Anti-Establishment Career Advice

Throughout my career, I’ve been surrounded by men and women who pull a dick move with colleagues, associates, and leaders.

What’s a dick move? From Urban Dictionary.

An action by one male to another male friend which violates understood social expectations, especially where the transgressor obtains a slight advantage in comparison with a relatively large inconvenience imposed upon the aggrieved party.

I would quibble with the word male because women can perform a dick move. In fact, I’ve done it myself.

So let’s make a list of dick moves in the office.

• Taking credit for a project, task, or job when you don’t deserve that credit.
• Not standing up for a coworker in a meeting because you are afraid of the political ramifications.
• Undermining your boss for no reason other than the fact that he/she has more power than you.
• Drinking the last of the water and not replacing the five-gallon jug because you don’t feel like lifting it up.
• Parking in a handicapped spot even though you had foot surgery like six months ago and you’re totally fine.
• Listening to music at your cube knowing full well that it’s too loud but you don’t care because you’re in a NIN mood.
• Scheduling meetings early in the morning just because you know your boss hates to come in before 8:30 AM.
• Playing buzzword bingo out in the open and not even trying to stifle your laughter when someone says at the end of the day.
• Anonymously tweeting about your job and slamming your company even though it’s not really all that bad.
• Excessively hitting on a colleague, peer, or associate even when that person has turned you down and asked you to stop.

What am I missing? What dick moves have you pulled?

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This cracks me up because it looks like Scrubby.

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I have to tell you something. I always read HR Think Tank by Jason Davis.

I do.

I feel like it’s an under-appreciated website, but I know the readership is growing because posts are often shared on Twitter and Facebook.

Things that I like.

• Poor guy has the same name as the founder of Recruitingblogs. You would think that makes life tough, right? No way. This Jason J. Davis is kicking butt and taking names with fun and interesting posts.
• He’s a Human Resources and Project Management consultant. Look at his bio. Former military. Smart guy. I pay attention to people like that because they know what it means to operate in an environment that demands excellence.
• Jason is going to cycle against cancer. I saw it on Twitter. Another example of why he deserves a shout out.

Read his blog and follow him on Twitter — and do me a favor and recommend some new blogs that I might not be reading.

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From Natasha.

She has a question about when to tell her new boss that she’s interested in another internal opportunity.

Started my job at a new company less than 6 months ago. Primary role is essentially as an assistant. I have been doing side projects, with my direct boss’ blessing, involved in other areas of the company. I am pretty good at the projects I have been working on, and I really enjoy it.

A little birdie told me the corporate office (we are a branch) is hiring someone for a full-time role, doing what I have been working on, and suggested I throw my name in the hat.

My question: should I tell my boss I am interested prior to even talking to the guy who is posting the job? I don’t want to be sneaky, I feel I have earned his trust. ( also he is a top dollar producer and NO one wants to piss him off).

What do you think?

Natasha

Hi, Natasha. Most companies have a rule that you have to be in your new job for 12 months before you can apply for another internal job. I’d check that out. Also, I would be careful because the SVP may have his/her own reasons for planting this new opportunity in your ear.

Check out your right to post for the job, check out the relationship between the SVP and your current boss, and proceed with caution.

Best,
Laurie

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I’m not sure if I told you guys that I sold my house in Kalamazoo. We are over the moon.

Naturally, this means I am ready to spend money I don’t have and take a proper vacation with my husband. With all of our global travel, we have monster frequent flier miles.

• He’s never been to Paris.
• I’ve never been to Vienna.
• We both like the beach.

If money were no object, where would you go? Where have you been that you loved? Where should we avoid?

Give me your thoughts!

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I hate public speaking. You have no idea. One of the ways I try to master my fear, beyond taking Xanax and Klonapin, is through practice. I also dream about running my car into a shallow lake.

So I presented at Ignite Raleigh 2 on Wednesday night. Do you know what Ignite is? You have five minutes and twenty slides to tell a story. It’s like a def jam poetry slam for geeky people who like social media & other topics.

Here’s my practice reel.

Here’s the presentation itself.

You can find me at 1:56 on the actual livestream. The quality isn’t great, but I opened my segment by saying, “I can’t believe I have to close this bitch down.”

That’s the benefit of going last. Then I got rickrolled.

I want to thank @kenruet for being such a scrubilicious photographer and @zachward for being the most awesome coach. I’d like to thank the team at @ourhashtag for asking me to be a featured speaker.

