This is an odd post to be writing. Again. Yes, about six months ago, I wrote about how I was available for work. And then a job found me. Now I am looking again. What gives?
For starters, I love working for MeritBuilder. I would love to continue working for MeritBuilder full time. It is a really great fit.
We have spent the last month pushing forward on exciting plans that are making MeritBuilder what I imagined it could be when I first joined in August. What has developed is a fee free but fully featured way of managing your employee incentive and rewards program. We developed it to the point where the platform is completely self-service. You can sign up, load your company e-mail addresses and have a fully featured and hosted employee incentive program in a fraction of the time and cost of most programs.
Exciting right? I am thrilled.
In the process of planning for this though, we knew we had limited financial resources going forward. So what is important to our current and future customers? That the service will continue to be there, that the system will be maintained and issues can continue to be addressed. Since our lead programmer is also our CEO, the system will continue to be maintained as long as we still have customers. As far as servers and bandwidth are concerned, we’ve got that covered as part of this financial plan as well.
Where does that leave me? Basically I’ve become an adviser (unpaid) to MeritBuilder while also retaining a stake in the company. I’ll continue communicating on their behalf (as I can), working with customers (as I can) and basically continuing the service as we need to even at the certainty of a slower pace of customer growth. We’d rather do it right.
Ready or not, here I come
So given that apparently things like bills and other financial obligations do not take a pause for continued customer growth within your bootstrapped company, I am now throwing myself back out in the market. I am an experienced human resources professional with a solid background at large and small companies. I’m a PR/marketing newbie for the HR vendor space with some heavy emphasis on getting stuff done in the social media space (even though I am no Social Media Rockstar or Ninja). I have been writing this blog for almost four years which means, at the least, I can deal well with doing something like this on a consistent basis, measuring results and leveraging that into productive relationships. I also have a record of thoughts that I will have a hard time shirking.
What am I looking for?
- I am based in Portland, OR with a very happily working wife so something local or telecommuting with travel would be ideal. Relocation would have to be very compelling.
- Obviously I am most experienced in the human resources realm. My life continues to revolve around issues related to that too so it would make sense to continue my involvement there.
- I really love working on the HR vendor side of the business and would enjoy the opportunity to continue doing that (can’t be in the incentives or rewards space though).
- I’d love the opportunity to continue to help companies reach out to other HR people using social media. Continued involvement with my blog is essential.
- Of course, with any of these, I’d be open to part-time or full-time employment, contractual, project based or consultative roles.
Does this spark your interest? For more information, you can check out my LinkedIn profile or download a PDF copy of my resume. And if you want to get in touch with me, please do.
A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Chris Ferdinandi over at Renegade HR and I talked about multi-generational workforces and what they mean to employers for his podcast (one of the few I actually listen to). Want to have a listen? Of course you do:
So what are always my main points about generations?
- There are differences between various generations.
- Sometimes these differences are blown out of proportion to their importance.
- Often these differences relate to career level rather than generations.
- Truly skilled managers rarely have issues dealing with a multi-generational workforce.
- Problems with managing certain generations often point to greater leadership issues.
- Generation Y can talk about whatever they want but businesses speak the language of action.
I hope you’ll take a listen!
We all know that the recession is making Americans think differently about where they are heading in their professional lives. Whether it be by choice or by the force of circumstances, many people are taking this approach. I know it has certainly pushed people I know to change (or postpone, or move up) their plans given the state of flux.
Are you ready to prepare for your career change?
Given the lack of resources for people going through this (especially updated resources since the job market has changed so drastically in the last few years), I was pleased when I heard that Alexandra Levit was tackling the subject in her new book New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career. I’ve gotten to know Alexandra through the power of social media (though we did meet in person in November) and I’ve been big fans of her previous books (I wrote a review for Success For Hire and I even wrote a tweet sized recommendation for #Millennialtweet).
