HealthCare Voice

Your Online Persona: Make It Work for You

IMPORTANT NOTE:  HealthCare Voice, John Self's  healthcare blog, HAS MOVED to the web site, JohnGSelf.Com. The blog will run on the web and here  for a couple of weeks and then the content will be exclusively on www.johngself.com/HealthCare Voice. 

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In healthcare administration as in any modern business, the constant siren song of the smartphone, texts, e-mails and social media leave executives with more demands on their time than ever before.

Sure, accessibility and open communication foster an executive’s “open-door policy,” but spending your day plugged in online leaves little time for productivity. On the other hand, refusing to jump on the technology bandwagon can quickly make you a dinosaur, and unless you’re ready to retire, that’s not good for your career.

Take, for example, social media, such as You Tube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The up-and-coming generation is deeply involved in the online world, and they may one day be your bosses. To connect with them, it’s important to understand these technologies and be part of that world.

But, proceed with caution when cultivating an online persona, as it’s easy to cause lasting damage to your career. Here are a few tips:

• Have a vision for what you want from your online network. Do you want to maintain contacts in your industry for future career opportunities? Do you want to use your network for sharing what you’ve learned with others? Do you want a group of peers you can bounce ideas off of from time to time?
• Keep your online network manageable. The effectiveness of your network is not based on size, it’s about how you actively use it. If you have more people in your online network than you have time to interact with, your group is probably too large. It doesn’t do you any good to have 5,000 people in your LinkedIn network if 4,500 of those people can’t help you in your career. Cull your list to those who share your interests and who you wish to know well. If there are people in your network who aren’t responding to you, delete them.
• If you want to have a network that can help you, offer to help others. Doing so nurtures your network, so that the people in it will be there for you when you need them.
• Use social media to promote yourself and your career. For example, if your Facebook posts have value to up-and-coming executives, you position yourself as a subject matter expert and thought leader.
• What you put out on the Internet may come back to haunt you. Never post anything, anywhere that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see.
• Never forget who is watching. For example, if you want to change jobs and suddenly get active on LinkedIn, you’re broadcasting to everyone in your network – including your boss who “friended” you months ago – that you’re ready for a career move.

One of the benefits of having an active online professional life is that recruiters and executive search firms will be able to easily locate you when opportunities arise. But not every “recruiter” uses social media responsibly. Some contingency recruiters – and unsavory characters posing as recruiters – figure that if they blanket the Internet with enough messages, eventually they’ll get a response from someone. These are the ones who flood message boards or spam your inbox with details of potential job opportunities. More than likely, responding to them is a waste of your time.

Healthcare organizations don’t want their executive jobs posted anywhere and everywhere – they expect their executive search firms to treat their jobs confidentially and to do the footwork in person. So, the Internet may be a good place for legitimate recruiters to learn about you and establish initial contact, but if a recruiter is really interested in reaching you, he or she will try to contact you offline.

If you’re not sure exactly what your Internet persona is saying about you, find out. Google yourself, and be sure that the information you find represents you accurately and professionally.

© 2012 John Gregory Self

A Calling For People With A Heart

Editor's Note:  HealthCare Voice, John Self's  healthcare blog, will be moving to the web site, JohnGSelf.Com in two weeks. The blog will run on the web and here  for a couple of weeks and then the content will be exclusively on WWW.JohnGSelf.Com.

John G Self, his blog on stories of hope, redemption, and humor will continue to be featured on Typepad. John is increasingly requested to speak at colleges and universities, professional associations and at industry and community meetings. His latest blog at John G Self, "One Life to Live", reflects his thoughts on career management. Another of his blog offerings, "Gingrich, Grizzard and Marriage" hit many readers laugh button.

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They say that a man who hates a dog has no heart. They say a man who hates his job is a lawyer. Last week, I wrote that in a piece about career management for my speaker's blog, John G Self. It had a ring to it -- and it fit my message for today -- so I decided to borrow it from myself. 

I do not know how widespread the professional dissatisfaction is within the legal industry, but I have been told by many attorneys in subsequent conversations that it is common. 

If you ask the Baby Boomer generation of healthcare leaders why they chose this profession, you frequently hear phrases like "a chance to serve..." or "the opportunity to help people..." Perhaps one of the best career choice explanations that I have heard from a healthcare CEO is this:

"I felt called to this industry. It is a business, but it is a business with a conscience.  It offers everything for an executive who is seeking one of the toughest challenges in business. We get a chance to experience the intellectual and emotional satisfaction of running one of the most complex business models ever created and in the process we provide meaningful service to our communities and the people who come to our hospitals. And all the time we are looking for ways to innovate so that we can serve more effectively. It just does not get better than that."  

Even after more than 25 years in the profession, this CEO admitted that he still is excited to go to work each day -- yes, some days more than others -- but it still offered emotional and professional satisfaction. His wife agreed. "There are so many challenges in a relationship that create friction or fractures. Your spouse’s work is huge. But I am truly lucky that my husband loves, absolutely loves what he does and it shows up in our daily lives.”  

