Category Archives: talent

Every great leader needs an Ed McMahon. Interview as one.

Posted on July 9, 2013 | Leave a comment

“Here’s Johnny!” Ed McMahon made millions saying that.

Before Jay Leno and David Letterman started doing late night TV there was the great Johnny Carson. Ed McMahon was his assistant.

Ed McMahon spent decades introducing, listening to Johnny Carson, and laughing at his jokes.  His job was to make Carson look good.  He made Carson look smart, witty, and fun. That was also Ed McMahon’s job before and after the show. He made sure a lot of things were taken care of so Carson could focus on more important things like being smart, witty and fun. Ed never forgot his role.  Carson made Ed a multi-millionaire for playing that role.

Whether you are applying for the job of boss or grunt, you need to remember that someone wants you to be their Ed McMahon. They want you to make them look good. They want you to handle a lot of pressing diversions so they can focus on more important matters. You may be called CEO, VP, Manager, Team Leader, or Secretary.  All those jobs are there so you can make someone else look good. The CEO is supposed to make the investors look brilliant.  The secretary is supposed to make her boss look organized and smart.

Can you show how you were an Ed McMahon in your last two jobs? How did you make your last boss look brilliant?

Can you show how you will make your new boss look good and take over a bunch of problems he doesn’t want to deal with?

If you can prove how helpful you are in your interview, you will be a lot closer to being hired than if you merely show you can do everything in the job description.

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Coming up

The most powerful questions

The Arizona sapphire and your interview

Beating the tests

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Focus, Interviews, talent

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What the smartest guy in the room does

Posted on May 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless.  (Steven Brust)

The smartest guy in the room

Frank was a legend. Phil was a legend in his own mind.

Phil gave off an odor of conceit.  He would condescend to help others.  He had very important things to do. He promoted himself all the time. We got tired of hearing him talk about another project he finished.  That boy could talk, as long as the subject was himself.

Frank entered a room of 20 people and the collective IQ doubled.  He listened.  Frank tended to migrate towards the leaders and managers.  They also migrated towards him.  He talked and mingled happily with the rest of us.  He was friendly and helpful.  Frank used persuasion and experience to sway others.  He also told his bosses in private, on paper and in emails of what he had suggested, whom he helped and what he accomplished.  In other words he reported back on everything to his leaders.  He got credit where it counted.

Frank even got credit for helping me, a peon.  He kept track.  He let his boss know how many hours he spent helping others.  He kept track of the projects he assisted.  He reported it.

Phil bragged, strutted and annoyed.  Frank helped, improved, reported and got credit.

Are you Phil or Frank?  Or are you just afraid to let people know how much you do?  A lot of people know a Phil.  They don’t want to be a self centered, conceited, bragging laughing stock.  So they hide what they do.  They don’t become a Frank.  Frank was well respected by all.  He helped and accomplished, and got credit for it where it counts.

Report back to your boss.  Keep a job journal.  Know and show what you do.

Something to do today

Give your manager a report each week of all the things you get done.  He may not really know how useful you are.

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Top articles from the archives while I take some Scouts into the woods

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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Posted in Attitude, Networking, talent

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How to turn your dishwasher into a snowplow

Posted on April 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

You turn your dishwasher into a snowplow with the same three steps that you rise to the next level in your career. Don’t worry, I will tell you how in a minute.

First, you need the right equipment.  Buy the hardware and get the training. Do you need a hammer or a computer?  Buy it. Get training. Training can be at college, at home or on the job.  You can read a book on entrepreneurship or on carpentry.  It doesn’t matter.  You need tools and skills.

Second, you need to start moving around in your future work environment.  Show people you are developing new skills.  If you are a carpenter, start helping to lay out the framing.  Start reading the blueprints.  If you want to be in sales, volunteer to go on sales calls with  the salespeople.  Engineers can volunteer to help in project reviews or requirements gathering.  Start working with the people who can help you get your career where you want it to go.

Third, make the move.  In your current company you may have to tell your boss to hire someone to replace you.  Tell him, “I’m doing so much now that I have to give something up.  Why don’t you hire someone for my old job? I’m worth more to you as an (insert new job).” If you have to quit, find a new job first.  It is almost always easier to find a new job when the hiring manager feels he is stealing a star player instead of hiring a quitter.

Summary: To turn your dishwasher into a snowplow: give him a shovel, show him where you want the snow moved to, and push him out into the snow. Those are the 3 steps I just shared.

Something to do today

Decide which of those three steps is next for you.  Get started on it.

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The cheating husband

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Promotions, Raises, talent, Training

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How fledging falcons can help you get a great job

Posted on March 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

Each summer we watch a falcon’s nest a dozen floors above the train station in Harrisburg. See it here.  Five falcons fledged our first year.  That means they finally got the maturity and confidence to jump off the ledge and fly. Fledging is learning to fly.

When falcons fledge, they are prepared. They spend time exercising their wings. You see them watching the open sky for days.  When they finally jump off the ledge it is still scarey.  Sometimes they spend the night on a building they didn’t plan to be at.  But, by the next day they have built up enough strength to return to their previous heights.  In a few days they are soaring.

 

Some people decided to fledge the same week as the falcons.  They gave me a call.

One was working at a company that was morally bankrupt.  He put off fledging for a year and built up his financial reserves.  As he felt more secure, he objected more to the blatant discrimination, mean spiritedness, and rough nature of his office. He stopped being a “team player” because he knew the team was being awful. He was fired for being true to himself.  He is finally flying again.

A fledgling job holder came out of the military two years ago.  His specialty didn’t translate into the civilian world.  He has been building up his non-military credibility.  He is ready to move into a second career.  It is something he has been willing to prepare for.

A salesman moved to a new company two months before.  During that two months the company changed direction three times. She knows she cannot sell in that environment.  She has no faith in the leadership.  She will fledged a month after the falcons.  Her skills have been honed for five years.  It’s just a matter of finding the right place to settle.

Prepare to leave your job.  You may stay at your company or leave your company.  You need to prepare to leave your job anyway.  You may even keep the same title you had in the same company, but make your job change.  There is new software to learn, tricks to improve your productivity, and better ways to help your team. Learn them. You may also need to spend time watching the open sky, observing business and your industry.  You need to see where companies and careers are going so you can fly in the changing world we are in.

Fledge. Prepare, then jump off a ledge and fly.

Something to do today

Spend some time staring off into space.  How will your company, your job and industry change in the next five years.  What can you do to be ahead of the change curve?

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Later:             Start a salary bidding war

Top secret job hunting

Read want ads even if you are NOT job hunting

Free career intelligence

How to turn your dishwasher into a snowplow

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Posted in Promotions, Quitting or Fired, talent, Training

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Why superman would lose his job today in a layoff

Posted on March 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Superman would be fired today. As a matter of fact, Superman is the target for layoffs in many jobs. In today’s business environment there are times your job cannot be saved, especially if you are superior.

Peter was a highly skilled and paid IBM mainframe computer systems administrator.  EDS asked him to become a Unix computer expert. He took the courses and started gaining experience.  Nine months later he was laid off.  EDS decided they could hire a kid out of college for half of what they were paying him.  His high level IBM mainframe skills were not needed in Harrisburg.  EDS paid him well for 20 years, they didn’t figure they owed him anything.  Peter was “laid off” for following the career plan his company suggested.

There are 3 basic reasons one person is laid off and their coworker is not.

  1. You made too many mistakes. You were really fired for cause.
  2. You had fewer skills or less seniority.
  3. You were incredibly skilled, but too overpaid for the new role they needed filled.

Most people see number one or two coming.  They consider them fair even if it hurts horribly to lose a job.  Number three is the toughest one.  You are fired for your excellence.  Someone cheaper and less skilled is kept.  It feels wrong, but from a business point of view, it may be essential.  You can’t overpay to get a job done and stay in business.

Never lose sight of what exactly you are doing for your company TODAY.  If technology or cheap labor is turning your job into a commodity, start major retraining today.  As a matter of fact, never stop retraining and improving your skills.  It may seem like a lot of work, but if you are being paid more than $10 an hour, there is already someone else offering to do your job for less.  Make sure a cheap worker doesn’t have the skills to replace you.

Something to do today

If you have survived layoffs in the past, figure out why.  If you have received substantial raises or no raises recently, make sure you are still a keeper.

And as a thought about finding your next job:

There are three kinds of death in this world. There’s heart death, there’s brain death, and there’s being off the network. (Guy Almes)

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Later: 20 second interview prime time

Should I trust an HR recruiter?

Should I trust an agency recruiter?

You can learn from spammers, but don’t spam

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Posted in Economy, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, Raises, talent

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3 things that prove you have to be hired

Posted on January 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

Great women are not considered so because of personal achievements, but for the effect their efforts have had on the lives of countless others. From daring feats of bravery to the understated ways of a compassionate heart, great women possess a common strength of character. Through their passion and persistence, they have advanced womanhood and the world. (Peggy Anderson)

Want to get hired?  Prove you are great.

Employers look at resumes for three things to do the initial screening for greatness:

  1. Basic job skills
  2. What you have accomplished
  3. What you caused others to accomplish

Basic job skills have to be easy to find on your resume.  Prove you can type, program in VB.Net, sell, do accounting or design widgets.  Make it so those skills will not be missed by a receptionist who has 100 resumes to plow through.

What you have accomplished is often harder to come up with.

What you caused others to accomplish is even harder to remember and very hard to prove.

My opening quote gives a great suggestion, figure out the effect you had on others.  Keep track of people you have trained, processes you speeded up and money you saved.  It will set you apart.  Most people won’t track those things because they are taught to be “humble”.  There is nothing wrong with reporting how well you do your job.  Correctly convincing an employer to hire you because you will make him more money is a great idea.  Don’t shy away from proving what you are worth.

The people, teams and companies you have helped are a great indicator of just how great you are.  Accept it and take advantage of it.

Something to do today

If you have not started a job journal, today is a good day to do it.  Start tracking all the people you help.  Keep a tally sheet with the number of people who drop by and ask for help each day.  Figure out how you make the workplace better.  Track it and report it.

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Later:               Oil drums on the horizon

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Posted in Accomplishments, Promotions, References, talent

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Has your brain stopped?

Posted on December 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

GM and Ford are laying off workers.  The layoffs include production line, engineering and management workers. IBM has layoffs every year, even when they are expanding.  State and federal governments have layoffs. The military has layoffs.

You are only safe if you feed that organ between your ears… your brain.

One of my candidates got tired of having to upgrade his computer skills every 3 or 4 years so he studied massage therapy.  Several candidates are getting their MBA’s.  I push everyone to get certifications in their field.  One of my candidates is a soldier in Iraq, and even he is able to continue his training.

Many people think their brain can stop when they graduate from high school or college.  These people have totally missed the meaning of the “Commencement Ceremony.”  Commencement means the beginning, not the end.  It is the time to really start learning.  It is the opening of broad new vistas of opportunities.

Oprah Winfrey said that the most important decision she ever made was to read two books each week.  She could stop working today and retire with the 100’s of millions of dollars she has earned.  Instead, she keeps on learning.  Because she keeps on learning, she keeps on being interesting to watch on TV.

I know a rodeo cowboy, a pro bull rider, who always impressed me.  She kept learning new skills, and even got into law school.

Are you still feeding your brain or did it stop working as soon as you left school?

Something to do today

Decide on a plan to learn something fun and something useful.  They may be the same thing.  Get started.

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Later:               It’s the manager’s fault

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Posted in talent, Training

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The quickest, surest way to become a superstar

Posted on November 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

An ex-NFL football player told me how he got to the big league.  He chose a player he wanted to be just like.  Then he learned to hold his hands just like him.  He placed his feet just like his hero.  He ran like his hero.  He exercised like his hero.  He did everything he could to play football just like his hero.  He started in 9th grade football and continued through college.  He made it into the NFL.

When I met him in Denver, he was a couple of years into a new career selling real estate.  He was doing the same thing.  He picked one of the best real estate salesmen in Denver and was doing exactly what the new hero did.  Once again he was becoming a superstar.

There’s a hint there.  Find someone who is successful at what you want to do.  Become like them.  If they do something, you do it.

One more thing.  Watch very carefully what your hero does NOT do.  What does he avoid?  What does he refuse to do?  Too many people try to become a success doing the things that a successful person refuses to do.

If you want to be a millionaire, I suggest you read one or two books by Thomas Stanley.  The Millionaire Next Door is a bunch of stories about how millionaires became millionaires.  The Millionaire Mind has some stories, but also takes a statistical approach.  It tells what first generation millionaires do, as a group, to get their money.

Better yet, find a millionaire to personally learn from.

Do you want to be a Partner, CEO, CFO, CIO, or Project Manager?  Find the best example you can, and do everything the way they do.  Invite them to lunch. Ask them what they would do in your shoes.  Become just like them at work.

Hero, mentor, example.  Find one so you can become one.

Something to do today

Find your mentor and example.  Learn to work just like they do.

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Later:              But this isn’t an interview

Whistle while you work

Hustle while you wait

The $5 call girl

Where to fish

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Posted in Promotions, Raises, talent, Time management, Training

What scares hiring managers in interviews

Posted on November 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

Why weren’t you hired?

Better question:  What scares hiring managers the most?

This article gives a good glimpse into the reason that interviewing managers run away from some candidates.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Interviews, talent

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How to win at office politics this week

Posted on October 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hospitals have the worst office politics.  Administrators and CEO’s are paid much less than some doctors.  They beg for nurses to come to work there.  Lack of a radiologist can shut down the emergency room. People die when mistakes are made.  There are a hundred people with the power to shut down the hospital. Yet hospitals work.  And many people love to work at hospitals.

90% of the politicians give the other 10% a bad reputation.  (Henry Kissinger)

There are two kinds of office politics.  In one kind a person gets some power and stifles your career and projects out of spite.  In the other kind you have to sell your projects to several people in order to get funding.  Your career depends on it.

Often it is the same office.  There are some spiteful, hateful people in positions of power in a lot of companies, many hospitals and a lot of government departments.  Get used to it.  It is reality.  Many more people just need to be convinced you are right.

Over the next few days I am going to go over some suggestions on how to deal with office politics.  How to spot it and deal with it in your career and when you are job hunting is an art that requires practice.

Something to do today

Who are the career politicians where you work?  Make a list.  They are very important people, whether you like them or not.

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Later:              Office politics – gatekeepers vs roadblocks

–     lunch or documentation

–     train your eyes

Red herring

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Posted in Attitude, Focus, talent

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