Tag Archives: working time

Permalink to How to Revise Your Resume When You Already Have a Job

How to Revise Your Resume When You Already Have a Job

by Angie Sanders|on June 3, 2013 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

resume credit musiceddotnafmedotorgIntuit estimates that by the year 2020, more than 40 percent of the American workforce, or 60 million people, will be freelancers, contractors and temp workers. You may see me reference this stat from time to time, and I do so because considering the W-2, 9-to-5 kind of world we live in, this stat is staggering.

Intuit’s research tells us three things. One, you will most likely become an independent consultant at some point in your career whether you want to or not. Two, as the pool of contractors increases, so will the competition for new clients. Three, we are all our own brands and we should be selling ourselves as such.

So as you plot your next consecutive career moves and go out there to market yourself, you know that your resume could use some polishing. But how can you even think about your resume and life after your current job when it consumes so much of your time and identity?

Decide what you want to do next.
This step is critical. Questions like, “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?” may seem corny when interviewers ask them, but they are legitimate questions. When you close your eyes and think about your career, what do you see yourself doing? What kinds of companies do you see yourself working with? If the time comes and you have to strike out on your own — and chances are likely — what would that situation look like?

Divorce your job.
No, this doesn’t mean quit. It means take some time to separate your identity from your job, because these two terms are not interchangeable. After you’ve determined what you’d like your career to look like after your time at your current job is done, start planning how to get there. But this can only happen if you stop thinking that your current job defines you.

Act like you don’t have a job.
That’s right. Continue to go to work, give it your all and produce circles around your co-workers like you normally do, but in hour head, pretend you’re unemployed. Or more realistically, pretend that this job could end tomorrow. Start thinking about and jotting down all the things you’ve accomplished in this position, the goals you’ve met or exceeded and any accolades you’ve received. You’re going to need this for the next step.

Revise your resume.
Read this document carefully. Are you using the current industry jargon to describe your skills? (Jargon is not always a bad thing. You’ve got to give hiring managers what they’re looking for.) Is there anything that you failed to elaborate on or describe? Here’s an exercise I like to use with my clients. Think about your past and current positions Take out a pen and paper and make a list of all the tasks you performed for each job. See if you can re-write your resume strictly from memory. If it helps, think about how you spent your days, any major projects you worked on, and the results you achieved from your work. When you’re done, compare this list to the resume file on your computer and fill in the gaps with the information from the previous step and any other details you missed.

Your resume is done, but you’re not. Use the information in your resume to update your social media profiles. And be thinking about other things you can do to continually build upon your personal brand and differentiate yourself from others in your field.

Share with us: How have you revised your resume and perfected your personal brand?

Permalink to Brands Are Taking Social Media In-House. Is it Only a Test?

Brands Are Taking Social Media In-House. Is it Only a Test?

by Angie Sanders|on February 10, 2013 |in Content marketing, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , |2 Comments

social inhouse credit searchenginelanddotcomPatrick Coffee with Mediabistro’s PRNewser is noticing a trend of large, well-known brands taking their social media engagement efforts in-house.

“The sneaker king {Nike} isn’t the only company to take a greater degree of responsibility for its own social media efforts in recent months,” Coffee writes. “Competitor Reebok conducted an internal audit of all its social channels after rejecting contract offers from agencies, and Digiday reports that other big names like Ford and Campbell’s Soup have done the same.”

So should contract public relations and digital strategists be worried about this trend? Not exactly.

In a Utopian society, all brands would handle their social networking and community management in-house. After all, who knows the company’s voice better than the staffs themselves? Unfortunately, this isn’t always practical.

Expecting all companies to handle social media engagement internally is like expecting them to handle all writing, public relations and advertising in-house. And that’s just not going to happen. Most of the time, it’s these entities that give and develop companies’ voices and make them resonate with customers.

Smaller brands will continue to struggle with this dilemma. On one hand, they may not think they can afford to outsource their social media efforts. But because they’re balancing social networking with the other daily tasks it takes to run their businesses, engaging customers and other audiences via social media will always suffer.

The big brands like Nike and Reebok are testing the waters and appointing internal teams to handle social media—and they have the budgets to do so. The question are going to be how large are these teams and how is the work being distributed among the members.

In a previous post, we talked about how a small, internal digital team could benefit from outsourced support. This is a prime example. An internal digital team at Nike or Reebok might be able to handle company-wide social media efforts on its own, but what happens when the needs of the company grow or when individual product lines within the company require their own social media management? Will this team be able to scale with the needs of the company and keep abreast of technology that seems to change by the second?

