Rory Cullen, Kaizen Software Developer

Over the past month, I have received two endorsement requests from connections in LinkedIn. One from a high school classmate I have not seen in over 15 years, and another from a friend who I know from non-work activities. My question is, why do they think I can endorse them? Is this their fault, or my fault? My fault for accepting them as connections in the first place, or their fault for thinking a recommendation from me is what is going to make their profile stronger?

The first I ignored completely. I have not seen the guy for years, and have no idea if he is a good employee. I think he was student body president at some point, but can I judge his performance accurately after all these years? He had, and has, great hair. Ok, good hair. All hair is good hair at my age. I did not bother letting him know why I could not endorse him, I actually figured he sent requests to every connection, hoping to bulk his profile, so I did not consider this something we needed to discuss.

The second, as is usually the case, is more complicated. This is someone I see about four times a year, so I can’t really just ignore. Thankfully, I also feel really comfortable telling him I can’t endorse him based on our lack of a professional relationship. I’m ok with that, and I suspect he will be as well. Thankfully, neither is a former co-worker who just does bad work. Those are the awkward conversations that we all need to brave enough to have, but you’re on your own there!

As an employer, would you rather read through three awesome recommendations, or see a person has 20+ recommendations and assume they are great? I guess, based on feedback on how long HR spends on résumés (10-20 seconds), maybe the numbers game is the best bet. However, what if the HR person decides to look at those recommendations? Of course, they will never read them all, but they might see a few. Maybe they only see the generic ones from your high school buddies, and they don’t see the one from the VP of your company that details how you saved the company $500,000? Probably not what you were shooting for when bulking your profile.

If you ever meet with a career counselor, they will advise you to remove anything from your résumé that does not say something important about you. Something that adds value. I think we should approach recommendations with this in mind. Average is not worth it.

Thoughts? Do you believe in quality over quantity?

Bonus Tip: If someone writes you a disappointing recommendation, ask them to fix it. If you are not comfortable with that, then just use settings to make it invisible in your LinkedIn profile.

Note: Between drafting and publishing this post, I heard from one of the guys who contacted me for a recommendation. It turns out he is being laid off this month. I still can’t write that recommendation, but I can see why he might be seeking the extra boost to his profile, and will try to help in other ways.

I had no intention of writing a follow-up piece about LinkedIn this month. No intention at all until yesterday, when I stumbled upon Charly Barry.

A few days ago, I noticed a contact on LinkedIn was part of the Fidelity Investments Alumni group. Although there are several groups with variations on this name, I figured it couldn’t hurt to join. I submitted my request to join, and a few days later, was accepted. Nothing weird so far.

Usually, when I join a new group, I check out the “members” page to see who I might know in the first few pages. LinkedIn’s default “sort” is by how you are connected, so your 1st level connections come up first, followed by 2nd level, and so on. It turns out this is a smallish group of under 400 people, and I only have a few 1st level connections in the group. I then notice an intriguing member who is a 2nd connection to me. Charly Barry. Current position: Sperm Bank Donor at 4 Your Skin. This was either a masterful piece of personal branding, or there was something wrong with this account.

I click into his account, and sure enough, he lists Fidelity Investments as his only employer for 22 years, as Vice President of Architecture no less! Ok, interesting.

Oh, he went to Bates College, good school…got his Masters…Yeah, you probably see where this is going by now.

Although I did not click through, I see the website in his profile links you to pornhub(dot)com. I am assuming that is exactly what it sounds like.

At this point, I am laughing out loud. And then it hits me: How is this guy a 2nd level connection? Doesn’t that mean that someone I am connected to is connected to him directly? How can that be? I look on the right side of the screen, and I see that three of my connections are linked to this guy!!!!! Three! And none of them are pure LIONs either (Open Networkers who connect to anyone).

Yikes

Even weirder, he seems to have written two recommendations!!!

So, as follow up to my last post, please please please think before you accept every single connection on LinkedIn. This is the best example I have ever seen to support a measured approach. In addition, if you are like me and allow fellow group members to send you messages, you might find yourself receiving unwanted solicitations, although I have never heard of this happening. Finally, if you start a Group on LinkedIn, try to keep an eye out for the spammers! It won’t reflect well on you in the end.

