Category: Work and Office

Resume Rules

On By ashleyfausIn Corporate Etiquette, Work and OfficeLeave a comment

I had the opportunity to comment on some resumes recently, and the request for feedback warrants a post. I noticed significant differences in the style, information included, and length of the resumes of these candidates than resumes for candidates more similar to myself. I attribute these differences partly to generational differences, and partly to career tracks. Let’s a take a look, shall we?

Long resumes. Each of the resumes was 4-6 pages in length! This, to me, was pretty surprising, as the latest standard that I’ve heard is a 2-page maximum. Prior to the 2-page maximum, they told us in high school that our resumes should be a maximum of 1 page in length. In college, most professors explained that executives and hiring managers don’t have time to “waste” reading your 8 page resume, so you need to treat it like any other business proposal: short, concise, value-proposition. They wanted us to make sure our resumes were “executive summaries”, versus a “life story” of our career history.

Repetitive Information. Several candidates included repetitive information, which contributed to the extra length in the resume. Instead of only including their additional duties in a new position, they would copy and paste all the duties from their past positions. If they’d made a lateral move that included the same duties, they simply wrote down the exact same list under each position and company. To me, it makes more sense to organize a resume by skill-type if most of your positions fall under a broad set of skills. For example, my resume is broken down into Marketing and Customer Service, Project Management, and Presentation and Public Speaking. I then list each position and the specific accomplishments, versus the broad description, “created Marketing material” under 3 or 4 different companies/positions.

Full history. It was also interesting to see that these candidates included career history that did not relate or contribute to their qualifications for the position at hand, which, again, contributed to the additional pages on the resume. Many of these candidates have been in the industry for 20-30 years, but their first position in the industry isn’t really relevant to their ability to do the position we’re hiring for. The candidates also enumerated education and courses that were not applicable for the position. It seemed that many of the resumes were not tailored for the position, but just a running list of the last 30 years their career. I suggest tailoring your resume and including only the relevant experience and education, even if you have experience outside the description. For example, my theater resume includes my height, weight, hair/eye color, and sizes/measurements, as well as past shows, and vocal and dance training. The personal details are illegal to ask about in a professional interview for a corporation, and the vocal and dance training are irrelevant to my ability to do marketing. While they may show dedication to perfecting a skill, they don’t contribute to the skills in question.

Broad descriptions. Many of the resumes used broad descriptions like, “improved sales” or “handled customer complaints.” Today’s resume gurus stress using hard numbers or specific accomplishments. Instead of “improved sales”, today’s resumes require, “increased sales from $1,000 per day to $1,200 per day”. “Handled customer complaints” would become, “reduced customer complaints by 20%” or “increased monthly customer satisfaction score by 10%”. Since many people work in positions that require soft skills, there are too many ways to interpret these broad terms. A lot of people “manage” or “improve” an area, but specific examples will set you apart.

References. Each resume either included reference names, or included “references available on request”. From what I’ve heard over the past 3 years, “references on request” is out. The assumption is that if someone wants references, they know to ask, so there’s no need to tell them, “it’s ok to ask”. Further, with technology today, many companies can run a background check to verify much of the information on your resume, so they are less dependent on personal references than in the past. These days, if you want to know if someone is worth their salt, you can probably just go to LinkedIn and take a look at the “recommendations” on their profile! Also, today’s laws prevent employers from providing a lot of information, so references are not as useful as they once were. Some companies still check references, but many do not ask. I have not been asked to provide references or letters of recommendation outside of academics for any of my past positions.

Experience track. I noticed that many of these candidates have experience versus education. This is not a bad thing, it’s just different than myself and my peers. I think this is partly a generational issue, in that 20 years ago, a college degree was less important than it is today. Many of my parents’ friends don’t have college degrees, and they’ve been quite successful. This is almost unheard of among my friends, as we all attended college, and many are pursuing or considering graduate education. These candidates worked their way up from the bottom over the last 20-30 years, whereas younger candidates seem to emphasize education early in their career. From what I’ve seen, the education does appear to fast-track people, even if they’re older. For example, most executives in my company are in their 40s, and possess at least a Bachelor’s, and many, an MBA. These executives have held Senior positions at various companies with only 10-15 years of experience, instead of 20-30 years of experience like their less educated peers. They’ve moved higher in the organization and at a faster rate than those with less education.

Overall, this was a great opportunity to get a glimpse of how hiring in my industry occurs. It was also interesting to note how times have changed in resume style, and in experience/educational requirements. All of these candidates appear to be well-qualified for the position we’re offering, but it took a deeper look at their resume to figure that out. How have resume rules evolved since you’ve been out of school or interviewed for a position?

The Numbers Don’t Lie (Or Do They?)

On By ashleyfausIn Advertising, MBA Degree, Work and OfficeLeave a comment

I’ve been on a data-gathering mission since I started my position, and now grades are up for my MBA mid-terms. In short, I’ve got numbers running out my ears! I’m probably the least numbers-conscious person you’ll ever meet (seriously, ask my husband about the calculus study incident where the book, pencil, and calculator somehow managed to fly from the table to the other side of the room), but I’ve been particularly interested in the numbers lately. Most people who like numbers say that their affinity for numbers stems from the single answer they provide, and the “truth” shown in the numbers. Us marketers know better… hence the reason we tend to hate the numbers, because the numbers don’t actually provide the data we’re looking for. So, the numbers don’t lie… or do they?

Let’s start with grades and GPAs for the MBA. In theory, everyone answers a certain number of questions correctly on the exam, and receives the empirical percentage associated with those correct answers. Except, there’s a curve… and you’re not technically graded against yourself or the exam, but rather, the rest of the class. Thus, if everyone flubs the mid-term, you could end up with a decent grade by just being better than the average. That was my strategy in Economics, to make sure I wasn’t the dumbest person in the class. In reality, I managed to do really well on that mid-term, only missing a few questions, even without the comparison to the rest of the class. This example generally backs up what many people seem to think: grades and GPA are really not a strong measure of a person’s intelligence or work ethic. By “not being the dumbest”, someone could end up with at least a 3.5 GPA. This is probably somewhat off-set by the fact that a high GPA indicates that they weren’t the dumbest person in every class they took, which might give a semi-accurate measure of the person’s intelligence and/or work ethic.

My latest struggle deals with sample size and statistical significance (I know, marketers everywhere are coiling in horror at those words, as am I!). I’m trying to determine our referral lead sources for the business, so I’ve asked the sales reps to survey their customers when they go on a sales call. On one hand, I’ve got a really small sample size, so my results aren’t actually statistically significant, meaning I can’t really draw worthwhile conclusions. On the other hand, it’s a survey that is directly targeted to and answered by our customers, meaning that if what they say is true, it’s a good representation of how our customer base actually behaves. So, now I’m back to the marketer’s dilemma: WHY? Why do people read this magazine or that magazine? Why does this ad appeal to one segment but not the other, and how influential is segment A over segment B? Should I start re-allocating my advertising dollars if a publication suddenly sky rockets in the survey results? I’m much more leary of changing the spending, since 1 or 2 responses can “significantly” change the data.

Last, I think survey numbers in general are a little fuzzy. Did you control for different factors, like lifestyle, age, product-type, etc.? I’ve seen a lot of studies that quote statistics, but statistics are easy to skew. I’m currently trying to aggregate data to determine the “real” response to our ads. What is the best way to change them to improve our numbers in the survey? Is the survey sample really indicative of our customers’ thoughts and behaviors? I think the aggregate data is very telling, and the moderators also give you real comments from real participants, which helps immensely. I’ve found the comments to be much more helpful than the numbers in determining why our ads did not score as expected.

So, while I’m currently chasing the numbers, I still think the numbers need to supplement comments, conversation, and human observation. I think the numbers do their best to tell the whole truth, but nothing but the truth… the numbers are gathered by people, so it’s going to have some slant from someone!

Transparency and Credibility Part 3

On By ashleyfausIn MBA Degree, Work and Office, Work-Life DecisionsLeave a comment

I’ve been steadily working my way through the perils of transparency and credibility, and I’ll wrap it up today with a discussion on publishing “personal stuff” on my blog. This fear stems from the fact that people who are close to me sometimes read the site, and maybe I don’t want my real-life connections to know some of this personal stuff. The seeming anonymity of the internet makes people much more willing to share their secrets and private information. In my case, this makes no sense, as I am clearly NOT anonymous. I’m easily identifiable by anyone who knows me, as I put my full name, resume, and contact information out for the world to see. Thus, it’s a false sense of anonymity that prompts me to consider sharing the more personal information about salaries and education costs. I think it’s because most of my readers are at least somewhat anonymous to me, so I feel like I won’t have to deal with the awkward real-life situation of readers knowing my salary and spending habits. So, what are some benefits to sharing this information?

First, my salary and cost of education are facts, so I shouldn’t really be embarrassed about the choices I’ve made. If I’m not doing anything to change those facts, I must be comfortable with them. As everyone else in the world also makes a salary and most likely has some educational spending, it’s not like I’ve got secret facts that are unique (like, say, if I’d killed someone. May be a fact, but I clearly wouldn’t want to share that if it was true.) Thus, my personal journey to my current salary, position, and educational spending might be very helpful to some of my readers. When I was considering the MBA, I researched costs and salary potential for months before deciding that this was the right direction to take my graduate education. I would love to be able to help someone else make this type of choice, with good information about where I started and where I progressed to after receiving the MBA. Did it really get me a salary increase? Was it really worth the hours spent in a classroom? Do I actually use the information I learned in my classes?

Second, in the interest of fostering a helpful community, I’m thinking that these facts would help others realize they’re similar to at least one other person in the world. Kind of a “if she can do it, I can too.” While discussing real estate options with a classmate of mine, I discovered that some options were available that I’d never considered. This classmate was kind enough to be completely open about the choices they’d made on real estate purchases, including total payments, monthly payments, long-term plan to pay off the loan early, interest rates, and other things that most people keep secret. Had this person not shared their experience candidly, I’d have no idea that my husband and I could do what they did! We tend to be very protective of our financial habits in the US, but this is not the case in much of the world. In some countries, “what’s your salary” is a common getting-to-know-you question. I think it’s because we tend to place a lot of our self-worth on what we make, and we know others will judge our worth based on our salary. So, if we just keep that number a secret, we can inflate our worth to whatever we want! As mentioned in the earlier parts of this discussion, I’m not fooling anyone into believing I’m perfect by not publishing “damaging” posts, so why not let people decide for themselves if I’m “worth it” by publishing my salary/educational spending?

Lastly, I think I could get some valuable feedback by posting this information. For instance, part of my strategy in pursuing the MBA, is to gain skills that I’m not able to gain in my current job or side projects. I’ve done extensive research on the types of positions that I would like to obtain, and then looked for some classes that help me gain the skills I’m lacking. Why not get some feedback from others who have these positions, or are similarly working toward them? I think the real-world feedback I might receive would be infinitely more helpful than the anonymous experiences of someone representing a company or business school… they’re paid to tell you that b-school is the right choice, that their company only hires the best, etc. How do I know if I’m getting paid what I’m worth if I don’t talk to other professionals like myself? How do I know that my degree is worth it if I don’t hear others’ experiences that also confirm what the internet tells me?

While I’m using this post to argue for transparency on salary and education costs, I’m still not completely sold on this idea. I might have to do baby steps on this one, starting with educational spending, and possibly working my way into salary issues. I’ve done well to be transparent by publishing this post and this post, and I’ve had positive feedback that this transparency increases my credibility, but you may have to wait a little longer for me to come around on this one!

Dealing with a Debacle

On By ashleyfausIn Work and Office3 Comments

As promised, here’s another “scary” post, in the interest of transparency!

So, I really enjoy sharing the times when I’ve done well on a project, but I feel that it’s only fair that I also share the complete debacles that I’ve had a hand in. Lucky for you, I happen to have a recent debacle that can actually provide some tips for fixing a screw up. Let’s take a look at the timeline and action steps, shall we?

10:33 pm: Ready to head to bed

10:38 pm: Receive text message from my boss that their shipment has not arrived at the hotel

10:39 pm: Kick into panic mode and call to find out the problem

10:45 pm: On hold with shipping company’s customer service

11:15 pm: Find out the physical address where package was delivered, Bing it, find out that it’s a hotel literally across the street from the correct hotel for delivery

11:20 pm: Call Wrong Hotel and ask if they’ve got our package, find out they had shipping company pick it up at 3:30 pm that day because when they called Correct Hotel, they were told there was no record of a guest by the name shown on the package (epic fail here as well, as this guest checked in the morning that the shipment was sent back, so at the time of the inquiry from Wrong Hotel, he was less than 24 hours from checking in at Correct Hotel)

11:30 pm: hold forever for shipping company customer service, find out that shipping company’s system doesn’t show that they’ve picked the package up to return to sender, they’re still showing it as “delivered”… AKA, sorry, we can’t help you

11:31 pm-2:00 am: Calling, texting, emailing, tracking online, generally running in circles to see where our package is currently located, and what we can do to get that package delivered to Correct Hotel by noon

7:15 am: arrive at the office to find out that the package is at a hub that is about 15 minutes away from Correct Hotel… SCORE

7:25 am:  shipping company won’t do an address correction because the package had special restrictions for delivery, so it must be picked up at their facility in person; also find out that it’s all my fault for putting the name of the Correct Hotel and guest, but the address of the Wrong Hotel

8:00 am: find out that the hub isn’t actually 15 minutes away, but an hour away; find out shipping company could try to re-deliver to Wrong Hotel, but can’t guarantee the shipment by noon

8:03 am: our in-house shipping expert arrives and sees the insanity in his inbox

8:10 am: in-house shipping expert pulls some strings to get a courier to pick up the shipment from the shipping company’s facility and deliver it to Correct Hotel

 

Whew, are you as stressed out and frustrated as I was? I bet not, and I hope you don’t ever find yourself in this type of situation. But the reality is, humans and software make mistakes, so let’s take a look at mitigating those mistakes.

Fast action. I panicked when I received the text that the shipment wasn’t at the hotel, and for about 5 minutes, I let the panic keep me from making an action plan to deal with the situation. Don’t let the panic take over… take a deep breath, put on your business brain, and make a plan for fast action. From the timeline, you’ll see that I was able to quickly find out what went wrong and where, which helped me begin to formulate a plan of action.

Bring in an expert. Dealing with a shipping issue is not my area of expertise, so as soon as I was able, I brought in an expert. This person was able to find a solution to the problem much faster than I was, and he used his connections to get things moving as soon as he walked in the office. While it’s good to try to handle things yourself if you are the person most available, bringing in an expert leads to a solution much faster. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, as you’re really seeking a solution, not saving face, at this point.

Be open to alternatives. Again, when I was in panic-mode, I took a very narrow approach to solving the problem. I kept pushing one solution to the forefront, when there were many solutions available. When my first attempt at a solution failed, I snapped out of my tunnel-vision and decided that I should be open to ANY possible solution. When I brought in an expert, he came up with an alternative that I wouldn’t have thought about, which ended up being the correct solution to the problem. Don’t focus on being right, focus on making the situation right!

There’s no doubt that this shipment was a complete debacle. But, with quick action and cooperation, the shipment arrived in time.

 

Pride Goes Before the Fall

On By ashleyfausIn Corporate Etiquette, Work and OfficeLeave a comment

“Pride goes before the fall” is conventional wisdom, often told to children to help them understand that arrogance will generally come around and bite you. The same conventional wisdom can be applied to corporations, especially in the slowly-recovering economy. I’ve had two conversations about corporate arrogance over the past week, so the resulting blog post stems from these discussions. Namely, the the companies in question are about to fall flat on their faces, due in part to their arrogance.Why is their pride about to lead to a fall?

Arrogance is off-putting. It’s a well-known fact that no one likes a bragger, so rolling up in your Lambo while the client is driving their old reliable Honda and then bragging about your new Ferrari sitting in the garage generally leaves a bad taste in the client’s mouth. This can foster an attitude of wanting you to fail, just so that you’ll be brought back down to reality. Do you really want your clients resenting you from the start? It goes back to knowing your customers. One company mentioned in the recent discussion with a colleague related that a corporation wanted to get more money from a client. The President of the client’s company always road coach, drove a sensible car, and made it clear that he was just a hard-working, normal individual. The corporation flew a private jet to the client’s headquarters, signaling that they were superior in work and lifestyle to their client. How do you think this affects the business relationship?

Arrogance reveals incongruence. As in the story related above, the corporation’s arrogance showed that their interests were not really aligned with the client’s interests. If the client is trying to make wise financial decisions to try to weather storm, a corporation’s careless spending does not signal an opportunity for a strong business partnership. Similarly, if you don’t treat your front-line employees well, a client might worry that those people will jump ship. This again signals a poor foundation for a business relationship, since the goals are not aligned from the top-down. The same is true of inter-company interactions. Top management may say they are committed to building and maintaining a talented team of satisfied individuals, but they can’t do that if they’re constantly flashing six-figure bonuses and denying reasonable compensation and perks to lower-level employees. Are you really keeping the company’s and employees’ best interests in mind when laying people off due to “budget restrictions”, while taking a huge bonus and buying fancy toys? This inconsistency leads top performers to seek an environment where top management’s goals are more in line with their personal goals.

Arrogance leads to isolation. Both discussions lead to comments that employees were leaving the company left and right, since management didn’t value the employees. These employees took their customers with them, since the corporations weren’t doing anything to make the customer feel valued. Guess what… with no customers, and no employees, you don’t actually have a successful corporation! The big bonuses and flashy lifestyle that accompany a big paycheck rely on the “little people”… you know, the customers and employees? If you’re so amazing all by yourself, customers and employees are happy to go to a place where they’re needed and appreciated. Since arrogance is off-putting, people will try to get away from the discomfort, leaving an arrogant corporation without a means to support the “stuff” that made them arrogant in the first place.

It’s one thing to have options, which makes you confident and successful. It’s another thing to be so full of yourself that you think you can’t fail, which causes you to alienate customers and talented employees. Recent discussions about corporate arrogance have proven that pride really does go before the fall.

On CRM and CMS

On By ashleyfausIn Work and OfficeLeave a comment

With the website and sales updates we’re doing for my company, I’ve got CRM and CMS on the brain! Then I find out that apparently people don’t actually know what these acronyms mean, how they work, or why they’re useful. No wonder they haven’t been implemented yet! Let’s have a little primer on CRM and CMS, shall we?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems help sales teams maintain relationships with their customers, just as the full name indicates. This is usually a web-based tool where sales people track leads, estimates, contacts, and projects to make sure that they contact customers at just the right time, with just the right offer. CRM systems help sales people and management forecast sales and timing the cash flow. For example, car dealerships do an excellent job utilizing the forecasting component of their CRM. They tend to combine the information about your purchase date, date of last oil change, and hopefully, average mileage per year, to send out reminders for your regularly scheduled maintenance. They’re hoping that by sending you a branded reminder, you’ll be more inclined to return to the dealership for your routine car maintenance. CRM systems are also helpful to keep track of contacts, ensuring that multiple sales people don’t contact the same lead. You can upload documents to most of the CRM systems, which allows your team to access estimates, invoices, and other customer contacts from any location, saving valuable time and hassle of digging through their laptop or having someone email the form to them. Having all the information in one place saves time and money, and improves communication throughout the organization.

Content Management Systems (CMS) help you organize, edit, and distribute content. We’ve implemented a CMS on our website, so that I can make edits and updates on-the-fly, instead of having to contact a third party programmer to make the edits. WordPress has a content management system as well. These systems are designed to make the updates and distribution simple for non-technical users. Instead of having to go into the complexities of coding, I can use the interface to perform functions like I would in a Word document or web-based browser. Adding links to a post requires the “link” button commonly seen in email interfaces, and uploading a document involves the “upload” button, just like attaching a Word document to an email. Similar functionality applies for images, videos, and audio files, making updates easy!

As I mentioned, I’ve been dealing with both of these acronyms over the past few months, so hopefully this quick review will be useful when you’re discussing these tools in your organization.

Barista to Businesswoman: What I Learned Behind the Coffee Bar

On By ashleyfausIn Work and Office, Work-Life Decisions3 Comments

As promised in this post, I’m officially publishing one of the “scary” posts in my queue!

 

I’m putting a pretty big secret out into the world by writing this post, but I think I’m far enough past it to write about it. The secret? I worked as a Starbucks barista when I couldn’t find a full-time job in my field. My freelancing hours weren’t enough, so I picked up the barista job. Now that I’m in my full-time position, I’ve heard that a lot of other over-qualified people have had to take jobs with less pay and less prestige during the bad economy. But you know what? I decided to give my best to that job, even if it was a temporary bump in my road to success.

In addition to learning to make some of my favorite menu items, I also learned a lot about dealing with people. The ability to make observations about people has been a transferable skill for my current job, where I deal with a lot of different personalities and perspectives. Starbucks helped me understand people’s buying habits, priorities, and often, their whole outlook on life. When you serve the person that is always on their cell, and just slides their card across the counter, it says something about them. What about the person who comes in every day to work on their laptop? You learn to take visual and audio cues differently, and process the information at a much faster pace. Business is the same way… can you figure out who’s the most senior person in the room? Can you tell by the tone of voice when the negotiation is going sour?

You wouldn’t think it’s a great networking opportunity, but I did manage to make quite a few connections. The craziest connection I made was with a VP at one of the largest technology firms in the world. She came in every day, impeccably dressed, and always in a hurry. She ordered the same coffee, the same way, and one of two pastry options, every day. She walked fast, talked little, and moved in and out with efficiency like you’ve never seen. Half the store was scared of her, but I wanted to be her. I did manage to talk to her a few times, and found out a little about her job and rank through these conversations. I talked with a fellow under-employed co-worker (she had a nursing degree but couldn’t get hired in CA) about somehow finding a way to network with Ms. VP. The day before I gave notice at Starbucks, I gave her a hand-written note that said, “I know this might seem a little strange, but from what you’ve said about yourself, you seem to be exactly where I would like to be at the peak of my career. I know you’re very busy, but would you have time to let me buy you a cup of coffee? If not, I completely understand, and I won’t bring it up again. If you do have time, please feel free to contact me at ashley@conscioulycorporate.com when it is convenient. Thanks, Ashley.” I was shocked, amazed, and excited to receive an email from her that evening, offering to set up an hour to meet! On the day of the meeting, I showed up with her coffee and pastry, just as she always ordered. She turned out to be very down-to-earth, and gave me an open invitation to contact her any time. My crazy networking risk paid off, and I’ve never regretted writing that note. I was also able to have several discussions about advancement into the corporate level with our district manager, who was happy to send along my resume if a corporate position opened up.

Finally, I learned a lot about managing people, inventory, and cash when I became a shift supervisor after 2 months as a barista. Starbucks is such a fast-paced environment, so every decision is spur of the moment. You can try to plan, but every minute brings on a new situation. And, when you’re in charge, you can’t freak out… even if you’re 10 drinks behind, you spill a drink all over yourself (thus putting you 11 drinks behind), one staff member is due for their Federally-mandated lunch break, AND there’s no milk in the fridge beneath the espresso machine. Again, what can be transferred to business? When the big presentation that’s due tomorrow isn’t finished, do you cry or pull an all-nighter to finish it? When you stand in front of an important client for the biggest pitch of the year, are you shaking or confident? Can you juggle 20 projects with the same deadline? I thought I could do a lot of these things before, but being front-and-center with customers who haven’t had their coffee yet and a staff that’s been up since 4:00 am teaches you a thing or two about yourself!

So now you know… my deep, dark, professional secret was the time I spent as a barista at Starbucks. But you know what? I learned a lot about myself, customer service, managing people and priorities, and how to make a great latte! What more could I ask for from a bridging-the-gap job?

Tranparency and Credibility Part 2

On By ashleyfausIn Work and Office, Work-Life Decisions9 Comments

I wrote last week about the balance between transparency and credibility, and I’ve been mulling it over ever since. It was actually sparked by two complete posts sitting in the queue, waiting to be published. One post discusses a mistake I made at work, and how I went about fixing the mistake. The other post talks about my time when my career was flat-lined, and the job I held for most of that time. My conundrum is that, particularly on the blog, I have complete creative control… I don’t even have to bring up the “bad” stuff, and I can almost pretend that I’ve got it “perfect”. While we all know that’s not true, there’s absolutely no impetus to spur me to publish those posts, and I’m not lying to you by not publishing them. But, am I doing a disservice to all of us that have made a mistake (which, honestly, who HASN’T made a mistake at work, at least once?)? Am I doing a disservice to all those affected by the recession, thinking that they’ll never get their career moving again? There’s also the quandary about how much “personal stuff” to reveal on the blog, especially as it relates to career. Do I talk about salary and costs of my MBA? Let’s take a look at these questions!

First, regarding mistakes on the job, I’m coming to realize that I should probably just publish that post. I find it helpful when I come across these types of posts with a mistake and advice on fixing the problem, and I rarely judge the person who reveals it. Instead, particularly in real life, it helps me know that I can ask this person for advice, since they’ve probably done something similar in the past. For bloggers, I think this openness fosters a community of advice, such that we can all learn from each other and improve ourselves. If everyone only showed their “perfect” side, we’d never learn anything! If I notice that I’m making a similar mistake to my peers or fellow bloggers, I can find someone who’s already addressed this issue to ask about improving. I also think it’s healthy to bring up the subject of mistakes, since our corporate culture often shies away from taking a practical approach to those who make mistakes. It’s better to address the issue, figure out what went wrong and where it went wrong, and lay out a plan of action to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It’s also helpful to the organization if they realize that multiple people are making the same mistake, a process change might be necessary. So, my conclusion is that I’ll be publishing my mistake in the near future… hopefully at least one person will be able to learn something from my mistake.

Next, I’m realizing that I should probably publish the post about my job during unemployment. Most of my concerns about this post stem from pride, and the fear that people won’t think I’m credible. If someone takes a “lesser” job during a recession, does it prove that they’ll do whatever it takes to work and make money, or does it prove that they’re really worth less in the market? In the year or so since I’ve been in my current position, I’ve heard from a lot of people that they were unemployed, underemployed, or in some other “shameful” place in their career since the economy crashed. Some of those people are still in bad shape, and others have finally moved on to other opportunities. I’ve read several articles about companies discriminating against the unemployed, but many qualified professionals have been out of a job since 2008! Again, I think we need to bring these issues to light, and help change the misconception that taking a “lesser” job in a down economy disqualifies you from a successful career. Some of the most frustrating and embarrassing calls came from companies that wanted to hire someone cheap, so they picked out this one little line item at the bottom of my resume and assumed I was that person. I realize I’m not defined by my unemployment job, and I think it would be helpful for others to realize the same is true for them. So, my conclusion is that I’ll be publishing my job during unemployment in the near future… hopefully it will help someone else feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

As this post is already running long, and “personal stuff” is a whole other topic in itself, I’m going to push the question about salaries and education costs to tomorrow’s post. What do you think about transparency and credibility on your blog or real-life interactions? Am I right to publish these “damaging” posts?

BSOD

On By ashleyfausIn Work and Office2 Comments

Ever had the Blue Screen of Death? Yeah, it’s not pretty, and it’s definitely not fun. For those fortunate enough not to have experienced the BSOD, it basically means that your computer is kaput! Apparently a power outage at the office over the weekend fried my hard drive, so I’m in limbo until it gets fixed, hopefully this morning. Let’s chat about adaptation, shall we?

First, I ended up in the conference room. I pulled up my company email via the exchange server, which isn’t the best source of email software, but it does the job for the afternoon. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of my files on the conference room computer. Semi-fortunately, a good portion of the stuff I needed to accomplish yesterday dealt with files that had been recently emailed to other members of my team. However, the search functionality on the exchange server email is not very helpful, so it took much longer to sort through the emails to find my attachments. However, our files are backed up on a regular basis, so I should be able to get everything back upon installation of the new hardware.

You don’t realize how dependent you are on technology until you don’t have it! You also don’t realize how expectations for turn around time have changed based on technology. It used to be that writing a paper and returning it to someone could take a week, especially if it was hand-written and snail-mailed. Now, with instant communication, changes can be made on-the-fly. In fact, I optimistically promised some changes to our documents by this afternoon, assuming my hard drive arrives and I can get to the files. This also taught me that it’s good to keep things in multiple different places, just in case one place fails. I know a lot of companies might have a security issue with this type of thinking, but for my company’s projects, it works.

In short, I hope you don’t experience BSOD in the near future. For now, I’m waiting patiently (or not so patiently, but I’m trying to learn some patience!) for my computer to be back in good form!

Transparency and Credibility Part 1

On By ashleyfausIn Work and Office3 Comments

In the age of information and instant, widespread communication, customers and companies demand transparency more than ever. We’ve seen backlash over controversial labor practices, poor treatment of customers, and gaming the system, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a metric for success among some companies. Customers want to buy ethically sourced clothing and organic food, and go to great lengths to identify and boost companies who offer such products. Transparency is huge for building credibility in today’s marketplace, and I generally think that transparency is a strong quality for companies and employees to pursue. But what about the flip-side of transparency?

Will being transparent about your mistakes actually hurt your company or your career? The mantra tends to be, “tell the truth, and you won’t get in trouble”, or at least, the trouble will be less significant. I’m just not sure if I believe that, as all mistakes have consequences. Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but everyone also has a hard time forgiving those mistakes. Take, for example, the controversial labor practices, particularly in factories overseas. Several companies have admitted to lax enforcement of best practices, but outline a plan to take action to remedy the problem. How has this transparency about the mistake hurt their credibility? Does the plan of action fully counteract the lost trust created by the mistake? Would the company be more or less credible if they just fixed the problem, instead of going public with both the problem and the action plan? I think companies generally improve their credibility by acknowledging their mistake, and detailing a plan to fix it.

However, I find this particularly sticky when it comes to careers. How public do you make your mistakes? Do you go ahead and come to the boss with the information and your action plan, or just fix it and hope no one notices? Does it still “count” as a big mistake if you fix it with minimal cost and minimal hassle for all parties involved? There’s generally some interview question, “Tell me about a time you made a mistake. How did you fix it?” Do you take a time when it was completely a mistake on your part, or do you skirt the issue and find something less incriminating to say that you fixed? Ultimately, the interviewer does want to know what you will do when you make a mistake. Since we’re all human, we’ll all make at least one mistake, so is it better to just admit it and show that you can respond with professionalism and efficiency when you’ve made a mistake?

Being early in my career, I often question the best course of action in situations like these. At what point does complete transparency with customers and employers backfire? Where is the tipping point between transparency and credibility? (Note that I’m not talking about blatantly lying or intentionally omitting pertinent information, but rather contemplating the fine line between helpful transparency and over-sharing that backfires.)