Hiring 101: How Not to Read a Cover Letter

Todd Tarpley on June 30, 2011

There is one key rule in management: never hire anyone desperate or stupid enough to work for someone like you. Unfortunately, at some point in your management career you may need to replace an employee who was smart enough to quit.

If and when this happens, you will probably come across something known as a “resume” and its useless cousin, the “cover letter.”

Back when people used typewriters and an archaic delivery system known as the U.S. Postal Service, cover letters served the important function of protecting resumes against damage caused by psychotic postal workers.

Since the advent of computers sometime around 1885, resumes have been sent via email. Today, the purpose of a cover letter is to avoid attaching a resume to a completely blank email, which is frowned upon in some cultures.

You will recognize a cover letter by its adherence to the following format:

Beginning: Blah-blah-blah. Blah-blah-blah.
Middle: Blah-blah-blah. Blah-blah-blah-blah.
End: My resume is attached.

While most managers read only the resume, you should always print out and read the cover letter as well. This is a handy way to kill time and avoid doing actual work. Perhaps more important, it can serve as inexpensive gift wrap, lining for a birdcage, or holiday party confetti.

Under no circumstances should you pay attention to the following: Read More →

Don’t Quit That Lousy Job Till You’re Really Ready

Allison Hemming on June 30, 2011

This post was previously published in The Hired Guns Gig Alert, our email newsletter with all the most recent job postings as well as no-nonsense career advice from Top Gun Allison Hemming. If you’re not already a subscriber, head to our homepage and sign up to get it in your in-box.

As we near the end of the second quarter, there’s been a lot of wobbly news out there about the economy. Jobs numbers are up one month, down the next. But what’s really down is people’s job satisfaction (surprise, surprise). According to the Mercer consulting firm, half of U.S. workers are unhappy with their bosses, 1/3 want to quit their job, and 20% are mentally checked out.

Sheesh. That’s a whole lot of not wanting to get up in the morning for work.

But before you quit that day job in favor of greener pastures, I’d like you to hit the “pause” button—particularly if you’re in the middle of a huge project or new initiative. Consider the following:

You may currently be working on your greatest hit. One that will pay dividends and help you open doors and land countless jobs in the future. If you split before you’ve had a chance to see it through, it could negatively impact your career narrative for decades to come. Starting projects is easy; finishing them (and living to tell about it) is what will get you hired elsewhere. Read More →

Bullet Points: The Right Kind of Failure; Stock Options Losing Their Shine; Employer-Proof Yourself Online

The Hired Guns on June 29, 2011

Failure can be good, but only if it’s the right type of failure, claim researchers. [FastCo]
What are employers looking for when they look you up online? [Marketplace]
Things are looking rosy for MBAs once again [FT]
The sneakiest—and most effective—interview question. The comments are worth reading, too. [BNET]
Given the recent questionable behavior at Skype and elsewhere, it’s no surprise that employees of startups are falling a little out of love with those once-sexy stock options. [BNET]

Christmas in July: Don’t Panic If Your Job Search Stalls Going into Summer

Allison Hemming on June 28, 2011

Everyone knows that things slow down in the weeks before and after Christmas. People want to head to parties, decompress, and take a long winter’s nap after duking it out in Corporate America for a whole year.

But every year, in the week before July 4th, I start getting panicked calls from candidates whose active searches have gone into a holding pattern. As someone who’s been doing this for 11 years, this phenomenon is just like the vortex between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. What gives?

Year-end Fiscal. Most people think the end of year is right before the ball drops at Times Square. But for more and more companies, their ball drops at the end of June. That means that head count allocations, budgeting, and performance reviews are all happening NOW. Hiring managers’ attention will naturally be more focused on internal issues. Be patient.

Hiring Managers Are People Too. Lives, family obligations, vacation schedules—we’re talking about humans here. And if managers have been slogging it out for the first half of the year, you can bet that they’re going to take a break when things slow down and long weekends are an option again. Many companies these days give an extra day or two around July 4th. Respect this, and know that people who’ve been on vacation usually come back focused and energized and perhaps more receptive to your candidacy than before they left, frazzled. Just give them a day or two to get back in the swing of things. And if you get their vacation schedule ahead of time, you might be able to sneak in a break while they are gone too.

How to Combat the July Slowdown:

Is Personal Branding Turning Journalists into “Cheez Doodles”?

