Learn How to Build Relationships with the Millennials

August 15, 2008 at 1:13 pm | In Networking, Personal Branding, gen-y, guest post | 4 Comments

Guest post by Jason Jacobsohn

The millennials are coming…are you ready?

Every generation has its way of seeing the world and interacting with people. In order to build relationships of trust and respect, it is important to know some of the nuisances with each generation.

You can’t ignore the millennials who were born between 1980 and 2000. They are taking on the world by storm because they are the first generation of kids who grew up surrounded by digital media. Their lives have been shaped by trends such as multiculturalism, terrorism, globalism, heroism, and structure. They can be categorized as confident, hopeful, goal and achievement oriented, and civic-minded.

The millennials will play an important part in the world going forward so don’t discount them. In order to continuously succeed, you need to learn how to interact with them.

Dealing with millennials 101

The millennials are a generation that wants respect. They are serious about what they do so they expect you to view them this way. This generation is already having a profound impact on the world and will only get stronger in the future. They are our future leaders and are adopting technology at record paces.

With that said, just treat them as you would treat anyone else. However, realize that they may be moving at a faster pace than you and are not afraid to voice their opinions. At the same time, they do respect leaders and look for your guidance and mentorship as long as you act with honesty and integrity.

Further, they like to be challenged so if you have an issue that you would like resolved, give them an opportunity to help you. After all, relationship building is about helping others so let them know that you need assistance.

Millennials work hard and play hard so keep this in mind as you get them involved with some of your activities both for fun and business. Find ways to plug them in to your life so you can get to know them better.

When you meet these people, you will realize that they lead busy lives. So, their attention span may be short. Keep them engaged by being focused in your conversations. Also, let them talk about their interests and experiences because they have done a lot in their short lives.

Next steps

So, the next time you meet one of these young people, treat them with a world of respect because chances are they will teach you something. In fact, you may end up working for one of these folks in the future. They are a fast moving generation that will change the world.

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Jason Jacobsohn is an Adviser and Specialist of KMG Enterprises. In his current role, he acts as a business adviser and resource for entrepreneurs who need help growing their businesses. In addition, he has developed a bi-monthly newsletter called Network Your Way to Success. He is a frequent writer at MidwestBusiness.com, Personal Branding Magazine and Magazine Soho. He also co-hosts an annual networking event called The Great Chicago Networking Extravaganza and blogs furiously!

The ‘Virtual’ Talent Pool: The Next Level Of Competition

August 7, 2008 at 11:08 am | In Career Development, Guests, Personal Branding, guest post | 7 Comments

Guest post by Todd Rhoad

Background

According to Charles Grantham and James Ware, executive producers of Work Design Collaborative LLC, an estimate of 12% of the working population serves their organization as part of a distributed workforce. This estimate is expected to grow to 40% by 2012. This trend ushers in the changing face of corporate America. Companies no longer need to have a facility that workers shuffle in and out of everyday to accomplish their work. We are a knowledge-based service industry now. With the advancements in information and communication technology, organizations are reducing the cost of building and maintaining workspace by creating a ‘flexible’ work environment for employees. This includes flex time, telecommuting, and several others. This new face of business is known as the Virtual Organization (VO).

Work Anywhere

No cubicle required

Example

DELL computer company in Austin, Texas, has taken this a step further and outsourced much of their work overseas to countries like China, Malaysia and Ireland. DELL also taps into local companies and satellites offices to aid in the production of its computers. Either way, they are able to tap into talent that isn’t in Austin, TX. This distributed group of talent ensures they can make the best product and deliver it at the best price while reducing the cost of operations. Other companies, such as Cisco, are following suit. The huge savings in operations is driving the trend to go VO.

So what does this mean for the rest of us?

It means the competition pool has just exponentially grown in size.

Are you ready to face the competition?

Are you ready to face the competition?

Employees from around the world will be competing with us for that next job and they won’t even have to leave the house to get it. As current VOs achieve and share their success, more organizations will follow. In traditional organizations, potential new hires don’t have the issue of competing head to head with those outside the US. This is because the company doesn’t usually move its operations around. In the VO, this isn’t the case. VOs move operations to other regions to reduce cost (e.g. reduce taxes, lower labor rates).

There is no job security

As the VOs follow the savings by “picking up and moving,” employees will turnover at much faster rates. Companies will see an increase in new hires and employees will see an increase in the jobs held in their career. New hires will also have to seek jobs they are clearly qualified for; that is to say, they’ve worked in that position or industry before. VOs won’t invest in training new employees and will seek the best skills for the job. The task of finding the right people will be left to companies local to the new location of the company facility. This will render the job unreachable by many US applicants as the local firms will favor local people.

