I hired Michael (Pollock) two weeks after launching my consulting business, after I’d sent emails to everyone I knew and realized I had no idea what to do next. In a matter of weeks, he helped me create a unique position in the market, make my website more targeted and succinct, collect great testimonials from former clients, start a blog, manage a website redesign, and write for industry publications. With his frank and spot-on advice, I went from fearing I’d destroyed my career to signing long-term contracts for two clients in a matter of weeks. His tips on how to talk about rates also gave me the tools and the confidence to ask for (and get) more than I might have if left to my own devices. I’ve passed Michael’s name to friends struggling with their careers, and I know I’ll be a return customer if I find myself in need of coaching again. I recommend him wholeheartedly.
Media specialist opens new business and writes a testimonial
“So why are you here?”
“So why are you here?” is too often the opening salvo from someone you are having an exploratory interview or pitch meeting with. 
If this is just their need to assert seniority, then smile and award them the round. But if in fact you have gone into a meeting and:
1. They don’t know why you are there
2. You don’t have some idea of why they’ve agreed to meet you and what they might need…
…then you should probably not be having that meeting yet.
So here are three rules:
1. Know what they want from the meeting.
2. Know what you want from the meeting.
3. Work at making it a dialog and not a monologue.
This last is the most important rule. Don’t launch into a one-way pitch; be curious about their needs and be ready to respond to them constructively. You can get better traction if you’ve thought through in advance what might be their motivation for seeing you: are they doing it as a favor to your referrer? Do they hope that you can fix a particular problem? Or perhaps they think you have potential and they might want a piece of it in the future?
Have in mind a list of the questions you want answered. Asking smart questions will gain you respect and garner you valuable information. So why not start out by asking the direct question you want answered and taking it from there? Ideally you’ve teed that question up in the exchange that led to the meet, so the fact that you now have face-time indicates a reasonable chance you’ll come away with something of value.
Here, to get you thinking, are some examples of things you might want:
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To find out how you can be of help – and help them accomplish their goal for meeting with you.
To learn who would be most likely to be able to connect you to the kind of work you want to do and to get a referral to that person.
To find out what keeps the person up at night – so you can offer to alleviate this with your relevant services – directly addressing his point of pain.
To find out if they know anyone at company x to whom you could be referred; and by the way do you know what is going on at company y?
To discover how they structure projects and what they look for when hiring, so you can craft your own tactics accordingly.
You should never have to wonder how to move one of these conversations forwards because you should have always prepared yourself to get the dialog going and to keep it moving the way you want it to go. Good luck.
How I Got Here: career path videos – a viewer response
I LOVE these videos, Michael! They are worth watching several times. They made me think about how I got to those points on my list where I’ve had really good, productive and exciting work results. I really identified with your stars: my opportunities appeared by chance acquaintance (a.k.a. networking), and by running with a good idea (don’t wait for someone to ask you to do their idea).
See them here
How I Got Here: career path videos
There is no “normal” any more for career paths, so I thought it would be interesting to create a video series called How I Got Here, in which creative professionals talk about the twists and turns it took to get them where they are today – and the opportunities they seized.
Marc Andreessen said recently in the WSJ that “Software is eating the world.” There’s constant flux in the media, advertising, entertainment and design ecosystems we work in. So we are all curious to find out how other people find success – not so we can copy them slavishly, but so we can get ideas and inspiration to advance our own careers. We connect ideas and put things together in our own fresh way. (And let’s face it too, we are nosy: that’s why there’s TMZ!)
So let’s meet our first three creative pros, each of whom told me how they got where they are today in these How I Got Here videos. They are not my clients, they are just good smart people who have something to share that can help us shape our own destinies – which is something we are surely thinking about each and every day.
Wendell Hanes did not always know where he would find success, but success he has surely found. Hear him tell me how Spike Lee and stacking-chairs helped shape his career path.
Kate Pane is a painter living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. You will hear how a chance meeting in a restaurant was instrumental in getting her first Chelsea Gallery show and the opportunity to finally move into a studio that would be big enough to stretch her enormous canvases.
Cynthia Sin Ye Cheng took her love for wine and turned it into a thriving business as a wine writer and a champagne specialist. Hear how she gets new projects off the ground and deals with the various different threads of her work.
From sea to shining sea!
