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7 Signs Your Interview Went Well
Tweet Share on Facebook August 11, 2008 Comment (29)So you've had your job interview, and, as you wait to hear from the company, you keep replaying the interview in your mind and wondering how you did. But is there any way to know until you get an offer or rejection? No signs are 100 percent foolproof, but here are some indicators that the interview went well:
1. The interviewer gives you a clear timeline for when a decision is expected, rather than being vague or noncommittal. When I'm interested, I make sure the candidate leaves knowing exactly what will happen next and when to expect to hear from me.
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The One Move That Makes for Career Magic
Tweet Share on Facebook August 8, 2008 Comment (2)If career advancement is to be compared, as is often the case, to the ascent of a high mountain, many of you are blocked beneath an impossible ledge. You've tried all of the standard tricks and yet no progress has been made. Logic would point to using another approach, but here's a strange fact: Many climbers will simply apply the same technique over and over again in the hope that something will magically change.
In some cases, the argument may be made that, "I'm not the person I was last year or even last week. I'm much more capable, knowledgeable, etc." That may be true, but the one bit of reality that has not changed is the ledge. It may have become more formidable due to erosion caused by your repeated attempts.
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Break Out of Your Rut by Becoming a Serial Beginner
Tweet Share on Facebook August 7, 2008 CommentIf you have ever found yourself mired in a rut, then you know that you can't feel energized and rutbound at the same time. So what do you do about it?
One great way of blasting yourself free of the rut (and making sure you don't fall in again in the future) is creating more opportunities to be a beginner. Maybe you take on a stretch project in your current job. Maybe you pick up a new and completely unfamiliar hobby or skill. Whatever it is, it should take you out of your comfort zone.
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Businesses and Cities Figuring Out How to Attract Millennials Are Now Trying to Lure Boomers
Tweet Share on Facebook August 6, 2008 Comment (1)It seems all of the workplace and development has been about millennials, the unknown blip on the radar. Companies, authors, and cities have been researching, prodding, and marketing to a group that has stunned them all—because marketplaces and workplaces are rapidly evolving and the millennial mind-set is at the helm, even though we're not the captains of the ship.
As a marketing and communications person, I've faced the challenge of marketing to my generation. It's an odd thing trying to identify the motives of an audience you're so close to, without having a bias. But thankfully I've had some help—our team tapped a nationally recognized young professionals consultant, Rebecca Ryan, who has helped us research and develop a strategy that we're currently implementing to attract talent to the Columbus, Ohio, region. We've connected young professionals to each other, to major players in the community, and created a Web-based relocation tool that will assist area employers in recruiting employees of all ages to Columbus. The millennials, or "young professionals," as we call them, have the attention of our mayor and our business community—from local law firms to Fortune 500 companies.
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9 Tips for Shorter and Better Meetings
Tweet Share on Facebook August 6, 2008 Comment (6)Do you hate meetings? You do? You're in good company.
The bad news: Workplaces are always going to have meetings. You may even be in charge of running them. When you are, here are nine tips for making your meetings shorter and better:
1. Announce at the beginning how long the meeting is going to last. Put a clock in plain view where all can see the minutes ticking by.
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5 Things You Should Do Right Away to Get a New Job
Tweet Share on Facebook August 5, 2008 Comment (4)If only a frog had wings...
You know how that ends, right? It pretty much sums up the "IF ONLY" thinking of many job seekers.
Instead of: "If I only had my R.N. degree"—ask yourself: What can you do next week to get a new job?
1. Rewrite your résumé. Why would you hire you? To answer that, you must research the company and understand their issues and needs. You will discover that the old kind of résumé is broken...and your new one will set you apart from other applicants.
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5 Pieces of Bad Career Advice
Tweet Share on Facebook August 4, 2008 Comment (30)I'm sometimes unnerved by some of the career advice that gets repeated over and over in job-hunting guides and career columns. Here are five particularly bad pieces of advice that I cringe every time I see:
Bad piece of advice #1: When interviewing, figure out what the interviewer is looking for and shape your answers accordingly. This is a recipe for landing in a job that you either hate or aren't good at. Or both. You might be able to suppress your real self for a couple of hours in an interview, but you won't be able to do it for 40 hours a week. If you want to land in a job that you'll love and thrive in, show the real you. You'll turn off the employers who aren't right for you and you'll attract the ones who are.
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How Your Temper Is Killing Your Career
Tweet Share on Facebook August 1, 2008 Comment (3)Since most organizations favor peace over justice, one of the worst things you can do for your career is to lose your temper. You may have solid reasons for your anger, but "excessive displays" of emotion—even pleasant ones such as happiness—are deemed unprofessional in many workplaces. Skeptics may regard this as a preference for the robotic over the human, but it is nonetheless real.
Identify the behavior that may spark your anger and prepare a filter. Few comments merit an immediate response. Abusive or sarcastic remarks often deserve none at all. Knowing how to buy some cooling off or thinking time is an important talent. One attorney's favorite technique was to take off his eyeglasses, calmly inspect them, and then slowly clean the lenses with his tie while trying to figure out his response. An executive I knew used to call a quick recess to meetings whenever he felt his anger was about to show. Both knew that the side that gets angry usually loses.
