Tag Archive for 'Work'

Line drawn in the sand

Published
by
Mitch
on November 25, 2008
in Personal Blog
. 1 Comment

Today called for some tough decision and a line to be drawn in the sand in regards to many aspects of my life. The line has been drawn, my ass has been kicked (by myself) and I am now official more motivated to kick ass than I ever have been.

I’ve been coasting for a while now and just getting by, but that won’t do from now on. Everything is changing and it starts tonight.

Shift Happens

Published
by
Mitch
on August 28, 2008
in Rant and Work
. 2 Comments

Yesterday at work I had the pleasure of sitting with the managing director and various interested parties at work to discuss the future of technology. One of the really interesting parts of this discussion was the fact that I was constantly able to speak of the technical aspects and our MD would always bring that back to business realities.

During the meeting we watched an amazing video called Shift Happens and also Shift Happens 2.0 which raised a lot of interesting points about globalisation. The video is very US-centric, but realising the implications on Australia is honestly quite eye opening.

If you haven’t seen these videos already, I strongly suggest watching them. If you’re in a business that is potentially effected by the statements, I even more strongly recommend considering what this means to you and how this will effect your life. Because it will effect your life.

In a world of outsourcing, our lives change daily and the effects of growing economies such as India and China are effecting our lives all the time.

Ask yourself…

  • Can I be replaced by someone overseas?
  • Am I costing my company money, or making my company money?
  • Are there necessarily advantages of having me sit in my seat in Sydney?

Catching the eye of a recruiter

Published
by
Mitch
on April 29, 2008
in Work
. 1 Comment

Interesting article on KRIS.TV today titled “Catching the Eye of an Executive Recruiter”. It makes some obvious points, some less-obvious points and misses one key area to finding the attention of a recruiter.

One of the points it raises is that recruiters are only interested in the roles they are working on. This absolutely should not be the case with a good recruiter and finding good talent should always be a priority for this kind of individual.

This raises the most important point missed in the article: find good or even great recruiters who are inside your network.

With so many recruitment agencies who barely know what they are doing, make sure you find a recruiter you can genuinely partner with. Find a recruiter who your colleagues and friends deal with a lot, who comes highly recommended and meet with them. Make your recruiter your friend.

In a mutually beneficial recruitment partnership the candidate owes as much to the recruiter as the recruiter owes to the candidate. Offering your consultant a degree of exclusivity, prompt feedback and regular updates are an excellent start to making yourself a priority to your recruitment consultant. Offering them referrals is an even better way to stay front of mind - good people should always know other good people.

This brings me to my last point: know where your CV is. Your CV is a personal document and a window to your professional career; not knowing who has it is a fatal mistake made by a vast majority of candidates. Nothing will ruin your name in the recruitment marketplace like dozens of consultants fighting over representation rights or clients seeing your CV from multiple agencies. Long story short: don’t be a CV whore.

Ten signs that you might be a workaholic

Published
by
Mitch
on April 28, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments
  1. Food - you have more essential food groups stashed in your work fridge than your fridge at home. Home fridge: beer, sports drinks and toasties. Work fridge: almost everything except the beer (until Friday that is).
  2. E-mail - you are so bad at checking your personal e-mail that your friends actually have to call and ask if you got their letter. Meanwhile, you have a blackberry and web portals to check your work e-mail from anywhere.
  3. Sundays - they’re kind of like Mondays and you’ve completely given up on having them, why not get just a few hours in the office before you get another 60+ hours of work in.
  4. Sleep - almost completely optional and never allowed to get in the road of getting in to work an hour or two earlier than you should be. Nothing feels better than hitting the office before everyone else.
  5. Colleagues vs Friends - suddenly you notice you have plenty of friends, but 400% more colleagues, ex-colleagues and business partners. But you don’t care, friends don’t make you money.
  6. Networking - you can’t even walk the dog without giving your business card to someone or thinking about who you should be speaking to.
  7. Clothes - you don’t have a single t-shirt at home to wear to the bar, but you have 6 suits and 20+ shirts all pressed in the work closet.
  8. Sunlight - you leave so early for work you only catch first glimpses, you leave so late that it’s beyond dusk. You pretty much have no idea what sunlight is and your Vitamin D comes from artificial sources.
  9. Caffeine - your blood/caffeine levels have been replaced with caffeine blood levels. It’s no longer a pick me up, it’s now your sole lifesource.
  10. Relationships - yes, finally the big one. You know loads of people, but maintain contact through Facebook and MSN. You send more cybercoffees and buy more virtual gifts than real ones and your idea of a date is lifting back the lid on your girlfriend/boyfriends microwave meal.

If you relate to more than just a few of these, your life is potentially as sad as mine.

Note: It has been bought to my attention by my lovely girlfriend Claire that this might seem to paint a picture that perhaps I am a boring bastard who never pays for a meal. Just on the record, I definitely make time in my week to make sure she is adequately spoiled. :-)