Do you suffer from low HR self-esteem?

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I was talking to an HR Pro recently and it struck me how negative they were about their organization and their HR shop in general!  Don’t think this is going to be one of those blog posts about if you don’t like your job you should quit and follow your passion.  I don’t believe in that bullshit, that’s how people lose their homes and their families.  They get stupid. This is for my brothers and sisters who are running HR shops.  You need to fire those folks. Really, I mean it.  Get up from your desk, walk out to their desk and tell them they can go home — forever.

It’s one thing to have a bad day, it’s a completely other thing to have a bad career!  You know exactly who I’m talking about.  You see them everyday.  It’s like watching Eeyore on steroids.

I try and figure folks out.  I love asking, “Why you so mad?” Which just usually just makes them more mad, but it’s fun to ask.  I have high HR self-esteem.  I like what I do.  I like what we do in HR.  I truly believe that an HR shop in any organization can be the most valuable part of that organization if they have the right folks running it. Folks like me, with high HR self-esteem.  Folks who don’t believe the bad press HR gets.  Folks who don’t believe the haters.  Folks who at their core, understand how attracting, finding and keeping the best talent in your industry is a true game changer.

It’s alright by me that operations, finance, marketing, etc. all think the same thing. They all think they’re the most important part of the organization. That’s Ok. I know.  I know we (HR) is. Knowing this allows me to let them believe their little fairy tale because I know it’s important to keep them happy.  So, I let them believe.  Don’t tell them, please.  ‘Belief’ is important for their continued satisfaction.

I’ll take the blame for when a bad leader turns another hire.  I’ll throw myself on the sword when communicating out another policy change made by executives, but one in which they’ll gladly give me ‘credit’.  I’ll let marketing take credit for the major sales increase, when I know it was my talent find that brought on the winning strategy to our organization.  I’ll let finance take credit for millions of dollars in ‘savings’, when I know it was the changes to our work structure that allowed us to make those savings.  Having high HR self-esteem does that.

I only ask one thing from my fellow HR leaders.  The next time you make a hire in your HR shop, please make sure that person has high HR self-esteem.  I can’t take anymore HR pros who don’t like what they do.

3 Keys To Get ALong Better With Your Boss

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There was a recent study conducted on how to make your marriage better.  I’m not saying you’re married to your boss, but in many cases you’re spending more awake hours with your boss, and co-workers, than you do with your spouse!  The number one key is of course Communication!  It’s always communication.  Have a crappy relationship with anyone and everyone will tell you — ‘oh, you just need to communicate more!’  Well, you know what?  More, or more effective, communication, might not be the key!  I know guys are happy to hear this!

From Time.com:

“Not surprisingly, those who reported communicating more effectively showed the highest satisfaction with their relationships. But the next two factors — which were also the only other ones with strong links to couple happiness — were knowledge of partner (which included everything from knowing their pizza-topping preferences to their hopes and dreams) and life skills (being able to hold a job, manage money, etc.).

Couples counselors, however, rarely address these two areas, as the focus on strengthening relationships has been on improving communication to reduce destructive behavior and to build support and comfort for each other. “For the last 25 years,” says Tom Bradbury, a veteran couples researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, “the prevailing attitude has been that relationships need to meet our emotional needs.” To be successful, however, he’s also found that relationships need to function in more practical, and perhaps mundane ways as well.”

Ok, so you still have to communicate, but that isn’t the only thing you have to do!
Here are 3 Keys To Getting Along Better With Your Boss:
1. Be a Better Performer!  If you and your boss don’t along it’s probably because she is constantly riding your butt over your low/poor performance.  Get better and things will improve!
2. Find out what’s important to them.  In any relationship a major key to making that relationship positive is it’s a two-way street.  We all expect our bosses to know everything about us, but we rarely work to find out stuff about them.  Your boss isn’t some untouchable God like figure or celebrity. They’re just a normal person with the same normal issues you have.  Those people who make that connection have stronger relationships with their bosses.
3. Reduce Stress In Your Work Environment.  This isn’t you, but some people actually create more stress in their work place for the simple fact that they feel more important if they’re involved in a stressful situation.  Your boss knows who you are.  She doesn’t like you because of it.  If you’re constantly in the middle of crap in your work, you’re part of the problem.  Some of your coworkers are never in the middle of it — your boss likes them better!
Let’s face it, sometimes you’ll have an idiot for a boss and there will be nothing you can do to make that relationship rewarding.  But far more people claim this is the case, than is reality. For most of us, if we want a positive relationship with our boss it can be had with a little work.

The Diversity of Productivity

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It’s widely held in the HR field that the most productive organizations are the most ‘diverse’.  The problem is that concept is misinterpreted by most HR Pros and executives.  Most still believe that concept pertains to the ethnic diversity of your team (the color of the faces you hire).  It might be the greatest fallacy in the HR industry today!   In actuality, Productivity has zero correlation with team ethnic diversity.  So, what kind of diversity does make us more productive?

From Fast Company:

“A growing body of research shows that diversity–in gender, thinking styles, and intro- and extroversion–is needed for teams to be their most productive.

Writing at 99u, Christian Jarrett, the psychologist-turned-writer behind the British Psychological Society’s superlative Research Digest blog“

You need 3 types of Diversity to get the most productivity out of your teams:

1. Gender

2. Thinking Style

3. Behavioral Style

None of those have anything to do with the color of your skin.

Let me breakdown the three types of diversity and why I think they have such impact to productivity:

Gender: To me this is good old nature at its best!  Boys want to impress girls, girls want to look good in front of boys — for the most part. Sometimes boys want to look good in front of other boys.  I get that, I’m that old.  The other thing with gender that I’ve learned from being married 20+ years, is that women and men sometimes think differently. Sometimes…which in itself will lead your team down a path in a number of ways, with a number options if you have a good gender mix.  Gender diversity on teams in relation to productivity might have the greatest impact to positive productivity over anything else we can do.

Thinking Style: Whereas Gender is probably underutilized by HR Pros to help productivity, Thinking Styles might be the one we most rely on when thinking about non-ethnic diversity!  “It’s Diversity of thought!” is the most over utilized statement in diversity.  Primarily because so few of us actually use real scientific tools to measure what someone’s thinking style is. “Oh, Tim’s old and a republican so he must think one way, and Mary is young and democrat so she thinks this opposite!”  Is potentially so wrong, yet how most organization determine ‘Diversity of Thought’.

Behavioral Style:  Having both introverted and extroverted individuals on a team is huge.  Too many people like me on a team and no one gets a word in edge-wise.  Too many introverted folks and either nothing happens, or the one extroverted person controls the entire process.  All can be very bad.  Getting your introverts in an environment where they are comfortable to share their knowledge is key to your organizations performance.

This is not a message that is being shared to your executives at most organizations.  They are still very ‘black and white’ in their thoughts on diversity.  While ethnic diversity can make great additions to your workplace culture, don’t mistake it for having positive impact to your productivity.  There isn’t any science that proves this, yet.

What The ‘F’ Do Recruiters Know?!

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FYI – Gang!  I’ve been asked to be a part of a panel discussion at SXSW 2014!  I’m super excited because I’ve never been to SXSW, but everyone tells me it’s something you have to do, if your anybody.  And if I’m anything, I’m somebody.  Being somebody, I’m asking you to vote for our session.  The voting seems a little American Idolish, reality TV show, but, Hey, give the people what they want and they’ll return the next year.  SHRM should take note…

Here’s the details on the Session:

What the F*ck Do Recruiters Know?

What the F*ck do recruiters know? They know most of you have no freaking shot at ever being in a management position, but all of you think you want to be and can be. They know your too fat and too ugly to have a great career – but you have zero self-insight and think ‘that stuff really shouldn’t matter’ – when it does to those making the decisions. Recruiters know that they don’t have to know your job, to find someone better to replace you. Recruiters know nothing about what you do – and they’re completely fine with that – but you’re not. Recruiters know how to get shit done in your organization and what buttons to push to get stuff over the finish line.

