Changing Fast

I was a guest feature writer in the Detroit Free Press 7/19/2010

     

 

 

 

Submit Your Resume | Download My vCard | Get My Job Openings |

How to Harness Social Networks and Branding Yourself Online Video

This video is from my speaking engagement at the LA2M event in Ann Arbor July 7 2010

This video is from my speaking engagement at the LA2M event in Ann Arbor July 7 2010

Submit Your Resume | Download My vCard | Get My Job Openings |

Thank you Google

I am amazed how many people, in general, are not aware of Google applications— "cloud computing"— and how integrated they are. I cannot work any longer without their apps at this point. Google right now has over one million businesses running Google apps.  Below is an overview showcasing some of Google’s applications. Let me start with Add event invitation and this will go with the email and at the same time, put it into your Google calendar. When your party see’s the email, they will have the option to hit yes or no after you…

I am amazed how many people, in general, are not aware of Google applications— "cloud computing"— and how integrated they are. I cannot work any longer without their apps at this point. Google right now has over one million businesses running Google apps.  Below is an overview showcasing some of Google’s applications.

Let me start with  Thier email service is integrated with Google docs, calendar, and contacts. One of my favorite tools in Gmail is the Add event—  "watch out Microsoft" — it works just like Outlook. When composing an email for a meeting, you can hit the  Add event invitation and this will go with the email and at the same time, put it into your Google calendar. When your party see’s the email, they will have the option to hit yes or no after you send it and will go right into your calendar as accepted or not. One of the coolest things you can do with Gmail is to go under Mail Settings and there you will find Google labs, this is where you can tweak your Gmail with many different tools that can enhance your productivity. Gmail, by far, is the fastest email system out there with Google technology for searching your email history.
 

This is my favorite application and foe to Microsoft! — but that is a another post. Google docs is my repository for everything, docs, pdfs, powerpoint, excel, webpages - you can create your own forms also. The simplest way to explain Google docs: " Microsoft Office but for free." You can create and save in all Microsoft format’s along with pdf format. If you don’t want to upload the document, you can simply cut and paste it in. "Lol," evertime I try to copy and paste something into a word document, it will be unformatted - with Google docs not only will it format correctly, but it will also come with all the images and web-links.

It is great for grabbing a webpage, it looks virtually just like what you see on the web. Just hit "select all" on the webpage, then copy and paste into Google docs. You can also share your documents with others, and this is a real life saver when you are working with several people on the same document. When you share the document, you email the other parties that will be working on it with you. When everyone accepts, then all parties will be looking at the same document. This way you will see who edited what, instead of re-emailing the document every time there is a revision. When you compose an email, Google docs has an option to attach a document from your email— again integrated. 

Note: you can set permissions for edit or read only when adding others.

Google docs in plain english

 

Calendar is the only way I get things done every day!  Between Calendar and Google contacts, it is becoming more like my contact manager. I find myself using less and less my Act Contact Manager software. Google Calendar has multiple view’s: month, week, day, and agenda. It is also integrated with Gmail. On the left of the pane you have my calendars, for example: you can have a work, book club, or family calendar and this way you can look at other calendars, or even have their calendar integrate with yours if you set up permission to do so. On the right of the pane you have your tasks list.  When you print out your calendar you have many options on how to format.

A real plus for blackberry users: you can sync your calendar and contacts with your Blackberry automatically. Google Sync works with many other phones also.

 

 

Google Bookmarks is similar to other online bookmark sites, but the major difference is it’s integrated with your other Google tools. The first thing you do before you start using it is to download Google toolbar or grab the Google bookmark button and drag it to your browser tray; you can bookmark right from the toolbar. It also allows you to get to other Google tools in a snap. When you bookmark, a window will pop up and you can create labels and categorize the sites—of course all bookmarks are indexed for search.

 

  Web History is what I call the brain, ha. It basically records every click you make on-line. I love it! For example: I forgot to bookmark something from yesterday that I want to look up again, no need to worry anymore. I simply go to web-history and to the right is a calendar, click on the day you want to go back to and there you will be able to browse by time of day. To the left of the page you will have a list of choice’s to search by: Web, images, news, products, video, maps…this is a nice feature when you want to segment your web history. The trends button below is pretty cool too, it will show you your top queries, sites, and clicks.

I do want to acknowledge that some people have a problem with allowing Google to track your evey move online. What I say to candidates and students is, "If you are not doing anything illegal you have nothing to worry about."  

Note: Firefox and Explorer both have privacy mode options if you don’t want to be tracked. You can also remove any history you don’t want on there. My value proposition is, "there is more gain in allowing them to do it than not."

 

 Picasa is better, in my opinion, than Apple Iphoto as it is integrated into other Google tools, online and off. You can go to Picasa from from anywhere on Google. It will be in the left corner under photos. Next download Picasa application — pc or mac— to your computer. This is where you really see the power of Picasa! At the bottom of the Image you have all the options to edit the image, email, print, blog it, create a movie, or print. When you first download Picasa you will have the option to what Picasa indexes on your hard-drive. I choose everything, it was amazing! All my faxes, scanned images, movies, and camera images were all indexed by date and folder.

