Job Interviews and Dating: Three Strikes You’re Out

Ask any of my friends about my dating life, and they will say that most are lucky to make it past the third date. Many find this magic number of three peculiar. However, I think it’s perfectly rational. You can usually figure out within the first 15 minutes of meeting someone if there is chemistry, a.k.a. you want to see them naked. Then, you spend the next few dates discovering if you want to learn more about them. By the end of the third date, you reach the conclusion of “that was nice” or even worse, “that was a waste of time”, and you know it’s time to call it quits and move on. However, if your curiosity is still peaked, a fourth date might be worth your wild.

Recently as I have been interviewing for a new job, and I came to the conclusion that the process for finding that perfect position – either with a mate or employment – is the same.

Like the three date rule with relationships, you usually know by the third interview if the job is right for you. Either your excitement about working with the company increases or you mark if off your list.

Think about it…

Interview #1:

You talk with the recruiter, usually over the phone, and you know right away if you could possibly see yourself working there. You don’t divulge too much on this first meeting. You feel it out to see if it’s a match.

giphy_hello there

Interview #2:

This is when you start getting into the details of the position and discussing your background. On a date, you might talk about your past dating history and family. And if you are bored out of your mind, you try to keep a smile on your face until the end.

gif_fake interest

Typically the 2nd interview is longer than the first, and if they don’t pass muster, a third will never happen.

gif_run away

 

Interview #3:

By now you have a feeling that there is something there, and you spend your time really digging into the details. Trying to figure out if you can really see yourself working there and what your day-to-day will look like once the “honeymoon” stage is over.

gif_got it

Of course, this is never an exact science. But if you know what you want and don’t want, the process is a lot easier.

What’s your interview process like?

Don’t forget to sign the #CMWorld yearbook

It’s that time of year again — Content Marketing World! It’s Monday evening, and Cleveland has been over taken by content marketers. EGHADS! To quote Drew Carey, “CLEVELAND ROCKS!” However, with a conference full of content marketers, how do you navigate through all the tweets and Instagrams to actually meet people…and wait for it…remember who you have meet IRL?

Well…Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media came up with an excellent strategy last year, the CMWorld Yearbook. It was such a hit last year, that Andy has brought it back this year (with a lil’ bit of pleading and favor granting that is). Since this is such a big project, he needed a little help, so @SFErika and I have raised our hands (or should I say digital and IRL networking skills) to help.

And… we need your help to make this year even bigger that last year’s CMWorld Yearbook. Here’s how you can help:

  1. Find one out of the three of us at #CMWorld to sign the #CMWyearbook. (Follow the hashtag #CMWYearbook to see who has it at any particular moment. We will be sharing tweets with photos during signing opps.) Find the #CMWYearbook
  2. Sign the yearbook. (Like duh!!)
  3. Let us take your photo and tweet it.
  4. If that doesn’t work, feel free to stalk tweet one of us to figure out where the #CMWyearbook is located.

Here’s who has signed it so far:

Empowering Women by Creating an Eco-Travel Resort

Have you ever met someone who simply amazes you? I mean amazes you in ways that words cannot express. It’s not the way they look or any particular skill they possess, but it’s more about the sheer size of their heart. Yeah… that kind of amazement. Webster’s defines awe as, “an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.” However, I find the true meaning of “awe” when this phenomenon happens — like a beautiful sunset, a baby’s first smile or the moment you know someone truly loves you. The type that simply fills you with warmth. The type that makes you wonder, “Did this just really happen?”

DongdeealexaThat awe happened to me in Thailand when I met Alexa Pham, the co-owner of the Chai Lai Orchid. Alexa gave up her comfy life in New York, packed up or sold everything and moved out to Chiang Mai, Thailand to help create a brand new life for those who need it most — women who are at risk of becoming part of the world’s deep underbelly of sex trafficking. For years, Alexa had been helping Daughters Rising, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping prevent sex trafficking by empowering at-risk girls through education, training programs and scholarships. However, Alexa knew that she could do more to help at-risk girls. And, boy did she ever…

