While I was perusing the twitterstream yesterday, @ProfJonathon shared a link to a new web service named CMP.ly. According to the website, it purports to be a “disclosure engine” for everyone online — from bloggers to Agencies.
My first question to ProfJonathon was whether it was recognized by the FTC. Since he was merely sharing a link and was in no way associated with the service, we agreed that it was an interesting intellectual exercise and we each went our separate ways. Then, I got a response from @cmply:

@ProfJonathan @mglickman — Good question. Although the FTC cannot endorse a particular solution we met and reviewed our system. DM for info.

Naturally, I DM’d (DMed?) the @cmply account, offering my email address. The response I received, not 2 hours later, was informative and comprehensive from Tom Chernaik, the principal of CMP.ly’s parent — DigComm. Tom described how DigComm involved the FTC in the design of the CMP.ly service, so that — when implemented properly — it meets and exceeds the FTC’s new guidelines. He also invited further questions and discussion.

I have nothing to do with DigComm or CMP.ly. I don’t even consider myself enough of a blogger to make use of a disclosure engine such as CMP.ly. If I were looking for an answer to disclosure requirements, however, the responsiveness and openness of those in charge of CMP.ly would definitely put my mind at ease.

Interesting article discussing conflict resolution through various media formats:
http://davefleet.com/2008/11/how-rich-is-your-communication-conflict/ I wanted to share my expeiences with email in particular.

The uselessness of email as a serious communication method cannot be overstated. I have stepped into heated email threads across divisions by walking to one side’s desk and simply stating the same argument that was made by email. The result? Smiles, cooperation.

Have you ever received an email that infuriated you? I have. I must admit that I have sent emails that I knew would frustrate people. One word responses, deliberately not answering the unasked-but-implied question. When I’ve had my coffee, though, I will never reply to an email that gets to me when I receive it. If it’s possible I’ll walk over to discuss the issue with the person; if that’s not possible, I’ll wait until I can write a rational and unemotional response.

Using email without actively thinking about its possible pitfalls will never work for you.

I work in IT. I’m not a programmer, so I end up doing the odd jobs that no one else has any desire to do nor any idea how to do.  One item on the long list of my de facto responsibilities is troubleshooting. I help troubleshoot code that is still in development; I help the validators troubleshoot while they test the supposedly finished code; I troubleshoot security issues that come up in the field across the country when the official support personnel are out of ideas.

I would like to leverage that experience on my resume — highlighting the dynamic, problem-solving aspect of the job and downplaying the technical knowledge/experience aspect. Take two hypotheticals:

“I have experience troubleshooting software throughout all stages of its development and I support production personnel in troubleshooting end-user issues.”

“I have experience troubleshooting issues that come up across all levels of my team and our clients. I dynamically utilize my problem-solving skills by thinking outside the box to achieve business results.”

The first one is dry and more attuned for an IT job. The second makes me sound like a pretentious jerk with a thesaurus.

How do you translate what you do into resume-speak?