ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2006 > December
December 2006
New Year’s Resolution - ‘New Job’?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The year is quickly coming to a close and it is time to start making those New Year resolutions. Believe it or not, there are Web sites that provide recommendations on the types of resolutions you can make and will help you keep track of them. Here are some of the popular ones:
- Lose weight
- Pay off my debt
- Save more money
- Get a better job
- Go back to school
- Drink less alcohol
- Quit smoking
- Take a trip
- Volunteer more
If getting a new job is on your list, take your time and do your research. There are a few statistics that say it takes about a month for every $10,000 in income. That would mean it takes approximately ten months to get a $100,000 per year job. I am not sure how accurate that is, but I would not dismiss the advice.
This article by Working Strategies columnist Amy Lindgren provides several pointers for setting new goals in the New Year.
Here are three points to consider:
- Atlanta has been referred to as a networking city. One of the best ways to find opportunities is to get out and network. Although most companies post their jobs, they also let people know that have an interest in their company where to find the postings.
- Once you have applied, follow up with on going communication written communication. Determination and persistence may win out.
- If you know someone who has a relationship with decision makers within the company, ask them to write a letter of recommendation.
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Want to upgrade your career?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cameron Career, a sales manager with years of copier sales experience, wants to shift his career into medical sales. Many friends of his are making double his salary plus large bonuses in medical sales. He wants to make a change to maximize his long-term earning potential.
Many people face Cameron’s dilemma: they want to take on new responsibilities in a new field, but they aren’t sure whether, or how to make the leap from their current industry. Here are some helpful hints in shifting your career:
Be sure to do your homework and become familiar with the publications that are popular to those in the field of interest.
Gain an understanding of key business issues and common problems within the industry.
Discover the hot topics and become fluent in the lingo of the field.
Just remember, salesmanship is key. The particular product doesn’t determine your success. Any strategy that Cameron applied in sales, no matter if he is selling copiers or ink cartridges is transferable.
So, if you have a good track record in your profession, you will likely have success in a new industry with the right preparation and motivation. The same strategies apply with small changes to target your new audience.
If you are a little apprehensive about making a career change, just follow Cameron Career’s lead. He applied what he knew about his old industry to break into a new business.
The key thing to remember is to get back to basics. With a solid business strategy foundation and a concise resume, you should have a firm grasp on landing a new job to optimize your future!
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What can your college do for you?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As job seekers, we tend to say to ourselves, “I need to find a new job, and I need to polish up my resume right away!” While this is true, there is so much more to the process. Having a slick resume with no clear direction isn’t going to produce the kind of results you’re looking for. What might be a great resume for one particular job, could be completely ineffective for another job.
Before you launch a job search, you need a clear understand of what you’re looking to change. Are you looking to change your industry? Are you looking to change your job function? Or do you simply want to continue to do your same job at another company? Until you’ve answered those questions for yourself, you should not begin to revise your resume.
If you find that you cannot answer these questions easily, you could possibly benefit from speaking to a career advisor. Career advisors can be found everywhere, from the Department of Labor, to Career Coaches in private practice, and at the college or university from which you graduated.
If you are a college student, you are missing out on one of the most valuable resources your college provides if you are not taking advantage of your school’s career services office. Employers are actively recruiting at your school and you may never know it, unless you take the initiative to find out.
Graduating seniors and students trying to choose a major, you should know their counselor’s name and phone number by heart! It’s your role as a job seeker to find out what resources are available to you and to actively participate in career workshops and campus information sessions.
Alumni should not dismiss their alma mater’s career services as being just for students. All the major universities in the Atlanta area, as well as most colleges and universities nationally, provide some form of career services specifically for alumni.
With the advent of the Internet, most can work with alumni who live locally or with alumni who live half-way across the world! Visit your university’s Web site for more information about what services are available for alumni and for alumni association members. You never know what resources you might uncover!
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“Kramer’s” Day … at the office
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Kramer’s” (Michael Richards’) day at the “office” started out like most days. It probably started the way we start many of our work days!
He got to his office (Laugh Factory) focused on getting his job done. Those around him knew his role and took him for granted like they always did when they saw him. For those who were interacting with him when he first began his “work,” they were appreciating him as usual. Since he’s a pretty popular “colleague” with a good long term reputation, who’s good at what he does, they gave him a warm welcome when he first got into the “office.”
