Category Archives: Training

How to read a useful book

Posted on April 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

In school I always felt guilty if I skipped one sentence in a reading assignment. Books must be read in their entirety.  I got the message.  Too bad it was the wrong lesson.

In a college class I only needed to get two answers right on an extra credit test about a book to convert my grade to a solid “A”.  There were 10 questions.  I picked up the book and looked at the cover.  I realized I had heard a review of the book and its contrarian theme the week before.  I decided to take the test without ever opening the book.  I got 6 questions right. It was an easy “A”.

Did I cheat?  No!  I knew the author’s bias.  I knew what he would say about historical events.  I didn’t even need the “Cliff Notes” to get what I needed out of the book.  I only needed two correct test answers for an “A”.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read. (G.K. Chesterton)

You are out of school. Now you need to learn for a living.  You need to learn things that will help you financially.  You need to be effective and efficient. Your next pay raise depends on it.

Before you read a book, read the cover and intro.  Read the table of contents.  If you are not sure you will get much out of the book, read the first and last paragraph of each chapter.  Look at any charts or illustrations.  Go back and only read the chapters that you will learn the most from.  Don’t be afraid to use your time wisely.

Time is a precious commodity.  Every hour you spend learning about your career will pay off in the long run.  Spending those hours carefully will give you a much greater reward than slogging through books that aren’t really going to help you.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of books that will help your career.  Get the first one today.  Preview it.  Read the book, or the parts of it that you can learn from.

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Tomorrow:     Politics (is networking)

Later:              Short term rewards

What motivates me

Waiting for the “help wanted” sign

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Posted in Promotions, talent, Time management, Training

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5 steps to acclerate your personal career growth curve

Posted on August 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

When I started at EDS I was learning at an incredible rate.  Pay raises came quickly and easily.  By my third year things slowed down.  By my fifth year I settled into a dreary cycle of little new personal growth and cost of living raises. I managed to get assigned to a new team using a new technology and my growth accelerated for a year, then it dropped back to the dreary level. That’s an example of my personal growth curve.

How fast you are growing to get where you want to go is your personal growth curve.  Once you stop growing you are flat-lining.  In hospitals flat-lining means there is no pulse, you are dead.  In your career, flat-lining means that your career has stopped completely and the business world is starting to pass you by.

To get growing again you need to learn, get new responsibilities and get recognized.  At EDS I volunteered and pestered my managers for the chance to use new technology.  Since no one else had a clue and I had read a couple of books on the subject, I got to become the “owner” of that technology.  Preparation and repeatedly selling myself to my managers preceded my advancement.

Whether you want to grow as a manager, salesperson or technician, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Find out what is going to be needed IN THE FUTURE
  2. Study and prepare to fill that future need
  3. Sell yourself repeatedly and constantly to get the new responsibility
  4. Excel at your new job
  5. Start over

Step 1 and 2 can always be done at your current job.  Often they will pay for the training and help mentor you.  Step 3 should be attempted with your current company. Sometimes it just can’t be done where you are.

Companies have their own growth curves.  At a company that is flat-lining, your chances to grow will be limited.  While you are preparing to grow, open your eyes.  Is your company ABLE to let you grow?  Do you need to move to a company that is changing its growth curve while you change yours?

A job change becomes a career enhancing move when you move to a company whose growth curve will allow you to accelerate your own growth curve.  If you are willing to learn and grow, you will have growth in your career.  If you are willing to change jobs when necessary to re-accelerate your career growth, your future has no limits.

Something To Do Today

What is going to be needed in the future?  What interests you?  What will help you accelerate your growth curve?

Don’t expect your boss to magically know what you fail to tell him repeatedly. Expect him not to understand.  Even if he sees you doing something new he may not recognize what it means or its usefulness unless you have told him five or ten times in the last six months.

