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Common Sense: It’s Not so Common.

Ray_anne — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:01:30 +0000

Pure and Simple Genius

“Good sense is the master of human life.” I don’t know who said that, but I like it. How often, when confronted with a decision, business or otherwise, do we allow our emotions to cloud our judgment, to interfere with our common sense? We each possess it, it is available, an innate sense to make wise decisions, to know when to not push too hard in a business decision – with a client or team member, to know on which pitch to swing, to follow your gut or the little angel who whispers in your ear.

There are times, however, when our common sense gets sidetracked because we allow feelings, emotions, or increased involvement to veil the real issue or even trick us into thinking something other than what is right before our eyes. Common Sense can be a tricky little bugger.

“Common Sense is not so common.” ~Voltaire

What? Do you mean to say that not everyone possesses it? Sadly, that would seem to be the case. Take, for instance, a businessman who berates or calls potential client names. The world is too small now for this so-called businessman or any of us to get away with this type of irrational and nonsensical behavior. What kind of reputation have you made for yourself? What do your current clients or partners/colleagues say about you? How about your friends and even family?

I have heard it said a number of times that common sense is relative to genius. When you consider how easy it is to get diverted from using our common sense, this most likely is true. Maybe it does take a dash of genius to actually see the common sense in a situation. Of course, after a situation or issue has passed, common sense seems crystal clear or magically appears. Hindsight is 20-20, right?

So, in a sense, we all have the opportunity to become a genius. And, while it is easy to say, it’s the doing that is actually a bit more difficult. Learning to do, to act upon what is right, to actually see things in reality, as they are – this can be a challenge. But not impossible, but also - not so common.

Maybe we should just cut to the chase and call it what it is: uncommon sense. Pretty much clears it up, wouldn’t you say?

Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology. She is also a proud mother of four, happily engaged to Tom, residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a daily contributor for Blogging4Jobs. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Twitter: Communication and Geeks

Ray_anne — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:01:24 +0000

I have written about Twitter often and not because I am an expert, but because I am an avid student and constantly seeking the best way to use the communication tools we have. It is interesting how quickly humans become accustomed to certain behavior and how easy it is to rile them up when that behavior has to be altered or censored for even a short time. When Twitter crashes, every other channel lights up. Yesterday, my company’s email server crashed and I took to Twitter to get messages out, as well as receive messages. It has become a major communication channel for me.

And while I am less than an expert, I am usually tweeting every weekday and quite regularly with several individuals and/or groups using Twitter and TwitterChats. And I often find myself advising clients to create a Twitter profile or two. Use it now, it’s free and it’s new tech, and, oh, by the way, it’s free. I like to pummel them with the free part. Explaining about hash tags and how to search tweets is quite another thing. Yes, I know it’s the pound or number sign; just call it hash tag.

Disruptive Innovation. Hard to accept and once you do accept, even more difficult to let it go and move on to another, the next newer – bigger – better technology. Remember the fax machine? Mortgage companies are hanging on to that dinosaur for dear life. What about the typewriter? I walked past an office window last week and there, sitting on an assistant’s desk, was a typewriter. At first I thought it was just for show - an antique on display and then I realized that poor assistant was still using it – ugh… Remember holding your hands up high enough and how difficult it was to actually pound down those keys… I went back to my desk and kissed my PC, patted my laptop, and praised my mobile device.

Where do you sit in the current tech revolution/evolution? If you are reading this, you obviously, on some level, embrace social media. But there are so many aspects to what technology has done for business, in general. CRMs have replaced the desktop Rolodex, paper/hard copies of résumés have been replaced by word docs and PDFs and int he form of an online professional profile. And in the last five years, we have seen CRMs evolve from hardware to software to hanging in the Cloud.

A few years ago, at a Ribbon Cutting ceremony for an online business, I asked, half-joking, “So, do you think we will ever run out of cyberspace?” They pondered my question, started to laugh, stopped themselves, looked at each other, then back at me and said, “That’s a good question.” Then I popped off about being a cyberspace realtor and selling space, raising the prices when the stock market or gas prices soared. They just looked at me. Cyber-geeks. The geek forest has definitely evolved but it is not quite as deep nor as affable as it used to be…

Little did I know then that people would be trade real money for online currency to buy a field on Farmville. Makes my head spin to think what the next five years will bring.

And yet, I stand and scream, “Bring it!”
Who am I calling a Cyber-Geek?

