Month: May 2010

I thought I posted on this already
but a quick search of the blog
says I haven’t.

The candidate offered
the position I’ve bridging
has received a counteroffer
from her current employer.
She’s considering it.

Dumbness.

No one ever leaves a job
simply for more money.
The employer knows that.
They also know that
you are no longer loyal
to the company.

So the counteroffer
is designed to buy the company time
while they look for your replacement.
Once they secure that replacement,
your name will be on the short list
when layoffs are required.

You can forget about a promotion.
Employees about to leave
aren’t promoted.
Intelligent co-workers competing
for that promotion
will stress their own loyalty
and not let your manager forget your defection.

There are exceptions, of course,
but usually accepting a counteroffer
is a bad, bad idea.

My current publisher
(under another pen name)
has given me a lot of control
with covers.
I work closely with the cover artist.

With the first cover,
I explained about my characters
and my important scenes
and gave him total creative freedom.

He gave me a gorgeous cover
with an almost naked woman on it.
The thing is…
my target market is heterosexual women.
We aren’t interested in naked women.

With the next cover,
I outlined my ideal cover exactly.
The cover had a couple
on the bow of a ship,
the waves crashing around them.

The artist tried.
He really did try.
The problem was…
ships weren’t his strong point.

With the third cover,
I searched his online album.
I found a similar scene
in his existing art.
I told him I wanted the same
except the hero had short hair,
he didn’t have wings,
the heroine was in a long white dress,
etc.

The third cover was beautiful,
the artist was happy,
and the book sales were great.

If you want a completely creative piece of art,
let the artist do his thing.
If you need a marketable piece of art,
reference off an artist’s existing art
and suggest tweaks.

My manager swapped one contractor
for another
a couple months into the contract.
She was surprised,
no,
shocked that the first contractor was upset.

Of course, she was upset.
She’d just gotten fired.
She was then expected
to train her replacement.

Lucky for my manager,
the contractor was a professional.
She swallowed her outrage,
trained her replacement,
and left the company in a better situation
than when she had started.

If she had not been a professional,
well,
it could have been a disaster.
This ‘fired’ employee had access
to all systems including customer files.

Unless the termination is prompted by the contractor
(i.e. she’s approached you,
advising that she’s no longer adding value
or not the right fit),
treat ending a contract relationship
as a firing.
Would you ask a fired employee
to work for two more weeks?
Would you let her have complete access?

A new hire
has done nothing but train
for the past week.
She’s frustrated
and anxious to start her ‘real’ job.

You see…
she’s a doer.
Doers do.
They don’t necessarily enjoy
watching other people do
while they sit on their hands.

I hate training.
It is necessary
to progress
(or even to remain relevant)
but I’d rather use the new skills
than learn them.

If you’ve hired a doer
(and why would you hire anyone else?),
alternate training with doing.
Not only will you immediately
get a payback on the hire
but your new employee
will be happier.