The gang from America’s Snarkiest HR and Recruitment Blog – Fistful of Talent – takes the filters off and shows you that the shit that recruiters know.

Session synopsis: Recruiters don’t know shit, except some shit you want to know, come and get to know their shit and you’ll be the shit.

– See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/20816#sthash.fZL1hSBn.aIWAdapn.dpuf

I’m guessing it will be fun.  Probably won’t change my life, but a cool experience talking with like-minded people, and beer.

Go vote, please.  Takes like 2 minutes to register and vote.  Look at it this way – each day I provide free content.  2 minutes to vote for this session is payment for sucking all of my ideas into your work places’ for free for the past 2 years.  BTW – I have tracking program that shows me who reads each blog and exactly where they go after leaving my blog – so I know.  I know if you truly care about me or not.  And much like Santa, I’m making a list.

It’s your move.

– See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/20816#sthash.fZL1hSBn.aIWAdapn.dpuf

To Succeed You Must First…

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FAIL!

87% of people polled could finish this statement.  Are you surprised?  It’s jammed down our throat constantly, but I’m not sure why.  I have friends who make their entire living going around the country speaking to people about how great it is to fail!  They know that people love to hear this because so many of us fail often.

Why is it people think you must first fail, in order to succeed?

The actual Proverb is this:

“In order to Succeed, you must first being willing to Fail.”

Can I call Bullshit on this?

Oh, I just did.

Why do you have to fail first?  Can’t you just go out and freaking succeed!?  I mean hit one out of the park on the first pitch. I don’t need to strike out. Sure it might happen, but why should I tell myself that first I need to strike out before I hit a home run?  Do you think MLB players go up to bat with that mentality? “Ok, let’s get his strike out, out of the way so I can go hit a home run later.” No, they don’t!

This one statement gets jammed down our throats in business more than any single other piece of garbage advice I’ve ever heard.  I think people like this statement on posters in their office, or on their coffee mug, because it gives them an excuse for failing. “Well, you’ve got to fail first, before you can succeed…” (tips up coffee cup to mouth as coffee drips onto the front of his white shirt)

Then it gets dragged into all kinds of other crappy advice statements:

– “All my failures equal success!”

-“I haven’t failed enough to succeed!”

– “Success is just a failure away!”

– “Success always starts with failure!”

– “The secret to Success is failure!”

You want to know the real secret!?  Statistically speaking, the more you fail, the more likely you are to fail again!  Let that one run through your failed brain pattern for a second.

It’s like those parents who have four girls and the Dad goes “well #5 will surely be a boy!”  No it won’t, you and your wife are predisposition through genetics to have girls, moron — but please enjoy your fifth girl!

If you fail often, you will probably keep failing.  That’s why you shouldn’t hire people who show a pattern of failing.  They aren’t learning how to be successful, they are learning how to fail!  Stop reading your Stuart Smalley Daily Affirmations and wake up!  Those who tend to fail, tend to continue to fail.  But those who fail will tend to buy into the lame malarkey about how failing will lead them to success. Why? Because they are failures.

Happy Monday!  And remember “To Succeed, you must first Succeed!”

Opportunity, Looks A Lot Like Work

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In a world where everyone is completely insane over our celebrity culture – I can buy into this message from Chris Kutcher at the Teen Choice Awards:

Great message for the pre-teens who were probably watching this live – but also for the millions who now watching on YouTube.  As a father, I find it hard every day to find great message and role models for my sons.  I’m not saying I want my kids to look up to Ashton Kutcher, but hearing him say that it’s cool to be smart, that its cool to work, well, I can buy into that.

Last week I wrote a post on the only 3 career paths that are available for new graduates are: College, Military or Prison.  I forgot two:

1. The Lotto (Which is really the last great American Dream! And yes, I do consider ‘Lotto’ a career path! Just look at how many people play it hoping to make it their career!)

