Thursday, June 4, 2020

Things Bosses Who Care About Easing the New-Mom Transition At Work Do

Things Bosses Who Care About Easing the New-Mom Transition At Work Do This pastMondayI got dressed for the first timein 12 weeks. I put on gems and cosmetics and I didnt smell like hurl and child crap. I left my sweet infant little girl, my third kid, and headed to work for the first timein 84 days. Im fortunate on the grounds that my significant other is home during the day, so I didnt need to confront the awful sentiment of leaving her with a caretaker or at childcare, however it was difficult to be isolated from this small being who has been basically living in or off me for 52 weeks. I have a 45-minute drive, so the principal thing I did when I got to the workplace was re-apply my cosmetics since I cried on my way in.A year prior I discovered that I was pregnant with my third child. The sentiments that come over you when you gain proficiency with this news are extremely difficult to portray and distinctive for each lady. For me, it was a mix of unadulterated joy, mindful good faith, and some measure of anxiety. At that point I started the way toward playing out the marvel of growing a human. I consider getting pregnant and having an infant a ways into my 40s to be perhaps the best achievement throughout everyday life. It is something that causes me to feel amazingly glad. While pregnant I was dealt with like a smidgen of eminence individuals offered me their seats, I could eat as much frozen yogurt as I needed without a sliver of judgment, and I even had a stopping chaperon pay out of his own pocket for my stopping one day. Regardless of whether you have had a horrendous pregnancy brimming with spewing and hip and back agony, or if your pregnancy was 40 weeks (plus or minus a couple) of shining ecstasy, you will in general become acclimated to those little perks.Then it occurs; the day comes when this human finds out of your body and into the world. As you may know, or have presumably heard, this is a serious deal. Regardless of whether the infant comes out through medical procedure or the other way, that infant comes out. This being my third infant, the conveyance was the quickest of each of the three and the least startling. Yet, even with that being the situation, I was abruptly changed into this gooey, spouting, sparkling chaos. Only hours back I was making a supernatural occurrence, yet now I am an unrecognizable void shell that can without much of a stretch be contrasted with the bloodiest of Greek tragedies.Once my child and I were discharged from the clinic, there were numerous days to long stretches of recuperation. Attempting to mend while getting practically no rest and feeling each feeling in the book can remove a ton from an individual. Regardless of whether you are as fortunate as I am to have a dedicated equivalent accomplice to do this with, the weeks in the wake of conceiving an offspring can appear the hardest piece of this entire epic adventure. As another mother, it was an enormous arrangement when I had the option to discover a second to shower and put on new garments, not to mention get the opportunity to go to the market. I passed without anyone else and abruptly I was smacked in the face with another reality. No one in that store realized that only days prior Ibroughta new life into this world! They didnt hold entryways open for me, they didnt realize how hard it was for me to try and get to the store, and they no longer offered to assist me with my packs. Out of nowhere, my regal status was renounced and overlooked. Its not just at the store; in any event, when individuals who realized I had been pregnant approached visit, they didnt even look at me! Not that I accuse them babies are much cuter!The first couple of months of my children lives are spent drenched in attempting to make sense of how to take care of them and how to get them to rest for over 20 minutes. All while making sense of how to deal with myself, my different children, my home, clothing, and the entirety of different bits of life. Around a month into everything, I had an update that the days are flying by, and after a short time, I will be returning to work. In this way, I needed to begin the feared errand of siphoning. Going from the sweet holding of nursing my infant to connecting myself to an engine that has the sole motivation behind extricating an organic liquid from a delicate piece of my body, changes the entire experience. Milk isextractedone little spurt at once and this gradually signifies a couple of ounces of fluid gold.Eventuallythe hours of my life spent connected to that siphon include, and I have a sound reserve of nutritious milk accumulated in my cooler for my infant to consume when I am work. Now and then, when Im feeling blue, I open the cooler entryway and simply gaze at what I have achieved andbeamwith pride. Out of nowhere, I understood I need to return to work in seven days! In my mind, I began to revive my memory about my drive, the format of the workplace, my work area, my PC even my review of the appearances and names of the entirety of my collaborators is foggy. I began to consider what I was going to wear and how Ill make sense of an approach to shower and get tidied up and get dressed and leave this small being has been appended to me for quite a long time. OfcourseI was considering what it resembles to leave my child and the entirety of the conceivable good and bad times of that experience. Everything brought so much anxiety that it appeared to be unthinkable that it would really happen.The morning showed up. I