Your personal year in review
December 29, 2006
So what did you accomplish this year? Did you grow? Maybe you don’t think you’ve improved at all. Carve some time out this week and do the following:
- What new skills do you have?
- Is the quality of your work better?
- Look at your writing style — have you become better in terms of clarity and accuracy and conveying your thoughts?
- How are your people skills? Was it a rocky year or did you build confidence among your team?
- What do your superiors think of your performance?
- Be likeable. This is the first prerequisite. Without a friendly relationship, there is no need to go further.
- Be reliable. The company, the product, the service, AND you, must be “best,” and “there when needed.”
- The customer considers you an expert in your field. To be referable, you must have an expertise that breeds customer confidence.
- They trust you. The customer is CERTAIN that you will do everything in the referred party’s best interest, like you have with theirs.
- You have a track record of performance. You have already done the same thing with the customer and they’re comfortable that you can repeat the performance.
- They consider you valuable – a resource, not a salesman.
- DO know what type of job you are after before you start to write.
- DO keep it clean. No one wants to read a cluttered mess of 8pt, single space type.
- DO keep it focused on the type of career you want to follow.
- DO summarize your experiences upfront. Include a short summary of your diverse professional experiences (or industries your worked in if that’s relevant).
- DO include for each job: company name, city/state, mm/yy-mm/yy, your job title(s). For each job, highlight your most significant accomplishments. (e.g. “Led project that resulted in ____”. “Developed promotion that raised share of wallet __% for that quarter.” “Automated a manual process that resulted in significant manpower and cost savings.”)
- DO try to tell a story. Somehow, your past experiences have led you to where you are today. Try to get that point across. If you worked in market research initially, then that helped build the foundation for your direct marketing experience.
- DO highlight if you managed teams or had staff reporting to you.
- DON’T include references. Save them until you are asked for them.
- DON’T have more than three pages. That’s already too long, but might be necessary to tell your story.
- DON’T include: personal hobbies, reasons for leaving, irrelevant job details.
- DON’T be boring. Sure it’s hard, but think of the person reading your resume. You want to get him/her excited to talk to you.
- Take responsibility for your actions. Don’t cover them up or try to shift the blame elsewhere.
- Assess the damage and come up with an action plan to immediately correct it.
- Notify your supervisor or person(s) affected as soon as possible.
- Accept the consequences of your actions — good or bad.
Don’t be afraid to criticize yourself. It’s important in order to create your goals for the new year.
Good luck!
-Roland
Article: Becoming referable is a matter of earning, not asking.
October 31, 2006
Whether used to get your new job or a new client, professional references are more important than ever. Coworkers and clients move on to new positions and it is possible for you to loose touch with them. I’ve also noticed more people (including myself) do not provide written references any longer — partly out of concern for not being in control of how the information is used, and partly because some corporate policies do not permit written and oral referrals.
You might want to read this article by Jeffrey Gitomer: “Becoming referable is a matter of earning, not asking.”
(According to Jeffrey) Here are the elements that breed proactive referrals:
Definitely check it out the full article.
-Roland
Resume writing tips
August 10, 2006
I recently talked to a friend about resume writing. We struggled over the what to do when you have 20 years of diverse experience at 6 or more different places.
Here are some resume writing tips we agreed make sense:
Get a few people you trust to review your resume and be prepared for criticism. A different perspective will help you cut out unnecessary info.
One final tip — DON’T LIE! It has become more common for managers and CEOs to lose their job because they embellished experience or education.
Good luck job hunting!
-Roland
Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who hates to revise his resume. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.
©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.
Article: 10 reasons to avoid getting a job
August 3, 2006
I came across an interesting article by Steve Pavlina: “10 reasons you should do everything in your power to avoid getting a job.”
Independance takes guts and in many ways is more stressful and harder. But the rewards are vast in many ways. Check it out.
-Roland
Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who sold his soul to corporations long ago. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.
©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.
Professional Chaos: Take responsibility
July 8, 2006
Kenneth Lay died this week at age 64. For all his personal accomplishments during his career, he will be remembered mainly as a liar and schemer, responsible for devastating thousands of employees and investors financially.
If you tell a lie often enough, you eventually believe it’s true. Apparently, he still maintained his innocence to the end.
Lesson learned… Don’t be remembered for being a selfish, scheming liar.
If you make a mistake…
People are more willing to forgive you and move on if your honest and up front. The longer you delay, the worse the repercussions may be. If your honest, at least you’ll sleep better at night and keep your dignity.
I hope you take this to heart. Do the right thing! Your legacy depends on it.
-Roland
Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who takes responsibility for his own actions. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.
©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.
Professional Chaos: The Four-Day Week Challenge
June 29, 2006
I came across a very thoughtful article: The Four-Day Week Challenge on A List Apart.
It includes a practical list of time management tips and resource links.
I encourage you to check read it.
What do you think? Please post your comments below. Thanks.
-Roland
Your career: What’s your first, best destiny?
June 6, 2006
I find myself often considering that what I do for a living is not what I was put on Earth to do.I remember in early High School, there was a lot of pressure to pick a career path. They did a horrible job trying to educate us on what was out there. I picked Advertising more out of pressure to fill out a line on a form than to pursue a burning passion.
In college, I actually pursued a dual major for awhile of Marketing and Computer Information Systems while I tried to figure out which career path to begin. Marketing eventually won out. Thus began my agency-side career.
I’ve had several mid-life career path crisisesssess. Every few years I begin to hate my job, hate being abused by clients, yada yada yada. I’d swear to never take another agency-side job again, but alas, I’m always drawn back to the dark side. So, what do you do when you lose faith in your career path?
READ A BOOK
There are many resources to help people choose career paths.
I’ve read several books. One popular book I never liked is called “What color is your parachute.”
TAKE A TEST
There are plenty of tests to guage your skills, such as comprehension, organization, leadership.
I’ve taken a few. One of the longest and most complex I ever took told me I’m best suited for either:
A. Advertising Account Executive
B. Army Munitions Tester
For real, I’m not joking! The test told me I was already doing what I’m best suited for, but if I want to shake things up a bit, I could try not to blow stuff up. I can’t help but imagine that old cartoon where Bugs Bunny whacks projectiles with a mallet.
How come they can’t suggest something sexy, like a wise and powerful Ninja!
TALK TO SOMEONE
Talk with a close friend. Maybe a Human Resources person in your company. Some people seek out mentors, career coaches and “life” coaches.
SEARCH YOUR FEELINGS
What do you truly enjoy? Was there something you maybe tried once? Can you get a job doing something related? Could you start your own viable business that you’ll enjoy and can pay your rent?
REALITY SETS IN
It’s a lot easier for a single person to pursue their dreams. Once you have a family, there are harsh economic realities, stability and responsibility to consider.
What are your thoughts? Are you living your dream? Please post a comment about it. Thanks.
-Roland
Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.
©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.