2. Work

What I mean by ‘Work’ is actually working one of those ‘crappy’ jobs that politicians and the media keep putting down as not ‘real’ jobs.  Those ‘crappy’ jobs (sales, service, etc.) are actually real jobs — if you make them real jobs.  Yeah, you won’t make much, but like Kanye said “He got ambition baby look in his eyes. This week he mopping floors, next week it’s the fries.”  Those crappy jobs, worked by someone with passion and dedication, can turn into something really good.  Maybe not in 1 year or even two years, but eventually they do.   I’ve worked and had a W2 job since the day I turned 16.  I’m not the smartest, I’m not the sexiest, but I go to work — everyday.

Top HR Lies

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In the never ending quest to beat a blog series to death, let’s hope this is my last installment of “Top Lies” (Top Candidate Lies, Top Recruiter Lies).

At this point I’ve completely pissed off ‘candidates’, made some fun of Recruiters, so now it’s time to really have some fun with the easiest target of all  — HR!  For the most part my peers in HR have fairly thick skin.  HR is actually use to being made the joke in the professional world.  The only profession that gets made fun of worse is probably lawyers!  I could do an entire post on why HR lacks respect, but that has been done a thousand times and in reality having respect in HR isn’t a professional dilemma, it’s a personal one!  If you’re in HR and don’t have respect in your organization, don’t blame the HR profession, you need to look in the mirror!

All that being said, HR might be the king of the liars in your organization!  Let’s break down a few of Top HR Lies:

– “In HR we are here for ‘our’ Employees!”  — HR is not an employee advocate.  HR supports the organization’s leadership and mission.  BTW – many HR Pros don’t even get this concept! When push comes to shove, HR will always support that way leadership wants to go, not the way employees want to go.

– “You can tell HR, we are always confidential!” — No we’re not! HR has an obligation to look out for the best interest of the organization, not you.  If you tell HR something ‘confidentially’, there is a very good chance that information will be shared with others in the organization.  The reality.  HR has to mitigate the risk of the organization.  Your craziness has risk to it.

– “We had no idea layoffs were coming…” —  Sorry, but we did.  But we just can’t tell you that and create panic throughout the organization.  So, we lie. It sucks, but there isn’t any other way.

– “No, you can’t change your health benefits until next Open Enrollment, it’s the law!”  — Yeah, that’s kind of a lie as well!  There are laws governing when we ‘have’ to allow you to change your benefits (marriage, child being born, divorce, etc.), but HR can decide to change the plan rules and allow you to change if we wanted. But, that becomes a logistical nightmare!  Even with keeping our plan rules intact, we can still get around it.  Let’s say you are a young employee and chose the crappy low-cost catastrophic major medical plan that basically covers nothing, but you’re young and nothing will ever happen to you. Then, something does happen to you.  You come to HR. HR says, “We told you so! Sorry, you have to wait until next Open Enrollment, have fun with that cancer!”  HR could actually fire you on a Friday, hire you back on Monday and have you sign up for the ‘new’ insurance.  Based on your plan there could be some audit risk based on IRS code, section 125 – so check it out before you go do this. But, it’s not like you’re doing this all the time – this is maybe once a year for a desperate situation – I’ll take that risk (and have) to help my employee in this situation!

– “We fire people!”  — HR has never fired anyone, ever.  Managers of of employees fire people.  HR just supports that decision, and frequently influences a manager to make that decision, but we don’t pull the trigger.  Managers blame HR — “HR is telling me I have to do this”, but that’s a lie as well.  HR advises of the consequences if certain actions aren’t taken. Ultimately, leaders make the final decision on what is actually going to happen.

– “Top performers get rewarded!” — Actually, in most organizations even average performers get rewarded….and low performers.  We have a compensation plan and don’t want to leave anyone out. So, you can be great and get a 3% raise. Your cube mate could be a slug and get a 1% raise.  How does that feel?

–  “We treat everyone equally!” — The reality is we treat certain employees better and give them more leeway to screw up, because they are more valuable to the organization.  Not all employees are create equal.  That was just something that sounded good on the poster for the break room.   Some employees are actually substantially more valuable to the organization than you are.  We treat them differently.

– “We value diversity and inclusion!” — We actually really don’t give a crap about this.  It gets shoved down our throats, legally, organizationally, etc. What we really care about is filling positions with solid talent.  But leadership makes me provide a report that counts the color of faces, so now we have to care.  So we care about the number of faces, not the true sense of diversity.  Don’t hate the players, hate the game.

Alright HR Pros – What Lies Did I Forget?

 

 

Employees, Smoking = Less Money

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Smokers will hate to hear this, but if you smoke, you’re more likely to make less money.

Really?

Really.

From CNBC —

“In a new paper, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta economists Julie Hotchkiss and Melinda Pitts found that smokers only earn about 80 percent of what nonsmokers earn. People who used to smoke and quit more than a year earlier, though, earn 7 percent more than people who never lit up in the first place.

The PSA advice that “one cigarette is one too many” apparently is true at work. Hotchkiss and Pitts found that the earnings of both a weekend social smoker and a pack-a-day puffer suffer a similar wage gap.

“It is simply the fact that someone smokes that matters in the labor market, not the level of intensity,” they wrote. “Even one cigarette per day is enough to trigger the smoking wage gap.”

That truly sucks, because those of you who know me, know I love hanging out with smokers!  Smokers are the backbone of your informal office communication network.  Smokers come in all shapes and sizes, from all levels of your organization.  It’s nothing on any given day to see a senior executive and some rank and file employee, standing outside enjoying a smoke and some small talk.  Many times strong relationships are formed outside in the ‘smokers area’, and it is very common for information to be shared that normally wouldn’t be amongst employees of different ranks.  I don’t smoke – but I love going out and hanging with smokers!

So, as you can imagine, this news from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (and why does Atlanta have their own Federal Reserve?!) was extremely disheartening to me.  I wonder what else Julie and Melinda have been digging into down there in Atlanta?  Do employees who drink Gin make more than all other employees? (please let this be true!) What about the office slut? Does he/she make more money, at work?  If so, did they name that ‘the slut wage gap’?  Do our tax dollars support this ‘research’?

Here is what I know, compensation pro wannabes, if slice and dice the data enough, you can make up any conclusion you want to.  The reality is, smoking equates mostly to lower education, thus lower wages.  That’s a broad stroke, but fairly accurate.  Educated people, for the most part, understand that smoking is bad for you.  Having that knowledge, and being educated, tends then to lead to a non-smoking life.  Having lower education, and knowing smoking is bad for you, tends to lead to a life of ‘what the hell, I’m going to die anyway’.  Some educated folks fall into this same trap.

So, I’ll ask you my smoking friends – if you knew you could make more money, would you stop smoking?  Also, if you never smoked, are you willing to pick it up for a 7% bump in pay?!

Smoke’em if you’ve gotten them in the comments…

 

Most Embarrassing Termination Ever

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You probably saw this when it hit the interwebs on Sunday and blew up yesterday, but if you didn’t, AOL’s CEO, Tim Armstrong, fired an employee while on a conference call with 1000 AOL employees!  Here’s the actual verbiage from Slate:

“It was supposed to be a conference call to rally the troops ahead of what would undoubtedly be hard times. And at first it sounded that way. But then at one point Armstrong can be heard saying (minute two of the recording), “Abel, put that camera down, now.” And then: “Abel, you’re fired. Out.” A few seconds later, he went on as if nothing had happened. The victim? Patch creative director Abel Lenz. Business Insider notes that if Armstrong fired Lenz for taking photographs it was an odd reason. Lenz always took photographs of meetings to then post in the company’s internal site.” 

And we wonder why American CEOs get a bad rap…

I’ve been a part of some pretty ugly terminations in my day.  Terminations when the CEO, or another senior executive, comes to you and says “Tim, go let go of ‘so-and-so'”.  My response is always, “Sure! What for?”  I say ‘Sure!’ first to make sure I’m on their page.  I need the ‘what for’ because I need to put it on the form. In HR we always have a form, for that executive to sign-off on.  In the business we call that ‘CYA’, technically.   If the superior I was speaking to was hot, I would usually get this response, “Because I said so”.  I would then quickly type termination reason: “Because I said so” on the form and ask them to sign it.  This usually got to the real reason, as I’ve yet to run into a senior executive willing to sign the form with the reason being “Because I said so.”

To Abel’s credit, he responded with “No Comment” on Twitter from a bar soon after being fired with a picture of the bar.  G*d, I love social media!  This might be the most public firing I’ve ever heard of in a corporate setting!  Clearly, we don’t know the behind the scenes information.  Did Tim tell Abel not to take pics beforehand, and Abel decided to do it anyway?  Did Abel sleep with Tim’s wife the night before, and Tim just got a text from the misses?  Did Tim just hate Abel and actually planned to do this all along?  I doubt those facts will ever some out.

I would pay to be a part of the HR weekly meetings at AOL this week!  HR is vilified about 99% of the time by executives, the 1% when we are their needed ‘partner’ just happened at AOL.  The CEO had a major brain fart, and now needs to know how HR will get his ass out of this mess.

So, I’ll ask you HR Pros!  What would you do in this scenario?

 

 

How To Get An Entry Level Job, Part II

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The most read post at the Tim Sackett Project is: How To Get An Entry Level Job.   Check it out, if you haven’t already. It’s my advice to a new college grad about how to get that first job. That grad is Christina Hart, and I wanted to do a follow up to the original post to see if my advice worked, or if it’s just B.S. like the rest of the stuff I write!  Here are the questions I asked Christina and her responses, unedited:

(Tim) What worked in your job search in finding your first entry level job after graduating?

(Christina) “When we spoke a little over a year ago, I was just in the process of picking up and moving to New York City. Before that point, I had been applying for full-time jobs while working a few part-time jobs in my hometown in Michigan. I knew that NYC was my desired location, so I made a commitment to move and give it a try. It was a struggle to get interviews before that point, because many companies were looking for individuals who were already in the NY area, and could come in at little more than a moment’s notice. For me specifically, moving to NYC made all of the difference. Within 24 hours of being in the city I had a job, and it’s highly unlikely that I would be where I am without having taken that step first. My first job in the city was temping as an administrative assistant, which lasted about 2 months, and from there I was offered a great full-time position at that same company.

The temping agency route is something I never really considered, a somewhat atypical path for most graduates to think about. That being said, it got me in the door and from there it gave me an opportunity to prove my worth. I networked within the company, which led to a career sponsor, and my current role.

At the end of the day, the thing that worked for me was taking that giant risk and moving across the country to the city I wanted to be in – even without having a job first. I think for graduates who have that same mindset with being in a certain geographical region, the best thing really is to just go, and once you’re there, network like crazy.”

(Tim) What didn’t work?

(Christina) “I tried a lot of different things when I was looking for my first entry-level role. Some of which, seems silly looking back. I remember seeing a lot of students who were doing social marketing campaigns for themselves on twitter or starting websites dedicated to hire so and so dot com. I had one of those websites. I was on just about every website at the time to create my personal brand. I had an about.me, a website, twitter, facebook, blog, and personal QR code – and most of it was redundant. While it’s still incredibly important to be cognizant of your online presence, quantity does not equal quality. I was hyperaware of every social platform and making sure that I was on each and every one. I don’t think that’s necessary, nor helpful in your search. I think you need to be very aware of what you want your social brand to reflect, but at the end of the day the company is not going to care whether you have 3 or 10 sites dedicated to such. Most of them are gimmicky anyways, and that’s often not what’s going to get you ahead. My advice to myself looking back, focus on understanding a few platforms really well and showcase that, instead of spreading yourself over every trend at the moment (like those hireme websites).