I have deliberately not included a link to his profile, and I will be reporting the account to LinkedIn and the group owner for removal, but I have included screen prints below for your amusement.

Note: I can’t help but think the name of this post might make this end up in a lot of spam folders!

(Click below for full size images)

I can no longer deny what has become obvious to me.  I have failed to use LinkedIn appropriately for too long, and it’s starting to make me rethink my approach.  Maybe you can learn from my mistake!

LinkedIn suggests: Accept invitations only from those who you know and trust.

This past week, I finally realized how low I’ve let my requirements drop.  I have long accepted connections from mere acquaintances.  However, this time I accepted an invitation to connect from a former co-worker who I know for a fact is NOT a good worker.  He was a nice guy, but we worked on a project together, and he exhibited some of my least favorite qualities.  He complained when asked to do work.  He would kiss up to the project leader, and then disregard her when she was gone.  He consistently did the bare minimum that was required, or even less.  This person was an awful teammate.  I kept hoping he would drop out of the project, but he never did.  Is this someone you want working for you?  Me neither.  Would I ever consider recommending this person, or offering to connect them to another contact?  No.  So why did I accept his request?

It’s an easy answer actually.  I was laid off a year ago.  Like most people in that situation, I started networking like crazy.  I met a lot of people, and many of them elected to connect with me via LinkedIn despite our lack of real connection.  I should note that I rarely reached out myself unless we had broached the topic of connecting during our own conversation.  Here I am, one year later, with 176 connections, and 3 invitations in my inbox.  How many of these are quality connections?

My connections:

The good news: My largest segment is the “Work – Good” category. Bad news, it’s only about 32% of my overall network. I think I can add some of my friends and family section, but still low. Yikes.

Although LinkedIn doesn’t offer one, I think I’ll start using the following rating system for my contacts:

Next step:  I am going to do the right thing, and drop the Weakest link.  In fact, I’ll do it before I post this!  How about everyone else?  I think I will leave them for now.  However, I will look at future connections with a more discerning eye.  If we are already linked via a Group, we do not need to be connected directly.  If you are a recruiter, I may connect since you are unlikely to ask me for a connection anyway, and may be able to help me out some day.  If I met you once, and we started building a relationship, well maybe LinkedIn will help us get to the next level.  I’m quite torn, as it’s hard to flat out reject connections, because this is an accepted way to network.

What are the alternatives?  Well, I will relay one experience.  I met a guy named Larry at a networking meeting last summer.  We had a great conversation, and I wanted to continue the conversation.  As he had no business card, I looked him up in LinkedIn and invited him to connect.  He wrote a great message back explaining why he was not comfortable with that, based on LinkedIn’s own standards, and that started a great dialogue.  We have continued that dialogue since then, and I can honestly say I know a lot more about him than about many of my contacts.  I still don’t know if he is great at his job, but I know he’s one smart dude.  My point here is that there are other ways to connect if one chooses to truly build a relationship, versus just adding another notch to your LinkedIn bedpost.  Hmmm, that got weird.

Although I do enjoy the email correspondence, it seems much more personal than LinkedIn messaging.  Email is in my personal space, whereas LinkedIn offers that extra layer of separation that many people appreciate, myself included.  Even more personal would be talking on the phone, which I honestly hate, and would consider a total intrusion.

In the end, it should be about Quality, but it’s so much easier to expand your network by Quantity instead.  It takes patience over time to truly build a strong network.  I recently started a new job.  I hope, in about 12 months, I will have proved my value and will be able to connect with many of my co-workers.  Because I work remotely with only one other person right now, that might only turn into a few connections.  However, they will be quality, the types that can be of value, so they will be worth the wait!

Some might say, “Hey, are you sure you want to put this out where your LinkedIn connections can see it?”  I say yes, because only my good connections will make the extra effort to support me by reading my blog posts.  Those weaker connections aren’t likely to see this at all.

I invite you all to analyze your own results and post them in the comments below, I’d love to see them and hear how you do your analysis.  Of course, I can’t help but wonder if my connection count will fall after this post!

Now, what to do with those three invites in my inbox?

Most professional career counselors will tell you that you should do some volunteer work while you’re looking for a new job. Their reasons are many, including:

1. You can make contacts
2. You can refresh or update your skills
3. You get out of your house and avoid a rut
4. It fills your time
5. You can do some good in the world (note: Some put this last, I don’t)

Of course, volunteerism is something you can do whether employed or not, but the unemployed may have more reasons aside from altruism.