The Hired Guns on June 28, 2011

It all started with an innocent question from Leslie, a college student just trying to get her thesis done. She emailed the Washington Post humor columnist Gene Weingarten to ask him how he had built his “personal brand over the years.” Not one to mess around, Weingarten used this letter as a reason to write about getting fed up “personal branding” and similar marketing terms.

The best way to build a brand is to take a three-foot length of malleable iron and get one end red-hot. Then, apply it vigorously to the buttocks of the instructor who gave you this question. You want a nice, meaty sizzle.

It gets a little more graphic after that. Several writers were on hand to leap to the defense of personal branding. Paul Carr of Techcruch, for instance, pointed out that Weingarten seemed happy enough to use his own photo (branding!) in a column prompted by someone else’s proposal (user-generated content!). Read More →

Bullet Points: Monster’s LinkedIn Killer; Google Enemies; Job Interview Pitfalls

The Hired Guns on June 28, 2011

Monster starts its own job network, the Facebook app BeKnown. Now you can “manage your professional identity and your social identity in one place,” rather than through multiple sites and social networks. Yay? [Mashable]
CNET has a list of the companies that probably make up Google’s enemy list. And with company like this, it’s probably just an honor to be nominated.
Gen Y is spoiled and easily distracted. Gen X won’t stay for more than a few months (and they mope). Baby boomers, of course, are out of touch with current technology. Investing Answers has some good tips to avoid getting tarred with age-based stereotypes like these during job interviews.
Twitter launches #TfN, Twitter for Newsrooms, a website and guide to help media get even more acclimated to the microblogging site. Basic but useful. Berkeley’s J-school recently launched its own Twitter tutorial for journalists, too.
The New York Times ponders Klout and its potential weaknesses.
Would you fire the ranty Southwest pilot who complained about having to work with flight attendants who were a “continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes”? The odd part is when he’s told that he’s transmitting his bitchy chitchat but keeps on talking …. [The HR Capitalist]

Hiring: Dealing with the Double-edged Sword of Specialization

Jeff Gothelf on June 27, 2011

If you’re a startup with limited funds, then you have no choice but to hire generalists. Employees who wear many hats can produce a minimally viable product faster and more cheaply. And a smaller team means a nimbler team, which takes less time to make decisions.

The downside, of course, is that rarely will someone be an excellent engineer, product person and CEO all rolled in one. Rarely is someone a great saleswoman, marketer, and financial analyst. And even more rarely is someone a great UX designer, writer, visual designer, and researcher. Everyone has a finite number of strengths, and that means that your startup will suffer from a lack of talent in the areas in which your team is weak.

Fast-forward a bit, to when your company has grown to the point at which you can start hiring for specialized positions. You can bring in the top players in all the essential disciplines and start filling out the areas in which you’ve been weak. From a hiring perspective, things get a bit easier: you know exactly what you need. However, the startup world still tends to attract players who can play multiple positions. It rarely attracts star single-position players. You may still find yourself interviewing generalists—some of whom are very talented—but the organization you’ve now created mostly needs specialists. If you hire a generalist for a specialist position, he or she is likely to feel underutilized and start branching out of the space you’ve carved out for them. Read More →

The Hired Guns Poll: Who Should Run “The Office”?

The Hired Guns on June 27, 2011

At the end of this season of “The Office,” Michael Scott’s job was up for grabs. And according to EW, James Spader is likely to be the new overlord at Dunder Mifflin this fall—at least for a while.

But that got us thinking—are there other Brat Packers who might do an even better job of walking in Michael Scott’s very special loafers at Dunder Mifflin?

Bullet Points: Cheese Heads; iPhone Intel; “… so what did you make?”

The Hired Guns on June 24, 2011

The change in internet domain naming conventions may bring huge opportunities for brands [CNN]
How to turn questions about what you made at your last job to your advantage [JT and Dale]
An “optimistic” weather app—for Android. [FastCoDesign]
People carved from cheese…amazing [Behance]
The iPhone Rumor Mill Kicks Into High Gear [Mashable]
“The World of 100” infographics illustrate factoids about the world with crisp graphics. [via]

Want to Be a Great Product Person? Get Out of the Office.

Matt Smith on June 23, 2011

It may sound funny, but the best product people are the ones you rarely see. Being a great product person means that you understand your own business, the competitive landscape, and current market trends, but most importantly, it means you understand your users.

Everyone has opinions, and opinions can be good, but they can also be dangerous. The biggest trap for product people is to have an opinion on day one—whether “day one” means it’s a new product or that you’re new to the position or new to the company.

