Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

Writing Resumes that Communicate Your Unique Value | Writing Marketing Content for Telecom Business Growth

Tips For Working For And With Us Ancient Boomers

by Leave a Comment

About Working With BoomersIf you’re in the workforce or about to enter it, chances are good you’ll be rubbing professional elbows with baby boomers. There are still a lot of us around. Some of us are in positions of authority and many of us have been entrenched in our business roles for decades. You’ll be collaborating with us, following our orders, and ordering us around.

Regardless of which relationship dynamic applies, you’ll probably be asking yourself, “Who are these people? What planet are they from?” In this article, I’ll try to offer some insight on boomers, to help make your professional relationships with us more fruitful and enjoyable.

Individualistic

To generalize, the first thing to know about boomers is we hate generalizations, generational generalizations in particular. We were brought up to believe that an individual should be judged on his or her merits; this way of thinking was probably reinforced by a distrust of institutional organizations that was prevalent especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In dealing with boomers, it is best to meet them where they are, rather than assume they hold a particular view on religion, politics, best practices in business, and their attitude toward younger members of the workforce.  The fact is, boomers are all over the map on these issues, and next I will comment on why this is the case.

Three Varieties

The boomer generation spans from babies born between 1946 and 1964. So the oldest among us are 71 and the youngest, a spry 53. A lot was changing in the world during the late 1940s and 1970s, and these happenings strongly shaped our attitudes. To complicate matters, there are three distinctly different groups of boomers, with very different life experiences:

  1. Early boomers grew up in the 1950s and were influenced by the conservative, relatively quiet, and very patriotic spirit of those times.
  2. Mid-boomers grew up in the 1960s and early 1970s, when political and social upheaval were the norm. This was the time of the Vietnam War, hippies, drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll. Mid-boomers tend to have more liberal views than their early boomer brethren, but this is a generalization and by no means universal.
  3. Late boomers grew up in the mid/late 1970s and early 1980s, when the social and political climates were somewhere in between the early boomer and mid-boomer periods. These boomers are probably the most diverse group of all boomers, owing to the extremely wide range of social and political ideas to which they were exposed and to which they were close.

Again, the best course when forging relationships with boomers is to ask rather than assume. Ask them what they think about this or that business/political/social issue. We will appreciate you taking the time to ask, learn and treat us as individuals. You’ll probably get promoted!

Business Values

Here are a few more points about boomers that may prove useful:

  • Boomers came into the workforce when it was common to have only one or two jobs in an entire career. We make business decisions based on how it will affect our career here, where we work now. We may make the same assumption about how you operate, rightly or wrongly.
  • Boomers are used to thinking about work as work, not as a lifestyle choice. We tend to be more concerned about “hard” benefits such as health insurance and bonuses, and less concerned about “soft” benefits such as a dartboard in the lunchroom. Along these lines, we may get a bit agitated when we see younger people taking “unauthorized” breaks at their desks. Desks are for work!
  • Boomers tend to be more private than younger people, less willing to share personal details in work conversation and especially on social media. This doesn’t make us cold or uncaring, just more cautious in choosing our confidants.
  • Boomers are competitive. We are comfortable with the concept of winners and losers in business, and thrive on meeting and exceeding tough business objectives. We take pride in being part of a successful organization … and get really pissed off when we’re losing. This attitude may come across in day-to-day dealings with fellow employees — sorry.
  • Boomers are methodical, systematic thinkers. We are accustomed to reading books (even long ones) and writing reports rather than zipping through 50 tweets and dashing off 50 text messages. This may make us seem like ponderous dinosaurs, but harness our ability to think through complex issues, and it may help you and your organization succeed all the faster.

As a final point, lots of boomers really enjoy mentoring young professionals. It’s a way of giving back to a company or industry that has helped us secure good lives for our families.

So consider asking a boomer for his or her perspective. When I was starting in my career, I’d ask older employees for their thoughts on specific and general business challenges I was experiencing. Sometimes their ideas were like a light switch going off in my head. Other times, I didn’t understand or agree with the advice, but then years later, I would recall the advice and think, “Aha — That’s what they meant! Of course!”

I hope you have similar experiences in your career!

 

Author Bio:

Brad ShorrBrad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, an Internet marketing company in Chicago that provides SEO, PPC management and web design services. With more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Moz, Entrepreneur and Smashing Magazine.

Who’s Baby Is It?

by Leave a Comment

Baby Consulting Productivity Email
Photo via Foter.com
Photo via Foter.com

I was listening to a podcast the other day and the interviewee was talking about consulting and an interesting conceptual framework that just made sense to me.

The story went like this.

Imagine you have a baby.  And I’m your babysitter.

Is the baby my baby?  Or your baby?

Of course it’s yours.

Now imagine I’m babysitting your baby and your baby gets sick.  And I have to take it to the doctor.

Is it my baby or your baby?

It’s still your baby.

Just because I’m taking care of your baby doesn’t mean the baby is mine.  It is still yours.

The same concept applies to a consultant.

If you’re helping a sick business turn itself around.  The CEO and management team are still in charge of the results of that company.

It is theirs.

Just because the consultant is helping with advice, direction, and maybe helping out in specific areas, that doesn’t make it the consultant’s company.

The consultant is still just the consultant.

The key point the consultant on the podcast was making is he gets the CEO involved and makes sure the buck stops with the CEO.

Any issues that need to be resolved, the CEO owns.  Not the consultant.  The consultant is just an adviser to help the CEO.

The issue was when CEO’s wash their hands of things and don’t support the consultant.  Then blame the consultant when the results don’t come.

They’ve basically thrown the baby out with the bathwater.  They’ve assumed they can hand off responsibility for their business to the consultant.

It just doesn’t work that way.

And so it is whether you’re a CEO or an employee at a lower level on the food chain.

You need to own your shit.  But they need own theirs too.

Don’t let them dump their responsibilities on you and then blame you for not delivering.

This is often easier said than done with managers and coworkers often dropping their issues on your plate.

You can’t always avoid taking on their troubles.  But often you can help without just adding it to your workload.

Here’s some questions to ask.

“How would you approach it?”

Rather than solving their problem for them, get them into the habit of solving their own problem first.  Or at least pre-thinking several solutions and then getting your opinion on the final direction or option they are thinking is right.

By helping them think better, they’ll grow their skills and not need you to make as many decisions for them.  This is especially important for new managers as they often are great doers but struggle with getting things done through others.

“What do you need from me and when do you need it?”

Being specific on the ask when someone needs your help is important too.  How many times have you had something dropped in your lap only to deliver what you thought was needed or was working on it when the originator of the task shoots you a nastygram email about you dropping the ball.

What happened is you thought they wanted something else or that it wasn’t as urgent as they thought it was.

A communication disconnect.

Don’t let that happen.  Ask a few follow up questions.  And also that way you’ll know in advance what you’re getting yourself into and if it isn’t an appropriate use of your time you can address it then.

“Do I need to get these emails?”

Email is a Hell people often get mired in.  Asking yourself if you need to be included on an email is often critical to cutting down incoming email messages and reclaiming your time to focus on more important tasks.

Emails tend to be something that ever expands.  The only way to reduce it is to take an active role.  Yes, you can create autoforward rules to move them to a folder you won’t see.  But that doesn’t really address the problem.

Go through your inbox and note down which email subjects don’t really need your involvement or awareness.  Then email the originator and tell them you don’t need to be included on future emails of that specific type.

Doing this once a quarter is like spring cleaning for your office life.  It is amazing how good it feels to chop 100 messages a day down to 50.

So who’s baby is it?  Make sure you know.

Looking for other ways to get more done in a day?  Check out these 74 productivity tips to get more from your day.

Employee-preneurship – Taking the Side Hustle Concept to your Day Job

by Leave a Comment

Employee-preneurship, Side Hustle, Freelancing
Photo credit: brighter than sunshine via Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Our world is in a state of turmoil.

Change is the new normal.

Jobs are not secure.

But the educational system, government and big media keep selling kids a lie that you get a college degree and you’ll get a good job.

They sell this cool concept.  And everyone of them (educational system, government, and media) support this big lie.

And so like lemmings, kids are churned through overpriced college indoctrination systems.  And when they get out – whether with a college degree or without one – they’re given a blank slate to figure out the rest of their career and life with.

That really sucks.

And does it really make sense?

To spend tens, and in some cases hundreds, of thousands of dollars.  Get deep into debt.  And come out the other side with no job (or one that pays the same as they could have gotten had they taken the four to six years of college and done something else with it).

So that where you are today.

You have a job.

You may have developed a career.  And like most people you are finding your paycheck shrinks year after year.

You may get regular raises (2-4% per year) or not (not every business gives annual raises).

You may have been subject to layoffs or reorganizations where you’re now doing the work of two or three people.

You want to know how to get ahead in this chaotic world we live in.  But how?

Well maybe you’re not cut out for starting your own business.  You don’t want the unpredictability of a business where if you don’t sell you don’t eat.

And maybe the Uber lifestyle isn’t for you.  You’re not quite ready to spend another 10-20 hours a week developing a side hustle business.

You’re an employee and want to stay one.  So you can have more of a personal life than running a full time business or freelance gig would offer.

So does that mean you’re destined to working day in and day out in the company coal mine with no hope of getting ahead and having a better life and more options and opportunities for you and your family?

NOOOOO!

There is another way.

A way for you to survive and thrive within the system.

No, you’re not likely to get “hit the lottery” strike it rich kind of results.

But you can find fun, fulfillment, and moving yourself into the top tier of employees in your job category.

And trust me, the joy and sense of control over your destiny that comes with that is worth the effort.

And if you do find your company hits hard times, when employee layoffs happen you’ll find yourself at the top of the “must keep” mental checklist management is using to make tough decisions.

And if you do want to make your own move and find a new organization to support you, the relationships you’ve developed, the results you’ve created, and the confidence and skill you’ve gained will help you rise to the top of any competitive interview situation.

So how do you do it?

Employee-preneurship.

Let’s walk through the steps together.

Step 1: Be someone they can count on.

It all starts with being a reliable and effective contributor to the company.  You can’t be viewed in a positive light if you don’t consistently deliver when asked.

Whether you’re working project work or just doing the daily work that needs to get done.

If you don’t get it done it falls on someone else’s plate.  Or their work gets backlogged by yours.  Not a good situation to be in if you’re trying to boost your personal brand with your coworkers and boss.

So get it done.  Do it on time.

Step 2: Share your struggles and your results.

Everyone likes to commiserate.  Misery loves company.  And struggling against a common enemy (a frustrating client, an employee you don’t like, an annoying boss, an underperforming vendor) binds people together like superglue.

But like superglue, you must use it sparingly.

Being seen as a Negative Nelly won’t get you ahead and will keep you buried in the world of the under-performers.

You need the second part of this which is share your results.

If you want to get ahead it isn’t enough just to do the work well and assume you’ll get noticed.  True people often do notice and you will get opportunities that way.

But you can add rocket fuel to the situation if you do effectively communicate your successes.  And sharing some of the secret sauce of how you did it can go a long way towards building your personal brand.

Don’t do it in a bragging kind of way.

Just segue into it as conversations naturally turn to where you can drop in a comment or tell a story.

Step 3: Give away the credit.

Nothing will undermine your future success more than taking public credit for something that someone else created.  If you’re a manager, when you have great results from your team, compliment or call out one of the team members who made something happen that was critical for the success of the venture.

People remember and support those who can get their ego out of the way and build up others.  As you get into management you realize that all major successes come through others.

My biggest role typically is that of amateur therapist and cheerleader.

As you get bigger and bigger roles or projects to contribute to you’ll find your influence increases and your stature in the company become larger as others support your grand visions.

Step 4: Volunteer.

If you’re expecting to get paid to do the next job up before you get it, you’ll find you’ll never get there.

People hate risk.

And managers are no different.

Put yourself in their shoes.

Would you promote someone who never has shown they have the skills to deliver in the role?

Or would you promote the person who has already done all the elements of the role?

It’s a no-brainer, right?

So why would you think your situation is any different?

If they can’t see you being successful in the role then you’re not likely to get there.  You’ll be passed over for that promotion year after year.  And then you’ll find yourself discouraged and doing even less to justify you’re right for the job.

And if there are special projects coming up?  Situations that create visibility that you just won’t get in your day-to-day job.  Will you be offered them if you’re not showing you can handle them?

Probably not.

It starts with you.

Begin with small opportunities.  They’re all around you.

Whether it is helping a coworker with something.

Contributing your expertise, knowledge or energy.

Maybe it is offering to work a few hours of overtime or work over the weekend to help deliver some critical commitment to a client.

And as you get your results-oriented muscles moving it will start coming easier.

And you’ll start seeing more opportunities to contribute.

And others will bring you increasingly challenging opportunities to make a difference.

And you’ll find you’re enjoying coming to work more.

And your annual reviews will start to look better.

And raises and bonuses and promotions will start to happen more frequently.

As you find yourself growing into a full-fledged “Employee-preneur”.

So go take the first step…

Why, Like Trump, You Need Your Own 100 Day Plan

by 2 Comments

Donald Trump 100 Day PlanWhether you’re on the pro or con side of the Donald Trump presidency, you can’t deny that he has achieved more of his agenda more quickly than any president in recent history (and maybe all time).

And he isn’t getting stuck in the mud of the bureaucracy in the process.

He is taking focused and specific actions that are in his realm of authority (whether he’s pushing the envelope of that authority is certainly up for debate).  This allows him to move quickly rather than spending a lot of time waiting for others (i.e. Congress) to move on things.

What this means is he’s making change happen quickly and getting results quickly.

And that is something that is highly noticed and often well rewarded in business.

And if you’re an employee, you want to be able to demonstrate that you’re actively driving business results (and yes, you can do that in any position from the front desk to the corner office).

Or if you’re starting a new job it is even more critical to make that big, positive splash in the first 30-60-90 days.  And having a good 100 day plan is critical to that success.

The 100 Day Plan

The 100 day plan isn’t a new concept.  It is often used both for those implementing the plan as well as those on the outside evaluating an administration’s success.

It is common in evaluating political administrations as they come into office.

And it is common for leadership transitions in business.

Change is often both exciting and scary.

And people like to make assessments of a situation quickly.  The 100 day plan is a way to do that.

But it isn’t just Presidents and CEO’s who can implement a good 100 day plan.  You can too.

Whether you are a middle manager looking to transform a workgroup or project team to achieve your annual big goal (and get that raise or bonus).

Or you are a project coordinator or telecom construction manager or site acquisition specialist looking to make your mark.

Take these concepts and make them your own.

By implementing these you’ll rocket your career forward and be that “go-to” person everyone wants on their team (and that means future job opportunities where you set the terms, not them).

So back to the Trump example, let’s see what he did and how you can use the same concepts to replicate that success in your job situation.

The Grand Vision

Nothing great starts without a compelling vision.  Something visible, interesting, maybe somewhat controversial.

For Trump it was “The Wall”.

He told everyone what he was going to do…Build a Wall (and it would be huuuge).  And Mexico would pay for it.

You don’t get bigger and more audacious than that.

So what is your grand vision?  Or one you can pull from the company goals?

Most big companies these days have a performance review process.  As part of that process people are expected to set goals for themselves (or their bosses do it for them).  In most cases these goals are designed to align with the company’s strategic goals.  Whether that is delivering a big project (in my wireless telecom project that could be delivering the Plan of Execution (POE) – that is often another version of the client’s 100 day and annual plan).

So first you need to find out what are the important objectives for your company.  And then ask and brainstorm how you can influence those results from your role and your team’s role.

Once you come up with that big goal or plan (in my telecom development world it could be “Start Construction within a Week of Site Acquisition Complete”).  Those in telecom know that doesn’t typically happen.  PO’s, landlord access issues, weather, materials.  You name it, there are things that can derail you.

But this is a Grand Vision you and your team can very much understand.  And then everyone on the team can bring ideas and implement things in their area of responsibility to make this happen.

But great things can’t happen without…

Work With High Achievers

Trump didn’t do the standard politician thing of appointing bureaucrats to pay off political favors and do his bidding while screwing over the country.

No, he brought in top performers.  Doers.  Transformative Leaders.  People with the same vision and implementation style (do it now and break the rules instead of just melting into the toxic beltway bubble).

It is the same with great companies.

You don’t achieve awesome results by micromanaging everyone.  There just isn’t enough time in the day to do that.

You need highly motivated people driven for success.

Not all “A” players.  But definitely a lot of “A” and “B” players who are motivated to succeed.

I’ve worked with a lot of these people over the years and have found you can accomplish so much more with good people who are compelled by a Grand Vision and their own desire to succeed and grow in their career.

They make things happen.  They develop trust.  And team members start having an almost psychic connection with each other where they complete each others’ sentences and just know what needs to be done.

You need to work with high achievers.  And if you aren’t with them, you know who they are and where they are.  Connect with them and start preparing to make your next move in their direction.   Good people want to work with other good people.  It makes everyone better.  You need to be thinking that way.

Which takes us next to the…

Create an Implementation Plan

No grand goal is complete without the key 30-60-90 day steps or milestones to get your grand objective accomplished.  Trump used his knowledge of business, real estate deals, and project management (he’s known for getting projects done ahead of schedule and under budget) to lay out an aggressive but achievable plan.

You need to break down your plan in the same way.   What are the intermediate steps or objectives that will get you there?

Lay out those building blocks.  Look at the things that are limiting factors in your success.

Is it certain people you need on the team?  Or certain skillsets?  Or training?  Or a re-engineered process?

Look at the details and your Implementation Plan will be your roadmap to success.

But that roadmap is worthless without…

Action, Action, Action

You need to hit the ground running.  The greatest plans are worthless if you aren’t willing to put in the action and hours to turn your vision into reality.

Trump is known for an incredible work ethic.  He works all the time and never lets up.  He’s passionate about his work and will not let laziness stand in his way.

And you need to do the same.  Whether it is the start of a new year, the start of a new project, or starting a new job, or you’re in a turnaround situation.

And with the new smartphone age of super short attention spans, you really need to show incredible progress in the first 30 days of a new initiative or opportunity.

So bring that implementation plan, cue up your actions on Sundays so come Monday morning you’re hitting the ground and ticking off those actions and getting results quickly each week and over the first 30 days.

But what happens when you face others who are not on board?

Dealing Swiftly With Naysayers

Trump is known for his work on “The Apprentice” and his catch phrase, “You’re Fired!”

In his first days in the White House he demonstrated this by immediately firing the interim Attorney General who was actively undermining his position (by telling the bureaucrats under her to not follow Trump’s executive order that set certain immigration guidelines she didn’t agree with).

As with the AG, anyone who undermines his work, will likely be fired immediately and replaced with people who will commit to the vision.

And similarly, if you’re in a leadership position or a turnaround situation you need to be aware of who’s in and who’s out as well.  And you’ll need to make appropriate changes quickly if you want to avoid the “naysayers” sinking your ship.

One of Trump’s biggest challenges is he’s bucking the system.  And a lot of the bureaucrats who didn’t vote for him are vehemently opposed to him and his agenda.  As such, they’ve they’ve undermined his initiatives by leading information to media (who are very willing to spread an anti-Trump message).

I’m sure that will lead to some action (like Reagan’s firing of the air traffic controllers) to send a message that will begin the transformation.  Will it be a big impact in the VA?  Or something similar?  We’ll have to wait and see.

You may have to do the same.  Gossip and negativity spreads like wildfire and can kill momentum.  So you need to bring along those that support you, convince those that are on the fence, and replace those who actively oppose you (yes, you need some who will challenge you but support the final decision, but once that decision is made you can’t have people undermining that decision).

And the good 100 day plan you have will help you through that.

Reflection and Revision and Repeat

Like every great plan, it is often obsolete on Day 1.

Things change, often rapidly.  And you need to be prepared with contingency plans.  Backups to backups.  And be willing to adjust your approach as new information presents itself.

The great leader will be able to roll with change and still align it to his master plan.

And you need to do the same.  Flexibility is critical when you’re dealing with people and implementing rapid change.  But if you can be flexible, you can get a lot accomplished.

Document, document, document.

Documentation provides clarity.

As you’re setting expectations with your team, being clear on what you want from them and how you’re holding them accountable is critical.  Too often we do that after the fact or are not clear ourselves and expect everyone to figure it out themselves.  Not a recipe for success.

That can be preparing a more formalized Project Plan that lays out your expectations for each person’s contribution.  Or it can be job descriptions and definitions of success for each role that will help ensure the vision is achieved and the results flow.

And you also need to document your successes.  And this can also then help you so you can…

Reward Success

So you laid out a great plan, implemented it, and saw success.

But did you forget to acknowledge and reward those who supported your vision and implemented their part successfully?

And it isn’t just about money (although that is important to hiring and keeping great people too).

Life is too short not to share success with others.  And no grand plan is achievable without the contributions of your team members, vendors, clients, etc.

So make sure you’re providing regular and specific acknowledgement of the performers.  And share those successes with the group and show how their contributions are getting everyone close to the goal.

This reinforces a positive feedback loop that reinforces success and energizes the team.

Implement Now!

So what are you waiting for?  Why are you still here?  Go make 2017 awesome.  Get started today.  Start putting together your 100 Day Plan.

Need strategic guidance on your own 100 Day Plan?

Or have you decided you want to investigate other options outside your current situation where you might have more opportunities to achieve your own grand visions and work with other top performers?

Then contact me and see whether it might make sense to work together in some form (finding you that next opportunity or career coaching or strategic opportunity evaluation).

Regardless of how you move forward, make sure you do move forward.  Life is too short not to.  And you’ll find the ride is awesome!

Boost Your Personal Brand With Confident Competence

by Leave a Comment

Confident Competence Performance Review
Photo credit: Sam Antonio Photography via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Your success in a job in business is tied to the results you get.  But that isn’t all.  It is also tied to how you market your results.  This ties in to your personal brand and helps you exude confident competence.

This really hit home recently.

The other day my friend, and Small Business Copywriter Troy White, relayed an email response to a job posting he got.

It was filled with grammatical errors galore.  And he was amazed at how someone could send something that horribly written and expect a response (wasn’t for a copywriting job but for a a job running the dojo he trains at).

I commented that there is a name for that problem…

The Dunning–Kruger effect.

Confident Incompetence

What???

Where someone is not even aware of their lack of ability or skill or knowledge and so goes blissfully and confidently forward in their ignorance.

How  can they not see it?

It is because the knowledge it takes to become competent is also the knowledge it takes to recognize competence.

Think about that for a second.

Just like the more you know the more you know you don’t know.

Okay, now my head’s starting to hurt.

Let’s bring it back to something that might be useful for you today.

Your Performance Review

It is that time of year.

Over the years I’ve done hundreds of them and you’d be shocked at how on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being awesome, incompetent people will often overestimate their abilities and put 4’s or 5’s where they should be putting a 2 or 3.

And having those performance coaching conversations when someone sees themself as a 5 when they’re really a 3 is HAAARD!

It is nearly impossible to be able to get them to see the gap in ability between your view and theirs.  Like trying to convince an ardent Hillary supporter that Trump’s actions are positive for the country.  Or that the Women’s March on Washington was furthering progress for women for a Pro-Life protester…or ANYONE trying to convince Trump that he’s wrong about ANYTHING lol.

But blissful ignorance isn’t the only problem.  The other side of the coin is even more interesting.

The Blind Spot

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed.  But if you try to look directly at a start you can’ts see it.  You have to look off to the side and catch it in your peripheral vision.

It is similar with high performing individuals.

The corollary to the Dunning–Kruger effect is that those with high ability often underestimate their ability.

This one is huge.

And I see it all the time.

In annual performance reviews I see the best of the best constantly grading themselves down on the self-evaluation.

People who are tops in their area of expertise.  Who I’d give 4’s and 5’s to across the board.  And they consistently rate themselves at least one number below where I’d put them.

They are so good at the skill being evaluated that they assume everyone can do it.  They don’t even consider the value.  It doesn’t even hit their radar.  So they discount it.

I also find this when doing resume rewrites.  In phone discussions with the person we often uncover personal branding gems they never recognized because they were too close to the situation.

They were just too competent (and too close to it) to see it as exceptional.

You Really Are Exceptional!

And that is the biggest benefit of working with me on your resume.  And why I’m not just another “Certified Resume Writer”.

I’m not someone who just takes what you send it and pretties it up.

On a scale of 1 to 10 that gets your resume to a 4 or 5 max.

It misses out on all the things that you’re awesome at.  That set you apart.

But by digging in deep to your skills, past successes, and personal brand, we come up with one to three really solid differentiators.

Points that set you apart from the 200 other resumes that will cross a recruiter or hiring manager’s desk.

And that is what’s needed to capture and retain their attention long enough to put you into the “maybe pile”.

And when you do get that interview you’ll use the same information for the talking points you’ll hammer home to set yourself apart from your competition.

So How Can You Do This Better?

Are you the “confident incompetent”?  If so, there is very little I can do for you.  Like a politician who is confident in his rightness, you’ll never be convinced otherwise, shining a light on that competence gap will likely go nowhere.  And besides that, if you’re blissfully ignorant you’ won’t be asking for help anyway.

But if you’re like the people I work with the most, you’re  already excellent.  You’re always striving to improve yourself.  And as such you’re so used to being modest about your abilities that you under-promote yourself and miss those key attributes that set you apart.

So what can you do if you’re not in a situation where you need your resume updated?  Where you’re not yet ready to work with me.

Let me tell you a little more about what I’ve experienced with performance reviews and how it might help you boost your brand and make your next performance review awesome (and hopefully translate that into a raise or promotion).

I just completed five performance reviews for people I manage.

Out of those five all five were woefully inadequate in my opinion.  Here’s why.

  • No more than a sentence or two of comments in each category being evaluated.
  • The comments were generic with no facts, stats or metrics being discussed.
  • They were often talking about what is going to happen in the upcoming year but with only a vague reference to the year being evaluated.
  • There were no measurable accomplishments.

Basically they were dumping their career in my hand and expecting me to tell them how they rate.  Without any useful input from them (other than doing the rating scale and providing a minimal comment).

Now think about that for a minute.

Who knows what you do better than anyone else at work?

Your coworkers?  They’re not reviewing you.

Your boss? I’m assuming he manages more than just you.  So you maybe cross his mind 5% of the time tops.

You!

You care about you.  You think about you.  You are the person who knows best what you do every day.

So why are you not sharing that?  You need to.

But even if you recognize you need to take a more active role in your self-promotion, here’s what typically happens with an annual review.  And it is the case in the ones I reviewed this year.

  • Little preparation.  When the annual review form is sent out and requested to be completed, that is the first time since the last annual review that they even though about their accomplishments.  They didn’t keep track of anything along the way.
  • Recency bias.  Since they didn’t track their accomplishments throughout the year they can only remember what is recent.  Without a trigger of past results, they’re stuck in what they can remember.  And so whatever has happened recently shades their review.  If they were knocking it out of the park then their review is more positive.  If they were struggling, then that seeps into the review.
  • Lack of accomplishment focus.  Not everyone thinks in terms of accomplishments.  They have very bland accomplishment descriptions when they do try to list them.  What is critical is to say what you did (in concrete terms), what measurable result was attained, and what that means in terms of benefit to the organization you’re working for or the department’s results.

How Do You Avoid Making Those Same Mistakes?

And how do you take charge of your brand and your career?

And leapfrog all those who don’t take the steps you’ll see now?

It really is very simple (not easy, but simple).  Here’s what I recommend (and did recommend to these people I reviewed).

Log results throughout the year.

Don’t wait til the end of the year to try to recount your accomplishments.  Do it throughout the year.  Do it weekly…or at least monthly.  But don’t save it til the end of the year to start thinking about it.

Have a Word or text document or email or journal you use to note down your accomplishments.

And create an email folder that you put emails in that either are positive comments you can reference where a boss, coworker, client, or other person you interact with has given you kudos.

These are the locations you’ll keep track of accomplishments throughout the year.

And they will be the elements you use to craft both an annual review from and future resume updates.

Review your goals.

(you did set goals for yourself or as part of the performance planning process right?)

Since those are the areas of primary focus, reviewing the goals should trigger examples that support your work towards those goals from the timeframe you’re reflecting on.

Go through your emails.

Emails you’ve sent.  Emails you’ve received.  Quickly scan through them (or the subject lines if the volume of emails you receive is high).

You’re just looking for things that trigger a memory or example where you’ve done something worth mentioning.

Don’t forget the reports.

Then go through reports you’ve created or ones you’ve received from others.

These are often great sources of metrics.  They show the numbers behind the accomplishments.

You can get the trends (particularly improvements).

You can look at your spreadsheets (in the technical fields).  From there you can analyze the data sometimes and come up with some interesting stats.

Dredge up statistics.

What do they say about statistics?  You can make them tell whatever story you want? So why not use statistics for your purposes?  This is something that will take some time and effort.  But is often something others won’t do.  So it sets you apart.

Find the stories.

Reflect and log stories that address things you’ve done, problems you’ve solved, unique ways you’ve approached something that uncovered an opportunity.  Or systems or processes you’ve tweaked to get better results.  Or people you’ve helped out with a problem they’re dealing with.

These are all rich areas to mine for cool, interesting accomplishments and the stories that go with them.

If you decide to take that step and regularly go through this exercise, I guarantee you’ll be shocked at year-end by how much you’ve accomplished and how many engaging stories you’ll have captured.

Be a Confident Competent!

So when you walk into that review meeting it will be with a confidence grounded in facts.  You’ll have a newfound “Confident Competence”.

And the added benefit is throughout the year this process with reinforce a positive feeling and mindset.

Why just have the “negative Nellies” drag you down with their opinions.  By reviewing your successes regularly you can counter some of the negativity that goes around in high-pressure or project driven environments.

And that they helps you quickly brush away setbacks and move forward knowing you’re doing the right things and bringing much value to your team and your job.

So go take on this year in style!

Ssl_seal_1
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy