The Chief Storyteller

What Makes You Different?

So, you’re at a networking event and you’ve just answered the question, “What do you do?” Now what?  What if there are two others in the room who do what you do?

What makes you different?  (translated as, “Why should I hire you?”) When I was a graduate student, I was taught the best way to differentiate a product or a service was to create something that would be perceived as unique.

Let’s take copy writing as an example profession, what could possibly make me unique? Think along a variety of dimensions. Quality of my product – engaging, error-free, and easy-to-read articles, bulletins, and speeches. Customer service – responsive to the needs of my editor, punctual in meeting deadlines, and a willingness to offer a choice of several submissions. Experience – require minimal supervision, coaching, and editing – in short, no learning curve.

Taken together, these dimensions help to differentiate me among the other writers in the room. The others may have more experience and may also offer quality products...my customer service is superior.

You may notice I didn’t include price as one of these dimensions. That’s because differentiation often results in a lower sensitivity to price.  By effectively differentiating your product or service on one or several dimensions of perceived value to your prospect, you have created something that is unique.

Fortune’s 100 Best Companies: What Words Describe You?

Fortune magazine recently issued its list of “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” The list includes perennial favorites like SAS, Edwards Jones, Wegman’s Food Markets, Google, Dreamworks Animation, REI, Booz Allen Hamilton, Stew Leonard’s, and Marriott International – all great places to work, for sure.

With room for just 100, there is no doubt there are other great companies out there who may have come close to qualifying, as well.  Is your company one of them?  What makes a company a great place to work?  Why is it important for companies to strive for this distinction?

To help with the first question, I sat down and compiled a list of key words that Fortune  used to describe the companies included in their list.  Words like:  trust, appreciation, collaboration, openness, opportunities, associates, culture, wellness, fun, fitness, family-friendly, retention, no-layoff, profit-sharing, sacrifice, celebration, mentors, volunteers,  diversity, leadership, and pride.

The next time you’re in a Wegman’s food market or a Marriott hotel, for example, take a moment to see how many of these characteristics you can find among the people who work there.   Next, apply these same words to your company.  How many of these characteristics did you find where you work?

How Facebook Is Making Friending Obsolete

A few days ago the Wall Street Journal published an interesting article, "How Facebook Is Making Friending Obsolete." Here's a summary of the article...

This fall, Twitter turned its popularity into dollars, inking lucrative deals to allow its users' tweets to be broadcast via search algorithms on Google and Bing.

Just as Facebook turned friends into a commodity, it has likewise gathered our personal data – our updates, our baby photos, our endless chirping birthday notes— and readied it to be bundled and sold.

So I give up. Rather than fighting to keep my Facebook profile private, I plan to open it up to the public – removing the fiction of intimacy and friendship.

But I will also remove the vestiges of my private life from Facebook and make sure I never post anything that I wouldn't want my parents, employer, next-door neighbor or future employer to see. You'd be smart to do the same.

I agree. Currently, I maintain a social life on Facebook and a professional life on LinkedIn. When you start mixing the two, then you have to ask yourself, do you want unintended people/friends having access to private information or seeing your private life? What will people think when they see the pictures of me in Hawaii wearing a coconut hat?

Additional Blog Entries:
- When Mom or Dad Asks To Be a Facebook 'Friend'
- Keep Your Online Personal Life to Your 'Home' Friends

Hey Job Hunters, Leapfrog Your Competition

Many job hunters believe the holiday season to be the worst for job hunting. So what do they do...they take their own mini holidays.

Instead, now is the time to put your job hunting and everything related into high gear for the new year.

Some suggestions:
- attend as many holiday parties and gatherings as you can
- grab lunch, coffee, lunch, drinks, etc. with acquaintances, current and former clients/members/co-workers/colleagues
- email lots and lots of catch-up/how are you/happy holiday emails
- research the companies that you are interested in

When mid January comes along, you'll be better prepared than your job-hunting competition.

What Impresses You the Most When Meeting College Students at Job Fairs? 5 Tips

LinkedIn has a great feature when it comes to Questions and Answers. You can post a question, answer a question, or just browse the Q&A section for topics that interest you.

Here's a question that I recently answered, "What impresses you the most when meeting college students ( or recent graduates) at job fairs?"

Networking, Job Hunting, and Communication are some of the hardest things we do. There are absolutely no instruction manuals that combine these high level topics together for students. Plus, student-age people rarely have the insights or fundamental understanding of the importance of these three elements. They are just students!

While the thoughts below focus on students, there are some relevant job hunting ideas for anyone.

*** My Answer:
Having taught three semesters at top business school on career strategies to juniors and seniors, combined with personal experience, and hiring experience over the past 23 years, here are some suggestions for undergrads and new grads, for both job fairs and general job search.

1) Ask questions based on doing an Internet search on my company and me. Show me that you did your homework. This will make you stand out at a job fair.