This past March when a met Alexa, the Chai Lai Orchid had just had it’s one year anniversary in January. Even though the road to building this eco-travel hotel was paved with good intentions, it was a bumpy ride to start. Alexa first had to find a location. That, believe it or not was the easy part. Her partner found the location as an abandoned, what we could only guess, housing. But when Alexa found it, the location might of well been a garbage dump. It took 8 of them 6 solid weeks just to dig the original buildings out from all the piles of garbage. The current location is right next to the river and an elephant sanctuary, so being so close to the river, the locals used the location to party and left their rubbish behind. After the clean up, it took about 3 months of renovation work. Some of the local tribes’ men were employed to assist in the renovation work and remain working at the eco-resort today.

Next, Alexa set on her quest to find at-risk women in the local villages. In the hills of Mae Wang, where Chai Lai Orchid is located, there are a number of tribal villages; each with it’s own dialect and language. Communication had to be difficult for the red-headed New Yorker, Alexa. In order to find the girls who need help the most, Alexa first introduced herself to all the tribal leaders in the area. She became apart of each community. The amazing part of the tribes in the area is that even though they are spread out, either by language or geography, they are all one big “family”. If one family needs to build a new house, everyone is there to help. If another tribe needs to plow their fields, everyone is in turn there to help. So the fact that Alexa wanted to help was not only welcomed by all, but appreciated.

At the Chai Lai Orchid, the women learn many new skills to help them create a life for themselves. Many of the women help out on the hospitality side of the eco-resort, either by being a waitress at the restaurant, a front desk hostess, working with housekeeping, cooking or even learning how to be a massage therapist. Because of the popularity of the eco-resort, the staff gets to interact with people from many different backgrounds and nationalities. All of which helps them not only learn new skills, but learn new languages. The job training program at the eco-resort lasts around 6- 8 months. Then, Alexa helps the women find either more training or begin a new job.

I asked Alexa about a few of her recent success stories. She told me one transgender girl, who just left the Chai Lai Orchid, started her own laundry mat in Chiang Mai. Another young girl, who was married at 12 years old and has two small twin boys to care for, opened her own home stay in her village. Now, like many of the women who go through the program, she has become self sufficient by earning her own income. While I was visiting the Chai Lai Orchid, there were two young, determined girls helping out. One found Alexa via word-of-mouth. She had only been in Thailand for about two months, living on a refugee camp. She wants to be a teacher and someday head back to Burma to teach Karan, a native language of a few of the villages. The other girl helped with the gardening and the guests around the hotel. She was studying English and human rights. Her goal is to go back to Burma someday and help people know and fully understand their rights. Alexa was in the process of finding her a four year program for her to attend after Chai Lai.

Today, Alexa has a waiting list of at-risk women who want to come work for the Chai Lai. Unfortunately, she has to turn some women away — not only does Alexa only have a few training spots, but many of the villagers around Mae Wang are refugees, they don’t have papers, which makes it difficult for Alexa to hire them.

Even after only four days at the Chai Lai Orchid, the memories of each and every person I met there are forever etched into my heart. The women and what Alexa is helping them achieve is truly inspiring. If you have time, I highly recommend visiting the Chai Lai Orchid. And if you have more time, consider volunteering at the eco-resort. Personally, I don’t know a better way to take a vacation than helping others.

Thanks Alexa for all you do!

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Why Travel Changes Your Tune

Life’s steady drum beat, the underlying rhythm of your life with its isometric pace  — the formality of your work, the predictability of your friends, the steady stream of unconscious thoughts that hit you like waves breaking on the shore — well, frankly, they can be boring.  Don’t get me wrong; I like some predictability in my life — to know what’s expected. But where’s the excitement in that?

Changing the expected

I like to think of life like a great symphony. You could live your life as a Mozart operatic masterpiece, with each character always having their own melody, like the intro music baseball players have when they first come to bat, or you could choose to live your live like a Shostakovich symphony – one with happy, joyful moments, mixed in with melancholy melodies and then the occasional off -beat, out of tune note that surprises you so much you wonder if the musician hit the wrong key only to realize they didn’t – it’s intentional. My life seems to follow a Mozart opera with the occasional Shostakovich moments.  Honestly, I’m not sure which one I enjoy more. They each have their time and place. But life is full of musical moments; sometimes you just have to play to your own tune, improvise your next score.

