Monday 23 February 2015
Martha Graham on the Hidden Danger of Comparing Yourself to Others
Agnes de Mille had just achieved the greatest success of her career, but right
Friday 20 February 2015
Albert Einstein’s Incredible Work Ethic: Lessons on Creativity and Contribution
As soon as he hung up the phone, Ralph Morse knew that he needed to get
Thursday 19 February 2015
How To Tell Good Recruiters From Bad Ones
In business they talk about Barriers to Entry all the time. If you want to start an airline, for instance,
Wednesday 18 February 2015
33 Ways To Overcome Frustration
I have a huge experience with frustration. I experienced it in so many ways, at so many times in my life, that I feel like I’m some kind of a specialist. If you wonder why I have this huge expertise, here’s the answer: growth never happens without it.
Tuesday 17 February 2015
Make New Friends
Reach out. Don’t be afraid. Establish new contacts. The worst thing that may happen to you is to be rejected. Well, if that’s the case, move on. The reward of having true, long-lasting friendship is worth all the potential rejection.
Monday 16 February 2015
How To Tell Good Recruiters From Bad Ones
In business they talk about Barriers to Entry all the time. If you want
to start an airline, for instance, the barriers to entry are significant. You have to get a ton of money to buy planes. You have to hire pilots, flight attendants, maintenance folks and ground personnel. You have to get permission to fly into and out of airports. That’s why you, me and everybody we know doesn’t own an airline.
Some businesses have almost no barriers to entry. If you want to become an independent recruiter, sometimes called a search professional or a headhunter, the only barrier to entry is a business card — and now that I think about it, you don’t even need that. If you have a phone and an internet connection, you can start recruiting tomorrow.
When a business has no barriers to entry, anybody can get into it. That’s why there are amazing, talented and brilliant search professionals and truly godawful ones, and if you’re a job-seeker, you might not immediately spot the differences between them.
You can’t just send off your resume to any headhunter who calls you on the phone. If you give your resume to the wrong person, they can shop it all over town. They can trash your reputation by being unprofessional or rude to HR folks and hiring managers.
When I was a young HR person just stepping into the recruiting arena, I assumed that the search people who called my office day and night were salaried employees of their companies.
I was wrong! Most of them were earning pure commissions. That’s not an easy way to pay your rent. You have to hustle, and people in that situation can easily devolve. They can become nasty. Here are some of the things I heard on my voicemail from recruiters who wanted to get my attention:
”I have a fantastic candidate who isn’t going to be on the market long. If you don’t call me back within two hours I’m going to blacklist your company and you won’t have access to the best tech talent in the city. That’ll be the end of your HR career!”
“If I don’t hear from you today, I know your boss’s phone number and I wouldn’t hesitate to tell him you’re falling down on the job.”
“If you hire my candidate, there’s a cash bonus in it for you, too!”
I talked to other HR people, and they told me about the barriers-to-entry issue in the recruiting field. Some recruiting firms will hire anyone at all, figuring that if they’re not getting paid a salary, what does it hurt to put them on the phone and see if they can make it?
It’s horribly unethical, of course, for a recruiter to offer bonuses to HR people who hire their candidates, but if a recruiter were desperate enough, they might try that approach. Two very wise recruiting mentors of mine, Bob and Steve, had warned me to expect to hear from people like the three recruiters whose voice mail messages I excerpted above.
Folks like Bob and Steve represent the very highest standards. They helped our business grow by bringing us incredible employees year after year.
Every HR person and every job-seeker needs a top-drawer recruiter in his or her corner. That being said, you have to know how to tell the good recruiters from the bad ones, before you link up your brand with a recruiter’s brand!
Here are questions to ask a recruiter who calls you on the phone — before you start answering his or her questions about your own background and resume.
How long have you been recruiting? How long have you been with your current firm?
Which employers did you place new hires with in 2014? How many new employees did you place into jobs last year?
This job that you’re calling me about — how many new employees did you place with that employer last year? What is the culture of the organization like? What kinds of people thrive there?
This job opening, the one we’re discussing, reports to a certain department manager. What is that manager like? What are your impressions of him or her? What would it be like working in that manager’s group?
Has the hiring employer given you the assignment to look for this new hire, or are you talking to me and other candidates in hopes of being given the assignment?
While you are still on the phone, open a web browser and navigate to the headhunter’s LinkedIn profile. Read it carefully. If you have LinkedIn connections in common with the recruiter you’re talking with, write down their names so you can talk with them when you get off the phone and get their feedback on the recruiter you’re meeting now.
The biggest clue as to the professionalism of any recruiter is his or her telephone manner. If the search person is polite and respectful of your time, that’s a huge, positive sign. If he or she dives straight into interrogation mode and starts asking you pointed questions about what you’ve done in your past jobs, where you worked and for how long, and so on, get off the phone and end the relationship right there.
Later, when you have more time, you can get your recruiter’s take on your career aspirations and your short-term goals.
Good recruiters respect their candidates’ time and attention. They don’t browbeat them for information or behave as though they’re doing the person a favor by calling them. They’re not — actually, they’re intruding upon your busy life, and they need to know and acknowledge that.
Good recruiters always will!
Many recruiters won’t say “I have a job opening I’m trying to fill, and I wondered if you were interested.” They won’t be that direct, because that might be seen as too forward. Instead, they’ll say “I wondered whether you might know anyone.” If you are interested in the job, you can say “I might know someone — can you please tell me more?” After you’ve heard more about the opportunity, you can say “I actually might be interested in this position myself.”
When you meet a great recruiter, someone who’s positive and professional and respectful of your time, pass his or her name around to your friends. Recruiters make money when they put great people into new jobs, so the more favors you can do for the awesome recruiters you know, the better!
Our client Angie got a call from a headhunter at nine p.m. one night. She was at home watching TV. They talked about a position at Microsoft that the recruiter was trying to fill. Angie was somewhat interested in the job. “I need you to create a PowerPoint presentation about social media, and send it to me by noon tomorrow,” said the recruiter.
Angie called us in the morning to get our opinion on that request. “It seems pretty pushy to call me up and command me to create a PowerPoint presentation, first thing,” she said.
“Forget it!” we said. “That recruiter will take your name off the PowerPoint deck and put his own name on it. He hasn’t earned the right to get you to do work for free.”
Angie didn’t send the PowerPoint deck. She got a screaming voice mail message from the guy later that day, which proved that her instinct was correct.
A month later, another recruiter called Angie about the same job at Microsoft. “There was a feeding frenzy a month ago when the company announced they needed some new people,” the recruiter told her. “All the headhunters in town were calling people like you. That guy wanted to use your PowerPoint presentation get an ‘in’ with the hiring manager.”
Angie learned the difference between good and bad recruiters that day. She’s been placed into jobs three times by her recruiter partner now, and he gives her fantastic career advice, too.
Take the time to decide which recruiters deserve to represent you, and which don’t. Show the bad ones the back of your Levi’s and remember that only the people who get you, deserve you!
Source: Forbes
to start an airline, for instance, the barriers to entry are significant. You have to get a ton of money to buy planes. You have to hire pilots, flight attendants, maintenance folks and ground personnel. You have to get permission to fly into and out of airports. That’s why you, me and everybody we know doesn’t own an airline.
Some businesses have almost no barriers to entry. If you want to become an independent recruiter, sometimes called a search professional or a headhunter, the only barrier to entry is a business card — and now that I think about it, you don’t even need that. If you have a phone and an internet connection, you can start recruiting tomorrow.
When a business has no barriers to entry, anybody can get into it. That’s why there are amazing, talented and brilliant search professionals and truly godawful ones, and if you’re a job-seeker, you might not immediately spot the differences between them.
You can’t just send off your resume to any headhunter who calls you on the phone. If you give your resume to the wrong person, they can shop it all over town. They can trash your reputation by being unprofessional or rude to HR folks and hiring managers.
When I was a young HR person just stepping into the recruiting arena, I assumed that the search people who called my office day and night were salaried employees of their companies.
I was wrong! Most of them were earning pure commissions. That’s not an easy way to pay your rent. You have to hustle, and people in that situation can easily devolve. They can become nasty. Here are some of the things I heard on my voicemail from recruiters who wanted to get my attention:
”I have a fantastic candidate who isn’t going to be on the market long. If you don’t call me back within two hours I’m going to blacklist your company and you won’t have access to the best tech talent in the city. That’ll be the end of your HR career!”
