#Leadership : From Landing A Promotion To Harnessing Stress: October’s Top Leadership Stories…This Month’s Top Stories may Help you Put your Stress to Good Use, Write Better Cover Letters, or Even End the Year with a Promotion.

/in /by

This month, we learned which cover letter gaffes turn hiring managers away, what kinds of work-related stress may actually be useful, and why the cybersecurity sector may want to consider recruiting musicians.

These are the stories you loved in Leadership in October 2016:

1. I REVIEW HUNDREDS OF COVER LETTERS—HERE’S WHAT I INSTANTLY REJECT

The days of the cover letter may ultimately be numbered, but they’re still widely used to screen candidates. These are some of the most common immediate disqualifiers, according to one experienced hiring manager.

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

2. I’M A CEO—HERE’S HOW I DECIDE WHETHER TO GIVE YOU A RAISE OR LAY YOU OFF

Got your eye on a raise or promotion by the end of the year? To get it, you’ll need to make a case for what you’re worth to your company. This month, one CEO shared the basic math he uses to make decisions like these, saying, “For every dollar that you hope to get in increased pay, you need to bring in three to five dollars to the business for your raise to make sense.”

3. USE THIS FORMULA TO TAME YOUR HOPELESS TO-DO LIST

Chances are your to-do list is a bit of a jumble, right? You’re not alone—the very act of prioritizing your daily action items sometimes doesn’t feel like a top priority. But with this straightforward method, you can give your work tasks some much-needed structure, and all you need to know are your ABCs.

4. SORRY, BUT SOME WORK-RELATED STRESS IS GOOD FOR YOU

Chronic stress can be a workplace killer, but researchers believe that smaller doses of “acute” stress may actually help us develop our skills and boost productivity. Here’s a look at a few ways to make limited amounts of job-related stress work in your favor.

5. GM TO TOP TECH TALENT: DITCH SILICON VALLEY FOR DETROIT

The legacy carmaker isn’t exactly known for its fast-paced, innovative culture, but CEO Mary Barra is trying to change that. With several key acquisitions under its belt, GM is picking up a few things from the tech world, hoping the best and brightest will take note.

6. 3 CRUCIAL THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN MY FIRST 30 DAYS AS A MANAGER

Becoming a new manager isn’t easy. For Buffer’s Katie Womersley, it didn’t help that she felt the people she was tasked with managing were better developers than she was. Here’s what she says it took to shake that self-doubt and settle into her new role.

7. GWYNETH PALTROW ON WHY HER MONTHLY CAPSULE COLLECTIONS SELL OUT IN HOURS

Paltrow told Fast Company this month that recent rumors she’d be leaving Goop, her lifestyle brand, are dead wrong. The company is growing fast, thanks in no small part to the “lean” startup methods that inform its new, curated product lines featuring just a handful of items at a time.

8. THREE WAYS TO WRITE SHORTER, MORE EFFECTIVE EMAILS

Email is only as effective as what it gets done, so this week we learned how to trim the inefficiencies out of our messages to make sure they accomplish more in fewer words.

9. MUSICIANS MAY BE THE KEY TO THE CYBERSECURITY TALENT SHORTAGE

Data breaches are becoming so commonplace that the cybersecurity sector can’t seem to grow fast enough to help organizations defend themselves. In fact, the sector is at 0% unemployment, and the race to find qualified talent is driving up wages. That means looking for crossover skills in unlikely places, and some believe that musical training may be one of them.

10. SCIENCE-BACKED WAYS TO BUILD CONFIDENCE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE

There’s plenty of advice out there for faking confidence, but the better approach may actually be to persuade yourself to actually feel the vibe you’re trying to project. Here’s a look at the latest psychological research on how to trick your brain into greater self-assurance.

FAST COMPANY STAFF 10.28.16 5:00 AM

Your #Leadership : 4 Hallmarks of Leadership in a Time of Crisis…So, the Message Here is: It Doesn’t Matter How Large or Small a Company yours Is; you Simply Can’t Ignore Crisis Communications.

/in /by

Above all, the biggest mistake you can make in a crisis situation is doing nothing. Be prepared, work the plan, respond quickly and take appropriate action — lead. Your customers and your team may even thank you for it. 

Close-up of businessman preparing bomb in office

News of your imminent merger was just leaked by a young, ambitious journalist who caught your CFO off guard at a networking event.

Your CEO is being led out of your building in handcuffs.

These examples could all be real. Companies face such scenarios daily, and some are serious enough to bring down companies. The most recent and very public example is the Wells Fargo debacle, which culminated with the resignation of CEO John Stumpf. Those revelations were almost a textbook case of what not to do when a crisis arises.

So, the message here is: It doesn’t matter how large or small a company yours is; you simply can’t ignore crisis communications.

A great positive example of how to navigate the waters of a crisis? Skittles. The company’s swift and direct response to a tweet from Donald Trump, Jr., comparing a bowl of Skittles to Syrian refugees gained the candymaker praise across social media.

How do you plan and prepare for anything from a destructive tweet to a financial crisis? By having in place a solid crisis communications strategy. A documented, well-thought-out plan with actionable tactics. Just as a winning sports team has a crisis playbook, you can do the same, to help you make any bad-news scenario more manageable, less painful and, hopefully, ensure a positive outcome.

Here are a few tips on how to create a winning crisis strategy.

Have a plan, work the plan.

