Let Me Hire You: The Five Most Important Things in the World

While I was working in a Labs office in San Francisco, a painfully competitive job market, one of my main priorities was always recruiting. Every day, I’d go through the queue and review every resume that came in. Every. Single. One. Well. Most. Anyway. I did not want a screener to throw out good applications. I did not want a computer to eliminate some spectacular candidate because they hadn’t listed some framework or experience with some nice-to-have skill. Smart people can fill skill gaps pretty fast. So I read a lot of resumes. A lot.

Now that I’m on the other side of the fence and about ready to start looking for the next step in my career myself, I thought I’d bestow some hiring manager experience on you as a job seeker for the initial application. Read these things. Do them. I beseech you for the good of all those other hiring managers out there who feel the same way. But please, use these powers for good and not evil.

Thing 1: I want to hire you. Desperately. I am not doing you a favor.

You are a hot commodity you qualified candidate, you. You are rarer and more beautiful than a double rainbow. There are few things more joyful to a hiring manager than to read a well-written application that says “I read your job ad. I can do that job, specifically. Here’s why. I like your specific company because of these reasons. And, witty personal anecdote!” I will hire your ass so fast it’ll make your head spin. Negotiate with me. I’ll buckle. First, you need to get me to understand that’s who you are.

Thing 2: I am conflicted because I’m also looking for reasons not to hire you.

Yeah, I know. Kinda sick. I have this very limited time to review your application. I need to make a huge, sweeping judgment about you based on just a few minutes of reviewing your application. Spellcheck. Double check my company name. This is easy. Just take a minute to make sure that you’re applying to the right company for the right job and that you use good grammar and spell everything correctly. Easy, right? Yeah, actually do what I just said. Also…

Thing 3: Write a (genuine) cover letter.

It’s a hassle. You’re applying to a lot of jobs. Do it anyway if you have the opportunity. Write me a note and say something that lets me know that you’re actually interested in working for me, specifically. Talk about the job (get the title right) and the company (e.g., Zappos has great customer service, right? Say that.) You don’t need to list all of your qualifications or even try too hard to sell me. Just let me know you read the ad (or however you heard about us) and why you’re actually qualified to accomplish the main requirements of the job.

But show some personality. Now, this varies from company to company, but I think there’s a fairly universal dislike of the “You can see from my resume that I have all the skills required…” formality. That’s as close to not writing a cover letter as you can get while still using up part of your life to do it. I’ll love you more if you say “While asynchronous programming was a mind-bender to learn, I love the incredible speed I can get out of it.” Wow, it is weird. And fast. You’re hired!

Thing 4: Be honest.

I will immediately zero-in on such things as you trying to hide that you went to a 12-week programming cram school. My best developers have been coding for years. Don’t try to tell me you learned what they know in 12 weeks. There’s no shame in changing careers, but don’t try to fake me out. Just come out and say “I love coding so much, I did this cram school, and I learned a lot about Ruby and single-page apps. I want to learn more!”

Same for time off or your responsibilities at your previous job. You weren’t working for six months? OK. Did you learn anything? Tell me that. And if you were a project manager, don’t pretend to have been a developer. Eventually, we’ll find out, and we’re all going to have to sit in awkward silence while you put your stuff back in your folder and leave. Eesh.

Thing 5: Be relevant.

Don’t try to blind me with acronyms. You are not a master of every possible one of those 32 JXM, CLI, ABC, FBI things. You maybe are really good at a couple and decent at half a dozen. The rest are just keyword spam. They effectively erase the ones that I really wanted to see. I just see a big blurry block of letters. I hate you now because my head hurts. Good job.

Look at your resume and reword things to fit the requirements of the job. If this is a Ruby coding job, I’m just not going to be that psyched to see that you’ve mastered every obscure library from the bowels of whatever hell C++ springs from. Maybe you could focus on your general mastery of object-oriented programming or some Python work you’ve done. Just take a minute to consider “how does this support my application?” and reword accordingly (while keeping thing #4 in mind, natch.)

So, there you go, five of the approximately infinity things you should keep in mind when applying for a job– particularly in the tech world. It is an unsubstantiated fact that I just made up that easily 95% of applicants do not follow these basic steps. Misspellings, bad grammar, obvious lies or deception, and spammy mass applications just set off the warning bells and set your application back. You might shine through, but why start with demerits right out of the gate?

Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below. If you’re a hiring manager, you might also want to check out my post Let Me Work For You: The Five Insights on the Perfect Job Listing.

 

At The Airport In My Underwear: Getting Your Life Back From Work

Last night I had a dream that I’d forgotten that I needed to fly to Las Vegas one more time, even though I didn’t work there anymore. People were calling me asking me when I’d arrive. I was at home, couldn’t find my ticket, and everyone was waiting for me to show up “to get started”. It was the classic “I’ve forgotten that I had one more test to take before they’d issue my degree” dream all over again. I’m surprised I didn’t look down to find I was standing at the airport in my underwear.

A couple of weeks ago, I reached my breaking point with a job that hadn’t been working for me anymore, and I quit. Now, it wasn’t like I was just fine one day and out of work the next. My departure had been some weeks or months in the making. Still, one day I was had a job, and the next day I didn’t.

Part of my leaving my job was that I’d been commuting, essentially every week, for five years from Portland, where I live, to San Francisco or Las Vegas, where I worked. That commute had become habit. Usually, Wednesday morning, I’d wake up around 5:AM, slap together my bag, stumble out into the dark, and drive myself to the airport. I’d fly off to work, sometimes forgetting mid-flight where I was headed, and stay for the rest of the week.

I’d learned to do things like take pictures of everything. It’s a terrible feeling to come back to your hotel and not know what room you’re in, leave a meeting and not be able to identify your rental car, or arrive at the airport and not remember if you took a cab or drove– or where you left your car if you did drive. Taking those pictures, wearing TSA-approved shoes, and pre-departure inventory process (wallet, check; phone charger, check; boarding pass, check) became second nature in my road warrior lifestyle.

It also became second nature to say ‘no’ to a lot of things. Sadly, one of those things was time with my family. Since my schedule varied, and I never really knew too far ahead of time where I’d be during the week, my default answer was ‘no’ to school events, lessons, or even birthday parties. Their mother would have to deal with all of that so that I could make the money to pay for things.

Working remotely on the days I didn’t travel had the same chilling effect. Part of the deal I’ve made when I work remotely is that I’ve tried to be available as much as possible. I’m an advocate of remote work, but I think there’s some responsibility on the remote worker to ease concerns that he’s not abusing the situation. Answer texts and calls. Respond to emails. Attend meetings via Skype or Google Hangout. Be present, even if you’re not physically there.

As a result, the default answer to activities away from home was also ‘no’. I could do quick things like laundry, make meals, or turn the water on in the garden, but it was a mental struggle to pull myself away long enough to take the kids to the park, bring them to the doctor, or even just go outside with them for a while. And yet, most often, I’d find myself declining such things and then just sitting at my computer doing work that I could have done when I got back or after they’d gone to bed.

What’s been surprising to me is how hard it’s been to shake some of these feelings since leaving my job. I still find myself compulsively drawn to checking my computer frequently. For what, exactly? I’m not actively looking for a job for the next couple of months, so any employment or consulting opportunities that come up aren’t going to require urgent response, even if they were compelling enough that I’d like to pursue them. Everything can wait.

I’ve spent several days with my kids since I left my job– going for bike rides to the park, getting frozen yogurt, or exploring the museum. Pretty mundane and incredibly enjoyable stuff. Each time, though, I’ve had to push myself a little bit to just go. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, and it really doesn’t matter. Somewhere inside me, though, there’s a voice still saying “whoa, wait a minute, slacker, what if someone calls? Are you sure you don’t have a meeting? Is everything done that needs doing? Just check your email one more time.”

As I write this, I’m sitting in Sun Valley on a weekend getaway. I couldn’t take weekend getaways when I was working because every week was a getaway of sorts. When I was home, I wanted to see my kids. If I’d taken a weekend with my partner somewhere, I’d go nearly two weeks without spending time with my kids. We traveled a bit, but it was always an internal struggle to justify.

This experience has really shown me, yet again, that we need to keep saying ‘yes’ to our personal lives. A few days of vacation are nice, but they don’t give you the time you need to reset your brain from all the habits and stressors that build up in our hard-driving work lives. We are so often the proverbial frog in the pot of water, not noticing the heat increasing until it’s too late.

Without proper care, your mind and body will have had enough. It’ll manifest itself as burnout, illness, addiction, or some other self-limiting behavior that forces you to pull over and take a break. Decent vacations, exercise, time with family, and sufficient rest aren’t optional. They’re necessary relief valves that keep us connected to reality and our social networks, performing at our best, and happy for the long term.

Ronald Wayne, Apple, and Why You Should Never Feel Regret

Some thoughts based on the meme floating around that Ronald Wayne is the unluckiest man alive. I have my doubts about that. Might have been this guy. But then again, maybe he’s the luckiest. I guess that’s my point.

Ronald Wayne, Apple, and Why You Should Never Feel Regret

Currently on Medium… just as an experiment. Not a good experiment.

Another Year Wiser

Today is my birthday.

A young friend was consoling me that I’m not “that old”. I disagree. I am exactly that old. And I wouldn’t go back if you paid me. That’s just a figure of speech, by the way, if you happen to have a time machine and a lot of extra money.

My point is that my life’s been interesting. I came from a backwoods mining town in northern Minnesota, lived in my car, put myself through school partially by working the night shift in a factory, attended a prestigious grad school to which I had apparently mistakenly been admitted, started businesses, got rich, got poor, lived overseas, got married, got divorced, had jobs I loved, and had jobs I hated.

Never, in all of my years, did I look back and think “I wish I hadn’t done that.” It was when things were darkest that I learned that most of the problem was not the situation but how I was reacting to it. Every thing I hated was inextricably tied to something else I loved. A person I met. An experience I had. A lesson I learned.

So today… I sit temporarily, voluntarily unemployed. I’ve found a city I can call home. I’m doing some more writing, hanging out with my kids, and happier than I’ve ever been. Or at least that’s the way it feels.

Because life’s all about change. We get older. It’s kind of like gravity. It just is. Not much point in being unhappy about it. Rather than be upset about how heavy things are, we can choose to be thankful that we’re not flying off into space when we least expect it.

When you’re 40, if you go to the doctor, guess what? They don’t try to fix anything anymore. They stop trying to fix shit when you get to be 40. They don’t … they just go, “Yeah, that starts to happen.” They don’t care.
— Louis C.K., Chewed Up

Likewise, I choose to look back on my life and appreciate everything I’ve learned and the people I’ve met rather than my shitty ankle. I’ll just take my Aleve and go out and work in my garden to the best of my ability.

So, today’s my birthday, and I am exactly that old. And that’s perfect.

The Innovation Leap of Faith

“Innovation” has got to be one of the most overused, ambiguously-defined words of the modern day. What counts as innovation? Arranging desks in a new way to speed order processing? A new way to pack boxes in the warehouse that increases throughput? Post-its? The iPhone? The Internet?

Yes. All of those things. Any time people create value by implementing a new idea, they are innovating at some level. That’s why I’ve spoken on the idea of building a “culture of innovation” throughout a company. Innovation, far from being a lucky accident, is a process that can be planned and supported. And building it into the company culture can help everyone in the company think with an innovation mindset.

Working with an innovation mindset means not only seeing opportunities for improvement but understanding the process for bringing that idea to fruition and knowing that that idea has somewhere to go. Ideas are important, but they’re also a dime a dozen. Turning that idea into real value– for the company, the employees, or society– is hard.

Now, I’m not suggesting that those ideas shouldn’t be treated with respect. One of the first things I did in my role leading the start of the innovation circle at Zappos was to build an idea management system to open up communication, record great (and not so great) ideas, and give everyone an opportunity to register their input and interest in working on the ideas.

But, typically, the person with the idea isn’t the person who can make it real. An engineer might have an idea for advertising in a new way, but they don’t have the ability to make those changes or the knowledge to understand the ramifications of such a thing. What’s more, a real disruptive innovation, like a new line of business, takes many people working together and a pile of money to give that idea even a chance of seeing the light of day.

A real culture of innovation requires a concerted effort to connect, educate, and support everyone in the company to give their ideas a fighting chance. It requires leadership to make decisions about what’s worth investment and to explain clearly why (or why not). None of those pieces are going to happen spontaneously. They need to be planned, tested, iterated, and continuously supported.

