The Crow

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

Just Break up Already!

 
Photo courtesy elizamaeve on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizamaeve/1111256825/

I can’t help it. I always compare work relationships to personal ones. It’s hard not to, especially considering we spend more of our waking hours with people we work with than people we love. Depressing, I know. Unless you find the people you work with exceptionally engaging or attractive.

Anyway. What do you do when you want a work divorce, but everyone (employee and manager) wants to hedge their bets, be friends, and live together for a while before making the break official?

IMHO, this approach is chickenshit. Break up already, whether you are the employee who decided to leave or the manager who decided to move the person on. Dragging out a relationship that is done is just crappy for everyone. And, at least at work, there are no kids to worry about! Employees will manage.

Why do managers and employees feel a need to drag the work divorce out? Employees do it for a couple of reasons:

1. They think they are so valuable, the company can’t live without them (hate to tell you this, but almost everyone is replaceable);
2. They don’t want to burn a bridge, so they stick around like a hospice patient until the company replaces them;
3. They don’t have a better deal, but have been imagining something better is out there, so they are half assedly working while half assedly looking (really what employers want in an employee - not!).

And managers have their own reasons:

1. They think the employee is so valuable, the company can’t live without them (see #1 above);
2. They are too freaking lazy to find a replacement. It sucks finding and retraining someone. I get that. Look at this as an opportunity to trade up!
3. They think it will make them look bad if their employee leaves, especially if it’s someone respected. It might, for a minute. Whatever. Trade up, like I said!

Yeah, breaking up is hard to do. Everyone knows it. But of joining the lonely hearts club and obsessing, look around. There are more opportunities than you think there are. It’s uncomfortable to take a risk, but that is what moves relationships, careers, and companies forward.

tracy

LinkedIn - The New Resume

I just discovered Quora. So, because I am a know it all, I responded to a question. It will probably be the first of many. Here is my answer pasted here since Quora and Typepad are apparently not friends.

Q: ResumeResume Writing -- How will curriculum vitae / CVs / resumes evolve in the changing workplace?

I think it's likely that your social media footprint will take the place of the traditional resume. I have experienced several senior level candidates who simply submit a copy of their LinkedIn profile in place of a traditional resume. Additionally, many execs have a web page that, instead of linking to a resume, showcases their LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blog.
 
Gone are the days of agonizing over fonts and lining everything up just right. Most recruiters just want the high level information anyway - given the number of resumes they need to plow through, only the key points are worth noticing on a first pass; detail tends to get saved for the phone screen or interview. Let's face it, in a 140 character world, 4 page resumes are history.

Do you agree?

tracy c

To Hell with Best Places to Work

 

 
I struggle with this. As the HR person, I like to have this badge of honor for my company. I feel like it says I did something right.  On the other hand, I have to admit that it is kind of bullshit. So many companies game it. And they should, because it is a marketing tool, thinly disguised as an opinion survey.

There are a ton of these lists out there. Best places to work in Indiana. Best places to work in academia. Fortune’s best places to work. Ugh. really? I’m going to start my own survey, charge all of you 300 bucks to participate, everyone can be a winner, I make a little money and you get the badge, “Crow’s Best Places to Work 2011” for your website.

I have a “friend” (we’ll call her Stacy, yeah, that’s the ticket), who’s company was thinking about doing this, and decided not to. They didn’t want to tell employees to say nice things just to help with the recruiting effort. They preferred instead to be honest, and honestly? Yeah, it’s a good place to work. Is it one of the best? Well, that all depends on who you’re comparing to. It’s all relative.

At first, I thought Stacy should push to do it, but the more I thought about it, I decided it’s actually pretty punk rock to refuse to do it. F*&^ those Best Places to Work game playing marketing types. HR anarchy. Contests? Badges? We don't need no stinking badges. 

