Reinke Faces Life

I send out a lot of Plaxo Birthday greetings. I don’t know if it makes a lot of difference, but it “feels” like a meaningful connecting type activity. As always YMMV!

# # # # #

From a email with a fellow turkey

***Begin Quote***

Here’s my feedback. A picture is worth a thousand words. Most of my turkeys don’t get the idea of a compacting the header. It’s the most important space on the resume. Your resume is two pages. I think you should either “fill up” two or make it one. I don’t have a ruler handy but I bet more that than 50% is wasted. It’s critical that the first half page be the most well used. It might be all that gets read before it gets tossed. It could save the game. I always say if your the right person, the reader will get out a magnifying glass to read your name. Name, phone, and email on one small header line in 8 point font is all that needed. Do that an I bet you get back 2″x7″ or fourteen square inches of prime resume landscape.

***End Quote***

He made what I call the “classic letter” mistake. You know when you were in grammar school and you wrote a letter, it looked like:

dd mmmmm, yyyy

xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx

Dear xxxxx,

So to, he put his name, address, phone, and email in that left column sort of format. 6 lines that took a quarter of the width and made a huge barren area. So I used MS-Paint to color some stuff in there.

:-)

# # # # #

http://www.ere.net/articles/db/3D129B2B49624023B18453BAFF93EF41.asp

Blow The Sucker Up?
Challenging our assumptions on finding, enticing, and hiring talent
Thursday, July 12, 2007 | by Kevin Wheeler

***Begin Quote***

Assumption #4: Each candidate has to be interviewed in person. Interviews are very poor predictors of success or performance. A good behavioral interview may improve the prediction by a bit but still not raise it much above chance. While it is in human nature to want to meet and like a person we are going to work with, this meeting should not be equated with skill or ability assessment. There are hundreds of excellent, legal, affordable tests available for more accurately screening candidates. These tools, combined with a website also designed as a screening tool, can greatly improve your ability to select candidates who have the capability, the motivation, and the skills to perform. It is possible to entirely skip the interview and get better-quality candidates than you do today.

***End Quote***

That’s a stunning concept. Get a job without an interview. That could be web-able!

# # # # #

http://www.net-temps.com/adcgi/banner.cgi?ref=crnews&ch=2520&id=crs_2520

Here’s a Powerful Little Job Search Secret
© Written By Jimmy Sweeney
President of CareerJimmy and Author of the new, www.Amazing-Cover-Letters.com

***Begin Quote***

There are two magical words that can transform your job search. Two words that can land you more job interviews. Two words that can bring you more job offers…

Those two magical words are, “Follow up.”

***End Quote***

My added wisdom to this tip is that you just don’t just “follow up”.

You have to have the paradigm of “follow up” well integrated into your Standard Operating Procedure. When I was “out”, I used Lucht and his workbook as ONE of my tools. (Best 100$ I ever spent.) But, it was changes to my SOP that made it easy to “follow up”. And a log book.

I feel that I have a terrible memory. (It’s probably too crowded with Jeopardy answers from my own good. Name the four states who capital begins with the same first letter as the state? Done!) SO I try to compensate. I was always logging in my “job search book”. Quick what’s the name of the receptionist at the job interview at XXXXXXX on July 17, 1996. Ms. Mary Stein. (I cheated I had that factoid ready.) But, I have decades of that kind of stuff from when I’ve been “out”.

Now I have everything in text files on my notebook, backed up offline. It’s search able and usable.

My SOP is to log everything.

I grabbed business cards and anything that was being handed out. See the trick was to do it contemporaneously. Even waiting until you were out of the building was too late. I used McKay’s 66 to put as much context around the people. Ms Stein was partial to blue flowers having one on her desk and was pictured with one in a photo on her desk.

Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? I don’t know.

Another SOP of mine was to have several pre-stamped thank yous in my attache case. After meeting with any one, I’d “debrief” at a local coffee shop and write those notes. I felt I was especially tricky in that I had different looking ones for multiple interview days. (I actually had five different stock styles.) And, I would compose a “unique” note to each target. I had “stock text” printing in my bag that I copied from generics with things like <insert question form interview here>. But each target would get a customized thank you. In at least one instance, I know that the three targets compared their notes. I didn’t get the job, but did get the feed back that they were impressed. Not impressed enough though to hire me. Argh!

It’s all about having an SOP to follow. Makes it easy.

Another SOP was to send a thank you to the receptionist with something non-generic. On a repeat appearance at XXXXXXXX, the nice Ms. Stein introduced me to the interviewer, as that “thoughtful fellow I told you about”. Didn’t get the job! Argh! But maybe she was the reason I got the call back, and I was just a bad interview. Who knows!?!

Bottom line: Use SOPs that make it “brain dead” simple to follow up.

# # # # #

FROM ERN

Strategic Recruiting

***Begin Quote***

The problem with the term “Human Capital” is that it perpetuates the notion that human beings are interchangeable anonymous widgets. People who are treated as if they were capital, start to behave like capital. They move to the source of the highest return as quickly as possible without regard to loyalty.

***End Quote***

Loyalty? You have to be kidding me. This goes back to the paradigm of “managing things; leading people”. There’s no loyalty today in any industry. It’s not about being crass materialists. It IS about “reciprocity”. Treat me like that “human capital” and I’ll treat you similarly.

Forewarned is forearmed!

# # # # #

I think you can definitely apply one of my other ideas (i.e., one full time job can equal 10 half day part time jobs in your own business).

If you have your own business, then you could section that ~40 hours in whatever form works. Pile on part-time gooferment positions, teaching, mowing lawns, whatever, and you’ve got it.

One of my old friends is NY real estate lawyer and he has four part-time jobs to supplement his practice. One is as a ref. He treats it all as a biz and keeps careful track of his expenses, earnings, and time. He been doing it happily for a decade. You could too.

>if I should apply for a half-time job in spite of the money,
>possibly while starting a web design consultancy

Well certainly, apply. Assume that it’s morning five days a week. That gives you afternoons to develop other opportunities. If you’re “out” and burning that cash, then at least it slows the crash into broke-ness. I think you have to be flexible.

How about teaching? Are there opportunities for tutoring “students” (i.e., children; elementary schoolers; high schoolers; college students; business people; senior citizens)?

Have your heard of LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project)? It puts Linux local area networks into schools and other places to avoid the Microsoft tax and upgrade treadmill. How about installing and supporting open source packages like Moodle (a quiz type package)? For example, for a teacher, in school or business, who needs to educate and test on the cheap, put up Moodle and load the content for the teacher and support.

I think if you’re going to go the 10 part-time jobs route, then you’re going to have to be on the bleeding edge in terms of identifying, learning, deploying, and implementing “stuff”. I’d be super ALERT for “fall out”, “reuse”, and “spin offs”.

