Tesar-Reynes

Last week I talked to a senior media person from Detroit. He has been out of work for a while and was amazingly positive on life. He has a load of kids and college starts for some this fall. As he talked, I was privately wondering whether he was independently wealthy or had a good selection of happy-meds. The good news was that his family had always lived within their means, did not incur debt, and had dual income and kids who all had outside jobs.

I asked him what he did with his time since he was let go. The answer was enlightening. He spent his time this way:

• 10% learning new business skills
• 10% additional time with his kids
• 20% seeking a new job
• 50% consulting
• 10% walking

His workday started at 7 am and was over at 4 unless he was consulting. I asked …

In the office we have watched a business attitude shift in the last three years that is pretty amazing:

2008 – This is really worse than anyone said. I am going to have to let some people go and weather the storm. I have been through this before and it will be gone by next year.

2009 – Oh my God! I wonder if I can stay in business. Nobody wants to buy anything; if they do they want a discount and are paying late. No one makes a decision anymore. Cut pay and cut more people.

2010 – The worst may be over, but I am not spending any money. If I get any new business I will make do with the stuff I have. No commitments until we have some more money in the bank.

As of the 2nd …

I was talking to a president of a medium-sized Midwest marketing services company the other day. We got on the subject of entry level hiring. His face got red and the temperature of the room went up about 20 degrees. He stated: “I get over 100 resumes every week of the year. I throw out at least 99 without even looking at the resume. I would never want any of them to work for me. They are all f’ing idiots!”

After the smoke cleared, I asked him why. The response made me laugh. He said, “I am in the branding and communications business. Anyone who works here does the same thing. Successful branding requires hard research work to find out who the customer is and what their needs are. Do you think any of these people who send me resumes do that? …

I was gone the other week for an outing with 12 other photographers in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. As many of you know, I am an avid shooter. (I invite you to view my photography site here or visit me on Flickr.) As many of you also know, this economy has not produced a super abundance of searches in our industry recently. Getting out of the office was wonderful! I was able to leave behind most of the frustration and disappointments that the last few months have generated. But, in those locations and attitudes, I did not get away from Chicago-like weather.

My expectations for the trip were just about perfectly realized: the fetters of the work place and the household faded away and the real me was able to …

I talked to someone the other week that was told that “he had been relieved of duty” as a CMO. I was one of the people he called after he took some time off to get his head on straight. He was fortunate that the news still had not reached the press. Before discussing the steps for his next job, I asked him these questions:

- Had he gone through most of the stages of grieving?
- Was he thinking straight and were his emotions under control?
- Was there any negotiations left on his separation package, and, was he centered enough to do it?
- Was there agreement with his old company as to the rationale of his leaving the company?
- Did he know what was being said about him by his peers and subordinates at the old company?
- Had he done a personal P&L on how long he …

Last week’s Inc. Magazine included a great article entitled, “How to Write an Offer Letter,” detailing the keys to any good formal job offer letter. I thought this would be perfect for some of the hiring managers and recruiters who read our blog. (Thanks, as always, for your readership.)

If you’re asking yourself how important the offer letter is in the hiring courtship, the short answer is extremely important. Perhaps an analogy would do. Offer letters are like the wedding vows you take with a new employee you’re entering a working relationship with. It represents the terms of your new “marriage” and the expectations that both employee and employer are expected to hold to.

According to the article, in addition to clearly communicating a formal offer to a potential employee, the offer …

In the last week I have talked to a couple presidents at different marketing services providers. When I asked them if things are better, they all responded pretty much the same way:

• “The free fall is over and clients are thinking about spending money. Money in the sense of “you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” In other words, if I spend it now in an opportunistic manner it is gone; if I wait, something better or worse may help me make the right decision.
• A number of clients are sitting on no inventory so they have lived off the fat of product already produced and paid for. To make more will be at an incrementally higher cost of goods.
• There is no such thing as a long-term plan. The clients seem to want windows of commitment that are only …
  
  [ More ] February 5th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Tough Times |

Roland brings up a good point about sleep on his last post. I used to be terrified about not getting enough sleep. I had the perception that when I allowed myself to be overtired I couldn’t think right, I could put in real long hours and I was always getting sick. Invariably I would get into a cycle where I either couldn’t go to sleep or would awake at 1 or 2 am. I would then torque myself up to believe that I couldn’t go back to sleep……and that, of course, was self-fulfilling.

About 10 years ago I developed a new strategy. I figured out the minimum sleep I required to function at work the next day. It was 4.5 hours. I am an early riser, …

A recent article from the Huffington Post by Ph. D. Michael Gervais talks of the correlation between the high performance of Olympic athletes and sleep. I couldn’t help but think of thousands of us that hack it at a weekly 8-6+ and can never seem to get enough sleep in our lives. The four sleep strategies of elite athletes, which Mr. Gervais highlights in his article, apply to us just as much as they do a Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt.

1. Allow for pre-sleep readiness.
2. Be consistent with sleep patterns.
3. Clear your mind.
4. Account for jet-lag.

I’ll add one more to the list, which is:

5. Prepare for tomorrow at the end of today.

Rather than waking up in a panic, rushed mode in the …

We just got a job from a local agency and he needed help fast. Bob and I decided to post and tweet the position as well as do a search through the database. I was shocked by the number of ill-qualified responses! A couple of people were not even in advertising. On goes my judgment hat and I want to “correct” all the miscreants.

My suggestion for all of you who answer ads you are not qualified for is to stop. You are hurting yourself in more ways than you think. You are creating a self-fulfilling downward spiral. Here is the potential negative-feedback logic thread:

• I am a terrific employee for someone
• This is the start to my new life
• Getting a new job is my new job
• I need to get my resume out
• I will send a specific cover letter that shows …
  
  [ More ] January 20th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Getting a Job, Tough Times |