2) Bring some ideas specific to my company. They don't have to be perfect--just thoughtful.

3) Lack of attention to detail immediately translates to "no thank you." I've had too many college students and recent grads spell my company name or my name incorrectly, or even use the wrong gender (my picture is on my website and LinkedIn). There is absolutely no excuse for these errors. So when you send a personal hand-written or typed letter after the job fair, triple check it before sending it out.

4) Tailor your cover letter and resume. If it's generic (it's easy to tell), then I know that you don't really care and don't really want the job.

5) Communicate well. Ensure that your emails, telephone messages, cover letter, resume, and what you say during the interview demonstrate your thoughtful and professional approach to business. When you get to the job fair, know how to answer "tell me about yourself," and "tell me why you are interested in this job," and "tell me what interests you in our company."

Job Seekers: Leave the Personal Information Out

Over the past few months I have been helping more and more job seekers with the development and update of their materials such as their elevator speech (answer to "what do you do?" and "tell me about yourself"), cover letter, resume, interviewing, and accomplishments/success stories.

Because of the economy, many professionals are now faced with the process of job hunting--something new to many or at least, something that have not had to do in quite a while. Since they have not had to use these skills or tools, they are typically a bit rusty.

My biggest tip, hint, suggestion, must-do, stomp-on-the-floor-with-my-foot-to-emphasize-point is...leave your personal information at home. Prospective hiring managers want to know what you have to offer, your employment history, how you are going to help them.

Remember that you have a very limited amount of time during networking or interviewing to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and abilities. As such, any discussion of your personal situation takes away from the business objective of you getting the interview, invited back, or receiving the offer letter.

Leave the personal stories of how you lost your job, been unemployed for x months, haven't had much luck networking or interviewing, and so on at home. It's business, business, business. After you get hired is the time to share your personal history, to begin building true bonds of trust and credibility.

Personal stories of triumph where you learned something or helped your business are the good business stories that hiring managers want to hear.

Searching for a new job is a full-time job. It takes time, effort, strategy, stamina, and a solid business story.

Raise your right hand job seeker. Repeat after me, "I promise...to leave out my personal information...in ALL of my job seeking tools and experiences."

Knowing Your Story Builds Confidence when You Interview and Present

About a week ago I did a web workshop for the American Bar Association (ABA). The session was designed to help people searching for jobs, in transition, or likely to lose their jobs. My part centered around the elevator speech (answer to "What Do You Do?") and the importance of telling a story that is synchronized from your elevator speech to your cover letter, resume, interview, and what your references say about you.

During the presentation, I mentioned that many people think that "fixing" body language (e.g., eye contact, smiling, and hand gestures) and tone of voice (e.g., using vocal variety) equate to better interviewers and better presenters. My suggestion to the listeners was that instead, focus on the story, your story.

Be confident in your story. In your words, language, and intended impact. Practice your stories as they relate to how you want your listener/reader to perceive you. For example, every bullet on your resume should tell a story. Well, what happens when the interviewer asks you to share more information on the bullet. That's a story. What is the first question generally asked in an interview? So, "tell me about yourself." This is your elevator speech.

As a result, I firmly believe through working with many hundreds of men and women on their presentation and communication skills, that people who are confident in their words, language, and business stories, exude the confidence through their voice and body language.

Check, Re-Check, Re-Check, oh yeah, Re-Check Again

We received a cover letter today in response to an intern position we have open. The cover letter was addressed to a different company.

We wrote back to the applicant to let her know of her mistake. She apologized and wrote "I hope that this does not affect your decision."

It certainly does.

Each of us has one opportunity to make a first impression. And this applicant did not make a good one.

Wherever You Go, Your “Book” Goes with You

Tonight is the last class for the semester. It is a wrap up class where I spend the time talking about the transition from backpack to briefcase. If it were up to me, I would name the class "Backpack to Briefcase."

My big push for the students is that from day one on the new job, people are making assumptions about you. Until such time that you either reinforce them or change them through action or lack of action, this "judging" is ongoing.

As a result, the thought that I shared with them (as with previous classes that I taught) is:

Wherever you go, your “book” goes with you. The first page, your first impression, sets the tone, personality, style, and expectations for the rest of your story to others. Does your book tell the story you want it to tell?

While most of my students are junior, some will be entering the workforce in June. My advice to them, whether we are in a good or bad economy, is "it's always about them."

Note: The class is BMGT 367, Business Career Strategies, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. In the class, I help the students with their resumes, cover letters, thank you letters, interviewing, negotiating, and communicating (e.g., elevator speech/tell me about yourself answer).

In China, Job Seekers are Resorting to Plastic Surgery

Wow! I knew that times are tough...

In the recent article, one young woman sums everything up with "They may not say it openly, but during the process they will pick the prettier one."

Read the full article here.