The Career Encouragement Blog

Are you enjoying the journey?

Hat tip to the Chief Happiness Officer for sharing Alan Watts' clever animated musings.  To paraphrase the point of The Big Hoax:

"Just as a concert orchestra isn't a race to the last note, [our careers] aren't a race to some exalted state called success."

Are you dancing?

Do you need to be right all the time?

Always needing to be right is a real career killer.  Along the way you'll probably damage some friendships and family relationships too.  I've posted before on the value of learning to ask rather than tell.  Anita Bruzzese of 45 Things has a nice post on this topic.  In Always Needing to be Right she warns against this behavior saying:

"By denying there is anything left to learn, we undermine ourselves and our companies. Failing to acknowledge that other people may have the right answer can really affect an individual’s and organization’s success. The most successful people, after all, often challenge others to come up with a better idea and then learn from that input."

Read her entire posting here.

Leadership

Thanks to Almost Got It for reminding me of this great quote about leadership:

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Deciding Between 2 Job Offers

Just found out I was quoted in this Star Tribune Article about juggling two job offers back in February.  I think I gave some pretty good advice... ;-)

How to Respond to a Racist Joke

Carmen at Race in the Workplace has a great post on How to Respond to a Racist Joke.  She says:

"The best response to a racist joke should accomplish 3 things:

1) Communicate that you find this behavior unacceptable.
2) Demonstrate that the joke is racist.
3) Inflict as little damage as possible to your working relationship with the joker."

I like Carmen's advice because she does not advocate walking away, or running to your supervisor.  Instead she suggests taking responsibility on the spot to address the situation.   Read on to learn how to accomplish these three objectives in a professional and kind way that still gets the point across.

Note - If you are an employee whose boss (or other individual in a position of power) is telling racist jokes that create a harassing, demeaning or otherwise unwelcome working environment for you and/or is damaging your professional reputation and opportunities, speak to your HR Rep about making a formal complaint.   However, if it is a peer or direct report that is making the offensive statements, it is important to speak up in the moment to address it - walking away is not enough.

The Carnival of HR is Back

The Carnival of HR is back and Wally Bock of Three Star Leadership has it posted here.  He's highlighted his favorite postings for you to peruse.  With all due respect to his selections, my pick from this crop is It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by the Evil HR Lady. She gives great advice on writing your self-appraisal during your annual performance review.

Enjoy!

Working Moms: Whose map are you reading?

I like Kathleen Deveny's pragmatic view on the media-created "mommy wars" that add peripheral stress to the already full lives of moms with careers.  In Yummy vs. Slummy (Newsweek, August 13, 2007), the single working mother writes:

"I am bored to death with talking, hearing and reading about motherhood. I know all about the war between working mothers and women who stay at home with their children (though I see little real evidence of it). I'm fed up with snotty message-board posts... We have become Narcissist Mommies, obsessed with defending our parenting choices. Yes, motherhood is exhausting. Sure, husbands could be more helpful and bosses are always demanding something on the day your kid comes home with lice. The challenge of finding good, affordable child care is no joke. But we didn't exactly invent kids. "No one can ever understand how difficult it is," ... "But once you are a mother, you need to get over it. There's no need to whine about it."" (emphasis added)

Well said.  Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves and everyone around us is to realize that our life is what it is and to set about making the best of it and enjoying it.  Many of the popular books on motherhood/working moms acknowledge that there is no universal best way to be a mother - but they also subtly imply that somehow we should be able to define and create a "right" situation for ourselves at the individual level. In reality, our needs, decisions, and daily actions are complex and intertwined.  There will never be one right thing to do - not even on the individual level. 

Instead of treating our lives as a battleground between good and evil, we need to see ourselves as explorers on a journey .  We can scan another mom's map to get an idea of the terrain we might encounter ahead, but ultimately - as explorers - we need to create our own path.  The inevitable twists, turns, and occasional backtracking are what makes the journey uniquely ours.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Job Search Rule #19 - If you apply for a job as a writer, be typo-free!

I am currently filling a PR job for a client.  The position description states that 70% of the accountabilities are writing related - writing press releases, web content, and speeches; as well as editing the written work of others.  Based on these requirements, I have no choice but to summarily dismiss any applicants whose cover letters contain typos and grammatical mistakes.  It's a shame because some of these applicants have neat backgrounds and would probably really enjoy this career opportunity. 

I hate to see smart, skilled people lose out on great opportunities because of a "technicality." However, they've compromised their own candidacy by not demonstrating that they have the discipline to take the time to proof their own work.  This sends a signal that they won't be a match for a position that requires them to write for the public, and to proofread the work of others.

Sometimes you can get away with errors in your writing when the job you are applying for doesn't emphasize writing skills, but that's simply not the case for most PR and Marketing jobs, and for many administrative and project management positions as well. 

So if you're in a rush, or it's late at night, set your application aside and look at it again later with fresh eyes.  You'll be surprised at some of the silly typos you catch in your own work.  And who knows?  You may just rise to the top as the candidate best suited for the next writing job that you apply for!

Career Resources for the Highly Gifted

When I was growing up I had a friend who wanted to be an electrician.  For as long as I could remember, Sam talked about this goal.  He wasn't particularly gifted and school, but he knew what he wanted to do with his life.  When he got out of school, he went to vo-tech, got his degree, got his license, got his union card, and 25 years later still works as an electrician.  He enjoys his work immensely!  So much so that he often takes on side jobs on the evenings and weekends.  He gets enthusiastic when he tells stories of his work-day events.  It's really a pleasure to be around someone who enjoys his work so much.

For a long time in my career I envied Sam his contentment.  We both knew I was way smarter than him when it came to school and even when it came to most skills needed to be successful in a career.  So why wasn't I happy with my work?  What I lacked was the direction and focus that Steve had - and I couldn't seem to find it.  I was years into my career wanderings before I came to understand that people who are highly gifted academically often have more challenges in sustaining career focus and momentum and may need to approach their career differently.

I am by no means an expert on this topic but I have found some folks who are.  Check out these articles on Career Development for Gifted Individuals (note - scroll about halfway down the page to find the links).  There are many different perspectives offered by this collection of career experts - you're bound to find an article that speaks to you and gives you the encouragement you need today!

Job Hunting with Heart

Lisa at HR Thoughts has a very encouraging post on Job Hunting with Heart.  She notes that the job search is all about fit and that:

"The employee-employer relationship is just that, a relationship, and each party brings something to the table. So, they have what you want, but do you have what they want? You do? Well, tell them! Tell them and show them why you are the very best fit for the job. Why you and not others?" (emphasis added)

Check out the entire posting here!