Why travel changes your tune

There are some adventures in life that have the ability to fundamentally change who and what you are, both inside and out.  Your internal musical meter can go from 3/4s, like a Viennese Waltz, to one that’s more like a Fantasia, where you have no measures and only basic meter and note values are provided, leaving you free to compose as you see fit. Just like in music, planning a score or trip with limited guidelines can lead you to venture out of your comfort zone. These types of adventures are my favorites!

Discovering yourself

Last month, I ventured to Thailand for a little over two weeks, all by myself. Everyone asked me before, during and even after the trip if I was ok to travel by myself. To be honest, and please don’t tell my Mother this, I was a little bit afraid. My first stop was in Bangkok, a city larger than any other city I have been to before. In fact, it’s almost 600% larger than San Francisco, where I currently live, and 1760% larger than my hometown of Galveston, TX. Talk about big! The size really didn’t scare me, but the fact that I don’t speak Thai really scared me. What happened if I got lost and no one spoke English around me? Then, I said, “Oh well, here’s to an adventure. I’ll never know until I try.” And you know what, I actually enjoyed the fact that I had little understanding of what was being said around me. To put it into perspective, it’s like listening to new music with an instrument you have never heard before. Not knowing the how the notes are created or what each word means gave me the piece of mind to really soak in my surroundings, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Love the gold flakes on his mustache – Wat Pho
Wat Pho
Wat Pho
Buddah at Wat Arun
Buddah at Wat Arun




Fighting your fears of the unknown

Besides being around an unfamiliar language, silly me, I decided to push into the unknown even further by signing up for an adventure tour. Since I came down with Fibromyalgia over 14 years ago, I haven’t been too adventuresome, physically speaking at least. But hey, life is short, so why not. On this tour, I signed up for mountain biking and kayaking, both of which I haven’t done since I was a teenager. On the way up the mountain, an hour ride outside of Chiang Mai, my internal thoughts sounded something in between The Little Engine that Could… I think I can, I think I can and Geddes, A Familiar Rain,  “……and not out of fear or loneliness, but only to find myself again… for we have come too far my Life, to turn back now…”

Unloading at the top of the mountain
Relaxing for lunch
Getting ready to float away
Wait…where are we going?
Now I know what I forgot
My tour guide
loading up
ahh….

 

Creating a constant stat of change

After fighting my fears of the limits of my physical abilities, I was unstoppable. My symphony of my adventure kept a steady crescendo from one adventure to the next.

From eating new foods…

Crunchy

To playing with tigers…

DSC_0022

To learning about an ancient culture…

Madia

To riding elephants….

DSC02411

My tune has changed forever because of my travels. No longer will my life be that pop melody, with it’s expected intro, repeating lyrical verse and grand exit. I will be always creating and recreating the story of my life.

Now the only question is, “where will I find my next tune?”

 

 

Traveling Alone to Thailand

When I tell people that I am traveling alone on this trip to Thailand, they always look at me funny. Well, they look at me funny anyways. That being said, the thought of traveling to a foreign land, especially one where I don’t speak the language, baffles people. Either they can’t fathom traveling by themselves, or they wonder why I would. Is it safe? Will I get bored? Will no one else go with you? These are all questions I’m sure they are wondering, but never say so to me.

Today, I was walking around Wat Po and the thought struck me, “Why do I love to travel alone?” Even with all the tourists walking around aimlessly in the 90+ degree heat, there was a calmness to the place. (Or maybe, I just had heat stroke.) I walked amongst all the golden statues thinking about Buddha and his path to enlightenment. Seems fitting with my own journey – both of us traveled alone to find our inner peace. Traveling alone, I am able to be as active or inactive as I want to be while on vacation. Giving me the flexibly, time and space to really soak in the world around me while getting lost in my own thoughts; finding my own path to enlightenment.

