Month: August 2014

Perfection, When Is It Worth It?

The comedy of my pursuit of perfection probably began years ago. However, I learned from developing websites that I could waste a great deal of time trying to perfect things that just have no point at which they become perfect.

When I began to learn to edit my websites, I studied website coding. I learned that website coding must be perfect.  If it is perfect, it works correctly. If it is not perfect, it does not work correctly.  Website coding includes multiple languages that need perfect grammar. The syntax of website languages is different from the syntax of other languages. You can publish grammatical errors in English.  However, in HTML (hypertext markup language) and other web publishing languages, syntax errors create glitches in the publication of the website. Sometimes a web developer (who is really a code writer) can use hacks to work around mistakes. Sometimes a mistake may get past one web browser. However, the hacks and mistakes will fail in another browser.

On the other hand, a website is art. The art contains the content and services readers use in the websites.  The appearance of a website has no perfect model. Here is where the comedy of my perfectionism came into play. Perfecting code made sense to me. Not perfecting websites was confusing to me.  I was perfection’s fool.

Some websites are beautiful in their simplicity. Google is an example of a beautiful yet simple website.  Other websites are beautiful in their complexity.  Yahoo is an example of a beautiful yet complex website.  It contains the following things and more:

  • A page full of dozens of pictures and headlines
  • A sidebar menu
  • A crossbar menu
  • A column of popular information such as weather, sports, comics, sports box scores, featured videos, games, etc.
  • Flash ads
  • A center column with forty or fifty pictures and links
  • Multiple search engines for general search and for custom search

When I began to work on my websites, I found that I was in a confusing place of creating art in languages that are exacting in their requirements. I continued to change the look of my website, often reacting to things that I saw on other websites. I struggled to get past the idea that there is no perfect-looking website. I went through countless revisions to develop the perfect look.

Then I realized that the purpose of a website is to serve the website visitor. I finally settled on simplicity that served that purpose. The folly of my pursuit of perfection ended. When I have a new service to offer, I will make a small adjustment to my website for the service, but nothing more. Therefore, website development was my awakening to the confusing trait of perfection. Some things such as computer languages require perfection. However, the appearance of a website does not require perfection.  Websites are the best when they help the website readers find content and services.

Why Send a Thank You Letter After a Job Rejection?

Nothing is over.  Companies make offers to their leading candidate.  However, people turn down job offers.  When this happens, companies may turn to the next candidate and make that person an offer.

Sending a thank you letter after an interview might just be the missing piece that can get you a job offer.

Furthermore, sending a thank you letter after a job rejection might be the missing piece to getting an opportunity for a different job at the same company.

You have had an interview with a company where you would like to work.  The job is perfect.  You enjoyed meeting the people at the company.  The location of the job is ideal.

To stay connected with the company and get feedback on your interview, you should send a thank you letter to the primary contact and a copy of that letter to the rest of the people you met for interviews.

Sending a thank you letter is always a good idea after an interview.

  1. You increase your chances of getting an additional interview.
  2. You set the stage for a more positive next meeting.
  3. You increase your opportunities for getting a job offer.

Some companies see a thank you letter from applicants as a critical factor in the interview process.  Without receiving a thank you letter, these companies will not bring an applicant back for further interviews.  Thank you letters have a greater influence on the interview process than many applicants understand.

Why Send a Thank You Letter After a Job Rejection?

When companies reject you, you can get angry and frustrated.  However, companies are making business decisions during the interview process.  They are not making a personal decision against you.  Rather than getting angry, get appreciative of the fact that the company gave you an interview.

Even when a company rejects you, it is a good idea to send a thank you letter to each of the people you met in the interview process.  These people can become can become part of your increasing business network.  A thank you letter after a company rejects you can help you build new relationships.  The thank you letter can even get you another interview with the same company for a different job.

A letter something like this one might work:

Dear [name]

I enjoyed meeting you and other people who work for [company name].  I would be fortunate to work with the kind of people your company hires.  What impressed me most about the position for which I interviewed was [your own statement of what impressed you most].

I will follow-up periodically and continue to check your company website for additional opportunities.

[Close]

A thank you letter only takes a few minutes.  With the simplicity of an email, you can send the letter to everyone you met in one short email.  If you choose to send a letter, a card, or an email, taking time to say thank you, even when you get a job rejection is a great idea.

Related Articles

Performance Afterburners

During my service as a Navy officer aboard an aircraft carrier, I piloted the ship so that there was enough wind down the deck for planes to take off and land.  Sometimes, the wind speeds would gusts up and down.  When necessary, Navy aviators would use afterburners to increase the thrust to launch their planes off the carrier deck.

Afterburners inject extra fuel into the jet pipe after the turbines have burned the fuel for the engine.  Using afterburners produces a tremendous increase in power.  Aviators limit use of afterburners for launch and for supersonic flight.  However, afterburners consume fuel at a greater rate.  Using them all the time is not necessary.  Additionally, the fuel consumption of afterburners greatly shortens the operating time of an airplane between refueling and puts extraordinary stress on the plane itself.

There are times when turning up the afterburners on ourselves is helpful for getting a job completed.  We all have projects with deadlines.  Working with more intensity is important, even necessary.  Operating on adrenaline to work faster and for longer hours for a short period is often productive.  Working under constant pressure from our self or our supervisor to finish a project is often necessary.  Taking shortcuts by eating at our desk, reading email on a smart phone during breaks, and trying to go from task to task without breaks may help can help a great deal in a short time.  Short term, we may find that achievements soar.