I know, based on my 30+ years in healthcare, that is not an isolated example, and that makes me very proud to be in an industry where so many people love what they do. There are other professions where this passion runs deep, but in this example -- the law versus healthcare -- the contrast is stark.

The larger, more important career/life's lesson is this: pursue the work about which you are passionate. For college students enamored with a certain profession, look before you leap. Do not be seduced by a mind’s eye rose colored image of what your professional life will be like in five or 10 years. Do not discount the negatives, I don't care how much money they throw at you.

If you choose healthcare expect a bumpy but rewarding career where, if you are smart enough and a good leader, you can make a solid impact  in one of America’s most important service industries, and, along the way, you can improve life for your fellow man. 

© 2011 John Gregory Self

5 Things Successful People Don't DO

I found this interesting article on the new CBS Money Watch site that replaced one of my long time favorite information venues, BNet. The BNet brand is no more but the edgy and interesting content lives on.  You may not agree with everything you read, but it reflects an emerging point of view among younger executives.

The author, Penelope Trunk,  is the founder of Brazen Careerist, a social network for young professionals.

"There are no formulas for who is successful. But there are statistical probabilities. For example, you are equally as likely to succeed if you go to Harvard as if you apply to Harvard and get rejected, according to Alan Krueger, Princeton economist. And you are more likely to be successful at work if you were a cheerleader than if you get a Ph.D.

"So you can be proactive, and do things that successful people do. But you can also think the other way, and avoid doing things that only losers do. Here are five of those..."

Read More

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Are These The Good Old Days?

Our lives are changing at such a rapid pace that it is hard to comprehend what is actually taking place.  We are being swept along by an avalanche of innovation, information, and connectivity that, together, are shaking some of society’s long-standing norms.

Everything is faster, bigger, more connected.

Gone is the simple way of life that many retiring Baby Boomers fondly remember, a time in which we lived our lives sheltered from the avalanche of information, the good and the bad, the true and the fiction.  In this era, the flow of information depended on radio, the arrival of the afternoon or morning newspapers or the start of the nightly network news. 

Today the news is free flowing from the Internet – sometimes reliable, sometimes not.  It can be hard to tell the difference.

Connectivity has become a lifestyle essential.  Almost everyone has a cell phone.  Many have smartphones to check their email, surf the web, or to remotely watch television.  Texting has become the preferred method of communication among people under the age of 30.  Some would rather send a terse text message than to talk on the telephone. 

When not texting, this new younger generation is busy growing up much faster than their Baby Boomer parents, participating in risky behavior, from underage drinking to recreational drug use, or engaging in sexual relations at an earlier age than their parents. 

The wealthy are wealthier, the poor are poorer, and our country is more heavily in debt.  Our politicians are more divided than ever, pursuing rhetorical assaults that are frequently more self-serving and reckless than helpful.

Some executives have pushed the envelope of what is right and wrong in business to make more and more money, amounts that were hard to imagine less than 20 years ago, regardless of the impact their questionable acts might have on the company or their most valuable asset, the employees.

The pace of change, with all of its good and bad implications, has invaded our leisure time.  In sports, our favorite athletes are bigger and faster.  Their sheer size, their strength, and speed, has produced new physical hazards that equipment makers cannot accommodate.  The number of head and spinal injuries is up sharply in pro football, prompting the NFL to insert new rules to protect the players.  In professional basketball, the players are taller and bigger.  When compared to our bygone heroes like Guard Bob Cousy (Boston:  6’1”), Center Bill Russell (Boston: 6’9”), Guard Calvin Murphy (Houston: 5’9”) or Center Moses Malone (Houston: 6’10”), today’s stars seem like giants. At the current pace, the National Basketball Association will need to raise the basket from 10 to 12 feet and lengthen the court. 

Some of this change is just a natural evolution.  We can’t do anything about it, nor should we try.  The question is whether these forces of nature and the values of society can be separated to avoid a gigantic explosion because, at the speed of our current times, we are overheated?

Or, are these the “good old days” about which our kids will tell stories to their grandchildren? 

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Career Management In Complicated Times

In a rapidly changing global economic environment with high long-term unemployment likely, regardless of who controls the levers of power in Washington, the value of career planning is in the spotlight. 

There are basically two schools of thought:

 1.  It is a waste of time.  No one can predict the future -- new technologies, business realignments and the resulting job losses, or opportunities that will emerge amidst the chaos.

 2. It is invaluable.  Career planning requires a sense of focus and discipline that is essential to navigate the opportunities and multiple pitfalls in the New Normal economy.

I vote for option number two.  I am not engaged in career coaching or outplacement businesses so I have nothing to gain from advocating for the value that is inherent in the career planning process.  In fact, I cannot imagine entering the workforce today without a plan for my professional life.

