Are we valuing quantitive quality over experience?
Usually experience tends to count for a lot, but when it comes to blogging Ihave come to realize that it does not matter as much. Think about it, you follow a blog because of quantity, assuming of course that it is quality content. This feels like common knowledge when it comes to finding great blog and following them consistently, but in what other part of the society is this the case?
However, is the society changing to become more like the blogosphere? Are we valuing quantitive quality over experience?
The first argument against this might be that quantitive quality is the same thing as experience. But if you take the blogosphere example it is not. A blog can be huge because it posts 60 articles a month even though it has only been running for a year. This blog can be a lot bigger than the blog of someone who posts less often but have been blogging on the same subject for many years.
Is this phenomenon spreading to other parts of the society or not?
If a person who graduated from school three years ago apply for a job and is measured against an experienced highly appreciated professional in the area, the experienced person usually win, even though the fairly recent graduate have performed great during the last few years.
In some fields, however;
Like in the IT business, it might be better to have accomplished great things in the last few years than to be very experienced, because the technology changes so fast. So there, the fairly new graduate might win the battle against the experienced professional.
What do you think? Are we valuing quantitive quality over experience?
Picture credit: Websuccessdiva
Why you should be a mentor
“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give” – Winston Churchill
In the beginning of his career, Winston Churcill had a mentor in Bourke Cockran a British Lawyer and Politician. If Churcill mentored any one particular himself I have not figured out, however with quotes like this, he inspired many.
A mentor is a professional advisor; usually two of the most important qualities of a good mentor are that they have “learning attitude,” and “effective managerial skills.” If you have this qualities I encourage you to become a mentor, to a fellow novice as myself.
Last week, I read a blog post from an internationally recognized young entrepreneur. He wrote that he never had a mentor and he thought that the reasons where that; character did not fit with a mentor and many think of him and others like him as “young people who think they know everything.”
I was a bit surprised by this, because I have never looked for a mentor but I have always seemed to have mentors, and has he is some one I admire I just assumed that he had many mentors and supporters.
Have you heard the Buddhist proverb:
“When the student is ready the teacher will come”
When I have needed guidance and help, the help has come in one way or another. I guess I never asked the question “would you be my mentor?” instead I just asked questions and the relationship that has formed between me and the more experience people I have asked, have become a mentoring one because of this.
No matter if you get asked to become a mentor or just naturally find yourself in that position, I encourage you to do it, and here are a few reasons why.
Teaching make you analyze and draw conclusions of your work
It is one thing to know something and to do that, it is another thing to explain how it is done for someone else. Teaching and explaining what you do, make you look at things differently and learn them more thoroughly. Therefore you will become better at what you do by constantly teaching it to someone else, and depending on the level of expertise of your mentee, you might have to become better at what you do to be able to fully answer the questions you get. This can also lead to advancement in your own career as you will show the features that are wanted in people who are promoted: unselfishness, desire to develop and leadership etc.
You have a better change to stay connected with what is “new”
If you are a few years into your career, it is very likely that the things you were taught in school have changed since you graduated. In most fields, things such as strategies and techniques changes very fast, and it is harder to stay updated when you are working full time. Therefore, a mentee can assist you by teaching you about the latest development and what is taught now compared to when you where in school. Thus, you can get a competitive advantage and get a wider picture by letting the mentee teach you stuff as well.
The relationship is both give and take.
As I just said; the mentee can teach you things as well. However, this is not the only way the relationship goes both ways. Maybe the mentee have a few connections that you can benefit from. Or computer knowledge that can help you with you online resume? Or be a very good listener, who you can speak to about changing career without judgment? Sure, you are the more experienced in the relationship, but that does not mean that you cannot gain from it. I think that the relationship is even better if you benefit from it, both because you will be more inspired to teach if you get something back, and because the mentee can feel that him or her is contributing as well.
With that said, the benefits of being a mentor is plenty; You become better at way you do, by teaching and analyzing. You stay connected with what is new and gain competitive advantage. And the benefits of the relationships goes both ways.
So what is there to wait for? Go and find you novice and start mentoring today!






I have visited 1000 of blogs and websites only this year. Some are good while others are so difficult to navigate that I just go on to the next one. That is the case nowadays, that if I find one site difficult to navigate I will just move on to their competitors, because there is always someone who have a similar site. Therefore I have created a list of a few things that you HAVE TO HAVE on your website in order to keep you visitors and not annoy them. (Except for interesting content etc… ;)
Mistake 1: Only a contact form
I hate to use contact forms and therefore often end up not contacting the writer if that is the only option. Sometimes I do use them, but the occasions are rare, and I’m sure thatcontacts forms means missed opportunities.
Fix: Add your email address at text similar to annelie[at]annelienaes.com or as a picture, to avoid spam but make you easily accessible for your visitors.
Mistake 2: Not having an option for comment subscription
I think I have mentioned this before, but it is important enough to point out again. If I comment on a blog I’m interesting in find out if anyone else said something about the post or my comment. But I would never have the time to go back and check myself. However, if I receive an notification on my blog, I might not only check back for more comments but I might also check for new interesting content.
Fix: Disqus and other plug-in offers this feature automatically, otherwise you fix it by adding a comment subscription alternative for the commenter.
Mistake 3: Not describing with the abbreviation title of your blog means
Most blogs with abbreviation but the
long title right under, such as PMP – Portal Media Player. However, there are examples where the abbreviation is so common for frequent visitors that they did not find it necessary, however, for a new visitor it might be very confusing. This has even happened to me with on the website of a smaller Swedish newspaper, which I happened to come across through a Google search. Very annoying and easily fixed, so just make it clear!
Fix: Add a description to the abbreviation under it, or just don’t use them in the header for example.
Mistake 4: Not letting your readers know what you write about
A tag cloud is to many just a blur and they don’t see the need of it. Please make sure you are not one of them. I often visit blogs where I cannot tell if the author is actually writing on the subject him or her claims to because the latest posts have been covering other topics. With a tag cloud you and your visitors see what you are actually writing about. (Assuming you tag your post based on the content)
Fix: Add a tag cloud or some other indicator of what the blog posts you have published is about.
Mistake 5: Not letting your visitors know what they searched for
Some search functions are better than other. But at least you should make sure that your readers know what they are searching for. If the words “Nothing can be found” comes up after I made a search and I cannot see what I searched for I will just assume that there is nothing to be found and I will continue looking elsewhere. However, typing mistakes are easily made so if your search function shows the search term that was just written, maybe I will try again because I misspelled the word.
Fix: Install a search functions which shows the search term after you pressed “enter”.
Inother words there are many small things that make visitors leave your site in search for something better, think about these ones, and I’m sure there are many more, and hopefully you will have your readers attention a little while longer.
Any other “must-haves” you would like to add?