I thought the book was not only packed full of great information but also extremely readable. Alexandra does this through interspersing interesting stories throughout the seven life altering situations and considerations that drive every career changes:
- Family
- Independence
- Learning
- Money
- Passion
- Setback
- Talent
While I am always a fan of a great story, this book is also full of considerations from Alexandra herself along with some really great resources (even though I didn’t catch my blog in there). She lays the groundwork for a person at almost any level to use what experience they do have and apply it to their new career choice. The inspiring, true life stories consistently push the idea that it is possible to successfully change careers no matter what circumstances have nudged you into that space.
What in this book could have been improved? I honestly couldn’t find much. I think the message of the book is solid because the real heavy lifting is in self-exploration and being honest about your motivations and circumstances. I don’t know if there is a way to prod people into doing more exercises to get them to understand what they want to do with their career.
New Job, New You is a quality guide for doing a career transition the right way. It is the most up-to-date and complete resources available. I’d encourage you to check it out (it is about $10 on Amazon right now).
When I went to visit Washington DC last week, I stopped by the National Archives to visit some of the US’s greatest political treasures. By far, the most compelling exhibit was the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Taking a look at these two documents side by side was a powerful moment in my life. The words (now barely visible) jumped out of the bulletproof cases and into my psyche. It got me thinking:
Why are these words important to me?
The words are obviously significant. There is quite a bit of hubris centered around what is and isn’t defined by the Constitution these days. So we know they are important in some respects.
But the words don’t enforce themselves. However perfect (or imperfect) the words may be, someone has to carry out the task of interpreting it and taking action.
Without that care and without that action, it would simply be another piece of paper. Probably long gone by now too. Without the supporting action, the words become meaningless. They become “Oh, that would be nice.” Or perhaps “Man, whatever happened to that?”
Do you fail to live up to your words?
I’ve seen many attractive job advertisements and mission statements. I’ve seen beautifully crafted handbooks (simple, short, and readable). Somebody spent a lot of time writing these pretty words out on a piece of paper.
Yet, when you do not operate in concert with those words, you betray their very meaning. Not only do your actions come unexpectedly but your words become completely meaningless. Take a look at Enron’s code of ethics from 2000:
“As officers and Enron Corp, its subsidiaries, and its affiliated companies, we are responsible for conducting the business affairs of the companies in accordance with all applicable laws and in a moral and honest manner…We want to be proud of Enron and to know that it enjoys a reputation for fairness and honesty and that it is respected.”
That’s a joke in retrospect. When you fail to live up to the words you’ve crafted, there is no meaning in what you’ve written.
The same goes for blogging
We talk about word meanings and structure all of the time. For example, there is a debate going on about what to call work/life balance. How about spending less time worrying about what to call it and more time doing it?
Bloggers (like me) get worked up by words. I think it is worthwhile to stand back and not only admire and dissect the words but also the accompanied actions that take place.
That was when the Constitution became powerful to me. Not only the chain of events that led up to it being written (which is written about and recognized) but the actions from the writing to this very day that have served to preserve this document. Veterans, politicians, judges, businesses, unions, protesters, journalists (even some of us stupid bloggers) and just people in general. We all play a continuous role of making this document mean something significant.
Those who faithfully work within our system on a daily basis pay tribute to the words written on the document. Can you match that passion in your organization? Probably not but the words can still be significant and carry meaning throughout your organization.
Yesterday, I attended #connectHR and it was, by all measures, a smashing success. Even for a guy who has pretty great luck working a room and talking to new people, I don’t think I got through the entire guest list of over 100 people in a little over two hours. What I continue to find is that as my digital network expands, getting to know people in a face to face environment becomes even more critical to connecting with a person rather than a user name or an avatar or a profile.
I’ve always considered social networking a shortcut to get past the first few steps of networking. You can get to know many people in a shorter period of time without the physical boundaries that networking with people across the country typically would involve. Social networking allows you to figure out interests and connect.