I freely admit that there are thousands upon thousands of stories of people who have enjoyed a rewarding, interesting, varied and prosperous career following what I call the opportunistic pathway; moving from job to job without knowing what new professional adventure next week, next month or next year will bring. But that was then and this is a competitive, unpredictable now.

As a matter of disclosure, I must that admit that I qualify for membership in the  “I Had No Plan Or Clue” class.  I began my career before I graduated from college, working for a daily newspaper.  From there, my career took me to Lubbock and Houston where I worked as an editor and writer.  I left the news business for public relations at Houston’s Hermann Hospital.  From there I became the first director of Life Flight, to the national marketing manager of the helicopter company, to acquisitions for an investor-owned hospital management company, back to Hermann to lead the start-up of a multi-hospital affiliated program, to a senior executive post responsible for business development for the hospital management company, to forming my own consulting firm, back to the town where I grew up to run home infusion pharmacy, correctional health businesses (not all at once), EMS, and then to be the general manager of an international nurse recruitment agency before leaving to form a recruiting firm and, finally, to forming my current executive search firm, JohnGSelf Associates, Inc.  And I did it all without a plan, an approach that I would not think about recommending in today.

My experiences – and my amazing luck – led me to the realization that career planning is no different than strategic planning for a business in which you are constantly adjusting strategy and tactics to address changing market threats and opportunities.

Career planning provides a framework for discipline and focus that will allow an individual to maximize their professional potential.

Is it a waste of time?  Not a chance. 

There are thousands upon thousands of people who trusted that everything would work out, professionally speaking.  It did not.

Not to sound glib, but luck is not a good career management strategy. 

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Graduate Education: Relevance and Return

There are two essential “R” words that graduate schools and students are wrestling with:

         Relevance

         Return

In a classic business school cartoon, Peter Beale, whose work appears in the Financial Times, captures two erstwhile MBA graduates:  “I left business school knowing all the answers.  They didn’t tell me the questions would change.”

There appears to be a three-way debate emerging regarding business school curriculum: the case study method popularized at Harvard Business School that focuses on the practical and the analytics; the “flight” simulator, game-style approach to analysis and strategy that is catching on with many younger graduate students; and finally a less popular but credible model based on the liberal arts approach that many MBA students received in undergraduate training.   This latter method is championed by David Bach, Ph.D., dean of graduate management programs at IE, the Madrid-based university that is attracting more attention with its redesigned MBA curriculum.

“The economic upheaval was a profoundly sobering experience on business schools.  Yet we continue to believe that we can and ought to teach our students by identifying what they need to know and then doling it out in digestible bits,” Dean Bach writes in a Financial Times Soapbox column in Monday’s editions.  

“Frame a challenge and then get out of the way!”  He writes that this is the best piece of advice regarding engaging senior executives in the classroom.

Dr. Bach attended high school in Germany where schools are apparently built on the belief that government ministries, universities and other schools divine what students should know now and in the future. 

As an undergraduate student at Yale, Dr. Bach (master’s and PhD from University of California at Berkley) received a learning jolt that stayed with him.  “My professors were the smartest and most knowledgeable people I had ever met, (they) cared about only one thing: what did we think?

“Albert Einstein called ‘the training of the mind... to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks’..." and should be compulsory for business school, he argues.

That approach may hold promise for healthcare graduate management programs given the enormous complexity of running a health system or hospital, and the rapidly changing revenue models that will emerge over the next 10-15 years.

Selecting the right school is only one challenge facing future graduate students.  The other, and perhaps more daunting, is the cost of the graduate degree.  Top-tier MBA programs like the ones offered at MIT, Harvard, Wharton, and Kellogg, for example, are very expensive. Harvard estimates the cost of an MBA for a single student is $84,000.  At Kellogg, the tuition is lower but after adding fees and living expenses, the cost is more than $79,000.  For some students, who relied on loans for both undergraduate and graduate degrees, they may be paying off the last of their loans about the time their children are ready to incur debt for their own education. 

So what is the return on investment?  That is an important question to ask. Will the expensive degree generate any more income in the first five years, than the run-of-the-mill good, but not great, public university? Is that extra income potential worth it?

Sometimes yes, or so goes the conventional wisdom, if you are pursuing a degree on Wall Street or a blue chip corporate job where starting incomes can be significantly higher. For graduate students in the healthcare arena, this is as much a personal brand management decision as one about the choice of schools since there is little evidence that an MBA from Harvard, Wharton or other high-flying business schools will command that much more money in the first five to 10 years in healthcare.

In a time where recent graduates must often have roommates  – sometimes mom and dad – to defer the cost of living while they search for work, the choice of a graduate school, regardless of the industrial sector, is a serious one to make.  

