Career Smacks

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“Smoothie of the day?” said the male voice.  I looked up from my chaise in the shaded cabana, romance novel in one hand.  “Of course!” I replied.   Hubby and I looked at each other and sighed.  Every hour, on the hour, a uniformed cabana host came around the pool offering guests a variety of treats.  They even offered to clean our sunglasses.

Yes, Hubby and I live a luxurious life.

On vacation, that is.

Each summer we spend a week in a luxurious parallel universe, one that allows us to pretend that we are “somebody”; one in which we are waited on hand and foot.

Many wonder why we do this.  We wonder why others don’t do this.

Our philosophy? If we can’t live this way year ‘round, we can certainly live this way for one glorious week.

And really, why not? We work hard. We usually take only one vacation a year.  So it had better be good.

Similar to waiting for Christmas when we were kids, Hubby and I wait for this trip all year. Literally. Less than 48 hours after arriving home and we already start planning for next year.

Arriving at the resort is ecstasy and departing is pure anguish; sometimes downright embarrassing. I “might” have shed a tear or two.  Okay, I openly sobbed as Hubby tried to pry my fingers off of the chaise as the sun disappeared over the horizon our last day.

No matter how long we stay it’s never enough.  Perhaps we need to re-think our at-home relaxation strategy so we are not upset at leaving?

Yet we know that at some point we must return home, back to the “real world”.

This time, we tried to prepare for re-entry.  We talked about a couple weekend trips planned for the fall.

Hubby and I swore on our pool-side smoothies that we would book one of our every-other-year “adventure” vacations.  We even pinky-swore that we would return to our favorite luxury resort for a long weekend this winter.

We departed feeling a bit better and less disappointed about returning home to our responsibilities.

As we deplaned we joked about the “re-entry” time, saying it doesn’t take long to get back to reality.

Folks, it takes exactly twenty-seven minutes.  That’s scientific.  It was the amount of time it took to deplane, get our bags, find our car and realize that we had a dead battery.

Nothing like the sound of “click-click-click” coming from the engine at 9:30 pm in a dark parking garage.

Sigh.

Smack!  That was the sound of reality, hitting us hard.  We tried to put on a brave face.  We tried to laugh at this sudden turn of events.  I tried not to cry.  We both tried
not to sweat in the hot parking garage.

Life is like that.  We plan, we prepare and even with our best intentions we can still get smacked in the face.

Yet this time was different.  Somehow both Hubby and I were able to keep the dead battery incident in perspective.

Instead of crying, I looked at Hubby and we both started to laugh. Seeing the humor, I immediately posted on social media about our “re-entry” debacle.

As luck would have it, a good friend saw my post and came to our rescue with cold water and jumper cables.

Just like that, we were back on track.

Similarly, at some point our career will smack us in the face.  It could be the promotion that got away, or an unexpected department shuffle, or something as serious as a job loss.  We can’t control it.  But we can control how we react to these “career smacks”.

Plan what you can, such as maintaining an up-to-date resume.  If your career does smack you, try to put things in perspective.  Reach out to your contacts for help.  You never know who might be available.

As for Hubby and me, one dead battery was no match for us.  We are already planning another trip.  And next time we’ll have a spare battery in the car, just in case.

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’.

Do I Know You?

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Businessman Giving out Card 

I stare at the face on the screen, my brain searching for any memory of this person.  For the umpteenth time I look at the name, still not remembering anything. 

The face stares back.  It’s a great picture of this person, dressed in business attire, not a candid shot taken at a party with some questionable activities going on.  I mean, we all love a good party but those “beer-bucket-on-the-head” photos may not be as funny years from now.

Surely we must have been friends, or colleagues, or at the very least acquaintances at some point in my life.  Why else would someone want to connect with me on social media?

I scroll down to read any information about this person.  Didn’t go to school together, their career seems a bit different than mine.  Ah-ha!  There it is; years ago we both worked at the same company.   

Yet I still have no idea who you are.

Probably due to the fact that while we were both employed by the same company, this person worked in a different city than I did. And to my knowledge we never even attended a meeting together. 

Seems like I’m getting more of these random requests from people I don’t know, with no explanation in the note as to why they are reaching out to me.  Am I the only one who thinks we should have at least some knowledge of the people we connect with online? 

Perhaps you think I’m conservative.  Or maybe you’re thinking that I just “don’t get” social media.  As an early adopter of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, I’m pretty sure I understand the concept. 

I’ll be the first one to tout the virtues of these platforms, especially LinkedIn and Facebook.   They are great ways to maintain and build your business network, as well as reconnect with friends and family socially. 

In fact, I’m forever preaching the benefits of LinkedIn to those who are in a job search, and I’m amazed when I discover that many have not made use of this platform.

That said, I think we need to remember that social networking is not a high school popularity contest.  There’s no prize for the most connections.  The Great Social Media Gods are not keeping tally.  More isn’t necessarily better.

I’m sure I have hurt some feelings when rejecting “friend” requests on Facebook, preferring to truly be friends with someone before allowing them in.   Radical concept, I know.

For LinkedIn, I can see the value in relaxing the standards since I’m not sharing details of my weekend or the fabulous pair of shoes I just picked up at the mall.

Yet I still see the need to use some discretion on this platform.

This person whose photo I’m looking at is probably very nice.  My assumption is that they are trying to find a job as it appears they are out of work, although I have no idea since they did not include an explanation in the connection request.

My challenge is that even if I connect with you, I don’t KNOW you.  And that means I’m not comfortable either connecting you with others or sending your resume to HR because, again, I don’t KNOW you. 

Did you really manage everything alone, as your profile indicates, or were you part of a team?  How about your people skills? I need to know about those too.

True networking is getting to know people so they have at least some knowledge of your personality and abilities.  It’s not about finding any and all who worked at the same company, or worse, just randomly trying to connect so you can brag to your friends about your huge network.

My apologies to this nice-looking person, but I’m denying your request.  If you feel strongly that we should connect, please send me a note with some sort of introduction or explanation.  

I, too, want to have great connections.  I’m just not in it to win a popularity contest.