The Art of Being Unforgettable: How Networking Can Create Any Opportunity

Whatever stage your career is in, from nascent to experienced, your ability to network, to visualize and then realize the professional opportunities you need, will determine how far it, and you, can eventually go. We live in a period of almost unparalleled intellectual freedom and access to anyone, anywhere. The world is getting dramatically smaller, even as our horizons get larger. If there’s a career you want, nowadays, it’s up to you to create it. Excited, yet?

Spend a Saturday morning with Creativity Yenta ™ Carlota Zimmerman learning, step-by-step, exactly how to use all of the talents and resources you already have to create the job you most desperately desire. Topics to be covered include: creating a LinkedIn profile both relevant and helpful to your chosen industry; using social media to generate brand-boosting content; networking both in person and online; why getting that great internship isn’t enough; how and why to network at different stages of your career and why it’s imperative that you just get started. Today. Now. (I'm looking at you, Sunshine.)

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6762451675# 

Carlota is a graduate of Wellesley College and IUB Maurer School of Law. Before launching her coaching business in 2008, she was a produced playwright. Upon graduating Wellesley, she worked in network news for ABC, CNN, MSNBC and FOX at bureaus in Russia and the United States. As a law student, she served an internship with Sen. Clinton’s immigration department, and clerked for Judge Michael Obus of the NY State Supreme Court.  She has lived and worked in New York, Washington, D.C., Russia, India and China. (Guess how many of the above-mentioned opportunities she networked? Exactly.) Carlota absolutely loves helping her clients change their minds to change their professional lives. She’s somewhat less thrilled to be discussing herself in the third person.  Become a fan of her Facebook page, “Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta,” for a complimentary consultation!

The Generation Gap

Part of the thing about getting older...is that you get even more awesome! And, apparently, crankier. But seriously, ladies and germs, for me, part of the thing about getting older is trying to figure out where I stand in the "generation gap." Or, really, why I dislike it so much when "older" (cough cough) people say things like, "Well, this generation is entitled and I hate it! When I was a kid, I had to... [fill in the blank.]" Is "entitlement" really what's bothering these people, I wonder, or is it straight up jealousy.

There's a lot of people cursing teenagers and twentysomethings about their "entitlement," and bad taste in music, and I wonder: "Where do you think they got their attitudes? You raised them to be entitled! You raised them as accessories." I also strongly dislike this idea of, "Well, no one helped me find a job, or figure out my life when I graduated...so why should these damn kids get all the breaks!" By "breaks," you mean, say, learning how to network, so that these kids can do what you were too scared to do and create better opportunities for themselves? Are those the so-called "breaks" you mean?

I grew up with parents constantly resentful, constantly complaining about their jobs, but without one iota of  maturity or discipline necessary to network and thus get a better job. I'm not interested in people who want others to be miserable just because they are. That sh*t is booooring!

Just because no one helped you when you were most vulnerable...no one else should ever get a hand up?
There was another guy who kind of had that same idea, who wanted to make everyone else suffer because he was miserable and resentful and rejected from this one art school. Last time I checked, he did okay for a while, but then not so much and the whole world kind of suffered. I'm talking about A. Hitler. Big in Germany and various terrorized Eastern Europe countries, for about 12 years or so, and then not so big...heard of him?  I'm kind of exaggerating to make a point, and kind of not. Isn't the whole point of life, besides being covered in kittens with a gin cocktail in your fist, to learn from your mistakes, and help others? Isn't this planet too damn small to spend your one lifetime visibly seething with pain, hatred and resentment? 

Some of you are thinking, "Okay, hippie, you obviously have a Jebus-complex." Um, no. While I have been known to sport Birkenstocks, I do wear mascara and a bra so obviously, I have a Creativity Yenta-complex! I made oh so many mistakes when I was graduating college, and graduating law school, and this morning, and on that date last night and so what? I'd like to use what I learned to help others: what's the point otherwise? To sit in my lair and be sulky? BORING!

I'm going to teach a strategy camp at Indiana University-Bloomington's Maurer School of Law in January 2014. It's going to be full of all the stuff I learned from my mistakes, and others', so that, god willing, some of the attendees will think, "...I could do that! I could start a business, but be less covered in cat hair, and figure out how to live a fun life." Also, P.S.: cat hair isn't the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Try working for Fox News...

I'd love to hear from you: tell me what you think in the comments! And if you think you want a free consultation, with or without a gin-based cocktail, email me @ carlotazee@gmail.com, and like my Facebook page, "Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta!"

Just a quick thought, for all the recent grads posting, in their various LinkedIn groups, that they have a BA in Psych or Gender Studies or 17th century Macedonian lit, with a 3.7 GPA and want a job that lets them express themselves...um, okay. Expression is awesome. As is, eating every day. And I really shouldn't mock, since I was a history major, with a focus on Russian history, from about 1917-1945. So, yep, if those years ever come back around, I'm totally set. I am good to go!

But my point is: help us to help you. When I read these types of postings in my Wellesley College alumnae group, or Indiana University alumni group on LinkedIn, they both break my heart and drive me crazy, because I want to help these kids...but I have no idea what kind of job they want. I have no idea what skills--if any--they have. I cannot, alas, read anyone's mind; I am, unfortunately, not the Delphic Oracle. That position was already filled.

So before posting those listings, here are some things I'd ask recent grads, unemployed people, underemployed people, your mom, etc., to consider: What kind of job/industry am I interested in and why? (Yes, nowadays, we all have to be super perky and basically be ready to make out with HR, we love our employers so much. You have to have some kind of brilliant, emotionally-intelligent reason as to why you're interested in X industry. Not like when I had my first interview at a certain TV network's Moscow bureau, and the bureau chief and I drank cocktails. At 10am. Then the bureau chief laughed at my off-color jokes and thought I might as well get the job, since I was there, whatever. Please do not try this at home.) What relevant skills/experience can I offer? (This question should remind you of the people you met networking, and that this is an excellent time to get back in touch.) Ask yourself, what kind of help am I looking for: information, contacts, advice? And finally: how are you going to help the person who is helping you? If you just take their contacts, forget it, that's a one-time thing. But if you help them...bingo.
If you can write a concise yet informative post answering all those questions, then you've made it very easy for someone to help you. You've also, probably, made it worth this person's time to check out your profile--which of course is a masterpiece of good grammar, spelling, organization...humor me, please!--and then they will contact you with some (hopefully) valid advice.
I mean, who am I to say that advertising your major in Dance or Business Tourism won't get you help from another lost soul graduate of your school, right? But see it from a stranger's point of view: they are going to have to contact you, to figure out what you can do, what you know, etc., so that they can figure out how best to help you.  How likely is that? Exactly.

Want more advice/kvetching? Oh, don't even play, you know you love it. Email me @carlotazee@gmail.com

The wit & wisdom of Bruce Lee

I'm updating this blog, since I'm getting ready to start giving some fun/informational/not-boring workshops, and I also recently received a mouth-watering recommendation from IU-Bloomington School of Law Professor William Henderson! (The recommendation is up and it seriously makes my ego want to giggle and skip like a schoolgirl.) Anyway, I was scrolling through the various gadgets Blogger offers. Gadgets like: the Ronald Reagan quote of the day (he and Herman Cain would have probably had a great talk about vegetables, and why people don't need them); cute baby animal pictures; photos of Jennifer Anniston or Kim Kardashian; how to improve your golf swing; your horoscope; rainbows; dancing fish; Darth Vader quotes (hmmm...); wave photos, bald eagle photos...or, the one that almost had me: Bruce Lee quotes. Ahh, Bruce Lee. Now that is tempting. I am a fan of Bruce Lee, and it would be nice to use his wit and wisdom on those clients who want to reap all the benefits, but avoid doing any of the hard work....

Hmm, something like...this? http://youtu.be/usdcpWXPaDY

(That video reminds me of a couple of summers in the mid-1980s, when I was hanging out with my older, male cousins in California. I'd be reading and they'd be talking smack and working on their throwing stars and nunchucks in the front yard of their house. Even at 13/14, I found that mess hilarious.)

Anyway, my clients know I only kick their ass with love...well, love and a raised eyebrow, and that certain tone of voice which tells you that I am no longer in my happy place due to you not doing what you said you would. Help me to help you: do the work I assign you! Realize procrastination for what it is--fear of the unknown, or fear or success, or a thousand other emotions--and make that change, son.

Just a brief thought today on the importance of self-confidence. This is particularly aimed at those who are going through a rough time, say unemployment, a painful professional or personal transition...I know I've blogged a great deal about the crucial part of seeking employment, for example, is to demonstrate your value. But I also know that when you're unemployed, particularly if it's a long-term situation, the immediate effect is to make you lose all sense of self-worth. Which is a very dangerous, self-defeating prophecy. How can you muster the self-confidence, the necessary arrogance to convince an employer that you're hawt sh*t, if you're feeling like a loser, right?
Take a deep breath, and remember that you are more than just a job. Remember all of the other things you have achieved, the lives you have changed. The people who love you, love you no matter what...if they don't, I need you to tell them to suck it, asap! You must re-assign yourself  value immediately. If not, I promise: it's just going to get worse. Your mind starts playing tricks with you...and those tricks can be very destructive.
I know of what I speak. When I first graduated law school, I felt pretty beat up. (BTW: this has nothing to do with IUB and everything to do with me. IUB deserves a lot of praise and cash for putting up with my crap for 3 years.) I was pretty toxic with misery, and fear. It really did feel like all my best years were behind me. (Melodramatic...but true.) Then, out of the blue, I got an email, from a former agent, asking if I would agree to put my first play on tour of Brazil. I won't go into details here, but the idea that I had had, previous to law school, written something that years later was still thought to have the power to influence a national dialogue...that notion saved my life. It gave me the self-confidence and belief I needed to stop kvetching and to be grateful for all I had learned and done along the way.
(Ugh: I've become one of those people who are "grateful for the journey"...oy. On the other hand, I've also become someone who can always find a relevant "South Park" quote so...tomato, tomato?)
So when I say to people who are going through a rough time and feeling in a dark place, that you must focus on all you have achieved, and all you WILL achieve...I'm not some idiot politician telling you to keep a stiff upper lip, as I slash your social services and give myself a pay raise. (Grrr...) I'm someone who s-l-o-w-l-y, step-by-step, started turning things around by being true to myself..and re-assigning myself value. And you can too...
(Thank you, IUB! How could I have anything but mad love for a place where you can get hammered for twenty dollars?? Come on!)