Tesar-Reynes

Marketing managers are inundated with e-mails, phone calls, and requests daily. Convey your ideas to them in clear and concise words, and not only will they thank you for your brevity, but they’ll think you’re smart too.

That’s how my new boss feels about any client contact we have. At PRSA’s International Conference in San Diego last week, she noted this 3-minute drill for communicating with clients and managers. She shared it with us at a staff meeting:

Looks simple, yes?

Why is it whenever we communicate with our superiors we feel the need for longwinded correspondence and pedantic tactics? I can recall a handful of times as in intern when I sent wordy e-mails in …

Bob and I have sensed a glimmer of improvements in the economy since around April or May. We know that we are a leading indicator of the economy and we should feel it first. Thus far it has been mainly false starts and things being put on hold. It drives us nuts!

The emotional effort of getting up for new things and then having them fade away is tough. It has caused us to become slightly more jaded about any opportunity that comes along. The good news is that the phone is ringing more and there is a palpable shift in attitude.

Stay tuned.

One of my greatest strengths is also one of my worst weaknesses. The problem is hobbies.

My father loved to motor around in his little 12-foot boat and garden in the summer, hike in the fall, ski in the winter and paint/repair the boat in the spring. He planned his work (he sold ad space) around these activities. He also dabbled in photography and loved to travel. He also took up golf in his 60’s.

As opposed to some of his peers who got bored with golf and became a burden around the house, he loved to get up every day. Today, I frequently meet a bunch of very successful executives who I think are secretly scared and bored. In the darkest corner of their intellect, they realize that they are only defined by their career.

I …

I have found that there seems to be an increasing amount of resumes that I receive that have at least some dates missing in them.  Typically, they fall into two areas.  The first is leaving out dates of graduation from college.  This second is the truncation of the career history, where the first item that appears is at the director or vice presidential level.

Some people are concerned about their age; others feel they have had too many jobs or a dodgy career track. When I ask for the additional information, many are combative.  What they don’t understand is the fact that I have to understand their entire career before I can present them to a client.  Invariably, I asked the most negative, “If the situation were reversed and I was working for you, would you accept any resumes from me with dates missing?”

It …

I remember a long time ago, when I got into the search business that I was embarrassed to ask people what they earned.  I felt it was an invasion of their privacy.  Nowadays, I just see it as another statistic like a street address or the year they got out of school.

Even though I am not uncomfortable with asking the question, I still experience pushback from the people I’m talking to.  What they don’t realize is the question is an essential tool in the overall evaluation of them as a product for the job marketplace.  I tend to believe that many people feel they need to inflate their worth by telling me a salary or package that is higher than what they really earn.  On the other hand, I think some other people feel they are underpaid and are embarrassed by it.

Once I know the scope of an individual’s experience …