If you never hear from me again, it’s because I’m exhausted and I ran away to the Azores. (Fine, okay, I don’t even know where the Azores are… I’m American… geography is hard.)

Here are some pix, too.

Ignite2 Raleigh

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Dear Human Resources & Recruiting Professionals,

Let me suggest some things you can do to fix your internal corporate brand.

• Demonstrate flawless execution.
• Be right the first time.
• If you cannot execute flawlessly, or you can’t be right with your actions/assessments, be honest about it.

There’s nothing worse than promising something that cannot be delivered. No one likes a man or a woman who is constantly wrong with the facts. If you commit to a project or a task, do it. If you can’t do it, don’t weasel your way out of it.

Even in my current life as a writer and a speaker, I wish that more people in recruiting and HR would say NO rather than YES. I really want someone to say that they can’t deliver on a deadline because the request is impossible. I wish HR professionals would man up and admit to mistakes.

Man up, people. Do it.

Love,
Laurie

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I don’t know if anyone has caught the news, but Angie the Anti-Theist used her blog and twitter profile to share the circumstances of her pregnancy and her decision to abort. She live-tweeted her experiences with RU486 and the whole world exploded into a banal debate about abortion, murder, and Jesus.

I talked to a few friends in HR/Social Media about this situation, and I wanted to share some of the comments from the conversation.

• That poor woman just ruined her brand. [Not knowing anything about her brand.]
• Wow, she is using social media poorly. [Really? She's using social media to communicate an authentic experience.]
• She will never be able to get a job, again. [Bollocks. Also, who says she's looking for a job?]
• She just fucked. it. up. for every job seeker in America named Angie Jackson. [Only at stupid companies.]

This comes as no surprise to long-term PRHR readers, but I think it’s reckless for employers to use social media tools to screen potential employees. The internet is rife with misinformation, and you never know if the data on your computer screen is fact or fiction.

Furthermore, candidates can either do the job or they can’t do the job. I’m sick of employers taking on a paternalistic tone when it comes to social media and the implications for employment.

What bothers me most is that one-third of American women have had an abortion, which is a legal procedure. The idea that unplanned pregnancies happen to teenagers and poor women in liberal, east coast cities in wrong. I know this from being a woman AND working in HR: corporate leaders, executives, brand managers, and PR professionals who earn six-figure salaries get pregnant by men. They all have their reasons for not carrying the baby to term. To hear social media dilettantes and HR professionals say that live-tweeting an abortion is tantamount to career suicide is naive and offensive. It shows a complete misunderstanding of the freedom and power of social media.

*

This is what I coached when I was in HR.

• Once you demystify something, you can have an honest conversation about it.

I think this lesson can apply to employee benefits, executive compensation, and abortion.

*

Oh, and for the record, I would hire Angie Jackson in a heartbeat. The woman has a way of creating community and having a conversation with her audience. You should be so lucky to have those skills in your organization.

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It is March 1st and you are still unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise cranky. I don’t know what to tell you. We have been on this road together since 2007, and life sucks. Hard.

I thought about what I could do to make you feel better — and I’m out of ideas. Off the top of my head, here is a list of things to do to distract yourself from the cold, crushing reality of your existence.

• Eat carbs, fat, and sugar.
• Organize your basement.
• Clean your bathroom. Especially the toilet.
• Sell stuff on eBay or Craig’s List.
• Google ex-boyfriends and girlfriends.
• Brush your dog. Comb your cats.
• Dust your family room furniture.
• Vacuum cobwebs from your light fixtures.
• Throw out old jars of pickles from the fridge.
• Toss those old VHS tapes. You will never convert them to DVD, and when you do, DVD will be outdated.
• Start cleaning up your yard, walkway, or front porch by removing old leaves and winter debris.
• Sit in a park.
• Fold that pile of towels that’s been sitting on the bed in your spare bedroom.
• Recycle those old magazines and catalogues in your house.
• Scan important documents and send them to yourself.
• Buy a pack of M&Ms and organize them: eat the red ones first, then the browns, then the greens, and save the blue for last.
• Watch old TV shows on Hulu and think to yourself, “This isn’t as funny as I remember…”
• Go to the library and take out some books. Read them.
• Take a walk — but don’t break a sweat. You’re in no rush.

People, c’mon, help me. We need a sense of purpose on a Monday. Got anything else?

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