Continuing on the topic of social, I did a ton of online networking while looking for my first job. I participated in a ton of twitter chats, reached out to lots of people on LinkedIn, and applied online to every job imaginable. Looking back, I’d tell myself to get off the computer and get to every in-person networking event I could. I relied on social too much. I think it’s pretty typical of students now to rely on those indirect forms of communication (that’s how we communicate, right?) – but business and relationships still need to be nurtured in person. Go to networking events just to talk; talk to anyone you can. Don’t always greet that person with your pitch, instead try to form an authentic connection and from there people are more willing to help.”

(Tim) What advice would you now give someone graduating and looking for their first job?

(Christina) “Intern. Take a volunteer or part-time internship in the area or field you want to work in. You’re going to need it.

Customize your resume for each job/company. It should be tailored based on the job description and should include key words relevant to that industry. If you don’t know what those key words are, do a quick Google search and chances are you’ll learn pretty quickly. If the position says it’s looking for someone who knows Radian6 or CSS or WordPress – make sure those words are on your resume.

Speaking of platforms and programs, if the job or industry you want to be in requires knowledge or expertise in those areas – learn them. Take a class. Teach yourself. Make yourself an expert.

Get offline. LinkedIn is still my most successful and important networking tool, but turning those relationships into real life ones was the most important thing I could do. Go to large networking events or meet people for coffee. It doesn’t matter what size, as long as you’re talking. Show your value, so that people will remember you when they hear of a job. Make sure you’re the person they remember.

Nurture those relationships. Check back in every so often. A relationship is two ways; make sure you’re not just taking.

If you want to work in a specific industry or at a specific company reach out to people in those areas and get to know that industry. Use LinkedIn to ask people to share their expertise. Use informational interviews to find out what it takes to succeed, and what skills you need to have. Don’t be afraid to be concise in what you want. Tell them you want to work in X and ask them how to get there.

Everyone has to start somewhere – if you want to work at a company or in a certain industry bad enough, take whatever job will get you in. I know we all want to be running the company from the get go, we want the prestige, but you’re only going to get there if you get in first. Be the low man on the totem pole and use the opportunity to learn from those above you. If you work hard you will go far, no matter where you start. Humbleness, and a strong work ethic, will show through.

Find a career sponsor, and a few mentors. Know the difference between the two.”

(Tim) What was the hardest part of your job search?

(Christina) “Realizing the skills gap exists, and also that I didn’t want any of the jobs that were typically associated with my degree. I was applying for jobs and industries with which I had no expertise. I expected people to see what a great candidate and person I was, without the credentials to back it. We all assume a liberal arts education from a good school will get us a job, in reality; technical training and internships are imperative.

I’m introverted in nature, so learning to utilize my strengths to my advantage was a struggle. Working a room a large networking event was difficult. Learning to define what makes me the best candidate and how to describe my qualities took time.”

 

4 Big WOW items I got from Christina’s Experience —

1. Commit!  If you want a certain job, certain industry, certain location, certain company – y0u have to commit 100% and go after it.

2. Get in anyway possible.  Christina took a temp job into the industry and location she wanted.  People shit all over the idea of temp work, but the reality is, most companies frequently hire on temporary workers who are awesome into full-time roles.  It’s hard to find great talent, when a ‘temp’ proves themselves as ‘great’ talent, rarely do they get let go!

3. Get Experience.  I have so many HR friends who hate that I say this, but you need to do an unpaid internship if you can’t get a paid one!  For the betterment of your job prospects you have to get some experience.  Many times that experience will come in the form of an unpaid, volunteer professional type of a position.  It is the reality of many companies today that they can’t afford to have paid interns, but would love to have interns.  Go offer yourself up for free.

4. Have Lunch!  You have to network with ‘real’ people, live, face-to-face.  Social has a part in this — initial networking, follow up, etc. But nothing replaces the good old sit down and talk one on one type of networking.  It takes time, but it’s the best way to spend your time.  People can ignore you on social media, they have a very hard time ignoring you when you’re sitting across from them!