I don’t know how many meetings and interviews I have a month – Too many. I meet with such a variety of people. Some, as you know, are out of work and desperate to land a job. Some are desperate enough to land any job. Doesn’t even require that it’s a good fit or a good job – just something that can provide an income.
Many of the people I encounter are looking to make changes, some are the clients that need to find a capable and skilled person to fill a role and fit nicely into their ‘culture’. Some of the people I meet with are industry friends and we can spend an hour, or 2 over lunch and share the good, the bad and the ugly about work and sometimes personalize it and discuss our lives. I much prefer those conversations. Sometimes sharing a conversation about the weekend past or plans coming is way more enjoyable than discussing the deadlines we are all fighting. It’s a great departure – A healthy re-boot.
However, the list of crap is on your desk and it’s waiting for you to return. Like a dog at the door when you come home…..except the list doesn’t wag its tail. No, instead, it waves its finger in your face reminding you to get busy and get back to work.
These meetings I am referring to, we all have them. I have noticed a common denominator at all of them, including the phone calls – key words and industry buzz words. We are all guilty of the new language. We use these words to capture our conversation buddies, trap them in our scope of industry knowledge and engage them in a way that we hope they will recognize our industry IQ. We need to make an impression and these moments are the time to do it.
On a resume, I coach clients to make sure the ‘key words’ on the job description match the resume. Customize the rez! If the words align – you have a better chance of being noticed. If you get selected – you get an opportunity to interview. Then you can drop all the key words/buzz words and look smart. You can project a meaningful symmetry between you and the role being filled.
One of my favorite buzzwords is traction. I hear it all the time. How are things? Great – we are building traction. It’s meant to be a good thing. You have your feet deeply entrenched into something and you are moving forward. However, the definition of traction is friction, and the last thing I look for in any meeting is friction.
The key/buzz words have added another layer to our culture. Kids text in a language tailored for an abbreviated style of communications. In fact, some of that electronic dialogue within that demographic begins to sound compressed and shortened. To the point that often when they actually speak in words – it sounds the same – short and compressed.
I enjoy reaching out to you each week. I love the feedback and how many of you loop back to me with comments and opinions.
At the end of the day – we can all use the current language and tag it with key words, but we all look for one real thing – SUBSTANCE. If it ain’t there – the rest is meaningless.