Golden Job

It's all about Job and Career!

Several years ago, while volunteering in my children’s school, I had one such people-watching occasion that continues to haunt me more than five years later. A class of grade 4 students was selecting purchases from the annual book fair. At the centre of one boisterous group, a good looking boy, who I will call Ian, was using verbal teasing that verged on bullying to exercise control and power over those under his thrall. Of course, I am probably reading more into the situation than was really there, but the thought that came into my mind as I watched him was “snake oil salesman.” Under Ian’s direction, the boys eschewed books of any kind, and invested their funds in novelty pens, fancy erasers and instantly forgettable knick knacks.

Over in the senior-level book section, a young girl, who I will call Laurie, carefully reviewed the jacket covers of  novels targeted to teens. After thoughtful consideration, she chose a book by one of my favourite authors. We spent a few minutes discussing other books the author had written, and I assured her she would find the latest novel a thoroughly enjoyable read. Laurie struck me as bright, articulate, and very insightful for a nine year old, and I was confident that this was a girl who would be going places in her life.

With the completion of her transaction, Laurie joined the line of students who were waiting to return to their classroom. But before she did so, she handed all of her change over to Ian, and I overheard her say, “here, I don’t need this.” She was blushing as she said it, and it was evident that Laurie was in the throes of a crush. Ian, on the other hand, behaved as if having money freely given was the natural order of things. He immediately bounded over to the novelty table, “some girl gave me money”, and bought another junk trinket.

I was sorely tempted to tell him that this “some girl” had a level of intelligence that he could only dream of. More to the point, I wanted to grab Laurie by the shoulders and give her a shake, warn her not to undersell herself like that, and tell her that the “Ian’s” of the world are a dime a dozen, but the “Laurie’s” are a rare and precious commodity. I didn’t of course. Some lessons can only be learned by living.

Why was this incident so memorable? Because it represents in microcosm what so many of my clients – particularly professional women – do to themselves during their careers. They undersell their strengths and abilities, and fail to recognize their personal worth.

All too often, clients – both women and men – come to me with original résumés that are merely a laundry list of job duties. They are reluctant to toot their own horn, and don’t have a measure of what they have accomplished. It is only after we start an intensive interview process, and I begin to dig beneath the surface, that these clients get a hint of their true value proposition.

The Office Administration case study (anonymized to protect client confidentiality)  in my web portfolio is an example of one such client. Hannah arrived in my office looking defeated. She had been laid off four months before, and was struggling to even get an interview. I looked over her original résumé and wasn’t surprised. While she had dutifully chronicled each position she held over the past ten years, there was no “meat” attached to any of them.

As we began the process of exploring her accomplishments, I was amazed at the wealth of untold story in her career path. There were administrative systems that were set up from scratch, complex client and supplier relationships skilfully managed, a backlog of accounts receivable issues resolved, and innumerable process improvements that greatly increased operational efficiency. With each new accomplishment uncovered, Hannah sat up a little straighter, and her eyes began to brighten. When she left my office, she had a renewed energy and confidence in her job search, and that was even before she had a copy of her new résumé.

I am pleased to say that, within two weeks of distributing her new value-focused résumé, Hannah was invited to three interviews, and has accepted a position as Office Manager with a mid-sized marketing company.

And Ian and Laurie? The last I heard, Laurie was an honours-level student who, thankfully, had outgrown her earlier self-consciousness and was an active leader in her high school. Ian, on the other hand, had a difficult transition from his small-pond big-fish grade school environment, and was struggling to find a place for himself in the “new normal” of high school life. Restorative justice? Not really. Ian just needs to re-invent his own value proposition.

Coaching is no longer reserved to sports teams. It is now one of the key concepts in leadership and career management. Why is coaching popular?

Coaching is a solution-focused approach and recognized discipline used in people development to help clients articulate their dreams, desires and aspirations, clarify their mission, purpose and goals. It is a unique form of helping people to build self confidence realise your true potential through a process of uncovering and eliminating limiting thinking patterns and behaviours in your life. This is achieved by empowering individuals with specific tools and scientifically tested techniques that work.

Coaching is one of the six emotional leadership styles proposed by Daniel Goleman. Moreover, it is a behaviour or role that leaders enforce in the context of situational leadership.

Coaching builds up confidence and competence.

Individual career coaching is an example of situational leadership. It aims to mentor one-on-one building up the your confidence by affirming good performance and increase competence by helping the individual assess his/her strengths and weaknesses towards career planning and professional development.

Coaching promotes individual and team excellence.

