Richie Norton

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This Trick will Help You Land Your Dream Job

Cowboy Jason Stanley performing a riding trick at the Round-Up, Pendleton, Oregon

(Flickr)

It’s not really a trick; it’s a skill. Something simple anyone can do, but they don’t. It’s common sense, not commonly practiced. However, when people leverage this skill correctly, it’s amazingly effective. It took this person 5 years to finally figure out this skill and it paid off big time. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to watch it all unfold.

Here is a Play-by-Play of An Actual Hiring Interview that I Witnessed

Hiring Manager:

Hi

Shake hands with Applicant.

Applicant:

Here is a copy of my résumé.

Hiring Manager looks for 2 seconds and puts on clipboard.

Hiring Manager:

I hear you know Bobby.

(Names changed for privacy and because it’s fun to change names…and Bobby is a cool name, so is Steve.)

Applicant:

I actually know Steve, who introduced me to Bobby.

Hiring Manager:

That probably helps you more!

(Laughs)

Hiring Manager and Applicant talk about this new “discovery” of common friend(s). Interview then goes on as normal for several questions. Then, the Hiring Manager starts previewing the résumé.

PAUSE! I need to point something out. This is the FIRST time the Hiring Manager has seen the résumé. This fact will become more important to you as the interview goes on.

Hiring Manager:

Why did you leave Company X?

Chit chat goes on. The applicant lets the Hiring Manager talk a lot. They get side tracked.

PAUSE! Letting the Hiring Manager talk, as long as it builds rapport, is a good thing. It helps the Hiring Manager know (at least subconsciously) that he or she can get along with the Applicant during the day-to-day craziness at work.

Hiring Manager:

Why do you want to work at this company?

Applicant:

I’ve been applying here for 5 years.

Hiring Manager:

I’m sorry we missed you for 5 years. You have to do something to get in here in this day and age. We get 10-15 applicants a day. Name dropping got you in. I’m not above name dropping.

PAUSE! Let that one soak in. Here’s that quote is one more time:

“I’m sorry we missed you for 5 years. You have to do something to get in here in this day and age. We get 10-15 applicants a day. Name dropping got you in. I’m not above name dropping.”

Do you see what happened here? The applicant had been applying for FIVE YEARS and was “missed” by the Hiring Manager. Oops! Sorry about that. However, finally when Bobby introduced the applicant to Steve (who worked at the store), the Applicant suddenly got in.

Then why did the Applicant provide a résumé?

The résumé is a formality.

Something to check off the list and put in the file for HR.

LESSON 1: GO AROUND THE TRASHCAN!

Do you know why Hiring Managers have paper shredders? To throw away the 10-15 résumés they get a day. Note that 10-15 résumés a day in a 6 day workweek is 240-360 résumés a month! Think that’s bad? Google got 75,000 résumés in one week!

  • ACTION: Instead of getting tossed out like rubbish, find a way to get referred to the Hiring Manager. This is the difference between fishing for a job an hunting for a job. You can watch a video about the difference between fishing for a job and hunting for a job here: Resumes Are Dead: Should You Be Hunting or Fishing for a Job?

LESSON 2: MAKE SOME FRIENDS: GIVE HIRING MANAGERS A RISK-FREE PROPOSITION

Guess who takes the heat if the new hire fails? Guess who might get fired if the talent isn’t talented? That’s right: the Hiring Manager. Not fun.

Many times, when you’re on the line trying to get a job, the Hiring Manager’s job is also on the line. He or she is staking his or her reputation on you. Especially when you consider that they have hundreds of other people to choose from! For example,

  • Instead of playing the Russian Roulette Résumés Game and randomly hiring from a stack of papers, Hiring Managers go to sources they can trust to choose who they will hire. They trust trustworthy referrals. That’s why Hiring Managers use the résumé to filter people out and then go around the accumulated stack of résumés to hire those they feel they can trust most–someone that was referred.
  • The Applicant in the above interview was able to bypass all the hundreds of other people waiting in line to get interviewed and go straight to the top–in this case, the Hiring Manager was the top.
  • Plus, if something goes wrong with the new hire, guess who the Hiring Manager can blame? That’s right, the referrer can become the fall guy.

Hiring Managers want a no-risk proposition. It’s like back in the days when IBM computers were the most trusted computers. It was a career risk for a purchaser to buy any brand computer other than IBM. The phrase “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM equipment” became commonplace. IBM was safe. Likewise, today it could be said “nobody ever got fired for hiring the bosses referral.”

