I just got off the phone with a client; we had a mystery on our hands. It seemed that my MS Word (PC-generated) documents were showing up as less than perfect on her MAC. As world market share of MAC is 5% (source: venturebeat) and 15% in the U.S.(source: osxdaily), I realized we may have a concern that is not going away.
There are … Read more
My grandparents were farmers. They were immigrants – both born in what is today Germany. You can imagine being about three years old and coming to America where you speak no English, and you’re about to be raised on a farm doing something that was alien to your father (he was a cabinet maker). You realize you are responsible for your own destiny. To achieve your goals, you’ll need to do more than … Read more
According to a recent poll of 800 employers by JobVite.com, over 90% of those employers have used Linkedin to hire talent. You read that right. Linkedin is not likely a passing fad. It is “the” tool you need to know to network successfully in your job search. What should your Linkedin profile look like? Which Linkedin groups make sense for you to join? How do you quickly develop a trust-based relationship using Linkedin? Those are all questions which require a “Depends on. . .” answer … Read more
When it comes to seeking information important to my client’s job search success, I always go to the professionals. I’m at that wonderful age where the more I learn the more I realize I need to know. As such I read a great deal. My librarian knows me by my first name. Granted, I drop off a box of donuts once a week (a move that gets you access to the latest books - you didn’t hear it from me.) So here I am reading Malcom Gladwell’s brilliant little book “The Tipping Point” and I start reading chapter 5: The Magic Number One Hundred and Fifty. Something unusual was happening when then new and unknown author Rebecca Wells started a book promotion tour – she noticed a “atypical” reader asked her to sign not 1 but 3-10 books. This is not “normal” in the publishing world. Turns out her book Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, was competing against “known” authors Danielle Steel and Mary Higgins Clark, but in a different way: it was spreading word of mouth via personal relationships – not via traditional marketing or advertising. The book as of 1998 had 48 printings and sold 2.5M copies (50,000 sales is considered a “best seller”). In short we had a “social epidemic” – a sharing which transformed relationships from acquaintances to something akin friendship.
To make a long story short, Gladwell, in his studies of social behavior, reviewed the work of British anthropologist Robin Dunbar. It turns out this transition from “acquaintance” to friendship has an interesting “Tipping Point” – to quote Dunbar (p. 178 The Tipping Point, Little Brown & Company, New York) “The figure of 150 seems to represent the maximum number of individuals with whom we can have genuinely social relationships, the kind of relationships that goes with knowing who they are and how they relate to us. Putting it another way, it’s the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar.”
On reading the quote above my little 35 watt mind illuminated and I tracked back into my CRM software to review my clients who had the greatest success in their job searches. No small revelation here. It was not those who were on Linkedin but only had a handful of contacts. It was not those on Linkedin who had “500+” contacts (and forgive me here if you do, I am only stating what I found); it was those clients who had about 100 – 200 contacts. Then I read further into my notes and realized these were the same folks I trained on setting up their Linkedin Profiles. At the time (prior to reading Gladwell’s book) I had advised my clients, “I know this may sound stupid, but remember this: don’t invite anyone into your Linkedin network unless you: a.) Like them, b.) Respect them, and, c.) Trust them. In short, you’d have them over to your house for dinner.” The later, I suppose, echoes Dunbar’s “you would not feel embarrassed joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them at a bar.”
Some great insight here: keep your Linkedin profile connections “real” and if you want the newest books at your library, bribe your librarian with donuts.
Don’t you love it when someone just “says it like it is”. It’s like a breath of fresh air. I want to share something with you that “says it like it is” when it comes to your job search. There are 3 consistent Steps to success in a job search – regardless of which industry you are in, what title/role you are pursuing, or where you live geographically. Note that each of these 3 steps have innovative new elements to them which you need to master to be competitive. … Read more
I get a bit nervous when someone says, ”I have good news and I have bad news. Which would you like to hear first?” But I always ask for the bad news first. The theme of this article is statistics. I’m often asked what the chances are of a client being successful in their job search, be that breaking into a new industry, rising in the ranks with their existing company, etc. We like numbers, stats. So, before I begin with the “good news” numbers, stats, I’ll start with the bad news stats. Forget all those U.S. Bureau of Labor stats for now, we all need a bit of levity in our lives, so here are some interesting stats from funny2.com:
Odds of dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1
Odds of injury from mowing the lawn: 3623 to 1 … Read more
The last thing you need to worry about is whether your boss knows you are seeking a position with another company. And the first thing you need to know is that referrals are the way to land that new position. But how do you “reach out” to those potential referrals in a confidential way? As most of my clients are now realizing, Linkedin is a gold mine for finding potential referrals – if used correctly. Here are some less-than-obvious ways to use Linked in to conduct a confidential job search. … Read more
There is an old saying that the only thing that never changes is change itself. In the case of the future for orthopedic Health Care careers there are some interesting changes coming. I believe there are great career opportunities within these changes.
A Global Snapshot. Current trends show a steady increase in worldwide population yet a steady decrease in birth rates. In lay terms, people are living longer. We have some 6.9B people today and are expected to have 7.5B to 10.5B over the next … Read more
It is easy to get discouraged when you listen to the news these days and see the latest Dept of Labor stats. But, recall our grandparent’s sage advice: “There is a silver lining in every cloud.” If you are currently in a sales role with big pharma, there are some interesting – and very encouraging – trends. … Read more
About 80 health care – medical industry employers were recently polled on how they find talent for their companies (source: Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey, May-June, 2011). The poll revealed interesting insight and trends that have a very real impact on your job search success. The poll also revealed just how fiercely competitive the job search market place is. So – let’s start with our problem (high competition) before moving onto specific solutions. … Read more