Building that culture of innovation also isn’t free. Resources must be allocated to manage those cross-functional connections, training, tools, idea vetting, and investments required to manifest the employee or customer ideas. And those resources must be evaluated differently than an investment in a new machine or additional headcount in a production department.

Data is an input to help you define a strategy or modify it, but cannot replace what is inherently the uncertain side of innovation.
— Steven Sinofsky, Andreesen Horowitz
Data is not always a substitute for strategy

This is where real, talented, visionary management is required. This investment in innovation must be made, to a large degree, on faith that it is the right thing to do. When Zappos committed to empowering their customer service reps to do what it took to make their customers happy, it was swimming against the current of customer service of the time. No scripts, no upselling, no time limits on calls? Tony Hsieh knew that it was the right thing to do, even if there were no metrics to graph to prove it. That vision has paid off handsomely for Zappos, the standard bearer for quality customer service.

Even Intel, the microprocessor king, once faced a strategic decision point, memory vs. microprocessors, that was not only uncertain but actually clouded by available data. Andy Grove had to step back and ask himself what he thought was the best choice for the future of the company and got out of the memory business.

[Intel’s Andy] Grove’s story reveals a flaw in the way many experts think about decisions. If you review the research literature on decisions, you’ll find that many decision-making models are basically glorified spreadsheets.
Chip and Dan Heath, Decisive

Both choices may seem obvious now, but they weren’t at the time. They were expensive, unpopular with many, and flew in the face of many interpretations of a good investment. Still, these leaders believed in the underlying principle and potential of their choices and stood by them.

In the same vein, a systematic investment in supporting a culture of innovation will yield long-term dividends that may be difficult to attribute directly to those investments. And while individual projects can be treated with the Lean methodology, for instance, and steered by the star of objective data, the investment in the larger supportive structure must be seen as investment in maximizing the potential of all employees– something you just can’t measure.

 

Hating the Dalai Lama

Some years ago, the Chinese government said that the Dalai Lama “has not only refused to admit his monstrous crimes, but he has continued to perpetuate fraud.” The Dalai Lama! Have you ever heard or read anything the Dalai Lama has said? It is almost exclusively about giving of yourself, love for your fellow being, and finding peace and forgiveness. Yet, the Chinese government hates the guy.

The president with the highest approval ratings on record? George W. Bush at 92% (right after 9/11). The president with the lowest approval ratings on record? George W. Bush. I guess we couldn’t decide if he was awesome or terrible.

Ghandi has been credited with freeing India of British colonialism as well as lying in bed with his grand-niece to test his ability to resist getting an erection. There have been entire essays written about how awful Mother Teresa was.

Steve Jobs has been called “rude, dismissive, hostile, [and] spiteful” and he said Bill Gates “shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas.” These are two of the most influential technology figures of the modern age. Jerks, apparently. Both of them. But you must admit, they did some interesting stuff.

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.
— Colin Powell

One thing that I’ve been reminded of recently is that it is not possible to please everyone and trying to isn’t a good thing. Consensus isn’t about making everyone happy. It’s about avoiding conflict, and so pulls to the dull, gray mean. Sometimes, that’s OK– like deciding what’s for lunch. Sometimes it’s not– like deciding where to lead your team or where to lead your own life.

My suggestion? Stop trying to be everything to everyone. Do what you think is right for you and accept that you are the only one who knows what that is. I’m not saying that you should be a selfish pig. This isn’t the short version of The Fountainhead. Deciding what’s right to me also involves considering how my actions will impact those around me. That’s part of my equation.

What I am saying is that trying to please too many people ultimately leads to pleasing no one, least of all yourself. You can listen to people. Respect their opinion. Consider it in the light of the facts and your beliefs. And then do what you think is right, knowing that there will be people who don’t like it. Because, the reality is, that will be true no matter what you do.

Respect others, but don’t shy away from expressing your opinion and making difficult decisions that some people won’t like. It’s called integrity, and it’s the basis of good parenting, good leadership, and a good life.