But there is a ceiling on that relationship. On Twitter, it is interactive but short. On blogs, it is long form but not very interactive. E-mail is long form and interactive but very flat. At some point and at some place, you are going to have to take it offline. I am not the only one who says this either. But nearly every success I’ve had in social media has come from connecting to people outside the realm of social media.
It makes sense too. We get so much information from non-verbal cues (body language) and from voice inflection when we speak to one another that it is difficult not to connect when you’re face to face with someone else. And when the norm in the talent industry is to have many hundreds and thousands of contacts, the people I call first when I’ve got opportunities or questions are the people I’ve spoken to and know the best. That means I’ve taken it beyond
If we haven’t connected yet, let’s make 2010 the year. Seriously. And if you have digital relationships that are begging to be taken to the next level, take this opportunity to follow through. Get on the phone. Make it happen.
Editor’s Note: Steve Browne is a good friend of Rehaul and has conducted local HR forums in Cincinnati for several years. One of their most recent forums focused on mentoring programs. What follows is an edited version of the results of that discussion. You can follow Steve on Twitter.
Like many HR initiatives, “Mentoring” became an off-the-shelf program versus what it actually is. To delve into this the Roundtable tackled the following questions:
- How to you define “mentoring”?
- Why don’t people mentor others or get a mentor themselves?
- What components make mentoring effective?
After some “heated” discussions, this is what they came up with . . .
How do you define “mentoring”?
Mentoring essentially boils down to this:
- The sharing of knowledge that furthers the professional growth and success of both parties. That’s the broad version of it.
- Being the best version of yourself. If people don’t strive to be their best through mentoring, it won’t be effective.
- Expectations defined by the mentee. Without expectations, mentoring can either float or flame out because there isn’t direction. One caution to this is that if the expectations are so self-serving and slanted, it may not be a good mentoring environment either.
- Coaching. Coaching has value if it addresses behaviors that need to be changed, improved or removed. It is definitely a method within mentoring if it is healthy in its outcome.
- Mutually beneficial relationship of trust. This may be one of the best utopian ideas ever shared. It rings true, but is truly difficult because it goes against the base of humans tending to be one-sided and selfish. (We’ll cover this in the next section.)
Why don’t people mentor others or get a mentor themselves?
It is the usual litany of excuses:
- Fear. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of a loss of productivity. Fear of being taken advantage of. Fear of success.
- I don’t have time. HR people who say this should be punished, removed from HR and banned to a profession that has no contact with people! That may sound harsh, but if people don’t matter, then why are YOU in HR?
- You can get hurt. That’s true however it shouldn’t limit people from moving forward to have mentoring relationships. Learning from disappointment usually leads to breakthroughs in growth.
- Lack of a mentoring culture in your organization. Mentoring can’t succeed if it’s only good for “others” and not all.
- All the good mentors are taken. Even if this is true, I bet if you approach them, they would help you in some way and possibly introduce you to others who are also good mentors.
- Prior bad experiences. You had a bad mentor, or a mentee was actually disguised as someone who wanted to be mentored. Hopefully people can move past any bad experiences and stick with mentoring.
- Lack of perceived value. When this happens, you have a sign that “mentoring” is no longer viable and has migrated over to a cliché HR program.
- We don’t like to change! HR people hate hearing this because we feel we are supposed to be the company’s “change agents”, but we have to face the fact that change, at any level, is hard and that people will resist it as much as they can.
What components make mentoring effective?
Given these reservations about a mentoring program, how can you make sure your program doesn’t fall into the same trap? Here are five ways the group decided had to be a part of any effective mentoring program
- Don’t have false expectations. Mentoring is for professional development. It may lead to higher positions, but a great expectation is to strive to have sustained personal growth. That sticks and makes people better contributors.
- Look for someone externally. Internal mentoring in organizations works, but it tends to be more “how to maneuver and succeed” internally vs. long-term development. External mentors have fresh eyes, different cultural perspectives, see your blind spots and tend to be more candid because they don’t have to follow “internal norms.”