Fall out are ideas that come out of something you do and you capture it and exploit it. Reuse is figuring something out once “at cost” and then “mark it up and profit from it”. Spin off is identifying the pre-cursor, thinning streamline, fattening offering more, or follow on activities for profit.

To pull this off, you’re going to have to be aggressively sensitive measured disciplinarian. Aggressive in seeking any earning opportunity. Sensitive in “feeling” any hint of a paying gig. Measured in all the metrics that you think move cash into your checkbook. And, finally disciplined in not giving away for free what you should be charging for, project overruns or scope creep, or “lazy”.

Some Eastern & Western philosophies believe that it’s the Id that give the great ideas that the SuperEgo scares you into believing that they can’t work. Your fears and decisions got you to where you are now. Satisfied with that? Yes, keep doing what you are doing. No, try something different. “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.”

# # # # #

FROM A SEEKER’S QUESTION

***Begin Quote***

Welcome. The networking process is whatever you make it. Unlike first grade math, there is NO right answer. There’s NO one way to network. And NO one has the Lone Ranger’s silver bullets, Wonder Woman’s golden rope, or a “get out of unemployment free” card. Each of us probably has their own take on it. I’d call your attention to all the resources here, You have a lot of experienced people here, who can share their take on it.

If you’re a reader, I am particular fan of Lucht. He has a very stylized view of what networking is. I’ve used it and it worked for me. I’d extract it as: get in front of people face2face, listen to them, give elevator speech, and ask for two names. In his model, one never asks a networking contact for job because it’s embarrassing to both. His key is to keep taking networking meetings to learn “stuff”. In my mind it’s a the other leg of “finding a job” — one leg is getting interviews and the other leg is networking.

My twist is that I like folks to have a Unique Value Equation and a Unique Sales Proposition before going off networking and interviewing. But that what I “teach”. If you read the old posts here, you find out that I’m a “fat old turkey” who’s been in transition more times than I care to count. SO that is my credential for having the temerity to give anyone advice.

Feel free to ask lots of questions, (I did!), visit my “turkey farm” http://tinyurl.com/lxu93, read my blog, or just ignore me. :-) I’m the pushy type with no feelings to hurt. Remember the only “dumb” question is the one you DON’T ask because guaranteed some one else is thinking the exact SAME question but is too … (let’s say) timid … to ask.

Good luck,
fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

***End Quote***

# # # # #

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY ***
TACTICS ***
TECHNOLOGY using the boss’ email
=======================

Date: Sunday August 14, 2005 9AMedst
From: Ebineezer
To: All those Bob Cratchets out there
Subject: Using my email

In my last communication, I addressed the terrible waste of coal. Some drivel about trying to keep warm or something. Coal costs me money.

Anyway, my topic today is “if I’m working, why aren’t you”! No, that was yesterday’s. Wait. Oh yes, today’s is “you’re using my email”.

It has come to my attention that some of you are using my email, or that of your employers, to do non-business messaging. This is terrible, I will have to read every single one of those emails. Now I don’t care if you have a social disease. Well maybe I do. But, I do care that, just like the coal, you are wasting my resources for your petty pleasures. Telling jokes or other frivolous stuff! But worse, some of you are conspiring against me. Talking to people behind my back! Being disloyal and even disrespectful. You’re all against me. Those messages cost me money. I have to have systems big enough to handle all that traffic, back them up and give them to lawyers, who cost me even more money.

At least my backups allow me to go back and PROVE you were stealing from me. I’ll make you PAY for every joke. And your little dog too. (OOps wrong movie!)

Go to yahoo, pay zero, and get a free private email. Pay yahoo a few bucks a year and get a better mail experience. Do something, anything. But get your darned postcards off of my and or your employers mail system. Go to 1and1 http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=9113251 and get your own domain, email, and a website for 36$/year.

Then, when I, or my equivalent in your current employer, fires you, all those nasty little people who have been corresponding with can still email you. At least, I won’t be paying for it. I don’t care about the benefit to you that after I fire you that your communications aren’t disrupted. And don’t you even dare to think about having outsiders communicate with you on your private account about business matters because of the excuse that the inside system is flakey. I know all you just want to do is to stay in touch with my suppliers and customers after I “nuke” you. And don’t you be using that email address when you sign up for software, internet services, or other things I pay for. When I nuke you, I want you to feel the loss.

And those of you plotting with recruiters to find a better job, you’d be better off if I didn’t know about it.

And, those of you with social diseases and or personal problems, you’d be better off dead than have me gossiping about you.

And even if I don’t have time to read your message, what about all those sys admins who I overpay? I know that they are sitting around idly gossiping and reading your email for fun. Where do you think they get the raw material to gossip about FROM?

BOTTOM LINE: Take your email private. At zero or no cost. Even gmail would be better than your employer’s. When writing email, IM, or such, think post cards.

Next week, I’ll shall write you about the phone!

Do it or get fired before you want to quit,
Ebineezer

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY ***
TACTICS ***
TECHNOLOGY a free wiki
=======================

Dear fellow turkey,

Http://www.Schtuff.com

Want to set up a Wiki, but don’t know where to begin? Check out Schtuff, a free wiki service that lets you set up your own collaborative website in just a few steps. Sign up for a free account, define your domain and add your “spaces”, the pages that make up your site’s contents. It’s easy-to-use but if you’ve never used a wiki before and you just want to explore, make sure to read through their copious help documents.

Hat tip to http://www.lifehacker.com/software/wiki/schtuff-free-wiki-127468.php

And if you have no idea what a wiki can be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Why you should care?

Free. Casually dropping it in chit chat with hunter, hr, or interviewer makes you look “hipper”, more with it, techie, and thirty punds lighter. Ok I made the last one up. It enables you to assert a value proposition that you might not normally be able to.

YOU SAY:

“I know everything on the net isn’t gold but when I was playing with schtuff, a free wiki, I was able to find a use for my Church to cost effectively produce announcements and have people volunteer for assignments. OK it is not the biggest deal but for a financially strapped organization, it fit the bill. I can remember many times when something like that would have been a cost-effective solution to an immediate problem.”

Now I’m not saying you should LIE. And no one cares if you have seen the inside of a Church since your favorite Aunt died. And no one cares if this wiki thing does anything like you say it did. You sound techie. Certainly more techie than most HR types. And you have told them that you know resources cost money and you’re basically cheap. And, you’ve learned from your past.

And maybe you don’t need to lose 30# like I do. But, take a look at new stuff instead of playing solitaire on your computer when you are down. You are telling anyone who’ll listen how creative you are! So create something.

It doesn’t matter what specifically you do. What matters is you can use it to advance your value proposition.