After he got through his “arrival” greetings, he began working away in his cube (on stage) as usual. However, what happened before his “first break” was anything but usual! Someone from another cube (audience) started disturbing him. Michael Richards started jawing back at the guy who was messing up his concentration. His work was being disturbed. He was becoming unproductive and unnerved.
He lashed out at what he thought were his provocateurs (the audience) and everyone in the vicinity (Laugh Factory) heard him. Within a few minutes, management heard the commotion, stepped in and stopped the outburst before it incited more people.
Getting back to the actual outcome at the Laugh Factory that night regarding what has been reported about his actions, Michael Richards lashed out with anger and racial epithets and has been labeled a racist. Michael Richards insists that he’s not a racist.
The image that a white person or anyone may have of someone who is a racist can be that of a skin head, a white supremacist or a Ku Klux Klan member. The reality is very few white people fall into these categories.
If we were to have such an image, how might that influence our response to such an accusation?
From what ever you’ve heard, seen or come to know about the incident, what do you think? If you think he’s a racist, why do you think so? If you don’t think he’s a racist, why don’t you think so?
If something remotely close to this incident were to happen in your company, what might the aftermath be in your organization? How might it be handled?
Who has had a career impacting moment? Perhaps, a ‘Kramer’ moment! What was the outcome?
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Should I stay or should I go now?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Knowing how long to stay in your current position or when the time is right to move on can feel like a daunting decision. Here are 3 key things to consider when determining whether that next job is right for you.
1) Does the compensation you are being offered really justify going through the stress of a job change? If you are unpaid and overworked the answer is easy. If you are fairly compensated now, keep in mind more money always comes with a price. Often it means more travel, more stress, and less job security.
2) Will you have sufficient contact with people? Experts say that a misaligned work environment is a primary reason for job dissatisfaction. If you enjoy heavy people interaction to feel enthusiastic and energized, don’t get trapped in a job that alienates you from others. Conversely, if you need frequent solo time, don’t choose a job that demands constant people interface. Be clear about your ‘people quotient’ since it will dramatically impact your ‘job satisfaction quotient.’
3) Do you want a prestigious job? Prestige matters tremendously to some and almost none to others. If having sufficient levels of authority and a job title that will impress your friends is important, be honest about it. Make sure you apply for jobs that match your desires. Don’t let a recruiter or any one else (even spouses) convince you that a step backward in job title or responsibility will be tolerable for you. It probably won’t. Not only will you likely be unhappy from the outset of your new job but you may have a hard time ‘climbing back up’ the corporate ladder from a lower level position.
4) As a recruiter, I frequently see people flounder in their career decisions because they don’t narrow down what’s most important to them. Like life, job opportunities usually offer people a series of trade offs. In order to get one thing you really want, you may have to give up something else. To get more money, you may have to give up life balance. To have frequent people contact, you may have to work in an office instead of out of your house. To have an executive job title, you may have to give up job security since executives are high risk, high liability roles.
Compensation, work environment, and prestige/responsibility are three aspects of your career decision-making that require self-awareness and total honesty. Once you define what’s most important to you, you’ll know whether it’s time to stay or go.
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Buying your boss a holiday gift?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Holidays are stressful enough without trying to determine if you should buy your boss a gift or not.
Before you make the investment, find out if it is a normal practice in the office. Does your company have a gift-giving policy?
More importantly, find out if the boss feels comfortable accepting a gift. If this is not a normal practice or if they are not comfortable with it, it could be a career limiting move.
The next big question is, “how much should I spend”? I recommend as little as possible. It is not about the money, it is the thought that counts. Coffee shop gift cards, holiday candy and such can be obtained for less than $10.
Are you the only one buying a gift? If the answer is yes, people may think you are brown nosing. It may be better to pool your resources and go in as a group. That way, everyone is a winner.
Are you going to give your boss a gift this year? How much did you spend? Do you expect him or her to fork out on a gift for you in return?
You’re old enough to be my grandfather!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Yikes, I have just been promoted to management and some of my team are twice my age! How are they ever going to accept me as their leader?”
More and more these days in a multi-generational workforce, new managers are having to be the leader of people much older and with more work experience. The implications are obvious…will it be against the grain to tell your ‘elders’ what to do or better yet, earn the respect of those that are older and maybe wiser.