There’s No Such Place As Flatland

Flatland is a book written by Edwin A. Abbott about a two-dimensional world in which the nobility suppress the truth of three dimensions for the purposes of keeping their world order. As much as the story of two dimensions is convenient and comforting to the citizens, it simply isn’t true. Rather than adapt to the reality of the world, the leadership goes to great lengths to suppress the truth and pacify the population. They don’t like that third dimension, so they pretend it isn’t there.

I am not a fan of, or believer in, flat organizational structures. Holacracy, a dialect of which we practiced at Zappos, is not flat by any means. But I also don’t believe that the places that claim to be flat (e.g., Valve, Treehouse) really are. The reality of any organization larger than a few people is that managers are a required (and desirable) feature. Calling them something else is just disingenuous.

No less than Google set out to prove that managers were evil a few years ago, but what they found surprised even them.

Google research found that not only are managers a critical component to corporate structure—but that good managers increased job satisfaction, retention and employment within their groups and the organization as a whole.

— Forbes: Google’s Failed Quest To Prove Managers Are Evil — And Why You Should Care

I suspect that in many cases, the term “manager” is interpreted to mean a caricature of a bumbling, micro-managing overseer. In reality, a good manager spends their “people” time on things like removing roadblocks, dealing with administrative issues, effective hiring, and mentoring employees on how best to achieve their objectives. None of that should fall on the shoulders of non-managers, if only because all require specialized skills that are definitely not universal. It also takes a great deal of time that other team members could be spending doing what they’re good at.

Indeed, the whole idea that a company of any size can run well without managers is non-sensical. Someone has to establish vision, coordinate parallel work, plan strategy, determine budgets, monitor progress of the larger whole, etc. Those are managerial activities, and the only way to remove the manager from that equation is to call her something else. She’s a mentor. He’s a cross-functional liaison. She’s a group representative to the council of elders.

Demonizing the overt manager is also dangerous because it leads to a hypocrisy of implied management by the most influential employees or, maybe worse, management by consensus. We do not want to walk into the operating room and have the surgeon ask everyone where they think she should start cutting. Likewise, a skilled manager has learned from experience what works, what doesn’t, and how to facilitate the best from his team.

Obviously, all of this presumes that the company hires good managers. The best engineer does not necessarily make the best engineering manager. There is often a tendency to promote people to their level of incompetency, and that leads to a perception that it is the role that’s the problem and not the person filling it. After all, she was the best engineer in the department. It is assumed that that she should therefore be the right person to lead the team. Unfortunately, while she might be an excellent lead engineer or architect, real management skills do not come naturally to everyone.

Instead of closing our eyes and wishing the often ambiguous, difficult, and required tasks of management away, we need to acknowledge management as a wide variety of disciplines best performed by experienced people with the specific skills necessary to do them well.

Companies should accept responsibility that a controlling, vindictive, or incompetent manager is no different than an engineer who can’t code. The problem is not with the job, it’s with the person filling it and the people who hired him. We needn’t try to pretend to eliminate a required function to achieve flexibility, autonomy, equitable treatment, or any of the other stated objectives of flat organizations. A flat company, like a flat world, is just fiction.

 

How I Quit My Job Without Another One Lined Up, or Why You Really Shouldn’t Have That Affair

A few days ago, after another discussion with my boss that set new standards in irony, I found myself sitting in front of my computer, unable to do anything productive. Open mail; close mail; open Facebook; close Facebook; check my calendar; get up to make another cup of coffee.

In my head, I was imagining myself doing something else— solving interesting problems, consulting with appreciative clients, mentoring an engaged team on achieving a common vision. I imagined myself believing in my work. I was picturing myself a happy, productive person in an alternative universe where the happy, productive people live. This was not that place and never would be. A few minutes later, I had quit my job.

I’d just committed the mortal employment sin of quitting my job without having gotten another first. Now, I should say that I’d been thinking about leaving my job for quite some time. I knew I had three choices: stay and pretend to believe our strategy, stay and complain about how dissatisfied I was to anyone who’d listen, or leave and do something else. I’d been trying the first two for months now. I’d also tried different configurations of responsibilities, talked to the executives about options, and engaged in side projects. Leaving was the only choice that made any sense anymore.

When you only have one choice, anything else is just stalling. So, I quit.

