How to Handle Rude Questions in a Job Interview

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  .  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

 

How do you handle rude questions in a job interview? Not necessarily illegal questions, but just awkward and strange.
Like, “Hey, how’d you get that scar on your arm?” etc. How do you handle it without blowing the interview?

For the example in the query – My recommendation is to not take yourself so seriously.  If you deem the question rude – then it is you that is labeling the question rude because you are uncomfortable about the answer.  The interviewer may be asking simply out of curiosity.
Laugh it off  and put the spotlight back on them with another more professional question- “Oh this?  Well – life happens.  I guess it’s the natural results of leading an exciting life.  Speaking about exciting lives — can you describe a typical day in your life as the manager of this department? ”

The definition of “rude” is often being placed by the person reacting to the question – and  not the person asking the question.  The person asking the question doesn’t recognize it as rude. Its simply their curious nature.  So – if you respond to the question like it’s rude or inappropriate – your response may seem outrageous to the interviewer because he/she didn’t ask the question in the same light that you took it.
Great rule of thumb to get through a job interview is to not take anything personally and avoid judgement.

If you are interested in a more detail program on these things, we have offer several intensive workshops from the 6 Critical Training Areas. (Technical Mastery, Exceptional Performance, Business Networking That Makes the Difference, True Leadership – the transformation from Worker Bee to Queen Bee, Communication that Matters, The Difference between playing with time and controlling it).

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

You may be a micro-manager, if you ….

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Often times, people think a micro-manager is someone that stands over the employee’s shoulders every hour. But that’s not totally true.   There are other traits to a micro-manager that you may be falling into without knowing it.

 

  • If you haven’t taken vacation, you may be a micro-manager
  • If you haven’t delegated the lead of some of your staff meetings, you may be a micro-manager
  • If you haven’t allowed your team to run the show, you may be a micro-manager.
  • If you are afraid of taking a day off, you may be a micro-manager.
  • If you are afraid of what will happens when you are not there, you may be a micro-manager
  • If you haven’t allowed your team to fail, you may be a micro-manager

 

Instead of being afraid of what happens when you are not there — allow things to happen by not being there. You may be pleasantly surprised.

If you don’t allow people to try these things on their own, you miss the opportunities for growth and excellence in both them and YOU. If you are too busy taking on other people’s responsibilities, you don’t have the time for your growth and promotions.

How to track remote employee’s activities

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

 

What is a good CRM for remote employees that tracks what they are doing every minute

I have a remote employee on a significant base who works from home and road with android phone. I want to track their day.

I want an CRM web app that runs on desktop and android phone:
– Sends me a daily email report that
1) chronologically lists how previous day was spent including


A) work day start time,
B) calls outgoing and incoming
– start, end time, contact, result
C) emails reading & writing
– start, send time, contact, result
D) meetings
– start, end and result.
E) Other activities eg driving
– start, end, contact, result


2) Sales pipeline status changes and value in graph format.

This should be done as automatically as possible. Ideally with no typing by salesperson. Ie buttons only. Or only one word typing if req.

I apologize if this answer seems too blunt….but I think it will be easier to find a salesperson that you trust. Requesting an app that automatically shows you exactly what they do every minute illustrates a lack of trust in their capability and competence. It’s better to find the type of people that you will value and trust; people with the right work ethics, experience and talent — then to try to micromanage those traits into the wrong people. The right people will be turned off and quite. And the wrong people will find a way around your app.

Keep it simple. Simply focus on your required results.
If you have sales quotas and success metrics in place – and they are meeting the success criteria; why do you need to know what they ate for breakfast?

My recommendation is to do your best to hire talented and trustworthy people to begin with. Setup goals and objectives around those important metrics (like hitting at least 20 sales calls a week, making at least 5 sales per week, or whatever you deem necessary). Then allow them to fully express their talent and skills they way that best works for them – in regards to meeting those success criteria.

If they are not meeting their quotas, offer them additional training or fire them.
If they are meeting your quotas, don’t fix what ain’t broke.

If you still need this day-to-day checking; I recommend setting up a daily 5 minute call with this person or team. In the agile development (this is called a SCRUM meeting), where you meet daily for a very short time to answer the critical status questions. For you – you may want to have a daily status meeting to report their sales made, sales in the pipeline, expected sales closed dates for those items in pipeline, any roadblocks to closing on time and if they need any help in closing the deals.
Bottom line – It’s a waste of time to “big brother” everything your sales person does. Setup clear expectations in regards to number of sales, leads, and lead-to-sales ratios. Then track only the metrics that bring in the money. Don’t worry about how they get it done. Just focus on the results and treat your team like experienced and valued professionals.

For you would like more information on how to better manage your team or increase their performance, why don’t we schedule a short call. That way I will be able to learn more about your unique situation and be able to recommend your next best step moving forward.

We also have a Professional Development Toolkit ecourse available for self-study.

 Once again, I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Difference between running a business and a clubhouse

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s comment came from a busy professional when discussing prioritizing a performance review process for his company.


We’re working through our plan at the moment – it encompasses several projects.  I’m pretty hesitant to put another layer (referring to a performance review process) on at the moment.  I don’t know that we have the bandwidth to do so.

Granted, this is one of my pet peeves. This is much like saying, “I’m using my car too much to take the time to change the oil, check the tires, and do regular maintenance on my car. When I’m not traveling so much, I will think about taking the time for car maintenance.”

I have a longer series on CAReer Maintenance 101 which goes into the Top 10 Tips to Ensure Career Longevity. But today’s focus will be on implementing some type of performance review process.  Why it’s important and how to start one with minimum steps.

Setting performance criteria and reviews is to your company as your car maintenance list is to your car.  Some people go along without maintaining their car – but they pay for it eventually.  Executives that feel their team doesn’t have the bandwidth or time to review business goals, individual development goals and their performance related to those goals are running their business more like a clubhouse than a profit-based business. You may be doing a great job scheduling those projects – but you may not be maintaining the professional skills and health of those people doing the work. I say “may not be” – because without periodic reviews, you don’t really know where you stand.  Your car could give out at any time without any warning.

And asking your employees if they want to implement a performance review process is a waste of time. It’s like asking your children if they want vegetables. A diet of projects without the necessary proteins, vegetables, and exercise to keep your body of employees professionally healthy is like only feeding fast foods to your children.

The clubhouse, informal feel is great for small businesses.  You may feel that you are running faster and leaner.  And that formal performance reviews will only slow you down.  That small, family atmosphere is what got you where you are today. And it has served its purpose amazingly. But – if you now want to grow to that next level; expand beyond what you are doing today; make a bigger impact to the industry – you may have outgrown the clubhouse. If you are struggling to grow and make more money – then you should consider that the clubhouse, informal mentality is probably what is limiting your growth.

If you have the time and money to purchase next generation, bigger, faster and better equipment – then you have time to spend some money and time on your employee’s career development.

Okay – so now you are convinced that you need something in place in order to conduct a performance evaluation. What are the minimum steps?

  • Outline everyone’s roles, responsibilities and expectations. Your employees can do this for you, and then you can review/modify as you see fit
  • Outline your criteria for Average Performance, Above Average Performance and Exceptional Performance. If you want your employees to do their best for you – you need to actually outline what their best means to you. Otherwise, people will be disappointed come performance evaluation time. It is recommended to include metrics that actually increase your business revenue, reduce costs or increase client loyalty, satisfaction and referrals.
  • Setup a SMART goals that achieves those goals and criteria.

If you do the above and define a regular review period, you will have better insight into your employees’ performance, and how to help them improve your company profits. You want your employees to be doing the work that lie in their talents, that makes your company profitable. When employees are working in their genius capacity – your company will expand.

Also – you need to be able to strategically assign tasks that will directly affect company profits. If you find that people are being paid for things that do not align with the company vision and mission, you need to adjust. This is the reason for the performance reviews – to find out where you need to readjust.

NOTE: If you have enough staff to actually have a hierarchy, avoid the lazy man’s method of adding additional responsibilities on top of all the other responsibilities. If you want to add more responsibilities without removing anything then you need to include and adjust the % of time and expectations on all the roles. This actually takes more of your time and thought.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

5 tips to getting a promotion

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The easiest way to get a promotion is to prepare for a promotion.

The best way to prepare for a promotion is to follow these steps:

1) Clarify the role and promotion that you are seeking

2) Identify the appropriate attributes and skill levels required at that level

3) Do a self-assessment on where your skill sets and levels are in comparison to that level

4) Identify how to start filling in those skill gaps via getting mentors, volunteering your services, increasing your education, etc

5) Share your career goals with your managers, HR  representative, co-workers, mentors, 2nd line managers, family and friends.

Another tips is to publish your accurate resume on LinkedIn and start networking with individuals who are already where you want to be.

Take the Get that Promotion Challenge and sign up for one of these online courses to get you there:

 

Career Boosting Resolutions at https://www.udemy.com/10-career-boosting-resolutions

Get that well deserved raise at https://www.udemy.com/how-to-get-that-well-deserved-raise/

Creating your own Brand and Mission statements at https://www.udemy.com/branded-for-life

Free Webcast: Myths and Reality of Iterative Testing – Laura Rose

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Friday, October 24th, 2014, 12:00 PM Eastern
Free Webcast: Myths and Reality of Iterative Testing – Laura Rose

This presentation is specifically for professionals who are ready to succeed. Myths arise from a lack of direct experience. In the absence of information, we form beliefs based on what we think we know, often with a skeptical feeling towards what we don’t know. In the realm of software development, myths can make it difficult to approach real-world problems objectively, thus putting budgets and schedules at increased risk.

I’ll explain how iterative development principles can address these common misunderstandings and lead us to a pragmatic testing methodology that mitigates or avoids altogether many common software

Handling Facebook “friend” requests from your boss

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

How do you handle friend-ing requests from your boss? How about
your employees?

This is a tricky situation, especially if it is your boss making the friend request. You don’t want to say “no” to your boss, for fear they think you are hiding something.   In the “good old days” before social media, it was easy to keep your work life and private life separate. You have more control over what you shared in the office and what you took home at night. It was easier to keep private things private.

One wise friend recommends not placing anything on Facebook that you would be embarrassed if your boss saw it. I 100% agree. But that leaves all your other friends posts. While you can control what you post, it’s impossible to control what other people post.

Mixing your work colleagues and private friends on Facebook and social media is a slippery slope. Even if you are careful about the types of language and messages you put on your wall – there still are risks. Once you have shared friends and colleagues on Facebook, you have lost control over what other people post regarding your shared activities. Other friends can innocently tag you on photographs that they post.

It doesn’t have to be questionable photographs of you drinking (or being drunk) at a party to cause trouble at work. One real-life example is when a friend posted/tagged another friend in a photograph of their day excursion to New York. The managers saw the photograph on Facebook and realize that the employee had called in sick that day to take advantage of this play-date. The employee was fired. And he turned around and sued his friend for posting that photograph. The plaintiff accused his friend of causing his dismissal. Of course the judge corrected the plaintiff – because it was actually the plaintiff’s playing hooky from work that caused the dismissal. At the end of the day, the employee lost his job and a friend.

The intent of that story was to illustrate that you cannot predict the result of mixing your professional and private lives.

This is why I normally recommend keeping your work folks on a separate “professional page”. Keep them separate from your party-friend group. If possible, don’t allow the groups to mix. One recommendation is to keep your business contacts on Linkedin and your party friends on Facebook.

To learn more about how to effectively leverage LinkedIn to advance your career, check out the ecourse “Leveraging Links to Get That Skip-Level Promotion”.

For a list of the 10 Tool to Advance Your Career, request using this link <HERE>.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Best ways to show clients that they are appreciated

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

What’s the best way to show customers they are appreciated?

The first step is to fully understand your company policies in regards to customer gifts, rewards, recognitions, and tokens of appreciations. Most companies have clear procedures and limits on customer appreciation gives to avoid the perceptions of kickbacks and payback.

Once you understand the company policies, you have various options to explore.

The key to client appreciation is understanding what the client values.  In Dr. Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages, people respond to 5 different categories of appreciation: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time and Physical Touch. I have a presentation on how to translate these “love languages” into the workplace and customer appreciation venue. If you are interested in a group presentation on this topic, I would be happy to guest speak at your organization.

In the meantime, a relationship (whether a personal, professional or business relationship) is composed of one or more people.  Therefore, a show of the right kind of appreciation (the one that the client would value most) in any of those venues would work.  Dr. Chapman mentions that everyone has 2 dominant categories.  For example – if you know that your client feels appreciated (loved) with words of affirmation and Acts of Service – you would best be served by giving them a plaque/award with some fanfare or a special “Done For You” complimentary service.   On the other hand, if your client doesn’t like to be put on stage and value their leisure time with their family above all else – then making them spend their leisure time to accept an award in front of people would have the opposite effect. He/she would resent being there.

Understanding the proper acts that make them feel appreciated (or loved) is the key to a successful client appreciation program.  Then selecting items that fit one of their dominate profiles would win the day.

The appreciation doesn’t have to be expensive, just valuable. For example, if your client owns a restaurant, then periodically taking your department to lunch at their establishment is of great value. Purchasing gift certificates from their shops to give as client appreciation gifts to other customers is of great value. Creating testimonials about their service and establishments would be of great value.

The key is to be in-tuned with what your client values.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes