Justin G. Roy

Mel Lester from E-Quip Blog recently posted a blog about losing sight on the desired end result.  Mel calls this the Activity Trap:

“So what is it? The Activity Trap is what happens when we get so caught up in the busyness of doing tasks that we lose sight of the desired outcomes. Obviously, inadequate planning is a root cause. In my experience, poor project planning is a notorious shortcoming in our profession.”

Interesting idea, and one that I see happen more times than I would like to admit.  As a recruiter for the A/E industry, I can talk from a recruiting standpoint.  We hear about positions within architecture or engineering firms that were “this close” to being filled with a great candidate, only to have the deal fall through at the last minute AND without a backup candidate. 

Why?  Simply because many firms focus on the candidate they are interviewing, taking each step carefully without looking at the end goal of filling the position and setting themselves up to succeed.  Success in recruiting is having a backup or two.

So how can you plan better?  I suggest planning from your end result to the beginning and not the other way around.  If you want to make a great hire (end result) you will need to have a candidate or two in the final stages and before that you need to have first interviews.  Understand that certain positions will be a numbers game and others will be very focused on the 5-6 people who are qualified for the position.  Determine what type of position you are recruiting for and start there.

Have any success stories on your internal recruiting?  I would love to hear them!

Please click here to read the full article.

I just finished reading a post on Levite Chronicles and am sitting here shocked.  Click here to read the post.  What Jon described is a similar feeling that I have when separated from my phone or blackberry and one that I know many people have as well.  Is the word “crack-berry” true?  I think so.

I have hear some outrageous stories from people on their blackberry addiction.  I know one person who has to go into his bathroom to check the phone because his house-rules are no email after dinner.

Personally, I cannot remember the last time I shut mine off.  I am addicted, I know.  It got so bad that when an email came in at 2am (and the phone would beep) I would jump out of bed to see what was going on.  BUT, when my alarm clock goes off at 5am, I cannot seem to get out of bed.  Needless to say, the blackberry is now shut off when I am sleeping and I am not too happy about it.

Here are the symptoms Jon describes:

I was afraid that I would miss a call from my family. There is no crisis, but we stay in touch and there is a little stress at work for Nancy right now.
I was afraid that I would miss arrangements about lunch, that someone would need to change something.
I was afraid that I would miss email or comments or some contact from friends.
So what is the answer?  Not sure.  I know I could not go cold turkey.  Maybe I will try shutting it off for an hour this weekend and two hours next weekend.

I wonder if they have a blackberry patch for my arm, or maybe even some email flavored gum I can chew on?

Click here to digg.

I read a lot of candidate resumes from an array of professionals in the consulting engineering industry. As a consultant to design/build engineering firms of all kinds, I’ve learned what to look for in an engineer’s resume. And I’ve found that there are certain things that can be commonly overlooked.

Perhaps one of the most frequent problems with an engineer’s resume is the wording. Let’s be honest, engineers are not always the best wordsmiths. Oftentimes I see engineers use the same old cliche catch phrases in their resumes that prevent them from standing out and catching an employer’s attention.

Here’s a list I found that exploits the 10 most overused resume phrases. Are any of these phrases in your resume? If so, you might want to consider rewording.

I know proper professional etiquette applies to pretty much applies to the entire professional world, as it certainly does in the engineering and architecture industries.

That being said, as a recruiter for the engineering industry, I can tell you that there are some engineers who might very know the most sustainable design approaches for complex mechanical building systems, yet don’t know all the ins and outs of professional etiquette.

Knowing the rules of etiquette are important for winning new work, sustaining clients, retaining employees, and recruiting new talent. Everyone might have a different definition or top-ten (or top-twenty or top-fifty) rules when it comes to professional etiquette. Here’s a list of 10 etiquette tips I came across recently that I feel makes some good points. Take a look.

A post by Tim Sanders last week got me to thinking about why professional service firms exist and what do we do for our clients.

Hopefully you can all answer this question with minimal thinking.  However, now really look at your answer: if you said something about your service you would be correct.  However, have you stepped back to look at your service through your clients eyes and mind? 

As an architect and civil engineering recruiter, I know the reason why a firm comes to us is to solve a particular staffing problem they have and cannot solve on their own.  We exist to solve their recruiting and staffing needs.  Same with your business. 

I know, we (and you) are not the only firm who specializes in a particular niche.  So think about what you really do for your clients.  Does it include some “extras” or is your client service top notch?  Possibly you have spent time getting to know your clients and have formed a relationship deeper than proposal-performing the work-invoice time line?

If you answered either yes or no to the above, I encourage you to take 1 hour a week to think about your clients and consider what you can do in that hour to make their lives easier.  This can range from a hand written card saying thank you, a clipping from the newspaper about their firm or in regards to something affecting their industry (with your support on their side, of course).  In an hour you can probably reach 5 clients - 20 clients a month.  Start small and work your way up.  You would be amazed at how a small card in the mail can make a huge difference (and remind them that you still exist). 

Does anybody have a client who comes to them for a proposal and does not “shop” out the job because of a long standing relationship?  I would love to hear your story! 

Great post by Peter Shankman this weekend about the misconceptions when somebody is not sitting in an office.  He talks about some of his experiences with balancing work and life, while building his business. 

One of my favorite lines:  “….handling a client issue via conference call, with my skydiving rig on my back, hoping I’ll finish the call before the next load goes up in the air.”

His post got me thinking Sunday night about the architecture and engineering fields; would this be possible for the industry?  Could a solid Project Manager be able to work while traveling or exploring?  Maybe, but I am not sure the industry would tolerate this type of schedule.  I would love to hear from anybody who does balance his/her schedule similar to Shankman. 

Click here to read the full post.

As the summer comes to a close I was remembering an interesting conversation the other day about vacations and the necessity of them.  Granted there are hundreds, of not thousands, of articles that talk about the need to unwind for a week and forget about the daily grind. 

Is this possible in today’s world…..what about in today’s economy?  Possibly it depends on your job.  Can an architect decided to take a week off even though his/her client is waiting for sketches?  Do we work double time the week before vacation to make up for the time we will be out of the office?

This got me to thinking about the root word, vacate. 

Do you really vacate on your vacation….or do you walk around with the blackberry, yelling at the kids not to get it wet?  Do you put your suntan lotion on with one hand, so the other is free to scroll down your email?

If any of the above sounds like you, it might be time to rethink your vacation.  Maybe summer is not the best time to get away from work.  I know dozens of company’s who slow down the week after Christmas; this may be a better time to vacate.  

As a recruiter for consulting engineering, landscape architecture, and architecture firms, one of complaints and reasons why employees are possibly looking to make a change is due to the lack of availability [read: acceptance] for the person to take a vacation. 

With careful planning and communication to your architects or engineers, vacations can go smoothly and be encouraged; fringe benefit – your employees will want to stay with your firm.