The Career Encouragement Blog

Interesting Info for Working Moms

I recently stumbled across the blog of The Brazen Careerist.  Her site is definitely worth roaming around for those of you working to design an interesting and full career, and also have a life.  In particular, she has some witty and thought-provoking things to say about working moms:

A recent article in Forbes magazine urged men to marry women who do not have careers and noted that families fare far better when a wife is at home taking care of the family.   BC responds:

"The point is that marriage and family work best when one person is taking care of them full time. Duh. Everything in the world is best off when it is cared for very carefully. I wish everyone would stop trying to deny this. It’s barking up the wrong tree."  (Emphasis mine - couldn't resist - SO true!  Check out the full posting here.)

She responds to a recent Catalyst study noting that women are still making scant progress towards the top positions with:

"But really, why fight to get more women up a ladder that is basically dysfunctional? We should, instead, focus on helping men to get off the ladder. And then helping both men and women to get meaningful and rewarding work both outside and inside the home." (Full posting here)

And finally, she refuses to be threatened by a "glass ceiling" noting that:

"People used to think that the revolution would happen above the glass ceiling, as more women pushed their way to the top. In fact, though, the revolution is happening below the glass ceiling, where people are reestablishing their priorities. Kids and ambition can co-exist beneath the glass ceiling. Plenty of ambitious people have grand, remarkable achievements without giving up a vibrant personal life. Why would anyone aim for anything else?" (Full posting here).

It Pays to be a Top Performer

It's no secret that the days of "across the board" salary increases are long gone, and pay for performance is here to stay.  According to a recent posting on the Compforce Blog, if you are near the top 10% of employees in your company, your annual increase will be nearly twice as much in 2007.  The trend is definitely pay for performance!

So what does that mean for you?  We all know that working just for the money is a recipe for a long and discouraging career.  So why bother trying to be a top performer?  Because:

1. Top performers also get more interesting and challenging assignments;
2. They usually get more attention from the most competent leaders at the company who can become mentors; and most importantly
3. Top performers have the greatest opportunity to impact the mission and goals of their company.

If you are working for an organization whose mission you believe in, #3 should be a big motivator for you to put effort into growing in your career.  Then the extra salary rewards are just icing on the cake!

What do you think?  Why should people work hard to grow in their careers?  Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts!

Who do you sit by at work?

Slate has an interesting report on what happens when a co-worker works harder than you? Apparently researchers have discovered that if you are in a position where you can be seen by a co-worker who is routinely 10% more productive than you are, you will become approximately 1.7% more productive yourself. 

The moral of the story?  If you want to be more productive, make sure you are in the vicinity of productive people!

Have a back-up plan!!

Hi Folks -

You may haven noticed that I haven't posted for some time now. That's because a few days ago, just as I was logging in to the Internet to put up a posting, my computer screen suddenly went black and a gray box appeared with the words:

Beginning physical memory dump.

You cannot imagine the horror I felt!  I tried in vain to turn off the computer and stop whatever devastation was occurring.   No such luck.  It would not turn off manually, it would not respond to control-alt-delete, and even when I unplugged it the machine continued to run on battery power. 

Long story short - the hard drive blew.   And although I have saved various critical projects on a jump drive, I didn't have a comprehensive data back-up plan in place so I lost essentially everything.

I have a 2-year old Dell Latitude with a 4-year warranty, so they sent a techie to my house to give me a new hard drive.  Then he casually boxed up my old hard drive and slipped it in his bag.  WHOA!  What about my data?  Apparently Dell does not do data recovery AND they have a "part for a part" replacement policy whereby if they give me a new part, I have to give them the old part.  NO WAY, I said.  If your product failed (they think the hard drive blew because of some sort of mechanical problem) you don't get to abscond with my data.  So they gave me 7 days to get my data and return the old hard drive to them.  7 Days.  Right at Christmas time.  When my whole household was down with the flu (did I forget to mention that part?).  Well not the whole household.  In accordance with the irrevocable rules of all things Mommy, I did not get sick while the rest of them lay in the throes of agony calling for liquids, pain meds, the remote control, another pillow, etc. etc.

So in a rare lull in the action, I dashed over to the most famous tech repair shop in town.  They checked my disk, told me it was torched, and they could send it out to a clean room facility in Kentucky for a "third level data recovery attempt" which would cost me between $1,500 and $2,000.  Hmmmmm...how badly did I want my old life back?

I mentioned my struggles to a colleague who thought their number was high and told me about a little shop he used a couple of years ago to fix his wife's computer.   He said they recovered data others said was irrecoverable, and they were CHEAP!  But he couldn't remember their name - just that they were "a few blocks south of 62."  I immediately kicked into gear with my well-honed PhD-level research skills and pulled out the yellow pages.  I looked under "Computers" and there was a small, unassuming ad:

Chip Heads.  Data Recovery.  On Penn Avenue a few blocks south of 62 in lovely Richfield.  http://www.chipheads.com/

Their shop was neat, clean, welcoming, and most of all - encouraging!  In less than 24 hours they cheerfully recovered all of my data for about $250.  Awesome!!  These guys are running a great business - I cannot say enough positive things about the great experience I had with them. 

