Career Opportunities

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In this Career Tip – Douglas asks employers and job candidates to “partner” and  work towards making hiring a win-win for everyone involved.

Can’t see the video above, watch “Career Tip – Stop adversarial hiring practices” on my YouTube channel.

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A self-directed education is a wonderful and productive thing. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult to know where to aim your educational focus. To offer a bit of help with this, I have put together some resources around a particular topic to get you started. In this first “Career Opportunities Course of Suggested Study” I am focusing on creativity and innovation, two very important topics for any careerist.

Career Opportunities Course of Suggested Study

Creativity and Innovation

We all have in us the ability and the necessity to create. Whether we are working on the next great technology or the next great recipe, creativity allows us to combine old knowledge with our own experience and create something new and wonderful. In order to “build the career you deserve” you need to explore this creativity at every opportunity and in every way. Deny your creativity and you will lose it. Honor your creativity and it will honor you back with great ideas, innovation solutions and idea that no one has thought before.

Questions to Consider

• Why do we create?
• How do we create?
• Is every job a creative job? Why? Why not?
• Can creativity lead to a better life and career? How?
• Is creativity the gift of a precious few or is everyone creative?
• Can you set aside “creative time” in your calendar?
• What would you create, if you took the time and energy to do it?

Resources

• The Accidental Creative with Todd Henry – Blog | Podcast | Book
• Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney – Blog | Podcast | Book
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield – Web Site | Book
• A Whack in the Side of the Head by Roger van Oech – Blog | Books
• Goosing Your Muse with JoAnn Braheny – Blog | JoAnn’s Creativity Book Recommendations
• Video: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity from Ted.com
• Video: Tim Brown on creativity and play from Ted.com
• Video: Charles Leadbeater on innovation from Ted.com
• Video: Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering from Ted.com
• Book: Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
• Book: Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
• Book: Flow – The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• Book: If You Want to Write – A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland
• Book: Jumpstart your Brain by Doug Hall
• Book: Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie
• Book: Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg

*Many of these books are available at your local public library. Save yourself some money and look there first.

Share your thoughts!

What did you learn from this Suggest Course of Study? Do you have questions or comments? Would you like to discuss this with your fellow Career Opportunities readers and listeners?

You can create and continue the discussion on Creativity and Innovation here on the blog by posting a comment, or starting a conversation on the Career Opportunities Facebook page or the Career Opportunities page on Google+. You can discuss this topic in real-time on the Career Opportunities Work Room at Hall.com. This includes a chat room and video conferencing capabilities. Contact career@welchwrite.com for an invite.

I came across this very interesting blog post and discussion thread today on Google+.

Here is the original blog post that started the conversation.

ROBBIE ABED’S PERSONAL BLOG: Fire Me Now, I beg you!

In every situation I ask myself two questions:

• What do I want the outcome of this situation to be
• What do I secretly want the outcome of this situation to be

For example, at one of my previous jobs, my boss setup an emergency meeting in her office. The title of the calendar invite was “catch up”. It was one of those vague meeting titles that meant one of two things: 1) She wanted to catch up or 2) She was going to lay me off.

Read the entire article here

More importantly, here is a great discussion thread on Hacker News that that blog post generated.

YCombinator: Hacker News Discussion Board

There are some great thoughtful and insightful comments there, including…

This is actually a great mental exercise for determining if you’re fundamentally unhappy at your current job. Just try and imagine your boss calling into a meeting like the one the OP describes and giving you some sort of, “your work has been good, but unfortunately we have to make some changes, and this will be your last day” speech, and imagine how you would feel.If your reaction is something along the lines of relief, then you are fundamentally unhappy at your job. You have not only concluded that it is not a good situation, but that the situation is incapable of improving. It’s likely only artificial mental restraints keep you from doing anything about it (“oh man I may have to move, moving is annoying… and I guess I get paid pretty well, most of my friends are making half what I do… and my boss said some things would change, although he said that months ago…”) and those restraints aren’t even that strong, otherwise you wouldn’t be relieved if you got laid off.

It is very worthwhile to look through this thread no matter where you are in your current job.

This photo is great, but as a career professional, I take great issue with the text.

Photo: David Kokua

It says…

PHP?
Javascript?
MySQL?
AJAX?
Can you code?
If yes…
My Daddy wants to give you a job! (emphasis mine)

This is wrong!

No one GIVES you a job….you EARN it!

