Category Archives: Changes & Progress

LinkedIn: The Art of the Recommendation (Part I – Giving)

19 Thursday Sep 2013

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So a friend, colleague, team member, manager, vendor, etc. has asked you for a recommendation on LinkedIn.  How hard could this be, really?  Harder than you think – people not only judge them by your recommendation, but they also judge you.  I won’t go into the technical details on LinkedIn recommendations here (yet) but having spent the last month working on my profile and both requesting and giving recommendations I figured it would be appropriate to share what I’ve learned.  A few quick tips:

  1. If you don’t think giving a recommendation is a good idea, don’t – and tell them why.  You will know immediately upon trying to think what you will say whether this is a good idea – you haven’t worked directly with them enough to give specific examples, you don’t know them in a work or volunteer context or even, for one reason or another, you can’t be enthusiastic or genuine about what you are going to say.
    Example:  Suzie from your childhood, Fred from the express train or Mike from the water cooler ask you for a recommendation.  There really isn’t much to say about them professionally and this isn’t a forum for character witnesses where “They love their dog.” or “They are a really sharp dresser.” is going to do anything for either of you.
  2. Get the important points in place in the span of a sentence (or two if they are short).  LinkedIn only shows a very small section of your recommendation on the update feed – don’t waste it by stating the obvious “I worked with Snerdly on blah blah” unless that is truly significant and draws the reader to click through.  You are trying to be helpful here – Snerdly has (hopefully) included his achievements in his experience, so talk about who they are rather than what they did in the first sentence.
    Snerdly is the game changer that everyone wants on their team.
    In the midst of chaos and crisis, Snerdly has the ability to stay calm, step forward and lead.
  3. Make sure you select the correct position – some people always choose the most recent experience when they request recommendations, but you want to make sure yours aligns with the position to which you are speaking.  If you haven’t worked with them in their current or new job but worked extensively on the previous one, choose the previous one.  This is helpful to them as well – a good profile shows recommendations across all experience.
  4. Avoid buzzwords and industry specific phrases or acronyms.  Speak to recruiters, hiring managers, future colleagues and head hunters.  Tell a story if you can.
    When a customer called at midnight, Agnes was always the one who cheerfully took the call, assessed the situation and pulled the right people together.  Even more significantly, she never threw a problem over the wall but stayed with both the team and the customer until everyone was satisfied with the outcome.
  5. Make sure you include enough details to be genuine and never give the same recommendation twice.  No templates here, even if you have to tell the person that it will take you a week or so to get it right.
  6. Corollary to #5 – never give a lackluster recommendation.
  7. Use good words – “Drove the project to completion” beats “Worked on the team” every time (if it is true).  Mentor, leader, go-to guy, catalyst, innovative – you get the idea.
  8. Ask them what is important to include.  If they are balancing their profile or going for a type of position, they asked you for the recommendation for a reason – find out what it is and make sure you speak to it in your comments.
  9. This should go without saying but – check your spelling, check your grammar, read the recommendation out loud.  Again, this says as much about you as about them – make sure people come away thinking as highly of you as the person you are recommending.  It will add to the credibility for both of you.

Finally, be careful about reciprocal recommendations – yes, you just did some work for this person, you want them to be equally enthusiastic about you but if you aren’t careful it will look like trading favors.  Ask away, but be prepared to “hold” the recommendation for a few weeks instead of immediately accepting it (making it visible).  This works to your advantage both in your activity showing up twice and not looking like you are just profile buffing with a buddy.

 

TEDTalk: Strike a Pose!

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Health, Stuff that Works, TEDTalk

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Not all the TED talks I’ve watched have immediate practical application (which doesn’t mean they aren’t great, just means you can’t walk out and immediately DO something) but this one not only does, but it works and it is fascinating to observe in meetings and daily life.  Yes, you’ll feel a bit awkward if power postures aren’t your norm (I was surprised, or maybe not, that I normally “spread out” in meetings and such) but I was amazed at the correlation in behavior once I started watching those around me.  Seriously – watch this and try this today.  The folks in the bathroom or who walk past you standing like Wonder Woman in your office before the meeting will get over it and you will feel GREAT. 🙂

TEDTalk: Do One New Thing for 30 Days

16 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Geeky, Health, Stuff that Works, TEDTalk

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I’ve actually been doing this for a while, so imagine my amusement when while watching a TED talk every day for the month of September, I came across this gem:

Watch it and pick something – something little, something you’ve always wanted to try, something good for you, something fun.  I’m thinking for October, I’m going to be taking that daily picture.  Though I’m not going to give up my daily TED talk – and I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?

Do The Math: ITIL Expert Certification

23 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Cheapskate, Do The Math, Geeky

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Yeah, this is a niche comparison, but I’m the niche and I need to finish this one out so here goes.  First, ITIL is a service management framework for technology.  It has three levels: Foundation (1 test, no course required), Intermediate (either 4 or 5 tests and courses, depending on the type) and Expert (1 test, 1 course).  So the cheapest you get out is 5 courses, 6 tests.  There are a limited number of players in the online training market (which is the least expensive path) so that’s a good thing for comparing.  There are a myriad of ways to get the required “points” to be eligible for the Expert certification, which adds some complexity.  To figure out what you need, there is a Credit Profiler provided by the official ITIL folks.

Everyone starts with ITIL Foundation which is worth 2 points and the exam can be taken without the course for about $300.  After that there are two Intermediate tracks – lifecycle (5 courses for 3 points each) and capability (4 courses for 4 points each).  You need a total of 17 points from Foundation through Intermediate to be eligible to take the MALC (Managing Across the Life Cycle) course and exam for expert.  Once you subtract out the Foundation points, that’s 15 total points.  Ideally, you would take the ones that most applied to what you are planning to do with the certification while keeping an eye on the cost.  From a pure economic standpoint, you want to hit that 15 points in the least classes possible, so either 4 capability (16 points) or 3 capability and one lifecycle (15 points on the nose).

ITIL Credit Profiler

Yours truly has Foundation for 2 points, RCV (Release, Control and Validation) for 4 points and Service Operation for 3 points.  It’s important to note that there is overlap between the capability and lifecycle courses as well so you have to be careful not to nullify points by taking two sides of the same thing.  There are three degrees of overlap (low, medium and high) so be sure to consider those when choosing courses across different tracks.  Mine have a medium degree of overlap, so I’m good on selecting, but to hit my points on the nose without wasting a course I need two more capability (8 points).  The other option is three more lifecycle (9 points) but the cost is going to be significantly higher to do that.

On to the course and exam costs.  Financially for me, it makes the most sense to take two more capability qualifications – PPO (Planning, Protection & Optimization) and SOA (Service Operations & Agreements).  That said, I’d love to take three lifecycle qualifications – Service Strategy, Service Design and Continual Service Improvement.  So, let’s look at the math using a few different vendors.  The Art of Service offers web based training (self paced with video instructor), Global Knowledge and Pink Elephant offer virtual classroom (online with a live instructor).  We’ll use the AoS “Complete Examination Package” which includes the exam voucher since that is included in the virtual classrooms by the other vendors.  Capability courses are 5 days, Lifecycle are 4 days.  For comparison I’m using the PPO (capability) and CSI (lifecycle) courses:

  • Art of Service (Capability) – $920
  • Art of Service (Lifecycle) – $920
  • Global Knowledge (Capability) – $2995
  • Global Knowledge (Lifecycle) – $2495
  • Pink Elephant (Capability) – $2695
  • Pink Elephant (Lifecycle) – $2495

OK, so pretty significant cost difference, though there are also other considerations – live instructor for questions and a set week of training is a huge plus for many folks and you have to have self discipline to do a web based self paced course (there is a time limit for both finishing the course and taking the exam with AoS).  The instructor leds also have some additional benefits (check the vendor websites) added in for free such as exam guarantees and exam prep sessions.  One disadvantage to instructor led is that you also have to take them when they are scheduled to run.  I’m pretty good at self paced training and study, so I can afford to go for the Art of Service web based training for $920/course.  With two more capability I can be done for $1840 or three lifecycle for $2760.  I should note for folks who are just starting out that all three offer learning pass or package programs for your entire certification you may want to consider.

Once I have my 17 points, the last qualification is Managing Across the Lifecycle (5 days) for 5 points and the Expert certification (22 total points).  Again:

  • Art of Service – $920
  • Global Knowledge – $3295
  • Pink Elephant – $2695

With Art of Service I can buy a 3 pack for $894 per qualification, so I can finish out my remaining intermediates and my expert for $2682 (instead of $2760).  To do online instructor led, the cheapest I can get out without a package would be $8085.

Summary – if you are self disciplined enough to do web based video training within a time limit, AoS is a significant cost savings.  If you prefer a “live” instructor and can set aside a week to attend class online, Pink Elephant is less expensive on capability and MALC but the same as Global Knowledge on lifecycle.  Your choice will likely be limited by the scheduled dates, so plan accordingly.

Note: All prices were taken from the respective websites without any discounts or package prices applied.  They are obviously subject to a.) change, b.) sales and c.) package prices so shop around if you want to do physical or virtual classroom training.