The Single Worst Thing About Any Job Interview: Whims of Human Nature

The single worst thing in my opinion is the fact that you getting the job or not may rely on the personal whim of an interviewer and no one can possibly account for that since it’s impossible. I say this as I am currently on a job search of my own and have encountered conflicting advice from numerous sources on a number of different topics related to how you portray yourself while searching for a job and going out to interviews.

Below are 3 things which I have specifically gotten conflicting opinions on and thus are centered around a man’s problems in going out for interviews but they can be read from the female perspective too. (Just ignore the facial hair part and think of the multiple ways a lady can style her hair from ponytails to buns to letting it just fall and the tons more I am sure I am not mentioning due to my lack of experience in this area.)

Attire:

I have heard some say you should always go in a suit – and this is something I personally always do. It was all fine until someone told me my light suit, bright colored tie, and colored shirt  are too flashy and I should be in a dark suit, white shirt, and sober tie while someone else told me that even wearing a suit at all to some industries’ interviews is way too corporate looking and stuffy.

Hairstyle & Facial Hair:

1 Simple Way To Increase Potential Clients Picking Up The Phone When Your Business Calls

Ensure your business has a name displayed that shows up on caller ID when they call out.

Boom! You just increased the likelihood that people/clients/potential customers will answer the phone when you call them. Seriously, that’s all there is to it. Read on to find out why…

If this is a business calling they’ve lowered the chances of me answering by 87% by not having a name showing.

The other day I got a call from what seemed to me to be a random number. The phone number showed up but I didn’t recognize it so I ignored it because I was busy with other things. They left a voicemail which I didn’t check because who checks voicemail these days? Further, who checks voicemail if you don’t recognize the number?

“Made To Share.” That’s Great! Where’s The Mention Of Sites We Should Be Sharing On?

I am sure most Canadians who are reading this blog recognize the logo above. I have taken the actual brand name out but I am aware that most of you will recognize the brand that made these commercials.

The brand name, however, is the only thing I have taken out of this screen shot. As I discussed in my previous post on removing barriers to engagement I have to wonder how it hasn’t occurred to this brand to include some links or information to their social media presences or even their website. Nothing, nada, not a word written. The campaign is called “Made to SHARE” for crying out loud! How has no one suggested to this brand that they actually make things sharable!

Before I go on let me make clear that, yes, I understand the campaign’s point is to encourage people to share the product amongst their friends but the word share has taken on a whole new meaning. As well, the actual ad that prompted this post was based around the idea of a picture of a guy being shared around by his family and friends on different mediums (phones, tablets, and computers) so it is obviously being done via some sort of online sharing even if it is only being done via email (unlikely as that is in this day and age).

This kind of makes me want to bang my head on the wall over and over and I am not an advertising professional. Maybe there is something here I am missing something that is obvious to anyone actually in the business but to me it seems like a massive miss. Not only isn’t any information listed on the advertising spot as shown above, they don’t have a YouTube channel where they can put up for ready access all their “Made to share” advertising spots so people can….wait for it….SHARE THEM! 

Why? Please. Tell. Me. Why. It makes absolutely zero sense to me that they wouldn’t be attempting to convert this campaign by encouraging it go viral. Seems like a pretty obvious move to me but, again, maybe I am missing something.

Why Do Brands Expect Us To Find Them On Social Media?

As the title of this post implies today we are going to talk about brands and how they expect the consumer/customer to interact with them. I have been seeing quite a few ads and commercials recently where the advertiser wants to show their 21st Century savvy and how they are available on different social media platforms but they do it like you see in the picture above. The announce to the world (or whoever is seeing the ad) that, yes, they are present on those platforms but they seem to think that we all like to play a game of Where’s Waldo with them.

Waldo via Waldo Wiki

 I mean, I loved sitting on trips with my family when I was a kid and opening one of the Where’s Waldo books but that was recreational and something to do when we were sitting in an airport/on a plane/in a car and had nothing better to do. The point of advertising and being present on the various social media platforms is so that the consumer and potential customers can engage with the brand/advertiser. Don’t make it difficult for us!

This shouldn’t be news to anyone either. Heck, I recently was in the the new shop on Queen St West called Community 54 where they have old arcade video games from way back in the day. One of those games, Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey, was from late enough (1996) that they thought it relevant to mention that the game had a site on this newfangled thing called the Internet. But they didn’t just announce this fact, they didn’t put “WE ARE ON THE INTERNET” and expect people to go out and find them. If you look in the picture below you can see exactly what they wrote because I snapped a picture of it.

They told people to “Check out these WEB sites” and then listed them. Done. Consumer can easily interact with those two websites assuming they had computers and access to the Internet. But at leas they didn’t lose them in the potentially interested person having to do any work to engage with the brand.

Some more examples below:

And

To be fair, the second one of the above pictures, from Union Station in Toronto, they did point to the account @unionstationTO on Twitter for us to engage with but they didn’t bother for some reason with Facebook to do the same. My guess as to why this is is because they didn’t bother to get a custom URL for their page before printing up this signage (they have’t, it seems, bothered to register a custom URL even to this day). This is just laziness plain and simple (in my opinion).

In conclusion, this is a message to all Brands, Advertisers, and Marketers: Remove barriers to engagement don’t erect them.

Have you seen similar displays as I pictured above? Have you ever gone out and actually engaged with a brand afterward or did you just say screw it because it was too much work? Let me know in the comments below.

(And in case you are wondering, no I have never bothered looking into the above pictured brand’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. As well, here’s a link provided by the Way Back Internet Machine for Gretzky.com in 1998. I couldn’t get Midway.com because it just redirects to Warner Bros which bought their assets in 2009 when Midway went bankrupt.)

Facebook For Business Panel In Toronto – #FB4BizTO

I am heading down to a panel called “Facebook for Business” which looks to be very interesting especially given their panel (full disclosure I know 4/5 of them from the interwebs and 3/5 in real life).

The panel’s hashtag is #FB4BizTO which is good because I am running LATE so I can follow along with it en route down (taking the TTC, don’t text/tweet & drive folks!)

They are encouraging anyone with questions to tweet any of the panelists (see below for Twitter handles/links) or @OrangeYYZ. You can even call 416-644-5929 and ask for Joan. That last one is a really cool idea, completely low tech but still very cool way to add to the conversation/panel. I wonder if people used to be able to do that for TV/Radio panels going on? Maybe I will ask my mom or grandparents…

The panel will be focusing on how B2C businesses (B2C = Business to Consumer) can use Facebook to achieve business results.  They are promising they’ll be sharing a few beginner tips for companies JUST getting into using Facebook for business as well as diving into developing and sharing content, creating engagement (and whether or not that can even be done!), using Facebook apps, and sharing tips and tricks; examples; and best practices. But no panel ever stays on topic(s) so I’m looking forward to this one veering off and seeing where these brilliant people on the panel take us in their discussion.

The Panelists

• Marina Arnaout – @marinan Digital Communications, Steam Whistle Brewing
• Kerry Morrison – @kmore CEO, Endloop Studios 
• Michael Nus – @michaelnus Co-Founder, Epilogger Inc
• Heather Payne – @heatherpayne Sales & Marketing, Pinpoint Social
• Carolyn Van – @carolynvan Co-Founder & Managing Partner, thirdocean & XConnectTO

The Moderator

• Rashel Shamsipour – @Rashel_S Vlogger and Social Media Marketer, ListenMR.com

If you’re going to be there – I’ll see you soon! I’m on my way, really! If you’re “listening” in online, I hope you get a lot out of it. Tweet at me, @TheDanLevy if you’re too shy to ask a question and I will be glad to do it for you!

Business Talks With @Cdot_in_Tdot

Not a long post tonight, I know that. I am listening to the Wisdom of Calvin aka @cdot_in_tdot. We are talking about all sorts of marketing and business.

The man is literally teaching a clinic and it is a pleasure to hear him talk. I want to blog more but I need to pay attention to him. He needs to get a professorship somewhere.

If you ever get the chance to talk to him, LISTEN!