Category: Corporate Games

There is a meme
floating around social media
that states if there are
3 or more interviews
for a position,
the person expects to be paid
for the interviewing time.

3 interviews are
the bare minimum
for most jobs in business.
There’s an interview with
Human Resources,
the hiring manager,
and a co-worker.

The 3 of them compare notes.
If 2 interviewers have differing opinions,
the 3rd interviewer is the decider.

The higher profile
and usually higher paid the job
the more interviews
will be necessary to land it.

A loved one is
a senior sales person.
He regularly has 12 or more
interviews
for the jobs he’s seriously considered for.

If you want to land a great job,
be prepared for
multiple interviews.

There has always been
Do Not Hire lists
at companies.

These are lists of people
the company and the company’s affiliates
won’t hire again.

When I first started working,
you had to do
something REALLY bad
to be put on
a Do Not Hire list.

Today, they are standard
at many large companies.
Anyone who is laid off, let go, fired
or otherwise leaves
involuntarily
is put on the Do Not Hire list.
You can remain on this list
for 90 days,
a year,
five years,
forever.

Why are Do Not Hire lists now popular
with many large companies?

Because they often reduce
severance payments
to the departing employees,
especially the employees
with big salaries
and great employment agreement
negotiating skills.

These employees will often leave voluntarily,
forgoing severance,
to avoid being put on
the Do Not Hire list
(especially if the company is huge
with many affiliated companies).
That saves large companies
millions of dollars a year.

The companies apply this
Do Not Hire policy
to ALL employees
because, if they didn’t,
the extremely lawyered up
big salary employees
would sue them and win.

If you’re put on
a Do Not Hire list,
don’t take it personally.
And don’t expect older generations
to understand your situation.
Business has changed
and it is doubtful they know
about this major change.

Do Not Hire lists
are standard now.
Expect to be put on one
if you don’t leave a company voluntarily.
It isn’t about you.
It is policy.

One thing I wish
I had learned earlier
is how damn important
references are.

When I left my first summer jobs,
I didn’t think
to ask managers, coworkers or others
if I could use them as references.
I didn’t gather
their contact information
or keep in touch.

When I was a teenager,
it was pre-social media,
pre-everyone having a cell phone.
I bull sh*tted
by asking friends
to be my references.

Now prospective employers
look up references on social media.
Many of them
ask for the reference’s LinkedIn profile.

The higher paying the job,
the greater the number of references
requested.
A sales loved one was asked
for FIVE references
– one from two of his previous employers,
two from managers,
one from a customer.

And those references had to be glowing
or he wouldn’t have even been considered.
It takes skill to be a great reference.
Not many people have that skill.

When I left corporate
and built the Romance Novel Business,
I thought I wouldn’t need references.
I was mistaken.
Business partners want to know
about
other partners I’ve worked with
in the past,
how those people perceived me.
Product reviews are references
for other customers.

References are necessary.
Proactively collect them
and treat your references well.

Everything is recorded.
Everyone has a camera
on their phone.
Almost every space
is monitored.

This means
people,
employees,
even a company’s stars
can’t hide many of their ugly sins.
The p*ssy grabbers will be
revealed.
The racists will be exposed.
It is merely a matter of time.

Many companies
are purging these personalities now.
They’re all doing it at the same time,
hoping to minimize impact.

Did people come forward?
Yes, but for many of these star players,
people have been coming forward
for decades.

The issue is,
with today’s technology,
hiding these sins
is becoming impossible.

Assume you’re being watched
at all times
…because you are.

A loved one works
for a company
known as one of the world’s best
online marketers.
He, however, works
in a different division.

He’s now job hunting
and EVERY company he interviews with
assumes he knows about online marketing.

He doesn’t
but he should.

He has access to experts in that field.
His company hosts courses
he could sit in during his lunch hour.
There is really no excuse,
except for extreme disinterest,
in learning what his company does best.

If you’re working for a company
known for a certain thing or skill level,
LEARN that thing or skill level.

You don’t have to be an expert
but you should be knowledgeable.
Otherwise, you’ll look like a dumb a$$
when people outside your company
talk with you.

By now, we must have all seen
the footage of a certain world leader
pushing another world leader
aside.
It was extremely disrespectful.

I suspect, going forward,
that pushy world leader
is going to face
much more disrespect.

Not merely from
the world leader he pushed aside
but from all world leaders
who viewed that act.

Because disrespect
is contagious.

Disrespect someone
and she, if she has any pride,
will feel obliged to
disrespect you back.

The good news is
respect is contagious also.
Respect someone
and she will likely respect you back.

If you want respect,
show respect.

When I was graduating
from high school,
I had a major melt down
because I felt I had
to decide
right then, right there
what I would do
for the rest of my life.

What if I decided wrong
and I was stuck
in a job I hated?
What if I wanted to have
three careers?
Could I only choose one?

Thankfully, a mentor sat down with me
and changed the question.
She asked me,
“What do I want to do FIRST?”

THAT question I could answer.
And yes, I’ve been fortunate
to have many careers.
Almost everyone in my generation
and future generations
have.

When asking a child,
“What do you want to be
when you grow up?”,
remember to add
“You can choose more than one.”

THAT is the world we now live in.

Tamara Mellon
shares

“During my time at Jimmy Choo,
I negotiated three sales
of the company
to private equity firms.

It was during one of these sales
that I discovered something
in the paperwork of the deal
—I was being paid less
than the men who worked for me.

As the Chief Creative Officer
and co-founder,
my salary was less
than comparable C-level positions.”

I can guarantee
that if you’re female
and you’re working for a company,
you’re being paid less
than you should be.

One of the best pieces
of advice
I ever received
from a business mentor
was to ask for a raise
at EVERY evaluation meeting.

It didn’t matter
if it was a midterm review
or a monthly review,
I should mention salary.

I got turned down
quite a bit
but I also received
quite a few raises.

A funny thing happened
with those raises.
Executives valued me more
and they listened to my opinions more.
This is about more than money.
It is about being valued.

Ask for a raise.

I watched a documentary recently
about a corporate employee
who was laid off
at the age of 61.

He was having issues
finding another job
and blamed his age.
However, he readily admitted
that he didn’t know the new technologies
prospective employers were using
and he wasn’t interested
in learning them.

THAT, I suspect, was the bigger factor
in his job search.
It might have also been
the reason he was laid off.

Client K is about brutal honesty
and the brutal honesty is,
whether you have 2 years to retirement
or 20 years,
if you’re not learning new things,
new technology, new ideas in your industry,
you’re not doing all of your job.

Part of your job is to remain relevant.
It might not be on your annual review
but it is assumed that you will do this.

If you take 3 or 4
courses or workshops
(and there are plenty of free courses
available online)
every year of your employment,
by the time you reach the age of 61,
your depth of knowledge
should offset any qualms about your age.

Do your job.
Learn new things.
Stay employable.

A loved one, Super Sales Guy,
is facing a reorganization
in the company
he sells for.

Industries are being
redistributed.

Every sales person is vying
for the biggest target market
in their geographical area
– the banks.

Super Sale Guy
is vying for that target market also.
But he is also vying hard
for the number two target market
– insurance
and NO ONE else is.
He is the only sales person
to request that huge target market.
He has zero competition for it.

I’ve seen this
in the Romance Novel business.
Writers fiercely compete
for the number one niche
in a subgenre.
The number two niche
has very few competitors
and almost as many prospects.

Consider the number two market.
It might earn you more sales
than the number one market.