The Best Company to Work For?

15 years ago, given the choice of the big company with the big name that everyone's heard of, or the unheard of company that's obviously set for major growth, which one would you have chosen to work for?

What about now?

And which are you working for now?

And, sorry to ask a tired question, but I'm just reminding you - where are you planning on being in your career 5 years from now?

Whatever your answer, how are you going to contribute more and more value to get there?

Blog Your Way into a Job

If you really want that job, what are you going to do that others aren't prepared to do that will put you ahead of the pack?

For this particular role that you want right now, you've only got one bullet. You're going to want to aim, hold steady, pull the trigger and get the bullseye. If you do, your job is done and you won't need to spend any more time or effort applying to other places. But, it's hard isn't it, when...

There's too much competition for jobs these days

Actually, if you're good enough, there's never too much competition. And 'good enough' means:

• having the right (minimum acceptable) skill set (but preferably being damn good in this area)
  
• having the right attitude and personality for the role (being hungry to learn and grow is useful here)
  
• clearly demonstrating your interests or passion for this line of work
• being able to effectively convince the decision makers of the above (hint: make it easy for them)
  

A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. If these four points formed a chain, then which one is your weakest? For most people it's the fourth one. Doesn't matter how strong the other three links are, if the fourth is weak, you don't get the job. You miss the bullseye. Your bullet is wasted.

Of course to effectively convince the decision makers, you need to get NOTICED by them and then get them INTERESTED in you, your relevant achievements, and your future goals and ambitions. Hard to do with just a cover letter, CV/resume and application form.

So what else could you do?

I've blogged before about resume alternatives. And I've acknowledged that for many roles, you'll still need to lead with a resume. But here's an idea that's easy to implement, has plenty of other benefits for your own learning, development and career progress, and can come to your aid when you need to stand out, get noticed and get the job you want:

Start a career based blog. Not very exciting advice you say? Hold on, don't go! Don't underestimate this one. Think about it in more depth. What if, once you've decided what your ideal career is and you've identified the right role..what if you had a casually written (updated as and when) but professional career blog that documented things like:

• what you've been working on
• the challenges you've overcome
• the small things you've achieved that have personally satisfied you
  
• the training you've received
• the learning and development that you've self-directed and plan to self-direct moving ahead
  
• how you've applied it
• your self-feedback, and learning from mistakes
  
• your career plans for the future
• your (smart) thinking and reflection about the projects you're working on
• ideas and innovations that you think could work

Don't make this blog a chore, keep it simple, and don't write it expecting a following of readers (however if you get one then that's a bonus). The point is, you have a real-time account demonstrating the things your potential employer is interested in.

Of course if when you come to apply for the position you think any of your old posts would hurt, then remove them or edit them.

Now, all you need to do is get this blog noticed by the right people. So what if you attempted to connect with them through Twitter, Linkedin or even Facebook? What if you joined any social online groups they belonged to, before the application process even begins? What if you made them aware of your blog before they even see your resume, and mention it in your resume as a project you've been working on? You'll need to get them interested enough to type the URL in and find it. So how about purposefully writing the most relevant blog post you can for this particular recruiter? Why not do some research on the company, see what they're currently up against, and blog your intelligent thoughts on the issue? Show your interest. Give it a compelling title, and then in your cover letter, or via social networking, invite them to read that specific post. Which of your competitors are doing something like that?

You have so much more flexibility with this approach than you do with the conventional cover letter, resume approach. You can really show case some important points about yourself, and if you really are aligned to your ideal career, then you'll have little trouble convincing them to invite you in for interview.

When you're at the interview stage for your ideal career, you've basically got the job already (so long as you positioned yourself strategically enough).

So there it is. Give it a go. Yes it takes upfront (and ongoing) investment. But think about the pay off when you need it most. What are you going to do if you don't have one? And think about the skills you'll learn from the exercise itself. It will improve your writing, your thinking, your interaction and networking, your engagement and motivation in what you do, and will provide a useful record to look back on to measure your own progress.

Finally, two pieces of advice about blogging:

1. Use a free service like Wordpress (that's what I'm using now) or Blogger and you'll be up and running in 5 minutes.

2.  Learn all you need to about blogging and marketing your blog here at CopyBlogger I've trawled through plenty of resources about blogging, most of them hyped up salesy nonsense, and have recently found this level-headed sensible resource that has tonnes of useful information. You'll probably see me applying much of what I learn in the months ahead!

Any thoughts or questions on this or related, let me know in the comments below and I'll be glad to help.

