The importance of the personal story was perfectly illustrated to me last week when I was approached by a friend asking for help in getting back in the job market. She had a resume and a LinkedIn profile – fulfilling the absolute minimum requirements for any job seeker – but had no idea how to jump start her search.

Initially, she wanted my help pursuing a senior development position with a local non-profit and asked for some help modifying her resume to make her more attractive to the organization’s director. However, a quick perusal of her resume convinced me that no amount of creative writing could transform her background in the hauling industry and real estate management into anything remotely appropriate for the opening she wanted to pursue.

Not wanting to dash her hopes upon the jagged rocks of reality, I sat down with her to discuss her previous work experience and asked her to recount some of her most distinctive, enjoyable and memorable moments from her previous jobs. Initially, she started to recount the tasks she performed in each of her previous positions, but I told her to put the resume aside and just tell me stories that stood out in her mind.

She described the day she was hired at the hauling company, interviewed in a dank interior office, lit by a single bulb and crammed from floor to ceiling with paper. Unopened envelopes, bills, unsent invoices, even checks, piled on every surface and jutting out of every cabinet and every drawer. The office resembled a scene from Hoarders and presented a challenge to my friend. She offered to get the entire office and business organized and running efficiently and was hired on the spot.

She then spent weeks opening every envelope, sorting payables from receivables, meeting with bankers to discuss how the company would work with the bank from that day forward, met with the accountant to clarify how the books should be kept, contacted all the clients to resolve billing issues and personally handled all client service calls. She took over the business and made it run. And she loved doing it. She faced a herculean task that would have driven me into one of the cluttered corners, whimpering in the fetal position and dove into the project headlong.

I love her story. And she had others. How she expanded their client base from 65 clients to over 3000 by herself. And how she handled all client service calls and built enduring relationships because her clients never called their hauling company, they called Paula. She became the face and voice of the company and turbocharged its growth.

Once I heard those stories, I didn’t care what accounting program she used, or how they processed payroll. I simply trusted that she could face a task – no matter how complex – dive in and get it done. And I appreciate it more because she excels at the things that I avoid. And I know dozens of business executives like me who desperately need someone who can organize their business and keep it running smoothly day to day. Is there a title for that? I don’t know. But I know there’s a story to tell that will let Paula put whatever title she wants on her business card.

So, what are your stories? The ones that are so memorable you still remember the tiniest details? They don’t have to be your greatest successes, either. Frequently they result in failures that taught you permanent lessons. As long as they continue to inspire you, they’ll inspire your listener. So jot them down. They’ll separate you from every other job seeker who focuses on their tasks without sharing the technicolor details of their real accomplishments.

There was a lot of overlap and similarity between these successful hiring execs that centered around several consitent themes:

1. Always hire talent, even if you don’t have the perfect spot for them yet. The single most difficult task of any executive is finding and retaining talent. If you discover a gem of an employee, hire them and create a role for them. You never regret adding creativity, ingenuity and intelligence to your team.
2. Ask questions that require them to tell stories about their experience. Resumes are filled with dates, sales targets met, percentages of quota filled and numbers of direct reports. But these recitations of statistics and static observations don’t tell whether the job seeker will fit into your company and culture. Ask them to describe in detail how they managed their greatest failure. Or how they managed to get corporate support for a new, unusual product launch. How do they work? Who do they work with? What do they value? If their answers match your culture, grab them up.
3. Culture always trumps strategy. One lesson learned by virtually every executive is that a brilliant mind doesn’t always result in a successful employee. If the new employee doesn’t share your values and embrace the way you conduct business, they will not work out for you long term. They never do. Hire to culture, not just capabilities.
4. Rely on referrals for your best candidates. Put the word out to your network of friends and business associates announcing what you’re looking for and let your network generate a stream of referrals. Your friends will only refer those they believe are truly capable of doing the job because if the candidate fails, the referrer’s reputation is similarly diminished.
5. Don’t focus solely on hiring talent from your industry. It’s predicted that the average graduate coming out of college today will likely have dozens of jobs and will switch careers entirely several times during their worklife. Hire talent, aptitude and attitude, not specific industry skills. These are the people that can step into the roles that don’t even exist yet.