Excellence is a product of habitual good practice. The regularity of meetings and constructive feedback is important in establishing habits. Coaching sessions constantly highlight and expose individuals’ strengths and direct focus on actions linked directly with developing his/her excellence.

Coaching develops high commitment to goals.

Coaching helps you to balance the attainment of immediate targets with long-term goals towards the vision of an organization you work for or you own. As mentioned earlier, with the alignment of personal goals with organizational or team goals, personal interests are kept in check. By constantly communicating the vision through formal and informal conversations, the individual is inspired and motivated. Setting short-term team career goals aligned and making an action plan to attain these goals helps sustain the increased motivation and commitment to the long-term broad goal.

Coaching produces valuable leaders.

Leadership by example is important in coaching. A coaching leader loses credibility when he/she cannot practice what he/she preaches. This means that a coaching leader should be well organized, highly competent is his/her field, communicates openly and encourages feedback.  By vicarious and purposive learning, coached individuals catch the same good practices and attitudes from the coaching leader, turning them into coaching leaders themselves. If the individual experiences good coaching, he/she is most likely to do the same things when entrusted with formal leadership roles.

Firstly, remain calm in the morning. Nervousness is natural but don’t let it overtake you and affect your behavior. If nervousness leads to anxiety and shows on your behavior with others, it will lead to a negative impression of you. So, keep anxiety at bay and go with a confident and positive outlook. In fresher jobs, other colleagues and your boss would know that you come with no prior experience but that does not mean that you allow yourself to be taken for granted.

Dress up appropriately for the job. Irrespective of whether you know the dress code or not, dress up in formal attire. This projects a professional image of you. Being a fresher, are not expected to wear a formal suit to work but a full-sleeved shirt with a tie and formal trousers would work for boys. Girls may want to opt either for a salwar-kameez or a formal trouser with a business shirt. Eventually, even if your job profile does not require you to dress up formally, you cannot take that liberty on the very first day. Once you find out what the dress code, you can adhere to it later on. Since your first impression counts a lot, you must make sure that you make the right first impression. It will also speak about your approach towards the job.

On the first day, when you reach the office premises, you will have to undergo an induction process. Generally, this is done for all levels- jobs for freshers, jobs for mid level or jobs for senior level. At office, an executive from the HR department would meet you and take you through all the formalities. Since you are a fresher and have no prior experience in these things, you would get all the required guidance and assistance required to go through this process. Also, you must not hesitate in asking and seeking help if you are stuck anywhere. Once the induction formalities are over, there might be an orientation programme on the same day. It might be conducted a few days later too. The purpose of the induction programme is to familiarize you with the goals, objectives, values and the ways of working of the organization.

After this, when you are seated at your desk, and are being introduced to the rest of the members of your team, make a little extra effort to get to know people in the same department. Try and be friendly with everybody. Also, make an extra effort in finding out what your job profile entails. Be inquisitive and open-minded. Read up about the company and its history. It is good to be inquisitive but make sure you ask intelligent questions. You would not look like a fool by asking questions but they must express your desire to learn and not as stupidity. In fresher jobs, your seniors would know and expect this from you.

From the first day itself, create a professional image of yours. That does not mean that you do not make friends at work but remain focused and professional in your approach towards things. Don’t compromise work to make friends and don’t act and sound casual with things and the responsibilities given to you. Since your first job is like your launch pad, it is for you to decide how you want to utilize this window of opportunity to give you a successful career ahead.

Apart from these small tips, there are other general things that can help you establish a positive picture f yourself in your first job. For instance, being polite to everyone, willingness to work extra, keenness to learn new things and pushing yourself extra to achieve perfection in whatever you do are things that will ensure that you make a good start to your career.

It is quite rare, however for one to start as manager immediately. This job entails the worker to start below and move up the ladder after several months and years, depending on your work environment. An excellent way to start is by starting out in a job you like. Inform and show signs to your employer that you are also interested in a managing position, and spend the next months proving to them that you can be a good manager. Chances are you’ll get promoted to a managerial position after a certain amount of time. Then try holding the career and earn a few awards here and there for a few years to prove to the company that you have staying power. This can be your jump-off point to applying for management positions in other corporations without starting from the ground up, and the best method there is to starting a career in management.

However, if early on you realize that the field of management really is for you then get a degree in one. Many colleges and universities offer a degree related to the kind of skills you will use as a manager. A degree in Business Administration, for example, equips you with useful skills in your management career. From there, they should be able to point you to a major that will best suit your career goals and get the entire essential skills in managing groups.