Progress Your Career by Acting Like You Run Your Own Business

I regularly promote the idea that you already run your own business even if you're employed. (Congratulations? Maybe you've always wanted to? Oh, and good luck!) The laws and principals of business apply to you in your career whether you acknowledge them or not. They're like gravity. You can accept them, learn about them and use them to your advantage, or forget about them and be at the mercy of them. Your choice.

The sooner you accept them, the sooner you can take charge of where you want to go, where you're actually going, what and how you'll earn, and who you'll work with. And what challenges and frustrations you're prepared to take on in your career because you enjoy overcoming such challenges, and you're good at it. What a great opportunity to kiss goodbye to the challenges and frustrations that suck the life out of you!

Since you run a business, in my work and blog posts I aim to connect you to business ideas, examples and lessons that you can apply to your own career. I like to help you look at your career through this new lens so you can make progress faster, more easily and more enjoyably. Ultimately I want to help you learn how to earn an enjoyable living.

If you know of anyone who would like to follow my posts, or think that more people could use this way of thinking, then please email this post on (or share it on your social networks). Thanks.

Directions:

If you're unsure what 'business' to get in to, my online e-course The Great Career Escape may help. You can sign up for free. It helps you choose the right business (aka your 'ideal career'). There's also a Facebook page for it here.

If you're interested in the learning and performance side of your business (the engine to your career performance and results) then make sure you're subscribed to this blog (the one you're currently reading), by email or RSS feed and you may also be interested in my site on self-directed learning and performance here. If you know of anyone who deals with learning and performance of their teams or organisation, then please refer this on.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can do so here.

And if you have any specific questions for me, please get in touch via the comments below, email, or via Twitter.

On Wednesday I'll send out a post on 'How to Blog Your Way in to a Job'.

The Highest Paid Behaviour in Our Work?

How 'human' are you acting today whilst you work?

Do the people you've spoken to today think you're human in your work, or more machine?

I know you've got to get a serious job done and get paid. You've got to add value and deliver. And I'm not asking you to fake a smile whilst you work, because I don't think that works. But I do wonder what would happen to your productivity, quality of thinking, ideas, relationships, progress, apparent luck and your natural smile, if you dropped the act and brought out your human side in your work more often. The side that naturally comes out at weekends that many people go out of their way to hide at work. You can still be professional and human. Professionalism doesn't mean being a robot. In most interactions you can add that human touch, even if it's not documented in your instructions, and it's often enough to make a big difference to whoever you're dealing with, and to your customers and career progress too. It's potentially very rewarding for everyone.

My advice: go beyond 'the book', and see what your human side can do. Give it a whirl. Maybe you can re-write 'the book' with what you learn?

If you feel you can't be human in your work, perhaps you're working with the wrong people or in the wrong job?

P.S.  I heard that Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University, who developed the theory of multiple intelligences said that 'social intelligence' is the highest paid in our society.

The Most Compelling and Exciting Place to Work?

This might brighten your day. Two days ago I wrote a blog post asking you how much money you'd quit your current job for. I wanted you to attempt to put a monetary figure on the value of your future with your current employer, at least as far as you saw things. It kind of gives you a handle on your employment situation. It might help you make an important career and life decision.

If you were interested in that, you might be interested in where I got the idea for the post. (By the way, this is an example of borrowing an external idea and building upon it, which I wrote about here). I stumbled across the story of how Zappos, the US online shoe store, create a certain culture at work and how they recruit the right sort of people for that culture. There's lots to learn from this.

"The Offer"

I'll cut straight to the part I was really interested in. Most Zappos employees have four weeks paid training at the start of their employment. About one week in, Zappos make an 'offer' (they call it "The Offer") to the new recruits to quit the company and be paid $1,000 + the first week's paid training. They're paying their new recruits to walk away. Of course this forces the employees to put a value on working with Zappos. It gets employees to ask themselves if they're right for Zappos, if Zappos is right for them, and how passionate they are about staying. Many new recruits in other organisations probably don't ask themselves this question. At least not to the point of actually making the decision. Most people just get on the bus, and stay on the bus, putting up with the journey until their hair falls out, or they pull it out. That's why I wrote my last post.

I also heard that less than 10% of new employees at Zappos actually take the money and quit. So they're attracting the right people too.

