"Why job seekers need your help"/ "If you're not different, then who are you?"

Jul. 2, 2018 "Why job seekers need your help": Today I found this article by Eileen Dooley in the Globe and Mail:

Human resources strategist, VF Career Management, Calgary office

Many of us know others who are unemployed, voluntarily or involuntarily, people who are searching for that next meaningful opportunity to showcase their years of earned skills, or advance to the next level of their career.

Especially mid-career, this can be a daunting task: full of disappointment, rejections and, sadly, outright rudeness.

It takes courage to actively look for a job – and by actively, I mean networking. This involves calling people you know, and those you don’t know, asking for information, leads and advice on continuing your search. It takes co-ordination, determination and a commitment to overlook the negativity one encounters, and to focus on the positive feedback. 

Those who help people looking for work are usually more helpful than they realize. It takes only one good connection or one good recommendation to help job searchers land the role they’re seeking.

Looking for a new role is often a humbling experience. People believe that years of experience and a record of achievements make the search easier. 

Rather, it makes it harder because experience gives people more of a sense of what they don’t want – not necessarily what they do want. 

My opinion: Yeah, but you do know what you want, so you go after what you want.

When e-mails and phone calls do not get returned, when interviews go well without the job being clinched, they learn a great deal about themselves, and those around them.

They should never be ashamed to admit it.

Fourteen months ago, a friend quit her executive vice-president position and embarked on a challenging search for a new role in a tough job market.

With 20 years of experience, she searched for the right role, in the right organization. She sought the help of others through her extensive networking strategy. It was fraught with both positive and negative moments.

Ultimately, she landed a terrific role in a startup that is offering her the challenges and satisfaction she was looking for. 

To bring the experience full circle she sent a personal note to her network of people – not just about her new role, but articulating what the experience was like for her. One of the most pointed excerpts:

If you’re receiving this e-mail, you belong to a very special group of people that have truly offered their support to me throughout this past year. You supported my decision to make a change, opened doors for me, expanded my network by connecting me with some new and interesting people, offered me work and, more importantly, your words of encouragement on the days when I needed it. 

This time has confirmed much of what I knew about myself and shone the light on some things I didn’t. It has also brought into focus the importance of genuine friends and sincerity in business. I’m very grateful to know you.

I hope there will be a time in the future when I can return the same generosity you have extended to me. As I get settled in my new role, I will be sure to forward along contact details. 

This was a step many of us do not see often, and especially one that many do not have the courage to admit.

We offer our help, just to see a LinkedIn notification that a change of employment has happened. The personal touch is not there – and it should be. 

It tells people that their help mattered, in ways that they may not realize. They had an influence on another person; they may have changed a perspective or sparked a revelation. People may not know they have this power, but they do.

A note like this reminds us.

So bring the search full circle: Inform those involved in your search not only where you landed but what impact this time had in your life. It takes courage to do this, but no more courage than it takes to make that first phone call asking for help.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-job-seekers-need-your-help/

1 year ago

True stuff, as I discovered--really, for the first time in my life--at age 55 when I started job hunting (all the years before, most of the job opportunities "hunted" me.) Even as a 20-year sales veteran--where you're supposedly always on the hunt for the next contract/sale--the job search for the "over the hill" and "old school" guy was daunting. Paid off along the way--and the big score four years in--but it was a real slog. Nice to see the reality acknowledged.

My opinion: That's a positive article.  My favorite part was this:

"It tells people that their help mattered, in ways that they may not realize. They had an influence on another person; they may have changed a perspective or sparked a revelation. People may not know they have this power, but they do."



"If you're not different, then who are you?": Today I found this article by Roy Osing in the Globe and Mail: 

Former executive vice-president of Telus, educator, adviser and author of Be Different or Be Dead.

Fitting in has been hammered into our heads our whole lives. 

School teaches us to comply and conform to what the textbook says. Our parents reinforce at a very early age that being normal like everyone else is the thing to do, that not being like others gets you noticed and gets you in trouble. Business encourages us to find best practices and copy them as the way to improve performance.

As a result, we have created herds of people who are all alike in some way. 

This is a real problem in organizations in which establishing a competitive advantage is the ultimate goal. An advantage isn’t about copying what another organization does; it’s about creating a uniqueness and distinction that is unmatched by anyone else.

And it’s also an issue for individuals who are looking to get a job and start a career. Getting that interview and landing that position is not about looking like every other candidate; rather, it’s about standing out and being noticed as someone who demonstrates special attributes that others don’t possess.

Gecko or chameleon?

The point is this: If an organization or individual does not possess anything unique about them, why should anyone notice and care about them? Why should they be chosen over the plethora of options people have? 

If they are not different in a way that is compelling and appealing to others, they will blend into the crowd and will disappear from anyone’s radar.

What do you notice and find more interesting: a chameleon or a gecko?

A ptarmigan or a cattle egret?

Your identity is determined by your context, the frame you live in. It could be the market segment your organization competes in or your MBA graduation class. 

In both cases, the challenge is to find a way to gain a competitive edge and be successful given the many others seeking the same result.

If you are indistinguishable from others that share the same context, you will have no identity to those witnessing you and deciding whether or not to engage – other than family, of course, who have no choice in the matter.

Success is achieved for both organizations and individuals by staking out an unmatched position that separates one from their context; that separates them from peers, colleagues and competitors.

The best isn’t good enough

Jerry Garcia, business genius and leader of The Grateful Dead, nailed it: “You don’t want merely to be the best of the best, you want to be the only ones that do what you do.”

Claiming a position like being the best, the leader or No. 1 doesn’t separate you from your context for several reasons. First, it’s not unique – many make claims like this. Second, it rarely can be substantiated with hard facts. Third, it’s not believable.

Stepping away from your context is not about using comparatives like “better” and superlatives like “best”; it’s all about being “the only one” that does something. 

It’s a simple expression of what you do that no one else does. It can be observed and it can be measured.

It doesn’t have to be complicated 

Finding what makes you uniquely special needn’t be complicated. It’s a matter of discovering what interests people and satisfying it in a special way that surprises others and makes them remember you.

• Strumming a signature long, protracted guitar chord at the end of every song.
• Amazing problem-solving abilities of employees who directly deal with customers every day.
• Having employees who genuinely care about others.
• Offering a personalized video résumé that speaks to your audience.
• Being the first one to put their hand up and volunteer for a project that will take personal time.
• Remembering the names of people you meet.
• Creating a character for your grandchildren – mine was “Papa Troll” – that enriches their lives with fun.
• Giving credit to peers and colleagues rather than wanting to personally grab the spotlight.
• Using uncommon words and your own language that is a bit out there, such as “yummy incoming” and “cut the crap.”
• Having a simple and informal communication style that captures the hearts of other people and makes you real.
• Keeping promises made in a world where this attribute is very rare.

Get it in your head

Stepping out of your context begins with having a mindset that makes it a constant priority; you live and breathe it every moment of every day, whether you are in an organization or in your personal life. 

You are always looking for opportunities to surprise others and do things differently than what they expect.

Be the chameleon.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/leadership/article-if-youre-not-different-then-who-are-you/

"What learning judo taught me about being a leader"/ Jean-François Côté

Apr. 2, 2018 "What learning judo taught me about being a leader": Today I found this article by Jeff Element in the Globe and Mail:

President, The Travel Corporation Canada

In my early teenage years, like every good Canadian kid, I played hockey. My days were busy with practices, while my nights are remembered fondly as filled with streetlight-illuminated games of pick-up in front of my house. I had always thought that hockey was the sport that would carry me through adulthood, until my high school principal hired a judo instructor to come teach a few after-school lessons to the brave students who signed up. At fifteen, I was just curious, and possibly competitive, enough to join in. Less than two years later, I quit hockey and have never looked back.

Throughout the years, as I’ve worked towards a second-degree black belt, judo has taught me a great many things that apply in everyday life as well as in my role as president for The Travel Corporation in Canada. 

Judo isn’t about being the strongest in the class, but about timing and intelligent in your actions. In its most basic translation, judo means gentle way, and the craft of the sport is intended to focus your attention on letting your opponent make an ill-fated decision, which will allow you to maintain control and ultimately prevail.

What follows are four major practices in judo that take form whether it’s in the dōjō or boardroom.

Discipline

As with every sport (and profession), it takes practice to become proficient and comfortable in your abilities. Most people will lump judo into a broad range of fighting techniques that mostly just translate to kicking and punching, but it’s much more composed than that. 

Judo is about self-control and maintaining a sense of calm in all situations. You can’t go into a match with your adrenaline pumping, hoping to see some blood – that will be your own downfall. With any situation that arises on the mat or in the office, a loss of control can be the difference between success and failure.

Timing

The phrase “timing is everything” is applicable in almost all aspects of life, but it’s one of the most important lessons in judo. An early thing I learned was that it’s very hard, near impossible, to move an opponent who’s standing still; it can be like trying to move a mountain. 

You need to wait for them to move on their own – a quick step to the side or an advance on you – to be able to use that momentum against them and knock them down. When it comes to business, even the best-laid plans need to wait for the perfect moment to be introduced or can run the risk of falling by the wayside.

Respect

Regardless of whether you’re dealing with a partner, an associate, an assistant, an intern or an opponent, respect is monumental. From the time I was a teenager, it was drilled into me that by respecting myself, I would learn to respect others, which translated into always competing in a clean suit, arriving on time and following the customs that had been set way before my time. 

To be seen as a worthy opponent or partner, you have to act like one, and nothing could be truer about the business world. If I want to be taken seriously and respected as the president of a company, I need to present myself in a respectable light and extend that to everyone I encounter. That’s a philosophy I try to impart in every aspect of my day-to-day life.

Community

It’s funny to think that judo, which really isn’t much of a team sport, can be so ingrained within its own community, but it’s true. Once you get to a certain level in the practice, it’s expected that you will turn around and teach it right back to the next generation, something I quite enjoyed. 

You’re given the opportunity to pass on your experience to people of all ages who are new to judo. That same sense of community is vital in an office where expertise, ideas and solutions need to be shared and passed through the ranks to have a continuously learning and cohesive environment.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/leadership/article-what-learning-judo-taught-me-about-being-a-leader/

Sept. 10, 2018 The Ladder: Jean-François Côté: Today I found this article by Karl Moore in the Globe and Mail:

Jean-François Côté is the chief executive officer of District M, a digital media company offering diverse programmatic advertising solutions for publishers and advertisers. He has more than 20 years of experience in the media industry and holds an MBA from the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM).

Growing up, I lived in a small French village, working in farming. My grandfather was a well-recognized entrepreneur in farming, and I learned a lot from him, observing his business deals and client meetings.

I understood early on the importance of speaking English to doing business in the global context, and my father encouraged me to pursue learning English in school. Learning English in 1998, in the absence of the internet, posed different challenges from learning English today, including struggling to finish exams while flipping dictionary pages.

The job search was vastly different before the internet – I remember printing 40 CVs per day. I would borrow my dad’s car, and drive around to submit my CV to different companies.

I learned from incredibly powerful mentors during my time at Pratt & Whitney. John Di Bert, now chief financial officer of Bombardier, was one of the greatest influences and educators that I had there.

I spent 20 years working in the corporate world, before I pursued entrepreneurship, at PricewaterhouseCoopers in consulting, then at UQAM to pursue my MBA, and at Yellow Pages in Business Planning.

The shift from print to digital affected both publishing agencies and advertisers. I determined that if you were able to optimize on supply and demand for these stakeholders, you would be able to leverage technology to best help both.

Creativity in advertising is incredibly important, and in the wake of technology’s impact on business, companies sometimes forget to be creative. District M enables advertisers to maintain creativity while leveraging technology.

“What do my next 10 years look like?” This is a question I asked myself, after spending almost 20 years in the corporate world. I did my MBA, and was uncertain whether I saw my future at the C-level of a large corporation.

My first venture into entrepreneurship was when I was 15 and I ran a hockey-card business on [Montreal’s] South Shore; my grandfather gave me a $10,000 investment to turn this into a business. A few childhood ventures and many corporate years later, at age 35, I was faced with whether I would return to my entrepreneurial roots and try something on my own, or accept a good, stable, corporate job.

Because of my corporate background, I really prepared to fail, and thought of what the “worst case scenario” would be. From the day I started District M, I put a huge focus and priority on planning.

 I knew that even if I were to be a C+ in strategy, that I would have to be an A+ in execution – and District M operates at a level of A+ in execution.

Sometimes you have sleepless nights and there is a lot on your mind and you’re tossing and turning and you can’t get any rest – you know that feeling? That’s the entrepreneurial mindset: You never really rest, there is always something else to think about.

I’m very proud to be in Montreal and go toe to toe with Toronto, New York and [Silicon] Valley businesses. Our costs are lower in Montreal, the people are very talented and we have the advantage of language, speaking eight different languages in my office. Language enables global reach, with business 80 per cent outside of Canada.

I’m very passionate about leadership. Getting to Yes changed my life, and I give it to all my new sales representatives to read. Growing up, I was always captains of my sports teams, and maybe it was coming from a large family, but I love to work as part of a team – win as a team and lose as a team.

Leadership is my mindset and I love to be a leader, talk about strategy, execution, get to know teams and manage the people based on their strengths and needs.

Intense workouts energize me and refresh my energy and a clear mindset – and this has a huge impact on how I run my business.

Balancing work with a family, I often end my day at 6 p.m., go home to be with my kids and then come back online at 9 p.m. until around 11 p.m. or midnight. It is incredibly important to me to tend to my e-mails. People can always expect to hear back from me within 24 hours.

The luxury of being an entrepreneur is that I’m able to spot potential in people and train them. Someone coming from the restaurant industry and a former DJ, are now managers at District M because they had the aptitude and proper training.

We manage the company like a corporation, but with the culture of an entrepreneur. If you want to have the right culture in place, you can’t go top down – it needs to come from the employees themselves, bottom up.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length. With reporting by Elaina Yallen.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-district-m-ceo-

My opinion: I looked up the book Getting to Yes:


Getting to Yes is a straightorward, universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting taken -- and without getting angry. 

It offers a concise, step-by-step, proven strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict -- whether it involves parents and children, neighbors, bosses and employees, customers or corporations, tenants or diplomats. 

Based on the work of Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deal continually with all levels of negotiations and conflict resolutions from domestic to business to international, Getting to Yes tells you how to: 

• Separate the people from the problem 
• 
  
• Focus on interests, not positions 
• 
  
• Work together to create opinions that will satisfy both parties 
• 
  
• negotiate successfully with people who are more powerful, refuse to play by the rules, or resort to "dirty tricks" 
• 
  

https://www.amazon.ca/Getting-Yes-Negotiate-Agreement-Without/dp/0743526937