As boomers decide that retirement isn’t what they expected or their income needs change, they are coming back into the workforce after retirement with a vengeance. A younger manager might find themselves interviewing and hiring older workers, so how do they act?
For one thing, interviewing a person who is considerably older for a position might drudge up old time prejudices…’Wow! This person is older than my Dad! How could I possibly be my Dad’s boss?” If not totally secure in their management abilities, a new manager might find themselves intimidated when making hiring decisions.
And let’s face it, how many of us in a new management role are totally convinced that we are good at it until tested. Visualization of potential discipline action if the older worker is not living up to expected performance may be an illustration that is difficult to conceive.
Well, we need to get over this. Boomers are deciding to continue to work after retirement for reasons of money or boredom. In fact, you don’t know you are not ready for retirement until you retire. I can say this as I retired and got bored and returned to the business world. A life of golf wasn’t for me!
We now have 4 different generations in the workplace…the traditionalists, the boomers, the gen-x’ers, and the new millennium. At my place of work, we have this type of multi-generational workforce, and what we have found (myself being a Boomer) is that the younger generation is acting as mentors and teachers to us older guys in the area of technology and the Internet. As Darwin predicted, we Boomers have adapted and evolved to our new tech environment, but it didn’t come naturally, and we get by on the minimum amount we can absorb or need to function on a daily basis.
On the other hand, the newest members of our workforce are integrated into technology as if it were ingrained into their DNA. I think it is time to understand that one generation can learn from the other regardless of older or younger.
Older doesn’t mean over the hill, and younger doesn’t mean a greenhorn. Cheers to the up and coming new managers! I hope I will never be too old to learn something new.
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Office holiday party aftermath…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How are you going to face your co-workers this morning? Still having ‘Employees Gone Wild’ flashbacks?
Did you overly enjoy yourself at your office holiday bash, much to chagrin of your stuffy boss?
Many companies held their annual holiday parties over the past weekend around the globe. Thus, leaving a trail of jolly stories, blurry photographs and killer hangovers in their wake.
Needless to say, we all know that getting a group of colleagues together in a room with an open bar is just asking for trouble.
The rumor mill is churning this morning about Stacy from Marketing because she was spotted getting fresh with Melvin from Sales under the mistletoe. And did anyone try to regulate Graham’s eggnog intake and steal the microphone from him because he is hardly Elton John?
Do you have a terrible (or naughty!) office holiday party story? You still reeling from getting groped by your flirtatious CEO during the white elephant gift exchange?
Did your company even have a party or did you and your co-workers have to arrange the festivities?
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Going Green in the office
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I recently saw the Al Gore’s: An Inconvenient Truth which has come out on DVD. It really brought home the point about each of us making changes to have any hope of fighting global warming.
Companies definitely need to make adjustments, but individuals do as well.
I have started saving my old white sheets of paper for recycling, am trying to remember to put on an extra sweater in my home office instead of immediately reaching for the thermostat and turning the lights off when I leave a room. I also use a white board in my training classes instead of flip chart paper.
One of my client’s has even eliminated training notebooks all together and has moved everything online. The cost savings is an added incentive, I am sure.
Old habits die hard and it is not always easy to take extra steps. For instance, I bring my used computer paper (I write a lot of drafts!) to the UPS store where a kind service person named Jeremy collects it and then brings it to a library or post office or somewhere. Hopefully more accessible recycling drop off points will spring up soon.
How are you playing your part to be green? What is your office doing to help fight global warning?
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Learning another language can benefit you!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In our changing world, speaking another language can make you more marketable and make your life more interesting. In almost any industry, being bilingual is a career asset that can make the difference among candidates for a job. International business opportunities are exploding and one day you may find your skill becoming an asset to your company.
For some reason, when my parents forced me at age 12 to take Spanish, those pathways for language were laid in my mind and I have never regretted it. I’ve developed my expertise over the years - waxing and waning at times due to lack of practice but I have always found that speaking Spanish has opened the doors to opportunities that would not have been available otherwise. I’ve also found that a wide, new world of people, culture and experience can be experienced at a far deeper level of understanding. You don’t have to choose Spanish, think of the other languages represented in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Yes, for an adult, becoming fluent in a language can take years of study but it’s worth it. I’m always amazed when language courses are among the first to be cut in hard budgetary times in our schools. Our children need to be learning another language while their minds are still flexible and malleable. As adults, the task of learning a language becomes difficult and almost impossible unless we use it daily. As adults we have to see immediate results and receive a reward or gratification to stimulate us.
