The Kmiec Ramblings

I love when the community takes something that already exists and makes it their own.  When that happens, you get something great like this:

The Joker and McDonald

Yes, seriously…we are on Part X and week 4.  Isn’t this getting a little ridiculous?  Part I can be found here, part II can be found here, part III can be found here, part IV can be found here, part V can be found here, part VI can be found here, part VII can be found here, part VIII can be found here, and part IX can be found here.

After my great experience with the NEW State Farm claims rep I thought we were headed towards a good experience.  Well, 3 business days passed, and still I didn’t hear from them.  So I did what I’ve continued to do; I called the body shop.  The body shop contact and I talked.  The control arm did NOT solve the problem 100%.  So now they are replacing the strut as well.  The saga continues and there does not seem to be an end in sight.

Just completed another WordPress upgraded.  As usual I nearly screwed it up.  Thank god for backups!

I hate mistakes in general.  But, I really hate making my own mistakes.  It irritates me to no end.  I made several mistakes today and I’m just not happy about it.  Most of the mistakes were small, but that compounds the issue.

Uggh.

In today’s world where information is very accessible I continue to find it perplexing that some recuiters clearly aren’t doing their jobs better. My LinkedIn profile is up to date.  My Facebook profile is open to the public.  My bio is available on both iMedia and on this site.  With all the information you have about me you should be able to laser focus only on jobs that are clearly in line with experience.

Today I received the following email from a recruiter:

“Hi Adam,

My name is [name] and I’m a recruiter with a company called [company name]. I came across your resume on LinkedIn today and am very interested in speaking with you about a job opportunity. The position is with a great advertising client in the Minneapolis area. This is a direct hire opportunity that offers great compensation, benefits and a highly creative atmosphere. I have attached the job description for your review.

If you are interested, please give me a call at your earliest convenience so we can discuss in further detail. If not, would you know of anyone who might be interested?

Thank you for your time,

[name]

So that sounds interesting and let’s be honest even if you are happy with your current job, you’d be foolish not to look. So I look at the position description that was attached and the following jumped out at me “Mid-Level to Senior Level positions available (3+ years of required experience). Senior Level people should be capable of leading large-scale integrated and interactive projects on national accounts. All applicants should have excellent multi-tasking skills, and can expect to juggle multiple projects and clients. ”

Why on Earth would you send a position requiring 3 years of experience to someone with 12? My response to the recruiter was:

“[name]

Thanks for thinking of me. But I’m not sure this is a great fit for me. I’ve got 12 years of experience and this position seems substantially more junior.

Adam”

I thought that was a nice, simple, truthful response. It was clear that the recruiter never took the time to look at my profile, understand what I’ve done, and what I’d like to be doing. Instead they simple did a blanket search for people in the Minneapolis area who have Interactive experience.

Folks, the web gives you so much useful information. Please take advantage of it.

We can learn something from anything and we should continually be trying to learn every day.  I firmly believe that.  My Facebook profile says, “My only real activity is consuming as much media and information as I possibly can each day. My brain never shuts off. I’m constantly thinkng, plotting, planning, and learning.” It’s true; that’s what I do every single day.

The other day, I blogged about one of my favorite movie quotes and all time business lessons, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”  That post got me thinking about all the other lessons we can learn from the movies.  With that in mind, here’s my list of 10 things you can learn…

10. Don’t Fake It, Learn It: You can fake anything for a short period of time. I’ve seen people fake “it” for years. Trust me, eventually it catches up to you. Eventually, you’ll find yourself in a situation where someone in the room, who’s smarter than you, calls you out. When that happens, you are indeed screwed.

9. Never Trade Your Reputation: If you lose everything else, you’ll be left with only your reputation. That reputation can help you get back on top quickly. A fantastic reputation will help you gain respect, earn opportunity, and maintain trust amongst those above you and those surrounding you.

8. Be Mindful of Gifts: Sometimes the lure of money can blind us. Cash, cars, bonuses, nice offices, assistants, etc. feel good, but it isn’t worth it if you sell your reputation to get those gifts.

7. Make Time to Train Your “Soldiers”: A well trained team can overcome even the most amazing odds. If we don’t make time to train and mentor those around us, above us, and below us we’ll eventually lose. Mentorship is very important and something we shouldn’t neglect.

6. The Little Things Matter: Every thing matters. The little things are often overlooked and when you have 1,000 little things that aren’t taken care of you can end up with several LARGE problems.

5. Solve Problems: Don’t look for excuses, don’t complain, don’t whine; look for solutions.  It’s easy to point out problems, but it’s a hell of a lot harder to figure out how to solve them.

4. Stay Hungry: Don’t rest on your laurels, don’t become complacent, don’t ever think you’ve finally made it. Someone is always hungrier. The minute you lose that hunger…you lose that edge; it’s really tough to get it back.

3. Make Time For Your Family: Jobs will come and go, but you’re family will always be there (for good or bad). All the spoils in the world mean nothing if you have no one to share them with. So make time to show your family how much they mean to you.

2. Get a Wingman: Everybody needs one. It’s too hard to go at it alone. Don’t look for someone who is 100% like you; it’s a recipe for failure because you’ll never get any alternative perspectives. Without an alternative perspective you might as well be talking to the mirror.

1. Keep Business and Personal Life Separate: In other words, it’s not personal, it’s just business. Don’t let your personal emotions enter the picture. Make your decisions based on the business needs, not personal. This of course means not hiring your friends, just because they’re your friends.

It’s one of my all time favorite quotes from The Godfather and in today’s cut throat business world it’s a lesson worth remembering. AskMen.com does a great job of breaking down what it means in business here.

I kid you not, part of a business school should be watching The Godfather along with several other movies. I’ve been thinking about doing a post on what we can learn about business from movies and today is the day I’ll start writing. I should have it completed by the end of the week.

Always loved this photo.  I took it March 12, 2003 using my Nikon F5 and Fuji Velvia 50  slide film.  You just can’t get warmth like this with digital.  Anyhow, hope your 4th is fantastic.