Do-not-call - sometimes

Did you sign up for the national do-not-call list when it came out a couple years ago? I can't say whether it really made a huge difference or not. My wife has always seemed to get most of the sales calls for some reason. Are you on any do-not-call lists you didn't even know about? Say, for example with prospective employers?

As much as the big tech companies are known to compete for and lure over competitors' top executives (i.e. Mark Hurd and Leo Apotheker), it's hard to believe that there is a need for the Department of Justice to eliminate gentlemen's agreements between them when it comes to poaching other companies' employees in general. But six of the biggest names in tech, including Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Adobe and Pixar, recently agreed, with a little encouragement from the DOJ, not to continue their no-cold-call-recruiting arrangements.

In times of record unemployment, this sort of collusion may sound like an urban myth (like Congressman Phil Hare considers the national debt). No, big companies really have been playing by these rules in their hiring. Contrary to the free market they esteem for their products and services, this defensive agreement has been considered a mutual advantage among the big players. It's an even bigger advantage to sit on boards of more than one of these companies, or have your CEO sitting on another firm's board, but that habit has come under scrutiny recently as well.

Along with the new corporate hiring glasnost, according to a new SIM survey in eWeek, most executives plan to increase IT salaries in 2011, with a specific focus on business intelligence.

What kind of work do you do?

You’re in a rut. Your job has nowhere to go and you’re not getting an abundance of direction from your first-line manager on your career path options. Your first thought is, “I’ll start sending out my resume so a potential employer sees it and contacts me about my work.”

What if you were thinking, “I need to get my work out there so a potential employer sees it and contacts me for my resume” instead? I’ve hired hundreds of employees and as much as I try to trust people until they give me a good reason not to, I always trust the ones I found more than the ones who found me.

Here are six tips to getting yourself “out there.”

Write something. Anything. One of the things consultants are encouraged to do for their own benefit, and even given performance incentives for, is to write a white paper about what they are doing. Get it posted on your corporate site, corporate blog, personal blog, networking profile, e-bulletin board, etc. It’s painful to put technical work into writing and often it just doesn’t get done; which means all the more value for you if you do.

Include a photo. It may sound funny, but it’s not like it used to be. It’s just not that much trouble anymore. Especially in a sales position, you can communicate your professional appearance with a small photo. More networkers are doing this. Sure there will still be an interview, but set expectations with a simple picture. Tip: have someone you trust pick the photo for you.

Emphasize abilities over skills. I was talking to a CIO of a large transportation firm at an executive lunch recently, and he told me his new employees over the next five years won’t have a particular skillset, but the ability to learn new skills as they become necessary. The landscape is changing too quickly to hire a bunch of people who can do process X v.5.1, when 6.1 is coming out next week and it may be part of the cloud by next quarter.

Entry-level: focus on objective line and qualifications. If you’re pursuing an entry-level job, writing a good objective line is key. It’s your elevator pitch. Make it very clear, even narrow, what it is you are hoping to do next. “I could do any of these five positions,” is not a strong opener. Also, for your first or second job, qualifications are more important. If you just got certified for the Apple genius bar, or ITIL foundations, or Netcool Precision, put it at the top of your profile. What is valuable to a prospective employer at this level is that you have done some serious consideration of what it is you’re good at.

Career move: focus on experience with problems and opportunities. For those farther along in their career, it’s much more helpful to be able to describe two things: problems you’ve resolved and opportunities you’ve created. Spend some time building these two categories in your profile on a regular basis. At this level, you’re not all about certifications but about having developed some combination of unique and valuable abilities. Pick something you’re good at where you’re as extraordinary as possible.

Use your network. Along with the advantage of experience, a more seasoned employee should have built some relationships along the way. Using a business network like Plaxo (now a $175M part of Comcast) or LinkedIn (a $1B company by comparison) will help you to keep track. You still need a resume but use your contacts, colleagues, business associates to network. If you don’t and you’re coming to me blind with no introduction, I’m wondering why.

Don’t wait for a pink slip to start working on this. Building a profile is proactive and constant and it sets you apart from the next guy a little more every day.