When you are looking at companies, does it matter to you in your job search if they are listed as a best place to work? What does it say to you if they have that badge? What if they don’t? What if they had it 3 years ago and still have it on their site? Don’t you care more that the people aren’t jerks, the work is interesting, and that the pay and benefits are decent?

tracy c

No Lame Holiday Gifts at Work

 

image http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-worst-holiday-gifts-ever-pg,0,7874961.photogallery via OMAR VEGA, December 11, 2007

Every year, I get asked by managers what to do about holiday gift giving. And every year, in every company, I see different practices from department to department.

Last year, I was definitely down on it, as you can tell from my holiday post this time last year! (have I been doing this blog that long?! I have!): http://bit.ly/f8babs. 

The gift giving thing at work is tough. How much should you spend? Does everyone get a gift, or only your direct reports? Should it be personal or generic? 

First of all, you should consider how well you know these people…For example, don’t give a bottle of wine to a teetotaler, it will only annoy them and make you look clueless. In general, I recommend erring on the side of NOT giving gifts in the traditional sense. And honestly, who needs another box of See’s candy or a Starbucks card...or a dreaded fruitcake? Right. Instead, think about some of these meaningful and business appropriate ways to recognize your team during the holiday season:

• Take the team to a holiday lunch (not dinner, especially during the holidays… your employees don’t really want to hang out with you on their precious free time, but they are happy to get away from the office at lunch for a couple of hours!).
• Give each person a personal holiday wish, whether via email or in a card.
• Something the team has been wanting for the department (fridge, foosball table, whatever).
• Something fun and work related, like pay for a limo or fun transportation to and from a company event, like a company holiday party. 
• Best gift of all: Let them go home early one afternoon.

Whatever you do, be true to yourself. Don’t give everyone a cutesy ornament if you aren’t the cutesy ornament type. It’s going to come across as phony and trying too hard. Better to do nothing at all than try to be someone you’re not.

And in case you were wondering, my team will probably get an e-card, because that's how I roll ;)

tracy

Have Fun Goddammit!

 

 
Image and Inspiration from the Economist

Someone sent an article from the Economist to me at work today. It was called "Down With Fun; The Depressing Vogue for Having Fun at Work." 

He told me I should be our Chief Fun Officer...I hope he was being ironic but you know, I just started here and…it’s hard to know for sure.

The guy in the article goes off about how lame “forced fun” is. I tend to agree.  If you have to force it…it just isn’t happening. On the other hand, as much as I admire the Madmen recipe for a good time (smoking, drinking to get drunk, and office romance run amok), I am not really sure that’s the answer either. Mostly because I no longer look that great in a pencil skirt and clingy sweater and really, hardly anyone looks good in red lipstick.

Seriously...Do employees want someone in charge of ensuring they have a good time? Do you need a slide at work to feel engaged? Clowns, perhaps?

How can and should employers make work fun without forcing the issue? Snide commentary from the author of the anti-fun post aside, what do you think?

Article here: http://www.economist.com/node/17035923?story_id=17035923&CFID=148951675&CFTOKEN=66063146

tracy c

Rude to the Receptionist?

 

 
Image courtesy Michael Pujals on Flickr

Didn’t you always suspect it? That how you behave the moment you walk through the company door can make or break your interview?  Well…it’s true.

Many receptionists are an informal part of the interview team.  Hopefully, you aren’t one of those people who automatically dismiss the garage attendant, the waiter, the guy working at the 7-11. If you are, then you probably deserve what you get (or don’t get). Because when you are looking for a job, your attitude in the lobby could very well have an impact on the hiring decision.

The same thing holds true if you are at a level where the recruiters and managers wine and dine you; how you act with the server indicates character, and if you are polite, it’s a mark in your favor. If you aren’t, well, it says something about you. Something you might not want to say to a potential boss or colleague.

If you are lucky enough to get the interview…Make nice with the receptionist! And just in general, be sure to be pleasant to those folks who are in what are often thankless jobs.  It’s the little things that show your character, good, bad or indifferent. Your boss is watching. So is Santa.

tracy c