Journal of Office Workers
Archive for October 20, 2014
How To Be A More Valuable Mentor
What does it take to be a good mentor?
Related: Mentoring Vs Managing: Does It Have To Be One Or The Other?
Mentoring is the development of a relationship, a partnership between two individuals where one more experienced person guides the less experienced person, developing and strengthening their abilities. The participants in the relationship, the subject matter and where the process occurs will vary. However, the common denominators in what makes a good mentor will always include the following:
- An interest level in their subject and their mentee
- A commitment to the process
- A belief that their mentee is equally committed to the process
- Confidence in their own abilities
- Good communication skills
- Excellent listening skills
- Enthusiasm for their chosen profession
- A positive force adding value in ones industry and community
- A personal interest in seeing their mentee succeed
- A constant pursuit of excellence in their profession by staying current
- A desire to pay it forward
How does one become a more valuable mentor?
Provide Valuable Feedback
An even more valuable mentor makes it clear to their mentee that this is a two-way street. A mentor is teacher and guide. The knowledge and experience that they can share is a valuable resource. Allowing their mentee to be heard and providing feedback that is positive, supportive, and constructive is a necessary skill that adds value to the mentoring partnership.
The traits that a mentee observes about their mentor are equally telling. For example, is their mentor respected by and respectful of their colleagues? Does their mentor communicate well? Is the mentor available to the mentee, initiating interaction and encouraging the mentee to question and evaluate what they are learning?
Listen
The mentor/mentee relationship starts with the mentee seeking guidance and learning from the mentor. In the early stages, the scales are tipped heavily toward the mentor. It is the responsibility of the mentor to lay the foundation for the mentee. As the relationship progresses, a successful mentor will be nurturing the mentee’s growth by encouraging curiosity.
Although a mentor is a teacher and guide, the strongest skill that they possess is that of being able to listen, not only to what is being said by their mentee, but also to the unspoken cues. This happens most effectively when there is chemistry between the mentor and the mentee. Fostering a compatible bond with their mentee adds a dimension to the mentor /mentee partnership that enhances the experience for both. This will encourage the move toward equilibrium in the relationship, an important next phase in the mentoring process.
Tip The Learning Curve
Now, the dynamic is moving toward a more level interaction, where the mentee is not only encouraged but is now expected to question and become more proactive. The best of mentors will tip the learning curve increasingly in the direction of the mentee and move the process into the final phase, that of the independent mentee.
The development that takes place from start to finish is unique in each mentor/mentee relationship. One common thread, however, is the value added by the mentor who believes in them self and in their mentee, the mentor who is able to share the experience not only for the mentee but with them.
Lead By Example
Ultimately, the qualities that make a good mentor, and that allow them to add value to the mentor/mentee relationship, are the same set of personal and professional qualities that one finds in an excellent role model. An excellent role model is the kind of person who is insightful, a good listener, supportive, caring, admirable, and accessible. The mentor/role model who adds value is a guide and educator who is able to add practical advice and provide constructive criticism. Role models are successful individuals and they desire success for others. They not only ‘talk the talk,’ they ‘walk the walk.’ Who is the most valuable mentor? The person who leads by example!
Related Posts
To Find A Mentor, You Must Be A Student
Promotion Killers: No Internal Mentor
5 Reasons Why Mentorships Help Attorneys Advance Their Careers
About the author
Anne Marie Cooley is a Management Services Professional with 25+ years of experience helping others succeed by finding their strengths! She is also a virtual career coach at CareerHMO.com. Visit her coaching page today!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CareerHMO coach. You can learn more about coach posts here.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The post How To Be A More Valuable Mentor appeared first on CAREEREALISM.
from CAREEREALISM https://ift.tt/1olfA90
via IFTTT for Journal of Office Workers
5 Key Areas To Target When Branding Your Resume
Customizing your resume for each position you apply to can be critical in today’s job search. It’s vitally important that your resume conveys you are a perfect match for the job. So, what’s the best approach for branding your resume?
Related: 3 Steps To An Outstanding Personal Branding Statement
When tailoring your resume to each specific position, there are five key areas you want to remember to change:
1. Job Target/Title At The Top Of Your Resume
Always change your target job title so that it reflects the specific position for which you are applying. This way, there is no confusion about the position you want to apply for and your experience.
