LinkedIn looks to build on its impressive resume

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California —

LinkedIn and Facebook will celebrate the anniversaries of their IPOs just a few days apart this week. But their experiences as publicly traded companies couldn’t be more different.

LinkedIn promotes its service as a stepping stone to a more enriching career. As it turns out, the professional networking company’s initial public offering was a great place to start a rewarding investment portfolio, too. LinkedIn’s stock has nearly quadrupled in value from its $45 IPO price on May 20 two years ago.

LinkedIn is emerging as the standout performer among its cohort of hotly anticipated IPOs from Internet companies that connect people with common interests. The company is growing faster and yielding far better shareholder returns than the rest of a class that includes online deals maker Groupon Inc, web game maker Zynga Inc and business review site Yelp Inc, as well social networking leader Facebook Inc.

With the exception of Yelp, the stocks of all those other companies are stuck well below their initial public offering prices. Although Groupon and Zynga have fared worse, Facebook has been the highest-profile disappointment.

But for all its success, LinkedIn still hasn’t immersed itself into people’s lives and reshaped technology as profoundly as Facebook has. Although LinkedIn has been attracting more frequent visits since its IPO, people still spend far more time on Facebook and share more of their lives there. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn hasn’t become a hub for other online services, ranging from games to music.

Even among its fans on Wall Street, LinkedIn is seen as little more than an online hunting ground for opportunistic employers on the prowl for talented workers.

But that could change if LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and Executive Chairman Reid Hoffman realize their ambitions. As the 10-year-old company heads into its second decade, its two top executives want to establish its website as an integral part of the global economy.

“It would be a representation of every economic opportunity and every skill required to attain those opportunities,” Weiner said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “We would have a digital profile for every company in the world and a professional profile for every one of the 3.3 billion people in the (worldwide) workforce. We would then be able to overlay professionally relevant knowledge for each one of those individuals and each one of those companies.”

LinkedIn still has a long way to go before it’s that pervasive. The service currently has profiles of some 225 million people and 500,000 companies.

But the odds of LinkedIn fulfilling its aspirations may be less of a longshot than the one Hoffman faced when he first started pondering a professional networking service in the midst of the dot-com bust in 2000.

At the time, Hoffman was worried about losing his job as a top executive at online payment service PayPal. The company had just burned through most of its cash, prompting Hoffman to mull other ideas with PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin during a retreat at his grandparents’ house in Gualala, California along the Pacific Ocean’s coastline.

A rough concept for LinkedIn came up then, but Hoffman didn’t pursue it at the time because PayPal started to thrive.

After eBay Inc bought PayPal for $1.5 billion in 2002, Hoffman plowed much of the money that he made from that deal into LinkedIn. He started the company in May 2003 with several former colleagues from his pre-PayPal days — Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly and Jean-Luc Vaillant. The group debated several potential names, including Netra, Wellconnected, Bizrep and Connex, before settling on LinkedIn.

Hoffman’s gamble paid off. As LinkedIn’s controlling shareholder, his stake in the company is currently worth $3 billion.

LinkedIn now has market value approaching $20 billion and employs about 4,000 people. It’s expanding so quickly that it is running out of space at its Mountain View, California headquarters located down the block from the home of Google Inc. There will be space for nearly 3,000 more LinkedIn workers once construction is completed on its new corporate campus in nearby Sunnyvale next year.

Things might not have worked out so well if Hoffman, 45, and Weiner, 43, hadn’t been introduced to each other at a technology conference in early 2008. They hit it off immediately, something Hoffman remembered a few months later when he began thinking of replacing Dan Nye as LinkedIn’s CEO.

Hoffman had been LinkedIn’s CEO during the first four years of the company’s existence, and he knew it wasn’t something that he wanted to do for another extended period — an aversion that differentiates him from other Internet visionaries such as Google’s Larry Page, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Salesforce.com Inc’s Marc Benioff, who all relish running the companies they founded.

