Category Archives: General

How to keep a new employee

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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 keep new employees at a company?

  • Why do new employees leave?
  • How can a company on-board them immediately?
  • How to create an environment that makes new employees want to invest in their future with the company?

Most new employees leave because of just a few reasons:

  • They are frustrated with the work that they are assigned;
  • They are offered a better job;
  • They are the wrong fit for this company/job.

To avoid some of these issues, do your homework:

1) Due-diligence in the interview process.  Understand their motives and career goals.  As best as you can, make sure their career goals, personalities and work ethic meets and matches your needs.

This reduces incidents of ”they are the wrong fit for the job”

2) Have copies of your company policies, orientation materials and task procedures (that they will be responsible for) for them.  Make sure your training and procedures are well documented with steps, the reason for doing it this way, and your success criteria (how they know it’s completed correctly).

This reduces the incidents of “they are frustrated with the tasks they are assigned”

Furthermore, give the new employee the responsibility of improving and maintaining the orientation and procedure materials that they are directly associated with.  This gives the new employee some additional creativity and leadership outlet.  Who better to improve your reference materials than the person it is supposed to be assisting.  It also keeps your documents accurate and relevant in your ever-changing environment.

3) Provide career support.  Partner the new employee with a buddy and a mentor.

The buddy is assigned to assist the employee with daily questions on procedures, introductions, and employee insights.  Having one person assigned as a buddy to the new employee avoids the new employee interrupting your entire department with mundane and tedious questions – while providing your new employee the support and information that they need to succeed.

The mentor (which is a different, higher-level person) helps them stay future career focused. The manager should assist the new employee in selecting a proper mentor for the new hire.  The mentor should be aligned with the new hires career goals.  This gives the new hire a window into the different promotional opportunities within the company.

Setup regular one-on-one meetings with the manager:  The meetings can be as frequent as once a week but no less than once every two weeks.  The meetings can be as short as 15 minutes but schedule at least 30 minutes in the calendar.  (Details on agenda topics and frequencies are outlined in the IT Professional Development Toolkit).  This gives them a known and regular time to meet with their manager.  This support encourages transparency and open communication.  The manager should encourage questions and status, because new employees are notorious for keeping problems and issues to themselves.  New employees have a need to ‘prove themselves’ in a new position.  Therefore, they often shy away from giving accurate status or progress information if they fear it will show them in a negative light.  They are under the false assumption that they were hired because of what they ‘know’ and not ‘how they perform’ (which are two different animals).

This reduces the incidents of “they are frustrated with the tasks they are assigned”.  Also – by building a good working relationship with their managers, mentors and co-workers, they will see this as “the better job” – reducing the “they are offered a better job” scenario.

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 versionelearning version

 

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

 

Jack of all trades or an Expert in a few – which is better.

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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’s question is : What’s more valuable to job force…..jack of all trade or expert in a few? Which is better to stay employed and get promoted.

Once again, it will greatly depend upon your career goals.  Let’s look at some career goals as an illustration.

  • Want to be valued and considered a MVP in my department at my next performance review
  • Want to be valued and considered a MVP in my division within 3 years
  • Want to eventually become a Director or VP in development and research within 8 years
  • Want to own my own consulting business within 10 years.

In all of the above, it’s beneficial to be an expert in your dominant field or role, and very good in adjacent areas and roles.  The degree in which you are proficient in each area depends on your current career path.

If your goal is to be considered a valuable contributor to your department, you need to be ready to step into other people’s positions on an as-needed basis.  The argument of “that’s not my job” is fine is but it also limits your value to your department.  You still want to be an expert in your assigned tasks, but being able to manage other adjacent tasks, functions and areas of your department increases your value.   You will not be able to be an expert in all areas, but if you can be an adequate temporary solution in some adjacent roles (jack of some skills AND an expert in one or two)  to help the team to conquer the current huddle, your value increases.

As you sale up the career mountain, business networking and collaboration becomes more important.

If you want to be the GoTo Person in your division, you need to be well-connected and knowledgeable across departments.  You don’t need to know everything about everything; merely seem that way.  This means you know how to gather the data or borrow the expertise from someone else.  By creating a entourage and support circle of co-workers, mentors, and other experts, you can provide the needed service to both sides of the equation.  You will have become an opportunity agent for both the requester and the supplier.