- Give trust first. Giving trust is so much more effective vs. someone having to earn trust first. It does make things more vulnerable and potentially opens you to get hurt. However, it shows that a mentor is there for the benefit of the relationship and not for personal gain.
- Set a time frame. Mentoring should have a start, peak and end. Set the expectations, work through them and then move forward. Healthy mentors usually do keep long-term relationships with mentees, but they also see them turn into mentors themselves!
- Don’t be a mentor unless you have a mentor. Great mentors are mentored themselves. People who proclaim themselves as mentors too often are focused on how great they are. To teach others you must also be willing to be taught.
What do you think? What has been your experience with mentoring programs? Have you ever had to plan one?
In case you’ve been in a media free zone the past couple of weeks, you know Conan O’Brien has left The Tonight Show. I’ve read takes by Libby Sartain and Jason Seiden so I am late to the party and I have various degrees of difficulty with both arguments thrown out there. Let me be perfectly clear before I begin: I am on Team Conan. I’ve never watched Leno for more than a couple of segments. I just don’t think he is funny. So there are my biases. Bring it on FTC.
Conan: Super Rock Star Talent
Conan O’Brien isn’t just rock star talent, he is super rock star talent. Even by the network he parted ways with, he was considered a rock star as they tried to prevent him from going to another network by giving him a mega-deal to keep him at the 12:30am spot for five freaking years. Five years! For a time slot that most networks use to run the latest (and extremely creepy) Billy Mays infomercials or repeat number three of Sportscenter.
Has that ever happened to you at your job? Has anyone ever thrown you that kind of coin to keep you from a competitor?
Here’s my guess: probably not. Conan had talent that was worth that ridiculous money. He had a skill set that only a couple of people in the world have: a TV friendly formula, an of audience and over a decade of successfully running a talk show on the same network.
We talk about shifts in power all of the time on this blog. Conan had the power to essentially write his own exit even after the network had chosen this other guy (who is fairly well regarded as well).
Do you think your company is going to do that for you when you decide you want to move on?
Conan And Your Career Path
And I guess that’s part of my problem with applying anything but the most general advice to the late night TV situations. Conan has a special talent and your company isn’t going to kiss your ass on the way out the door after you make a big stink. I think that is a fairly unrealistic scenario. So is getting a Twitter hashtag. I wouldn’t count on that either.
Now do I think the executives at NBC are a bunch of idiots for the way they handled this whole thing? Of course I do. Especially you Dick Ebersol. He has single handedly demolished NBC Sports into one of the most pathetic properties in NBC’s portfolio (ESPN the Ocho has better sports coverage). His Winter Olympics coverage is going to lose more money than Conan and Leno will when it is all said and done. And it still cracks me up that NBC Universal is the number one Gen Y company to work for according to Brazen Careerist (not that I didn’t call that). Keeping on ass kissers like Ebersol, who isn’t losing his job even though NBC is going to lose a couple hundred million dollars over a two week broadcast, certainly has to give hope to Gen Y. Pucker up well enough and you’ll not only get to keep your job, you’ll be able to lob bombs at a 20+ year employee as he is getting pushed out the door.
Ebersol also deprived us of this fantastic tune (Warning: John Tesh) that opened up every NBA on NBC game. So yeah, I may not be over that either.
All of that aside, my guess is that your career arc isn’t going to look like Conan’s. It probably isn’t going to look too many other people. So if someone says you should be like Conan and you should throw some gasoline and a match on the place as you walk away or if they say you should be like Leno and be a company man through and through, even if it means screwing over a coworker, take a step back for a second.
You are not Conan O’Brien. You are not Jay Leno. Take your own path. You’ll be glad you did.
So corporations and unions now have unlimited spending on political advertisements? Some people are saying that this is the end of democracy as we know it.
I am sorry but Humpty Dumpty has already fell off this wall. To think that a mangled piece of legislation known as McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Reform (or any of its predecessors) somehow fixed corporate and union influence is, to put it lightly, bullshit. If corporate and union influence has really killed democracy, it happened decades ago. I don’t think that’s reality though.
