For those of you who have read my previous blogs you will know that this is a reference to the "Me-Too Product" I wrote a while ago. I received a lot of good comments about that blog so I decided to write more about our distraught little dusty product sitting on the supermarket shelf. Let's call him "Dusty Product". Why won't anyone buy Dusty? Surely Dusty's contents are just as good as his competitive shelf-mates who always seem to get picked up by a joyful shopper. Surely his packaging communicates that he too would satisfy the shopper's needs.
But alone he sits day after day. Getting dustier and dustier. And he notices that the other dusty products on the shelf share his fate. Oh how they gather much dust upon their dull and unattractive packaging. And they sit day after day after day; communicating the same old message. Dusty notices that the packages that are picked up by shoppers are very eye-catching and unique in design. He even notices that one manufacturer offers various colors of packaging to further attract and communicate the products' content to shoppers. But Dusty's manufacturer never bothers to "upgrade" him or make him attractive. No, Dusty's manufacturer mass-produced him by the hundreds - if not thousands!
Dusty also notices that the products that are not sold are soon discarded by the Supermarket. The Supermarket has no need for unsold product to clog its valuable shelf space. Better to fill it with high quality products from smart manufacturers who have done their consumer research on what shoppers want to buy. The Supermarket takes great measures to ensure that products like Dusty get minimum shelf space and visibility. The Supermarket creates more stringent requirements from the manufacturers before they will accept their products. So the smart manufacturers adapt...but old Dusty's manufacturer just keeps sending the same old product. And in doing so, he just keeps getting the same old result - dumped into the waste bin.
And WHO is Dusty Product?? Dusty Product is the job seeker who does not adapt to the "purchasing" habits of companies. Dusty Product is the job seeker who thinks it's the companies' duty to find him in the crowded marketplace. Dusty Product is the job seeker who thinks it is a waste of time to understand a company's business and how he can fit its needs. Dusty Product is the job seeker who sits idly by while the more adaptive job seekers update their strategies and tactics to land jobs. Dusty Product is the job seeker who does not clearly understand his skills and how to apply them to multiple business needs. Dusty Product is the job seeker who wants the company to figure out how he could be a good employee. Dusty Product is the job seeker who thinks he knows it all and will not listen to advice from others.
Are there any positives for Dusty Product??? I mean, surely Dusty Product is not all bad - just misguided. Surely Dusty Product is good at something, right? Well, actually he is. Dusty Product is in fact an excellent communicator. Dusty Product is the job seeker who superbly communicates each day to prospective employers that they should NOT buy his product! He is excellent at the art of "employment prevention techniques". Even the most desperate Employer would be hard pressed to purchase Dusty Product. If there were awards given to products who did not sell, then Dusty Product would be King!!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
If YOU send it, THEY will come...
Unfortunately, many job-seekers are still trapped in that old mentality of sending résumés and then waiting for a call. Some job-seekers even use the poor tactic of applying to every available job in hopes that someone will contact them. These tactics usually yield poor returns. But what do you expect? If you don't invest any time in formulating a job-search strategy then you really shouldn't expect to get good results.
It is clear to hiring managers the difference between a general résumé and cover letter versus a customized résumé and cover letter. The former does nothing to differentiate you or communicate your sincerity in wanting to work for the company. The latter clearly states your value proposition to the employer and states why you would be a good fit in meeting the employer's needs.
Let's look at it another way. If Procter & Gamble doesn't have a one product fits all approach for its customers, then why should you? They don't just try to force the same product down everyone's throat. If they did, they'd probably be out of business. Their business strategy is to segment their customers and craft marketing strategies to appeal to those segments. You can see this in the way they package, price, promote, and place their products. The communications is the most important because if the customer cannot clearly differentiate a P&G product, they might purchase a competitor's product.
So as you can see it is no longer a simple game of indiscriminate résumé sending. Customization is the key. If you send it, they will come....only if you can clearly communicate a unique value proposition based on your assessment of the company's needs. And yes, that takes a lot of work from you my dear job-seeker. It sorely pains me to see job-seekers use poor strategies and tactics that yield little or no results. Invest the time in developing a sound job-search strategy and then execute it to perfection!
It is clear to hiring managers the difference between a general résumé and cover letter versus a customized résumé and cover letter. The former does nothing to differentiate you or communicate your sincerity in wanting to work for the company. The latter clearly states your value proposition to the employer and states why you would be a good fit in meeting the employer's needs.
Let's look at it another way. If Procter & Gamble doesn't have a one product fits all approach for its customers, then why should you? They don't just try to force the same product down everyone's throat. If they did, they'd probably be out of business. Their business strategy is to segment their customers and craft marketing strategies to appeal to those segments. You can see this in the way they package, price, promote, and place their products. The communications is the most important because if the customer cannot clearly differentiate a P&G product, they might purchase a competitor's product.
So as you can see it is no longer a simple game of indiscriminate résumé sending. Customization is the key. If you send it, they will come....only if you can clearly communicate a unique value proposition based on your assessment of the company's needs. And yes, that takes a lot of work from you my dear job-seeker. It sorely pains me to see job-seekers use poor strategies and tactics that yield little or no results. Invest the time in developing a sound job-search strategy and then execute it to perfection!
