Next Career Option - Environmentalism

Green and the many aspects it presents may be the direction in which we will find fertile grounds for careers and talent shortages.

The many aspects of creating energy, renewable sources of energy, cost-effective and efficient uses, and many other creative dimensions of the Green Movement remind us that resources are limited.  The more we can focus on creating sensible approaches to sustainable energy as ways to bring power to places that are laboring without it.

Kimberly Samaha has brought our attention to The Bordeaux Energy Colloquium whose site features eight videos of projects creating a positive move forward for areas as diverse as China (biomass), Ghana (rural solar power), Peru and Nepal (micro hydropower), Canada (solar heaters),  and South Africa (bio gas).

In order to spur awareness of this initiative, there will be an online competition in two categories:

• Best case study and technology ($5,000 prize)
• Best recruiter ($500 prize)

The virtual tradeshow and competition will be on Facebook from May 1 - 7. How do you get directions to the tradeshow? Try the link to Bordeaux Energy Colloquium on Facebook.

Why Is It Important to the Job Seeker?

It was probably the 23rd or 24th of March and I was having another bout of apathy in regard to interminable waits for unreliable buses that take me on two-hour rides to the next destination. On that day, I was contemplating the mania job seekers have about having the perfect resume. It was astounding how many articles can be found on how to email a resume (even in 2008)!

It was one of those days when the redundancy of the questions from job seekers was wearing. No matter who or where, the questions were essentially the same, repeatedly. Perhaps it’s because each job seeker graduates from high school and university every year and because new or returning job seekers hit the market on a daily basis. They are either starting out with absolutely no clue about what they’re doing at any level. Or they’re restarting and trying to do things in the most up-to-date, modern style possible without tripping themselves out of the running.

They need someone to guide them and show them the ropes. And there are so many ropes! Then there are others who have the rudimentary information but still need some fine tuning. And finally, there are those who’re short-selling themselves and would benefit from some type of coaching.

These “reasons” were not comforting. There’s got to be more to this than just learning how to present yourself. There are professionals, C-level officers of companies, people in their 40s and 50s, who are striving to know the answers to questions about how to write an effective cover letter, how to interview. Some of these people have no clue about how to start researching a company or even that it is reasonable to do so for a job search.

These sorts of ruminations don’t go away easily. These are the type that linger. So I decided not to rely on my own apathetic perspective. Instead, it was time to ask two well-known friends and trusted colleagues. On March 25, I sent a message that said:

Okay you two. I trust your judgment and discernment. Your words are usually reliable. So I ask you — both of you — Why is any of this recruiting, job search, resume writing, networking, social media, world’s best candidate stuff important?

Yep, the date and time that message was sent was 7:06 pm, Mar 25th. To date, neither colleague has responded. Maybe because the question stumped them as well; maybe because they’ve been too busy to pay attention to it. (It really does happen!) And as I continue to compose this piece, I find little pieces of this and that which indicate others (including my colleagues) are also ruminating about these matters. For example, on April 22, one of my two friends Twittered, “Getting to focus on the part of my job that I love the next few days, all brainstorming and defining the candidate / job seeker experience.”

But I’ve heard nothing.

There must be a more meaningful answer than the pitiful ruminations that wedged their way into my brain.

Aha! As I said, there are pieces of this and that which indicate others in the industry are also considering this question. On April 29, an advertising bit reached my Inbox. It was from Legal Authority, the legal recruiting agency that specializes in attorney placements. (You see? Even lawyers need help with finding a job!)

Time Is the Essential Factor

Legal Authority reveals why the job seeker experience, and all of the elements involved in it, is important by reading between the lines. The first thing they point out is the time factor in relation to doing research.

It’s one thing to broadcast your well-crafted resume and static cover letter to any and every company that has an ad running. It’s quite another to have some idea of what you want to do and where. The “plus” is knowing what “Where” has to offer and which among the thousands are offering something even remotely close to that overall picture.

