How to Stay Hired

We have all been there. Sweaty palms. Crinkled resumes. Scuffed shoes. It’s job interview day and despite sticking those germ-infested hooves in our mouth during an intense question, we snagged ourselves an illustrious position at our dream job. 

You see, several years ago, that was me. I remember what I was wearing, the weather, a few of the interview Q&A's.

After a while I got comfortable with everyone and work life proceeds. The mantra practice makes perfect fueled me through the day. However, a nagging question snuck in, how do I keep the dream alive? How do I stay hired?

And now I’ve planted it in your head…

Be On Time: Punctuality is equivalent to reliability. Not only should you be on time to plopping your fine rear anatomy at your desk in the morning (seriously, how many traffic jams can your encounter in a week. Seriously.) but you should be on time with handing your work into your boss and to your clients.

Be Honest: Own up to your mistakes. While it is a globally known fact that America is in crisis mode for an ever-growing debt, (you didn’t really think that was was a national secret, did you?) that is not the only deficit we own. We are deficient when it comes to taking responsibility.

Be Likeable: What does that even mean? If your coworkers grimace when you talk, that’s a strong indicator you are on the wrong spectrum of likeability. If you extend a BBQ invite and 80% of the office shows, you’re on the right track. Listen to people, share your food (be respective to food allergies and try not to get people severely harmed) and respect boundaries.

Be Open: Whether it’s opening up to others, being open to ideas or critique or helping others open up, shutting down means you lose out. Allow people to explore alongside you.

Be Proactive: Don’t wait for someone to ask you to do something. If you see the water is about to run over the sink ledge, for Niagara Fall’s sake, get up and shut it off even if you didn’t leave it on. A cautious person with a good set of eyes in the future who has the team’s back (quite the visual) is always an asset.

Be Versatile: Let people know about your multi-faceted skills and your willingness to use them whenever, however, and wherever needed. This may be your dream job in an illustrious team, but it takes many moving parts to make mighty things happen. Moreover, it takes all kinds of special too.

So finally, how to stay hired is to be hired. While being on time is essential, don’t just show up because it’s your dream. Be hired. And stay hired.

Here’s to many more years at Worx…because it just Worx for me.

Repetition Is Not Boring; It's Branding

The other day I read a book about an editor who teaches others how to become word heroes. From one section of the book to the next he guides us through the painful stages of word apprentice, word novice, word artist, word wizard and yes there it is, Word Hero!

One of the empowering tools this author teaches us how to wield is word repeaters, i.e. when you want to get your point across you use the technical art of repetition.

The following is something many grew up reading.

I do not like them in a box. 

I do not like them with a fox. 

I do not like them in a house.

I do not like them with a mouse.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

It’s repetitious. It’s instilling in our mind the fact that the author has something worth saying and is making a point verbally or in written fashion.

Then yesterday I bought a beloved gem written by Ernest Vincent Wright, where the author never uses the letter “e.” Now more commonly known as the book that will never be an “e-book.” In this, he practices another intentional process of repetition. Every single page, every single word, every single descriptive wedding scene void of the letter “e.” (Did you notice my word repeater?)

In doing so both authors - Seuss and Wright - have done something remarkable. They have branded themselves amongst millions of other notable authors.

They have illustrated that repetition is not boring; it is branding. Repetition is intentional. It’s strategic. It’s consistency. Wait, you may be thinking. Doesn’t that sound like a habit? At one point and time, I thought so too. The difference between a habit and repetition:

Habit becomes a form of addiction: It’s controlling. It’s often born from our subconscious. Habits form us whereas we form repetitions…

I’m looking forward to receiving my new book, and I’m anticipating an exciting read because I’ve learned as an aspiring Word Hero that word repeaters – repetition- builds trust.

• The more you reiterate one point and stand by that point of positivity, the more likely people will choose you.

• The more you stick by your designated color palette, the more people will recognize you by your true colors.

