I just wanted to post a quick follow-up to a couple of items in my last posting and to offer a couple of additional thoughts that occurred to me during my recent business trip:

- Nearly every flight I've been on in the last six months has been full. I do not travel enough to say for sure, but it seems to me that the airlines have found a way to fly nearly every flight at full capacity. Unfortunately for me, flights seem to be filled with road warrior types. Before boarding my Northwest Airlines flight back to Minneapolis, the gate agent said that approximately 75% of the passengers on our flight had some form of elite status. His statement was proven correct when, after announcing that general boarding was ready to take place (after first-class, exit rows, passengers with small children and elite status members had all boarded), I was finally allowed to board the sold out DC-9 with exactly 13 other remaining passengers. Let's just say there was no space left in the overhead compartments.....

- After getting situated, I realized that the Neanderthal across the aisle from me had removed his shoes. I'm all for trying to be comfortable during a flight but can we as a society please agree on some basic rules? If we can, wouldn't "keep your shoes on while in a confined space with other humans" be one of them?

- A website that I have found to be extremely helpful when planning a flight can be found here - http://www.seatguru.com. There you can find the layout of most types of aircraft with most major carriers. The listed seat map will alert you to the best and worst seats on that particular type of plane and will also warn you of unfortunate nuances you otherwise wouldn't discover until seated (e.g. lack of a window in a particular row or close proximity to the lavatories). It's very easy to use and it's free.

- While I'm used to managing many business relationships over a distance, I was reminded that face-to-face contact can be energizing. I was able to spend time with many people at a client-site that I've worked with over phone and e-mail and in doing so, I was reminded of just how much my work impacts them on a daily basis...and how much theirs impacts mine. The one inherent challenge of conducting work virtually is creeping doubt. "Is my vendor working hard for me right now?" "Is the client benefiting from my work?" "When I'm not in a meeting with the team, is that person an advocate or an opponent?"

Being onsite, however, helped me fully realize that my clients do know that I have worked hard to support them. They do benefit from the work I've been doing and that they are my advocate even when I'm not there in person. Likewise, my presence was a good reminder to them that there is a person behind the phone and the computer, and that they can trust that I have their interests in mind in my day to day activities. Each of us has "felt" that our partnership has been strong all along, but a handshake and a collaborative strategy session goes a long way towards helping us to "know" it.

- There is one other way that creeping doubt is common...in the job search. One fear held by candidates is that the hiring team is going to do everything they can to exclude the job seeker or that questions will be designed to showcase the negative and that managers are trying to find reasons NOT to hire each candidate. Being onsite with the managers last week again reminded me of something I learned long ago...that hiring teams WANT to hire you.

You see, if a manager can make you his/her next great hire, the hiring process ends. And there are not many things that frustrate a manager more than a lengthy hiring process. Remember, these folks typically have 50 other things/people that they are responsible for in addition to filling the open position on their team. Hiring is not his/her full-time job but rather a distraction from their daily accountabilities. In other words, they WANT you to be the right person for the job. The sooner they can fill their open position, the better off they and their team will be.

So as a job seeker, I encourage you to turn your expectation upside down. Rather than go into the interview believing you have to overcome doubts held by the hiring team, instead believe that you are going into the interview to reinforce the positive things the hiring team already believes about you! You must believe that they would much rather hire you than be forced to continue with the job search process. If you believe you are heading into a room full of advocates, instead of a room full of doubters, I believe your odds for success increase dramatically.