Why you should not make (or accept) a Video Resume

Overlawyered

Is doing a video resume good emotional intelligence? After all, you're a dynamic, attractive person who presents well in-person. Is accepting them from applicants the smart thing to do? You sure get a clot more clues when you can see the candidate "in action." Will it help you in your search for a new job or a better job? If you're interviewing for jobs, see my ebook "Acing the New Interview"

Some have thought it a good idea when applying via such online job sites as Jobster, CareerBuilder and Vault.

According to this article on Overlawyered many labor and employment attorney are warning employers that video resumes creates too much exposure to be "comfortably accepted". That's lawyer-eze for "not a good idea."

"Just don't even deal with them," said Dennis Brown, an attorney in the San Jose, Calif., office of Littler Mendelson whose firm recently advised employers about the dangers of video resumés in a seminar. "My advice to my clients who have asked me about video resumes -- and I have had a lot of clients ask lately -- is do not accept, do not review video resumes."

This lawyer feels video resumes reveal information about a person's race, sex, disability, age -- all details that could wind up in a discrimination lawsuit.... "This is one of those instances where a little bit of unnecessary knowledge is dangerous." ...

Another lawyer, Darlene Smith of the Washington office of Boston's Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, said she was deadset against it.

Comments from attorneys for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are included in this article on Overlawyered.

Business Communication doesn't have to be Jargon

Creating Passionate Users: When only the glib win, we all lose

Please, please go visit this blogsite. The graphics are so good, all you have to do is look at them and you've got the message.

NO JARGON

If you've worked with me, taken one of my Internet courses, or read one of my ebooks, you know that I hate "jargon" and don't use it. The courses and ebooks are all post-grad level, but they are in plain English.

When I was in grad school and getting a little heady about how smart I was about to be, I wrote a paper full of obfuscations and the professor told me he agreed with Einstein -- if you can't explain it to your grandmother*, you don't know what you're talking about. He said never to be afraid to say it in clearly, with short words.

In fact that's a really good idea in tense situations, like where you're the expert, boss or authority figure. Consider a doctor delivering bad news, for instance. There's a great email going around about friendship, where one of the items is "And when you're upset, I'll speak to you in short words."

(That's an anachronism, of course, grandmother. How about - if you can't explain it to a 10 year old ... )

Now if you were standing in the office instead of at the ironing board, and someone started talking at you that way, wouldn't you RUN?

These graphics are reproduced under the creative commons agreements.

http://headrush.typepad.com/

Isn't that marvelous?

This blogster is a real genius, the kind with IQ AND EQ.

To improve your communication, take THE EQ COURSE. It reinforces some of the other points made on this blog -- that PowerPoint doesn't teach, people teach ... that throwing money at a problem doesn't solve it ... that the more you micromanage, the more you make dysfunctional idiots out of your employees, that two heads aren't always better than one ... and don't start your presentation, book, talk "at the beginning".

It's just a great site. Take some time and browse it.

My life's work is helping people get along better, get more done, have more success in relationships and at work, and enjoy their life more. This takes high emotional intelligence, understanding how you operate and also how the other person does.

Learn How to Make Your Workplace Happier and More Productive

Learn about the 7 Key Steps to Make Your Workplace Happier and More Productive

THE MAJOR KEY IS WELLNESS ... being in top shape physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Emotions effect our wellness - as Candace Pert, Ph.D. says, our emotions are in every cell of our body. Try ARBONNE for feeling your best. You cannot follow any of the 7 steps unless you are robust, energetic and healthy. Shop safely online with me at MyArbonne. I use only their products, cosmetics, supplements, lotions (they are PURE) and I haven't missed a day of work (or fun) in 4 years. Have you? What you put on your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream.
________________________________________________________
What's the key to a great workplace?

Emotional Intelligence ... according to Dr. Steven Stein, who studies emotional intelligence, or EQ, these are the 7 keys from his new book:

THE 7 KEYS (Go HERE to read the whole article.)

1. Hire capable people who love the work they do and show how they contribute to the bigger picture.

2. Compensate people fairly.

3. Don't overwork (or under work) people.

4. Build strong teams with shared purpose and viable goals.

5. Make sure managers can manage.

6. Treat people with respect and leverage their unique talents.

7. Be proactively responsible by doing the right things to win the hearts and minds of your people.

All of these are signs that the workplace has a high EQ or emotional intelligence. "Happy" people ar emore productive, and one thing we learn from studying emotional intelligence, which I like to combine with the StrengthsFinder assessment (because it is NOT all about "emotions") is that what makes one person "happy" in the workplace, does not make another person "happy."

Look around in an average office these days and you will find all ages, cultures, backgrounds, etc. I was observing one alpha male today. The office is under a huge crunch, and many are wearing down. This man absolutely LOVES to work and "churn it out." He gets HAPPIER as the pressure builds, more cheerful as the day progresses, and I find hi absolutely energizing. Why? Because emotions are contagious. There's nothing like a leader who can smile when the going gets rough, and can show what I call "grace under pressure."

Want to know more about it? Take the EQ course.

It's all about GRACE UNDER PRESSURE.

First Day on the New Job: Emotional Intelligence

Gone to Chicago for the week on business. Blog will resume when I return.

Can't wait to see my home town again. Hope there are snow flurries. Plan to see Fledermaus at the Lyric, eat a Loyds, stay at the Palmer House (OK, HILTON). I'm excited and in a special kind of way, because this is going home to me. Today's blog recommendation talks about this sort of thing - or rather the great discomfort we feel when we are going somewhere totally new - including a new job.

Check it out: "Your First Day on the Job"

Most of us have had two or more "first days on the new job" and know that it can be hell. Why then, asks our blogger, don't others try and make it more amenable?

THAT IS A GOOD QUESTION.

It can set the tone for the the rest of the engagement so to speak.

He answers his own question, with a bit of the self-awareness we get from emotional intelligence: "I can only think that it must be the result of the general lack of emotional intelligence that one sees in the average IT workplace, combined with the poor standard of management that seems a ubiquitous feature of corporate environments ..."

Self-awareness -- because we moved a lot when I was a kid (for good reasons, at least for my parents), I've always had a soft spot for the "new kid on the block." When I worked in an office, I was usually the one to look after the new person - unofficially of course. I made sure they knew where the bathroom and coffee were, and supplies; offered to help when I saw them looking lost; asked them for lunch early on.

During my years in offices I had good and bad experiences in this respect. I know that when I was introduced properly to the others, my early weeks in the new place were a delight, and it bore fruit in the long-term.

We - human beings - are naturally xenophobic. We do not like strangers. Underneath, we fear them. It's natural. And I'm afraid it's exacerbated by the things we hear in the media. Nevertheless, it's EQ, and it's civilized behavior, and etiquette, to do what you can to make the new person feel AT HOME.

Just say "yes." Hazing and hell week belong on the college campus, for youngsters (whose neocortexes are not fully yet developed - or their EQ).

It's the decent thing to do, and it's emotionally intelligent!