Legal Authority continues by talking about how they’ll help you craft the perfect resume and cover letter through collaboration with their certified resume writers. In my jaded opinion, there is no “perfect resume” because everyone has their own concept of how it can be done better. The perfect cover letter is the one that conveys your personality as well as your qualifications and causes the reviewer to want to talk with you more than any of the others. But having someone who is expert at getting the right descriptions into those brief documents is oh so tricky.

Here, crafting the best resume and cover letter possible is a bit like coming up with the one right thing to say in order to get that special person to pay attention to you and say “Yes.”

Tools for Optimization

Social networking and Web 2.0 are tools that are supposedly designed to optimize our ability to meet the right people, like-minded and like-motivated people (or else complements) who are parts of a greater whole in which we want to be involved. If they’re not part of the place, they at least know about its insides and even a few people there who can provide greater insights.

To a job seeker, that means finally connecting with the person who knows about the holy grail – the right company, the right position, the right contact name and information. It’s about cutting down the amount of scant time doing the search and getting into the nitty gritty of determining whether this is the situation that will really work. It dispenses with the blind alleys and cul de sacs.

But we’re getting so bogged down with social network entrepreneurs who’re trying to make a fast buck on the social networks with their handy-dandy tools that the duplicative nature of the vast number of them available on all of the networks boggles the mind. How one can make meaningful connections while also trying to determine which tool will deliver the optimal connection opportunities is overwhelming; it deadens the quality time for actually doing the search and coming up with the right connections.

This subject goes much deeper. But it’s starting to become clear that this “recruiting, job search, resume writing, networking, social media, world’s best candidate stuff” is important. It’s important to the job seeker not only for the sake of time and cost containment but also for maximizing one’s return on investment in the advanced education and training and the just plain old “F” word – fulfillment.

Business Perspective

From a business perspective, financial sustainability, the importance of the job search goes back to time efficiency in completing business endeavor goals, putting to use the skills gained through all channels of training and experience, and keeping the “treasury” measurably above breakeven point.

Said Another Way

In the past three to four years it seems our vocabulary (especially as it relates to recruiting, job titles, and job descriptions) is becoming increasingly complicated. Yet the work that’s being accomplished is basically still the same. The only thing about the work is that it has a new name.

Let’s look at a few examples to see what I’m talking about. There’s RPO, recruitment process outsourcing. Basically it means that various parts of the recruiting agency functions are subcontracted out to others to do so that the small, core staff can develop additional business and make money to pay more subcontractors. The result is more work gets done at a higher rate of profit.

A new term that just started floating around it graphics user interface or GUI. As I recently discussed this job title with someone who seemed like a potential candidate, they summarized the position as a person who builds websites. On reflection, that was precisely what the terms meant and we also realized that my acquaintance was not the potential candidate I had hoped he would be. He wasn’t even close because he’s a recent Ph.D. graduate in computer engineering and looks forward to securing a professorship at one of the universities.

Another term of art is “pipeline of candidates” or a stream of potential candidates for a position (also known as the resume slush pile). Doesn’t “pipeline” sound much sexier than stack of papers that represent people we passed over four months ago?

It could be you’ll read a lot of ads that say something about “multiple sourcing channels.” What this means is you use more than just job boards and databases. In addition to those, you use various other techniques for finding potential candidates. (Now if I specified what some of those are, you’d have no reason to come back next week, and the week after, and so on, in order to learn more. So I won’t mention those other techniques in this writing but know they definitely are there.)

Looking at the heavy verbiage in the ads compared with the actual wants and needs of the ones posting the ads, there’s a pressing question that begs being answered. “Why are we bothering with such complicated language? Why not just come out and say precisely what we want as directly as possible so that there’s as little confusion?” Lawyers and judges saw the light in this regard years ago. In fact, the American Bar Association sort of ran up a smoke flag that directed lawyers, legislators, and judges to say what they meant in layman’s English so that everyone would understand what was being said. It was useless to make the verbiage so complicated that Einstein couldn’t make heads nor tails of the whole thing and if someone that astute was getting confused about the message, the message was not written very well in the first place.