After conversing with a fellow job seeker, I believe unemployed volunteers fall into a few categories:

1. Those looking to stay busy
2. Those looking to look busy, and hence not lazy while interviewing
3. Those looking to learn new skills for their next career move

It had been easy to stay busy while looking for my next role, so I certainly am most interested in #3. In fact, that is part of what this blog was all about in the beginning. My goal was to find places that might be able to put some of my skills to use, and thereby help expand my resume along the way. I have done a decent job doing this, but admit that there have been a lot of false starts as well.

As a full-time employee, I was always looking for a regular volunteer gig that would allow me to give a few hours per week, without getting overly involved. This was satisfied a few years back when a co-worker suggested I get involved with the Special Olympics. During the school year, I spend two hours per week bowling with my Special Olympic team, and it’s great. It’s an easy commitment, and it is “timeboxed.” It rarely impacts other commitments, and my role is clearly defined.

Fast-forward to this summer. Back in April, when launching this blog, I put out the call far and wide that I was searching for pro bono opportunities in the technical arena. My preference at the time was for Java roles, but I was also open for helping with any technical tasks in the greater web or database areas. I ended up volunteering to help a few groups who were in turn supporting job seekers through their organizations. In each case, I assumed I might be able to do a few hours work for each, and help them while building some skills. At the same time, I landed some work doing Java for another company, so I was really cooking.

Before I get to the warnings, here are some of the good things I’ve experienced:

1. Meeting good people: I have met some great people across my various activities. Some have become friends, and some will likely be great contacts in the future.
2. Contributing to worthy causes: I know that I have helped people and organizations become better. It’s the same thing I do in the for-profit arena. This is rewarding.
3. Getting positive feedback: It is incredibly rewarding to have people tell you that you have done a great job on a project. When you are out of the workforce, this is something you don’t hear enough. (And if you are not hearing this in your own job, think about that too!)
4. Building skills: I have mentioned it before, but I have expanded my skills through some projects this summer. My HTML and CSS skills have expanded. I know a lot more about WordPress, blogging, RSS and PHP. My Java skills have expanded drastically.
5. Filling the interview void: If you are out of work or under-employed, you will have current projects to talk about in your interviews. Even if the opportunities are outside your target industry, you can still talk about the skills you applied to make your volunteer time successful.

Now, lessons from experience (a.k.a. warnings!)

Lesson 1: Don’t play the field
Volunteers are like employees. They should be focused. Right away, I realized I had spread myself too thin. Most groups who I spoke with were seeking major overhauls to their websites, or other efforts of similar scope. These would involve weeks of concentrated effort, and possibly months of follow-up maintenance and monitoring. Once I found the ideal role doing Java work, I realized that much of the other work I was slated to do was going to have a negative impact on my job search. I did make one smart decision, which was to inform two groups that I would not have time for their projects. This proved the right decision, but was something that I have always found hard to do. Since that time, I have turned down or postponed other volunteer opportunities for this same reason. This is tough for me, as I hate to say no when asked for help.

Lesson 2: Beware: Volunteering for a start-up non-profit is like working for a start-up for-profit company.
The hours are long, management is inexperienced, and roles morph constantly. One of the groups I have been doing work for is a new organization. I volunteered to help with their website in April, and have filled various (non-web) roles for them. These included: Impromptu teleprompter, Tweeter, database designer, project coordinator. I did draw the line at some tasks that were clearly outside of my professional realm of interest, but not all. Again, my expectations were that I would spend “some” time volunteering with them, and most of my time doing other things. This fell apart finally in July, when they decided they wanted to redo their website. Over the next six weeks, I spent a majority of my time each week working on new site designs and the related work. This took away from the time I could put toward my job search, networking, and my other pro bono tasks. Although a rewarding project, the effort involved did have a negative impact on my job search in the short term.

Lesson 3: Set expectations
If you have time commitment concerns, set expectations right away. Speak with the volunteer coordinator. If there isn’t one, question why this is (or at least find your volunteer “boss”). Like a real job, find out the level of commitment and decide if you will be able to follow through before beginning. This is best for all sides. Find out if they need you ongoing, or just for a specific project.

Organizations that rely on volunteers do not want to lose good talent, like any other organization. They also may not be ready to put your talents to good use at the time they are offered. Find this out right away. If they need you for a project, then suggest that they contact you later, when that project is ready to go. If not, you may find yourself twiddling your thumbs in meetings, wondering why you are there, and soured on the experience while your skills are being squandered.

In Summary:
Volunteering can quickly become a 40-hour commitment before you know it. As a job seeker, remember your primary directive: To find a new paying job. No matter how much you may enjoy what you are doing, you need to consider the long-term implications. Ideally, consider these implications before you get too involved. Volunteerism is a great way to explore your passions, and you may find a passion that you wish to pursue full-time. Even so, you still need to think about the financial impact and reorganize your job search in that new direction.

I know that much of this post is a warning. I hope that it does not dissuade people from volunteering, but allows them to make better decisions instead. Most importantly, when you land a new job, keep volunteering. It’s good for you, and for your community.

Have you ever heard of a “phantom” limb?  This experience sometimes happens to amputees, they sometimes feel like the limb they have lost is still present.  It must be a bizarre feeling.  Anything that occupies a spot in your life for 10 years is certainly going to feel like a major loss.  Although not nearly so traumatizing, I have a major phantom limb of my own, born from my last job.

I had lunch yesterday with a former co-worker in my old “work” neighborhood.  While observing several former co-workers enter the restaurant, I was reminded of my phantom limb, my employee ID.  There are memories associated with that ID.  This ID hung off my left pocket for years, and before that, my right pocket.  I remember why I moved it from my right pocket.  I had been playing goalie in indoor soccer, and had sprained my right thumb.  My simian arms hung low enough that I struck my thumb joint on the ID card when I walked around, so I moved it to the left side to relieve the irritation.

Your ID becomes a part of you, good and bad.  You check for it when you leave the house everyday.  Sometimes, you have that brief panic that it’s missing, even though it’s Saturday and you’re on the way to the beach.  Muscle-memory playing tricks, or maybe real memory.

At my former employer, people could use it to judge how long you have been with the company.  Maybe you have gained weight, lost hair, had a nose job.  Maybe your hairstyle was courtesy of Aquanet, or George Clooney (the Caesar anyone?), or Billy Ray Cyrus?  Maybe it hasn’t changed since then?

My picture was a freeze frame of my first day.  I was wearing a purple button-down shirt that my brother gave me.  This was my favorite shirt, which I wore like clockwork until my elbow broke through the fabric in the sleeve one day, also at work.  In my picture, I had good hair, and a decent tan.  I had just returned from a two-week vacation in Japan and Seattle, visiting another brother and some good friends.  I had hiked Mt Washington over the previous weekend.  It’s funny, my first thought while writing this was “Who was that guy?” but I haven’t changed that much at all.  I have hiked Washington seven or eight times since, have been to a few more exotic places, and my hair…well, let’s not revisit that again.  Anyway, sometime over the past few months, I stopped checking for my badge.  I don’t remember when.

This afternoon, I noticed my parking sticker on my car, also from my previous employer.  This was not just a parking sticker, but also a way I recognized cars on my commute, and in other lots around the region.  Some days it seemed like every other car was from my employer.  It was a symbol to me, a way to recognize people who I shared a common bond with.  I guess there will be a finality of removing the sticker, but it doesn’t hold the allure of my ID.  I forget the sticker, tucked there in the rear passenger window, ironically in my blind spot.  Seeing it today was a reminder of the past, but held little emotional resonance.

I think I’ll scrape that sticker off over the weekend.  And you know, I’m a little color-blind, so my favorite shirt may have been blue after all.  If only I had a picture to remind me…

When I was younger, much younger, I believed there was a guy in my town named Guy Smiley.  His name was Guy, and he wasn’t too smiley.  But in my memory, my oldest brother put this idea in my head.  A quick Google search today reveals that Guy Smiley was a Sesame Street character, so it is likely that I was familiar with this character on my own accord.  In fact, I seem to recall his “This is your Life” parodies now that I have been reminded by Wikipedia.  Unfortunately, this also means it is unlikely that my brother, ten years my elder, knew of this kid in my town who was a year younger than me.  I have a tendency to blame that brother for most of the issues of that era as it turns out, but that’s for another post.

