Customer Disservice a Terminal Case of Airline #8216;Flight of Hand#8217; and Self-Contradiction

Customer Distafelgeschirr a Terminal Case of Airline 8216Flight of Hand8217 and Self-Contradiction In the 2004 drama-dy The Terminal about an immigrant trapped in an airport for months without a valid passport after his country ceases to exist, Tom Hanks had more fun than I did as I started to write this Sleepless in Haneda report, stuck standing in deserted counters C-D at 430 AM because of a series of airline flight of hand magical transformations comprising bait-and-switch tactics, broken promises, transformations of bookings into cancellations and re-bookings, and contradictory (mis)communications). Note As the night wore on and I wore out, I postponed the rest of the writing until I got to rest (my case).At least Hanks got to hang out with Catherine Zeta-Jones for a while. My sole consolation in the deserted moribund being able to write an article about such legerde-main terminal flight of ha nd, thumb-in-the eye customer disservice, institutionalized service rep immunity to logic (which I have had a lot to say about lately, including about paralogisms (illogical argumentation) of customer SIRvice and lack of critical listening skills) and what makes it all possible psychologically and organizationally. This time, its about institutionalized contradictions in the airline industry.Now here is the unfoldingrather, the unravelingof the story and its analysis.Yes, You Will and Will Not Be FlyingI had been standing, sitting and squirming in the international terminal at Haneda, Japan for what welches in total to include the next 12 hours, on top of the 9 Id already spent the saatkorn way, and the 3 or so before that spent flying to get here and the additional 3 or so required to finish the journey.(As for which airline this welches, if youve ever flown with it from or to the Philippines, youll immediately recognize it if you havent, well youll recognize it when you try to fly it.)That happened because, apparently, 130 AM welches and welches not my departure time. According to the terminal information officer whom I asked upon arrival at 6 PM, it was and I was instructed to go to my airlines counter at 11 PM but at 11 PM, according to the staff at the counter adjacent to where my airlines staff were supposed to be, but werent, the flight had been cancelled a month before. According to a previous PDF I received confirming my booking, I was leaving at both 130 AM and 350 PM.When I requested a clarification, I got the same double booking PDF and finally got one that said 350. But to be absolutely sure, I askedor thought thats what I was doingmy agent whether it was 130 AM or not.According to a miscommunication between me and my travel agent, it was confirmed as 130 AM, but according to one of the many, many emails spawned by multiple changes, it wasnt. Finally, according to an email I belatedly received from the airline at 2 AM (possibly delayed by the emai l server), I was informed I would not be flying at 130 AM.All for the purpose of flying a distance, which if titelblatted in a direct flight would amount to 1,813 miles or 3 hours and 56 minutes, instead of the more than 48 hours, and the physical and financial expense of 2 overnights (one totally sleepless)costs compounded by dollops of incredible airline customer service rep illogic and undependability.In the end, I in fact spent a total of 24 hours before arriving at my next stop and another 14 hours before I reached Taipei, with a one-night layover in Manila plus that full 24-hour stand-over in the Haneda Terminal, spent just standing around or sitting like a perched comatose wreck on some forgettable chair.Customer Disservice ContradictionsHow did I get into this fix? Mostly through a series of customer disservice contradictions, including abrupt changes that contradicted previous understandings, customer service staff assurances and denials contradicting themselves and each ot her, information officers contradicting each other and my otherwise very reliable and helpful travel agent inadvertently giving me contradictory information twice. If I am allowed to regard the unilateral airline changes as contradictions that evolve over time, the list is lengthy.In the end, I felt much as Tom Hanks must have initially felt upon hearing that he had a passport, but from a country that no longer exists, i.e., that he did and did not have a passport.Sorted by their patterns and illogic, rather than by chronology, heres my peek into and take on the flight of hand, and sly or utterly inept airline management of contradictions, including my analysis of their motivations and formsDisguise a contradiction as a necessary change When the airline I flew repeatedly and unilaterallyindeed, without exceptioncancelled all of my initial bookings with no consultation or warning, the predictability of the pattern infused the changes with the form of a predictable contradiction, rath er than isolated instances of the exigencies of unforeseeable circumstances We will tell you, Yes, you are flying and No, you are not Yes, we will help you No, we will not Yes, your flight has been confirmed No, it has not. The only thing concealing the blatant contradictions was the interval of time between presentation of their components and prefacing it with Theres been a change.However, delaying telling you that 2 + 2 = 5 after telling you that 2 + 2 = 4 does not make the telling any less of a contradiction. Even after it is made to appear to be only a change, rather than