So, I encourage you, look at your industry, and imagine situations or possibilities that would make your bilingual skills an asset. Encourage your kids to take another language, demand that your college age offspring take language courses while they have the study-time to devote to them.
Does anyone out there agree with me? You know what they say, trilingual people speak three languages, bilingual people speak two, what do you call a person who only speaks one language? An American!
Resume not getting any responses?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In our work with thousands of resumes, we have recognized reasons that resumes are not noticed and how they can be corrected. There tend to be patterns of inappropriate information in many of the resumes that come into our office. If you ensure that your resume does not reflect these faux pas, you will have a much better chance of standing out from the rest of the crowd.
No results, only duties
If a resume is only a list of responsibilities, it doesn’t allow the employer to understand why a resume represents a person that is the perfect candidate for the position. To make your resume stronger, demonstrate how you are different. You should articulate your successes throughout your career in your resume.
Dollars and Cents
Make it easy to spot any increases in dollars or percentages you’ve had in each position. A company reviewing your information wants a good fit for the position to increase profitability by minimizing training costs associated with a bad hire. Make it easy for the reader to understand your assets. Demonstrate in your resume how you contributed to the bottom line wherever possible.
Empty promises
If you have certifications or information that are outdated or inaccurate on your resume, it may not be as appealing to an HR manager. Update the information you provide and be sure that you graduated from the organization you list on the resume.
Overblown
If your resume is overflowing with action verbs, making it so the reader cannot understand the actual work you accomplished, tone the resume down. Action words have a place in a resume, but too much of anything is not good.
Personal Information
Many people over explain their situation - whatever that may be - in a resume. For example, if you were a stay at home mom for five years and are re-entering the work place, then format your resume to emphasize your work experience and leave the personal information out, utilizing a hybrid or functional resume.
Armed with this information you should be ready to begin drafting your resume so that it makes it to the top of the stack. If you get stuck, hire a professional. The main focus should be to make your career history stand out with things you’ve achieved above and beyond those of your peers.
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Saving Face, a lesson to learn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the many lessons I learned from my recent trip to China was the concept of “respect and saving face” that is still practiced among the Chinese culture, a lesson that we all can learn from.
Your level within a company, education and age factor in the level of respect an individual must be shown. Interrupting a conversation or directly telling someone they are wrong publicly is taboo in China.
A public challenge, refusing to shake someone’s hands, not greeting him or her properly, and interrupting someone in the middle of a sentence is a lack of respect and is perceived as loosing face.
The highest respect is shown to the individual who holds the highest position in a company or a government post, which is often the one in the same. The person with the highest position controls the conversation and speaks their thoughts first.
The individual with the highest level of education is the center of the conversation when company position is not a factor. A person with a Ph.D. is the center of conversation, when speaking to a person with less education, such as a Master’s degree.
Likewise, an individual with a Master’s degree would hold court over a person with a bachelor’s degree or high school diploma.
Last but not least, age is the next major factor. It would be inappropriate to show disrespect to someone who is older than you.
Do you agree with these practices? Should we adopt them here in the workplace?
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Suffering at the hands of your co-worker?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you have ever worked as a part of a team or in any other type of position where you rely on other people to get your work done, you know how easily your world can come crashing down when someone isn’t pulling their weight.
Some of you have encountered the co-worker who is habitually “sick” when an important project is due, leaving it up to the rest of the team to work late to meet a deadline.
Others are burdened by extra work because a co-worker has to leave the office at least once a week to deal with a child care issue. Or perhaps some of you are the ones who are always stuck inside the office answering the phone while a coworker relaxes in the sunshine, taking twenty minute smoke breaks several times a day.
Being the reasonable person that you are, you understand that sometimes you have to “take one for the team,” as they say. When a co-worker is absent because of a legitimate illness or serious family crisis, that’s one thing. But there are those times, when you can’t help but resent the fact that you’re the one who’s suffering when your co-worker has an issue.
The tough thing about these kinds of situations is that it’s hard to bring it up to your supervisor without sounding petty. Yet, each time it occurs, you find it harder not to grow more and more resentful.
Do you have a colleague that takes advantage of your generosity and team spirit? How do you cope or deal with the person?
Is work STRESSFUL or what?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s world, stress is an everyday part of life. It is an unfortunate and an unavoidable consequence of the competitive society we live in.