Successful social media engagement requires strategy that aligns with company goals, consistency, awareness of the latest trends and execution. Situations like these are the prime reason why we developed our Monarch product. The packages cover the smaller organization that’s just looking to get its feet wet using social media all the way to the more sophisticated and technologically savvy company that’s looking for a customized solution.

Coffee says that “insiders worry that this industry-wide shift will eventually bring PR/marketing firms’ profit margins down as brands hire more internal social media managers and outsource fewer and fewer tasks.” Only time will tell how permanent this shift will be.

In the meantime, he points out that Nike never said it was planning to “sever ties with all third-party firms.”

Share with us: Does your company outsource its social media engagement or is it looking to bring these duties in-house. If your company manages its social media internally, do you think the support of an external team could benefit your efforts?

 

monarchMonarch is our content marketing and community engagement support product—a resource that backs you up and leaves you to free to do the job you’ve always done successfully. Monarch breaks engagement efforts into four packages that allocate set hours per month for content creation, community building and engagement. When you choose the package that works best for you, you know exactly what you’re getting per month and how much you’re paying for it.

Permalink to Over Lunch: PR firm vs. Content Creation Consultancy

Over Lunch: PR firm vs. Content Creation Consultancy

by Angie Sanders|on January 24, 2013 |in Content marketing, Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

orgin-of-aiellejaiStrong writing is at the core of every strategic communicator’s skill set.

In this episode of “Over Lunch,” aiellejai’s Chief Content Architect Angie Jennings Sanders explains why she decided to launch the company as a content creation consultancy instead of a public relations firm. “That way, we can serve our clients directly or we work with PR firms to lighten their load,” she said.

 

Permalink to 5 Ways to Distribute Social Media Responsibilities Among an Internal Team

5 Ways to Distribute Social Media Responsibilities Among an Internal Team

by Angie Sanders|on January 14, 2013 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

team credite onemillionskatesdotcomWorkflow management is crucial to any social media team supporting a small-to-midsized organization, including yours. A team of four or five people maintains all your organization’s social media accounts, but small tasks can accumulate and overwhelm. Just like your communications team, your social media team needs the support of all departments to succeed.

Which team member handles which social media account(s)? How will the team get content to share? What are the ground rules for speaking to journalists through a social media platform? These are all examples of important questions that need definite answers so that your organization’s social media strategy is deployed effectively.

Here are five ways that your internal social media team can distribute work among the group and execute your organization’s strategy seamlessly:

Designate department social media liaisons.
If your team handles organization-wide social media engagement, then they’ll need content from just about all departments to provide your audience(s) with a composite picture of your organization’s work. The team should work with these departments to designate at least one person within who will flag shareable content and funnel it to the team.

Set deadlines.
Department liaisons should be clear about when and how often the social media team needs content. The amount of content to be shared will be left to the departments’ discretion. However, if those staff members care about the visibility of their work, then this shouldn’t be a problem.

Divvy up social platforms.
Your social media team should be assessing their workload and making clear determinations on which team members will be responsible for what. Maybe your organization holds multiple Twitter accounts, so two team members may split those and handle an additional two or three other social media accounts each.

Revisit the social media guidelines document with department liaisons.
Your social media team should review this document with department liaisons so that they understand how content is shared, what content is appropriate and how the team responds to a variety of situations like speaking to members of traditional media, customer complaints and negative comments.

Create a workflow diagram.
Your department liaisons know their deadlines. Your social media team has split responsibilities among team members. Department liaisons and the social media team are clear on engagement guidelines. Now it’s helpful to diagram the workflow so that an easy-to-understand visual exists of how content moves from department staff to your audience(s). This diagram will also help your team see and correct holes or stumbling blocks in the workflow.

Share with us: What techniques does your social media team employ to obtain and share content? What roadblocks do you encounter and how do you overcome them?


Read 6 Myths Blocking Your Social Media Engagement, our special report that addresses misconceptions that are keeping your company from investing time into tools that will can help increase two-way communication with your customers—current and potential. Print this report. Read it on the train ride home. Highlight key points. Share it with your colleagues. And please, jump in the social media marketing game and get started. 

 

 

 

Permalink to Why a Chosen Few Will Always be Responsible for Company Social Media Engagement

Why a Chosen Few Will Always be Responsible for Company Social Media Engagement

by Angie Sanders|on October 10, 2012 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |2 Comments

In last Wednesday’s post, we gave you 13 key takeaways from Fast Company magazine’s “The Social Media Road Map,” that ran in their September 2012 issue. However, their Insiders’ Secret No. 3, an article titled “What Your Social Media Consultant Should Tell You,” warranted a post of its own.

Anjali Mullany, the magazine’s social media editor, says, “If social media consultants are doing their jobs, they should put themselves out of business. Your company will never be truly social if you silo social activity within a consultant or staff manager.”

Well, yes and no.

Saying that a company isn’t truly social if one person, small team or outside entity handles this function is like saying that that same company doesn’t really perform marketing or communications functions if everyone in the company isn’t doing it, too.

Shared responsibility for the actual act of engagement is a respectable goal, but it may be a bit lofty and impractical. Communications and marketing departments have a hard enough time getting buy-in from other departments to reach out to the company’s audiences outside of social media. Expecting all employees to participate in social may be a stretch.

Plus, by keeping responsibilities for social media engagement with a certain internal team or outside consultants keeps a good handle on messaging within the social space.

Because social media engagement is an external communications tactic, it will probably always remain in the hands of those who are already responsible for external communications—unless the company decides that developing a designated digital strategy team is warranted.

Now we’re not saying that the rest of the company should take a completely hands-off approach to social media because it shouldn’t be taking this approach to its overall marketing strategy. Whichever team(s) is responsible for both marketing communications and social media need support from the rest of the company in the form of free-flowing information.

The only way these teams can tell your company’s story to the audiences that live outside the four walls of your office is if you funnel the information to them that’s necessary to tell this story in a compelling way. This involves keeping these teams abreast of company milestones, achievement and impact.

If there’s a new product launch or breakthrough, new clients or partnerships, client or customer testimonials, video or photos from the field, or any other groundbreaking information affecting your current or potential clients, your marketing communications and social media teams need to know. The success of both these teams depends heavily on your ability to ensure that these teams get the compelling information they need to engage your audience and get them excited about your brand.

Share with us: How does your company funnel information through to your marketing communications and social media teams and out to your external audiences?

This post is the second in a series of five posts discussing ideas presented in Fast Company’s “The Social Media Roadmap” section (September 2012 issue).

Permalink to 4 Reasons Why You Can Trust a Consultant to be Productive

4 Reasons Why You Can Trust a Consultant to be Productive

by Angie Sanders|on September 17, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

In February 2010, a nor’easter dumped 2-3 feet of snow on the mid-Atlantic and crippled productivity for at least a week. In January 2011, an ice storm left thousands stranded on highways and roads in the Washington, DC area. They all left work early to avoid the impeding storm, but were caught right in the midst of it.

With each storm, the case for teleworking became that much stronger. However, it seems that employers are still slow to adopt this method of work.

The Harvard Business Review released the findings of a study supporting the idea that remote employees are more engaged than those who are in the office.  “The team members who were not in the same location with their leaders were more engaged and committed — and rated the same leader higher — than team members sitting right nearby,” said Scott Edinger, founder of Edinger Consulting Group.

Some employers reject employee requests to work from home, possibly because they believe these employees will somehow be more productive if they’re under the employer’s watchful eye. And even though these same employers may trust the advice of a consultant over their own employees, they still seem to reject the idea of working with a consultant. Perhaps they think she’ll inflate the working hours on her invoice.  Or, again, employers prefer to keep an eye on those who work for and with them. However, here are four reasons why that same consultant has every intention of completing projects on-time and to the best of her ability.

You’re not her only client. Time management is critical for a consultant, especially if she works on an hourly rate. All of her clients want what they want when they want it. And all their projects are urgent. Therefore, goof-off time is nonexistent.

She has less time to get to know you. You and the consultant have agreed on a project plan that dictates that the job will be completed in a finite amount of time. Unlike an employee, this consultant doesn’t get a 90-day trial period to get to know you and how you work. Instead, she probably only has a few billable hours. A good consultant is efficient enough to get the most out of these few hours to get her job done right.

Her reputation is on the line. And even if she had the wacky idea to goof-off on your project, not put her best foot forward, and exceed your expectations? What would that do to her business? What good would it serve her to jeopardize future work by performing shoddy work for you?

She’s a consultant because she works independently and doesn’t need constant supervision. Consultants excel at what they do because they’re able to multitask and identify problems and solutions quickly.  She wouldn’t do her job any better if you were there to look over her shoulder. Most likely, her performance would be worse. And that would be bad for her and you both.

Share with us: How does your company regard working with outside consultants? Consultants: do you sometimes have to work to overcome the misconceptions potential clients have about how you work?

Permalink to 4 Reasons Why Your Boss Listens to a Consultant Over You

4 Reasons Why Your Boss Listens to a Consultant Over You

by Angie Sanders|on September 10, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , |4 Comments

My Twitter feed presents me with a number of articles and blog posts that advise readers on how to sell upper management on social media. One post in particular, “9 Ways to Sell Social Media to the Boss” from Social Media Examiner, suggests that sometimes it’s necessary to bring in an outside consultant to make this case more effectively.

The post says “external consultants seem to have more convincing power and more credibility” than company employees that may be social media savvy as well. “…Enlist the services of an external source to help management understand that the conversations are happening with or without them and that they don’t have a choice but to join in.”

In my early days as a W-2 employee, I witnessed my bosses being swayed more by what a consultant had to say than what internal employees did. Now that I’m working on the other side, I understand the influence someone on the outside looking in may have. I don’t think this is a reflection on the capabilities of a company’s employees. Rather, it’s a perception issue. Here are a few things your boss may be thinking that would lead her to trust a consultant over you.

Your boss sees you every day. Because you sit in front of your boss every day, she may take you for granted. Or in her mind, you may not be in the right position on the organizational chart to persuade her. This is where the neutrality of a consultant is valuable. He has no position on the org chart and he’s not clouded by office politics or how things used to be or should be done.  He’s hired to solve a problem and he’s able to see this problem for what it is.

The consultant is seen as a subject matter expert. Social media is new to us all. Chances are, handling social media is a job function that was added to your plate after you’d been working for the company for a while. Although your boss has charged you with this new task, she still sees you in the capacity under which she hired you. The consultant, in this case, is seen as someone whose sole job is develop social media tactics for his clients to reach their goals.

The consultant is costing your employer more money per hour than you are. Salaries are line items built into the company’s overhead budget. However, companies pay for consultants out of department budgets—an expense that isn’t always foreseen during annual budget planning. The difference? For some reason, companies are much more aware of the amount of money that’s shelled out for the consultant than they are of your salary that’s paid out every two weeks like clockwork. And every meeting that consultant shows up to and every phone call that’s made to him is a reminder of that money. Bottom line: your employer is paying good money for him to deliver.

You’re not the only company the consultant is servicing. Consulting is how this person makes a living. He obviously has enough clients that believe in his abilities that he can rely on their fees and not a full-time job. Therefore, your boss sees him as valuable or sought-after. This also contributes to the belief that he’s a subject matter expert. If other people are paying for his services, then maybe we should, too.

Share with us: Have you ever felt the need to reach out to an outside consultant to help argue your point to your bosses? As a consultant, are there other reasons that company directors or other leaders take your advice over their own employees—even if both your ideas match?

Permalink to Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

by Angie Sanders|on August 8, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

Shantel, my 16-year-old niece, asked me if I had a job. Why did she ask? Because she noticed that during her visits, I’m usually free to hang out with her on any given weekday.

First, I explained to her that with careful planning, I’m able to get my work done in advance so that I’m free to spend time with her. Then I explained to her that I don’t have a job. I run a company. I’m an entrepreneur. Her uncle—my husband—is too.

We pay life taxes to be able to hang out when family comes to visit, run errands during the middle of a weekday and not have to adhere strictly to the normal 9-5 hours. These life taxes include economic hills and valleys, unrelenting ambition and a willingness to work when everyone else is asleep.

In June, as part of their Startup Month, Forbes.com sponsored a questionnaire from Kauffman FastTrac to test entrepreneurial aptitude. Kauffman FastTrac helps aspiring and established entrepreneurs start and grow companies.

The test, which is by no means scientific, confirmed that I was an entrepreneur. I was pleased. Out of the 22 questions on the questionnaire, five stuck with me the most:

Q: I can prosper in an environment with many questions and few answers.
My Answer: Average
Even when I was a part of the 9-5 world, my career was filled with many questions and few answers. Being an entrepreneur is no different. Although I’m afforded more freedom to find answers to those questions my way, the stakes are a bit higher because I call the shots. I answered “average” because I sometimes get frustrated at first when I don’t have the answers. But I have to remember that it may take a while, but the answers are usually revealed in their own time.

Q: I can hang on in hard times and recover quickly.
My Answer: Needs improvement
This element is especially important, especially given the current economic climate. I answered “needs improvement” because I still work on managing my expectations and realizing what I have control over and what I don’t.

Q: I take responsibility for my own success.
My Answer: Strong
I come from a poor family and from a rural town. So whatever success was coming to me was going to be up to God and me. I’m a firm believer in “God helps those who help themselves,” and I try to do everything I can to help his plan for me along.

Q: I can do the tasks necessary to succeed, whether pleasant or unpleasant.
My Answer: Strong
While I was pregnant with my daughter, I embarked on a cold-calling campaign for aiellejai. I bought a list that didn’t have all the contact information I needed. I performed Google searches to update the entire list—more than 2,000 entries—and locate the communications and marketing staff I needed to reach.

Q: I provide for my own needs with little support from others.
My Answer: Strong     
Although I answered this question with “strong,” aiellejai reaches out to outside content creators and other vendors as our client needs dictate. My answer pertains to the day-to-day operations and client-facing activities.

Take the test and let me know how you fare. Are you an entrepreneur?

Permalink to Mad Men’s Roger Sterling is a Dream Killer

Mad Men’s Roger Sterling is a Dream Killer

by Angie Sanders|on May 7, 2012 |in Just good business, What's on TV |tagged , , , , , , , |6 Comments

Dream killers are people who poke holes in your aspirations. Or they pull down their pants and take a smelly dump on everything you hope to be and achieve. Misery is the main reason why they brandish their salty words at unsuspecting idealists. These common thugs are unhappy with their lives — personal and/or professional — and take pleasure in dragging hopefuls down in the pits of despair.

Dream killers can pop up anywhere. In this season of Mad Men, copywriter Ken Cosgrove’s dream of becoming a science fiction author stares down the barrel of Roger Sterling’s gun — plated with a shiny coat of hater chrome.  At a dinner party with agency partners Roger, Pete Campbell, Don Draper, and their spouses, Ken’s wife Cynthia brags about her husband’s gift for writing thought-provoking fiction. Little did she know, she’d just ordered a hit.

“When this job is good,” Roger says during a one-on-one meeting with Ken at the office, “[this job] fulfills all your needs.” After Roger busts a cap in Ken’s dream, viewers can almost see the blood on the carpet. At the end of the episode, Ken tells Peggy Olsen that he’s abandoned the silly idea. As he walks away, he tracks blood on the floor with his shoes.

This episode got me thinking about how our personal aspirations fit in our 9-5 lives.  Latoya Tardy, president and owner of Work Wonderful, explains how much of our lives our employers truly own and gives advice on how to save our dreams from sudden death on the job.

Why is it that companies believe they’ve bought an employee’s entire life with a salary?
Employers believe employees should be grateful to have a job.  These employers pile on extra work, are less mindful of employees’ personal obligations and assume employees’ will stand for the treatment because they have no other options. Many employers don’t realize that the job market is actually changing.  When they experience excessive turnover, they’ll realize employees can’t be bought.

On the other hand, the minute your employer knows that you’re the “super employee”— meaning you’ve been there for a few years, don’t rock the boat, accept incremental raises, and always put your best foot forward — your life has been purchased. You’re paid well for what you do according to your employer, and for those reasons, they’ll use you.

Technology has increased our accessibility for better and worse. How much of an employee’s time does a salary actually buy?
When you move up or around in an organization, you’re expected to make certain sacrifices.  Time is usually one of those sacrifices.  We’re always connected and essentially always working.  Salary does not buy time, but the expectation that employees are responsive and attentive has been taken out of context because of technology. You set the bar for how much time you’ll allow your employer to take from you.  If you answer the e-mails on Saturday, the bar has been set that you’ll always answer e-mails on Saturday.  Even doctors break away sometimes.  Everyone should.

How can employees balance their 9-5 job with outside, lucrative interests?
If you trust your employer, you should disclose your outside interests to them. Most companies require employees to disclose outside endeavors that require time and resources and generate income.  If an employer feels that you’re being totally honest with them, then they’re less likely to scrutinize your outside opportunity.  Build it into your vision of growth for the company.  Show them how your outside endeavor can help you grow and help the current business.  Once you have their buy in, they’ll be more understanding if you can’t stay late because of another obligation.

Mad Men is set in the 60s. Do you think employers are less or more supportive of employee’s endeavors outside the office? Or do they care?
Do employers care about these endeavors?  They absolutely do!  Retention is becoming a problem and employers are getting nervous. They’re less supportive if it means this endeavor could potentially take you away from them. They also need to be sure you’re not sharing trade secrets. Employers are supportive of your outside endeavor if it’s not deemed as direct completion for the company, doesn’t use the knowledge you gained at the company and if the employer feels you’ve been up front with them about your career plan.

Latoya Tardy is a human resources professional with 13 years of experience in building teams, managing recruitment, creating staffing and retention programs, managing compliance and observing behavior in corporate America. Work Wonderful is a northern Virginia based consulting firm designed to help both employees and employers forge better working relationships and create workforce synergy.