I did it because a job is a relationship, and once you’ve imagined yourself happy outside of a relationship, it’s nearly impossible to go back to it. That applies to marriages, and it applies to jobs. Only instead of picturing myself happily sailing down the Pacific Coast Highway on a motorcycle with a beautiful woman leaning on my back, I was imagining myself passionately engaged in my work, and it sounded just about as nice.

Still, I’ve always been told that I should never leave a job until I had another one. What would potential employers think? So, before I resigned, I looked up a few jobs that sounded like good fits and applied. Luckily, I was asked to come in for interviews for all three. All started with phone calls, moved on to in-person interviews, and for a while, things looked promising. I’d have a job, and it’d be a step up in my career.

Soon, though, reality set in. While one had promise because of a European connection— the possibility of interesting travel and cultural challenges– the interview process was discouraging. Another started strong with the team and went all the way through to the CEO before I learned that the executives have been unable to successfully fill the role for years due to issues of control and job definition. The last one went well all around, but the position was too junior for my taste, and we agreed to keep talking when something more senior came up.

So while all had promise, I’ve remained (luckily, I think now) unemployed for the time being. When you break-up after a long relationship, there’s a tendency for that rebound relationship or, worse, the affair. Fear of being alone leads us to jump in bed (sometimes literally) with the next person who will have us, but those relationships often end in ugliness or continue in a new, different kind of misery.

We need to take the time to stop and remember who we are. What are we really passionate about? What did we compromise on and pretend to like for our partner (or job). Stop and look at the world; it’s unbelievably huge and diverse. There are infinite opportunities if only we’ll open our eyes to them. You don’t have to date the first attractive person who asks you out and then spend your time trying to make it work.

Ultimately, I couldn’t really focus on choosing the right next job with my head stuck in the fog of the current one. As much as I loved the people I worked with, the reality was that, for me, it simply wasn’t the right job at the right time. I was starting to blame other people for my unhappiness. I’d compromised too much, and I was starting to forget why I’d taken the job in the first place and the feeling of being in control of my life.

The only way to remember was to stop, take a step back, and let go of all of those stories for a while. My job was great at first, but life is all about change. To be happy, we need to accept that and let it happen. I am not my past, my job, or my relationship. I am what I feel and do right now. And for today, I am just a man working in his garden, getting some exercise, and spending time with his children. I will find another job. Or write a book. Or start another company. And when I do, it’ll be the right choice at the right time.

“Each of us lit…

“Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.”

William James nails it on the effect that attitude has on one’s “reality.” If you think people are asses, they will be. If you think people are decent, that’s what you’ll get.

Holacracy Training Take-away #37b: You can’t fix stupid.

I’ve just returned from a four-day Holacracy practitioner training session in Las Vegas. I am now a bit more informed than I was when I spewed forth in my original posts. Hopefully.

Take-away #37b:

• People will manifest their tendencies under any organizational framework.

Holacracy does not *prevent* anyone from doing much of anything in that regard. If you’re a caretaker, micro-manager, criticizer, or other toxic presence, you will find ways to exhibit that tendency in Holacracy. It’s actually not that hard to game the system. Just blurt stuff out, answer the questions the way you know you need to answer them to get your way, or end-around the whole thing. If you didn’t like someone embarrassing you in front of everyone in the office under the traditional hierarchy, you’re not going to enjoy it any more under Holacracy.

Interestingly, the self-aware <fill in undesirable-trait-haver> could simply avoid demonstrating their trait in the context of the governance or tactical meetings (the cornerstones of the holacractic process). They could choose display them the other 90% of the week in person, in emails, and in IMs of various ilks and avoid shining the light of The Process on them. It is likely, though, that these types, like serial killers, simply can’t help themselves. They’ll want to get in there and do their “thing” in front of everyone at the meetings. It just feels sooo good to scratch that itch.

Hopefully, the structured contexts will give those traits greater visibility to the team, and they’ll be seen for what they are. If someone needs to shoot down every idea, they’ll need to stand in the spotlight and do it in front of everyone or get a ruthless shushing by a good facilitator. If he wants to persistently shift and adjust expectations on someone, he’ll be expected to propose those changes out loud and the target will have a voice to object. The problem child will still act out, but it’ll be harder to use the old tricks to rationalize and hide it.

Maybe that will make them easier to root out.

And then, maybe not. Ask me in a year or so.