Week 05, 2024 - Diary of a Revenue Engineer
What I thought…
Well, off the back of a crazy week last week I’m back on the job search whilst also handling clients and additional workload for Reveng.uk.
It’s an exciting time, terror-inducing but also exciting.
I can’t shake the reaction my therapist had when I said I’d been made redundant, she was overjoyed to hear I’d be leaving what she regarded as a deeply toxic workplace and a terrible work-life balance. Am I really that numb to such things that I hadn’t noticed? It’s hard to judge, but either way she’s happy I’m being forced out of the nest and sincerely believing I’ll learn how to fly on the way down.
She’s not entirely wrong, what could come from this is the main source of my excitement, the great exhilaration of the unknown and I must say - there are a lot of pretty terribly advertised roles with red-flag-creating recruitment processes. Not all, not by any means, but certainly a lot.
I’m also thinking a lot about what I’d have to change to keep focus on the consultancy 100% of the time here at RevEng.uk. I technically have enough from current clients and contracts so see me and my family through each month… but there’s 0 buffer and it can all disappear too quickly - a by-product of the flexible contracts required to work with the start-ups that I want to.
This week has been, however, really great and by putting my head up over the parapets to view other companies I’ve stumbled upon some greatness out there.
Stick with me, I’m flapping my wings and there may just be enough flight feathers in these babies after all.
What I learned…
I mentioned Radical Candour last week, but I finished the masterclass course, the blinklist and the book this week, which was a really great deep-dive into the work that Kim Scott has put into this company and the framework. Here’s my biggest takeaways:
Caring deeply and challenging directly is totally doable and should be the core of any feedback we request or provide. I started using it with my friends and families, leveraging the frameworks shared - “In the X, when you did Y, it did Z… You should do more / less of that” - and it’s helped a lot.
Praise and criticism require thoughtful approaches as they can both be done incorrectly. I found this to be really valuable and instantly thought of all the times I totally mucked up on both fronts. A stark reminder to always seek feedback directly too.
I also spent some time learning from other great books which helped me out a LOT and even formed a really viable coaching session for a client around presentations she was struggling with:
3 Minute Rule - Brant Prinvidic - A fantastic structure and focus to make pitches and presentations WAY more impactful. The thought of only 3 minutes for a presentation which can make or break your career is a scary one, but It’s undeniably powerful and less truly can be more.
Super Intelligence - Nick Bostrom - I’ll be honest, a lot of this book kind of pissed me off as it seemed somewhere between fear-mongering and just straight up ignorance… but there are some deeply interesting and very stimulating thoughts and suggestions here. A must read for anyone in the AI debate, even if it riles you.
What I built…
Well apart from a really lovely looking CV, I also worked directly with a Director working on her presentation skills, an entrepreneur pivoting their business and engaged in 4-5 different recruitment processes. So, I’ve some comments on a great company I found that you should know about, and recruitment processes in general. First, the company:
So, I found and applied for a role at a company called Switchee - if I get it or not doesn’t matter right now. It’s a brilliantly run organisation with a tonne to offer. As well as being a B-Corp, it also has one of those products that makes you think “Well of course that’s a solution… hasn’t it been done already?” and really is leading the pack in innovation in an industry that really needs it and is hungry for it.
And now, let’s look at some nightmare experiences from the recruitment process this week:
Beware the auto-email triggers: So - I don’t know what systems hiring managers are using, but I’ve had SO many automated emails starting “Hello Mr!” and it’s more on poor automation than the system adopting a 1950’s American youth persona. I’ve even had some thanking me for calls and meetings I’ve never had. I’m all for automation, but not at the cost of experience or proper process. You want to skip that first call? Great, take five minutes and clean up your auto-emails. I actively stopped engaging in one company who spammed me with utter rubbish for 48 hours after I applied.
Screen call, selling call or… what?: I’m really bemused as to what the purpose of some of the first calls are. Great examples tested the water with my knowledge of the role, the job description, the company or the sector. They sold me on the vision and the role, yes, but they also challenged me. It should be that way, a dialogue, a discourse if you will. And then there was the other type… where I became a punching bag for the torrid stream of self-appreciation from a talent manager at some corporation. I have zero interest in sitting and listening to someone talk about how great the company is for 30 minutes. It actively eroded my trust in a couple of big names and again, I struck them from the list.
Please… please stop using Workday…: I guess it’s the market leader, or is very popular with Heads of People, but I actively sigh out loud if I click on an apply link and find myself on Workday. It’s cumbersome, it’s ugly, it’s UX reminds me of turn of the century SaaS products and I’m feeling very little nostalgia there. I guess my comment goes to any big org who send their would-be new hires through some deeply uninteresting and over-engineered process for getting my CV into your hands. The mobile experience was terrible too, to the point that I, again, actively dis-engaged.
I’m actively using your recruitment process to judge the organisations capability and focus on efficiencies and flow… and I’m 100% sure I’m not the only one.
How I lived longer…
Well I re-watched Limitless by Chris Hemsworth on Disney+ (it’s really great, go watch it) and I was struck by a section focusing on an old man who got into cycling in his late 40’s and now, in his 70’s, has the immune system of a 25 year old.
So there goes any mockery I may have had for the Lycra wearing, coffee drinking, Sunday-morning-road-blocking old white dudes on £3k bikes.
In fact, I’ve included it into my weekly endurance routine and created some milestones using my CustomGPT coach.
I even achieved a major one this week - cycling 40k for the first time.
The Zone 2 exercise is a major one linked to longevity and health-span, and cycling is a great way to keep those levels up for long distances.
My legs were jelly after this session, but I felt great (apart from a sore bum, though I’m told that gets easier with time).
Limitles from Chris Hemsworth
How I stayed happier…
Well this was super important this week, considering everything that’s going on. I struggled on a couple of days for sure, the stress really impacting my sleep and, as a subsequence, everything else. I decided to focus on three main things to at least give me some structure and some drive through challenging times, which really helped.
I did, however, struggle and I may have sunk a bottle of red or two during my late nights this week… certainly not a habit I want to create, so focus on better coping mechanisms will also be a major focus.
Here' were the three things I wanted to keep top of mind to help the old endorphins this week.
Control what you can control: So, with so many things absolutely out of my hands this week, I decided to focus on what I could control. I created a new project called “Invictus” after my favourite poem by William Earnest Henley. This project is focused on finding a new, healthier, happier and more rewarding direction than I’ve had. It’s helped me stay optimistic, I feel deeply that things will be better in the future due to these times.
Maintain work and routine: I suddenly have 8-14 hours extra a day to fill due to work dropping out. Great news! I can move onto those other projects and dig in. Easily said, but sometimes very easy to lose oneself to inaction. I vowed to avoid this and I put all those hours into things that matter to me. I’m working out, I’m meditating, I’m writing, I’m working, I’m creating business plans and keeping just as busy, if not busier, than I was when I was being paid to work full time.
Journal with crippling honesty: I have a family, so I sometimes feel the need to put up a front of control and togetherness for them, even when I’m feeling a little frayed and loose around the edges. I’ve committed, therefore, to be candid to a fault with myself, my journaling and my therapist. I need to vent the bad thoughts, I can’t keep them inside and this has become an incredibly important part of what I do on a daily basis.
Again, I’ve found that taking action this week has prevented me from succumbing to negative self talk or the potential pitfalls that a sudden life change can bring about.
“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
Final Thoughts…
Again - I’m amazed at how important the rigours and structures I’ve been creating as a side project on myself have been to this time of great change.
I never started working out thinking “I’ll need to build this mental fortitude for when the shit hits the fan” I just thought “I wonder what I look like without muffin tops…”.
Well, muffins be damned, it turns out that actively seeking challenge and toughness, and working your way through hardship is actually all preparing you for the inevitable trials of life.
My only wish is that I’d started sooner, but I’m so glad I did when I did.
I am the master of my fate - and so are you.
So what does that future you wish you’d started today?
