MyRetailCareer

Monday Motivation

Since it’s almost 1 PM on Monday and since I’m just writing this now, you might notice I seem to be lacking my usual Monday motivation. 

It’s not that I lack motivation, it’s actually that I have so many things on my mind that I can’t get focused.  First of all, I go on vacation to lovely Sea Isle City, NJ on Saturday and I wish it was Friday. 

Then I’m embracing a bunch of new technology and my head is spinning.  I can’t get my hands around any of it.  It seems that the cooler things get and the more you can do, the more options you have and the more complex it becomes.  Still with me?

I used to have a great tool.  It was called Sunday evening.  I’d take the last 30 minutes of the day and write down my priorities and goals for the week and put together an action plan.  I have to tell you, when I do that, Monday’s are great.

Last night, I watched some horrible show about a giant storm created by mad men for the military.  Needless to day, my Monday is all blown to h*ll.  Must be the mad men’s fault or the storm we had yesterday or the military.

The point is, you have to have a plan (or a road map, this one will get you to Buenos Aires, a nice place to vacation too)……and a goal……or you get nowhere, which doesn’t matter because nowhere is as good as somewhere when you don’t know where you’re going.

Now that we’re all lost, I need to regroup, recover and rethink my week.

Regards,

Unemployed and Taking Advantage of it.

There are a lot of unemployed people out there.  Some sitting around feeling sorry for themselves and others taking advantage of it.  I’d like to hear from those of you that are taking advantage of the free time afforded you.

All things happen for a reason and if you don’t use the extra time wisely, you squander a great opportunity to make yourself better.  What are some ways I think you can be better?

This Monday as the sun comes up, do something different, you can thank yourself later.

 

• Volunteer
• Take classes
• Learn a new skill
• Do something new or unexpected
• Go for a walk
• Work on your health
• Call someone you have not heard from in a while
• Renew a hobby

I say that looking for a job is a full time job but let’s face it, you have some extra downtime.  Instead of sitting there feeling sorry for yourself make something of your self.

I also don’t want to hear about how broke you are.  Last time I checked libraries were pretty cheap.  If you are reading this, you certainly can surf the web for free classes.  Work on your LinkedIn profile.  Look up a healthy recipe.  Learn a new language, all for free.  There are often free movies at schools and Universities as well as great speakers.  Audit a class….

Get up, get out and get better.  It will improve your attitude and that will improve your chances to get a new position.

 

Regards,

Owning your Job

Barbara Farfan, over at About.com’s Retail site wrote a good article called, “Finding and Keeping Employees with Ownership.”  And no, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be owned by any company.

Barbara discusses, from the employer’s side of the coin, employees that actually take, gasp, ownership of their job and she makes a nice analogy of property ownership vs. renting property. 

While the article is aimed at the employer, there is certainly enough to be gleamed from the employee’s perspective. Let me make one thing clear, I know that a lot of companies and a lot of managers just don’t get this concept but I also know a lot of employees treat a job as a paycheck as well.  For now, let’s set both those issues on the sideline and focus on those that do get it.

If you are an owner type, I’d recommend you pay close attention to the section talking about Interviewing for Ownership.  If you don’t get asked those questions, you should ask them yourself.  If you are a renter type and don’t get asked those questions, you’ll fit in just fine.

Keep in mind a simple lesson;  Any job worth doing is worth doing well. Ownership translates into pride and respect in my book.  I’d take a little time today to reflect on jobs you took ownership and jobs you might have slacked on.  Draw some comparisons and take a serious look at your own motivating factors.  You can learn a lot about yourself and what makes you tick if you just take some time to think about it.

Regards,

Just a Few Days Late Here

I apologize to those of you who were waiting with bated breath for more about  how to put together my style of a killer resume;  I got busy.  I had a couple of the usual, “I need my resume re-done, I have an interview tomorrow, later today, 5 minutes from now” calls (anyone wondering about the picture, it’s named “Attack of the Killer Dogs” bated-breath, killer resume).

As I have said before, the resume isn’t the end-all, be-all holy grail of getting the greatest job in the world, but it’s no Rodney Dangerfield either.  It deserves a little respect.  Also, I always say, it’s the process of putting together the resume that is most valuable.  I guarantee the individuals that needed a resume yesterday, put in about the same amount of forethought in interview preparation for these “awesome opportunities.” Enough ranting.

I last left you with your color coded accomplishments and duties.  Now it’s time to put on our thinking cap.  How do we best put this together to communicate to a complete stranger, in 15 to 30 seconds, what we’ve done and more importantly, what we can do for them?  I’m convinced that most people get hired for 3 reasons. 

1. Increase sales.
2. Reduce expenses.
3. Relieve pain.

Oh sure, there are those of you that think I’m over-simplifying but if you keep these 3 reasons front-and-center you won’t miss by much.  Increased sales and reduced expenses are pretty easy to figure out but what do I mean about relieve pain?

You are a manager and your assistant manager position is open.  Who is doing the work?  Most likely you, working longer hours while things slip through the cracks, so much for you bonus because the department is going to heck in a hand basket. 

Or, you have split up the duties between the rest of the staff, so they are all doing a little more work (and grumbling, notice how moral is heading South?) So much for your bonus since things are going to heck in a hand basket, need I say more about pain?

So we’ve looked at our accomplishment with our new found wisdom and now it’s time to start to start defining what it is we can offer and do for our new, prospective employer.

Leadership

Let's face it, if leadership was easy to figure out, there wouldn't be a gazillion books and articles on it.

That said, ExecuNet's article of the week, "Showcasing Leadership Skills" by Marji McClure gives some great insight for job seekers as to what recruiters look for when determining leadership skills. Executive recruiter David Perry, managing director of Perry-Martel International highlights 7 areas.

1. Proactive. Does the candidate possess a forward-thinking proactive mindset?
2. Entrepreneurial/intrapreneurial. Does the candidate watch dollar and time expenses like an entrepreneur would; as if he or she owned the company?
3. Visionary capabilities. Does the candidate have the ability to serve as a visionary for the future of the company and recognize the value of getting ahead of the curve?
4. Passion. Is the candidate passionate about your company or is he just looking for another job?
5. Stamina. Has the candidate already demonstrated an unrelenting spirit?
6. Focus on results. Has the candidate demonstrated an ability to recruit high quality subordinates to generate high levels of performance?
7. Human capital skills. Does the candidate have an ability to hire and fire quickly and effectively and blend together the intricate personalities, quirks and talents of people?

I think these 7 points give you a place from where to evaluate yourself. Replace "Does/Is/Has the candidate" with "Do I". Then I would ask those around me for their feedback as well.

If you need to work on leadership skills do your goals reflect that? And if you have those skills does your resume convey them?

The YOU folder

When I was a recruiter, I was often surprised when people were coming to me and could not tell me what they had accomplished recently in their careers. What I learned were there were usually two reasons. Actually one big reason and then two smaller reasons.

The big reason was they had not stopped to give it any thought. In today's business environment, we are bombarded with challenges, deadlines and crisis after crisis. We do not get much time to stop and reflect. Kent Blumberg wrote today Questions for Leaders at the end of the First Quarter. Kent advocates taking the time to assess the results of the first quarter in a way to position yourself for the challenges of the second quarter. There is a lot there that can apply to your career as well.

Because most people don't take the time to think about what they have accomplished, they either forget it or it becomes unimportant, given the pressing issues at hand. I used to tell people to put together a YOU folder. It is a simple habit that can go a long way to ensuring you have the key information about yourself when you need it. What do you do?

Get a folder, two actually (I like red because it is associated with protectiveness, prosperity and luck, but you can use whatever color you have). Keep one at work and one at home. Put your most current resume in the Home Folder as well as any old performance reviews, letters of commendation, everything and anything you already have lying around in 20 different places into it too.

Now, every time you do something good, accomplish something, get recognized, promote someone…. write it down or print it out and throw it into the folder. I don't care if you hand write it on a cocktail napkin or you use Microsoft Word, put it in the Work Folder. Once a month, take the contents home and put it into the Home Folder (take home critical things the same day, performance reviews, etc.). At the end of each quarter, recap and condense the contents. Use Ken's suggestion of PAR (Problem, Action, Result) or my suggestion of SARB (Situation, Action, Result, Benefit). Once a year do the same thing and keep things in order. With critical stuff, I would keep a copy somewhere safe and again, I think JibberJobber is a great place for that. You can upload 200kB, about 4-5 resumes with the free account and 10 times as much with the premium level.

You might have the following in your folder right now:

Sticky Note…Feb 12^th, Spoke with Tom Jones at ABC Company. He said the new strategy that I proposed and they adopted last quarter resulted in a 12% increase in sales, almost $1.2 million.

