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What To Do After You Get Advice
Tweet Share on Facebook May 26, 2009 Comment (2)This is for recent college graduates, networkers, and friends of friends.
You may have already discovered the one universal truth about relationship building, career advancement, and mentoring: People love giving advice. Asking “would you help me?” and “may I get some career advice from you?” nearly always get you to third base. Say it aloud: People love giving advice. It fascinates me to hear there are people who still think otherwise.
OK. Just remember it is not a one-way street. With advice cometh responsibility, saith someone like Socrates, and this is what was meant:
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The Ideal Colleague
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2009 Comment (3)If he made a commitment, he kept it. It might take some wrangling – always polite, of course – to get that promise, but once granted, you never had to check your back.
He was invariably polite and gave others the benefit of the doubt. “You don’t know what people are going through” was one of his truths and he cut a lot of slack in the face of rude behavior.
His ability to drain personalities from disputes was legendary. He always wanted to see if the other side’s position had any merit. He was wary of broad brushes and equally careful of automatically going to the middle ground.
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The Unexpected Wisdom of Being Honest in a Job Interview
Tweet Share on Facebook May 21, 2009 Comment (3)When in a job interview, you should say whatever you think the interviewers want to hear, right? Suck up, even if you don’t really mean it, say whatever it takes to get the job. Right?
Wrong. You don’t want a job where you have to lie to get it. You really don’t. You’ll be miserable, and same for your boss and coworkers.
But, isn’t it a huge risk to speak your actual mind? Yes, but it's less of a risk than taking a job you aren’t suited for. As an example, a friend told me about a job interview she had recently. During the phone interview, she told them she was not interested in pursuing the job any further because the job required her to directly supervise 25 people covering four areas.
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Find Your Positive Inner Pragmatist
Tweet Share on Facebook May 21, 2009 Comment (1)Many of the obstacles to creating a career that lights you up can look completely reasonable on the surface. One is pragmatism.
Not just any kind of pragmatism, mind you. I’m talking about the needlessly negative variety. For so many people, “I’m just being pragmatic” really boils down to, “I have an excuse to say no.”
Under the guise of pragmatism, people have a reason to say, “No, I can’t follow that dream. It’s not realistic. No, I can’t take that step. I have too many demands on my time. No, I can’t do that thing that energizes me, because I have too many practical concerns to think about.”
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How to Rebuild Your Community After a Layoff
Tweet Share on Facebook May 20, 2009 Comment (2)When you lose your job, you lose more than a paycheck. You lose your community.
Many workplaces are like families. Companies encourage this because an emotional attachment to your coworkers and a desire to support them is often what’s behind your “choice” to work nights and weekends for no extra pay.
You may even be one of the increasing number of Americans who has few or no friends outside of work, which makes losing a job an emotional, as well as financial, blow.
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Shiny Pennies in the Workplace
Tweet Share on Facebook May 19, 2009 CommentWe are all easily entranced by new products, services, ideas, applications and…..people. It is hard to resist the temptation of the “new.” Even the answer to the question, “Do you want the La-Z-Boy you see here, or what is behind door no. 2?” almost always gets answered “Door no. 2, Drew!”
Most new things come all wrapped up and pretty, shiny and new--but mostly they're just different. I call it the shiny penny syndrome (not original) and I have made this mistake plenty.
This is how many consultants earn their living. They know pretty much what you tell them, but do a better job of articulating it, organizing it, and then telling you what you must do… later. Still , they look good in suits, mill around smartly, and are awfully impressive. Shiny pennies. Not true? How many studies do you have in your drawer that have not been acted upon…yet?
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When Gen Y Just Doesn't Fit In
Tweet Share on Facebook May 19, 2009 Comment (5)What do government agencies, nonprofits, and unionized entities have in common?
Dinosaurs. (And I mean that affectionately.)
While many career blogs and job-related social networks would have you believe otherwise, there are still many baby boomers in our workforce. Don't let their weaker eyesight and slower response times fool you--these folks are not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Many of them are still damn good at what they do.
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Are You Making These Job Reference Mistakes?
Tweet Share on Facebook May 18, 2009 Comment (11)It turns out that it's possible for your references to diminish your chances of getting the job without even saying a word. Here's a recent experience I had when checking the references of two candidates I was torn between.
Candidate no. 1 gave me the phone numbers of three former managers. I reached each of them easily and their references were strong.
Candidate no. 2 also gave me a list of references. One featured a phone number which, when I called it, turned out to be disconnected. Another featured a number that was answered by someone else, not even at the same company. I had to contact the candidate several times to get correct numbers. This raised red flags about the candidate's attention to detail and whether she doesn't tend to check things out before handing over potentially wrong information. In the position she was applying for, that could be disastrous.
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10 Ways to Handle a Crisis
Tweet Share on Facebook May 15, 2009 Comment (1)At some point, you may have to deal with a workplace crisis. Here are some actions your team should consider:
1. Prevent it. This is a pre-crisis step, of course, and it requires the ability to visualize how things could go wrong. Although seemingly a basic skill, those who fall in love with a project or plan may have difficulty spotting the vulnerable areas.
2. Stabilize the situation. The crisis has arrived. Now you need to assert control, isolate the crisis, and minimize the damage.
3. Notify your boss. Pronto. The bad news will not improve with age.
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When The Boss's Wife is The HR Department
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2009 Comment (8)I worked for a small, husband and wife- owned company. The husband was my boss and also the President of the company. His wife? The entire HR Department. Isn't this, oh, I don't know, a conflict of interest? There were several instances where I had a problem with the way my boss treated my coworkers and me, but didn't really feel comfortable talking about it with his wife. Is it the type of situation where having your wife as HR is a bad idea, but there are no rules against it?
There are lots of things that are bad ideas, but businesses do them anyway. Now, is it a good idea or a bad idea to have the boss's wife in charge of HR? Well, that depends on the people involved. If she's a competent HR person, then I'm all for it. If she was hired because shes the boss's wife, well then, that's a whole different ball of wax. Remember, the point of HR is to help the business succeed, not to play referee between employees and management.
I think your concern is that if you go to HR (the wife) and say, "Your husband is treating me like dirt," she'll be defensive and she'll take his side. This is highly likely. What's even more likely is that regardless of the relationship between the president and HR, HR will take the president's side. Why? Because I have never seen a company where HR didn't have to report to the president.
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