Later:               Should relocation be an option?

What a spouse is good for

Job hunting on the job

Salt in the wound

Eagles don’t flock?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Resumes, Training

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The way to look at goals that works for a change

Posted on January 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

When France ran Algeria, they needed a way to make roads across the trackless desert.  The desert is reasonably firm.  The distances are too great and traffic too rare for asphalt or concrete, or even road grading equipment.  The French took oil drums and filled them with dirt and rocks.  They placed them every 5 kilometers.

Travelers could see from one drum to another.  The wind may blow away the tracks but it won’t budge the oil drums.  If a sandstorm comes, time to hunker down and hope you can still see out of the windshield when it is over.  Then drive off to the next oil drum on the horizon.  It will still be there. Eventually you will get to your destination.  Just follow the oil drums.

Pick where you want to be in 6 months, a year and 5 years.  The goals can change later. For now, start working towards something concrete.  Figure out what you can actually get done in the short term as you work towards the goals you can’t really see.  The hang on like a bulldog.  Get to the next oil drum in your life.

Bear in mind, if you are going to amount to anything, that your success does not depend upon the brilliancy and the impetuosity with which you take hold, but upon the ever lasting and sanctified bulldoggedness with which you hang on after you have taken hold.  (Dr. A. B. Meldrum)

Working towards a goal, even as it shifts and changes, you will get farther than someone with no goal at all.  Set goals for your career, job change and the next month.  Go somewhere interesting.

Something to do today

I miss a lot of my goals.  I hit a lot of intermediate points.  The way I know is that I write my goals on paper.  I discuss a short term goal with my wife and kids every week.  This week that short term goal was about eating more healthily to get my blood pressure back down. I met that weekly goal, and my blood pressure dropped.

Write down a short term goal for this week and share it’s setting and accomplishment.

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Later:               Internet job site scams

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The boomer brain drain has started

Posted on December 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. (Thomas Edison)

Depending on exactly where you set the line, the baby boomers started retiring around 2010.  They are also starting to have heart attacks at an increasing rate.  Someone has to take their place.

This is an incredible opportunity to advance like a rocket in your career.

Planning, thinking, dreaming, and creating is critical now.  Now is the time to prepare.

Someone is going to be changing the bedpans for the baby boomers.  Others are going to be taking their money and making them happy.  A whole bunch of people are going to take top management positions as the older executive workforce churns into retirement.

Now is the time to get that certification, MBA, college education or Vo-tech class out of the way.

Do you want to get lucky?  Prepare!  Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Something to do today

Take some time off and dream.  What do you want to be STARTING in 5 years?  Where do you want that start to lead you 5 years after that?  Write down what you need to do to prepare for what you will start in 5 years.

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Later:              Not 12 seconds, it is 5.7 seconds

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Creative or just a gray person?

Posted on December 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

Some people are remembered because they are sharp, creative, and interesting. Many people are gray and easily forgotten

Call up our office after 6 pm.  Usually no one is there.  Listen to my voice mail message.  (800)239-7037.  Bryan Dilts.  I change the message every week or two.

You won’t be the first person to call just to hear it.  Some of them are great.  Some are merely okay.  I, personally, think each is funny, motivational or thought provoking.  Some other people think my messages are an abomination.  Each message is the real me.

My voice mail is unique.  Each person who leaves a message remembers me.

No committee would ever let me have those messages.  They would strangle the creativity.  I actually had a manager tell me not to be happy when I answer the phone at EDS.  That is the kind of thinking that turns you into a grey person that no one will remember.

A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled. (Sir Barnett Cocks)

In your job search you need to strike a balance.  You need to build confidence in the hiring managers.  You also need to stand out.  If you come up with a great idea, run it past some friends who can help you refine it.  Then test it.  The key is to refine and improve, not kill the idea.  In the end, take responsibility and do something a little different.  Your friends are not a committee with life or death responsibility. They are helpers.

Figure out what will make your resume better and unique.  Decide a few things you can answer to the standard questions that make you standout in 10 seconds of an interview.  Find the way to network that will set you apart and make you uniquely worthy of help.  Always go for a little better.

Use help to do something better and more unique.  Don’t let a committee kill your genius.  Be sharp and creative, not just a gray person everyone immediately forgets.

