Tag Archives: Rant

Turn Your Car Into Your Personal Success Machine

Car Photo

Image courtesy of istockphoto/alubalish

Many years ago, I heard Zig Ziglar recommend turning your car into a “rolling university.”  He explained that you could listen to motivational seminars, hear great speakers, learn a language, brush up on some sales skills.  Really anything you wanted to learn could be one cassette tape away.

I listened to Zig’s advice.  (I even have boxes of old cassette tapes in the basement.)  Technology has changed, but his advice remains as powerful today as it was then.

My personal habit varies between seminars, news programs, and music.  I like to listen to the news, but if that’s all I do, I often arrive at my destination mentally stressed.  Seminars and speeches give me additional insights and ideas.  If you like audiobooks, what a great opportunity to “read” more books. 

Do You Make These Résumé Mistakes? 17 Résumé Don’ts from the CEO’s Desk

Resume Mistakes

Image courtesy of istockphoto/SchulteProductions

 

  1. Don’t use a functional (non-chronological) résumé format.  You’re not fooling me with that.  Don’t make me work to figure out what you’re hiding. Even if you get far into the hiring process in a non-traditional way, most companies will still want a traditional résumé at some point.
  2. Don’t ignore metrics and quantifiable data.  Businesses exist to move the needle.  Explain in numbers what you personally did to help your organization improve.  Did you save the company a million dollars?  Did you improve sales beyond your targets by 23%?  Did you renegotiate a major contract increase by 29%?  Did you improve customer retention by 5%?  The language of business is numbers.
  3. Don’t send résumés to the CEO if you’re applying for positions deep in the organization.  Try Human Resources.  Try the hiring manager.  Maybe try the department leader.  Sending it to me doesn’t help.  Do you think I read a résumé from someone I don’t know and immediately drop everything to make a phone call on your behalf?