It’s my theory that we’re complicating the terminology being used in recruiting so that recruiters will sound like they’re very intelligent, astute, individuals. Further theory, this complicated jargon is simply some secret society recruitspeak so that recruiters can feel quite elitist in their endeavors and therefore justified in barring certain individuals from being included among their precious number. So much for the theories. If it is true, it’s quite sick. If I’m off base, then let’s just laugh it off as something else that’s far out there.

But the next time you see an ad for a position you thought you were qualifed, and upon reading the ad you felt you knew nothing about the position, don’t give up on it and move along to the next ad. Actually, that’s what they’re hoping you’ll do because nine times out of ten, the advertiser is attempting to cut down the number of applicants to just those who are truly interested and qualified.

Actually, don’t give up on the ad at all. Re-read the ad. Read it carefully. Determine the core skills they need. Boil the terminology down to the most basic terms in order to capture what’s being advertised.

What are the fundamental skills required for that type of position? Ohhhhhhhh. You want that, eh? How many years? Well, I don’t have that many years of paid employment experience but I do have a lot of volunteer experience in that area. Perhaps that’s what you’re actually seeking. Let’s see, in the three years that I performed those functions, I worked alone. But when we hit crunch time, I trained and oversaw the work of five other volunteers so that we could roll things out on time, every time. I strategized with the volunteer coordinator and the person orchestrating the project in order to line up the right talent and scheduled them so that there was no glut of personnel crowding the office at any time — just a smooth stream of people who were well directed and professional, doing their work and representing the organization in a positive way. We doubled membership and sponsors after each event during the time I was there.

You see, that was just plain peoplespeak without the pain of convoluted poly-syllabic iterations of somethingorother. It just explained the work without painting monolithic murals. It was just plain and clear English. It went a lot farther in clarifying what was requested and what was done.

Local Job Leads for Your Search

I’m ashamed. I’ve been sitting on information that could be beneficial to many, if not all, of you. It wasn’t intentional. It was an oversight. It was due to the pressures of time and commitments and just plain getting more people to read the words. But my eyes are opened and now it’s time to share not just one job opportunities site with you but two.

Local JobNetwork has websites with job postings, career and job search advice, information about employers, and more. It’s a site that holds local jobs for all 50 states (none of the territories) and all sorts of other goodies to spur your movement through the career and job doors. Although your search may begin on the Milwaukee Job Network page, if you click on the logo link in the bottom right-hand corner of the page, you’ll find the map that shows all of the site’s locations and the one that is most appropriate for your needs. It’s not only for job seekers, it’s also for employers.

Why am I ashamed? Because I’ve been writing for them for a year now.

Jobing.com is another site that holds a collection of local sites across the southern belt of the United States. It posts blogs by Community Relations representatives who provide information and advice about employment venues, opportunities, and strategies. They also feature informational videos. Although I haven’t viewed any of the videos, the captions that accompany them are intriguing. Again, this is a site not just for job seekers but also for employers.

To find the area of most interest to your search, all you have to do is type in the zip code you’re interested in researching. Areas they serve include:

• Alabama
• Arizona Jobs
• Southern California Jobs
• Southern New England Jobs
• Texas
• Colorado Jobs
• New Mexico Jobs
• Nevada
• Florida Jobs
• Wisconsin Jobs

Disability Resources

Incidentally, I also recently discovered a site that specializes on empowerment of those with impairments of various types. It doesn’t appear Disaboom caters to vision limitations, but they do address many of the other types of life-changing events. I was especially in awe of Olympics contender John Register’s story.

Technorati: job boards, job leads, job advice, job postings, career portfolio, local jobs,

A Purpose

There are days when we get discouraged about everything. The first impulse is to simply give up — completely give in to the setbacks and inertia. This is not some flitting fancy. It’s part of the emotion and state of mind involved in depression. And it happens not because we didn’t lift a finger and what we wished for on a star didn’t fall into our hands. No, there’s another reason for the depression.

