Author: Portfolio Creative

Last nights CSCA’s Creative Best was awesome! Co-Presidents Deron Husak & Michael Lai kicked off the show by inviting audience members to actually turn ON their cell phones. Texting was encouraged as a live running stream of comments ran along side the list of well-deserved award winners. Chair of Membership, Ray LaVoie, did a fantastic job of moderating and keeping the crowd engaged. ‘Best of Show’ was awarded to Naissance for their Print submission, Alinea. Congratulations to all the winners, Portfolio looks forward to supporting Creative Best again in ’09!

Monday, December 1 at 7:00 pm Sharon Delay of Permanent Ink is offering a great free teleconference focused on Top 10 Career Search Killers. Explore each killer, and dicuss what you can do to move your career forward. It’s free and Sharon is great, you can’t lose so register today!

From Real Simple magazine.

The six most highly abused phrases on resumes and profiles, according to research by LinkedIn, the professional networking site:

“Proven track record”

“Problem solver”

Fast paced”

“Due diligence”

“Cutting edge”

“Results-oriented”

In addition, while women tend to overuse “attention to detail”, men apparently do quite a lot of “disaster recovery.”

Good to keep in mind while updating your resume, if it’s an overused phrase it’s not doing anything for you. Find a better way to share that information. Okay, since I’m a problem solver with a proven track record, I’m off to do some results-oriented fast paced disaster recovery with great attention to detail…

Portfolio is excited to offer our associates another great way to stay connected to us- via text messaging. This service will allow interested associates to receive instant notification of a new project in the works.
The message will be short and to the point. It will read “Job Alert from Portfolio, please check your email for a full job description”. If you are a current associate, and you’d like to take advantage of this, it’s easy to sign up. Send a note to jennifer@portfoliostaffing.com with your carrier name and verify your ten digit cell phone number. Standard text messaging rates will apply.

Sharon DeLay is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer and Certified Professional Career Coach. She wrote this article for our newsletter recently, we thought it was definitely worth a second read.

Congratulations! You landed the job interview. What now?

Many job candidates assume that their résumés will speak for them and that all they need to do is show up for the interview. This assumption is doubly dangerous if the candidates are working through a staffing or search firm, because they assume the intermediary (the staffing or search firm representative) has already sold them to the employer. As a matter of fact, the interview is where the candidate needs to really start working!

To improve your interview experience and increase your chances of becoming the preferred candidate:

Research. The number one deal breaker recruiters and hiring managers have identified is whether the candidate has taken the time to learn about the hiring company. With the abundance of information on the Internet today, employers believe candidates should be able to develop a basic understanding about the company, the market, and the company’s values and cultures before ever walking into the interview. Using the excuse that you’re “just” an accountant, graphic designer, janitor, etc. doesn’t work. To learn more about a company, do an Internet search and review the news coverage, as well as the company’s public Web site (including annual reports and the About Us section, as applicable). You can also ask your friends and colleagues what they know about the company.

Adjust your attitude. A very close second is having a good attitude. Some employers have even said this is more important to them than the skill level of the individual. They are willing to invest in training if the candidate’s attitude is stellar and a good fit for the company. To demonstrate a good attitude, always smile. Practice answering your interview questions in front of a mirror and check to see if you have a relaxed, approachable (and smiling) visage. Also, avoid using the interview as a platform for voicing your displeasure over your last job or boss. No matter what the truth is, always formulate your answers to be positive and forward-looking. The past is just that. Learn from it and move on.

Create value. Of course, employers want to know you have the basic required skill set to do the job. However, all that gets you is consideration as a candidate along with several others. To separate yourself from the pack, you need to demonstrate how you can help the company do the same. When you talk about your skills and experience, do it in the manner that demonstrates how what you have done has added value to your past employer. Use quantifiable information, discuss efficiencies you’ve introduced and revenue or savings you’ve generated. Simply reiterating your job description only proves you met the basic job requirements.

You’re going, right?! Portfolio is happy to help sponsor for the fourth year running, The Columbus Society of Communicating Arts (CSCA) ‘Creative Best’. Join us to help honor our local designers, writers, photographers, interactive designers, and other creative types. This annual awards show will be held at the Arena Grand Theater, beginning with a reception at 6:30, and the awards presentation at 8:00. Don’t miss one of the best shows of the year!

Q. What do I put on my resume when I continually freelance for a certain client over and over again? Or when I do a lot of short-term freelance projects for a variety of clients?

A. Great question, we get this one a lot. Our suggestion is to make your current position Freelance (Designer, Writer, Cat Trainer, whatever you think is the best description of yourself). For the dates use whenever you left your previous position until Present, or whenever you first started doing freelance work (even if you were working somewhere else at the same time) until Present. Then layer ALL the freelance work you do or have done under that heading. As long as it falls within that timeframe you don’t need to include dates for each project. But it is good to list various clients or projects, and a little bit about what you did for each, so people get a feel for the work you’ve been doing.

It’s pretty common for people to freelance in our industry, instead of or concurrent with a fulltime position. Just make sure you handle it in a simple and easily understood manner so it’s clear that it’s not a series of short-term positions (that worries people).