2. Branded Career Summary
Make adjustments to your career summary by shifting information around and placing the most relevant skills, experience, and accomplishments FIRST.
3. Key Skills/Core Strengths
While keywords play an important role in ATS (applicant tracking software) the keywords on your resume also draw the hiring manager’s attention.
Place the most relevant keywords and core strengths at the top of your core strengths/key skills section so that the hiring manager sees these first.
This way, if they’re simply scanning the resume they’ll see them right away and won’t miss them.
4. Accomplishment Statements
Reword your accomplishment statements so that the most critical and relevant information is at the beginning of the bullet.
This helps the initial eye scan by the lower-level HR rep who will be giving your resume the first review.
It also helps those who are scanning through the document without a thorough read to spot the important info they need in order to make a decision about whether to invest more time.
5. Bullet Points
Finally, reorder your bullet points for each position so the most relevant for the position come first.
For example, if you have experience in customer service and sales and you’re applying for a sales associate position put your sales-related bullet points first in each position description on your resume.
Put them in order of significance from most relevant first to least relevant last.
Again, this will ensure the most pertinent information gets read first in case the hiring manager doesn’t read your entire resume word for word.
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Related Posts
Optimizing Your Resume With Keywords
How To Quantify Your Accomplishments On A Resume
Creating Your Personal Brand Statement For An IT Resume
About the author
Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, CEO of Great Resumes Fast is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, and presenter. Want to work with the best resume writer? If you would like us to personally work on your resume, cover letter, or LinkedIn profile—and dramatically improve their response rates—then check out our professional and executive resume writing services at GreatResumesFast.com or contact us for more information if you have any questions.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The post 5 Key Areas To Target When Branding Your Resume appeared first on CAREEREALISM.
from CAREEREALISM https://ift.tt/1sEUC3g
via IFTTT for Journal of Office Workers
Solving The Retention Puzzle (Part 1)
Retaining top performers in today’s competitive environment remains a puzzle for many organizations. There are many reasons for this. Some that are uncontrollable - like a natural drive some people have to look for new challenges that are clearly outside a particular organization or simply desire for a career change. But there are also elements of retention that are completely in control of an organization.
Related: 5 Ways To Attract (And Keep!) The Best Employees
A successful retention strategy involves putting all the pieces of a complex puzzle together – retention efforts will never be completely successful if pieces are missing. This is a primary reason for the continued struggle with retention – related to statistics that show over 65% of employees are currently “seeking other opportunities. Too often, an organization’s efforts are limited to putting only one or two pieces of the puzzle into play.
There are excellent resources available on most of the puzzle pieces - from organizations that specialize in recognition, or training, or motivation practices. But, at a minimum, I would argue that:
Successful Retention = f (Objective Expectations, Compensation, Training, Recognition, Feedback, Organizational Culture, and…)
This looks like a very complex formula – and it is. And to begin, think about the complexity of this “formula” from a mathematical standpoint. The formula suggests that each of these factors can contribute to the success – or failure – of a retention strategy. Plus, there’s the important element of “interaction” that suggests the right training and the right recognition might yield 2 + 2 = 5. But at the same time, it acknowledges that the right training and the wrong recognition might yield 2 – 2 = -5. This represents the complicated, sometimes frightening, struggle to craft a successful retention strategy.
Objective Expectations
The first factor listed in the formula is “Objective Expectations.” It is listed first only because it is often a factor that is optimized – or minimized – before a person even begins a job. Here’s the worst example from my experience (unfortunately, I’ve been involved in too many bad examples).
As the consultant for an organization in the “entertainment” industry, I was asked to completely re-design their new employee orientation program. New employees attended the program before starting their jobs. As a basic introduction to the program, I would ask the new employees the typical “name, home town, and ‘what department are you going to be working in’” questions. Although it was shocking at first, the most common answer to “which department?” was “I don’t know yet.” This answer became an expectation that lasted the entire year.
These new employees didn’t even know what department they were going to be working in – much less what the specific expectations might be. They might end up in customer service, food service, security, or maintenance. The organization’s turnover was close to 100% annually. One employee quit after four hours on a job that was “not what I expected.”
