Month: May 2013

Posted on

Resume Fail

White x on a red paper

In a recent article, Forbes lists three things that will get your resume “thrown in the trash.” The list includes three resume mistakes that will most likely get candidates overlooked. The article provides good advice. I would recommend giving it a read.
The Forbes list includes the following:
• You don’t meet the basic requirements
• You are not a culture fit
• You don’t pay attention to detail

 

In addition, be mindful of the following:
• The resume doesn’t highlight the qualifications to the specific job for which you are applying. Look at the ad or description that is posted. It will most likely not only tell you the qualifications, but many times it will start with what is most needed or required. If you learned about the job from someone in the company or a recruiter, be sure to find out what skills are required and what are most important. Your resume will be scanned quickly, be sure your can show how your qualifications will fit this position.
• The resume includes an objective statement that refers to another industry, position or company. This is in line with Forbes advice to pay attention to detail. I would recommend removing the objective statement all together. Use that space for a headline statement that highlights your skills and background.
• The resume makes claims about your abilities or skills without communicating results. Be sure you can show what results you have achieved by using those skills. You have very limited space to display your qualifications and sell yourself to a recruiter. Use that space wisely.
• Do not use creative fonts and formatting for your resume. The resume is often uploaded into an applicant tracking system. Those systems do not always display special fonts accurately. If it doesn’t convert well, the recruiter will not be able to read it and it will be skipped.

 

What other advise can you share?
Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

Posted on

Write The Letter: Bequests II

Last month I introduced promotion of planned gifts with bequests.

This month, I’m helping you write your direct mail letter. If you can’t afford direct mail, don’t worry. There are lots of other channels to promote charitable bequests and I’ll get to those.

If you don’t plan a letter campaign, my tips will help you understand the audience so you’ll gain confidence in your other promotion channels—including face-to-face meetings.

If you will use direct mail, here you go:

§ Write the letter from your heart. Be warm, factual, sincere, and straightforward. Share how a bequest in a will can help support your important work long into the future, because today’s bequest may not mean cash to you for many years. This is long-term fundraising.
§ Acknowledge that family always comes first in one’s long-term planning.
§ Include an invitation to “consider including ABC Charity in your will or other long-term plan.”I like to see this ask in its own paragraph.
§ Don’t be ashamed or ask humbly. Ask with confidence and sincerity.
§ Devote your letter exclusively to promoting a gift by will. No other subjects to distract from your heart-whole purpose.
§ Your prospects are in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Bear that in mind as you write.
§ Limit your letter to one page. Take the advice I’ve given and write concisely.

Testimonial letters carry great power.

So if you have donors who have already included you in their wills, ask if they’ll tell the story of why they did it and how it makes them feel to have your nonprofit alongside the bequests for their spouses, children, and grandchildren.

You’ll find it easier to interview them, write the letter for them and let them edit it.

Your donors who love you will accept a simple, authentic and heartfelt explanation of how their wills can help you. Remember from last month, you’re writing to your most consistent and loyal donors.

Take note of the adjectives I’ve used. They’ll guide you as you write: warm; factual; sincere; straightforward; confident; simple; authentic; and heartfelt.

Come back in June for advice on what to do with your letter in “More Direct Mail: Bequests III.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Tony Martignetti, Esq. is the host of Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. He’s a Planned Giving consultant, speaker, author, blogger and stand-up comic. You’ll find him at tonymartignetti.com.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

 

Posted on

When a director knows what isn’t in the papers – a dilemma

Male executive going over business files

Winsome is a director of a large listed company. She has a strong track record in M&A advisory work and is now embarking on a non-executive career. She is finding the ‘hands off’ aspects of the role quite challenging as she is instinctively and by training a detail focused manager. She has been mentoring one of the young analysts at the company and recently helped him by reviewing a report that he was asked to prepare for the board.

The report concerned an acquisition that had been thoroughly analysed and was a compelling proposition due to a strong strategic fit and an advantageous price. The only negatives were:

1- The long standing employees who would have very high redundancy and retirement costs.

2- One of the international operations which uses agents and shows a historical tendency for large ‘round-number’ sums to be paid to these agents before tenders are awarded. This operation is only 3% of revenue and 2% of profit but the analyst is concerned that the forecast growth of the operation may not eventuate if the payments cease. He is aware that the board has a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for bribes and facilitation payments.

Winsome is concerned because the report covered these issues and called for the board to discuss and decide on a course of action. She has now received her ‘official’ version of the report in her board papers and all references to the suspicious payments have been edited out. Her mentee, when questioned, informed her that the CEO insisted on the edits as it was a small issue with a small part of the target company and the board was only to focus on the big picture.

