Category Archives: General

On the Move? Things to Consider Before Relocating for Work

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Traveling across the country for a new job may be just the adventure you’ve been waiting for. Like all adventures, relocating for work comes with its share of challenges. Being honest about the benefits and drawbacks of moving for work can save you time, money and family struggles down the road.

Show Me the Money

One big relocation incentive is a pay increase. But extra zeroes may not make much difference when the boxes are all unpacked. Ask yourself these questions regarding price vs. rewards before relocating:

  • Can I sell my home and break even or make a profit? If you can’t sell your house in a timely way and make enough from the sale for a down payment on another home in the new location, the difference in salary may not be worth the move.
  • Is the pay substantially better than where I am? Although the pay may look like enough to make moving worth the effort, some serious number crunching can help you get a clearer picture. Compare utility costs, fuel costs, taxes, as well as the cost of food in the new location. Are there added perks to the new job, like a car that could save you money? Take time to compare 401k plans, profit sharing and potential bonuses between your current job and the new offer. Adding everything together helps you get a clear picture of how much more you will make if you relocate.
  • Will the new company help with moving expenses? Moving across the country is expensive. Calculating how much the move will cost and whether your new job will to pay for it is an important part of your decision-making process.
  • Will the company cover temporary housing? If you are moving to a large city like, say, Phoenix, finding the right neighborhood for your family can take a lot of time. Many companies offer a short-term housing allowance to cover apartment rentals to give you and your family time to find the right house, neighborhood and school district.

The Relationship Factor

No matter how good the job offer, relocating can be difficult on relationships. Spouses, significant others, children and extended family are all part of the equation. Consider the impact your move will have on those you love by asking yourself these questions:

  • How will the move affect my spouse’s career? If your spouse has achieved certain career goals or is working toward them, relocating for your job may not be in her best interest. Be willing to say “no” to a new offer for the sake of your spouse.
  • What about the children? Moving can be harder on children than anyone in your family. Changing schools, making new friends, getting used to a new neighborhood can be devastating for children if not planned intentionally and strategically. Consider carefully how relocating will impact your children and, if they are old enough, get them involved in the conversation.
  • How will my extended family react? If you live near aging parents, consider how moving will impact them. Do they need help with their daily routine? Will moving mean multiple trips back and forth each year to meet their changing needs? Do your parents provide support like babysitting? How will your family replace this in a new town?

5 Things a new hire should do before attending their first performance review.

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What advice do you have for a new hire about to attend his or her first performance review?

There are several things a new hire should be doing throughout the year (prior to their first performance review).  The performance review or evalutation process really starts on day 1; not just on the day of the meeting.
Therefore, from day 1:

1) They should take the initiative to schedule regular (weekly) one-on-one meetings with their manager.  These meetings can be as short as 15-20 minutes in length.  The idea is to have frequent meetings with your manager about your challenges, your accomplishments, your questions, and your performance.  If you take the initiative to set these up, you will always know where you stand in regards to a performance review.

2) They should already have created a Personal Business Commitment plan with their manager (use your weekly one-on-one meetings with your manager to do this).  The PBC outlines your role, responsibilities, expectations and success criteria for your position.  Once you have your commitments outlined, the new hire should create specific SMARTER goals on how they will accomplish those goals and how they plan to track and prove their progress on those items.

3) They should create an Accomplishment Folder and collect any and all awards, recognitions, thank you notes, and accomplishments in this folder (as it is happening).  Trying to remember everything that you have accomplished the day before the performance review is short-changing yourself.  Most people will remember the last thing you’ve done (which could be good or bad).  But if you deliberately collect the information as you go along, you won’t be missing some important achievements.

4) Understand how the performance evaluation and bonus process works at the company.  For instance: Many companies pool all their employees of a specific level or pay grade together (i.e. across department).  For instance, all band or grade level 8 employees are compared against each other; all band or grade level 9 employees are compared against other band 9 employees, etc.  regardless of their departments.  All the managers that have band 9 employees will be evaluating your work against the other band 9 employees.  If your manager is the only one that knows your work and value to you bring to the company, you may not do well in that meeting.  The more managers in that room that know who you are, what your bring to the company, and your tangible results to the company’s mission/vision/goals – the better.  So- if you know up front that this is how your company does performance ranking, then you will be making sure to market and brand your value to not only your manager but to sibling departments and managers.  You will realize that business marketing is an important part of the performance evaluation process.
5) In one of your regular one-on-one manager meetings, request for a mock performance evaluation session in mid-season or even every quarter.  Not only will you get practice in the performance review meeting, you will get an early report (with time to correct your path) and be able to understand how exactly the evaluation process will proceed.  This is a great opportunity to ask your manager everything that you need to ask (with time to correct your path) without penalty.

In general – if you document your goals, expectations, and accomplishments as you go along (and continue to be open and transparent with your manager) on a weekly basis, you will be well repaired fo the reivew and not have a surprise at your performance evaluation.

If you are interested in more information along these lines, check out some of the free online career management courses on Udemy.com

Check out the Get That Well-Deserved Raise Laser Lesson
Check out the Professional Development Toolkit

 

One mistake most career changers make.

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The one mistakes most career changers make.

Writing their resume without the “new career” mindset.

Most career changers list their work experience and job tasks in the mindset of the past role or job title INSTEAD of the new career role or title in mind.

For example:  You are a teacher’s assistance and you want to make a career change into Graphic Designer in Instructional Videos and Presentations.  Instead of focusing your resume on everyday teacher assistance duties like watching the children, taking roll-call, distributing supplies and teaching materials, enforcing rules and regulations, etc. — you focus on the various instructional videos and presentation that you created for the classes, parent orientation, and teacher’s brown bag lunch sessions (that you did while you were in that role).  You focus and highlight the graphics and software expertise.  You provide actual video, presentation and audio examples of your work.

I am Laura Lee Rose, author of the books “TimePeace: Making peace with time”  and The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations.  I am a business and career management coach that focuses on professional development, time management, project management and work life balance strategies.  If you need assistance in taking that leap into a new career, please contact me at LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Anyone Can Turn a Hobby Into a Career

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Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report found 70 percent of workers are either not engaged or actively disengaged in their jobs. In other words, a vast majority of Americans hate their work and are simply putting in time for a paycheck. This phenomenon is not only costing the U.S. business sector over a half trillion dollars in lost productivity every year but is also inhibiting individuals from discovering their true calling in life.

The report found the most engaged employees felt their jobs had a direct impact on the company’s success and were allowed to work from home on occasion, which translated into them logging four more working hours per week than disengaged workers. A job to an engaged employee is more like a hobby or passion they just happen to get paid for. This type of arrangement is possible for anyone willing to temporarily step out of their comfort zone and determine what it is they truly want out of life.

Sacrifice For The Future

Jayne Lawton was a horticulture lecturer at the University of Manchester for years. One day after helping a few students identify flowers by scent and texture, she came up with the idea of GroBox, a biodegradable ready-to-plant box anyone can use to start a garden. She invested £2,000 ($3,200) of her own money and seven years later, GroBox is sold internationally and used by charities like OxFam and Amnesty International, according to the Daily Mail.

Regardless of your passion, it’s best to invest your own funds to get started. You can always go to venture capitalists or banks for funding, but that adds the burden of debt to your enterprise. Borrowing money from friends and family can strain relationships and take the joy out of your new endeavor. Keeping overhead costs low and doing business within your means gives you the best chance of success. Shop around for the best business cloud storage deals when setting up your online presence and work with smaller suppliers that mutually benefit from your business. The more time and effort you put in from the beginning, the more you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your passion later.

Anything Can Be A Career

“My only hobbies are playing video games and going to restaurants to try new foods. I can’t make money doing that,” says the proverbial Debbie Downer. But Marcus Graham, host and producer of TwitchTV, told CBS News there were a few gamers who live-streamed their games on said website that made six-figures last year. Further, websites like iPoll allow you to upload reviews of everything from fancy 5-star restaurants to food trucks and get paid for it.

The point is any hobby can make you money if you exercise due diligence, put forth the necessary effort and maintain a positive attitude. Is your only hobby working out at the gym six times a week? Take an American Council on Exercise (ACE) or National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) course and become a certified personal trainer. Do you love writing? Register at E-Lance to find jobs or search for them at Problogger.net. It’s all up to you.

It’s All About The Web

The Internet has made it possible to stumble across a passion and all of a sudden make money from it. Michelle Phan, on a whim, started uploading videos to YouTube instructing women how to shop for the right makeup and accessories. A few years later, she has more than 2 million subscribers to her channel and according to The Insider, was hired by a major cosmetics company as its official makeup artist.

The amount of money earned by people uploading videos to YouTube has doubled each year from 2009 to 2013, said Bing Chen, manager of YouTube’s Partner Program, via ABC News. Upload your weekend hunting videos or those of you training your dog to do tricks; anything that can teach people something and/or entertain them. You never know what could become of it.

Carl Culver

Carl is an HR consultant for midsize businesses. He is hoping to hike the Appalachian Trail next summer.

5 Resume Myths Debunked

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There are some resume myths that confuse some job seekers.  Here are some information to debunk some major resume myths. For instance: Does the resume absolutely have to be 1 page? Is a cover letter always necessary?
Below are 5 Resume Myths

1) Resume needs to be 1 page.

Resume can be 2 pages — but if the first page doesn’t keep the reader’s attention, the second page will not be read.

Your resume needs to capture the attention and interest (and keep it) throughout.

 2) Need to list all your employment history and tasks

Only highlight the employment history and tasks that are relevant to the current position that you are applying for.

Since your resume needs to capture and keep the attention right away, discussing how you flipped hamburgers in a resume that you are applying as web site designer position is distracting.

3) Need to reuse the same resume for all potential job applications

20 years ago, you often created one resume, created 60 copies and mailed the same resume out to everyone.

With the ease of electronics, you should customize each resume to the verbage, responsibilities and role that was documented in the position description.  Customerize your resume to perfectly match the positions descriptions (if you have the proper background for the job).

4) Stick to the job position and title that you’ve held in the past.
       One mistake is to think that you need to first get hired into a similar position and then expand into a different role after you are hired.
       By highlighting your transferable skills (instead of the job title), you can position your resume to fit alternative or adjacent roles.  For instance, if your work experience is in testing, you can highlight your trouble-shooting, test lead, customer orientation, usability focus group and customer advocacy background into a Technical Support Manager position or even Business Analyst position.
5) There’s no longer a need for a cover letter.
       A cover letter allows you to better illustrate your fitness for this particular job.  It is encouraged to expand upon the skills and tangible results that illustrates your value and contributions to past and future employers.  It’s also a good idea to highlight what additional benefits you bring to this particular company and position as well.
The bottom line is that there really isn’t just one answer or one type of resume.  Work with a business coach or recruiter to decide the best format and strategy for your individual goal.  It may be creating one format for one type of job; and a different format or strategy for another type of job or career change.
I am a business and career management coach that focuses on time management, project management, professional development and work life balance strategies.  I have authored several books, including “TimePeace: Making peace with time”  and “The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations.”  I also have an online Professional Development Toolkit program that goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of the above.  If you are interested in the online program, please follow https://www.udemy.com/it-professional-development-toolkit/

What’s the best way to get promoted?

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What’s the best way to present/position yourself so that higher-ups will want to promote you. With many hiring decisions today made by more tha one person – particularly in larger companies – people need to make themselves “promotable”. So what strategies do you recommend for positioning oneself accordingly? 
Effective Business Networking is still critical for advancement. People do business with people they know, like and trust. As you mentioned in your question, committees are not only responsible for hiring and performance evaluations; but for re-organizational decisions as well.  If your manager is the only one that understands your value to his/her department, you are doing a disservice to yourself.

Quick things to keep in mind:
productyou

  1. Marketing and Branding of the product YOU.  Attack this as the CEO of your own career and the product you are promoting is YOU.
  2. Create a Business, Marketing, Branding and Networking plan that consists of the proper managers, mentors, customers, departments and even technical recruiters.  Include contacts associated with the groups and pay grade (employment level) of your desired promotion levels.  This should be your Marketing Plan to attract your prestigious projects, clients and promotions.
  3. Religiously schedule and follow your network and marketing plan.  Work with a business coach or mentors (of the same experience that you are trying to achieve).
  4. Understand the responsibilities of the pay grade or employee level that you have your eye on — and start accepting those roles.
  5. Align your personal business goals with the company missions/vision/goals – i.e. Actually generate revenue for the company through your performance.  Be able to quantify your performance with tangible numbers of how your direct results increased their revenue, lowered their costs, reduced their time to delivery or sale.
 Think like the owner of a very valuable product (YOU) and you want to get it into the right hands.
The Professional Development Toolkit online course goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how of all of these things.

When You See Opportunity, Knock it Down and Make it Yours

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Why Wait?
When You See Opportunity, Knock it Down and Make it Yours

In the real world, opportunity does not knock. You have to go out, find it, drag it home and make it work for you. Building your life to suit your dreams means actively participating in the events happening around you.

Looking at the big picture

The job you work now looks like a dead-end, but the big picture shows a company you would like to stay with indefinitely. On the other hand, you find the company matching your dreams and begin campaigning for a job above the usual entry-level positions. With the right maneuvering and a little knowledge, you have a chance to get the job you want. You need focus, strategic planning and an aura of self-confidence that grabs the attention of those hiring.

Education and experience required or just a guideline?

Do not let the posted education and experience requirements fool you. The hiring manager does not want to waste time on applicants with no experience or knowledge of the job. If you come close to either requirement, apply.  Fill out the application, and narrow down your desired career path. As you apply, consider proven application and interview tactics:

  • Use concrete facts to back-up statements
  • State a potential job-related problem and solve it
  • Show how you stand out from the other applicants and prove it
  • Use your resume and cover letter to show your knowledge of the job

Prove it or do not include it

Statement without fact diminishes your employability so always back up your statements with facts. Anyone can say they enjoy working with others in a team environment. Prove you work well in a team environment by briefly describing an a personal experience with collaboration. State the team’s purpose, your contribution and the outcome.

Lie detecting through observation

Padding your resume with experience you do not have becomes obvious the first day you work. Never lie on your resume or cover letter. Applying for a job well out of your range of abilities places you in thin ice from day one. Apply for jobs just beyond your level of comfort and prove to the Human Resource Manager that you fit the job better than anyone else.

The ways of Bob Parsons

GoDaddy.com’s former founder and owner, Bob Parsons sold a portion of the world’s biggest domain name registrar for more $2 billion and reflects on his success by telling young entrepreneurs his rules for gaining and maintaining success.

  • Stay out of your comfort zone
  • Always move forward
  • Life is not fair
  • Make fun of yourself

Bob Parsons motivates young career seekers through speaking engagements. He encourages you to stay out of your comfort zone, to keep the edge and creativity flowing through your search for the perfect career while understanding you can never achieve perfection.

Roll or get mossy

Bob Parsons says you must always move forward. When you stop improving yourself, your company or the position you hold with the company, it starts to die. Everyday you must do something to improve your life and something to bring your goals closer to fruition. Without forward movement, progress cannot happen.

So what, if do not meet all the job requirements? Once you have the job, you will meet the requirements and anyone following will have to meet your requirements. You can accomplish your goals by taking the fear inside and changing it to motivation and positive action. You never know when opportunity is going to next, so go grab it and make it yours.

Do’s and Don’ts tips for turning intern or temporary positions into a permanent position

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temp

Tis the season for intern and part-time positions.  It’s a great time to get some extra cash but how do you turn these short-term positions into long-term gains?  Here are some quick tips for workers who hold a seasonal position, and are interested in turning it into a permanent gig.

 

Do’s and Don’ts tips for turning intern or temporary positions into a permanent position:

1) Don’t dedicate all your time and effort into “doing your assigned job well” — Do illustrate your value throughout the organization, not just at your assigned task.
2) Don’t continue to remind them of your end-date – Do talk about what you can do for the New Year, Spring and Summer projects.
3) Don’t act as if this is a temporary job – Do act as if this is your company by implementing process improvements, creating reducing cost utilites, increasing sale and sending referral/leads to marketing

 

The holiday season is a great time to focus on career management and professional development.  Think of it:

  • The workload is slowing down
  • Executives are preparing New Year strategies.
  • Performance evaluations are just around the corner
  • You have some time away from the office

Check out the new online and free course 10 Career Boosing Resolutions at https://www.udemy.com/10-career-boosting-resolutions/

Or How to Get that Well-Deserved Raise at https://www.udemy.com/how-to-get-that-well-deserved-raise/

3 steps to managing people you don’t like

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get back to workThe most effective way to managing people you don’t like is to focus on their positive attributes and not on their annoying habits. Everyone has idiosyncrosies. Everyone brings different things to the party. That is what makes the work force both rich and challenging.

  1. By focusing on the positive attributes and talents that the individual brings to the team, you can not only more easily manage around the uncomfortable areas; but turn those negatives into positives. For instance, if you feel that he/she is too much of a braggart and wanting the spotlight – assign him marketing and promotional activities in which his salesmanship is an advantage to your team. Send him to networking and marketing events. Have those attributes work in your favor.
  2. Also – often the thing you don’t like about someone is a mirror into something you don’t like about yourself. So doing some sole-searching on why you don’t get along with someone might help as well. Seek to improve yourself in those same areas.
  3. Lastly, understand that you can not change how other people respond to you, but you can chang how you respond to others. If the person is constantly late with his/her work (regardless of how little or how easy the task), never assign them a task in the critical path; never put them in the position of becoming the bottleneck of the project.

In my IT Professional Development Toolkit, I go into the: who, what, where, when and how to accomplish all of the above. I also have a transferrable skill worksheet. For more information about the toolkit, please contact https://www.udemy.com/it-professional-development-toolkit/

Or sign up for my weekly Time and Career Management Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

 

How to deal with competition in the workplace

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the books TimePeace: Making peace with time – and the Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations.   I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in professional development, career management, time management, and work-life balance strategies.

Today we are going to talk about How to deal with competition in the workplace.

Examples:

  • Coworker was made lead to a high profile project while I was on surgery lead. When I came back I was placed on a lower profile project.
  • There’s only one open lead position in the organization and I am competing against 2 other people for the job.
  • My department budget only allows one person to attend this particular conference.  There are 5 people in my group that are vying for the trip.
  • My department gives a MVP award every year.  I want to win the award, but there are 5 other people  in my group.

 More often than not – the feeling of competition comes from the idea of scarcity.  When you believe there are only one spot on the high-profile project, one job available, and one seat on the conference table – then of course there is a feeling of competition.  The face is that there will be other high-profile projects around the corner (that’s not the only one that is ever going to present itself).  There will be other open positions in other departments and groups (this isn’t the last job available ever).  There are other ways to get to a conference (having your department send you isn’t the only option). The MVP isn’t the only award given, your department isn’t the only one that gives out awards, and this isn’t the only year that they give it out.

 

To eliminate the feeling of competition – create your own opportunities.

1)     Network and investigate other leads and job opportunities in other sister departments

2)     Increase your value to other departments, managers, executives and clients

3)     Meet with mentors and experts to get guidance on how to shore up you skill set and talent gaps to get the next high-profile project.

4)     Make yourself visible to high-profile clients to eventually become their pick as a liaison.

5)     Submit abstracts and papers to various conferences.    When you are a speaker at the conference, your admittance is paid for by the conference.  Your department budget isn’t affected.

6)     Offer to assist the marketing or sales departments to create additional opportunities for yourself.

7)     Publicize and clarify your goals to allow others to keep an eye and ear out for you.

 

The Personal Business Commitment plan, the Individual Development Plan and the Individual Network Strategy workbook (all found in the IT Development Toolkit), helps you outline the steps to accomplish the above.

 

Bottom line – There’s rarely only one way to succeed.  Get yourself out of the competition mode by realizing that you don’t only have 1 bite of the 1 apple.  Focus on your ultimate goal.

 

For example – If your goal is to get to the conference, then the goal is to get to the conference.  It’s not to get your department to pay for your conference expenses.

Your goal is to be considered a valuable employee and eventually lead on a high-profile project.  It’s not to be the lead on this particular high-profile project.

 

Once you focus on your real goal, additional alternative routes appear. Others will continue to focus on the more obvious routes.  But if you focus on the path less traveled, you will eliminate much competition.

 

The IT Professional Development Toolkit, goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how to accomplish all of the above. The IT Professional Development Toolkit is covers a comprehensive set of development tools and techniques in less than 10 minutes per practice.  It contains audios, videos, articles, webinars, presentations and practice exercises designed to be less than 5-8 minutes in length.  It can be used as a reference platform or a 12 week course program.

The toolkit comes in two forms:  DVD and online eLearning program.

DVD version  elearning version

 

For more information about the toolkit, click on the above buttons or please go to my website at www.lauraleerose.com

 

Or sign up for my weekly Time and Career Management Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/