Something to do today

So, what is unique about you?  Is it your personality?  Your brainpower? Your 10 kids? (I have that many.) Education?  Sense of humor? Hard work? Soberness? Reliability?

Figure out a way to emphasize your strengths.  Be different.

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Later:              Boomer brain drain

Not 12 seconds, it is 5.7 seconds

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Interviews

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The best place to look for jobs or promotions

Posted on December 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

When I was a child I tried fishing in the water puddle in front of our house.  When the sun dried it up I could see there were no fish there.

At college I saw a video of a man fishing in one of the larger fountains there.  When people asked how the fishing was, he pulled up a nice string of large trout.  That made for interesting conversations, but no one believed him.  They could see there were no trout in that clear fountain water.

On a Scout outing John and I were lying on a creek bank and looking down into the water.  We could see 3 nice trout in the tree roots.  When a fisherman came by we asked how he was doing.  Only one fish so far.  John told the man to cast his lure at the tree root.  In a dozen casts the man caught all three fish.

To catch fish you have to cast your lure where the fish are.

This applies to new jobs and promotions

A recruiter can be that kid lying on the bank of the creek looking into the water.  He says “Cast your resume over here and you’ll get a job.”  He knows where the jobs are.

Ask your friends and acquaintances who is hiring.  They may have a good idea where to go. Look at the financial news stories and find out what industries are “going public” in the stock market.  Ask what companies are growing the fastest and look for a job in that industry.

Your mentor at work will tell you, “Volunteer for that project.  It has great visibility.  Avoid Jill Montoya, she’s poison.”  The mentor knows where the rewards and pitfalls are hidden.

Always be looking to the future.  Where are the jobs being created?  What do you need to learn to be in a high demand field?

Fish where the fish are.  You’ll have better luck.

Something to do today

Ask the people you respect most in your profession where the jobs are and where the industry is going.

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Later:              Mirrored windows

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Promotions

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What do you do while you wait to hear if you are hired?

Posted on December 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

Here in the USA we wait in lines.  We get upset when someone cuts in front.  So we wait back until it is our turn.  We don’t want to be greedy.

Tim was competing with 3 others for a promotion at EDS.  He was prepared.  He was a good choice.  He told his boss, “I do want this promotion.  It is the next step I need to take in my career.  But I don’t want you to choose me for the job if the other guys should have it.  I know it is important to them too.  I don’t want you to feel any pressure to give it to me even though I want it.”  Tim did NOT get the promotion.

Tim also waited a full year to get half of the bonus he was promised for putting in a lot of overtime on a project.  During that year he reminded his boss twice of the bonus.  Then Tim waited patiently with a smile.  Tim was a nice guy.  He was getting beaten up because he was afraid that hustling was uncouth.  Tim was politely waiting in line.

Good things come to those who wait.  But only what is left behind by those who hustle.  (Abraham Lincoln)

Let’s compare that to me.  Same area at EDS, different job.  I wanted to move to a special technical team.  There were 4 openings.  I asked my team leader and manager to help me get in.  I reminded them every few days.  I visited the manager who was leading the new group every other day.  I brought a word of cheer or another accomplishment.  He had no doubt how much I wanted the job. He got an email after every contact.  I got the job with 3 years of experience.  The other technicians were 5 to 20 years my senior.  They were well known and earned twice what I did.  I was nobody in comparison.  And I know I beat out a whole bunch of other folks who had way better credentials than me.

I waited, but I hustled while I waited. I made sure my references were checked.  I offered more proof of my accomplishments.  I never let the manager forget I wanted that job.  Towards the end he would see me in his doorway and grin, “Bryan, I haven’t made that decision yet, but I’m going to.  Don’t worry.  I know you want the job.”  But I kept coming for 3 weeks anyway.  I wanted the job more than I wanted to be polite.  I was willing to out work any of the more senior guys he could hire.  This was my only way to prove it.

There were a lot of very surprised people when I got the job.  They were obviously better than me.  But I hustled.  I made it a big deal.  I got the job.  Unfortunately there was nothing left for the others waiting in line.

Something to do today

If you are job hunting or looking for a promotion, hustle.  The job seeker who offers contagious enthusiasm often gets hired over the guy with experience.  For the job that is a quantum leap forward in your career, refuse to wait in line.  Hustle.

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Later:              The 5 pound call girl

Where to fish

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Posted in Attitude, Focus, Perseverance, Promotions, References

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Get a phone call: The 6 word “career objective” and your very simple resume

Posted on November 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

You will find a job a lot quicker if you simplify your career objective and your resume. Simplicity will get you a phone call.

How a simple plan leads to success in business

Fedex has a very simple business plan.  They get packages anywhere the next day.  Google is incredibly simple.  They help people find stuff on the internet.  Microsoft started out with a simple concept.  Make personal computers work for people.

Just like business plans, first you have to simplify your career plans.  What do you want to do, achieve or become?

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.  (Albert Einstein)

Make your career objective a 6 word sentence.

I rarely read more than 6 words of the “objective” portion of a resume.  I don’t have time to read that you want to work in a team, grow, contribute, and add to the bottom line.  Who doesn’t want those things?

Can you write your career objective in 6 words?  Would you dare put that on your resume?

Most resume screeners and managers decide whether to read career objectives based on the first 6 words.  Why not put your real objective there? 6 words.

Do you want your resume read?

I read The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, the abridged Reader’s Digest version.  It was fantastic.  I liked it so much I started reading the original by Victor Hugo.  It was torture.  Every building in Paris was carefully described.  A walk down a street was worth a chapter.  I couldn’t finish it.

Like Reader’s Digest did, you have to simplify your resume according to your simple plan. Your resume plan should simply be – GET A PHONE CALL.

GET A PHONE CALL

Make getting a phone call the point of your resume.  Now remove the stuff from your resume that won’t get you a phone call.  You need to entice people to call you by giving them exciting information, and NOT fully explaining it.  Then they have to call you.

If you set out to simplify your resume without a simple plan, you will fail.  You have to cut out the things that don’t apply to the plan you are pursuing.  You may end up with three simple objectives and three simple resumes.  That’s fine.  But each resume should be simplified so that it applies to one single objective and the single plan to GET A PHONE CALL.

For someone living before photographs, a description of Paris was thrilling.  For someone who has been there and can see pictures of it on the internet, descriptions of Paris are chloroform in print.  Victor Hugo decided on a simple plan: have a good plot, and double sales by having great descriptions.  He knew his audience.  He sold a lot of books to his target audience.

The same thing goes for the person who wants to be a manager.  He’d better have manager’s resume.  If the same person applies for a job as a technician he needs to leave out all the manager stuff.  Complexity gets confusing and discouraging to the reader¼and therefore gets your resume deleted.  If you want to be a hands-on manager, then show how you have done that in the past.  That is actually a simple plan like Victor Hugo with plot and descriptions.

Simplify your plan, simplify your career objective, then simplify your resume. You will get a phone call.

Something to do today

Are you applying for several different kinds of jobs?

Split your resume into several distinct resumes.  One simple resume for each job.

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Later:              Get 10% more at your next job, 3 parts

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Posted in Focus, Resumes

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Why failure is good in your job search

Posted on November 9, 2012 | 1 comment

Not many people are willing to give failure a second try.  They fail once and it is all over.  The bitter pill of failure is often more than most people can handle.  If you are willing to accept failure and learn from it, if you are willing to consider failure as a blessing in disguise and bounce back, you have got the essential of harnessing one of the most powerful success forces.  (Joseph Sugarman)

Why failure is good in your job search

When I was 17 I bragged that I had gotten every job I applied for.  That was 5 jobs at the time.  I set my own expectations and hit them.  I continued to get every job I applied for. Looking back, I was lucky and that luck kept me from doing better.

I always had enough money to survive and my desires weren’t huge.  I was going to college by then and just wanted to graduate.  That is why my luck hurt me so bad.

After I left college I found out that my Geology Department would have gladly given me jobs while I was at school.  I just never asked.  I could have gone on to graduate school and jobs would have been lined up for me so I could afford it.  I never asked.  During the summer break there were jobs available for aspiring geologists, but I had already lined up something else selling books or working in the library.  It was so easy to get the jobs I applied for that I never got the jobs that would advance my career.

Even when I graduated I applied for a job in geology that was being filled by high school graduates at the time.  Of course I got the job.  And I earned less than I could. And I didn’t look for another job until I was laid off.

It took me 3 years after that lay off to get a good job with a bright future.  It took me that long to learn that if I accept every job I can get, I get jobs without a future.

I was a slow learner.  I didn’t start failing until after I was laid off.  I finally learned.  Sometimes getting every job you apply for means you aren’t aiming high enough.

Something to do today

Do you have a real career plan?

I was talking with programmers earning $50,000 per year and others earning $120,000 per year.  They had the same basic talents.  The better paid ones had chosen to work in SAP instead of Visual Basic.  They really had to pay a price to get into SAP.  Now they are reaping amazing rewards compared to the programmers who applied for jobs they knew they could get.

Do you really have a career plan?  Or is it just a downhill career path?

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Later:              Simplicity

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus

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Office politics – is documentation or lunch the way to win?

Posted on November 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Go for the throat office politics can be won.  The bureaucrats can be defeated.  Here is how I did it once.

I was on a team of outsiders making massive updates to their computer system.  Every time we went around one of their team members, they sent us an email.  If we didn’t do things their way, we got an email.  We got a lot of emails.

The president of the company was a figurehead.  The VP of Operations from out of town was the person who had funded the company.  He wasn’t the head, he was the leader.  He actually had the power to fire the president.

Things finally came to a head when we were about to finish the project one week late.  We had charged an extra $300,000 and were 15% over budget.  All the over budget charges were for taking over jobs that the staff just wasn’t getting done.

The staff figured they had us up against a wall.  They wanted our blood. We were going to be a week late.  We had made them look bad.  They had undeniable documentation of all our failings and our failure to listen.

So we called a meeting with the VP, the staff, and our team of outsiders for 11:30 AM.  The VP had to fly in from out of state to attend.  The staff was sure we would be crucified.

He got in and we sat down.  The head of the staff had a stack of emails 3 inches thick that he had printed out.  Proof!  He handed it to the VP.

The VP asked, “Will the system go live in a week?”

“Yes,” said the staff head.

“Will it work well enough to keep the company running?”

“Yes, but they…”

“Were you able to test the system they put in?”

“Yes, but they…”

“Did they charge us for anything they didn’t do?”

“No, but they didn’t do what they were supposed to.  I’ve got documentation here.”

“But they got done what we needed.  They finished the job that had to get done.  It’s lunch time.  I’m going to lunch.  Who wants to come with me?”

The meeting was over.  How had we won?  Politics.

I kept in phone contact with the VP.  I kept asking him what he wanted done.  I told him, that it would be expensive.  I told him his staff was getting in our way.  Every time I called, I had a solution to a problem.  I also kept reminding him of how expensive it would be if we failed.

The staff just kept sending him emails.

He listened to me because I had solutions to his problems.  He ignored the staff because they just whined. He was also hungry and the meeting was right before lunch, so he had no desire to listen to whining.

Be the person who brings solutions and gets things done, and you will notice that office politics shatter around you.  No one can beat you because you get the most important stuff done.

Think about it.  How does that apply to you?

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, management

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Office politics – get past gatekeepers and roadblocks

Posted on October 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Faster access to our computers from home made all the sense in the world.  One man was standing against my recommendation.  Everyone else loved it.  The big boss hid from the debate, citing Jim and the cost.  It seemed like spite, but we had been friends.  Why was Jim sabotaging me?  Why wouldn’t he listen to reason?

A year later, as technology advanced, a much cheaper and faster access method was installed.  I also gained some perspective.  Jim wasn’t an SOB, he was a guy with an opinion.  I watched him turn out to be right every single time he took an unpopular stand.  It might take a couple of years to be vindicated, but he was always right.  Management had learned to ignore Jim at their peril.

Jim was a gatekeeper.  He could be reasoned with.  He would accept proof.  He changed his mind when it made sense.  Jim only seemed like a roadblock when you were wrong.

The roadblocks are the folks who are mean and spiteful.  They can stop a project by getting in the way or going slow.  They literally may kill a plan just because they don’t like someone on the team.  They stay in place because they know enough of the right people that they can help advance or hinder careers.  They help their friends and shaft their enemies.

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself, he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.  (J. W. von Goethe)

Be careful who you define as a gatekeeper and as a roadblock. Ask around.  What do your coworkers think of the person in your way? I was wrong about Jim when I thought he was a roadblock.  He was a smart guy who was a very respected gatekeeper.

Something to do today

Is someone getting in your way.  Ask around.  Are they gatekeepers or roadblocks?

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Later:              Office politics – lunch or documentation

–     train your eyes

Your red herring

Their red herring

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, Raises

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