Professional Maturity vs. Social Sophistication

He said that he was impatient, hard driving, focused, bottom-line. That he had trouble with people who wanted to think aloud, taking everyone’s time, noodling about what ought to have been immediately clear to everyone present. That his idea was good, it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. So, he did what any clear thinking person would have done, he blew up. Well, not totally. But he did say in very emphatic terms that he wouldn’t sit through these interminable meetings and have his time wasted by individuals who didn’t know enough to speak intelligently about the subject at hand. With that, he left the room.

He thought the subject was closed. He made his point. What was left to say? Plenty, apparently. He was informed that he was to apologize, immediately, to the management team, or be denied the promotion and salary increase that he had so long worked to attain.

He was willing to meet, he said, to explain his position. “Not good enough,” he was told.

“Why should I apologize?” he screamed into the ear that I was holding at a respectful distance from the telephone receiver. “Why am I the bad guy and these idiots get away with making it so? Why should my career be threatened because they don’t know the truth when it smacks them in the head and kicks them in the behind?”

“Do you want me to respond or do you want to keep venting?” I asked.

“I want to know how to answer them without feeling like I’m giving in,” he said. “I want to explain myself. I realize I was too emotional. But I won’t apologize for anything else.”

“What’s your ‘end’ in mind,” I asked. “What do you want to have happen as a result of that conversation?”

Silence. I didn’t hear him breathe.

“Good question,” he said. “And I don’t have an answer.”

I knew then he was ready to listen.

“Being ‘right’ isn’t reason enough to demand that others agree with you. Being ‘right’ isn’t sufficient cause for others to abandon their perspective.”

“Okay. Maybe you’re right. What am I supposed to do? I’ve got integrity and I won’t compromise it to pander to people I don’t respect.”

“If you don’t respect the people on your team, why are you working for that company?”

“I misspoke. I do respect them. They’re smart, they’re smooth, and they’re sophisticated. To tell the truth, and I hadn’t thought about this until just now, I don’t think they respect me. That’s why I get angry.”

“Why wouldn’t they respect you?”

“Well, they went to ivy-league schools and have advanced degrees. They know how to dress, and what to say. They pick the right restaurants and choose the right wines. They’ve got class. I don’t. I didn’t get that in my house. Believe me, I wouldn’t trade my parents or my life, because that’s how I’ve gotten as far as I have, but I sure could use a little more polish.”

“What would polish do for you?”

“I’d be more patient, more understanding, I’d listen better because I wouldn’t feel like I always have to prove myself.”

“What do you have to prove?”

“That I have a right to be in the room. I have a right to a seat at the table. And I’ll fight for that right because I’ve earned it and I’m not going back to how I lived or where I lived, ever again.”

“It sounds like fighting for that right will guarantee you a ticket to where you don’t want to go.”

“Looks like it.”

“You’re smart, you’re quick, you connect the dots while others are still arranging them on the paper. You’re creative and passionate. You have everything that you need to succeed but…”

“But?”

“You have lessons to learn:  There are more ways than your way to solve problems, craft visions, and initiate processes. You can be intelligent and have viewpoints that add value and not be demeaning to others. It’s about professional maturity, not social sophistication.”

“It’s about winning as a team and beating the competition instead of beating up the team and losing my chance to play.”

“You’ve got it.”

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executiveand career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Stop Looking in the Rearview Mirror and Focus Ahead

If you only focus on where you’ve been and what you’ve left behind, you won’t see what lies ahead.

All she could talk about was how stuck she was; how she and her business, both successful, had slowed, then ground to a stop.

“My customers once had money to throw around and they loved to throw it my way,” she wailed. I had a high end business and my clients didn’t have to worry about where the next buck was coming from.  Now they’re either broke or think they are and want nothing to do with me. I’ve not only lost my clientele, I’ve lost my social network and my social standing. I call these people and no one answers. I leave messages and no one returns my calls. I don’t know if it’s me or it’s them but it’s all I can do to drag myself to work in the morning.”

