5 Things You Shouldn’t Say In An Interview

5 Things You Shouldn’t Say In An Interview

Interviewing can actually be pretty fun, especially when you’re on the other side of the table! However, I know how stressful it can be when you’re the one in the hot seat as an eager job candidate.


Emotions are high, nerves are in play, and there’s so much information you need to remember. It can be tough!

And, because I know how difficult it can be to be in that position, I want to share some major red flags I’ve encountered when interviewing candidates.

I know there’s a lot to remember, but there are some things you should NEVER say during a job interview. If you’ve got an interview coming up, make sure you review these phrases before you hop on the phone or walk into the office.

“I Don’t See Myself Working Here For More Than 2 Years.”

Even if the job you’re applying for isn’t something you can really see yourself doing for the long term, don’t volunteer that information to your interviewer. You might have big career aspirations, but it’s important to focus on the job you’re interviewing for now, even if it’s just an entry-level job you don’t plan on working for very long.

By telling your interviewer that you’re essentially uncommitted to the job, you can sabotage your chances of landing the position. Think about it from the employer’s perspective: Why would a company want to invest in, hire, and train someone who is already planning on leaving before he or she even gets the job offer? Second, you might not realize how much growth potential this role has and whether or not it might transform into something that excites you. Every dream job starts somewhere. So, why kill the opportunity before you give it a chance?

“I Don’t Have Any Questions.”

Woman answers a question during a job interview

Typically, at the end of interviews, we ask our job candidates if they have any questions for us. We EXPECT questions. The candidate should be looking to learn as much as he or she can about the role, company, and team. It’s just as much for his or her benefit as it is for the employer.

Also, don’t just wait until the end of the interview to ask questions. An interview should be a two-way conversation. So, ask questions throughout the interview to emphasize your interest, curiosity, and listening skills.

“So, What Does Your Company Actually Do, Anyway?”

Hiring manager confused about a job candidate's interview question

While it’s very important to ask questions during a job interview, it’s just as important to ask the RIGHT questions—questions that show you’ve done your homework, but want to dig deeper. Asking questions you could (and frankly should) have the answers to beforehand (like what the company does, when it started, why it started, etc.) isn’t going to make you look very good.

A huge part of interview prep is taking time to research the company you’re applying to. You should be able to find basic information about the company by doing a simple Google search and checking out their website and social media profiles.

“What Else Can You Tell Me About The Salary And Benefits?”

Hiring manager interviews a virtual candidate

Learning about what you’ll be paid and what benefits you’ll receive as an employee is something you’ll want to understand down the line, but please don’t bring this up during your first interview.

This information will be revealed and/or mapped out for you as you get closer to a job offer. If you ask questions like this one too soon, though, you risk looking like you’re only in it for the money and kickbacks. Employers know these things are important to job candidates, obviously, but if you start focusing on them too early in the process, it can be a huge turnoff.

Again, think about it from the employer’s point of view: If you’re taking this job solely for the money and/or benefits, who’s to say you won’t up and leave when a better offer comes along? What’s keeping you at the company other than the extras?

Instead, focus on why you want this particular job at this specific company. The other stuff will come up later.

“What Kind Of Skills Are You Looking To Leverage In This Position?”

Man shakes hands with the hiring manager before his job interview

This is a similar question to #3. If you feel like you need to ask what kinds of skill sets are required for this role, you didn’t read the job description carefully enough. That information should be all over the job posting and you should be prepared to show examples of how your experience will be valuable.

If the job description was a little vague, though, ask more targeted questions about the role. For example, “What would a typical day look like for this employee?” or “What kinds of projects would I be working on specifically and how would they add value to the company?”

Questions like these will allow you to get more clues on the role AND give you a deeper understanding of what you’re expected to accomplish as an employee.

A job interview can be scary, but if you go in prepared, it’s actually pretty exciting. Make sure to prioritize interview prep before your next job interview, and you’ll likely avoid saying any of these five things to the hiring manager.

If you’re struggling to land job interviews, we can help.

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.


SeatGeek Is In The Front Row Of The Ticket-Selling Business

SeatGeek Is In The Front Row Of The Ticket-Selling Business

The SeatGeek employee roster includes a classically-trained opera singer, a retired contender on the competitive eating circuit, and an all-American fencer, to name a few. Having such a unique and diverse workforce under one roof is something that SeatGeek takes pride in. Not only does it create a fun company culture, but it lends itself to endless ideas and perspectives.


“It’s great that people have different interests and backgrounds and can come together and work on awesome projects,” says Jamie Sterrett, director of talent at SeatGeek.

SeatGeek Aims To Make A Big Company Feel Small

SeatGeek employees take a break from work to chat and enjoy some food in the company kitchen.

The mobile-focused ticket platform has seen its fair share of growth over the last three years. SeatGeek employs just under 500 employees globally, which includes the company’s headquarters in New York City and offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, and Israel.

