That’s right – it’s May 7th and time to celebrate! Why you ask? Because everyone else was celebrating Cinco de Mayo – I’d rather be different. How many Christmas cards did you get last year? Do you remember everyone that sent one? Did you get an Arbor Day card last month? If you did would [...]
May
7
2010
7
2010
Apr
28
2010
28
2010
Class Clown
George Carlin’s most famous bit (the 7 words you can’t say on TV) was made famous by this comedy album. I was the class clown. I think the reason I wanted to be the class clown was as a kid I had a fragile ego and I liked the attention. When it comes to [...]
Dec
29
2009
29
2009
Where’s Waldo
Last week I was reading an ebook called “What Matters Now”. The book is a compilation of various bloggers and “thought leaders”. It’s a quick read and there’s some really good stuff in there. One of the nuggets I took away from the book was a simply slogan “Don’t stand out from the crowd – [...]
Dec
15
2009
15
2009
Brand Make-Up
A good brand has several important elements. A slogan. A story. A “face”. A reputation. Think about great brands. McDonalds is arguably the most successful fast food brand. They INVENTED the category. McDonalds has a great story. Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman who parlayed a vendor relationship into a hamburger empire. Ray is [...]
Dec
4
2009
4
2009
Branding Basics
Think about this for a minute. What if you had to boil your 30 second commercial down into 3 seconds. You have one sentence to grab your audience’s attention and the them interested in what you have to offer. What are you going to say?
“Hi, I’m That Job Guy”. This is how I like to [...]
Dec
3
2009
3
2009
Protecting your Brand
Quick – what company does the logo at right represent? They want you to “just do it”. Obviously I’m talking about Nike. I would argue that this swoop is one of the most recognizable brand identifiers ever conceived.
Who do you think about when you see this logo? Michael Jordan? Probably not anymore, although he [...]
Dec
1
2009
1
2009
Its not what you say, its how you say it.
I have to admit that I’ve put my foot in my mouth plenty of times. Sometimes in my haste to get something said I say something stupid. Sometimes I’m so wrapped up in what I’m thinking that I don’t assess a situation correctly before I speak. Lets face it, how we chose our words has [...]
Nov
2
2009
2
2009
Functional vs. Chronological
I think most people are familiar with chronological resumes. You should start at the top with your name & contact information, move along to a profile that briefly describes your background as it relates to the job, maybe list your relevant hard technical skills, or even bullets of career achievements & your education. Then you [...]
Oct
28
2009
28
2009
Ditch your Objective
That’s right, take your cursor, highlight the objective you spent hours toiling over and hit “delete”. Get rid of it. It probably goes something like this: I am a qualified professional seeking to join a company where I can contribute to the bottom line and help the organization meet its goals. YAWN…..
The very top [...]
Oct
16
2009
16
2009
Step Three-B in your New Job Search – Online Marketing
Who loves the internet? Raise your hand! If you are a true internet geek you’d know who Tim Berners-Lee is, the significance of www.symbolics.com,”Gopher” & “W3C”. I’ve been an online geek since the days of a 900 baud modem and local BBS’s. I can’t wait to see where it goes in the next 5 years. [...]