Recreating Great Days

Yesterday was a really good day on the job. I’m fortunate in that I recognized it as such several times throughout the day as often we only realize how good something was after its past. So now I’m thinking about what I did and how I can re-create that great feeling in the present and the future so that more of those great days are yet to come.

Do you have days like that yourself? I sure hope you do, both at work and life outside of work. Even when you like your job as I do and you feel you have a lot of good days, there are some days that are just better than others.

Here’s the odd thing about yesterday. I was on the schedule to facilitate a workshop on Interview Preparation and Practice. I wouldn’t have guessed that this day was going to bring me the extremely high degree of satisfaction it did. Why?Job interviews are pretty low on many people’s list of things they like to take part in, especially if you’re on the applicant side of the table. While the workshop is offered free and is completely optional, it typically has a low turn out. Let’s face it, as humans we tend to avoid things we feel we will find unpleasant, especially if we have a choice and going to a workshop on interviewing isn’t a popular one.

Turns out that 7 people came out and all 7 had their apprehensions about the day. When I asked them what their thoughts were at the outset, they said the usual things; interviews are a necessary evil, they wished they could get jobs without the interview at all, they get all stressed and full of anxiety when they land one and yet made the decision to come and learn anyhow. 7 people making an excellent personal decision! By the way, does their opinions of interviews sound like your own?

So we started and like I always do, I told them my goal at the outset was to give them the benefit of my perspective on interviews and perhaps have them shift from how they see the interview to how I see it, because quite honestly I look forward to interviews and relish in the opportunities they present. I’m very comfortable going to job interviews and there has to be something I can pass on to them that may help them to – if not really love them – at least feel less anxious when preparing for one.

I noticed that one key thing happened almost immediately after starting and that was that when introducing themselves to each other, they spoke openly and honestly about their fears and their employment barriers. Just listening to them talk, I was struck by their trust in the others in the room as one disclosed a criminal record, another voluntarily spoke about her age, another person said how overqualified she felt and wondered if she should “dumb down” her resume as others have suggested she should. (Note to readers, I don’t think you should ever ‘dumb down’ your resume and hide what you otherwise are proud of having done.)

These people invested themselves individually and collectively in both the workshop and in my ability to impart whatever I could to them; taking on the responsibility to listen, engage, then process what they heard from me and others. Now they take what they believe will work for them and apply new ways of thinking and tools into their own interview experiences in the future.

The day concluded and no one ran out the door as typically happens with some groups. In fact, not one of those in attendance even wanted a break in the morning or the afternoon and they wanted a shortened lunch break at midday! It was truly a magical experience for me as a facilitator. If you’re a facilitator you understand how unique and exciting having a group like this is.

Like all great days we have, I wish I could have the same experience day after day. This was the kind of experience for me where I could feel my own energy sustained and fueled constantly and that led me to give more in return to match their enthusiasm. The same experience can be seen at a concert where the audience is so demonstrative in their admiration for the act that the performers put out more energy and play longer, invest more and everyone goes home thinking, “Wow, that was something!”

Here’s another thought though. Just as a band sometimes plays a gig for less than a sold out audience, theatre groups put on a show for half the house or less, facilitators likewise should in my opinion give it their all no matter what size of group is before us. Who knows; those 7 people who came to this workshop may spread the experience they had, telling others who in the future give it a shot and find it works for them too. Maybe, who knows?

I honestly think that I personally didn’t do much different yesterday than I do every time I run that workshop. It was I believe the chemistry in the room and all of us contributed to that. The one thing we collectively brought was a positive attitude and a willingness to be open to the ideas of others.

May you too have many of these moments to experience!

Let Go The Bitterness And Resentment

Are you or is someone you know carrying around resentment and bitterness; directed perhaps at a former employer or someone who you feel betrayed you? If  you are, I imagine they’ve changed you in ways you are both aware of and yes in some ways you are oblivious to.

The significant thing about carrying around these negative feelings towards others is that it’s unhealthy for you; you the person who feels wronged. Ironically, doesn’t it always seem that the person who our bitterness and anger is directed towards seems entirely to have moved on themselves, which as a result only fuels more resentment on our part? Yeah, that can sting and cause the bitterness to linger and fester.

I was talking recently to someone who was fired from their job about 7 months ago now. When we began talking, I was unaware of the fact she’d been fired and therefore eventually asked her what happened in her last job. Just as the words left my lips, I noticed a physical change in her appearance and my ears picked up a change in both the words she was using and the volume in her voice. The fact that she was fired in her last job is to this day still so fresh and the experience so personal that it was clear in seconds she hasn’t found a way to deal with the experience and resolve it in her own mind. The rawness of what happened 7 months ago obviously lies just below the surface of her otherwise calm and professional exterior and just asking triggered the emotional response I experienced first hand sitting across from her.

