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Your Career: 5 Things To Ask Your Boss In The New Year.

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You have control over your career if you speak up and ask questions. Maybe you don’t know what to ask for or you’ve been holding off on asking for something because you did not know how to ask. Consider this your nudge.

This is your push to ask for what you want in the New Year. Here are five things to consider asking for from your boss next year:

1.     Business goals.

If you do not understand why you are doing the work you are doing, it is difficult to understand the purpose of your work. When you work without purpose, you may lose your enthusiasm and the level of quality that is required to succeed.

Ask your manager, “What are this year’s goals for the organization?” “What are your upcoming priorities?” The answers to these questions will help you understand how your role plays a part in reaching your company’s goals and helps to ensure that your efforts continue to meet goals. When you meet or exceed your organization’s goals, you demonstrate value.

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2.     Expectations.

You may think you know what is expected of you at work, but are you absolutely clear on expectations? To avoid confusion or misunderstanding, ask your manager what is expected of you. When you are clear about what people expect from you, you will increase your chances of meeting or exceeding expectations.

3.     Flexibility.

Would it benefit your health, family or projects to work from home one day a week or slightly shift your daily schedule to be able to arrive later and leave later? If you think some form of flexibility would help you be more productive with work, inquire about it. Communicate how the change will help you with your work. If you are already demonstrating solid work, it will be easier for you to ask for more flexibility.

4.     Money.

If you want a raise, ask for it. If you need more resources for a project, ask for it. Assuming you are producing quality work, ask for what you need to continue to be the best professional that you can be and produce great work.

5.     A promotion.

If you continue to prove your worth, consider asking your manager for a promotion. Don’t run the risk of not asking and build up resentment that may undermine your work product and impact your relationships with colleagues.

Keep in mind that asking for a promotion, more money and flexibility in one year or a short time span might not be wise. You should ask for what you want, but don’t go overboard. Consider prioritizing what you want in the upcoming year. A successful career is built on years of experience and climbing the ladder. The higher you go on the ladder, the move opportunity you will have to ask for what you want.

Ask about business goals and expectations. Arm yourself with the information to show your worth to your organization. When you demonstrate your worth, you have the leverage to ask for things like flexibility, a raise or a promotion. Questions have answers. Ask the questions to know the answers and see the road that will help you reach your goals.

 

Forbes.com | December 29, 2019 | Avery Blank

Resume Writing: Make Your Job Application Robot-Proof. Great Tips to Get Past Robots.

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Job seekers often spend hours online researching employers and polishing their applications and résumés. Then they hit send.

And they hear nothing. Ever.

Looking for a job is hard enough without being rejected by a robot. But applicant-screening and tracking systems are increasingly powerful job-market gatekeepers. After scanning résumés, they hurl most applicants into a digital black hole.

These machine-learning systems save time and money for employers swamped by online applicants, and they could potentially reduce bias in hiring. But the tools also risk magnifying employers’ existing prejudices and rejecting worthy applicants. Most vulnerable are the most active job seekers, such as recent college grads looking for entry-level positions or older workers idled by layoffs.

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“It’s a hot-button issue with college students,” prompting eye-rolls and cynicism, says Mary O. Scott, a West Hartford, Conn., campus researcher and consultant who just completed a series of in-depth student interviews at 14 universities. One senior spoke of using her “trigger finger” to respond to hundreds of online postings, but she expects few if any replies, Ms. Scott says.

Savvy job seekers can improve their odds of getting past these gatekeepers by understanding how they work. Among valuable tactics: Spice up your résumé with specific on-the-job results, use meaningful job titles and tailor your choice of words to match companies’ requirements.

These systems scan résumés and applications for keywords showing hard skills, such as financial analysis or cybersecurity, and sometimes for softer skills, like team leadership. They may ask knockout questions for must-have attributes, such as whether you can work at a particular location. Some use text tools or chatbots to administer skills tests. Most disqualify applicants who don’t meet basic requirements, then list others in a ranked order, based on how well they fit the employer’s specs.

Tips To Get Past the Robots…

1- Network to build contacts inside the company who will put in a good word for you.

2- Use a text-based app like Word for your online application, rather than a PDF or other format.

3- Include in your résumé keywords and phrases from the employer’s job posting.

4- Quantify past results, citing dollars earned or other stats.

5- Camouflage brief gaps in work history by listing years only, rather than years and months.

6- List job titles in a way that shows increasing responsibility and status.

Some tools serve as job-market matchmakers. ZipRecruiter matches candidates and employers by scanning applicants’ qualifications and employers’ postings, tracking users’ behavior on the site and employing algorithms similar to those used by Amazon for suggesting products, CEO Ian Siegel says.

Rock Brouwer has hired many candidates ZipRecruiter has brought to his attention. “When I get one of those, it just makes my day,” says Mr. Brouwer, hiring manager for Pacific Service Center, a Portland, Ore., trucking-fleet repair company.

About 60% of employers admit such tools cause them to miss some qualified candidates, however, according to a 2016 survey of 1,200 job seekers and managers by CareerArc, a human-resources technology company, and Future Workplace, a research firm. Critics say the systems give too much weight to small differences between candidates.

They amount to a black box. “Often a job candidate doesn’t even know a system is in use,” and employers aren’t required to disclose it, says Sarah Myers West, a researcher at the AI Now Institute, a New York University research group. A new Illinois law will go into effect next month requiring employers to disclose and get consent for use of AI video-interviewing tools with job applicants.

Most vendors refuse to tell employers how their algorithms work. And most employers lack deep, accurate performance data.

The systems risk magnifying managers’ prejudices if those biases are reflected in the makeup of the employer’s current workforce, according to a 2018 study by Upturn, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit promoting fairness in the use of digital technology.

High performers may share traits that have nothing to do with job performance, skewing outcomes, says Mark Girouard, a Minneapolis attorney who advises employers on pre-employment screening. One vendor built a résumé-screening tool that tagged being named Jared and playing high school lacrosse as factors predicting success. “The system didn’t have a very deep set of learning data,” he says. The employer didn’t put it to use.

Even if employers and vendors aren’t trying to reject female or minority applicants, they still risk doing so if they train algorithms on data gleaned from a current workforce that lacks diversity. An employer with mostly male employees, for example, might inadvertently train a screening tool to downgrade applicants who participated in sports played mostly by women, such as field hockey.

One employer intent on reducing employee turnover found that people who lived closer to its offices tended to stay with the company longer. But screening applicants based on distance from the worksite turned out to be a proxy for race, resulting in a lack of diversity.

The systems can easily stack the deck against older workers, says William A. Rivera, senior vice president of litigation for the AARP Foundation. An employer who wants to hire applicants with three to five years’ experience can award candidates three points for three to five years’ experience, two points for five to seven years and one point for more than seven years, Mr. Rivera says. The result: The most experienced workers, who are also typically older than others, would likely receive a lower score and a lower ranking on a candidate list.

It’s sometimes possible to tell whether an employer is using an AI-driven tool by looking for a vendor’s logo on the employer’s career site. In other cases, hovering your cursor over the “submit” button will reveal the URL where your application is being sent.

Otherwise it’s best to assume a robot will be your first-round judge. To pass the test, use clear, functional job titles that reflect progress in your career, and prove your value by quantifying results in dollars earned or number of customers gained, says Robert Meier, chief executive of Restore Hope Resources, a Tampa, Fla., job-coaching firm.

Some applicants try to game the systems by choosing answers to knockout questions that are obviously desirable rather than accurate, says Jim D’Amico, president of the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals. Others fudge their ZIP Code to make it look as though they live in the employer’s target area.

These ploys risk annoying hiring managers, Mr. D’Amico says. Candidates weigh the risks against potential rewards. “Some candidates think, ‘To know me is to love me. If I can just get in front of you, you’re going to love me,’ ” he says. “And sometimes that’s true.”

Author:  Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

 

WSJ.com | December 16, 2019

#CareerAdvice : #CareerAdvancement -These 7 Traits Can Help you Get Ahead, then Harm You as you Move Up…A Must REAd for ALL!

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When it comes to your career, moving ahead can be a case of “what got you here won’t get you there.” Unfortunately, if you keep doing what you were doing, the consequences can be harmful. Traits that initially get you noticed can later cause you to be overlooked for a promotion or raise.

“People have behaviors that work early in careers and they can hang onto them because they’re invested in them,” says leadership consultant Sally Helgesen, coauthor of How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back From Your Next Raise, Promotion or Job. “Even when it looks as if the habit may not be serving you well now, it can be difficult to let it go.”

It’s important to gain awareness of the behaviors that are potentially problematic, so you can ask yourself if it’s time to move on and take a different approach. Here are seven habits you need to break to move ahead.

1. BEING PRECISE AND CORRECT

This is especially problematic for women, who tend to get promoted and rewarded based on being precise and correct, says Helgesen.

“What they take away is that being precise and correct is very important to success,” she says. “The problem is that at the highest level, precision and correctness is not what an organization looks for. That can be considered a micromanagement approach.”

 

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2. FOCUSING ON STRONG TECHNICAL SKILLS

Being technically proficient can get you noticed, and it’s always good to be up to date on the latest tool, says Allison McWilliams, assistant vice president of mentoring and alumni personal and  career development at Wake Forest University. Later, it can hold you back if you stay in the trenches.

“There is a clear difference between an ability to use and implement the latest technologies to do the work, and being able to create a vision and a direction for and manage the people who will do this work,” says McWilliams. “To move up, it is far more important to be able to see the bigger picture and to get the right people into the room.”

It can be easy to overvalue expertise, adds Helgesen. “Especially for men engineers or accountants who strongly identify with that trait as part of their identity,” she says.

3. SEEKING OWNERSHIP AND RECOGNITION

The first few rungs of the professional ladder are about taking ownership for your work and gaining individual recognition for your contributions and accomplishments, but as you move up, you need to learn to put your ego in check, says McWilliams.

“It’s no longer about you; it’s about the team and the organization,” she says. “It’s not about getting credit or individual wins. It’s about giving credit and team wins.”

4. SELF RELIANCE

Taking initiative, being self-motivated and figuring out how to get the job done and then doing it will make you an invaluable resource early in your career, says Michelle Tillis Lederman, CEO of Executive Essentials and author of The Connector’s Advantage: 7 Mindsets to Grow Your Influence and Impact.

“As you become a people manager, it is your job to not go it alone,” she says. “You need to develop skills in others, delegate, and you are evaluated on the results you get with and through other people. Remember, it is the relationships that you build that will elevate your career. Self-reliance can be self-destructive.”

After you move into a leadership position, the hustle you used to get you there will start to work against you, ads Byron Matthews, CEO and president of Miller Heiman Group, a sales performance company.

“Your responsibilities have grown in complexity, which requires you to be more thoughtful,” he says. “It’s no longer just the activity; it’s asking, ‘What is the best activity?’ The top senior executives come to the table with perspective that doesn’t just answer a perceived need, but instead helps shape those needs.”

5. NETWORKING

Early on your career, meeting with as many people as you can is a great way to solidify your network and explore the resources, connections, and contacts that a wide network can provide, says Beck Bamberger, founder and CEO of BAM Communications, a PR and media relations firm.

“However, as you move up the chain, you have to become ruthless with your time,” she says. “In short, saying ‘yes’ to every person who wants to do a lunch, coffee, or a session to ‘pick your brain’ will leave you with zero time to actually get work done. In short, be more discerning as your career advances. The art of saying ‘no,’ is a hard one but a must to master.”

But be sure to make time to give back, says Jane Tutoki, director of the board at Sedgwick, a global claims administrator. “As you grow in your career, you have to be cognizant that you are now a role model for others, and that you have to behave like a role model, and help people accordingly,” she says. “You have to be more generous with your time and knowledge because you should become a resource for others, in order to build and lead a high-functioning and successful team.”

6. A LARGE APPETITE FOR RISK

When people don’t have much to lose, they’re usually willing to take on risks, says Kate Zabriskie, founder and CEO of Business Training Works, an onsite training provider. “When those risks pay off, they often pay big,” she says. “When they don’t, the consequences often aren’t usually too dire because there wasn’t much to lose in the first place.”

Later, however, heavy risk taking may seem disproportionate when considering gains versus potential losses. “Nobody wants to work for a loose cannon or someone who makes them feel unsafe,” says Zabriskie.

7. PATIENCE

Patience may be a virtue, but careerwise, it’s more likely to help early in your career than later, says Rebecca Horan, founder of Rebecca Horan Consulting, a brand strategy firm. “Let’s face it: when we’re just starting out, we need to prove ourselves,” she says. “We should be willing to do the grunt work, and roll up our sleeves to prove we’re a team player.”

Later in your career, patience can begin to lose its shine if you’re not receiving the project assignments, promotions, and pay raises you’d like. “The further you progress in your career, the more you’ll want to advocate for yourself,” says Horan. “Speak up about your goals and desires. Positioning your personal brand for the next leap becomes more about strategy and less about patience.

 

FastCompany.com | March 20, 2019 | BY STEPHANIE VOZZA 5 MINUTE READ

 

#CareerAdvice : #YourCareer – Take these Steps to Grow your Career in the New Year! Great Three(3) Min Read!

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Knowing the right company that fits your culture, passion, and industry is the first step. But once you find the right company, how do you work your way up?

Here are 5 tips on how to cultivate your career.

BUILD A SOLID NETWORK

Relationships are an essential part of your personal and professional life. Whether it’s with your current or former employer, building a solid foundation of professional connections is critical. Clients, peers, and subordinates, in addition to your management team, can all validate the quality of your work. Thoughtfully build your network and continue to learn from every level.

Make LinkedIn work for you. If you haven’t already, create your LinkedIn profile, and add your skills and contributions to beef up your profile. Endorse your colleagues and request their endorsement. A nod from your peers, or a positive review from a previous client, speaks volumes on LinkedIn.

SET GOALS

Be proactive. Setting goals for your professional career are critical. Start small and add new goals each year.

Find your passion and connect with others that share your ambitions. By sharing with others, you’ll have an even greater network to leverage expertise and resources.

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STEP OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Look for opportunities to try something new and step outside your comfort zone. Are there any classes or trainings available at your company? Does the company offer tuition reimbursements for a class you’re interested in taking? If you don’t know, ask!

When you have a passion for growing your career, take a shot on a “stretch assignment.” Whether it’s contributing to an additional project, or taking on a whole new role, this stretch assignment will add to your skillset, give you exposure to other people in your company, and allow you to gain insight into the expectations and daily work associated with a different position.

SEEK OUT A COACH OR MENTOR

A coach or mentor can be a person that’s in, or outside, of your organization. They should be a trusted advisor that can help guide you to the next stage of your career. Identify who that person is in your life and see if they’re interested in committing to your growth. You can have more than one. Keep in mind: It should be someone that can help you develop your personal and professional skills. Consider a person that is in a current role that you’d aspire to, or a person that can support your professional development, in preparation for the next step.

Be receptive to feedback. Look at any constructive criticism as positive. Remember–your coach or mentor has your best interests at heart. Be open-minded when listening to their suggestions; this can have a lasting, positive effect on your relationship with them and help you identify talents in yourself that you may not have previously realized.

TAKE THE LEAP

Are you ready to grow? Sometimes you need to take the leap and find out. Before you do, make sure you can land on your feet. Have you excelled in your current role? Have you grown to your full potential? If you answered yes, it’s time to move on to the next stage of your career. Before presenting your interest to your manager, prepare to reference any positive comments from others about your performance to solidify your next move. Include any past performance evaluations to add credibility.

If you’ve truly mastered your current role, then moving into a larger or a new position will seem like an obvious next step. In speaking with your manager about your next move, ask what tools you’ll need to succeed.

When looking at the big picture, plan effectively, build relationships, and execute a growth strategy with guidance from your manager and mentor to progress to the next stage in your career. By executing strategic goals, a new path to success will unfold. By implementing these steps, you can significantly impact your growth opportunity and challenge yourself to reach the next stage in a successful career.

 

FastCompany.com | December 31, 2018 | BY YOLANDA WALKER—GLASSDOOR3 MINUTE READ

#CareerAdvice : #YourCareer – Ask these Four Questions to Conduct a Your Career Audit for the Past Year. Great Three(3) Min Read!

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As 2018 comes to a close, career reflection is the most important thing you can do to prepare for the year ahead. It offers you the opportunity to look back, see what goals you already met, and figure out where you’re at with regards to your long-term goals (or whether they need to evolve).

Here are the questions you should be asking before you set your career resolutions for 2019.

DOES YOUR WORK MATTER?

Be honest in answering this fundamental question. Because if the answer is no, then nothing else really matters. Your happiness, both personal and professional, will come from doing work that you care about, and one way to answer this question is to take stock of your accomplishments. Write up a list of all that you have achieved and then ask yourself what they mean to you, personally and professionally. Do they matter to those around you? Do they matter to your employer? Do they matter to society? If you start here and can honestly say that your work matters, you’re well on your way to a rewarding career.

HAVE YOU KEPT UP WITH HOW TECHNOLOGY IS IMPACTING YOUR FIELD?

We live in a world of constant change. Those skills you acquired last year might be obsolete by this year or next. Rapid changes in technology are keeping everybody in a continuous state of learning and in a perpetual need to acquire new skills. Whether you are in a field driven by technology, or whether technology is just a part of your industry, you need to update and advance your tech skills at all times.

When you look back on the past year, ask yourself if you managed to keep up with the technological changes in your field. If you did, that’s probably not good enough. You need to get ahead of the changes, anticipate what new changes might be coming, and prepare for them. Your career will fast-track itself when your professional peers see you as the technology driver. Do everything you can in the upcoming year to stay ahead of the tech game, including investing time and resources in your skills.

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WHAT IS YOUR CAREER TRAJECTORY?
Did you work all of this year without giving much thought to where you will be down the road? Where will you be in five years? Ten years? To get to where you want to be, you need to identify where you need to be at various stages of your career.

Start this process by looking around and seeing where your more experienced coworkers are at, and think about whether that’s where you want to be. If so, ask what they did to get to where they are today. What roles and responsibilities did they take on? What skills did they acquire along the way? How did they network and get those responsible for their career development to notice and advance their careers? From that learning, map out your game plan so that you don’t leave your career advancement to chance.

IS YOUR FINANCIAL WELL-BEING WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE?
Money won’t dictate whether or not you’ll find satisfaction at work, but it’s still imperative to your overall well-being. At the end of the year, you should be conducting regular reviews of your salary, bonus, retirement contributions, and healthcare benefits so you can ensure that you’re earning what you deserve. The best way to evaluate this is to do your homework. Go online and research jobs like yours and learn what employees in other companies are earning. Check out jobs posted and what employers are paying for those jobs. You want to be earning to your maximum potential because many organizations base future promotions and salary increases on your current financial package. If you are not making what you should be, you should set some time to have an honest conversation with your boss in the new year.

Just like everything else in life, career success and satisfaction won’t come without strong intentions on your part. But you also need to make sure that you’re setting (and implementing) the right ones. That starts with asking questions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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 More.

 

FastCompany.com | December 21, 2018

#CareerAdvice : #YourCareer – Follow these 5 Steps to Future-Proof your Career.

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The marketplace for talent is changing rapidly, and experts say it’s about time the way we approached our own careers caught up.

After a couple of decades defined by disruption, automation, and job displacement, many still aren’t convinced that their job could be at risk. Studies conducted by Gallup, Quartz, and the Pew Research Centre have all found that a majority of Americans believe automation and AI will displace a significant number of jobs; just not their own.

The lack of response to this new dynamic has become a key concern for career transition coach and best-selling author Ines Temple. In her book, You, Incorporated: Your Career Is Your Business, Temple explains how every employee should approach their career like a small business, with themselves as a provider of a service to a single client. She adds that any business that depended entirely on one client would be aggressively looking to diversify, and in today’s career landscape, employees should be equally as proactive when it comes to exploring their own career opportunities.

“A lot of people have allowed companies to manage their careers; they don’t take a proactive approach to them,” she says. “When companies change their plans and need to let them go, they are not ready to find a new job, they’re not employable, because their skill sets aren’t up to date. They don’t have metrics ready to demonstrate those skills, and they don’t have a strong network of contacts that will help them in a job search.”

Temple and other career experts recommend taking the following five steps to ensure your career is prepared to overcome the challenges of a rapidly evolving talent marketplace.

1. ASSESS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF BEING FUTURE-PROOFED

The first step in improving your career’s resiliency, according to Temple, is determining where you currently stand. She believes that those who are most prepared to evolve are those that love what they do, as they are often most willing to go the extra mile in order to continue doing it.

“Ask yourself, ‘Am I really happy here?’ ‘Is this what I want?’ ‘Is this really my passion?’” she says. “I know that’s a hard thing to worry about when you have bills to pay, but without that, it’s very hard to plan for your future career.”

Being too satisfied with your current employment, however, may also be a sign that you should be doing more to prepare for your future. “A very simple litmus test is: If you’re comfortable, you should start learning something new,” says Darren Raycroft, a partner with the Bedford Consulting Group, an executive search and talent management company.

Raycroft explains that with the rapid pace of technological advancement, the value placed on many skills today lacks the longevity that comparable skills had in previous generations. “Those periods of comfort and normalcy are getting shorter and shorter,” he says.

Raycroft recommends keeping an eye on relevant job postings—even during periods of comfortable employment—to better understand where your industry is heading, and what skills are in highest demand.

 

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2. COMMIT TO LIFELONG LEARNING

In today’s rapidly changing employment landscape, it’s easier than ever to fall behind, especially if you haven’t recently updated your skills.

“There’s this delineated ‘learning time’ in our lives, and then we move into a position, and if you choose to take some courses to get ahead, you may do so,” explains Raycroft. “I think that’s changing: Learning is and will continue to be an ongoing process with a degree of propensity that we haven’t yet experienced in our lifetimes.”

Raycroft believes that in order to stay ahead of the changing needs of the talent marketplace, employees need to be proactive in updating their skills. “That ability to learn and use judgment has been and will continue to be necessary for success,” he says.

3. NEVER STOP NETWORKING

The worst time to start building a network is when you desperately need one. Professional relationships are typically stronger when they’re built on mutual interest, rather than urgent need. “A lot of people only do a lot of networking when they need a new job, but on a daily basis, we don’t invest enough time in people, building a relationship based on trust,” says Temple. “It’s all about relationships with people, because people will recommend us, promote us, or let us go.”

Not only do those who take a break from networking risk weakening some of their existing relationships, but they can also begin to lose their networking skills. Temple emphasizes the importance of keeping those skills sharp and those relationships strong by building them in the low-pressure periods of career stability.

4. WORK ON YOUR SOFT SKILLS

Building that network often requires strong interpersonal skills, something that Temple believes is sorely lacking in most of today’s workers. “We really need to work on our warmth, our charisma, how much energy we give to people, because those things will make a difference between those who have a chance for a better career and those who don’t,” she says.

Furthermore, if our most robotic and repetitive tasks are bound to be automated, those quintessentially human traits may soon become our greatest assets.

“Young professionals understand that soft skills will be critical to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” says Michele Parmelee, Deloitte’s global chief talent officer. “According to Deloitte’s seventh annual Millennial Survey, young professionals identified softer skills like confidence, interpersonal skills and—particularly for gen-Z—ethics and integrity aptitude as skills they feel are important to develop in order to succeed in the future.”

5. FIND A MENTOR

Not only can mentors use their experience to help their mentees navigate a quickly changing employment landscape, but they can also help them develop some of those vital soft skills in a low-pressure environment.

“It’s a safe place, so you won’t feel embarrassed asking your mentor questions that you might be embarrassed to ask in a group setting,” says millennial and gen-Z engagement expert Ashira Prossack. “You’ll also get that practice, and they’ll give you immediate feedback and one-on-one attention, because you can’t just read about how to communicate, you need to actually do it.”

Jared Lindzon is a freelance journalist born, raised and residing in Toronto, covering technology, entrepreneurship, entertainment and more for a wide variety of publications in Canada, the United States and around the world. When he’s not playing with gadgets, interviewing entrepreneurs or traveling to music festivals and tech conferences you can usually find him diligently practicing his third-person bio writing skills.

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FastCompany.com | December 21, 2018

#CareerAdvice : How to Talk to Anyone from the CEO to the Interns at your #CompanyHolidayParty … Great Read!

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It’s that time of year when parties fill your calendar. Mingling with both people you know very well and those you never speak to, you might be you a little nervous. But little nervousness goes a long way to helping you get ready. Saying the wrong things can be career limiting, just as saying the right things to the right people can be career enhancing.

If you want to make a great impression, think ahead to what you’ll say. When the corks are popping and hors d’oeuvres are being passed around, you’ll have some key messages to deliver. Here’s how you can prepare to be spontaneous in  four conversations you can expect to have at your office holiday party:

WHAT TO SAY TO THE CEO

You might worry most about speaking with your CEO–or with any high-ranking executive. With that in mind, you could decide to give it a pass. But that’s a no-win strategy. Instead, take a deep breath and walk over to that senior executive. Make sure she’s not engaged in a conversation with someone else. If she is, wait, watch, and go for it when the she is free. That itself takes a keen eye.

Extend your hand, and introduce yourself. Don’t say, “I’m Aesha, I work in sales.” That introduction will go nowhere. As you shake hands, be sure to share your full name, and do so with confidence and eye contact. Tell your CEO not where you work but what you contribute. So, if you’re in sales, you might say, “I’m Aesha Patel, and I’ve helped corporate banking have its best year ever.” Or you might state, “I oversee our expanding relationship with NBR Bank.”

Now you’re talking your CEO’s language. Any one in authority will love to hear these positive messages, and will be able to build upon your narrative. If it sounds like boasting to you it will sound like success to your company’s officers.

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

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HOW TO CONNECT WITH YOUR BOSS

Don’t even think of avoiding your boss, even if you’re shy or don’t particularly care for the person you’re reporting to. This is a great opportunity to strengthen those important ties, and present yourself as a confident person, comfortable in your job. The key is showing your boss you appreciate him.

As you plan for this conversation, think about the one thing you admire, respect, or like about your boss. It could be his ability to inspire his team, or his dedication to the department’s success. You might appreciate that he mentors you and others. You might also respect him because he’s a great dad who manages to balance work and family.

Think ahead and get your message clear in your mind. Here are some possibilities: “I want to thank you believing in all of us on the communications team and being such an excellent mentor.” Or, “You know, one thing I’ve noticed this year is how devoted a dad you are. You’ve shown us by your example how to make the work-life balance successful.”

CHATTING WITH A COLLEAGUE

The fun conversations often are with friends and close colleagues. Networking with them can be full of laughter, sharing confidences, and making plans. But here again you have an opportunity to build relationships. So take full advantage of these encounters.
As you’re thinking about the event, decide which of your colleagues and friends you want to spend time with and what you want to say. In each case, there is an opportunity to take the relationship to the next level.
Here are some angles: If a colleague and you have been working on a project, tell them it’s been a great experience, and suggest what you might do in the next year. Or if you know your colleague is hunting for a job, say you may have someone she can talk to. If you two have young children, share the excitement of having little people during the holidays. Suggest getting the kids together in the New Year. The point is to build the relationship.

APPROACHING A STRANGER

There will no doubt be people at the holiday party that you don’t know. Well, be sure to take time to reach out to a few of them. They might be new employees, clients, spouses, or partners. Make them feel welcome by going up to them and saying, “Hi, I’m Donovan Elliott. Great that you could join us.”
What unfolds is not necessarily a conversation you could have planned, but it will be special because you’ve taken the time to give an outsider a warm welcome.

If it’s a client who’s been invited to the event, tell them, “We love working with your team.” If the person is a new employee, ask how they like their job. Offer to have a lunch with them in the near future to discuss any questions they might have. The important thing is (1) that you have made a point of reaching out and (2) you do a lot of listening. They’ll remember you for those gracious qualities.

Basically, it’s a party, so keep your discussions warm and positive. Avoid contentious topics that can drive things off the rails. And contribute to everyone’s joy (and your own career success!) by preparing what you’ll say, whom you want to talk to, and how you’ll reach out to those you don’t know.

Judith Humphrey is founder of The Humphrey Group, a premier leadership communications firm headquartered in Toronto. She is a communications expert whose business teaches global clients how to communicate as confident, compelling leaders

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FastCompany.com | December 12, 2018

#CareerAdvice : #JobPromotion – 5 Things You Can Do in the Next Year to Get Promoted… 2019 is Fast Approaching. At this Time, it Might be a Good Idea to Start Reviewing your Career Goals for the Next Year to see Where you’re At.

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2019 is fast approaching. At this time, it might be a good idea to start reviewing your career goals for the next year to see where you’re at. Did you meet your goals? If not, how far behind are you?

As we get ready to enter into 2019, it might be a good idea to start mapping out measures you can take to give yourself a career boost in 2019. The following five actions will position you to have a more successful career in 2019:

1. Attend Conferences Related to Your Job/Role 

One of the most effective ways to position yourself for better career opportunities in 2019 is by attending relevant conferences and events in your industry. Many organizations make provisions for interested employees to attend industry conferences to represent them or simply as a way to educate them.

“If you have been shying away from these conferences in the past, you’ve been hurting your career prospects,” says Dan Fox, founder of Boss Laser. “By attending relevant conferences, you can massively increase your network (you suddenly know, and are known by, a lot of people who are relevant to your industry), you can build your skills and experience [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][and] you will also get exposed to more opportunities from a diverse group of people compared to if you were simply on your own. By attending conferences, you will also have up-to-date information about industry best practices, news and resources that can aid your career growth.”Attending a Conference? Here’s How to Walk Away With a Solid Network

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2. Get an Advanced Degree

Another way to give yourself a career boost in 2019 is by getting an advanced degree. If you’re yet to obtain a Master’s degree, it might be a good idea to start making plans for it now. This is because most jobs have provisions that allow you to experience an increase in compensation if you get an advanced degree. Some companies even require those in senior management and professional positions to possess an advanced degree. Having an advanced degree also increases your career prospects, because the number of entry-level jobs requiring advanced degrees like a Master’s degree is increasing.

“An advanced degree can help you secure that elusive promotion you’ve always desired,” says Ayodeji Onibalusi of Effective Inbound Marketing. “A doctorate or masters degree would also boost your confidence and help you secure better job opportunities when you start looking for a new job.”

3. Work on Relationships With Your Coworkers and Superiors

As we get ready to enter into 2019, one of the questions you should ask yourself is where you stand in terms of your relationships with your co-workers and your superiors. Do you have a good relationship with them, or do you believe it’s simply sufficient to focus on work and get things done and still move forward in corporate circles? If you don’t have a good relationship with coworkers and superiors, it could come back to bite you. In fact, according to experts, it is very difficult, and almost impossible, to advance at work without a good relationship with co-workers and superiors. If you’ve not been getting along well with some of your peers at work, it might be a good idea to start fixing things now.

4. Regularly Update Information That Communicates Your Expertise

Many employees restrict their career growth by making little information publicly available about themselves — often unknowingly. A lot of employees have not updated their resume in years, and as a result their resume is not indicative of their current experience and skill set. Similarly, many employees have a LinkedIn profile, and other relevant career-related online profiles, with scant information about them. When you consider that many major organizations regularly scan LinkedIn and other relevant social media sites to determine which employees to hire, and that 92 percent of recruiters use social media to find high-quality candidates, it becomes instantly apparent how limiting not having an updated profile can be.

“It might be a good idea to create a schedule for updating your resume and relevant social media profiles to be indicative of your experience,” says Jonathan Marshall of Middlesex County Criminal Law.  “This can be done every quarter, for example. You want to include every relevant information including awards, leadership capacities you’ve acted in and conferences you’ve attended,” he says.How to Master the Art of Bragging Like a Pro

5. Upgrade Your Wardrobe

If you’re wondering if dressing has anything to do with your career prospects, well it’s time to sit tight and take note — because how you dress can literally affect your career prospects and opportunities. An OfficeTeam survey found that 80 percent of executives say that how an employee dresses will affect the employee’s chances of being promoted. Other studies have also found a link between dressing and perceived confidence as well as career opportunities. If you want to be taken more seriously, and do not want to be denied your rightful career opportunities, it might be a good idea to upgrade your wardrobe.

Yasir Khan is a renowned online marketing consultant and has been in business since 2008. He owns Quantum SEO Labs and loves sharing tips on various aspects of marketing, conversions and real estate.

GlassDoor.com | November 29, 2018 | Posted by Yasir Khan

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Your #Career : 7 Steps to Rebrand Yourself for a #CareerChange …Just Because you Don’t have Experience in a New Field Doesn’t Mean your #Skills aren’t Valuable in that Field. Here’s What to Do Before you Make a Move.

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Ready for a career change, but worried you don’t have the experience or skills to land a job in your desired field? Filling your resume with your previous work experience that has no similarity to the job you’re applying for is likely to land your resume in the trash can. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a career you hate forever.

Dawn Graham, PhD, career coach, psychologist, and author of the book Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Career–and Seize Success, says rebranding your professional experience is key to a successful career switch. “When you’re making a switch, you need to be a good fit for the role, and while some of your skills and experiences may be transferrable, many may not be,” she says. Here’s how you can prove that you’re worthy of the title, even when your resume shows no previous experience in the field.

1. CHANGE YOUR SOCIAL PRESENCE

Use social media to your advantage to rebrand yourself in your new career area. Follow thought leaders in your target industry and comment on their posts. Connect with relevant industry groups and associations, share relevant and interesting articles within your online network, comment on posts, attend the biggest industry conferences, and develop a network of contacts in the industry. “Technology makes it easier than ever to market yourself in a way that appeals to the audience you choose,” says Graham. The more you can demonstrate that you’re serious and invested in your new target industry, the more credible you will seem.

Related: Changing careers? Here’s exactly what to put on your resume

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2. FIND YOUR TRANSFERRABLE SKILLS

Rebranding yourself takes time and introspection. Everyone has transferrable skills, even if you think you don’t. Graham gives the example of a recruiter who wants to move into social media marketing. “You can show off your customer research, analytics, and technical savvy skills,” she says. Demonstrating how you can reach new customers using the same skill set you used to uncover qualified candidates is a way to prove that your experience is relevant.

To determine your skills, Graham recommends breaking down achievements. “If you contributed to saving a large client, consider the steps that got you to that result–perhaps problem solving, diplomacy, creativity, and influencing.” Do the same with other accomplishments and you’ll soon notice a pattern of core strengths. Try going through this exercise with a colleague or manager who may be able to see strengths that you are overlooking.

3. DO YOUR RESEARCH

In order to find out what skills and experiences are most relevant to your new career choice, spend time learning as much as you can about your target position. Speak with professionals in your target industry, look for volunteer positions in the industry, take courses, and attend professional events to learn what experiences and skill sets are most valuable in the new industry.

Related: When to ignore the most common piece of career advice

4. DON’T LEAD WITH YOUR TITLE

While most of us use our job title when introducing ourselves, this can be an error when you’re switching careers. Many companies use language that doesn’t translate outside the industry. A title can cause confusion for someone in another industry, and biases their opinion toward your application. They may think right away that you’re not a good fit without reading further into your experiences. Instead of focusing on your title, place the emphasis on your value–the skills you developed in that position.

5. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

In order to highlight your value and position yourself as a good fit for the job, you need to know the challenges the hiring manager is trying to solve. “Many job seekers have incredible accomplishments, but without knowing what is important to your audience, you risk leading off with accomplishments that, while impressive, lead the hirer to think you’re not a fit for the role,” says Graham.

When in a job interview, make one of your first questions about the challenges the company or department is facing at this time. Once you find out the hiring company’s pain points, you can select the achievements from your background that best align with what the hiring manager is looking for in the role.

6. CHERRY-PICK EXPERIENCES

Some of your best accomplishments and achievements may not be impressive to the hiring manager if they have no relation to the job you’re applying for. To be most effective in rebranding yourself professionally, select the parts of your experience that align most closely with your target role. To make your application in this new field stronger, highlight these experiences in your LinkedIn profile. If hiring managers are reviewing your resume and then jump over to LinkedIn and see a whole different type of experience highlighted, they may be confused and cause them to put aside your resume. Rebranding your professional experience may mean dropping what you think are some of your best accomplishments, but by focusing on “fit” first, you will have a better chance of a recruiter recognizing you as a potential candidate for the position.

Related: What career changers wish they knew before making the switch

7. JUSTIFY THE SWITCH

“Every hiring manager wants to know why this job at this company at this time,” says Graham. Your answer to this question will be especially important if you’re a career switcher. Graham argues that switchers can have the upper hand in answering this question because they have most likely spent a great deal of time studying the industry, thinking about what they want in a job when making their career switch decision.

 

 

FastCompany.com | June 28, 2018 | BY LISA EVANS 4 MINUTE READ

Your #Career :The #FutureOfWork – How to Prepare your Kids for Jobs that Don’t Exist Yet…. #ArtificialIntelligence will Rule the Jobs of the #Future , so Learning How to Work with It Will be Key. But the Skills Needed Might Not be What you Expect.

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With total robot domination seemingly impending, preparing the next generation for the future of work can feel like a lost cause. But fear not, the future may be brighter than expected.

“There’s three job opportunities coming in the future,” says Avi Goldfarb, coauthor of Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence. He divides them up into people who build artificial intelligence, people who tell the machines what to do and determine what to do with their output, and, finally, celebrities. This last category comprises actors, sports players, artists, writers, and other such luminaries surrounding the entertainment industry.

A 2017 report from Gartner concludes that artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it kills. In particular, the report singles out healthcare and education as areas ripe for growth. But the handling of artificial intelligence is where Goldfarb thinks an overwhelming number of those new jobs will be created.

“We’re moving toward more equality of opportunity,” says Goldfarb, noting the steady increase in overall access to technological tools. “But that doesn’t mean equality of outcomes.”

He thinks even human-centric positions in nursing and education will require a proficient understanding of artificially intelligent tools as the technology becomes a more routine facet of those jobs. For example, to assist with home healthcare for elderly populations, little robots have emerged to help patients remember to take their medications or go for a walk. These bots are still nascent, but it’s not hard to imagine a world in which nurses have to understand how to help patients set reminders or even be able to communicate with these devices remotely as a way of checking in on a patient as part of their jobs.

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“The most valuable combinations of skills are going to be people who both have good training in computer science, who know how the machines work, but also understand the needs of society and the organization, and so have an understanding of humanities and social sciences,” he says. “That combination, already in the market, is where the biggest opportunities are.”

Related: Welcome to the first day of work for the class of 2025

HUMANITIES

So how does one prepare to lead these artificially intelligent machines into the new world? Oddly enough, a liberal arts education might be the best antidote to automation, says Goldfarb. While he believes that most people will need a basic understanding of computer science, he thinks that studying art, philosophy, history, sociology, psychology, and neuroscience could be key to preparing for the future. These studies will help young people to have a broad range of knowledge that they can use to put artificial intelligence to its best use.

Experts who study the future of work agree that our ability to make sense of the world is our biggest asset in the wake of automation. While artificial intelligence is good at narrow, repetitive tasks, humans are good at coming up with creative solutions. Anything you can do to get your child thinking creatively will no doubt help prepare her for joining the working world.

DON’T SPECIALIZE

In addition to embracing the humanities, Amir Orad, CEO of business analytics software Sisense, says that children should be multidisciplined. “Our tradition of schooling from the Industrial Age makes you really, really good at one thing,” he says. “I think that’s very dangerous for the next generation.”

Parents should encourage kids to be good at more than one thing as a way of being flexible, he says. By choosing interdisciplinary courses of study, kids will not only develop a variety of skills, they’ll also be knowledgable about more than one subject area, giving them some adaptability as jobs change. Another way to think about it? Try out a lot of different stuff. Having a variety of experience will prove valuable in the future, he says.

Related: These are the 5 “super skills” you need for jobs of the future

STAY TECH SAVVY

One more piece of advice from both Goldfarb and Orad is to expect the unexpected. “Fifty years ago, the idea that people would be social media marketers wasn’t imaginable,” says Goldfarb. Artificial intelligence and automation will change the jobs landscape in ways that can’t be anticipated. Kids should be engaged with both culture and the latest technology, he says. Whether that means engaging on a new social media app or learning how to edit video for fun, kids should be allowed to play intuitively with technology.

Because of how cheap technology has gotten, Goldfarb says, this means that more people have more access to the kinds of technology and tools that will prepare them for the future. However, that doesn’t mean that all kids will be on equal footing in this technologically advanced future. There are still pockets of the U.S. without quality internet. The Federal Communications Commission reports that 24 million people don’t have high-speed internet. Meanwhile, roughly 11% of Americans don’t have broadband at all, according to PEW.

“We’re moving toward more equality of opportunity,” says Goldfarb, noting the steady increase in overall access to technological tools. “But that doesn’t mean equality of outcomes.”

 

FastCompany.com | June 27, 2018 | BY RUTH READER 3 MINUTE READ