People Positive Culture

This is a special edition for all you soon to be graduates. But, most of what is here applies to anyone with or without a portfolio. And while these are rules, remember, rules can be broken. This is more of a guide and really, you can overthink this stuff too. Comforting I know.

Some of these rules apply to physical books and others specifically to on-line. You can figure out which is which.

Make it about the work. The idea here is to not make it about the case or box your work is in. Give the case the attention it deserves, make it nice, but don’t go overboard. A vintage suitcase filled with a poor portfolio? Only the suitcase is remembered.

Only show work you like. Hopefully, this is also your best work. Don’t show work you don’t like unless it tells a successful story. The project you had to crank on all night because of a late change-order and the client loved it. In general, if you don’t like the work, or it was not successful, why are you showing it?

Show the thought that went into the work. Concepts are good. Sketches are great. People love to see how you think.

Not too much, not too little. The whole presentation should last about 30 minutes. Don’t show too much work and don’t show too little. Multiple pieces in a campaign count as one piece. It’s good to have 12-15 pieces. If you are just graduating and you are worried that you don’t have this much, try to get to 10. Fewer than 10 is too little. One way to increase the number if you are coming out of school….have friends and family “assign” you projects. Don’t do it yourself. You may pick stuff that is too easy. Try to freelance too to get portfolio pieces.

Show variety. Show that your creative mind is nimble. Don’t focus on one industry. Don’t show just one style.

Start with a bang and end with a bang. Put great work first and last. Don’t show work chronologically.

What about my photography of kittens? Hmmm….maybe not. Work that is not relevant to the jobs you are interviewing for can be great if it paints a bigger picture of who you are and the breadth of your creativity. It can also detract and backfire. Think about it. If it’s really a strong part of what makes you, your brand, go for it.

Make it easy. Realize you may not be present to walk someone through your work. Provide descriptors as to the project, the creative brief, and some words around your execution. The viewer needs to understand why you did what you did without you telling them.

Be organized. Don’t end the presentation with 15 pieces spread over a table unless you are just that crazy throwing stuff around.

Make a nice user experience. Don’t make the viewer look too hard to find the work on your site. It should be easy to access, easy to view.

Never make the viewer work too hard. They just may not do it.

If you have a freelance business, but are also looking for a job, you need to make it clear which is which. Don’t point someone to a website that comes across like an agency site if it’s just you. You may need to change things a bit. I’m Bob who runs Bob Design; I’m not Bob Design per se right now, because Bob wants a job. Get it?

Make your portfolio part of a presentation. How you show the work can be as important as the work. If you can’t speak to why you did what you did, or what problem it solved, why did you do it? Practice your presentation. You are also viewed on how you present as you may be presenting your employer’s work some day to a potential client.

Breathe. Do your best. Try to leave every meeting comfortable that you did the best you could.

…thanks for Jeremy Pair, two more points…

Give credit. Make sure you indicate your role in the project, and give credit to others when due. Believe it or not, I have seen the same piece in multiple portfolios with each person taking credit. Someone is not telling the truth!

And, indicate what is a student piece and what is not where applicable.

Enjoy!

One of my favorite movies is Soylent Green. Not because it’s a great movie, but because it’s a great concept and of course, Charlton Heston is classic. No one else could yell like he could. Soylent Green is people!

Which brings me to a common practice in the staffing industry but one I have always found distasteful: The marketing of people.

For a lot of staffing companies, their product is the talent they represent. Their product is people. And to let the market know they have the best people, they market them and their skills usually through blanket e-mails and marketing materials to clients and prospect clients.

Meet “Mark”. “Mark” is a skilled web developer with great digital agency experience. He’s ready to work for your great digital agency. He has experience in HTML, CSS, has worked on big budget sites….he’s available now. Schedule a meeting soon!

I don’t know. Makes me feel like “Mark” is a product/package on a shelf. Where is the nuance of finding the best fit? Just because “Mark” has great skills and great experience does not mean he can just be slotted into roles and companies to do his thing and all will be great.

There is more to making a match than matching a resume and a job description. A lot more. Like looking into cultural fit. And looking into organizational/structural fit. And asking, “can I see “Mark” being happy working for this company?”

Besides, I’m pretty sure “Mark” is a real person with real feelings on where he wants to work. And does “Mark” really want to be “shopped” around town to the highest bidder?

On many levels I have never agreed with this staffing industry practice of marketing people. If you meet someone whom you think would work great for one of your clients, or vice versa, that’s different. You might help someone find a great job or a company make a strategic hire. But just sending faceless campaigns? Just peddling people?

Something does not taste right about it. Now, soylent green? That might taste good.

John Lennon once sang…. All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

What I hear from most job seekers is gimme some closure.

The number one complaint candidates for jobs relate to me is that they never hear back from the companies where they interviewed. Had interviews, never heard anything. Sent my resume, never heard anything.

For employers, here is why you should acknowledge people who send resumes and call back people who have interviewed but you did not hire: people talk.

And they are talking in new ways. According to Fast Company, not only are they talking, they are taking it to social media.

http://tinyurl.com/3z2np5y

But, the reasons to reply to people are not to only protect your brand and your reputation. For one, it’s the right thing to do. Second, while the candidate may not be right for your current opening, they may be right in the future for something else with your organization. And, this is not only your brand; this is your recruitment brand. People talk and their network has heard that you, as an employer, do not treat job candidates with respect.

