The Crow

Brevity is the Soul of...Performance Reviews

 
Alas, poor Yorick! Taken from Wikipedia, David Tennant using Alexander Tchiakowsky's skull. Gross. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorick

I responded to a Quora question today. The question was "How should startups handle performance reviews? Not just performance reviews, but compensation adjustments, promotions, etc. to help invest and develop employees. How can this be handled optimally assuming the management team believes this is important and worthwhile, while not adding unnecessary process or overhead?"

I noticed several people recommended rypple.com as a useful tool. I am going to check it out, although everyone who recommended it probably works there. No, I am not cynical, just...pragmatic.

There are many tools that can be used (of course, there's also paper and pencil), but what it comes down to is common sense. You shouldn't need an army of HR people to make sure managers are talking to their people, giving feedback and setting expectations.
 
Get the leaders of the organization together twice a year to talk about the company's talent. During these meetings, they can agree upon comp adjustments, promotions, and the performance of individuals. They can then take that feedback back to the employees and share it, good bad or indifferent.
 
Do you need to memorialize it all? Ideally, sure. But, as long as you get the key items down...pay changes, title changes, and maybe a few bullets on goals or feedback, that's fine. We all have a tendency to overengineer this stuff.

As an employee, what can you do about an annoyingly overengineered review process? You have to play the game to some degree. If they want a self review, write one. But, there's no need to write war and peace. In the words of...someone...Shakespeare? Brevity is the soul of wit! And business. Not that I would know.

Quora link here: http://www.quora.com/How-should-startups-handle-performance-reviews

tracy c

 

Perception=Reality: 12x12x12 Rule

 
 
Photo courtesy NickiandJulie on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/altesmith/5251582838/

Perception is reality. How many times have you heard that saying? Probably enough to know that the way you’re perceived does affect the business you conduct (or don’t conduct) with other people. This is especially true when it comes to networking and meeting someone for the first time, and this is where the 12 x 12 x 12 rule becomes so important.

What is the 12 x 12 x 12 rule? Basically, it involves three questions: 1. How do you look from 12 feet away? 2. How do you look from 12 inches away? 3. What are the first 12 words out of your mouth?  This is perception versus reality- and it is very important to create the right perception of yourself and your business. The 12 x 12 x 12 rule looks at you from the perspective of other people and shows you how to optimize their perception.

 Here are the specifics of the 12 x 12 x 12 rule and how you can manage the perception others have of you.

• LOOK THE PART. You’d be surprised how many people fall short in the fundamental area of appearance. Wear nice clothes. You need to be well rested when attending a morning meeting. If you’re not a morning person, hit the sack earlier the night before so you avid looking like the walking dead.
• BODY LANGUAGE. When it comes to forming networking relationships, a lot of important information is communicated through cues such as posture, facial expression, and hand gestures. Avoid standing rigid with your arms crossed.
• GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER. Always have business cards and know which pocket they are in. Handing a potential referral partner someone else’s card is embarrassing. Smile when meeting somebody for the first time. You can avoid grinning and shaking hands like a hyperactive clown- that’s going little overboard. Just show you’re having a good time- that will send the right message.
• HAVE YOUR FIRST 12 WORDS READY. When someone asks what you do, make sure you’re ready with a succinct response. I advise my clients to come up with a “unique selling proposition” (USP). Here’s an example: When someone asks what you do, avoid replying with a bland, general statement such as “I’m a consultant”. That tells me nothing. Instead, you could say, “I work with small businesses to help them attract more clients than they could possibly handle”. This is short and powerful. A USP is obviously something you’ll have to tailor to your specific business. Whatever 12 (or 16, or 20) words you choose, make sure your answer is quick and informative.

Perception is reality when it comes to meeting people for the first time. By keeping the 12 x 12 x 12 rule in mind, you’ll go a long way toward creating the right impression in the blink of an eye!

Shawn McCarthy

Guest Blogger Shawn McCarthy is the Executive Director of BNI (Business Network Int’l) in Ventura County. BNI was founded in 1985 as a way for businesspeople to generate referrals in a positive and structured environment. The organization is the world’s largest referral network and has 6,000 chapters in 48 countries. The program is designed for businesspeople to develop long term relationships, thereby creating a basis for trust and, inevitably referrals. Shawn lives in Ventura County and enjoys basketball- he once scored 44 points in a city league game! For more information about the 28 Ventura County chapters of BNI, feel free to contact him at (805) 850 – 0157 or check out bni-vc.com.  

 

 

 

Free Resume Analyzer - Let a Robot Help your Job Search!