a contradiction, knowing in advance that you will be told both means that from the perspective of foreknowledge you will be dealing with a contradiction, to the extent that you know that contradictory propositions will be presented to you, albeit with some seemingly legitimizing interval between their presentation to you.Notice that, despite any Marxist claims to the contrary, it can be argued that not all nat ural changes are contradictions and tension A flower smoothly blooms as it should, a banana becomes ripe.But when contradictions mature, as Marx and Engels insisted they historically, economically and socially doe.g., the desire of workers to have a better than subsistence wage and the insistence of serf-driver feudal lords or more modern slave-driver employers that they do not, the result is conflict and tension, not smooth growth and unfolding.Although strictly speaking these kinds of airline changes are not contradictions (because they are packaged as changes), their absolute predictability does make them de facto contradictions. Its like working for a boss who will always and predictably change the goal posts Be sure to include marginal costs in the business plan Limit the cost analysis in the business plan to total and average costs.The difference between the erratic, perhaps flaky boss and the sly, inept or otherwise unreliable airline is that in the case of the boss, the 180- degree reversals are probably a reflection of his personality quirks, such as a fear of commitment and failure, whereas in the case of the airlines, they can reflect uneven training, organizational diffusion of misinformation or cynical manipulation (e.g., cancellation of under-subscribed flights, which apparently happens more than the airlines will admit).Im inclined to think it is likelier to be a reflection of a calculation based on self-interest, e.g., cancelling a flight because it is under-booked and cant pay for itself (despite my having been told by an airline rep, as an explanation, that passenger safety is our primary concernwhich, if true, would make reliability of the aircraft or security measures far less predictable than the cancellations).This distinction between abrupt change and contradiction is not merely verbal it has practical consequences, chief among which is that if you view the changes as contradictions, the changes should not surprise you, once you understan d that the airline is operating dialectically, with your booking being the thesis and the cancellation being its antithesis, in conformity with the characteristic fusion of logical contradiction and dynamic change that is the essence of so-called historical dialectics.For example, consider the concept of bait-and-switch If you think of it as a merely a sneaky, occasional, manipulative change from one offer to another, you will be far more likely to be caught flatfooted and sucked in by the prospect of only occasional victimization.But if youve identified a store or airline or any other enterprise as practicing it as a package, youll understand that from the perpetrating enterprises perspective, this is a policy and that the bait and the switch are inextricably, not contingently or occasionally fused in the way that the cover story of unforeseen change cleverly suggests.Diffuse the responsibility for the contradiction At midnight in the Haneda terminal, I was repeatedly assured by an airline agent on the phone with me that one or two of the airlines onsite reps would be coming to help me sort out the mess to avoid being stranded in the terminal. I made my location crystal clearrepeatedly I gave a distinctive physical description of myself, repeatedly.I also made it clear that if no one came, Id be in trouble, because booking a hotel later into the night would become pointless, given the early check-out times of most hotels and the late-afternoon check-in times of many.I added that I would not budge from that location (which I did not). Repeatedly, I was assured that they would come. Repeatedly.Two hours later, at around 2 AM, when I tired of photographing the airport clock for the purpose of documentation, no one had come and the remaining airport information officer in my vicinity was unable to make any contact with the airline or any of its staff within the terminal or anywhere else, by any means. Eventually, a second call out was possible to another one of t he airlines agents who then contradicted the first one and said that because I was not in the airlines host country, no help would be made available to me.The sixth contradiction in this protracted customer disservice ordeal unfolded in the days and nights to comeand as an additional illustration of the use or occurrence of diffuse contradiction Yet another of the airlines reps, handling another leg of my trip, informed me that the rescheduling of yet another abruptly cancelled flight with the same airline had been confirmed by him, but had to be confirmed by email and that the email might or might not be sent within 48 hours.