From the time they were conceived to present time, corporations and unions (and to a lesser extent, special interest groups) have been trying to sway the will of the people they influence the most using various methods. In the past, it may have been by force or intimidation. Other times it was with sweetening them up. Almost always, it involved money. Lots of it.
Fast forward to now. Wait, that is now.
Intimidation still happens. Sweetening still happens. And lots and lots of money is still happening. Don’t believe me?
From 2002 to 2006, the top 20 Republican backing companies spent around 70 million dollars on those three elections. Do you think that’s crazy? The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) alone spent around 60 million dollars trying to get President Obama elected in 2008.
What limits are we getting rid of exactly? The ability for a corporation to spend almost ten million dollars supporting candidates? The ability for a union to spend tens of millions of dollars on a single campaign? Give me a break. Whatever these campaign finance restrictions were doing, they certainly weren’t limiting the amount of money corporations and unions could use to support campaigns.
The true promise may not be restricting cash flow but certainly transparency is, right? Who is pushing the buttons behind the curtains is important too.
Political Action Committees (PACs) and 527 groups have made it difficult to trace the origins of donors and have allowed candidates to distance themselves from unpopular (but highly effective) negative advertising. They have generic names like Free and Strong America PAC (headed by Mitt Romney) and they can run ads like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Yeah, transparency. Like a steel door.
The real problem
You can do research for a couple hours on the internet and find out everything you wanted to know about how large corporations and unions contributed to political campaigns. There are many policy groups dissecting the information for you too. And considering that this Supreme Court decision doesn’t change the need for reporting results to the FEC, those same policy groups are going to be analyzing their contributions too.
So the money probably won’t change (because there have been no real limits). The transparency (for better or for worse) won’t change. What’s the problem?
Most people could care less. Somewhere around 50-55% of eligible voters end up voting on Presidential election years. In years where there is no Presidential race, that number drops below 40% (and in local only elections, it can be even more pathetic). And even among those who voted, it doesn’t mean they cared enough to research issues or follow the money. They allow everything from family influence, to workplace politics, to deep seeded disgust, to complete misunderstanding to take the place of rational examination. This is the fault of all of us as a society and individually when we don’t make the effort to do this. That’s the true problem.
What’s the solution?
That’s a tough one for me. For one, I am just naturally distrustful of large corporations, unions and politicians. Their ability to construct campaign finance reform in a way that would actually give a voice to people goes against their very nature of self-preservation. We can stop pretending that a knight in shining armor is going to ride up and write loophole free legislation that protects us from special interest impact on elections though. Similarly, we aren’t going to expect special interest groups to take the lead on this either. When the ACLU and Focus on the Family are on the same side of the issue (and that issue isn’t about preventing the killing of very cute kittens), you should be very afraid.
It ultimately comes down to the one thing that every single one of these corporations, unions and special interest groups can’t do:
Vote
Sounds like every stupid cliche political statement out there. Very Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. But voting is more than once every four years. It is voting local. It is voting in a party primary or caucus (if you are a part of a party). It is voting with your dollars, with your feet and with your pageviews. It is voting with your mouth and with your actions. It is about voting educated and informed.
None of those guys can touch you when you vote. None of them. And that’s what democracy is about.
Have you ever heard the phrase “We have a branding issue”?
I have.
Here’s my hunch: it probably isn’t a branding issue. Most company and personal branding issues at their core are issues with their product or partner relations.
(That statement is probably causing some furious marketing guy or gal who specializes in branding to write a long retort. Maybe I should clarify?)
Okay, so there is an instance where branding is an issue: You’ve got a great product but nobody knows about it. Even then though, it really is more of a PR or advertising issue than a branding issue.
Let’s Fix The Product And Relationships, Not The Brand
Take Monster.com. They are well known to both consumers and business owners. At times, their product is bashed as expensive, ineffective and losing relevancy. Yet what is the solution that many analysts (and Monster themselves) have recommended over the years? Rebrand, rebrand, rebrand.