Copy of Email from you to staff…Congratulations team. We were recognized by the Leadership committee for our outstanding efforts in 2006. You efforts resulted in our achieving all our sales, margin and turnover goals and we will have a team lunch to celebrate…

Copy of 4^th Quarter financials…and year end financials.

Copy of letter from VP of HR thanking you for the volunteer time you gave during the recent United Way campaign.

Note to yourself…We implemented the suggestion I made at the last conference. I projected this change will save the company over $2 million in expenses. Remember to keep track of results!

Note to yourself…I promoted 3 junior staff members this week to full …..That means all 10 members of my team have been promoted or assigned additional duties in the last year.

Get the idea, here is your YOU folder. How handy is that?

Dumbing Down the Service

I try hard to keep my rants to myself and not use this forum to complain about specific retailers but some recent service issues and an announcement today on RetailNet demands my 2 cent view.

“Circuit City Stores said Wednesday it plans to cut costs by laying off about 3,400 store employees and hiring lower-paid employees to replace them.”  I applaud Phillip Schoonover, Circuit City’s chief executive for taking this bold move.  As he said in a statement, “We are taking a number of aggressive actions to improve our cost and expense structure, which will better position us for improved and sustainable returns in today's marketplace,”

Boy, as a customer of Circuit City, that is exactly the direction I want a retail organization to take. What ever you do, don’t try to have anyone in your stores that understands customer service or can explain the myriad of choices in the consumer electronics world.  Follow the lead of Nardelli at Home Depot and get rid of anyone that knows anything about home products.  That’s good for the stock value, just look at how well Home Depot stock did against Lowe’s.  Oh that’s right, it sucked.

I was in Home Depot yesterday.  I’m redoing a floor in a bath, putting marble down and had a question.  I waited for about 5 minutes at the “Customer Service” desk, were they didn’t seem to have any staff and then a cheerful person in an orange vest asked if I needed help.  “No, I’m just standing here wondering why you don’t tear this customer service area out and put lumber here since you don’t seem to have anyone here anyway,” I thought.  “ I need some help with marble tile” is what I said. About 5 minutes later a nice young man appeared.

“Can I help you?”  “Yes, I’m putting down a marble floor and wondered what width spacing between the tiles I should use?”

“I though you needed someone to get something down for you.  Let me find someone who knows tile.”  So far Home Depot is batting zero.  After 15 minutes, we determined that no one in the store knows anything about tile.  So I went to Lowes.  Guess where I bought my $500 of marble tile.

Last week I was in Circuit City.  I needed more memory for my HP laptop.  Now, before I left home, I had a pretty good idea of what I was  looking for. When I got to the store, I went to the computer area and started looking for memory chips.  I wandered for about 5 minutes, noticing young man, in a Circuit City shirt, playing a game on a display laptop.  He kept glancing over at me but didn’t seem to grasp that I needed help.  So I wandered over, interrupting his game of FreeCell and asked, “Where is your computer memory.” 

“Over there,” he pointed.  I went over to the end cap which was about 75% empty and decided to act dumb.  “ I need some memory for an HP Laptop, can you help me?”

“What do you need?”

“I have a HP DV XXXX and need a 1 GB memory chip, which one should I get?”  After pointing out 2 different chips, neither one correct, he gave up.

“I think I’ll get this one, what if I need to return it?” 

“You can only exchange it for a like item”

“What if I need a different item, because this isn’t the right one”?

“You can talk to the manager.”  I went to Best Buy and they got my $100.

Now that I know Schoonover’s plan is to “take aggressive actions to improve Circuit City’s cost and expense structure” and not take any aggressive actions to improve the customer experience in his stores, I hope he won’t miss my business.  Schoonover might benefit from reading this short recap of an article from Knowledge@wharton (free membership required) regarding Nardelli’s exit and mistakes.

There are good people working at both Circuit City and Home Depot.  But when management does not make providing high customer service the overarching mantra within a retail organization, service suffers. Bad customer service leads to upset customers and employee moral suffers. It doesn’t take a genius to see that sales suffer. 

Where Are the Women?

Everyone knows that networking and networks are important and while I don't like the use of network as a verb and I prefer to consider my network as a big loose Circle of Friends, networking is vital to your professional development and is good for business also. As evidenced here, networks can also begin with one purpose in mind and morph into something entirely different.