What I just showed you is a small sample of what Google has to offer. I mean, come on folks, creating a Google operating system online vs. having everything on your hard-drive? I think the right choice is clear! On top of it all your content on Google, for the most part,  you can backup!   List of Google products.

"This is where everything is going "with or without ya!"

I want everyone to take an interest in "Cloud Computing" to understand what it means, because essentially that is what Google is doing. All of the tools I discussed is sitting in the clouds, "Love the pun".

On a personal note, I am trying to rally my family into to using all the google tools. I have 4 children 18,15,13 and 5, yes I said 5 years old. My wife and I are integrating our google calendars to minimize any confusion. Having such a big family , this will make all of our lives allot easier if we all our connected online.  lol , my teenagers will not have an excuse anymore forgetting there chores or commitments. Gonna love that!

Besides headhunting -I train,lecture on this very subject I have discussed. I have seen companies excel after I have trained them to harness the power of these tools - you can to!

Important Note: I hope I never hear again a candidate tell me "I left my resume on my home computer, I will email to you  later….

 

Submit Your Resume | Download My vCard | Get My Job Openings |

Interview from hell!

I want to break down an interview I sent a talented candidate on; the events that played out were completely avoidable. This was a new client, an agency of record for a couple of major brands. This would be the first candidate I sent to interview with this well-known agency. I was very confident that this was a match made in heaven for my client and candidate - until the day of the interview.

I want to break down an interview I sent a talented candidate on; the events that played out were completely avoidable. This was a new client, an agency of record for a couple of major brands. This would be the first candidate I sent to interview with this well-known agency. I was very confident that this was a match made in heaven for my client and candidate - until the day of the interview.

I asked my candidate to call me when the interview was over. I see on my caller ID it’s him and, confident that I will be getting feedback from a positive meeting, I asked how it went.  Well, there was air over the phone and I knew from that point on, everything was going downhill from there. He proceeds to break down his interview, where he was scheduled to meet with three senior-level management people, and tells me:

"Well Collin, the first thing I did not care for was the hour long wait in the lobby. The receptionist did not even ask me if I would like coffee or water, nor apologized for the wait." (First impressions are lasting.)

“I finally get to the first interview and he seemed frazzled from the meeting he just came from.  He proceeds to tell me he did not have my resume, nor has he had time to look it over. He muddles through our interview, interrupts to take a call, and then cuts things short to make an important meeting." (Nice.)

I said, "Ok, how did the next person you met with go?"

"He was a no show - was stuck off site. His assistant walked me to the other side of the building for my last interview, and as I was walking past the cubicles, there seemed to be a negative vibe."

“I finally arrived to my last interview and the questions she asked did not relate to what I was interviewing for. On top of that, she seemed to be more interested in the sound of her own voice and accomplishments. The icing on the cake was the comment she made to me towards the end of the interview. She said, ‘ we needed you yesterday. We all are working late and my client is not happy with us at the moment.’ "  (Wow.)                                                                                                                                                                                                      

"I’m going to pass on this company Collin. I was really excited about the opportunity and heard great things from colleagues. But it is very clear that at the moment, the company is going through some issues that I just as soon avoid. I’m going to stay where I am."

This company is fundamentally sound and has great clients, yet has not taken an interest in how they represent themselves in the interview process. Companies need to take just as much of an interest in what is going on internally, as they do externally with their clients. Focusing on your company brand is critical to recruiting and retaining top talent. 

Here are a few suggestions to ensure your interview process is successful:

• Set the tone that interviews are a priority.
• Make sure your administrator clears the interviewer’s schedule so they will have appropriate time to spend with the candidate, along with no interruptions.
• Develop internal training on how to effectively interview candidates.
• After each interview, assess how the experience went for the candidate.

Note: Top talent will always be in high demand - whether we are in a good or bad economy.

Submit Your Resume | Download My vCard | Get My Job Openings |

You ran into a great contact-now you can kick yourself!

  I cannot tell you how many times I could of kicked myself after running into a potential client or great contact I had been trying to connect with for the past year, now he’s standing 6 feet away from me in the grocery store, and I blow it!     I walked past him and said, "Hello, how are you tonight?" The only thing going through my head at that moment was, "I cannot believe I let that opportunity fall right through my hands!" I was not prepared for any situation to present itself and…

 

I cannot tell you how many times I could of kicked myself after running into a potential client or great contact I had been trying to connect with for the past year, now he’s standing 6 feet away from me in the grocery store, and I blow it!

 

 

I walked past him and said, "Hello, how are you tonight?" The only thing going through my head at that moment was, "I cannot believe I let that opportunity fall right through my hands!"

I was not prepared for any situation to present itself and it had. What I found so disappointing is how many times I allowed this scenario to play out over and over again.  Are you prepared to seize an opportunity anywhere at anytime? 