Each Friday is the time to write down what you did this week and this month in your job journal.  Give a report to your boss in a format he can use for his own reports to his boss. A written copy of your accomplishments will reinforce what you have told him

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Posted in Accomplishments, Perseverance, Promotions, Training

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Your New Career Is Only 3 or 4 Steps Away

Posted on February 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

There are no secrets to success.  It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. (Powell)

Gary decided the world needed a better way to pay insurance claims in 1996. He made a plan and took a step.  Then he planned and took the next step, over and over. Along the way he picked up investors, technicians, sales people and managers.   The company changed into a stored value credit card company.  A few years ago he sold his company for over $200,000,000.  

Did you notice that his company is not the same as it started out in 1996?  There was a problem with the payment method they wanted to use.  When they solved that problem, they found the possibilities in the payment solution were greater than in their original plan.

Let’s not concentrate on Gary.  Let’s concentrate on the people who work for him, the people who do what you do.  He has accountants, programmers, lawyers, salespeople, managers and secretaries who all took a chance.  They found someone who could daydream.  It was Gary.  They believed in his daydream.  They hitched their careers to his star and away the whole team went.

If you are doing exactly what you like, stay there.  If you want to do something else, look for someone who can help you achieve that dream.  You may first have to hitch your career to a place that will help you pay for the school education you need.  The time will come when you are too constricted there.  You will have the school education.  Next you need hands on experience.  First try to grow where you are.  If you can’t grow, start looking for the next place you can grow.

Your career will be a set of steps.  Your initial plan will undoubtedly change.  Plan three or four steps out and execute the next step.  Then when you accomplish that first step, re-plan.

The world changes incredibly quickly.  Plan to change your plans.  Now, work the next step and cause your future to change.

Write out your plan.  What do you want to do?  Then plan 4 major steps to get where you want to be. 

Being a business owner, consultant programmer or the number one salesperson in your field may be right for you.  Or you may find that being a great mother or father is even more important.

Make sure your plan gets you to what will really make you happy, not just to where other people will worship you.

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Posted in Attitude, Perseverance, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, talent, Time management, Training

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Learn, Unlearn, and Relearn

Posted on February 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.  (Toffler)

I love talk radio, but it doesn’t lift my spirits. It gets me perturbed.  Music on the radio doesn’t engage my mind as I drive.  I listen to books instead.  I love books that teach me and help me get a better attitude every minute.   

The best source of books to listen to may be your public library.  Our main library has hundreds of books and college courses available on audio tape and CD. And all my favorites are available for free through interlibrary loans.

The Amazon Kindle and other digital book pads will read to you and allow you to switch from sight reading to listening as you go through the book. 

MIT has the vast majority of its courses available for free online.  Yes, free.  In most cases the lectures, notes, and everything you need to learn is available online and free.  Currently I am taking a Calculus course from MIT for free.  I plan to take Linear Algebra next.

Audible.com is a great place to get books on MP3 inexpensively. I use my iPod.  You can use any MP3 player.  I like the quality, selection, and prices.  Getting a monthly subscription is the way to go.

The books on my listening list include: Man’s Search For Meaning (Frankl), Theodore Rex (Morris), Love is the Killer App (Sanders), Networking With Millionaires (Stanley), First Things First (Roger), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey), The One Minute Millionaire (Hansen), The Millionaire Mind (Thomas), and The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas).  I didn’t realize I am so fixated on the word “millionaire”.  These books have great “can do” themes.

Some books I love, but can’t get at Audible yet are The Power of Positive Thinking (Peale), How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (Carnegie), and Think and Grow Rich (Hill). And don’t forget to check out your library and interlibrary loans.

Engage your mind. Lift your spirits.  Listen to books that get your spirit soaring while you drive or exercise.  You’ll love it.

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Posted in Time management, Training

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How to survive long unemployment

Posted on January 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Do you give up too quickly?  Can you get a job at a comparable wage to the one you had?

Sometimes you just have to accept a lower wage to get a job.  Too often people fail to demand enough of themselves. A WSJ article stated.

