These thoughts come from two specific discussions, and years of pondering, and reading Dilbert

(thanks to the B2BBlog for these, … you can read their post here)

On employee reviews. Last night I was talking to a buddy about his company’s annual review process. I remember my annual reviews, where were a joke.  They seemed to be an act, where there was no (or little) substantial feedback from the manager, and the better I did, the more nit-picky they got about what I needed to improve (becauase Dumb Manager 101 says you must help your subordinate to improve, right?).  My friend mentioned that once he had a review and didn’t even know it - he was told in the subsequent review “oh yeah, that was our review.”

On job search interview techniques. At a job search network meeting we were asked how the training process was for us unemployed souls.  I commented that we were getting armed with a lot of incredible knowledge and techniques, but the people who interviewed us came in significantly less sophisticated than we were (due to preparation).  It was frustrating to be interviewed by someone who seemed to be fumbling in the dark, asking questions they didn’t understand (they were reading from some list).  If they didn’t get the question, how could they appreciate the answers?

Why were these incompetents becoming the gatekeepers to my career future?

Definitely a frustrating experience.  In defense of stoopid, incompetent managers throghout the world, I’ll claim my own stoopidity.  As a manager I wanted to work with high-speed, low-drag employees who required no handholding.  However, as a judgement error, I’m sure I was too hands-off and didn’t do my managerial job as well as I should have.

So how do we, as CEO’s of Me, Inc, deal with this widespread issue?

1. Recognize our place, and what that means. Submitting to this ignorance doesn’t mean that we are being ignorant ourselves.  But it might be job-suicide to do what you really want to do.  Put the manager in his/her place.  Go above them and tell the manager’s boss what’s going on (or the president).  Blog about it :p  I don’t suggest you just sit there and take it, but I suggest you think about what the consequences might be, and how much you can risk.  Is money not an issue?  Then you can afford to be more bold.  But if you are too dependent on the paycheck and benefits (health insurance, etc.), you better craft a smart strategy.
2. Figure out how to get out without getting out. In my first “real” job, I had a manager who had a slew of problems.  One time I walked into her cubicle and she was lightly banging her head on the bookshelf whispering “I hate my job, I hate my job, …” over and over.  I was shocked ….!  I loved my job, even though I didn’t get any management or leadership from her.  Somehow, her boss took me under her wing and I got the mentoring and projects that shaped that learning period for me - it was incredible!  There was a little bit of tension between me and my direct boss, as I started to get some awesome projects, but I was definitely in a better place.
3. Prepare anyway. Just because the interviewer isn’t sophisticated, or the boss doesn’t know how to do an annual review, doesn’t mean you can go in like a dunce.  Be prepared, have strong statements, stories and supporting evidence, and be sure you prepare them for a stellar performance.  You aren’t competing against the boss or decision maker, you are there to make a sale!  Do your best, and learn current techniques.
4. Keep a long-term perspective. When I was at the FBI it was sometimes like walking around a Night of the Living Dead set.  It was normal to talk about lame stuff, problems, issues, and safe/boring things.  No one was out to over-achieve, or do more than asked.  There was no incentive, and no fear of getting let go.  If you are in a situation like this, which I feel is a direct result of the culture the management creates, either figure out how to cope with it with a long-term perspective, or figure out how to get out before it ruins you.  But don’t let it snuff your spirit!
5. Do a great job! No matter what hell you might be going through at work, with no appreciation, etc., as long as you do a great job you can have a clear conscience AND you might be setting yourself up for bigger things.  That rotten manager might be making your life hell right now, but one day, management is going to figure out how to get rid of them, and guess what?  They might just be eyeing you, based on your performance.
6. Realize you are in a job search. We are all in a job search.  We’re either actively doing it, or passively doing it (recruiters call people who are not looking “passive candidates.”).  This is where JibberJobber comes in - you should be doing certain things RIGHT NOW whether you are in an active search or not - employed, unemployed, unhappily employed, etc.  Taking control of your next job placement, to any degree, should give you a greater peace of mind!

What stoopid management stress have you put up with, and how did you deal with it?

It still amazes me how many people are losing their jobs.  It’s just the way it is, isn’t it?

I bet 99% of the people getting let go have no idea what they are going to do next… or what they are in for (how hard the job search is).

Check out this article today about 480 AirTran layoffs… HR professionals call this an RIF (reduction in force).

Check out what Liz Handlin, a JibberJobber career expert partner, is offering the 7,000 laid off American Airlines employees.

I wish some decision-makers from AirTran or American Airlines would pay for JibberJobber accounts for their people

Here’s one of the scary things, for current job seekers: the market is being saturated with amazing talent.  This war for talent can get bloody, and with more professionals getting dumped into the “active job seeker” mode, it’s going to have an impact on those already in the job search.

Lucky for you and me, we aren’t affected…. right?

Yeah, right!

It’s easy to miscommunicate, isn’t it?  I do it all the time

In e-mail we’re told to not be sarcastic as it is really easy to misconstrue a message.  Something like

No, those pants don’t make you look fat, but the sandals do!

might be funny in person, but in e-mail it can totally be taken the wrong way (not as a joke, rather as a personal jab).

We can make this mistake in e-mail, IM, SMS, blog posts, comments, social networking (Twitter, LinkedIn Answers, Facebook Walls, etc.)… we have plenty of opportunities to make the mistake!

Instead of suggesting things to do to not mess up there, let me suggest something that you should do if you get crossed in one of these forums.  Actually, this is excellent advice if you get crossed anywhere.

Scott Allen, author of The Virtual Handshake and Entrepreneur expert at About.com says:

Presume good intent.

It’s easy to get fired up after reading something.  Some people commenting on my post about GenY being a bunch of Whiners (actually, I titled the post “SOUNDS LIKE” instead of “ARE” for a reason) presumed bad intent.

But many commenters saw this post as a discussion, a conversation… not an ultimatum or conclusion.  Some presumed good intent and joined in the conversation, and it was constructive.  Others presumed bad intent and attacked.

When you get an e-mail that sounds attacking, presume good intent, and communicate.  You may be surprised that your presumption was right!

I get asked this question all the time - just who uses JibberJobber? Here’s a user who has given me permission to share her profile with you.

Bridgette Hinchman is:

… a mid to senior level General Manager/Director of Operations (at a medium to large company) or a VP of Ops/COO at a small company. I have my MBA and over 12 years of progressive sales and operational experience at the GM level. My experience has focused on getting small businesses to the next level (from start up and shortly after) or fixing troubled sites within a 90 day window (for existing companies). In essence, people pay me to fix their broken or struggling business as a career employee and from there I have gotten promoted upward.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Bridgette is in the Dallas area, and is hoping to stay in that area if possible.

Bridgette is a corporate rockstar. By no fault of her own* she is a self-proclaimed “VERY assertive job seeker.” She is the type of professional who “gets” JibberJobber. Does she understand networking and nurturing relationships? I’m sure she does. Is she a competent subject matter expert? Undoubtedly (I’ve seen her resume and her work history). I’d be happy to put you in touch with Bridgette - just leave a comment in the box below or hit me via e-mail.

How many of you are prepared to be a “VERY assertive job seeker” right now? How many of you would benefit from doing stuff that you do in JibberJobber for a full 6 - 12 months before you become a VERY assertive job seeker? Whether you are in a job search or not, I encourage you to seriously consider the benefit of preparing now by nurturing network relationships, targeting companies you are interested in, preparing your master resume, preparing multiple elevator pitches (or, Me in 30 Second pitches, or whatever you want to call them), and more.

* By no fault of her own. Bridgette found herself in this VERY assertive state the same way that thousands of people this year will find themselves. This is what happened to me two years ago… corporate decisions, economy, fickle management, bad management decisions, loss of a contract… the list goes on and on.