As 2011 ends and we move into 2012 I am privileged to be currently working with Creative Professionals in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, California (LA and SF) and in New York (Manhattan and of course Brooklyn.)
Did I miss anyone anywhere?
Thanks to all and all the best for a most productive and successful year.
Be prepared for the next chapter of your life story
None of us ever know where we are in our own “life story”; the challenge of today may lead to the glory of tomorrow…life pushes us around in unexpected ways; one path disappears just as another reveals itself.
(This observation comes from the directors of Fiasco Theater’s truly brilliant production of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, pictured above. See it if you can – it’s lots of fun.)
We know not what new paths will reveal themselves for each of us in 2012, but we may as well get prepared. This busy season, I offer you just a few questions to mull over with the wine. They 
should give you some ammunition for advancing your own life story towards glory – when you’ve recovered from your New Year’s festivities. Here goes:
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*When you are referred to someone professionally, what do you think is said about you?
*When you go into an interview, how much do you know about the person you are meeting and what they are looking for?
*When you are asked what you do, what do you say?
*When you work with a client, how much are you thinking “I have to sell what I have”, and how much are you thinking “How can help her?”
*When you send out your resume, do you believe in it? Are you proud of it?
*When you look at your career so far, can you picture all the things you’ve done that you are really proud of – large or small?
*When you have a hard time getting started on a new project, is it because you have made it too hard for yourself?
*Are you keeping good records on all the people you work with, work for, meet – who might someday be the connector you need to the job you want?
*Are you aware of what competitors in your field are doing?
*Do you make a point of finding out what other people do and who they work for?
*Are you able to express why you are unique – how your professional life story is unlike anyone else’s?
I am excited for all of us to see how life will push us around next year and what new paths will appear for us to take. Onwards to the glory of tomorrow!
All the best for a terrific holiday season and a fantastic 2012.
Michael Pollock
Career Q+A: Job changes, Resume updates
CYNOPSIS CLASSIFIED ADVANTAGE
~ ASK THE EXPERTS ~
Questions from our Readers
Answered by Michael Pollock
Q: How many jobs changes can one have before a red flag goes up?
A: No given number if otherwise your story makes sense. But too many changes could make the reader’s head spin as she tries to figure you out. As a hirer I would want to see that you have progressed. I would want to see the relevance, the narrative, in your choices. If it just looks like a lot of lateral, random or desperate moving I would probably reach for that red flag. If I am hiring for the long haul, and you do seem to be the right choice for me, I will want to know why all the moves, and your story had better be good. Not just from you but from references from your previous managers.
Q: I haven’t had to update my resume in 10 years. What has changed?
A: A lot has changed there’s lots to learn. It is not just the resumes that have changed, but the job titles, channels and systems. If you are in the media and entertainment sector, then almost everything has changed in the business, so you will probably have to describe your results, skills and experience in a different way from your 2001 resume.
The experience that was relevant 10 years ago may not be so today so revisit all those old job descriptions and successes and reframe them to address the current conditions. If they are about buggy whips or carbon paper, consider dropping them.
Put your resume on LinkedIn. Investigate and understand the way search engines have changed the recruiting and resume field before you update. They will be searching for key words and titles and brands, so make sure they are in there.
First person or third person in resumes
First published in Cynopsis Classified Advantage
OK this is a controversial one. Goodness me a lot of hot air and opinion and conformity and so-called best practice rules and heaven knows what else surround the topic of resumes. But still there are so many dreary, uniform, uninformative and obfuscatory resumes in the world.
I know, I know, you want to optimize your resume for search engines – well go ahead and do that and let the matching begin – good luck with that. Let me know how it goes.
But when there is going to be a human being involved, appeal to their humanity. Most often they are looking not just for someone who can do the job but also for someone they can face running into at the salad bar.
They are looking for a person who can rock the job. So be a person. Show some humanity in your resume so that the reader will think – this person has such great energy and passion. They should get a feeling that you like what you do and are proud of your achievements. They should want to meet you. Wouldn’t that be nice?!
I’ve been asked whether it’s acceptable to write a summary for one’s resume in the first person or should it be in the third. As far as I’m concerned the answer is whatever makes sense, feels comfortable and communicates what you want to communicate. Here is the response I recently gave a senior executive who asked if it was acceptable for him to use the first person:
“It is acceptable to me. I believe it is more engaging to a reader – implies more passion and commitment on your part. After all you are presenting yourself. It makes it more active = less passive. Makes me feel there’s a person in there.”
