Needle, Meet Haystack

So even though you can probably find this for free online, I might get into trouble for telling you this.  Unlike that time we talked about NLP, this is something that the Body Language pros want you to only be aware of a little bit.  They put it right in front of your face and then distract you with what crossed arms or a thumbs-up really means.  But this is the cornerstone of the entire nonverbal decoding system, and people have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to find out about it.

And I’m going to tell you about it for free.

It’s called baselining.

So what is baselining?  It boils down to this: watch how someone acts in a normal, relaxed situation.  When they deviate from those actions, something’s up.

That’s it.  Really.

Baselining is similar to how poker players figure out each others’ tell signs, only in reverse.  Instead of seeing what someone does consistently when something acts as an instigator, you’re seeing how they act when there are few (if any) outside influences.

Although it’s suggested that you take 15 minutes to get an accurate baseline read on someone, you can cut a few corners if you have to by making small talk.  Finding innocuous and relaxing things to discuss will show you others’ normal nonverbal behaviors.

So that’s it.  The big secret of body language is that you need to figure out how someone normally acts and what they do differently.  Because there really is no “key” to everyone’s signals, only generalized assumptions.

What’s the real key to body language?  Common sense.  Now don’t tell anyone I told you, especially if they paid for the courses.

Today’s post is a 3-fer, rarer than a Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster sighting – that’s right, it’s the question of the week-resume school-theme week hat trick!  Bookmark this one, folks; you’ll be telling your grandkids about it.

Anyway, today’s question comes from a reader who wants some resume advice:

Dear Andrew,

What are some simple changes that I can make to my resume to help it stand out and get noticed?  Other than the buzzwords, bullet points and other stuff you’ve mentioned in past resume discussions, I mean.

Short answer: Format, content, and understanding your audience

Longer answer: It’s hard to really make one’s resume stand out, as an emailed resume should be in a standard format that’s prepped in case a resume scanner reads it.  But if you’re posting the resume online, mailing it in, or giving it to someone, you have more options.

You can change the format of your resume, by putting it in columns going horizontally on the page or tying it in to some overall job application package; I sent out a “magazine” with my resume as the index at the back and a friend of mine sent his resume in as part of a booklet that went with his video resume (he was applying for a film editing position, so that’s one of the times when you should consider making one).  However, we were applying for creative jobs.  Don’t feel the need to come up with something snazzy or inventive when a simple, straightforward resume can do the job.

And for the love of god, don’t use different colored paper.  There’s a reason that black and white is the standard.

Also, how are you describing your work history, education and so on?  Are you using numbers (which help give scope to things you did, like employees managed, amount of money handled in transactions, percentage sales increases, etc) and active voice?  Do you make concise statements that give the core details about what you did?  And, most importantly, are you showing the information that can help you get a job?

Let’s say that you’re applying for a managerial position.  Pick which one of these statements sounds more impressive:

• I have managed a mid-size team
• Managed 25 employees

There should be more to the statement than that, but keep your message clear, and don’t be afraid to brag a bit.

Lastly, another way to look at your resume is through the eyes of the person who will read it.  What stands out?  What doesn’t?  Does it look pleasing to the eye?  Does anything just look off?  Since resumes are usually only scanned over during the first pass by most hiring managers, try to put emphasis on what you want them to see when they glance at your resume, based on what you see when you glance at it.

This can be changed by indenting, bullet points and using bold, italics or underlining.  Simple?  Yes.  Common sense?  Yes.  But are you applying it to your resume?

It can be difficult to make a winning resume, especially with all the different messages going around on the best tactics.  But just as no two people or jobs are the same, neither are any two resumes.  Experiment with different resumes and see what gets you the best results.

So I’m gonna gloss over the whole networking aspect of this, as I think it was covered pretty well in a previous post, and skip right on to the cold-call aspect of the job search, what with the Internets and the classifieds and the trade magazines and so on.

When considering a job to apply for, there are only two questions that one needs to be able to answer:

1. What kind of work do I want to do?
2. How far (literally and figuratively) will I be willing to go to do it?

The answer to the first question should come based off of your personal checklist and your prior work experience, education and so on.  I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea to apply outside of your comfort zone, but rather to make sure that you have some expertise/logic/reasoning to bridge the different industries.  Unless you’re prepared to jump into an entry-level position in your new field, you might want to rethink your options.

According to a recent survey I lost the link to, relocation is becoming more prevalent among today’s workers.  And while this may be a good thing for those of you who are afraid of being the only kid on the block to move because of a job, it’s also something to take into consideration in another way.  Due to the stressful economy, fewer and fewer companies are helping to fund relocation expenses for new hires, so one may have to weigh the costs and benefits of the move financially first.

Finally, you might have to think about the costs of the job.  I’m not just referring to money you might lose paying for the commute, but also the comparative value of the work.  What would you lose (besides the opportunity at a different job)?  What would you gain (besides employment and money)?  It’s essentially a pros-and-cons list, but many people gloss over this step only to be sorry that they didn’t think about these things beforehand.  After all, some jobs are almost entirely bad.

As for where to look, there are so many different job search sites that it can be confusing.  I am not much of a fan of the Big Two because of the number of unrelated jobs/pyramid schemes/repeated postings that flood their job boards.  I’ve made a list of a number of good search sites on the links bar on this site.

You can usually find a website or twitter account devoted to job searches in your particular career field, and in many cases, a social network as well.  You can use these sites to find more pertinent job postings in less time than if you were using a generic job search site.  Or, you could skip the third party stuff and go straight to the company’s website itself.  In many cases, companies will not post all of their available positions on job search sites.  So it’s to your benefit to do some industry analysis and track down the business’ web sites to see all of the positions that they really have available.

Does all of this seem a bit elementary?  Like stuff that you already know?  Of course it does, and of course it is!  It’s common sense!  But are you using it in your job search?

The question that a number of friends, family, former co-workers, Internet people and strangers in line with me at the grocery store have been asking is this:

What am I doing wrong that’s keeping me from getting a job?

And the answer to this question, once more details are given regarding their individual situations, is the same every time: You’re not applying enough common sense and simplicity to the job application process.

So, for the next week, I’ll be showing you how breaking things down and over thinking less can help you with any and everything to help put you on the right path to career success.

Common Sense Week begins tomorrow!

As some of my sharper-eyed readers may have noticed, I’ve added a new category to the link bar on the right side of the blog called “Job Tools.”  The first of these sites, and this week’s link, is a great site called Brand-Yourself.com.  The site lets you track your personal brand’s message, level of awareness, online presence and more through a variety of analytics.  It also offers suggestions on sites to join, programs to use and so on.

Paid members get access to even more features, but the basic free package will still give you a better idea of what potential employers see when they look you up, and how you can make sure that you’re getting the right message out.  It takes only minutes to get started, and you’ll be on your way to mastering your personal brand in no time!

Brand-Yourself.com

The job: Lawyer

You might like this job if: Do you like Ally McBeal, Arrest and Trial, Boston Legal, Crossing Jordan, Damages, Eli Stone, Family Law, The Good Wife, The Guardian, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, JAG, Judging Amy, L.A. Law, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, The Lyon’s Den, Matlock, Night Court, Perry Mason, The Practice, Raising the Bar, or any of the other millions of lawyer shows out there?  Or Court TV?  Or John Grisham novels, the superhero Daredevil’s secret identity, Phoenix Wright games, or just objecting to stuff?  The you might like real life lawyerin’!

The good: Objection!  Order in the court!  Habeas corpus!  Other exclamations!  Defending the innocent, punishing the guilty, making tons of money, yelling at people…who wouldn’t want to be a lawyer?

The bad: Probably anyone who’s seen all the paperwork, research and actual methods that real lawyers have to go through.  After paying off the mountain of law school student loans, you can look forward to 80-hour weeks, reading until your eyes bleed, writing briefs till your fingers go numb, and very little courtroom time.  And that’s only litigators, who actually, you know, litigate in the courtroom.

