Hope 4 Heroes, Alex's Lemonade Stand

Let me just say, right from the start, I don't usually blog about such personal things. But this, I can't help.

My niece Katie is a girl with the heart of a giant. She ran upon a website dedicated to a little girl name Kate McRae who is battling cancer. Now, my niece is not a normal girl who see's something like this and moves on. Instead she writes emails, makes videos and over time has built a relationship not only with Kate, but with her mom as well.

And this isn't anything new for my niece. When she was about 7 years old, she decided that instead of having a regular birthday party she would have a book party. And I don't mean a book party where her guests would bring her books. All the books collected would be donated to the public library where she loved to spend her time. She is a really amazing person.

So, when Katie tells me she is going to help raise money for a little girl fighting childhood cancer in Arizona, what else could I do? Now I am not going to go into all the reasons why you should donate money to this. That is clear by the simple fact that Kate McRae is only 7 years old and suffering from a brain tumor called a supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor.

This is what my niece Katie has to say on her page, "Thank you for stopping by my Lemonade Stand page. I first became aware of childhood cancer when I learned about a little girl named Kate McRae on a fan site for another "Kate". I started following her story, and she became very important to me. She is still fighting cancer to this day, and I want to help her and other kids just like her. They are heroes to me. Any amount of time, money, or donations to help put on my event are greatly appreciated by me and the "heroes" out there. Love, Katie"

So I am asking you all to go to my niece Katie's page and donate to this cause. Her goal is $500.00 and with your help I am sure we can do even better than that.

Thank you in advance for any donation, big or small.

Is it okay if I just ask for it?

Thank you Suzanne Vara for your blog post earlier. If it wasn’t for you, I would be one more day without a new blog post.

So, seriously…can I just ask?

I have seen that you posted an opening for a marketing professional with my skill set and experience. I have researched your company by doing a Google search. Not only to see the basics but I also want to see if you have an employee reviews, customer reviews, or news that may impact my decision to apply. I also go through your website to see what you say about yourself. I really love when companies put a whole section about the work culture. This is very important to me and I like to know right off the bat if you are my people. I go onto LinkedIn and check out your team, at all levels. I want to know how long they have worked there, what they do, where they have worked before, education levels, and to see if I can connect for even more detailed information. Once all that is done, if I decide I want to be a part of your team, I send in my resume. Sometimes it is a simple email submission and other times I have to fill out your own application forms online. Both of these are okay because I know I like you already. Now, I just need to find a way to make you like me too. This is not an easy task.

I have two resumes. The functional is to attach to company websites where my chronological resume has been parsed and gives me an opportunity to really show my accomplishments. Yes, my chronological includes that information as well but it is listed in each position I held. I wrote about my resume issues in a previous blog post. I find them to be frustrating because everyone has an opinion and rarely are they the same. There is no one way to write it, display your knowledge and skills, or any way to make every person happy. I think hiring managers and HR folks want a quick at a glance, this is what I do, let’s talk more version. I did just have my resume reviewed again and actually may consider paying to have it re-done to see what the difference in the results is. That may be a blog post later.

When appropriate I edit my cover letter to address the specific needs of the position. Sometimes I need to emphasize my media buying experience and others my strategy and measurement experience. I know people say they are not read but this is my chance to communicate with the hiring manager in a away that talks more about what I can do for them. That always important WIIFM (what’s in it for me?) factor.

All of this I go through when all I want to do is call up the hiring manager and say, “Can I have this position you are advertising?” I want to tell them all the work I did before I even applied to the job. I want them to understand that I am a highly motivated individual with the desire to get to work. Now, all of this needs to be said without sounding desperate. I’m not…well, not yet. There will come a time soon when I will need to take any job that comes my way. Not yet though. So when I try to contact you about a position on LinkedIn don’t think I am desperate or even worse a stalker. I am just trying to get information and/or asking you for the job.

I am not afraid to ask. Why? Because that is who I am. For a lack of a better comparison, I am like that young Labrador puppy. Big personality but really soft at heart. I work hard, learn fast, love being part of a pack and occasionally need to be taken for a walk.

Joking aside, I apply for positions I want. So next time my resume and cover letter comes across your desk, call me. Let’s talk and see if we can work together. And when I ask you for the job, if the answer is no thank you, that is okay. Because we have now established a relationship and you can tell me why. You never know, we may work together in another capacity.

Oh hey, can I have that job?