A key part of earnings losses, Mr. von Wachter and his fellow researchers found, comes from the fact that workers accumulated skills over a decade or two that may be outdated and not garner the same wages after a downturn. And then instead of gaining new skills for a higher-paying job, they often take what they can get at a lower wage and stop their job hunts.
“Given that the process of recovery can take so long, it’s important to make people who were unemployed realize that if they really want to recover they may need to stay in the game for a long time, and perhaps consider a switch in careers,” Mr. von Wachter said.

The rest of the article is depressing.  Don’t go there.  These are the two key paragraphs. That’s how to survive long unemployment–preparing for the next job and career.

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Posted in Focus, Perseverance, Training

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inferiority vs superiority

Posted on September 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. (E. Roosevelt)

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 are the most visible areas that:  1. Earn money; 2. Save money, or 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.

—— Something To Do Today ——

Now ask 3 people you really respect, “What can I do for the company to make more money, save money or improve customer service?”

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Posted in Attitude, Perseverance, Promotions, talent, Time management, Training

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Motivating Recruiters

Posted on September 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

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

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 is 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 will start salivating.  I will 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.

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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, “How marketable am I and what can I do to make myself irresistible to you?”

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Posted in Accomplishments, Finding jobs, Focus, Quitting or Fired, Recruiters, Resumes, Training

A coward’s networking secrets

Posted on May 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

The replay is available at www.dilts.us/seminars/

The other webinars I gave yesterday are also available.

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Posted in Networking, Training

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Classes today and next Tuesday

Posted on March 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

Next Tuesday I will be doing resume makeovers for a few people live.  It will be a brutal but very instructive process.  If you want to be one of the resume remake recipients, send me a copy of your resume.  We’ll talk if you are going to have it done for you.

On the second Tuesday of each month I give classes on sales and management.  Today they are:

1.  Pride Based Leadership
2.  Engineers Really Can Sell
3.  Mastering Group Change

These are the full keynote classes that clients fly me in to teach.  If you want me to put a recording of today’s session up, let me know.

You can click on the class name above for more details.

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Posted in Resumes, Training

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I want to be a fireman when I grow up. What about you?

Posted on February 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.  (Aristotle)

I went to a Boy Scout camp where a fire company put on a rescue demonstration.  They had 3 cars.  One by one they ripped them apart using hydraulic tools.  Right then I decided that I want to be a fireman when I grow up.  I was 49 and ineligible, but I’m willing to dream.

A friend told me that he was the fastest machine operator at the plant where he worked.  They always put him in the job that would challenge him the most. If there was a bottleneck, he would clear it up.  He also cried at times because he hated the work so much.  He studied to take up a different profession for 8 years.  He struggled with very low paying jobs, serious health problems, and a wife and kids he solely supported.  This month he started working as a Mechanical Engineer at a major DOD contractor.

Why do people stay in jobs they hate? No one is legally bound as an indentured servant or slave anymore.  Why do people need help finding what they like to do?  There are a lot of reasons.  Fear, money, social pressure and unexplored possibilities can all be reasons.

You are a slave if you believe you cannot change.  You are free when you think about, study for and work towards a change for the better.  So take a little time today and write down a list of things you always wanted to do.  Make a list of jobs and careers you might enjoy. 

Need help? Every university has a department to help students discover what they would like to study. The internet has sites to help you choose a career.  Every state run job center will give you interest and aptitude tests for free.  Friends and family are always happy to tell you where to go and what to do when you get there.

You may want to consult a career coach like me.  I not only train people to get jobs, I can coach you along the path to getting the job that fits best.  www.agicc.com/my-best-future.htm tells a little more about it.

It is worth taking time to find out if you really want to be a fireman, mechanic, professor or plumber.  If you start working towards a career goal you can always turn back later and be better off for trying.  However, you will never get anywhere without taking the first steps to think about, study for and work towards a change.

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Something To Do Today

Make a list of every hobby you have attempted.  List every subject you have studied.  Rank them all as “liked”, “don’t care” and “disliked.”  Look for a pattern.  You may be surprised.  Take an interest test or two.  They’re actually fun.  Many are free.  Give me a call.  I can help too. Bryan Dilts 717-975-9001

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Posted in talent, Training

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