Watch the Video

This video on the Zappos site is definitely worth watching. It's 9 minutes, it might make you smile, it gives a great idea of the culture they're trying to create, it's clearly a culture that suits the US fine, but don't let that turn your nose up if you're from the UK or Australia (as most of my readers are). Think about an equivalent compelling work culture for your country (or better still, for you). Think about what sort of place you'd like to work at. It doesn't have to be boring, too stiff, too serious, grey walled offices any more, unless that's what you want. Those places are gradually dying out (some are even being wiped out by garage start-ups who change the whole industry). People are realising that good work can still be done in a different culture and environment after all (...well I just mentioned a 'garage'). And that different environments might attract like-minded people and will certainly make different people more productive.

So choose wisely!

If you want help with this sort of career decision, I break it all down for you in The Great Career Escape.

P.S. Just before 6 mins into the video they mention 'The Offer'. In fact, he increases it to $2,000

How Much Money Would You Quit Your Job For?

I'm talking a minimum figure, obviously.

At what point does taking the money mean more to you than your future career and the lifestyle it enables with your current job or employer?

Get an answer and hold it in your mind. What does it tell you about your career or job choice?

What does it tell you about:

How much you value the path ahead that you're on?
The value you put on the emotional reward from your work?
The value you put on the mental or intellectual reward from your work?
The quality of your relationships with those you work with?
How much of a 'cog in the machine' you feel and how replaceable you feel?
How much you believe in what your employer is doing for the world?
The money you think you could earn in the years ahead with your current employer?
The opportunities to learn, grow, develop and improve your performance in this role, and the rewards this may bring?
How trapped or how free you feel to be yourself, drive yourself, and use your potential to add maximum value to your employer?
How easy or difficult it would be to find something similar, or better?

And if you got that money and quit, what would you do for a new job or career? That money could run out fast. It would only buy you x amount of time, which you'd do well to use sensibly. So how would you find the right career during that time? What's your plan?

Just double check that you're spending your life heading down the right path. If not, you could always run that plan alongside your day to day work for 30 minutes a day...

Nothing is Right Anymore

It probably never was either. Just about every idea, opinion or thought has it's flip-side, counter argument or opposing view. What's right for one person is wrong for another. There are always exceptions. (Except the few things that don't have any). Everyone will have their fans and their critics. When we're being someone's critic, someone else is busy being our critic. That's just the way it works. Most of our problems will come down to wrong assumptions or limiting beliefs of ours, that stopped us behaving in such a way that would have avoided the problem.

So how do we know what's right?

We don't. But I'm pretty convinced that what's not right is accepting a new thought, idea or opinion as it is without question. Too many people do it too often. This might sound obvious to you, but you may still do it without realising. Some people do it almost every time they read or hear something. If it's in writing, it must be true. Others like to think they don't do it, but when they learn something that supports their existing beliefs and worldview, they don't question it. They just nod and enjoy feeling 'right' about it. We all do this. It brings a quote to mind:

"Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking" - Einstein

What sparked this post off? I just read an article that began with, "Resumes are essential in order to find a job". But I know people who found good work without them. It made me wonder how many people would read that without questioning it. And how many would then, head hung low, get on polishing their resume through their tears. And then what 'game' or league they'd now be playing in, and head to head with who? And what would be further down the road for them?

Versus a reader who'd question it and consider alternative approaches.
Versus another reader who'd not only question it, but actively google, "resume alternatives"
Versus another reader who'd just ignore it altogether and find work their way (perhaps because they haven't yet got caught up in how things have been done in the past.)

Each of those readers would take different journeys to different places and face different challenges along the way.

So here I am challenging that article, and you may be challenging my post. But of course, I know the advice is right for certain people (probably the people who want it to be right). I know that the majority will go down the resume route because it's a known approach. Some may even enjoy it. But my blog posts are for the other people around the edge. Those who aren't convinced yet. Those who are ready to challenge convention and outflank the competition (or maybe even collaborate with them to steal everyone's attention?), those who want to differentiate themselves (because after all, we are all different - why hide it when you can turn it into an asset?) and those who are looking for alternative, easier or faster ways to get a job done and demonstrate your value.

So ask challenging questions when you learn:

Is this true? (or who is this true for?)
What if the opposite is true?
What are the exceptions?
What type of people have made this advice work?
What were their circumstances at the time it worked?
Would this advice still work in today's world?

It's this approach that makes self-directed learning powerful. As a learner you can make your own decisions and take what road you want to your destination. And of course you make sure it's a learning destination that takes you towards your goals.

2 more related resources:

1. Despite the big ad that popped up when I opened this, this article 'Burn Your Resume' gives some good ideas. And I wrote a related blog post here.