• The more you live your life motto and mission statement, the more people will join you alongside your mission.

Because the more you do things intentionally it is repetition, and repetition is not boring; it’s branding.

Say It Write

It’s probably happened to all of you

You’re listening to the radio. You hear his or her voice. You begin, subconsciously, creating a visual of how this person looks. Soon, their entire physique is at the command of your imagination.

And depending upon your mental prowess, you have created a background story for them. Occupation. Family. Race, height, weight, eye color. All based on the sound quality of their voice. Every nuance is yet another clue into the depth of his or her alleged character.

And then you Google them. Or meet them. 

Such a disconnect - before your very eyes all your hard work… crack goes the proverbial Humpty Dumpty. It’s not a disappointment to humanity; it’s a disappointment to your imagination. It’s inconsistency.

You spent considerable energy and care into creating a beautiful Faberge egg of a persona. A body to match that resonating voice.

And one glance at that picture? All the king’s photoshoppers and ventriloquists couldn’t put it back together again.

But a copywriter? Maybe.

You see, a copywriter is sort of like a literature PR person. We work from the opposite end. WE take the person that you see. The hypothetical person you Googled and we help create emotional text that matches their physique; all the visual elements that you encounter face-to-face.

Every component one sees will match in everything they see, hear and read.

We give them their own form of syntax that matches the windows to their soul.

Everyone has something to say just not everyone knows how to say it. 

Therefore, it’s far too easy to have it spelled out in such a way that disconnects from a personal and professional brand.

A copywriter begins with the basics. We explore the rudimentary essentials of grammar:

• Type: Technical, Business, Conversational

• Tense: Past, Present, Future

• Voice: First, Second, Third

• Style: Expository, Persuasive, Descriptive, Narrative

And then we help you create your own unique identity. We allow individuals to experience his or her own exclusive tone, full of emotion. We capture the essence of people and generate content as an extension of their personality. We market you. We take what your brand really is and embolden it online and in print with impactful words. We translate what others cannot convey. You have thoughts; We are there to voice them.

So the next time someone sees you, hears you, reads your work  - whether all those works are combined or are separated -  the goal of everything you do is to represent yourself. For people to say, “That’s so (insert name here).”

The Gist of The Matter

We may not have met in person. We may not have shook hands – and if we ever do, I like a good firm, handshake. If we haven’t high-five'd, I like them just like that. High. No low fives and definitely no you’re-too-slow-fives that the youths of America jokingly initiate. 

However, we have met here before. Therefore, I think it’s a safe platform that I can bypass the weather and go straight into a heart-to-heart (or fist-bump to fist-bump if you prefer) discussion and delve into a not-so-secret secret. Ready?

I like to paint. I like to create beautiful imagery. Sometimes I use pens. Sometimes I use pencils. But in circumstances such as this, I depend on a keyboard and upon the connectivity between two screens.

You see, I like to paint pictures for people where the medium is words, not acrylics or watercolors.

But after pouring my attention, my spine and sometimes my water over the keyboard to develop every detail into bringing to life the pepperonis of a pizza shop, restoring the chipped paint of a dilapidated warehouse, or helping fill the cavity of a toddler’s on his first visit to the dentist, I need a break.

I need to lift my head slowly (so as to avoid whiplash), and for all those in with any physiological background, I do indeed crack my knuckles at this juncture.

When I come up to breathe from this self-induced, word-constricting comma, when I look up from my own Wonderland, I acknowledge April’s thunderstorms and the thunderclouds. I see the leafless trees, the muddy walkways, and I see the soggy grounds. Also, all of this has a major impact on my soles; the soles of my shoes. Subsequently this impacts my wallet.

Because I am a realist.

Here’s the gist of the matter:

Suppose I shove away from my desk on my wheeled chair when work ends and head out on a gray, stormy day.

Then, like an incompetent baker who can’t crack eggs, the clouds break open and the water sloshes on me. And what appears to be only me. Even though this isn’t really true. I am wet, but onward I walk.

Ahead a gentleman is getting in his car, shaking out his umbrella as he begins to collapse it and back into his sedan. (How does the general population accomplish that feat so elegantly? So inconspicuously?)

As I approach closer, he calls out, “Hey, I don’t need this anymore! I’m obviously heading out. You can have this-”

“Oh thanks, but I couldn’t. Are you sur-”

“…for 20 bucks. Even.”

“Oh, um, I only have $15 on me.”

“I’ll take it.”

Sold.

And that my friends is the gist of the matter.

• As a realist, I acknowledge that this person is taking advantage of an opportune moment. It’s very economically advantageous of him.

• An optimist individual might give him the benefit of the doubt thinking this person is attempting to make some much-needed money for his family, even pulling out the emergency $50 from his or her wallet.

• A pessimist doesn’t buy the umbrella because he or she assumes it doesn’t work. Actually, a pessimist may never have left the office because, “Chicken Little: The sky is falling!”

The gist of the matter is we’re going to encounter rainy days. (Quite literally, now that it is April!) The clouds will crack open from above us. There will be puddles. So eventually we will have to go through them.

It’s how we go through them that matters most.

The gist of the matter is we’re going to get muddy. It’s a fact. But even mud is good for our skin, right?

An Inside Scoop From An Outside Perspective

What’s it like working in an industry in which I have absolutely no history? To sit at an open space tribicle (three cubicles), and have a Mac desktop dock downloaded with software dedicated solely to this industry?

While I’ve never been directly asked this verbally, the eyes say a lot. When the company for which I work for is introduced, I’m assumed to be one of them. One of my co-workers. The presumption is an honor - but once the preliminary introduction is out of the way and the perfunctory handshake is shook, they really want to know, what’s my position if I’m not in their league? A marketing administrative assistant? Wait, how can I be a Girl Friday if I only work Tuesday-Thursday?

I have one program that individuals, kids, parents, college students, teachers use worldwide, so what’s so special about that? Microsoft Word. It can be painfully slow, but in the office it’s my fourth best friend. (Looking at me sucking up to my boss and co-workers.)

You see, I’m a copywriter and somehow the graphic designers around me found a reason to carve a space out for me.

What’s it like?  

Liberating

I wake up every workday knowing that I get to dress the way my mind thinks and my co-workers design.

What’s it like? 

Stimulating

I get to live by the 4 C’s: Collaborate. Create. And receive and offer Constructive Criticism.

Yes.

We manage to live successfully by them. Relatively drama free.

How?

•    You have to have a clear and open mind and open space that allows for open dialogue.

•    You have to have a trustworthy relationship with your peers, co-workers, leaders; whomever you are interacting with during your creative collaborative and constructive criticism sessions.

•    You need to learn to listen attentively and respectively.

•    And learn to talk tactfully; criticism and insults are not synonymous.

•    You need to learn to differentiate that just because a project is a “No” doesn’t equate that you’re a “No.”

•    And learn to take a compliment.

•    And give compliments every once in awhile. For every criticism, find a compliment or word of wise encouragement. That’s what makes it constructive. The compliment may be futurist: “When you do “this,” because I know YOU are capable of it. It will rock the mismatching socks of the audience and ca-ca poo-poo is going to hit the fan. It’s going to be awesome.” Even that kind of praise is welcome. Wacky. Deserved. Memorable.

I don’t have to be a mother to appreciate a well-behaved child. I don’t have to be a painter to take notice of an Albrecht Dürer piece of work. I don’t have to be a firefighter to sound the alarm of a burning building. I don’t have to be a baker to know when my taste buds are getting a dose of delicious pastry. And I don’t have to be a graphic designer to sit amongst them and their dexterity at visual branding.

I have no history in the industry I’m working in; at the tribicle of desks I’m sitting. But I have a future here. I will not design, but I will definitely be coming back because my Microsoft Documents and their InDesign Software tend to coexist quite well.