set an alert without precedent for months. I showered, took care of the child, siphoned some milk for the afternoon, had some morning meal, and kissed my little infant (and my significant other). While it wasonlygoodbye for a couple of hours, it felt like always becausefromthis day forward, I realized that I would not be with that youngster throughout the day, consistently. Another person will turn into an enormous piece of my childs life. Another person will impact and effect her development. While I realized that I would remain the most notable individual in her life (at this stage), it feels like my job has been very lessened by this demonstration of coming back to work.This pastMondaywhen I came back to work, I was 15 minute s late in light of the fact that I sat in the parking structure drying my tears and setting myself up for strolling once again into the workplace. I truly needed to invigorate the fantasy of and let everybody realize that I was glad to be back. I work at an extremely extraordinary organization loaded with bunches of well disposed individuals. I was welcomed with embraces and sincere welcome. Everything felt so decent, yet after I was there for an hour and had made sense of the intricate details of siphoning in the mothers room, I was depleted and all set back home. Rather, I plunked down and opened my PC and was welcomed with some pop-ups for security and programming refreshes. While I quickly disregarded every one of them (sorry IT), I at that point proceeded to start swimming through more than 1700 new messages. It took me throughout the day just to get made up for lost time with what I had missed during my leave and erase the superfluous messages in my inbox. Not a fabulous employment, yet one that expected to occur so I could get inclined up.It appeared as though everything was marginally unique; like I was coming back to my life, yet I was extraordinary, as were they. Who are the new workers? Who proceeded onward to their next activity while I was no more? Who was advanced or changed jobs? Where does everybody sit now? What is the principal thing I should take a shot at? Where is the restroom once more? Do I by any chance recollect how to make an arrangement in Google schedule? Where is the gathering space for this gathering on my schedule? What is this gathering about? Would i be able to return home yet? Is my child missing me? What amount would she s ay she is eating? Am I siphoning enough? Would i be able to escape to my vehicle to sleep? Such huge numbers of inquiries!!! I battled to think about the structure of our old and current databases (this is my activity) and whether we have marked a specific customer or established an association. Obviously, I will mind once more (Iknow,because Ive done this twice previously) yet to go from thinking about my new child to thinking about a little piece of a business is an intense progress. There are a few mothers who can't hold on to concentrate on some different option from their child for some time, however that is not me. I cannot get enough of my infants, and when I am away from them, I simply need to be with them.For me, every day, week, and month after maternity leave gets somewhat simpler; I realize that I will begin to get over into the swing of things, begin to think again about creation an effect at work and the sting of leaving my child consistently begins to smooth. Sick get into a siphoning routine and begin to feel like a superhuman for effectively shuffling everything (contingent upon the day, o bviously). In any case, this isn't generally the situation. Concurring tothis WebMD article,1 in 7 new mothers battle with an increasingly sensational post birth anxiety. For you businesses out there who have these astounding wonder laborers turned Greek disaster turned superhuman representatives coming back to work, here are 5 things I prescribe doing to make the change simpler for everybody involved:1.Treat her arrival to fill in as a re-onboarding. She may not require a visit, introductions to everybody, or a survey of the historical backdrop of the organization, yet she needs to get reacquainted with things. Welcome her at the entryway when she comes in. Take her by IT to drop off her PC so they can deal with the entirety of the updates. Walk her to her work area to promise her that she despite everything sits in a similar spot, or let her know whether her work area has moved. In the event that you need to go the additional mile, have a little jar of blossoms sitting tight for her. Walk her around to acquaint her with any key new representatives and catch her up on any individual who may have left. Walk her through the moms room and the breastfeeding approach. Set up gatherings with her director and partners immediately. On the off chance that her activity job has changed by any stretch of the imagination, be certain that it is recorded as a hard copy and audit it on her first day back. 2.Cut her a little leeway. On this first day back you ought to urge her not to push it. She should don't hesitate to end the day early and get back home to that infant when she is prepared. A few mothers will seize the opportunity to leave early and some will appreciate an entire day away. In any case, she should take it at her own pace. 3.Make sure she approaches the mothers room and realizes different mothers utilizing it. There can be a great deal to make sense of here. In the event that you have more than one siphoning mother sharing the utilization of one room you ought to have a route for them to plan the space. You ought to acquaint them with one another so