The depression is the result of many long hours (even months or years) of striving, struggling against great odds and obstacles without rest or recreation. It seems the more we struggle, the more we work toward achieving our goal, the farther away it is removed from our grasp.

Additionally, we find ourselves not being rewarded in any manner for our efforts — or at least it seems that way on initial blush. All we can see is the hard labor, the sacrifices, the meagerness about us, the squalor, the unsavory characters that we were taught in Sunday School to give charity who are now our comrades. How did this circumstance happen and why? Is this the reward for hard work?

The fruit of our endeavors is taken from us, credit for it given to others who have done little to even merit their initials near the product. If credit is not given to another, then we find the work deleted, erased, denigrated as pitiful and having little to no value.

There is justification for this depression. It is not right, it is not fair to put forth so much effort and find yourself in a negative position from where you started. Life is about growth, not regression. Life is about becoming more capable, growing stronger and taller with each passing day. Life is about growing wiser with each experience.

And therein lies the answer to the frustration and depression. Were it an actuality that we were not making progress, there would be no one erasing what was done. No one would be trying to claim our work as theirs. And if there were not quality as part of the inherent value of the product, it would not be desired, there would be no competition for ownership of it.

What this says, then, is that we have wronged ourselves. We have put ourselves in the midst of people and we do not belong in this crowd. These people have a great deal to learn. There is a lot they need to learn about theirselves. There is a lot they need to learn about putting into a project the quality that is required in order to derive that quality at completion.

Our frustration is that, as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs puts it, we are striving to build our monuments to ourselves. The monuments are being destroyed and sometimes before our very eyes. We realize that with each destruction or theft, there is nothing to mark the fact that we traveled this road and had that impact on the environment as well as other beings.

It isn’t a comfort, especially if you’re in this frame of mind at this instant. But take heart. This Earth is a very volatile place. Nothing lasts. Everything is destroyed in its own time. Earthquakes will tumble mountains, tsunami will wash away entire civilizations. And with those destructions, evidence of the people and their civilization will also be destroyed. The only difference is that one was done by Man, the other by Nature.

True, this consolation is meager. But it is consolation. The other is, as I said before, if the efforts had poor worth, no one would bother to take or destroy it. Be glad that you did something that lured the avarist. You set a milestone before them, a bar over which they needed to leap and they could not meet the test.

As to the losses, especially of proper company, there is a remedy. Start today to make time for yourself. Give yourself an indulgence at least once a week. Call or email an old friend. Find a reason to laugh. Make certain you have a voluntary smile. Even if it’s a cup of weak tea, sip it as though it’s a priceless wine to be savored.

And most of all, remember to consider the little things that are still providing you with quality of life.

To pass over all of these things without thinking about them, appreciating them, is definitely the waste. It’s amazing when we take the time to look over our shoulder at the part of the field that has already been plowed instead of what is in front of us that is still rough hewn and in need of order. An occasional look back can actually bolster our conviction to push forward. There is conviction. But there needs to be a time of rest in order to consider what has already come and gone. It wasn’t a waste. It all had a purpose.

depression, quality of life, achievement, setbacks, change,

Does your resume say ‘Hire me!’?

Dispersion

It’s time for me to wax nostalgic again. This time, there are musings about whether other career coaches are suffering from similar pangs. Wanting our “students” to succeed. Wanting the connections to work. Getting just as excited as they are (or even more so) about the opportunities. Losing sight of when the coaching has stopped (if it ever does) and cutoff for job referrals has arrived so that it’s now up to the “student” to follow through on the best practices that were learned. I just get too invested in each one who demonstrates that they are serious and are dedicated to working for what they want.

First-stage Transition

It’s one thing to watch our “students” going through graduation. That was in May and June. There was relief at having survived another semester. Grades were earned and they were pretty decent after all. The coaches said, “I told you you could do it!” or “I knew you had it in you,” or just a mild, “Good.” No matter what the expression, it was genuine. Coaches comprehend what the students are enduring. We commiserate because we were there once and some of us are going through our own graduate studies of some sort.

