Nov. 12, 2007: Remember These A B C's

Recruiter: “Tom, I see you haven’t sold Widgets in your last couple of jobs, in fact, you’ve been somewhat under employed, was there a problem I should know about in your last Widget sales job?”
Tom: “I’ll tell you what, I’ve interviewed with five widget companies and I can tell you why I haven’t sold Widgets! Widget employers now days just don’t give a d***n about experienced people like me because they’re too cheap to pay us what we’re worth!”

Recruiter: “Sally, the company really liked you and wants me to make an offer on their behalf. There was one question, a minor one I’m sure that they failed to ask you. They wanted to be sure you knew Microsoft Word and Excel since you will be using them a lot.”
Sally: “What? I can type a letter on Word, but Excel? I’ve never bother to learn it, nor do I have any desire to do so. Wait a minute, you mean I have to do my own typing (word processing)? I have an MBA! I should be provided a secretary!”

Recruiter: “Chuck, I see you have worked for XYZ Widgets for over 10 years, what would you say your 3 major accomplishments are?”
Chuck: “I always show up on time. I’m not a troublemaker and I led the company softball team in homeruns two years in a row.”

These are true examples of the three reasons (what I call the A B C's) many people are unemployed, seem unemployable or fail to get promotions. They are also examples of why people have problems in areas not directly related to their careers.

I’ve been working with people as a customer and businessman and the past two decades in the career field for over thirty years. And have found that there are three things that hold people back.

Attitude: Tom, in our first illustration has a bad attitude. The entire conversation with him as a total turn off. Negative attitudes have a way of seeping to the surface during interviews and in our interaction with people on a daily basis. Let’s face it, people don’t want negative people working for them, and most folks don’t want to really be associated with folks who project doom and/or gloom.

Basic Skills: Sally, our freshly minted MBA’s problem was she lacked the basic skills most employers expect people to have in today’s technology driven business world (she also had an attitude problem, we’ll deal with that in future editions). Her failure to realize this (not bothering to learn Excel) will hinder her during her career. This is a problem many veteran’s of the workplace encounter, they don’t keep up with new technology and, like yesterday’s newspaper they find themselves not only out of date but out of work.

Basic skills include more than just technology. They include skills in working with other people, knowing decorum, how to dress properly, manners, etc.

Communications: Chuck was a poor communicator. Communication involves not only verbalizing but listening closely. While his answer dealt with work related matters, he didn’t give the type of answer the question called for. It could be that Chuck had no contribution-to-the-bottom-line accomplishments, or that he simply didn’t know how to communicate them concisely. Communications, as I am using it also means knowing how to meet new people, establish rapport and move relationships forward.
Have a great and profitable week!
Robert Hidde
bob@confidentliving.com