“I like solving business strategy problems and I like creating whole new ecosystems for people,” Hoffman said. “I am not passionate about leading a 3,000-person plus organization and all the work that goes into doing that in a world-class way. I always knew I didn’t want to be CEO forever, but I still wanted to get LinkedIn to where it needed to get.”

That’s where Weiner came into the equation. Weiner had recently ended a seven-year stint as a key executive at Yahoo Inc and was helping out various startups on a part-time basis as an entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital firms Greylock Partners and Accel Partners.

After Hoffman persuaded him to join LinkedIn as its president in late 2008, Weiner was promoted to CEO six months later.

The partnership has proven highly productive. LinkedIn’s membership has increased sevenfold from the 33 million members that had set up free profiles on the service at the time Weiner came on board. Revenue this year is expected to approach $1.5 billion, 19 times more than the $79 million generated before Weiner’s arrival. The company’s profits are also steadily rising. Analysts predict LinkedIn’s net income will rise about 20 percent this year to $26 million.

LinkedIn has made a habit of topping analyst projections. That is something the company has done in every quarter since its IPO, helping to propel its stock.

Yet LinkedIn remains in Facebook’s shadow. Since 2008, Facebook has grown even faster as the number of people using its social network swelled 11-fold to 1.1 billion and annual revenue soared 25-fold from $272 million last year to a projected $6.7 billion this year.

But LinkedIn has been outpacing Facebook during the past year, both in terms of user growth (LinkedIn’s membership is up 35% versus 23% at Facebook) and revenue (LinkedIn’s first-quarter revenue rose 72% versus 38% at Facebook).

The secret to LinkedIn’s success? The company has turned its service into an easily searchable database, a treasure trove for employers and their headhunters. The company makes most of its money from the fees it charges for analytical tools and better access to individual profiles. About 18,000 companies now pay LinkedIn for its so-called “talent solutions.”

Most employers rely on LinkedIn to find so-called “knowledge” workers who can fill positions that require a college degree or other specialized training. Think: computer programmers, website developers, scientists, accountants, lawyers and executives. Although McDonald’s is unlikely to turn to LinkedIn to find a cashier, a coffee shop might use the service to recruit a barista. A ski resort might scour the site in search of ski instructors.

“They are not even scratching the surface of what they might eventually be able to do,” said Wedge Partners analyst Martin Pyykkonen.

LinkedIn is expected to generate even more revenue by selling more ads to accompany content such as professional insights from famous executives such as Richard Branson and Jack Welch, as well as other compelling content that induces its membership to visit the site more frequently and dwell for longer periods.

LinkedIn is also working on more analytical tools to sell to sales representatives who are “looking to turn a cold call into a warm prospect,” Weiner said.

Almost everything will have to go right for LinkedIn to support its lofty stock price. Investors are currently paying about $121 for every dollar in LinkedIn’s estimated earnings this year and $13 for every dollar in projected revenue. By comparison, Facebook’s stock is selling for $47 for every dollar in projected earnings this year and $10 in every dollar in projected revenue.

“You really have to buy into the idea that LinkedIn’s revenue is going to grow 10-fold from here to justify its valuation,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. “It’s a good company with an expensive stock.”

LinkedIn’s success also could attract more competition. The company’s biggest threat, of course, is Facebook, which already knows where most of its users work and where they went to school.

Weiner isn’t worried about Facebook expanding into LinkedIn’s turf because the company’s research indicates that most people want a dividing line between their professional and personal identities.

Facebook hasn’t yet shown any desire to open a professional networking channel, but Pachter thinks there is a greater likelihood of it happening if LinkedIn continues to do well.

“Facebook could just say, ‘Hey are you tired of going to LinkedIn? Just enter all your professional information here and we’ll code it so only your business friends can see it,’” Pachter said.

Another alternative would be for Facebook to buy LinkedIn. But Pachter doubts that will happen now that LinkedIn is worth so much.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com

(C) 2009-12

There Are Only 4 Jobs in the World -- Are You in the Right One?

Lou Adler              I've been involved in creating more than 2,500 different job descriptions over the past year. I can conclude that there are only a few different jobs in the whole world.

For the past 30 years my company has been involved in creating over 2,500 different performance-based job descriptions that define the actual work a person needs to do to be considered successful. Based on preparing these performance-based job descriptions for jobs like camp counselor at the YMCA, accountants and engineers from staff to VPs, mid- and senior-level executives in industries ranging from automotive and aerospace to construction and consumer products, I can conclude that there are only four different jobs in the whole world.
Everything starts with an idea. This is the first of the four jobs – the Thinkers. Builders convert these ideas into reality. This the second job. Improvers make this reality better. This is the third job. Producers do the work over and over again, delivering quality goods and services to the company’s customers in a repeatable manner. This is the fourth job. And then the process begins again with new ideas and new ways of doing business being developed as the old ones become stale.
(Note: due to the interest in the concept of work types I'll be hosting a complimentary webcast on May 8 @10:30AM PT. Space really is limited, so sign-up right away.)
As a company grows and reaches maturity, more of the work gets done by the Producers and Improvers. However, without a culture of consistent improvement, the Producers soon take over and implementing change becomes slower and slower until it stops. Long before this the Thinkers and Builders have left for some new venture. Improvers soon follow to join their former co-workers and hire new Producers to add some order to the newly created chaos. The old Producers who aren’t continually evolving, learning new skills and processes, are left behind to fend for themselves. Maintaining balance across all four work types is a constant, but a necessary struggle for a company to continue to grow, adapt, and survive.
Every job has a mix of all four work types dependent on the actual work involved, the scope and scale of the role, and the company’s growth rate. To ensure balance and flexibility, all of these four work types should be taken into account when preparing any new performance-based job description. Here’s how:
Producers: these people execute or maintain a repeatable process. This can range from simple things like working on an inbound help desk and handling some transactional process like basic sales, to more complex, like auditing the performance of a big system, writing code, or producing the monthly financial reports. Producers typically require training or advanced skills to be in a position to execute the process. To determine the appropriate Producer performance objectives, ask the hiring manager to define how any required skill is used on the job and how its success would be measured, e.g., “contact 15 new customers per week and have five agree to an onsite demonstration.“ This is a lot better than saying “the person must have 3-5 years of sales experience selling to sophisticated buyers of electro-mechanical control valves.”
Improvers: these people upgrade, change or make a repeatable process better. Managers are generally required to continually monitor and improve a process under their responsibility. Building, training and developing the team to implement a process is part of an Improver’s role. Improvers can be individual contributors or managers of teams and projects, the key is the focus on improving a existing system, business or process. A performance objective for an Improver could be “conduct a comprehensive process review of the wafer fab process to determine what it would take to improve end-to-end yield by 10%.”
Builders: these people take an idea from scratch and convert it into something tangible. This could be creating a new business, designing a complex new product, closing a big deal, or developing a new process. Entrepreneurs, inventors, turn-around executives, deal-makers, and project managers are typical jobs that emphasize the Builder component. Ask the hiring manager what big changes, new developments, big problems or major projects the person in the new job would need to address to determine the Builder component. An example might be, “lead the implementation of the new SAP supply change system over every business unit including international.” This is a lot better than saying “must have five years international logistics background and strong expertise with SAP."
Thinkers: these people are the visionaries, strategists, intellects, and creators of the world, and every big idea starts with them. Their work covers new products, new business ideas, and different ways of doing everyday things. Ask hiring managers where the job requires thinking out-of-the-box or major problems to solve to develop the Thinker performance objectives. “Develop a totally new approach for reducing water usage by 50%,” is a lot better than saying “Must have 5-10 years of environmental engineering background including 3-5 years of wastewater management with a knack for creative solutions."
Now for a little secret. Recognize that every person is comprised of a mix of each work type, with one or two dominant. Likewise for every job. Most require strengths in one or two of the work types. As you select people for new roles, it's important to get this blending right. This starts by understanding the full requirements of the position, the strengths and weaknesses of others on the team, and the primary objective of the department, group or company. In the rush to hire, it’s easy to lose sight of this bigger picture, emphasizing skills and experience over performance and fit. This is how Builders get hired instead of Improvers and Thinkers get hired when Producers are required. While there are only four work types, hiring the wrong one is often how the wrong work gets done.
______________________________________________________
Lou Adler (@LouA) is the Amazon best-selling author of Hire With Your Head (Wiley, 2007) and the award-winning Nightingale-Conant audio program, Talent Rules! His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired, is now available on Amazon. You might want to join Lou's new LinkedIn group to discuss this and related hiring issues.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-13