This topic is being discussed all over the place. And it was addressed again when I participated in at the American Staffing Association’s annual seminar. This year it was in San Diego–and before you don’t feel sorry for me, I saw most of San Diego from the inside of the convention center.

Anyway, this generational conflict is a really hot topic right now because worlds are colliding. The world of new graduates and the world of boomers and all of the worlds in between. This is the largest stretch of generations we have had in the work place. Mostly because the “boomers” won’t leave or, in some cases can’t leave. So everyone is left to deal with getting along with their bosses, co-workers and underlings and apparently no one understands what anyone else is talking about.

Let’s start with the “Baby Boomers.” The new generations coming in are going to have to understand that this group is probably the hardest working generation. They were raised by parents who went through the Great Depression, and were taught to work hard, pay your dues and stay loyal to your company. They believe in working hard, working late, and that might mean not being compensated but just doing it because you have pride in your job. This generation does not question authority and even respects it. They have always worn suits to work and still prefer to at least wear a tie. If they don’t, they at least remember that you needed an “interview suit” when you interviewed. And that ladies always wore pantyhose.

Skip ahead a few generations and you have Generation Y, a more “me” generation. This generation has no qualms jumping from job to job. They witnessed their parents losing their jobs and the company having no loyalty to them. This generation is from the “everyone gets a trophy” generation. No honor students, everyone is honored!  They are criticized for bring over-parented. But they are also the most highly-educated and technologically savvy generation. They crave mentoring and want to interact directly with their bosses, be an important part of the team, and be a part of the decision-making process.

So what happens when these two get together?

We have recent grads walking into their supervisor’s office without appointments. People coming to work with two completely different dress codes. We have one group working late hours while the other wants to leave at 5PM because they have a life beyond the office. One group is working for the company and the other is working for themselves.

So what do you do? Well, we have to all get along. And we have to each understand where the other side is coming from. For example, if you’re part of that younger generation, don’t just walk into your boss’ office. While Gen Y loves open communication, the Boomers believe in a “chain-of-command.” Even if it sounds crazy to you, try it anyway. Your supervisor will love you for it. And if you work with a Gen Y person that is always on your heels and doesn’t own a pair of jeans without holes? Give them ownership of something. They will surprise you with how they are really their own enterprise and get things done. (Delegation is a great thing and can very addictive as well.) Work in a challenge to their daily routine. And if you want them to dress better, show them how well all the people above them are dressing. Be a mentor, share that rule about dressing for the position you want, not the one where you are. Mention how Justin Timberlake used to dress and how he dresses now, and how he looks more successful. Even if you don’t get him, they do.

There are a few other things to keep in mind about Gen Y. They have no issue dating in the work place. About 44% have claimed to have had an office romance. 70% support the idea. Some states prohibit regulating an employee’s conduct outside of the workplace unless they can prove a conflict resulting inside the work place. Do know that this applies to two employees dating only. A manager dating a subordinate is a different issue altogether, that can lead to good old-fashioned sexual harassment issues. What you can do to avoid a lot of mess is to have stringent policies against harassment, provide training, and consider “love” contracts. A lawyer can help you out with all of these issues.

Gen Y also uses technology like it is an additional appendage. Constantly texting, talking on the phone, and clicking back and forth on their computer to check things like ebay, chat rooms, message boards, fantasy football teams, news, contacting friends, etc. And this is all done in fractions of a second during the day. So it is a good idea to have policies in place about using company equipment for personal use. Especially using email for personal use. (Note to Gen Y: you can be fired for things like this, know your company’s policy and don’t violate it. Even if you send something to a friend and it gets forwarded to someone else. If that person is offended, you could be gone. And be careful what you put on your MySpace page, employers do check you out there.)

Bottom line is we can all get along if you try to understand where the other person is coming from. Granted some of the Boomer stuff seems kind of “old school”, but there is a bit of coolness to the way things were done. Watch Mad Men on AMC and you will know what I am talking about. With that said, there is a lot of stuff in there that is definitely not cool too. And Boomers are going to have to understand that the Gen Y people are moving in, and eventually they’ll be running the company. So some rules might have to be flexible as you allow them to grow and really make a difference in your workplace.

Creative Columbus is doing a survey of the current creative economy, with the goal of understanding what is here and what is needed. They are looking for input from everyone, young and old, mainstream and fringe, big corporations and sole proprietors, for-profit, non-profit, etc. I took the survey because I’m personally and professionaly invested in the success Columbus’ creative community, and want my opinion to be heard. I hope you’ll do the same.

This tip can be applied to just about anything that makes you nervous. Interviewing, speaking in public, getting the nerve to talk to that cute person standing in the corner…

Act now the way you want to feel about yourself later.

So go in to the interview with the enthusiasm that you got the job. Start your presentation thinking you will hear “BRAVO” at the end. Approach that cute person as if they already think you are the coolest person they ever met!!

It is all about taking away the fear of the unpredictible. Granted, it may not work out EXACTLY like you thought it would in your head, but at least you did it.