I am surprised and impressed with the quality of most of these individuals. Some I’ve known for years. In fact, I’ve hired some as interns or freelance writers. Some are people I’ve gotten to know through local professional organizations or clubs. They are all good people and very qualified professionals. The hard part will be narrowing the list and then selecting the final individual.

Then, there are the other applicants. (Sigh!)

These are the ones who will not be working for me. Unless their luck changes, they won’t be working soon for anyone else, either. I have gone through the entire listing of online applications just to get a feel for each candidate. In most cases, I have Googled the person’s name. Unbelievably, some people have no digital footprint, but I’ll save those rantings for another blog post. I shouldn’t judge invisible people. Perhaps they are part of the Federal Witness Protection Program and don’t want to be found.

Anyway, I was amused as I came across the following examples of vapid communications from people who are trying to present themselves as communications professionals. My purpose is not to make fun of the well-intentioned people who want to work with me, but rather to help job seekers to see their resumes through the glazed-over eyes of a hiring manager.

The following examples have not been edited. They were copied and pasted from the actual applications. A word of warning, though: If you plan to be awake at the end of this post, you will need an extra shot of caffeine. So sit back and enjoy…

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Objective: To use my skills to create a positive impact on people’s lives.

Everyone wants to make a positive impact, so tell me something new.

Objective: To obtain a challenging position in the field of event planning, fundraising, and/or program management in which I can use my organizational and interpersonal skills.

Next time read the job description. I’m not hiring for any of those positions.

Seeking a challenging opportunity where I may utilize my professional experience and educational background to enhance an organization’s overall goals and objectives through teamwork, excellent communication, extraordinary drive, and solid professionalism.

Sounds good, but that sentence has no more substance than stale cotton candy.

Objective: To lead a world-class customer focused organization and present a positive local company image by providing results in brand and education, with deliverable measurements. Background and professional experience in public relations, marketing and promotions, public speaking and event planning, as well as civic and community involvement.

I haven’t a clue what you’re looking for.

Obtain a position as a team-player in a people-oriented organization where I can maximize my experience in a challenging environment to achieve the corporate goals.

Did you copy and paste that from someone else’s resume. Seems like I’ve seen that before.

Multi-talented worker with years of experience, a self-starter, highly motivated: able to give and receive detailed instructions. Professional work ethic, with a genuine passion for her work.

With such a specific and differentiating description of who you are, I can almost envision you—over all the other candidates—being part of my team.

Objective: Seeking a position with a progressive company that allows advancement and opportunities to utilize my skills to accomplish company goals.

I’m getting bored!

CAREER OBJECTIVE: Find a challenging position enabling me to utilize my marketing and relationship building expertise.

You go, girl!

Profile Summary: Self-starting, goal-oriented individual whose perseverance, drive and dedication promote success. Demonstrates competence and poise in professional and social settings.

So, what does that mean? You don’t belch in public?

Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

100% of job applicants will say the same thing. How are you differentiated from them?

SUMMARYOF QUALIFICATIONS: I am an effective team leader with great time management and communication skills.

Who isn’t?

Creative and out-of-the-box thinker with 15+ years of marketing communications experience. Possess consistent record of developing and implementing high-impact marketing collateral to drive product revenues and profitability. Known for ability to reorganize and improve services and systems as well as successfully coordinate business projects. Expertly leverage technology to support enterprise- wide marketing and communications initiatives. Exhibit solid writing, editorial, and verbal communication expertise. Performance- focused and ambitious leader who inspires teams to work collaboratively to achieve organization goals.

If you’re a communicator, you certainly did not demonstrate your communications skills with that glob of verbosity.

CAREER OBJECTIVE: My objective is to obtain full-time employment that best utilizes my skill set.

Good luck, but you’re wasting my time!

SKILLS AND MOTIVATION: I am a motivated self starter with a degree in education. I’m confident that I have much to contribute towards a support unit, with high energy, good communication skills, and a positive outlook on life. I enjoy people, and I’m ready to get to work for a company who makes a difference in the world.

So, you enjoy people and want to make a difference in the world? Finally, I’ve found what I’ve been looking for! When can you start?

The class assignment was simple. We had to stand in front of the class and tell a story.

We could select any story, but we had to tell the tale within five minutes. That can be a frightening experience, especially for most self-conscious eight graders like me. Fortunately, we were given several days to practice our storytelling in private before that dreadful moment when we had to stand before our peers.

Sounds simple, right? Well, hold on! The teacher had a surprise that made the storytelling in front of our classmates the easiest part of the assignment.

After we had each delivered our presentations, the teacher announced that we would be telling our stories again. Actually, he told us we were scheduled to make our presentations two more times—once in front of a classroom of innocent second graders, and then to a roomful of intimidating 10th graders.