VOs usher in new challenges to new hires. Employees face the ever-mobile company that will hire the best talent wherever it may be. When its local talent they need, outsourced firms will hire their own. Shorter jobs, more competition and local favor are becoming the flavor of the day.

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Todd Rhoad is an author and speaker specializing in Career Development Strategies. He is the author of “Blitz the Ladder” and another soon to be released book “Virtual Organizations: 75 Things Your Career Should Know” and speaks frequently at colleges, businesses, conferences, and organizational associations. Todd is the managing director of BT Consulting and holds both a MSEE and MBA.

BusinessWeek Columnist Christine Comaford Answers Your Questions

July 25, 2008 at 3:09 pm | In Book Reviews, Career Development, People, Personal Branding, Success Strategies, guest post, social media | 3 Comments

As promised, BusinessWeek Columnist, Christine Comaford answers the questions you posed in the comments section of my post on Monday. After reading the answers to your questions, Christine has yet another give-away for you. Both Christine and I hope you all have a great weekend. Her note is below:

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Hi Everyone,

WOW. What great questions you had. I wish I could answer them all!! Here’s a start. See my ideas for next steps below.

Many social networking tools blur the line between business and play. Where do you think that line should be?

First, we need to chill out on our use of social networks! Too many people are living online instead of “in person.” Get out from behind your PC and connect with human beings physically. Have dinner with friends. Go to a conference. Ok, end of rant! I separate my use of social networks as such:

  • LinkedIn for business connections that I personally know and feel comfortable endorsing. This is for credibility boosting (via LinkedIn Answers) and finding biz connections I seek.

That’s it. Yes, they blur sometimes. But our lives blur. We are human beings having a variety of experiences both biz and personal. It’s key to be authentic in both realms.

With the downturn in the economy, businesses are cutting budgets. How can a B2B service provider ensure that business proceeds as usual?

You can’t SAVE your way out of a recession—all you can do is SELL your way out of it! If you are constantly building relationships, providing valuable info to your clients and prospects (via white papers, etc). practicing “palm up” networking (giving first, getting second) you will persevere. BUT you need to develop new marketing strategies to reach new prospects in parallel markets, need to consider rolling out new services that are more accessible, and need to productize your services so you won’t be so people-dependent. BTW, business is not usual right now. That’s why it’s essential to shake it up, get a new mentor/sounding board, try new things.

What is the biggest challenge that faces small businesses in the next 5 years?

Survival. Since 50% of small businesses fail in the first year, and 95% fail in years 2-5, and the numbers aren’t getting any better, small businesses need to take survival far more seriously. You have to survive before you can thrive. Every small business needs to figure out their ideal end game—where do the want the business to be in 3-5 years. Do they want to one day sell it? What are the founders Conditions of Satisfaction (how many hours of work per week? Employees or contractors? How many direct reports?

Revenue required to make it worth the effort? Sell direct or use third party channels too? Etc). So many small businesses fail because they don’t know what their CoSs are, they don’t have a mentor who has built businesses successfully and repeatedly, they don’t have a senior level sounding board, they don’t have their priorities straight. Mentors are what it is all about for surviving, then thriving. You wouldn’t climb Mt Everest without a guide.

What are key indicators that you look for to know you have found a great business opportunity?

Business that is the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the market wants.

You must be able to explain your business in a concise and compelling way to get others excited about it, to see the value of it. Your business must remove or reduce a key pain. People buy to make money, save money, reduce pain. People want power. How does your business give it to them?

Dumb it all down for those small and med. sized business owners who are interested in making money but need to know what are the steps that they can take right out of the blocks to give them a fighting chance in today’s economy.

1) Get a business mentor.

2) Invest at least 1 hour per week learning key business essentials (the 3 things you must know/do for sales, marketing, operations, finance, team building, etc).

3) Invest at least 1 hour per week getting mentored or coached. Ideally alternate coaching one week, mentoring the next.

4) Follow your mentor’s advice.

5) Be accountable to your coach—make commitments and follow through.

What is the greatest lesson you have learned from mistakes you have made in developing and starting new businesses?

Not having a mentor! Would’ve saved me years and hundreds of thousands (or more) dollars!
We all know that the soft skills like EQ, communication skills, leadership, personal branding are CRITICAL to business success - why then are they not taken seriously?

Because results are what matters most in business. And people devalue the above topics because they think they don’t generate results. Which is wrong! They DO. So I like to use these techniques, deliver great results, then keep quiet about how I got those results. The world is becoming more open-minded, but we aren’t all the way there yet. Keep the faith, and “wrap” these techniques in a results-focused casing!

