Category: Corporate Games

When I applied for jobs,
I’d tailor my resume for each position.
I wasn’t subtle.
I would ensure
that the employer’s needs
were CLEARLY addressed.

If the employer said
they wanted an analyst
with three years of experience or more,
I stated baldly that
I had more than three years of experience,
even if I had ten years of experience.

Why?
Because the hiring manager
was scanning the resume looking for ‘three years.’
Now
many companies use programs
to scan resumes looking for key words.

As Ben Weiss
shares

“In a 2012 interview
with Infusive Solutions,
Peter Cappelli
– a Wharton School of Business professor
and the author of
“Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs” –
explains how hiring requirements
have shifted
from hire for attitude and train for skill
to in most cases
considering only candidates
who can contribute immediately.”

Tailor your resume.
Address requirements directly.

In an exercise
on one of the writer loops,
writers talked about
the silliest criticisms they had ever received.

What I found interesting was
the not-yet-published writers
mocked the crazy criticism.
They would say something like
“Clearly the judge didn’t know the difference
between short category contemporary romance
and long single title contemporary romance.”

The published writers
talked about the crazy criticism
AND mentioned what they learned from it.
They would add
“The judge’s comments
forced me to look
at the differences between
short category contemporary romance
and long single title contemporary romance’
This reaffirmed I was satisfying
the sub-genre’s requirements.”

Criticism is VERY difficult
to hear.
Try to get the most benefit
out of hearing it.
Even if the critic is wrong,
her stance will reaffirm your stance is right.

When I mentor a new writer,
I usually start the relationship
with a story about a mistake I’ve made
and learned from.

This shows trust.
I’m trusting them
not to talk about my mistakes
with other people.

This also shows
everyone makes mistakes
and mistakes aren’t
anything to be ashamed of.

The learning part is also key.
They should be learning
from their mistakes
and I WILL ask them
what they’ve learned.

As Jennifer Przybylo
& Nina Vasan
share

“Make yourself more relatable
by sharing a big mistake you made,
a regret you have,
or something you’d do differently in hindsight.
Such a confidence makes it easier for us
to admit our own struggles
and helps us see
that failures are natural pit stops
on the road to success.

Step off the pedestal we’ve placed you on,
and remind us that
even the Greek gods could be fallible
like mortals.”

When mentoring,
share your mistakes.

Karen Kaplan started her career
as the receptionist
at Hill Holliday.
She’s now CEO.

Her advice?
“You can make your mark
in every single job.
I still run into people today
who remember me
from when I was a receptionist
who say,
‘You were the best damn receptionist
in the history of receptionists.’”

I also worked reception
early in my career.
Receptionists meet EVERYONE
from the delivery guy
to the biggest clients
to the CEOs of other companies.
They talk to everyone.
They see everything.

If you’re currently a receptionist,
take advantage of these perks
and be the best damn receptionist
there is.

If you know a receptionist,
be nice to him or her.
They know more about
what is going on
in your company
than you do
(even if or especially if you’re the CEO).

When I first joined
a large beverage company,
I was amazed by how many
passionate, committed environmentalists
and dietary activists
worked there.
They worked in all departments –
new product development,
marketing, sales, finance.

These unofficial activists
would push their beliefs
into every decision in the process.
I knew when pitching a new project,
I’d be asked for the impact
on the environment
and on people’s health.

So I’d design the project
to satisfy these two groups.

These few internal activists
have changed this huge company
significantly more than
the sign waving folks outside.

My grandpa always used to tell me
“It’s easier to steer the ship
from the inside.”

If you want to truly change an organization,
JOIN the organization.

A prominent editor was fired yesterday.
At first, Romanceland was in shock.
THEN the knives came out.
Writers justified the firing
by saying
she took too long
responding to submissions,
or she missed the trends,
or she rejected the wrong stories.

Dumbness
for a number of reasons.

With the self-publishing boom,
great editors are in demand
and she is a great editor.
She won’t be unemployed for long.

She also has a lot of contacts
in Romanceland.
The industry is really small
and anything writers say about her
WILL float back to her.

But most of all,
no one except for the executive team
knows why she was fired.
I can guarantee
it wasn’t for a petty reason
like taking too long with submissions.

I’ve been involved in these decisions
and it is more likely
that this editor was fired
because someone had to be fired.
The company missed their earnings
or missed a trend no one could predict
or some other reason
the editor had no control over.

Think twice
before speaking ill of the fired.

I often find
the most informative part
of a meeting happens
BEFORE the meeting starts.

It is when we hear tidbits
about the project
that might not be important enough
to make an agenda
but still make a difference
to what we do.

It is when we hear
what other people are
working on,
concerned about,
feel is important.

It is when we connect.
It is also when other people decide
whether or not
a meeting is worth attending.
They’ll drop into the meeting room.
If the person they want
to connect with is there,
they’ll stay.

If you wish for online meetings
to replicate face-to-face meetings,
consider opening the online rooms early.
Allow people to chat, to connect.

I’m taking an online writing course.
Many of the attendees are lurkers.
They aren’t asking any questions
or presenting their work to be critiqued.

This is AWESOME for the rest of us.
The presenter is spending more time
on our questions,
on our issues.
She’s personalizing the course
for our needs.

A good presenter or professor
will do that.
She’ll tailor her workshop
to the audience.

How does she judge
what the audience is interested in?

By the questions asked.
If all of the questions
are about social media,
a marketing workshop
becomes a social media workshop.

If you want a course to address your needs,
ask questions related to those needs.
If you don’t have any questions to ask,
why are you taking this course?

My goal is not to be the best
romance writer in the world.
Yes, some people are shocked
when I say that
but it is the truth.

My goal isn’t to be the most read
romance writer in the world either.
(if that was my goal,
I’d give my stories away)

I strive to be the best writer
I can be
and to give my readers value
for their book buying dollars
but I am more interested in sales,
in earning a living from writing,
than in awards or perfection or being read.

Do I broadcast this goal?
No, because it isn’t a reader-friendly goal.
But I know what it is.
And I am honest about what I need
to make me happy.

Take a brutally HONEST look
at your career goal.
You don’t have to share this goal
but know what it is
and make decisions
that lead you toward accomplishing it.

Many of us have a list of careers
we’d like to try
(or businesses we’d like to launch).

For example:
I knew I wanted
to work for a couple of Fortune 500 companies
I’ve always admired.
I also knew I wanted
to write romance novels.

I wanted to try
both of these careers
but I realized this would be easier
to do
if I arranged my list in a logical order.

I tried
the careers
requiring formal education
and favoring youth over age
(the Fortune 500 companies)
first.
I had a blast.
I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.

And now I’m exploring the careers
not requiring a formal education
and favoring age/life experience over youth
(writing romance novels).

Look at the careers
on your life wish list.
Can you put them in a more logical order?