The higher the stakes, the wider the net of experience.

For instance, if you are interested in receiving an Average Performance Rating, then you only need to do excellent work in your assigned duties (expert in one or two areas).  But the higher the stakes and the higher you rise, the wider your experience net needs to be.  As you rise on your career ladder, you will be depending more on your business relationships, market trending and forecasting experience, business cycles and even human nature.  You will find that the higher the rung, the further away from the technical details you will be traveling.  You will be traveling more toward forecasting, predicting and designing long-term strategies.

 

You will still be knowledgeable in your primary technical skill, but that will no longer by your dominant attribute or value.

 

Conclusion:  If you have your Individual Development Plan (outlined in the IT Professional Development Toolkit program), it will be easy for you to determine which areas to focus on as an expert; which to gain secondary experience and knowledge; and which gaps to fill in with your network of experts, mentors and collaborators.

 

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 IT Professional Development Toolkit, goes into the who, what, where, when, why and how to accomplish all of the above.  The toolkit comes in two forms:  DVD and online eLearning program.  For more information, click on the below version.

 

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_-/

Six tips to breeze through a phone interview

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1) Smile and carry yourself as though you are having this interview in person

2) Dress professionally as though you are having this interview in person

3) Look at a picture of your best friend and act as though you are talking to them.  The ease and confidence will come through the phone.

4) Carry on a “give and take conversation” versus a Q&A interview.
For instance, if they ask you how you conduct XYZ – after you have briefly and concisely answered the questions, ask them “what type of tools or procedures do you follow?” or “What do you find to be a pain point in your procedures?” This allows you to learn just as much about them as they do about you.  It also gives you additional opportunities to show skills that directly aligns with their procedures.  For example: After you have bounced the question back to the, you find out that they use ProductX to keep track of their steps.  While you didn’t use ProductX in your last job, you used it in a previous job.  And now you have an opportunity to mention your experience with ProductX.  If you had not bounced back the question at that time – you would not have been able to supply that additional experience that adds value to your background.

5) Take notes.  When you are on the phone, your mind is tempted to wonder directly to an answer, before you even heard the entire question.  Quickly jot down a note if something is triggered while they are speaking.  Then return to listening to them.  You can return to that note afterwards.

6) Avoid the brain-dump.  Because you can not see the interviewer, it’s tempting to catch diarrhea of the mouth.  

It’s easy to assume that you understand the question and feel that you have to give a full biography of everything that you know about that subject. And as you are speaking, you think of more and more things to share.  This comes off more as rambling than informative.   Before you fly-off, pause and paraphrase what you think they are asking – to make sure you are answering the question (and in the level of detail) that they are interested.  If the question is vague, ask for clarification in stead of rambling off in several directions.

Example:  Interviewer: “How did you accomplish that?” – You could go into minute detail of how you coded something.  But if you answer: “That project had many different levels.  Would you like to know the high-level general process? the team, client and executive interactions? or more about the specific coding challenges?”  This shows the interviewer that you are aware of the different levels involved – and want to answer the question that they are interested in.

When you are interviewing in person, you can read body language to see if you are interested in your answer.  But when you are on the phone – you can’t tell if they are shifting in their seats, pacing or rolling their eyes.  So keep your answers concise and brief.  Pause and ask them if they need would like more detail.  Pause and ask them if this is what they were interested in.   Pause and ask them if you have fully answered their questions.arrow2

 

For a detail conversational-interview practice flowchart, please email me at LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

What should you say and not say during an exit interview?

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Although there are many reasons for leaving a job, it’s a good rule of thumb to leave it on good terms (even if the work environment was difficult).

Some things to consider:
1) When asked “Why are you leaving”, avoid saying anything negative about the position or people that you are leaving.  Focus on the fact that this current position has prepared you for this new opportunity.  Appreciate all the learning experiences and skill set that this current position afforded you.  Without this current position, you would not have been able to advance to the next level.