Quite frankly, I’ve forgotten most of the details of my story but two things I vividly remember. First, I can still see the second graders as they sat there with wide-eyed anticipation looking up to me, a mature eighth grader. Second, I recall how too many of the 10th graders rolled their eyes in boredom and looked down on me, a puny underclassman.

That was not a fun experience. In retrospect, though, most of my best learning has come during times I would not classify as “fun.” Ultimately, the assignment taught me to speak with confidence, to practice in private before speaking in public and to focus on core messages to fit the most important items into a specified time slot.

The most valuable lesson, though, was this:  Every story must be told differently to different audiences.

I’m grateful that my English teacher helped me to realize that one size never fits all.

The best communication happens when the message is tailored to the unique interests of a targeted audience. Otherwise, it will completely miss the mark.

In my early days as a professional communicator, a mentor told me, “If you aim your message at no one in particular, don’t be surprised if no one in particular responds.”

A communicator who thinks he or she can communicate to everyone in the same way is naive and feckless. A PR professional who disseminates information without tailoring the message to a specific audience is a fool.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as the “general public.”

The medical center was well-respected and almost always received positive news coverage. One day, however, a headline writer for The Oregonian newspaper hurriedly summarized a positive story with a less-than-positive choice of words. The story described how the hospital offered a signing bonus to recruit nurses during a severe nursing shortage. Instead of describing the bonus as an recruitment incentive, however, the headline writer used the word “bribe.” To his credit, he put quotes around the word to indicate its use as a colloquialism.

The hospital’s president (my boss) thought the newspaper was implying that he engaged in unethical, under-the-table transactions. He was enraged and immediately ordered me to write a letter to the editor expressing our indignation.

Though I disagreed with the newspaper’s use of the pejorative word, I thought a phone call would suffice. I believed we would be overreacting to send an official letter of reprimand. My boss, however, was not dissuaded and he insisted that a letter be written.

I tried to explain that the person who wrote the headline was neither the reporter nor the editor, and any perceived slight in the headline did not erode the positive relationship between our organizations. Again, my boss didn’t want to hear it. He still wanted me to write a letter.

Unable to persuade him otherwise, I wrote the draft of a venomous, hard-hitting letter. I even made the project bigger-than-usual by routing the letter to the members of our leadership team. Everyone found cathartic relief by allowing their red pens to flow freely as they edited my words. Each person seemed determined to outdo his or her teammate.

When everyone had weighed in, I took their collective comments and blended them into a second draft. Their rewriting fun continued for another round when I asked them to edit the revised version of the letter.

Finally, everyone seemed happy. We had a punchy letter that would let those darned journalists know they couldn’t kick sand in our face.

Years afterward as I reminesce about that project, two thoughts stand out in my mind. First, I remember how I followed my boss’s instructions very carefully. He directed me to write a letter to the editor, which I did. Second, I wonder if anyone ever realized that I was never instructed to actually mail the letter, which I did not.

I may have found my lifesaver, though. My absolute favorite tool for productivity helps me to be more creative, organized and effective. My one-word solution for the confusion, chaos and clutter in my world is…

Evernote

Evernote is a blend of software and services where I can capture, organize and store everything in my busy world. It is a free service, with an option to upgrade to a premium level. I’ve used Evernote for three years, but only within the past three months have I become a “power user” and moved to the premium level.

In case you’re wondering, the glowing endorsement that follows yields me no compensation. Nor do I benefit in any way except in knowing that my friends and colleagues are living life more abundantly by joining me in using this service.

With that disclaimer, here are three reasons I love Evernote:

1. I can capture anything. Evernote is the one place where I can lasso a fleeting idea, clip a webpage, make a to-do list, organize a project, record an audio reminder, capture a snapshot, outline the draft of an upcoming blog post, take notes during a meeting, save a scanned a document and store reference manuals. I even have an Evernote inbox where 100% of my Outlook, Gmail and other messages are forwarded for processing.
2. I can access my data anywhere. As a cloud-based service, Evernote syncs all my information across all of my devices. Therefore, my data is available at my desktop when I arrive at the office early in the morning. It’s on my laptop as I’m watching TV late at night. It’s on my tablet when I’m waiting in the doctor’s office. It’s on my smartphone which is with me practically everywhere (except in the shower). As a premium user, I can save any or all notebooks offline so my data is always available, even when I’m in a disaster zone without Internet access or at 30,000 ft. when my phone is in airplane mode.
3. I can find everything fast. Google instilled in me the “search” mantra, although I’ve mostly moved beyond Google for everything except my calendar. In Evernote, I can search for anything by using a keyword or tag. The OCR (optical character recognition) even does a great job of even finding text inside pictures or scanned images.