FROM AN EMAIL WITH ONE OF “MY” TUREYS
(for the education of all those who are complacently “in”)

> I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong

Got that right! We are making progress.

>You have multiple degrees

Don’t forget the innumerable jobs, firings, and transitions from when comes what DIKW I do have. Expensively acquired.

{Extraneous Deleted}

>I’m completely unimpressed by external measures of you or any other man. I take my own measure …

You might save yourself some time and expose more opptys if you would …

{Extraneous Deleted}

>obviously a bright guy who has an extraordinarily high opinion of himself
>and is not the least self-conscious
>about letting others know how very important all that stuff should be TO >THEM.

Actually I am an ITSJ, that you don’t believe in, who’s compensating. ;-)

>tone of your correspondence has changed (for the better)

Sorry about that I’ll have to dial it back up. You need it; not a “reduced wimpy” coaching style.

>you didn’t win the Don Rickles Award for advanced interpersonal skills
> by being a wuss.

No, it was Howard Cossell.

>

USP? Target list of ISPs, 2 cover letters, two resumes, and a plan.

>

See I am “focused” on getting you employed and out of my turkey farm”. I think slot #5 is going to be filled today by an expat coming back to the US as an “out”. And, I have to push harder to get you employed so I can free up the slot for some one who will appreciate my fine qualities better. I hate to wait list people, but five turkeys at a time is my max. I do have a real job, a hobby, and my own projects.

;-)

There went my lunch half hour!

fjohn

# # # # #

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY Allow yourself to be found
TACTICS ***
TECHNOLOGY ***

Dear fellow turkey,

IMHO it’s all about starting and maintaining a conversation. Seekers want to have as many different conversations going on as they can possibly manage. I always felt that “perception is reality”. It doesn’t matter how you get that conversation going, what illusions the other side is under, or what comes of it. You get to have a conversation with someone who will at the very least give you data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Clearly a sliding scale of volume and value. You will gather lots of data that is mostly low value. You will gather very little wisdom and that’s high value platinum stuff.

Here’s an opportunity (free … my favorite kind) to register on a reputable site, LinkedIn, put up a profile, and get screened email. A triple play. Now who do you think will use this site for an unintended purpose? Up, I heard it in the back of the “room”. A recruiter, head hunter, search person. Looking for that thecae who’s not looking. Little do they know that you are a “turkey” setting the trap, laying in wait for them, and you will spring your trap. They think they have “found” you. And, you’ll stick like glue to them until you suck everything of value out of them before they know it. Then, if they don’t have your ideal job, then you’ll cast them aside sucked dry and feeling abused. Ahhh what power. Revenge of the turkeys. I love it.

So scoot over and fill out a profile. And, you’ll look techie besides. Even if you can’t spell Komputer.

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY self directed learning
TACTICS ***
TECHNOLOGY ***
=======================

Dear fellow turkey,

http://scandinavia.ecademy.com/node.php?id=56335

Articles : Personal Development & FREE Planning tool
by Mark Mortimer on 29-Sep-05 10:26am
The idea that education and training need to be lifelong processes is one that has gained widespread acceptance. We are all aware of how organisational structures and cultures are continually evolving in response to rapid changes in the external environment. Management constantly demands fresh strategies to meet the changing needs of our customers as they emerge. We have to develop new philosophies and different ways of working; we even have to learn a new language to describe the work in which we are involved

Business changes are now so rapid that unless we have a highly motivated workforce with skills to match the needs of our clients we are likely to fail. It is especially important for managers, who have development and training at the heart of their role, to seek to extend their own knowledge base and skills. This can only be achieved if we make people accountable for their own development aligning personal and company goals.

As children we learn by watching others and by trying things out for ourselves. This process never stops during our lives; we are all constantly learning as we experience life and work. The best person to help focus and direct the growth of your natural abilities is you, in a systematic programme of personal development. As a self developer, you will be unlocking your own untapped potential; not just developing, but learning to learn. You will also be acquiring skills which will enable you to support other people involved in personal development programmes.

In consultancy and service related businesses your people are your products. The problem is that, people development is not generally self directed and occurs in a fairly haphazard manner. We have little time or energy to apply the same standards of quality to our own development that we do providing our service to our customers.

Typical steps in self directed learning are:
• Assess your development needs
• Devise a personal development plan
• Continuously develop your own knowledge and skills
• Monitor your action plan and evaluate the outcomes.

To get the best results a support infrastructure should be made available for the learner and this can be best provided through coaching and action learning sets. Both these approaches focus on learning in the workplace which is a speciality of www.kerobi.com

Planning and Reviewing Your Development

Once you have pinpointed your development needs, the next step is to plan how to meet them. Drawing up an action plan will put you in control of your rate of progress and will ensure that you fit in your development with all the other tasks that you have to accomplish.

Like other parts of the personal development process, planning is not a once and for all activity but a continuous process of setting and updating targets, and strategies for achieving them. Once you have made an action plan, you will need to review it regularly in order to make sure that you are making the progress you desire.

For your free workbook on how to make an effective personal development plan please contact me on mark.mortimer@kerobi.com

###

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY have a war chest
TACTICS ***
TECHNOLOGY ***
=======================

Dear fellow turkey,

This advice is for all turkeys, both those earning and those seeking. Probably more aimed at the earning ones, lest they fall into complacency.

Remember that one of the principle tenets of the Turkey faith is that you are only sure of the last paycheck you cashed.

With the bankruptcy of <insert your favorite company>, you secure do you think the highly paid pilots are? What about the and suppliers?
How about the casino workers in Mississippi and NOLA after Katrina?

Last paycheck you cashed is yours; everyone in the future is speculation.

Uncertainty abounds. Back when I took my first turn at unemployment, I got a little more than a year’s pay to leave and was “out” 11 days. Five of those days were waiting for the drug and finger print check, Four of them were weekends. Total elapsed job search time time from the “offer to get out” to “first day on the new job” was 23 days. I’ve never matched that since. Even in a voluntary change.

Somewhere between Lucht’s book, my own thinking, reading “Parachute”, and counseling turkeys, I have come up with my own copyrighted, trademarked, super-secret secret formula for estimating what you need as a war chest. Personally, I have a meeting with myself on the first Sunday of every month as the CFO of “Me, myself, and I Unincorporated” to review my financials and the first item on the agenda is “Expectations”. I review quickly the factors in the computation and then look at the bank statement for my war chest account. When first in the earning phase, I try to as quickly as possible rebuild the account to required guesstimate. When in the seeking phase, I monitor closely the draw down from that reserve. It has served me well thru four cycles. It certainly takes the stress out of the cycles. Any turkey that doesn’t think there will be cycles has not been paying attention during the “Church of the Big Turkey” sermons. As an aside, the only reasons for not having a reserve is maybe that you work for the government. But even that is not assured, a la Brown of FEMA.

Now to the formula.

First I have to swear you to secrecy. Secrecy because if you tell a non-believer, they will look at you like you have two heads. A non-believer doesn’t believe that they are a turkey.

COMPONENT #1: YOUR BURN RATE

My first component is based on how much you spend. You should be able to look at your checkbook and see your net pay go into it and your expenses come out of it. Hopefully, you are not spending more than you earn. That’s a different more serious problem. You need to listen to Suzzie Orman or Doctor Phil in that case. That’s your basic burn rate. How much money you burn each month. Yes, I know you can cut it but that future cutting is your error margin for now. You may want to cut to build up your war chest, increase your savings, or just want to stop wasting it.

As special note about medical insurance coverage, you need it. The worst disasters occur when you let your coverage lapse and someone gets sick. Assuming that you don’t have your own medical coverage, independent of your employment, you need to look at your pay stub for how much you pay for it now. You have to add that into your burn rate.

Also, you’ll have to find out what your COBRA amount is from your employer. Usually, that is much more that your regular rate. Assuming that you get a severance, your employer usually gives you some basic coverage for a short period of time (i.e., a month or two. Not out of generosity, but their insurer makes them pay by quarter.). They then offer you, because Federal law requires it, the opportunity to continue it at their cost (Or at least that is what they are supposed to do. I’m not so sure that there isn’t some markup in these rates.) You have to have it; so you have plan for it. I have seen COBRA offerings in excess of 1k$ per month. Be ready to swallow hard and take it.

And, you’ll have to find out how much a medical insurance policy would cost you without a group. In many cases, these are BARGAINS. I know one turkey who has three policies he has picked up thru his umbrella consulting society, his church, and aarp. Keep looking around and if you’re offered one, you may want to take it.

If you feel the urge to skimp, remember the last explanation of benefits you got when someone was real sick. If you don’t have one, I’ll send you one of mine from when Frau was sick and the bill was over 250k$. Also, remember the phrase preexisting condition! It means if some one gets something while uninsured, that’s exclude from coverage when you get insurance. Even a bare bones policy, keeps this ogre at bay.

So, add to your basic burn rate the cost of medical insurance and anything else on your pay stub that you would have to pay when unemployed. Think loans that get directly deducted from your paycheck. Convenient but easy to forget.

That is your run rate. It represents the rough amount of spending that will occur when you are fired, tossed out on your keister, unceremoniously run out on a rail … … ON MONDAY MORNING!

Worried. Good!

COMPONENT #2: HOW HOT IS YOUR SKILL?

My first component is a measure of how much you are earning. It’s the easiest to come up with and the easiest to understand. On the theory, that, for example, the burger flipper at MickyD’s doesn’t have to worry too much about finding another burger flipping job. However, a CxO has to recognize that there are not a lot of C anything jobs just waiting for the right candidate. So I like to develop a number that represents the overall market for your particular skill. If I was considering CICS programmer and a C Language programmer, I say that the CICS person would wait 3 times as long as the C person in the queue. So I would award the CICS programmer a score of 3 and the C programmer a 1. You’ll see why later. If you can’t judge it, use the net to develop a feel for it.

COMPONENT #2: HOW HOT IS YOUR INDUSTRY?

On the other hand, in the late 70’s, my cousin was a highly paid nuclear engineer. He was a leader in his industry. Gave talks, wrote articles, was in demand. He used to tell me about all the offers he was made. Chernobyl, TMI, and the anti-nuke wave just ended his industry. He turned out the lights on his division after a decade of ever downward spiral. He had to drop back and regroup. His skills in making buildings to house a controlled bomb where transferable to making building to hold unruly kids (i.e., skools for the government). But he never made as much money or was as “hot” as he was. He’s happy but it taught me that the industry can cycle as well. SO you have to assign a multiplier to your industry. Government workers get a 1; Wall Street workers get a 3; everyone else is in the middle somewhere.

COMPONENT #4: HOW LONG WILL YOU BE SEEKING

I have two ways that you can come up with this number: you can guess or you can calculate it. Guessers can pick a number. You might even be right. I prefer to calculate. Take your salary and divide by 10k$. Throw away the fractions. Multiply it by how hot or dead is the market. During the 911 doldrums, I was telling people 4. During the dot com bubble, I was giving people .25 or .5 (it was absurd.) Right now I’d say it’s a 2. Talk to any headhunter, recruiter, or anyone connected to the industry and they’ll tell you how hot or cold it is. Multiply the two numbers and that’s you basic replacement factor.

COMPONENT #5: HOW OLD ARE YOU?

Recognizing that there is age discrimination out there, I include a special factor to accommodate that. Less than 40 is 1; 41 to 49 is 2; 50 to 57 is 3; 57 and up is 4. Sad fact of life. Age is not respected. Wisdom is not valued. I can recite all the reasons why it isn’t true. But facts is facts. And us turkeys are factual. You get fired after 57 and you may never work again.

THE FORMULA:

Multiple the component numbers and that is your war chest. Stunning. Yup.

In my particular case: C2=2; C3=1; C4=17; C5=4

So my score of 136 tells me that it might take me 11 years to get back it. Yup. Retirement planning.

I just did this exercise with a younger turkey and they were ASTONISHED that they (1*1*12*1) might be out for a year!

I have used this formula with people. They didn’t believe the results. One turkey (2*2*14*4) told me that my projection of 224 months was absurd. And that he’d be in less than a year. He JUST got in last month after a 7 YEAR SEARCH! Yup, my formula was wrong but he lost his house and all his retirement savings. Talk about being pig headed.

Your mileage can and will vary. But, I’ll tell you that personally with a suitable war chest, I have never been stress when I’ve been out.

I hope no one is ever out. But if you are, this formula should make it less painful.

I’m always interested in feedback.

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY demographic tidal wave
TACTICS ***
TECHNOLOGY ***
=======================

THIS WAS TRUE IN 2004; IT’S STILL TRUE TODAY

Dear fellow turkey,

RIDING THE RETIREMENT WAVE
Bill Ayers
President & CEO
Tel: 212.889.7788
bill.ayers@ayers.com

This coming New Year’s Day will mark more than the beginning of another year. On January 1, the baby boom generation—somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964—will begin to turn 60. On New Year’s Day of 2011, what FORTUNE magazine calls “the biggest retirement wave in U.S. history” will officially begin. It will most certainly transform the employment landscape. In 2015, we’ll reach the point at which the 65+ age group begins to swell more quickly than the 20-to-64 age group, draining the traditional labor pool.

Have you given thought to what this fast-approaching demographic tidal wave will mean to your organization?

<<The heck with them, what will it mean to me?>>

Big issues/big questions

The most obvious implication is the potential shortage of employees. Are you up-to-date on the demographics of your company? Do your retirement policies encourage or discourage early retirement? Do you know who’s going to be leaving, in what numbers, and when? Are you going to have a trickle or a flood?

Even more important is the potential for a brain drain as valuable skills, experience, marketplace know-how, and institutional knowledge flow out the door with retiring workers. Human capital and organizational knowledge are two of your company’s greatest assets. Have you assessed what you’re at risk for? What key talent, skills, and competencies you’re going to need to replace and how you’re going to do that—through internal development, recruiting, or a combination of the two? Do you have mechanisms in place to institutionalize critical knowledge?

Many organizations will be particularly vulnerable at the top. We at Ayers are concerned about this because although many companies pay lip service to succession planning, too few are actually engaging in it. Have you identified tomorrow’s managers and leaders? How far down the bench? What are you doing to prepare them?

A study conducted by Age Wave, The Concours Group and Harris Interactive reveals some important issues with regard to your future managers and leaders. It shows that younger employees are the least satisfied, committed and engaged members of the workforce. Mid-career employees—those who haven’t been downsized out of organizations—are struggling with frustration. It’s the employees who are nearing retirement, the boomers, who are the most satisfied, loyal and engaged members of the workforce. How do you develop the kind of engagement that will motivate younger workers to be as loyal and productive as the generation they’re expected to replace?

Redefining the labor pool; reinventing retirement

Along with investing in the development of younger workers, perhaps the best strategy in preparing for the retirement wave is redefining the labor pool. It’s already clear that the baby boom—a generation that is the most educated in history and that will have more years during which to use that education—intends to approach its retirement years in a nontraditional way. Many of us are going to reinvent ourselves, tackle new responsibilities, and try things we didn’t have a chance to try in our previous careers.

Nearly 80 percent of boomers participating in a study by Age Wave and Merrill Lynch say they intend to keep working after 65: 42 percent want to cycle between work and leisure; 16 percent want to work part-time; 13 percent want to start a business; and 6 percent want to continue full-time work. According to a BusinessWeek analysis, increased productivity and participation in the workforce among older Americans could add nine percent to GDP by 2045, which translates to more than $3 trillion annually in 2005 dollars.

Enlightened employers have begun finding ways to tap this valuable labor pool, including

* Flexible schedules—such as part-time and on-call work—and work locations
* New benefits, such as elder-care referral services and career-long training
* Special projects
* Opportunities to mentor or conduct research.

Given the demographic trends, the strategy of keeping older employees will result in a workforce that is heavy on the higher and lower ends of the age spectrum. This will raise other issues you need to begin considering. How will you manage across generations and meet the very different needs of the two groups?

Diversity plays a role in this discussion of rethinking the labor pool as well. As the traditional pool drains, competition for all qualified candidates—regardless of gender, race, or background—will increase. What are you doing to attract and retain women and minorities?

The threshold of a new era

We are on the threshold of an era in which the old paradigm—hire and invest in the young/stop investing in and push out the old—will no longer be viable. Riding the baby boom retirement wave will require a rethinking of HR practices—everything from recruitment to retention and development to diversity.

It’s time to strategize about how your organization can take advantage of the human and intellectual capital it has now and create or recruit the resources it will need going forward. It’s time to create the programs that will help you hold onto those approaching retirement age and develop the talent in the ranks behind them.

###

In your marketing and selling, you need to understand that there are structural discontinuities that you can exploit to your advantage.

FWIW YMMV FAIWWYPFI,
Fjohn
yet another fellow turkey
just bigger and dumber

FROM AN MLPF CHALLENGE

***Begin Quote***

>What Makes A Resume “GREAT”? Can You Prove It?

In my world of turkeys, and I’m a big old fat one myself, a resume’s ONLY purpose is to cause a conversation to happen.

I teach my baby turkeys to measure response rates. We all “know” finding a job is a “numbers game”. I particularly like the number forty as a sample size. I urge my students to gather up 40 “targets” create two resumes (A & B) and two different cover letters (Y & Z). Then create four batches of AY, AZ, BY, and BZ. Send them out. And measure the response rate.

It helps them to focus on the sales management process.

It often shows them dramatically that a simple resume works better than a complex one. I tried to convince one good soul that an 11 page resume was a turnoff. It wasn’t until he saw the results when stacked up against the one pager that I wrote for him — breaking my rule against violating the Prime Directive — Thou shalt not interfere with a developing planet — and the results were devastating. His 11 pages go ZERO response. No Surprise To Me. My one page got 50%. He “updated” his thinking and was “in” within 8 weeks. (Humans can be soooo stubborn when they think they are right!)

So IMHO a great resume is one that provides a measurable response.

It has NOTHING to do with what is on the RESUME; it has everything to do with the response it causes.

Sorry, the Silver Bullet store is out of them, but they have plenty of cans of “Hard Work” left. :-)

***End Quote***

Comments?

METHODOLOGY your resume may allow id theft
STRATEGY ***
TACTICS ***
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http://www.fortune.com/fortune/careers/articles/0,15114,1096761,00.html

CAREERS
Job Offer or Identity-Theft Scam?
By Anne Fisher

It seemed a terrific opportunity. Laid off from a senior marketing job, Tom (not his real name), an MBA with 22 years’ experience, spent several months look-ing for a new position. Then he got a phone call from someone who said he was the human resources director of a large, well-known insurance company. The HR guy said he was impressed with the résumé Tom had posted on a popular Internet job site and was eager to meet as soon as possible, since Tom was the ideal candidate for a new marketing job the company was creating.

Just one tiny detail: “He told me that since they were anxious to fill the position quickly, they wanted to save some time by starting a routine background check right away,” Tom says.

“He e-mailed me a very detailed form to complete and return.” Tom complied, filling in the blanks for Social Security number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, even a bank account number. After a few days of vainly trying to get back in touch with the HR director, Tom began to feel uneasy. Then he tried to use one of his credit cards and discovered that not only was the account maxed out, but several new accounts had been opened in his name and squeezed dry. His identity had been stolen, and it has taken him almost a year to straighten out the mess—all the while kicking himself for having fallen for the scam.

{Extraneous Deleted}

###

Seekers beware. Not everyone seeking to scam you is from Nigeria!

# # # # #

METHODOLOGY taxonomy

Dear fellow turkey,

Perhaps, we need to impose on the powers that be to open up another subgroup for the discussion of the “soft” stuff — Methods, Procedures, Processes, Strategies, Tactics, Data, and Tools.

For example, I had one “deer in the headlight” fellow wander into me, who had just been “nuked”, and was totally unprepared (Is there any other kind on un-prepar-ed-ness?). So I pointed out that he didn’t have to start spending lots of money that he didn’t have. The township library had a computer and high speed internet access.

When people have their own computer, there’s a lot of Open Source (Free!) Software and “stuff” available. No need to buy Microsoft Office like your last employer did for 300$ when there is OpenOffice that is very close. Outlook versus Thunderbird.

And, all those internet services like Plaxo, Linkedin, Cardscan, and such.

Then when they need direction there are a lot of templates and advisors that can help them. I’m a fan of Lucht’s workbook.

FWIW, your mileage may vary, all free advice is just that,
Fjohn
yet another fellow turkey
just bigger and dumber

METHODOLOGY: STOP before you go

Tim Gallwey introduces the idea of taking a STOP in his book The Inner Game of Work. STOP stands for Step back, Think, Organize your thoughts, Proceed. There are short and long stops and we will be taking both of these on our Work / Life Balance Journey. Bob Tschannen-Moran reflected on Tim Gallwey’s STOP by saying, “It is the STOP before the journey that enables us to go with confidence”.

Sometimes ideas just make sense!

http://execunet.blogspot.com/2007/06/fear-induced-lethargy.html

Friday, June 01, 2007
Fear Induced Lethargy
Dave Opton

***Begin Quote***

John came up with the phrase “fear induced lethargy” in a communication he was sending to one of the many folks who come to him for free advice regarding their search. John, who, like many of us, has far more experience in looking for a job than he would like, has what some might consider a pretty cynical outlook on a number of things. Said differently, the advice he dispenses from what is clearly a very giving and compassionate heart is neither “warm” nor “fuzzy.” It falls much more into the Howard Cosell school of career management circa 2007. Hence the phrase “fear induced lethargy.”

***End Quote***

But, I don’t have the rug, chew a cigar, or have a Dandy Don Meridith as a foil.

You have to remember that I’m an injineer, and not into “warm” and “fuzzy” “soft people skills”. Want that building built? Great here’s the plan, that’s the schedule, where’s the “go ahead”? I don’t have time, money, attention, or the will to worry if someone’s feelings are a little bruised.

(Although I am much more gentle with students fresh out of school, they don’t pretend to be experienced.)

Humans have the stubbornness of a burro – camel – <insert favorite animal>, and the density of concrete when they want to do what they want to do.

Someone once quipped that “insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results”. Turkeys can send out tons of paper with no response, and will happily order another ream of paper to send some more.

Turkeys can be like the drunk looking for the lost keys by the light; not where they lost them. “But I got my last job as a junior programmer from Monster” says the CIO with great self-assurance.

Out on my “turkey farm”, (http://tinyurl.com/lxu93) I see senior people, who claim to be all sorts of great things, stuck in the “slop”. Sometime, like that proverbial mule, you have to give a “stuck turkey” a good swift kick. Actual a lot of harsh words and ruffled feathers, there’s no kicking at the turkey farm.

I’m sorry, but I would hope to be seen as the cute and cuddly Lew Gossage Jr. in an Officer and a Gentlemen. I’d like to salute all my graduated turkeys (135 by my count — since I started counting — who never sent me my dollar!) that are off earning big bucks and don’t much care how mean they thought I was. Heck, they rarely look back. I’m the reminder of Bad Times Past. It’s OK I’m paying off all the people that helped me.

Now excuse me, I have to get back in the slop, and help an old network turkey understand that he has only 15 seconds to “hook” a sucker … err, I mean a hiring manager.

Sigh!

Thanks for the kind words, even if they are a little harsh. ;-)

fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

METHODOLOGY kick off
STRATEGY ***
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Dear fellow turkey,

OK campers, campadres, and fellow turkeys,

I shot my mouth off and said things like … “we” need more focus on the methodology of job search, the strategy in a search, the tactics to use in a search, and the technology of the tools of job search.

And this is what you get for being a big mouth.

I’m going to try to “help” you understand what I am babblling about.

Lest you think that I am just your average horse’s petute, I have been through “transition” many times. Yup many! Two voluntarily, one semi-voluntary, and two involuntarily. Others can’t even remember or categorize!

I’ll try to help you understand what I have learned. And, some of the “beliefs” that I hold.

The is all offered with the spirit of a fellow seeker. While I am “in” right now, I could be “out” in a wink. See I am one of those strange oddballs who think that “transition” can be a source of earnings.

If you are organized and prepared, then think of it as being paid not to work!

I will explain in future messages.

Please feel free to tell me I’m nuts. You won’t be the first and you won’t be the last. I promise to not be insulted. ;-)

AS ALWAYS, take everything offered with a large grain of NaCl. Your mileage can, and will vary!

And, as Frau Reinke reminds me often:

— when “OUT”, “if you’re so smart, then why are you UNEMPLOYED”!

— when “IN”, “if you’re so smart, then why aren’t you RICH”!

;-)

FWIW, all free advice is just that,
Fjohn
yet another fellow turkey
just bigger and dumber

METHODOLOGY all things smart
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Dear fellow turkey,

A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-bound.

You do have goals. Don’t you?

I was taught eons ago SPIRO Specific, Personal, Intrinsically rewarding, Realizable, and Objective.

Whatever mnemonic you use, (and I’d like to hear them), use one!

You need to have things like this, lest you go off spinning your wheels on activities that are exemplars of the The Peter Principle’s activity trap. You know, when you’re doing lots of STUFF but making no progress. I would assert that for seekers the activity trap is deadly. Unless you can be like Edison (“I haven’t failed. I now know 1500 ways not to make a light bulb.”), “no progress” is worse than it sounds. You’re losing time. All the while your burn rate is depleting your store of cash reserves. If you’re not earnin, you’re burnin.

In the IT world, where I grew up, projects and activities and processes and all sorts of stuff take on a life of their own. Searching internet job sites is wonderful BUT only as it pertains to your overall METHODOLODY, STRATEGIES, TACTICS, and TOOLS. Otherwise I’d rather you just played FREECELL (I have gone 292 games without a loss), at least you wouldn’t be fooling yourself about what you are accomplishing.

FWIW, your mileage may vary, all free advice is just that,
Fjohn
yet another fellow turkey
just bigger and dumber

http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?
docid=262442&tag=nl.e138

http://tinyurl.com/2uaxau

10 fatal flaws of a doomed employee
John McKee

***Begin Quote***

Overview: You’re fired! This succinct phrase strikes more fear into the heart of the working man or woman than any other. Why is it, then, that many well-intentioned and reasonably astute professionals hear these words throughout their career despite all best efforts? Business coach John McKee shares this list of 10 self-destructive workplace habits sure to endanger your longevity on the job–things like failing to deliver results, confusing efficiency with effectiveness, and believing that you’re irreplaceable.

***End Quote***

#1 Failure to have a life plan.

# # # # #

Your unique sales proposition

I was recently asked by a seeker’s husband to “look over” his wife’s resume since he “knows I am good at that sort of stuff”. Arghh. (Note to self: Learn to keep your big mouth shut.) Trying to live up to my own self image as a good soul, I said “sure”. Mistake #1 is saying yes to an intermediary. So I looked over the resume.

It wasn’t “so bad”. No typos that I could see. Decent format. Two page length OK. So, I didn’t go berserk, as I am won’t to do. I compared it to the resumes of the seven turkeys I am trying to help. (Easy enough to do since I have them pinned to my wall next to my desktop. As a reminder to me as to what happens if I get “lazy”.)

All of a sudden it struck me. There difference between theirs and hers was the USP!

Each one of the seven. Probably as a result on my nagging, whining, and ceaseless groaning, all had an immediately identifiable Unique Sales Proposition.

I could tell in a few seconds what of my problems would this turkey would solve for me. Now I may not have that specific problem. In which case, that seeker won’t get an interview from me. But if I do have that problem, the resume impels me to get that person in front of me. That is after all the only purpose of a resume is to get someone to talk to the seeker.

Everything on my turkeys’ resumes support their USP. The intro, whether they have labeled it “profile”, or “objective”, or unlabeled, states the problem that they are going to solve for me. The job history, whether they call it “Experience”, “Professional Experience”, “Chronology”, or “Selected Accomplishments”, in every item sings why I should believe that they can solve my problem. Education ditto. Ditto ditto ditto. On the turkey resumes, there is nothing that doesn’t advance the USP. Nothing that distracts from the USP.

You may need several different resumes. One size doesn’t fit all.

You see that is what was wrong with this co-worker’s wife’s resume. When I read it, I thought of five different jobs she might be applying for. So that is what is “wrong” with her resume. Now she may get interviews off of it. But, I comparing one turkey, who is similar to her, I know which one I’d chose to talk to first.

So does your resume advance your USP?

Gobble, gobble, good luck to you,
fjohn
Just A Big Turkey

===
Your value proposition is a series of statements defining your worth. It is the value you bring to the table – the skills, strengths, core competencies, marketable assets and accomplishments you can declare as your own. Your value proposition describes your uniqueness – your unique gifts. It is what differentiates you from the crowd.

Think about some of the statements you can make about yourself that reflect the skills, strengths and competencies you possess. What makes you uniquely you? What is your value, your worth? Begin to jot down some ideas. You might want to ask someone who knows you well what values they see in you. You may be surprised by what they say. Then begin to formulate the best way of stating this.

Your value proposition is the cornerstone for all self-introductory communication. It sets the tone. It’s how you make your mark. It is how you describe yourself when you are networking, when you are conducting an exploratory meeting with senior management, and when you are interviewing.

Your value proposition should be used as your primary response whenever you are asked these types of questions:

So tell me about yourself?
How are you different from every other candidate?
Why should I consider you for this position?
How do you know you can do the job?
Why do I want to get to know you better?
Your value proposition also becomes an integral part of your resume. It is placed at the top, so it sets the tone. It holds tremendous weight as a differentiating tool, swiftly setting you, and your resume, apart from the rest.

There is a fundamental difference between your value proposition and your areas of expertise. Your areas of expertise pertain to what you have done, the experiences you have gained over the years. Your value proposition reflects who you are, the unique gifts you possess. It is who you are which best describes to an employer how you would accomplish the specific responsibilities of the position offered.

As an example, let’s say you gained experience in a cash flow / cash management, or Treasury, type of function. As part of this position, you also gained experience working with bank executives, establishing important relationships with key personnel. These would be areas of expertise. Let’s say that as part of your uniqueness, or worth, you have great macro-vision, which is the ability to see the big picture. You also have an unusual ability to communicate which allows you to quickly initiate critical relationships with high- level executives. These abilities are part of your value proposition. It is your macro-vision and unusual ability to communicate that describe how you would fulfill a position as Treasurer.

Incorporating your value proposition in every aspect of your job search will set you apart and significantly improve your competitive stance in the job market.You will find your next job faster and be in position to receive a much stronger compensation package.It is critical to your success.

– David Richter

Paper Hats

The Story

When I was first “nuked”, I was very very lucky. I was given outplacement services. That, in and of itself, was slightly less than useful. Although I very quickly came to some personal and situtational realizations. How based in reality they were I am still not sure. Personally, I knew it couldn’t be me. I had recognized that slowly, over time, as more nukings were occurring, I was “losing” allies, “giving up organizational ground”, and momentum. But, I “knew” in my gut that there was nothing “wrong” with me. Well maybe a little in that I could not figure out how to fix the situation. Perhaps it wasn’t even fixable? Or smart enough to jump ship before it happened? Or, perhaps, going down with the ship was the best result that I could achieve under the circumstances. To this day, when I think about these questions it gives me a headache. So realization #1 is that it wasn’t me. Shortly after that, I figured out on my own, that I was given “outplacement services” not for my benefit but for theirs. So realization #2 is that extract what I can from outplacement and move along.

The lucky part was that at outplacement, I fell in with a bunch of interesting talent souls in the same boat from various other firms. It was a bunch of kindred spirits sitting around the “kitchen” in the midst of doom and gloom, the flotsam of the jobsearch process (i.e., want ad sections of past papers) and the jettison (i.e., the outplacement firm’s “suggestion” papers), that someone came up with the label of the “Turkey Farm”. And, that each individual was a “turkey” of sorts. We were there after getting the metaphorical axe and didn’t have enough sense to die. Some objected that they in particular weren’t “turkeys”, but misunderstood, betrayed, misappraised, or such. We eventually started writing these objections on index cards and posting them on the bulleting board. The rump group would eventually shout down the objectors with the essential fact that since they were at the the “turkey farm”, they were by definition “turkeys”. Eventually, all protestations were either shouted and hooted down. Most realized the truth of the matter.

Starting as the gallows humor of a bunch of condemned prisoners, inmates of the turkey farm, it eventually morphed into a team. Just because they were in the turkey farm, there were a lot of talented individuals. Give them some time and an inescapable realization, and as you would expect good things started flowing out. A fraternity emerged. The turkey farm was run by Drake Beam Morin. Their shorthand label was DBM. We recognized that the was an essential difference between the counselors and the turkeys. The counselors were being paid; the turkeys weren’t. We created a label Delta Beta Mu for the group of us turkeys.

A long about the same time, small groups of like souls began cooperating. I don’t know how it started. Initially it was twos and three of diverse souls working as teams. I was drawn into a team with a marketing guy and a financial guy. Since we were looking for different things it wasn’t competitive but cooperative.

I know that when I “found” leads for which I was overqualified, unqualified, outside my geographic comfort zone, or outside my financial comfort zone, I would create a “finding”. I’d pass it around my group, and if they weren’t interested I’d stick it on the bulleting board in the kitchen. Eventually lots of people were doing the same things.

From those meager beginnings, evolved a job finding machine. Teams formed, reformed, ideas flowed, and a great amount of energy was released. Eventual among the many ideas and insights that came out, was the idea of roles. You see what makes it so very very hard for the average job seeker is that they have to fulfill many roles at the same time. If they don’t realize it, then they don’t recognize the things that need to be done. They are then sucked into the legendary activity trap. Not realizing that they are wasting themselves by not working on the correct problem.

There was one “poor” soul who stands out in my mind. I write this to call your attention to the concept of “roles”. This individual was a CFO of F1000 who was great except for one blind spot. He was unable, unwilling, or just being dense, but he couldn’t get the concept that he had to look at the problem from different points of view. While he eventually landed, he made it much tougher on himself than it had to be. At one Friday session, (Friday being an especially dead day in the job search world.), the rump group who was being the Board Of Directors for any who wanted it. (The Board Of Directors would play act and people would report to them on progress and get helpful suggestions.) This fellow was badgered into “reporting” how he was doing. They used the ultimate punishment to try and help him. Scorn. They challenged him, if he was so smart, to present how he was doing so they could learn from him. That and they threatened to withhold coffee. Any way, in his presentation, they found him to be unorganized, unfocused, and unable to understand what was now to them the rudiments of how to organize a job search. It was very contentious. At one point very sarcastically one BoD guy made a bunch of little paper hats with labels like “VP Marketing” and insisted that he wear it. Then he was FORCED to be focused on Marketing. They would not permit him to wander to any other topic. He couldn’t confuse the issue or interject other items.

Bottom line, he eventually landed. But, I am not sure he ever really understood. I on the other had too my paper hats and have always used the concept.

The Principle

Job search is hard because the candidate is, at once and at all times, the product and everything else rolled up into one. Without recognizing the roles, the candidate gets into a hamster wheel of activities that have no strategy. They use tactics that have no alignment with their strategy. They don’t evaluate their results. And, worst, they don’t adjust – strategies, tactics, processes, procedures, or activities – based on what they learn. They are just befuddled.

You as the CEO of a floundering enterprise, and everything else

Congratulations. By virtue of being fired, laid off, downsized, or whatever it was called, you are now the CEO of You, Inc.
From that simple fact, you need to recognize that it’s all you. There is no one coming to help. There is no one who can “help”. It’s you and you alone. “Your mileage may vary!” That’s the phrase you should remember. There’s no ex-boss, rabbi, mentor, headhunter, friend, or spouse who make “this cup pass away”. You are now totally and completely responsible for the results you achieve. You don’t have a group, division, or others to cover for you, to blame failures on, or share the rewards with. It’s all you. So what’s next? Even before we get to you roles, you have to get a Board of Directors to assist you “the Leadership Team” to focus, evaluate the assumptions, see / suggest alternatives, eliminate your blind spots, prevent disasters, critique the plans, and review results.

You as “The CFO”

As the CFO of “YOUINK”, you must quickly have an accurate assessment of where you are, an accurate assessment of what you face, and a
realistic appraisal of how long it will take. No sugar coating. If you need a formula, I can give you one: divide age by ten throw away the remainder, divide salary by 10k throw away the remainder, ask ten networking contacts how long they estimate, take the average multiply the age number and multiply by the salary number. It might be wrong, but use that as you worst case. Next the YOUINK CFO has to assess all the resources available. Do you have the staying power to last? Cut the burn rate like a venture capitalists. Project the financial metric for all the activities that you need to be successful.

You as “The VP of Marketing”

As the Marketing “go-to” person, you have to create one or more Unique Value Propositions that can be sold and delivered. Much harder than it sounds because you have to sort out the emotional “I want to be a basket weaver” from the fact that there’s not much demand for highly compensated basket weavers. Sometimes, an extinct skill is good for a paycheck. You might even be able to craft it into a a career. (I know one fellow who has a “full dance card” doing CICS COBOL maintenance.) You have to pick out the dead ends, unprofitable paths, and those that look good but can’t be sold. You translate the UVPs into and determine the Unique Selling Propositions. You have to assess the market and what will “sell”. What is our product or products? What price? How will we promote the product?

You as “The Product Manager”

As the “Product Manager”, you have to create a “product” based on the USP and identify the differentiators in “our” product. Add, change, and delete features as needed. Repackage skills and achievements into offerings and values.

You as “The Product”

Put your offering in a nice container. Be well presented. You want the “New and Improved” but not used. You should be a lifelong learner capable of satisfying the buyer’s needs. Consistent with the Unique Selling proposition. Expose the “Hidden benefits”. Be a good value; but not “cheap”. Adaptive and flexible. “Re-fill-able”, coach-able, lead-able. A “winner” even when he loses.

You as “The Sales Manager”

You get the USP from the Marketing VP and the product form the Product Manager. Then design a sales process and program that “funnels” from 10k possibles to 1k probably to 100 listeners to 10 try-ers to 1 buyer. (I don’t know what your :”funnel” will look like. I have a few.) Whatever the sections of the funnel are and what the multiplier is, you have to mange the sales funnel, sets quotas, fills the funnel, reports on the funnel.

You as “The Salesman”

You have to meets quotas. (That’s more than “one job”!) We all know that sales is always a numbers game. You have to hear the requisite number of “no”s to get to the “yes”. You presents the product to potential buyers, qualifies the buyers, and gets them to try their “product”. Report activities against targets.

I also think that some one who is “in” will also have additional roles:

• The VP of Operations
• The VP of R&D
• The VP of Accounting
• The VP of IT, IS, and everything techie
• Secretary
• Writer

But, the seeker will have all their work time absorbed by the other roles.

You have to have a very segmented mindset to prevent confusion, hubris, and the “activity trap”. Some seekers never get the concept. it’s a fiction. Maybe you don’t need it. But, I find that most seekers do. They all want to rush their “product” to the marketplace before they’ve done ANY of the ground work. It’s sad. When it doesn’t work, then they get all upset. It’s much more effective and efficient to do it “right” imho.

But, what do I know, I’m just the big fat old turkey hisself.

METHODOLOGY ***
STRATEGY having a skill and
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Dear fellow turkey,

http://www.lewrockwell.com/featherstone/featherstone38.html

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A skill, on the other hand, is something you can take with you wherever you go. A few tools, maybe, and you’re in business. (When it comes to being an editor, all I need is a pencil. When it comes to being a bike mechanic, the few wrenches I keep in a kit bag on my bike and I’m off!) It is not dependent on the enterprise, or on the goodwill of anyone but paying customers. And not even that, if they are willing to pay for what you can do regardless of how cranky you are.

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