She has every reason to be concerned; to vent about an economy that has drained the joy and the cash out of what she does and who she believes herself to be. That doesn’t mean she needs to sit atop that vent until it draws her into a place that’s hard to escape.

What can she and you do to shift focus from your rear view mirror and what’s quickly receding from sight, to what lies ahead?

“I can’t do anything. That’s it. End of story.”

That’s the end of that chapter. Your story is much bigger than one chapter. Tell me about you.

“What’s to tell? I’m fifty-one years old. I have three kids and four grandchildren and no husband. I travel, which I love, and I entertain, which I love even more. I have friends who love to be with me because I make them laugh.”

With that, she let out a hearty, delighted laugh, as though remembering something wonderful. I asked her to describe the occasion. Her eyes brightened and she smiled softly, reflectively as she told a story that was full of life and exuberance. The tension that had seemed to define her fell away, and she relaxed. She was back in balance.

“What do I need to do?” she asked. “I’m ready.”

 When stress overtakes you, emotions rule and emotions want you to survive. What you fear most (and can’t control) rises up to take you down. The feeling is so real, so frightening that your primal response to it is fight or flight. As a result, you think too little and behave too much. None of those dreadful things are going to happen to you but your emotions don’t know that. They want to save you.

When reason overrules emotion, you think before acting and move as though stuck in mud. The act of putting one foot before the other is exhausting as you inch forward, eyes down, taking care to not stumble and fall.

When you’re confronted by change you don’t expect, adapt by allowing your emotions to inform reason and reason to manage your emotions. Once you’re in balance you’ll begin to see the road forward and the possibilities that lie ahead.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Take Charge of Your Career

Hugh Dooit is a personable, intelligent fellow who by all conventional standards should be enjoying a reasonably successful career. He isn’t. He’s blocked by an outdated expectation that others will guide his career and provide the criterion and access he needs to reach his goals.

Hugh, there was a time that your boss, your human resources rep, and if you’re lucky, an internal mentor would work with you, charting your course as you worked your way up the corporate ladder. Today, you’re lucky if you can find a ladder to climb over the transom of your well defended boss’s office. No one has time to talk about career tracking; they’re all busy keeping their companies on track and their respective careers from derailing.

Hugh Dooit.

“If I knew how to do it, I’d have done it! I need help!”

Hugh, settle down. Let’s put together a do it yourself program.

For starters, what are you good at doing?

“I’m a trouble shooter. If you’ve got a problem, I’m the one who fixes it. Are your systems chaotic? Are your procedures a mess? Is your place so disorganized you could lose your car in it? I’m the one who streamlines, organizes, expedites, and gets you out of the mess you’re in.”

Any thing else?

“I’m the one that employees go to when they need something done quickly. I find the answers while they’re still defining the problem.”

Does any of that impact the bottom line?

“You bet it does. I save the company time and money and since time is money, I save them a heap of it.”

Hugh, you’re saying you’ve got the ability to cut to the chase and get the job done. What greater impact can you have on your company?

“I can do a heap more than I’m doing, that’s for sure. Right now I’m not much more than a glorified go-fer. I know I’m appreciated. But that doesn’t pay the bills and doesn’t make me feel like I’m living up to my capabilities. Supervisors are always telling me that they’re surprised I don’t have a more important job in the company yet it doesn’t occur to any of them to promote me.”

What job would you like to have?”

I’m a great #2 person. That’s right, the person who works for #1. I’m not a visionary, but I can take a vision and turn it into a reality. I’m not a theoretician, but I take theory and change it to practical application. I make things happen.

Where would you like to work?

“I want to work for a company that does what it takes to meet the needs of its customers. If that means reassessing direction, reformulating products, reevaluating after-market quality and internal customer service, they have the courage and capability to do it. I want to work for a company that’s tough when it’s called for and flexible when that’s what’s required. I want a company that listens to, and respects its internal customers like it does to its external clients.”

You sound like you’ve given this a great deal of thought.

“It’s all I think about. I’ve got so many ideas for this company it’d blow you away.”

Why don’t you tell anyone?