2) Leave with an attitude of service.  Offer 1 week of limited phone or email consult.  Even though your last two weeks at the current job should be training and handing-off to your replacement; many organizations don’t actually rehire until after you have gone and they may have some questions after you leave.  Offering some availability, illustrates your desire for the department to succeed after you leave.   It’s is not likely that they will call.  But it’s a nice offer to make.

3) When asked “Is there anything we should change, to better retain good employees like yourself?”  be prepared with procedural improvements that support the business mission and goals.  Avoid emotional and personal comments on managers and co-workers.  Focus on steps that will increase the company’s revenue, customer satisfaction, and efficiency.

4) Avoid losing contact.  Keep in touch with all your significant co-workers, managers, mentors and clients from this job.  Business network with these people after you leave.   Things change. Their positions will change; their needs will change; your position will change and your needs will change.  Opportunities will rise because of these business networks.

5) Leave with a strong handshake and smile.  Exit a job just as you would leave a job interview.  Promise to keep in touch and wish them well.

 

ITDevDVDThe Professional Development Toolkit DVD and e-course goes into the who, what, where, when and why of all of the above.

For a limited time only – the first 20 people to register for the course will get in free.   Just enter the coupon code “Open Enrollment” at

https://www.udemy.com/it-professional-development-toolkit/

 

How to handle difficult clients

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How best to manage relationships with clients who can be difficult or trying.

I am a business and professional development coach. My professional website is www.LauraLeeRose.com and my company is Rose Coaching.

Whether you work in the corporate staff environment or own you own business,  you will bump into a dissatisfied customer once and awhile.  Below are some quick tips to diffuse and handle the situation.

1) Understand what your client is trying to accomplish. Most focus on what the thing the client is reporting and not on what the client is trying to accomplish. If you achieve the essence of the client’s goal, he will be appeased – even if the thing he is reporting isn’t fixed.

2) Illustrate that you are on the client’s side. Paraphrase what the client is trying to accomplish and acknowledge that he is frustrated with the current situation. Most difficulties arise when you defend your position against a difficult client. It’s a tricky situation because you don’t want to ‘bad-mouth’ your company. But you do want to acknowledge that this is a frustrating situation.

3) Take responsibility for fixing the situation. Handing-off to a manager or someone else exudes a dismissive attitude. If you can not answer the question, include someone else but stay engaged in the solution. The client wants one point-person to see this crisis through with him. Handing-off to others shows that you don’t really care.

4) Ask the client how they would like it fixed. Since every client is a unique person, you may not be able to read his/her mind. Therefore, ask them how they want this situation to be fixed. If they are invited to be part of the solution, they will not be finding more problems. Some clients will get stuck with the “what is” problem. But guide them into “Although this is a regrettable situation, this is where we are now. What can I do from this point to help you get what you need.”

5) Go above and beyond to make amends. When you make a mistake, go above and beyond to make amends. This may include additional products, services or gifts.

An example that ties all this together. Client is there to purchase an advertized a 2-piece product. You have the first piece but ran out of the second piece (which isn’t supposed to happen). This was your store’s inventory mistake. You ask how the client wants you to fix this, and they state, “I want you to honor your advertizing.” You locate another sibling store that carries both pieces. That store is an hour travel time away. You want to keep the commission so you tell the client to pay for the product here, and pickup the 2nd piece at the other store. (Not taking responsibility for fixing the problem).

Understand what the client is trying to accomplish: Client wants the full product but doesn’t want to add the time and travel to receive it. If the client has to travel another hour to pick up the 2-piece product, they are more inclined to give the commission to the 2nd store. They don’t want to pay you for passing them off to someone else. Offer to ship the product to their home with no shipping charge. Put a rush (next day) delivery from the 2nd store directly to their home – with no charge to the client.  You should also include an additional gift for the inconvenience and shipping delay.

Beating the winter time office-blues.

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wintertimebluesWinter is coming, and it often brings about a negative mood swing.  Doctors have officially recognized the winter blues as a named, medical condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.  Couple that with the increasing number of disengaged employee base, and we have a SAD office place.