Monday, June 1, 2020

7 Memorable Out of the Box Ways To Stand Out

7 Memorable Out of the Box Ways To Stand Out 9 Personal branding inspiration you'll likely remember for quite some time. 1) Do something amazing with a basic, everyday object Most people's yoyo skills are limited to making one go up and down, if they can even do that, which makes Jensen Kimmitt all the more impressive. One of the things I love about this clip is that he's so good, you don't even notice how many mistakes he makes, which is a terrific message in itself: how well you recover from failure is often key to success. eval 2) Win, lose or just reach the final rounds in a famous contest Given the popularity of American Idol and similar contests around the world, just getting to the final rounds ensures that many, many people will know who you are.eval video unavailable 3) Publicly fulfill a common fantasy in spectacular fashion To quote Gawker, Steven Slater is “a folk hero for quitting his job in the most scorched-earth way possible, grabbing two beers and cursing on the airplane intercom before bouncing down the giant inflatable slide, and running home to make sweet love to his boyfriend. Sure, it wasn't the safest way to exit an airplane, nor was it the most mature way to quit a jobâ€"but it's the ultimate revenge fantasy for anyone who's toiled away at a thankless job, and we're glad somebody did it.” 4) Parody something everyone's heard of Remi Gaillard is a French comedian. One look at this popular clip (over 22 million views) and you'll never look at Rocky the same. The slogan that concludes each of Remi's clips is actually his personal brand statement, and roughly translates to: “It's by doing something ridiculous that you become someone.” 5) Commit a crime that shows incredible skill This is one idea that I can't recommend but it definitely works. There are many stories of hackers who were caught and then became successful computer security expert, the most famous of which is ‘Best Hacker in the World' Kevin Mitnick. Kevin spent a few years in jail for his crimes and is now a very sought-after consultant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVSzNlLfoe0 6) Be the very best at one aspect of your profession Ok, this isn't so out of the box, but it sure is memorable. Magician James Galea does the best card trick ever: 7) Make a serious attempt to solve an age-old mystery or problem In mathematics and computer science, the ‘P is not equal to NP' problem is one of the most widely-believed concepts that has yet to be proven. A good explanation of it is, “can a problem be as quickly solved as it can be checked?” Recently, researcher Vinay Deolalikar made a serious attempt at solving the problem. Although his proof was ultimately shown to be wrong, his serious attempt created an international buzz that won't be forgotten for years. Another example would be Andrew Wiles, who shot to fame by proving what's known as Fermat's Last Theorem, over 350 years after the theorem was written. Bonus 8) Be the first ever to do something difficult Midway through 2010, Jessica Watson become the youngest person to sail around the world alone and unassisted. If you like this article, you'll enjoy True Stories About What It Means To Be Outstanding. I originally published this article on the terrific Personal Branding Blog.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

From Law to Food

From Law to Food Success Story > From: Job To: Portfolio career From Law to Food “I don't miss anything... except perhaps the smart work wardrobe.” * From Law to Food Rukmini Iyer had felt unsure about her profession for years. Here's how she took what she was doing outside of work (and enjoying more than her job) and made it into her career. What work were you doing previously? I was working as a lawyer. What are you doing now? I'm a food stylist and food writer. How did you feel about your work before you decided to make a change? I didn't enjoy my job. I hadn't been entirely sure about the law for years, but had gone into it after receiving an offer of a training contract while at university on my English Literature degree. As I didn't know what I wanted to do as a career and with the two-year conversion course funded by a law firm with a job at the end, I went for it. Why did you change? I started writing recipes and taking photographs of food in my spare time, and realised that the process of cooking and writing and arranging food was something that I enjoyed far more than my day job. It made me wonder if there was a career where my love of food and cooking could take centre stage. When was the moment you decided to make the change? It was after reading about food styling online, and writing to a number of food stylists to ask what their jobs involved. I got a lot of