When you assume, it makes an . . .

We all make assumptions when we communicate. We have to. But sometimes assumptions end up causing more work or lost opportunities.

I live in a booming town. While the rest of the country is experiencing a major recession and fallout from the housing market going belly up, North Dakota has the lowest unemployment in the country. There isn't enough housing in the area to accommodate everyone moving here. Apartment buildings have waitlists that are multiple pages long. New houses and apartment buildings are springing up in every empty lot. Oil companies (oil is the reason for the boom) are actively recruiting, and are paying well.

I give you this background to show that, although this is a small town, there is a huge influx of new blood – people who don't know their way around the area, who don't know where buildings are or what's happening when. I've lived here just over a year (a year and one week, today), so I count myself in the newbie category.

If you've been reading my blog, you know that my job ends in six weeks. As I looked at the paper yesterday I saw that there's a big job fair today. I read through the article. I looked through the special pull-out section. They both told me the same thing: Job Fair at the Badlands Activity Center. Neither told me where the Badlands Activity Center is. Okay. No big deal – shoddy reporting, but I could look it up online.

I thought.

I did find that the BAC is part of the university (in cooperation with the city). And the university had several pages dedicated to the BAC. I learned how to donate money to support it. I learned that it's better landscaped than a local football field. I learned a bit about its history. I found the activity calendar showing the job fair from 9-4 today. I did not find its address.

Next up – Dex.

The badlands Activity Center wasn't listed in the yellow or white pages.

Google maps? Sometimes they show specific locations.

This is where I got lucky. While Google maps didn't have an address for the BAC, someone had uploaded a photo. I zoomed in and found the cross streets. Woot! I can get there.

I should not have had to work so hard to find this information. The people who put together the job fair should have put the address on all of the publicity material. By not spending just five minutes to ensure that their audience could find them, they may well have lost part of that audience. I'm not the only newbie looking for a job. I'm not the only person who doesn't know where “landmarks” are. It's easy to assume other people have the same knowledge that you do. Don't make that mistake.

How can you spend just five minutes to ensure that your assumptions about whomever you're communicating with won't cause either of you problems?