Another Point of View

Rererences Matter

References Matter

It is estimated that people will change jobs and/or careers every 3 to 5 years.  So, if you work 25+ years, your resume could reflect 8 or more company names.  Each time you leave a job, you will also leave behind a memory.  That memory will have a direct reflection on your next career position, especially when it comes to the magic words “May I call your references?”

For more than 2 decades, as an Executive Advisor, I’ve been telling clients to be sure and check with their references before they list them.  Too many times they’ve ignored this advice and their journey down the path to a new job or a new career has hit a major boulder.  The boulder?  The reference they listed.  Why?  He/She may not have worked that closely with you; they may have had serious concerns about your job performance but never voiced them; or they may have told the “truth” as they saw it for a previous employee only to learn that employee is now suing for defamation of character, so what they say to your prospective employer is luke-warm at best. 

How do you proactively prevent this from happening?  If you’re reading this before you plan to make a career move, start nurturing your references now.  What do I mean by nurturing?  Be sure the people you want as references will truly be references not grave-diggers for your next career opportunity.  Look at who you work with, who you work for and others either in the department or company with whom you interface on a regular basis.  Write down their names.  Then develop a plan, that you’re comfortable with (okay you may be uncomfortable, but you can live with).  The plan is how often you will interface with each of the people on your list.   For those of you who are introverted, this may be a big challenge.  But it is one that is necessary if you do not want to face a huge gap when looking for a job because you’ve not left behind a solid base of references.  Thanks to email, staying in touch can be easy.  But nothing trumps personal contact.  Finding a few minutes to chat with someone about the company, your job and/or the latest score of the NBA teams can go along way in laying the foundation for a good job reference.

Never forget that the world of work is composed of “people”.  The advisors at Oklahoma Professional Search know how important references are.  Staying in touch with your references can play a vital role in getting your next career position.  So…..Make the list NOW!!!

Jump Ship

Jump Ship?   Wait!!! The next boat may have a leak

There is a tried and true statement that begins “If I had a dollar for every _________”.  As a career adviser with Oklahoma Professional Search, if I had a dollar for every client who came through my door ready to jump ship for the first boat that sailed by, I would have bought a nice houseboat.  The reality is that all too frequently, you don’t need to change ships.  But you, personally, do need to change your course of action at the company.

As with all good decisions, first make three lists, each with pros and cons.  First list:  staying in your present position.  Be honest; consider your family and your lifestyle.  Second list:  Promotional opportunities within your present company.    Third list:  Opportunities outside your current employer.  Once you’ve written the lists, put them away for a couple of week, then pull them out and look at them as objectively as you can.

All too frequently, the grass that looks greener on the other side of the fence is artificial turf.  Translation?  The company isn’t as attractive to work for as you thought.

I mentioned family considerations in the above paragraph.  That’s not a typo.  Never, in more than 20 years of giving career advice, have I had someone say they were glad they sacrificed family for their career.  I’ve had seasoned executives sit across from my desk, with tears in their eyes, admitting they missed out on their children’s lives as they were growing up and now it is too late to recapture those moments. Companies will be bought, sold, acquired, and/or merged.  Family will be the glue that holds you together.  This is especially true if you work for a publicly traded firm.

So, you can position yourself to stay where you are, move up with your present company or move on.  Just be thoughtful and prepared.  Do not make a rash decision based on a lousy day, a crabby co-worker or a project that has hit a major snag.  No matter who you work for, there will be lousy days, crabby co-workers and projects that are nightmares.

 

Choose Your Words Carefully

Choose your words carefully

When you are looking for your next career position, remember the four important words above.  What you say will be remembered for a long, long time.

If you were laid off from a previous position and it was not for performance, then be very careful how you answer the question “Were you ever fired?” or “Why did you leave your last position?”.  No matter what you say after the words “I was fired”, the interviewer has deep-sixed your chances for employment with that company.  If you had a disagreement with your supervisor, inherited a new supervisor who brought their own team or your boss was capricious (always looking for a reason to make life miserable for someone), then how you answer

1)                  Were you fired?

2)                  Why did you leave your last position?

will be crucial to a successful career search.  If you’re moaning about political correctness, yes that’s what I’m talking about.  The world of work involves politics, positioning and verbally painting the right picture for future success.

Suggested answers to “Were you fired?”  and/or “Why did you leave your last position?”

1)                  I have not lost a job due to poor performance.  As my resume reflects, my department made significant contributions to the bottom line profitability of the company. 

2)                  My previous boss had a history of unusual personnel decisions.  I did not know that at the time I went to work for him/her.  Having said that, I feel good about the contributions, documented in my résumé, that I made while I was there.

3)                  It was a mutual decision for me to leave the company.  Two of my co-workers are references.

4)                  When the new manager came on board, he very quickly made the necessary adjustments to bring on his own team.  I was caught in the restructuring.

5)                   In looking back, I realize there was a misunderstanding with my boss which I did not pick up on at the time.  I have learned from that experience.

For some of you reading this article, I can hear you say “Yes, but you don’t know who I worked for”.  No I don’t, but in my 20+ years as a career adviser, I have had clients who were sure their previous bosses were direct descendents of Hitler or Attila the Hun.  I know there are bad bosses in today’s workforce.  I also know each of us, at some time, has tripped up in our career because we didn’t take the time to stop and think either before we acted or before we opened our mouth.  Learning from those experiences and reframing your answer to either question above will move you forward in the hiring process. 

Don’t get discouraged, don’t give up and don’t tell all!!! 

Mentors Matter

Mentors Matter

If you are a regular reader of Career Advice Columns, you will here the experts suggest you find a mentor as your career progresses. They are right on target. The key is to find the right mentor(s) for you. As a Career Coach, I have been privileged to have mentors in my life.  The following true story illustrates it as well.

My first experience with the importance of mentors was while I was working for the military in

Korea

.  We had many recent graduates from the military academies who would be assigned, for a short period of time, to one of the Advisory Groups to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army. I had observed three young officers whose careers moved along quickly and two who were lost in a quagmire of indecision and stumbling blocks with a dim, murky future at best. I sat down with the Colonel for the Engineering Group where I worked and asked him if my observation (which follows) was correct. He chuckled and said “Yes - - you got it”. What did I get???

The three officers whose careers were on the fast track had done the following as soon as they arrived. They sought at the Senior Master Sergeant (Sarge) for their area and asked him for advice. Once the Sergeants knew the 2^nd Lieutenants were serious, they took them under their wings, taught them the ropes and provided invaluable insight and advice based on their (the Sarges’) long years of experience. The two who were lost in the quagmire? They let everyone know, as soon as they arrived, that they were recent academy graduates and they had all the answers. They may have had the answers, but they were for the wrong questions!!

In today’s fast-paced, ever changing world, key mentors can open doors and provide valuable advice and feedback as you move quickly through your chosen career path.

Thanks to the internet, you can stay in touch with your mentors regardless of the different roads each of you take in the future. But their advice, guidance and ability to keep you on track are invaluable. Remember, it is a two-way street. Thank them, stay in touch, take them to lunch or for a get-together after work. You will be richly rewarded not only monetarily as your career grows, but in a support group that cannot be bought and no book can replace.

So, have fun…find a mentor(s) and get ready to launch your career.