really helpful replies, and an offer to go and do some work experience on a shoot the following week for BBC Good Food. I took a day of unpaid leave and went along to the studio. Watching the stylist and photographer work I just knew that this was what I wanted to do every day. Are you happy with the change? I couldn't be happier. I love the energy of working on photo shoots and on big commercials as well as writing recipes at home â€" it's such a varied job. I meet so many interesting people and get to use the full extent of my creativity â€" it's perfect for me. What do you miss and what don't you miss? I don't miss anything about working as a lawyer, except perhaps the smart work wardrobe. How did you go about making the shift? And how specifically did you choose your new career? I went about the career shift by doing careful research. I contacted people who already worked in the field and got their advice on what the job really entailed, what it was like to be a freelancer, how much work I could expect to get when established, what I should do in order to become a food stylist. Then I followed their advice, which was to go to cookery school, do a stint in a restaurant if possible, then learn on the job by assisting. Similarly for food writing, and writing cookbooks, I spoke to other stylists who did both styling and writing as well as cookbook editors, and got invaluable advice on how to approach publishers, which led to getting The Roasting Tin, my new cookbook, out with Penguin Random House. What didn't go well? What 'wrong turns' did you take? On my first paid assisting job, which was at the same studio that I did work experience, I had literally no idea what was expected of an assistant. I wandered around the studio asking questions about photography â€" if I had an assistant like that now I'd be severely unimpressed! It took another week of work experience before I realised what was expected of an assistant â€" to quietly anticipate what a stylist needs at any point, to get on with it, and not get in the way! How did you handle your finances to make your change possible? I was incredibly lucky to have family support for cookery school fees, and used savings to cover the first few months as an assistant before work started coming in regularly enough for a living wage. What was the most difficult thing about changing? I didn't know if it was going to work out or if anyone would ever employ me! What help did you get? Apart from the really significant help from my family, without whom I couldn't have possibly changed career, I would say that other people in the industry are often willing to help out if you ask politely and have a genuine interest in your field. I have been helped out so many times by word of mouth recommendations, where people I've met on a job recommend me for another job and so on. What resources would you recommend to others? I think the best resource for going into any profession is to talk to as many people as possible who do that job, and find out what it is they love about it. People who enjoy their jobs are often so happy to talk to you if you have a genuine interest in what they do â€" which is why I talk about food styling at every given opportunity. It's a dream career. What have you learnt in the process? That getting on with people is at least as important as being really good at your job. This is particularly true if you're freelance and your next job depends on whether people feel like employing you again. What do you wish you'd done differently? The first cookbook I was approached to write went out with my name on the cover. Publishers often like to get food stylists to write the recipes for generic cookbooks and then style the books as well as a sort of package deal. This was very exciting at the time because I was so keen to get into writing cookbooks, but as the book wasn't my idea, I wish that I'd asked to be credited on the inside with the recipes as with other generic cookbooks I subsequently worked on. Now that The Roasting Tin is out, which was entirely my idea and based on the sort of easy, flavoursome food that I really love to cook after a day on my feet at work, it would be nice for that to be the only book out there with my name on it. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? If you have a long-term goal, be brave enough to bank on it and negotiate things that you won't regret down the line. It's important to know what the value of your work is â€" people may offer lower fees than they expect to pay, and if you accept, you're doing yourself and other freelancers out of the full fee. To find out more about Rukmini's work and her recent cookbook, visit www.rukmini-iyer.com. What lessons could you take from Rukmini's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

