Needle, Meet Haystack

I have this tremendous hatred of the sound of my own voice.  Not the one I hear in my head, mind you.  That sucker’s awesome.  But whenever I hear recordings of it as it sounds to other people, I clench my teeth and furrow my brow.  This dude sounds way different than the “me” voice does, to the point where I’ve mistaken it for other people in the past.  I don’t like it.  So, I did something about it.

I read up on a few tactics that can help make my projected (outer) voice resonate a little more nicely and come across as more in-tune with my internal one.  Each one of these exercises can take as little as thirty seconds, and you don’t need to do all of them, but I’ve found that my best results come when I do all three for a minute each in the following order:

1. Slow your breathing. I actually learned this one when I ran track and cross-country in high school.  Breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and relax for four seconds.  This helps to slow your pulse and breathing rate, which keeps your voice from getting too high-pitched or panicky.  It also helps to regulate breathing so it’s not as obvious to listeners.
2. Hum down. This one is great for stretching out your vocal cords and modulating the pitch of your voice.  Start humming at your normal vocal level, and gradually drop it as high or low as you can go.  When you reach the level when the hum starts to crack a little, hold it there for a few seconds and go back a note, then back down.  The total time of each hum should be no more than ten seconds.  This allows you to speak in a deeper, richer register for longer without getting a sore throat.
3. Have a quick conversation.  I always have trouble telling if I’m talking too loudly or quietly (it’s usually the former), so this one is great.  Have a quick in-person chat with someone, making small talk for moderate pleasantries.  If no one is around, make a quick call to a friend or family member just to say hi.  The comfortable level of rapport between you and your conversation partner will let you find the right volume level, so you don’t sound like you’re screaming or whispering.

Each of these fixes really only works for the short-term.  But if you want to transform your voice from Bobcat Goldthwait* to, well, most anyone else, they’ll work for you in a pinch.

*Yes, I know that’s not his real voice

Busywork.  We’ve all had to deal with this mind-numbing, soul-crushing, oft-ridiculed yet somehow essential task since our earliest school days (coloring, anyone?), and yet few ever learn how to master the most tedious of all tasks.  We sit in quiet servitude, procrastinating and hitting our heads against walls as we try to deal with the most boring of all possible workplace responsibilities.

Well, I love busy-work.  And it’s all because I’ve developed a number of strategies to deal with what most people see as an encumbrance to getting out of the office early, and made it fun.

Hogwash, you say?  Why not try out one of these tactics first and then decide for yourself…

1. Develop a story.  Yesterday, I was a spy who had to crack the code to fix a website that a fiendish villain (“Dr. Misalignment”) had mucked up in a plot for world domination.  I had to rescue hypnotized villagers whose confinement was making them ask questions on the support desk, and only answering the questions correctly would heal them.  By re-contextualizing your work into a more exciting story, you can increase productivity and focus, especially if you make accomplishing the task a part of the story.
2. Narrate in the third person (internally).  ”Andrew looked at the stack of unsorted invoices, noting that it would probably take an hour just to make sure they were all facing the same direction…” And so begins a tale I like to call, “Andrew and the Stack of Unsorted Invoices,” a story I continuously narrated within my head for one day at one of my old jobs.  By taking myself out of the situation (even though I was doing it), I was able to be more relaxed, and kept my focus on the work.  It was almost like listening to a book on tape!
3. Try to figure out a new method.  Sometimes, the way you do things, be it entering info into a database, making calls or organizing files, is done inefficiently simply because you haven’t tried to figure out a better way.  break your routine and experiment with other methods to increase your efficiency and effectiveness.  By breaking your usual patterns, you’ll approach the task like you were doing it for the first time.
4. Batch tasks.  I check work email no more than three times a day.  I check support tickets twice a day.  I call my boss as little as possible.  All of this eliminates the chance of distracting myself with other uncompleted tasks, and allows me to focus on what needs to be done.  Instead of worrying about what other stuff I can do to waste time, I get it all out of the way so I can put more focus on my essential responsibilities for work.
5. Make a game of it.  For every twenty emails I send, I get a point.  For every three points I get, I’m allowed one minute to just relax an air out my brain.  By setting up a basic reward structure for performing busywork, I have more incentive to get the work done.  I occasionally combine it with #1 when stronger motivation is called for.
6. Move around.  Our minds process time differently when we move around – going to another building, another floor, or even another room (or just outside) makes time seem to go faster.  If you can, change up where you work.  The new scenery will make anything you do there feel like new, and you’ll feel more accomplished once you’ve finished.
7. Un-partition the task.  Busywork can seem imposing because there can be several components that need to get done in a large quantity.  By condensing the work into its core elements, then batching them (see #4), you’ll be able to move through it quicker and with less stress.

It’s easy to get bogged down with a lot of work that seems frivolous.  But this work is often a necessary evil.  So try looking at it from a different perspective to keep your spirits up, and you’ll be done before you know it!

After last week’s post, some readers have written to ask me how I answer the ever-present “What do you do?” question.  I usually say something like this:

I’m doing marketing for a few small start-ups, though I also have a job blog and have been spending time working on music and video production.  I really enjoy all of the challenges that are presented to me through these different activities.  What do you do?

And the follow-up to this statement, from both readers and questioners, is “How do you do all that?  I wish I had the time to do that.”

But here’s the thing: you do have the time to do that.  And more.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of reining in your breaks from work.  Or creating a better routine.  A lot of the time, it’s a matter of motivation.  But the ability to do multiple things for fun and/or profit comes from the ability to weed out the less important tasks from your day.  But the secret to improving your time-management skills comes from cutting back on two things that have become bastions for procrastinators and time-wasters: television and the Internet.

I’m not saying that all TV is bad.  In fact, I’m wary of those who claim to “never watch” or “don’t own” a TV – there’s no reason to cut off all exposure to an entire medium if for no other reason than the silly belief that it will turn one’s brain into mush.  In fact, I’ve used TV as an example quite a few times.  But unless the show is conducive to your career or goals (ie: Shark Week for marine biology, Bloomberg for financial updates, etc.), chances are you can skip it.

I love the Internet, too.  Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Texts From Last Night, College Humor, Cracked and Wikipedia…there are so many great sites to find information on, read and enjoy.  But these sites are also time-wasters.  Instead of cutting yourself off from the Information Superhighway completely (and when was the last time someone called it that?), if you limit your focus to only sites pertinent to the task at hand, you can save yourself hours of time each day.  By limiting the time I spend checking social networks and emails to the end of the day (and doing the same with the Internet for leisure purposes), I’ve gained about 2.5 more hours of productive time every day – that’s over 12 hours per week!

If you can cut out the extraneous activities in your daily schedule, you’ll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish.

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?

Based off of some of the feedback from last week’s outrageously popular post, I’ve decided to give some hints to those who are determined to sally forth and create a video resume.  So here are a few tips that might help you make that video great!

Do learn how to edit.  I took a video editing class and picked up several books on basic and advanced (re: computer and non-computer) techniques.  I learned a lot of things that helped me to make my videos look more professional.

Don’t use everything.  If you have a lot of commercials or videos in your reel, cut it down to the best two or three examples of your work.

Do keep it short.  The longer it is, the more likely it won’t all be watched and will go in the trash.

Don’t reveal everything.  It’s easy to want to talk about your education and work experience in greater detail, but you should keep things concise.

Do think of it as a movie trailer, only for you.  Actually, my first video resume-type submission was a fake trailer called “the intern” that helped me land an internship with a sweet advertising firm.

Don’t make one if it won’t help you.  If there’s a strong video or visual component to the job, it makes sense.  But if the only visuals you’ll be using are PowerPoint presentations (if at all), it’s best not to waste your time.

Do make it interesting.  Change locations, do some actions, have other people in it – make sure you appear dynamic, energetic, and awesome.

Don’t make it entertaining.  People try too hard to appear funny, sociable, or silly.  Save it for YouTube.

Do make it personalized.  Even if it’s just a short blurb at the beginning to address the person watching the video, a little effort goes a long way.

Don’t send it in one format.  Like we already discussed, it can be difficult to get someone to watch your video.  You might have to be just as persistent in getting it to them as you would a paper resume.

Do use good equipment.  Quality matters.

Don’t use a slide show.  Unless it’s cut in with video, there’s nothing that slides can add that couldn’t just be on a paper resume.

Do plan it out beforehand.  Improv won’t save you here – prepare a script, blocking, and maybe even storyboards before you shoot.  You’ll save time, and the final result will look better.

Whether it’s on paper or digital, a solid resume (and a great interview) will get you the job.  So if you’re going with the video, make sure that it does the job just as well (if not better) than its old-school counterpart.

It might be hard to believe, but there was a time when people didn’t have access to job search websites, freelancer boards, Twitter job updates or Craigslist.  And although we’ve thankfully moved past that dark, dark age known as “Any Year Before The 1990s,”  we still run the risk of technological dependency, especially for the job search.

So let’s say your computer/smartphone/Internet breaks.  What do you do?

Besides going to your local library or web cafe to use on of their computers, you can always take a look at the local newspapers, though the classifieds section isn’t what it once was.  Another option is to go through the phone book and call businesses that you are interested in working for to inquire about openings.  You could even write and mail letters to prospective companies (provided you can somehow get their addresses).  And you can also look up headhunters, employment agencies, or temp agencies in the phone book.

So next time you find yourself with a busted laptop because stupid Vista decided to delete your video card drivers for no good reason, remember that there are still some options to keep you busy on the job search.

During your professional (and personal) life, you’ll end up in situations where you may have to cut off relationships in an unpleasant way.  Whether it’s due to a professional rivalry, bad performance, an unfortunate turn of events or bad working chemistry, you will burn some bridges during your lifetime.  But this isn’t about throwing people under the bus – it’s about how to reconnect and rebuild a relationship.

1. Determine reasons. Why do you want to get back in touch?  If your reasons are more utilitarian than altruistic, chances are that you’ll be making things worse.
2. Initiate contact. Do this by email, a phone call or a handwritten letter, as in-person meetings can go on for too long and end badly.  You don’t need to cast aspersions and blame; a simple message showing regret for what happened is all it takes.  Don’t force the reconnection – after all, phones (and email, IM, Twitter, etc) work both ways.  The other person may not want to get back in touch with you.  If so, leave it be.
3. Start slow and move carefully. Your relationship will be shaky to start.  Don’t assume you can go back to the old routine right away.  It’s easy to slide back into old roles or bring up whatever occurred between you to cause the problem in the first place.  Be friendly and courteous, but stick to a professional tone.
4. Build trust. Start with something small, where you are showing that you trust them enough to have some responsibility.  This will take time, but soon you should have a solid bridge of communication back together between the two of you.

When reconnecting with anyone, you will have to deal with old feelings coming back up and the eventual airing of grievances.  Deal with these when you both feel ready – not when just one of you is.  And in some cases, the situation isn’t salvageable.  Know when to let go.  After all, there are other ways of crossing from one side to the other.

So when I made this post, there were a few things I didn’t mention.

But here’s the thing about being an expert: you have to be careful about sharing your expertise.

What I mean is this: if you are looking to be an expert in a creative field, like entertainment, advertising, architecture or something like that, the problem is that you cannot be an expert without also being a critic.  As these fields are partially based on aesthetics, you can’t be as expertly on them as another field with more concrete procedures and knowledge, like finance, economics, teaching or medicine.  Since creative fields have knowledge based on case studies, it’s a bit harder to assess them.

This is part of the reason why I have a job search blog instead of an advertising blog.

I haven’t worked in the field for long enough, so I don’t have any clout or enough examples to back me up when I say that something is amazing or crap.  Not to mention that since I would like to get a job in that field, I might be accidentally insulting perspective employers.  If I were an old warhorse, with years of experience and accolades and awards under my belt, that would be less of a problem.  But alas, I am not.

So if you’re going to be an expert, make sure that your expertise won’t kill your chances at getting a job.

We have become a desk-based society.

Whether it’s sitting at a desk for work, using a desk to type a resume, or, um, okay, those are really the main reasons for using a desk, and I actually can’t think of many more.  But still, thanks to computers, we use desks a lot.

Sitting at the desk, hunched over, staring at a bright LED monitor for hours at a time is no good.  So, I’m stealing some links I found on Lifehacker to help you benefit from clearer vision, more relaxed hands, and better posture (among other things).  So let’s get to exercisin’!

I’m sorry about this, guys.  He hears me say “exercise” and has to be included as a picture in the post.  Here’s the real stuff:

Exercising your back and chest at the office

A program that forces you to take a break (saving your eyes and giving you a chance to do some of these stretches)

So I usually do pretty well at interviews.  Usually.

But every once in a while, you hit the question that trips you up.  You start rambling, get off-topic, and move so far away from the job and original question that you’re talking about your second grade girlfriend or your fancy dinner party last week or your love of monocles.

Okay, maybe those weren’t the best examples.

And sometimes, you’ll get flustered and flummoxed to the degree that you stutter and babble an incoherent string of words that barely makes any sense.  Oh no! You think.  What will I do?

After trying everything from making a bad joke to cover my butt to going on a long-winded metaphor that relates what I said to what I “really” meant to sitting through two of the most painful moments of my life, I’ve tried a lot of things.  But the best one?

Fess up.

It’s natural to be nervous during an interview.  Your heart is pounding, your palms are sweating (like that Eminem song!), and you just want things to be over with.  You’re not comfortable.

So admit it.

You can attempt to diffuse the situation with humor, but a better bet is to say something slightly vulnerable while answering the question in a more satisfactory manner.  But the best way to prevent this from happening is to relax and take your time.  If the question trips you up, take longer pauses between words, but don’t stretch them out while you think of an answer.  Repeating the question in sentence form is a good idea also.  If done right, it makes you look thoughtful.  Not to mention that answering right away might give off a signal that you don’t give much consideration for what you say or how you go about saying it.  Take this old chestnut (complete with stage notes!):

INTERVIEWER: So, why do you think you’re right for this position?

Interviewee panics a bit, but then calms down and takes a brief pause.

INTERVIEWEE: Well, (pause) I am right for this position because (whatever reason goes here, taking occasional short pauses between points)

You don’t need to rush through an interview, and it’s better not to.  Take your time, try to relax, and if you start tasting your shoe, calm down and reconsider your approach.