Finding Perfection…, Keep Looking

Ray_anne — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:01:53 +0000

If you are at all familiar with this Shel Silverstein book, then you know about a search. Finding the missing piece. When I first read this book, I thought, what a cute little story about a circle missing a pie-shaped piece. Then as an adult, as a parent reading it to my child, it held a different meaning. Finding independence and being ok with it. Knowing that you can survive on your own. Knowing that one must take care of one’s own happiness and not be dependent upon another to provide it. Figuring out that maybe there isn’t a piece missing, that you are alright just the way you are.

Many years gone now, with middle age setting in and a couple careers later, I see a different story. I see the story of a search – a search for the perfect job, the perfect candidate/applicant, the perfect client/customer, the perfect partner, the perfect you. And, typically, perfection is short-lived. Sometimes, smaller is adequate and sometimes, ”good enough” is just that.

I am not your missing piece.
I am nobody’s piece,
I am my own piece.
And even if I was somebody’s missing piece,
I don’t think I’d be yours…”

“Hope I haven’t bothered you. Would it be alright if I just sent you an email with some details and perhaps you will think of someone who might have an interest? Thanks for your time.”

The search is what drives some of us, not the finding. Because once the piece is found, our search is done, over, ka-put. I guess it comes down to the age-old question, “Which is more important? the journey or the destination?” Is finding happiness settling for less? Once you reach the destination, is the journey over?

So, what is your missing piece? Is it the perfect job? Is it the perfect applicant?
Maybe it is the perfect client? Or a whole database of clients?
Perhaps it is you that has become your missing piece. Perhaps your search has been for yourself, finding that right you in what you do, who you, ultimately, are? Will you know it when you find it/you, or will it be too small or too big? Will you make it work or will you move on?

Maybe, just maybe, you can roll on just as you are.

“Have you really tried?”

Align Your Strategies With Your Goals

Ray_anne — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:01:37 +0000

Oops.

Have you ever had a lasting effect on someone? As a professional in your industry, I certainly hope your answer is yes. What is it about you that differentiates you from the rest of those in your industry?

Why should someone hire you?
Why would someone come to work for you?
Why should someone buy your product or your services?
Why are you special?

You should be ready with an answer, for your answer shows confidence in self and your individual and independent abilities. While it would appear that a “good” economy is beginning a slow bounce back, a re-emergence – your differentiation will still be key. Having a special talent or skill set that drives clients or customers to your doorstep is a crucial element of success. The strategies set forth for your department or business must be aligned with your goals. And furthermore, the fundamentals of your strategy must be consistent. They must be unfailing and dependable.

This isn’t a wish list. It is a must list. And, it makes perfect sense. Align your strategies with your goals. It really ain’t rocket science.

When thinking about what it is that makes you out of the ordinary, a stand-out in your field, are your differentiators sustainable? Will they be around next week, next year, in ten years? Strategic continuity, ongoing distinction, and enthusiasm for your career, customers, employees, ideas, and maneuvers will keep clients/customers coming back. Determine who your client/customer is. Taking care of their needs; your anticipation of their wants will drive fulfillment.

Identify your resources. They can be many: as basic as a connected computer and as complex as a deep knowledge base that comes from years in a specific industry, something that cannot be taught in school. Once you have identified your resources, take a close look at their use. Is full advantage being taken? Can you honestly say that you use each resource and difference to their full potential? If not, study might be needed to outline how you can more completely use your resources (connections, talents, funds, employees, co-workers, networks, knowledge, etc.)

The complexities of career success are numerous and sometimes, easily discounted. Never undervalue the basics that brought you to your industry to begin with. And never underestimate a winning ability to be flexible and change with the times, as necessary.

“In a world where there is room for anyone to present their work, anyone will present their work.”
~Seth Godin

How will you present your work?

photo credit

Life in Human Resources is Not Easy, Ever.

Ray_anne — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:01:33 +0000

..., most of the time.

Comfort. Some things in life are more comfortable than others. It can be a bit disconcerting to receive a phone call from a client who expected more from your relationship or be summoned to your superior’s office to hear the dreaded words, “I don’t like anything you have suggested.” Or how about that time when you submitted your resignation and your supervisor looked at you as if to say, “How can you leave me on this sinking ship?” Been there, regrettably, done that. We all have to face uncomfortable situations in our work lives.

