The Kmiec Ramblings

Tag Archive: LinkedIn

Credibility

Written on April 30, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Misc.

Have you heard the phrase, “Instant Credibility?” Me too. Conceptually, I understand what it means. For years I always believed that my resume and body of work should afford me some level of credibility. It does in some circles. That history is what gets me invited to participate in books, conferences, and panels. If you will, I’ve got industry credibility.

Ok – that’s nice. But, industry credibility really doesn’t help you with the people you work with. Your body of work, the references you have, and your resume get you the interview, but they don’t get you the job. You’ve got to earn the job, by establishing some level of credibility with the people who are doing the evaluating.

Even once you have the job – your previous experience, accomplishments, and accolades while nice, don’t really give you credibility. You have to earn credibility. I recently joined MARC USA as the Director of Interactive Marketing Innovation. While it would be nice to have “instant credibility.” The fact is, that’s just not realistic. Everyday in the office, every conversation, every email, every presentation are chances to build credibility. I/we have to prove ourselves as worthy of the hire.

When I was younger, this frustrated the hell out of me. Now, it excites the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, there are still times where I feel my body of work should be reason enough to validate a decision, point of view, recommendation, or decision. However, when that happens, I remind myself that I haven’t earned their trust yet.

That’s really the essence of credibility – TRUST. Who you are and what you”ve done don’t really matter unless people trust you. It’s their trust that allows you to be credible. Earning trust isn’t easy. It doesn’t happen overnight. Nope, it’s often a painstaking and lengthy process, but it can be a lot of fun. It’s a challenge. If who you are and what you”ve done is the appetizer – what you actually do when you’re hired is the meal.

People need to see up close and personal your value. With the rise of “social media” and a wide open (gulp) transparent web we’re constantly being evaluated. Every tweet, status update, and blog post is being reviewed and added to what someone already knows about you (eg your LinkedIn profile). Every interaction, small or big, is under scrutiny. That doesn’t mean you should change what you say and who you are. Just the opposite. I’d argue you should be the person you are, wherever you are, whenever you are. Be authentic. You just need to understand the consequences.

Credibility is something we all want. Take my word for it – it doesn’t come fast, it doesn’t come easy, and it doesn’t come cheap. You can’t buy it. You’ve got to earn it. Start now.

Tags: Advice, Credibility, LinkedIn, MARC USA, Resume

Quality Over Quantity – 5 Good Friends Are Better Than 100 Bad Ones

Written on September 22, 2008 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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When I was a kid, my parents frequently reminded me that if I could count the number of good friends I had on one hand, I was lucky. They stressed the value in maintaining strong, close, personal relationships with a select few individuals rather than trying to be friends with everyone. Additionally, there was a continued reminder that there is a big difference between friends and acquaintances.

I have 3 friends, 3 real friends. Beyond that, I have a ridiculous amount of acquaintances. Hell, on Facebook alone I have over 100. I enjoy getting messages in my Facebook inbox, seeing responses to my tweets, and reading responses to my blog posts. However, when it comes to real quality conversation I turn to my friends. They listen better. They offer better feedback. They already know me. It’s a better conversation.

Ok, so what does have to with anything relevant to you? Think about the blogs you read, the people you follow on Twitter, and of course the people updates of your “friends” on Facebook. How much of that information is actually useful, interesting, and worth checking out in detail? 5%? 10%? 15%? I’ll be you it’s small. I’ll be generous, let’s call it 30%. Even at the number, 70% of the information you are subjected to is useless. That’s a lot of noise, don’t you think?

This is really similar to the number of ads consumers are subjected to on a daily basis. They come into contact with hundreds, if not thousands of ads a day. I’ll guarantee you that less than 30% of those ads are useful, interesting, and worth checking out in detail. We purchase gadgets like Tivo and switch to things like satellite radio so that we can avoid the noise. So that we can avoid the 70%.

Why then do we seek out noise online? Is it for pride? Do we feel better about ourselves because have 500+ connections on LinkedIn? What value is there in those connections if 459 aren’t useful?

I’m a sponge and I encourage you to be a sponge and soak up the knowledge online. However, with the number of hours in a day fixed at 24 I seek ways to simplify and streamline the information I’m absorbing. Starting this week, I’m going to be even more selective in:

Who I accept connection from on LinkedIn
The friends I accept on Facebook
The blogs I read
The people I follow on twitter

I encourage you to do the same.

Tags: Facebook, Friends, LinkedIn

How Not To Contact Someone About a Job

Written on July 16, 2008 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising, Misc.

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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.

Tags: Career, Facebook, Jobs, LinkedIn