Thinking it might be of use to highlight them as a collection, here they are for your reading pleasure. If you find yourself with the intent and / or time to do some career management / planning during the remainder of the holiday season, these articles may provide some guidance or inspiration. 

Reaching back all the way to 2005 (yes, I was blogging then), an intro to my Career Development During the Holiday Series, followed by something I called the Social Phase, then the Reflective Phase and finally the New Beginnings Phase. 

And of course, some thoughts about achieving Holiday Balance in a very busy and demanding period of time, as well as some personal reflections on achieving a state of clarity and rejuvenation from time off work. 

I hope you find these articles of value to you. 

Wordpress is a fine platform, and I have a couple of mini-site ideas up my sleeve that I may use it for, but in the end, it felt like far too much tinkering and tooling when I have a fantastic platform here at Squarespace. Yes, there is a fee here, and Wordpress is free, but the upcoming changes I want to make seemed to be more directly accessible via my current site than the rebuilt of an entirely new one. 

So, my apologies for the messiness and the confusion (if you even noticed).

Happy Saturday to you. 

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. 

Nine times out of ten, the LinkedIn connection invitations I receive come with the default text above. Granted, it is the fastest way of sending invitations. And when you and I know each other well, perhaps no more is needed. 

For everyone else - loose connections, a person I met once long ago, or strangers, it will not do. 

Give me some context, please. Why would you like to connect? What can I expect from our connection? 

There are two really important reasons to give some context.

Resume Boot Camp

Resume Boot Camp is a new program I have designed and configured for those of you who have put some hard work into your resume but would like to validate / check / fine-tune your document. This is a fast and cost-effective way to ensure your Resume is prime-time ready.

The first Resume Boot Camp starts this Thursday, April 23 and runs to Tuesday the 28th. The next Resume Boot Camp will begin in early May.  

Think about it for a second. Shouldn’t we all aim to be this wanted and welcomed when we sell or loan our talent to someone new?

For too long, I have been intending to send you new newsletters, and blog more, and announce new offerings to help with your career management, job search, career change and personal branding goals. And then I get stuck. Since the How to Manage your Career in Scary Times report, not a lot of activity. Like you, I have obligations that I can easily use an an excuse. In my case, there is always a core group of 1-1 clients working with me through their career transitions and personal branding efforts.

That isn’t good enough for me. Every time I speak to an audience, publish something or engage 1-1 with a client, I generate a Wow reaction. And that feels great. But I have a need to reach and serve more of you. In my case, my real enemies are perfection and complexity. I want things to be perfect for you. And I make things too complex. And this holds me back from sharing my expertise and passion and caring to you and a wider audience.

So, no more. It is time to play a bigger game.

Responding to Market Forces

In this kind of economy, there is a strong tendency to go small. And to hide. I don’t want to do that. Speed, simplicity and value trump perfection and complexity. So, I am going to go Big. I have always liked the play a bigger game metaphor. It says something to me about raising my level of play (including my tennis game).

• The perfect candidate. One that exactly meets the requirements. No risk in the resume.
• Or, someone who can wear several hats at once. This person needs to meet the requirements of the core role, but be able to play more than one position. More bang for the hiring buck.

1. Develop a target, or a few targets. Types of role in a certain type of organization. This might be based on where you are most hirable or what you want to do next.
2. Define your value proposition for those targets. Why you and not the hundreds of other people that would like this job?
3. Ensure that your resume, cover letter and other marketing materials represent a compelling, attractive and credible case for your candidacy.
4. Work on your verbal presentation so that when you have those conversations, you are able to get them interested in you and your offering. That includes networking conversations and formal interviewing. There are too many tips to get into in this post. My general observation over the years has been that most people, no matter how senior they are in their profession, aren’t as good as they think they are at the interviewing conversation.
5. Focus your attentions on:
   • The opportunities that fit within your target buckets. Apply to opportunities where you truly are a fit. Where your value proposition aligns. Ignore the others.
   • The relationships and networks that support you finding opportunities and becoming known in your target areas.
   • The activities that generate the above.

Back to the math. You need to do what you can to improve the odds on that equation. In addition to our existing services, I am about to announce some new solutions that address head-on this climate that we are in right now. More later.

However, when she asked her manager to take 2 days of vacation, not only did he say no, but he also said, “….points off for even asking. I am surprised you even asked.”

Now, I don’t know the specifics of this woman’s employment or what was happening that week in the office. I can only go by my friend’s telling of the story. But it reminded me of my work in executive search and in particular, the first 2 years where the economy was bad.

A certain kind of manager emerges in times like these. Or more frequently, an existing, but otherwise hidden side of managers emerges. Management based on fear, small mindedness and keeping people down and in their place. And as soon as the economy turns again, this kind of behavior doesn’t wash.

I couldn’t help thinking about the classic Lord of the Rings trilogy and the battle between dark and light. As the power of dark grows, beasts like Orcs have the courage to come out of their holes.

We need leadership, now more than ever. If you, as a leader, feel the pull of darkness, try and resist. The manager in this story could have said yes, or he could have said no, but in a different and more humane way and gotten a better result. “I am afraid that I am going to have to say no. We have that big project on the go and I really need you here that week.” Not so hard, right? Your employees have an elephant-like memory when it comes to the wrongs and injustices inflicted upon them in the office. You need to lead to help your organization survive this crisis. But you also need to lead so that it is still functioning and competitive on the other side.

As for the woman in this story. It just so happens that she is in a stage of her career and financial situation where she doesn’t need to work. Her loyalty to this manager has been erased and she may leave because of this. With a company-wide hiring freeze, he may find himself short-handed.