Human Resource Professionals and Recruiters tend to meet those moments more often than other professionals. The Sign-Off: telling a candidate they aren’t getting invited to the show. The Collection: having to call a client, former or otherwise, to ask for the final installment for a placement you made two, three, or four months ago. The Lost Friend: when a hiring manager comes to you with a confidential recruitment that will replace a friend of yours within the company, and you have to keep it confidential. The HR Function: having to address hirings, firings, lay-offs, complaints, sexual harassment issues, evaluation time, changes in policy, promotions, non-promotions, and demotions.

Understand that Life in HR is not always easy. As a matter of fact, it often is not. And finding your comfort level, as an HR Professional, Corporate Recruiter or Third-Party Recruiter can be a challenge. Some of us are cut out to make cold calls, some of us are not. Some are cut out to stand in an Exhibitor’s Booth all day, some are not. Some of us are cut out to attend conferences and sit in session upon session for two days straight, some are not. Some of us are cut out to tweet about anything and everything, some are not. Some of us are cut out to bring the right placement to the table, in a timely manner – some are not.

The zone to be in is the one that feels right, the one that runs smoothly and efficiently. However, should that zone become too stagnant or too easy, we risk the opportunity for development and growth, for learning new skills, or challenging our own understandings of the job, any job. Finding the right combination of further excelling at what we are already good and getting better at what is necessary but uncomfortable is a formidable task. Formidable, but not impossible.

Cats are good at running away from discomfort. They dart through halls or along fences and under cars, in an effort to dodge everything and anything that isn’t for their own benefit. Dogs will endure an incredible amount of discomfort to simply to please their owners, to get a pat on the head or a treat. Somewhere in between lies another animal, the HR Professional or Recruiter. Knowing that sometimes discomfort comes with the gig, but also a great deal of satisfaction is part of their makeup.

Gloria Steinem said, “The only thing I can’t stand is discomfort.”

Somehow, I think avoidance and complacency trump discomfort.

Learn to Love It or Shove It: Your Job

Ray_anne — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:01:04 +0000

Shocked, Happy Face

Yesterday, I wrote a post about finding happiness in your work or – or - leaving your work at work and not letting it define the whole of your life. It was an innocent post about learning to love the tedious parts of your job or the parts you hate and not letting them infect the rest of your life.

A reader was incensed by my post and sent a personal message to me stating, “What if you nearly got trampled by horses when you were a child. Nothing in the world would have the ability to make you learn to love working with horses.” It is my hope that if anyone were so injured that they wouldn’t even consider working with horses, let alone be forced to love it. Kind of an inane response when you think about it. Sorry, Reader. You completely missed the point.

I will give you a real-life example of my point. There has been an aspect to my job that I have not wanted to do. Mostly because it is tedious and time-consuming and I perceived there to be very little value in it. I chose to hate this particular duty, because I had preconceived notions about it. Yesterday, I finished this particular project and it went off – almost without a hitch. It felt so great to get it done – fantastic even. And so much so, that I have already prepared my schedule for the remainder of the year to include eleven more such projects. The project? Something as seemingly simple as a newsletter. A newsletter. But it was a part of my job that I have learned to love – THAT is why I wrote my post yesterday.

So, just like I have said as a director to my actors in the past, I did – I learned to love it and the “how” out-shined the who and the where. The how was by sheer will, determination, and a superior who said, “Do it.” Sounds like some pretty good impetus to me. AND it felt pretty great when I looked at that superior and said, “Done.”

So, Dear Reader, I am sorry you misunderstood my meaning and and I am sorry you were angry, but mostly I am sorry that you obviously hate your job – at McDonald’s or wherever it is you flip burgers. But I am not sorry that I overcame my own roadblock and did a task I thought I hated. More power to me. I was simply trying to share the power. Stupid me.

The truth is, I have worked plenty of menial jobs in my life. I started working when I was twelve – I took in ironing. When I was fourteen, I cleaned houses for $3 an hour. At sixteen, I cleaned patterns for a lady who did lettering on bowling shirts and sold cheap teeny-bopper clothes at the local mall. I am no stranger to loathsome work. But guess what? I didn’t stay in those jobs, I found work I loved. And I made a good life for myself. Something we are lucky enough to have the freedom to do.

But, and this is a sad however, if you happen to have a job that you must keep, either to support yourself or your family? A job you despise? I hope and send very strong wishes that you are able to find some way to endure the pain of such a thing. That you are able to learn to love it.