Archive for December, 2009

Archives for Career Advice

Have you been distressed lately about the economy, your job or your boss? If so, you wouldn’t be alone.

When times are toughest, most of us tend to wait out the storm rather than seek out other, perhaps even riskier opportunities.

In his new book, Bulletproof Your Job, author Stephen Viscusi says that your “primary objective” at work is to protect your job because it is “your most valuable asset.”

Forget the financial crisis; the issue is more primal than that. “Here’s the cold hard truth: If you don’t click with your boss, all that merit and pedigree won’t get you anywhere when your job is on the line,” writes Viscusi. “What really matters is what your boss thinks about you.”

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Archives for Career Advice

Foreign assignments often seem exotic and enticing, especially to workers who have studied the local language and customs. But despite everyone’s good intentions these critical career moves often fizzle out, resulting in an expensive setback for the employer and a career-hiccup or worse for the employee.

One problem is the vast majority of overseas assignment candidates start with little more background than a travel guide and a passport. A lack of preparation isn’t considered by management sufficient cause to delay an assignment. Karen Beaman, founder and managing partner of the Jeitosa Group cites stats that “Between 16 and 40 percent of American international workers fail to complete their assignments.” And she asserts that, “Of those Americans who do complete their international assignments, 30 to 50 percent are considered ineffective or marginally effective by their companies.” Is it possible that Americans need extra help and guidance in global situations?

“Absolutely, they do,” says Beaman. Americans often lack international experience, she says, “it’s not an aptitude thing.”

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Archives for Branding You

In the wake of an economic tsunami that has caused organizations to reduce staff at all levels, the market today is awash with out-of-work executives competing for dwindling job opportunities. Even among the companies that are hiring, the pressure is on to keep costs down.

The current “cash-is-king” posture of most companies makes it difficult for hiring managers to justify big six figure executive investments. This is capping demand for even the most qualified of candidates. Executives in the corporate wilderness are left with a handful of choices. They can:

• Continue to work with head-hunters and recruiters to find employment that is commensurate with their talent and experience;
• Lower their executive sights – and salary expectations – by taking positions for which they are overqualified; or
• Consider launching a consulting practice as an interim or permanent career strategy.

I believe that the third option…hanging out a shingle…can be the most compelling option for experienced, talented and well-connected/regarded executives.

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Archives for Branding You

How much do you know about the corporate culture of a prospective employer? Until you work there, you’re in the dark, right? By reputation, a manufacturing company might be known as a meat grinder or a large law firm as a cold and unfriendly place. Yet how much of this reputation is true and how much of it is sour grapes?

It’s imperative to discover the true nature of corporate culture before you accept a job offer. If the company likes go-getters, but you’re a slow-starter, look elsewhere. If the company likes consensus builders, but you shoot from the hip, maybe it’s not a good fit for you.

Unless you’re equipped with science-fiction powers of precognition, your options for evaluating the culture as a job candidate or job seeker appear limited to talking to people and power-reading on the web. The obvious place to start, the careers section of the corporate site, is usually a dead end. There you can read the type of gloss that belongs on a Hallmark greeting card. If reading about the CEO’s family values melts your heart, so be it, but I’d rather know if the company nurtures or chews up its young. And to get that kind of information you have to dig – deep.

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Archives for Workplace

Everyone knows a bully. It’s the schoolyard tyrant who swoops in on a target, pushing him around while spewing threats and belittling him in front of others. But childhood isn’t where it stops – it’s also on display in the workplace.”Workplace bullying” is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of a person through verbal abuse, behavior that’s threatening, humiliating or intimidating, and/or sabotage that prevents work from getting done, according to the Workplace Bullying Institute in Bellingham, Wash.

Recent research and a U.S. court case have spurred interest in the issue.

About 54 million people, or 37 percent of American workers, have been bullied at work, according to a September 2007 survey conducted by Zogby International on behalf of WBI. Bosses account for 72 percent of bullies, and women are targeted more frequently, according to the survey: 57 percent of those bullied are women. When the bully is a woman, 71 percent of the targets are women.

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Archives for Career Advice

At some point in your career, you are going to have to ask for a raise (or a promotion or a better benefits package). You’ve been working hard at your job, and now is the time to reap more rewards.

How do you approach your employer? What do you say, and how do you say it? The ground rules for asking for a raise are basically the same as those for negotiating any deal. Here are some tried-and-true tips:

• Never begin by asking your employer to say yes and agree. In fact, start by inviting him to say no. Tell him that you are comfortable with a no answer and you want him to be comfortable to say no.
• Identify the real problems you see standing in your way. For example, has the company just laid off employees? Is there new management in the wings? Before you go into the meeting, have a clear idea of what might keep your boss from giving you a raise. State each problem clearly and ask your boss how these problems might be solved.
• Do your critical research. How do companies decide what to pay? They hire consulting firms and look at pay surveys or they compare notes within the industry. Research what people in your position are paid by using the web and other resources to dig out the normal pay range. The more information you have, the better you will be prepared.
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Archives for Workplace

Most professionals find their day fractured by interruptions. What you need is a bulletproof chunk of your workday. You need a Quick 10.

Shave off ten minutes — say, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. — with no interruptions allowed. Period. No phone calls. No visitors. No e-mails.

Establish this pattern over the course of a week. At 11:00 a.m. every day, announce you’re taking a Quick 10. If you need an official reason, say it’s to catch up on work, fine-tune a report, return e-mails. Whatever. Action is the strongest course. Ultimately, the magic of your Quick 10 is that it’s your business.

When people interrupt, tell them how it’s going to be: “I’m in the middle of my Quick 10. I’ll be right with you.” What’s next? See how many more precious minutes you can grab for yourself before the interruptions overwhelm your dam. Maybe in a couple of weeks, your Quick 10 becomes a Quick 20. If you’re skilled, in a month, you’ve gained a quick half hour. Once your immediate coworkers realize there are ten minutes when you’re not interrupting them, the clever ones will see the light and want their own Quick 10.

Why does this work? It announces that what you do is important enough that for some period during the day, you cannot be interrupted.

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