 
Found on Mashable! this morning: RezScore is a free web app that reads, analyzes and grades résumés. Seems like a potentially useful tool for the job seeker! They have set up some algorighms that will read your resume and provide feedback on things like brevity, key words, etc. You then get a "grade" of A-F...So it may or may not make you feel good, but if your resume is really bad (see preceding post!) maybe it will help you identify what areas you need to work on. I wasn't brave enough to put mine in there in case it gets an F...if you try it, LMK how it works for you!

tracy c

No Sloppy Resumes Allowed: Do it right or don't do it at all!

 

I just got a resume mailed to me. That’s so retro, and honestly, rarer than you might think. As I’m a not a techno elitist, I looked at it. So, the strategy worked, to a point; it did get me to look.

Unfortunately, the person printed it on some very strange paper…it looked sort of like green clouds. Someone I showed it to asked me if it was stained. Very distracting and unappealing. And they included a cover letter, which I can generally take or leave, but the letter was generic, on a totally different color and kind of paper than the resume. The kicker was that the name of the company was handwritten in (not kidding) and the person forgot to sign it.

Really?

Then I decided what the hell, let’s see what role they want. The role this person specified in their cover letter as applying for is very similar to stuff we have available, but this individual got the title wrong. Or more likely, this was the title another company used and they didn’t want to waste paper by redoing the cover letter. Strange.

As if this wasn’t enough, this person included letters of recommendation and a few random complimentary emails to round out the package. Dating from…1991. Can I just say, waaaaaay too much information.

I’ve lightened up over the years about typos and grammatical errors in resumes and cover letters; there is a diverse workforce out there and we need to cut people some slack sometimes (not often). But there isn’t an acceptable excuse for laziness, sloppiness, or poor judgment. If you want a job, act like you really want it and do it right: if you want to set yourself apart from the crowd, do it in a good way!

Lessons learned from this person’s unfortunate effort:

1. If you are going to write a generic cover letter, just keep the whole thing generic! It doesn’t impress me that you hand wrote the name of my company in! Ridiculous. It’s better to actually create a short and sweet custom cover letter if you have the wherewithal to do so. And if you can’t be bothered, then, don’t bother.
2. If you want to set yourself apart in some way to get your resume read…don’t send it in on weird paper. I’ve had people send in posters, I’ve seen signs on cars, I’ve had people send strange gifts, I've received handwritten notes on used/recycled cards (oh yeah), etc. But, most people don’t hire the gimmicky job seekers, because they seem…weird. Your gimmick has to be really brilliant to work. And, most of us aren’t brilliant (sorry, that means you, too). Using networking to get your foot in the door is still the best way. Failing that, your presentation, whether virtual or physical, has to be virtually flawless. Have a friend or three review for you.  Preferably, friends who are gainfully employed and have some sense.
3. Don’t include written references from 20 years ago. It’s fine to have some of this kind of stuff in a brag book you can bring to your interview. Or, if you’ve created an online resume, you can include these items somewhere on there. But for your average intro to a company, it’s simply too much information. And it dates you.

I wish my unfortunate resume submitter and others seeking new jobs the best of luck. But remember, it’s not all about luck: you WILL improve your chances of getting the job you want or need by putting your best foot forward, using common sense, and staying away from freaky paper and ancient references.

tracy c

Bad Behavior = Bad Karma in Interviews

 
Google Data image

Unemployment in the Bay Area has dropped in every single county recently, reflecting a positve and welcome trend across the US.  I acknowledge that lots of people out there are still looking for work, but if you are in the technology industry, it’s turning into an employee’s market in the Bay Area (see SF Gate article S.F. Tech Jobs Climb Near Level of Dot-com Peak. There is a mini tech boom going on, and unfortunately, some take this as a free pass to act like selfish spoiled children.

I see it happening real time. Candidates are declining offers, because they have multiple choices.  I know that is their prerogative, but they also unfortunately fail to show up for interviews. I mean really…who does that?!  I see many requests for unreasonably high salaries, maybe in attempt to make up for the past few years of salary freezes, or maybe because they know Google is overpaying to get talent. Mid and even junior level employees are asking for signing bonuses -- not that they’re necessarily getting them, but they are asking.  1999? Hardly. This is technology in the Bay Area today.

I just have one bit of advice for those with in-demand skillsets: it doesn’t matter how popular you are.  Don’t act like an ass or it will come back to bite you, eventually.  Yes, I believe in karma when I feel like it. More pertinently, I believe in the power of a really small community, where everyone talks to everyone, much more so than in the old days of 5 years ago. With the advent of social media, it’s much, much easier for managers and HR to get in touch with former coworkers and acquaintances, and guess what…we do.