Summary: A lot more work and stress than you see on TV, movies, books, video games, radio, the newspaper, legal school catalogs, and lots of websites.  But if you’re passionate about the law, go for it!

Rating: Two liti-gators (ha!  get it?) out of five

We’re obsessed with lists.  Bestseller lists.  Hot 100 lists.  Movie earnings lists.  Lists of TV channels.  Shopping lists.  Friend lists on social networks.  The list of lists goes on and on.  But when it comes to your personal and professional life, there’s nothing more important than your checklists.

You may not want to admit it, but you’ve already come up with and internalized your personal checklists in your head on everything from the kinds of movies and food you like to who you want to be your friends and romantic partners.  And you also have a checklist for what you want in a job.

Most people don’t bother to take the next step and actually write out any of these (save for the dating one, which is used on eHarmony and match.com), but if you take the time to put pen to paper and think about it, you will find that your checklist might show you what kind of job you really want, or pinpoint some problem areas that have been bugging you about your current career.

I advocate the two-column, “Must-Have” and “Can’t Have” approach.  Here’s an example of some of my checklist (neither category is ordinal):

Must Have

• coffee
• nice people
• creativity-fostering environment
• air conditioning
• windows in the office
• occasional free lunches
• bi-weekly paychecks
• company computers
• high-speed internet

Can’t Have

• control freak boss
• daily status meetings
• several bosses per employee
• non-contracted tasks
• commission-based pay
• environmentally unfriendly policies
• unpaid overtime
• Bible-sized employee handbooks
• lack of a solid command structure

Of course, you can write out your checklist in more detail.  But once you’ve made one, you’ll be able to better understand what you really want in a job.

Let’s get this out of the way early: I HATE the idea of commission-based jobs, specifically those where one’s livelihood is determined on personal sales.

In this situation, the employer takes full advantage of the employee, taking in no risk, financially or otherwise, to have them on board.  In many cases, the new employee has to pay their own way for training and certifications.  Hundreds of hours can be wasted without a penny earned, and benefits covering health, retirement or otherwise, are non-existent.  It’s a cutthroat model that pits co-workers against each other, and often leads to no-win situations of price undercutting, shady tactics, and outright libel and slander.  And during this time, management sits back to relax and collect their commissions from people who did all the work for them.

So yeah, I’m not a fan.

That being said, commission-based jobs are an ever-increasing segment of the available job market.  Hell, I’ve interviewed with several commission-structured companies.  They’re the most cost-effective in a down economy, and with fewer and fewer options, more and more people will be gravitating towards them.

For as much talk about team-building and synergy and the company and the group from the higher-ups, the structure in these businesses is the exact opposite.  Regardless of employee jurisdictions, industry separations or client longevity, competition is the name of the game.

Which leads me to the one question that you MUST ask even if, after all the reasons I’ve given you (which might still not balance with the reason to do it – MONEY!), you decide to go for the job:

With employees working individually to gain customers and sales, and given that they are working to generate personal commissions, how do you foster a team-based environment within the company?

Or words to that effect.

This question, in several forms, has stopped even the most grandiloquent manager in their tracks.  I’ve received everything from filibusters on other topics to a half-hearted attempt at using buzzwords in the hopes of getting me so confused that I would forget what I asked.  This is a key indicator that the job you’re about to get accepted for (because they never turn down free workers and more money coming in) is baloney.

But ah!  What if you get the rare breed of interviewer who is able to cite employees having their own regions, particular customer types (legal, medical, etc), or a strong stance against client sniping?  Although you might get this response 0.0005% of the time, I’ve prepared a follow-up question for you.  And because this falls under a rare exception to the first question, I don’t count it separately.

I’ve both read and heard of situations where competing employees will subvert these rules, or in some cases, the company will reduce industry pools/jurisdictions/client bases to compensate for new hires or to boost up other employees.  What kind of guarantee can you give me that this won’t happen?

If you are not offered this guarantee (if any) in writing (which you won’t) and get a copy of it for yourself (which you can’t) and you still take the job, you’d better watch your back.  And your front.

Because in the world of commission-based jobs, it’s everyone for themselves.

This past Monday night, after watching a few primetime shows, I decided that I was going to do something that I’d put off for years: see if I could find out what was on the vanity cards for Chuck Lorre Productions.  A quick Google search brought me to a page of hundreds of these cards, all available for my reading pleasure, able to be viewed at speeds slower than the 1.5 seconds that non-TiVo viewership affords.  And something on one of the early cards (#5, I think) caught my attention:

Weltschmerz is a German word which loosely means “world suffering deriving from the inevitability of reality to never match up with our expectations.”

Sure, there’s more, but it relates to an episode of Dharma and Greg.  And who would want to read about that show?*

But I digress.

Each of us has experienced weltschmerz in our own way, be it through a vacation, relationship, new purchase, friendship, or a job.  But the problem of weltschmerz arises when we let fantasy overtake reality.

When starting something new, people have a tendency to romanticize things.  That’s where the “starry-eyed newbie versus the bitter, crusty old-timer” cliché comes from, after all.  As we anticipate things, we build them up, only to have reality come crashing down like an anvil in a Warner Brothers cartoon.

So how do you keep your spirits high?

As much as I’d love to advocate the use of another fine German export, specifically one in a category that has been called the “cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems,” here’s a simpler method: readjust your reality.

It’s not so much that your expectations will be diminished; as unfortunate as it is, there’s nothing that can be done to keep them from falling.  Rather, change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.  Corny, I know, but taking more pride in your work and relishing the challenges that it presents you will make the job that much more bearable.  By finding long-term happiness in your job, rather than its novelty, your new position, or even your co-workers, you will be able to be more productive and will limit your exposure to existentialist German afflictions.

*Probably a lot of people, actually, as it was on the air for five seasons, but the question was meant to be rhetorical.

Continuing from where we left off yesterday, here’s a few more tales of dumb mistakes that common sense could have easily resolved:

1. Figure out your commute time before you start the job. Because I neglected to properly judge how much time and money I was going to be spending on public transportation, I ended up spending about 15 hours (and around $45) per week getting to and from work.  My employers did not compensate me for these costs, and had I considered how much I would lose by taking the job, I might have re-evaluated that decision.  On the plus side, I had enough time to finish about a book per day.
2. Make sure you’re aware of how much compensation you’ll be getting. Since the job I had just finished gave me time-and-a-half for overtime, I had assumed that the next one would follow suit.  Instead, it took three weeks to find out that I was not receiving any compensation for any work done over the 20-hour weekly limit.
3. Give your supervisor project updates. While working on a particularly intense project for a large client, the project manager decided to be more hands-off and focus on other things.  As she was not around to supervise or comment on our work, when we finally did show her the project (at 10 PM the night before the presentation), we ended up having to redo almost the entire thing.
4. Leaders don’t have to be friends. When I was put in charge of a team that was about twice the size of the largest team I had managed before that point, I panicked.  Rather than establishing ground rules and authority, I instead acquiesced to my team’s requests, focused on a small group instead of all of the people I had at my disposal, and tried to do too much myself to alleviate the strain on others.  Instead of being a leader and delegating things (which I eventually did), I started out soft and lenient making the project more difficult for everyone.
5. Quality beats quantity every time. A friend told me about a former co-worker of his at an old job who, starting with his first day, came in before everyone else and left after everyone else in the hopes of catching his boss’ attention and being rewarded for being a diligent worker.  After a month of this, his boss approached him one evening after most of the office had gone home.  ”I’ve noticed that you come in early and stay late every day,” the boss began.  ”Why can’t you finish your work on time like everyone else?”  The co-worker was fired a week later (for stealing office supplies).

It’s easy to place blame for your mistakes on external sources, or to look back and mock your inexperienced past self.  But if you learn from your mistakes, you will become a more efficient and experienced worker.  Provided you don’t repeat them, of course.