What’s the best way to get promoted?

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

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:

Marketing and Branding of the product YOU. Attack this as the CEO of your own career and the product you are promoting is YOU.
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.
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).
Understand the responsibilities of the pay grade or employee level that you have your eye on — and start accepting those roles.
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.

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

Pay Raise Up Ahead

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

There are some supplemental online courses available on this topic as well:

Get that Well-Deserved Raise at https://www.udemy.com/how-to-get-that-well-deserved-raise/
10 Career Boosting Resolutions at https://www.udemy.com/10-career-boosting-resolutions/
Professional Development Toolkit at https://www.udemy.com/how-to-get-that-well-deserved-raise/

Check them out to see if you are interested in more tips.

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

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

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

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

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

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

The 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.

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.
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.
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_-/

What can an unemployed job seeker do to keep their skills sharp?

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

What can an unemployed job seeker do to keep their skills sharp and relevant while they are searching for a new job?

There are several ways to keep your skills sharp:

1) Volunteer your services to non-profits and small businesses. You need to make sure you are offering your services in the area of your job skills/expertise. Example: You are a web-designer. Offer to redo a small business website with the understanding that you can place your logo and designed-by contact information on the pages.

2) Continue your education. Use those training and certification classes as networking opportunities as well as keeping your skills sharp. Most likely the people in that class are being sent there by their company to gain this new skill and may be looking for additional resources. Add these people to your LinkedIn.com network and ask them for their recommendations, endorsements and possibly add them to your reference lists.

3) Develop/create your own utility or product that uses the skill you want to advertise and promote. This could be a tool that you offer free on the internet – OR – a presentation video on YouTube – OR – a training video on YouTube, facebook, linkedIn, etc.

The goal is to come up with ideas that both keep your skills sharp and helps get you that job. Each of these solutions have an affect on your resume and cover letters. You gain additional work experience, recommendations, and references for your resume and cover letters. You can also refer potential employers to your internet product or YouTube training videos.

How to Repair a Damaged Relationship with Your Boss

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

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 Repair a Damaged Relationship with Your Boss

Everyone wants to work well with their co-workers and boss. But sometimes it’s difficult because of personalities or the way people like to work.

Here are some different strategies to consider:

1) How can you tell if the relationship with your boss is repairable? The best way to see if the relationship can be repaired is to better
understand how you work and how your boss works. Taking a personality test like Opposite Strengths System <http://www.oppositestrengths.com>,or * Myers Briggs* personality test. <http://similarminds.com/jung.html> provides an objective and 360 degree assessment.

By understanding the different way people work and how to better relate to those personalities – you are well on your way to repairing the relationship. Since you cannot change how other people react and respond to you – you will need to be willing to make the change. If you are not willing to put in the effort, then the relationship will not change.

2) What if the relationship cannot be repaired but you don’t want to quit?
The best way to change positions within the company is to start business networking with others in the department or area that you want to move into. Start marketing your expertise in their area by volunteering your services, sending helpful articles that point to solutions or new techniques, present Brown Bag Lunch talks on topics of interest, ask to be mentored/coach by others in the other departments, take others to lunch to find out about other opportunities in their area, and schedule an appointment with your HR representative for additional ideas.

Okay – after some soul-searching; you have decided to repair the relationship. What now?

Here are some quick steps:

1) Acknowledge your part in the broken relationship. Make improvements in your performance, stay positive; don’t place him/her in difficult situations; bring solutions to problems; be open to feedback; don’t take things personally, do what you say you would do and keep him/her in the loop when you can not accomplish it and always stay calm and professional (that means no drama)

2) Understand your boss’ point of view: Go the extra mile; anticipate his/her needs; protect his/her time; and understand his/her communication preferences,

3) Focus on your shared/common goals and interests. Includes some personal interchange. Get to know them a little and give your boss the benefit of the doubt. Another good reference book is Don Ruiz book “The Four Agreements.”. This is a great personal and professional relationship manual.

4) Tommy Thomas, PhD and leader in the Opposite Strength System suggests the following: To improve your relationship with your manager, the main point to remember is to have an attitude of equality. The mistake most people make in their relationships with people they report to is that they confuse the authoritative position that the manager has in the organization with the value the manager has as a person.

So be sure to blend respect for the manager’s position and authority with conveying an attitude of equality.

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.

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

For more information about Opposite Strengths System and relationships, check out Tommy’s Relationship Guide. This is a report that will give you detailed; specific coaching on how to approach your manager based on who you are and who your manager is and do so with an attitude of equality. Go to http://www.oppositestrengths.com to learn more.

Finding Time for Professional Growth

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

Everyone is busy. But if you don’t make the time to manage your career, your career will manage you. Today’s topic is how to find time for professional development.

Most people find comfort in the idea that they:

Don’t have time for professional or career development
Too busy with daily work to focus on future paths
Company doesn’t provide the time or funds for career development
Not interested in staying at this company
Company doesn’t have any growth opportunity for me

Whether these statements are true or not, they are irrelevant.

Your career and professional development is not your company or manager’s responsibility.
Your work ‘happiness’ is not your company or manager’s responsibility.
The company is not responsible for helping you keep your job.
You are in total control of your own career, your own time management strategies, your own personal and professional development.

Both personal and professional development can be accomplished with 10 minutes a day. Audio tapes, short articles, online programs, discussion groups, pod-casts, as well as various mobile devices make it possible for you to study:

On the way to work
At your desk during a 10 minute break
Over lunch either with friends or alone
During your workout
Through a walking meditation
A 15 minutes distraction from television or video games
Standing in any type of line

Everyone has 10 minutes a day for things that are important to themselves.

Also, identify things you can blend into what you are already doing. Some examples:

At meetings, search for possible mentors, learning and even promotion opportunities
Invite mentors, coaches and possible new employers to lunch or outside event
Take notes and gather data during your normal tasks with the goal of writing and submit a white paper to a conference. While at the conference, you can participate in an abundance of other learning sessions.
Take notes at conferences so that you can easily turn them into reference materials. Share them with your team and sibling departments through lunch-bag presentations or webinars.

If you incorporate these things as you go along (with the goal of continuous learning and developing), it doesn’t really add any time to your day.

Once you clarify your professional development goals, opportunities will automatically appear. This isn’t because they magically appear out of nowhere. It’s because your vision is now clear enough to see what was always there.

But – how is the best way to recognize opportunities

Quick Tips

Event that repeats …there an opportunity there.
- Boss asks the same questions over and over again
- Clients make the same mistakes or asks the same questions
- A mistake is made – there’s a problem to solve – which means an opportunity
- Whenever you are frustrated or overwhelmed – there’s an opportunity
- Whenever you are disappointed … there is an opportunity

When you know what to look for – there are opportunities everywhere. This may bring an immediate feeling of overwhelm-ment and stagnant of indecision. Jot your opportunities down as they occur (the IT Professional Development Toolkit calls this the Parking Lot Method). Jotting them down will avoid being overwhelmed. Realize that this is merely a smorgasbord; you simply have to pick and choose.

Conclusion: Use your scheduled 10 minutes a day to fill your pipeline of knowledge.

Use your scheduled 10 minutes a day to shift and sort the opportunities that start appearing. Think about how which event can help you the most; which event you are most ready for; which event you can implement right now.

But all these things start with the desire and commitment to start. Pause for 10 minutes a day and devote that to your professional, personal and career development.

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 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_-/

How to deal with competition in the workplace

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

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

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_-/

How to keep a new employee

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Laura Lee Rose

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

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

Laura Lee Rose

Transforming the way you run your business into the business you love to run

Category Archives: Reciprical Referrals

What’s the best way to get promoted?

Pay Raise Up Ahead

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