Alice Snell, VP, Taleo Research, in "Workplace Networking: Sisters Are Doing it for Themselves" wrote yesterday about on how women's networks are making a difference in the workplace. Alice references a recently published report from The Cranfield School of Management in London, "Making Good Connections: Best Practice for Women's Corporate Networks." Alice points out this example:

"Whilst the original objectives of women's networks were to focus on facilitating women's careers, the pressure from business has meant that most network leaders focus on benefits to the company. These are primarily in the areas of recruitment, retention and reputation."

This is an excellent read for any executive and particularly important for the retail industry which has been groundbreaking in placing women in leadership positions. There is a lot more to do to eliminate the glass ceiling and have equality at the boardroom table. It is even more important to my Circle of Friends because of the impact on recruitment, retention and reputation these networks can have.

Most of my mentors in retail were awesome women who helped me get past my bottom-line mentality and find the softer side of management. I don't mean to say they were soft, you didn't dare cross them but they taught me things like 'listening" and "empathy". Most people in my Circle of Friends are female HR and recruitment professionals, sorry guys, but there is hope.

"The majority of women's networks were set up by women themselves and were aimed at executive women. All networks have now expanded and run activities to include men."

If there is no women's network at your company, I would encourage you to either take a leadership position and start one or make a female leader aware of the benefits. There is no downside.

"The networks are involved in a huge range of activities and the business focus is very strong. There is a great need to demonstrate value back to the company."

Making good connections is a best practice and something you should always practice.

Telling the true story

A blog title caught my eye this morning, "All Recruiters are Liars". First, notice there is no differentiation between internal and external recruiters, everyone is lumped in together. Naturally, I had to read the article since I am an ex-recruiter and a lot of people in my circle of contacts are recruiters and those that aren't might bump into a recruiter sometime in their career.

I assumed, prior to reading Mo Edjlaia on the Third Rock blog that someone, somewhere, had been wronged by a recruiter. "Say is isn't so!" you gasp. But the article wasn't about dirty, rotten. scoundrel recruiters. It was about recruiters telling an authentic and honest story about what the job and the company offers and being REAL about it. It's a call to arms for recruiters to make sure the story they tell is what the new hire is going to live.

Right now, I have recruiters rolling their eyes and thinking, "I'll never fill any open positions that way." First of all, I don't believe any recruiter deliberately lies. Some may polish the story a little bit and others might have no idea how bad the situation is down there in transportation or IT or wherever. But, if they are worth their salary or fee, they should find out. They owe it to themselves because ignorance doesn't exactly build one's professional credibility.

I used to recruit for a retail organization that had a tough reputation. They were highly professional and cutting edge but they demanded a lot from their employees. My presentation was this…

"It's retail boot camp. Think of it as the retail equivalent of getting into the US Navy Seals. Is that they type of organization you see yourself in and can you honestly commit to me that you will be fulfilled and happy in that type of environment? Before you answer, let me tell you that it doesn't make you a bad person if you aren't. Years ago, I was that type of person, but if you asked me today if I would sign on, the answer would be a resounding no. My life has changed and so have my priorities "

Was it that difficult working there? It wasn't any worse than the story I told and hopefully it was actually better. The company had high new hire turnover, recognized it and was working to change it. I think the turnover was the result of the story not being authentic and real. I didn't dread the calls 30, 60 or 90 days later from my placed candidates because they called to thank me and tell me it wasn't that bad and they were really learning a lot. Working hard yes, but learning incredible things.

Tell the true story. If the true story isn't the one being told when recruiting, then work to change it. If you can't change it then move to an honest organization.

Animals

Today, I was reading David Maister's blog from last week, "Lions, Wolves, Beavers and Humans." The title caught my eye because they recently spotted a beaver in the Bronx River, something that hasn't happened in 200 years. Not that either are related, but kismet is in play somehow. Anyway, David, while discussing the difficulty companies face while trying to adapt firmwide strategy, categorizes people into 1 of 4 categories; Mountain Lions, Wolves, Beavers and Humans. He has 2 questions that help determine what people's preferences are with regards to collaboration and investing in a mutual future and his extended article explores the challenges that organizations have with different mixes within the zoo.

This got me thinking and playing around. I took David's 2 questions and put together a little survey with SurveyMonkey. I'm going to send it out to all my contacts and ask them to participate. Results to come. If you want to take the 2 question survey, simply click here.