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Professional Networking: An Enriching, Improbable Journey of Discovery

Third in a Series

 

_{The best way to prepare for a career of networking and professional network development is to think of recording your efforts much like an epidemiologist would plot the spread of a…for the lack of a better description…disease.  Begin with a root circle and as you are referred on to others, create new circles and plot the relationships.} 

_{You will make a startling discovery during your pursuit of building a vibrant professional network -- how people are connected. You may have 10 or 15 root circles but as you add to the tree, it is amazing how many times the branches will cross over and connect with networks from other root contacts.}

_{Here is an example of how this investment can pay off. Just when I think I have seen it all, I see some new improbable link. You can be looking at a position with a top tier system in Seattle and discover that a member of your network was the best man in the CEO's wedding, or that their kids were college roommates.  I see developing a professional   
netwo rk much like I see candidate sourcing, a wonderful adventure, a journey that will  frequently yield amazing gems.  It is the process of what Wayne O'Neill of Wayne O'Neill   Associates calls "connecting the dots."  Wayne, formerly a highly successful business development executive, now consults with corporations to develop meaningful strategies to identify, win and retain profitable new business. He understands in a way that few do that building a great business requires discipline and the time to identify and build relationships that can step in to support your value proposition.}

_{This is the same principle used in professional network development.  It is an investment in time and effort that builds enormous value over time, and which will yield important results in career advancement, personal professional development and, at the very least, new friendships that will enrich your life and your career.} 

_{If you have questions, please email me at [email protected].   Meanwhile, stand by, this is one of my favorite subjects and I will write more on Thursday.}

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Healthcare Reform, the National Debt and Career Management

Last Wednesday I spoke to the Health Management and Policy grad students at the University of Michigan. We discussed how healthcare reform will change this industry. But the bigger threat is the budget crisis and the looming national debt/bond market upheaval, which could have abrupt, dramatic and painful consequences for our industry. Look at the disruptions and severe austerity measures in the euro zone. We are not far behind -- three to five years, according to David Walker, deficit hawk and former Controller General of the GAO. These are different times that require new career strategies.

I challenge new graduates -- and early careerists -- to think of themselves as a brand and to manage that career brand with enormous caution and focus.

Our sovereign debt problem poses real challenges for career management, especially for new graduates and early careerists.  First among them is increasing pressure to perform, to deliver measurable value and do it with less, not more, resources. Reimbursement will only decline. The amount of money healthcare providers are paid today will probably be the most we will see for a DRG in our lifetime, save some minor adjustments for COL. Managed care companies will only follow CMS in lowering their payments.

These developments will also impact the elusive life balance battle that so many of us wage. There will be the inevitable system consolidation, hospital closures and job loss -- in other words fewer entry level positions with more new graduates competing for the fellowships, internships or even entry level analyst positions. The first job is always the toughest to land, but even if it is not exactly "on point" with your ultimate career path, do it well to prepare yourself for the next step. You will not get any free passes in our “new normal” economy.

Along the way find a mentor --someone who will take the time to tell you things you do not necessarily want to hear when you ask for advice, but listen carefully. Someone who can spot your unrealized or undeveloped talents and then push you to improve will be a necessity for early careerists going forward.

Choose your jobs wisely. There are a host of bad leaders in this and all other industries, and they have the ability to wreck an up and coming career. A good leader is a work of art who will prepare you for the next level. A bad leader is a tragedy.

Start a career journal. Athletes and musicians improve their skills with continuous practice, but what type of practice can leaders use to improve their skills? Journaling. At the end of each week, spend some quiet time reviewing your performance and your decisions. Using regulated thought, replay in your mind the game film of your week’s decisions and interactions with colleagues, as leadership consultant Rand Stagen likes to say. Force yourself to think about what you could have done better -- from analysis, the actual decision, to communicating the way forward. Record your feelings and observations. Ask yourself hard questions. This is not easy work. The journal is not for self-laudatory B.S. It is a record that you can revisit over and over, reminding yourself of important lessons learned.
Wrap all of this together and you begin to understand the importance of effective career brand management.

For early careerists who push themselves to get better, who deliver results and who effectively manage their brand, the healthcare delivery segment will provide incredible career opportunities. But just as the size and performance of athletes has improved substantially over the generations, so will the performance expectations for healthcare leaders.

These are troubling times, but there are abundant opportunities for those who want to make a difference.

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Building a Professional Network, Not On-Line Recruiting Sites, Key to Finding a New Job

For unemployed or underemployed executives, sitting in front of a computer screen, submitting resumes and applications on line will not, in all likelihood, produce a job offer.  And yet that is exactly what thousands of out of work executives will do today.  They will push paper to potential employers and hope something sticks.

It is not a complete waste of time, but it is close.   The computer is a networking tool, not the primary pathway to a return to employment.  At the end of the day, it is the scope and quality of networking relationships that will produce the best results in the most efficient manner.