“If I don’t hear from you today, I know your boss’s phone number and I wouldn’t hesitate to tell him you’re falling down on the job.”
“If you hire my candidate, there’s a cash bonus in it for you, too!”
I talked to other HR people, and they told me about the barriers-to-entry issue in the recruiting field. Some recruiting firms will hire anyone at all, figuring that if they’re not getting paid a salary, what does it hurt to put them on the phone and see if they can make it?
It’s horribly unethical, of course, for a recruiter to offer bonuses to HR people who hire their candidates, but if a recruiter were desperate enough, they might try that approach. Two very wise recruiting mentors of mine, Bob and Steve, had warned me to expect to hear from people like the three recruiters whose voice mail messages I excerpted above.
Folks like Bob and Steve represent the very highest standards. They helped our business grow by bringing us incredible employees year after year.
Every HR person and every job-seeker needs a top-drawer recruiter in his or her corner. That being said, you have to know how to tell the good recruiters from the bad ones, before you link up your brand with a recruiter’s brand!
Here are questions to ask a recruiter who calls you on the phone — before you start answering his or her questions about your own background and resume.
How long have you been recruiting? How long have you been with your current firm?
Which employers did you place new hires with in 2014? How many new employees did you place into jobs last year?
This job that you’re calling me about — how many new employees did you place with that employer last year? What is the culture of the organization like? What kinds of people thrive there?
This job opening, the one we’re discussing, reports to a certain department manager. What is that manager like? What are your impressions of him or her? What would it be like working in that manager’s group?
Has the hiring employer given you the assignment to look for this new hire, or are you talking to me and other candidates in hopes of being given the assignment?
While you are still on the phone, open a web browser and navigate to the headhunter’s LinkedIn profile. Read it carefully. If you have LinkedIn connections in common with the recruiter you’re talking with, write down their names so you can talk with them when you get off the phone and get their feedback on the recruiter you’re meeting now.
The biggest clue as to the professionalism of any recruiter is his or her telephone manner. If the search person is polite and respectful of your time, that’s a huge, positive sign. If he or she dives straight into interrogation mode and starts asking you pointed questions about what you’ve done in your past jobs, where you worked and for how long, and so on, get off the phone and end the relationship right there.
Later, when you have more time, you can get your recruiter’s take on your career aspirations and your short-term goals.
Good recruiters respect their candidates’ time and attention. They don’t browbeat them for information or behave as though they’re doing the person a favor by calling them. They’re not — actually, they’re intruding upon your busy life, and they need to know and acknowledge that.
Good recruiters always will!
Many recruiters won’t say “I have a job opening I’m trying to fill, and I wondered if you were interested.” They won’t be that direct, because that might be seen as too forward. Instead, they’ll say “I wondered whether you might know anyone.” If you are interested in the job, you can say “I might know someone — can you please tell me more?” After you’ve heard more about the opportunity, you can say “I actually might be interested in this position myself.”
When you meet a great recruiter, someone who’s positive and professional and respectful of your time, pass his or her name around to your friends. Recruiters make money when they put great people into new jobs, so the more favors you can do for the awesome recruiters you know, the better!
Our client Angie got a call from a headhunter at nine p.m. one night. She was at home watching TV. They talked about a position at Microsoft that the recruiter was trying to fill. Angie was somewhat interested in the job. “I need you to create a PowerPoint presentation about social media, and send it to me by noon tomorrow,” said the recruiter.
Angie called us in the morning to get our opinion on that request. “It seems pretty pushy to call me up and command me to create a PowerPoint presentation, first thing,” she said.
“Forget it!” we said. “That recruiter will take your name off the PowerPoint deck and put his own name on it. He hasn’t earned the right to get you to do work for free.”
Angie didn’t send the PowerPoint deck. She got a screaming voice mail message from the guy later that day, which proved that her instinct was correct.
A month later, another recruiter called Angie about the same job at Microsoft. “There was a feeding frenzy a month ago when the company announced they needed some new people,” the recruiter told her. “All the headhunters in town were calling people like you. That guy wanted to use your PowerPoint presentation get an ‘in’ with the hiring manager.”