Opinions based on nothing but your gut are just assumptions. If you make statements like “This is how people are going to use our product” and “I know what people are looking for, so let’s build that,” and you only have your opinion to back them up, than what you’re really saying is, “This is how I assume people are going to use our product” and “I think I know what people are looking for, so let’s build that.” When you do this, you’re guessing, and guessing leads to failure.

What you should be doing is getting out of the office and talking to your users (either current or potential). Opinions and assumptions are good, but then you have to get out and talk to people. Ask users how they do their job, what frustrates them, and what would improve it. These conversations should be made before and (even more important) during development. As you build, bring prototypes to the users and expand the conversation by asking them to use the prototypes. Ask them what they like and don’t like about them. Does it solve a problem for them? Does it make their life easier? Read More →

Bullet Points: Giving Notice; Interviews to Remember; Boardroom Psychopaths

The Hired Guns on June 23, 2011

How Much Notice Should I Give My Employer That I’m Quitting My Job? [Lifehacker]
Landed an interview? Leave the bird at home.
For the journalist Jon Ronson, you may not have to be a psychopath to be a great CEO, but it definitely doesn’t hurt. [Forbes]
Stories about the huge cost of college have been around since at least the 70s. But as the costs have risen, so have expectations of what it should be able to do for students. [NPR]
Is this already a dying art form? Netflix envelope art from Doodlers Anonymous. See also: “The evolution of the NetFlix envelope.” [CNN]

“Be a Laser, Not a Lighthouse” & Other Creative Leadership Essentials

Todd Henry on June 22, 2011

Todd Henry runs The Accidental Creative, a speaking and consulting firm that helps teams do their best work consistently, not haphazardly. His book of the same name, about “how to be brilliant at a moment’s notice,” will be published this July by Portfolio. A slightly different version of this post ran on Todd’s Accidental Creative website.

A few weeks ago I was privileged to hop a plane to St. Louis to spend some time with a great group of creatives wrestling through organizational growth and how to establish new systems to deal with it. After a morning session with the large group, I had the chance to spend about 90 minutes (before hopping a return flight) with a handful of the team’s leaders. We discussed the essentials of creative leadership, and I was asked to distill down what I’ve experienced about great creative leaders as fodder for discussion.

Here are the five principles that I believe all leaders of creative teams must live by if they want thriving teams.

1. Be a laser, not a lighthouse.

Many leaders are so concerned about safety that they spend much of their time talking about what not to do versus what to do. They operate more like a lighthouse than a laser. A lighthouse can only tell you where not to go, but can’t provide any kind of precise direction or alternative. Creative teams need precise, focused direction. Like a laser. A laser is an offensive tool, not a defensive one. (Unless you’re Han Solo in the cantina. Apparently, Greedo shot first.)

Your team needs you to tell them what to do, not what not to do. Be a laser, not a lighthouse.

What Can You Do with a B.A. in English?

Miss Education on June 21, 2011

“Miss Education” is a public-school teacher in the New York area. Until she finds herself a shiny new career and can leave the blackboard jungle behind, she’ll be posting anonymously.

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”

Ever since I became a teacher, people have spouted this delightful little cliché in my direction, helpfully reminding me how this country views its teachers and its education system: as overpaid babysitters who had no real knowledge or marketable skills, and who only pursued a career in education because they couldn’t get a real job and because teaching seemed easy. (Those people have a point—it must be easy, since a mere half of all teachers quit after the first five years).

I always knew that the saying was a whole lot of hogwash, and I paid it no mind. I would leave the profession at the end of the school year and spend the summer vacation looking for other work. Surely I had marketable skills other than teaching…right? Then I began the job search and started to wonder if perhaps it was true, after all. Read More →

Bullet Points: Website ROI; 100 Words to Avoid; Why Can’t Gen Y Settle Down?

The Hired Guns on June 21, 2011

Lots of members of Generation Y aren’t getting settled in their careers or at home until the end of their 20s. [Bnet]
Measure your website’s return on investment with a Google spreadsheet calculator from Smashing Magazine.
And then contribute to the world’s biggest collaborative sketch. [via @mmcwatters]
What, no “curated”? The Independent has compiled a list of 100 words and phrases it will avoid “going forward” (that came in at #17).
“We don’t have enough money” and nine other things that Bnet thinks that entrepreneurs should never say to themselves.
Artist Lesley Barnes‘s video for a Richard X remix of Belle and Sebastian’s “I Didn’t See It Coming“:

When You’re Networking, It’s Better to Give Before You Receive

Allison Hemming on June 20, 2011

Last week I sat down with a senior marketing professional who had just completed an executive MBA program. She was frustrated by all the flaky people in her network who were “preventing” her from scoring interviews at companies she desperately wanted to work at. This woman had all the right stuff, but she was getting stonewalled by contacts who over-promised and under-delivered when it came to hooking her up with employees they knew at these companies. She was starting to get jaded: networking was a joke, she thought. She never considered for a second that it might something she was doing that was holding her back.

After we’d talked a bit, she told me that she didn’t know her so-called network very well: they couldn’t vouch for her experience or her work ethic, or say what she was best in the world at. She was spending the majority of time she had allocated to networking by trolling LinkedIn—trying to use contacts she didn’t know very well to get to people that they didn’t know very well. And most importantly, she had regularly and systematically broken the cardinal rule of networking: she’d been reaching out and asking for favors before she had earned the trust of the people in her network. Folks, networking isn’t a turnkey operation by a long shot. It’s hard, time-consuming, and something you need to practice daily for it to pan out for you. In fact, it’s pretty easy to suck at it. Read More →

Poll Results: Don’t Count the Resume Out

The Hired Guns on June 20, 2011

So it looks as if you are as unsure of the future as we are. When asked if LinkedIn was going to kill off the resume within five years, a (very slight) majority of you concluded that resumes weren’t going anywhere in that timeframe.

Despite the prediction, few people in the comments or on our Twitter feed seemed upset with the idea of having the resume disappear: as Chris Palle put it, “Personally, it’d be great to have seen the resume go the way of the dodo, yesterday.”

Bullet Points: Nerd History; Startup Founders Speak; Getting Hired at GOOG

The Hired Guns on June 17, 2011

Kuriositas compiles a short illustrated history of the nerd. [via PFSK]
So fill that profile out already: Fast Company pulls together tips to help you be a LinkedIn ninja.
It’s a marriage, not just a wedding: The founders of Webshots, TripUp, GrandCentral, Mediabistro, SideStep, Pageflakes, Farecast, Socialthing, and Going.com look back on what happened when their startups were bought. A mixed bag. [37signals]
How to land a job at Google [Mashable]
Are startups dying? [The Vault]
A comprehensive post on SEO from Office Buddha.

Mom Still Knows Best: Breakfasts Rich in Protein Help You Stay Full Until Lunch

Brooke Alpert on June 17, 2011

She was right! That’s your mom I’m talking about—the one who always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day. And now it turns out that it should also be heavy on the protein.

A new study published last month in the journal Obesity found that a high-protein breakfast increased satiety and reduced food cravings. The study took three groups of teenagers. One group skipped breakfast, another had a regular breakfast with what was considered a normal amount of protein, and the third had a high-protein breakfast consisting of a protein-enriched Belgian waffle with syrup and yogurt (why they couldn’t have just used eggs is beyond me). The subjects who ate the high-protein breakfast had increased satiety and reduced food craving.

Don’t jump for the meat lover’s omelet yet. This was a small study, and more research needs to be done. But the findings do make sense. Breakfast is an important meal because it’s the first meal you eat after fasting through the night.

Keep in mind that protein comes in many forms that aren’t filled with saturated fat; opt for healthy choices. So instead of that bagel with butter, here are some high-protein breakfast suggestions: Read More →

Career Lessons My Father Never Set Out to Teach

Fran Slusarz on June 16, 2011

Frances Codd Slusarz is an attorney based in Stamford, Connecticut. In this guest post for Father’s Day, she writes about some of the best advice her dad gave her, whether he knew he was giving it or not.

So you graduated from college and actually have a job. Or you landed an internship that will help you land a full-time gig later. You’ve got your clothes picked out, you’ve mapped out your commute, and you set your alarm clock extra early so you will not be late. Now, what do you do? With Father’s Day around the corner, I am going to share the wisdom of my paterfamilias.

My father was of a different time—the days when you were practically guaranteed lifelong employment as long as you kept head down and your nose clean. And you collected a guaranteed benefit pension when you retired.
My dad hated his job. He spent at least seven hours a day, five days a week, for twenty years, doing pencil-pushing, deadly boring work, to support the family he loved. But this post isn’t about redemption through suffering. My dad’s best lessons come from his life outside work.