How to Get a Job in Another State - 5 Tips From a Recruiter - Career Sidekick

How to Get a Job in Another State - 5 Tips From a Recruiter - Career Sidekick How to Get a Job in Another State 5 Tips From a Recruiter Applying for Jobs / https://www.edenscott.com/blog Im asked about this a lot: how to get a job in another state or another city.Its not easy- You  need to avoid discrimination based on your location, handle complicated interview and travel schedules, and more.  Theres a reason so many people become frustrated soon after they start applying for jobs out of state.Fortunately Ive helped a lot of people do this successfully as a recruiter so Im going to walk through five tips  that will  help you get out-of-state job offers much faster.5 Tips For  How to Get a Job Out of State:1. What to put in your cover letter (and why you need one)This is REALLY important when looking for an out of state job. Dont cut and paste generic info into every cover letter.You need to catch their attention and explain  why youre relocating to THEIR city.Lets talk about the first point first. You need to sound 100% sure youre moving.No company wants to hear that youre tentatively thinking of moving but only if you find the perfec t job.They probably wont interview you if you say that because youre a RISK! A risk that youll waste a companies time, money, and even accept a job and then bail at the last minute because youre anxious about moving.So to succeed in landing a job in a new state, you need to sound as low-risk as possible when you apply for the job, and your cover letter is the first place you can do that.You do that by showing them youve thought seriously about moving and are fully committed.This is rule #1. Be low risk!Now onto the resume2. What to put on your resume to avoid discrimination for being out-of-stateI wrote an in-depth article in this that became one of the most popular posts on the blog. Its about how to handle the address/contact info section of your resume when applying for jobs out of state.The issue is this:Should you put your current address and risk losing out on interviews from companies who want local candidates only?Or should you lie and put a local address?That can be risky t oo. If they think youre local, they arent going to offer to pay for ANY travel for the interviews (because they dont even know youre traveling). Also theyll usually mail your job offer to the address you gave them on your resume. So if its a fake address, youre in trouble. If its a family members address, youll be okay.But theres a third option for your resume  when you apply for out-of-state jobs, and I think its the best by far.Heres what to do: Where youd normally put your address, just put Relocating to ___ (city) in (month/year).Example: Relocating to Memphis in January  2018.This isnt a lie, and will help you seem low-risk like we talked about above (it shows that youre serious about moving, and implies that you are moving with or without a job).Just be prepared to back it up in the interview. Theyre going to ask why youre relocating and you need to sound convincing and have a great reason. Lets talk about what to say in that first phone interview now3. What to say in the firs t phone interviewWhen you get on the phone with an out-of-state company, you need to sound laser-focused. You need a great reason for wanting to move to their city, and ideally you want to be able to say its the only city youre looking at.Just like when you sent in the job application, your goal here is to put their mind at ease and show them youre 100%  serious about working for them.You also want to have a very specific idea of the type of job you want (and you need to show them that their job fits with what youre looking for).So make sure you research the job and company beforehand. You cant sound like youre applying to every job in their city or they will NOT hire you.And if you do this right, itll work in your favor. Its very powerful to be  able to tell a company Listen, Im only looking for jobs in Dallas and Im only looking at Senior Engineer positions. Thats the type of focus you need to show.That will help reduce the perceived risk and calm the interviewer, but not complete ly. After you do this, you still need to tell them why youre looking for jobs in their specific city.Whether youre able to tell them their city is the only one youre looking at, or whether youre looking at two or three cities, you need a great reason for why their city is a possibility!(If you are looking at more than two or three cities you should really stop and narrow it down more. You are hurting your chances at getting hired and making it much harder to explain yourself on the phone. Stop applying for out of state jobs until you figure this out.)4. How to explain wanting to move to their state/cityIf you followed the advice above you showed them their city is one of the few youre looking at, and their job fits with what you want to do next in your career.But now you need to tell them why youre looking at moving to their city.The best reasons are family and friends, or that youve visited the city multiple times and like it. If you have a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend and youve made the decision with them, mention it. It makes it sound more convincing and secure (ie- you arent doing it on a whim and you arent going to change your mind).The biggest red flags for me as a recruiter are when someone has never visited a city they plan on moving to before, or they dont know anyone in the city. If I hear you know people there or have been there before, Im instantly a lot less skeptical.So to recap, here are examples of great reasons you can give the interviewer for why you applied for a job in their state or city:Ive visited multiple times and decided its the best city to build my future inI want to move there to be closer to family (I love this line because you dont necessarily need family IN the city for it to be true. You just need some family members who  are closer than where you currently live).My wife/husband/partner took a job offer in the city and Im looking for a job since we are already sure we are moving.5. How to handle hectic interview schedules (an d the cost of travel)If youve followed the steps so far you have applied for some out of state jobs, landed some phone interviews, and hopefully got invited to the next round.There are a couple of things you can do to make this part easier on yourself.First, if they know youre out-of-state, ask how much of the process can be done via phone and video interview. The goal isnt to sound like youre trying to avoid ever going in face-to-face. Bad idea (the rare company will allow it, but dont ask).The goal is just to get as much of the process done BEFORE having to visit face-to-face. That way you and the company both have a good idea of whether its a good potential fit before any travel happens.When it does come time to visit an out-of-state company by driving or flying, ask if they cover travel expenses. Dont be shy, its a normal question to ask and it could save you hundreds of dollars.If this is a higher level position, theres a greater chance theyll pay. Dont expect to have your expe nses covered if you are looking for an entry-level job with no work experience.One more tip: Try to batch your interviews together if youre talking to multiple companiesIf you get one company willing to fly you in for an out-of-state job interview, contact the other companies youve been speaking with too and say, Just so you know, Ill be in town next Monday and Tuesday for a couple of interviews. If youd like to meet with me face to face this would be a great time to do it.That way you dont have to travel back and forth as many times to interview with multiple companies.Its always  worth following-up with the companies youve had phone interviews with if youre going to be in the city. Even if you havent heard feedback yet. Maybe they liked you, havent had a chance to send feedback, but would like to meet you face-to-face.Final Thoughts on Getting a Job in Another StateNow you know how to get a job in another state, but it still takes work and effort.If you follow these steps above yo u are going to have the greatest possible chance of finding an out-of-state position, but remember to be patient and persistent.Since you searched and found this article, Im guessing you have a big reason (or multiple reasons) for wanting to relocate. It might be money and opportunities, or a more personal reason like family.Whatever it is, remember why you started this out-of-state job search and dont give up if things get tough, or if it takes longer than expected to get interviews, or if you go interview with one or two employers but dont get a job offer.Keep going. Your next interview could be the one, and youll be glad you didnt doubt yourself or give up too early.As a final note, if you dont want to leave anything up to chance in your interviews, Ive created a new step-by-step interview answer guide to show you EXACTLY what to do and say in your next interview to get a job offer. You can learn more here.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Promotion Past, Present, or Future Tense

Promotion Past, Present, or Future Tense (This is one of many posts inspired by Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. I suggest you just give up and buy the book now.) In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg talks about some of the differences in the way men and women are considered for promotion.  â€œMen,” she writes, “are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.” Forget the gender differences for a moment. Being promoted on performance (past accomplishments) is the conventional way we assume everyone is considered for their next move. When people ask me how to get the attention of senior managers to be considered for promotion, I start with the advice to be excellent where you are.   You can’t be considered for another job if you’re not good at the one you have. Performance is the baseline for being considered a high potential candidate â€" the price of admission.   But what can you do to demonstrate potential â€" the future tense of being promotable? Here are some ideas. Be good at what you do, and understand what makes you more productive. If you understand the system that you’re using to perform well, you can explain it to others and replicate it throughout the organization. If your performance is just an advantage you have because of your personal gifts, it may not be something that can be repeated by others.   That’s actually counterproductive; if you are the wunderkind who just does this job better than your peers, you may be kept in place because of your prowess â€" people hate to lose their best worker.   Write down what you do and how you came to discover the best way to perform. (“We found that it took, on average, three calls to get an appointment with a prospect.”) Offer to share your system and knowledge with your team. That kind of systems development and training shows that you are thinking beyond your own job description. Don’t be afraid to make creative mistakes. High potential performers don’t get that label by always playing it safe. In fact, understanding how to assess and manage risk is one of the key qualities of executives. Look for opportunities to try new methods in situations where negative outcomes won’t be too harmful and the upside may be very beneficial. When you approach your manager about trying something new, lay out your thinking â€" let him know that there are potential risks and what they are.   Basically, ask permission to make a mistake. “If this method doesn’t work, I’ll be behind in my monthly goal, but I have a plan to get back up to speed by…” Showing that you are not afraid to make a mistake positions you as a confident leader who trusts her skills. Offer to solve problems. Leaders don’t just keep the status quo humming along; they look for ways to improve the system and get better results.   This sounds a bit like making creative mistakes, but it actually might impact more than your personal performance. Making the case for change sometimes involves playing in someone else’s sandbox.   Understanding the problem holistically (across departments or functions) shows that you’re thinking about more than just your team. Be prepared to talk about three things: the problem, the process, and the people.   How would your solution impact all three? What is the return on investment if we try this solution?   Do you have data to support your idea? How do you think the other teams will react to this idea? What’s the worst thing that can happen? There are three things you must have to be flagged as high potential: ability, agility and visibility. Prove you can do what you do well, prove that you can do new things well, and don’t be afraid of connecting with people inside and outside the organization. Your past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future. Marilyn Ferguson