(Although the might or might not part was logically correct, indeed it never came.)As a business tactic or simple failing, this diffusion of responsibility for contradictions is as commonplace as it is lamentable. Customer service rep X says yes customer service rep Y says no. Whether this is an innocent or engineered contradiction, it can effectively blunt a c omplaint by diffusing responsibility for the contradiction.Were the same agent to say yes and no, blame for the contradiction could be imputed to that single source and the contradiction would be addressed and perhaps resolved immediately.But when two or more different agents contradict each other, the resultant confusion is as convenient as it is vexing. Thats because it makes it impossible to blame either or any of the agents, to determine what the actual policy is and therefore whether it has been violated, to get closure, or to easily confirm what was actually said.As a deliberate or accidental version of good-cop-bad-cop or good-broker-bad-broker, this diffusion of customer disservice can be very effective in manipulating clientele, but with the difference that the agent contradiction may be the result of inadequate training and information, whereas the good and bad cops and scammer brokers are always colluding in perfect coordination.Completely ignore or not grasp the contradi ction At around 230 AM the night I was stranded, the same agent who told me I could not be offered help, advised me to proceed to the customer service counterafter I had made it crystal-clear what the time was and that there were no staff to be found by me or the terminal information officer. In effect, the rep was telling me, with apparently incorrigible illogic, Find someone when there is no one around.How did this all turn out? Well, about 40 hours and two overnights later (including one very far south of Taipei), I finally arrived there. As for that flight from Haneda, there was one final contradiction.Apparently I did and did not stay more than the allowed 90 days. According to my travel agent and his calculation for my booking, my trip was exactly 90 days according to the Japanese immigration authorities who detained me it was exactly 91 daysrequiring my detention, completion of various forms and payment of a 4,000 fine (about $40 U.S.).Of course, I wrote to my travel agency ( at three levels of operations and management, i.e., to my agent, his manager and the district manager) about this, to see whether I would be reimbursed, allowing that I would and would not.In the end, that contradiction was deftly avoided.My queries were simply ignored.

Resume Rewrite Helps Navy Pilot Lock onto New Target as Program Manager

Resume Rewrite Helps Navy Pilot Lock onto New Target as Program ManagerResume Rewrite Helps Navy Pilot Lock onto New Target as Program ManagerSix years out of the Navy, Bonnie Adams, an engineer and project manager for a defense contractor, needed a resume that highlighted her civilian skills.Bonnie Adams (elend job seekers real name) advanced through the ranks for eight years as a Navy officer and helicopter pilot. She still flies helicopters in the Navy Reserve. But for the past six years she has worked full time as a project and program manager for defense contractors. She enjoyed the work but recently began feeling underutilized and wanted to exercise full spectrum of her leadership, engineering and operational expertise.Problem was, the resume (PDF) that helped her land her current job was not going to get her the next one she desired. It described her eight years of military experience in detail great experience, lots of promotion, lots of solid accomplishments all good mater ial, but not directly applicable for her current objective, namely, a better job in program management. If she wanted a job in project and program management that would rely on her engineering and operational skills, her new resume better make that experience clear. Her priority was to rebalance the content by shortening her older experience (military) and adding details and accomplishments from her role as a civilian program manager.Telegraph who you are and what you wantBonnies new resume (PDF) takes control of the readers first impression and quickly provides direction and context by deleting the word Summary and replacing it with a headline and positioning statement Program Manager, Defense and Aerospace Expertise.Bonnies old opening profile paragraph jammed six lines of hard-to-read, low-impact information into a solid block of text. The reader would probably skip this paragraph because its too much trouble to read. We broke that section into a three-line paragraph and three bullets that do a much better job of supporting her current objective.Develop stronger content by focusing on accomplishment bulletsThe old resume was too heavy with job description instead of accomplishments. It can be difficult to develop strong, quantifiable accomplishment bullets for process-intensive job such as program management. For Bonnie, we started each bullet with an active verb and focused on contributions she made for her employer or client, for example Created Achieved and Successfully managedSimplify the format. Use two pages, if possibleThe original format comprised three pages, which was totally unnecessary in Bonnies case (and rarely appropriate for any job seeker).We deleted an unnecessary monogram (the letter B). Using an image on a resume is a bad idea for two reasons It usually wastes space and can sow confusion for the applicant tracking system software that collects and stores resumes for menschenfreundlich resources managers and recruiters. We also consolid ated her contact information at the top of the resume because thats where readers are looking for it.Heres a final tip that helped this resume We used the So What? test to strengthen Bonnies content. Imagine an interviewer reading one of her accomplishment statements, looking up and asking, So what? This simple exercise shook loose a stronger result. We applied it to every accomplishment bullet and created a stronger resume.

Not getting along with your spouse, or a coworker Heres why

Not getting along with yur spouse, or a coworker zu siches whyNot getting along with your spouse, or a coworker Heres whyMichele Gelfandis a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her pioneering research into cultural norms has been cited thousands of times in the press, including inThe New York Times,The Washington Post,Harvard Business Review, and on NPR.Micheles latest book,Rule Makers, Rule Breakers How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World, welches recently selected as a Finalist for the Next Big Idea Club. So we asked her to dive into the biggest ideas behind the book, what surprised her during her research process, and why conflict arisesbetween individuals, communities, and entire nations.1. In two sentences or less, can you sum up the big idea of your book?We often think about our differences in terms of Red vs. Blue, Rich vs. Poor, Rural vs. Urban, or East vs. West, but after studying hundreds of cultures - from Anci ent Athens to Alabama, Sparta to Singapore, and the Military to Silicon Valley - Ive found that there is a deeper cultural code driving our behavior which reflects the strength of our social norms, or what I calltight versus loosecultures. By understanding the hidden logic for why groups evolve to be tight or loose, and what trade-offs they involve, we can better understand and manage our differences- from parenting to politics.2. What surprised you the most in your research?In my research I discovered what I call theGoldilocks Principleof Tight-Loose, namely that groups that get too extreme in either direction are dysfunctional. Nations that are too tight or too loose have higher suicide rates and lower happiness. Likewise, organizations that get too extreme in tight or loose (think United versus Tesla) or parents who are either over- controlling or too laid back (think Helicopter or Laissez-Faire) are maladaptive. Amazingly, this principle even applies to our brains and the behav ior of birds and bees InRule Makers, Rule Breakers, I also describe how a lot of conflict and political shifts happening around the world stem in part from the Goldilocks principle, and how we can use it to anticipate and prevent them from happening.3. Did an event from your personal life inspire or affect the book?When I was a junior in college, I ventured off to London for a semester, my first experience abroad. A sheltered kid from Long Island, I was the classic New Yorker who didnt know life existed outside the Big Apple, as depicted in the famousNew Yorkercartoon. Overwhelmed by the strange accents, the cars driving on the left side of the road, and the British jokes I didnt quite understand, I experienced a quintessential case of culture shock. I remember phoning my father and telling him how strange it was that other members of my study-abroad group would just pick up and go to places like Paris, Amsterdam, and Scotland for the weekend. In his thick Brooklyn accent, my father responded, Well, imagine that its like going from NewYawkto Pennsylvania That metaphor gave me so much comfort, that the very next day, I booked a low-budget tour to Egypt. It was just like going from New York to California, I reasoned (much to my fathers dismay). That fortuitous phone call with my dad sparked a lifelong passion for exploring cultures around the globe, and caused me to pivot from a career in medicine to one in cross-cultural psychology.4. What would you like readers to take away from your book?I hope that the tight versus loose distinction will ultimately change the way readers look at the world and themselves. It illuminates differences we landsee across nations, states, social classes, and households all through the same lens it helps unlock clashes that we experience with our spouses, kids, friends, and co-workers on a daily basis and it enables us to understand puzzling dynamics that we see happening around the world, from the rise of populism to the assent of ISIS. Most importantly, by understanding this hidden dimension of our lives, we can use it to better our relationships, organizations, and the world at large. Culture isnt destiny. By tightening norms whenthey are too loose, and loosening norms when they are too tight, we can build a better planet.5. Do you have a favorite quote or motto that guides your life?Take the Road Less Traveled - explore as much unknown territory as possible.6. What is one book that you wish everyone in the world would read?I love Buddhist philosophy and rely a lot on writings of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, especiallyJoyful WisdomandThe Joy of Living. These books give us very simple principles to become more content, grateful, and compassionate.7. What was your most humbling moment?After completing my Ph.D. and learning the tricks of the research trade, I took a tenure track position and realized that the most important job I had - namely mentoring brilliant Ph.D. students - was something I was completely u nprepared for. I felt daunted by the responsibility to help ansicht students thrive and succeed at the highest level, and I discovered that it was this task that was one of the most challenging but most rewarding part of my job. I love mentoring students and helping them to envision their future selves. When I get emails from my former students saying mentorship needed even after decades of them being on their own, I have a deep sense of gratitude.8. What trivial trick, talent, or feat can you do to impress people?Im known to have endless energy and passion for working with people who are coming from very different perspectives - whether it is neuroscientists, evolutionary game theorists, anthropologists, managers or policy makers- I can easily get to the gist that connects us and find ways to work together to discover new frontiers.9. Whats something that is really easy for most people that you find really challenging?Im a generalist and love to learn about absolutely everything. So I find it challenging to specialize on any one topic.Ready for more big ideas like this? Join the Next Big Idea Club todayThis article first appeared on Heleo.

Resume Tips

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How to be optimistic 4 best steps for better living

How to be optimistic 4 best steps for better livingHow to be optimistic 4 best steps for better livingShouldyou see aglass as half empty or half full?If you want to live a better life, and you care what research has to say, theres a clear answer to this question half full.Scientific research has come up with a longlist of benefits to being optimistic. Here are just a fewOptimism is associated withbetterhealthandalongerlife.Research has shownthat practicing optimism and gratitudecauses (not just correlates with) an increase in happiness.The army teaches soldiers to be optimistic becauseit makes them tougher and mora persistent.Being socially optimistic - expecting people to like you - makes people like you mora.Expecting a positive outcome from negotiations made groupsmore likely to come to a deal and to be happy with it.Optimists are luckier.Research showsby thinking positive they persevere and create more opportunities for themselves.Optimistic salespeopleare more successful.The li stgoes on and on. Being optimistic is one of theten things I recommend you do every dayand somethingassociated with great lives.On the flip side,UPenn professor and happiness expertMartin Seligmanexplainspessimismis very oftena negativeResearch has revealed, predictably, that pessimism is maladaptive in most endeavorsPessimistic life insurance agents make fewer sales attempts, are less productive and persistent, and quit more readily than optimistic agents. Pessimistic undergraduates get lower grades, relative to their SATs and past academic record, than optimistic studentsBut it turns out many of the common methods forbecomingmore positive are bunk. Standing in front of the mirror saying cheerythings doesnt help.ViaLearned OptimismPessimists can in fact learn to be optimists, and not through mindless devices like whistling a happy tune or mouthing platitudes (Every day, in every way, Im getting better and better), but by learning a new set of cognitive skills We have found that mer ely repeating positive statements to yourself does not raise mood or achievement very much, if at all.So are we doomed if were not naturally optimistic?Dont worry, Frodo, well get you back to the Shire.Here are the 4 steps that can turn pessimists into optimists - or even make mildly positive peopleverypositive.The 3 PsIt all comes down to whatresearcherscall explanatory style.When bad things happen, what kind of story do you tell yourself?There are three important elements here. Lets call them the 3 Ps permanence, pervasiveness and whether its partal.Pessimists tell themselves that bad eventsWill belastung a long time, or forever. (Illneverget this done.)Are universal. (You cant trustanyof those people.)Are their own fault. (Imterrible at this.)Optimists, well, they see it the exactoppositeBad things are temporary. (That happensoccasionallybut its no big deal.)Bad things have a specific cause and arent universal. (When theweatherisbetter that wont be a problem.)Its not their fault . (Im good at this buttoday wasnt my lucky day.)SeligmanexplainsThe defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. The optimists believe defeat is not their fault Circumstances, bad luck, or other people brought it about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder.And when good things happen, the situation reversesPessimists think good things will be short-lived, are rare and random.Optimists think good things will last forever, are universal and of their own doing.Whats the ultimate result of this? Pessimists often quit. Life feels futile. And when life feels futile, you stop trying and frequently get depressed.So now we understand the kind of thinking that underlies these positions but how do you go from one to the other?Research shows you should act like a crazy person Okay, Ill be more specific.Argue With YourselfHow do you train a puppy not to poop on the carpet? It helps tocatch him in the act.When things dont go your way, that voice in your head is going to tell astory.Check which style its using.Is itsaying bad things are going to be permanent and universal? Are you blaming yourself? Thats pessimism.Watch your thinking and flip the script on the threeChange permanent explanations to more fleeting ones.Change pervasive responses to specific ones.Change personal reasoning to not-all-my-fault perspectives.This doesnt have to mean lying to yourself.Do you really alwaysscrew this up? Thats probably not accurate. Was it100%your fault? Almosteverythinghas multiple causes.By remembering the 3 Ps and flipping the script,researchshows you can make yourself more o ptimistic over time.But that raises an interesting question why would anyoneeverwant to be pessimistic? Theres a reason.Pessimists Are More Accurate ButPay A High PricePlain and simple, pessimists see the world more accurately than optimists do.ViaLearned OptimismOverall, then, there is clear evidence that nondepressed people distort reality in a self-serving direction and depressed people tend to see reality accurately.Wow. So when negative people say happy people are lying to themselves sometimes theyre right.The reason you predict your friends behavior better than they dois were allrealistic about others actions and too optimisticabout our own.And if youre in a job where seeing potential problems is vital and there are high costs to being wrong, pessimism can help you.ViaLearned Optimismjudiciously employed, mild pessimism has its uses.The company also needs its pessimists, the people who have an accurate knowledge of present realities. They must make sure grim reality continuall y intrudes upon the optimists. The treasurer, the CPAs, the financial vice-president, the business administrators, the safety engineers- all these need an accurate sense of how much the company can afford, and of danger. Their role is to caution, their banner is the yellow flag.Pessimistic entrepreneurs aremore likely to succeed. Optimistic gamblerslose more money. The best lawyers arepessimists.In his bookAuthentic Happiness, Seligman explainsPessimism is seen as a plus among lawyersThe ability to anticipate the whole range of problems and betrayals that non-lawyers are blind to is highly adaptive for the practicing lawyer who can, by so doing, help his clients defend against these far-fetched eventualities.But while it makes lawyersbetter at their job, it comes at a high price.Guess why lawyers are3.6 times more likely to suffer from depressionand more likely to end up divorced?While seeing bad things as potentially pervasive and permanent helps them do their job, it alsocarries over to their personal lifeThe ability to anticipate the whole range of problems and betrayals that non-lawyers are blind to is highly adaptive for the practicing lawyer who can, by so doing, help his clients defend against these far-fetched eventualities. If you dont have this prudence to begin with, law school will seek to teach it to you. Unfortunately, though, a trait that makes you good at your profession does not always make you a happy human being.Excuse the pun, but thereisan upside to pessimism. Sowhen should yoube optimistic and when should you be pessimistic?Ask Yourself Whats The Cost Of Being Wrong Here?If Im up for double murder I want a pessimistic attorney looking for all theproblemsin mycase.The engineer designing my car better be a rampant pessimist - his mind eagerly identifyingevery imaginablepoint of failure.But do I want to walk around all day imagining the worst that could possibly happen?No way.Whenever youre unsure if optimism is the right way to handle som ething ask yourselfWhats the cost of being wronghere?ViaLearned OptimismThe fundamental guideline for not deploying optimism is to ask what the cost of failure is in the particular situation. If the cost of failure is high, optimism is the wrong strategy. The pilot in the cockpit deciding whether to de-ice the plane one more time, the partygoer deciding whether to drive home after drinking, the frustrated spouse deciding whether to start an affair that, should it come to light, would break up the marriage should not use optimism. Here the costs of failure are, respectively, death, an auto accident, and a divorce. Using techniques that minimize those costs is inappropriate. On the other hand, if the cost of failure is low, use optimism.Seligman calls this balance flexible optimism.Pessimism is a tool. Have it in the garage like a snowblower.You dont need it every day but occasionally its valuable to have around.So how do we tie all this together?Summing UpWant to be more positive? Wh en problems arise, dispute negative thoughts by making sure your explanations areTransitory, not permanent.Specific, not pervasive.And the causes are external, not all-my-fault.Pessimism can be a useful tool when the downside is big, but used as your default it makes lifefeel futile and hopeless.And what does research say predicts achievement better than intelligence, grades or personality?Hope.Theres a reason pessimism brings us down human nature is designed to hope and strive, not to be fearful and defensive.Yes, pessimism might be slightly more accurate - but its no way to live a life.Join over 315,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.Related postsNew Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You HappyNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertThis article originally appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Stop Calling Yourself an #8216;Entrepreneur#8217; and Other Resume Keyword Tips From a #8216;Resume Psychologist#8217;

Stop Calling Yourself an 8216Entrepreneur8217 and Other Resume Keyword Tips From a 8216Resume Psychologist8217 Stop Calling Yourself an 8216Entrepreneur and Other Resume Keyword Tips From a 8216Resume Psychologist Dirk Spencer a recruiter and author whose insights have appeared in numerous articles on our site and others is serious about resume keywords. Hes so serious he runs a free class on them, and he recently turned that class into a book, Resume Keywords Decoded and Demystified Hack the Resume Black Hole.Spencer has every right to be concerned aboutresume keywords. In fact, job seekers would have an easier time landing jobs if they were as concerned about keywords as Spencer is. In todays technologically driven world, almost every single resume a candidate sends to an employer will have to get through an ATS first and that ATS will base its entire evaluation of the resume on keywords.Furthermore, in the increasingly rare instance that no ATS is present, the recruiters an d hiring managers reading the resume will also be looking for keywords that prove the candidate is connected to the industry and current in their skills and knowledge.I spoke with Spencer, an expert in what he calls resume psychology,aboutResume Keywords Decoded and Demystified and some of the major lessons the book holds for job seekers. Below is a transcript of our conversation, minimally edited for style and clarityRecruiter.comAs you point out in the book, we often talk about resume keywords, but we rarely explain the why or how of the matter. Why do you think that is?Dirk SpencerOne of my account managers once said to me, Our job is finding candidates bedrngnis resume education. Thatsounds harsh, but every recruiter has a story where they offered help to a candidate about their resume only to have the candidate complain to their management. This makes us reluctant to share what we know.RCWhy do so many career coaches, resume experts, andeven outlets like RecruiterTodayseem to gloss over this very important information?DSTwo words immediate feedback. We have access to hiring managers,ATSs, and job boards. We can test and retest keywords in less than a few seconds. In literally the time it takes to type a few words and press the enter key, we have immediate feedback. Dislike the search results? Bang out a few new words and press enter again. More immediate feedback.We never think to share this trial-and-error method of learning with people outside our profession.RCYou mention that resume keywords exist at the intersection of four areas. Three of ansicht areas are pretty self-explanatory, but there was one I was surprised to see Anthropology and History. Can you expand on that idea a little? How do anthropology and history factor into our resume keywords?DSI had a candidate say to me, Sales is sales sic. This statement, fair or bedrngnis, suggested she had not changed or evolved her sales methods during her career.My hiring managers tell me sales mechanics are always evolving. The evolution is the anthropology. The longevity of the industry is the history. Each will likely have different keywords This is likely true for most professions.Savvy candidates who express both sets of keywords (anthropology/history) demonstrate their passion and depth of knowledge for their profession without using empty words like passion or vague phrases like deep knowledge.Savvy hiring managers review candidate-speak for this changing terminology to assess whether or not acandidate knows their profession.RCYou mention that people can find keywords in a number of places books, articles, classes, etc. Most commentators only focus on finding resume keywords in job descriptions. What is the advantage of looking beyond job descriptions for your keywords?DSWe have hiring managers tell us to not to use keywords in job descriptions because they do not want applicants to reverse engineer them to create better resumes. Also, from a competitive intelligence standpo int, many companies post vague job descriptions deliberately.Collectively, this means the candidates must know their industry and skill norms by being connected to the community in bestellung to present the appropriate and relevant skills.RCYou suggest that people should focus on nouns and verbs in their keywords not on adjectives. Why is that?DSNouns and verbs engage the human reader and score higher inside the technology (the ATS). They can offer more specific data than adjectives can in most contexts. Conversely, adjectives are vague, and vague does not score or is scored lower withthe ATS.Which means, all other things being equal, the more adjectives on the resume, the faster the it can be rejected in a sea of competitive resumes.RC Thebook includes arejection pool a list of keywords that will landyour resume in the rejected pile if you use them. I found the list quite interesting, but a few of the words surprised me. Why do you recommend against using words like entrepreneu r, mentor, results-oriented, and utilize? These like some other words on the list are quite common in business conversations today. What makes them detrimental to a resume?DSFirst and foremost, these terms are lost opportunities for better resume keywords. Second, they are vague, and we know vagueness kills resume scoring in ATSs.Vagueness also kills readers attention spans. Third, no recruiter uses these words to find talent. Fourth, no manager has ever asked a recruiter to find an entrepreneur mentor who is results-oriented. Never happens. Its always about the skills to communicate expertise in the context of the resume.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. Were SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career.

Why Nobody Is Talking About Resume in English and What You Should be Doing Right Now About It

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