1. Do What is Right for Your Client. My father served as a field medic for the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was awarded the Silver Star—one night, the enemy overran his field hospital. Everyone who could evacuate did. But some of my father’s patients were too sick to be moved. My father volunteered to stay behind to care for them, risking his life. It was what his patients needed.

Who is your “client,” you ask? Whoever gets your work when you say you are done. Never forget: You are creating a product for your client. If you want to succeed, make your product something your client wants. No one is asking you to risk your life. Just make sure that you choose wisely when you have a choice between what is easiest for you and creating the best product for your client. It might mean missing a happy hour or three, but trust me on this one. It’s worth it. Read More →

Bullet Points: 29 Ways to Stay Creative; 10 Best Imaginary Companies; 11 Commencement Speeches by Celebs

The Hired Guns on June 16, 2011

10 Ways to Fix Broken Corporate Recruiting Systems [BW]
Looking For Talent? Here Are Three Steps To Making The Right Hire. The cofounder of the cleaning-products company Method talks about how his company gets its people. [FastCo]
Graduation Real Talk: 11 celeb commencement speeches [The Vault]
Ten Best Fictional Companies [Red Stapler Chronicles]

Is Your iPad Ruining Your Writing?

Daryl Lang on June 15, 2011

Ask a writer to describe his or her favorite tool of the trade and you’ll probably get an earful. Some writers are loyal to a particular kind of pen or pencil. Some have a thing for typewriters. Personally, I fondly remember the old computer keyboards that had a satisfying snap to them, like the click of a switch. I like my keyboards loud. That clattering racket is the sound of progress!

Which brings us to the iPad. Over the last year a lot of people have switched from carrying laptop computers to iPads. And that’s great.

But despite all the things the iPad does well, it is a mediocre tool for writing. Mashing your fingers on that slippery, smudge-prone glass ranks among the least enjoyable ways to input text into a computer. You would probably have to ask a hundred writers to find one who enjoys typing on an iPad. Read More →

Meet Our Blogger: Matt Smith

Matt Smith on June 14, 2011

The Hired Guns’ newest blogger, Matt Smith, is an expert at developing new products, innovative thinking, and startups. He’ll be putting his knowledge to good use for us as he writes about product management and methods to help companies innovate effectively, especially in an Agile environment. Matt sees his mission as “helping people grow, fostering ideas, and solving complicated problems in an innovative way.” We wanted to find out more . . . .

The Stats:

Hometown:
Newton, Mass.

Current ‘hood:
Upper West Side, NYC

College/Grad School:
Union College

Current Job:
Director, New Products & Innovation at Shutterstock

Where do you plan to take your column this year?
I really want to focus on success by innovation. Specifically how being Agile, in both product development and in business operations, can lead to innovation and, ultimately, success.

What do you hope to accomplish with your Hired Gun posts?
I’d like to help people understand innovation; how to find the open spaces within a business or industry, and fill them. Ultimately what we as product people are here to do is figure out how to help people, how to solve problems, and make people’s lives easier. At our core, we’re innovators. Or course, that’s much easier said than done.

Not everyone understands how to innovate, how to fill those gaps, and how to do it successfully. I’m writing these posts to help people learn and how to succeed.

Who should be checking you out?
Everyone from a new product person to a CEO who is looking to understand how to bring Agile to his or her business so that it can operate and innovate quickly and successfully.

There is a right way and a wrong way to be Agile, and it’s a slippery slope. When done the right way, Agile can help a company be incredibly successful, but when done wrong, it can really hurt a company. People who want to understand the right way to be innovative through Agile should be checking me out. Read More →

Thu June 16: NYC SALT Parties for a Good Cause

The Hired Guns on June 14, 2011

A reminder that the nonprofit photography organization NYC SALT will be having its first graduation party and gallery show this Thursday, June 16th. The group helps disadvantaged New York teens learn about photography and also helps prepare them for higher education. The party will include live music, a silent auction of prints by established photographers, and wine and appetizers. Works by SALT students will also be for sale.

To find out more about the organization, check out the video below . . . .

How Not to Succeed in Business: Show Your Boss That You’re Smarter Than Him

Todd Tarpley on June 14, 2011

Most bosses suffer from the delusion that they are smart. Perhaps they feel that their years of industry experience and managing people somehow give them special “knowledge” that others don’t possess. As the hot new manager with the MBA, it’s your job to set him straight.
Here are five tips for doing it right:

1. Exude confidence. State your opinion firmly. If that doesn’t work, continue to repeat your point, but louder. Some management gurus claim that a more productive way to persuade someone is to provide compelling data to back up your opinion. But that requires effort, and research shows that 90% of the time, appearing to be right is more important than actually being right. (The other 10% of the time you will cause your 150-year-old company to implode. But that’s only 10% of the time.) Read More →

The Hired Guns Poll: Is LinkedIn Killing Off the Resume?