The other thing that coaches experience is disappointment for our students. We are disappointed when their attention strays from their purpose or when they needlessly waste time on futile efforts. Efforts that are more play than networking and thereby allowing ripe seeds of next-stage associations to slip away. Efforts that are more spinning yarns that actually exploring possibilities. These are actually unfocused exercises at trying to emulate being “adult” and taking on responsibilities. Still, they are mere spinning tales in an effort to gain connection with someone. They do not yet understand the art of connecting with others. When these endeavors (spinning tales) overwhelm each encounter, there is no difficulty in releasing the student to their own devices while we focus on those who are more serious about their efforts.

Still, these intiates survived the semester. They either prepared for a summer internships, graduated and celebrated that victory, or took a break in order to begin the next session with a prepared mind. For those who graduated and had not started their job search three to four months in advance, we watch as they strive to make sense of these past four years and patiently provide a little more tutoring.

Second-stage Transition

Graduation may be over, but licensing Boards are not. So we survive the period of studying for the boards. The students periodically look up for a breath of real air and we are there to chime in with a little conversation about something light, a joke, share what we’re reading, socialize for a couple of minutes and then back to the books.

These students are not going the traditional business route. The Boards mean there is a program awaiting them contingent upon their performance on the boards. So coaches encourage and support. We engage in conversation that actualizes the studies so that the textbook looks more like real life than a classic representation.

No matter whether its graduation or finishing the Boards, the time comes when it’s time to leave the student housing. There’s a turnover at the campus hot spot and faces transition. There are smiles, lunches, worried looks, funny stories, and exchanges of email addresses and Facebook connections.

Third-stage Transition

Here we are at the downturning of August and we’ve come to yet another time of growing up in a initiate’s life. The dispersion phase. That time when the job offers have come from another locale have come and are accepted. Or the job offers have not come and the foreign students make the decision to return home. In either case, it’s time to move out of the student housing that held them during their studies. They’ve begun the emergence from the safe pod in which they were ensconced.

“Are you aware of how much you’ve changed since you came here?”

Some are; some are not. Some are not aware of what it means. It means they have graduated into a new, different way of thinking and seeing things. They are not the raw material that came to the university setting. Where there were folk traditions that were part of the initial persona, sophistication and culturalization have taken place. The student is more refined and they will not easily slip back into the old life. They may go home but it will be for a short time. During that brief interval, it is critical that they use their network (developed in the United States but reaching in all directions) to forge new inroads on their path and open new associations, while maintaining those relationships that spawned them. Those are the ones that have the most meaning because those are the relationships that created the foundation of the personality. By maintaining those relationships, one is better able to adapt to cultural differences, appreciate all types of people and communicate with them.

Saying “See You Later”

No matter whether it’s stage-one transition or stage three, there comes a time when the student must leave the cocoon, the safe place, and venture out. They need to disperse their self in the form of their resume or online profile into the world. Although you may have attempted this coaching lesson, trust me, they did not listen. It’s time to repeat it. Network. Network. Network. Make connections. Make connections for the sake of knowing people who know people who know things and can invite you to be part of it all. And once you’re part of “it,” you’re in a better place to determine whether that’s where you want to be or somewhere else. But you become that much more wise, sophisticated, and that much more invested with options and alternatives.

Whether they’re staying in the community or returning to another land, changes have occurred and created a friend where a coaching student once stood. It’s very difficult for me to let go of people. And if I believe in them, it’s difficult for me to cut off looking for leads and referrals. Do other coaches go through this? I truly hope so — for the sake of carving out the identity of good coaches in many places and for the associations that can blossom from the dispersion of the new seedlings.

graduation, job preparation, job search, actualization, transition,

Find Jobs from over 100 employment sites

Continued Hiring and Raises in Spite of Tight Labor Market

News reports say we’re in a tight labor market. In spite of that, hiring managers will not be firing workers. Instead, they will continue to hire and will offer salary increases. The logic — once you’ve got the good ones, why not do what’s necessary to keep them.

