Own Your Strengths

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Woman with Shopping Bags

Hi – my name is Tami, and I’m a…a…retailer. 

Yes, I’ve known this for quite some time.  Why haven’t I told you before?  Oh, I don’t know.  It’s one of those things that sometimes just doesn’t sound as good as I’d like it too.

Being a retailer is not an easy career path, and it’s one that I chose to pursue when I was in graduate school.  Retailing has everything: strategy, products, logistics, finance, communications, marketing and sales.  It’s old fashioned, with brick and mortar stores, yet so twenty-first-century with ecommerce and mobile apps.

My favorite part is that it’s fast-paced and constantly changing.  We had a saying at my first retail job out of school: you’re only as good as yesterday’s sales.  It’s a constant tug between “how did we do” and “what is our next big thing”, always striving to be better.  To be a good retailer, you need to be able to move between creative and analytical in a heartbeat.  It’s stressful even in slow periods.  And holidays – or should I say “what holidays”?  They are super busy when everyone else has time off.

And I love it!

For some reason I understand the business model, I like the frenetic pace, I enjoy mixing creativity, strategy and analytics, and above all, I enjoy seeing the results.

So why am I telling you this? 

After the layoff I was afraid to tell people I was a retailer.  Not because I was ashamed but because I wanted to cast a wide net in the job search and didn’t want to be exclusively defined by this title.  Frankly, I was afraid of being viewed as a “one-trick pony” when I knew I had much more to offer.

So what did I do?  I came up with some snazzy words to convey the type of work I did to avoid pigeon-holing myself into one industry.   I played down my past employment and spoke in general terms about my experience.

The result? In doing so I ignored my biggest strength:  I am a retailer and I thrive in that type of environment.

My advice to anyone looking for work is to be truthful about who you are in the work force and what type of work makes you tick.  Own your strengths and be truthful with yourself.

Otherwise you’ll end up miscast in a job that’s not right for you.  The last thing you want is to be a square peg pushed into a round hole.

This doesn’t mean you have to stay in your current industry.  As I discovered, my retail skills were transferrable to other industries and other disciplines.  The important thing is to determine what you excel at and apply those strengths to new opportunities.

The lesson here? It’s OK to be who you are. In fact, you need to own it. Your next employer wants it that way.

Biking, Hiking and BBQs Oh My! But What About the Job Search?

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Beach pic

June is finally here and you know what that means: summer vacation!

As Pink Floyd so famously sang, “No more pencils, no more books! No more teachers dirty looks!”

I remember that euphoric feeling as the last bell rang for the year or in college when I finished my last final exam.  It was awesome knowing I had at least two months of relaxation without school responsibilities.

Too bad that all ends when we start our careers and enter the “real world”.

No more summer vacations.  If we’re lucky, we can bookend the summer with long weekends at Memorial Day and Labor Day. Depending on how the calendar falls we may get a third long weekend at Fourth of July.

Hardly the freedom-fest summers of our youth.

It’s been ages since I was in school yet for some reason at this time of year I still find myself wanting to slow down from work and take a step back.   With the sun finally shining I guess I’m ready to come out of hibernation.

Or more appropriately, I’m ready to get up from my desk, longing for a respite from the busy go-go-go lifestyle that has taken over.

Yes, I want to run away from it all. Even if only for a little while.

My mind plays tricks on me, suddenly forgetting all the things on my to-do list.  Knowing that we have a couple of trips planned, Vacation Brain tries to push Work Brain out of the way weeks before it’s time to leave.

I play all sorts of games to remain focused on career, networking, finding my next opportunity and the like, yet it seems in vain. There are simply too many distractions.

The swimming pool is calling me to come outside.  Friends in the teaching profession have free time to play.  Family wants to come to visit. Tons of summer festivals and events.  Biking, hiking, and BBQ’s, oh my!

Even the news is conspiring against me, telling me summer is a terrible time to look for a new job, that hiring tends to decrease over the summer as managers take vacations and a slew of other reasons.  My mind says this sounds reasonable.