So the moral of the story is this:  1) regularly back-up your data.  I now have a remote hard drive I save everything to (the guys at Chip Heads will give you good advice on this.  Since they don't sell computer gear, they will recommend what is most cost-effective for you).  2)  If you have a problem with your computer and you live in the Twin Cities metro area, don't waste your time with the big name, glitzy shops.  Go see the guys at Chip Heads.  You'll save time and money, and you'll have a great customer service experience.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

There are lots and lots of articles out there about how to do well in an interview and mistakes to avoid.  I liked this one on 10 Ways to Blow the Interview because of interviewing mistake #4:

4. You don't ask questions.
What it means: "I'm not that interested in your company."

The interview should be a two-way conversation "to determine if you are the right fit for the company, and if the company is the right fit for you." Use the interview to gather as much information about your potential new position as possible.

I usually ask candidates twice if they have questions - at the beginning of the interview I ask if they have anything they want to ask before we get started, and at the end of the interview I thank them for answering my questions and ask if they have any of their own.

I don't mind if candidates don't have questions at the beginning of the interview.  Some folks will say "I have a few questions, but maybe we could save them til the end in case we answer some along the way."  That is a very savvy response. But I do find it concerning when they have no questions at the end of the interview.  My expectation is that any candidate who is interested in the job and the company will have some questions to ask.  Often, if more than one individual has interviewed the candidate, we compare notes on the questions the candidate asked to see if the person tailored their questions for each interviewer (easy to do if you've done your research in advance).

So the next time you have an interview, be sure to come prepared with your questions.  I'll write more in the future about how to prepare good questions to ask.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Pick-me-up!

I got this little "Friday Pick-me-up" from a good friend and just had to share!

ATTITUDE                                 
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.                              
                                                                           
"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she did and she had a wonderful day.                                                      
                                                                           
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only  two hairs on her head.                                                    
                                                                           
"H-M-M, " she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did and she had a grand day.                                          
                                                                           
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.                                                
                                                                           
"Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun, fun day.                                           
                                                                           
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.                                          
                                                                           
"YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"               
                                                                           
Attitude is everything.                        

Keeping Things in Perspective

I think and talk and write about careers a lot - I am interested in the topic from many different perspectives.  It's a subject I have been drawn to for as long as I can remember and I feel that it's an important part of my vocation to pursue the work of encouraging as many people as possible to have great careers during this lifetime. 

That said, I also think it's important that we don't overthink our own careers or put "too much" emphasis on them so that they take over our lives.  What "too much" is exactly, is up to you to decide.  It's different for everyone.  But if you are feeling stressed by your work, fearful that you'll never have the career you long for, or on the verge of burnout, then you're probably overthinking things.

There are times in our lives when we are supposed to be "running full out" in our careers - using our talents to the fullest, making significant contributions, and - yes - even moving up the ladder.  Other times, however, it's enough for us to have decent work that allows us to take care of our loved ones.  It may seem a bit off topic, but check out this great story about focusing on taking care of a loved one and see if you don't find yourself feeling a bit more encouraged about your place in the world of work.    

Job Search Rule #7 - Avoid Sweeping Gender Generalizations

I am reviewing cover letters and resumes from candidates this afternoon.  In the first paragraph, one of them informs me that he is "familiar with all phases of corporate management, and highly successful in negotiations with businessmen."  I put it in the "no-go" pile without reading further.

It reminds of the time a few years ago when I was interviewing candidates for a great entry-level sales opportunity.  One of the candidates - let's call him Jim - had been referred to me by the CEO.  Frankly, based on Jim's resume, I never would have interviewed him.  But of course I took the time since the CEO referred him.  During the interview our conversation went something like this:

Me:  Why are you interested in a career in sales?

Jim:  I would like to make a lot of money, and sales is the best opportunity to do that. 

(Note:  This is not necessarily a bad answer when you are applying for a sales job).

Me:  Why do you want to make a lot of money?

Jim:  Because I'm getting married in a few months and when we have children I want my wife to be able to stay home. 

(Note: This is not the worst answer he could have given me, but check out what happened when I paused and left a silent space in the conversation...)

Jim:  It's much better for children when their mom stays home with them.

(Hmmm.....I stared at the photo of my daughter on my desk, and looked down at my 8-months pregnant belly, then politely wrapped up the interview.)

Jim did not get the job.  Was it because I am a petty and vindictive person?  No, it's because if I send a sales person out to represent my company, I need to know that he or she is a respectful person who can build strong working relationships.  What if Jim one day showed up at a customer site and made a similar comment in front of a pregnant client?  We could lose the account over behavior like that.  The decision not to hire Jim was based on sound business principles.

Bottom line?  In the business world - and elsewhere - it's best not to make sweeping gender generalizations!

Great Resource For Career Development Info

Sherrie Gong Taguchi is an author, career coach, and consultant.  She helps corporations with their recruiting processes, so she is well qualified to teach you what it takes to secure a job and build a career.   Her website is called Career Inspirations and it has several helpful articles and useful resources.  Some of the links are outdated, but I think overall you'll find the site quite informative and encouraging for your career journey.

The Role of "Niceness" - Part 2

I am so leading edge!  A few days ago I wrote about The Role of "Niceness" in the Workplace and today I saw this great article from the jobdig.com site on the same topic.  Check out How nice are you? by Joan Lloyd.  She points out that bright, achieving individuals will usually prefer the truth over "niceness" and concludes by saying:

Being "too nice" doesn't help anyone. Do your part to build a responsible, respectful, and trusting environment. And usually the straight line to that is by speaking the truth—sometimes even if it hurts."

What do you think?