Writing Master - Painting by Thomas Eakins
Continuing on with a series of posts on practical career advice for young people. Little things that are not usually noticed, but make a difference in the long run.
Robert at My Multiple Incomes Blog recently wrote an article about being out of writing ideas. “What To Do When You’re Out of Ideas” That’s what I’m experiencing a bit right now. There’s been quite a bit going on at work, with drama, crises, fires and thunder of various situations competing for brain space with the blog and writing ideas.
I occasionally marry up a blog article with a post idea. My University Money’s article on Tips for Note Taking in a classroom context got me thinking about the need for bringing pad and paper to any business meeting, or interview, or really, any situation where worthwhile matters are discussed and need to be recorded, whether for your own purposes or for publication.
Examples include taking notes during an interview, during a business meeting, or during negotiations.
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
The bane of business life. Timesucks. Black holes of negative productivity. Torture sessions scheduled by some nimrod in the early afternoon hours, a time that should by all the right reasons of human evolution be reserved for contented naps.
Taking notes is a defensive strategy that makes one look productive, record events and discussions which might be of later significance, and stay awake and engaged. Plus you can doodle in the margins.
In a meeting, make sure you note down all meeting participants, and titles.
Try to remember who said what. This is especially true if matters with legal or contractual ramifications are discussed.
Always bring pad and paper when meeting with your boss. Her words are important. Take note.
Volunteer to take meeting minutes. This is especially useful when meeting with a customer. Once upon a time when companies were less, em, efficient, there would be a clerky-type person that was tasked with jotting down notes of all that was said. More senior participants will be grateful that this task is being delegated to others. Meeting minutes are easy to do, and hard to do well. There are some essential elements.
- Better to sit closer to someone who can clarify points in a sottovoce aside whisper.
- Identify items of discussion, and assign action item by party or name, or label no action. In other words, who is supposed to do what after the meeting adjourns.
- Make sure you write down the minutes right after the meeting, when your memory is freshest. Send for review to another participant, and publish as soon as possible. This is important. Don’t get sidetracked by all the other little things of office life.
Interview Notes
I don’t understand job seekers who come to job interviews without pad and paper. It just screams “lack of preparation”. Any review of job-seeking sites will have tips how to handle note taking, and why it’s good to practice it discreetly. Not that a candidate is there to take note constantly, but it’s a good idea to have a few questions jotted down.
Negotiate Away
He who has the paper, wins. Imagine the last time you made a major purchase. Did you sit on the other side of the desk, while the salesperson tapped away on a keyboard and read out terms and conditions?
There’s something about a notepad that puts the other party on alert “be careful what you say, I’m writing it down”. There’s been a few times I’ve used one of my favorite sayings “Because words are important, I want to make sure that I’m writing down exactly what you’re saying”. Now imagine saying that in front of the car salesperson.
Another benefit is that you’ll need a writing surface. If the person on the other side of the desk is forced to rearrange their desk ornaments to give you space, I tend to believe that it might mess with their spatial karma. Your writing implements just implemented a successful occupation of their working space. It might discombobulate and twitterpated. Or not. But it can’t hurt.
So what’s this mean?
Don’t know. I’m just glad I got through the idea drought and managed to write a blog post.
I do like the physical act of writing. Mechanical pencils, felt-tip pens, nice ball-points, #2 HB pencils, I like them all. I can write in block letters, or flowing cursive. As with anything, it’s a skill that can be practiced, and with judicious application, yield positive results.
For example, I’m able to write and draw in a script that was once used by manual draftsmen. I’ve shared scanned copies of page notes that were written in this style. The perception voiced by some was that I had a technical background, although I don’t. Working as I do in an engineering company run by pointy-headed engineers, this carried a certain amount of personal brand.
So, in summation, most times taking notes can only help. Do it.
Have any pearls of wisdom to add to this, readers? If they’re really good comments, I promise to crib them and use them in my future book on career tips.
Really, many thanks for dropping in and taking a read. Your continued readership might drive earnings from the Media.net widget at the right of the blog from $0.91 to over a dollar in no time a’tall. 
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I totally agree. Taking notes is so important. I reference the notes I take all of the time. Yes, even in interviews a pen and paper applies, especially when you are being interviewed at more than one place.
Love you media net comment too.
Keeping them organized is helpful as well. After taking the wrong notes to project group meetings several times, I’ve had to be more diligent with filing by project.
If a new employee did not takes notes during training, it was a sure sign they were not do too well. As a teacher, I can tell a lot about my students, if they take notes. This simple action tells so much about the person!
krantcents recently posted..Is the American Dream Dead?
@ Krantcents, as a teacher, have you found that students respond well to coaching on this subject?
As a manager at my current day job, I hate it when my engineers don’t take notes as I’m going over things during our meetings. I hate repeating myself!
Charles recently posted..Friday Roundup – iPhone 4S Standing In Line Edition
Hi Charles – I wonder, is that an indication of their general work ethic and performance?
Awesome post with some legitimate/original pointers! I’d much rather read a “random thought” article like this that is highly original than re-hashed stuff. I’m glad we can take some small degree of inspirational credit!
I usually bring a pad to meetings, but to be honest, I usually just end up using it to write down blog ideas, or actually stop long enough to make more to-do lists!
My University Money recently posted..Finding a Job After School In a Terrible Market
Hi MUM – thanks for the kind words. I plead guilty to making to-do lists in boring meetings. If I’m especially frustrated, I’ll sometimes write in disparaging comments about the proceedings or the speaker, but I make sure I write them in Italian, safe from sidelong glances from people sitting next to me.
Paper and pen (or tablet PC) is critical. I’m always surprised how many times people try to keep it all in their heads with varying degrees of success. I would rather write down pertinent points any day of the week.
Roshawn @ Watson Inc recently posted..Is Saving More Important Than Investing?
@ Roshawn – I think I’d be just the cat’s meow if I showed up with a tablet PC.
I also concur when it comes to taking notes especially in a knowledge transfer. Taking notes will avoid you a lot of subsequent questions!
BeatingTheIndex recently posted..Stock Trades: Bought Eagle Energy Trust
I agree that taking notes in meetings is important. In fact I think it’s so important that I’ll take my own even if I know someone else has been assigned the task of taking them.
I only sort of agree about volunteering though. It’s pretty easy to set a precendent that you’re THE note taker for every meeting if you volunteer your services too eagerly.
Marios Alexandrou recently posted..Organization Success: It All Comes Down To Projects
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Note taking is important, as you need to be able to capture the finer points of important meetings. Also important to review those notes immediately after a meeting, to fill in any gaps. Sometimes, it’s hard to document everything while meetings are moving fast.
Also – it looks good to have a pen and paper. Even if there’s nothing that you need to actually document, it can reflect well on you that you’re prepared. If you’re a boss having a staff meeting, and one person walks in with a pen and notepad, and the other strolls in with nothing with which to take notes, who would you be more impressed by?
Squirrelers recently posted..Loss Leader Pricing Strategies: At the Pumpkin Patch?
Always the one that brings pen and paper. That’s the more impressive person, of course.
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