Vacation Brain says, “Go ahead and give in; don’t do any work for the next couple of months”.

Work Brain knows I’m responsible and forces me back to reality saying “You know better.”   Sometimes I really hate being responsible.

Work Brain is right. We should not give in to the temptation to relax our standards just because it’s summer and vacation is right around the corner.

Especially anyone who is looking for a new job.  Don’t lose your momentum!  Let others drop out of the job search race if they want; that gives you the edge.  Besides, you never know when there might be a new opportunity and you could be the first to see it.

Should you enjoy summer and plan a vacation? Of course! It’s always good to take a short break to rejuvenate.   Just make sure you have a plan for staying on top of your job search strategy rather than dropping out completely.

When It Comes To Resumes, Content Is Critical

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Christmas at our house was a big deal when we were growing up.  Who am I kidding?  It’s still a big deal to me and Hubby knows it.  He has a hard time trying to live up to the expectations established by my family, particularly my grandmother.

Grandma always gave good gifts. I mean REALLY good.  We thought she was super rich. Only much later did I realize that she carefully planned her money and preferred to give it to the grandchildren instead of spending it on herself.

What Grandma understood best was presentation; the drama leading up to the gift.  She knew that we knew the gift would be good and she wanted us to work for it.  We had been taught to be so polite that if we opened her gift and were disappointed, we still smiled and thanked her profusely.  That’s when the fun began for Grandma.

Like the time I opened a huge box with a beautiful large bow, only to find a pair of fuzzy socks from the dollar store.  I smiled and thanked her, wondering if she’d lost all her money.  She coaxed me to try them on; I thought she was nuts.  But I did as she asked.  To my surprise, I found a diamond ring sewn inside the toe of the sock.

Score one for Grandma!  She knew the content of the gift was more important than the fancy wrapping and let me discover a true diamond in the rough.

Resumes are a lot like gifts.  They can surprise a hiring manager by presenting a good picture of the candidate or they can disappoint by looking good yet lacking substance.

Throughout my career I’ve interviewed a lot of candidates, as well as helped students and others with their job searches – I have seen my share of resumes.   Resumes on different kinds of paper, with all sorts of fonts and creative interpretations designed to make them stand out in the crowd.  One memorable resume was a on a DVD – talk about making me work for the information.

I imagine most hiring managers appreciate efforts by candidates to be unique.  Believe me when I say that I’m right there with you in wanting to separate myself from the pack during the recruitment process.

The truth is it’s the content of the resume that’s important.  Just like a Christmas gift, the fanciest wrapping doesn’t always yield the best present.

Make sure your resume really tells your story.  Sometimes this is the only piece of information a hiring manager sees in determining whether or not to interview a candidate.

I know; it’s hard to write about yourself but you have to try.  Ask a trusted friend or two to review your resume and edit it.  I’ve done this before and have received great feedback.  Sometimes we are too close to the subject to have an objective view.

There are also certified professional resume writers who do this for a living.  Yes, you’ll have to spend some money, although it’s worth the price if it means finding your next opportunity.

Worst thing you can do is limp along with a poor resume.  I’ve seen some doozies over the years.  Misspelled words, date errors, including way too much information or irrelevant information, information that indicates age or even includes skills that may be outdated – and those are not the worst errors.

The resumes that are most difficult to understand are the ones that fail to tell me succinctly who you are, what type of work you are looking for and why you are successful.  A good resume helps me understand why you could help solve my problems and intrigues me enough to schedule an interview.

Remember, the resume provides a snapshot of your personal brand to the hiring manager.  While a resume alone won’t get you a job, it may open the door for an interview where you can shine in person.

Your resume can still look good. Just make sure the content lives up to the wrapping.

 

Practice Makes Perfect

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Chocolate Cake Slice with Raspberries

“You are a ROCK STAR!” read the text from my PR guy.  Yes, PR people have PR people – it’s a real thing; look it up.