2. Ignore Everybody - an excellent book by Hugh Macleod, labeled as a book on creativity, but it's definitely a business book.

The Best Places to Work in Australia 2010?

Apparently it's these companies here:

http://www.greatplacetowork.com.au/best/list-au-2010.htm?goback=.gde_2009811_member_24907320

The BIG problem I have with this, is it's subjective. I wonder if the information mis-leads people. They're not the best places for me to work. The chances are that they're not the best places for you to work either. Fine, I understand it's like an opinion poll and the information is kind of interesting and worth noting that so many employees appreciate these employers. That's useful to know.

But my BIG concern is whether everyone reading that list understands the context and what the information actually means (and it's limitations). How many people will read that list, get excited and apply? As if those on the list really are THE best? Only to find that a year or so down the line, it's not the right kind of career or workplaces for them personally.

The Best Places to Work in Australia 2010 is a list that only you can determine for yourself through your own thinking, planning and research. Some of these companies might make your list. Some won't. And there'll be plenty of other places that should be top of your list that aren't on this one. It's your job to find them.

Mass Exodus of Workforce?

In the UK:

"Nearly a quarter of UK employees plan to leave their job in the next 12 months, a survey of 4,000 workers revealed today."

01 June 2010, study by market research company GfK NOP

In Australia:

An astonishing third of Australian workers are planning to switch jobs, according to a survey"

05 July 2010, study by management consulting firm Hay Group

In the USA:

In each of the past three months, more employees quit their jobs than were terminated

07 July 2010, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Whilst I'm not a huge fan of surveys and statistics (because we all know that 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot), I'm sure you know someone unhappy in their work who wants to change career. Perhaps it's you?

Perhaps you're sick of feeling like a cog in the machine? Note particularly in this article, "Regrettably, too many managers unwittingly encourage employees to walk out because they regard them as replaceable cogs in a wheel." I discuss why people have turned into 'cogs' and what to do about it in my free e-book 'Join the Escape' which you can download here.

If you're one of them, or if you someone who is, if no one else can help, and if you can find it (I'll make it easy, it's here), maybe you can join The Great Career Escape (yes, that was something for the A-Team fans..)

The Most Compelling and Exciting Place to Work?

This might brighten your day. Two days ago I wrote a blog post asking you how much money you'd quit your current job for. I wanted you to attempt to put a monetary figure on the value of your future with your current employer, at least as far as you saw things. It kind of gives you a handle on your employment situation. It might help you make an important career and life decision.

If you were interested in that, you might be interested in where I got the idea for the post. (By the way, this is an example of borrowing an external idea and building upon it, which I wrote about here). I stumbled across the story of how Zappos, the US online shoe store, create a certain culture at work and how they recruit the right sort of people for that culture. There's lots to learn from this.

"The Offer"

I'll cut straight to the part I was really interested in. Most Zappos employees have four weeks paid training at the start of their employment. About one week in, Zappos make an 'offer' (they call it "The Offer") to the new recruits to quit the company and be paid $1,000 + the first week's paid training. They're paying their new recruits to walk away. Of course this forces the employees to put a value on working with Zappos. It gets employees to ask themselves if they're right for Zappos, if Zappos is right for them, and how passionate they are about staying. Many new recruits in other organisations probably don't ask themselves this question. At least not to the point of actually making the decision. Most people just get on the bus, and stay on the bus, putting up with the journey until their hair falls out, or they pull it out. That's why I wrote my last post.

I also heard that less than 10% of new employees at Zappos actually take the money and quit. So they're attracting the right people too.

Watch the Video

This video on the Zappos site is definitely worth watching. It's 9 minutes, it might make you smile, it gives a great idea of the culture they're trying to create, it's clearly a culture that suits the US fine, but don't let that turn your nose up if you're from the UK or Australia (as most of my readers are). Think about an equivalent compelling work culture for your country (or better still, for you). Think about what sort of place you'd like to work at. It doesn't have to be boring, too stiff, too serious, grey walled offices any more, unless that's what you want. Those places are gradually dying out (some are even being wiped out by garage start-ups who change the whole industry). People are realising that good work can still be done in a different culture and environment after all (...well I just mentioned a 'garage'). And that different environments might attract like-minded people and will certainly make different people more productive.

So choose wisely!

If you want help with this sort of career decision, I break it all down for you in The Great Career Escape.

P.S. Just before 6 mins into the video they mention 'The Offer'. In fact, he increases it to $2,000