The Hired Guns on June 13, 2011

LinkedIn’s stock price may be going through some turbulence after its IPO last month, but the site continues to expand its base of over 100 million users, and its perceived importance is on the rise, too.

That got us wondering—is LinkedIn going to be so ubiquitous in a few years that its profiles will actually replace the traditional do-it-yourself resume? After all, most people seem to be better at keeping their profiles up-to-date than they are at keeping their resumes current . . . .

Bullet Points: Gilt Groupe Advice; MBA Pay; A Bounty on Headhunters

The Hired Guns on June 10, 2011

The co-founder of luxury deals site Gilt Groupe discusses the skills, temperament, and other traits to look for in other members of your startup’s team. [Bnet]
What’s the newest crop of MBAs earning? [Bnet]
The BDO accounting firm is handing out a $5 Starbucks gift card for every headhunter voicemail or email that employees forward on to HR. Caffeine bribery works, evidently: BDO got at least 200 submissions in the first part of its anti-recruiter drive. [Going Concern]
The Education for Employment Foundation works to help young people in the Middle East find jobs: “Being unemployed anywhere in the world is depressing, but it’s even harder in the Middle East,” says the NGO’s founder, the businessman Ron Bruder. [CNN]

The Accidental Creative: Are You Taking Ground or Just Maintaining It?

Todd Henry on June 9, 2011

In 2005, military strategist Thomas Barnett took the stage at the TED Conference to share insights on the state of the US Military. In his talk he said that there are two primary functions of the military: to take ground, then to maintain that ground once it’s been taken. Barnett argued that it is quite challenging for the same force to accomplish both tasks well because they each require unique skills and practices. You don’t want your advance “Leviathan” force to have to oscillate between taking new ground and administrating a system, yet that’s frequently what’s required.

As creatives, we are primarily wired to take ground. We are the Leviathan force. We love to invent things, to develop elegant solutions, to design and fabricate worlds. But those of us who work in an organizational setting or with clients know that this passion for taking ground often comes into conflict with the need of our manager or client to ensure that we’re protecting the ground that’s already been taken. In other words, they want us to be creative, but to be practical all at once. Read More →

Internet Week: How Technology Helps (and Hurts) Small Businesses (NYC)

The Hired Guns on June 9, 2011

Tomorrow, June 10, from noon to 1pm, The Hired Guns founder Allison Hemming will appear on a panel as part of the day-long Some Things Digital: Business 2.0 seminar. She and other small-business owners will talk about how technology and the Internet have changed the way they run their companies.

Some Things Digital is completely free, but you need to register in advance. Find out more here.

Working Girl: Why I Returned to Full Time

Homegirl on June 9, 2011

After getting through the Game of Thrones winter we just had, I didn’t really care that I was broke and with no prospects. As long as I had my bike and enough money for rent, cable, electricity, and dog food, I was good to go. I wanted out of my apartment. I wanted to burn my winter clothes on the beach, in a huge effigy to the evil god of winter.

Yet just as the days got longer and warm enough to hint that it actually may not snow again, I got a job offer. A full-time job offer from a very generous friend who owns a digital design agency. The fact is, I didn’t really have the money to pay the aforementioned bills, so this offer couldn’t have come at a better time, financially speaking. (But summer, my sweet summer!) I took the job. Alas, the dog has to eat. And I have to watch Game of Thrones. Read More →

Bullet Points: The Off-line Job Search; Blogs That Get You Hired, Not Fired

The Hired Guns on June 8, 2011

Close that laptop: here are the things you need to do off-line to get a job. [CareerAlley]
What should you do if a potential employer wants you to sign up for a “free” credit report? [JT & Dale]
The Evil HR Lady looks at ways to make sure your blog will be an asset, rather than a reason for dismissal.
Whether you’re thinking about a job or a place to live, “pay close attention to your own culture and situation. Over the long run, it will have more impact positively or negatively on your career—and your health—than anything else.” [Dan Erwin]