A recent Gallup Poll disclosed startling statistics about the state of disengaged employee base. The survey found 54.7 percent of workers are “not engaged” and another 17.5 percent are “actively disengaged” with their jobs. That means that less than 30% are considered to be engaged with their work. The majority of those less engaged tend to be baby boomers and Gen Xers and tend to be with employees who have been at their company between 3 and 10 years.
There may be several reasons for the disengagement.

1) Employees are not taking full responsibility for their own career and professional development

2) Their current position is not aligned with their professional passions and goals; but are afraid to leave the job.  They are convinced that they can not get the job of their dreams.  Therefore, they disengage.

3) They listen to the news about the job market and feel that they need to stay where they are and not rock the boat.

Disengagement is directly associated with the feeling (or lack of feeling) of autonomy and empowerment.    Most people have more power then they recognize.  Most people have more options than they realize.  But if you don’t believe that you have these choices available to you – then you feel trapped and then you disengage.
Partnering with a mentor(s) or success coach unlocks those limiting thinking.   Look around the office to witness who, in your organization, seem energized and excited.  Ask them “Why, What, Where, When and How”.  Find local heroes and those you admire.  Start up a mentor program of your own (both mentor someone and ask someone to mentor you).   Designing an accountability partner (someone in your corner) is a good defense against winter time blues.

Employers that interview but never hires.

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This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and efficiency coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my Professional Development Toolkit package , I go into professional development and real-world IT topics in detail. If you are interested in more training in these areas, get signed up

 I know the usual reasons for not hiring a particular individual, such as under-qualification or just-not-a-fit; but what are the reasons employers interview and then decide not to hire anyone?

There are often different reasons why employers interview and then don’t hire.  Because reasons are normally asynchronous to the hiring process, they are less evident.

Since the interview process takes time and money (from advertizing for the position, filtering and sorting incoming resumes, initial candidate screening and the interview meeting),no company goes into this process with the idea that “they do not intend to really hire anyone”.  They enter this process with the full intention of finding good candidates and eventually a good employee.

But because this process takes time, things can change during the interview process itself.  The longer it takes to find someone, the higher the risk of something changing.
Some things that they may realize during the interview process are:

1) The longer it takes to find the right person, the higher the risk that they realize that this position isn’t as critical as first thought.  They may feel that they are doing fine without the extra hand.  After viewing several candidates, they realize that they rather train and promote from within. Or they find that they have actually completed the project that they were trying to hire.
2) The position disappears because of an re-organization or business strategy change. It could be combined with some other role or eliminated altogether.
3) A new project management strategy is instituted such that either the schedule is extended to allow the current resources to handle the added tasks; or the project scope is diminished such that the current resources are satisfactory.
4) A hiring freeze was just initiated.
5) A different way of subsidizing the resources is implemented instead. This could be a short-term contractor, an affiliated partner is providing the service (outsourcing), the company decides to eliminate that service altogether (and refer clients to their referral partners)

It’s important for job seekers to not take it personally, and work hard to stay on these potential employer’s radar.  Things change – which means things will change again.  If you stay on their radar (through continued business networking techniques), when things change back again, you are on the top of their Rolodex.

In the Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations  contains 105 work-life scenarios like the above.  The scenarios show how to accomplish your goals in similar situation.

For more information on how to get this toolkit or the “Book of Answers” email LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

How to deal with difficult clients without losing business.

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How to deal with difficult clients without losing business.

For your business to thrive, you need the right client (not just any client). Often times the difficult clients means it’s a poor match. It could mean that you don’t have the right product; the right price; or the right service level for them. In these cases, they are not the right client for you. If you continue to try to provide for the wrong clients, you will loose business for a few reasons:
1) customerserviceThey will never be happy with your service.
2) You will loose money trying to make them happy (which you will never be
able to do).
3) They will tell everyone that they know – not to go to your place
(loosing you more clients).

So – sometimes, trying to keep a client actually loses you business.

Some ways to deal with difficult clients without losing business:

1) Understand the reason the client is asking for this particular item. Sometimes what the client really needs is different from what they are actually asking for. If you take the time to understand the client’s perspective, goal and reason for the purchase (of service or product), then even if you don’t have the exact product they are asking for, you may have a different solution for them. Sometimes people get fixated on one way to fix the problem, when there are multiple solutions. You may have a different product that solves their problem – just not the one they are fixated on right now.

2) Be prepared with a list of affiliated or referred partners. If you don’t have the right solution, be prepared to hand-off to someone in your referral or affiliated program. This way the client stays happy and you get the referral fee.

3) Apologize for the situation and ask the client how he/she would like this situation handled. Try to accommodate as best as you can within the goal of your company. If you are not able to accommodate the client and you have caused them some inconvenience, provide them an in-store coupon or gift certificate that requires them to come back to redeem.

Recognition programs on a budget

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This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and efficiency coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  The Professional Development Toolkit package covers professional development and real-world IT topics in detail. If you are interested in inexpensive training in these areas,get signed up

Depositphotos_10281388_xsMore and more small businesses are popping up.  Either you or your spouse is working at a small business or you know someone that is involved in a small business.  In a small company or business, discretionary funds are very restrained.  Even so, the need for employee recognition and appreciation is still important.  Your company’s success lay on your employees shoulders (especially when your resources are limited).   You and your employees are wearing multiple hats and are responsible for significant tasks that can make or break the company.

So — How can a small business reward and recognize outstanding performance without breaking the bank?

The best way to recognize employees on a budget is to create a 2-fer. By this I mean to think a little out of the box to discover and create rewards that also support your business success.

Some examples could include (but not limited to):

1) Use your client’s restaurants or facilities to hold recognition lunches.
2) Use your client’s print shop or merchandize to reward with plaques or gift certificates.
3) Make it an honor to be selected to escort clients to games, dinners theater, or other interesting entertainment etc (only select people that this is fun for — you want this to be a treat, not seen as a punishment).
4) Your company needs to be represented at certain luxury events, have your high-performing employees enjoy those evenings as your representative instead of you.
5) Work with a local Gym or Fitness Center to purchase group memberships in exchange for them placing your marketing/advertizing banner in their hall.
6) Sponsor a local technical conference in exchange for employee seats in certain certification, training or sessions.  Your marketing logo will be strategically displayed throughout the conference as well as getting your high-performers a lead into the next generation skill set.
7) Your company needs to periodically travel to high-profile client sites.  Prepare your high-performing employees to do these important client retention visits.  While they are during these travels, add an additional vacation day to their itinerary. Picking up the extra night hotel stay is a minimum expense, but it gives them a nice retreat.

So the idea is to make the effort to add value to what you are doing. Combine the recognition program with your client retention/referral/loyalty program or marketing/advertising dollars.  Since you need to spend money on your marketing and client retention programs (as well as your employee recognition program) – find a way to get more bang for your bucks.

In the Professional Toolkit, I provide worksheet, templates and guidance on how to accomplish these things.    In my Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations, I have 105 work-life scenarios like the above.  The scenarios show how to accomplish your goals in similar situation.
For more information on how to get this toolkit or the “Book of Answers“, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

Excelling in a group interview setting

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groupinterviewInterviews are nerve wracking enough when done one-on-one, but add in a group dynamic, and it can be enough to scare away candidates.
  • How can job seekers excel in a group setting, when their competition is interviewing alongside them?
  • How can job seekers remain calm, appear knowledgeable, and prove they are the best fit for the job?
Some recommendations:

1) Focus on the attributes that you want to illustrate:  Professionalism, Team Player, Work well with others, Adds Value to the conversation; and can understand and adapt to the changing dynamics of the workforce.  After all, this group interview is no different than a regular staff meeting.  This is a good way to see how you will conduct yourself in a meeting environment.

2) By keeping the things you want to illustrate in “real-time”, you will avoid interrupting, one-upping, and even competing.  Approach the group interview as regular staff meeting.  Find ways to differentiate yourself through active listening and even asking open-ended questions.

3) Pay attending and listen to everyone’s answers and incorporate what they are saying into your answers.  Acknowledge what both the interviewer and other interviewees are saying (instead of just tuning out to figure out what you are going to say when your turn does come).

4) When you are answering your question, make eye contact to everyone on the panel (and not just the person that asked the question).

5) Avoid elevating yourself by putting someone else down.  If you want to illustrate leadership, you want to go out of your way to uplift everyone in the room.