How do you apply Buddhist principles to your professional life?

Compassion is the biggest one. Compassion for myself and others. Also forgiveness, again for myself and others. The biggest challenge for people seems to be they see themselves as 2 people: 1 in their biz life, 1 in their personal life. I am all for being professional in work situations, but you MUST be authentic. You must be human, genuine, humane. Hey, I get irritated, I can be curt with people. Then I have to go back and make amends and clean up the mess I made. Taking 100% responsibility is what it’s about. Being kind. Seeing the divine in everyone. Because it is there. Sometimes you just have to look harder.

*Next steps*

Since you all clearly are passionate and committed to taking action (my favorite combo) my team and I would like to offer the first 10 people to sign up a free strategy session. On this call you’ll talk privately with one of our team. Together you’ll strategize and determine how to take your business to the next level.

Go to www.StrategySessionNow.com to sign up.

Thanks, and let’s make your venture MIGHTY!

C

Stay True to YOUR Personal Brand

July 9, 2008 at 11:51 am | In Career Development, Personal Branding, Success Strategies, guest post | 3 Comments

Guest Post by Ryan Stephens. Ryan is a twenty something attending graduate school in Texas. He fancies himself an entrepreneur and writes about relationship marketing, social media, eCommerce, and other elements of business as it relates to Generation Y, on his blog, Ryan Stephens Marketing. He is also the co-founder of the Top 10 Gen Y Blogs featured on Squidoo.  Like  out past guest-poster, Jess, Ryan is one of Seth Godin’s interns for this summer.

Maybe you’re about to graduate and you’re desperate to lock down your first job. Maybe you’re just tired of the one you have and you are exploring every connection on LinkedIn and your Rolodex searching for an opportunity to latch on to. No matter what the reason, in the midst of your search, always remember to stay true to your personal brand and what separates you, and sets you apart from other job seekers.

Be Yourself

By now you know that it is important to maintain a consistent message with respect to your personal brand, but some job seekers forget this notion when the possibility of a new (possibly higher paying) job presents itself. You would be surprised at how many people abandon their value proposition in job interviews out of desperation to obtain the job. This is silly for a number of reasons:

1) Passion drives success

You should already know, or at least have a really good indication, of what you are passionate about and what you are good at. For example, I like to think that I am pretty good at networking, building intimate business relationships, relationship marketing and utilizing social media to facilitate all those things. I am passionate about Generation-Y and how they fit into our current society. Just because Hewlett-Packard might pay me $75K right out of college to sit in a cubicle and scour through countless spreadsheets crunching numbers for market research does not mean that I want my career heading that direction.

More than half of today’s working American’s don’t like their jobs. Sure, some of them are relatively good at them, but if you are not passionate about what you’re doing, what difference does it make?

[Disclaimer: If you –NEED- a job to provide for your family I respect that situation. I am not preaching Generation Y entitlement here.]

If a job interview isn’t what you anticipated or it doesn’t seem to be the job description you signed up for, do not compromise your personal brand and exclaim that you are very methodical, exceptionally attentive and – love – working with spreadsheets all day. If you hold out for something that you are passionate about you will be happier in the long run.

2) Stay true to the “real you inc.”

Sometimes staying true to your personal brand enables you to sometimes create your own job. So maybe you go into the interview, and about half-way through you can tell that it just is not going to be a fit, but you have done your research on the company and there is another area that is particularly interesting to you. It’s okay to be honest and upfront with an interviewer. Explain that while you are very gracious for the interview it does not seem to be a potential fit.

If you have used the interview time to showcase your personal brand effectively, chances are you can make a great case for yourself in another department, or even creating your own job. Perhaps the company still tries to succeed with traditional advertising and you have a portfolio consisting of some freelance work you have done with small companies and social media that you suspect could translate into a profitable approach for that company. Utilize your personal brand to market yourself, all the while staying true to your unique value proposition.

3) Transparency and authenticity are key

Finally, a lot of marketers talk about being transparent and authentic and it is something I whole-heartily believe in. So let’s say that you negotiate your personal brand in such a way that is conducive to receiving the job; however, you have altered your personal brand and a few months down the road you despise the job. Now, you want out and your personal brand isn’t consistent anymore.

It’s possible that you could offer it up as a valuable experience, but the next company you approach might take into account that that particular experience just doesn’t seem to align with the rest of your personal brand. At this point are you still authentic? Maybe. Maybe not. The point is you never have to encounter this particular situation if you always stay true to your personal brand regardless of the interviewing and/or job description circumstances.

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