  • ACTION: If possible, get a referral from someone high on the totem pole or someone that has credibility with the Hiring Manager. I teach ways to meet people in an authentic, trust-building way in my book Résumés Are Dead and What to Do About It – this link will take you to get your free PDF and/or Kindle – (free status subject to change).

LESSON 3: IF YOU’VE ALREADY APPLIED AND DIDN’T GET THE JOB, APPLY AGAIN

It took the Applicant in this true story five years to realize that sending in a résumé wasn’t working. (Don’t let that be you.) When the Applicant finally got a referral, magic happened.

  • ACTION: If you’ve been applying for a job, but haven’t heard back, and you really, really, really want to work there: apply again. This time however, apply differently. You can watch eight different videos that I made with all sorts of ideas to help you get your dream job here: Mightybell: Résumés Are Dead (Teacher 2.0).

Keep making waves!

Enjoy life!

Written by on June 19, 2012 | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) Topics:

Interviews

RESUMES ARE DEAD

10 Comments post a comment
  1. Shelly Jun 19th 2:57 pm

    This was fantastic reading, Richie! I get so motivated as I read your words of wisdom!

  2. Jan Jun 19th 3:23 pm

    Thanks for the great advice Richie!

  3. Gabriela ramirez Jun 19th 11:47 pm

    This is great advice! Thanks for sharing :)

  4. Tommy J Jul 12th 11:25 am

    great stuff! love the the contrast between fishing and hunting. They don’t call fishing “catching” for a reason.

  5. Marc Allred Aug 14th 2:39 pm

    I like that I can see you have used these ideas yourself and aren’t just talking about principles you’ve read. Nothing is a bIgger turn off than feeling like someone is being disingenuous. Great ideas richie and great example. thanks.

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Mightybell: Wanna be a part of something BIG? Interview with Mightybell CEO, Gina Bianchini

Let me introduce you to Gina Bianchini. She’s awesome. For real.

Gina was the Co-founder and CEO of Ning.com–a website that lets you create your own online social community for your friends, fans or brands. Ning is used by rock groups like Linkin Park, skaters like Tony Hawk, organizations like the Peace Corps, educational groups like Classroom 2.0 and a ton of other activists, non-profits and companies who want to start conversations and inspire action. (By the way, Gina is also one of the Fortune 40 Under 40.)

Gina helped grow Ning’s user base to 90 million (!) and later sold the company. She co-founded Ning with Marc Andreessen, “American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, software engineer, and multi-millionaire best known as co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser, and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation.” (Marc also has stakes in Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, LinkedIn and Zynga.)

Mightybell: Make Space for Your Passions

Today, Gina is the founder of Mightybell.

Mightybell is a privately-funded startup based in Palo Alto that allows you to create groups for your interests, passions, projects, and classes. They just launched, and creating this new type of online group is easy, colorful. And dare I say, fun?!

 

I was introduced to Mightybell and Gina by the amazing Steve Hargadon of www.FutureOfEducation.com when he interviewed me for my book Resumes Are Dead and hosted my video content and other supporting documents on a Mightybell space.

Note: You can join the Resumes Are Dead (Teacher 2.0) Mightybell space (primarily being used by educators right now) here. You can listen to the audio recording of our interview here.

I’ve been privileged to have a sneak peak at the behind-the-scenes of the next version of Mightybell, test out the new features and provide some feedback. That’s why I’m introducing it to you. I like it. It’s useful. It’s fun. And I’m not getting paid to say that. :-) This site is a game changer. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

 “Will Mightybell Be the Next Facebook? Or The Next Foursquare?”

That’s what Forbes is asking.

When the site launched in 2011, Gina said in an article:

“We’ve spent the last 5 years calling success the number of friends, fans and followers we’ve accumlated – [but now] people using social software want more. Mightybell seeks to offer a simple way to take new social technologies and turn them into compelling experiences for people in the real world. We think the next innovation in social software will be its impact on daily life.”

A year later, and after thousands of beta testers have provided feedback, the Mightybell team launched the second version of the site on June 4, 2012 (my son’s birthday, so it’s charmed no matter what).

 Richie Norton Interview with Gina Bianchina, Mightybell Founder and CEO

Richie:

What’s the story behind the name “Mightybell”?

Gina:

The bell is the ultimate social symbol. It’s been used for thousands of years to bring people together. When you think about doing that for the 2 billion people using digital technologies today, that’s a pretty Mightybell.

Richie:

What motivated you to start Mightybell? What gets you most excited about the site?