That network may include people you may want to hire. The candidate you did not call back may be a friend to the candidate you do want to hire. Think of the message you are giving both.

Your brand is damaged. Your ability to hire is damaged.

Do they right thing.

Give some closure.

The golden rule – you cannot change who you are or what your experience is. But you can change how you present your background.

The resume serves one purpose – to get you the meeting/interview. Don’t do anything on the resume to hurt this.

Do not misspell anything. Use proper grammar. Have someone else proofread.

Use a pleasing layout. White space counts.

No Times New Roman. No MS Word template.

Do not over design. An identity is fine, a logo mark is fine. Graphical elements and an overuse of color are not.

Have a professional e-mail address.

Do not send your resume from your current employer’s e-mail. Do not communicate with a prospective employer using your current employer’s e-mail.

If your cell phone is listed, don’t answer your cell phone with “yo, what’s up?” “Who is this?” or other ways that sound unprofessional.

If you are at least two years out of school, educational information can move to the bottom.

There are three kinds of resumes: chronological, functional, and a blend of the two.

You should expect a resume to be reviewed in 30 seconds. Get your point across quickly and clearly.

Never more than two pages. Never.

Be honest.

Use action verbs but avoid buzzwords. “Think outside of the box” was never a good phrase.

Highlight accomplishments.

Never, ever make the reviewer work too hard to find out who you are and what you’ve done. It’s not their job to figure out who you are. It’s your job to communicate it clearly.

Your interests are your interests. Be careful what you list if you list them.

Don’t hype or exaggerate.

If you are a designer, also have a “snapshot” PDF portfolio to send as well. Don’t include your whole book. Leave them wanting more.

Write a good cover letter.

If you use humor, use it sparingly and smartly. Make sure you’re funny.

Package and market yourself with the same attention that you do your clients.

How much do you need to make?

Um, how much does the position pay?

Both employers and employees often handle the salary question miserably. It’s like when you were a kid playing doctor. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. No, that never happened with me.

Employers want to know if they can afford the candidate, or worse, if they are used to making little money, maybe we can lower our costs by paying less. Candidates want to make as much as they can, and don’t want to undersell themselves. They may have been woefully underpaid at their last job and don’t want to continue to pay for it. I get it.

Recruiters/Headhunters help navigate this because we know the facts from both sides and can align accordingly with no surprises.

But, without this help, employers and candidates are on their own. And they usually make the salary question uncomfortable, and ultimately a larger part of the hiring equation than it should be or needs to be.

Here is the solution. Operate in facts only. And operate in the range of reality.

For employers, this means asking for a salary history. If the history is scattered, you can inquire further but use the information to make sure you keep your organizational salary ranges intact, but also to make competitive offers.

For the candidate, just tell them the history and don’t dance around the question. If you get an offer you don’t like, negotiate, or turn it down. If you tell a prospective employer your salary history, and they offer you a salary lower than what you typically make without a proper reason, why would you want to work for them anyway? They don’t respect your experience.

Be realistic. Meaning, if you have made 10-15% increases through your career as your responsibilities have progressed, don’t expect a 30% jump unless the role and responsibility truly warrants it. You may be expecting too much money.

As an employer, I always want to know what candidates I am interviewing have earned historically. Why? One, I can find out from your past employers so you might as well just tell me. But, more importantly, it paints a picture of the person’s career. It lends insight into what motivates them. If they are only motivated by money, and that is the main reason they moved from one job to the next, I may not want to hire them. They may just leave when a higher offer comes. I want the salary to be a part of the bigger picture.

I use that historical information to make a competitive offer, and pay them in the salary range of the position, regardless of whether they are outside of the range. I may go higher, but I won’t go lower. It would not be fair, and I would be screwing up my organizational compensation structure.

Plus, if my organization has done its job building culture, the salary conversation is pretty easy.

Take the awkwardness out of the interview. Deal with facts. Play fair. Negotiate in a way that makes both sides happy.

In the ebb and flow, supply and demand world of creative services and the economy, the pendulum is swinging, or has swung, back to candidates/employees in certain areas such as interactive/new media design, motion graphics and development

When trying to hire these folks, or anyone else for that matter, if you find the need to increase salary offers, pay more than you want, more than the position has historically earned, and generally throw money at people to hire them, you have problems. But your problems are not purely monetary.

Your company is not a desirable place to work. And in the war for talent, that is a dangerous place to be.

Your culture may be broken. You may be in a undesirable location. Your firm may have a bad reputation on the street. The work you do may not be considered top notch. Whatever the reason, companies need to set out improving them immediately or risk being marginalized and left behind.

The goal is to create and develop an organization where people are pounding the doors to come work for you. And when they are, you know that salary and pay is not the driving factor; it becomes a secondary discussion. You can pay well of course, but the complete picture is such that people get more than money. And that’s really what the good employees want. The want a vibrant culture, opportunities for growth, a supportive management team and the chance to do great work and get rewarded for it.

You’re on your way to a people positive culture.