At one point he talks about a lack of imagination and uses Steve Jobs as a kind of anti-example:

And some of it, to be quite frank, Robert, is an appalling lack of imagination and guts on the part of these same CEOs who are complaining and pointing the finger at every else. You know, these guys are very good at cutting. They’re very good at blaming others. They’re a little less good at coming up with creative new products and services, and they’ve got a little flabby in that regard in the last few years where the focus has been on surviving and cutting, as it should had been. But they’re not the gutsiest group of people in the world.

Look, do you hear Steve Jobs complaining out at Apple about this?

It is true.  In the midst of high unemployment and little growth, Apple has managed to capture the imagination of the world with not one but two innovative new products.  Is it possible for simple creativity to save a company?

Well, it couldn’t hurt.  There’s plenty of evidence that investing in new creative ideas when things look worst is a smart move.  Partly because your competition is so much less.  Also because the talent and resources to be creative are priced lower.

But this isn’t a strategy just for CEOs.  Creativity is often driven from the ranks.  So whether you sit in a corner office or the middle cubical, cranking up the creativity may not just be a smart move.  It may be the necessary move.

Listen to the full interview here:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128519775

Dispelling much of the media hype about our country’s decline in manufacturing, overall manufacturing production in the USA has remained remarkably constant for decades. What has changed dramatically is the number of jobs used to generate our manufacturing output. Since 1979 the manufacturing workforce has shrunk by 40% and there’s every indication that it will continue to shrink since the productivity of manufacturing workers has never been higher.

The decades-long decline in manufacturing jobs reveals several important factors of the manufacturing job market that must be understood and acted upon by job seekers, manufacturing companies and government entities alike.

1. the lost jobs aren’t coming back. Just as the jobs for phone operators were replaced with digital switches that could handle exponentially more calls at a fraction of the price of an operator with a headset, manufacturing has embraced automation and will never return to manual processes.
2. new manufacturing jobs require higher levels of technical skill. Manufacturers need employees who add value to the manufacturing process. They don’t need a warm body capable of punching a button to activate a punch press 120 times an hour. If you can’t provide more value than a simple machine, you will not get hired. Employers are looking for individuals who can operate and program their automated machines. These new positions requires mathematics and computer programming skills that former machine operators never developed.
3. training is essential. Although there are thousands of machine operators who are potentially capable of updating their skills to include programming, these operators all need training. Solutions have to be developed privately and publicly to enable these workers to shift from simple machine operation to advanced programming, monitoring and operating.
4. essential skills need to be introduced in high-school. The new manufacturing jobs are higher paying because they’re more demanding intellectually. They require an understanding of advanced mathematics, logic and programming that are not imparted in the current high school curriculum. Students should be introduced to the skills that will play an increasingly large role in their professional lives so they will be better prepared to step into real-world employment opportunities with a solid educational foundation.

Control Your Contact
You don’t want to get hiring calls while you’re at your current job or while you’re making lunch for your kids. You need to be in a private area that allows you to focus on the conversation. In addition, you need your resume, your list of questions and a notepad in front of you to jot down important thoughts and details and you need to be prepared. Provide your prospective employers with a single number to reach you. Typically this is your mobile number. If you receive an unscheduled call, ask if you can call back when you’re available to speak privately or have them reschedule the call at a time when you can be prepared. Make sure you have a very professional voice mail message on your mobile phone and check your messages regularly. Return every call as soon as possible and if you end up in a phone tag situation, be persistent and proactive.

Focus
Only conduct interview calls when you are able to devote 100% focus to the call at hand. If you get a call while you’re in your car or out in a social situation, ask to reschedule the call. The hiring manager wants to conduct the best interview possible and will understand that you can’t focus on the interview if you’re distracted. They will be understanding and accommodating and will respect your desire to perform your best.