Isn’t it nice to be able to spout off all of that official sounding information? But who understands what it really means? Few, very few. So what is this “tight labor market” rhetoric? First, it isn’t rhetoric. It is a fact that annually, fewer people are prepared to step into the workforce and deliver the type of performance that is required as measuring up to “good work” or “quality performance” for the employer’s needs. What this means for those who are already employed is they have done what’s necessary to prove theirselves; they’re now in the desirable position of being able to ask for (and probably receive) a higher salary. They’ve shown that they have the right stuff to make it.

In doing research for this post, a Federal Reserve publication called The Beige Book was found. It looks at all parts of the economy across the country and examines the various pressures and dynamics that are happening to cause growth or contraction. You’ll want to add this to your industry and company research links tools so that you can learn more about what’s happening in your target industry. Then you can make your entrance with knowledge and insight. You may even want to spout a few of the statistics during the interview, just to show that you know what you’re talking about and would make phenomenal talent.

But let’s get to the nuts and bolts of what’s happening in the labor market. According to the Beige Book, the economy is tight. We don’t have enough well qualified, well educated, properly prepared workers coming into the market to offset those who are leaving for retirement. In fact, the labor market looks very much like it did in 1999.

The underlying message also includes the fact that it takes more to train the new worker than it did before. Adding to that is the slap-dash attitude that whatever it takes to get product out the door is okay; quality can be sacrificed. Indeed, pressures to deliver on time sometimes demand that the “little things” be let go for the sake of living up to the reliability factor. This, many times, is a very short-sighted attitude in consideration of the long-range possibilities of product failure and consequent consumer lawsuits for personal injury or death.

Ah, that legal background causes all manner of detours. Forgive me. Back to tight labor markets and the impact on hiring and raises. There will be less hiring but less than in the previous quarter. There is a reluctance to fire workers because firing tends to create gossip that makes people worry and reduce morale. Reduced morale means lower productivity while workers are checking out want ads in case they are one of those on the block. And lowered productivity means less work that gets delivered to the client — who pays the bills.

Sounds a bit like a Catch-22. It’s actually a fact of Life and part of the business life cycle.

If you’ve got a job, do whatever is necessary to keep it. If you just can’t sweat it out, hold on until you find something else that’s a better fit.

More importantly, this is a critical time to purposefully network.

Productivity and spending in nearly all sectors is up; one exception is residential mortgage origination and refinancing as well as construction. People are willling to spend. They desire product. The news is that wages are increasing.

Making Your Statement

There are examples all over the landscape. It’s just that we don’t always pay attention to them because when we see them, they’re out of context in relation to their usual work environment. The examples of which I speak are the nonconformists. The ones who wear the long hair, have piercings or tattoos, wear corduroys jackets and faded blue jeans, or wear ethnic clothing to a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

These are the people who hear a different drum and march to it. But they also recognize that the preliminaries must be handled before they dive into making their personal statement. I’ve met several. In fact, I admire (as many as I can remember) all who I have met. The basis of my admiration for these people is that they are comfortable with their selves.

They know who and what they are and do not feel intimidated or ashamed any part of them. They are confident about what they know and are very aware that they have a great deal to share with others. They give freely. Their conversation is open, positive, and accepting. They listen carefully. They get rid of the baggage so that they can hear and comprehend. Perhaps these latter factors are part of the success they project.

So why am I not surprised at finding a dean at USC who is another of those who hears a different drum? Earlier today, I talked with a student who took a seminar from him. The excitement and enthusiasm he inspired several months ago is still evident. This person is interesting. I repeated and then wrote his name. Michael Quick, College Dean of Research in the School of Arts and Letters. Then I read an article written about him in the USC College News. The article captures the description that my acquaintance gives. It also captures the spirit of the man who inspires.

Those of you who know me realize one of my hallmarks is analysis. Going on the little information I had about him, there was a rapid parsing of Michael Quick. He succeeds by being able to communicate with students. He does not see himself as some pompous campus dignitary. He sees himself as a leader and a manager whose purpose is to inspire. And with that inspiration is a desire to stretch toward greater accomplishments.

But his comfortable persona was not an overnight statement. It evolved over time. It was earned. And that is the important point of today’s words. And the point being driven home is essentially the same as the one made on March 1, 2006 when I spoke of the Validity of Dress Codes (now on Career and Recruiting Entrances. It’s important to get rid of the clutter that distracts from learning the essentials of your art and craft, the discipline for your chosen path. In order to fit in, it is critical to know what the basic disciplines are and be accepted into the mainstream. Once you’ve succeeded in establishing your knowledge and expertise, it’s fine to begin, little by little, to begin expressing yourself within the bounds of your particular culture. But you need to start with the basics first.

This is not just me piping philosophy. During a recent business trip, I encountered a young black female bank representative. Expressing a desire to know different perspectives, I asked her about acceptance of dreadlocks and such in the conservative world of banking life. With her several years of experience in the industry, she confirmed that it is important to start off in the conservative mode. In fact, most banks will not allow dreadlocks (or most other ethnic looks) because they are too off-putting to customers focused on their security and wealth management.

The woman had some other words of advice with regard to types of individuals who will be accepted, certain body builds, and types of personalities. But we can explore that information on another occasion. The bottom line for today is, start by getting yourself grounded and know your profession. Prove yourself. Then let your personality blossom when you’ve been accepted as an outstanding professional.

“A” Stands for Actualizing

Although this is literally the last week of school for many college students, it is also approximately ten days before admissions exams for Board certification or admission into some manner of professional school.

Many students are cramming last-minute details. They visit Starbucks or Coffee Bean or the library or any other place with lots of table space and few interruptions. Their focus is on getting the precise interpretation of the concepts according to the book, according to the professor’s lectures, according to their notes, according to the study guide.

A Finite Number

Their focus, accurately, is on earning an “A” in the class. While the focus is correct, they fail to appreciate that only 10 to 15 percent of the class will be able to earn that letter grade, if that many. The allocation may be as elite as 5 percent. Another 30 percent will be those who are allocated a letter grade of C. Then all the other grades fall into their categories and allocations. The point is, the number of “A”s that can be earned is finite.

Demonstrability

The other important thing to conceptualize about earning an “A” in the class is being able to demonstrate that one has done an exceptional job of grasping the concepts as well as being able to apply them to day-to-day situations as they arise. Therefore, the cramming in order to know the precise, correct answer is rather futile.

But How Did You Get That?

It’s very nice to have the exactly right answer. But the more important issue is to know which principle upon which to draw in order to come up with an answer. In real life, there are few, if any, black and white, absolutely right or absolutely wrong answers. The right answer depends on the circumstances.

The other essential in getting to the right answer is the type of tools used to make the evaluation. It is also important to know which tools to use in order to get the answer and why those were used compared with something else. The classic example is the hammer in order to chisel a fine point. It’s important to use the right tool. Tools are made to accomplish certain end goals. Use the one not intended for the purpose and you get something quite different from what you wanted.

Finally, it’s important to understand why the answer was derived. Is there an alternative answer that will yield the same or similar results – or better ones? And then it’s important to discern which is the optimal answer.

The Ultimate Test

It’s very nice to go into interviews for internships or for the real job and speak of the admirable academic record, a grade point average of 3.9 or 4.0. However, we need to ask ourselves what those grade point averages and grades represent. If they are merely a regurgitation of the prose that came from the professor or the textbook, and they bear no connection to real-life applications, then they are merely characters on a sheet of paper. They’re meaningless. It would have been just as useful to have copied someone else’s work, letter for letter and word for word.

Why Test

Few have researched why schools and instructors test. It isn’t for the sake of moving a student along a progressive path to a destination. In actuality, testing began because an ancient Greek dignitary wanted to discover how well his son’s tutor was training the boy. Thus, the man told the tutor to devise a series of tests for the boy that would show how much he had learned and how well. If the boy did not do well, the tutor would have been fired.