If you are lucky enough to have a skill in high demand in this mini boom, be respectful of the companies you are talking to:

1. Be professional: Don’t do stupid stuff like fail to show up for an interview.
2. Be honest: Don’t interview just to try to get a counter from your own company. Obnoxious.
3. Be transparent: Tell companies you are talking with what you are considering and give each company a fair chance to weigh the relative merits of your skills against their internal equity and their budgets.
4. Negotiate fairly: This is definitely your time to negotiate, so be realistic, reasonable, fair and make sure your requests are within the parameters of the market, not over it. (How do you know?  I guess that’s another post!).

Enjoy this employee market while you can. Make sure not to burn bridges; act professionally and you’ll be treated that way throughout your career. And…Good luck with that job search.

tracy c

$%^&! Behavioral Interviews

 
 Photo from flickr by ofelaine http://www.flickr.com/photos/ofelaine/315671449/

As a manager or a person on an interview team, you know you’re supposed to ask behavioral questions. Maybe you know what in the hell that means, and maybe you don’t. And as a candidate…how should you handle these kinds of questions when you get them?

A behavioral question - or series of them, comprising an interview - differs from a non-behavioral interview thus:

• "Did your last manager frustrate you?" is not behavioral because it's basically a yes/no question.  Compare this to: "Tell me about a time when your manager made a decision that frustrated you. What happened?" This is behavioral, because it's asking the candidate to describe a specific example, not some vague, general item or a yes/no question.
• Similarly, "chatty" kinds of discussions in an interview that don't require the candidate to provide examples of behavior don't fall into the "behavioral interview" bucket. Some of these questions are necessary, such as “How many people did you manage?"  Some are better as behavioral questions: “Tell me about a time when one of your direct reports wasn't performing. How did you address it?”

As a manager, the more behavioral questions you can ask in an interview, the better. Why? Because you'll simply get better stories, examples, insights and information out of your candidates by doing so. I’ve had an amazing number of candidates do well on basic questions and really fall down when I asked behavioral questions…because they’re harder to answer. They’re harder to answer because they require the candidate to come up with a specific example, and, as we have learned from Barry Bonds, most people are crappy liars.

As a candidate, the more opportunities you have to tell your story the way you want it told, the better. Sure, it’s easier to answer monosyllabically. But that doesn’t give you a chance to paint a beautiful picture of your performance to impress potential hiring managers, enticing them into offering you top dollar for a job. Come prepared with several “stories” you can use to your advantage with various questions. Thinking through this is almost as important as your resume…that gets you in the door, and the interview is what gets you the job. Be ready.

tracy c

Maybe You're Just Lazy

 
Posted by JM Rocher on Flickr

 Today's Quora question (yes, people really ask this stuff, grammatical errors and all): "How do I motivate myself to do something that is hard to become good at?" Maybe you should quit screwing around on Quora and get a clue that you're lazy!  Or, maybe there's a way around the hard stuff. But... probably not. But, if you figure out a way around the hard stuff, please share. Regardless of my rather negative inclinations, I responded thus:

Hard to answer this question without additional context. At a glance, I'd say you may want to consider the following:

1.  Determine whether you need to master this responsibility (or not) in order to be successful and/or satisfied in your career/job.

2. Ask yourself if you're really interested in whatever it is you aren't good at that you think you need to do. Because if it's something you love, you would probably be a bit more excited about learning.

3. Decide if you're just being lazy. If you are, drink some coffee and put your head down; short term pain, long term gain.

4. Consider the possibility that whatever it is is beyond your ability. Sorry, sometimes this is the case. If so, do something else.

5. Figure out if there's a way around it, because if you have to ask this question...I think you know the answer.

There is no magic elixir for motivation. If your paycheck and the other various rewards that come along with your job aren't sufficient...maybe it's time for a new job.  Just sayin'

tracy

Will Your New Manager Suck?

 

 

Steve Carrell from The Office

My latest Quora answer…BTW, some guy had the nerve to edit my answer, what the hell is that??? Anyway.

How to find out if a manager is going to be decent during the interview process (they asked it some other way but that is essentially the question):

Ask some solid behavioral questions and don't let them give you a vague answer with no specific examples. Remember, you are interviewing them as much as they are you, it goes both ways (unless of course, you're desperate!). People who provide real, honest answers to behavioral questions will divulge parts of their personality they may not mean to. This is why HR people tend to love behavioral questions! So, ask something that address your area of concern.

• Worried about being micromanaged? "Tell me about a time when you had an employee who wasn't doing the work as well as you knew you could do it; how did you handle this situation?"
• Worried about a clock watcher? "Describe a time when you had an employee who regularly needed to leave early/come in late for some personal reason. How did you address this issue?"
• Worried about a guy who will take all the credit for your work? "Tell me about a time when an employee did a great job on a project for you. How were they recognized by the company?"

Also, I always recommend reading body language as much as you can. Do they appear uncomfortable with any of these questions? If so, which ones?

Any other suggestions out there? Just don’t edit my answer!

Tracy c