This year there will be hundreds of thousands of people who’s jobs and careers are affected by forces they have no control over. Check out these recent headlines:

• CNN: 80,000 job losses unemployment spikes (April 4, 2008) Just in March!
• The New York Times: CBS Moves Ahead With Layoffs in News (April 2, 2008). This affects just one percent of their workforce. Only 1,200 people. Only 1,200 breadwinners, contributors, neighbors, friends, family… 1,200 people who are likely up against on of he hardest things in their life - long-term unemployment.
• California Department of Education website: State Schools Chief Jack O’Connell, Teachers, Support Staff,
  Administrators Announce More Than 20,000 Teachers and Support
  Staff Getting Layoff Notices Due to Budget Crisis (March 14, 2008) great - keep teachers underpaid for a long time and then cut 20,000 jobs across the state. Hope you have a favorable private and/or homeschool policy.
• CNET NEWS: Dell: Layoffs bigger than expected (April 3, 2008) it already announced 8,800 layoffs… but that isn’t enough. This is going to have a huge impact on Austin, TX.
• MSNBC: Analysts see 200,000 banking industry layoffs (April 1, 2008) I doubt this was an April Fools joke. But seriously, 200,000 banking jobs slashed over the next 18 months? How will this be absorbed?
• Paul Kedrosky’s blog: Google Announces Layoffs (March 11, 2008) quoting directly from Google’s blog post, I thought the same thing that Paul did (”Translation: We’re letting people go. And a bunch of ‘em, at that.”). I also thought “Google? The place where everyone wants to work?? They are downsizing?”
• CNN: Motorola cuts another 2,600 jobs (April 3, 2008)… “as total employee cuts rise above 10,000″ That’s a lot of engineers out in the market. I wonder how many of them have created “pull marketing” strategies with their personal branding?
• CNN: Home Depot could cut jobs (April 4, 2008) no one announces this if they “could,” only if they will. Reading further: “about 2,200 employees who will be affected by the changes, which will be completed by May 1.” and “there no longer will be a human resources manager in each of the company’s 1,970 U.S. stores.” One more HR professional on the market in just about every city.

What makes you more immune to the unemployment line than any of these hundreds of thousands of people?

Is it your degree, or your MBA? Mine didn’t keep me off of unemployment.

Is it the tight relationship you have with your boss or the CEO? Trust me, I’ve seen how it works, and that relationship won’t keep you from getting a pink slip.

It’s time to be CEO of You, Inc. What are you going to do TODAY to take charge? I have a few ideas, but would like to hear yours

I started JibberJobber on May 15, 2006. In June I started blogging, and credit much of JibberJobber’s success to this blog. It became clear early on that putting time into this blog would be a significant portion of my overall marketing strategy, and when the blog was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal’s Career Journal (they moved the Career Journal and I don’t know what the new link is), I felt reassured I was on the right track.

I was happy (but not satisfied :)).

And then I wrote a book. In fact, it was one of the very first books on LinkedIn (the book that beat me was Steve Tylock’s LinkedIn Personal Trainer).

The story of my book is kind of fun. It was a mix between “get more buzz” and “provide value to JibberJobber users who were asking about LinkedIn.” I realized I could continue to blog about LinkedIn, but it would be cool to have one resources that kind of spells it all out - what do I need to do, what do I need to pay attention to, and what is just plain noise?

I started my Table of Contents, and wrote a few paragraphs for the introduction. And then I got distracted by running a business.

A couple of months later I was at dinner with a few bloggers in Austin, Texas. Two of the bloggers were also published authors, and I asked them a few questions, like:

• how many books have you sold?
• how much money have you made (not sure how I really asked this question)
• would you recommend an ebook or a hard copy? Why?
• … and more.

That night, I told Scott Allen my idea (a LinkedIn book for the normal person, not the early adopter or tech genius) and he immediately said “do it with me! I’ll hook you up with my publisher and …” we discussed some of the details.

About a month later I had a signed contract in hand, and was ready to go - I had a publisher! I dusted off my old Table of Contents and… looked at it and… let it sit for a few months. After all, I was running a business! And ever author I knew told me that I wouldn’t make any money from selling books.

In May, 2007, I was liveblogging SOBcon (a terrific event, they are repeating it this year, more info here) and listening to Andy Sernovitz speak. Andy gave a list of things we could do to create more word of mouth buzz for our blogs (or, companies). I was intrigued by the list, thinking of what I could do for JibberJobber, when he ended with a simple idea. He said something like:

and if you try all of these, and can’t figure out what else to do, find a brand that is getting a lot of buzz and figure out how to attach yourself to it!

Now writing my book become more about marketing JibberJobber (I could create buzz by associating myself with LinkedIn??) than with making a few bucks on each book sale. And I was all about figuring out how to market JibberJobber.

So I buckled down and finished my book. I put stuff (like, e-mail!) on hold. I had a self-imposed deadline, which I hit.

And I was absolutely amazed by what happened after that.

All the places I wished would write about JibberJobber were now contacting me. Not because of JibberJobber, the coolest thing to hit the career space since (fill in the blank), but because of a 124 page book on getting value out of LinkedIn.

In the past few months I have been interviewed by Money Magazine, CIO, the New York Times, Wired Magazine, US News & World Report, and many others.

Has it benefitted JibberJobber? Absolutely, because in those articles I’m quoted as “Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com and author of …“

Andy Sernovitz was right - associating myself with a brand that was getting buzz helped my own brand get buzz!

This directly relates to your personal brand. You are a subject matter expert (SME), aren’t you?

Don’t you know enough about your field to be considered an expert? Whether that is finance, marketing, cleaning, managing, strategizing, project managing, etc. you are an SME. Guess what, nobody knows, or cares about, your expertise. They are all looking at the thought leaders for new and exciting stuff in your field.

Know how the thought leader got to be a thought leader? I bet it’s because they wrote a book.

And you can write a book too. In fact, if you are serious about your career path, and you are serious about your personal brand, you should seriously consider writing a book.

Tomorrow I have my first CEO Training session on writing a book. I’m really excited about this CEO Training. Many who buy the CEO Training webinar (the recording only works on a PC, not a Mac - sorry :() don’t come to the live session, but if you come to the live session you get to ask your specific questions.

I will share with you my thoughts and ideas on how to get started, how to move through the process of writing a book, getting it published, marketing your book, and getting media value out of it. I haven’t finished the presentation yet, but I’m shooting to have about 60 to 90 minutes of content.

If you are interested, head on over to the CEO Training website. If you are a JibberJobber premium subscriber make sure you login first, so you can get your discount.

Finally, I have already sent out a number of copies of Hands-on LinkedIn, and Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (2 hours!), which are two other sessions in this series. If you are interested in those you can find info to purchase them on the CEO Training site.

Thom Singer is one of my favorite people. He is an author, speaker, super networker, motivator, and all-around cool guy. His daughter had the same (or a very similar) surgery that I had back in 1973/1974, and Thom and his wife have dedicated a portion of their speaking earnings to raising money for a foundation in his daughter’s name.

Thom is… everything that I wish Keith Ferrazzi was. Approachable, nice, and talks to the “little people,” like me.

Without further ado, here’s Thom’s EXCELLENT list of better networking posts. The images to the right are Thom’s books, linked to Amazon for more information.