I found this row of golden Buddhas and deities. On first glance, they all looked the same, except for maybe the position of their arms. However, once I looked closer, I could really see the slightest details in their figures, robes and even facial expressions. There was a subtle beauty to each and every one of them. And unlike most Catholic sculptures that I have seen where they depict a story, these golden Buddhas seemed to evoke a different emotion in me. Each one setting off a different brain wave from my conscious mind to may unconscious way of being. After a while of walking around the temples and golden Buddhas, my mind went blank – a peaceful rest (either that or I was hungry and jet lag set in). No but seriously, this blank state of rest is rare in today’s society. We are always thinking what to do next, what work do I need to do, who do I need to see, did I pay that bill? And today, my mind is at peace – a blissful empty peace. Can’t wait until tomorrow!

Strong Case of Wanderlust Through Music

People always talk about dreaming the impossible dream. And yet, how many of us continue to dream instead of just do? Count me as the former – until now. This past year, I’ve decided to get off my butt, drop the excuses and to quote Nike, “Just Do It.”

My grandmother always told me that if I was going to dream, dream big. Reach for the stars.

So my wanderlust is growing and it’s too big to contain. I want to go..

And honestly, for the past few years, I’ve really wondered…

Screw that wondering if I should stay or go. I’m going on…

And looking forward to my…

When I return, I’ll let you know how I’ve …

Where will your wanderlust take you?

Change the Demand Funnel — Get Social With Sales

In collaboration with one of our sales trainers, Sean Goldie, I recently took on the task of helping our sales team learn how to utilize social media to boost their sales. Sean and I find social selling a very important step to help our sales team and our sales figures for a variety of reasons.

Customer decision process is changing

In the past, the buyer’s process was simple, especially for the sales rep. A customer needed something, asked a few people and then had an interaction directly with a sales person. Today, the way a person learns about a product and decides to purchase is one big tornado of information. Sometimes, the information is even incorrect. Hence, the biggest competition in sales today is not a company’s competitor, but customers’ ability to learn on their own! And if that doesn’t give you the feeling of urgency to get on social media, think about this stat – 70% of a customer’s buying journey is complete by the time they even talk to a sales person. Yikes! That’s 70% of the buying journey where you can’t control the messaging. Or can you?

Teach where they learn

It’s time for sales for help generate leads, help shape the demand. Filling the demand funnel has always been a marketing function. Not anymore. Sales too can help shape demand and fill the funnel — enter social selling.

Today, customers learn about a product/service mostly by engaging in conversations either by word-of-mouth or online. It’s easy for sales to help be apart of that conversation with social media.

Build your social foundation

Social media can be intimidating at first, especially if you are looking at building a professional presence online. But, it’s easy. Just like building a house, you need to build your foundation first before you paint the walls or add any throw pillows.

Here are a few steps to get you and your sales team started on social:

  1. Correctly set up your profiles: Make them look professional and add personality to them. Remember, social is about H:H (Human to Human) interaction. Not sales person to prospect interaction.
  2. Listen: Start listening to the conversations about your brand, your clients, competitors and your industry. You can easily do that by setting up Twitter lists and joining a few LinkedIn Groups.
  3. Learn: Listening is just one step. Now, what have you learned? What are your customer’s real pains? How can you help them get rid of that pain?
  4. Engage: Don’t just stalk people. Creepy. Engage with them. Chat about life and business. It’s easier to sell to a friend than a complete stranger after all.
  5. Routine: Make social part of your daily routine.

Check out this infographic for a simple process to begin selling with social.
Social Sharing for blog

Building Engaged Communities – Traackr Interview

Recently, I have enjoyed being interviewed by my fellow content marketers in the industry. Here’s my interview originally posted on Traackr.

Amy Higgins is the Content Marketing & Social Media Manager for Concur’s Small Business Division. She’s built all sorts of communities including uniting teenagers, Opera lovers, food photographers and most recently small business experts.

Amy, you’ve created communities of influencers and advocates for consumer- and business- facing organizations of all sizes. What types of business goals have these communities helped achieve?

That’s a tough question to answer since all of the communities I’ve developed have taken a life of their own, sometimes along the business goal path and other times creating new journeys.