Bullet Points: Tools for Staying On Top; Keeping Job-Hunt Momentum Going

The Hired Guns on June 7, 2011

Tools That Can Help When There Is Too Much on Your Plate [NYT]
Some real talk from career coach Eli Amdur about looking for work: “Recruiters don’t work for you; they work for the client. A coach does work for you, but can’t take responsibility. Networking groups are just the start, but they’re not where the jobs are. And so it goes. We can all guide, advise, and connect . . . but we cannot provide the impetus or the momentum.” That’s up to you. [NorthJersey.com]
In the same spirit as Todd Tarpley’s How Not to Succeed in Business: 4 Quick Ways to Annoy Your Boss [Oprah]
Penelope Trunk on what to say if you’re getting fired: “I’m sorry you feel that way. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
A new section of New York’s High Line park opens tomorrow. New York magazine charts the restaurants, art, and other features you’ll find there.

Agile: Getting Beyond the Buzzword

Matt Smith on June 7, 2011

People love buzzwords—they help make you part of the conversation. Unfortunately, they can also make you look foolish if you really don’t know what you’re talking about.

When it comes to software development, Agile has become one of those words. In the last eight months, I have interviewed over a hundred product managers, directors, and others. All of them threw “Agile” out there as a part of the conversation: “Oh yeah, we’re an Agile shop, we gave up Waterfall years ago.”

Here’s the problem with that sentence, specifically the word Agile: everyone has his or her own definition of what it means. Agile has generally been a software development word, a repositioning of development away from Waterfall. But it’s also much more than that.

To understand Agile a bit more, let’s step back and understand what Waterfall software development is and where it came from. Waterfall is based on the idea of having requirements upfront, getting design and implementation after the requirements, and doing verification and maintenance at the end. This method was a carryover from manufacturing and construction, where everything had to be very well thought out and planned ahead of time, because even the slightest change would be hugely expensive.

In these situations, the notion of a Waterfall approach makes perfect sense. If you’re going to build a bridge, you better not start without knowing where the bridge is going to connect on the other end, and you better have a huge amount of specifications for everything. But for software development, where things move quickly, and the cost of adjustments are minimal, this type of development just doesn’t make sense.

That’s where Agile comes in. Instead of planning everything out in advance, Agile favors lots of small incremental decisions, and it can also adapt to changes throughout the process. There are lots of flavors of Agile out there: there’s scrum Agile, non-scrum Agile, kanban Agile, and hundreds of others. Then there’s the kind that unfortunately tends to be the one I hear described most often when people talk to me about Agile. It’s fake Agile. Read More →

Get Your Blog On: Deane Barker of Gadgetopia on Finding Your Audience and Why Narcissism Is Your Friend

Bill Brazell on June 6, 2011

Bill Brazell has worked closely with popular sites that include Dooce, Boing Boing, and Behance. For our series of podcasts, he interviews some of the stars of blogging and uncovering tips and tools that the rest of us can use to grow our online presence.

Gadgetopia, the group blog that Deane Barker founded, has impeccable geek credentials: it’s run by five programmers and two sysadmins. In our 20-minute talk, Deane covers tips for growing your audience, the right (and wrong) way to deal with controversy, and how your blog can help you grow your career and take it in unexpected directions.

Listen to internet radio with Bill Brazell on Blog Talk Radio

Bullet Points: Intern Cupcakes; Job Interviews on Skype; Groupon Magic

The Hired Guns on June 3, 2011

“Choose a topic you’ll never get tired of” and other advice from bloggers who have turned their passions into going concerns. [NYT]
A reporter at a major daily newspaper is looking for companies that use video interviewing to assess job candidates, as well as candidates who have been interviewed this way. If you’ve used Skype or HireVue or similar services to get a job or to fill a job, email us. The reporter is interested in finding out why companies opt for this method of interviewing and any anecdotes about how these interviews tend to go. And for job candidates, how was it for you?
In case you missed it last weekend: the Times goes really deep on Groupon’s methods, something Hired Guns blogger Daryl Lang also examined recently.
Do you have what it takes to build that website on your own? Going by Vitamin Talent’s intricate flowchart, you may need a much, much bigger monitor before you can decide.
Never accept a counteroffer. [Ere.net]
At Slate, there’s no longer any money set aside for taking the interns out for drinks or lunch once in a while. Instead, it’s the interns doling out favors like cupcakes and other small gifts, and the site also takes “advantage of their access to expensive journals through their college library credentials.” Related: the new book Intern Nation.
Email maintenance is a subject close to our hearts. Here’s a suggestion on how to use the BCC for good, not evil. The time you save may be your own.

