CM Access

Per some good advice *thanks Alex* I’m going to be more straight-forward: we are hiring in our Charlestown, Boston office.

Seth Godin says here that it’s when you’re in a place where things just tend to be surrounded by positive energy. To be in a place where you feel encouraged by possibility, motivated by people who believe in you.

The vibe changes everything. It’s a place you want to work, or a restaurant you want to come back to. I remember the first time I walked into Fast Company’s offices. I remember the original Legal Seafoods. And I remember, just a few weeks ago, the buzz in the lobby of the PDF conference in NY.

If vibe is so important, why does it sound flaky to worry about it? Who’s in charge of the vibe at your place? Could it be better? A lot better?

Changing the vibe isn’t always possible, but most of us rarely try. From physical layout to organization to what leaders say and do… it matters. Sometimes, it’s all that matters.

CM Access is growing its team. And while my perspective is a bit biased, I definitely feel like we have a Vibe here, and I’ve made it part of my job to keep that Vibe glowing, and growing.

We encourage individual motivation and personal growth. There’s no one way that works for everyone, so we say, “find a way that works for you!” We are encouraged to explore who we are as a person and a professional, so that we can confidently represent that through a brand that embraces creativity and relationship. And across all levels, we’re in open communication about how we can all contribute to making the business more successful, and the work more fun!

Sounds like a great Vibe, huh? Well, to me it is. I’ve found a place where I’m motivated by the people that believe in me, trust me immensely to express myself through this little blog, and I am excited to share and grow this feeling with others.

As Seth says, every little bit contributes to the overall feeling of an environment, and there should be someone concerned with what that is. But I see it as a contagious phenomenon. Positive energy spreads, and if one person continuously pushes for success and improvement, won’t it soon be compounded by the collaborative effort of the whole team?

I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks about the Vibe at CM Access, but I hope I’m able to contribute in my small way to making it a place where others want to be each day.

(PS If you or someone you know is looking for just the Vibe that CM Access offers, join our team in Boston by contacting here)

Technorati Tags: CM Access, vibe, positivity, hiring

I’ve mentioned before that the job search should not be a periodic stress in your life, but instead, a lifelong process of career management. That goes hand-in-hand with what you as a brand represents, what you stand for, and how you’re marketing yourself to the outside world.

[sidenote: I also just found out, and am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize it before, who the originial “marketing me” idea came from. I knew it was too right to be my own original thought. But at least now I know who the genius is!]

Tom Peters calls it BrandYou. I call it “MarketingMe.” Either way, the idea is that without a conscious effort to know who you are and what you offer, not only will you have some trouble finding happiness, but you’ll have trouble finding a job you really like/want too!

Someone I was just speaking with today put it very well: People seem to be more concerned with where they’re going than where they are.

Sounds like a contradiction to what I just said, I know. But it’s not, because if you’re not sure where you are, you can’t quite figure out HOW to get where you are trying to go, right?

Here’s my little story to illustrate:
If you don’t realize you’re on an island (maybe in your organization, maybe in your perspective…) then you could keep driving cars right into the ocean, trying to get somewhere that no roads go to. But if you realize you’re on an island, you’ll build a boat to get off it it, or you’ll learn to embrace it make it the best possible island that exists in the ocean, until people build bridges to you. It relates back to Seth Godin’s The Dip, a little book with a lot of oomph. He says that the BEST is a spot only able to be occupied by one, but that anyone can get that designation if you are able to really identify what you are capable of being the best at…and work hard to get there.

the point? figure out where you are, who you are, and why you’re there, in order to make it worthwhile or move onto something that is.

Technorati Tags: Seth Godin, Tom Peters, The Dip, Brand YOU, MarketingMe, islands, self awareness

This guy, Bob Nelson, contributed a column to the business journal, and I guess he’s credible since he wrote “Management for Dummies” and “1001 Ways to Reward Employees”, and he is the president of Nelson Motivation Inc. out of San Diego (insert Anchorman quote here).

Let me share his ideas for what hiring managers should be looking for when hiring:
He says that you should hire candidates that are:

I just feel like this is such a crap response. Maybe it’s because I’m admittedly a very grey-area person, very subjective, and see that most situations are unique and deserve a perspective and context of their own. This goes for people and positions–they each deserve their own consideration. But Mr. Nelson’s suggestion to hire “smart, hard-working, and responsible” candidates seems to be nearly unattainable.

First, who decides what is smart and what isn’t? How to you quantify it and compare one candidate to another? IQ tests? For book smarts, which he says are less important than work smarts. I think a good interviewer should be able to get to the real heart of these matters.

It’s not about having someone say “hire someone responsible and with a good attitude.” Who in their right mind wouldn’t? It’s a matter of figuring out how to interview, to get to the real information about behavior and personality. That might have been a more helpful article, Mr. Nelson.

Technorati Tags: hiring, personality, character, management