Like I said earlier, are you yourself or is someone you know similarly affected? If so, it’s essential to eventually come to accept what’s happened, deal with it and move on. Sounds easy to do right? Well, if it’s never happened to you personally it might be hard to understand why someone can’t just pick themselves up, put it down to a bad experience and forget about it. The thing is however, it’s like you’ve been wronged and as a victim you want some measure of retribution, maybe a little karma to come to the person who fired you. There’s the devilish but perhaps immature side of us that might not be all that upset if the person’s car got a mysterious scratch all down one side of it, or if the person themselves was fired. Yes, that would be lovely but don’t go scratching any cars, setting fire to businesses or anything else that will make things worse for you than they already are.

When you first get fired you probably feel some measure of shock. “What just happened?” There’s a kind of paralysis where you just got some news that confuses your sense of order and you stop to process what you just heard. Feeling anger is normal; after all you’re probably fearful of how to cover financial commitments, you’re worried about how to get the next job; wondering how long it will take to work again, and you’ve never been fired before so it’s normal to feel out of your league, confused and disoriented. This is often why it’s best not to say much because you might say things you later regret and wouldn’t otherwise say.

No doubt you might also feel some measure of embarrassment and shame. You may have always thought to yourself that when other people got fired they were either somewhat or totally responsible; they stole, lied, showed up late too often, missed too many days of work, mouthed off etc. and you yourself did none of it. What will your family and friends think of you? What will potential employers think of you? How will you convince them this firing was beyond your control or if you did do something you now regret, how can you convince the employer you learned from the experience and it won’t be repeated?

It’s not uncommon to eventually feel some measure of despair if you’re not hired as quickly as you first thought. Eventually though, you want to arrive at a point where you can acknowledge the termination happened without overtly showing or revealing bitterness and anger. After all, while you are entirely allowed to feel hurt by the process, you don’t want this potential employer you are sitting in front of to experience your negativity first hand. This could be an unpleasant side of you they don’t ever want to have in their workplace and they’ll wonder if this isn’t you on a regular basis; which of course it typically isn’t right?

If the job you were fired from was a short-term position, you may wish to leave it off your resume entirely. It isn’t mandatory to have it on your resume so the question of why did you leave doesn’t even come up. It will create a gap which you will need to address if asked, but with some coaching you can come up with a much more positive response.

Let go of the bitterness and anger because it just isn’t healthy or worth it to carry it around. You may find that others (especially those closest to you) will notice and appreciate your change in attitude, behaviour and you’ll be nice to be around.

In other words, you’ve grown and risen above the experience. Well done. You’ll get there.

 

 

What Do Employer’s Want Most? Enthusiasm!

In the employment workshops I run, I often ask those in attendance what they believe is the number one thing employer’s are looking for in the people they choose to hire. The most common answers are dependability, honesty, working hard and being a quick learner.

Those are all desirable qualities I acknowledge, but the number one thing that I hear from employers themselves is that they are looking for employees who demonstrate enthusiasm. Enthusiasm for the job and what it encompasses; for the organization and most importantly the customers, clients, end users – whomever benefits from the services and products the company creates and delivers.

The thinking goes that if each individual in a workforce is truly enthusiastic about the work they do, then collectively the organization becomes a motivating place to work. As the environment and the culture becomes one of enthusiasm, it attracts new people who are similarly motivated and energized and the organization takes on a dynamic spirit where people want to be, want to stay and want to grow.

When you have the above you have higher productivity, better products with fewer defects, services are delivered with personal ownership and people take pride in what they do and want to do better.

Ever worked in an organization like that? Is that the kind of environment you thought you could only dream of? Some people who are looking for work have an attitude that seems to suggest they’ll only believe it when they see it, and they never see it because in the interview and selection stages, they don’t exhibit any indication that they themselves will bring enthusiasm to the workplace and as such are passed over.

So how do you communicate professional enthusiasm? First and foremost use the word itself. Introduce the word when you compose your cover letter. I personally use it as my trademark sign off instead of words and phrases like, “Sincerely”, “Regards” or “Yours truly”. Typically I write, “With enthusiasm.” At the outset I might commence with, “It is with great enthusiasm…”

If you have a look at my LinkedIn profile, you’ll note that how I am marketing myself is not simply as an Employment Counsellor, but rather, “Your Enthusiastic and Empowering Employment Counsellor.” The inclusion of these two descriptive words tells you I’m excited and motivated about assisting and I’m at your service. Sure my business card and title at work is Employment Counsellor, but LinkedIn is where I create my own identity and my employer doesn’t govern how I identify myself on my own profile.

As for my resume, I have the word enthusiasm prominently inserted near the top of the document so it becomes one of the key first things a reader takes in. As for the job interview itself, I make sure I communicate my personal enthusiasm both in my choice of words and in my body language; my smile, eye contact, sitting slightly forward and varying the tone of my voice so it consistently communicates and commands interest.

A number of people; no, a very large number of people don’t believe employers care much anymore about the people they hire. They get passed over for jobs or can’t keep the jobs they do get for very long, and as a result they have a jaded and decidedly negative attitude when it comes to the whole selection process. They’ve come to believe that employers don’t care anymore about investing in people. Unfortunately for those who have this viewpoint, they grow to have a distrust of organizations and their hiring practices. They come to believe based on their own experience that good jobs and good employers don’t exist anymore and worst of all they spread this to others.

Actually the exact opposite is true. Employers take great pains to find the right people who will contribute productively to their products and services. They agonize over choosing the wrong person; take extra time in many cases with 2nd, 3rd or event 4th interviews in order to select the people they feel will best fit and bring enthusiasm with them to the job. Selecting people takes time and money; selecting the right people takes more time and money and it takes skill to differentiate between those who are genuinely the right fit and those who are faking their way through the selection process. The more they can rule out those who are faking their way into a job the better they’ll be off in the long run.

Someone who is enthusiastic about a potential opportunity behaves in certain consistent ways. They find out about what the job is really all about before an interview. They only apply for jobs they sincerely wish to take if offered and they learn about the people who work in those organizations in order to determine how they will fit if hired. Enthusiastic people are positive, engaging, interested and come prepared with some well-thought-out questions of their own; things they really care to know.

Look, if you walk in with a forced smile, scowl and sigh heavily when you’re kept waiting 4 minutes after your scheduled appointment and then ask, “Will this take very long?” as you sit down, you might as well be okay with the answer, “Absolutely not; why you can be on your way right now actually if you’d like.” This job you applied to is no longer available.

E N T H U S I A S M

Putting It Off? When If Not Now?

I imagine you’re not unlike most people who have a list of things you hope to get around to sooner or later. No? That I must say I find surprising. I suspect if you give it some thought, you can actually think of not only a few things but perhaps many that you’ve been putting off.

Looking at things in categories; there might be some house repairs on that list of things you plan on getting around to someday. Whether big or small, you just haven’t had the motivation to get to them; or maybe it’s lacking the time or money. Whatever the reason, whenever you pass that area in your house and look at what you’d like to eventually get done, you’re reminded that it’s still there waiting for you; if and when you get around to it.

Maybe it’s mending a relationship with someone in your family that you’re putting off. There are people you know who have had a falling out of some kind with their children, their parents, a brother or sister for example and they plan to mend that relationship before a death makes that entirely not possible, but the time isn’t right; it never seems to be right.

Could it be you’ve been putting off looking for work in a serious way? Sure you’ve opened local papers and had a gaze at the classifieds; even popped on over to a job search website once or twice when you’ve had the guilt trips, but really, you’re not fooling anybody. Looking for work is a full-time job in and of itself and you’ve just been putting off what you just know will be frustrating and lead to feeling more depressed.

Ah, maybe it’s retirement from work. You’ve been talking about walking away from your job for a couple of years now but somehow you keep hanging on. Why is that? It’s not the money so much and the idea of having time to do what you want when you want is appealing. Yet, despite all that talk, you’re still putting off making that big decision to close the employment chapter of your life.

Look it might be any of the above or it could be any number of things you’re thinking of doing but somehow not getting around to actually doing. A trip, starting a family, making the big proposal, coming out, buying your first home or car, losing some weight, joining a gym – the list as you see is quite long. What is it that you’re delaying on actually moving from the, “I’ll get around to it someday” list and shifting to the, “That job is done!” list?

I suppose once you’ve identified what it is that you’re putting off the next logical question to ask is why. Why am I putting off doing what I know needs doing? Why am I delaying doing something I’ve identified as something I want to get done? If you want it and/or you need it done, what’s stopping you?

Usually the answer to what’s stopping you is yourself; yep it’s you. If you want something bad enough you usually find a way to get it done. In fact, some of the things that bring us the most satisfaction when completed are the things that cause us the most anxiety the more we delay actually doing them. We  stew over big decisions for fear of making the wrong decision and having things turn out badly. We hear that persistent whisper in our ears that says, “What if I mess up?”

Imagine for a moment if things went good not bad. What if you thought, “What if I succeed? What if things go the way I want or imagine?” What’s the best that could happen if you get done whatever you’re putting off?

Now the little stuff (whatever you personally consider little stuff) might be a good place to start. You know for example if you put off doing the laundry it’s just going to pile up and take longer and eventually you’re going to have to get it done. So do it now or face a mountain of dirty clothes.

The big stuff? Ah, yes the big thing(s) you’ve been putting off. These are the real emotionally charged decisions; the ones that could be life changing. Finally getting around to proposing to your best friend, heading back to school after 20 years to get that education you’ve been only contemplating too long for fear of the money it’ll cost you.

What you’ve perhaps been putting off is confronting that bully at work; maybe sharing a secret you’ve been holding inside for way too long, and you think the fallout is going to hurt some people deeply.

Now is the time. Look you can handle this. It might mean some upheaval and major change in your life but you need to do this and you need to do it now so you can start moving forward again. How much longer do you think you can go on stalling what has to be done? Not good for your mental health and you’re physical health is being affected too.

Make a decision and set yourself a timeline for making it happen. Write it down and get to work on committing to doing whatever it is. If it’s small do it right now or tonight. If it’s bigger, don’t put it off any longer; you’re worth it!

The Worst 4 Letter Word In Your Vocabulary

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noted a number of people I’ve been having conversations with have unwittingly put themselves down and in more than a few instances unintentionally put down many other people with the use of single word.

Yes whether in the community theatre group I’m with at the moment or at work, the word is possibly one of the worst four letter works you can use. The odd thing about this particular 4 letter word is that you can use it in any social situation and you won’t raise a ruckus with anyone for slang, swearing, vulgarity or causing embarrassment. Yet, as I say, by using the word in the wrong context, you can insult yourself and others and let your opinion slip out unintended but there for all to see.

Okay so enough of the cryptic beginning; what’s the word? The word my dear readers is, ‘just’. “Just? That’s it? What’s the big deal?”

Here are a few actual comments I’ve heard uttered recently.

“I’m just a stay-at-home mom.”

“I’m just looking for a general labour job.”

“I’m just looking for a job until I find out what I really want to do.”

“I’m just living in Oshawa until January.”

“I’m not really qualified to do anything so I’m just looking for a job in retail.”

Ouch! Each one of these statements is real and in each case the person gave no indication whatsoever that they insulted both themselves and others; offending in order: moms, those in general labour jobs, all those living in Oshawa and all those working in retail.

Please do yourself a favour and stop using the word ‘just’ in a similar context to the examples above. IF you’re only interested in my point to this blog feel free to stop reading here. If on the other hand you want to read on you’ll gain more insight into how this betrays your lack of self-esteem, self-image and can hurt your employment opportunities.

Okay all you moms out there, yes you. Are you a proud mom? Are you good at running the household, budgeting meals, housing and recreation costs on what you bring in? Are you the kind of mother that puts her kids as a first priority, raises them as best you can with the skills, education and good sense you have? In short, are you a good mom? Then why would you say, “I’m just a mom.” This short sentence composed of four words the longest of which is only 4 letters is a put-down to all moms everywhere and expresses the view that you yourself see motherhood as something of little value. More to the point it says you view the people who are mothers around the globe as in some lowly occupation of little social standing. I doubt that is your intent.

As for the retail example above, when you say, “I’m not really qualified to do anything so I’ll just get a job in retail”, you’re betraying to anyone listening that you have a low opinion of those in this profession. It’s like your saying, “Working in retail doesn’t really require any specific skills; anyone could do it”. Your personal opinion may and probably will offend a large number of people who would gladly educate you on the required skills to work successfully in retail. Oh and by the way, the employers who hire people to work in retail positions are doing their very best to make sure that they avoid hiring people who are not going to invest themselves in the work and see it as some kind of ‘pay for doing precious little’ job.

Now I grant that in our various societies around the globe there are certain professions that have more prestige than others. In some cultures its Doctors, Bankers, Architects and Professors. In some countries you might find it’s the patriarchs; the mothers who are esteemed and held in high regard. General Labourers might not be on your personal list of valued professions, but without them consider how the life you lead would be impacted. Once again, there are many highly skilled and valued people toiling quite successfully who are general labour positions.

Look I know you probably don’t mean to put anybody down let alone yourself. Watch your language and listen to yourself for subtle words like, ‘just’ that creep into your everyday vocabulary.

Here’s an interesting thing to drive home this point. When we meet someone for the first time or the first few times, we instinctively start to gather all kinds of information on them in order to figure out who they are and how to interact with them. Our eyes take in their body language and appearance, our noses pick up on body odour or fragrances. Our ears pick up on tone of voice, language skills and words. Our brains process all this information and do it amazingly quickly. All of this information comes together and we have what we generally call an impression of someone. As we gather more information, our first impression is strengthened or adjusted.

Phrases that start, “I’m just a…” suggest to our brains many things; possibly that the speaker has low self-esteem and views themselves as being of less value. This gives an advantage to the listener in dominating the speaker and possibly in ways which can be harmful and controlling.

Something to think about. Just saying.

Give Up; No One Is Hiring

You might as well pack it in right now and save yourself a lot of rejection, disappointment and time; nobody is hiring. All the employers out there have all the people they need; they are entirely satisfied with the talent they’ve currently got and there’s no new businesses opening up where you live either. On top of that, some employers were actually over-staffed recently and they’ve made up their minds to let some of their people go which makes looking for a job yourself even harder. Just give up.

Oh and you were thinking maybe you’d look into getting a job for Christmas? Yeah you should think again because the malls have done all their hiring and everybody they offered a job to accepted it and is working out great being trained for the big holiday shopping season. You’re too late; next year start applying in October.

Looking at the calendar, you should probably start thinking about looking for work in January; after all it’s a new year and you can start fresh with a whole new attitude right? Actually, come to think of it, who hires anybody in January? Christmas help is no longer needed so all the businesses are actually letting their staff go and some close down so the owners can take their Florida vacations because business is so slow.

Yep, you should start thinking ahead to say, March or April when a lot of organizations typically do most of their hiring. Let’s see…that’s November, December, January, February, March; 5 months from now. 5 months? That’s like half a year almost! Who’s going to hire you after being out of work for half a year? Probably nobody; no, definitely nobody. By then your references are out of date or they will have moved and you won’t be able to track them down. Your skills will have become rusty too. Might as well forget it altogether.

Do you believe any of this? Unfortunately there are some that will word for word. Some will believe it simply because it’s on the internet so it must be true. Others will believe it because they genuinely don’t know any better. A few will believe it because an Employment Counsellor (and therefore someone who they view as credible and in-the-know) is saying it. Another group will want to believe it because they aren’t looking at all and will want to use what I’ve said up to now as their justification for not working.

What you believe becomes your truth; your experience, your reality.

Say something long enough to yourself and it can become what you truly believe and impede you from coming to experience the way things truly are. Essentially  you create your own vision of the world as you live it.

Now perhaps you’re thinking I’m nuts, I’m loony, I’m smoking something that’s disturbing my usual good thought process. Your rebuttal is,  “Ah but if it was only as easy as that I’d have a job in no time.”

You argue that had I wrote everyone is hiring, getting a job is easy, there are jobs everywhere, now is the best time to look for work etc. and people believed this, they’d all run out and get good jobs right away. Well no, I don’t believe that to be the case and I don’t believe many readers would either.

You see it’s easier to believe pessimistic news and views as real than it is to believe optimistic news and views as true.  People tend to be cautious and question the good. They say things like, “Really? I’m not so sure about that”, or “Well, I’ll have to think about that one before I believe it.” Tell the same people pessimistic news and they’ll more often agree right away with comments like, “Aha! I knew it all along” or “See I told you so, nobody is hiring and here’s a professional who agrees with me.”

Job searching can often be a drawn out frustrating experience and a large number of people looking for work do wonder where their next job will come from and how long will it take. If you’ve never questioned out loud, “Will I ever get hired?” at least once consider yourself lucky.

Don’t give up; don’t pack it in. You’ll be tempted more than once to give up and on the days when you’re really fighting and struggling with your energy and resolve, maybe you should put it aside for the day and do other things that you enjoy more. However, get back to the job search and go about it with a plan; a plan that if adhered to, removes your barriers to finding the job you want.

Look, people are hiring. Not all employees do work out so there’s always openings and not all those jobs get advertised in traditional ways. Talk with people, look into the organizations you’d like to work with and learn how they operate and what they value in the people they do hire for the jobs you are interested in.

Take a course, volunteer your skills and time, take a part-time job, learn on-line for free, brush up your keyboarding skills or upgrade your education. Be active not idle in other words.

I wonder how many readers only read the first 4 paragraphs and then stopped because it seemed so negative? Then again, I wonder how many stopped in the 5th paragraph because it started sounding positive?

 

 

Looking For Work? Then Consider…

I see it every day where I work; people standing in front of a board covered with job postings or browsing a job search website. Many of these apply for a job or two and then come back the next day to repeat the process and I must say with very few results. Sometimes of course they get interviews and a few even manage to land the jobs they applied to. Somehow or other though, the job doesn’t work out for both the person and the company who hired them.

Does this sound like your own experience? So what’s going wrong? Isn’t this how everyone looks for work today?

The most successful people; and by successful I mean the ones who find work they enjoy, can perform well at and who manage to maintain those jobs don’t go about looking for jobs as described above. They’ve taken the time to do a number of things that maximize their odds of getting hired faster and in jobs that fit better with their own needs. So here I’ve listed some things to at least consider doing to help you out; some you may be doing already and some which will require a change in your thinking and actions; that is if you’re open to trying.

1. Apply to jobs you’re actually qualified for based on the employer’s stated requirements. You’ll stop wasting your precious time – and theirs – going through the application process. You only have so much time and energy.
2. Research the salary and know ahead of an interview what you’re worth on the market and the amount of money you require in order to live within your means. Again, you’ll avoid a lot of grief applying, interviewing for and accepting employment only to quit when you get your first pay cheque if it’s substantially less than your bare minimum requirements.
3. Whether you’ve had a poor experience with a boss in a previous job or you’ve been fortunate enough to work for great ones, ask questions about the style of supervision you’d receive with the organization. Clues can be usually found if you read web pages where they mention company culture, what you can expect or promotional opportunities.
4. Get on a computer and figure out the distance you’d have to travel to and from your home to the job location and back home again. How much time will this add to your work day? If you use transit, how many transfers are involved? If you drive factor in any parking expenses to your budget.
5. Think about how long you might invest with your next employer. You might only wish to work for a couple of years until you retire, and therefore a contract job might be an ideal fit. Younger? Perhaps you’re really looking for a variety of experiences in order to figure out what you’d like to do on a longer term basis and so again a short-term position might give you that experience to add to your growing resume.
6. Most jobs involve some level of customer service and interaction with people. A growing number of people who are looking for work seem to have weak interpersonal skills, anxiety and wish to avoid jobs were conversations and frequent contact with other people occur often. If this is you, it appears you either have to increase your level of confidence and develop in this area like any other skill, or seek out jobs where people interaction is at a minimum in the first place.
7. The first few days, weeks and months on a job are critical evaluation periods where you’re ability to learn the job and perform it in the way that fits with the employers preferences are being examined. While some employer’s have extensive training programs and support built for new hires, others expect you to learn on the job and be up to speed quickly. Know the employer’s expectations.
8. Conflict resolution and problem-solving skills are highly sought after skills because quite frankly you’ll experience dilemmas and challenges be they with co-workers, supervisors, customers, clients, the public, couriers, tradespeople etc. Can you articulate or describe your own style of dealing with these kind of challenges in such a way that you solve problems but at the same time preserve relationships with the very people you find challenging?
9. Do yourself a huge favour and make a resume for each and every job you apply to rather than making multiple copies of resumes and handing them out. Although I and others have said this numerous times before, people aren’t getting the message and that’s a shame.
10. Considering the work you’ll be doing, will you find it personally meaningful and one way or the other how much of a factor is this to you? Presumably you’re spending up to 12 hours a day (some shift work positions) so think carefully.

Look, there’s a lot of things to consider if you really want your next job to be satisfying and if you want to be successful in both getting it and keeping it. The 10 things I’ve listed here is hardly a comprehensive list, but maybe 10 things is a more effective read than say a 10,000 word blog on the 157 factors you should consider; that would be entirely too overwhelming for anyone and pointless!

Bottom line readers; the more you educate yourself the better you’ll be suited to the job you’re after all around.

Who Do You Work For?

Go ahead and answer first. It’s a pretty straightforward question; 5 short words strung together: “Who do you work for?” Your answer is: ____________.

Did you put the name of your boss in the blank space? Possibly you chose the name of the organization or the company itself. Fewer of you might have even put your own name in the blank space.. Well that’s not where I’m going.

Suppose you have a wonderful boss; one who supports you, praises your accomplishments and gives you constructive feedback which accelerates your learning. You love working as a member of their team and you certainly are motivated to do your best because the boss does right by you. All this is wonderful and good, but do you work for them?

What happens when the boss is promoted, goes on extended sick leave, retires or leaves the organization? The purpose you had if you work for them is gone and you’re left wondering who you are working for now even though your job description hasn’t changed whatsoever. So is working for a boss or supervisor the best answer?

Let’s look at the organization as a possibly answer to the same question, “Who do you work for?” “I work for (company name).” The person or people at the top would love nothing better than their employees see themselves as working for the company. So if you gave this as your answer those owners are feeling good that you’ve come around to thinking the way they’d like best.

Yet think about it. To some a company is a building or collection of buildings. If a virtual company I’ll concede it’s not got bricks and mortar; but it is an entity which produces goods and / or services. The company may have a culture, values and principles, an attractive logo and a code of conduct; all of which you may find personally appealing and want to uphold as you go about your work. But seriously, do you want to spend years, possibly decades feeling you work ‘for’ a company? Do so if you wish of course.

Those who said they work for themselves don’t have to be self-employed people to feel this way. Every organization has people who are in it for themselves. They take their salary and benefits and seize moments of pride in the work they do, always getting the most out of the company they can to advance themselves and get more for themselves. When they no longer feel there’s anything to ‘get’ from the company they work for they stop being as productive and leave (a good thing for the company) or become complacent (not good for the individual or the company).

The answer I personally prefer is none of the above. I hope you don’t think it smug of me to differ from you if you answered any one of the above. I’m not some mystical guru who has a never-heard-before-now answer but I do think it could be a better choice and provide lasting motivation benefitting both you and the organization you work for. So who do I work for? I work for the people who use the goods and services I produce.

So as an Employment Counsellor working in a large municipal government organization in the Greater Toronto Area here in Ontario Canada, I work for the unemployed or underemployed social assistance recipients who walk in our doors. In the past I sold clothing and shoes but I never worked for the name on the front of the store but for the people who walked in. These I assisted and knowledgeably advised which in turn led them to make educated decisions with respect to their purchases.

This isn’t semantics and hardly a big deal. In my mind it’s a critical shift in thinking that puts the consumers wants and needs paramount in my own mind and therefore affects how I go about my work on a daily basis. Anytime I am faced with a decision to make, I am guided by the principle thought, “what is in the best interest of the person before me?” That working principle based on a philosophy of knowing who I work for makes it easy to never lose focus.

Look, I love my current boss, but I’ve had others that I didn’t admire as much and I’ve worked for a company that was all about how much money they could extract from their customers and they paid their staff the bare minimum they had to. I still thrived in those environments because I never lost sight of the fact that I didn’t work for them but rather for the consumers of those services; people.

Now you don’t have to share this working philosophy to be successful and it’s not a one-size-fits-all ideal to uphold. It works for me and it might just work for you too. Imagine yourself at a future job interview and the interviewer says, “I see you worked for (name of a company)” only to hear you reply…

“Actually I never worked for (name of the company)” pause for effect… “I certainly was employed by (name of the company) but I actually worked for the people who purchased their products and services.” Will you stand out from every other applicant? Yes, and in a meaningful way that will impress upon them your priorities and your motivation.

Aside from a great interview tactic, it’s just a philosophy of service; one that works for me.

 

 

Still Debating A Career? Beware!

It’s often been my experience that those people who have no idea what they are looking for in terms of employment are among the hardest people to help find work. You’d be forgiven if you think that a person who answers, “Anything” to the question, “What kind of work are you looking for?” would actually be among the easiest to help because they’ve said they’re looking for anything and therefore will do anything.

The problem of course is that once you suggest a job that they wouldn’t likely enjoy to test their assertion their typical reaction is, “No, I’m not doing that!” Another classic response to suggesting a job they are clearly not qualified for just to show them that they aren’t in fact looking for anything is, “Sure, as long as they train me.” Why oh why would they train you from scratch when there is a multitude of people in the marketplace who have the education, training and experience right now?

I’ve yet to meet a single person in all my years of employment counselling who is actually prepared to do, “anything.” When they look at potential jobs, their reasons for not applying are often any combination of the following: low pay, hard work, demeaning role, boring, too far away, don’t like the employer, someone they know didn’t work out at that company or the hours don’t agree with them.

So if people aren’t in fact prepared to do just any job, why is that so many actually say they are looking for anything in the first place?

I’ve come to believe that this willingness to do anything is really a person expressing their frustration at not having found work they’d be good at, have the skills to do and which they’d enjoy doing.

It’s possible that we’ve done too good at getting out the message that you should be passionate about your job; only do work you love, and that you should be paid well for doing it. While finding real meaning in the work we do each day and loving the job is certainly a great thing to strive for, not every successful person necessarily feels passionately about their job or career.

Pose the question, “Are you passionate about your work?” to a Letter Carrier, a Bank Teller, a dollar store Cashier or a recycling truck Driver and you might get an odd, bewildering look. Because we are so very different and perceive different values in work performed, you just might find a mixture of people who go about their day with passion and those that don’t in all professions. So while you and I might not work with passion if we were Telemarketers, there would certainly be some among the staff who do – and the same goes with any other job.

The problem for many however is trying to discover and ignite personal passion. How to find the single job that’s right for me personally; the one you I am destined to thrive in and find fulfillment in. As a matter of fact, this dilemma can paralyze a person into doing nothing for fear of choosing the wrong job or the wrong company fit and so they do nothing.

Sometimes the best advice is to throw yourself into a job and pay attention to what you like and dislike in the work you do, the people around you and give it a real chance by investing in yourself while working. There is no actual single job you were destined for in my belief; I think it quite possible that there are many jobs that would bring any one person fulfillment and happiness.

In my own case, I certainly never considered the job of an Employment Counsellor when I was in my late teens or early 20’s. I didn’t know they even existed as I’d had no exposure to them or the work they did back then. Over my lifetime I’ve worked in retail, recreation and social services; been self-employed, worked for a provincial government, non-profit and private for profit organizations. I’ve worked with children, teenagers, adults, seniors and those who deal with physical / mental health challenges and those that don’t. It took me a long time to discover the role I have now and all those past experiences of mine make me a more complete Employment Counsellor now. I’m where I needed to be but had I been waiting for the ‘passion’ light to be illuminated, I might still be unemployed myself.

No matter the jobs I’ve held, I did what I believed was my best in each one of them. I worked with the attitude that every job had something to teach me if I was open to the learning. No job was too demeaning but that didn’t mean I stayed content – but I did stay working.

My advice therefore if you’re searching to discover your own passion is to throw yourself into the workforce and gain experiences – plural intended. Reinvent yourself if you choose to put in the effort required to do so. Yes of course you want to ideally be in a job that pays well, you’re good at and one that makes use of your talents.

Find the line between taking the time to choose wisely and taking too long to make the perfect decision. You don’t need to commit to any one job or career forever; you owe it to yourself.

 

Goals, Change, Challenges; Getting What You Want

Ever thought about turning over a new leaf, starting a diet, getting a job; getting a better job? Maybe it was getting better marks in school, driving more responsibly, making smarter decisions or possibly minding your manners. I’m guessing you’ve made a fresh start in the past with respect to something in your life you wanted to improve upon.

Presumably we are motivated to consider changes because we want some kind of improvement in our lives; the things we experience in our day-to-day living. Our motivation could be triggered by a change in the expectations others have of us at work, someone we become romantically interested in who we’d like to impress and attract, why it could even be a health scare or impending financial crisis we want to avoid.

Seems to me that depending on the stimulus, we either get started immediately on bringing about the desired end result by enacting change or we set some arbitrary date to commence our change in behaviour. Hence we start our diet on January 1st, start exercising on the first of a month, or we choose our birthday to start to turn a new leaf.

Sometimes however we start right away. Should we get a speeding ticket, we might change our driving behaviour the second we are done with the roadside issuance of the ticket. We might visit the doctor and get some sobering diagnosis that forces us to re-think our behaviour and then we run out and join a gym the same day.

The decision of when to start a new set of behaviours and actions lies within us; we alone get to decide on whether to continue with our current practices or to alter what we’ve done in the past, how we’ve behaved, what we’ve said, shared etc. We also get the power to decide when to make these changes; once we have made the decision to change indeed.

Of course this is both good and bad news isn’t it? I mean it’s great to know that we have the power to alter our behaviours and actions by simply changing our thought process and committing to disciplining ourselves in ways that will ultimately bring about the goal(s) we wish to achieve. That’s obviously the positive. On the other hand, because of the very fact that we have this power of self-determination, it can be a bad thing if we know the result we wish to achieve and then we lack the willpower and commitment to actually do what’s required. Then guilt sets in; we may feel bad that we lack the stamina, the drive, the effort and the resolve.

The gulf between what we want and where we are makes us feel let down, disappointed in ourselves and consequently we lose confidence and may actually engage in self-destructive behaviour that runs contrary to what we’ve set as our goal(s). So the person who wants to lose weight and eat better but who fails early may become so discouraged they reach for potato chips and junk food seeking comfort in the very things they want to eliminate.

Here however we have to recognize that when we are seeking a change in behaviour to achieve desired results, we may have multiple false starts; we make a decision to do something and it doesn’t pan out the first time, the second time, maybe the sixth time. Each time we fail we have a new decision to make which is to either buckle down and try again or to concede and give up on making the changes necessary to reaching our goal.

Depending on the goal you’ve set for yourself the change in your behaviour may be overcoming years – maybe decades of what is now ingrained as your natural set of actions.

Now as change affecting your employment situation, (or lack of employment altogether), you may be one of those people who is currently looking at improving your employment situation. Your motivation might be an increase in your income, taking on more responsibility, new challenges, perhaps better benefits. Then too you might be wanting to get away from a toxic environment, an unpleasant boss, a nightmarish commute or a job you’ve come to no longer enjoy doing. In the case of no employment at present, you might want some sense of involvement; a sense of participating in the world around you, finding meaning in your day and obviously more income.

Trying to make the necessary changes in your actions and then commit to a daily schedule of activity that differs from what you are doing right now may be more than you can handle and you may as I say have setbacks and feel defeated. Stick with your plan, reminding yourself why you wanted change in the first place. Remember too that only you have the power to change your circumstances. While the economy, hiring and business practices continue to change, in the end we must take full responsibility for ourselves and doing whatever it is that we find meaning in.

Change could start January 1st, December 1st, next week, today; why even right now as you sit reading. Good questions to ask of yourself include:

“What do I really want?”

“What will I have to change in order to achieve what I want?”

“Is my vision of what I want bigger than the problems I’ll encounter in getting it?”