“No one asks. No one’s interested. Everyone seems to so focused on getting their jobs done they lose sight of what the company needs to improve.”

All the more reason for you to tell them what you can do for them and what you can do for the company. Hugh, get in front of decision-makers. Talk to them like you’ve talked to me. Tell them you want a chance to prove yourself by being assigned a project that you can take and make something worthwhile happen. Don’t give up on them unless you’ve given them a chance to see who you are and what you can do.

Take charge of your career. If you consistently make your case and no one listens; if what you value most in a company is valued least where you work, and you haven’t the flexibility to do what takes to be successful, what are you waiting for?

It’s up to you, Hugh, do it.

Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Are You a Greater Risk Than a Reward?

How’s this for a cautionary tale?

“He is so blatant in his demands it’s just breathtaking. That’s his style; impolite, self centered, arrogant, dismissive. I’m not alone in this opinion but I may be the only one willing to take what he dishes out. I’ve been working here ten years, the last five, for him. I’m one of the few still standing. He intimidates everyone, including our company’s President. We’ve had constant churn since he took over as VP. Many of our top producers have left or are leaving us to work for the competition.”

She’s describing what it’s like to work for a combination steamroller-wrecking-ball; someone whose behavior she has endured and has no intention of leaving. He’s the pain she knows, the cross she’ll bear, and the insult so familiar that to be without it leaves her feeling disoriented.

“I don’t want to work for someone else. This person needs me. He depends on me. Who else would take it?  Yes, he’s rude and insensitive but I don’t think that he’s a bad person; that’s just how he is. And I’m not perfect, none of us are. I make mistakes and so does he.”

After so many years of enduring the expected, tolerating it, sometimes welcoming it, she is still being surprised, offended, and hurt by it. She has no desire to find another job, and no intention of telling him what she thinks. She won’t or can’t entertain the thought.

“He’d never let me finish my sentence. He’d cut me off with a few choice expletives and tell me to get back to work.”

Her boss describes their relationship this way:

“She’s used to me and it doesn’t bother her. She’s tough; she can take it. If I really offended her she would have left, so I’m not concerned. Am I politically incorrect? Absolutely. I don’t have time to couch my words and make nice, I don’t have patience with people who need coddling and I’m not going to Charm School.  If employees want to sing Cumbaya, they need to work somewhere else. Turnover doesn’t bother me. People who quit bother me. I don’t have a problem finding talent to replace them.

I like to compete and win. That’s who I am and what I do. I want the life I want, and in my universe, that happens when you focus on the end game, work hard to make it happen, and if people get in the way, you get them out of the way. If they’re too soft to take it, they leave on their own or I tell them to go.  It’s business, it’s not personal.”

I wouldn’t bother telling you all this if it weren’t for the irony of the situation. Several weeks after this self proclaimed King of the Hill described his take on business and his role in it; he was terminated, effective immediately. Who did him in? His long-suffering secretary? The dozen or so employees who left because they couldn’t take him?  Those who remained and wanted him gone? No. The Board. They fired their “intimidated” President and hired a replacement who saw an accident waiting to happen and took action before the company was sued for supporting an environment of harassment or discrimination.

If you consider yourself untouchable, indispensable, and indestructible, because you drive decisions and people harder and faster than whoever is in second place, you may not be as safe as you think. At some point someone bigger than you can take you out for no reason greater than you’re a bigger risk than you are a reward. And they’ll tell you it’s business, not personal. 

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Presentation Counts; Count on It

When getting a job is job one, presentation counts. If you’d like an example of how important that is, read what Linda Stanton, President of Selective Staffing, Inc. writes on the subject:

“Ms. Richman, I am the owner of a local staffing service here in the city. I am amazed at the people who come to us seeking employment who do not see us as an employer. We are, in a lot of cases, the front line to some of the city’s largest employers. However, applicants who come to our location to apply for work do so dressing in shorts, tee shirts, jeans, flip-flops, bedroom shoes, etc. They bring their children, friends and friends’ children to apply. We have to constantly tell them to turn off their cell phones as to not disrupt our office.