Angie learned the difference between good and bad recruiters that day. She’s been placed into jobs three times by her recruiter partner now, and he gives her fantastic career advice, too.
Take the time to decide which recruiters deserve to represent you, and which don’t. Show the bad ones the back of your Levi’s and remember that only the people who get you, deserve you!
Source: Forbes
How To Tell Good Recruiters From Bad Ones
In business they talk about Barriers to Entry all the time. If you want
The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.
As increasing numbers of job seekers turn their attention to startups and the tech industry,
every city seems eager to position itself as a hub for innovators and big ideas.
But which cities can back up those claims?
To determine which of the country’s metro areas were playing backdrop to the most innovation, personal finance site NerdWallet looked at the number of patents per 1,000 residents, venture capital received per capita in a particular region in 2014, and “economies of agglomeration”–essentially, the benefits realized when a high density of startups cluster together.
San Jose, California, San Francisco’s neighbor to the south, lands in first place on this ranking. The city’s metro area received $3,585.68 per capita in venture funding in 2014, and 27.39 tech-class patents were issued for every 1,000 residents. According to NerdWallet, “The valley’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, designed to give West Coast entrepreneurs closer access to government regulators and education, will permanently occupy part of San Jose’s City Hall after renovations are completed this year.”
Runner up is the Boulder, Colorado, metropolitan area. Boulder has the highest density of startups of any city on this list, more than six times the national average. The San Francisco area might be the one most closely associated with startups and the tech industry, but the Bay Area ranks third on this list, with the second-highest venture capital funding, $3,400 per capita.
In pictures: The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.
Covallis, Oregon, ranks fourth with companies like Hewlett-Packard calling the city, which has a below-state-average unemployment rate of 5.1%, home. Seattle, Washington, home to tech behemoths Amazon and Microsoft rounds out the top five with more than double the national average density for startups.
Fort Collins, Colorado, and Provo, Utah, home to Colorado State University and Brigham Young University, respectively, both join the list on the strength of the universities turning out well-educated graduates with strong tech backgrounds, contributing to the continued growth of the local startup scene.
Number eight Austin, Texas, has gained increasing attention in recent years as a tech hub and home to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, prompting Facebook, Apple, and Google to open Lone Star State offices in Austin.
Burlington, Vermont, number nine, is often associated more closely with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream than it is with tech talent, but received the third highest number of tech-related patents per 1,000 people on this list.
Finally, Boston, Massachusetts takes 10th place, bringing in more than $900 in venture funding per 1,000 people and attracting international interest via Harvard and M.I.T.
In pictures: The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.
every city seems eager to position itself as a hub for innovators and big ideas.
But which cities can back up those claims?
To determine which of the country’s metro areas were playing backdrop to the most innovation, personal finance site NerdWallet looked at the number of patents per 1,000 residents, venture capital received per capita in a particular region in 2014, and “economies of agglomeration”–essentially, the benefits realized when a high density of startups cluster together.
San Jose, California, San Francisco’s neighbor to the south, lands in first place on this ranking. The city’s metro area received $3,585.68 per capita in venture funding in 2014, and 27.39 tech-class patents were issued for every 1,000 residents. According to NerdWallet, “The valley’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, designed to give West Coast entrepreneurs closer access to government regulators and education, will permanently occupy part of San Jose’s City Hall after renovations are completed this year.”
Runner up is the Boulder, Colorado, metropolitan area. Boulder has the highest density of startups of any city on this list, more than six times the national average. The San Francisco area might be the one most closely associated with startups and the tech industry, but the Bay Area ranks third on this list, with the second-highest venture capital funding, $3,400 per capita.
In pictures: The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.
Covallis, Oregon, ranks fourth with companies like Hewlett-Packard calling the city, which has a below-state-average unemployment rate of 5.1%, home. Seattle, Washington, home to tech behemoths Amazon and Microsoft rounds out the top five with more than double the national average density for startups.
Fort Collins, Colorado, and Provo, Utah, home to Colorado State University and Brigham Young University, respectively, both join the list on the strength of the universities turning out well-educated graduates with strong tech backgrounds, contributing to the continued growth of the local startup scene.
