putting your best foot forward: track & field

You’ve got résumés out to 100 companies. How to make sense of it all? Categorize them by type, location, priority or preference. Follow up with each contact as if the only one. The personal touch can never be overestimated. Don’t send an email, but write (in longhand) and mail a card thanking for the opportunity. Use the post office’s breast-cancer stamps—not to impress anyone, but simply to do the right thing. And even though this is through and through a business relationship, don’t forego the personal touches, the fellowship of similar interests, the acknowledgement of mutual goals. Keep track of even small details, an effort that will distinguish you as a prime prospect.

When called back for interviews, field each and every call, email, inquiry and request for follow-up materials in a timely way. Adhere to the letter of all such communications. If you show yourself unable to muster unquestioned responsibility at this early stage, any prospective employer is going to recognize this as a red flag. If putting your best foot forward at the preliminary stage involves tripping or sidestepping, you’ll likely be looking elsewhere for that company parking space.

You’ve just landed your dream job. Take careful note of fellow employees, of well-established procedures, and seek out mentors within the company whom you particularly respect and admire. Pay close attention to the organizational structure, and begin by working within it rather than attempting to reinvent the world, at least not at first. Keep track of even small details. These efforts will distinguish you as a key team player.

You’re ensconced in your new office or workspace. Let no detail go; field all messages, emails and assignments as if they’re the only ones out there, with complete awareness of detail, form, procedure and effectiveness. If you reveal yourself unable to perform during the initial stages, new employers are much less inclined to forgive when the going gets tougher, which it surely will. Operate with transparency and integrity, and difficulties will invariably be taken in stride.

It’s your life. Run with it.

key perspectives: fresh produce

One’s mental and physical outlook has incalculable benefits upon productivity and key perspectives.

So that knowledge and $5 will get you a cup of Starbucks, right? But add somevanilla and cinnamon in the form of what you really believe in and watch the price come down while your cup runneth over. This isn’t some pithy statement borne of over-caffeinated wishful thinking, but a universal truism that remains surprisingly lacking across industries and businesses both large and small.

Yet the indicators abound. I was recently in Whole Foods and observed a young bagger in his 20s carry out his repetitive task with such enthusiasm and efficiency that I literally wanted to hire him on the spot. I gave Matt my card and asked him to check in with me in a few months. At a Starbucks just outside of Philadelphia where I sometimes have informal business meetings, I’ve been struck with barista Vanessa’s clear dedication and charm with customers, whom she more often than not greets with their first names. Or at TD Bank branches on the Main Line, where I’m also regularly greeted by first name at the drive-up windows before I even put my transaction in the tube, and whose tellers are invariably quick and efficient.

We hear a constant barrage of negativity about the country’s employment situation, about record home foreclosures, about daily struggles just to put food on the table or pay the electric bill—all very real concerns. But think about it: those willing to learn, eager to interact with the public, enthusiastic whatever the task at hand, and reliable day in and day out will always be able to find work. And not just the kind of work that allows for a simple paycheck, but the kind of fresh pursuits for which they can’t wait to get to each morning. The rises can be quick; Europe’s young entrepreneurs offer prime lessons in creativity, persistence and enthusiasm.

The quality and nature of what we produce—the kind of productivity we live by—cannot help but sustain not only ourselves, but those we influence and come in contact with each and every day.