Management guru Ken Blanchard has stated for decades that expectations between employees and managers are often out of sync. He’s posited that a simple experiment proves this the majority of the time. I’ve conducted this experiment with scores of employees/managers as part of different consulting/training projects. The employee and the manager are asked – separately – to identify the top ten “expectations” for the employee’s position. The majority of the time, not only are there serious mismatches in the “ranking” of the items, there is are several items that appear only on one of the two lists.
One clear solution to this “Objective Expectations” struggle is to acknowledge that typical job descriptions rarely describe clear expectations, much less the expectations of superior performance. Performance-Based Hiring guru Lou Adler (https://ift.tt/oskUkz) developed the solution: “If you want to hire (retain) top performers, first define superior performance.” Sounds much like Stephen Covey’s “Begin with the end in mind.”
A Performance Profile is a document that should be used before a new employee accepts a job and begins work. It should be used as a basis for recruiting, interviewing, and orienting a candidate. During an interview, a candidate should clearly be challenged with “Here’s what our best employees do in this position…” The following should be clearly specified: What the best employees in this position accomplish during the first year, during the first six months, and during the first 30 days on the job.
For a large “camping’ organization, we discovered that the “best” camp counselors “get to know their campers personally (by name) by the end of the first day and build on that relationship throughout the week.”
It was easy to communicate this in recruiting materials, as part of the interview process, and clearly as part of the training provided both new and returning counselors. They knew what was expected of them. This is the first step in solving the retention puzzle.
Next: Compensation – It’s Not Just Money.
Related Posts
Why You Should Hire For Personality, Not Just Experience
Top 3 Character Traits To Look For In Your Next Hire
How To Deal With Difficult Employees
About the author
Jim Schreier is a management consultant with a focus on management, leadership, including performance-based hiring and interviewing skills. Visit his website at www.farcliffs.com.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The post Solving The Retention Puzzle (Part 1) appeared first on CAREEREALISM.
from CAREEREALISM https://ift.tt/1urKQj5
via IFTTT for Journal of Office Workers
The Importance Of Being Aligned With Your Work
I have seen many examples of people who are aligned with what they do (and of those who are not aligned). It makes a huge difference in the way work is accomplished as well as how it impacts those we work and interact with.
Related: Want To Be Happy At Work? 3 Things To Consider
When I say, “being aligned to your work,” I mean being connected to something meaningful to you; something that aligns with your values and allows you to fulfill your desire to make a difference through your work. I coach many leaders who sometimes struggle in their roles and have behaviors that need to change.
We all have areas to grow and develop, but if the developmental opportunity is not aligned with something that is meaningful to you or gives your work purpose, you will likely struggle to develop in that area. If you lead from a place that is aligned to your values, leading becomes very easy. In fact, people will want to follow you because they see how connected you are to what you are doing. Not only that, but doing your job also becomes very easy when you are aligned in this manner.
To find out if you are aligned with what you do, take some time to think about your values and motivators.
- What do you value?
- Does your work allow you to focus on what you value?
- What motivates you to get up in the morning?
- Does your work motivate you to get up in the morning?
If you answer “no” to these questions too many times in a row, you may want to reconsider what it is you are doing for work, or look to discover how you can shift what you are doing in small ways so it is more aligned with your values and motivators.
I think we intuitively know when we are around people who are united with their purpose and whose work represents that purpose. They are calm, confident, happy, serene, energized, and inspiring. Think about some public figures like Oprah Winfrey or Olympic Athletes like Shaun White. These individuals exude confidence and passion in all they do and things flow for them. Why? Because they are doing work that honors their values and work that motivates them.
I see this behavior in my pet sitter and the vet technicians at my veterinarians’ office. These people love being around and helping animals so much that animals love to be around them (and people do, too)! So, I recommend the same for you: do what you love, what you value, and what motivates you. It will make all the difference for you and those who will have the pleasure of being in your presence.
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Related Posts
Clarify Your Personal Career Values
Want Career Happiness? Identify Your Top 5 Desires
7 Ways To Be Happier At Work And Boost Your Career
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The post The Importance Of Being Aligned With Your Work appeared first on CAREEREALISM.
from CAREEREALISM https://ift.tt/11UplRg
via IFTTT for Journal of Office Workers