According to a 2013 study by the Institute of Internal Auditors, only 54 percent of respondents had a crisis plan. That’s insane.

Not having a plan is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. Sure, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day efforts for growing and managing your business, but it’s delusional to think a crisis won’t happen to you.  You can never fully predict when one, or fallout from one, will hit, but I promise you that 90 percent of potential crises are known and you can — and should — be prepared.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

So, to do that, have your team come up with all types of scenarios — from the common to the far-fetched.  What are the most frequent negative scenarios in your industry? A disgruntled customer? Violence inside a store or at a facility? Stolen documents? An offensive social media campaign?

Next up? The actual plan.

  • Create a solid crisis communications plan that includes:
    • Holding statements
    • Emergency contacts
    • An audit you can complete as facts are uncovered
    • Approved messaging
    • Template press releases
    • A social media policy
    • Designated spokespersons (have more than one)
  • Prepare holding statements for every scenario, no matter how unlikely they seem. I’ve had holding statements for everything from a negative social media situation to a terrorist threat. Cover your bases.
  • Designate the team. Ensure you have representation from critical areas like legal and HR and adequate representation from your c-suite.
  • Have a back-up to the back-up. Inevitably during a crisis, the head of legal will be on a vacation with no cell signal, or your CEO will be en route to Dubai and unreachable. The team needs to be enabled and empowered to make critical decisions without having everyone present. Or designate an alternate. The plan should clearly outline roles and responsibilities.
  • Disseminate information. Know how critical information gets to the right people; know the right place and the right time. For example, journalists, customers and others may be calling. Are your receptionists, call center teams or others prepared for questions? Have a plan so everyone knows where information will come from and how to respond, should someone call or even stop in at your company.

When a crisis arises, work with what you know.

Once a crisis hits, the team needs to quickly ascertain the level or significance of the crisis. Sometimes it’s just an issue, sometimes it’s more. And it can change over time or circumstance. So be prepared for anything.

Once you assess the situation, determine the facts. What do you know? Start working with that. Respond quickly, factually, genuinely.

  • Document all of the necessary information, including:
    • A brief description of what happened
    • What is being done to rectify the situation
    • Steps being taken to prevent the situation from happening again
    • Key contacts, names and details, like time, location and anything else that is known
    • A website, social media handle/page or toll-free number for additional assistance or information

Social media is often the first medium where news breaks. The old adage was, respond within the hour. With social, you need to respond in seconds. Social media is an incredibly useful listening and communication tool, so make sure your team is monitoring the conversation online and responding quickly with what is known, plus appropriate apologies or statements. Not responding is not an option.

A word of caution: Don’t let speed be an obstacle for discerning your message. Be quick, but precise. Leave no room for misinterpretation. Once again, refer to the Skittles response mentioned earlier — be short, quick and to the point.

Create a “war room” for the crisis team. Your war room should be kept away from the core of your business, out of immediate sight and contact with employees, customers or others while the team assesses the situation. Rent a hotel suite if you must, but while you work through the situation, make sure you contain the information. Don’t print to a shared printer the rest of the company uses. Until you know more, being a little cautious, even a little paranoid, is not necessarily a bad thing.

Own it, fix it.

Implement a communications strategy to keep customers, stakeholders, and employees informed of everything that is known. Being up-front and honest is critical. Mitigate issues early on. Wells Fargo failed on all counts. It failed to apologize soon enough and underestimated the gravity of the situation and problem.

If your own company falters, fails or makes a mistake, don’t keep your mouth shut. Own it. Apologize for it. And take steps to make it right, quickly.

Ask for help when you need it.

An outside perspective can provide clarity and remove the emotion or opinion from a crisis. Consider hiring a consultant or third-party expert who can guide you through or speak to media and customers. I’ve worked with CEOs and chief legal counsel who wanted to take the hard line or let their emotions or opinions get in the way of ensuring the company response was quick and contained the right sentiment and messaging.

In contrast, a communications expert has navigated issues like this before and can offer credibility, experience and expertise you may not have within your company.

Related: How to Maintain Clients’ Trust While Managing a Crisis

Above all, the biggest mistake you can make in a crisis situation is doing nothing. Be prepared, work the plan, respond quickly and take appropriate action — lead. Your customers and your team may even thank you for it.

Entrepreneur.com | October 28, 2016  | Jeffrey Hayzlett

#Leadership : How I Decreased My Weekly Office Hours From 40-plus to Less Than 8…Can a CEO Work Eight Hours a Week? Yes, and Here’s One Who Did It.

/in /by

You sit down at your desk ready to destroy your workday. You brew a pot of coffee, break out your calendar and dive into your most important task.Free- Time Mans Watch

Related: 4 Productivity Tips That Changed My Life This Year

And then it happens. The phone rings, or a co-worker stops by to say “hey.” Maybe your boss swings by to ask about those TPS reports.

Whatever type of interruption you face, you’re annoyed. And if you work in an office, you know exactly what I’m talking about: Just because you’re sitting behind that desk and have already  “clocked in,” everyone thinks it’s perfectly okay to engage you. Unfortunately, these random engagements can absolutely kill your productivity.

Not only can they knock you off task, but they consume your mental energy for the day. I didn’t notice how much time I was losing before I had kids, but I notice it much more now that I have four. And yes, being a parent has severely limited my ability to endure small talk and mindless babble. Parents, you know what I’m talking about: 20 minutes in the hallway talking about last night’s game. A co-worker lamenting over workplace stuff. A leisurely lunch invite that turns into a two-hour affair against your will.