“That was awesome; you did great!” read an email from someone else.  “I can’t wait to watch the video,” said Hubby, who happened to miss the entire thing.

I may charge Hubby a fee for missing it. He claims being on an airplane is a good excuse.

The “It” I’m talking about was my first live online video chat through Google Hangout for the website Resume Edge. The topic was “How to Bounce Back After a Job Loss”, something I discuss when I’m invited to speak to various groups and a subject I’m very familiar with.

Why was I so nervous going into the Hangout?  Maybe it was it because this was my first time using this platform.  It’s always intimidating to try new technology for the first time – with everyone watching – and no IT guy nearby in case I needed help.  Maybe my nerves were acting up because I would have to think on the fly to answer questions as they came in.  Who knows?

So what does a good presenter do in such a situation? Have a Plan B.  And C.  And D, if you think you might need it.

Boy did I have back up plans!  My iPad was charged up and standing by in case my laptop failed me.  My smart phone was on the desk just in case.  I had my notes open side-by-side with the Hangout app so I could see both screens.  If all else failed, I planned to pick up my laptop with the built-in webcam and give everyone a tour of my house, hoping they would be confused and think they tuned in to HGTV or something.

You’d think I was some sort of Hangout savant.

Yet none of my back-up plans were necessary.  Things went smoothly.  Easy-peasy. Piece of cake.

Truth be told, the reason it went so smoothly was that I practiced.  A lot.

First I reviewed all of my presentations on the subject, taking notes and thinking about possible questions that may be asked.  Hubby assisted by randomly throwing questions at me at different times of day to see if I could answer intelligently.  He’s such a helper.

Next, I scheduled a Hangout with my PR guy to test the technology.  Good thing, too, since we quickly discovered that my computer’s internal microphone wasn’t working.  Yikes.  That would have been awful for everyone except those who could read lips.

Once I got the mic working, I spent hours practicing in front of my webcam. Rehearsing as if this were the real-deal.   Also gave me a chance to make sure the lighting was right and the background looked good.

All of the dress-rehearsals paid off.  There were some tech issues – the Hangout kept telling me I needed to login when I was already logged in – but like any good actor I just kept going.  I figured I was either doing a great job, or if I was talking to no one I’d get a text telling me they could no longer see me on the screen.

Practice.  No one likes to do it yet it can pay off in the end.  I am certainly not a fan of talking to myself in front of a video camera.  Boy, am I glad I did.

Same thing applies when you prepare for a job interview.  Practice answering interview questions – out loud.  There’s nothing like having to say the words.   At the very least prepare a list of possible questions you might be asked, then type out your answers.  If nothing else, you will have given it some thought and will not be “winging it”.

Practice allows you to enter the interview with confidence.  If you’re thrown a curveball question, it’s easier to respond.  True, the answer may not be perfect yet imagine what might happen if you tried to “wing it” in this situation?

Practice, people!  It’s what you should do.

The Age of Relevance

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Hands and phones

When it comes to hiring, it seems like there’s still a lot of discussion about age.  Perception is that younger candidates are being chosen over older more experienced ones. This leaves the older candidates perplexed, without work, wondering what happened.

Theories I’ve read include the obvious age discrimination, and that older workers are not competitive because they don’t know about all the new technology like their younger counterparts.

I’m calling B.S. here.

That’s a pretty bold declaration given that I have no data to back up my claim, nor do I have any data to disprove the things I’ve read.

Don’t get me wrong; I agree that age discrimination exists.  What I think is B.S. is the part about older workers not having current skills and not being of value anymore. 

Take my little coffee shop “Focus Group” that meets each week.  I call it a “Meeting of the Minds”; Hubby calls it the “Brain Trust”.  A group of gentleman, all at least partially retired, many of them in an age group north of 70.  I think it’s safe to say most are senior citizens.

Discussions are lively and cover a wide range of topics including politics, business, the economy, personal finance and how to fix things.  Computers and technology are always part of the equation.

As the youngest person and only female participant in the group, I consider it a privilege to be included. They tell me I’m their “center of gravity” and that I’m “smart”.  Flattery will get them everywhere.

