Do you value Michael Bloomberg’s experience as mayor of New York any less because he’s only making $1 per year? I’m betting his salary is irrelevant to you. So why do so many people undervalue their own or others’ volunteer work?

This post was prompted by an e-mail I received from Stacey Torrano in response to a column I wrote and the 6 Reasons You Should Serve on a Board post from a few months ago. She was looking for advice on how to market her new role as vice president of her co-op board.

My advice: identify the key business skills you’re using in that role, much as you would for any paid position. And don’t forget to talk about accomplishments.

For resumes, placement is tough, because people typically expect to see a chronology of paid positions. Thus I’d probably put the VP, Co-op Board position into a “Leadership” or “Other Professional Experience” category, depending on the structure of your resume. On LinkedIn, however, I’d consider adding it into the chronology (see my profile as an example), depending on what value it brings to you now and what other positions you need to post.

What advice would you give Stacey?

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

A friend remarked the other day that my last employer did me a huge favor by throwing me out the door. Otherwise, she said, it might have taken me a long time to find my passion.

She’s right. That one post-graduate-school job wasn’t fun. It wasn’t pretty. Looking back on it, it was actually amazingly bad. But it also led me to where I am today.

That job experience took me out of my narrow jobs box and forced me to reevaluate my career goals really early on–and shoved me down the path of discovering what I really love.

As my business nears 20, I’m taking a little time to reflect on who and what got me here. I might well have ended up a solopreneur eventually — but watching my first plan blow up helped the process along.

What about your career? Encounter any blowtorches along the way?

Photo by vieux bandit. Flickr. Creative Commons License.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

I recently reviewed proposals for a federal agency. It was a worthwhile use of my time for six key reasons:

1. I got to see examples of well-constructed proposals and some that were not so good. In the process, I picked up some tips I can apply if and when I respond to a federal RFP.
2. I was reminded that you can’t assume your readers are jargon junkies. Companies assume their reviewers share a fondness for acronyms at their peril.
3. Organization counts. I don’t care if a request for proposals is convoluted; your response shouldn’t be. A reviewer is likely to score your application higher if he/she can identify the key elements and follow your discussion.
4. Results count. Give me examples that demonstrate your expertise and how your work helped other clients.
5. It takes time to keep up-to-date. Serving as a reviewer gave me a glimpse into how others build their communications methodologies. Even one tiny takeaway is helpful.
6. My fellow reviewers were really smart people. Each brought his/her expertise to the table, and I learned from their perspectives.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.