If you have ever been unemployed or underemployed, you know one of the hardest things to do is to keep your spirits up all the time.  In fact, there are posts written all the time about “getting your smile on!”  First, no one wants to talk to a grumpy sad sack.  Second, no one wants to work with one either!  Third, your family and friends won’t want to be around you.  All good reasons, but still easier said than done!  By the way, if none of those reasons is good enough, smiling is also a key to phone interviewing.  They say to speak with a smile on your face, and people can tell.  Smiles impact the sound and tone of your voice.

Why am I going on about this?  Because on Wednesday, I worked, and it felt great!  It was only an hour, but it felt good to do something interesting.  This is why I can’t wait to get back to work.  The backstory:  I submitted my name for a web usability study for a local company.  I signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement), so I can’t talk about anything technical, but it was basically user testing of a new website.  I spent the time there with a usability expert, using a prototype of new features.  Since I have been doing web application development myself, I recognized a lot of the functionality and potential ways it was implemented.  I was able to speak in detail about the methods used, and pitfalls to some of the changes we were discussing.  It felt great to be doing something useful, and although my specific skills sets were not required, they certainly were helpful above and beyond expectations.  Clearly, I was pointing out things that they had never seen, but I also brought ideas and suggestions that they were not expecting from a “man on the street.”

So what made this day so rewarding?  I was able to show my technical acumen, my attention to detail, and make suggestions.  In just an hour, I felt like part of the team.  I was there to help solve problems, and I knew that I had contributed in a major way.  It felt useful, and I got a lot of genuinely positive feedback from the expert during the exercise.  The best part of the day was when she brought me my check.  No, not because of the money, but because of the feedback she brought from the other side of the two-way mirror.  Per the expert, one of her assistants said, “This guy is great, we should hire him.”  The pessimist might think, “Maybe she says that to everyone,” but why would she bother?  You don’t need to make me feel good; you’re already bringing me a check.  My read on the situation was that was a genuine expression that I was of value.  Ironically, many people don’t get this much feedback at work all year!

The rewards above are the same reasons why I volunteer to review people’s résumés, why I volunteered to give a speech on personal branding in a few weeks, and why I spent 45 minutes talking to someone I just met at a networking meeting last week.  I want to help, I want to be productive, and I want to be useful to others.  I know a few things that might help you, and you know things that might help me.  And in the end, I want to be thanked for my contribution.  Money is money, and it’s a requirement in the end, but heartfelt appreciation is pretty valuable.

This is exactly the point of this blog.  All it took was an hour to see that I bring a lot to the table.  Skip the interview, and bring me in to do some work for an hour.  If that works out, make an offer!  Ironically, this would take a lot less time than the usual interview process!

On a job search note, I did wear a tie today, and I had my business card out on the table prior to the feedback.  I was there to do my job, but also to make a good impression.  It does not hurt to advertise, and it does not hurt to look like a professional, even when you don’t have to.  You never know!  Do I realistically expect a call from this company in the future based on my performance?  No.  But did I make a great impression on a few people there?  Yes.  Baby steps…treat everyone you meet like a potential employer.  Hmmm, that might be a good idea in general, right?

Oh, in case you were wondering, Guy Smiley had hardly worked since 1990, poor guy.  But if he keeps on smiling, he’ll be hosting Letter pageants again soon!  Keep smiling big guy!

I must have struck a chord last week, because my blog had more comments than ever before. I appreciate all of the feedback, mentorship certainly hit home for a lot of people.

In job search news, I had an interview today for a very interesting job. I don’t want to share too much information at this point, but suffice it to say that it is much more interesting than it first appeared, and I really feel like I made a good impression on the interviewer.  As my fellow job seekers know, this is a clear sign that it went horribly wrong!

More importantly, this interview finally gave me an opportunity to plunge headlong into the wonderful world of thank you notes.  Prior to today, I have been emailing thank you notes to people with whom I have interviewed. In this day and age, it seems like a no-brainer. That said, I’ve had a nagging feeling that I was walking the thin line between convenience and laziness.

Does using a universally accepted method of communication indicate laziness? If you want to contact me during the day, I would suggest the most efficient way would be via text, or email. Since I’m not going to text a thank you note, it has to be email. However, email is very easy. Heck, I’m sure that’s why it’s so popular, along with the fact that it is basically free. I feel like I need to do something more. I can’t afford to send a gift card to every interviewer along the way, but I can afford to send a personal, hand-written thank you note.

Let’s think about the purposes of the occasionally maligned thank you note:

• To express genuine thanks for the person’s time. And additionally, though not written, thanks for actually pulling your resume out of the pile of hundreds!
• To remind the interviewer of why you are the best candidate for the job
• To show you are interested in the position
• To show that you understand the laws of courtesy in the interview process

My new approach now goes like this:

1. Thank you via email, same day. In this note, I express my thanks for the time, reiterate my interest in the position, and refer to anything I might want to highlight from our conversation. Maybe apologize for an F-bomb as necessary*
2. Hand-written card sent within 24 hours, but preferably the same day

Good intentions are all well and good (hence the name), but here’s where we hit a potential roadblock. My handwriting is atrocious. Well, not unreadable, but certainly not evidence of my ample time spent in finishing school. I am embarrassed that it is so poor, but I am hoping the obvious effort and care put into a hand-written note will carry more weight then the quality of my penmanship. I can’t even call it penmanship, for that is too flowery a word for my Times New Chicken Scratch.

I am a programmer. I spend most of my time on a computer. I have written hundreds of pages of documentation in my life, but I don’t think I have hand-written a letter since 1994. Need I be so ashamed that my grasp of the “written” word has drifted so far from what would once have been considered acceptable? Don’t even get me started on cursive; it might as well be Latin for its application to my daily life.

Am I right to think that a handwritten card trumps the fact that it appears to have been issued from the desk of a five year old? Have you run into this same dilemma? Do you now see why I don’t send hand-written cards around the holidays?

* F-bomb did not actually happen. However, if this ever happened, I don’t think I would mention a slip like that in a thank you letter. Better to let such things fade into oblivion!

Tough font!

I’ve been thinking about mentorship lately due to my schedule of meetings last week. I had lunch with my last manager last week. He was the guy who had to hand me my “blue folder” when my position was eliminated this winter. Poor guy, he got his own folder three months later. We had only worked together for just over a year, and I admit our relationship is still developing. Working out of separate offices didn’t help, and we hardly worked together on the same projects. Due to all these circumstances, he never really became a mentor in the true sense of the word. As I get to know him better, I realize we have a lot in common, so I’m glad we remain in touch.

The next day, I had lunch with another of my former managers. He is a good guy, and someone I get along well with. Again though, our relationship was not one of mentorship. In this case, I had already learned most of the technical aspects of my job prior to reporting to him, and already had the reputation as “the go-to guy” for all things tech. In general, I would say we have different strengths, and both worked to use those to move the group forward together.

We all have a lot of managers in our lives, but not a lot of mentors. Mentors don’t need to be managers, but could be anyone in your life who influences you in a positive way. Nearly all of my managers have been valuable, or even friends, but not all are mentors for whatever reason. Professionally, I have had three primary mentors in my life. I thrive with mentorship, and would like to figure out why they were good mentors compared to other managers I have had over the years.

Paul B was my first mentor. Paul moved in next to my parents’ house when I was about 10 or so. He didn’t really move in, as much as he bought the land, and proceeded to build the house himself. My family is great, but we don’t have a history of building things. This alone was impressive to me. Anyway, time moved along, and Paul hired me to work part time in his office when I was about 14. He ran a steel fabrication company across town, about a 20 minute bike ride for me. I would work mornings from 9:00-12 or so, opening mail, answering the phone, etc. I worked this job for about four summers, eventually working full days, and expanding my responsibilities. I was copying blueprints, delivering steel around the state, one time supervising some onsite work. Ok, I may have been supervising because the other guy lost his license in a DUI, but we take our promotions where they come! Anyway, Paul was a great businessman to watch. From my desk in our one room office, I heard every call, every deal, and an occasional curse while looking over plans. He dealt fairly and sternly with his employees, and clients. I guess Paul was the first person to give me a chance to do things I’d never tried. If I typed up a letter and it had a typo, he would have me retype that letter. It might take me all morning, which was costing him money, but he was willing to let me learn on the job. I made other mistakes, and he might reprimand, but he always gave me a second chance.

My next mentor was one of the great leaders in my career, Geno from my first professional role post-college. Geno had what great leaders should have: Powerful voice, great suits and ties, and he was tall. Geno hired me on to my first job after college, and he was a master motivator. He was a dynamic leader, and knew the value of his people. He was only my direct manager for part of my time there, but before that he had identified me as the guy to take over a lot of his tasks. He was the “tech” guy on the team. He took the client questions about our software. He dealt with the largest clients, he dealt with the trickiest data, he went to the client when necessary. And he chose me to be his protégé. I took to the tech side very easily, going on to be an Operations Manager myself (his former role), and eventually founding the help desk for our company. Geno made this happen by making me feel important, and truly believing in me, and being a natural leader. I made this happen by being smart, a quick learner, and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done right.

Most recently, I had a solid mentor early in my development career in Bob. Bob and I butted heads as often as not, but he was the technical guy in the group. Although not a natural leader in the frame of Geno, Bob was the perfect person to help me take that next step from software support to software programming. Again, I was groomed to take over for the top tech guy, and I did. Bob showed me the ropes, answered my questions, and taught me the right way to do things. Again, we never really did things exactly the same way, but we both believed in doing things right.

It’s been fun recalling these memories, now I just need to determine what made them valuable to me. Paul gave me chances to try things I’d never done, and he gave me responsibility with the possibility of failure. Geno believed in me, and taught me that great leadership goes a long way. He also taught me about respect. Bob taught me how to program. In the end, I took over the jobs of two of these three mentors. They all had this in common: They saw my potential, and gave me a chance to shine in their organizations. In exchange, I achieved that potential each and every time. I also learned how to be a mentor, which is just as important. These are the relationships that breed success, and that breed loyalty. I hope I can find another one of these guys in my next role.

Have you had mentorship in your career? Is it something you look for in a company? I do. I haven’t seen Paul for years now, I’m going to arrange to meet him soon and say thanks in person.

If you are like me, you hate spam emails.  If you are like you, you might even hate getting my updates from the blog.  I need some feedback on that topic.

As you know, I am trying to get this blog out to as many people as possible.  In the beginning, I started just sending the link out via Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  This would come across as a Status update on each, and that was that.  No follow-up, and no additional push.  Can you tell I’m not in sales?  Anyway, that worked pretty well.  Then, I realized that I have a fair number of contacts with whom I only communicate via email.  Perhaps we are not connected via social media for some reason.  This would include my parents, former co-workers not yet on LinkedIn, etc.  In fact, it really began with my family.  This led to another revelation:  Having a Facebook account doesn’t mean you check it every day.  In fact, this seems even more prevalent in LinkedIn from my own observations.

For example, most people I meet who are in the job hunt are on LinkedIn every day.  They might be adding contacts, researching companies, or otherwise interacting with their profile data and groups.  They are active users, engaged in the tools, and most likely to see your status update.  Most people I meet who are not looking for a job, excluding recruitors, are not using LinkedIn every day.  They have an account that they set up at some point, but they aren’t checking regularly, nor updating regularly.  Although they may get a daily or weekly update via email, are they opening that email at all?  If so, are they clicking the link on my status update?

Issues with using Twitter to propagate your message:  Although it was born out of txting and designed for cell phone updates, many people primarily use Twitter via a desktop application (Twhirl, Tweetdeck, etc.) or the Twitter site.  In addition, unless you are organizing your incoming messages using one of the tools available, you are likely to get more messages than you can keep up with.  I get a lot of messages each day, and mostly skim through them to see it there is anything worth reading.  Yes, I am more likely to read a message from someone I know, but this leads to my point.  If you don’t know me, will you click my link without a compelling reason?  Not to mention that many people follow you just so you will follow them, but they probably never read your tweets.

Facebook?  The average user has 120 friends, per this study in February 2009, and I have slightly more than this.  The way Facebook is set up, you basically see a stream of updates from your friends.  I usually run through it once or twice a day.  However, if I cut that down to once per day, or every other day, I might not see people’s updates at all.  I can also “hide” updates from certain users, so not all of those contacts are seeing my updates regardless.

How do I better communicate with the social media networks?  I admit, I have no ideas for Facebook or Twitter.  I could send messages to groups of people in Facebook, but that seems abusive.  For LinkedIn, however, I have the option to export the contact information, and add them to my email listing.  In this manner, they would basically receive the blog post link directly to their inbox.  We have an established relationship, so I don’t feel this is a violation of our understanding.  I am debating this as an option.