Therefore, we should not look at tests as a student’s measure of whether they have passed the course or not. They should be used to evaluate how well the instructor taught the course. However in these times, we should view tests as dual purposed. They measure how well the instructor did in conveying the information, made it inviting and enjoyable, and succeeded in making the student curious enough to want to know more. And the student’s test is how well they can apply the learning to real world situations.

Walking into Real Life

So my graduating friends, be proud of the grades you have earned. The grades represent how well you instructor conveyed their knowledge to you. The true test is not your GPA nor how many As you earned in your student life. Anyone can earn an A. The real test is how well you can immediately and accurately draw on the right tool to aid your reaching the optimal solution. And the real test is how well you actualize the range of knowledge you have from your learning. And that is what you want to convey to a potential employer during your interview. How well you can actualize and deliver.

AnalyzeMyCareer

An About Face for MySpace and Corporate Blogging

It’s important to research the company you’re thinking about interviewing with. You need to know as much as possible about it before you go into the meeting so that you can feel confident about the decision to continue with your candidacy. You need to know there is a match and why there is. It’s very important to have a good sense of the corporate culture before you get there rather than find yourself standing shoulder to shoulder with Alice in Wonderland. But how in the world can you learn anything about the company, much less the culture?

Lou Adler has complimented job seekers on the amount of sophistication they now possess. He essentially said, in 2004, that the job seekers are giving recruiters a run for their money in regard to the level of questions asked and the amount of knowledge they have about the industry as well as the company. So pat yourself on the back for that feather in your cap.

Back to research. There’s reading the corporate website and the mission statement. When you got through reading that, did you understand what it said? The other thing that’s important is whether that statement actually matches the reality of the environment. Well, we need to double check that.

So the next thing to do is look for a corporate blog that’s maintained by employees of the company. Read those blogs carefully. See what the worker has to say about their job, about the industry, about recruiting, about getting things done. Find out what their job is and determine how close it is to what you want to do in that company. Not a match? Find another that is closer.

Vault and WetFeet have excellent libraries with guides on many companies and careers. Vault also features company discussion boards where actual employees discuss life within the halls of XYZ Corporation. They’re pretty candid and provide good insight.

Also check out places such as MySpace and FaceBook. They’re not completely dedicated to people doing things that are juvenile under color of “youthful indiscretion.” The people on those sites will probably talk about their work lives and what shapes the majority of their lives. That will be revealing.But if you’re just starting your job search and still researching which recruiter will be best for you, much less which company has the right type of culture, sign on with a recruiting network and become a lurker. Read the posts of the recruiters and the HR managers, the researchers and all the other levels of personnel in the hiring and placement process.

The one place I know of where these types of people show the real side of their company (since they are representative of the culture) is ERE Media. If you want to know what the recruiter or the HR manager is like at a particular company, use the search tool at the top of the site, look up the company name. It will provide a list of the people who work at the company. Click on a few names until you reach the ones who work in the city where you’ll be interviewing. Read their profile, if they’ve completed it. Then look down the list of the person’s list of discussion posts. Read carefully. You’ll be able to collect a more or less accurate view of what to expect of the person and the culture. Does it sound like they’re particularly obtuse or have an agenda? You’ll know whether you need to gently lead to the water or if this person is sharp as a tack and ethical. Although not as colorful, another place to check out some of the people who are recruiters and HR managers is at LinkedIn. This is a network of people who post their profile and endeavor to link to others who can be beneficial in their business associations and introductions to people who can be helpful in getting things pushed through. I’ll talk about more features of LinkedIn on another day. But for now, focus on the person’s profile. Pay attention to what others have said about them if they have recommendations. And also read what they’ve said in response to any questions that have been posed by other users.

It’s a heavy task to research the company where you believe you want to work. But there are ways to cut through the propoganda and get to the real picture of what the culture is. These are just a few tools to help you do so.

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