“The Bull Pissed in My Living Room:  Prof. Leigh’s Guide to Recession Resilience,” LTR’s latest level playing playing field special report, is my way of putting together the pieces of what I experienced and the process that brought me to a really good place in my life.

“Bull”  will be formally introduced at today’s meeting of the Employee Assistance Professionals Associaion (EAPA)-New York Chapter.  I chose this opportunity to let others know about my report because it explains the complex factors that can impact workplace intelligence.  It’s also a good venue  because I’ll be the moderator of a panel discussion on “It’s Not Over Yet!  You Still Have a Chance:  Resilience and Reinvention in the Older Worker.”

 Like others who have been dramatically impacted by the worst economy since the Great Depression, I wondered how I had the strength and resiliency to survive my “worst case”—the downturn of business and sale of sale of my recently renovated co-op apartment on Manhattan’s tony Upper West Side.  Using a format similar to that in “Temping with Tycoons” and my other well-received special reports, I tell the story of not just how I reinvented myself but what I learned during the process.  And how, now, I’m enjoying a “best case.”

A natural educator (strangers on the subway ask, “You’re a teacher, aren’t you?”), I use what I experienced as a platform from which to inform, inspire, and instill in readers greater awareness to face their own “bull.”  At the end of each chapter, I include “Resilience Guideposts”— helpful suggestions on how to navigate succesfully on your evolutionary highway.

To download your copy of “The Bull Pissed in My Living Room,” click on the link below.  After you read it, contact me with your feedback.

The Bull Pissed in My Living Room by Leigh Henderson

The topic was so close to my own way of processing stressful situations, that I remember the essence of what was reported.  That is, job seekers who keep a journal are in better emotional shape for the next interview than those who do not keep a journal.  There could have been a statement that the research showed those who keep a journal are more likely to land a job offer.  That would make sense but I’m not certain about that fact.

What I do know is that journal writing is a helpful tool to process emotions.  If you are able to “debrief” an interview while being  100% candid and honest  about your strengths and challenges, chances are that the next interview will be a better one.   You’ve taken the time to reflect on what you did well and what you did not so well.  Possibly, you are more honest with yourself writing in a journal than you could have been having a conversation with a significant other or a good friend.  A journal doesn’t judge or hold accountable.  That blank piece of paper you fill up is for you and feedback is what you, not a journal, generates.

Journal writing is a tool that can aid in recording sentences that you can practice for your next interview at the same company (think positive) or for a first interview at another company.  Jotting down small talk or ice breakers (”What a great day” or “Snowing again! When is this going to stop?  Do you know it snowed in Dallas?”) or key phrases you want to include in a conversation (”I’m a multi-tasker” or “Focus is a key to productivity”) can reinforce what you want to practice when meeting someone new in their office—or when networking at a professional meeting.

What would be helpful as well is to write out what the interviewer asked you specifically and how they asked the questions.  That is, was their wording “canned” or did it seem targeted to you as a potential candidate whose resume they had read thoroughly?  Were they fully present for you or did they toss questions your way while looking at their computer screen or checking their IPhone messages?  Writing about how you could interject their activities into a positive statement can be wonderful preparation for your next encounter with a distracted interviewer.  What do I mean by a positive statement?  “You’re great at multi-tasking.  That’s a great skill and one I’m certain to learn when I am working in your area/on your team/in the company to be as efficient as possible.”  That could make the interviewer blush that he was noticed multi-tasking or that she was caught checking e-mails to confirm her next interview.

Although I will continue searching for this research, I feel comfortable posting this entry on my blog because the information is solid and helpful to those looking to ace a job interview.  My own journals date back to the time I was a junior at the University of California at Berkeley about— well, a long time ago.  Through the years, okay decades, I’ve taught journal writing to students in adult education courses and to individuals.  To this day, I still go to my journal to write about a coaching or consulting client, letting my creativity flow so that I can come up with new ideas to reduce their obstacles blocking optimum performance or break down challenges executives are facing with behavior in the organization.  If you’re interested in learning how to make the most of your journal writing during a job search or preparing to pitch a client, contact me at leigh@ltr-nyc.com  for a free half-hour consultation.

“Get caught red-handed with NEW OPI designs” caught my attention on page 17.  OPI, as any woman would know if they get manicures, is the polish most often used in nail salons.  The company’s lucious and whimsical colors are six of “NEW Dell-exclusive OPI Design Studio laptop designs” that for $85 you can get applied on  select Dell laptops. 

Although I don’t get manicures in a salon, I do know something about OPI.  In 2006, I was a contributing writer for PINK Magazine, a monthly publication for professional women.   My role was to help identify a leading female executive then interview the woman and write up my notes for PINK’s monthly e-newsletter.  When I got the assignment to interview an executive at OPI, I was a little hesitant to take the assignment as I didn’t think the topic was, well serious enough.  During the interview, however, I remember sitting hunched over the desk where my telephone was located and frantically writing notes on this interesting field.  After my interview was published, the editor of PINK raved about the tone and thought it some of my best work.  You can be the judge as below is the article that appeared in PINK’s e-newsletter for August 2006.  You can also find a PDF of the article at my website:  http://www.ltr-nyc.com/Online_InPrint.html

Now I need to go to the Dell website and see if I want to apply one of the OPI colors to the laptop I just might buy.

THE CULTURE OF COLOR: Suzi Weiss Fischmann, OPI Products, Inc.  by Leigh Henderson

PINK: What was your career path?

SWF: “Bottom up.” I grew up working in the family clothing manufacturing business in New York City. In 1982, I move to Los Angeles to work in another family business, Odontorium Products Inc., that provided lotion, remover and implements for nails. We were successful and decided we wanted something for the customer to take home. In 1989, OPI rolled out 30 colorful shades of nail lacquer.

PINK: You are also Artistic Director. Why that additional title?

SWF: I design every color like an artist. The name comes first – six of us get together to brainstorm – and then we work on the ingredients to get the color to live up to the name.

PINK: What’s OPI’s growth secret?

SWF: Great marketing. The first time a customer buys our product is on impulse. The second time is because of quality. Madonna wore OPI’s Italian Love Affair when she married Guy Ritchie and sales soared for that color afterwards in London. Sharon Stone had on Innsbruck Bronze

PINK: What the biggest challenge are you facing today?

SWF: Pressure to be environmentally friendly. Regulatory agencies don’t do quantitative risk assessment and do not differentiate the potential risk of minute amounts of ingredients from two pounds. The European Union’s rules and regulations are a nightmare. Hopefully, in the next five years we’ll find a balance so that we’ll be approved to use very small amounts of ingredients in a safe way for our customers.

PINK: What’s your management style?

SWF: We have 350 employees in the Los Angeles office and my management approach is, “the door is open.” I’m very low key, I delegate, and work closely with the vice presidents of marketing and advertising. I want to provide inspiration and allow my employees creative freedom.

PINK: If you wanted to ask for a raise what color would you wear?

SWF: Red. It represents chic, Rita Hayworth, Hollywood. It’s also my favorite color to wear.

PINK: What’s the secret of your success?

SWF: I create every color collection as if I’d never done one before. The day I don’t, I won’t do it anymore. I get my inspiration every day from my husband and my daughter, 13, and a son who is 10.

PINK Points:  With every bottle of Red-y to Help purchased, $1.00 will be donated to the American Red Cross.

The report contains almost 11,000 words that I’ve crafted into a letter and six essays about the impact of the Great Recession on lives, my own included.  Great Recession (two words, 15 characters with the space) is  better to use in a 20-page report than writing out the worst economy since the Great Depression (six words and 40 characters with spaces). 

The level playing field special reports I write are based on workplace behavior and the impact of external factors on an individual’s performance.  My reports are positioned to inform, educate, and enlighten readers on topics that resonant with them and can help further their careers.  The youngest of nine children, my older siblings loved to tell me, “Children are to be seen and not heard.”  Well, I’m being heard now on an international stage like this blog and enjoying writing to be heard by you and others.

What I’ve also been doing since I last posted a blog entry is volunteering the area of human resources for organizations.  The work has included collaborating with other volunteers in the process to fill a position:  developing an accurate position description, reviewing and evaluating resumes, identifying the first and second tier candidates to be called in for interviews, and interviewing a series of professionals to filter out the one we feel has the credentials and the ‘good fit’ demeanor to be hired.

Although I’ve hired people previously, the hiring process during the Great Recession has been different.  It’s different because I’m sensing desperation by how words are strung together.  Very determined to get a job since being laid off or fearing being laid off, the tone of a candidate’s writing often gives off a feel of, “It’s all about me and you should hire me because I am so great and I really need this job!”

How do I know that?  Well, in one very long cover letter, the writer composed 12 sentences and they all focused on her.  “I am…”   “I have…”  “I worked…” “I look forward…” was what I read and thought, “What about how her skills, knowledge, and experiences apply to and can benefit our organization?”

Hers was not the only cover written that way.  Many came in with a form cover letter with obviously only the inner address and salutation changed—which is not good form from my perspective.  What I wanted to read in their sentences was that the prospective candidate had done their research:  been to our website, searched periodicals online that could provide them more background, and then could translate this information into words that created a relationship between our needs and their backgrounds.

Resumes, also, left a lot to be desired.   Proof and proof again.  Use the “Grammar Check” in Word.  Punctuate consistently in descriptions and bullets.  Be accurate with the tense:  all past or all present tense.  Etc., etc., etc.

Finally, if you want to be heard and be seriously considered to be hired for a position, use the appropriate wording to describe what you do.  We, charged with hiring an employee, need to trust that an individual expressing an interest in being a candidate and possibly ‘the one’  hired, has documented authentically what she has done and is capable of doing from the first day on the job.

Whether you are in the process of developing a cover letter or resume—or an 11,000 word paper—write so that you are heard.   Now, it’s time for me to go resume finalizing my next level playing field special report.