To my final group of contacts:  People who have given me their card at a networking event.  Some of these people I had long conversations with, some I met in passing.  Most I have only seen once or twice.  In almost all cases, they are unemployed, due to the types of meetings I am attending lately.  Some of these people have become LinkedIn contacts already.  By giving me their card, does that imply that I could add them to an e-mailing list?  I am thinking of compiling the addresses from the cards received, and using them to expand the reach of the blog.  I would include an option to “unsubscribe”, although this would involve sending an email to me directly, which would make most people feel like jerks.  I could do some additional research and possible create an automated unsubscribe link.  Either way, they could just tag me as spam and have their email eliminate me automatically, with me none-the-wiser.  Thoughts on this?  They gave me a their card in an effort to network, as did I.  Part of my networking effort is this blog.  Ergo, emailing them my blog should be ok, right?

I am a big “do unto others” guy, ignoring any religious implications therein.  My personal feeling is that sending out a blanket email is not really a violation of the LinkedIn connection, nor of the business card exchange.  I do receive some blanket emails from contacts I have made via these methods.  If it is someone I have a connection to, I usually read the email.  If it is someone I am not, I only read it if the subject seems compelling.  I am ok with this same approach from the people I contact.  I am not selling product, nor calling door-to-door.  I just want to get out my message, and find a good job.  I think most people are happy to help if you tell them how.

I welcome your opinions, and really would like the feedback.  Sometimes, we are too close to a situation to see clearly.  Please comment below, or email me at WillWorkForFree@gmail.com.

It was another decent week for WillWorkForFree.  I am keeping my numbers steady at about 100 views per week, topping 450 total over the weekend.  Monday proves to be the most popular day to view posts so far, so I need to make sure I get them out there Sunday night!  Twitter followers have crept up to 14.  Nothing to brag about, but it’s going in the right direction anyway.  I don’t really tweet much aside from the announcement of new posts anyway, but perhaps I should?  I guess Susan Boyle type of explosive growth is not happening, but at least my friends and contacts seem to be checking things out on occasion.

As mentioned previously, I had ordered new business cards specifically for this effort.  They came in, and look pretty good.  One thousand cards is a lot, but not bad for under $30.  I am still torn about using them as my primary cards, but I am hoping they will help bring more attention to the blog and my search.  I started using them last week, and managed to give out a lot of them.  I attended three networking events, and was able to get the card in a lot of hands.  I also dropped one off with my keys when I brought my car in for servicing last week.  That’s probably the weirdest handoff yet, but kudos to my brother for this advice:  “Give cards away like candy.”  He suggested putting them in every piece of outbound mail, and basically to drop them on everyone you meet.  Good advice, I am trying to do that.  Of course, I send about 12 letters per year, so that might not help, but certainly getting them out there can’t hurt.

How are my two cards different?  My “normal” card emphasizes my skills, includes a picture, and is Java-focused, without being exclusionary.  It also includes a mini-résumé on the back.  I like having the picture because I really think it makes my card memorable, and the mini-résumé reminds them what I can do.  If nothing more, they at least have the picture to remind them who I am.  The new cards are very specific, aimed at landing a Java internship role.  There is no picture, because I had to choose between using an image for my Java Certification, or a picture.  I did get the cards to support this whole effort, but I do worry that they are too specific.  That said, this blog is linked to my name in Google already, so it’s out there regardless!  I guess this might go back to my previous post on privacy, we all have to make decisions about our public profile.

I also applied for a few jobs last week, and have stumbled on a really irritating résumé submission system.  Ok, not the first time, but basically, any website that does not allow you to include any type of cover letter is the pits.  It just seems like they are missing a key differentiator there, and it is hard to feel like you have submitted your full persona.  Just sending in a résumé seems a little too much like a waste of time sometimes.  I’m sure my fellow job seekers would agree.  That said, if they don’t look at the cover letter anyway, maybe this is for the best?

Big plans for this week, hopefully I have more positive news to report on soon enough.

Thoughts on having two cards?  Want to see pictures for a comparison?  Bored by this post?  Want to help me find a job just so you can stop reading?  Comment below!