Let me explain why I think building and sustaining a robust network of professional contacts is so critical for executives today.  The economy is showing signs of recovery, but staggering annual deficits and a crushing national debt signals that this decade is more about retrenchment, not business or life as usual as we have come to know it over the past 20 years.  As we move through a period of sustained high unemployment, executives and managers cannot treat the development of a personal/professional network as a luxury for which there is little time in their busy schedule of work, family and leisure activities. This period of sustained higher than normal unemployment will be accompanied by continued volatility in the executive and management job market.  In other words, no one is completely protected; everyone is at risk of losing their job.

For executives who have not invested time and effort in developing a large network who now find themselves on the job loss bubble, or those who have already been sacked, you have waited too long.  Without this robust network of relationships that can help you connect the dots of potential new opportunities, you face prolonged unemployment unless, of course, you are an industry star or incredibly lucky.  Not to be trite, but luck is not a very successful career management strategy.

Aside from building a professional network that can help in the event of a job loss, it also is important to have a network that will be the source of new ideas for strategies, program development and problem solving.  In other words, your network also is a tool to add value to your organization.

As I speak to professional associations across the country, I am frequently asked about the role that networking sites such as PLAXO, LINKEDIN and Facebook should play in the   development and management of a professional network. They, like thecomputer and other personal connectivity devices, are tools.  But just having connections on these sites will not be any more helpful or successful than sending resumes to on-line    employment sites.  Having   hundreds or even thousands of contacts is useless unless you do something with the information by engaging these people, finding out where they work, what they do and who they know. Moreover, waiting  until the last minute to engage your contacts, or after the last minute when you are signing up for unemployment, is not much different than starting to build a network from scratch after you lose your job.

Building and nurturing a professional network requires discipline – to work on this every week, to allocate time to talk to or email people.   Successful network development has become a core competency for leadership and career management success.  To new graduates  and up and coming executives,  I encourage you to begin building and nurturing a relationship network on day one of your career.  This will be as important to your success as producing stellar results.  For those senior leaders who have enjoyed success in the past, it is never too late.

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Common Resume Problems Frustrate Recruiters, Employers

What many executives and managers do not know about producing a credible and effective resume is frequently startling.

I spend a good part of each day reviewing resumes, and frequently complete my work with varying degrees of frustration. Many of my colleagues share this feeling.  It is not a frustration born of ridicule but the realization that these good men and women are hurting their career brand.

There seems to be an intellectual disconnect between the common knowledge that the resume is actually the first interview in the recruitment process, and the lack of clarity and specificity regarding a candidate's past jobs, their scope of responsibility and value contribution. That candidates are initially included or excluded in the search process based on their resume seems to escape comprehension by far too many executives in the job market.  

Depth and range of experience and value contribution are two of the most important facets of the resume. Lack of clarity or obfuscation --unintentional or on purpose -- are two of the most common reasons potentially qualified candidates are eliminated in this first round of candidate screening.

With the continuing high unemployment and shrinkage in the number of leadership and management positions, candidates cannot afford to submit a resume that does not clearly and concisely detail the depth and scope of experience and extols the value of their accomplishments.  When it comes to your resume, if you do not sell yourself, it is highly unlikely that anyone at the candidate screening table will rush to be your advocate.  

if you would like a free copy of an executive recruiter's resume guide, please email JohnGSelf Associates.  I would be happy to share this with you.

[email protected]

© 2010 John Gregory Self

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Unhappy In Your Job? Don't Wait Until It Is Too Late...

There is nothing worse than going to work every day and profoundly disliking what you do or the people with whom you work.  It is like a cancer that eats away at your soul.  It destroys happiness.

If you find yourself in this position, the best advice I can give is to fix the problem internally.  If that is not possible, develop an exit strategy.  Or, you may need to consider the possibility that instead of changing jobs, you may need to consider changing careers.  

You must have a plan.  People who trust that everything will work out find that everything usually DOES NOT always work out, especially when it comes to careers.  If the problem that fuels your unhappiness is systemic, one over which you have little or no control, then leaving may be the only pathway to a return to happiness. This is why you constantly network. The career network you build can be an important and confidential source of leads for a new job.

As you interact with recruiters, ask whether they are retained or contingent.  The majority of search consultants in both categories are ethical but some contingent recruiters, pressured to produce commissions, may be tempted to "shop" your resume and that is not a particularly good thing for managers and executives who must be sensitive to the concepts of personal brand management.  Be vigilant.  People anxious to get out of a job they do not like are not always in full control of their emotions.  You do not want to fall victim to a lazy or overly aggressive recruiter.  Finally, be sure they know why, in the most positive terms, you want to make a job change.  Emphasize your accomplishments and the value you delivered. Your deep-seated unhappiness is not an attribute other employers want to hear about, much less hire.