Some of the communities are easily tied directly to the overall business goals — from general awareness to product adoption and retention. Yet, other communities seem to naturally develop on their own with unseen end goals, which later can tie directly to the business.

For example, one community was developed to help customer adoption and retention and ended up also helping with product development and customer service. I learned that you have to let the community tell you what to do and not the other way around.

You have an interesting position that combines content marketing & social media. Tell us how you leverage content as a way to engage your potential customers.

The saying goes that content is king; however, I say that context is king, content is queen and social is your knight. You can produce content and promote it through social media until you turn blue in the face, but your content will never have any engagement if it doesn’t resonate with your audience.

As the knight, social can help amplify any content. Through social, your content can reach not only current customers but prospects as well. But remember, only after you fully understand your audience’s pain points, both known and unknown, can you first create content that your audience will want to engage with, either by sharing it with their networks or reaching out to you.

In online engagement, there’s a lot of crossover between marketing and public relations. You firmly sit on the marketing side but you take a very relationship-focused approach. Do you think marketing and PR need to work together? Are the lines becoming totally blurred?

Yes! Totally. A brand can hurt itself more than help itself by having marketing and PR work independently of one another. On the marketing side, I can find customer stories that are not only great for blogs, but they can also be used for PR stories.

For example, say we have a new study out about the usage of our product, how it’s changing the way people do business. That story will not only help potential customers along the decision making process, but it might interest a reporter writing about new technologies. If marketing and PR don’t work together, the traction and reach of that story might be lost.

When you’re new to a space and you don’t know the influencers personally, what does your game plan look like? In other words, how do you go from stranger to engaged?

I would turn this question around and ask you, “How do you go from stranger to ‘engaged’ with anyone?” Influencers are people too. I reach out to them the same way I would reach out to anyone.

Learn what they do, their interests and their hobbies by reading their blogs, following them on Twitter and other social networks. Yes, in some circles, you might call this “stalking”, I call it education.

Next, I just start engaging with them on social — retweet them, comment on their blogs, join their Twitter chats, etc… Eventually, like with most online engagements, a relationship develops.

Then, you have a foot to stand on when you reach out to them for help with your marketing campaigns. If at all possible, try to meet them in person. Just remember not to pitch them, become their friend first. You’ll end up getting more out of it for yourself and your business. Relationships matter.

I imagine you can’t always succeed on your first try. Tell us about a time you tried to outreach to a new group, but it didn’t quite work out. How did you course correct?

When I worked at Google as their Bay Area Community Manager for Google Local, I had a difficult time at first creating a user group of the product. I was concentrating on people who used the product already and not new users.

I ended up looking outside the product for people who were avid Google+ users and engagers — ones who shared their personal lives, not just articles on the platform. I ended up finding a great community of photographers, many of whom were also foodies. With their love of photography and food, they made the perfect community group to help grow Google Local.

You recently served as the Director of Marketing for the San Francisco Opera’s BRAVO! CLUB. When I think of the opera, I don’t think social media savvy people. How on Earth did you manage to engage young people and get them interested?

Most of BRAVO’s members are in fact avid social media users. The trick was finding them and talking to them on their terms, not on yours. BRAVO! Club is a young professional group, ages 21 – 40, dedicated to developing a younger generation of opera lovers.

People join the group for a variety of reasons, either to use the Club’s great opera discounts or meet other opera lovers in their age range. But most importantly, it’s all about the community for them.

So, preaching to them about opera or cramming opera facts down their throat will never work. BRAVO! takes a community approach — build on that community to get others interested, the word of mouth.

We shared photos of members and their friends on Facebook. That way members can tag themselves and share the fashion and excitement of others in their social network. We also created programs that help engagement, such as quizzes and contests. That way members engage not only with the Club but with their friends, thus helping spread the community.

Actually, I met you, Evy, through that approach. A common friend introduced us because she knew we both loved opera. And then, I introduced you to other opera lovers, alas the cycle continues…

If there really was a team of superheroes named the Engagers and you were on it, what name would you give yourself?

Betty Blaster Bomber (aka Ms. 3B) – Just like a great photobomb, you never know how great it is until it’s fully developed.

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

―Han Solo