It doesn’t work. Look at Monster through the years (historical images courtesy of archive.org):
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Monster.com – 2000
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Monster.com – 2005
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Monster.com – 2010
Click through to each one of those sites and it screams at you to SEARCH FOR A JOB. For ten FREAKING years, that’s been the message. So what exactly is there to rebrand? Monster.com has a branding problem only if SEARCH FOR A JOB isn’t the primary purpose of the site. I suspect that Monster.com thinks that searching for a job is still incredibly important. Just a hunch.
Certainly part of the brand is reputation. So if Monster.com has a branding problem because of reputation, it is probably due to either a product issue or a bunch of busted up relationships with important people. That doesn’t mean you spend a couple mil on rebranding your product with a slick logo, front page redesign and an ad in the NY Times, you spend a couple mil on fixing your product and repairing those relationships. The brand improvement will ultimately follow those two actions.
Monster may be figuring this out. They put Eric Winegardner out in their community of business partners. They may have figured out that fixing the brand means fixing the core issues that will help improve both their brand and profitability.
Personal Branding Mission: You Are Who You Are
Some say Generation Y may not be getting jobs because they aren’t properly marketing themselves. They turn to personal branding to boost their profiles. Sites like Brazen Careerist actively encourage their Gen Y members to post to their “idea” stream. Since millennials don’t have much experience, they have to compensate by creating a stream of ideas that may or may not impress the ruling class of Boomers and Gen Xers.
Here’s what I know: it is a stretch to build a personal brand on ideas. Again, the brand isn’t the problem here. The problem is that there is little experience to backup those ideas. And great ideas don’t come without context and understanding. And context and understanding doesn’t just come from thin air.
Instead of worrying about personal branding, how about worrying about doing things that create both experience and ideas? If you ever get to the point where you have to worry about how you are going to position all of these great experiences, then you can talk about branding. I don’t want to read another blog by a so called “web design expert” that has been freelancing for three months and their entire portfolio fits above the fold on my browser. Whoever is telling people that assuming the role of an expert is good for their personal brand when they are not an expert is just giving really terrible advice.
We Cling To Brand Because It Is Easy
It is easy to blame a brand. It is easier to rebrand. It doesn’t take any responsibility for a broken business process (or your own experiences). It simply says “No, we’re not the problem. Other people’s perceptions of us are the real problem here.” And then you make your can smile and do other superficial actions and it makes us think that image is the only problem to address. That’s like changing a lamp shade when a light bulb goes out. The image of that lamp shade is projected from the source and you’ve done nothing to change that source. Nobody cares about a pretty lamp shade without a light behind it.
Next week, I have the distinct pleasure of visiting our nation’s capital. I’ll be taking in the sights and sounds of our government at work. Maybe meeting with our congressional representative to talk some Klingon. Also will definitely be seeing some friends. Oh yeah… and there was something else:
I was invited to attend the ConnectHR event hosted by my friends at SmartBrief, Society for Human Resources Management and RecruitingBlogs.com. I am looking forward to connecting to a bunch of smart people that will be there.
Are you in the Washington DC area? Screw it. Can you drive there within a day’s time? You should come. You’re going to meet awesome people. You are going to get great food for free. Jessica Lee tells me the drinks are amazing.
If you’re in DC and you’d like to get together while I am there (26th-30th), contact me and we’ll make something happen.
Why am I going to a tweetup 3,000 miles away?
Normally, I don’t make trips like this but Laurie Ruettimann insisted I go. How much did she insist? She got me a flight out there. I’m not joking. It is good to have friends like Laurie (and not just for the free flight in a super awesome McDonnell Douglas 80). She wants me to be at events she attends because together, we make events awesomer. And I heard she has a pretty nice blog or something like that. Maybe she’ll even hit the big leagues some day.
Anyway, big props to Laurie. She’s pretty awesome.
Looking forward to seeing you all there. And don’t forget to sign up!