Gina:

I love meeting people and seeing how lives are changed when you can go deeper with people around the things you care about the most. I think social media can be challenging at times insofar as you can see interesting people from afar but have no way to go into something and build strong relationships because you have a project or a shared interest, or are learning something together. Those are the moments that motivated me to start Mightybell. I love this stuff.

Richie:

What did you learn your first time around this last year with Mightybell? What kind of experiences are people having with the site?

Gina:

After we launched, it quickly became clear that what people wanted from Mightybell was something that didn’t exist before now: a place to explore passions and curiosities in colorful, unstructured ways.

Instead of linear list thinking (“I need to do this, then this, then that”), they wanted to spend their free time in an unstructured world where new ideas could lead them down unexpected paths with friends and likeminded people (“This looks cool, I want to explore this.”)

The new Mightybell is a place to make space for your passions. As we made revisions to the product, we centered on three important themes:

Simple: “I want to see everything in one place. I want to experience the whole thing, then click step-by-step.”

Social: “I want to collaborate. I don’t want to tell people what to do or be told by someone else what to do.”

Serendipitous: “I want to explore things I’m curious about in a deeper, more interesting way.”

The new Mightybell offers groups their own colorful space where you can chat, comment and add posts, photos, questions, links, files, videos and events. Spaces can be topic-oriented, like kiteboarding, yoga, knitting and photography; or activity-oriented, like planning a trip, furnishing your first house, designing a DIY wedding, or organizing a series of backyard movie nights. Mightybell spaces can be public or just your friends.

Richie:

What’s the difference between www.mightybell.com and www.steps.mightybell.com

 Gina:

One is unstructured and ad hoc, the other is a linear set of steps.

Richie:

I saw that there was a feature to add premium content to the site. Could someone make money on Mightbell? How does that work?

 Gina:

In our Steps by Mightybell product, a creator can create a premium experience and charge for membership. It’s like setting up a social diet, or training program, or exercise plan.

Richie:

If people could only remember one thing about why they should try out Mightbell, what would it be?

Gina:

Because making space for your passions shouldn’t be lost in the constant stream of keeping up with social media. Mightybell is a way to go deeper with people you like.

Richie:

Thanks so much, Gina. You have built something incredible.

Gina:

Thank you!

Mightybell Video: “It Started with A Piece of Cake and it Grew into an Experience on Mightybell”

 

Watch this video about how Mightybell works here.

Gina doesn’t know this, but I’ve always wanted a site that worked as seamlessly as this–where everything fits on one page and I can easily collaborate with people. I’m glad Gina made it exist. :-) I’m excited to use it to help me with my projects.

Check Out My Mightybell Space: I’m Using Mightybell to Help Me with My Next Book

I need help with my next book, The Power of Starting Something Stupid
I’ve started a Mightybell space called “Stupid Stuff that You Think is Awesome” that I’d like you to check out.
  • I need a collection of ideas and things that were seemingly stupid, or against all odds or silly, or maybe there were past failures or haters / naysayers that told someone they couldn’t do something, but they did it anyways. Or maybe it’s something that you yourself thought was stupid, but it turned out to be great.
  • You can post YouTube links, links to books, articles, websites or even make write your own comments and tell your own story in this space.
  • I’d also love quotes about the importance doing the “crazy” stupid things to live a life of meaning and make great things happen…even in the small.
I can’t wait to see what you think is stupidly awesome! My goal is to have at least 100 reference points on this site. This could be so fun! Can’t wait to see what you post. I’ll be in and out of the space too so we can collaborate and share ideas. 

Also, be sure to “cheer” on the posts that you think are the coolest on the site. You’ll see what I mean when you get there. Of course, you can also invite other people to join in the fun on the site. You can also, with basically 1-click start your own Mightybell space too. Can’t wait to see what you create! I can’t wait to see what spaces you create too!
***
P.S. You’re welcome to post what “space(s)” you create below in the comments and invite people to join your space if you make it public or request invites if it’s private.
***
HOUSEKEEPING
  1. Winner of the Resumes Are Dead giveaway is Kimberly Oyler. Congrats! Thanks for following my blog and reading the book. Hope the Kindle Fire keeps you warm while you read, read, read.
  2. Can’t wait to post about my trip to China and what surprised me while running around Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen!
Written by on June 7, 2012 | Permalink | Trackbacks (6) Topics:

Interviews

Mightybell

RESUMES ARE DEAD

10 Comments post a comment
  1. Kimberly Oyler Jun 09th 7:38 am

    holy cow! i seriously won a kindle fire???!?!??! yay! emailing you right now!

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    […] Mightybell: Wanna be a part of something BIG? Interview with Mightybell CEO, Gina Bianchini […]

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