Winsome is worried that if she says anything she will get her mentee into trouble but also that if she doesn’t say something the board could approve an acquisition that would later cause embarrassment and possibly worse. What should she do?

 

Many readers of this blog will be familiar with my newsletter The Director’s Dilemma. This newsletter features a real life case study with expert responses containing advice for the protagonist. Many readers of this blog are practicing experts and have valuable advice to offer so, again, we are posting an unpublished case study and inviting YOU to respond.

If you would like to publish your advice on this topic in a global company directors’ newsletter please respond to the dilemma above with approximately 250 words of advice for Winsome. Back issues of the newsletter are available at http://www.mclellan.com.au/newsletter.html where you can check out the format and quality.

The newsletters will be compiled into a book. If your advice relates to a legal jurisdiction, the readers will be sophisticated enough to extract the underlying principles and seek detailed legal advice in their own jurisdiction. The first volume of newsletters is published and available at http://www.amazon.com/Dilemmas-Practical-Studies-Company-Directors/dp/1449921965/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321912637&sr=8-1

What would you advise?

 

 

Julie Garland-McLellan has been internationally acclaimed as a leading expert on board governance. See her website atwww.mclellan.com.auor visit her author page athttp://www.amazon.com/Julie-Garland-McLellan/e/B003A3KPUO

Posted on

Drive-by Download Hacks – a Crisis Management Risk

software-developer-signaling-screen-data-breach.

Were you aware of this sneaky way your system can be infected?

Rarely a week goes by now that we don’t hear of a new cyber attack as hackers’ approaches become more bold and sophisticated.

Early this month, a U.S. Department of Labor page that shares information on toxic substances at facilities around the U.S. was infected by hackers in what is known as a “drive-by download” attack. Here are the details, from a PCWorld article by Jeremy Kirk:

When someone was redirected to an infected page, a script surveyed the computer to figure out what versions of software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Systems’ Reader, Java or various antivirus programs it is running, wrote Jamie Blasco, director of AlienVault’s Labs.

The attack code then tries to exploit a vulnerability in older versions of Internet Explorer, wrote Anup Ghosh, founder and CEO of Invincea. The vulnerability, CVE-2012-4792, has been patched by Microsoft.

Those running the vulnerable browser didn’t even need to click or accept anything, merely visiting the site would be enough to grant the attackers access to their systems.

Exploits of older versions are just one of the reason regular software updates should be part of your crisis management process for cyber attack prevention. For more tips on protecting yourself, check out our recent post, The Three P’s of Cyber-Survival.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Posted on

Life Purpose and Career – Part 2

A-female-doctor-looking-at-the-camera

In my post last week, I shared the parable of the ant and a story of a woman who saved her friend’s life by a phone call. I received a number of emails saying how much that post spoke to readers.

Share Your Gifts in Loving Service

I’d like to continue on this theme since people are interested in finding ways to link their life purpose with their work. In my book, Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service, I describe a framework to show how you can offer your gifts in loving service regardless of the kind of work you provide.

Linda's framework for working spiritually
Linda’s framework for working spiritually

Regardless of whether you have a low skilled or high paying job, your job can provide an opportunity to live with purpose and share your gifts. In one of my book tours for Path for Greatness, I met a woman who was a bus driver. She was also a Reiki master. She said she took the job of driving a city bus so she could go around town sharing Reiki energy.

Here’s a link to a video where I share a story of how another bus driver saw her job serving a higher purpose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq82gcIwqXM

Life Purpose may come unexpectedly

Your life purpose may unfold at one particular place at one particular time to support someone in need.

I met a woman who was a flight attendant in the early 2000’s. One night after her flight had landed and all the crew finished cleaning the cabin, she was the last to leave except the captain. He was finishing his paperwork in the cockpit. She stopped to say goodnight to the captain before going to the hotel for her overnight layover.

He called her into the cockpit saying he needed to talk. She didn’t have anything better to do that night, so she sat down to listen. As the captain unloaded a whole life’s worth of regrets and reflections, she thought perhaps he was going through a divorce or some major life shift. She sensed he had some urgency to ‘get his life right’ or figure out his life in some significant way. After an hour and a half of talking, the captain thanked her for listening. She said she was glad to listen and hoped it helped him. She then left to go to her hotel. That night was Mon. Sept. 10th, 2001. She worked for American Airlines.

The next morning she turned on the TV as she was getting dressed for work. To her horror she saw the burning World Trade Center in NY. She sat down in disbelief. Then the flight number came up showing the plane that had hit the building. It was the same plane that the captain piloted.

Her shock turned to deep sadness as she watched the rest of the morning. She told me that later that week she felt a deep gladness she had been able to help the pilot the night before his death. She felt in some way he had made peace with his life. He apparently had some intuition that he needed to get his life sorted out that night.

