Would you like to learn how to access more creativity in your job and in your life?

Creativity is a critical ingredient for success in the changing workplace!

Come visit a Sausalito Houseboat and learn the secrets to increase your creativity from a great local artist and good friend of mine!

Threshold Workshops are in their 11th year helping people become more creative. The workshops develop abstract thinking and explore the relationship between authenticity and creativity.

Participants in a Threshold Workshop
• Use a variety of art materials to paint & collage
• Write poetry & prose through guided exercises
• Learn to make abstract thinking a conscious process
• Learn tools to reclaim the conceptual mind
• Break free of left-brained linearity
• Expand their relationships to creativity
• Discover their blocks to creativity and let them go
• Build confidence & enthusiasm in their artistry
• And have a lot of fun doing it

More about the workshops 
• Held at a Sausalito studio: 13 Issaquah Dock, Gate 6 Rd
• 5 hours on one Saturday and... All materials provided
• No artistic skills required

Additionally, business groups can sign up, find solutions to real-time problems, facilitate better communications, and improve group effectiveness

Jim Woessner, Threshold Facilitator, is a former engineer and corporate executive who became a fulltime artist, poet, and teacher. He has an MFA from Bennington College; and his paintings have appeared in numerous Bay Area shows and galleries, including the Sausalito Art Festival. He is also founder of the Artists of Issaquah, a Bay Area community association of waterfront artists whose mission is to help people discover themselves as artists.

Check out Jim's art website at JDW Artworks.
CALL JIM WOESSNER AT 415-342-2399 or email Jim.

Talent Shortage? Is it Possible?   Although hard to believe right now, with so many strong EA/PA candidates on the market, I predict an Executive Assistant talent shortage over the next five years.   We have only a few professional schools dedicated to training the new generation of Executive Assistants.   The number of high level Executive Assistants has dwindled over the past ten years due to the increase in career options for women.  Women have traditionally filled the highest percentage of Executive Support positions.   Salaries have dropped this year, but I predict that: Salaries will go up higher than they were in 2008...over the next two years!    Why?   Supply and Demand! The more candidates available for a job, the lower the salary. Geographic location dictates salary also because of supply and demand.  In the bay area, highest? Silicon Valley and South Bay, then..San Francisco, East Bay and Marin.    Is there growth potential  into another field, or is it a career EA/PA position.  If career EA/PA..because of the shortage, the salary will be higher. What type of EA/PA job is in most demand right now?   The fastest growing segment of business in the US today is small business. The "Command Central" executive support role where the EA/PA wears five hats will be a job we will see more and more of over the next year.  Brush up your cross functional skills so that you can wear many hats and offer as many skills as possible!     RESUME WRITING TIPS: 2009 Small and medium sized businesses are a strong segment of the current economy and are hiring Small business employers are searching for candidates who can function as "command central" and utilize a wide variety of skills, talents and abilities Small business employers are searching for people with flexibility and a willingness to do "whatever it takes" to support the success of the company Small business employers are concerned that candidates who have worked in executive support for large companies are not flexible and not willing to do the "washing and ironing" of daily small business life Resumes are seldom read and are instead often just quickly reviewed. This glance generally means reading information at the top-third of the resume Resumes should highlight strongest and most  "in demand" skills, talents and abilities in the first one third of the resume People often make decisions and judgments in the first 20 seconds of reading a resume as they "glance" at the top third of the resume If you are applying for a job which mirrors the job title titles of past jobs, such titles should be highlighted  and bolded If you are applying for a job that does not mirror your past job titles, do not use titles in bold and do not highlight them.incorporate them into the descriptions of your past jobs Utilize as many transferrable adverbs that pertain as support the right for you to be applying for the job for which you are applying for.  Such adverbs should reflect skills needed for success  in that job. Create an objective that is generic and reflects cross functional experience and skills "Seeking position in Executive Administration utilizing my skills, abilities and experience" Next Section: "Related Skills and Abilities. Highlight and bullet the skills and abilities which reflect cross functional talent and abilities Next Section: "Related Experience”. Highlight experience that most relates to the Objective and to the position for which you are applying Next Section "Other Experience” Summarize experience, if any, that does not which doesn't directly relate to the "Related Experience” section Next Section: "Education" Final Section: "Honors, Awards, etc"

Would you like to learn how to access more creativity in your job and in your life?   Creativity is a critical ingredient for success in the changing workplace!  Come visit a Sausalito Houseboat and learn the secrets to increase your creativity from a great local artist and good friend of mine! Threshold Workshops are in their 11th year helping people become more creative.  The workshops develop abstract thinking and explore the relationship between authenticity and creativity.   Participants in a Threshold Workshop Use a variety of art materials to paint & collage Write poetry & prose through guided exercises Learn to make abstract thinking a conscious process Learn tools to reclaim the conceptual mind Break free of left-brained linearity Expand their relationships to creativity Discover their blocks to creativity and let them go Build confidence & enthusiasm in their artistry And have a lot of fun doing it More about the workshops Held at a Sausalito studio:     13 Issaquah Dock, Gate 6 Rd 5 hours on one Saturday and... All materials provided No artistic skills required Additionally, business groups can sign up, find solutions to real-time problems, facilitate better communications, and improve group effectiveness<

Question:

How is responding to an ad on line like buying a lottery ticket?

Answer!

You have just as good chance of winning if you buy it/post it as if you don’t!

I got a call this morning from an employed Executive Assistant who had read my blog comment that our company had received hundreds of resumes after posting an ad online.

“Is it true??” she asked with a horrified tone of voice. “I can’t imagine that many people responding to one ad!”

“No”, I said, “There were actually well over 700 resumes that have since come in from that one posting as we placed it on several sites!”

Anyone who is in the business of recruiting knows that placing any kind of ad on line is a little like putting you in direct line of a working fire hose. There is about a five minute lag before the hundreds of resumes begin to arrive. We read the first hundred or two, but then…it’s just too many... For those of us that genuinely care about people, it is painful to not be able to respond personally to each inquiry. 
 
Anyone who has responded to ads online knows that since about January of 09, it is rare to get a response from an online application... (My friend Terry Pearce, http://www.terrypearce.com placed an ad on Craig’s List and personally responded to every one! Kudos to Terry!) 
 
Good News! There are great companies who are hiring! 
 
Would you like to know the Steps to finding a job in a great company?

Read on!

There are things to know and steps to take.

What is to know?

1. There are great companies who are hiring people
2. Much of what many people used to do to find jobs, no longer works.
3. Accept the fact that recruiters are not likely to “find” you a job
4. There are steps you can take that, even in this tight market, will lead you to a great company and eventually, a great job!
5. Place the quality of the company as more of a priority than the type of job or the salary. It's more productive to not look for the "perfect" salary, "perfect" location, "perfect" job and "perfect" company ...all in one.

What is to do?

1. If possible, take on the project of hunting for work as a proactive, full-time job
   • If you can’t spend full-time on it, be proactive in the time you have 
   • Creativity, innovation, out of the box thinking rule!
2. Give up watching any news that discusses high unemployment statistics
3. Make a list of all of the companies for which you would love to work
   a. Create a Google Search Engine for all the company names and stay abreast of activity at each of the companies.
4. Be clear about what skills, experience and focus you would ideally utilize in your next job
5. Carefully Identify your personal and professional network (use social networking here. Linked In and Face book are some of the more powerful networking tools!)
   • Reach out to each person in your network with a personal phone call first, telling them what kind of company appeals to you and what is your experience and skill set that you most want to use in your next job. Ask if you can forward a list of your target companies to see if they have any contacts in those companies. Ask if you may forward your resume and a cover email so that they can forward to anyone in their network who may be relevant
   • Make the effort to leave each phone call with two additional names to add to your network.
   • Follow up with an email that is easy to forward with a bulleted list of your target companies, your objective and related experience and skills, and resume attached as a Word Doc. Include lots of white space. Less is more.
6. Before you respond to an on line ad, ask your network if anyone knows anyone at the company. If they do, ask for an introduction
7. Subscribe on business journals so you can be advised as to what companies are hiring.
8. Don’t wait to see job listings before you approach companies for work; every company has openings before it lists them.
9. Search for the "right" company first, and the "right" job second and the "right" salary third. If you get it all, congratulations!
10. Stay proactive, innovative, creative and positive as much as possible every single day!

 

The amount of time each of us wastes every day is frightening. There is never enough time in a day for most of us.

 

I was just at Spider Lake Lodge in Hayward Wisconsin.  In the lodge, there is a clock with no hands.  Under the clock, there is a sign that says "here, there is no time".

 

 

For four precious days, I had plenty of time thanks to that clock, the inner tube I floated around the lake in with my friend, and no cell coverage.  http://www.spiderlakelodge.com

 

The right support saves huge amounts of time and allows leaders to be strategic and creative rather than being bogged down with daily tasks.

We  often begin a possible client relationship  with a  Needs Assessment…

Our first  homework assignment  for our  client is  to keep track of how they are spending time for two weeks!  How much of what they do can be delegated?

When we review the Time and Motion study of even one day, our client generally has a big epiphany!

 

Biggest time wasters?  You can guess already!

 

Email Management. Each time one email comes in , it is a distraction that can take giant bites of time through distracting interruptions.

Searching for documents/numbers/names/emails.If you don't know about Google Desktop Search, go download it NOW!  It saves us  hours every week… and either for our executives or our Executive Support Professionals, it is an invaluable tool!

 

One of our affiliate Executive  Coaches, David Peck, has a wonderful weekly email with tips and facts.  Visit David's website to sign up and read more about him.  http://www.leadershipunleashed.com

 

 

Please read today's LeaderTip and see that 35% of Executives spend the majority of their time on daily tasks and issues!

 

Monday's LeaderTip: Leadership's Time Frame

 

 

Optimal leadership has a time-frame, and it's the near future. A startling 35% of "leaders" spend the majority of their time on day-to-day tasks and issues, according to our recent survey. Of course leaders must skillfully balance their time between today and tomorrow-yet when today's the rule, rather than the exception, there's a problem. To the extent you are quite absorbed with the demands of the present, your eyes are off the road ahead, making it easy to miss an upcoming roadblock or a better way to achieve your goals. Do what is needed to shift the focus of your leadership from the present to the future, and you will appreciate the positive results that follow.

 

 

 

Self-coaching questions:

 

- Is the time I spend dealing with the responsibilities of the past or present versus the future well-balanced?

 

- What would need to change in my own approach, and in others for my focus to be more on the road ahead?

 

- What benefits would follow if I were to hand off present-day tasks to others, and focus the majority of my time on achieving my vision, executing a continuously-improving strategy, and removing upcoming obstacles?

 

 

Executive Assistants and Executive Support Professionals: Who are they and who will they be tomorrow? What is the Right Executive Support?