Number eight Austin, Texas, has gained increasing attention in recent years as a tech hub and home to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, prompting Facebook, Apple, and Google to open Lone Star State offices in Austin.
Burlington, Vermont, number nine, is often associated more closely with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream than it is with tech talent, but received the third highest number of tech-related patents per 1,000 people on this list.
Finally, Boston, Massachusetts takes 10th place, bringing in more than $900 in venture funding per 1,000 people and attracting international interest via Harvard and M.I.T.
In pictures: The 10 Most Innovative Tech Hubs In The U.S.
Cyber Bank Robbers Steals $1bn, Says Kaspersky Report
in an “unprecedented cyber robbery” where the robbers stole almost $1bn , claims a new report. Read more as repoted by the BBC:
Computer security firm Kaspersky Lab estimates $1bn (£648m) has been stolen in the attacks, which it says started in 2013 and are still ongoing. A cybercriminal gang with members from Russia, Ukraine and China is responsible, it said.
Kaspersky said it worked with Interpol and Europol on the investigation. It said the attacks had taken place in 30 countries including financial firms in Russia, US, Germany, China, Ukraine and Canada. “These attacks again underline the fact that criminals will exploit any vulnerability in any system,” said Sanjay Virmani, director of Interpol’s digital crime centre.
Kaspersky said the gang’s methods marked a new stage in cyber robbery where “malicious users steal money directly from banks and avoid targeting end users”.
The gang, which Kaspersky dubbed Carbanak, used computer viruses to infect company networks with malware including video surveillance, enabling it to see and record everything that happened on staff’s screens.
You're Not Too Busy
One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves and others, is that we are “too busy.”
You’re not. We’re not. Pull up a mug of something and let’s talk about it. I’ve got a nice cold cup of rich zobo, because I’m snuggled into a Unizik shuttle in the city of Awka. What are you drinking?
You’re Not Too Busy
“I wanted to sign up for your coaching, but I had something scheduled at the same time.” I get that email a lot. I reply the same way every time: “We record them so you can push play whenever it suits you.” Nearly no one replies to that.
“Thanks for agreeing to do my interview, JoshKelvin. I know you’re very busy.” I get that almost every time I’m a guest on someone’s event. I usually reply the same way every time: “I’m not too busy.”
I have road walks almost every day. How can you do that and still chase a University degree and run your business? You do what everyone does: you find time for what matters.
“You reply to every email people send you?” Pretty much. “But aren’t you too busy to do that?” No. It’s an honour to receive emails from people you serve in some way. It’s an opportunity. “But how do you find the time?”
Time. Found.
Stop watching Game of Thrones.
Stop reading blogs to “stay caught up.”
Stop over-volunteering.
Stop scheduling your days to 100%. (I schedule mine to 40%).
Stop giving people “pick your brain” lunches.
Cut meetings to 20 minutes.
Cut out phone calls unless you really really really want the call.
Make “real time” time your most expensive. Encourage email/chat/whatever.
Quit everything that isn’t core to your mission and your passions.
Give your family back some of this new-found time.
Time is everywhere, my friend.
You’re Not “Too Busy.” You’re Unfocused or Uncommitted
When people say they have no time, they’re either chasing too many balls or they’re not honouring the commitments they’ve made to themselves and their larger mission.
Let’s all rise up and ban “too busy” from our language. Instead, when someone asks how you’ve been, answer “Great!” or “I’m really working on what’s important” or “I’m feeling a bit down, but I’m optimistic.” Or whatever. But not, “I’m too busy.”
Actions
This one’s easy. Do a time audit. Figure out what needs trimming and quitting and removing and adjusting. Find the hell out of some more time. You’ve got it. You just aren’t protecting it well enough. Turn that audit into a core set of reminders, a LIST, or what you REALLY need to be doing at any given time.
Want a quick way to focus?
Work on what needs doing.
When that’s done, create something that can help others in some way.
When that’s done, connect two people. There’s someone you know that can help someone else you know.
Sound easy? Not really. But simple. Yes, yes it is.
Above all, have a legitimate and useful purpose and devote yourself unreservedly to it because vision without execution is just hallucinations
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