More Than One Way
The Internet is cluttered with programs and ads claiming their way to build a brand, is the right way to build a brand. I’m here to tell you, there’s more than one way. Many claim their system is the right way, the best way, the way that works. One of those might be true, but let’s get real, there are so many options to build a brand, so many tools, and marketing companies to use, so many ways, one person could never try them all.
Personally, it comes down to a couple of things, and its old school. Be persistent, and never quit.
If you stick with your strategy, your plan, and you always deliver, or ship. You will eventually have built a brand, you don’t need to buy every program that claims it’s the best way to build your brand, or claims to be the easiest. You can, but it still boils down to hard work, and being there everyday, showing up, shipping, delivering, it works, and is the truest way to know you did something. If you blogged everyday for a year, you eventually would have built a brand, because you shared, you were maybe helpful, you solved a problem, or maybe, you just informed your reader of something they never heard of, thought of, or new before.
That’s the beauty of building a brand, or sharing your work, you never know who is interested, or even likes what you’re doing. The most important part is, you’re doing it. The world needs you, it needs to hear from you, it wants to hear from you, no matter what your product or service might be. Writing, music, photography, the list is endless, whatever you’re passionate about, and you want the world to know about it, then put out there for the world to consume it.
No matter what you choose, there’s more than one way to build your brand, find the way that fits you best, and yes it will take time and effort, but do that, pay that price.
The Future Of Business – The Resume Part 2
I happen to be married to an HR Manager who disagree’s with my earlier post, she claims that resume’s, traditional resume’s are the only way to hire in certain industries, I disagree of course : ) Her argument is for those who are labor workers, those who drive forklifts, work in warehouses, drive pallet jacks, stock shelves and so on. If you believe resume’s are the only way, then you’re right.
Let’s talk about this traditional way for a moment. I’m going to do a very high-level view here, not much detail, but you’ll get the idea I hope.Let’s use a warehouse job scenario. Someone submits a résumé to your HR office, it goes in a pile for review, you’re holding job fairs (that cost money), you have a staff person give the résumé’s a once over, and those resume’s are short listed. Once you’ve decided who is on the short list, you call them in for an interview. Keep in mind, you know nothing about the candidate, other than what’s on the resume. You then arrange an interview, if the candidate is a good candidate, by whatever measurement you’re using, you go to the next step. Yes or No, are you going to go further with the candidates after the first interview.
Typically, once you’ve decided to offer a person a job, whatever it might be, you do a background check on them, you are now going deeper on your financial commitment. On average, once you’ve decided to hire a full-time employee, it costs your organization around $10,000, and they haven’t worked a minute, you just hired them. And you still know very little about the person you just hired, you still don’t know if they can meet the job description, and or physically do the work. Sure you have 90 days to decide if they are a good fit and will keep them on, but you’ve just spent good money after bad.
I would recommend to the warehouse to set up a website that runs candidates through a serious of questionnaires and tests. This site does low-level training while they are applying, for the purposes of knowing more about a candidate long before they even get an interview. Yes, there is an investment in building the online tools, but it’s a one time investment, you’re not paying or investing large amounts of time and money.
By directing job seekers to your website, you save your HR staff time, and you don’t waste time interviewing poor candidates. Aptitude testing, job related testing, and how to do certain job activities online can tell much more about someone than a piece of paper ever will.
If we are going to change the way we do our work, we must change the way we look and think about the work we do. It’s a paradigm shift, it’s not easy, but if you’re willing, you will be seen as a problem solver that saves time and money.
The Future Of Business – The Resume
Why are we still submitting resume’s? Why do we continue to use them? They’re not useful, not in the way they need to be, so why do we keep using a tool that doesn’t work very well? Most resume’s never see the light of day, in fact, the only time they get looked at, is if there is an immediate need. What’s the first thing you look at when you have a résumé put under your nose? Where they live? Their email address? Job / Work history? References?
That’s the most I’ll invest in reviewing a résumé, I tend to skim it, in fact, I rarely look at them. I would prefer you considered less time-consuming methods, give me a picture of who you think you are, and what others say you are. You can’t really do that in a résumé, because the résumé is skewed by the person submitting it.
The location or where a person lives may be important, if you need them in an office, and they live across the country, you either have to pay moving expenses, or find someone local. The email address, if its a Gmail, yahoo or any other kind of free service, that tends to be a negative, but not show stopper. I prefer to see applicants invest in owning their personal domain name, it shows commitment to me. Job / work history gives me some insight about whether they can do what I need done, it’s not that important because every job has a training cycle anyway. References are probably the most important part, but not the one’s the applicant sends me, I want objective views of a person. I don’t want to hear about how hard they work, I want insight as to what kind of person they are.
The résumé of the future will be and is, a more transparent view of the candidate.
If you must send me a resume, just email me your LinkedIn Profile, completed of course. And most importantly, you should have connected with me somewhere before, don’t just blindly send me your info without knowing if I’m looking, or knowing anything about what I do. Having said that, LinkedIn at least will give me some outside context, have they been recommended, when did those recommendations get posted, and by whom. Have the endorsements been tinkered with, most likely, it’s the easiest thing to game. After that, I’ll do my leg work, like skimming FaceBook, Google, and other Social Networks that may show character pro’s and con’s. I will invest my time in doing research online before I ever decide to interview someone face-to-face.
Personally, resume’s do not work well, there are some many ways for me to learn about a candidate, and more effective ways to get picked. I feel the same way about business cards, they too rarely get used, or produce the kind of results one hopes for. Even job banks are terrible, recruiting sites, and they’re digital failures in my humble opinion. The best way to solve this dilemma, once you’ve determined what work you want to do, figure out how to connect with the principle or HR person, and build a relationship be it online or off. Yes, it does take effort, but connecting with those who make the decisions, or influence the hiring, will get you closer to your desired result.
I may sound smug, even arrogant, if someone wants to know about me, I usually tell them to Google my name, that will direct them to my website, which is my personal domain name, and ton more about what I’ve been up to on and offline. The résumé isn’t dead, it’s different, it’s digital, and we must be creative about it, think differently, otherwise….you’ll be last at the food dish, and the last one rarely gets the gig.
What’s Taking So Long?
This question is usually saved for trips with your kids, they’re stuck in the back seat, yelling, “Are we there yet?” or “What’s taking so long”. Those who have traveled with children know exactly what I’m talking about.
Some 20 years ago, many of us thought commerce and the Internet would have a stranglehold on business and it would change how we live. In some way’s it does, but in many, not so much. Those over the age of 30 can’t seem to let go of the Industrial Age, it’s what we know. We got comfortable being told what to do, how to do it, and waited until someone gave us orders. The combination of fear and change keeps us there, we love control, and we like things just as they are, right?
Roughly 3 or 4 years ago I was telling you that 60% of all commerce would be done online, we haven’t hit that number just yet, but it’s getting close. We’ve almost hit 60% in Canada though. I also shared that 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies would either be gone, changed its name, or completely re-invented themselves. That’s true, but there is a long way to go. Why? We don’t know how to change that fast, we have trouble letting go of what we know and trust. We still think the government will look after us, that we don’t have to teach younger generations a new in this connect economy we find ourselves in.
What appeared to be a locomotive running out of control, was merely a bright light, but make no mistake, that locomotive is getting closer, and moving faster and faster. As the younger generations re-write the business rules, those hanging on to old practices and set in your ways thinking, will more likely conform to the connection economy, just you did with the Industrial Age way of working. Eventually, we adapt…..or we die.
The question shouldn’t be, what’s taking so long? The question should be, what am I going to do to make sure I’m still in business when that day comes, when what’s taking so long arrives.
What’s Fusion Marketing?
What is fusion marketing? Fusion Marketing is simple really, you do me a favor & I’ll reciprocate – kind of like Barter Advertising – it’s a different way of using old marketing tactics. For example, you put my sign in your store, and I’ll put yours in my store front. To me it’s just a fancy name for helping each other market for free.
It’s not a business model, it’s just marketing.