In preparing for an interview, be sure you have carefully thought out questions you want to ask to avoid finding yourself in a new job with some or all of the qualities that created the original unhappiness.  Many candidates for new jobs prolong their search because they fail to adequately prepare for an interview -- researching the target company and practicing answers to potentially troublesome questions, etc. 

Overall, the best guide for executing a transition is to use common sense. For example, do NOT respond to blind advertisements, regardless of the reputation of the newspaper or job site. You may find yourself applying to your current employer, even for your job, because if you are that unhappy, it probably shows in your performance or the relationship you have with co-workers.

We spend 75 percent of our waking hours at work. It is a lopsided allocation of time that can affect us completely.  If you are so unhappy, the consequences can be significant.  Pay attention. Do not wait to execute a job transition until it is too late, personally or professionally.  

© 2010 John Gregory Self

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Managing References: Achilles' Heel for Many Candidates

Reference management.  This is a difficult issue for more executive candidates than most people realize.  Candidates assemble a panel of references. They talk to their references once, maybe twice, and then push the autopilot button.  

Big mistake.

Surprisingly, candidates rarely ask their references what they might say regarding questions concerning "leadership strengths" or "weaknesses."  On autopilot, they just assume their reference contact will say the right thing.  

Bad mistake.

Most executives engaged in an active job search, will identify 3 to five trusted colleagues as references. They submit those same references to five or six recruiters.  If they end up as finalists in more than one search, those references may be called four or five times.  At some point they will suffer from reference burnout. In the end, their comments will begin to drift to the realm of "damning by faint praise." 

For many candidates, reference management is hit or miss, and reference management seems to be an annoying necessity of the search process.  

Dumb mistake.

Here are some things to consider:

1.  Develop a panel of 10 to 12 references so that you can rotate them.  You do not want to wear out your supporters.

2.  Stay in touch with your references.  Let them know what position you are up for, who may be calling, and when to expect a call.

3.  Keep your reference list up to date.  I once had a CEO candidate provide me with three references.  I had asked for eight.  Two of his references were no longer employed at the company where he said I could reach them. He was the favored candidate with political juice, but in the end he was eliminated.  Why?  The board was concerned by his lack of attention to detail.  

4.  Communicate with your references.  The most frequently "botched" interview question is, "What are your weaknesses?"   Who better to help you craft a credible answer than your references?  This adds credibility.  There are other tough questions that references can help you answer, assuming you talk to them in advance.  Let them know that you want this job search to be a learning experience.  Most references will be very candid when you present it in that manner.  

5.  Secondary references can be deadly.  If you mention the name of a colleague during an interview, that person can become what recruiters call a "secondary" reference.  He or she may not be on your reference list, but that does not mean they won't be called. If you are going to be a name dropper, be sure they are people who will speak highly of you. 

6.  Relevance and quality of the reference are critical.  If you are pursuing a CFO position, and your references cannot speak to your experience as a CFO, Controller or Director of Finance, this is not helpful.  In fact, it will become a negative.  The quality of the reference also is important.  You want to identify and use references who are articulate, up-to-date on the relevant issues and who can enhance your candidacy. References who do not meet these tests will only compromise your career brand and your credibility with recruiters.

In trial law, young attorneys are taught never ask a question of a witness to which they do not know the answer in advance.    

The same principle applies to reference management.

Candidates who do not manage the reference phase of the search process are seen by recruiters and employers as being sloppy because they are responsible for giving names of people who can vouch for their abilities in a positive way.  In this competitive job search environment, the lack of attention to the very people who can help you could spell rejection. 

Candidates cannot control their competition but they can be better prepared than anyone else.

© 2010 John Gregory Self

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HEALTHCARE VOICE: New Publication Schedule Announced

There are millions of blogs.  Everyone is competing for attention. 

I am no different.  

Over the past year, I have experimented with a multiple formulas in terms of what to post, when to post and how often to post. I have monitored my readership metrics by day of week and subject matter.

With that information, I have decided to change my publication schedule.  Effective immediately HealthCare Voice will now publish on Tuesday and Thursdays at 1 AM Eastern Time.  Google will serve as my distribution channel via Email or RSS feed. 

HealthCare Voice will focus on recruiting, career management and innovative ways organizations can improve talent acquisition.  Finding and retaining top talent is critical to the success of businesses. Yet, most organizations continue to rely on a 50-year-old model -- transactional recruiting -- that is outdated given the dynamics of our new economy.  HealthCare Voice will provide valuable insight regarding strategies you can use to improve talent acquisition through the use of Transformational Recruiting.

I hope you will continue to subscribe, and share my thoughts with friends and colleagues.  I hope you will feel free to contact me with your comments and suggestions. 

© 2010 John Gregory Self

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One Life To Live

How many people can say they love what they do for a living?  Day in and day out they are passionate about the work?

Not for the money. 

Not for the mega bonus.

Not for the stock options leading to a big payday.

Not for the fame or prestige.

They do the work that they do because they love it.  They care deeply and achieve satisfaction beyond the paycheck.

About three years ago a lawyer who I admire and respect – a superb legal mind and a talented practitioner with a major Dallas firm – confided that he hated his job.  He was extraordinarily well trained at one of the best law schools in the country.  He sacrificed personally and financially to get his degree.  He edited the law review and earned academic honors.  He was one of the youngest partners at his firm.  Yet, he hated what he did.  He was miserable.  It was not the firm or the clients.  It was the profession.

Several weeks later I met him for drinks and dinner at a fashionable downtown restaurant.  There were 11 other lawyers present – partners all – representing some of the best known firms in Texas, New York and Washington.  Frankly, I was immediately struck by the New Testament significance of 12 lawyers meeting for supper, but that is another story.

The men at the table were all successful.  They enjoyed the respect of their colleagues and they each made an enormous amount of money. When I asked how many loved what they did – the practice of law, there were several moments of silence.  Eyes rolled.  Smiles were exchanged.  Then snickers turned to laughter. 

I felt like an outsider who had just been the victim of an inside joke.  Skeptical that people could work as hard as lawyers work and still not enjoy it, I asked for a show of hands.  “How many of you like what you do?  Forget passion and love for a minute.  How many of you just like what you do?”

Silence.  Then slowly, as if they were embarrassed, only four of the 12 raised their hands. 

“I hate what I do, but if I quit my wife would kill me.  She probably would divorce me.  I make a lot of money and she wants and expects the lifestyle.  I am not sure how I could earn this much money doing something else.  I feel trapped, so I tough   it out,” lamented one.

Another confided: “This is a miserable job, but I only have to do it for 25 more years and then I can retire.”

Heads nodded and more knowing smiles were exchanged.  There was a sense of resignation.  Or was it sadness?  They worked long hours, including weekends.  Their home lives suffered. They were all well paid, but they were sacrificing so much for a career they clearly did not enjoy.

If there is hell on earth, I thought, I just found it.

Fame and fortune aside, this is a cautionary alert for college graduates as well as their parents who drive their high achieving children to pursue the prestige “money” jobs.  Do not find yourself in a trendy restaurant 20 years from now admitting to a stranger that your life is a horribly painful experience.  Do what you want to do.  Do what makes you happy.  Pursue a career that, when you tell me what you do for a living, you can smile.

As the recession has taken its toll on not only the hourly wage earners but on executives, lawyers, bankers, and others not normally associated with unemployment, stories have emerged about once highly paid people putting aside their old professions to begin new ones in areas they always thought they might enjoy such as cooking, or teaching, or starting up a new company doing something they really believe in, and how happy and fulfilled they have become.

As Steven A. Cohen, the head of SAC Capital Advisors, and a man with an individual net worth of more than $6.4 billion, said recently in a Vanity Fair article, he has achieved all that he has at great personal sacrifice through two marriages and killer hours in the office.  “I have been to the top of the mountain,” he said, “and there’s not much there.”

You only have one life. 

© 2010 John Gregory Self

Executive Job Search: Action Plan for Success

Does the best team always win the important game?

No.  The team that is well prepared and executes flawlessly stands a better than even chance of winning, even against a more talented opponent.

The same principle applies to career management and the interviewing process.  In fact, our research shows that the best qualified candidate is hired only 45 percent of the time.  The qualified candidates who are well prepared and who do a better job communicating in the interviews will usually land the job.

In this increasingly difficult job market – healthcare hiring declined in June for the second month in a row – there is no substitute for preparation and flawless execution.  With some economists predicting unemployment rates of between 5 to 7.5 percent for the next seven to 10 years, the  return  to the go-go days of robust employment is not likely in the foreseeable future.

For candidates in the job market, this puts on more pressure to outperform the competition.  Here are some tips to enhance a candidate’s performance in the interview process.

• Enhance your brand.  Produce a resume that effectively promotes your brand.  Your resume is your first interview.  It must be complete and error free as well as provide a compelling reason for the recruiter to select you for further consideration.  If you are not getting interviews, then change your resume.  If you are not advancing beyond the screening interview, rethink how you are answering the questions.

For a copy of my resume guide, click here.

• Be prepared.  The telephone interview is one of the most challenging parts of the recruitment process.  Have your information immediately available including prior employments dates, beginning and ending salary, the name of your supervisor and your relevant accomplishments.  Some firms insist on having a complete chronological history of employment so be prepared to explain it.  Preparation breeds confidence and confidence is a key ingredient for success in the job search. Also, during the telephone interview are you monitoring your energy level?  Are you standing or sitting?.  Look at a mirror.  Are you smiling?

• Do your homework.  Research the target organization.  Talk to colleagues who may know people in the company.  There is a wealth of information on line about the company and its leadership team.  Learn as much as you can.  Be prepared to demonstrate this newly acquired knowledge without being critical of operational problems or marketing challenges.  Inappropriate or poorly timed use of your research can be as damning for a candidate as not being completely informed or politically insensitive.  Using this knowledge in asking questions is one way to be effective. FYI, some recruiters view a candidate’s lack of questions as disinterest in the job.

• Execute flawlessly.  Practice answering questions, particularly those that may pose a hurdle that you must overcome – lack of relevant experience, short employment tenure, prior termination, etc.  If you cannot answer those issues effectively, you greatly reduce your chances of moving to the next phase.  On the positive side, be sure that your “story” – from providing insights regarding your “growing up” years to extolling your record of accomplishment is a winning summary of accomplishments, metrics and value for the organization.  If you cannot tell your story in a compelling manner, you move down, not up, in the candidate evaluation rankings.

There is one positive thing to remember.  If you have been selected for a site interview – with the full - court press of lunches and dinners – the company is looking for a reason to hire you.  Give them one.  Do not muddle the effort with a silly mistake.  Be mindful of your presence and the surrounding environment.  There are no time-outs in the interview process, including breaks.  Lunches, dinners, and casual conversations during the commute to and from the hotel or to dinner are all on the record.  Pay attention.  Do not appear to ignore anyone at the table, even with a large group.  Do not forget your table manners or dinning etiquette.  Never let your guard down.  This is one important reason not to drink at dinner.  If the evening includes cocktails before dinner, sip sparingly.  The same applies if wine is served with the meal.

If you are not getting interviews,  if you are  eliminated before you reach the finalist chair, do not blame the overcrowded competitive market.  Look in the mirror.  

That is the person who has to step up their performance.

 ^© 2010 John Gregory. Self

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Defining Success at Each Stage of Interview Process

What is the definition of success in recruitment?

Hiring the right candidate.  That is a non-starter.  But the question is how do you measure success in each step of your recruitment process that will produce that right candidate?

Before diving into the process metrics, I want to, again, reiterate a strongly held view: that candidates be provided a position description or position prospectus with sufficient detail for them to understand the job, the criteria, experience requirements, performance deliverables and the salary range.  Given that the recruitment process has been described as the equivalent of getting married after four or five dates, I firmly believe that the best way to mitigate the risks that are inherent in this time sensitive process is to provide more, not less, information.  Weaker candidates tend to “de-select” if they know the position is above their pay grade – their experience and current skills.  Moreover, a great deal of time is wasted in the search process, by both internal and external recruiters, because the process is advanced with candidates who frequently are not aware of the salary range.

Virtually every executive or management recruitment process is comprised of two or more interviews. At JohnGSelf Associates, here is how we define success in each phase.

    1. Resume Review -- You finish the round with a panel of candidates with the credentials, skills, and relevant experience who have submitted their resumes and reviewed a position description or a position description outlining the key elements of the opportunity.  Hopefully the resumes will be of sufficient quality that the researcher or recruiter can easily track past accomplishments.  Each resume should be graded and only the top candidates should advance to the next round.  The researcher or recruiter who evaluates the resumes should complete a brief written analysis, preferably online as part of an integrated recruiting information system, highlighting areas of concern or those that will need clarification if the candidate advances.

    2. Telephone Interview – When you have completed the telephone interview round of the search, you should have a group of candidates, any of whom you could invite for a face-to-face interview.  They know the salary range; they understand the scope of responsibility and the performance expectations.  Most importantly, they have been told about the culture of the organization, how decisions are made, and what challenges they must overcome in order to achieve success.  You will know that these candidates have the relevant experience and a record of success in a similar situation.  From this group, subject to background checks, you will select the highest rated candidates for site interviews.  Some organizations will check three or four references prior to the face-to-face interview, but in a “high volume” internal recruiting environment, this may not be practical.  If you use a behavior and values tool like DiSC^© we recommend that you have the candidates who will be invited for site interviews to complete this  so that it can be available for that phase. Recruiters who lack the experience in using one of these tools should seek counsel from someone who understands the tool to ensure that it is used appropriately in framing questions to be asked during the site interview. Success at this stage is having seven to 10 candidates from which you can select three or four for a site interview. Time is now of the essence.  The best candidates are in demand.  You do not want to have a search in which you have only one remaining candidate because the other candidates have withdrawn for whatever reason.  Competition among the candidates is important.

    3. Face-to-Face/Site Interview – This interview should explore, clarify and confirm key elements of the candidates prior accomplishments, their style and how their “presence/chemistry will fit with the organization’s existing culture.  Measuring a candidate’s commitment and passion for success is a very important component of this interview.  The interviewer(s) must fully engage in what is known as “active listening” – suspending other tasks, focusing on the candidate, listening not merely to the words, but the feeling content, and asking for clarification of candidate comments. 

At this stage, success is defined as having two or three candidates, any of whom could successfully do the job and deliver long-term value for the organization.

^© 2010 John Gregory Self

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