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Recently I started working in downtown Toronto. I take the train into the city every morning. This has proven to be quite a learning experience.

It is like we are salmon running a river. We all pour off the trains and get funneled into troughs that lead to the subway or flow out onto the sidewalk.

A veritable sea of humanity.

It turns out that people walk just like they drive. They don’t look before they cut into your path.  Or they are texting and walking. That happened to me the other day. This suit was walking in front of me at a nice pace, suddenly pulled out his phone and not only started walking slower but also with his head down. Honestly, I could have decked him.

The other thing you have to watch for is people with lace-up shoes. They seem to think nothing of stopping I’m the middle of traffic to tie their shoes. If I stop, the person behind me walks into me and so on and so on. Sure, we don’t have to file accident reports but it sure gets you off your flow. It also makes people sigh at you and no Canadian likes that.

Lastly, I have learned to watch for ladies with rolling bags. You know: the briefcases with long handles and wheels. I hate to be gender specific but men seem to handle them just fine. Ladies invariably either trip themselves or the person behind them. Maybe if you have that much stuff, you should take a cab.

All this and I have not even mentioned people who snore on the train….

So whether you are walking, driving or networking, keep your eyes up and pay attention.  We’ll all be grateful.

We can all look back and recognize that certain points in our careers were pivot points. Moments or events that ended up setting the stage for what ever was coming next.

Is there a way to tell when you are at a pivot point?  I’m not sure. I don’t think it would be reasonable to live your life as if every moment was the moment that was going to define the rest of your life. You would go nuts. Your friends and family probably would too.

You could though spend some time reflecting on your career to see if you could, by looking back, identify projects or actions that are particularly meaningful now.

This can be done a couple of ways. You can sit with coffee and your resume and go through things in your head. You can invite a good friend for coffee and take them on a tour of your career.

I think I prefer the second method. When you explain your actions to someone else, you have to provide context and this generally allows more of the good stories to come to the surface.

Frequently, the friend is the one who will stop you in mid sentence and say “Hey, that turned out to be key didn’t it?”

Think. Talk. Repeat.

As you tell your story more and more,  patterns may emerge. Patterns that help you identify how to set things in motion for more and better pivot points.

I heard a fellow interviewed on CBC Radio the other day.  He had been unemployed for more than two years.  His last job had been in IT services.  When asked why it was taking so long to get a job, he said it was because employers were looking for people with specific certifications that he did not have.  He had done well in his previous company by learning on the job so he had never taken any courses.

This is tragic but predictable.

It’s all well and good when you are fully employed and everyone in the organization knows what you can do but what happens when you find yourself somewhere else?

Certifications and credentials act as risk reducers.  When a hiring manager sees that you have five years of experience in database administration but no courses relating to that field, do they automatically assume that you must be highly competent at learning on the fly?  No, they wonder why you never took the time to formalize your experience.

It’s the same with a professional engineering designation.  Who would spend four years slogging away in a very tough academic environment  and then not seal the deal by doing the courses and exams for their P. Eng?

Yes, its added effort when you are already busy in your job but these kinds of extracurriculars pay big dividends down the road.

They give instant validation of your skills and that might be just the thing to get your resume to the top of the pile.  That’s worth a couple of night courses, isn’t it?

Every once in a while, I have to have difficult conversations at work.  Sometimes, things don’t turn out the way I thought they would and I have to tell someone.

Maybe it’s a candidate who is not going to get an interview or maybe it’s my boss.  Maybe I have to tell him that I did not get the big order.

I used to use the “blurt and run” method for these instances.  You know: get the person’s attention, do a fast information dump and then go do something else, fast.

One of the things that I learned when I took a stand up comedy course was to deliberately pause between jokes.  If you don’t pause, you will be well into the next bit while the audience is still laughing at the first bit.  That throws off the timing for the rest of the routine.  If the listener misses the first half of the joke, how can they possibly be expected to laugh at the end?

Recently, I discovered that this same concept can be used in difficult situations too.  When delivering unexpected news, it makes sense to pause between explaining the problem and the solutions that I want to propose.  How can I expect someone to start evaluating the possible fixes, if they have not yet processed the problem?

Here’s what I do now:  sit down first and plan out my part of the conversation.  I want to describe the problem and a bit of the background of how it got to be a problem.  Not too much, just enough to provide context.  Then, I want to lay a few possible solutions.

I take a deep breath and I connect with the person.  I lay out the problem and then wait for a moment.  My inclination is to race on to describe how I am going to fix it but I stop and hold my breath for a bit.  When it seems like the news has sunk in, I launch in to the rest.

Maybe it’s a more mature approach or maybe it’s just a more controlled approach.  Whatever it is, it’s working for me.

One of my friends told me that her son went for an interview at one of the big banks.  He is a charming and charismatic guy and things went really well until the interviewer asked why, in particular, did he want to work for the bank

Boing!          

The only answer that came into his head was that his mother worked there and that’s not what most interviewers want to hear.

At first, I rolled my eyes.  Geesh …who does not have an answer to that?

But I think lots of people get caught in this trap.  You work so hard to prepare for the skill questions and the “tell me about a time when…” questions, that you forget all about the most basic question of all:  why us?

There are several ways to answer depending on the role and your place in the world.

• I love your products.
• You have an award winning brand.
• I know people who have built rewarding careers here.
• You are on the 50 Best Employers List and I would like to be a part of that.
• I can help you navigate through this period of incredible growth you are going through.

Even if it’s partially true, you might not want to go with things like:

• You fired my uncle and I want to make things right.
• It’s the only game in town.
• All my friends work here.
• You pay well.
• If I do some time here, I’ll be able to move into a real job somewhere else.