The first thing I conquered and resisted for a long time is memorizing my pitch. Yes, I said I memorized my pitch. If you don’t know your brand well enough to convey it in 30 seconds, then you need to work on it. Memorizing your pitch and making it your own helps the end result sound natural. I purchased 3 x 5 cards and started to break down my brand. I wrote down all the fundamentals of what I bring to the table, along with the typical objections people threw at me so I could overcome them. I made sure I knew what I provided as a service front, back, and sideways. I have memorized my presentation so many times that I am now prepared to deal with any situation that could be a potential opportunity. Over time, you hone in on what works and what doesn’t by trial and error.

Below is a list of questions to help you prepare for that unexpected golden opportunity:

• Know your brand - what separates you from the pack?
• Are you prepared to overcome objections to your service on the fly?
• Do you have a blog or website featuring what assets you bring to the table?           
• Do you have a business card on you? (This should always be on you!)
• Are you prepared to send information the next day?
• Is your LinkedIn and Facebook updated?
• Did you ask for a business card? (If they don’t have one on them always have a pen handy)

All the suggestions above are your supporting props!

Important: You will always be less inclined to approach someone if you are not well prepared to handle the situation. If you are not prepared, you will panic and allow the golden opportunity to slip away. Can anyone in this economy afford not to take advantage of all situations that might present itself?

*Being prepared = Confidence 

 This is one of the most important skills to have so you can be prepared to handle that unexpected event that presents itself. You will be confident and ready next time. It is mission critical to understand your brand and how you convey it to others.

Make your pitch a home run!

 

 

 

 

 

Submit Your Resume | Download My vCard | Get My Job Openings |

Transitioning from traditional to digital 360 talent

 I am amazed when I talk to some traditional talent they tell me, “I don’t know flash so I am not sure I can make the jump into digital."  Huh?  Of course you do not need to learn programming skills to get on the digital side of advertising unless you are a programmer.  What you need to do is take a proactive role in learning about the digital side of things. “It’s not rocket science folks," all the information is out there. Trust me.  Wikipedia is a great start to understanding…

 I am amazed when I talk to some traditional talent they tell me, “I don’t know flash so I am not sure I can make the jump into digital."  Huh?  Of course you do not need to learn programming skills to get on the digital side of advertising unless you are a programmer.  What you need to do is take a proactive role in learning about the digital side of things. “It’s not rocket science folks," all the information is out there. Trust me.  Wikipedia is a great start to understanding different terms you might not understand, for example the meaning of Digital Strategy.

 Video: Blogs in Plain English

 

Commoncraft.com is a great site with tutorials in plain English!  When you click on the link there will be a search window, put in the word “internet” and many tutorials will come up. Another example to try is: web-search-strategies.

 Learning more about search commands is going to help you on your quest to become a 360-integrated talent. For example, to show you how effective Google search commands are, put in slideshare: "social media."   As you can see above, I typed in the website name slideshare, after that I put in a colon, and from there I put in quotes, "social media."  This is key to getting a search return with information only about social media.  I cannot tell you how valuable slideshare.com is for any type of research you are doing, it is a great place to learn just about anything. Searching just within a specific website can be a real time saver!

Note: Start taking an interest in learning the basic search commands on Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Live.

I found a great blog called Googletutor.com http://www.googletutor.com/google-manual/ they explain it in a user friendly way.

Google commands open up a new world on how to get information about advertising and marketing knowledge.  Want to know about top advertising blogs? Just go to Google and type in exactly that. Google will give you the results you are looking for by asking it in a question format.  I do recommend you get the basic search commands down from Google, it will give you more exact information.

Ad Age’s Digital section is a great read every week. You can also find many bloggers in the digital space by using Google’s blog search engine for any interest you have.

There are too many brilliant traditional people out there that have so much to give to an agency, but are being let go because they are lacking digital background. I have seen many people make the transition to a 360-integrated talent.

Let’s not forget, "a great idea is a great idea."  What is most important is understanding the audience you are speaking to.

Important: There is no excuse if you are on the traditional side to not have an online portfolio - I don’t just mean creatives - anyone. Go to wordpress.com, find a theme you like, then create a blog. It is just like a website only you can control what’s added and change the content, and you no longer will be dependent on a programmer to help you. There is a user-friendly dashboard where you control your blog and the icing on the cake is, wordpress provides wordpress visual tutorials on how to build your blog from top to bottom.  All of my sites are on wordpress.

*Creating a blog shows any potential employer that you are with the program and gives you the oppurtunity to showcase your background.

 If you want to be a player in this business you need to be constantly changing fast. I sincerely mean this. You can see all around you everyday the advertising world is moving at breakneck speed. People and agencies in our business are being displaced like vinyl records.

Remember my clients are not usually just looking for digital experience; they are looking for talent that understands traditional also.  It is critical to understand all the ways of distributing information and content (360), we would be doing the client’s brand a disservice if we didn’t. I am hoping the day comes when I don’t have a need to say traditional or digital to define the talent. 

Look at it this way, “you are halfway there!”

 

I welcome your comments.

Submit Your Resume | Download My vCard | Get My Job Openings |