Practice Your Answers to the Tough Questions
You know exactly where your professional weaknesses are, and you should expect that they will be revealed during the interview. Do you have a lot of project experience but not much management experience? Are you competing with MBA’s when you only have an undergraduate degree? Did you move to four different companies in three years? Be especially prepared to discuss these difficult issues, and determine how you can position your weaknesses in the best possible light. Knowing how you are going to respond to tough questions makes them much less intimidating.

Google Yourself
Every job candidate should be aware of all the information that will be revealed about them during a public web search. Every employer I know conducts at least a quick Google search on every job applicant just to discover what’s out there, so make sure you conduct an Internet search on yourself to preempt any surprises. In this new age of social media dominance, you need to be aware that your social media activities will also be reviewed by many employers and recruiters. Expect your Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter pages to be examined, and if you have anything on your sites that can be considered offensive or inappropriate, either remove the items or shield them behind privacy walls. Anything that remains public can and will be used against you during your job search.

Arm Yourself With Information
When you apply to a company, it’s incumbent upon you to learn something about that company. Knowledge is power. Read their entire website. Learn their company stories, how they were formed, what their mission statement reveals and familiarize yourself with the entire breadth of their products and services. Read their News Release page to see how they present themselves to the public and to determine how active they are in their industry. Then do a Goggle news search to see if they’ve been in the news for any reason, good or bad. When you’ve done your research, you can be assured that you will stand out among the crowd of applicants with your ability to speak informatively about the company and its activities.

Tell Stories
The single biggest drawback of resumes is their focus on titles, dates and responsibilities. But your real job consists of daily stories that demonstrate how you work with others, clarify the skills you bring to each project and explain how you achieved specific results. Facts are forgettable while stories are memorable. For each position that you’ve held, write down the three most compelling and illustrative stories that demonstrate your expertise, your commitment and your management style.

Engage in Conversation
An interview is a dialogue, not a monologue. Although the interviewer will typically control the conversation and ask most of the questions, you need to engage the interviewer during your responses. If you’re asked about specific technical qualifications, respond precisely then ask how your skills would fit in or fill a need with the employer. Your responses should be limited to two minutes before you ask your own question concerning how your talent and experience would fit in with the employer’s organization. This is an excellent time to determine if you fit into their organization and culture. If their management style revolves around a command and control dynamic but you excel in an open organization with a less formal management structure, then both you and they should discover this early in the search process. Ask questions and engage in a real conversation about life and work within their company.

Final Thought
When you answer your phone, and there’s an employer on the other end, you’re on. You have to be prepared to convey your professional strengths, relate the value you bring to an organization and express your enthusiasm for their company.  Think ahead about what you will say, how you will respond to difficult questions, and have your personal stories memorized that will demonstrate the skills and experience you offer. Use your resume as a guide but let the conversation extend to the employer’s current pain and problems that hiring you will alleviate. If you’ve prepared, you won’t be anxious and you’ll deliver the great first impression that will get you the face to face interview that you really want.

Here are five tips to taking full advantage of all that Prezi has to offer

1.)  Use Sparse Words

Prezi is great because it lets you emphasize how ideas are connected.  So big ideas are big and smaller ideas around that big idea are small.  You can present your big idea and then zoom in supporting points.  But, like PowerPoint, you’re in control of the amount of information presented.  Too many words can make your presentation difficult to follow.  One Idea=One Slide still holds for Prezi.

2.)  Think In Layers

Prezi lets present 4 or 5 big ideas, and then zoom in on each one.  Take advantage of this feature to create layers within layers.  So within idea 1, reveal 5 supporting points that can be zoomed in on as well.  A good rule of thumb is to ask if each layer would support itself on its own.  If you’re able to do that three or four layers deep, you’ll have a compelling presentation visually.