When you talk about GIVING someone a job, it shows a deep misunderstanding of the work world. Unfortunately, it is also a deeply ingrained bias. Employers like to think they are GIVING someone a job like some great benefactor. Instead they should be looking for partners. People who care as much about their company and their work as they do. To start off a relationship with the concept of GIVING someone a job sets entirely the wrong tone.

Despite the economy, workers have many more options today than they have ever had in the past. With all things being equal, workers would much rather work WITH someone than work FOR someone. This is very important — and will grow even more important — in the years to come. The next time you are trying to fill an open position at your company, drop the patronizing attitude of GIVING someone a job and you might just find someone amazing to work WITH you.Together you can achieve great things.

I stopped by the weekly #beonfire Twitter chat this evening for the first time and stepped into a discussion about tenacity and persistence. Here are some highlights from my comments during the chat.

• As with all things, you have to balance tenacity and persistence with thinking or you can try harder at the wrong thing.
• @Pistachio Yes, we all have cycles in our energy level. You have to know where you are a the moment and how to proceed
• @ShellyKramer Anything you learn from is NOT a failure, even if you close/abandon that particular project.
• @BSchuler I think true failure is rare, but re-aligning is very, very common. We adjust with each step we take.
• @Pistachio Important to understand that certain projects go “fallow” for periods of time, then come back. Not really dead.
• I think more people are stopped by fear of failure then failure itself, so important to get people moving in any way.
• Really tenacity is using inertia in our favor. Letting small movements carry us along — Object in motion staying in motion
• @npersona Tenacity and persistence is about Intelligent thinking about WHY you are being tenacious and persistent. Stubbornness is ego driven.
• For me, the difference is am I doing for what I want to accomplish or because my ego is over-involved in some way. Ego = big problem
• For me, this is why I work with/collaborate with others. Doing something with/for others helps with the ego.
• @Pistachio Sometimes, you just have to kick yourself on the butt and realize you are being destructive in  your stubbornness. i.e.
• @Pistachio when we “take our ball and go home” unless people do it exactly our way. THAT is EGO with a Capital E
• What drives me? Others. I have often said that I do my best work when I am working for something that helps others as well as myself
• @ShellyKramer Yes. Everbody wins or no go. Winning at the expense of others, knowingly and actively is BAD JUJU.
• What will I be more tenacious about? Working hard to spread word about my career unconferences and finding more backing. Fund raising is NOT my strong suit.

A complete transcript of this #beonfire Twitter can can be found on their web page.

What do you think about this story? Add your comments!

Here are the Career Tips and questions shared via the @careertips Twitter account.

Follow @careertips

• [Tip] Do you closely follow news about the publicly traded company where you work? You should. Employees are often the last to know.
• [Tip] Let interviewers know as much good information about you as possible. Make them look forward to seeing you in the office every day
• New Booklet: Career Compass: Finding Your Career North – http://eepurl.com/i18ff
• [Tip] What do you say behind people’s back? What would you do if they did the same? Paybacks can be nasty.
• Amazon Prime users can read my books for free. Please take a look and review if you like them. Thanks! – http://douglasewelch.com/index.html#books
• [Tip] At work, never assume that someone understands you. Have them say it back in their own words to be sure. If not, try again.
• [?] What is your secret to career success? What skils, talent or attitude help you build the career you deserve?
• [Tip] What work do you do best? Think — How can you do more of it? How can you get even better at it? Now go and do it!
• [Tip] I Like This – 50 Blogs for Your Must Read List -  http://bit.ly/wtMaE7
• [Tip] Mondays are time to re-group, make plans and get started on this week’s accomplishments. Don’t let them be filled with dread.
• [?] What is keeping you from changing jobs this year? Fear, insurance, income? Could you do better somewhere else?

Another great #CareerChat Twitter chat today. Below are some of my comments during the chat. Join is for #careerchat, each Tuesday Morning at 1pm EST/10am PST. You can view the entire chat using this Twitter Search on #CareerChat.

• For me, I think that people need to get the word out immediately about their availability. Put your network to work.
• Keep your LinkedIn profile updated at all times. It is easy to do and doing it little by little is much easier than big updates
• Put some thought into what you WANT in your next job, not just what you NEED. You want the BEST job, no just the NEXT job.
• FYI @careertips is Douglas E. Welch from Career Opportunities column and podcast
• just published a Kindle booklet called Career Compass to help people decide what they truly WANT to do. Timely
• In many cases, your network might turn up opportunities you can act on within days. Best case scenario.
• As for volunteering, consider starting your own org/group/etc and “volunteer” for yourself.
• You need to constantly be showing people “what you do and how well you do it!” Never stop looking.
• After a layoff is not the time to be trying to figure out LI, updating resume and such. Need to be prepared.
• Need to be prepared even if you are working. Never know what opportunities might come your way. Be ready to take advantage.
• I always recommend “telling a story” in your resume rather than just listing skills. Stories really help sell you.
• Think out if it is time to relocate geographically, too. Where are the best opportunities for your type of job?
• Speaking with our Sicilian relatives, temporary relocation for work is a fact of life for them. That surprised me.
• Further on starting own group – if you are group, you know some people, if you start a group, everyone knows YOU.
• Don’t undersell your own skills. Chronic problem with workers today. Not askign you be arrogant, but respect what you bring.
• I feel they (paper resumes) are dead. I WISH they were dead, but old habits die hard. Seems an antiquated job search tool to me.
• Educate! There are so many sources for online lifetime learning these days. Heck, you can learn much just searching YouTube.
• Most resumes are designed to be consumed by digital systems at companies, so they look more like data than a resume
• My recent podcast on Lifetime Learning – Lifetime learning enhances your life and career – http://t.co/4Uy3jKsv
• I am also highlighting online classes that I find interesting on my blogs, etc. All sorts of topics – iTunes U, CodeAcademy, MIT
• Use About.me and others. It is not an either/or question, but Yes/And. That said, have your own home base blog to point to
• A blog is your home base to show people what you do and how well you do it. Collect EVERYTHING there.
• Give people as much opportunity to stumble upon you as possible. Be everywhere you can be, but link all to home.
• You never know where your next opportunity might come from. You don’t know who your audience might be.
• My goal for everyone is to attract work TO THEM, rather than having to go looking for work.
• t seems only right as the Internet has given us great tools to network and market ourselves, if we only used them
• You are just as likely to find your next in a locker room, in the coffee shop or online as you are in traditional process
• As a freelance consultant, a lot of my clients come from happenstance meetups around town, through friends and family.
• I think of “opening the lines of communication” to be one of our most important jobs for our own self preservation
• No one else can/will care as much about your career as you do. They simply can’t. It is up to you to build career.
• ..and trust yourself, and love yourself, and respect yourself…
• As Edison said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
• I find that work for yourself and on yourself is far less onerous than work for others. Tough to do, but good.
• I find that constructive criticism is hard to find. Too many people cloak as constructive, but are actually destructive
• Shameless plug – My Kindle books on careers and social media available from my site at http://t.co/y5CQ0xSw
• Have to consider the source greatly. Too many “blocked” people build themselves up by tearing down others. Sad.
• Insecurity is one of the most damaging traits in society today. It leads people to do some amazingly bad things.

In case you haven’t heard it elsewhere  – on the Career Opportunities blog, in the Twitter Feed or Facebook Page — I am here to announce the release of my latest career ebook, Cultivating Your Career Reputations.

Listen to the audio promo

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This 11,000 word book is available for immediate download in the Amazon Kindle bookstore. Kindle books can be read on almost any device including Windows and Macintosh computers, iPhone, iPads and Android tablets and phones using the FREE Kindle Reader software.

Here is an example from the introduction of Cultivating Your Career Reputations.

“While we often talk about one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R — I believe that there are a series of reputations that make up the whole. This book will focus on the combination of reputations that make up your one, overarching, Reputation. By examining each of these reputations in detail, I hope you will find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation grows.

Why break your Reputation down into its constituent parts? It is often said that you can’t “do” projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project and achieve the desired result. The same can be said for reputation. You don’t build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole.”

Sections include:

• A Reputation for Fairness
• A Reputation for Honesty
• A Reputation for Trustworthiness
• A Reputation for Decision-making
• A Reputation for Empathy
• A Reputation for Helpfulness
• A Reputation for Compromise
• A Reputation for Clarity
• A Reputation for the Big Picture…and the small
• A Reputation for Balancing Work and Self
• A Reputation for Creativity and Innovation

Buy the book, or download a sample, today!

Other Kindle Books by Douglas include:

• Social Media Self Preservation
• The High-Tech Career Handbook

Follow @careertips on Twitter, Career Opportunities on Facebook or Career Opportunities on Google+ for more career tips

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