In order to encourage collaboration and networking, and foster an environment of diversity and inclusion, the company has both employee resource groups (ERGs) and affinity groups. Sterrett says the ERGs are focused on empowering diverse groups across SeatGeek, while the affinity groups are focused on hobbies and shared interests such as fitness, food, and board games.

“It’s really important as we grow that people are able to find community within the workplace,” Sterrett says. “The more you have that community, the more people will collaborate.”

The company uses a number of long-standing traditions to bring the workforce together on a regular basis.

One example is the weekly company lunch. Each week a team presents during the lunch to update the company on projects they’re working on. Sterrett says it’s a great way to keep employees updated about what’s going on at the company and to help them get to know co-workers they’re not as familiar with.

“We’re a people-focused organization…transparency and collaboration are important to us,” Sterrett says.

The company also holds “ask anything” forums where employees are urged to ask company leadership questions about anything.

One newer SeatGeek tradition, breakfast-lunch-dinner, is a livestream conference between the offices in New York, Europe, and Israel.

Staying Ahead Of The Competition

SeatGeek's offices feature televisions and stadium-like seating, which allows employees to enjoy occasional sporting events at the office.

The online ticket selling industry has become a competitive one over the years and SeatGeek is always striving to be the industry leader. Sterrett says that competition, plus the ever-changing culture of the technology industry, makes working at SeatGeek appealing to a lot of people. “We’re trying to introduce a lot of that change and that’s really exciting to people.”

SeatGeek’s platform puts the focus on the fan experience. Customers looking to purchase tickets to sporting events or concerts will not only see the ticket price, but they will get a “Deal Score” that indicates what type of value they are getting for the prices of tickets. Essentially, this tells customers whether or not they’re overpaying for the tickets.

In recent years, SeatGeek has expanded its international offerings and has become the primary ticket provider for the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.

SeatGeek employees enjoy being a part of the ticket-selling industry.

“From a product and business standpoint the past couple years have been incredibly exciting. We are now official ticketing partners with some of the largest names in sports. It’s not only helping us grow our business, but more importantly it’s helping us provide a better experience to fans,” one employee says in a Glassdoor review.

“SeatGeek is starting to disrupt the ticketing industry. It is exciting to be a part of a company that is truly focused on the customer. It is clear from top to bottom that we want to make it easier for the average person to see more events live,” another employee writes.

The Perks Of Working At SeatGeek

A fun feature at SeatGeek are fan bedrooms from the 1990s aimed at reminding employees of what it's like to be a fan.

One of the most popular benefits at SeatGeek is the $120 monthly ticket stipend that can be used on an endless list of athletic events and concerts. Sterrett says that in addition to being popular, the perk also benefits the company because many employees will use it to go to events together, and it allows employees to suggest possible improvements.

The SeatGeek office is bright and open and features a large projection screen for the viewing of occasional sporting events.

Other benefits include a free Spotify subscription and Citi Bike membership, unlimited vacation time, a fully-stocked kitchen, and regular team events such as happy hours, bowling, and ski trips.

Career Opportunities At SeatGeek

To apply or learn more about working at SeatGeek, check out their careers page today!

How To Make Friends With Ambitious People

How To Make Friends With Ambitious People

If you’re trying to take yourself and your life to the next level, it makes a lot of sense to aim higher when it comes to making friends. The right friends will support you emotionally and provide practical help along the way.


If you have exciting friends that aren’t as ambitious as you are, chances are that they’re unconsciously holding you back. You don’t have to stop seeing them; your best bet is to focus on building friendships with new people. If you want to make friends with ambitious people, read on.

In this article, I would like to share with you three important steps. These steps will help you go to the next level in your social life, meet many ambitious and interesting people, and have them stick around for a long time.

Step #1 – Take Control Of Your Social Life (Don’t Leave It To Chance!)

People seem to leave their friendship life to chance, more often than not. While that probably worked well when you were a kid, it most certainly won’t work for you as an adult. With no college or school to facilitate new friendships, you need to be proactive about it. This means that you get conscious and curious about friendship and how it works—consciously make time, every week, for meeting new people, staying in touch, and hanging out with them.

Studies have shown that the influence other people have on you is strong; your destiny literally depends on the people you hang out with. This is why it’s important to have a clear idea of the kind of people you want to have in your life. All you have to do is make a general list of qualities, attributes, or activities that you want in your future friends. It doesn’t have to be definitive; it’s just a guide for your mind. You can start by listing qualities like “healthy,” “ambitious,” “honest,” “productive,” “fun,” “interesting,” etc.

Step #2 – Adopt These Winning Social Habits

Man shakes someone's hand while networking

Success in your friendship life means that you don’t only use the tips once in a while; it means that you adopt the easy new habits that will work on a consistent basis. The first habit is to go meet new people every month. The way to do that is to join a local community that meets up once or twice every month. Try a few that you can find on meetup.com and decide on the one that has the kind of people you’d like to get to know better. In general, go where meeting people is easy; focus on places like trade shows, cultural or charitable events, seminars and talks, and so on.

The second habit is to dedicate at least one hour every week to reaching out to people in your network. You can put it in your calendar; it can be something like every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Early in the week is better. Contact and network with important/strategic LinkedIn connections during this hour. This habit will make sure you don’t lose touch with your existing friends, and follow up with the new people you meet.

The third habit is to decide what you’re going to do over the weekend ahead of time. When it’s time to reach out to people, plan ahead and decide on what you want to do; suggest that plan to those you want to see. This is why it’s important that you contact people early enough in the week, when they haven’t already decided what to do on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Step #3 – Build A Social Circle

Group of friends eat dinner together

Making friends can be time-consuming if you don’t optimize your efforts. If you’re always the one calling and making plans, then you’re not going to be doing it for very long. The best way to tackle this is to focus on forming groups of friends, instead of having a bunch of friends that don’t know each other. I recommend that you always introduce the people that you know to each other, especially if they’re of the ambitious kind. After they meet once or twice, a new group emerges, and you now have a circle of friends. When that happens, they start to call and make plans as well, which means you’ll have more time to contact and make plans with people that you don’t know that well.

As you meet new people, introduce them to the existing group, and make it bigger. If you prefer to meet in small groups, this is a great strategy as well; you can still meet two or three people at the same time, even if your social circle has dozens of people in it.

These three steps will get you started on having ambitious, resourceful friends that will help you succeed, introduce people to you, and emotionally support you when you need it. What’s really important is to open your mind to learning about friendship, how it works, and how you can apply that information to your life.

We understand how difficult it is to make new friends, especially as an adult. The good news is, at Work It Daily, we provide you with a safe and supportive place where you can meet new people and network with like-minded professionals!

If you’re struggling to make ambitious friends, we’d love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.

Join our FREE community today to grow your professional network and make new friends!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

12 Best Tips For Entry-Level Job Seekers

12 Best Tips For Entry-Level Job Seekers

As a recent college graduate, it is always intimidating looking for your first job. At this point, you are more interested in getting into the corporate world rather than getting that dream job.


Have you ever thought about what leads you to that “dream job”? Precision, positivity, and a good attitude are the keys to not only getting an entry-level job but succeeding in it. And when you start your career on the right foot in an entry-level job, you’ll quickly position yourself for a raise and/or promotion, and you’ll be well on your way to getting that dream job.

Here are a few tips for entry-level job seekers looking to land their first job out of college:

12 Tips For Entry-Level Job Seekers

1. Get Noticed with Your Cover Letter

For a job opening, it’s common for the hiring manager to get a thousand applications. What’s so great about you? Why should you get an interview? Give it your best shot by providing a precise, interesting, and effective cover letter. The right disruptive cover letter encourages the recruiter to go through your resume.

2. Refrain from Long Stories

First off, your cover letter should only be about a page long. Similarly, your resume should only include quantifiable work experience—no long-winded descriptions of duties and tasks you were responsible for at a previous employer.

3. Don’t Get Overly Formal

Be simple yet effective. On your resume and cover letter, do not use bold phrases, clichés, or idioms to create an impression.

4. Have Faith in Yourself

Confidence is essential to your career. There is no place for “good” in the corporate world. Competition is fierce and companies want someone who believes in themselves and knows their value. If you don’t know your value as a business-of-one, how can you expect to prove your value to employers?

5. Know About the Organization

It’s important to research the company before going in for a job interview. Make sure you know each bit of the organization you are applying to—the latest happenings, the past issues, the website, and the company culture. You should aim to know at least 80% of what a current employee knows.

6. Sell Yourself Logically

One of the most important questions to answer is, “How beneficial can you be for the organization?” Employers want to know if you can solve whatever problem they’re facing because they’re not hiring someone just for the heck of it. Talk in terms of what you can do to make the organization better. If you have sales experience, you can say something like, “With my knowledge and experience in sales, I can make sure I sell at least XYZ amount of products each month by working on XYZ aspects.” Use the STAR method or “Experience + Learn = Grow” method to ace those tricky behavioral interview questions.

7. Act Mature

Be polite and take your job interviews seriously. Talk in terms of how your abilities can help in the betterment of the organization. No one wants to know what you learned from your childhood.

8. Relate Your Abilities to the Job

Focus on talking about those trainings, subjects, certifications, and specializations that have something to do with the job you’re applying for. What makes you qualified for the position?

9. Never Boast About Your GPA

You might be a brilliant student, but if you fail to impress the interviewer, your GPA will not save you. Do not rely on your GPA to make a good impression and prove you’re smart and hardworking. Focus on your experience and accomplishments instead.

10. Don’t Exaggerate

Don’t lie or exaggerate on your resume or in a job interview. Even a single white lie can outshine your abilities and competencies.

11. Prepare, Prepare, and Prepare

Always prepare before walk into an interview well-prepared. This includes everything from your appearance to knowledge about the organization. get information about the interviewer, too.

12. Leave like a Lady/Gentleman

Always leave by paying good regards to the interviewer and showing your interest in working in the organization. And don’t forget to send a thank-you note!

As an entry-level job seeker, remember these 12 tips as you look for your first job out of college. You’ll be sure to stand out from the competition!

If you’re struggling to find a job as a recent college grad, we can help.

We’d love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.

It’s time to find work that makes you feel happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. Join our FREE community today to finally become an empowered business-of-one!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

7 (Critical) Steps To Building A Successful SAAS Implementation Team

7 (Critical) Steps To Building A Successful SAAS Implementation Team

Back in the day, I owned a marketing agency that was acquired by HubSpot in 2013.

We were purchased because we had a reputation for being technically strong at the ‘website design’ aspects of the HubSpot tools at that time. Now imagine my team and I showing up on day one and attending a week or so of corporate training to learn the lay of the land when it finally dawned on me: HubSpot was about to launch a new content management system (they called it the COS) and it was going to be our job to move the existing customers’ websites (all 7,800 of them!) onto the new platform with as little customer impact as possible. Add to that the casual comment, “Oh, and by the way, don’t screw it up. We’re preparing to go public in 16 months.”


Let’s just say this taught me the importance of having a framework for technical implementations.

Before We Dive In, Let’s First Discuss Why The Technical Implementation Framework Is So Important To SAAS Businesses

SaaS graphic

So much effort, energy, resources, and money goes into acquiring customers for any business. And businesses continually focus on reducing their customer acquisition costs (CAC). To make all the effort on the front side of acquiring customers worth it, it’s important to get the new customers “to value” as soon as possible.

If the customer is not successful with the software they just purchased, the business risks not retaining them therefore potentially missing the opportunity of obtaining the optimum lifetime value (LTV) of the customer. Some SAAS companies call it implementation, some call it onboarding. I typically consider implementation to have a more technical setup aspect rather than onboarding which to me is more about getting users logged in and using the software.

Here Are My 7 Critical Steps To Building A Successful Implementation Team At An SAAS Company

SaaS implementation graphic

1. Understand the Needs of the Customer

First, it’s really important to have an idea of what success to the new customer is defined as. What does the customer intend to do with this new software they have purchased? What is the “job to be done” with the software? What are they trying to accomplish and why? You need to understand what problem the purchase of this software solves in order to successfully implement a new customer into being an active user. You’re going to want to focus on the goals of why the customer wants to use your business’s software.

2. Define Success Criteria

Now that you understand the problem that is being solved, it’s important to define the path toward the “aha moment” when a customer sees the value in what they have just purchased. You want this clearly defined and you want to get there as fast as possible. That doesn’t mean that the entire system/instance is set up to its fullest capacity, but it does mean that the software is set up or configured or the correct users are added (whatever it is) and the customer can do something that solves the problem they came to your business to solve. For example, in an email marketing tool, it could be the first email sent, or in a CRM, first contact is added. It will depend on the software.

3. Understand the Steps Required to Get the Customer to Success

This may sound obvious, but it’s going to be important to define the steps required to get to that first value. To reuse the email software example it would look something like this: Add new user, define the email’s content, create email, add email recipient, hit send. That’s a super simple example but there will likely be many steps involved and it will be important to outline the concurrent steps in order to make sure that you are organized and get to the time to value in as straight a line as possible. This will also allow you to define the repeatable process.

4. Create a Repeatable Process for the Steps Required

Once we’ve defined the steps you need to distill this down to a repeatable process. You’re going to want to have this well defined and written down. Some teams I’ve worked with have created a checklist of tasks, others keep it relatively fluid and loose, but I recommend keeping it consistent for the sake of customer experience. I encourage you to try and provide a like kind experience for the customer no matter which person on the team helps time implement their software.

5. Define the Skill Set Required to Staff the Team

Now that you have an understanding of the process it’s time to get familiar with the skills sets required to implement customers. As a first step, a mandatory skill set is willingness to communicate with customers, both verbal and written. Believe it or not I have seen people in the position of implementing customers who did not possess strong customer communication skills and admitted to not ‘liking’ talking to customers. Wow. You want people with strong organizational skills as this person will often be multi-tasking many customers in different stages of the implementation at once. Being that this is a SAAS company and is most like some software mediu to strong technical skills are pretty much a must. However, each implementation will vary from different business to business but it’s required that you identify the technical skill set needs and that you find people with the skill set. For example: at HubSpot I ran a team that was implementing websites so we needed people who had some web development design skills as well as a baseline understanding of DNS settings (i.e. GoDaddy).

6. Get an Understanding of the Volume of Work Required to Implement the Customers

With a clear understanding of the job to be done, that definition of first value, process and skill set needs to be laid out by you. We need to figure out the human bandwidth required to implement customer volume coming onto the software. How many customers will need the implementation? In what timeframe? How long does it take to implement a customer? Is there work that the customer needs to do? Will you be waiting on customers as a bottleneck at times? What is the total time required to onboard a customer? These are all questions to think about when trying to determine the overall human capital requirements to successfully implement the customers. Of time, as the process gets more defined, and the people doing the implementations acquire their tool chest of tips, tricks, snippets, tools. They will speed up. You may even find opportunities to use additional software to decrease the time and effort it takes to implement customers.

7. Set up Clear KPIs

I’ve found that you’re going to want clear and attainable KPIs that motivate the team to deliver successful implementation for the customer. I’ve been most successful when measuring the team on what we call the success of the customer. For example, when we were onboarding customers onto websites, the team’s success criteria was 1) to get the customer’s website live in 2) the shortest amount of time possible. That worked well to motivate the team to be swift (quicktime to value) but also solve for the customer’s goals. I’ve had this go wrong on me once when I had set up KPIs that solved for time to completion of a project and that didn’t always end in the happiest customers.

These are my seven steps to building a successful implementation team. Naturally, the specifics will vary across SAAS businesses but I believe this is a trusty road map to follow. If you’re reading this because you’re trying to figure this out at your business don’t hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’d be happy to be a resource.

Why Record Labels Still (And Will Always) Matter

Why Record Labels Still (And Will Always) Matter

I’m guilty of fighting for the underdog in all circumstances especially when it comes to music. This may be a product of my upbringing, as my mother was known for being an incredibly kind, caring individual, treating my siblings and me exceptionally equally in all matters of life. This early pattern has served me well today as we see huge culture shifts in the music industry emerging, where indie artists are able to survive, maybe not thrive, but survive. This is inspiring to me.


However, I will always be a fan of major label achievements as well, with a focus on social media platforms like TikTok for talent scouting and metaverse concerts now moving into a mainstream position. Even with independent musicians gaining newfound revenue on brand deals, NFT opportunities, increased distribution partnerships, and touring revenue, I still worry about the impact of not having major label support. I have learned from working with music tech companies and gaming companies that having label support is essential to sustain a robust career in music. You may be discovered on TikTok but how do we know if you can maintain the heat?

As a professional signed music artist, your job is to make hot records. It’s nothing personal.

Success always comes down to a hit song and without it you’re climbing a serious uphill battle. To me, having the connections of decades of music work where studio sessions, producer connections, and collaborations thrive in the major label system, provides serious insight into why major record labels thrive. Do I believe that there are exceptions to hit songs where an indie artist can create a banger? Well yes. Yes, I do. But economies of scale and history of voluminous impactful hit records in multiples have always resided in houses built by Sony, Warner & Universal. Let’s explore further why major labels have success-breaking music artists on a scale that is undeniable.

Artist Leveraging

I’ve seen a greater ratio of success with a larger volume of artists under one roof, where leveraging leading music artists helps smaller less established ones. Majors are able to execute proven roadmaps to break artists, for less money, more efficiently at a faster rate. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve actually put in the work.

To do this, they:

  • Leverage decades of work where they’ve had the opportunity to test many different types of distribution
  • Experiment in many different forms of social media ad placements for release strategies like hiring TikTok influencers to twerk to a Tyga song or rolling out an ad campaign for Dua Lipa that geographically targets her fanbase
  • Not to mention huge success with peers on the label that succeed in the touring with each other

Business Acumen That’s Exceptional

​For example, with Universal Music group going public and reporting today a 21.6 quarterly revenue increase to 2.32 billion dollars, their portfolio style approach has shown us what a leader UMG is in the space. The growth across multiple business units is incredible and with their diversified artist roster, songwriters, retail merchandising, publishing and emerging metaverse projects in new markets is an incredible achievement. I’m excited as I have a feeling that UMG is just getting started. The teams at UMG are exceptional, enough said.

Marketing Buys & Ad Promotions

We cannot deny that when your company is making billions of dollars there may be a correlation to artist marketing success. (An understatement). However, the benchmarks from years of taking the risks and investing in huge music artists have provided the roadmap. Majors have invaluable, incredible statistics and analytical data assisting in maximizing dollars helping to make streaming ad buy decisions and spends for marketing dollars with an almost guaranteed success for releases.

Although I will always root for indie artist street hustle on the daily, I value and appreciate what labels are accomplishing as we make a huge culture shift. If you’re considering a career in music, building a strategy for gaining label exposure is essential and fighting for that major label deal is crucial and definitely worth the effort.


30+ Unique Interview Questions To Ask Employers In 2022

30+ Unique Interview Questions To Ask Employers In 2022

Asking a potential employer some unique questions during an interview can be quite beneficial. Not only does it leave a great impression, but it also provides useful information that will help you make a decision about the job you’re considering! This list of unique and creative interview questions to ask an interviewer will make this […]

The post 30+ Unique Interview Questions To Ask Employers In 2022 appeared first on Career Sherpa.

10 Questions Successful Enterprise Tech Buyers Ask

10 Questions Successful Enterprise Tech Buyers Ask

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, I didn’t hear any accounts of C-level or enterprise operations executives jumping out of windows, but I did hear their stories about real frustrations and sudden challenges with execution. Many openly admitted a new risk to operations and ultimately financial performance as they battled through low-value manual processes, disparate platforms, and the absence of a remote ecosystem or “hub” where department, division, or enterprise teams could come together to communicate, execute, and manage end-to-end workflows and data to transcend unforeseen events, factors, or constraints for employees.


Enterprise Companies’ Love-Hate Relationship With New Technology (Even When Needed), Their Vendors, & Making Decisions

Love hate keys on a keyboard

Faced with acute business risk and operational difficulty, why didn’t more enterprise companies move to outsource an infrastructure-less SaaS operations or logistics software solution along with its support?

For companies in verticals that were still in growth mode or mostly business as usual after the onset of COVID-19, three obstacles may have impeded a tech/SaaS path to continuity, efficiency, and reduced business risk—two having to do with buyer psyche and the other about the options (or lack thereof) for tech/SaaS and its providers.

Obstacle #1

We all HATE discomfort. Human nature clings to the familiarity of the status quo and skillfully tricks the subconscious into downplaying, avoiding, or outright denying the existence of unpleasant or ineffective circumstances. This saves us the discomfort of reasoning the cause of a problem, its scope, or the inconvenience of having to do something about it.

Obstacle #2

We all LOVE control. Modern enterprise buying happens when a majority of 10-14 cross-functional stakeholders, that may or may not also engage the board of directors, decide to say “YES!” to change as they are helped past their individual risk aversion that is influenced by their performance metrics, professional goals, challenges, underlying biases and motivations to either support or block the decision.

As such, even when presented with a clear, distinct solution that demands change from the status quo, if stakeholders are left to themselves without an objective, insightful, empathetic guide with a strong understanding of their current processes, data requirements, and the technology—teamed up with an internal champion as a collaborative partner to help instill new insights, influence, clear obstacles, and gain consensus—one of two things is most likely to happen for these folks:

  • Stakeholders will lose sight of the fundamentals of real value achieved with the solution and instead commoditize options and the decision down to the smallest, least cost, and least exposure option. Whereby producing a lowest risk decision for the stakeholders, but not necessarily the best overall decision for the organization.
  • Subconsciously, underlying biases and fear of losing autonomy causes stakeholders to defend a personal status quo which culminates in creative efforts to block a decision. This presents itself in a variety of excuses or objections to the change, efforts to frustrate the investigation and decision progress wherever possible, or a gleeful vote to “do nothing.” Again, this may stave off change, but may not be in the best interest of the organization.

And the third obstacle that may have prevented enterprise companies from creating a needed communication and operations execution superhighway for their teams:

Obstacle #3

We need confidence in our partners. Lots of it. When the vulnerability of continuity became obvious in 2020, enterprise technology options were still pretty clunky. Choices included older platforms still on-prem, partial, or rigid workflows that required daisy-chaining disparate platforms together or retraining, they offered limited reporting, low data mining and analytics, no advanced predictive capabilities, few simple integrations with other major business systems, and long backlogs when custom dev was necessary. This meant vendors and their platforms were of limited use, painful to deal with, and the ratio of bad reviews to good reviews was high when measuring the rate of adoption, realized value, and the overall customer experience during implementation, when using the platform, and when support was needed.

Ditch Old School, Rigid, And Unresponsive Tech Options For The Modern Virtual Work “Place”

Woman uses virtual reality technology at work

What’s different today? There is good news for enterprise SaaS buying holdouts! A new generation of “Service as a Solution” (SaaS) enterprise software designers have emerged with intuitive, adaptive, integrated, perpetually evolving solutions. This has jettisoned adoption with stakeholders and users alike as solutions are now blending into the business with flexibility to resemble comfortable, native workflows, simply integrate with most business systems, and deliver sizeable benefits relative to op-ex fees.

This new virtual work “place” brings employees, external partners, and various business systems together via simple integrations into a community to accomplish major workflows with simplicity and agility. Some of the benefits:

  • Naturally compile & archive internal and external correspondence, quotes, documents, invoices, BOLs, validations, authorizations, and receivings by project, customer, or vendor
  • Collaborate
  • Plan and assemble projects
  • Mirror and execute existing daily operation workflows
  • Operate with 360-degree visibility

With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) now in production, in development, and in dev roadmaps, SaaS developers are also infusing deep insights, visibility, and predictive decision making into their functionality with advanced:

  • Data mining
  • Trend and predictive intelligence
  • Highly trained observation, inference, and conclusion capabilities

As such, enterprise SaaS software spend is up 14% in 2021 per Gartner’s reporting, with an estimated $700 billion on the way for 2022. Another 11% increase.

10 Questions To Set Your Buying Team Up For A Successful Tech Buying Journey

Enterprise buying team works together

Buying technology is complicated! For enterprise executives who are ready to appoint a buying committee to select your next tech solution, this article will help you:

  • Quickly strip options down to a short list of solutions and vendors for deeper evaluation
  • Clear obstacles that can prevent your buying committee from reaching a value-rich buying decision
  • Reduce the chances of your buying committee spending valuable hours, only to get stuck in the evaluation process or cling to the status quo and do nothing (believe it or not, this happens in at least 5/10 complex buying decisions)
  • Avoid solutions that exclude new observatory, predictive, conclusionary analytics that exponentially elevate business decisions and bottom-line outcomes

To set the stage for your buying journey, make sure you have a qualified guide to lead your buying team through organizational requirements, vetting and qualifying, and the complex behavioral science maze of the numerous stakeholders chosen for your buying committee.

Next, here are (10) initial questions to strip down your vendor list and clear away common obstacles for stakeholder personas throughout the organization:

1. Does the software provide a full end-to-end solution to execute and manage the entire workflow process for the departmental / division / organizational application?

2. Will the software have long-term application for your operations, despite workplace and technology advancements, and what is the partner’s roadmap for ongoing development and investment?

3. Does the software enable users the flexibility to mirror familiar workflows already intuitive to your operations without forcing a new workflow and retraining?

4. Does the potential SaaS partner provide a simulation of the platform’s operation with your workflow or application or environment to validate its efficacy for your company’s specific needs?

5. Do they have case studies that demonstrate a great buyer and user experience with the product, implementation, training for each level of user, and support?

6. Is the platform available in a SaaS model without a cap-ex spend or on-prem hardware?

7. Are ready integrations available for your major systems and apps to offer a low-coding, low development & engineering implementation, especially if you don’t have unlimited internal technology resources?

8. Is data import and configuration relatively simple?

9. Does the simplicity of the solution and the tech partner’s support mitigate the need for IT to acquire additional skillsets to implement or support?

10. Do they publish ample ungated content about their solution to research and evaluate before contacting their sales rep?

For additional insights and help with navigating the enterprise technology buying journey, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

Not Everyone Should Work For Themselves. Here’s Why…

Not Everyone Should Work For Themselves. Here’s Why…

Look, I’m just going to say it. Not everybody should work for themselves. Right now, there’s this huge craze about working independently, being self-employed, being your own boss. So much of this came out of the pandemic because people realized they wanted to have control over their careers and not be at the mercy of their employers’ needs. But if you’re looking to take control of your career, becoming self-employed is not always the best solution.


Working For Yourself Gives You More Control (But Is That Right For You?)

@j.t.odonnell Not everyone should work for themselves… #workplacerenegade #learnontiktok #careeradvice #joblife #jobsearch #careeradvice #careertiktok #careers #jobs @j.t.odonnell ♬ original sound – J.T. O’Donnell

Twenty years ago, it was all about getting the corporate job. You didn’t hear a lot about entrepreneurship back then, but nowadays everyone is talking about it. It almost feels like if you don’t do your own thing or own your own business, or if you don’t at least have a desire to do those things, there’s something wrong with you.

Not true.

A lot of people were not built for self-employment. But they also don’t want to go back to the traditional work environment where the employer is at the top and they’re at the bottom wearing golden handcuffs and feeling like they have no control over their career or future. And I get that. I think that’s why 40 million people quit their jobs in 2021—because they’re frustrated. But not all of those 40 million people should be their own boss.

So what do you do?

You Can Take Control Of Your Career Without Becoming Self-Employed

Self-employed man works from home

Well, for the last 20 years, I have been teaching people how to become “Workplace Renegades.” A Workplace Renegade is an anti-employer. They’re about empowering themselves so that they can build a decent relationship with their employer. They want to work with the employer, not for them. They want trust and respect. They want to attract the opportunities that are best for them. And it still means working a full-time job with benefits and that structure that a lot of people need. In return, you’re giving the employer what they need.

But you need to understand one thing…

There are seven rules to becoming a Workplace Renegade that will enable you to get a full-time job that gives you the trust and respect you want and deserve so that you don’t have to necessarily own your own company to have control over your career.

How To Become A Workplace Renegade & Take Control Of Your Career

Person reads J.T. O'Donnell's new book

If you would like to learn what those seven rules are, check out my new book Awakening Your Inner Workplace Renegade: 7 New Rules for Transforming Your Career & Finding Your Professional Purpose.

In this book, you’ll learn:

  • The seven new rules for career success
  • Why the old rules for career success are outdated
  • How to awaken your inner Workplace Renegade so you can finally find the career success you want and deserve

Buy the book and start awakening your inner Workplace Renegade today!

I promise you the seven new rules will change your mindset completely so that you can get those jobs that you want and deserve.

P.S. If you’re serious about taking control of your career, I’d love it if you joined my FREE community where professionals like you are learning how to become empowered in their careers so they can finally find career happiness and satisfaction.

Sign up for my FREE community today! My team and I are looking forward to working with you soon.

4 Things You Should Know About Working At EQRx

4 Things You Should Know About Working At EQRx

EQRx is a new type of pharmaceutical company committed to developing and delivering innovative medicines to patients at radically lower prices. Leveraging cutting-edge science and technology and strategic partnerships with stakeholders from across the healthcare system, EQRx aims to provide innovative, patent-protected medicines more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before.


EQRx encourages people to take smart risks and cultivate innovative thinking.

Their mission aspires to make a broad societal impact—to improve access to important new medicines for people who need them most—which attracts the kind of people who think outside the box, who want to do things differently, and who believe there is a better way.

EQRx is assembling a team of top talent from across the pharma/biotech industry, as well as from other industries, who each bring their skills to building a different kind of company from the ground up, with new approaches to tackle tough challenges. If this sounds like you, here’s what you should know about working at EQRx

#BeYouAtEQ

\u200bEQRx employee works from home.

EQRx is not looking for just another “culture fit”—they’re looking for a culture ADD. This is why they have an internal philosophy that empowers their team to be themselves—every day and in every way. #BeYouAtEQ encourages the EQRx team to bring their most authentic selves to work, including their big, bold, and out-of-the-box ideas!

#BeYouAtEQ is way more than just a hashtag at EQRx. And the people who are #RemakingMedicine are so much more than their job title. The phrase “Be you at EQ” is a huge part of EQRx’s culture and it’s been their mantra from the very beginning.

The pharmaceutical company wanted to create and nurture a culture that is about inclusion and diversity of thought. To disrupt an industry, they need people who bring different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. They want their team to feel comfortable asking questions like “why” and “why not?” That’s why they’ve created the space for people to feel the freedom to be 100% themselves.

EQRx’s Tapestory

Across EQRx, they are a rich tapestry of individuals, each employee bringing something unique to their team, like the different squares within a patchwork quilt. To celebrate their individuality and the powerful way they come together as one collective community, they have designed, created, and sewn together what they’ve termed a “tapestory.” This tapestory proudly displays their individual stories and the people who are a part of EQRx’s growing history.

EQRx asked their teammates, “If you could think of one object that tells us more about who you are, and a part of your story, what would it be?” This information morphed into a beautifully illustrated and embroidered square within the EQRx Tapestory. Their physical, digital, and e-book “Tapestory” will continue to grow as their team grows, with each new teammate comes new stories, perspectives, and backgrounds. EQRx’s physical tapestory is hung in their Cambridge Hub for viewing, and they work with employees to highlight individual stories internally and externally to bring their unique experiences (and EQRx’s company culture) to life.

These stories and objects have ranged from everything from a phoenix (representing a woman who dreamed of having a large family, but her life changed forever when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer…she is now a survivor and adopted five children) all the way to a pair of keys (representing the keys to their partner’s house—the fact they’re able to tell their coworkers where they’re going with no judgement… #BeYouAtEQ) and so much more in between.

Virtual First

\u200bEQRx employees meet virtually.

The EQRx team is geographically spread out, but together, they’ve cultivated a “virtual-first” approach to working, with digital collaboration tools integrated into their day-to-day work, and their virtual “HQ” intranet and virtual forums that help to keep their employees informed and engaged.

EQRx had to address the challenge of working together and building a new company in a remote environment.

EQRx launched in January 2020, just before the world shut down for the pandemic. They have actually built the company virtually through the pandemic, growing from 25 people in March 2020 to now more than 300!

They also created a policy called “T30”—Tuesday, Thursday Time Off—to help combat the Zoom fatigue, where their team has designated time to step away from their computer, run an errand, or have some time for themselves. They trust their team to get their work done—no matter where they are. EQRx also has many fun virtual activities like happy hours, volunteer events, and even some awesome SWAG gifts. They needed to find a way to still achieve those meaningful interactions that are harder to come by in a virtual world, so that’s exactly what they did.

Benefits Of Working At EQRx

Join the EQRx Team

EQRx’s approach to benefits has been very different from most start-ups. From the very beginning, their founders and leadership team wanted their benefits to truly stand out and to make sure their team had access to great options. The company’s benefits allow EQRx-ers to focus on their work and know that they and their families are being taken care of.

Highlights of EQRx’s benefits include:

  • Parental leave
  • 100% covered medical, dental, and vision
  • Legal & pet insurance
  • 401(k) matching program
  • Volunteer hours and unlimited vacation
  • SWAG and many fun team activities
  • Working for a company that’s trying to help change the world
Interested in working at EQRx? Check out their careers page today!
Building Key Specialized Skills For future years Of Work In Production

Building Key Specialized Skills For future years Of Work In Production

89% of producing CEOs say a critical scarcity of top talent is at this point their prime concern any time it comes to hiring, a recent Deloitte Making Institute report reveals. Since the industry has come to be increasingly automated and technology-orientated, a lack of COME skills is one connected with the reasons manufacturing can be experiencing a growing competencies gap. Moreover, around […]

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