3.)  Cut Up Large Backgrounds

Some more sophisticated Prezis use large backdrops behind the presentation.  Picture zooming around a desktop or a parking lot and you’ll get the idea.  But because images flicker as you zoom too close, this visually stunning idea can fall flat on its face.  Any large, cohesive background should be very high resolution and cut up into pieces.  These pieces can be sized down and put together like a puzzle within Prezi.  It will give you a few more levels of zoom without the flicker.

4.)  Save Often

Working with Prezi online, save often.  There are glitches in the program that will allow you to work happily for hours without an ability to save work.  Save after every major step of your content creation.

5.)  Trial and Error to Get an Image Really Small

Some image just won’t shrink small enough for you needs.  Zoom in as far as you can and then import your image.  It will be tiny.  The only problem is that when you try to resize it, the image will jump to a much larger size.  Trial and error is necessary to get it right.

6.)  Record and Narrate

Right now you can embed Prezi’s and share them, but you can’t really share the full content of your presentation — namely your voice.  It’s kind of an odd omission by Prezi, but there’s a work around.     Create a Prezi and then record it using screen grab software.  You can add a narration track later or do it ‘live’ during the screen grab.  Now you have a narrated Prezi you can share through YouTube.  Prezi, are you listening?  Wouldn’t it be better to have that sharing happen on your network?

Alec’s approach was so simple and so direct, that it will undoubtedly be copied frequently by other job seekers. And why not? It was imaginative, it was unique and it worked. No reason others shouldn’t push the same envelopes in their job search endeavors as well and take full ownership of their personal brand and determine precisely how it’s presented.

For those imaginative small business owners, you can do the exact same thing when preparing to meet with a client who needs SEO or social media services. Buy the Google adwords for their company name a few days ahead of your meeting. Then, during your pitch, ask them to Google themselves and see your pitch for their precise needs at the top of the page. They’ll wonder how you got the top position, they’ll be impressed that you know how to manipulate the page rankings and you’ll have demonstrated your capacity to outimagine your competitors.

Bottom line, you and your firm can appear distinctive and memorable. And that’s always a good thing.

Email has the potential to dominate our time and attention if managed improperly, so here are a few email rules to live by that will help make all our digital lives a little easier to handle:

1. Summarize the reason for your email in the subject line.
   Yesterday I received a message whose subject consisted of a single word: cards. I had no idea what the sender was referring to. Was I supposed to buy cards? Play cards? Design cards? What type of cards? The possibilities were endless. Turns out the sender wanted me to print a document of theirs on my color laser printer. Rather than making me open the mail to discern its purpose and importance, the sender should have written in their subject line something like: need the attached printed in color by Tuesday. In an instant I would have known their intent and been able to prioritize their request, but instead I was compelled to open their message, read it, process it and then move on. Don’t waste your reader’s time. Do the courteous thing and summarize your message in your subject.
2. Make sure your complete name appears in the From: line
   Steve sent me a message yesterday. Steve who, you ask? I have no idea, since Steve didn’t include his last name in his email identifier. Like many of you, I know a lot of Steves. There are 15 Steves in my contact database. So, which Steve was this message from? I had to open the message to read his signature which included his last name. As important as you are, if your name isn’t Cher or Bono, be considerate and make sure that when you set up your email preferences that you include your entire name as your identifier so that your email recipients will know it’s you.
3. Create a Signature that appears automatically in every message.
   OK, even if I know it’s you and I know exactly how to get in touch with you, what do you think happens if I forward your message to someone else? Without your name, email address and phone number printed within your message, they have absolutely no way to contact you. Every email program provides the ability to create an automatic signature. You can even customize the signatures for multiple email accounts. It’s easy. Learn how.
4. Keep emails short.
   We’re all overwhelmed with email messages. There are days when I receive over 400 emails and dread the process of sifting through them all. Although most are junk mail, I still have to peruse dozens of messages to determine how to process them. Make it easy for your recipient and keep your email messages short and to the point. The best messages can be read in their entirety in the preview pane. Edit ruthlessly to keep your messages on point, conveying your purpose and the recipient’s obligations quickly.
5. One subject per email, only
   If you’re working with someone on more than one project and need to know the status of specific tasks, it’s preferable to send the requests in separate emails rather than pile them all into a single message. By sending separate messages, the recipient can reply to each message with a brief response that encapsulates entirely the status of that project and your emails can generate a thread of conversation dealing solely with one topic. Mixing multiple messages leads to confusion and inevitable oversights. Make it easier on both of you and deal with just one thing per message.
6. Reply immediately
   Get in the habit of replying to your messages as soon as you read them. Even if it’s simply to acknowledge that you received their message and will be getting back to them when you have more detail or have had a chance to think about the content of their message. They’ll rest easier knowing you received the message and you’ll have their message in your to-do queue.
7. Don’t hit Reply All unless it’s really, really necessary
   We have enough messages in our Inbox without adding unnecessary responses from 42 people invited to next week’s webinar or the 12 people playing softball after work on Thursday. Reply to the Sender only unless it’s absolutely necessary for every participant to know your plans. And really, how often is that?
8. Keep mobile in mind
   More than 70% of email messages are picked up on our handheld devices, not on our desktop computers. How should this shift in behavior affect your messaging? It makes it more important to keep messages brief, both in the length of your message and the size of any attachments that you include. Although you may not think twice about attaching your 5MB Powerpoint presentation to your email, your recipient will be cursing you as they wait for your entire message, complete with attachment,  to download on their Blackberry or iPhone. Send attachments only when absolutely necessary.

The bottom line: be thoughtful and courteous in your messaging to save everyone time, aggravation and energy.

“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat.

“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”

(Actually, the comments section is really interesting.  There are over 700 comments on the topic and they’re pretty fierce and informative about PPT and its use in business and military circles.)

We’ve talked before about how deadly PPT can be to a presentation and about paring down slides to their essence, but this is a whole new angle.  The US military, according to the article, is using PPT to actually communicate complex ideas internally.  In other words, they aren’t just giving an engaging concept of what the plans are, they are delivering plans in this manner.  So it’s not just a summary — it’s the plan itself.

Many officers defend the practice, saying that it’s easier to create slides than to write a brief to communicate strategy.  Many companies take the same view.  It’s the old “no one reads anything any more”.  That’s true.  However, it can be difficult to actually communicate a complex strategy in a few bullet points.  You wouldn’t want your house built with a PowerPoint and not a blueprint, right?  Don’t let PPT replace a written document or strategy.

So what replaces it?

Personal communication is still a great way to gather ideas.  Whether it’s a brainstorming session or a more formal presentation, taking away PowerPoint can actually get you information more quickly and concisely.  Written reports are also not a bad way of communicating.  And asking for more details is probably not a bad idea.  Again, that can be done personally:  ”You say on page 7 that we’re going to grow these three markets, but how?”

The New York Time piece also points out something that many companies don’t consider:  the amount of time it takes to produce all of these presentations.  PowerPoint turns us all into graphic designers and gives the illusion of productivity when little may be there.

It’s true, the program does have its place.  If you need to give a presentation, and you must convey information visually, it can supplement a great oral presentation.  But to coin another military phrase, it does have the potential for mission creep.

Why This Can Be Bad

The problem with making everything about consensus building is that it pre-ordains mediocrity.  People build toward the positive point of least resistance and consider the point they’ve happily reached together the best outcome.  Often it’s a good outcome but not a great one.  Without risk, originality, or passion, ideas rarely have the chance to be great.

Solution: Force an Argument

Lay out 3 or 4 scenarios and have teams argue the pros of each.  Make it clear that no one can come to agreements. Everyone is right about the argument and everyone else is wrong.   Your decision can be nuanced, but the arguments don’t need to be.

Prepare for the Backlash

You may shock people with this approach, but think about it this way: the power of a decision often rests in one person’s hands.  So does the responsibility.  All that consensus building goes out the window when the buck stops at your desk.  Also, be consistent in how you assign decision making.  Put it in the hands of one person and not a committee.

The next consensus may be that you made a good decision.