You never know when taking a bit of extra time to help a co-worker will make all the difference. You never know when you share your gifts, what impact it will have on someone.

So regardless of the type of work you do, when you take the time to listen, be attentive, or be supportive, you may offer that one thing that your customer or colleague needs to know or hear.

“Always prepare yourself. You never know when you’ll be called to do great things.” Abraham Lincoln

**********************

Do you have a colleague, friend or family member who desires to integrate their spiritual life and their work life? Share Linda’s first book, “Path for Greatness: Work as Spiritual Service” as a gift. Available on Amazon- Click HERE

Sign-Up on Linda’s website- www.lindajferguson.com to live and work from the heart- Transformational Empowerment

For more posts and updates of Linda’s work. “Like” to follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson

Posted on

Stressed Out and Burnt Out? The Cure: Learn to Say No!

a-woman-stressed-and-frustrated-after-an-internet-crisis-

Who hasn’t been guilty of overbooking themselves between their personal and professional lives?

But often instead of a feeling of elation for making everything “work,” we feel stressed out and burnt out. Peter Bergman, in his Harvard Business Review blog, shares seven practices to help you say a strategic “no” in order to create space in your life for a more intentional “yes.”

1. Know your no.
Identify what’s important to you and acknowledge what’s not. If you don’t know where you want to spend your time, you won’t know where you don’t want to spend your time. Before you can say no with confidence, you have to be clear that you want to say no.

2. Be appreciative.
When people ask for your help it’s usually because they trust you and they believe in your capabilities to help. So thank them for thinking of you or making the request/invitation. You can leave the door open by saying I can’t do it now, but get back to me at a specific time – that’s only if you mean it..

3. Say no to the request, not the person.
You’re not rejecting the person, just declining the request. So make that clear. You can also explain the reason. Maybe you’re too busy. Maybe you don’t feel like what they’re asking you to do plays to your strengths. Be honest about why you’re saying no.

4. Be as resolute as they are pushy.
Some people don’t give up easily. That’s their prerogative. And your is to be just as pushy as they are. You can make light of it if you want (“I know you don’t give up easily — but neither do I. I’m getting better at saying no.”).

5. Establish a pre-emptive no.
We all have certain people in our lives who tend to make repeated, sometimes burdensome requests of us. In those cases, it’s better to say no before the request even comes in. Let that person know that you’re hyper-focused on a couple of things in your life and trying to reduce your obligations in all other areas.

6. Be prepared to miss out.
Some of us have a hard time saying no because we hate to miss an opportunity. And saying no always leads to a missed opportunity. But it’s not just a missed opportunity; it’s a tradeoff. Remind yourself that when you’re saying no to the request, you are simultaneously saying yes to something you value more than the request. Both are opportunities. You’re just choosing one over the other.

7. Gather your courage.
If you’re someone who is used to saying yes, it will take courage to say no, You may feel like a bad friend. You might feel like you’re letting someone down or not living up to expectations. Maybe you’ll imagine that you’ll be seen or talked about in a negative light. Those things might be the cost of reclaiming your life. You’ll need courage to put up with them.

What causes you the most grief –the enemy out there (an unexpected crisis, others not meeting deadlines) or the enemy within (poor planning, procrastination, lack of assertiveness)? I would imagine for many of s it’s the enemy within – our inability to say no and make it stick.

Management Success Tip:

Even when you’ve said yes, you can change your mind and renegotiate. Find a substitute, change the deadline or scope of the request or whatever might work to keep you in good graces. Remember, things change – projects pushed up; a staff member is out for a month; or a new boss unexpectedly arrives. Life changes and so priorities change. So don’t get locked into I have to do it because I said yes.

How often do you say yes when you mean no? Is it more often in your professional or personal life? What”s the enemy within that’s stopping you from saying no and making it stick? Do you want to get better at it? Let’s talk.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

Posted on

Reviewing Your Document

Business woman going through a document

Question – Is reviewing your document clear and concise? – How do you know? Has it been written for your target audience? Most importantly, is all the information correct? We can write and write, but when do we stop and how much is enough? Here are some checks to ensure that you’ve written and checked all aspects of the document you’re delivering so that it is ready for your audience.

Plan it out

For specific documents, make sure that the most important items have been included. Prepare a list of must haves for each document you are preparing. Here are some simple examples:

    • For requirements documents, did you insert the project scope and essential items outlined and prioritized?
    • For user guides, did you review each step, provide enough images,, and did it meet stakeholder’s needs?
    • For specifications, did you provide all necessary data and figures/images and ensure that all pointers refer to the correct items?
    • For test plans, did you include location of objects and every scenario to be tested?
    • For marketing, was there enough data and information for sales engagement and revenue generation?
    • For RFPs did you include all the correct figures and terms?