This is the type of stuff that can waste your productivity and reduce your potential.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

Creating space and forging a new path

After a few years of enduring these wasted moments and opportunities, I was convinced something needed to change. I wanted to get out of the office more, but to accomplish nearly the same amount of work. More importantly, I wanted to stop wasting so much time, when I could be home with my family or out enjoying life.

At first, I thought that leaving the office more often would be an impossible feat. I mean, how could leave more often yet still accomplish the same level of work?

Sure, I was the CEO of my own wealth-management firm, but that didn’t mean I could come and go as I pleased. If I wasn’t in the office, what would my clients think? Was my team even capable of running everything in my absence? What if something went wrong?

It took me a while to realize I was consumed with limiting beliefs. Fortunately, a few amazing entrepreneurs and thought leaders made me realize the error of my ways. First, I read Tim Ferris’ book The 4-Hour Workweek and realized what was possible. Using the strategies in his book, I could reduce my time in the office significantly, right? Second, I joined a coaching program called Strategic Coach. The program introduced me to the concept of “creating space.”

One exercise we did involved tallying up how many free days we had taken in the last year. Why? Because they said we needed to learn to “create space” in our lives. And, to create that space, we had to give ourselves a break and some time off. Over time, the mental exercise of “creating space” allowed me to figure out what was important in my life, then outsource the rest.

Related: The Secret to Increased Productivity: Taking Time Off

Third, I started listening to productivity geniuses like Michael Hyatt. Highly productive entrepreneurs aren’t born that way, Hyatt says. They learn to become ultra-productive by mastering their environments. According to Hyatt, constant interruptions and distractions are the number one obstacle entrepreneurs face as they check off their to-do lists and work toward their goals.

And that is a shame, Hyatt say his websites. “Entrepreneurs and executives like us have too much value to contribute to our businesses and the people that matter most in our lives to let distractions drag us down,” he says on.

Just listening to experts like these taught me to “create space” and step away from my situation, to a certain extent. From there I set out on a path to limit distractions and build a better workday. Over time, I brought my office time from 40 hours per week to less than eight hours, with no impact to my productivity and even greater earnings over time.

How did I do it? Five ways.

1. I hired strategically. Although I already had a drector of relations on staff, I added an associate advisor, as well. The associate’s job was to be “me” when I wasn’t there — giving expert advice to our clients and providing the service they deserve.

This is where I think a lot of small business owners fail. Scared that no one could ever stand in their shoes, they refuse to outsource their most important work. But, if you want to reduce your hours, this step is crucial.

It took a while to get everything set up. For several months, I had to work 60-hour weeks to teach this new hire everything he needed to know. But once the hard work was done, I had a trusted and polished counterpart to lean on.

2. We started documenting our processes. Eventually, I learned I could make my life easier by streamlining processes I did over and over. A tool that I stumbled on, Sweet Process, helps you create processes for everything in your business.

Using this tool, we began creating processes for higher-level tasks such as opening new accounts. From there, we created processes for making bank deposits and processing client contributions. Once we got all the higher-level tasks squared away, we even created systems to take over the small tasks in our workday.

Creating all those processes takes a lot of work up-front work, but once you’re done and new people you’ve taken on are trained, you never have to do these things again. Even better, if you eventually have to hire someone new or replace someone, your documented processes can serve as a training manual.

3. I “created space” and scheduled time for being away from the office.  Once I hired more people and created processes, I had to schedule time for being away, to see if my new strategy could work. So, that’s exactly what I did — even though I had to force myself to leave the office.

At first, I spent time hanging out at a coffee shop or working from home. That way, I could test my new employee’s abilities without stepping away completely. Once I felt more comfortable, I started taking Tuesdays off. Then I started added more “off days” to my calendar each week. Eventually, I was down to just eight hours in the office each week, yet everything was still running smoothly. And yes, it felt great!

4. We improved communication. Before I reduced my hours, I had used email, texting and Google Chat as my primary sources of communication. This worked fine for a while, but we eventually realized we were losing conversations and details this way.

Then we stumbled on Slack. Slack allowed us to create channels specific to certain needs for our financial advisory firm; we could conduct ongoing conversations by searching past ones for details. Where we had once lost important information and conversations, Slack kept all of our correspondence in one place.

5. We reviewed actions and looked for ways to improve. Just as happened in the military where I participated in After Action Reviews, I created a process for weekly reviews in my office. We didn’t review one other’s work per se, but instead, how the week had done in general. How was our communication? Did everything get done? Did anything fall through the cracks?

By highlighting any gaps in our communication and planning, we could find ways to improve. And that’s exactly what we did. Over time, we improved everything from our daily communication to results for our clients.

Final thoughts

Where I once felt I could never step away from the office, I now work less than 8 hours each week at the office.  And as the final nail in the coffin and proof that everything I outlined here works, we have drastically improved our profitability as well. In fact, Alliance Wealth Management (my firm) is on pace to grow revenue by 31 percent this year.

With more time on my hands, I am now able to be a better father and husband. In addition, I’ve created space and time to do something I have always wanted to do — which is to create a course geared toward financial advisors who want to become a force to be reckoned with in the online space. And you know what else? My course, The Online Advisor Growth Formula, is on track to add $100,000 in revenue to my business this year.

This fact underscores the idea that more work hours doesn’t always mean greater results and that, sometimes, less is more.

None of this could have happened if I had never stepped away – and if I had never listened to the savvy productivity experts who forged this path for me.

Related: 7 Healthy Habits That Maximize Your Productivity Every Day

If you’re tired of working more to accomplish less, make sure to listen to the experts that study productivity like it’s their job (because it is). You might feel “stuck” working too many hours now, but a few small changes can make a world of difference.

 

Entrepreneur.com | October 28, 2016 | Jeff Rose

 

Your #Career : 13 Verbs Employers and Recruiters want to See on your CV/Resume…Survey of 150 Employers to Find Out What they Want to See on Your Resume – and Here is the Consensus.

/in /by

CV writing: it’s a deeply awkward process – from working out which tense to write in (hint: do past tense) to deciding whether to list your love of paragliding among your hobbies.

0218_land-interview-resume_650x4551-300x210 (1)

But now CV writing service StandoutCV has surveyed 150 employers to find out what they want to see on your resume – and the consensus seems to be that those who can manage, deliver, improve and reduce (very Austerity Britain) are more employable.

In fact, the word “managed” came out on top, with 92 per cent of employers saying they wanted someone who can take responsibility. Meanwhile, 65 per cent of employers said they’d like someone who can negotiate.

1. Managed

Shows recruiters you have control over your responsibilities and are able to drive results

2. Delivered

Shows the end product of your work by explaining what you have delivered

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

3. Improved

If you’re an employee who can be brought on board to drive positive change within an organisation, you will be invaluable

4. Reduced

Reducing company spending or resource use in particular is hugely beneficial

5. Planned

Planning is the backbone of success

6. Supported

Showing that you can support others is another way of proving that you can be relied upon

7. Influenced

The ability to influence others is a necessary talent for getting things done in any industry

8. Trained

Shows you have of expertise in your field along with the gravitas and communication skills to deliver training sessions

9. Resolved

Businesses face problems every day: if you can prove your ability to resolve issues, you will impress recruiters

10. Presented

Public speaking of any kind can be a daunting task but it’s a hugely valuable skill for any employee to have

11. Analysed

Data is a vital currency in any organisation, but it’s worthless without staff who can analyse it and understand its implications

12. Developed

Development drives progress and advancements across all aspects of life

13. Negotiated

People often assume that negotiation is purely a tool for sales staff; but actually, it can be applied to many areas of business.

Read the original article on City AM. Copyright 2016.

Businessinsider.com | October 27, 2016 | Emma Haslett, City AM

Your #Career : Exactly How To Position Yourself As A First-Time Jobseeker…Here’s what “Personal Branding” Looks Like When you Don’t have Much Work Experience to Draw On.

/in /by

If you’re kicking off an entry-level job search, standing out in a sea of qualified candidates can be tough. After all, your work experience is likely limited to internships, and your academic credentials may be a hit or miss as far as an employer’s needs are concerned.

20 yr old hired

So how do you break through? It’s all about positioning. You simply need to create an identity for yourself that not only sets you apart but that prospective employers find desirable. But what makes that challenge different from the typical advice on personal branding is that new jobseekers don’t have much of an employment record with which to build their profiles. Here’s what to do instead.

“PERSONALITY” MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGH

When I interview entry-level candidates, almost all of them who show up are capable of doing the job. That’s because I’ve screened out applicants who don’t have the basic skills required for the position. So most candidates who make it over that first bar are pretty similar to one another.

Getting from that initial pool of interviewees to actually landing a job offer takes more than just researching the company or doing some mock interviews. You also need to think about how to sell your skill set for the job you’re interviewing for. While that sounds intuitive, it’s part of the interview preparation that many candidates overlook—possibly because to them, their credentials may seem self-evident, especially for an entry-level role that may involve a good deal of grunt work.

But companies aren’t just looking for any old pair of hands to do a low-level job. They’re investing in someone with the potential to stick around and, hopefully, do higher-level work. So in order to drive home what makes you appealing and distinctive in an interview, you first need to understand what the employer considers appealing and distinctive.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

START ASKING QUESTIONS

The best place to start is to figure out what makes employees in that job successful. All you have to do is ask. Entry-level jobseekers may think it’s overkill to sign up for LinkedIn Premium, but it can help. This way you can search for alumni from your school who already have the type of job you’re interviewing for. (Sometimes universities’ own alumni databases aren’t all that up to date or comprehensive, whereas most people are pretty good about keeping current on LinkedIn.)

Get in touch and ask questions about what skills, qualities, and characteristics an entry-level candidate needs to possess in order to succeed in that role. You can reach out to fellow alumni or even just with connections you have in common on LinkedIn. Ask them if they remember which traits they themselves touted most on their job interviews. And be sure to ask what will get an employee promoted to the next level up from there later on.

Since most employers are hiring entry-level candidates to fill immediate positions and advance over time, it’s important to have a big-picture understanding of the type of candidates your interviewer is looking to hire.

EXPLAIN HOW YOUR SKILLS REFLECT WHO YOU ARE

Now that you’ve pinned down the role’s major success factors, it’s time to have a closer look at your skills. Remember: An interviewer doesn’t really expect you to have much experience for an entry-level job, so it all comes down to skills.

Break those down into a list of your hard and soft skills. Find the common denominators, then turn that into a coherent narrative, not just a series of qualities.

So for instance, if you’ve learned that the junior art director job you’re interviewing for requires you to be creative and a little edgy, that’s how to position yourself. Make sure your portfolio includes work you’ve done in school or during an internship that reflects that attitude and shows your technical competence, too. Let your interviewer know that your art professors and other students appreciated your ability to think ahead of the curve and find solutions to visual or design challenges on the fly. And offer an anecdote about a time that actually happened, don’t just assert that it’s true.

Whether or not your interviewer remembers all the specific details doesn’t really matter; if you’ve positioned yourself well, they’ll certainly remember what you stand for.

DON’T LET YOUR FOLLOW-UP GO TO WASTE

You can reinforce your positioning in your follow-up, too. If you just interviewed for an entry-level sales role and presented yourself as someone with great closing skills, demonstrate that. Go beyond the typical thank-you email and highlight what makes you such a strong closer.

It doesn’t hurt to expand on a point you didn’t get to touch on that much on the interview, as long as it’s relevant. You might mention that, since you’re now at the end of the interview process, you hope you’ve managed to close the deal—and that that’s a skill you’ve been working on. Maybe you picked up some closing techniques in your summer internship or during mock sales calls in a class during your senior year. Or you could simply link to an article you just read on the subject.

Whatever your approach, you’re using that last interaction with an interviewer to extend a point you’ve already built up during the interview process—and, hopefully, proving that the way you positioned yourself actually had substance. Validating that in your follow-up email can go a long way to landing you the job you want. And best of all, you don’t need a long resume with impressive experience to do it.

Don Raskin is a senior partner at MME, an advertising and marketing agency in New York City. He is also the author of The Dirty Little Secrets of Getting Your Dream Job.

 

FastCompany.com |  DON RASKIN | 10.26.16 5:00 AM

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

#Leadership : Why My Company Started Helping Our Best Employees Quit…This Company Sits Down with Every Employee who’s Stayed for Three Years to Plan their Career Options—within the Firm and Without.

/in /by
 In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Superbosses author Sydney Finkelstein argues that some of the most successful leaders encourage their top-performing talent to leave. He also observes that some of the most transformative executives have the shortest tenures at the companies they reshape.
Free- Lock on Fence

The reason, Finkelstein says, is simple: It’s difficult to acquire and hold onto outsize talent, but far better to house it within your organization for a short time than not at all. Rather than fight turnover, companies may do better to embrace it—and instead focus on improving the quality of the people who cycle through its doors, as opposed to reducing the quantity of those who do.

THE CASE FOR BUILDING AN EXIT DOOR AND OPENING IT WIDE

This a concept my own company is taking to heart. After all, more money and bigger titles can only go so far, particularly for talented employees who aren’t primarily motivated by extrinsic incentives like those. Sometimes the next level up simply doesn’t match an employee’s aspirations, skills, or career timetable.

So the best thing for an employer to do is to help them find another great opportunity, instead of pouring time and resources into trying (and failing) to get them to stay. The companies that succeed will build reputations for launching leaders’ careers, which can help them attract the next wave of promising talent.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

That’s the theory, anyway, that recently led us to formalize the exit route as a key part of our staffing plan. The way it works is this: Throughout their tenures, we ask our employees to consider (and reconsider) their desired career goals for the next five to 10 years. We discuss possible paths to help them achieve those goals, and the skills and experiences they’ll need to acquire along the way.

Because we hire many younger professionals with limited work experience, we often have to invest heavily in developing their skills and expertise. Generally speaking, we hope that all high performers will stay with us for at least three years, both so our investment will pay off and so they’ll have time to thoughtfully consider what they want next in their careers. After that period, though, we work with them on advancement opportunities—inside the company and out.

To do that, we work with our employees to define three potential paths: two within the firm and one beyond it. If they choose the exit route, we make introductions to potential employers, serve as references, write LinkedIn recommendations, and even coach employees through the search process. Sure, these are resources we could be putting into retention efforts instead, but the preliminary results suggest we’re doing the right thing.

WHAT COMPANIES GAIN BY HELPING EMPLOYEES MOVE ON

Here are a few of the benefits we’ve already begun to see.

Increased employee engagement and retention. Being able to openly discuss career routes is a great relief for many employees, and this openness contributes to a supportive, transparent culture. The program also encourages managers to think more like career coaches than micromanagers preoccupied by short-term needs. Managers learn how to engage with team members in thoughtful, authentic ways, building trust and loyalty and improving overall employee engagement.

And since managers actually understand their employees’ career objectives, we’re better equipped to assign meatier projects—even if they’re not directly tied to employees’ roles—to help them build their desired skills. This can help increase the odds that our most talented employees stick around longer, because they feel valued and see tangible advantages to doing so.

More predictable succession planning and smoother transitions. When exit paths are discussed forthrightly, managers can gain more time to plan employees’ departures. There’s plenty of runway to document all their projects and processes. There’s also more time to think carefully about contact changes for customers and partners, making the handover smoother and more thoughtfully carried out.

Outgoing employees benefit as well, getting to leave the company on a high note, feeling celebrated, appreciated, and grateful to the company for helping them land their next big role. Nobody’s blindsided or left feeling bitter.

Employer branding and recruiting benefits. In the age of Glassdoor, Yelp, and Quora, it’s more important than ever that employees leave feeling like their time with an employer was well spent. Companies that have built reputations not just for hiring well but for supporting talented people can get a major recruiting boost. Former employees are potentially some of your most powerful assets—people you can leverage for referrals or even consider rehiring later in their careers.

It’s far from intuitive for most companies to invest heavily in recruiting and professional development, only to actively facilitate employees’ departures. But after years of thoughtfully considering our employees’ needs as well as our own, we’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes the best path forward is out.

 

FastCompany.com |  MATHIDLE PRIBULA |  10.25.16 5:00 AM

#Leadership : 10 Bad Habits You Must Eliminate from Your Daily Routine…When it Comes to Productivity, the Little Things Make All the Difference. Quit Sabotaging Yourself with These Bad Habits.

/in /by

You are the sum of your habits. When you allow bad habits to take over, they dramatically impede your path to success. The challenge is bad habits are insidious, creeping up on you slowly until you don’t even notice the damage they’re causing.

Free- Biz Man on Cellphone

“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”   — Warren Buffett

Breaking bad habits requires self-control — and lots of it. Research indicates that it’s worth the effort, as self-control has huge implications for success.

University of Pennsylvania psychologists Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman conducted a study where they measured college students’ IQ scores and levels of self-control upon entering university. Four years later, they looked at the students’ grade point averages (GPA) and found that self-control was twice as important as IQ in earning a high GPA.

The self-control required to develop good habits (and stop bad ones) also serves as the foundation for a strong work ethic and highproductivity. Self-control is like a muscle — to build it up you need to exercise it. Practice flexing your self-control muscle by breaking the following bad habits:

1. Using your phone, tablet or computer in bed.

This is a big one that most people don’t even realize harms their sleep and productivity. Short-wavelength blue light plays an important role in your mood, energy level and sleep quality. In the morning, sunlight contains high concentrations of this blue light. When your eyes are exposed to it directly, the blue light halts production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and makes you feel more alert. In the afternoon, the sun’s rays lose their blue light, which allows your body to produce melatonin and start making you sleepy. By the evening, your brain doesn’t expect any blue light exposure and is very sensitive to it.

Most of our favorite evening devices — laptops, tablets and mobile phones — emit short-wavelength blue light brightly and right in your face. This exposure impairs melatonin production and interferes with your ability to fall asleep as well as with the quality of your sleep once you do nod off. As we’ve all experienced, a poor night’s sleep has disastrous effects. The best thing you can do is to avoid these devices after dinner (television is OK for most people as long as they sit far enough away from the set).

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

2. Impulsively surfing the internet.

It takes you 15 consecutive minutes of focus before you can fully engage in a task. Once you do, you fall into a euphoric state of increased productivity called flow. Research shows that people in a flow state are five times more productive than they otherwise would be. When you click out of your work because you get an itch to check the news, Facebook, a sport’s score or what have you, this pulls you out of flow. This means you have to go through another 15 minutes of continuous focus to reenter the flow state. Click in and out of your work enough times, and you can go through an entire day without experiencing flow.

Related: 10 Habits That Will Make You Much Happier

3. Checking your phone during a conversation.

Nothing turns people off like a mid-conversation text message or even a quick glance at your phone. When you commit to a conversation, focus all your energy on the conversation. You will find that conversations are more enjoyable and effective when you immerse yourself in them.

4. Using multiple notifications.

Multiple notifications are a productivity nightmare. Studies have shown that hopping on your phone and e-mail every time they ping for your attention causes your productivity to plummet. Getting notified every time a message drops onto your phone or an e-mail arrives in your inbox might feel productive, but it isn’t. Instead of working at the whim of your notifications, pool all your e-mails/texts and check them at designated times (e.g., respond to your e-mails every hour). This is a proven, productive way to work.

5. Saying “yes” when you should say “no.”

Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout and even depression, all of which erode self-control. Saying no is indeed a major self-control challenge for many people. “No” is a powerful word that you should not be afraid to wield. When it’s time to say no, emotionally intelligent people avoid phrases like “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain.” Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them. Just remind yourself that saying no is an act of self-control now that will increase your future self-control by preventing the negative effects of over commitment.

6. Thinking about toxic people.

There are always going to be toxic people who have a way of getting under your skin and staying there. Each time you find yourself thinking about a coworker or person who makes your blood boil, practice being grateful for someone else in your life instead. There are plenty of people out there who deserve your attention, and the last thing you want to do is think about the people who don’t matter when there are people who do.

7. Multitasking during meetings.

You should never give anything half of your attention, especially meetings. If a meeting isn’t worth your full attention, then you shouldn’t be attending it in the first place; and if the meeting is worth your full attention, then you need to get everything you can out of it. Multitasking during meetings hurts you by creating the impression that you believe you are more important than everyone else.

8. Gossiping.

Gossipers derive pleasure from other people’s misfortunes. It might be fun to peer into somebody else’s personal or professional faux pas at first, but over time, it gets tiring, makes you feel gross and hurts other people. There are too many positives out there and too much to learn from interesting people to waste your time talking about the misfortune of others.

“Great minds discuss ideas, average ones discuss events and small minds discuss people.”   — Eleanor Roosevelt

9. Waiting to act until you know you’ll succeed.

Most writers spend countless hours brainstorming their characters and plots, and they even write page after page that they know they’ll never include in the books. They do this because they know that ideas need time to develop. We tend to freeze up when it’s time to get started because we know that our ideas aren’t perfect and that what we produce might not be any good. But how can you ever produce something great if you don’t get started and give your ideas time to evolve? Author Jodi Picoult summarized the importance of avoiding perfectionism perfectly: “You can edit a bad page, but you can’t edit a blank page.”

Related: 9 Bad Habits You Must Break To Be More Productive

10. Comparing yourself to other people.

When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own happiness. When you feel good about something that you’ve done, don’t allow anyone’s opinions or accomplishments take that away from you. While it’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to compare yourself to others and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within. Regardless of what people think of you at any particular moment, one thing is certain — you’re never as good or bad as they say you are.

Bringing It All Together

By practicing self-control to break these bad habits, you can simultaneously strengthen your self-control muscle and abolish nasty habits that have the power to bring your career to a grinding halt.

A version of this article appeared on TalentSmart.

 

Entrepreneur.com | October 25, 2016 | Brad Bradberry 

Your #Career : 20 Signs That You Should Quit Your Job (Infographic)..If You can Relate to Many of These Signs, It’s Time to Rethink Your 9 to 5.

/in /by

For most of us, we spend at least 40 hours a week at our jobs. That’s a lot of time. So if you’re not feeling passionate about the work you’re doing or notice you’re not growing professional, maybe it’s time to rethink your nine to five.

business woman with her staff, people group in background at modern bright office indoors

Your career should be a path to success, so sharing the same goals andvalues of your employer is vital. Being bored, overly stressed and/or burnt out are clear indicators that it’s time to say bye-bye to your current job.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

To truly tell if it’s time to resign, listen to your gut. That instinctive feeling will let you know if you should be looking for other opportunities.

 

Entrepreneur.com | October 23, 2016 |  Rose Leadem

#Leadership : 3 Lessons From Tim Ferriss About Avoiding Burnout…A Chance Encounter with the Productivity Guru yields Three Priceless Insights.

/in /by

We sat in the southern courtyard of Oheka Castle, the 127-room chateau-style estate along New York’s affluent North Shore. As the other guests at the Shopify Build-A-Business VI dinner made their way back inside, I saw Mr. Productivity himself sitting a few chairs down: Tim Ferriss.

tim-ferris

I’d been a staunch follower of his work since 2007 — the release year for the first edition of “The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anyway, and Join the New Rich.” Understandably, I was nervous to say hello. “Screw it,” I thought, taking a swig of courage and making my way over. I introduced myself, we toasted wine glasses, and then we covered topics ranging from what microphone I use for interviews to his upcoming book.

But there was a bigger question I had in mind. Turns out, it was the same one other Shopify contest winners wanted answered: How do entrepreneurs avoid burnout? Here are a few insights Ferris shared.

1. Identify your most important metric and scale it weekly.

There’s no shortage of data out there. Tools can help e-commerce entrepreneurs track everything from customer demographics to churn rate. So data isn’t the problem. It’s the sheer amount of data that eventually becomes stifling. There’s no way for one person to sift through it all.

Let’s use me as an example. My biggest metrics are shopping-cart conversion, shopping-cart size and shopping-cart abandonment rate. Now, let’s say I have no trouble getting users to my site or to checkout, but they always end up buying the cheapest item. My metric would be increasing shopping-cart size, so I’d track cart size week over week.

Again, the key here is to nail down just one metric. It should be whichever one is most important to your business at the moment. Then, focus on moving it forward week over week. Ferriss says the biggest risk for startups is not failing to execute — it’s executing too many (often unimportant) tasks at once.

Related: The Most Important Metric You Can Track

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

2. Define the 80/20 rule in your inputs and desired outputs.

The goal of this exercise is twofold: to help you identify inefficienciesand strengths. Taking inventory of both allows you to eliminate the former while multiplying focus on the latter. You need to identify which activities will achieve the highest ROI for the least effort and then zero in on only those tasks. Once you do, you’ll alleviate burnout and get on the road toward sustainable, long-term growth.

If you’re still overwhelmed, focus on the negatives first — i.e., inefficiencies and psychic anchors holding you back. Oftentimes, getting rid of these alone will do the trick.

Related: The 80/20 Rule of Time Management: Stop Wasting Your Time

And now for my personal favorite. Let’s see if you can guess why.

3. Book a 4-week (or longer) vacation in the next 12 months.

Why four weeks or more versus the conventional two? It forces you to remove yourself as a bottleneck. Two weeks is just short enough for you to come back and try to put out fires. Four weeks forces you to develop systems, rules and policies that enable your business to run without you. The other side effect? You position yourself for a future windfall by making your business sellable.

But you can’t just go anywhere. Make sure the location isn’t associated with business or work. Ferriss suggests you get outside your normal routine and working environment. In fact, he recommends Japan.

It’s an opportunity to be in a completely alien environment without sacrificing safety. Social conventions are different. Western influence is absent. For most English speakers, Japanese language and handwriting are virtually unintelligible. Plus, there’s so much to explore. This shock to your system will give you a new perspective on everything — especially your business.

Book everything in advance and, ideally, with other people so it’s harder to cancel.

 

Entrepreneur.com |  October 24, 2016 |  Brian Roberts 

#Leadership : 3 Signs You Have Succumbed to Helicopter Management…There is Nothing Efficient about Hovering Over the People you Hired because you Trusted they Can Do the Job.

/in /by

Helicopter parenting took off in the 1980s, when paranoia was at an all-time high over child abductions, and the U.S. was in an economic boom that made things like SAT prep classes and expensive extracurriculars the standard. For years now, there have been discussions about how helicopter parenting is ruining America’s children and we know that helicopter managing (more commonly known as micromanaging) can be just as damaging to an entire company as it can be to an individual’s career.

Free- Lock on Fence

However, few of the guilty are conscious of their overbearing ways. As a Stanford dean wrote in a book on the rise of helicopter parenting on college campuses titled “How to Raise an Adult,” even she — an academic writing about the phenomenon — failed to fully realize that she and her husband did a fair amount of helicoptering in their own home. You can notice helicoptering, dislike it and still be guilty of it.

Just as certain cultural factors seeded this style in parenting, others have seeded it in the workplace, making it more tempting than ever to micromanage. The rise of open offices, real-time messaging and collaborative tools like Google Docs make it downright easy to jump into a team member’s work and take the reins.

Like helicopter parenting, helicopter managing often comes from a good place. You don’t want to see your reports fail and you want your team to succeed. That’s why, as Harvard Business Review writes, “Micromanagement has a way of spreading in organizations, where goals and accountability are intricately nested. What your team delivers affects what you deliver, and so on up the chain of command — so the pressure is on everywhere to make sure everyone comes through.”

If you’re being micromanaged, you’re more likely to micromanage your own reports, and then inefficiency spreads throughout the organization. This inefficiency can stunt growth and hurt the company long-term if it’s not rectified.

Here are a few signs you’ve slipped into helicopter managing:

1. Your employees are getting testy.

You ask for status updates multiple times before something’s due, you make to-do lists for your team members, you jump in and offer advice when a team member hasn’t asked for it, and when you ask your employees the status of something, they usually reply with “I’m on that and will update you in our next meeting.” Not every exasperated employee is being micromanaged, but if your entire team is getting irritable, you might want to take a look at your management style.

The habit of overly checking in within open office environments can feed this exasperation. “Wide-open workspaces and copious real-time data on how individuals spend their time can leave employees feeling exposed and vulnerable,” writes Ethan Bernstein for Harvard Business Review. “Being observed changes their conduct. They start going to great lengths to keep what they’re doing under wraps, even if they have nothing bad to hide.”

Related: The 3-Step Cure for Micromanagement

It’s easy to fall into a vicious cycle. You might intervene to make sure you  support employees every step of the way, the same way well-meaning helicopter parents can now spy on their kids’ homework. But when you insert yourself too much, they often feel less empowered to step up, and then you feel more like you need to direct, thus creating an unhealthy dynamic that never stops.

 

Like this Article ?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network: (Over 15K+ Members & Growing !)   www.linkedin.com/in/frankfsc/en

Facebook: (over 12K)   http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

educate/collaborate/network….Look forward to your Participation !

Continue of article:

2. Your team isn’t failing — ever.

Everyone needs to fail every now and then in order to grow and, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realize that some of the most important lessons you ever learned were because of failure — even minor failure. And while it’s really important to note here that employees are by no means like children, there are still parallels in the relationship:  failure is a difficult thing to watch both as a manager and a parent. Slate writes, “When children aren’t given the space to struggle through things on their own, they don’t learn to problem solve very well… The other problem with never having to struggle is that you never experience failure.” Substitute “employees” for “children” in that statement, and it’s equally true.

It’s extremely challenging for as a manager to see an employee do something that you know will not work out. You’ll always be tempted to jump in, and you also can’t always let people fail. Being too hands off could cost the company millions, so you have to find a balance.

People think not micromanaging should be easy — it sounds like less work, in theory. However, one of your jobs as a manager is to find the times it’s okay to let an employee try something new and perhaps fail, as long as you take the time to walk your team member through anything that goes awry and how to improve next time. The whole process can feel painfully slow and less than efficient, especially when you see the mistake before it happens, but it’s still good management.

So don’t deny your team members the opportunity to learn from occasional failure. Ultimately, these small failures will grow your team members in ways that will help grow the organization, too.

3. You’ve lost sight of the big picture.

Suddenly you’re nearing the end of the quarter, and you realize you’re still carrying too much of the workload of your team, and it could even affect your overall success for your larger corporate goals. Sometimes when you get too in the weeds with everyone else’s day-to-day tasks, you fail to see the big picture and think strategically about what needs to happen to achieve your goals. It’s also tough to hit your goals and grow in step with your company when your team isn’t growing at all.

Related: Entrepreneurs Can Save Their Startups When They Stop Micromanaging

Realistically, you can’t hit big picture goals and intricately manage every moving piece at the same time — it becomes too easy to lose focus. Similarly, helicopter parents might achieve amazing goals along the way, like getting their child into a top school or ensuring they play piano well, but they often miss the big picture goal, which is raising an independent adult.

Sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and ask yourself if you’re a helicopter boss. However, you have to recognize when it’s happening, and not just because you’re risking a bad reputation as a manager: it’s harmful to a company’s bottom line. The good news is that micromanaging is a bad habit that can be broken — it just takes recognizing it, stepping back, and training rather than “doing”. Sometimes the hardest part of parenting and managing is letting go, but doing so is key to the health and growth of everyone involved.

 

Entrepreneur.com| October 24, 2016 |  Katie Jansen, Chief Marketing Officer, AppLovin