Turn a Good Worker Into a Great Manager: 6 Steps

Paul Spiegelman

Apr 29, 2013

It's noble to promote from within, but irresponsible if it's without preparation. Here's what you should do.

I'm sure this is familiar. You have a great employee, who does strong work, and is ready for more responsibility. So you make him or her a supervisor, manager, or leader of others, and you're happy you did. "Congratulations, you're now a manager," you say, with all sincerity.
But then, you live to regret it. And you realize, it wasn't that the individual did something wrong. You're the one who forgot something: to help lay the foundation for that newly-crowned supervisor to succeed. You didn't train him or her to become a manager.
I remember a number of years ago when my team and I were looking for supervisors for Beryl's call center. Naturally, I thought, we found people who had been great at answering phones and handling customers, and so we promoted them into the new advisor positions. A couple of years later, when productivity was suffering, I heard a common refrain from senior leaders: the problem lay in the call-center supervisors. They thought I should get rid of the existing group, and start fresh.
While a new group sure sounded good, I knew that wasn't the answer. The supervisors weren't the problem; it was me. I failed to give those promoted employees the tools and training they needed to be successful. Rather than looking at them, I needed to look in the mirror, and so did the whole senior leadership team. So I challenged leadership to invest the necessary time and energy to give the call-center supervisors the training they needed--and we got great results.
It's noble to try to "promote from within," but irresponsible to promote without preparation. In some cases, you may not have the resources available to train your next leaders, and when that happens, it may of course be necessary to look outside. Or maybe you hire someone who can train your next generation of leaders.
If you're going to commit to advancing the careers of your best workers, and one of those opportunities moves them into a leadership position for the first time, always do the following:

• Give them a mentor for a period of time.
• Invest in either internal or external training.
• Guide them in how to be an example to others.
• Teach the difference between management and leadership.
• Check in often to help them with  new issues they'll deal with.
• Make sure they enjoy the new role.

Remember middle managers or supervisors have tremendous influence, and you can't underestimate the importance of their roles. Equip and empower the employees you promote, and it will pay big dividends down the road.
http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-13

The costs of not firing a mediocre employee

By Candace Walters

Published in the Rochester Business Journal, October 5, 2001 © HR Works, Inc.

Great companies are not built with mediocre employees. Yet it's astonishing how often managers postpone firing poor performers and troublesome employees.
In exploring the reasons why CEOs fail, a 1999 article in Fortune magazine cited the CEOs' chronic failure to place the right person in the right job, and their repeated failure or unwillingness to fix people problems swiftly. Some of those CEOs later admitted to selective deafness - ignoring an inner voice that warned them of a problem, and refusing to listen to those around them who saw the difficulty long before the CEO did. This failure to deal with a subordinate who exhibits sustained poor performance can deeply harm a company and produce a ripple effect that hurts morale on many levels.

The costs of postponing firing

The costs associated with retaining poor performers are enormous, both in financial and intangible terms. They include:

• Waste of management's time and effort. Troublesome employees often demand a disproportionate share of their managers' attention - effort that would be better spent on coaching top performers.
• Training time and costs. Poor performers typically require more remedial training because they lack competencies.


• Error rates and reduced customer satisfaction. Mistakes by mediocre employees cost the company sales volume, customers, even its solid reputation.


• Lost opportunity. A position on the team that might be filled by a strong contributor instead is wasted on a poor performer.


• Negative impact on others' productivity and attitudes. Competent employees often resent being on the same team with employees who do not pull their weight. This resentment may even lead to their own diminished performance, which management has shown it will tolerate.


• Sending the wrong message. In the minds of employees, potential hires and observant competitors, awareness that the company is now tolerating mediocrity may be interpreted as a sign the organization is headed downhill.


• Increased disciplinary and documentation costs. The longer a mediocre hire stays on, the more an organization will spend punishing his or her poor behavior and making the case for his or her termination.

To some extent, employers can minimize the need to deal with poor performers by adopting recruitment efforts and selection tools that ensure individuals hired have the competencies for the position, and that they are comfortable with the company's culture.

But instituting effective hiring practices isn't the entire answer. For a variety of reasons, an employee's performance may deteriorate, or other work-related problems may surface.

Why managers turn a blind eye

Ask any manager why this task is delayed, and he or she will say that firing an employee is one of the most stressful and difficult parts of the job. It means telling an individual, perhaps someone the manager hired, that he or she is not good enough to get the job done.

Few managers will admit - or even realize - that they lack the emotional will to dismiss a mediocre performer. Their anxieties, which are understandable, generally manifest as one or more of the following excuses:

1. Fear that the terminated employee may sue. Anxiety over possible legal action motivates many managers to put off firing an employee who is part of a protected class. This concern is valid, although a company's best protection against this type of legal action is documentation. Employers must practice due diligence in documenting a worker's performance and making a case for dismissal. Prior to dismissing an employee, it's vital to involve the organization's HR manager and in some cases consult with an employment-law attorney.

2. Belief that the poor performer can be coached. Determining when an employee has been given enough time to prove he or she can do the job is not an exact science. The Golden Rule teaches us to go easy on people, to give them a second chance - and a third and a fourth. But, as Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman write in the book "First, Break All the Rules," people are true to their inherent natures and rarely change much. Rather than try to remold their people, the best managers seek ways to capitalize on the strengths of their employees' natures.

3. Reluctance to tackle the task of replacing an employee. In many industries, labor shortages persist, and recruitment-weary managers may dread going back to the same shrinking pool. Yet the costs of retaining a poor-performing employee far exceed firing him or her and starting over.

4. Blind loyalty. Sometimes a manager is so enamored of a subordinate - they may have worked and socialized together for years - that he or she simply cannot see the employee's faults.

The right way

As difficult as it may be, there is a right way to terminate an individual's employment. It involves training managers on how to:

• Establish and communicate well-defined employee expectations that outline company rules of conduct and performance standards.


• Recognize early warning signs of unacceptable performance.


• Communicate with employees who are not making the grade, so there are no surprises when dismissal occurs.


• Document the full details of performance discussions and reprimands.


• Ensure the final discussion is handled with sensitivity.

It's human nature for managers to struggle to deal with poor-performing employees. But finding a way to overcome that difficulty - and filling those positions with top performers - is essential for organizations to remain viable and competitive.

HR Works, Inc., located at 246 Willow Brook Office Park in Fairport (Rochester), New York, is a human resource management outsourcing and consulting firm serving more than 700 clients. HR Works provides benefits administration outsourcing; full-time, part-time and interim on-site HR managers; HR audits; legally reviewed employee handbooks and supervisor manuals; affirmative action programs; compensation programs; training of managers and HR professionals; and HRIS and self-service technology.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-13

3 Step Guide to Acing an Interview

 

By David Sweet

Careers Mar. 27, 2013 - 11:55AM JST ( 6 )