Q&A: UX Guru Mark Hurst on Staying Focused and Avoiding Info Overload

The Hired Guns on June 2, 2011

We recently talked with Mark Hurst, the User Experience entrepreneur and writer behind the Gel Conference and Creative Good consulting firm, about his background and some of the simple steps that people can do to avoid getting overwhelmed by email, media, and information in general.

I think lots of people may have an inkling that they have a problem with information overload. But where should they start? Are there any simple steps that people can do?
Move your action items to a to-do list. Just try working from a to-do list, rather than the inbox, for a few days. There are other helpful things that people can do to reduce stress and overload, but that’s where I’d start.

Has changing technology, such as the rise of social media, made the problem worse, or has it always been this bad? Keeping up definitely seems like it takes more work these days. . . .
There are certainly more sources of distraction today, more easily accessed, than we’ve ever had in human history. However, I’d also point out that even 15 years ago, people were complaining about being overloaded by email. Personally I find that it’s just as easy today to solve overload as it was in the mid-90s. Empty your inbox and then focus on a to-do list to get your work done. Read More →

The Good Guns: Edit a Short Film to Help Teen Photographers

The Hired Guns on June 1, 2011

“The Good Guns” is a series of volunteer opportunities put together by The Hired Gun community.

Summary:
NYC SALT is a nonprofit visual arts program teaching photography to socioeconomically disadvantaged inner-city teenagers. The group is looking for 11 Final Cut Pro gurus to help 11 teens tell a two-minute story of their work for the 1st Annual NYC SALT fund-raiser and retrospective gallery show on June 16th. Email Alicia ASAP if you’re interested in helping. We’d also love to find one producer/editor volunteer to create a video master for the other volunteers so that all 11 shorts have a similar look and feel.

Good Gun Profile
You’ll need to be quick on your feet. We have one hour of video footage on each teen. This footage needs to be edited and combined with images shot by the students for the retrospective into a two-minute short. These video shorts will be distributed virally to promote the NYC SALT fund-raiser and will also be edited into a larger video montage for the June 16th event. Read More →

5 Ways to Make Work the #1 Thing in Your Life—and Everyone Else’s

Todd Tarpley on June 1, 2011

Whoever coined the phrase “work/life balance” probably understood that the key to long-term productivity is a positive work environment, a range of outside interests, and job satisfaction. You don’t want people like that working for you.

Instead, here are five ways to keep your workers focused on work 24/7:

1. Don’t have a spouse or family, and forbid your employees from having them. Families have a tendency to be involved in school pageants and athletic events, they don’t like to move or change schools, and they suck out a lot of energy that could be better spent on Six Sigma productivity training. If members of your team have preexisting families, encourage them to jettison them immediately. At minimum, require them to replace their personal photos with framed motivational posters. Explain to them that “this is your family now.” Read More →

For Designers, Credibility Comes from Small Wins

Jeff Gothelf on June 1, 2011

Credibility is capital, and it’s crucial to your success as a designer. You earn it, save it, and spend it in order to make your work come to life. Credibility is also a way for your true talents to get exposure to the outside world through the products you design that actually launch.

As a designer, you get hired on the basis of your beautiful portfolio and strong resume. But that’s as far as those historical recaps can take you. From day one on the new job you need to start building credibility through small wins. It’s those small wins that immediately begin to earn you credibility. But there are subtle differences on how to best get those small wins, depending on if you’re a freelancer or a full-time employee.

Freelancers are expected to start performing immediately, from their first minute on the job. You’re there to fill a temporary gap, and there are likely projects that need your attention immediately. Small wins for a freelancer include asking the right questions. What are you there to do? What are the immediate fires to be put out? Who are the stakeholders? Whom will you be working with? Showing expertise at diagnosing the problem right away is a terrific small win. Next, ask questions about the timelines. Engaging clients with a quick discussion about the schedule shows that you’re conscious of their situation and want to help them meet their goals. Finally, earn credibility by getting to work. Waste as little time as possible before you get started. If you can start delivering work on your first day, you’ve shown your client that you’re serious, you’re there to help and can get the job done (win, win and win!). All of this adds up to a big chunk of credibility that will help you secure another gig with that company. It will also help spread good word of mouth about you to other clients. Read More →

Gunsworthy

Topics

Authors

Archive

How to Combat the July Slowdown:

1. Be a laser, not a lighthouse.

The Stats:

Gunsworthy

About The Hired Guns

Press

Contact Us

The Hive

Email To a Friend