CareerMysteries

I was very surprised and excited to receive the most recent email magazine from the Women on Writing organization.  I found out that I won honorable mention in an international essay contest for a non-fiction topic.  I have won poetry awards in the past but this is the first literary accolade to be bestoyed upon me and I am very pleased.

I had never heard of the organization until my daughter, who is an editor for a book publisher sent me the link.  It was in connection with a series of books that Globe Pequot Press publishes called the Skirt Series and deals with the interests and issues of working women.

This obviously encourages me to continue to work hard at developing my skills and writing as often as possible.  This blog keeps me going in more ways than one; spiritually, intellectually and artistically.  Thanks for reading and supporting my writing efforts with your terrific input and comments.

We have been talking a bit about promotability and developing yourself and your people skills. One skill we can all use to improve the way we communicate with others is the use of “I” statements, instead of criticism.

Instead of saying “You are lazy.”  We can say something like “I found you sleeping in a chair three times this week and that makes me concerned that you are not getting your work done.”

Or a better example of using “I” statements is when the action of the individual elicits a particular reaction in you.  So when someone yells at you and calls you a fool, instead of saying “You are mean and a bad person.” You can say “I was upset when you told me that I was a fool.  I felt real bad and my feelings were hurt.”

Imagine that you are the one hearing these two approaches to the same set of circumstances.  To which one are you likely to respond positively and constructively?  “I” thought so.

There were many times over the course of my HR career when I could remember holding my breath and counting to ten.  This was one of the techniques I would use to refrain from snapping back at someone who ticked me off in the workplace.

Why not just snap back and tell them what you think of them?  Lots of good reasons.  Maybe it is your boss?  Perhaps you are working with a union rep and even though you know he is wasting your time and coming to you with ridiculous issues, you know he is trying to get out of working by killing time.  Snapping back will just give him a real reason to bitch.

People skills are a fine art that takes years to fully develop to perfection.  I might have to work on my quick temper and sharp wit, while someone else may be too easily bruised and less effective because of it.  There are lots of categories of potential weaknesses.

The best way to address your needs is to find out where you need work.  If you cannot do a viable self-assessment, go to a trusted co-worker or trusted boss and get feedback.  Use some personality tools to help hone in on your strengths and weaknesses like the MBTI, also called the Myers-Briggs.

Whatever it takes, find out what you need and work at getting better in dealing with people.  No matter what job you have, if you work with anyone in any capacity, it will be time and effort well spent.

Here are some of the characteristics, traits and cues that managers will use in determining if someone in their group is ready for a promotion:

• You have been in the job for at least a year or more
• You have mastered about 95% of the job you are doing
• You look for opportunities to take on more to support the team
• Your work product and service to your customers is mostly error-free
• You can and do look for opportunities to train and mentor new people
• You want to be promoted (and they know it!) because you apply for higher level jobs when they are posted internally.
• MOST IMPORTANT is that you have a great attitude and don’t complain about the company, your co-workers or your managers.

If you need to work on something, now is as good a time as any to start.  If you are not sure if you need to work on any specific areas, meet with your boss and ask for their input.  That is a good way to start stepping up. 

We have talked quite a bit about those miserably bad bosses who we all have known and hated to work for but what about the good ones?

How do you really measure the effectiveness of a great boss? Most often, you find that they have great relationships not only with their own peers but with the folks they supervise, the higher ups and even the little people…  the ones that do the cleaning, the grunt work and the maintenance.

The effective boss also has is act together.  He is there all the time, is never late or nasty.  He is ready for is presentation and always willing to chip in if someone is out on medical leave or someone just needs two extra hands or eyes to look at something.

He is good natured and often fun loving.  He is the kind of guy you like to be friends with in and out of the office.  He is indeed a rare bird.

When you apply for a job and you feel good about it, you have the basic qualifications and the company seems like a great place to work, make sure that you close the deal when you leave the hiring manager.

What does this mean?  It means that you summarize for her why you feel you are the best candidate for the job, reiterate the fact that you are very interested and want to take the next step toward being hired and then. you move in for the kill before you leave the interviewer’s office.

It might go something like this:  “Thanks so much, Janice, for giving me a tour and allowing me the chance to meet with you and the other people I met today and Adam’s Company.  With my bilingual background, Bachelor’s degree in counseling and my four years working with impoverished children in San Juan, I think I would be an ideal candidate for this job.  I am thrilled to be asking you this… What is the next step in the hiring process.  I am ready to start work immediately.”

Best of luck in your job search.  And remember that career mysteries are solved by Ms. Therese.

Though this is a work in progress, it has a certain tropical mood that I want to be enveloped in, to chase away the February freezes.  Join me in paradise… 

By the Sea by Therese Haberman

Silky sunrise found purple sky

She walks among shaggy palms

To the old gray wall

A hundred dark years embedded.

Rolling waves tread on warm sand

Whisper fragile things and talk of love

She watches a blue sea

Lost in the froth of her desires.

One faded low voice from the courtyard

Words rising to the window of clouds

Thunder of hot desire

Fills her aching memory.

Echoes of falling angels

Found behind her bare eyes

Soft dreams remembered

Hand-in-hand reunited

Footsteps fade into the dunes

by seabreezes.

It pays to try and have a good relationship with your boss, but sometimes, bosses are bad news.  I have worked for mostly men.  The few women I worked for happened to be terrific and good mentors.  Some of the men were good people and fine bosses and then, there were a couple who I remember with a cringe. 

One guy was very untrustworthy.  He was threatened by the fact that I had great rapport with the employees, so just for fun, he would lie to them about me.

For example, I used to oversee several plants and one of them was in Kentucky, this guy would tell the plant manager that I was making fun of him and mimicking him behind his back, which was completely false.

I had to work hard to rebuild my relationship with the plant manager, who eventually realized that my boss was an ass. Bosses who cannot be trusted are among the worst of the lot.

The number of people who are working part time in addition to full time jobs continues to grow, as our financial condition deteriorates.  Additionally, those workers who cannot find full time work, often have to settle for working part time in an effort to pay their bills.

The growth rate of part time jobs had risen steadily and continues to rise in this shaky economy.  The problem is, so many folks are no longer eligible for health insurance or other benefits based on their part time status.

This situation, in turn, has an adverse economic effect on the health care industry including vision, dental providers and other insurance companies. Worse yet, people are going without medications that they need to take at their own peril.

In a wealthy society like ours, this should not be happening.  I hope the new administration can fix the mess we find ourselves in right now.

Thanks a bunch, George “W”.  Glad to see you are back on some obscure Texas ranch where the only things you can harm are farm animals.

So many companies are having trouble surviving and this is even more difficult in places like the northeast, where manufacturing is floundering and taxes as well as wages are very high.

How do you know if your firm is financially struggling?  If they are having trouble paying their bills, often word of this does get out to the employees.  If there are any payroll “glitches” and paychecks cannot be cashed as normal, this could be a sign of very tight cash flow.

A company that is usually communicative with employees and suddenly gets real quiet, may be in a financial downturn.  When the business slows to a crawl and calls are not coming in, sales people are not making their numbers, you should be concerned.

Save some money now, for a rainy day that may come sooner than you thought.  You may also want to get your resume up to speed.