Using a Google App with my own domain name, I configured 100% of my email—representing six different accounts—to flow through one inbox. I also began using Google calendars exclusively to store and organize my appointments.

More than a year ago I opined in a blog post that “we are veering towards obsolescence if we are still anchored to Outlook or to a Franklin-Covey planner for either our personal or work calendars.”

Ironically, this week I have been swept back into that platform because of my employer’s nationwide standardization of information technology. Fortunately, the new, cloud-based system—Microsoft Office 365—is different and better in many important ways.

I actually welcome the move and understand the thinking of those who made this decision. Yet I believe that one size never fits all.

At the risk of sounding like a cantankerous curmudgeon, I still feel compelled to devise my own systems within the architecture that others have imposed upon me. As I have become more digitally-savvy, I realize that my data must meet certain criteria. My digital world must be:

1. Cloud-based. One of the reasons I hated Outlook was that it anchored me to a clunky office computer. I needed for all of my important data to be readily available on any device at any time and in any location. I became an early adopter of Google Docs for that very reason, though I’ve since found much better options.
2. Synced. I want my phone, my office computer, my laptop and my tablet to sync data so that any updates on one device will automatically show up real-time on every piece of hardware I use.
3. Always accessible. I’ve been deployed on disaster relief assignments where I was unable on Red Cross computers to access websites where I stored important Red Cross files (e.g., Red Cross logos and templates in a Dropbox folder). I quickly learned that dropbox.com was a restricted website, though I was fortunate to have a jump drive with the necessary files. That wasn’t a good, long-term solution, however.
4. Searchable. I was once a compulsive individual who dragged emails into Outlook folders so I could boast of having an empty inbox. In recent years, though, I’ve learned to search for what I need rather than vainly trying to keep it organize in neat folders and subfolders. Now, I keep my emails in one folder and I have been able to quickly find anything I need by using advanced search techniques.
5. Owned by me. In 1989 I began to keep all of my appointments in a digital format, initially using a Sharp Wizard with a whopping 32KB of memory. Today I have more than two decades of digital appointments, reminders and events that have filled my life, both personally and professionally. I will always keep my official calendar in a safe place where that data is not vulnerable to the whims of an employer. I understand why employers are concerned about protecting intellectual property, but that’s not the issue here.

So, this week my technological journey took me on a trip back to the future. Yes, I’m using Outlook once again, but I’ve discovered something better that 1) meets my digital criteria 2) organizes me in ways I never imagined and 3) makes me a more effective, productive member of the Red Cross team.

In the next blog post I’ll explain how I am creating my own, customized system that is cloud-based, synced, always accessible, searchable and owned by me. Outlook represents a fairly insignificant piece of that puzzle.

Over time I discovered that almost every hospital professional (except for PR interns) had a day or week designated in their honor. For example, National Doctors Day is celebrated on March 30.

National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, the birth date of Florence Nightingale. During that week there is a National Student Nurses Day and also the globally-celebrated International Nurses Day. To further complicate things, each subspecialty within nursing has a special day or week—emergency nurses, gastrointestinal nurses, oncology nurses, pediatric nurses, cardiovascular nurses, neonatal nurses, perianesthesia nurses, nurse anesthetists, operating room nurses, IV (infusion) nurses, neuroscience nurses, school nurses, ad infinitum.

Oh, and don’t forget about the national days and weeks recognizing pharmacists, physical therapists, dietitians, occupational therapists, food service workers, respiratory therapists, social workers, home health providers and medical transcriptionists.

Red Cross Month begins today

March was first proclaimed Red Cross Month in 1943 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since then, every president has designated March as Red Cross Month. This is a time when we hope to remind everyone about the work of the American Red Cross. We also want people to understand how we depend on public support to help people in need.

So, as you celebrate Red Cross Month, please don’t be distracted by March Madness, St. Patrick’s Day, Super Tuesday, Earth Day, Daylight Savings Time and the beginning of Spring (the vernal equinox). Furthermore, please don’t be sidetracked by those hapless PR interns who have been assigned the task of writing news releases to educate you that March is also:

1. Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig Month
2. National Caffeine Awareness Month
3. National Collision Awareness Month
4. National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
5. National Craft Month
6. Deaf History Month
7. Dolphin Awareness Month (Go Chiefs!)
8. National Endometriosis Awareness Month
9. National Ethics Awareness Month
10. National Eye Donor Month
11. National Feminine Empowerment Month (Wonder if I could raise enough money to launch a Masculine Empowerment Month.)
12. Foot Health Month
13. Frozen Food Month
14. National Furniture Refinishing Month
15. Gardening Books Month
16. Honor Society Awareness Month
17. Humane Education Awareness Month
18. National Humorists Are Artists Month (Now that’s funny!)
19. Improve Management Skills Month
20. Irish American Heritage Month
21. International Listening Awareness Month (Isn’t it ironic that it’s the same month as Deaf History Month?)
22. National Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
23. National Middle Level Education Month
24. Music in Our Schools Month
25. National Noodle Month
26. National Nutrition Month
27. National Optimism Month (I’m somewhat pessimistic that this will catch on.)
28. National Peanut Month (Please don’t confuse this with National Peanut Butter Lovers Month which comes around in November.)
29. Philatelic Society Month
30. Play the Recorder Month
31. Poison Prevention Awareness Month
32. Preschool Education Month
33. Rosacea Awareness Month
34. Save Your Vision Month
35. Science Month
36. Social Work Month
37. Trisomy Awareness Month (Without a month set aside in its honor, I would have never known this condition existed!)
38. National Umbrella Month
39. Women’s History Month (Sorry guys, but there’s no Men’s History Month)
40. Workplace Eye Wellness Month
41. Youth Art Month

Did I miss anyone? If not, let the celebrations commence!

I suggest you create content that reflects the three dimensions of what your brand represents. Those categories are:

1. Who you are professionally. LinkedIn is the basic platform for sharing this information. You may also decide to use other websites—perhaps even your own url—where you can showcase your portfolio, resume and other relevant information.
2. Who you are personally. I recommend using Facebook for this purpose. If, however, you prefer not to use Facebook as a branding tool, then I suggest your work very hard to find another online presence where people can see you as a real person.
3. How you view the world. A blog is an excellent way to share your ideas and your perspective. I recommend that your first blog posts provide information that you hope your next employer will ask you in an interview.

Creating and sharing content will make you more finadable online. This will help you build your personal brand and will increase your chances of being interviewed and ultimately hired.

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These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

Do you like what you see?

Does your online presence help someone understand 1) who you are professionally, 2) who you are personally and 3) how you see the world around you? Does your digital footprint contain enough information for a prospective employer to “know” you before he or she calls you for a first interview?

When you look at your digital footprint, ask yourself how much of it you actually created? How much it was created by others? Do you have control over your personal brand?

You can expand your digital footprint and actually shape your online image by being findable on at least three social media platforms. I recommend LinkedIn, Facebook and a blog as the basics for building your online image. You can then connect your social media platforms by linking them together. For example, you can put a link in your Twitter profile directing people to your blog. Then, in the “About Me” tab of your blog, you can include links to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

To be findable in a competitive job market, deliberately look for ways to expand your online presence. You really can create and control the size and shape of your digital footprint, so make it impressive.

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These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

That sounds simple enough, but too many job seekers have anxiety about what a prospective employer might find when Googling their names, even when they have nothing to hide.

Many well-intentioned (and misguided) individuals try to instill in us a fear that social media is a window where people on the other side are voyeurs. That advice seems to fit with warnings we’ve received since childhood about “stranger danger.”

Consequently, too many job seekers overreact when trying to protect their privacy. Somehow they have been programmed to think that having their personal information “out there on the Internet” is bad. That mindset does not work in today’s competitive job market.

Even if you are inherently shy and guard your privacy, you must recognize that being too secretive will work against your best interests. Being too cautious and private only erodes your efforts to brand yourself and to find your ideal job.

The best job seekers want to be found. They want to be discovered. Therefore, they deliberately leave “bread crumbs” along the pathway that will lead a prospective employer to find them. They create a presence on numerous online platforms, knowing that each platform gives a different perspective of their multifaceted brands.

In a job search, transparency should be your mantra. You cannot simultaneously hide your brand and look for a job. You want to be seen. You want to be findable. You actually want people—even strangers—to Google your name.

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These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

If I were hiring, I would not schedule even a first interview with anyone who did not have an impressive digital footprint. My philosophy is pretty straightforward:  If you are a job seeker and you are not findable online, then you are invisible. If you do not have an impressive presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, a blog or other online platforms, then you do not exist!

In today’s crowded, competitive job market, you must always position yourself to be found. You should expect—and even want—for a potential employer to Google your name.

Three ways to make yourself more findable online are:

1. Want to be found. A first step for many job seekers will be overcoming a misguided mindset about their online information. They mistakenly believe that having their information “out there on the Internet” is inherently a bad thing.
2. Expand your digital footprint. Be visible online. Create a digital presence on enough social media platforms so that you and your brand are easily findable.
3. Share your content online. The good news is that you can control much of what your next employer will find from a Google search. Blogging provides an excellent platform to showcase your passions, your commitment and your career potential.

You are destined to make a meaningful impact in the world, but first you must be found. Do everything you can to be findable.

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These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH