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#JobSearch : What to do if Suddenly Unemployed. Here are Some Things you Can do Right Way.

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When I was laid off from my sales job in my early 20’s, I was shattered.  It was a blessing but back then, I was terrified. I was living alone, paycheck to paycheck, and didn’t know anything about unemployment as I had been working since I was 15. I didn’t have savings, because I didn’t make much money and, you know, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴.

Today’s job seekers have such a wealth of resources available at their fingertips. Here are some things you can do right away:

FINANCES
✅ Apply for unemployment benefits. The sooner you do this, the sooner you’ll receive a check.
✅ Ask about health insurance. Will the company extend it? Check out healthcare dot gov for coverage.
✅ Look at your savings. Spend slowly, only pay monthly minimums. Ask for a loan, if possible.
✅ Talk to your lenders. Many will give you a two or three-month grace period before having to make a payment again.

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, LLc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, UK, & Mexico!  

We here at FSC want to thank each of corporate partners in the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment !

 

Article continued … 

RELATIONSHIPS

✅ 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀. Ask for a reference from your boss or co-workers before you leave. Not only will this help you while job searching, you’ll feel better as well.
✅ Reconnect with your network. Before you start sending out resumes, optimize your LinkedIn profile so your connections will know what you are up to when you reach out to them.

 

PLANNING

✅ Create or revise your career plan. Whether this came as a surprise or not, take time to develop your career plan. Ask yourself questions about what you want to do next. Do you want to stay in your current industry or try something new?

✅ Reward yourself when you reach milestones. When you’ve written a couple versions of your resume or cover letter, treat yourself to a nice dinner. When you’ve made the phone calls or reached out to your target companies, take a break and enjoy something you like to do.

 

ATTITUDE

✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲. Remember, this is only temporary. You’ll be working again before you know it.

✅ Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Continually talking about it can create a rut that can be difficult to get out of. Take a day to reflect on the situation, then move forward.

 

If you find yourself unemployed, take a breath! Just remember, most people who want jobs have them. You will eventually have a job. So, think through your finances, your network, our plan, and keep a positive attitude. But keep taking steps forward. And if you need professional help with your career documents or coaching, don’t be afraid to ask for it.

 

FSC Career Blog Author:  Erin Kennedy, MCD, CMRW, CPRW, CERW, CEMC, is a Certified Professional Resume Writer/Career Consultant, and the President of Professional Resume Services, named one of Forbes “Top 100 Career Websites”. Considered an influencer, she is consistently listed as a “Top Career Expert to Follow” on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

FSC Career Blog – April 6, 2021

#YourCareer : Build Your Brand Through LinkedIn Recommendations. Recommendations are Like an Online Review of Who you Are.

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I don’t know about you, but before I buy anything online, I read the reviews. I like to read a first-hand perspective from other buyers. Very often a review will change my mind. Think about that when it comes to LinkedIn recommendations.

Recommendations are like an online review of who you are, your work, etc. Receiving recommendations from colleagues, past supervisors, professors, etc. can act as a professional reference for your expertise, skills, and overall work ethic. It’s social proof for you.

But how do you go about receiving recommendations from your network? 

Here’s the Plan:

  1. Make a list of people you’ve had contact with at previous companies or projects.
  2. After you write it, send them an email telling them what a great job they did.
  3. The best time to do this is right after the event is done.
  4. Wait a week or so, then contact them and ask if they would be willing to write one for you.
  5. Be sure to send them a thank you if they follow through.

So now you have the plan, but how do you go about executing on it? 

What to Include in Your Recommendation

When you’re writing a LinkedIn recommendation for a connection, think about what you would want someone to say about you. Be specific when it comes to your experience with working with them or how you know what they bring to the table. Grab the reader’s attention with the first sentence and be very clear as to why you think they will succeed in any given endeavor. And never hesitate to ask your connection what information they would like you to include in the recommendation as well, so it’s tailored appropriately. It only needs to be 2-3 sentences, not a novel.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued … 

Requesting Recommendations

Now that you’ve written recommendations for your colleagues, you can feel more comfortable asking for one in return. You can do this through email or through, sending a personalized message or on the main page, under “More” you can ask for a recommendation. Don’t expect everyone to respond with one, but be sure to thank those that send them. 

Choose Your Recommendations Carefully

You may receive recommendations from your network you never requested. Think quality over quantity at this point. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to review your recommendations before they get posted on your profile. Don’t just accept every recommendation without reading them first. You want to make sure it matches your personal brand before accepting. On the other hand, you could harm your own reputation if you give out a recommendation every time you’re asked. Unless you worked closely with the person or know them very well, proceed with caution before writing one. Hiring managers and recruiters can tell a genuine recommendation from a fabricated one, so it’s not worth it just to make someone happy.

If managed properly, LinkedIn recommendations can increase your brand messaging and shore up your social proof. But live by the motto of “reciprocity”, giving back and sharing the love to your network in return.

FSC Career Blog Author:  Erin Kennedy, MCD, CMRW, CPRW, CERW, CEMC, is a Certified Professional Resume Writer/Career Consultant, and the President of Professional Resume Services, named one of Forbes “Top 100 Career Websites”. Considered an influencer, she is consistently listed as a “Top Career Expert to Follow” on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

#BestofFSCBlog : #ResumeWriting – Words to Watch in Professional #Resumes .

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In years of resume writing for folks in the commercial world, military transitioning to civilian, or for government services applicants there are certain words and phrases that are unnecessary or redundant.

Labels.  Commercial resumes do not need labels for information in the point of contact section at the top of the resume.  Everyone knows that 757-###-#### is a phone number. Everyone knows that FirstNameLastName@nameofISP.com is an email address, so why label them? Labels can potentially gum up the parsing engine in the Automatic Tracking System (ATS) when the system moves the data to a SQL database.

Jr., Sr., III, formal degree or certification initials (after name).  Unless your son or father are looking for a job in the exact same industry at the same time, don’t bother adding the Jr. or Sr. after your name on the resume.  You can add those initials to the official legal paperwork once you are offered employment.  All the certification designations and formal degrees listed after the resume owner’s name may muck up the ATS’s parsing process.  The exceptions to this general rule would be Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Juris Doctorate (J.D.), or Professional Engineers (P.E.), which are headhunted specifically for their degrees or certifications.

Stakeholder.  This cliché buzzword literally means everyone that touches a business or entity – employees, managers, stockholders, clients, and vendors.  No one has a task or responsibility that affects every single one of these with equal value.  Instead of noting tasks affecting ‘stakeholders,’ mention the results for those directly affected, e.g., direct supervisors or employees within a specific department.

Initiative. If one was tasked with an ‘initiative’ – this is a subjective word, meaning you had intentions to do something – but did you do it?  Instead, write that you directed, managed, supervised, or developed a project, and the “results were …”

On a weekly basis; on a daily basis.  This phrase can be reduced to one word – weekly or daily.  Resumes should not be focused on daily task minutiae – concentrate on the more important weekly or monthly task descriptions with direct relevance to the company’s strategic business goals and objectives.

Selected to serve.  Requested by. Military use these phrases to highlight a person uniquely chosen above others. But, they are passive wording.  Instead, use an active verb to showcase what was done ‘after being chosen’ for a specific task or responsibility, e.g., directed a (project) for (supervisor’s job titles) resulting in (name the goals reached of the task assigned).

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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In regards to.  This is a wordy, space filler phrase.  Don’t use ‘regarding’ as a replacement word, either.  Alternatively, describe what was done specifically.  For example: “Prepare memos for (ABC) in regards to …” can be replaced with:  “Create reports for (ABC information) submitted to (XZY) for monthly subcommittee meetings.”

Executed.  Avoid dangling modifiers.  Once client had used the word to describe what she had done to support women via a project she managed. But, the words used after ‘executed’ indicated she had ‘killed them’ within the sentence meaning and structure. Ensure the words following the descriptor ‘executed’ are carefully constructed to indicate working relationships to a project or task.

Typing – XX wpm. I see resumes noting the job seeker’s speed for typing (XX wpm) or an ability to use 10-key calculators.  This applicant skill is fine for clerical, receptionist, or data-entry jobs. For those with aspirations for supervisory or management jobs, these basic skills are assumed. The job seeker should be able to type fast enough to compile memos, letters, and write policies or reports at a productive speed. Avoid minor details and save the white space for more important and relevant information about skills and experience.  It is better to describe unique technical and computer skills for a competitive advantage.

Be careful about over-wording your resume or demonstrating a lack of conciseness.  The tighter the resume, the richer the wording, and the more impressive your experience and skill sets will read.

FSC Career Blog Contributor: Dawn D. Boyer, Ph.D., owner of D. Boyer Consulting – provides resume writing, editing, publishing, and print-on-demand consulting. Reach her at: Dawn.Boyer@me.com or visit her website at www.dboyerconsulting.com.

Bio: Dawn D. Boyer, Ph.D., has been an entrepreneur and business owner 20+ years, with a successful business in her own consulting firm (CEO) in Virginia Beach and Richmond, VA.  Her background experience is 24+ years in the Human Resources field, of which 12+ years are within the Federal & Defense Contracting industry. She is the author of 750+ books on the topics of business, human resources research, career search practice, women and gender study, genealogy and family lineages, quotes for motivation and self-improvement, and Adult Coloring Books.  Her books can be found on Amazon.com under Dawn D. Boyer, Ph.D.

 

 

FSC Career Blog | June 30, 2019

Your #Career : 8 Ways Getting a Job Has Changed In The Last Decade …The Job Market is Perpetually Evolving, which Means if you’ve Been Happily Employed for the Past Decade, it’s Safe to Say that Things are Different Now.

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The job market is perpetually evolving, which means if you’ve been happily employed for the past decade, it’s safe to say that things are different now. The way people look for jobs, the interview process and what employees look for are all slightly different now, although your time-tested job hunting and interviewing skills will still serve you well. To help you navigate these changes, Glassdoor is hosting a free livestream on Wednesday, April 25th from 6-7 PM PT.

Read on to get a sneak peek at some of the major ways searching for a job has changed in the past ten years, plus how you can work these shifts to your advantage.

1. It’s Easier to Find Exactly What You’re Looking for

Sure, online job postings were around ten years ago, but job sites have evolved in some major ways. In addition to having a greater volume of postings available online, you can now filter your search — not just for basics like job title and location, but also for salary ranges, date of posting and company size — using tools like Glassdoor’s job search feature. These filters allow you to avoid wasting time sifting through job descriptions that aren’t relevant to you, so you can make the most of your job hunting time.

How to Find a Job You’ll Want to Stay at for Good

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. Transparency Is a Priority

2017 was a prime year for whistleblowing at major corporations. While this might not seem relevant to job hunting, the spirit of transparency absolutely crosses over into this arena. According to Glassdoor’s “What’s Ahead for Jobs? Five Disruptions to Watch in 2018” report, it’s likely that more companies will begin to implement transparent hiring practices in order to allow potential hires to feel more clued in during the hiring process. Johnson & Johnson is one of the first companies to make this kind of system a reality, using a new hiring platform that allows candidates to track their application from start to finish, suggests next steps and provides helpful information about the company and role.

Of course, this also means that transparency is expected from candidates, who should be prepared to talk about their reasons for seeking a new job and the challenges they’ve encountered in past roles. And while embellishing your resume was never exactly encouraged, it’s an especially poor moment to try that tactic given today’s climate.

3. Being Well-Informed Is Crucial

Another major trend noted in the disruptions report is that recruiters are especially looking for candidates who have researched the company and are well-informed about the role and the industry they’re applying to work in. One Glassdoor survey found that employers prioritized informed candidates above all others, and that being a high-quality candidate essentially means being an informed one. How does this translate? Use your application and resume to show how much you know about your industry and the job roles you’re applying for, and you’re more likely to see heightened interest in your applications.

4. You Can Job Search (& Apply) Right on Your Phone

Yes, it’s really that easy. That means you can work on your job hunt while you’re standing in line at the grocery store or during your train commute. Five minutes here and there really add up, so this can work to your advantage if you’re searching for a job but have limited free time.

If you have your profile complete on Glassdoor, for example, you can utilize the Easy Apply feature, which allows you to submit an application without leaving the site or even uploading additional documents — a feature that isn’t available on all job sites. And research suggests that mobile job searching will be even hotter in the years to come. One 2015 Pew Research survey found that 28 percent of Americans have used their mobile phone for job searching.

5 Apps That’ll Transform Your Career

5. Your Skills Matter More Than Your Current Job Title

When updating your resume, it’s important to include not just the names of where you’ve worked and what your job titles have been, but also keywords that highlight your actual skills. Not only does this help recruiters pinpoint what you can actually do, but it also increases the chances of your resume making it to an actual human’s eyes when you apply for a job online. Many large companies utilize resume-scanning software that searches for keywords pertinent to each role, only passing the most relevant resumes along to HR for further review.

Plus, if there are skills you use in your job now that you enjoy using, you can use those as keywords for your job searches. This way, you might be able to find jobs with titles you hadn’t imagined for yourself, but in reality are a great fit for what you’re interested in doing next.

6. Hiring Is Hot — & Not Just for Tech

You might think that the only way to find a new job these days is to become a computer whiz. It’s true that Glassdoor’s 2018 disruptions report found that healthcare and tech jobs are steadily increasing. If you work in either of those industries, you’ll have plenty to choose from in terms of potential roles. These trends probably aren’t too surprising, but what’s especially promising for job hunters in 2018 is that more traditional job roles (think: construction laborers, restaurant waiters and truck drivers) are also in higher demand. While a decade ago it looked like computers, the internet and AI would make traditional job roles redundant, they’re actually on the rise. The takeaway? Don’t let a lack of technical skills discourage you from looking for something new.

7. Feedback Has Become a Major Focus

You may have already experienced that annual performance reviews are becoming less popular, with many companies choosing to do away with them entirely. Now, many businesses are opting to encourage feedback on a more frequent basis through regular check-ins and structured learning opportunities. Once you make it to the interview stage, showing you’re comfortable with receiving feedback, learning new skills and making changes to the way you work based on your organization’s current needs can set you apart from the rest of the candidate pool.

8. You Might Not Have to Leave Your Current Company to Try Something New

Another rising trend, according to Glassdoor’s disruption report, is “role experimentation” programs. While only a few companies have formal programs that allow current employees to try out a completely new job role and eventually transition over to that role full-time (provided it’s a good fit), it’s expected that more will become keen on the idea.

Research shows that one of the key reasons people leave their jobs is that their role no longer fits their skills or interests, and businesses are wising up to the fact that in order to keep their most talented employees — who naturally want to grow and change in their roles — they’ll have to be a little more flexible. If your company doesn’t have a formal program for career changers, check in with your HR department about what company policy on the matter is. You might be surprised by how open they are to role-switching.

 

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Your #Career : The Emotionally Intelligent Way To Cold-Email People (If You Must)…People Don’t Love being Contacted Out of the Blue. So you Need an Opening Line that Puts your Recipient Front and Center. Here are Five Ways to Craft One.

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I get about 10 cold emails a day. Most are from PR firms who know I’m a Fast Company contributor and want me to write about their clients. If the first line fails to draw me in, I hit delete; if I like the sound of it, I’ll read on. Same goes for cold phone calls from organizations pitching financial advice or seeking money for a charity: That opening statement is everything.

How do you create an opening–whether for an email or a phone call–that makes the person at the other end want to hear more? The answer is simple: flip your focus from yourself (or whatever it is you’re offering or asking for) to the person you’re reaching out to.

The fact is that nobody particularly likes to field cold emails or cold calls. But with a more emotionally intelligent opening, you can at least get them to listen. Here’s how.

Related: Do These 5 Emotionally Intelligent Things Within 5 Minutes Of Meeting Someone

NEVER DIVE RIGHT IN

It’s understandable that you want to get to the point–and explain why you’re writing or calling. But an opening line focused on your own agenda is likely a turnoff to the other person.

“The past six months has changed the way we talk about and understand gender equality in the workplace,” one recent PR pitch began. Okay, I thought, but why are you sharing this with me?Another publicity email opened with, “As we all know, millennials have grown up surrounded by technology, iPhones practically glued to their hands.” If “we all know” it already, what’s new here? Plus, I’m not a millennial, so why are you contacting me? (My editor, who is a millennial, isn’t too keenon millennial trend pieces, by the way.)

Some writers open with surprising facts about their subject, hoping the reader will care. One recent email began: “$46 billion a year is spent on leadership training, but a recent Gallup survey showed that 82% of employees find their leaders ‘uninspiring.’” Another began with a whopping 58-word sentence about the app the writer wanted me to profile (not something I do), but I’d had enough of that topic by the time I’d reached the end of the line.

The point here isn’t to complain about the bad practices of the PR industry. It’s that introductions to people you don’t know should never launch right into something abstract, newsy, or conceptual. Think about it: If you were at a networking event, would you begin a conversation with a content-rich disquisition on your area of expertise? Not if you wanted to engage your listener! The same wisdom applies to cold emails and phone calls.

Related: Mentorship And The Art Of The Cold Email

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

BEGIN WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Instead, open with a focus on your reader or listener. Make it personal, so they’ll feel you’re really are talking to them–rather than delivering a generic pitch. These are five emotionally intelligent ways to do that in your very first line:

1. Mention a mutual interest. You might begin your email, “Good morning, Frank. I’m writing to you because I know you’re interested in the way leaders communicate, and that’s a focus that my client’s company shares.”

2. Refer to a shared contact. Our working lives are built on relationships, so if there’s a network connection you share, point that out to the stranger you’re reaching out to–you’ll seem a little less unfamiliar. Suppose you’re the head of a consulting business, and you are calling a potential CEO client. You might begin: “Good morning, Barbara. I’m calling because Ashanti Masterton told me you have an ambitious speaking agenda, and she thought you’d be interested in how my firm might support you.” These mutual ties will often get your foot in the door.

Related: Six Ways To Write Emails That Don’t Make People Silently Resent You

3. Show you know something about them. My antennae would go up if I got a letter that began: “I know your work as a columnist for Fast Company, and I’m fascinated by your writing on emotional intelligence in the workplace.” Likewise, if you’re extending a speaking invitation, you might begin, “I heard your recent talk on team building, and I can’t think of a better message for my team. Would you join us for our annual retreat, and share that same message?”

4. Convey respect or appreciation for what they’ve accomplished. Suppose you’ve decided you want to be mentored by a senior coworker who doesn’t know you. Your first step might be to send an email that opens with, “I’ve admired you from a distance for your ability to break through the ‘glass ceiling’ in our industry, and I’d love to grab coffee to hear a little more about your career experiences.”

5. Say what’s in it for them. Maybe you’re job searching and want to talk with the head of HR about opportunities. Cold pitching about job opportunities is always a crapshoot (it may work better for informational interviews), but you stand the best chance with an opening like, “I know your firm hires some of the best talent around, and I wonder if you’d be interested in the strong communications experience I’d bring.” I tried this approach early in my career when I cold-called the HR chief for a large telecom company; it landed me a job.

The way you open will determine how things conclude. So always start by referring directly to your listener or reader–their needs, interests, and priorities. Yes, that may mean getting to your point a moment or two later, but it’s the only way you’ll be granted the opportunity to do so in the first place.

FastCompany.com | March 18, 2018 | BY JUDITH HUMPHREY 4 MINUTE READ

#Leadership : Michelin finds Newest #Recruits in High School… Company Launches First-of-its-Kind #ApprenticeProgram

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Five young men signed on the dotted line last Friday, marking the start of their careers with Michelin.

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Michelin North America Chairman and President Scott Clark, center, signs Jacob Tucker’s papers for an apprenticeship program. Johnathan Harper, 16, left, is home-schooled and started his apprenticeship a month ago.

They ranged in age from 15 to 17, and they are the first class of high-school apprentices to work at a Michelin plant in North America. Michelin North America Chairman and President Scott Clark, on the job since Jan. 1, welcomed the teenagers personally during a ceremony at the Enoree Career Center just north of Greenville.

“This apprenticeship program is the first of its kind,” Clark said. “This is the first one, so the goal is to do this in other facilities like this all around the state where we have manufacturing plants. We could double, triple it.”

Mauldin High 10th-grader Iquavious Lewis, 15, said he’s known since the fall that he would be in the first class of Michelin’s Youth Apprentice program. He and fellow mechatronics students at Golden Strip Career Center had to take an aptitude test to qualify. Lewis has made all A’s in mechatronics.

Lewis said he’s not scared: “I’m excited!”

Clark and Wilton Crawford, Michelin’s plant manager at the US1 plant in Greenville, stressed the company’s need to reseed the aging workforce — and the difficulty of doing that during a period of full employment. All five high schoolers will be working at Crawford’s plant.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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The unemployment rate in South Carolina dipped below 4 percent at the close of 2017. Workforce participation rates have continued to decline, meanwhile, because of an aging shift in the state’s demographics, experts say.

“We have to be very creative and very aggressive,” Clark said.

In addition to its new apprenticeship program for high-schoolers and its longstanding Tech Scholars program, which currently trains, and bankrolls the education of, about 60 college-level apprentices, Michelin has started recruiting adult workers from other industries, such as hospitality. Clark also described a pilot program in Columbia for ex-offenders.

“We are working with a company that is beginning to retrain people who have had some issues with the law, let’s say, but are reformed,” Clark said, “and we are giving them an opportunity to explore careers as well.”

Michelin has about 9,000 employees across South Carolina — the vast majority of whom are direct hires for the French tire maker. Clark said his company is the largest manufacturing employer in the state. (BMW’s 10,000-plus workforce includes many contract workers, especially in its warehousing operations.) The high-school apprentice program takes teens who are midway through their junior year and has them continue to work at the plant through the end of their senior year. Ideally, Clark said, students will go on to enroll in a mechatronics or related program at an area technical college, where they can take advantage of the free tuition and expenses offered through Michelin’s Tech Scholars program.

He said he foresees doubling the Tech Scholars program in coming years.

“These students, if they get through this apprenticeship program with Michelin, and then can go to a two-year technical school, they can come out of school making $54,000, $55,000 a year,” Clark said.

The high school program is carried out under a provision that allows workers under the age of 18 to enter a plant so long as they are simultaneously enrolled in an academic program linked to the work.

Lynn Tuten, the work-based learning coordinator for Golden Strip Career Center, said she will be in touch with the boys regularly to make sure they are getting everything they need and are showing up to work on time, among other things. All five teens are enrolled in a mechatronics course at Golden Strip.

“This is real-world stuff,” Tuten said. “They can see if it’s something they really want to do.”

Four of the five teens are Mauldin High School students, and the fifth — Johnathan Harper — is home-schooled. Two of the young men started working at Michelin part time about a month ago — earning $10 an hour for nine hours a week — and the others will start this summer, working full-time hours until school starts again in August.

“We build and repair parts in the factory; we get them working and back on the line,” Harper said.

His mother, Terri Harper, has homeschooled her son all his life and said he might very well enroll at Greenville Tech and eventually get a four-year engineering degree.

“I think it’s great that Michelin is working with the career center to give these kids a jumping off point. They work so hard,” Harper said, adding that she liked the idea of her son landing on his feet career-wise.

“The salary does matter because somebody has to take care of his mama someday.”

US1’s Crawford said that during his time as a site leader in the United King dom, he met many workers who had been with Michelin for more than 40 years — starting out as 16-year-old apprentices who worked their way up through manufacturing. These included two plant managers and a man who is now the head of the technical team for North America.

“He’s 64, and he’s got 48 years with the company,” Crawford said, pointing to the high school students seated next to him, “and he stood right where you are many years ago. It’s phenomenal to see that.”

Michelin North America is an $11 billion company with plants across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico. Some of the biggest ones are in the Upstate: US1 at Donaldson, which makes car tires, opened in 1975, and Anderson County has plants making rubber and earthmoving-equipment tires.

Author: Anna B. Mitchell | Greenville News USA TODAY NETWORK – SOUTH CAROLINA | March 13, 2018

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#Leadership : #WorkPlace Evolution- Your #TeamMembers Need To Disagree More. Here’s How To Help Them…You Do Want Everyone to Get on Board with Whatever Decision they Ultimately Reach Together. You just Don’t Want that to Happen Right Away.

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The most effective teams have regular, intense debates. The ability to disagree without causing offense is a crucial precondition for good communication and problem-solving. Yet whenever we ask the managers we speak with what they’d prefer–a team that’s almost always harmonious or one that has conflicts and arguments–the vast majority vote for the latter.

Not only is harmony overrated, but it undermines innovative thinking, particularly the kind that diverse work cultures are supposed to generate. Rather than encourage your team members to come to agreements quickly, effective managers do the reverse: They help their teams disagree–productively.

GROUND RULES FOR HEALTHY DEBATE

Teammates want the opportunity to challenge each other. As long as discussions are respectful and everyone gets a chance to contribute equally, most people thrive on this kind of debate, finding it not only intellectually stimulating but also helpful for unearthing the best solutions.

What’s more, teams typically feel more bonded and more effective when they have challenging discussions regularly, trading a wide range of ideas and perspectives. That’s even true when those debates get a little heated. After all, this is the whole point of diversity and inclusion–it’s about bringing in people whose points of view differ in order to spark new ideas and ways of looking at things. But facilitating these conversations takes some ground rules, like these:

  • Treat each other with respect, and challenge the position, not the person.
  • Listen to one another carefully before responding, and ask for clarification if needed. Gather facts; don’t jump to conclusions.
  • Come to the debate ready to present facts and data, not suppositions.
  • Do not compete to “win.” Debates are a chance to find and test the best ideas and to learn, not to score points.
  • After the team makes a decision collaboratively, everyone needs to respect and support it, even if they have their own reservations.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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SIX QUESTIONS FOR FACILITATING SMART DEBATES

Mark Beck is the CEO of JELD-WEN, a global window and door manufacturer with 20,000 employees. He believes it’s leaders’ jobs to step in and protect people when things get heated–which they sometimes still do, even after laying down solid guidelines.

In some cases, Beck says, he might take the side of a person whose view is under assault, even if he personally doesn’t necessarily agree with it. This isn’t gamesmanship, it’s to show that the person is offering up a reasonable way of thinking that should be respected. “The attacker usually steps back a little and softens their tone when a leader does that,” he told us.

And, Beck adds, managers must take the lead in getting everyone to participate by posing the right questions. Here are six great questions we’ve heard effective team leaders like Beck throw out in debates:

  1. That’s a good thought. Could you walk us through the process you went through to reach that conclusion?
  2. What rules should we be breaking here?
  3. What’s our biggest risk in this, and what’s our fallback position?’
  4. What if we did nothing at all–what would happen then?
  5. Are we missing or forgetting anything?
  6. Aside from earning us a profit, how would this decision change lives and make the world a better place?

Beck said that smart questions can encourage active debate when a team has plateaued or is stuck in a safe zone. At times of such inertia, he’ll tell his direct reports, “The only way you can get your topic on the management-team agenda is to frame it out as a question, and collectively we have to come up with an answer.”

CHANGING THE QUESTION

These six questions aren’t the end-all-be-all, though. Sometimes you need to reframe a question you’ve already asked and revisit it from a new angle.

The Best Team Wins: The New Science Of High Performance by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

When Beck arrived at JELD-WEN, the company’s focus was on getting ready to issue an initial public offering (IPO). He changed the question to, “How do we get ready to become a Fortune 500 company?” JELD-WEN did wind up issuing a very successful IPO in 2017, “but,” says Beck, “that’s been because we were focused on building a Fortune 500 company,” he said. “If we had just focused on the IPO and seen that as the finish line, I don’t think our story would have resonated with investors in the same way.”

And ironically enough, because his teams stick to respectful ground rules while they disagree, Beck estimates that they’re able to come to a consensus about 99% of the time. “If it’s done right, there’s usually no need for a leader to have to make a decision–it’s become obvious to everyone.”

And from there, Beck says, his job is actually pretty easy: “I might just say, ‘Let me summarize what I think we are all saying’.”

This article is adapted from The Best Team Wins: The New Science of High Performance by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. Copyright © 2018 by Gostick & Elton, IP, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

 

FastCompany.com | March 5, 2018 | BY ADRIAN GOSTICK AND CHESTER ELTON 4 MINUTE READ

 

 

Your #Career : #Networking – 9 Questions the Most Interesting People Ask to Cut through Small Talk…Early in my Career, One of my Biggest Fears Walking into a #NetworkingEvent to Schmooze or Meeting Someone for a #BusinessLunch was Boring the Other Person to Tears in Conversation.

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  • Showing curiosity in someone is the fastest way to establish a connection with them while conversing.
  • To skip past the small talk and have a meaningful interaction, asking pointed, unique questions.
  • “What excites you right now?” and “What’s the most important thing I should know about you?” are two examples.


I remember early in my career, one of my biggest fears walking into a networking event to schmooze or meeting someone for a business lunch was boring the other person to tears in conversation.

I didn’t want to be the windbag who dragged on forever, so I learned to be brief, to the point, and actually listen to the other person with all my being. I eventually avoided the mistake of talking about polarizing topics like politics or race, and learned to stay neutral, positive, and upbeat.

I began to tune in to my body language and voice tone to avoid sounding monotone, or looking like a bump on a log. I trained my brain to show emotions, laugh at people’s jokes, smile when they smile, and make light of awkward situations.

The biggest lesson I learned in conversations with others

But the biggest lesson for ensuring that I was being an interesting person who drew others in came down to asking the right questions. I found that this is what triggered authentic responses in the other person.

By showing curiosity about someone’s story, accomplishments, passions, or interests, the law of reciprocity usually kicked in, and I had my turn to shine. There was a bonus attached to this strategy: Persuasion increased, which helped me steer the conversation in the direction I wanted it to go.

But here’s the key: If you’re in a conversation at a work-related function or meeting someone to talk business for the first time, your best move is not to ask work- or business-related questions; it’s to discover common ties with that person that will steer the conversation back to the “work stuff,” but with a deeper connection.

In other words, get to know that person! To really exercise persuasiveness and make a quick connection that may have mutual benefits (and possibly make a new friend), I’ll leave you with these questions. Granted, some may not be your ideal, icebreaking conversational starters, so use your best judgment when and where to use them to deepen the conversation.

David Burkus, best-selling author of three books and an award-winning podcaster, has contributed the first four questions on this list from an interesting article he wrote for Harvard Business Review. The others come from my own personal favorites and what other entrepreneurs and great conversationalists recommend.

1. What excites you right now?

As Burkus explains it, this question can go in many directions (work life, personal life, etc.) with a wide range of possible answers that may overlap into your life or work, which will open up the conversation further. And asking it allows for the other person to share something that he or she is passionate about.

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. What are you looking forward to?

Similar to the last one, but this is more forward-looking, which, says Burkus, allows for the other person “to choose from a bigger set of possible answers.”

3. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you this year?

Same technique as the previous two, but this one goes back in time for the other person to reflect on something pivotal that may have changed the course of his or her life. It also opens up a wealth of answers to choose from, which may overlap into some of your own areas of interest or expertise for further discussion.

4. What’s the most important thing I should know about you?

Because it can come across as a little direct, this is certainly not your first question, and it may not even be your third or fourth, but it “gives the broadest possible range from which they can choose,” says Burkus. Use it in context, listen for clues, and wait for the right timing.

5. What’s your story?

One of my personal favorites, this is open-ended enough to trigger an intriguing story—a journey to a foreign country, meeting a famous person, getting funded for the startup of your dreams, a special talent used for making the world a better place, etc. It’s a question that immediately draws in the other person and lets him or her speak from the heart.

6. What is one of your defining moments?

This is another great question that invites the speaker to share on a deeper level, which builds momentum and rapport quicker. Obviously, a few casual questions before it helps set the mood for hearing about a profound moment or transition in that person’s life.

7. Why did you choose your profession?

This assumes that, at some point, you dropped the mandatory “What do you do?” question. As a follow-up, it’s a question that will reveal multiple layers of someone’s journey. It speaks to people’s values, what motivates them, and whether their work is their calling. It may also trigger a different, more thought-provoking response: Some people aren’t happy in their jobs. By asking, you may be in the position to assist or mentor a person through a career or job transition.

8. What are you currently reading?

You may have the same authors and subjects in common, which will deepen your conversation. Also use this question to ask for book recommendations. You may find the conversation going down the path of exploring mutual book ideas to solve a workplace issue or implement a new business strategy.

9. How can I be most helpful to you right now?

To really add the most value to a conversation, once a level of comfort has been established, ask the other person how you can be most helpful to him or her, whether personally or professionally. You’ll be amazed how pleasantly surprised people get by that thoughtful gesture, and how responsive they are in their answer. Your genuine willingness, no strings attached, to make yourself useful to others leads to more interesting, engaging, and real conversations that may lead to future opportunities.

Remember, when you approach another person in conversation, the skill you want to use right off the bat is to immediately show sincere interest in that person. This will pave the way for a smooth conversation that can go places.

Whatever question you decide to use, the important thing is to always ask open-ended questions and to avoid work-related questions or business questions until much, much later in the conversation. You’ll be surprised by how seamless the transition is to discussing business, conducting a sales pitch, or exploring partnerships once both parties are into each other. Try it, and let me know what you think.

 

Businessinsider.com | February 24, 2018 |  Marcel Schwantes, Inc.

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Your #Career : Here’s What the Perfect #Resume Looks Like…. We Combed through Some of our Best #ResumeAdvice & Compiled it into One Infographic to Give you an Easy-to-Follow Outline for a Resume that will Wow #Recruiters & Hopefully, Land you the #Job of your Dreams.

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Resumes are essential to the job search, but let’s be honest: creating one is not exactly anyone’s idea of a good time. With so many conflicting pieces of advice, you might feel like you don’t know where to start or what to do. But don’t worry — this time, we’ve done the heavy lifting.

We combed through some of our best resume advice and compiled it into one infographic to give you an easy-to-follow outline for a resume that will wow recruiters and hopefully, land you the job of your dreams.

Ready for a resume revamp? Read on below!

anatomy of resume

1. Design Matters: Don’t go overboard with intricately decorated templates. Look for sufficient white space, margins of at least .7 inches, and a font size no smaller than 11 pt.

2. Be Reachable: Make it easy for recruiters to reach out to you by providing your contact info near the header.

3. Show Off Your Skills: Don’t make recruiters hunt for the most critical information on your resume — include a table of your key soft and hard skill sets up top. Make sure your highlighted skills show why you’re a good fit for the job — all the better if these are keywords from the job description.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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4. List Your Experience: This section should include each company you’ve worked for, your title, the dates you worked there, and several bullet points that describe your key accomplishments and responsibilities.

5. Quantify Your Experience:  Whenever you can, use concrete data points — it helps provide recruiters with the scope and context of your work, and demonstrates how you contributed to the bottom line.

6. Include Other Positions: Don’t be afraid to include positions that aren’t directly related to the one you’re applying for, especially if you have limited work experience. You can still use it to demonstrate the skills and qualities you want highlighted.

7. Get the Grade: Many jobs require degrees or certifications, so make sure to list yours. GPA is optional, but may be worth including if you’ve graduated recently with high marks.

8. The Extra Stuff: Add some color to your resume with a short catch-all ‘Additional Experience’ section at the end. Include clubs/organizations, volunteer experience, awards you’ve won, and even interesting hobbies or activities.

9. Keep It Concise: Limit your resume to 1-2 pages at the most.

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Your #Career : I Used A “Career Map” To Get My #DreamJob –Here’s How…Sometimes All it Takes is some Good Planning & Patience to Pull yourself Out of a Serious Job Slump.

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Due to an unfortunate coffee mishap, I spent the holidays setting up a new computer and frantically trying to extract documents from my old, caffeine-soaked laptop. While in the middle of my rescue mission, I stumbled upon a career map that I’d created four years ago.

Making a career map wasn’t my brilliant idea, but it helped me get out of a serious job slump. At that time, I was working as an account executive at an ad agency and hated it. I’d only taken the job for two reasons: I was turning 26 and couldn’t stay on my dad’s health insurance, and I wanted to be a copywriter, so being in close proximity to some would magically transform me into one–right?

Not so much.

My brother recommended working in the industry I wanted firstand worry about getting a writer position once I had more experience–hence, the advertising job. But things were moving a little too slowly for my liking. I’d been at the agency for nine months and wasn’t any closer to becoming a writer. Deflated, I shared my woes with a coworker. She suggested making a “career map,” an outline of steps to take me to the next level.

Related: I Used Design Thinking To Reinvent My Career–Here’s Why It Worked 

She explained further: You write down where you want to be in your career three to six months from now, one year from now and five or more years from now. Then, for each timeframe, you identify the steps to achieving the next milestone. So, for example, If your career goal is to take the Iron Throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, you might write “Acquire fleet of ships” as an action step. Here’s what mine looked like:

THREE TO SIX MONTHS

1. Ask HR to consider me for a copywriting position.

Action steps:

  • Create portfolio of three to five pieces
  • Schedule meeting with HR

2. Network and research.

Action steps:

  • Talk to at least three professional writers to get insight into the profession
    • Name 1
    • Name 2
    • Name 3
  • List of questions to ask:
    • How did they get their start?
    • How would they recommend getting started today?
    • Are they happy with their career, compensation, work/life balance?
    • What’s a reasonable starting salary to ask for?
    • Do they know any other writers who would be willing to connect?

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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ONE YEAR

3. Take at least one course in copywriting/writing/building a portfolio.

Action steps:

  • Research what class to take, estimated tuition
  • Start setting money aside for tuition

4. Get copywriting job at another agency or company if I don’t get offered a position at current company.

Related: A 6-Step Plan To Figure Out Your Next Move 

THREE TO FIVE YEARS

5. Work at a major agency or company in New York City.

6. Gain freelance experience.

Writing all this down provided me with much-needed clarity and actionable steps to follow. Best of all, it worked! When I stumbled across my old career map, I realized that I had accomplished every goal, even those as far out as five years. So I set out to write one for the next five years–and this time around, my goals don’t feel as daunting.

If you want to create your own career map, here are a few things I learned along the way that could help make the process easier.

Get as granular as you want. Back when I was complaining to my coworker, her first piece of advice to me was: Ask for the job you want. Groundbreaking, I know. But it had never occurred to me to simply ask HR to consider me for a different role. That became my first milestone.

Related:My Quarter-Life Career Crisis Didn’t Kill Me, It Taught Me How To Pivot 

Prioritize what’s important to you. For example, I value a good work/life balance, so I included that on my career map as something to inquire about while doing research. I love writing, but I love a lot of other stuff, too. What gets you excited about a job can differ from person to person, so tailor your map to fit what matters most.

Don’t let fear of rejection stop you. I got turned down for the account executive role the first time I interviewed. I was devastated–I really wanted to get my foot in the door. So I emailed my contact at the agency to ask why I didn’t get the job, and for advice on how to kill it in future interviews. Turns out, the main reason they didn’t offer me the position was because they thought I wasn’t interested! But my contact was impressed that I asked for feedback–he called me back in, and I was hired shortly afterward.

That story just serves as a reminder not to assume that what you want is too lofty. Sure, you may need to account for a detour or two on your map, and you often learn more from the things you did wrong than right. But your dreams are your own to pursue–you just need to break down the steps it’ll take to achieve them.

FastCompany.com | January 23, 2018 | BY RITA BRODFUEHRER—LEARNVEST 4 MINUTE READ