However, operating on afterburners all the time makes us less effective, even incapable of working. The real risk is job burnout. Job burnout can end your career.  Herbert J. Freudenberger and Geraldine Richelson co-authored a book Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement, 1974.  Freudenberger described job burnout as being like a burnout building.

“If you have ever seen a building that has been burned out, you know it’s a devastating sight.  What had once been a throbbing, vital structure is now deserted.  Where there had once been activity, there are now only crumbling reminders of energy and life. Some bricks or concrete may be left; some outline of windows. Indeed, the outer shell may seem almost intact. Only if you venture inside will you be struck by the full force of the desolation.”

Turn off the performance afterburners when you do not need them.

  1. Take breaks.
  2. Find emotional support through friendships and family.
  3. Try new things.
  4. Make a list of your work priorities.  Do one thing at a time.
  5. Get regular physical exercise.
  6. Learn techniques for resting your mind from work: meditation, pleasant and interesting reading, watching or listening to positive television, radio, or video programs that are relaxing, motivational, or inspirational.
  7. Change jobs.

Having a successful career begins with you taking care of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally.  Turn on the afterburners when you need them, but do not use them for day-in and day-out-work.

Six Tips to Keep Your Job Search Fresh

Keep your job search fresh through these simple but effective steps.

1. Constantly review your goals.

As you go through your job search, you will learn more about the opportunities you have set as goals for your career search.  You will learn which companies offer opportunity and which companies are a waste of time.  You will discover new opportunities that you will want to pursue.  Stay flexible and adjust your goals.

2. Adjust your marketing plan to fit your goals.

You will get feedback on your resume, emails, and follow-up process.  You will learn when and where to use telephone marketing.  You will learn better ways to get interviews with companies.  Follow up on resumes and interviews to keep the communications flowing between you and the hiring company.  Stay flexible and respond to the new things that you learn.

3. Schedule and track you activity on a calendar.

Always list appointments and the things you need to do on a calendar.  Review your calendar every day.  Move the things that you did not complete forward on your calendar.  Urgently act on the things you have put on your calendar.  These things are the steps that will help you reach your career goals.  Do note delete completed activities.  Mark them as completed.  This method will enable you to analyze what things that work and what things do not work.  Your analysis can help you make your strategies more effective.  Summarize results.  Add new activities as you go forward in your search.4. Dig deeply into opportunities.

Once you learn about a promising opportunity, dig deeply into what you need to do to get an interview.  Find out the name and contact information of the key managers in the company.  Network with those people or with people who can help you connect with those people.

5. Ask questions as you speak with people.

Your direct contacts are often your best source of information.  Ask them who is hiring.  Ask them for names of contacts.  Ask them for the contact information of the people and companies.  Ask them if they can get you an interview with a company.  If a person has effective relationships in a company, ask the person to give you recommendations and introductions.  Work your network to connect with anyone in a company who might you help you understand the company and what it is like to work for the company.

6. Practice life-work balance to keep your job search fresh.

A job search certainly takes weeks.  It may take months.  Schedule breaks, entertainment, family time, and exercise.  Taking care of yourself physically and mentally is as important part of your job search.  This type of in-depth management will help you become more effective in your career and your personal life.

Shakespeare Learned by Doing

Shakespeare Learned by Doing.  You can, too.

William Shakespeare had a basic public school education.  He studied grammar and Latin classics.  It was common for playwrights during Shakespeare’s time to have a Bachelor of Arts and even a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge.

Here are examples of the education of some of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

Christopher Marlowe

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Cambridge, 1584
  • Master of Arts, University of Cambridge, 1587

Robert Greene

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Cambridge, 1580
  • Master of Arts, University of Cambridge, 1583

Thomas Nashe

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Cambridge, 1586

William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and other poems.  Additionally, he wrote plays in collaboration with other writers.  He was a leading playwright of his time.  His name had marketing value on the billing of his plays.  His popularity has grown through the centuries.  His writing has influenced playwrights, novelists, movie screenwriters, and even daily language in the English-speaking world.  Today, he is widely considered the greatest writer of the English language ever.  There are still productions of his plays, and translations of his plays exist in nearly every major language.

Here are some of Shakespeare’s quotes that have become part of popular language and literature in English today.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” Romeo and Juliet
“In my mind’s eye.”  Hamlet
“Off with his head!”  King Richard III
“This is the short and the long of it” The Merry Wives of Windsor
“He will give the devil his due.”  King Henry IV, Part I
“He hath eaten me out of house and home.”  King Henry IV, Part II
“I ‘ll not budge an inch.”  Taming of the Shrew
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”  Julius Caesar
“Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”  Macbeth

The way that Shakespeare became a better writer is that he wrote.  He wrote alone and at times in collaboration with other writers.  As he wrote, his writing became more exact to the characters and richer in content.  The personalities and actions of his characters became more distinct to their roles.  The depth and meaning of his plays attained a universal quality that connected audiences of his time and that connect audiences of today to the events and characters in his plays.

Shakespeare leaned by doing.  As part of my own skills development, I can develop new skills and increase the effectiveness of my current skills through practice, repetition, and effort.  I can learn by doing.

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