Liz, Author at Successful Blog Page

5 Reasons People Don’t Get Hired and the Only 3 Questions that Count

February 20, 2007 by Liz

The Best People

It happened to me more often than I liked.
When I was an Executive Editor, it was another Executive Editor.
When I was a Director, it was another Director.
When I was a Vice President, it was another Vice President.

Not that I think there was a pattern. Here’s the scenario.

I’m in my office, finishing up a meeting. One of the people described above calls and asks whether I have time to talk about something.

I say, “Sure, come on down (or up or over wherever my office happened to be.)”

The person arrives; sits across from me; and explains why he or she wants to hire one of the people on my team.

We discuss the opportunity that is on offer. It’s always a great one for the employee. I support it.

At the end of the discussion, I hear some version of this sentence, “You hire the best people.”

As the person leaves, I think, Yeah, I know. Boy, do I know. I get out the most current job listing for the soon-to-be-vacated position and start editing.

I would hire and train.
They would wait and hire from me.
It happened with freelance and vendor help too.

5 Reasons People Don’t Get Hired

An interview or a client presentation is a test. It’s like an oral exam in which the subject is you. When I put it that way, it seems like folks should do better than some folks seem to do, doesn’t it? What it that gets in the way?

Here are 5 Reasons People Don’t Get Hired for that Job or that Contract

Candidates feel self-conscious about putting forward their skills and talents.
Candidates don’t take the job acquisition process seriously.
Candidates miscalculate their value. This could be monetary, ability to fill the skills required, or how common or rare their skill set might be.
Candidates don’t show knowledge or interest in the specifics of the business hiring.
Candidates are arrogant, rude to the receptionist, have no energy, or are just not likeable.

You might know even more than these.

The Only 3 Questions that Count

In any meeting in which a person is deciding whether to offer work to another, only three questions matter. Though the questions never get stated aloud, all conversation really is about the three quesions. It’s best if both parties know what those three questions are.

The Only Three Questions

Can this person do the job? This question is about the job or project description — expertise, skill set, and industry experience — salary is included here.
Will this person do the job? This question is about motivation, energy, and work ethic.
How will this person fit with the team? This question is about interpersonal skills, stress management, and communication.

Prove you are the correct answer to all three and the offer is yours. It’s great branding. It’s great business practice. It’s a service to yourself and your employer/client to know what you’re really talking about when you’re talking.

It stops being a test when you have the answers.

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Vaspers Asks a Wonderful Writers’ Question

February 19, 2007 by Liz

What’s Your Answer?

What wonderfully intriguing post this is. Here is just a bit . . .

When you write a new blog post, who is addressed? Do you have a composite persona in mind? Do you imagine an aggregation of imagined readers, based on those you know well, and those you hope will find you?

Is there a conscious target? Who is it that you hope to enlighten, engage, or enrage?

I cannot believe that you just slap some text, maybe a photo or artwork, into a post template, with total oblivion as to the intended, expected, or hoped for audience. Do you ever blog against a person or group or company or political party? Do you blog to your Future Self? Do you blog for your friends, family, boss?

Does it depend on the specific post? The general topic?
–steven edward streight, to whom do we blog?

The prose is musical. The thoughts are engaging. Go on click the link and enjoy the entire read.

By the way, I’d be interested in your answer.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies

February 19, 2007 by Liz

A Sense of Story

My favorite CFO — I think of him as Ã¢â¬Åmy sometimes-irritating, little brother.Ã¢â¬Â you would, too, if you heard him say, Ã¢â¬ÅThis is the second iteration of my lunch.Ã¢â¬Â — says that I talk in stories and sound bytes.

When he says sound bytes, he means quick points, analogies, and metaphors. It’s a habit that I learned from my dad. I use stories, sound bytes, metaphors, and analogies because they make it easier to explain what I’m trying to say.

We get a sense of story when we are really small. Our parents tell us stories to teach things. We learn about our family and friends through stories. We watch stories that are movies and tell stories that really happened to us and other people.

Stories help us communicate for many reasons.

People listen more closely to stories than they do to someone talking. People know a story has a point. Even more, a story has a beginning, middle, and an end -Ã¢â¬â and the end is usually satisfying. So we invest more in a story, because of the payoff at the end.
Stories bring an overlay of meaning and memories. A story told now reminds us of stories we heard as children and what we enjoyed about them then. Any story I tell gets the benefit of any well-told story that came before it. I only have to make sure that my story is told well.
Sound bytes, metaphors, and analogies offer quick information firmly packed. I can get a point across more quickly and more powerfully. On the day of the Famous Canoe Analogy had I said, Ã¢â¬ÅItÃ¢â¬â¢s time to stop talking about the past.Ã¢â¬Â The words would have sounded an impatient opinion. Fewer words, some humor, and a shocking mental image was what got attention.
Storytelling, sound bytes, and analogies work because they move the problem from literal to figurative. People can explore an idea or a situation and test plans of action, sloshing through muddy waters without splashing the personalities involved. After all, we’re only telling stories.

Stories, sound bytes, and analogies can be a kinder and
more expedient way to get a point across.

Who doesn’t like to hear a story that has a great ending? Like this one — that’s over now. . . . ?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Perfect Virtual Manager on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Change the World: Give When No One Notices

February 19, 2007 by Liz

The Giving Tree

Sometimes we give, and no one seems to notice.

To me, the children’s book, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, is about that. It’s the story of a boy and a tree that is always there for him. Throughout the boy’s life, the boy uses the tree for shade. He climbs it. He eats its fruit. He carves his initials, and those of his sweetheart, into the tree’s trunk. When he wants to make a new life, the boy uses the wood from the tree to build a boat to sail away. Years later, as an old man, the boy returns and sits on the stump of the tree that he had left behind.

In my twenties, I thought this was a beautiful story of unconditional love.

In my thirties, I wasn’t so sure I looked at the boy and saw his selfish taking. The tree began to look like people I knew who became “victims” because they never said “no” to anyone’s request.

I came to realize that the story is perfectly told.

The difference between a victim and a Nelson Mandela is a choice in the mind of the giver.

We choose unconditional love or choose to be a victim. The response of the one who receives doesn’t enter into the decision. Many who were helped by Nelson Mandela showed and felt no response to his gift. Yet he didn’t become the victim.

That one choice by Nelson Mandela so inspires me to make the same kind of choices in my own far less burdensome situations.

Sometimes we give and no one seems to notice. That doesn’t matter. Does it?

We can change the world — just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Bloggy Question 37: Excuse Me, that Content on Your Blog Is Mine!

February 18, 2007 by Liz

I Never Gave You Permission to Use That

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

You’re checking your links at Technorati, and you find one that is obviously a scraper. The blog has picked up several of your articles and republished them without your permission. It is running ads next to them — making money from your work.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Secretâs Out: SOBCon 07 Is in Chicago May 11-12!

February 18, 2007 by Liz

It’s Amazing!

It’s amazing what can happen when a tiny brat pack of relationship bloggers has an idea they think is worth pursuing . . .

SOBCon ’07

Take Your Blogging to the Next Level

A Relationship Bloggers’ Conference and Networking Event

Head over to the SOBcon URL http;//www.sobevent.com and get all of the details. There are only 250 seats available.

Gosh, we’d be grateful if you’d pass the word to your friends about it. It’s too cool to keep from sharing the news with your friends. Don’t you think?

The best part is that you won’t be a stranger, because I’ll be there! I can’t wait to meet you in 3-D!