So before you talk to someone about an opportunity, know something about their values and what they offer.  Going to an interview should not be like going on a blind date for you or the interviewer.

Here’s a thought:  is e-harmony going to put me out of a job?

I heard Len Brody speak last week. He was fantastic.  He says he is not a futurist but he spends a lot of time talking about the future.  He quoted a study that said that by 2014, half of all marriages will be relationships that started online.

The algorithms that run behind the scenes at online dating sites are so sophisticated that they do a better job of setting up matches than your aunt, your mother or even you. 

Does that mean that creating good employment relationships could become the domain of monster or Workopolis?  Instead of uploading your resume or writing a cover letter, you will just fill in a serious of questionnaires with check boxes.  Employers will fill in a similar list of questions and voila!  Possible matches will be available for review.

Sounds simple, right?

Maybe but not really possible.  Nope, the human element is not going to be removed from the recruiting process anytime soon.

My sister says human review beats design rules every time.  She says that the human mind will always be able see flaws or consequences that were not anticipated in the design.  Human review in the hiring process allows us to identify candidates who bring non-traditional but potentially effective skills to a role.

The other key part that the recruiting industry plays in the process is to make introductions to people who are not necessarily looking for a date.  People who are heads down working or just plain entrenched.  We also get out into the market to talk about companies that are doing interesting things but are flying just under the radar.

If there was a drop-dead gorgeous opportunity just around the corner, would you want to hear about it directly or wait until you logged on to your e-hiring site and hope that you checked off all the right boxes?

So you have decided that you need to change jobs or get a promotion but you need to brush up on things before you start to make a move.

You could hire an expensive consultant or audition to be on “Extreme Makeover” but why subject yourself to all that?

Go through your phone and think of the people you talk to the most.  What is it about them that draws you to them? Do they have a certain personal flair?  Maybe they tell great stories or perhaps they are really well known for always getting a deal.

Invite them all over one night for snacks and beverages and tell them that you are going to pitch a new idea and that you want them to observe and give you suggestions on what you could do differently.  This is kind of like getting together for a book club meeting or poker night but without the books and the cards.

You could even ask the people you are inviting to provide you with topics you could present.

Prepare for the evening as you would for a really important meeting.  Shower, shave and smell good.

Give your “committee” paper and pens so that they can write down their ideas as you do your presentation.

When you are done, sit back and listen.  Sip your beverage. Take notes.  Absorb.  Think about the suggestions and how you can incorporate them into you current work/role/job.

This is a very solid first step to getting yourself ready for that next move, whatever it may be.

This week, a kind of sad theme emerged.  I talked to a string of people who were mid-way through very successful careers.

They had started with a major, name brand companies right out of school.  They had worked hard and been promoted to some pretty senior roles.  It was clear looking at their resumes that they had gone above and beyond for their companies and their careers had flourished.

Until the day that they got outsized, right sized or downsized and realized that their entire network of references and connections were contained within that single company.

Most were part of large groups that got laid off at the same time so while those “layoff buddies” were good for commiserating and going to outplacement sessions, they were not good for leads to new roles because they were looking too.

Don’t let this happen to you.

LinkedIn is the best thing going to prevent this from happening. When you meet someone at a conference, connect.  When you are on a panel with someone, connect.  When you meet someone interesting at a cocktail party, connect.

Go one step further.  When someone leaves your company and gets another job, send a note.  LinkedIn will tell you when this happens.  Use this information to continue building your network so that it extends past your silo.

You may never need to lean on your network for career help, but it’s nice to know it’s there if you do.

So your Linkedin profile is up to date, you have connected with the guy you met yesterday and you have a networking appointment next week.

Now what?

Jump into itunes.  Open up the Store and type “career” into the search box.  Check out all of the career focused podcasts.  There are lots to choose from.  And they are free!  Imagine:  you can get career advice from Marcus Buckingham for free.          

Next, go to TED.com and do the same thing.  Type career into the search box.  Not all of the results will be directly helpful with your career.  Some will but some are about other people’s journeys to something unique and interesting.

Even if you don’t find a TED talk that is inspiring, funny or moving, you will certainly have new material to drop into your next conversation with a connection.

“Oh, yeah.  I just saw a TED talk about that very thing.  So and so has been doing research on…..”

Think of how brilliant and up to date you’ll sound.

Happy listening!

Last night I was invited to the Etobicoke School for the Arts Showcase.  It was put on by the musical theatre department.

You have to admire a school that has not just a music department but a musical theatre department.

Two things struck me as I drove home humming a mashup of Broadway tunes from the show.

It is amazing how much development happens between grade 9 and grade 12.  It’s staggering.  It’s not just height, muscles, and hips.  It’s poise, confidence and a general sense of control.

Let’s face it.  All the kids at the school have talent.  Most of them have exceptional talent.  The audition process is rigorous and very competitive.  It pretty much weeds out the hackers.

To see the senior students in their small ensemble numbers after four years of learning, training and growing was really amazing.

The other thing that stuck me was that they were all willing to leave it all on the stage.  They were completely in the moment.  They were, for that three minutes, the song.  There was nothing else.  Not the audience, not their parents, not their teachers.  That was inspiring.

I readily admit that I am not a teenager anymore, nor do I want to relive my teen aged years (at all!) but when was the last time that you went through a period of intense development?  When was the last time you did something with such focus and determination that you were totally spent at the end?  And then got up and did it again?

It’s inspiring to watch it.  It’s even better to live it.