http://directyourcareer.com/blog from MEA Strategic Solutions, LLC Fri, 18 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-do-you-know-about-your-employees.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-do-you-know-about-your-employees.html#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=767   Charley Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn’t seem to get to work on time.    Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp minded and a real credit to the company; obviously demonstrating their “Older Person Friendly” policies.  One day the boss called him into the office for a talk. “Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang up job. But, being late so often is quite bothersome.” “I know boss, and I am working on it.” ”Well good, you are a team player. That’s what I like to hear. It’s odd though your coming in late.   I know you’re retired from the Armed Forces. So, what did they say if you came in late back then?”  ‘‘They said, ‘Good morning, Admiral, can I get you coffee, sir?”’ What do you know about your employees?  Some of them have skills and talents that are far beyond what you see of them day in and day out. The Problem Several years ago, I had an opening for a computer programmer.  One of the computer operators approached me with an [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-do-you-know-about-your-employees.html/feed 1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-2.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-2.html#comments Sun, 06 May 2012 07:11:46 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-2.html So, you’ve spent hours and hours searching job boards for openings. You contacted all of your friends, joined social sites like LinkedIn, and expanded your network. You’ve tweaked your resume to the point that you are really happy with it. And you’ve sent it out more than a dozen times. All that hard has work paid off and you’ve finally received a call back. They want you to come in for an interview. Yikes! Are you ready? Preparation You have 72 hours to prepare for your interview. I guess its too late to lose ten pounds, or work on your tan, huh? Too late to get that MBA or latest certification I suppose. But, all is not lost because there are many things you can do that your competition is not doing, and I will tell you what that is. What to wear First, you need to decide what you are going to wear. No matter what the dress code is of the company to which you are applying, you must dress in business attire. For men, that means you need a conservative dress shirt, a tie, and a suit or sports coat/blazer. Make sure all of your clothes fit [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-2.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-3.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-3.html#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 00:41:59 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=729 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/get-ready-for-that-interview-3.html/feed 81 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/is-college-worth-it-2.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/is-college-worth-it-2.html#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:03:46 +0000 Mike http://justmike70.wordpress.com/?p=94 Obviously, that is a loaded question.  I can assure you that all of the people who have dedicated their lives, professions, and livelihood to education will and should give you an emotional “YES”!  But what of the rest of us that worked hard in high school to get good enough grades to get into a top notch university?  What about the parents and students who pay something south of $100,000 to get a four degree with absolutely no promise of a job afterward?  And lastly, what about the 60 credits you are required to take, called electives to augment the 60 credits of your major so as to give you a well rounded education?  When is the last time you used “The Planets, Stars and Universe” in your new job as an accountant? You need to go to the Business Office I have always held that there are two parts of  the university environment.  There is the education part, the one we all understand whereby college professors teach classes, do research, and publish papers.  This is the part where crotchety old people who don’t work in the real world, essentially inculcate young heads of mush with the important facts they [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/is-college-worth-it-2.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-does-your-resume-say-about-you-2.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-does-your-resume-say-about-you-2.html#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:40:43 +0000 Mike http://justmike70.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/what-does-your-resume-say-about-you/ I have read thousands of resumes in my career as a C-level executive. To be honest, I usually read the first couple of lines and scan the job titles of the candidate in an effort to glean what I am able to as quickly as possible. Do you know why? Not because I am too busy or too lazy to read them. No, it is because they are often so boring and poorly formatted that I can hardly get past the first few lines. Read me! To get hiring authorities to read your resume, candidates must find ways to create an eye appealing format. Whether you are an entry level candidate, or a senior executive, the first two people that read your resume are generally completely unqualified to make a determination as to whether or not you are qualified for the position for which you are applying. Executive Recruiters or internal HR staff only know on a superficial level whether your qualifications match up with the requirements of the job. Normally, knowing that is that is the job of the hiring authority, but only if your resume has passed on to them through the hands of the first level gate [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/what-does-your-resume-say-about-you-2.html/feed 4 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-tazmanian-devil-2.