We experience stress from an array of areas, but studies show that the highest and most damaging levels of stress is contributed to that stress which occurs at WORK. As workers are experiencing more and more demands on their time and energy, their perception that these demands exceed their capacity is the source of this stress.
The consequences of work related stress are apparent for both the individual and the business itself.
Individually, stress is correlated to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, anxiety, depression, job burnout and even back pain. In fact, 62% routinely find they end the day with WORK-related back pain.
These findings are important for businesses because the end result is increased turnover, low morale, absenteeism, and reduced productivity. In fact, it cost companies $300 billion dollars last year, or $7,500 per employee on stress related compensation claims, reduced productivity and absenteeism.
Healthcare expenditures are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high levels of stress. Of the 80% of those workers who feel stress on the job, nearly half of them say they need help in learning how to manage stress.
It is crucial for us to develop methods of controlling stress at the workplace. Research has shown that the major contributing factors of WORK related stress are job insecurity, shift work, long work hours, role conflict, physical hazard exposures and interpersonal conflicts with coworkers or supervisors.
Research has also shown that the best way to deal with these stressors is to help individuals adapt by teaching better coping strategies. There are many different stress management programs available.
In my experience, many deal with the psychological areas of stress while largely ignoring the physical components of stress. In my opinion, the physical detriments of stress are as important, if not more important, not only to the individual but to the business bottom line.
In one of my corporate jobs, the corporation provided the services of a chiropractor who hosted health fairs dealing exclusively with stress by educating the employees on how to cope with stress. I have found this to be very effective and best of all, it was free!
Regardless of the method, it is integral for business owners, employers, managers and employees to find some method of coping with stress. If left untreated, stress will lower the productivity of any business and affect the bottom line. As a business coach, I have found addressing stress to be essential part of any successful organization.
What or who triggers your work stress? What do you do to cope with it? What has your company offered its employees to help reduce stress?
The Mistake of Being Too Early
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s no secret that being punctual is important to our professional success. Whether it’s a medical appointment, a lunch date with a friend or a job interview, when we make an appointment with someone, we are honoring their time and availability.
Everyone has something else they could be doing, so it goes without saying that missing the appointment without calling first is unacceptable. Likewise, we’ve all been taught to call ahead to apologize and offer to reschedule when, despite our best planning, something causes us to run late for an appointment.
In the business arena, common courtesy dictates that we show up for business appointments, such as job interviews, about 10-15 minutes early if we want to make a positive impression.
But what if you arrive at your interview 45 minutes earlier than you expected because, for example, you misjudged the amount of time it would take to arrive at your destination? You might be tempted to think that if being 15 minutes early is good, then being 45 minutes early is great, right?!
Well, not really. Being excessively early is really just as bad as being late. Arriving at an appointment a full 45 minutes early is equally disrespectful of the other person’s time. At that point you’re not 45 minutes early for your own appointment. You’re 15 minutes late for someone else’s!
Don’t assume that there will be a waiting room at your destination and don’t assume that the person with whom you’re meeting will be impressed. It is always possible that an early arrival would inconvenience your interviewer, who may be finishing lunch or working on a time sensitive project. The person with whom you are meeting is available at the time you scheduled, not earlier.
If you find that you have arrived more than 15 minutes early, proper business dictates that you find something to do until a more appropriate arrival time. If you’re driving, simply wait in your car. If you’re walking, find a nearby coffee shop or hotel lobby and rest for a moment.
Use that time to review your resume and gather your thoughts prior to your interview. That’s a better way to make a good impression!
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Pay for Performance practices
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pay-for-performance concepts were undoubtedly created by a consultant. There was a corporate executive who most likely felt this was an excellent process to improve individual performance and reward the A-Players, a term used in HR compensation circles. I would speculate the program was successful and fit the individuals and that particular organization.
The problem is, there is no one solution that fits all and CEO’s and other executives demand implementing these programs without ensuring the program is right for the culture of the organization and right for the individual performers.
Now I am not an advocate that everyone gets paid the same, regardless of their level of contribution. This only fosters an entitlement program and businesses that adopt this type of philosophy will not be able to compete as time goes on. You can look at the steel and auto industry if you need a reality check.
A few best practices for a pay-for-performance program are:
- Nothing should be forever and the program should be reevaluated on a annual basis
- Make sure the employee thoroughly understands how the program works
- Ensure the goals are realistic and not overly optimistic
- Ensure the employee understands how they can actually reach the goals
- Don’t change the reward in the mid-stream if the economy improves or the product takes off
As an employer, have you helped implement a program like this? Has it been successful?
Or as a employee, do you find this practice useful?
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Are references valid anymore?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Does anyone do formal references these days? Call some individuals for references and on the advice of Human Resources, all you will get is a confirmation of employment dates and little more. Giving references or relying on references whether written, phone or verbal can be a questionable and dangerous proposition. Are references really reliable anyway?
What are the liabilities? Giving references could leave you open to suits for defamation of character, invasion of privacy, discrimination, fraud or misrepresentation. You could also be in a world of trouble if you give a glowing references for someone who has known ethical or issues of sexual misconduct. Just reading the article by Hornak in FindLaw will make you hesitate to ever give a reference again!
Outsourcing seems to have hit the reference check area as well. More firms are turning to a third party to check references and handle the liabilities associated with reference checks. Some employers are relying more on credit checks and criminal background checks than verbal or written references.
What about soliciting information from former co-workers/supervisors not listed on the resume/application? This too can be dangerous; can you rely on the person you are contacting “on the side” or “under-cover”? How do you know they won’t rush to tell the individual in question of your questions?
So how much can be gained by checking references on most people? I suppose that a potential employee could be less than savvy by giving someone’s name as a reference that might be a critic. However most people choose their references carefully and the trend is to prep the reference well ahead of time.
Have you ever lost a job due to a poor choice of references? Do people check references these days? Do you give references and what has been your experience? Have you ever given a good reference just to get a poor worker out of your area and into another?
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Micromanager driving you nuts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Do you feel that your boss is holding you back instead of trying to develop your skills? Is he or she constantly buzzing around your cube suffocating you every day?
One of the biggest challenges we face at work is having a micromanager. Not only is this annoying but it can be highly stressful too. This Sunday’s Jobs section has a highly insightful story which offers several ways to deal with your micromanager.
A few year ago, I had a terribly controlling micromanager and it made my life a living hell. He was always overly cheerful and could never say no to work requests or projects from higher-ups’ and would then dump the workload on me! I just couldn’t take any more bossy behavior after a year and a half and went into full-blown job search mode.
Does your boss like to be involved in every step of each of your projects? Does he or she always need a memo about the memo?
Have you ever come to blows with your boss over their unreasonable demands? How are you coping with them breathing down your neck all the time?
Are you going to continue to suffer at the hands of your micromanager or do you have one foot out of the door?
UPS offers 2,000 holiday jobs in metro area
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPS announced that they will be hiring 2,000 holiday staff in metro Atlanta yesterday.
Those interested are being urged to apply online and interviews will be conducted Saturday in Doraville and Roswell.
The company usually hires 60,000 seasonal workers annually nationwide during the holiday season.
Note: Please note that this is just a news item. We advise that you follow the right channels if you are seeking employment.
The Holidays: the right time to plan your move!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So you are thinking about a change in job, careers or even bosses! Conventional wisdom is that during the holidays, job searches screech to a complete halt. Wrong!
Think about it - you can catch people in the office and they may be more likely to see your email (since lots of folks are gone) and, better yet, they might respond(the holiday spirit and all, etc.)
I do think, though, that the best use of this time is to prepare a bang up marketing approach. Know what skills you are selling and where to aim your campaign so you can be effective out of the gate in ‘07.
So here are five ways to make December one that moves your career transition forward.
- Talk to family members and friends about what strengths they see in you. Ask them for ideas about other career directions and networking contacts. They will open you up to new ways of looking at yourself.
- Take a vacation day and go to the local bookstore. Spend time perusing the career section. You can do career assessment, get a format for your resume and even brush up on your interviews.
- Start a career journal and record all the tips and ideas you receive as you are figuring out the next direction. Also use it to record your feelings and reactions. It will be great to refer to this as you continue your search.
- Schedule time with a career coach to review the work you have done and to help you focus. Check out www.gcda.net or www.ncda.org for names.
- Set a goal to have 5 networking meetings(phone can work). Prepare for questions for these sessions.
Note: If you are in a business that is slammed this month just do your prep in January.
Have the holidays been lucky for you? What other suggestions you have to maximize this holiday job search time?
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