Career strategies from 1999: aged like fine wine, not old cheese

FINE WINE

When I worked at the University of Minnesota Law School Career & Professional Development Center, the office handbook was called The GreenBook because I'd gotten a great deal on green plastic binders the first time it was published. It ran to 300 pages in its final edition, and I still have one original, uncut version.

Here is some strategic advice from a CEO that is as good today as it was in 1999:

In a Wall Street Journal column titled "Future MBA Grads: Do as I say, Not as I did,"  the chair of Warner-Lambert offered some strategies to future MBA's which are applicable to future lawyers, regardless of the practice area (public, private, public interest, etc.) you are considering: 

1. Define your core competency; 
2. Find organizations where ideas are valued; 
3. Try to spot [employers] on the upswing; 
4. Think globally; 
5. Look for [employers] that value diversity; 
6. Consider learning opportunities; 
7. Look for family-friendly organizations; 
8. Finally, don't look back. 

Marketing tips for artists, business owners, networkers & job seekers

Not just artists, but all business owners, networkers, and job seekers whose enterprises are lagging may recognize themselves in this timely post from the Light, Space Time gallery owner.

When confronted by two angry and disappointed artists whose work was not selling, he gave blunt and honest critique. In How to Sell More Art | Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery: 'via Blog this', he analyses their ineffective websites and less-than-marginal marketing efforts and gives them good advice. Sadly, he hasn't heard from them since giving this advice.

Artists, business owners, networkers, and job seekers all want to get on with their "work." Altogether too many would much rather ignore or outsource their marketing efforts, or try to market by telepathy which is never a good plan.

Cheerleaders & Facebook: a lesson for law students

Hiring Process News flash! Hiring decisions made by strangers may be made on the content of your content, as opposed to the content of your character.

Just when I thought that everyone knew that Facebook was not a place to display photos of any indiscretions, one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Team 6, burst that bubble yet again.

  

DCC: A guilty pleasure

Having never known a college or professional cheerleader, it was news to me to learn that they are serious, dedicated, and talented dancers with the enormous stamina necessary to dance for three hours in a steaming hot stadium. Hundreds of young women apply to become Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) every year, and many have wanted to join the squad since they were very young girls. This is the dream job, and Facebook can kill it.

“Tonight is your last night.”

With the same finality as Top Chef’s “Pack your knives and go,” the worst words that a DCC training camp candidate can hear is “Tonight is your last night.”

Law students and cheerleaders?

I have been speaking to law students about Professionalism for years, and I always refer to an early episode of “Making the Team” (perhaps from season 2 in 2007). Very close to the end of the season, a young woman learns that the content of her Facebook page marks the end of her dream.  “Tonight is your last night,” says Director Kelli Finglass, because she and Choreographer Judy Trammell had decided that its content couldn’t be associated with the DCC.

Lesson learned. That should have been the end of it. Every potential DCC candidate should have memorized that episode and edited her Facebook page to protect and enhance her candidacy.

But no.

In Season 6, which wraps on December 9, 2012, training camp candidates were send home because of their online presence.  Racy and inappropriate photographs  were discussed in episode 3, and a significant portion of episode 6 was devoted to a Social media seminar, which included a reference to a 2009 Halloween dress up misadventure when a DCC’s Halloween costume (as Lil’ Wayne in blackface) went viral.  

Lesson learned? I hope so, but I'll have to wait for Season 7 to be sure.

Lars Leafblad Insights From Four Years in Retained Executive Search - KeyStone Search

Lars Leafblad Insights From Four Years in Retained Executive Search - KeyStone Search:

'via Blog this'

Career changers, networkers, employed and unemployed -- whatever your status -- take note of the advice here, incorporate it into your strategic thinking and daily practice.

Thank you, Lars Leafblad.