From your research, you will know what has to be included in your work. Use the examples above and customize and create your own personal list of checks for each document Once each item on your list has been checked off and validated, then move on to the next steps below for reviewing the document further.

Check for Clarity

Make sure that you have included every description and explanation that is necessary. Did you use your simplest words to be as precise as possible without ambiguity? That is, make sure you have included all the right steps and diagrams and that all instructions, explanations, and relationships are in the right order thereby validating your content. Double check and make sure you have an answer for every possible question.

Check the Flow of Words

Once you have included all the key factors in your document, you have to make sure that it is readable. Take a break and then read the material as if it’s the first time you are reading and seeing it. Make sure there’s a natural flow or rhythm in the words as you read. Reading as if you are speaking is a good indication of whether or not the sentences are readable and clear.

Do Your Editing

  • For spelling, the best method I use for checking is to read the text backwards.
  • For grammar, check sentence structures.
  • For repeating words, use your thesaurus to use another phrase

End Goal

Meeting the end goal is no easy matter. Making sure you understand and can present the end objective easily and in an organized fashion is the prime intention of a document. Communication is key in technical writing. Did you get the information across to the target audience? If so, then with the above points checked off, your document is complete.

Leave a comment to share your knowledge on how you know your document is complete and ready to be delivered.

Posted on

Crowdfunding Update

Crowdfunding concept

Many entrepreneurs were excited last year when Congress legalized the use of crowdfunding for equity investments. This law, passed as part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS), would allow a business owner to raise up to $2 million over the Internet from individuals who invest a maximum of $10,000 per person. Too good to be true? Continue reading “Crowdfunding Update”

Posted on

8 Steps to Brainstorming – The Art of Generating Ideas

workers-talking-about-work

Generating ideas and gathering facts are probably the most common functions performed by groups in facilitated sessions. In many sessions, the generating of ideas is crucial to arriving at creative solutions to the issue the team is tackling. We commonly use Brainstorming as the technique for generating ideas.

Brainstorming is an excellent vehicle for collecting a large number of ideas in a short period of time. In a brainstorming session, the facilitator states the objective, sets a time limit and uses a flip chart, or some other vehicle, to record ideas that the session participants rapidly throw out.

As an example, to help a Hiring Process Improvement Team address potential improvements to their hiring process, we will take them through a brainstorming exercise as shown below.

Technique

Brainstorming

 Function: Generating Ideas
1. Describe the activity and purpose; be sure to encourage creativity and out-of-the-ordinary ideas.

  • “Our next step is to brainstorm potential improvements to the hiring process. This is important because we don’t want to be constrained by the way we do things now. Instead, we want to come up with creative solutions that can help us find and hire the best people available, quickly, effectively and efficiently”

2. Set a time limit and describe the general directions, with an example if necessary; offer a response format if appropriate.

  • “We are going to take five minutes to do a round of intense brainstorming. I would like for us to go around the room starting with Joe and have each person give me one thing we could do that would move us toward our vision of a great hiring process. If you can, give me a “verb-object” such as “Implement this, Develop that.”
  • “We will probably go around four or more times, so if you can’t think of anything the first time, just say ‘pass.’

3. Prohibit judgment of any type on an idea. If the idea does not meet the objective, record it anyway. Remind the participants of the objective and keep moving.

  • “Since we want to keep the creative juices flowing, it is important that during this phase we don’t spend any time analyzing the ideas. I will be writing as fast as I can and we will be moving quickly from person-to-person. If you find yourself at any point thinking, ‘That won’t work,’ ask yourself, ‘What will work? How can I improve on it?’ Some of the best ideas start out as impractical suggestions.”

4. Ask your starting question to help the group visualize their answers.

  • “Let’s go back to our list of problems, there are the things we have to fix. Think about things you’ve seen other companies do, things that you have thought about us doing, things we could do to make our hiring process a much better process. Joe, get me started. Let’s build a list of some of the things we could do to improve the hiring process? What are some of those things?”

5. Record responses being sure to use, not abuse, the pen and to manage the recording process.

6. Keep the pace moving. Go for quantity. The more ideas the better. Use a lot of fill-in words if necessary, along with prompt questions and extended prompt questions

  • “Give me more. Who’s next? More ideas, more ideas…What other ways could we improve the hiring process?”

7. End the brainstorming segment when the time limit is reached or when there is a round in which everyone passes. Ask for any last thoughts before closing.

  • “We have reached our time limit. Any last minute ideas to add?”

8. Always follow a brainstorming session with some type of grouping or prioritization activity to highlight the jewels.

 

Apply this guide in your next brainstorming session! You and your group will love the creativity generated from this brainstorming exercise.

________________________

Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.