Career Fear - Disabler or Enabler?
According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of fear (http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fear) is "the emotion experienced in the presence or threat of danger". But what is also interesting are the following words that are associated with fear:
Synonyms alarm, anxiety, apprehension, consternation, dread, fearfulness, fright, horror, panic, terror, trepidation
Related Words phobia; creeps, jitters, nervousness, willies; pang, qualm, twinge; agitation, discomposure, disquiet, perturbation; concern, dismay, worry; cowardice, faintheartedness, timidity, timorousness
Near Antonyms aplomb, assurance, boldness, confidence, self-assurance, self-confidence; courage, dauntlessness, fearlessness, fortitude
So what does this have to do with your Career? You might be comfortable in your current job and meeting all your performance goals. You might be a job-seeker who is just going about your career search without much thought or effort. But you know what? You should be slightly afraid. Not the type of paralyzing fear that keeps you from functioning. But the type of fear that motivates you to do better than the average. You see, fear, can be a great enabler! When you think of fear, it's easy to think of the negative connotations of fear. But if you study business, you'll find that the most successful companies use fear to propel them ahead of their competition!
To illustrate this point, allow me to slightly modify those famous words from the ficticious Gordon Gekko in the classic movie, Wallstreet - "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that fear -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Fear is right. Fear works. Fear clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Fear, in all of its forms -- fear for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind." See the original quote at http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/09/quote-of-day-gordon-gekko-greed-is-good.html.
Are you beginning to follow where I'm going? If not, allow me to take you back to the words of a real iconic businessman, Andy Grove of Intel. "Sooner or later, something fundamental in your business world will change. I'm often credited with the motto, "Only the paranoid survive." I have no idea when I first said this, but the fact remains that, when it comes to business, I believe in the value of paranoia. Business success contains the seeds of its own destruction. The more successful you are, the more people want a chunk of your business and then another chunk and then another until there is nothing left. I believe that the prime responsibility of a manager is to guard constantly against other people's attacks and to inculcate this guardian attitude in the people under his or her management." You can read his entire preface at http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/grove/paranoid.htm.
Now let's tie this in to your career. You should be thinking as the most successful businesses think if you really want to be a value-added employee. If the top business managers operate from a philosophy of strategic fear, then shouldn't you when it comes to your career? Otherwise, you'll just be the average employee who does average work. And companies who are just average don't survive too long. Look at the example of how Amazon.com was able to create an entire online empire right under the nose of Barnes & Noble. B&N should have had managers and leaders who monitored such threats in order to take swift action to either buy them out or pre-empt them. But they didn't. And now Wal-Mart is trying to do to the online world what they have done to the offline world. Interesting times indeed!
As you can see, even the successful companies from Wal-Mart to Microsoft are constantly trying to reinvent themselves and develop new products that adapt to the ever-changing technologies and demands of consumers. So shouldn't you take a cue from these businesses and do the same with your career? Fear of going out of business or losing market share keeps these companies at the top of their game. Fear can be a great enabler if you use it right. Use it to motivate you to look for new ways to improve your career skills that will add value to yourself and employer. So, could your career mentality use a healthy dose of fear?
Synonyms alarm, anxiety, apprehension, consternation, dread, fearfulness, fright, horror, panic, terror, trepidation
Related Words phobia; creeps, jitters, nervousness, willies; pang, qualm, twinge; agitation, discomposure, disquiet, perturbation; concern, dismay, worry; cowardice, faintheartedness, timidity, timorousness
Near Antonyms aplomb, assurance, boldness, confidence, self-assurance, self-confidence; courage, dauntlessness, fearlessness, fortitude
So what does this have to do with your Career? You might be comfortable in your current job and meeting all your performance goals. You might be a job-seeker who is just going about your career search without much thought or effort. But you know what? You should be slightly afraid. Not the type of paralyzing fear that keeps you from functioning. But the type of fear that motivates you to do better than the average. You see, fear, can be a great enabler! When you think of fear, it's easy to think of the negative connotations of fear. But if you study business, you'll find that the most successful companies use fear to propel them ahead of their competition!
To illustrate this point, allow me to slightly modify those famous words from the ficticious Gordon Gekko in the classic movie, Wallstreet - "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that fear -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Fear is right. Fear works. Fear clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Fear, in all of its forms -- fear for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind." See the original quote at http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/09/quote-of-day-gordon-gekko-greed-is-good.html.
Are you beginning to follow where I'm going? If not, allow me to take you back to the words of a real iconic businessman, Andy Grove of Intel. "Sooner or later, something fundamental in your business world will change. I'm often credited with the motto, "Only the paranoid survive." I have no idea when I first said this, but the fact remains that, when it comes to business, I believe in the value of paranoia. Business success contains the seeds of its own destruction. The more successful you are, the more people want a chunk of your business and then another chunk and then another until there is nothing left. I believe that the prime responsibility of a manager is to guard constantly against other people's attacks and to inculcate this guardian attitude in the people under his or her management." You can read his entire preface at http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/grove/paranoid.htm.