Honestly, it’s these guys with the white hair that are smart.  I’m in awe of their business knowledge. I try to listen and learn from them.  One thing is certain: all of them are relevant and current, both with today’s technology and social media.

During a recent meeting, everyone had their cell phones on the table in case a call came in.  Probably from their stockbrokers, I guessed, given they all seem to have way more money than I’ll ever have.

All of a sudden one of the men announced, “Say hi to Tom”.  He had initiated a Google Hangout with a former group member who moved to another city.  Talk about being relevant!  That he even had a smart phone should have made him relevant enough.   Add the Hangout and he is like a geriatric rock star.

The point is that all of these people are much older than the average person trying to find work today.  All of them are current with technology and social media. And the added bonus is they have years of business experience that would make them an asset to a company.

Just so we’re all clear, none of these gentlemen had careers in computers or technology.

In my opinion, employers need to focus on relevance and a willingness to learn rather than age when it comes to hiring.  Combine that with years of work experience and it’s a triple threat that is hard to beat. Something that you certainly won’t get from a younger candidate.

Older job candidates, listen up!  This means work on your part too. Understand and participate in social media.  Be sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date, that you have a FaceBook account and that you at least know enough about Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and other applications to carry on an intelligent conversation.

Staying relevant might mean taking a class to keep your work skills up to date.  In our area, the community college offers free or discounted classes to anyone over fifty.

Networking is a must.  Attend professional association meetings and read industry publications for current news – a great way to learn about new trends in your field.

Be relevant in both your attitude and appearance as well.  You’re as young as you feel, right?  Project that internal youthful energy in your voice and enthusiasm. It’s amazing how that will translate positively over the phone, in meetings and during interviews.

Will there still be age discrimination? Probably.  I can only control my behavior.  So I’m going to present the relevant, enthusiastic, younger person that I feel inside.  Even if I have to hire Ms. Clairol to cover my roots.

Five Truths About Unemployment That Everyone Should Know

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computer job pic

The job market is getting a lot of attention again these days.  The unemployment rate is either up or down, depending on the day of the week it seems.  There are still layoffs – Macy’s just announced one.  Another report I read stated that companies, fearful of the economy, may be slow to hire despite the fact that business has picked up.

We hear all about the business side of unemployment, yet almost nothing about the less tangible effects.  Although these sometimes are more powerful than anything else, because they affect us on a personal level.  Yes, there is more to unemployment that losing a job.

Here are five truths about unemployment that everyone should know:

It’s boring.  That’s right; being unemployed is boring. I know you’re shocked to hear this, huh?  After all, who hasn’t stated at one point or another that being laid off would allow time to do all sorts of great things, from cleaning out the closets, to spending time at the gym, to writing the great American novel.

Truth be told, without the pressure of deadlines looming, we tend to procrastinate even more than we did when we were busy at work.  Besides, we didn’t really want to clean, or spend time at the gym.  And it turns out that for most people, writing the great American novel sounds like fun but after the first paragraph it’s a bit dull.

Shopping is out of the question as we try to conserve resources. With boredom setting in, we allow the TV and couch to draw us into their cocoon as we curl up to watch endless hours of Honey Boo-Boo.

It’s Socially Challenging. In more ways than one, I might add. First, we lose our identity when we lose our job.  I’ve talked about this before – we all say we’re not defined by our jobs, but just wait till that first encounter with a friend or former colleague who asks, “So where are you/what are you doing now?”

Take my advice: Develop your answer and practice saying it out loud before you leave the house, so it rolls off the tongue instead of causing you to mumble something like, “Uh, I, um..well, I used to… I mean…I…now I, uh, play computer solitaire.”

Our social network is suddenly diminished without our jobs.  The loss of daily interaction with others – even if they are only FAW’s (Friends at Work) – can be stifling.  Our friends aren’t available for us; they are busy working or raising a family or have other obligations.

Desperate for contact, we find ourselves reaching out to anyone who will listen, striking up conversations with random strangers in the grocery store and at the gym.  For me, the dog has become a source of companionship although I think she’s giving me a hint to stop talking when she wanders off to her crate while I’m in the middle of a story.

It’s Emotional.  This one is a bit surprising in that it’s not just one emotion but a series of emotions that happen over time. We try to put up a brave front with friends, telling them we are fine, we’ve got several “irons in the fire” and are “looking into some opportunities”, because we are never sure exactly which emotion is in control at that moment.

Similar to other life events, a job loss can trigger a flood of feelings including anger, embarrassment, sadness, bitterness, happiness, self pity, loss of confidence, and fear.   The emotions come in waves, and you have to ride each wave all the way.  True happiness eventually comes, although it takes some time.

Warning: Don’t be fooled by immediate feelings of happiness due to new-found free time. Happiness is fickle and will make you feel giddy one minute, then crash down around you the next.  Heaven forbid you are hormonal at the same time.

It’s Work.  And you thought your job was full of pressure?  Try full-time job searching and networking, not to mention keeping track of who you’ve spoken with and which companies you’ve applied to.  If you’re like me and add consulting or part time work to your schedule, it’s really busy!  The calendar of coffee dates alone is enough to drive you nuts. Of course that might just be the caffeine talking.  I’ve found it best to stick to decaf.

It’s Filled with Uncertainty.  Financial uncertainty for sure – duh, that should go without saying.  Then there’s the bigger question of “When will I find another job?” Because that, of course, plays into the financial uncertainty.

This is followed closely by a series of questions designed to keep you awake at night with your stomach in knots.   “What kind of job?” “At what point should I just take any job?” “How low do I have to go when it comes to salary?”  “Will I have to move to another city?”  Sometimes this uncertainty takes a nap during daylight, only to return when you are ready to sleep. It’s a vicious cycle.

One thing is certain: a job loss is life-changing.  Hopefully it changes you for the better. Just remember that there’s more to unemployment that losing a job.

Time to Leave

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Woman Having Birthday at Work

Hubby and I love parties!  Friends, music, eating and entertainment all in one place.  And we are sticklers for party etiquette.  We try to arrive slightly after the start time to allow the host time to be ready.  And our goal is to leave the party while we – and the host – are still having a good time.  No one wants to be “that person”; the one who’s the last to leave, over-staying their welcome and still partying while the hosts have changed into pajamas and turned out the lights.

It’s relatively easy to know when to leave a party since they have a definite beginning and end.  A job, on the other hand, is a different story.

How do you know when it’s time to move on to the next opportunity?  Is it a certain number of years, or the desire for a promotion; the need for more money or simply boredom?  A shorter commute, perhaps?

All of those are valid reasons.  It’s really a personal decision, and each of us needs to determine what suits our needs, wants and desires.   Here are a few to get you started.

You Know It’s Time To Leave Your Job When:

  • The first thing you do Monday morning is program your Outlook calendar to countdown the days, hours, minutes and seconds until 5:00 pm Friday
  • You’ve been at the company for so long and lived through so many RIFs that everything has come full-circle: the people who were laid-off in the first round have returned as the newest hires
  • Before you get your first morning cup of coffee you’re planning where to go for lunch
  • Looking back at the original office directory, you are the only one on the list that’s still with the company
  • You know the entire cafeteria menu by heart, including prices and the staff know exactly what you will order without asking
  • Although an early adopter of LinkedIn, your profile has cobwebs due to lack of updates
  • The company loyalty program is named after you [the annual company loyalty award is named after you]
  • The new CEO asks for the company history and they call you

While these are great signs, sometimes the decision to leave is not that simple.  What if they don’t fit your particular situation?  In that case, take time – away from work – to clear your head and consider how you feel about your current job.  Ask yourself what you like about the company and the things that drive you crazy.  Most importantly, determine if you like the actual work.  Sometimes the work is great; it’s simply the environment that’s making you cray-cray.

Whatever the reason, just remember to leave the party while you’re still having fun and before anyone puts on their pj’s.   Now that would be awkward.

Fainting Is Not An Option

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interview pic

As a PR person, I’m no stranger to media interviews.  Sometimes I have the benefit of knowing the questions in advance and can carefully prepare my response.  Many times, though, I only have a high-level overview of what we will discuss.

Such was the situation with a recent radio interview I did.  I was told the host wanted to discuss job searches. 

That was it.  All the information I was given ahead of time: the job search.  Okay, I did get the time of the interview and the name of the host as well as the name of the show. But nothing more.

Job searches, lay-offs, reinventing yourself, interviewing tips. Talk about wide-open!  My mind raced with the different directions this conversation could go.

Normally I’m pretty cool under media interview pressure.  This time I was a giant bundle of sweat. Thank goodness we were not on Skype where they could see me.  Why was I so nervous? This time, it was personal – it was about me, my experience and my book.  The pressure I felt to “get it right” was overwhelming.

It might have helped to do the interview in-person instead of over the phone.  But the show was three states away so the phone was our best option.

Did I mention this was live?  No do-over if I messed up.

Yes, I had prepared.  In fact my Girl Scout instincts kicked into high-gear and I probably over-prepared. I tried to imagine possible questions and developed answers just in case, even typing them out so I could have them in front of me.   Information about the interviewer, recent government job statistics and my resume were at my finger tips, held in place by sticky notes with reminders to mention my name, my book and my website.

And like any good Girl Scout, I had emergency s’mores on hand just in case.

Secretly I wondered if the radio host had sticky notes about me in front of her.  Now that would have made me feel a bit better!  But listening to the earlier part of her show, it sounded like she was cool as a cucumber.

I knew I had only one shot at getting this right.  All I could think of when the interview started was, “Breathe – fainting is not an option!”

Being prepared was definitely a necessity.  The time and energy I spent preparing was key to making the interview sound easy, almost un-rehearsed.  I knew the key points I wanted to get across above all else: my name, my book and my website.

My preparation for the radio interview was really no different than preparing for a job interview.  We all should know our resumes like the back of our hand, have some career highlights to share and have questions to ask the interviewer. Above all, we should know exactly what key points we want to get across in order to leave a great impression.

The radio interview went very well.  My four-legged executive assistant managed to be quiet and the doorbell didn’t ring.  I remembered my key points. And no, I did not faint.

I rewarded myself by eating the emergency s’mores.  Now that’s success!

The Girl And The New Job Decision

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Decision pic

I had a big decision to make.  The magnitude of this decision weighed heavily on me, my head spinning as I ran through the options in my mind.

This seemed to be a great time to enlist the advice of trusted friends.  So I took a poll.

Do I cut my hair short, or continue to let it grow?

Yes, this was a major decision. To cut my hair or not.  After all, it takes a super long time to grow it out. Clearly this was a first-world problem, but it was important to me nonetheless.

To be clear, when it comes to my hair I’m not afraid of change. I’ve had it so long I could sit on it and so short it was almost a buzz-cut, and everything in between.

After all, it’s just hair and it does grow back.  I become very courageous in the stylist’s chair, proclaiming, “Do whatever you want!”  Most of the time, I’m lucky and walk out of the salon with an uber-stylish new ‘do.

Yet we all know that one miss-snip of the shears and we can be left with a hot mess.  And having bad hair is a downer every second of every day until it grows out.

This time I was on the fence with my decision, having spent the last year growing my hair.  It was time for a consultation. Not sure why I felt the need to get a focus group together for something as simple as a haircut.

Clearly my mind had been playing tricks on me, confusing my work projects with personal projects.

In the end, the decision was mine.  Didn’t matter what the focus group said; it’s my hair and I had to feel good about it.  Besides, there was no clear consensus among focus group participants. Shocker.

The problem with involving too many people in the decision process is just that we all have different opinions.  It may be that we really don’t want to hear the opinions of others; we may simply want validation for a decision that we’ve already made in our head.

Same thing is true for a new job decision.  We need to decide for ourselves what is best for us.

It’s okay to have a trusted advisor or two to provide an outside, objective opinion and strategic counsel.  We don’t want to make a job decision that’s based on emotion; sometimes we get so fired up about a job that we’re too close to the situation to be objective.

But the advisor’s job should be simply to provide a sounding board.  No interjecting their own biases as if they were the ones standing in your shoes.

Don’t get me wrong; friends want to help and think they have our best interests in mind.  Yet they don’t really know everything about our situation.

I’ve made this mistake before, consulting others about a new job decision.

Once, when I had to make a difficult decision to leave one job in pursuit of something totally different, a former colleague offered unsolicited advice about my decision.  And it was not pretty. This person said I was making a mistake, along with some other opinions about my career.

While I understood why my colleague would consider it a mistake for her family and financial situation, she failed to understand that my situation was very different from hers.

That was pretty much a “friend fail”, in my mind.  Note that this “advice” didn’t help me, nor did I change my mind.  It momentarily caused me to question myself – which is never good – yet ultimately it was a good lesson. It reminded me that it’s my life and my career, and I have to live with the results.

Just like my hair.  Which I did cut short, by the way.  And I’m loving it.

It’s All About Bright, Shiny Objects

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Disco Ball

Years ago I worked with a “master presenter”.  This guy was superb at creating PowerPoints that were almost works of art.  His verbal presentation skills were stellar.  At his meetings, attendees would almost enter a trance-like state, hanging on his every word.

At the end of each presentation, applause ensued and attendees headed back to their desks praising this genius and his words of wisdom.  All wanted to work under his tutelage because surely he had all the answers.

We were all attracted to the “bright, shiny object” that was his presentation.

After attending a few of his meetings, I realized his true genius.  He actually said NOTHING in his presentations.  There was no strategy, no goals, no tactics to execute.  Oh, the presentations were beautiful, but they were empty of true business substance, filled only with lots of theory and questions to ponder.

If a company could be successful by simply thinking of ideas without considering execution and outcome, or discussing other lofty thoughts that may or may not be on strategy, this guy was your man.

That was his genius; he was so good at positioning himself and his ideas that we all believed without questioning.

Call me crazy, but I would rather have a straightforward presentation that provides serious content that can help with my business needs.

I recently met another such “genius”.   His presentation was full of cool graphics and he spoke with such confidence that some were ready to buy without asking critical questions.   This presenter used the age-old tactic of rapidly speaking and moving through the presentation, so fast it was difficult to take notes.

Since this was not my first rodeo, I recognized the bright, shiny object approach. 

Most of the presentation was “Marketing 101”; nothing new.   The words on the paper sounded good, yet there were no specific goals, tactics for execution or metrics for success.

Lack of clear metrics alone should have been a red flag for everyone in the meeting. Most disturbing to me was that this was something he had done years ago and he was relying on past success, despite the fact that the business landscape has changed with the wide-spread use of social media.

But he had a bright, shiny object.  

Apparently, bright, shiny objects appeal to lots of people, including executives.  This was a reminder to me that even if you have a great product or a fabulous idea, if it’s not positioned well it won’t sell.

The same can be said for job interviews.  Candidates that position themselves well have a better chance of landing the job.  While experience and education are required, the entire “presentation” must be packaged well to gain the attention of the hiring manager in order to win the job.

That includes a well-presented resume, dressing appropriately, showing confidence, asking the right questions and providing stellar answers.

Shouldn’t hiring managers dig deep and ask probing questions to make sure a candidate is truly the best for the job?  In a perfect world, yes.  But managers are short-staffed and pressed for time.   Doesn’t matter if you are the better candidate in terms of experience, your total presentation will be the final test.

I’ve got to remember to position myself in the best possible way during interviews, providing great information that shows the hiring manager know I’m the best candidate.  Let’s just hope the job opportunity isn’t a dud, packaged as a ‘bright shiny object’.