• Tip 66: People Do Business With People They Know and Like
• Tip 65: Don’t Be Full Of Yourself
• Tip 64: Make It So
• Tip 63: Go All The Way
• Tip 62: Own Your Mistakes
• Tip 61: Make Contacts At Conventions, Seminars and Conferences
• Tip 60: Unlock Your Inner Entrepreneur
• Tip 59: High Expectations
• Tip 58: Do Not Network Behind A Wall
• Tip 57: Keep It Short
• Tip 56: Manufacture Your Own Luck
• Tip 55: Connect The Dots
• Tip 54: Reconnect With Old Friends and Business Associates
• Tip 53: Keep Your On-line Profiles Up To Date
• Tip 52: Get People Talking About You
• Tip 51: Be A Catalyst For Good
• Tip 50: Recharge Your Batteries
• Tip 49: Look For The Good In Others
• Tip 48: How To Network With Whom You Want
• Tip 47: Clean The Slate
• Tip 46: Invest In Your Future
• Tip 45: Stop Being Greedy
• Tip 44: Get To Know Your Competition
• Tip 43: Take Ownership Of Your Career
• Tip 42: Think Abundantly
• Tip 41: Avoid Negative Words
• Tip 40: Express Your Appreciation
• Tip 39: Networking Is Not Enough.
• Tip 38: Friends Are Fantastic, But Evangelist Change The World.
• Tip 37: You Are A Brand.
• Tip 36: Show Up to Build Your Brand
• Tip 35: Beyond Image
• Tip 34: Opportunities Come From People
• Tip 33: Creativity!
• Tip 32: Why Write A Blog
• Tip 31: Network One Step At A Time
• Tip 30: Intuitive Networking
• Tip 29: “Hey!”
• Tip 28: Sing Their Praises
• Tip 27: Don’t Keep Score
• Tip 26: Walk The Talk
• Tip 25: Be Extraordinary
• Tip 24: Little Selfless Actions Matter
• Tip 23: Tigers Live With Tigers
• Tip 22: Sleep, Eat Right and Exercise
• Tip 21: Be A Resource For Others
• Tip 20: Work Together On A Project
• Tip 19: Meet Your Virtual Network
• Tip 18: Keep Relationships Alive
• Tip 17: Take Some Time Off
• Tip 16: Cool Like A Cucumber
• Tip 15: Make A List, Check It Twice
• Tip 14: Soar With Eagles
• Tip 13: Be A Connector
• Tip 12: Don’t Discredit Any Gathering
• Tip 11: Develop Your Public Speaking Skills
• Tip 10: Warm Up Your Cold Calls
• Tip 9: Excel In Your Field, Regardless Of Your Industry
• Tip 8: Smile
• Tip 7: Networking Inside Your Company
• Tip 6: Notice Who Is In The Paper
• Tip 5: Reach Out One More Time
• Tip 4: Get Their Name Right
• Tip 3: Have Memorable Conversations
• Tip 2: Always Carry Business Cards
• Tip 1: Put Yourself Into The World

Congrats Thom, for finishing this huge series. I knew you would finish it but I still thought you were crazy for biting off such a big project!

The last few weeks we’ve spent quite a bit of time on my re-branding… I hope to wrap this up and bring a message back to you.

It’s no secret that I’m big on personal branding. I love personal branding. Why? Because with a strong, or appropriate, personal brand you can create pull-marketing, rather than push-marketing.

When I was in my job search I was a nobody. I was cliche, a commodity, a dime-a-dozen. No one had heard of me, and I was a perceived expert in … nothing.

I knew that I had expertise, and could bring value to the equation, but nobody knew that, nor did they know me. My job search was a lot of push-marketing, and it was painful.

The power of a personal brand changes all of that. Create your personal brand, be on-brand, let your brand permeate your market, and you’ll see pull-marketing. People will call you and want to get to know you better. Your job search will be completely different (be aware, this doesn’t happen overnight!).

In my JibberJobber re-branding exercise I’ve been amazed at the feedback. Not only have the votes and comments been powerful, I’ve received a lot of advice outside of the Survey Monkey poll (hey, one more day to vote - go do it now!).

How would YOU do the same thing for YOUR brand? A lot of times, in order to figure out what our brand is or could or should be it’s helpful to understand how we are perceived. This has been huge for me, and it could be huge for you.

It’s actually quite easy. There’s a company called Reach Communications Consulting, which helps professionals like you develop and execute your own personal branding strategy. One of the tools they offer is a 360 Personal Branding Assessment. For less than $30 you sign up and get started. The idea is many of your professional contacts get a survey about YOU, and they anonymously enter their thoughts on who you are… helping you understand how you are perceived.

Maybe you think you are a hotshot, CEO-type that excels in strategic planning and motivating the worker-bees.

And then you get your Reach 360 feedback and learn that most people think you are more reserved, very logical and detail oriented - perhaps you are better suited for a Project Management role right now.

Just knowing that empowers you to make a better decision for your career path, or can encourage you to get better training and mentoring to become that motivating CEO.

There’s power in knowing how you are perceived. If this is interesting to you, I encourage you to check out the Reach 360 program. Again, it’s less than $30. If you need help there are over 200 certified personal branding strategists in 21 countries who can help you. My JibberJobber partners who are certified can be found on my career expert partner page. The partners who are sponsoring this contest who are also Reach Personal Branding Strategists are:

• Deb Dib
• Walter Akana
• Megan Fitzgerald

If you do it, let me know how it goes! I think it’s a great investment!

I got my webmonkey account and am compiling the submissions. It’s kind of hard because some people gave one-liner tag lines, and others wrote long e-mails with a lot of rich information. It’s coming, I promise!

For now, let me share a recording from a teleseminar I did yesterday to a few hundred people. I didn’t advertise here (sorry guys!) because they only had room for 200 people, and last I heard there were over 300 registered. Who’d-a-thunk I could draw a crowd, eh?

Anyway, go check out the teleseminar recording (scroll down on this page). It was on Facebook and LinkedIn and personal branding - how cool is that? In about an hour I share all of my secrets. Well, almost all of my secrets

I’m kind of a weird guy. I have a hard time saying Thank You. For all of the times when I want to, and when I know I should, I don’t.

I started to seriously think about it when I came across a partner’s blog post (Liz Handlin’s, on her eBook about thank you’s), and I wrote about it here. For me this was like a “guy’s guide to saying thanks.”

So I went to WalMart and found a pack of 25 thank you cards that weren’t too, you know, feminine. I got them just before a conference last year with the idea that I’d write them for people who touched me, from my partners to conference organizers to new friends I would meet.

I chickened out.

I did, however, force myself to write a heart-felt thank you to someone who did something significant for me (and JibberJobber). It was awkward to write a note like this but it was straight from the heart, and I felt good after I dropped it in the mail.

I still have 24 thank you cards left.

Then, a couple of weeks ago I got a thank you card from one of my other partners, Deb Dib. Deb and I have a neat relationship - the kind you get when you are both stuck at the airport for hours together. We had a chance to really get to know one another and get beyond the superficial part of the relationship.

She had to send me something business-related, which she could have done in a regular envelope, with a short note. Instead, she sent me a card. It wasn’t a regular thank you card, like the kind I bought at WalMart. This was a real card, with the following message:

If you want
happiness for an
hour, take a nap. If
you want happiness
for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for
a month, get married. If
you want happiness for a
year, inherit a fortune. If
you want happiness
for a lifetime, help
others.
- Chinese Proverb

This message really touched me (I’ve had the card next to my keyboard since I got it). It was above and beyond, and definitely cooler than my standard thank you cards.

Continuing my journey to better thank you’s, I got a box in the mail yesterday from Heather Gardner. When I was in Silicon Valley last week Heather had a gift for one of my kids. As we were driving around she found out I have four kids (hey, I’m from Utah, what can I say? :p), and she said “oh! I’ll send you a box with gifts for them and have it there when you get home!”

Now understand, I didn’t ask for, or expect anything like this. But it has left a lasting impression on me. And a huge impression on my kids (they think my JibberJobber buddies are pretty cool. I think so too ;)).

This is an impression I won’t forget. Like when my coworker, Cory, would take me to lunch for my birthday. Every year. I never took him (I was the boss and wasn’t sure how to handle it). I regretted that then, and I regret it now. But I’ll never forget how it made me feel to get a birthday lunch from Cory.

Or the special card from Deb. Or the box from Heather.

Feel awkward to do this stuff? Yeah, probably, especially if you are like me. But man, the lasting impression it leaves! These are shining examples of how to nurture relationships!

I had a cool discussion with two fascinating people on a flight out of San Jose, to Las Vegas on Friday night. On one side was a VP of Marketing for a mid-sized company, on the other side was a junior at a local college.

I was telling the VP of Marketing that I didn’t think I’d be able to have any loyalty towards any company I worked for… you know, after getting laid off it is very difficult to “trust” again. He said “sure you will have loyalty. But you’ll be cautiously optimistic.“

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse about getting voted off the island where I worked, but experiences like that stay with you for a very long time. And I’m not alone (check out the amazing comments on my Depression Clouds Everything post).

But I’ve felt bad about perhaps not having the same enthusiasm, passion and dedication towards a future employer.

When this VP phrased it as “cautiously optimistic,” that really resonated with me. Now, with this new phrase, I can go back to an employer and give them all I have to give, do an excellent job, work for the common goals of the team or department, etc. I’ll put in the Jason Alba work ethic, for sure.

All with a new understanding of employee loyalty, which is the old way of saying “cautious optimism.”