Category Archives: Followup

How to deal with a senile, blind, unthinking, incompetent boss — like yours

Posted on October 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

If you can get your boss to repeat what you say, there is still only a 50-50 chance he understood or thought about what he repeated.  There is only a 10% chance he will remember it in a week. Harsh?  No. Guys who get PhD’s in education will agree.

Have you ever felt like your boss was from a cartoon show?

How could you?!  Haven’t you learned anything from that guy who gives those sermons at church….Captain Whatshisname? (The Simpsons)

How many times do I have to tell them?

Your sweet boss is a senile, blind, unthinking, incompetent, well meaning person. Treat him that way, without offending him, and you’ll do well.

I only exaggerated a little. Here is why:

Everyone hears, but no one listens.

My wife and I were in charge of various activities at church, but very few people came.  Then we were told the key.  If a person at church is reminded of something 3 times, there is a chance they will consider it.  If they are reminded 6 times, it is likely they will remember hearing it once or twice.  So we started letting people know by announcements from the pulpit, notices on the bulletin board, a poster in the lobby, announcements in each Sunday School class, and an announcement at the Wednesday night meeting.  We did the notification for 3 weeks preceeding each event.  Suddenly people started coming.  They finally got it. They finally remembered. You have to repeat things over and over.

Again, if you can get your boss to repeat what you say, there is still only a 50-50 chance he understood or thought about what he repeated.  There is only a 10% chance he will remember it in a week. The studies have been done to prove it.

So the key to getting your boss to really understand is to remind him repeatedly.  How often? Every single week.

Forever?  Yes, forever. Yes, every week.

Your boss really only wants to think about your competence as he puts together your annual performance  review.  Otherwise, he just wants you to be excellent and not cause him any extra work.  You have to treat him like we treat the congregation at church.  He needs to be told over and over about what you have accomplished.

I suggest you submit a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual progress report to your boss.  Submit it even if he says, “You don’t have to.”  Tell him, “I hope you don’t mind.   I just want to be sure you understand what is going on.”  If he still objects, tell him you are gathering documentation for your annual review for him.  Keep it brief, but make it regular.

If you get those reports to your boss each week, I’ll bet he starts to file them in a special folder for you.  Then when he has to do pay reviews, he’ll open that folder and bless you for helping him out.  And your pay raise will be higher than it would otherwise.  When he is planning to promote someone, he’ll open that folder and know more about what you have done than about what anyone else has done.

Every Friday remind your leader why he loves having you work there.

Something To Do Today

Start giving your boss regular reports on what you do.

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Later:              A Korean attitude

What to learn from procrastinators

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Posted in Accomplishments, Followup, Perseverance, Raises, talent, Time management

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How often to call about that job you want

Posted on June 4, 2013 | 1 comment

Waiting is fine, if you want life to pass you by and spend its time with someone else.

So how often should you call? 

You will become invisible in 2 weeks if you just wait.  You will become a leprous outcast if you call 3 times a day.

To stay in competition you need to stay in contact and be remembered positively.  Here is how often to stay in touch.

If you just sent a resume.

Call a few hours after you send your resume, or the next morning, to make sure the resume was received. This is a great chance to reintroduce yourself and ask if they need more information.

Call 2 days later and ask, “What else can I do to help the process?  When can I come in?”

Then you should call every one or two weeks.  Set a time to do call backs and do them. Every time you should ask, “Have other jobs opened up that I’m eligible for?”

If you just had a phone or in-person interview.

First: send a thank you by email and another by snail mail.  Each should be a one or two line thank you.  Don’t ask questions.  Don’t bleed all over the message.  Just say, “Thank you for talking with me.  The opportunity you presented is exciting.  When can we get together for the next step?” The email will immediately cement you in the hiring manager’s mind.  The snail mail will get there a couple of days later and let him know you really want the job.

Second: stay in touch with the person who set up the interview.  Call the recruiter, HR person, or secretary at least weekly. Calling more than every 2 days is too aggressive unless they have said they expect your call..

Third: try to contact the person doing the hiring every week.  Call and at least leave a message.  You might send an email instead. Coordinate this with the recruiter who is representing you. It should be a brief call or email asking if there is anything you can do to help move along the process. Make sure they remember who you are.

You wait by pushing people gently and pleasantly to remember you and hire you.

The difference between being ignored, being the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, and being a leper is not very great. Occasional pleasant reminders work best to keep you in the running.

Something to do today

If it has been more than a week since you heard from anyone who talked to you by phone or in person, call them.

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Get the credentials of an expert -3 ways

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Posted in Followup, Recruiters

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The first 2 steps to make sure you are not forgotten by a hiring manager

Posted on June 3, 2013 | Leave a comment

I have called a hiring manager 5 times in a day to find out if he wants to hire my candidate NOW.  If you do the same, you will never get that job.  That’s one advantage of working with a recruiter who knows how far he can push a client. For me it is aggressive, for you to do it is offensive.

Waiting by your phone and hoping someone will call you might work.  It works if no one forgot you.  It works if all the paperwork is in order.  It works if no emergencies or urgencies distract the hiring manager.  It works if there is NOT an aggressive recruiter like me who is pushing a different candidate. So what can you do?

You need to be somewhere between easy to forget and offensively overbearing.

Take these two steps first:

  1. Make a list of everyone you contact.
  2. Track when you last talked to them or sent an email.  That way you will know when it has been too long or not long enough since you reminded them that they need to give you a job.

Tomorrow I will write about how often to make contact.

Something to do today

Make that list of everyone you have a potential job with. Write down when and how you made the last contact with them.

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How to wait and be noticed

Get the credentials of an expert -3 ways

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Posted in Followup, Recruiters

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World (or job search) destruction by accident

Posted on May 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident.  That’s where we come in, we’re computer professionals.  We cause accidents. (Nathaniel Borenstein)

Call or email?

I have seen a job lost by a single email.  Instead of picking up the phone, the candidate decided to ask a bunch of delicate questions by email.  With email, they can’t see your smile or hear your voice.  An email can’t respond to the question in the reader’s voice.  An email isn’t a real personal contact.  It is just a contact.

Never leave an important contact to an email if you don’t have to.  Instead of sending a long email, pick up the phone and call.  You can document the conversation in an email afterwards, but make the initial contact more personal.  Pick up the phone.

Sure, you can ask, “Have you made a decision yet?” by email.  But, if the reader is frustrated with his staff when he gets it, he thinks, “One more person on my back.”  If you get him on the phone and hear his frustration you can say, “You sound in a hurry, how can I help you in this process?  What else do you need me to do?” You can become the one sane voice he has heard today.

Email is great, but personal contact is better.  One trainer in our industry suggests that I make every third contact by phone.  That way I remain in closer contact with the situation.  I hear the voice, the attitude, the person. You and my clients in turn hear my voice.  I continue being a real person in your mind.

Be honest.  A one page email often takes longer than a phone call.  It just isn’t as scarey.  You spend 20 minutes writing, editing and worrying.  Then you send it.  A five minute phone call is faster.

For a lot of chores a computer is incredibly fast.  It really can help.  For keeping in contact with people who have to remember who you are, occasionally pick up the phone.

Something to do today

If you have a list of people you are waiting to hear from about jobs, start making at least every third contact a phone call.

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The smartest guy in the room

Humility and job suicide, there is a difference

What’s wrong with the box?

How to wait for the next interview

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