Archive for January, 2012

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January 31, 2012

7 steps to avoid a terrible, miserable life.

“Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life!”

So.  What if your alarm goes off and you hit snooze?  And then you hit snooze again.  And then after calculating exactly how many vacation days you have left, and a bit of negotiation about how much trouble you’d be in if you called in sick, you start that familiar conversation of psyching yourself up for the day ahead, grab an energy drink and begin your commute.  It’s not even Monday.  It’s Thursday.  Where is your ‘school spirit’?  Have you fallen out of love with your employer already?

I know how you feel.  I’ve been there.

Here are the 7 steps to finding your next good job.

1. Shock & Denial – I can’t believe I accepted this bad job.  I wasn’t my fault.  I didn’t know.

2. Pain & Guilt – I have a terrible stomach ache and I feel guilty that I can’t just suck it up and make this bad job work anymore.

3. Anger & Bargaining – Dang.  I messed up.  I’m so effen stupid.  But maybe if I suck it up and make it work, then people will admire me and I’ll have a good stable work history!?

4.  Depression & Loneliness – No.  No.  No.  I can’t suck it up anymore.  And what’s worse is, I’ll never find a good job.  Some people are lucky enough to find cool jobs, just not me.  I will work at sucky job all of my life and someday, I’ll die.

5. Upward Turn – But hey…  What if I could find a job where I like going to work every day?  I feel better just imagining that there is a better place.  I believe in the possibility of finding a job I love!

6.  Reconstruction & Working Through – There are a few resources out there to help me to find a job that I really want…  http://www.thegoodjobs.com looks like a cool site (launching soon!) that provides relevant information that connects me to THE job, instead of just ANY job…

7. Acceptance – THIS is my offer letter!?  From this awesome company with an amazing culture that matches me and my desire for life/work balance!?  Yes! I accept!

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January 27, 2012

I’m not going to chase you.

I’ve spent a good part of my life advising people on various subjects…  ok, true, much of the advice, has been totally unsolicited.  But there is one subject that my friends and family ask me about:  their stalled job search.  I got a call from my cousin’s husband yesterday and he fired questions at me like, ‘How do I get a recruiter to call me?’ ‘How do I get my foot in the door at X?’ and ‘How do I chuck my boring job and find a better one?’.  I thought some of the advice I shared with him, might also benefit you!

As with anything, there are probably really big things you can do to change the trajectory of your career (life!?), but I’m going to share a few really simple things you can do. I’m not going to give you magic tips on what key words to put in your resume or which font will get the most call-backs.  I’m going to go ahead and assume you know about spell-check.

If you invested time in a tedious and endless application process (albeit a necessary evil), do yourself a favor and:

1) Answer your frickin phone.  This seems simple.  You want to talk to recruiters.  Recruiters don’t want to chase you.  If you notice an unknown number, or a number you don’t recognize, answer in your most professional voice “Hello, This is Betsy!”  Answer the call, expecting it to be a recruiter.  Sound enthusiastic and focused.  Do not ignore that call.  Answer your phone.  The lowest hanging fruit get picked.  Might not be the shiniest apple.  Or the sweetest.  Ok, enough of the fruit metaphor.  You get it.  Answer your phone.

2) Listen to your voicemail.   What the what!?  You already ignored my first point!?  Dang.  You’re one tough customer.  Ok, maybe you were in the middle of a really, really, really important meeting.  Or a 20 minute midday shower.  For whatever the reason, you missed the call.  Ok.  Correct your mistake.  Listen to your effen vmail immediately.  Return the call within the hour — at the latest!  That recruiter is over-scheduled with other applicants.  S/he might be difficult to reach.  By missing your window, ahem, you might have already blown your big chance.

3) Empty your voicemail.  This is related to #1 & #2.  And again, it seems really simple… but if I didn’t experience so many auto-messages from that vmail lady when she says “I’m sorry, the person you are trying to reach has a mailbox that is full”.  Ugh!!  Seriously!?  Do you think I’m going to call again?  I’ve got 100 other applicants.  I’m not going to chase you.

You’re going to figure it out.

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January 24, 2012

Let’s face fax.

Today is significant.  Why?  Well, one could argue that EVERYDAY is significant…  but today really is.  TODAY is the day that Betsy Rowbottom is being launched into the world.  Well, technically, that happened in the ’70’s, but I’m talking about http://www.betsyrowbottom.com/ which is almost as exciting!  I’m not an early adopter (clearly) in some areas… My baby blog was born today.

When is the last time you heard the phrase, “I’ll fax that to you!”?  Today, as we celebrate http://www.betsyrowbottom.com/, let’s stop and ponder the relatively fast demise of fax machines.  Remember when the early fax machines were only slightly smaller than a high MPG automobile?  Where are they now?  Landfills?  Fish habitats?  http://www.betsyrowbottom.com/ is virtual.  I kinda love virtual stuff.  Fish can live in coral reefs where they are supposed to, blogs can’t hurt them (Well, except for those amazing food blogs with the beautiful photos of delicious recipes that glorify eating fish).  I’m looking at you, Matt!  http://mattbites.com/

The pace of pop culture is speeding up because the speed of information is speeding up.  Early adopters keep moving.  I want to be an early adopter in everything, but that feels overwhelming.  For now, I’m content to use technology in meaningful ways to me.  That way, it stops feeling overwhelming and it just feels right.

Long live http://www.betsyrowbottom.com/!

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January 18, 2012

Failure is a four letter word

Ok, I’ve stopped hitting the snooze alarm.  I’m up.  Here it is!  A brand new year.  Take a breath.  Love the crisp, fresh feeling of a brand new start.  Anything is possible.

Anything, well, that doesn’t result in a big fat failure…  That is definitely not the right direction.  Or is it?  I’ve been thinking a lot about risk and the ultimate price of failing.  What would happen if I really fail?  Well, I could lose my house.  I really like it, but I would find shelter.  In a pinch, I could make a refrigerator box cozy and quite chic!  Maybe my friends would be really disappointed in me if I failed…  Or would they?  Perhaps they would admire the determination and fortitude I mustered to take big risks.  Most people don’t ever do it.  For all of their very good reasons.  Not me.  Failure can’t contain me anymore.

The big new year and scary blank sheet of paper is about failure – and hopefully some success.  Or perhaps it would be better to describe 2012 this way.  This year is about living.  I am taking my first bold step of 2012 by removing the word ‘failure’ from my vocabulary.  I want to live without the guardrails of calling something good or bad.  Success or failure.  There is only intuition and listening, then doing what makes sense.  Reducing ADD by staying present.  Increasing creativity.

If I can just remember to make good choices that reflect me, then maybe I can’t fail?

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