Rocks Are Hard

Check Off These Three Boxes To Get Hired

The fur is flying in recruiting land....lots of people looking for work. Lots of work looking for people (many in the wrong places with the wrong criteria but that's a different post). 

When we started Double Forte, the criteria were a bit different than today:

- 10 years of experience or more?

- Significant in-house position?

- Like -- if not love -- to do the work, not only delegate the work?

Of course, that was 2002 -- we were 2 years into no one new getting hired, tens of thousands of professionals leaving the Bay Area for jobs elsewhere, and a whole slew of other conditions . Now 8 years later, with a revised model, a different economy(where would people go to to find work) - there are no people (yes I generalize) with 10 years of experience -- and there won't be for several more years -- so we hire against a different backdrop.

1. Are you interested in the world around you? Are you consuming news? opinion? questionable culture? yes? move on the next step. Can't tell us 5 or 6 things about what's going on -- thanks for playing.

2. Can you write a sentence. No, really. Can you write a sentence?  How about a paragraph that conveys a strong thought? This shouldn't be tough -- these people have degrees in something where they at one time had to write something down right? But no. This is not a given and must be tested. For even more on this topic read David Brooks' thoughts on humanities majors -- can I hear an Amen!?!

3. Are you a complainer? Whiner? Is everything everybody else's fault? Need to find perfect before you step into the world? Willing to sponge off people around you instead of seeking or taking positions that give you credentials? Think everyone around you is responsible for your success? Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

This weeds out 50 percent without breaking a sweat. Now you have a pool to pull from based on "real" criteria -- skill sets, experience, culture fit and performance.

For a while I thought it was just us. But, in talking with colleagues and competitors it turns out that it's not just us.  So job seekers if you make it past 1, 2, and 3 there is a ton of opportunity out there for you.

Say It Out Loud

Too often I watch people rush into projects and their work without taking the 30 seconds to say "what do I want to achieve with this _thing_?"

Off they go, working away diligently on their to-do lists.  They eventually cross everything off and sit back to survey their accomplishments and are disappointed.  "All that work for nothing?"  Like ducks paddling wildly against the current, they're tired, have done things, but gotten nowhere.

Stop! Wait! Before you start say what you want to achieve OUT LOUD (this is not a time when your inside voice need stay contained!).

"To land the NYTimes Magazine and California Report and ______"

"To get 100 new people signed up for the community from Stanford Hospital."

"To recruit 4 kindegartner parents to _____"

"Introduce myself to X Y and Z and get a presentation opportunity out of 1 of them."

Say it out loud. Write that down and put it next to your computer. Leave the piece of paper alone.

Go about your project (which one assumes you have altered a bit to accommodate what you said out loud).

Measure yourself against that and I bet you will cross everything off your list with satisfaction for a job well done with travel upstream.  You may even turn the current.