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-tazmanian-devil-2.html#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:23:36 +0000 Mike http://justmike70.wordpress.com/?p=33 One of the first things I learned in business about people is that there are marathon runners and there are sprinters. What I mean by that is that some people can only work on a project or hold a thought for a short period of time before losing their focus and moving on to something new. By moving on, or sprinting to the next project, they leave the actual work to the marathon runners, you know, the guys that just plod along making sure everything is working. There used to be this cartoon character on TV that I loved called the Tasmanian Devil. You could tell he was about to burst onto the scene because in the distance you heard this whirl of wind and could see a dust cloud up in the sky. As he got closer, all you could see was this tornado looking thing approaching until it came to a sudden stop. The Devil would stand still, looking side to side only with his eyes, keeping very still, before spinning away to another location to stir things up. Everyone was afraid of the Tasmanian Devil. *********************Advertisement********************* Are you tired of sending out resumes without a response? Interviews [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-tazmanian-devil-2.html/feed 1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-strangest-job-interview-ever.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-strangest-job-interview-ever.html#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:54:15 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=2238 I want to first tell you that everything in this post is 100% true. I could exaggerate to be funny, but I don’t think I need to. The facts will speak for themselves. Welcome to Wal-Mart A few years back, the company for whom I worked was acquired by Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart folks that were in charge of the merger were very nice, professional people led by Bobby Martin, CIO of Wal-Mart at the time, and Kevin Turner, someone that would become Wal-Mart’s CIO later on. I really learned a lot during that time and it was a privilege meeting and working with them. Each of us was interviewed by the Wal-Martians for any openings that were available,  and many of us, including me, were made generous offers to move to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, AR. I am an east coast yankee that was living in Indianapolis at the time, and I really struggled with the idea of moving to Arkansas (no offense to any Razorbacks). After Wal-Mart made the acquisition, we were told we had about six months before they closed down the Indianapolis office.  During that time, they allowed us to work on our resumes, use their postage [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/the-strangest-job-interview-ever.html/feed 1 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/how-can-i-negotiate-a-higher-salary.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/how-can-i-negotiate-a-higher-salary.html#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:33:02 +0000 Mike http://justmike70.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/how-can-i-negotiate-a-higher-salary/ Brad Karsh, Yahoo! HotJobs Question: I just received a job offer, but I feel the salary is too low. How can I negotiate a higher salary? Answer: More money. Let’s be honest, we all want it. So how can you get it? When it comes to negotiating your new job offer, you walk the fine line between coming off like a savvy employee looking to maximize your worth and being greedy. Here’s what you do. 1. Know what you’re worth. Knowledge is power. It’s much easier to negotiate if you know where you stand relative to others in your field. Your first stop should be the Yahoo! HotJobs salary calculator. Also check with friends and family who may work in your field or at your level. See what they make. Once you have that information in hand, here’s what you might say: “From the information I’ve pulled from salary surveys, a financial analyst with four years of experience in Cleveland makes between $65,000-$75,000. I feel that your offer of $62,000 is low. Based on my experience and accomplishments, a salary of $70,000 which falls in the middle of the range would be more appropriate.” 2. Think beyond salary. Salary may [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/how-can-i-negotiate-a-higher-salary.html/feed 0 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/do-you-have-gratitude-in-your-attitude.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/do-you-have-gratitude-in-your-attitude.html#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:06:24 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=502 A young, 21 year old college student asked to meet with me yesterday.   He was ending an internship and wanted to ask me several questions that might help him when he entered the real work force next year. He asked me all the normal questions about how I achieved my success.  He wanted to know about my family, and if I considered myself successful.  I answered those questions with rather stereotypical responses which seemed to satisfy him.  Then, he asked me something which surprised me a little bit, and my answer seemed to surprise him too. “So Mike, I really appreciate your time today.  You’ve really helped me.  I have one more question for you.  What life lesson or advice would you give a 21 year college student?” he asked. I sat for a second and said “Be grateful for everything you have and don’t waste time wishing for the things you don’t.  Celebrate your health.  Appreciate your family, friends and the love you have in your life.   If you have a car, be grateful that you do, and don’t waste time being sad it isn’t better.  If you take the time to be grateful for what you have, God, [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/do-you-have-gratitude-in-your-attitude.html/feed 5 http://directyourcareer.com/blog/never-burn-your-bridges.html http://directyourcareer.com/blog/never-burn-your-bridges.html#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:01:08 +0000 Mike Anderson http://directyourcareer.com/blog/?p=900 Since I was a young man I have been hearing  that I should “never burn my bridges”.  I understood that to mean that in any situation or relationship, I should exit that relationship with integrity, honor, biting my tongue, and leave without destroying  what may be left of friendships that I had made. The Romans Started It! I think there are several origins of the phrase “don’t burn your bridges”, but the one I like the best was that Roman commanders would often order the burning of bridges after having crossed them to prevent their own armies from fleeing in the face of danger.  I found that pretty dramatic, and most likely pretty effective.  If a soldier tried to flee, he would eventually be backed up against the river, and simply have to fight, or die trying.  There was no going back. While that may have been a pretty effective way to get unwilling men to fight, it has no place in your career.  People leave jobs for many reasons, but my research indicates that most people leave because they don’t like their bosses.  They generally like their job and their company, but their boss is simply too difficult to [...]]]> http://directyourcareer.com/blog/never-burn-your-bridges.html/feed 0