Now let's tie this in to your career. You should be thinking as the most successful businesses think if you really want to be a value-added employee. If the top business managers operate from a philosophy of strategic fear, then shouldn't you when it comes to your career? Otherwise, you'll just be the average employee who does average work. And companies who are just average don't survive too long. Look at the example of how Amazon.com was able to create an entire online empire right under the nose of Barnes & Noble. B&N should have had managers and leaders who monitored such threats in order to take swift action to either buy them out or pre-empt them. But they didn't. And now Wal-Mart is trying to do to the online world what they have done to the offline world. Interesting times indeed!
As you can see, even the successful companies from Wal-Mart to Microsoft are constantly trying to reinvent themselves and develop new products that adapt to the ever-changing technologies and demands of consumers. So shouldn't you take a cue from these businesses and do the same with your career? Fear of going out of business or losing market share keeps these companies at the top of their game. Fear can be a great enabler if you use it right. Use it to motivate you to look for new ways to improve your career skills that will add value to yourself and employer. So, could your career mentality use a healthy dose of fear?
Monday, October 12, 2009
The "Career Management" Lifestyle - Introduction
I've been thinking alot over the past several days about what it is that prevents most job-seekers from being successful. And not only job-seekers, but employed people as well who seem to be stagnant in their jobs but resigned to accept their fate. So as I was working out at the gym I realized that career management is a lifestyle. It's a choice. A choice of empowerment over your own career. A set of behaviors that will dictate the quality of your work success and satisfaction. A way of thinking that will always keep your mind focused on creating value not only for yourself, but for those who you interact with.
We know the benefits of eating the right foods, routine physical fitness, daily meditation, practicing our faith, and many other healthy practices. These become part of our lifestlye and affect the way we live each day. You shouldn't wait to have a health problem, before you go to see a doctor. If at all possible, you shouldn't wait until you have a problem before you take action to seek a solution. Just as successful businesses practice preventative maintenance, balanced scorecard, and research & development in order to stay in business - so should you! Imagine if Microsoft Corporation in the 1980's had just stopped with the creation of the Windows operating system for personal computers. Then they never would have developed all of the other services, products, and applications needed to take advantage of the internet boom in the 1990's!
Since we know the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle and practicing the routine behaviors required to support and improve that lifestyle, then why don't we apply that to our careers? When it comes to career management, there is a tendency for many people to not take an active role in defining and shaping their professions to add maximum value to themselves and to those around them. Don't be the person who languishes in a dead-end job for fear of change. Or the person that goes to work each day to a job that utilizes 10% of his talents. Or the person that continues to counduct an ill-fated job search campaign. That's poor career management and a poor lifestyle. And poor career management is the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes each day - eventually you clog your roads to success.
So what is living the "Career Management" Lifestyle? It's a lifestyle that involves you doing the daily, weekly, and yearly activities required to maintain your professional health. It's a set of repetitive actions that will always allow you to expand your mind, integrate new information, and add value to yourself and those around you. In the following blogs, I will write more about the Career Management lifestyle and how you can implement it into your daily routine. You won't see the results after two weeks any more than you'd expect to lose 50 pounds after two weeks at the gym. But if you make the set of practices that I will share with you a part of your daily routine, then you will have healthy career choices for the rest of your professional life.
Stay tuned for the rest of this series!
We know the benefits of eating the right foods, routine physical fitness, daily meditation, practicing our faith, and many other healthy practices. These become part of our lifestlye and affect the way we live each day. You shouldn't wait to have a health problem, before you go to see a doctor. If at all possible, you shouldn't wait until you have a problem before you take action to seek a solution. Just as successful businesses practice preventative maintenance, balanced scorecard, and research & development in order to stay in business - so should you! Imagine if Microsoft Corporation in the 1980's had just stopped with the creation of the Windows operating system for personal computers. Then they never would have developed all of the other services, products, and applications needed to take advantage of the internet boom in the 1990's!
Since we know the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle and practicing the routine behaviors required to support and improve that lifestyle, then why don't we apply that to our careers? When it comes to career management, there is a tendency for many people to not take an active role in defining and shaping their professions to add maximum value to themselves and to those around them. Don't be the person who languishes in a dead-end job for fear of change. Or the person that goes to work each day to a job that utilizes 10% of his talents. Or the person that continues to counduct an ill-fated job search campaign. That's poor career management and a poor lifestyle. And poor career management is the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes each day - eventually you clog your roads to success.
So what is living the "Career Management" Lifestyle? It's a lifestyle that involves you doing the daily, weekly, and yearly activities required to maintain your professional health. It's a set of repetitive actions that will always allow you to expand your mind, integrate new information, and add value to yourself and those around you. In the following blogs, I will write more about the Career Management lifestyle and how you can implement it into your daily routine. You won't see the results after two weeks any more than you'd expect to lose 50 pounds after two weeks at the gym. But if you make the set of practices that I will share with you a part of your daily routine, then you will have healthy career choices for the rest of your professional life.
Stay tuned for the rest of this series!
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