The response from that executive was: “I think you nailed the issue: how will it be perceived? Historically i have always looked at it from the perspective that it’s just business, not personal. So I’ve always removed that kind of stuff…but then I haven’t been hitting it out of the park lately so it’s time to try something different.”
So don’t give in to conformity if that doesn’t convey who you are. And do remember that if there is a person reading the resume then they are likely to be seeing very many almost identical resumes – all conforming to some imaginary set of rules. Be the standout: whether in the first person or third, be the person who moves them to action.
Getting through the holidays
I had this exchange today – thought it might be helpful to share it:
Q: Its been two years since I was “reorganized” out of my job. I have been freelancing, but the holidays/ end of year is tough to get through. Any words of wisdom to keep your spirits up now and get motivated for 2012?
Help!
A: Many years ago when I was in a corporate position I asked a freelance friend what was the hardest part of that life. She told me “learning to go to the beach. Once I had figured out how to do that things were much better.”
By going to the beach she meant taking time off – not thinking about the networking and the next gig – truly taking a break. Just like vacations from a job job. So I suggest that right now you declare 2011 to be over as far as work is concerned. It’s done. Put a date in your calendar for early January when you will get back to it refreshed and with renewed vigor – and now sit back and enjoy the holidays.
Easy for me to say I know – but give it a try.
And the response: Awesome! Thank you so much for putting things into the proper perspective.
Much needed- thanks for getting back so promptly also- I’m a fan.
Happy Holidays and cheers to the New Year.
Watch films – think about careers!
I have watched three docs and a narrative film in the last couple of weeks that gave under-the-skin-views of careers and callings and money and success and passion and art and creativity. I recommend them to provoke your own thinking.
Page One: Inside The New York Times
Get past Michael Kinsley’s awful review in the New York Times itself, and relish the passion and authenticity and smarts of David Carr who features largely in thisdocumentary. You’ll be all the more impressed when you hear how he pulled himself out of addiction and off the streets to become the NYTimes leading media business writer. His deep convictions and his fervently held point of view are astounding. And then there’s his angry exchange about international reporting with the Vice Magazine folk (right across the street from where I sit) – a tad over the top, but fun to see. Oh and by the way this movie is a lot about where print journalism is headed.
Bill Cunningham New York
“We all get dressed for Bill Cunningham;” says Anna Wintour, Vogue editrix. The French gave him the Legion D’Honneur. This single-minded and obsessed street fashion photographer lives only for his solitary craft. You have possibly seen him snapping the fashionable on the corner of 57th and 5th or ducking his camera through gilded lobbies at high society benefits. Every week his carefully selected photo montages give us his point of view on the latest wearable fashion. The great and the near great know what he does, but who he actually is has been a mystery. He’s made some intense life choices – all for the sake of his work. Is this really what it takes to be the best?
Herb and Dorothy
And here are Herb and Dorothy Vogel, the best-known couple on the New York art scene. By day Herb was a postal worker, Dorothy a librarian. But nights and weekends they go to artists’ studios and gallery openings. And they buy. They filled their tiny rent-controlled apartment with conceptual and minimalist art, building one of the most significant contemporary collections. 4782 pieces were under their bed, in the bathroom and covering the walls and ceilings. They’ve given much of their collection to the National Gallery – and yet more is being passed out as 50 works of art for 50 states. I loved seeing Herb’ s poppy eyes discover the work and grill the artists. Not for him the overwrought verbal constructions of the sophisticated collector or curator – just watch him lean forward and stare and stare at a piece and then simply say “It works.”
Margin Call
This is the odd one out in this list. First off it is narrative fiction. Second it is about the finance biz. But it’s a brilliant piece of writing, casting, directing – and so very timely – these characters packaging worthless mortgage securities and making so very much money must be the 1%. Here are engineers who used to build bridges and design rockets who forsook their calling to go work where the money was big – well actually, huge. How does this work out for them? How do they feel about making money not things? What drives them to work? How important is the money anyway? Among the moments to enjoy: Stanley Tucci’s speech about the value of his bringe, Jeremy Irons’ gleeful determination as he faces down disaster and Kevin Spacey telling his analyst underlings that he actually has no idea what they do.