I was hoping that in one of your articles or television appearances that you could address these issues. Please explain to job-seekers that Temporary Staffing Agencies are employers. We interview everyone who walks though our door and should be given the same respect as any employer they be applying with.

If applicants do not represent themselves in a professional manner to us then what makes us think they will do it to our clients. Any help you give would be greatly appreciated.”

Thanks, Linda. Your note reinforces what I continue to hear from many employers: that a surprising number of applicants are careless in their dress and conduct when interviewing for jobs. The message they send, and hopefully it is unintended, is that they lack self- respect and respect for others.

When it comes to employment, it’s a buyer’s market. Employers can afford to be selective. They want to make the right choice the first time and are looking at all the information they can gather to help them to succeed in that selection. Help them help you.

Know what you do best. Succinctly describe or bullet point and quantify your accomplishments. Take credit for the victories that are yours and share credit when it’s a team effort, which most successes are.  Own your mistakes. If you spread the blame, you look like you’re making excuses. Not a winning strategy.

Employers want to know how you can benefit them, either by protecting bottom line and saving them time and money, or by driving top line profits with your ability to market and sell their products, systems, and services.

Get to the point. Respond honestly and respectfully to questions you’re asked; keep your responses current, work related and professional in tone and content.  Ask open-ended questions to learn about the (unadvertised) challenges of the job; the (unadvertised) expectations the employer will have of a new hire and how quickly and to what degree of competency the new hire will be expected to perform.

Get into it. Enjoy the give and take of the discussion, and give yourself permission to come across as someone real instead of a cardboard cutout of someone you think you ought to be.

Most employers prefer to hire for the long term, not the short run. Turnover costs time and money and both are in short supply. Therefore, interviewers want to know that you’ve given serious thought to where you want to go in your career; the opportunities and experiences you believe to be important in getting you there; the ways that your strengths and abilities will benefit the company, at every level you serve.

Dress for the next job up the ladder; get comfortable in your skin and in your shoes. If you can lead; set strategy; manage process; organize; create; innovate; or execute, give evidence of when you have and when you will. Demonstrate integrity in all that you do and say. 

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Be A Team Player

Most people consider themselves team players. Many of their team-mates disagree.

Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, does a deep dive into what produces highly functional teams as well as what creates dysfunction.  He lists behaviors that derail the best of intentions as 1. Absence of trust. 2. Fear of conflict. 3. Lack of commitment 4. Avoidance of accountability and 5. Inattention to results.

In For Your Improvement, A Guide for Development and Coaching, Mike M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger describe common characteristics of high performance teams: A shared mindset and common vision; you trust each other, pitch in and help even though it may be difficult for you. You’re honest with each other and talk about problems directly without going behind each other’s back. You have the collective talent to do the job and know how to operate efficiently and effectively. You have good team skills, run effective meetings, have efficient ways to communicate and have ways to deal with internal conflict.

What does this have to do with your ability to get a job and keep it? Plenty. Interviewers look for team players who know when to stand up and lead, step back and follow, and step in when time is short and deadlines are pressing. They want independent self- starters who perform interdependently. They want employees who are emotionally aware, supportive, considerate, open to learning, willing to change, and ready to help when the need arises.

Interviewers are cognizant that their organization’s success requires employees with the willingness to collaborate and use their collective wisdom to be visionary and bottom line; their analytical abilities to evaluate risk and reward; their clarity, passion, and trustworthiness to lead others through change; and their operational skills to streamline function and simplify process that gets the team where it needs to go on time and under budget.

Just as there’s more to a job than an advertisement can explain, there’s more to you than your resume can describe. Because of that you’ll have to prove yourself in more ways than your resume can testify. You’ll need to make your case by providing the evidence that supports your statements. You’ll need to use the right words, tone and inflection to tell a story that’s as compelling as it is engaging.

Talking a good game won’t land the job unless you have the stats to prove your worth. Prepare for your networking meetings, phone screenings, and interviews by reconstructing examples of your most challenging experiences and highlighting the roles you’ve played as an individual contributor and a team player.