Sunday, May 17, 2020

5 Best Executive Career Coaches in Washington, D.C.

5 Best Executive Career Coaches in Washington, D.C. Living in America’s capital can put you in contact with some of the biggest names in the world on a regular basis. Therefore, as an executive you need guidance as to whether you are navigating the rise of your career to the best of your ability â€"â€"or if you’re allowing yourself to fall flat. If you want to make a name for yourself in a competitive job market and saturated region, it’s crucial to take advantage of the wealth of resources around you.Our top 5 list of the best executive career coaches in Washington D.C. is here to help you find the best coach for your needs. Your executive career needs more attention than ever before; a career coach can give you just that, all the while preparing you to take the next steps in your career.If you want to be happy with your career at the end of the day, you should seek out a career coach to help you achieve the most out of your executive career. Check out our list of the best executive career coaches in Washington D.C., lace up yo ur shoes, and prepare to take the next steps in your career.Best Executive Washington, D.C. Career CoachesIf you are in a hurry and don't want to read our detailed reviews below, here is a list of the Best Executive Career Coaches in Washington, D.C.:Find My Profession (that's us!) Storm Breaking Coaching Consulting Inspire With You Excelleration Coaching Parachute CoachingAnd now for the detailed reviews...1. Find My ProfessionFind My Professiontops our list as the #1 executive career coaching service Washington, D.C. has to offer.While most career coaches will teach you how to job search, our career coaches job search for you.Think of it this way:when you need electrical work done, you don’t hire an electrician to teach you how to fix the problem. You hire an electrician todo the work.We feel the same logic should be applied to job searching.Find My Profession is the professional (electrician) who will actually do the work for you. We find you jobs, apply to those jobs with a t ailored ATS-compatible resume, network on your behalf to key decision-makers, and prep you for interviews.We will manage all of the time-consuming and challenging tasks associated with your job search.Pros:Find My Profession offers a unique approach to career coaching that goes above and beyond what most services offer. Your dedicated career coach can save you hundreds of hours of job searching, all while producing greater results.Cons:Find My Profession is a virtual/online company. While we provide services in your city, we don’t have a physical office to meet in personPhone:(831) 888-0967Don't take our word for it, check out some of our 5-star reviews.Trustpilot2. Storm Breaker Coaching ConsultingStorm Breaker Coaching Consulting has earned their spot on the list of the best DC executive career coaches. Saleheh Vahaji decided to first seek out coaching after she suffered a near-death experience. She was greatly helped by the coach that she worked with after her traumatic exper ience and wanted to assist others in the same way. Starting an executive career coaching service was a natural extension of her talents, and Saleheh has made quite a name for herself in the time since.Pros: Storm Breaker Coaching Consulting has several great online reviews praising their coaching services. Saleheh has more than 20 years of experience working in different industries in the DC area and is also an adjunct professor at George Mason University.Cons: Storm Breaker Coaching Consulting does not have any certified official career coach training. That is certainly something to consider when choosing someone to coach your career â€"â€" especially as an executive who needs the best of the best. Additionally, Saleheh is also the only coach that works at Storm Breaker Coaching Consulting.Phone: (202) 716-99803. Inspire With YouInspire With You works with executives that are restless to improve their performance within their careers. Denise Durgin is the executive job coach beh ind the service and has over 28 years of experience as an executive in the travel industry. Denise also has an Executive Master’s degree in Leadership from Georgetown University, so she not only has experience, but formal education as well.Pros: Denise had an executive career coach throughout the course of her executive career, so she created Inspire With You based on those experiences and seeing the importance of executive coaching. Denise actually coaches at Georgetown University as part of their Executive Education division. Denise has two different professional coaching certifications, so rest assured that your career is in capable hands.Cons: Inspire With You does not have many online reviews. As an executive you want an executive career coaching service that has an incredible reputation from plenty of happy customers, so you might second-guess working with a service that doesn’t have as many reviews as some of their competitors.Phone: (202) 507-30104. Excelleration Coachin gExcelleration Coaching was founded by a lawyer named Anna Rappaport with quite an interesting background. Anna has an incredible amount of experience working in different areas of the world such as Thailand, Japan, and Turkey. She has 19 years of experience coaching attorneys and 11 years of experience mentoring and training other coaches. This wealth of expertise is what has allowed her to create a top-notch executive career coaching service.Pros: Excelleration Coaching has an excellent plan of attack to improve your career. There are few professional career coaching services that have the experience Anna has. In addition to her work as Excelleration Coaching, Anna has developed multiple career programs and sits as a board member for multiple organizations.Cons: Excelleration Coaching is focused almost entirely on law professionals. You may want to find an executive career counseling service that focuses on executives from other industries if you aren’t in the field of law. Howe ver, if you are in fact a lawyer then this executive career coach may very well be a perfect match.Phone: (202) 900-91615. Parachute CoachingParachute Coaching is a two-woman professional career coaching service founded by Lauren Laitin. Lauren was inspired to become a coach after she attended a 10-minute presentation by a captivating career coach who enlightened her as to the importance of the industry. Adrienne Prentic joined the Parachute Coaching team after working with Hewlett Packard for a number of years. Your career will surely grow with these two fantastic women in your cornerPros: Parachute Coaching works with impressive corporate clients, such as Lyft and GE. Lauren has worked with hundreds of clients to help develop their careers. The first consultation is free, so you can see if Lauren is a good executive job coach for your needs.Cons: Lauren does not focus exclusively on executives, so you may want to seek out an executive career counseling service that specializes in coaching high earners like yourself. It’s also worth noting that Parachute Coaching has a couple of bad reviews online. However, we can’t make every client happy, right?Phone: Not stated.This List Serves The Following Areas Near Washington, D.C.:Shaw, Adams Morgan, Chevy Chase, Bloomingdale, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Arlington, Falls Church, McLean, Hyattsville, Rockville, Gaithersburg, College Park, New Carrollton, Bowie, FrederickIf you are looking for a career coaching service not specifically for executives, take a look at our article on the Top 5 Career Coaching Services.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

What It Is Really Like To Interview In The Most Competitive Job Market In the US Silicon Valley CareerMetis.com

What It Is Really Like To Interview In The Most Competitive Job Market In the US Silicon Valley Source â€" DepositPhotos.comFor most recent college graduates the technology sector is attractive. Silicon Valley seems like a really exciting place. Innovation is happening on a regular basis. Some of the companies those graduates might use every day came from there.The compensation seems really high. And the growth opportunities bountiful. And while all of these things are true, what no one informs you about is the hiring process in Silicon Valley. Because there is more competition entering the area, hiring becomes more strict. There are more “hoops” that you need to jump through in order to secure your role.In this guide I’m going to help you get a better idea of what you might experience when you go to an interview at a technology company in San Francisco and ensure that you are well prepared for what you’ll experience in the sessions themselves.High degrees of competition make the hiring process more importantevalThe San Francisco population grew to nearly 884,000 people in 2017, which is a massive sum for the city that is only ~45 square miles. That’s right, only 7 miles wide! The attractive nature of job opportunity has led many seasoned veterans and recent graduates here. And it’s the smartest and most talented people in the world, arguably. And while there are plenty of available jobs, there is steep competition for being able to secure those jobs. And Companies in San Francisco recognize this.So they’ve decided to spend more time ensuring they are hiring the correct candidates versus hiring any and all candidates.Because of this, Companies have built up a system for vetting their candidates from the phone interview stageto what they expect to hear from you after the interview, to the technical interview stage. For the average person, these interviews can be quite tiring. And what you should expect is a great deal of discussion and mental testing that you might not have had before.What the process is likeThe process of interviewing at a t echnology company in San Francisco is like going in a lightning round boxing match. Expect at the end of it, you will be extremely tired. Your eyes will feel as though they are weighing heavy, you will be questioning every piece of communication that you made, every answer that you said and hoping it all works out. You’ll feel as though you want to take a nap right after.While most job interviews have you interviewing with one, maybe two of your colleagues that you’ll work with, technology jobs often have you interview with 5-8 people. Each one of these discussions lasting about 30 minutes in length each.They’re back to back as well, and take up at least half of your day in total. That’s a lot of time spent having someone ask you questions regarding your experience, your process, the way you work, why you like the company and much more. It can be quite stressful.It’s imperative to know that each one of these interviews has a specific goal in mind from the employers standpo int, they are interested in learning about your communication skills, interested in learning how well you’ll work with your team members, and interested in learning if you are passionate about the company and the companies sector. All of which you need to be prepared for in advance of their questioning.Technical interviews are more intenseevalWhile the process above describes the general nature of what it’s like to interview with companies in Silicon Valley, if you are a programmer or software engineer or IT manager, the process is even worse for you. You may have to sit down with another engineer and whiteboard out equations or solutions to problems that the employed engineer is asking you about.This can feel quite stressful because you are being asked to perform in real-time and you are doing so against a whiteboard versus your computer.Paired-programming sessions is another way this technical aptitude test happens as part of the interview process. This is when an engineer sit s down with you and your screen is shared with them. And together you go through a technical problem that you are being asked to solve. The other engineer then gets to see how you work. Meaning they can understand what types of questions you ask to get a better sense of what you’re building. And they can see how you navigate application structures to get started or if you write tests against your code to confirm the functionality.These technical aptitude sessions are on top of the other sessions that you might have. And by the time that you sit down with another engineer to have these sessions, you’ll most likely be quite tired already. Ensure that you are applying to a technology company and position that fits within technical programming languages you are very familiar with. Because you’ll essentially want to be able to “code in your sleep”.Preparation truly is kingevalOK, so every article about preparing for a job interviewtells you that you should prepare. Yes, that is true. But what they don’t exactly tell you is how to prepare yourself for the types of qualities you are being tested against for technology companies in particular.In your interview sessions you will tested against these things:evalYour knowledge of the companyYour communication skillsYour experience in the role you are applying forYour experience working with agile technology companiesYour experience working with teams similar to theirsYour personal career goalsThat somewhat sums up the areas you are going to be asked about. The best thing you can do is to try and read through the lines when you are in an interview session and determine which one of the above questions your interviewer is trying to answer.Remember that they’ll have to go back to the other team members you spoke with and relay what they learned. The clearer you can make the statements, the better off you’ll be. But in order to be clear about your statements you have to know what the interviewer is looking to learn.And that they don’t tell you. You’ll need to do your best to figure out what they want to know and try and proactively provide that to them.Come to the interview prepared to speak about yourself in a clear, concise way. Be sure you have a “pitch” ready (a pitch is a short, powerful sentence) regarding your personal value and your background. The shorter and more impactful the statement is, the better you’ll be perceived. Ensure that you know the founders’ history.Often in technology companies, founders have a vision for the company that they are proactive in sharing. Be sure you are clear on what that vision is, you will be asked. Then be sure that you are prepared to speak about the companies sector, too. That means you’ll have to spend time learning about what category of business they operate in and what conditions their market is in.For example, if they are in the social media business, you’ll need to be able to speak about companies like Medium, Twitter, Facebook and more. Your own perspectives on those businesses will be a powerful statement piece in your desire to be part of the Company. But remember, every other potential candidate is also preparing in this way. So take the time to go above and beyond as it relates to your opinions and how well they align with the companies values.Expect a slightly confusing day but have confidence in your preparationThe reason I recommend being extremely prepared is so that you are confident in your performance at the end of the interview session. You may not hear back from your future employer right away, as they often are interviewing multiple candidates and reviewing those candidates as a group. That can take some time to wrap up.While you wait, you’ll be questioning your own performance. Remember that you came prepared and you did your best. Have confidence that the right opportunity will line up.