Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Why should you blog?

As an Executive Coach I like to remind my clients that their resume is their "career obituary", it represents the past. If I were recruiting today in addition to looking a persons past results, I would want to know what they are thinking about...what they are passionate about, what their opinions are on industry trends etc. Leverage your blog to demonstrate that you are a thought leader with SOLUTIONS for your industry.

Check out this article on the Personal Branding Network for more reasons to blog and how to build your personal brand using your blog

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/building-your-personal-brand-with-blogging

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Energize Your Career!

No more round holes…if you’re a square peg. Why “top performers” fail.

Have you ever been in the perfect job but the wrong corporate culture?

I am a change agent and I was in a company where all major decisions were made at a corporate level 3,000 miles away. I felt like a race horse at a starting gate that was stuck. I pushed and pushed and ended up hurting myself! The result was that I was in the top 15% of performers, but I was MISERABLE!

Have you ever loved your company and your co-workers but your job bored you, frustrated you or simply drained you?

I found myself in my dream company, but got transferred into the wrong job as part of downsizing. The result was that I failed for the first time in my life. I was devastated!

So many people are miserable in their job, or love their job but the company does not energize them.

Twice in my career I have been a top performer who failed. After working with over 450 executives and analyzing their experiences and my own, I have developed a tool called a Success/Stress Factor Analysis.

If you are feeling drained….lets work together to ENERGIZE your career!

Friday, March 5, 2010

What is "job security"?

I delivered a seminar at Lee Hecht Harrison this week to a group of highly talented laid off Sales and Marketing professionals. We went around the room and discussed what the word "job security" meant. Each person in the room had a slightly different definition of "job security". For most, their security would come from factors outside of themselves. Topics that came up were issues in their company, trends in their industry, the national economy, the global economy.

Here is the "new" definition of job security: JOB SECURITY IS YOUR ABILITY TO SECURE A JOB! Do you know how to do that in this economy?

There is no more job security. Your security comes from creating a brand and promoting it.

You can not be a "job seeker" any more. You MUST become a highly sought after SOLUTIONS provider. Do you know how to do that?

Tell me how you are ensuring YOUR job security so I can help others!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Get in the "Success Zone"

Time for you to get “in the zone”…the SUCCESS ZONE!

Personality, Strengths and Motivation….OH MY!

There is much buzz in the Human Resources community around assessments and their use in hiring and succession planning. As a recruiter and trainer for the past 20 years I have spent countless hours studying personality theory, assessments, and employee motivation. For many years I focused strictly on Personality Type in my coaching practice. I have come to the conclusion recently that while two people can have identical personality types their strengths and motivation drivers can make them thrive in very different roles and corporate cultures.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI is built on the foundation of Jungian archetypes that is based on four trait pairs: Introversion-Extroversion, iNtuitive-Sensory, Thinking-Feeling, Judging-Perceiving. The MBTI dates back to World War II, and its conceptual framework dates even further back, to Jung’s work which began in the early 1920’s.

Many people have taken the test (you can now http://personalitytype.com/quiz)

So many people have taken the MBTI test that it provides a very useful point of reference to quickly communicating your personality, and understand preferred communication style of others. Maybe you’ve overheard someone say “I am an ENTJ” and wondered what that code represented. It is one of 16 personality types. Learning about your type can help you in real and concrete ways including, understanding just what you need in role, a corporate culture and a boss relationship for it to be in your “success zone”. The book Do What You Are by Paul Tieger provides tremendous insight into why different roles energize or drain you based on your type.


Men don't like to be called “Feelers” and I don't like to be called a “Judger” so by taking out those emotionally charged words and replacing those categories with a neutral word is more effective. It removes any stigmas a person might feel based on the Jungian label of that trait or tendency. I use the book Career Match by Shoya Zichy with my Career Coaching clients. Career Match by Shoya Zichy http://www.colorqprofiles.com/


Strengthsfinder 2.0 www.strengthsfinder.com

The Clifton StrengthsFinder named after Donald Clifton of Gallup, is based on three ideas:
* A talent is a natural, spontaneous ability that shows up as a natural ability to perform well in a domain
* A skill is something you can learn. How quickly and well depends on your underlying talents.
* A strength is an ability to perform consistently at a very high, skilled level in a domain

Research shows that people who aren’t on their “strengths zone,” or who don’t build on the strengths they possess are six times less likely to be engaged in their job. They often hate going to work, have more negative interactions with their colleagues rather than positive ones, tell their friends of how miserable their company is, and generally achieve less on a daily basis.

Get Motivated –Motivational DNA by Tamara Lowe
http://www.getmotivatedbook.com/Test.aspx

Knowing your motivators and de-motivators is the key that will unlock your potential
You may have the same personality type, the same strengths as another person, but your MOTIVATION is the fuel that powers you!!

By identifying the combination of your personality, strengths and motivation we will uncover your unique “success zone” identifying the work and culture where you will thrive.
Based on your “success zone” I will craft for you 10 interview questions for YOU to ask the company to make sure it's the right fit from both a job content and a corporate culture/team culture perspective.