Keep in mind, the interviewer is looking for individuals who possess specific skills as well as characteristics that indicate their ability to lead self and others, manage tasks and processes, and to at all times, be a team player.

How can you incorporate all this in an interview? Let’s say that you’re asked to describe a situation in which you performed at your best. You’ll come across as a team player when you share credit with those who blocked, tackled, and provided support as well as encouragement.

If you’re asked to provide an example of a situation in which you didn’t succeed and describe the reasons why, you come across as a team player when you accept responsibility for the role you played instead of blaming your teammates.

Regardless of your age, gender, nationality, or experience, the company that hires you expects you to be as committed to your work as you are to the people with whom you work. They expect you to recognize that mutually supportive, goal focused teams that pull in the same direction consistently outperform any one of the individuals who play on them.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Do’s and Don’ts in Your Career

If you like self-help articles that give you five ways to do this and five ways to do that, today’s column doubles your pleasure or diminishes your fun: Ten ways to get derailed and ten ways to stay on track.

1. If you expect your workmates to understand your bad moods, tolerate foul language, and ignore big blunders, you’re in for a bumpy ride: they can’t, they don’t and they won’t. Instead, clean up your act, learn from your mistakes, improve your likeability and you’ll last longer and go farther.

2. If you hide in plain sight, letting your co-workers do all the talking, or you disappear, letting your co-workers make all the decisions, you’re AWOL and looking for trouble.

Appearances count. Prove that you make a difference. Do your homework. Work on what’s important to the people demonstrating a commitment to excellence. Talk with influencers about the key challenges facing the company. Be a resource, (“How can I help?” “How can I support you in your efforts?”) and show that you’re willing and able to step up and pitch in. Ask questions, offer perspective, and take action.

3. If you consistently ignore deadlines or create log- jams so others miss theirs, you’re more hindrance than help. When you meet deadlines and help others meet theirs, you create a perception of trustworthiness, credibility, responsibility and a reputation typically reserved for keepers.

4. If you isolate yourself and utter “not my job” sentiments you won’t have a job to be sentimental about. Team players are counted on to step up when it counts, not when it’s convenient. They work synergistically, not as loners. They’re flexible, responding to needs as they occur. They’re solution focused and action oriented, letting go of the past, living in the present and moving to the future.

5. If you advance your career at the expense of others you’re going to land someplace you don’t want to go. Instead, use your considerable talent to advance the company. Lead by example, involve others in strategic thinking; developing and implementing action plans designed to enhance opportunity for all those willing to dedicate themselves to the effort.

6. If you dress down for the part you used to play the introductions and opportunities you want will go to someone else. If you dress for the part you want to play, and introduce yourself to decision makers and influencers, you’ll tap into opportunities others didn’t know existed.

7. If you avoid risk, preferring to stay in your comfort zone, people will see you as stuck, unwilling to try new approaches and learn new ways of thinking or doing. Instead, take calculated risks. Learn to adjust to others needs and behaviors by engaging more, asking more, listening more and responding in ways that demonstrate your desire to communicate more openly and proactively.

8. If you stop learning you’ll stop growing. If you stop growing, you’re not worth the salary you’re getting. Instead, learn from strategic leaders and share perspectives with knowledge managers. Educate yourself and encourage others to do the same through cross- functional and international assignments, cross- cultural awareness, formal instruction and informal training. Consistently apply what you learn to what you do.

9. If you knee-jerk your responses or speak out of both sides of your mouth, you establish yourself as inappropriate, untrustworthy, or both. Instead, think before speaking or taking action, and demonstrate integrity through principled behavior.

10. If you open objectionable websites or send off-color, off-putting emails consider the consequences: everything you receive and transmit is on record and property of your employer. It’s not worth the risk. Conduct yourself professionally in person, in meetings, on the telephone, when using fax machines, copiers, scanners, and computers.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Get Out There With the Right Foot Forward

It’s competitive out there, the market is tight, and you want to be at your best when you interview. Attitude counts.  If you mentally argue with interviewers or imagine them as barriers to the job you want you’ll undermine whatever you say or do. Instead, think partnership. Think together you can make this happen, for the company and for your career.

Put your best foot forward: Lead with your strengths. Match your strengths to opportunities. If you’re not sure if a job taps into your best stuff ask questions. What does the employer need to get the job done? What has or hasn’t worked in the past? What needs to be done differently in the future? And are you the one who has what it takes to be successful? If so, say so emphatically, and have the evidence to back it up.

If you’ve been a loyal, hardworking, honest employee blindsided by an unanticipated layoff you probably need time to recalibrate before you start interviewing. If you require spiritual readjustment, talk to someone who resonates with your faith and beliefs. If you’re emotionally conflicted, talk to a therapist. If your health is compromised, talk with your doctor. If your doctor agrees, get some exercise. Talk, walk, journal, get the static out of your head and into a space with people you trust who can help you objectify subjective issues and change what you can’t control into a plan that you can.

You’ve interviewed for a job. The match is evident; the need is as obvious as it is immediate. The employer wants to hire you but doesn’t have the money for a long- term commitment. Should you walk or talk? Talk. Reframe the discussion. Convince her to hire you on a project basis with no overhead or commitment other than to pay you for work completed. It’s a win-win that provides relief for them and opens doors for you.

Network effectively and you’ll find jobs that aren’t advertised.  Succinctly describe what you do best and how you solve problems, increase revenues, protect bottom line. Then ask for ideas and directions to where the openings are and whom you need to talk to once you get there.

Cover letters are still relevant, to you and to prospective employers. Writing them enables you to state your interests and describe ways you add value. Formulating them gives you practice in answering the questions they’re likely to ask: Tell me about yourself; describe your strengths; your career goals; why we should hire you for this job.

I’m all for fragrances, garlic and anchovies, and if you’re a smoker, that’s

your business. Just be aware that what you spray on, chew, or inhale will be exhaled in the interview. Don’t let a habit, preference or indulgence turn a possibility into a non-starter. Delay your odorous gratifications for later.

Sometimes less is too little and more is too much. If you say too little about your abilities, experience and potential the interviewer’s going to think less of you. If you overwhelm the interview with too many stories or too much hype you’re more than likely to close the door on what you seek. Balance is key. If you don’t know how to find it, ask people who have and are willing to tell you.

Whether you’re looking for a job, wanting to advance, or just wanting to hang on, don’t isolate yourself. If you do, you can be working on the wrong things, out of the loop about the right things, and marginalizing yourself regarding the most important things. Get out there, find out what’s going on, apply what you do to what’s needed most to advance the company and you’ll advance yourself as well.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Sharpen Your Writing and Speaking Skills

Sharpen your writing and speaking skills folks, because the lights are on and they’re shining on you. With every resume, cover letter, telephone call, networking meeting and interview, you’re presenting your skills and abilities in the two ways most of us have learned to communicate; you’re either writing or talking. You better be good at both.

A worried reader comments that, “introverts like me don’t have a chance against extraverted competition.”

Instead of focusing on your fear, level the playing field by focusing on your performance. Your performance will improve when you practice speaking clearly, succinctly, and energetically about what you want, why you want it, and how you can make a difference to the company that hires you.

A female caller whispers, “I’ve been told that I speak with a little girl voice. I need to be taken seriously, particularly when I’m at work and speaking to people I don’t know or don’t know well. What can I do?”

If you’ve received feedback that your pitch, tone or voice quality has gotten in the way of your success get the help you need from a voice coach. If performance anxiety is your problem get additional help from a career coach or psychologist. If it’s a distraction that you want to manage yourself then name it and get it out of the way. For example, if you have a telephone interview, acknowledge early in the conversation that your voice may not be strong but your track record is and you want to describe it. Then do it. Put your energy into the content of what you say and how you respond. The listener will quickly adjust to your tone and hone in on your message.

Let’s move from the subject of pitch and tone to that of accent and pace and the difficulties that sounding “different” can present. If you’ve recently moved here and English is your second language you’ll benefit from learning how to sound as American as you are or soon will be. Get help from articulate native speakers who are willing to take their time to coach you. Ask for their assistance and feedback with your word choices, sentence structure, grammar, pace and tempo; role play networking and interviewing conversations. And in exchange for all these favors, ask how you can be of assistance to them.

Take advantage of the resources available to you in your local community. In Greensboro, the Glenwood Branch of the Public Library offers ESL classes and hosts a ‘conversation club’ that meets twice weekly, enabling you to practice your new English speaking skills with library volunteers. GTCC offers ESL classes through its continuing education program and UNCG offers classes and tutorials in accent reduction. In addition to public resources there are professional counselors, therapists, and voice coaches in private practice who provide these and related programs and offerings.

Now, let’s get real about writing a resume: It’s your work product and you’re accountable for its contents. Be sure that you tell the truth, that your spelling and grammar are correct, that it’s as well edited as it is well organized.  Writing a well- crafted resume takes time, care, and at minimum another set of eyes to check and double check that it’s error free.

Format: Write an objective that states the job you want and how you benefit the company that hires you.  Follow that with a reverse chronology of your experience. Write your accomplishments as bullet-points; make them fact based, specific and quantifiable. Lead with words that project energy and action. Get it all on one page, one and one half at most, and use wide margins, easy to read font, 12- point type, and no hype.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Never Drop the Ball in Your Job Search

This caller wanted to be sure that other job seekers didn’t make the same mistakes he did so he shared his story…

“I’d been looking for work for several months, first staying local, then extending my search well beyond the Triad, all in an effort to snag something, anything that would work. I had just about run out of hope when I got a call, then another, one interview, two interviews, two companies then three! They were coming out of the woodwork and they were all coming after me. Each one sounded more earnest and interested than the other, and all I had to do was sit back, get those offers, choose the one I liked most, and hello, Gravy Train. Three companies, all knocking on my door.

I can’t begin to describe my relief or the resurgence of my self-confidence. I hadn’t felt this good since getting three offer letters from college.

I needed a break, a well-deserved vacation. So I kicked back for several days and popped some beers, caught some rays, hung out at my favorite bars, shot pool, went to bed late and got up later. Ahhhh, such freedom..

Many, many beers, and a very long trip to the beach later and it dawned on me that I had never received any of those offer letters. How could I have spaced like that? I knew I needed to call the employers to find out what was going on but I couldn’t make myself do it. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more. By my bleary calculation, it had been six weeks since those interviews, those heady, euphoric interviews and I knew, just as I knew that day turned into night, I was never going to hear anything more from those companies.

Before you tell me I was robbed and poor me, I can tell you learned plenty from that experience: Lesson One: Be accountable. I dropped the ball, they didn’t. It was up to me to follow up with them and if didn’t hear anything in return it was up to me to keep looking. Lesson Two: Know who I am. I have talent, strengths, and transferable skills. I have values and beliefs. Lesson Three: Get real and get focused: if I job search everywhere for anything I’ll end up nowhere with nothing. Lesson Four: Stay centered. I allowed myself to panic, which was the biggest mistake I made. Instead, I need to hone in on what I want to do that combines what I do best and what I most enjoy doing. Lesson Five: Stay connected. I had lost touch with my friends and had stayed away from my family. I was ashamed to admit that my search was going so badly, embarrassed to admit that I was in a deep funk, and scared to admit that I had lost sight of the horizon. I realize now that I was depressed. I may have sought help earlier had I stayed in touch with people who knew me best and cared about me most.

My story has a positive ending. I’ve found a job that’s a good fit, where I’m feeling reasonably confident, and believe I’m making the kind of difference my boss expects from me and I expect from myself.

There’s a big difference between who I was and who I am now.  I’ve survived my greatest fear; losing my job. I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned from them. I have goals: I’m planning for the future and saving money for emergencies, two things I had never done in the past. I care about the people in my life and show it, and I always want them to care about me.

That’s my story. Thanks for listening.”

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started he own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

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