David Sweet

If you interview for a new job, you have one major responsibility: prepare. No matter if you search for a job in sales, marketing, accounting, supply chain, IT, research, teaching, translating, or any other profession, you need to focus on the interview. Interviews lead to jobs. A new job can give you a salary raise, improve the quality of life for you and your family, and add new skills and abilities to your life.
What I find, however, is that many people prepare for an interview by glancing at the job description and quickly scanning the website. These steps, though important, just start the process to prepare. In a competitive market, you need more groundwork than that to beat other contenders. 
Below are a few steps that will help you succeed in an interview. If you implement a few of these strategies, you will find a dramatic improvement in your interviews. These strategies fall under three categories: 1) understanding the point of view of the interviewer, 2) asking why the company should hire you, and most important 3) practice.
1. Changing Point of View
First, you need to understand the point of view of your interviewer. Most of the time, a person walks into an interview thinking mainly about themselves—their skills, experiences, and abilities. Rarely do they frame these into the context of the person, team, or company.  For that reason, first take yourself out of the equation and reflect and research from the interviewer’s point of view.
• Know the company.
• Know how the company makes money.
• Know the job and what is expected about this particular role.
• And if possible, know all you can about the interviewer.
If using a recruiter or an acquaintance from the company, ask them to help you prepare. However, if you are applying on-line or directly, you’ll need to do the research yourself.
Where do you research?
As you might normally do, browse the company website to learn general information about the company. The “About” page has some useful information, such as number of employees, capital, and the name of the president. Research the president.
If a public company, download their annual report. Don’t worry about reading the whole annual report, rather use the Search Function of your browser or PDF and search for the words, “Japan” and “Tokyo” and “Asia”. Read those portions. Also, read the message from the CEO at the introduction of the annual report. Doing those two things will give you a good macro-view of the company, the concerns, challenges, and opportunities of the company and your interviewer will be found there.
In this day and age, it goes without saying to use social networking such as LinkedIn and Facebook to learn as much about the people you will meet. Know the interviewer’s education, work history, and hobbies if possible.  The reason you check these items is to know the personality and background of the interviewer and the company.
2. Why Should the Company Hire You?
Next step is to start asking yourself why the company should hire you. Sit down with a pen and paper and answer these questions:
• Why is the company meeting you?
• Why do they need you?
• What can you do especially well for this position?
• Why should the company hire you?
Think like the interviewer. Then change perspectives and think like a manager or president. Think like a co-worker. If you were hiring you, what questions would you ask? Write down all the answers you can.
Here are a few more items to help prepare for the interview:
• Prepare a self-introduction. You need to succinctly know how to walk someone through your career in a matter of 2-3 minutes.
• How are you different from other candidates for this position?
• What problems have you solved? 
• Write down things you’ve done for a company that have saved or earned the company money.
• What are your strengths? List them out—with examples.
• List weaknesses. What have you learned about yourself and how do you work around them?
• Lastly, write down another 5 questions you would ask if you were the interviewer.
This may seem like a lot of information to prepare, but after you’ve done it once, you can reuse most of this information for other interviews by tweaking answers for specific situations.
3. Practice!
Now gather all the answers you’ve created and start practicing. You want to rehearse, not memorize answers as a memorized answer comes across as stilted. Trust your memory for your achievements in life, your experiences. Read through the answers out loud.
Let’s accelerate your practice:
With a video camera and a friend, role-play an interview. Have your friend ask you the questions you wrote. Then after the practice, watch the video with your friend. 
• Listen to your answers. 
• Watch your body language, manners, and gestures.
• Did your actions mirror your message or withdraw from your message?
• Do you look confident or nervous?
• Do you look intense, happy, relaxed when you’re speaking?
Make sure to ask and listen to the feedback from your friend too!
If you don’t use a video camera, then have a friend or relative sit down and practice with you. Again, ask them for honest feedback and then practice again—perhaps with someone else.
If you feel really uncomfortable practicing with others or on camera, the least effective, though better than nothing approach is to practice in front of a mirror asking yourself questions and responding. Just the act of responding will give you the chance to practice answering basic questions

The above steps offer a guideline to help you prepare. Please realize that every interview situation is unique and different; it’s impossible to prepare for every situation. What the above steps do is provide confidence to help you relax, the freedom to know the answers for the most common situations, freeing you to concentrate on more difficult questions. When you’re serious about landing a new job, you need to take the time to prepare and practice. And like anything in life, the more you prepare, the better you’ll do.

David Sweet, consultant, author, and speaker with 20+ years of human resources experience, has spent over a decade assisting companies in Japan to improve how they recruit. Currently, he is the managing director of Top Grade Japan. For more information on improving how you recruit, including consulting, training, and up-coming seminars, contact him on info@TopGradeJapan.com.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-13

Going the Distance

For those of you that were impressionable in 1985 when Rocky IV came out (I was 12 and saw the move with my dad), did the movie make a difference in your life?  I source this movie as the place where I got the feeling of pride to be an American and it was fashionable to be American.  Also, the hard work mentality and the belief that there is no obstacle too challenging.  Also, the good guys win in the end...  In a lot of ways, this movie had a direct correlation to the political/economic scene that existed in the US back in the 1980s. 

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-13

5 Ways to Create Your Own Career Luck

By Ritika Trikha          

March 19, 2013 RSS Feed Print

Ritika Trikha

Many have said that luck happens when opportunity meets preparation. Others have said the harder they work, the luckier they get.
The idea is that a person has to take action in order to get lucky. "It's like the joke about the man who prayed every day to win the lottery," says Mark Chussil, author of "Nice Start: Questions Only You Can Answer to Create the Life Only You Can Live." "Finally, a deep, exasperated voice boomed from above, and said 'Buy a lottery ticket.'"
The best way to boost your luck is to create it. There are plenty of things you can do today that can potentially help you position yourself for a great opportunity. And when that time comes, you'll be ready to seize it.
So, if you've ever felt a little down on your luck when it comes to your career, here's what you can do to create it:
1. Have your elevator pitch memorized. "What do you do?" is probably one of the top three most common ice breakers in nearly all social situations. You should be able to sum up what you do and your career mission in one or two sentences. It should sound casual and unrehearsed (but you should rehearse). Make your elevator pitch as close to perfect as possible. Try it out on people and refine it as needed. Always end with a question to make sure you're opening up the dialogue.
2. Attend lots of networking events. "I attended a webinar sponsored by Harvard Business School (where I got my MBA)," Chussil says. "They asked for volunteers for a task in the webinar, and I stepped up."
A couple weeks later, Chussil received a book from HBS as a thank-you. In return, he sent them a copy of his own book and before he knew it, Harvard Business School asked him to deliver his own webinar. There's nothing like a dose of good career karma from stepping up and helping out. Networking events are a great way to set up opportunities for yourself.
3. Keep your resume updated—always. You never know when you'll need to send your resume ASAP. Let's say you're at a networking event, and you're chatting with someone about your work and accomplishments. If, later, they give you a call about an immediate opening at their company, the last thing you want is to tell a potential employer that you need some time before you can submit your resume.
Always be safe, rather than sorry—keep your resume updated at all times. It just takes about 15 to 30 minutes of your day (as needed) to make sure you've added all of your most recent skills and accomplishments.
4. Go above and beyond your tasks. Rather than just meeting the requirements of your job, go above and beyond your call of duty. Help the bottom line. Think like a team rather than an individual. Lend a hand in another department or project that may benefit from your skills.
Resume Guru Robert Dagnall offers one idea he got from a client of his, a marine officer, who had a standing order with his staff: "Never bring me a problem without also bringing me a solution."
Apply this mentality into the work you do. The more solution-oriented you are, the more opportunities and challenges you'll get.
5. Give positive thinking a try. If you're feeling down on your luck, the worst thing you can do is beat yourself up over it. Stay positive. Be proactive and get out there and do something. Any of the above steps will offer more control over your career trajectory. It's the first step to positioning yourself for more success. Positivity breeds success.
Ritika Trikha is a writer for CareerBliss, an online career community dedicated to helping people find happiness in the workplace. Check out CareerBliss for millions of job listings, company reviews, and salary information.

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productivity,

careers,

employment

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-13