Looking Ahead-2015 continued

I'm feeling very hopeful and very excited about the new opportunities available this year.

Another blog post for the new year came from YourTango entitled, "10 career resolutions every smart woman needs to make in 2015."

So let's see what it says:

1. Stop talking about your coworkers to other coworkers.

I am so not fond of talking about other people with other people.  Being in HR, there are a lot of things that are considered confidential and so I feel it's a waste of time to talk about other people unless it has something to do with an evaluation.  Not that I practice abstinence from doing such things.  It has happened but I have been resolving not to do it anymore because it really is a waste of time and energy.  Unless it is something to celebrate.  For example, when someone goes on vacation, I would love to hear about it and talk about it with other people.

2.  Start being nice to everyone in your field.

I consider myself an extrovert up to a point.  Tests that I've taken have also verified that claim.  I have to be an extrovert when I make presentations or go to interviews.  So this comes to the idea being nice everyone in your field.  I know that there are people out there helping me find a job and I really appreciate it.  I try to follow the protocol with thank you notes or e-mails, smile and speak clearly.

I don't consider myself a spiteful person for the most part.  If someone under me or at my level receives recognition, bonus, or promotion, I feel that there a lot of things I may not know.  If the person was under me and I trained them,  I feel like I was a part of that and feel good knowing that someone I trained has moved up. 

I feel that people who are more experienced than me are people I can learn from.  I'm very anxious to learn in my career and I want to do the best that I can knowing that there are a lot of examples for me.

Again, I'm not perfect and not every situation has been lovey-dovey.  There have been some conflicts of interest.  I think most the time it was misunderstandings which when I go back and analyze what happened.

I do have one rule now.  A lot of people want to connect right away on LinkedIn or Facebook.  To protect myself, my rule now is that I will not connect to someone I know at work until I been there a month.

3. Get as organized as possible and clean your desk.

There are times when people constantly put files on your desk.  Hopefully your desk is as big as it needs to be to get all the paperwork on your desk.  I'm a stickler for organization although it's not always a pretty sight.  What I could control, I could keep organized.  I'm all about containers, trays, and pens in a holder.  I do like to decorate my desk but if I am temporary or sharing, I don't like to add more to the desk.  I had a really nice compliment at one of my previous positions where the person sharing my desk told me that the desk was the cleanest he had ever seen since moving to the office.

To me, it's hard to function if things are scattered all over your desk.  My mind functions better with organization than in chaos.  When things are organized and prioritized, it's easy to get work done.  Not that every day is a walk through the park.  Every day adds new adventure and new experiences.  In business though, your whole schedule could be changed in the blink of an eye.  I thrive on that because I can get things organized and done.  I feel I'm accomplished.

4. Speak up more.

I don't have a problem saying what I need to say.  But I do measure the action coming towards me.  I had a situation where a person confronted me about my work and in their opinion it wasn't what they wanted.  I just apologized.  But I also said that I'm sorry that you feel that way because I feel like I've done the best I could in one day.  I did say what I needed without causing frustration because I could already tell the person was angry, blaming, and frustrated.  I wasn't going to add to the frustration and confront someone.  That type of a person is not ready to talk sensibly and maturely.  You do have to measure is the situation and do the best you can.

But there are times when you should speak up for what you want.  It could be as little as, I need a new keyboard.  I was in a position where I did all the ordering for any type of supplies for the company and I've loved it.  Someone needed a whiteboard, I ordered it.  Some wanted milk for the cappuccino, I went and got it.  When companies take the time to listen to the little needs of their employees, the employees feel that a company is really taking care of them and they will perform their job better.  Employees will feel that this is a great place to work because even the littlest things are taken care of.  It's a great lesson I learned from my contract job.

5.  Fight for what you deserve.

That is going to be a new one for me.  I don't usually have to fight for a promotion but then I've never really worked in a situation where I was up against somebody else.  But every day I am fighting for a position.  I am doing everything that I know how to do without looking desperate.

6. Get to work early.

Surprisingly, I haven't had a problem in my last few jobs.  It was nice to know that I actually got to work before some of the bosses.  My last contract job, I was on the last person to come in because everybody else had to come in at six.  I didn't have to come until eight.  But I intend to keep up the good work that I've done in arriving early.  I used to think that sitting around, coming to work early was a waste of time because I hate waiting around doing nothing.  With the Internet now, I can do my own stuff and read until work starts or until I can start my work.  There are some places you cannot start work early.  Just as long as I'm not late.  Being late is very stressful.  I feel like when I was late to work, it made me feel like I owed the company more and then I would stay late to make up the time.  And that still didn't make me feel any better.  

7.  And leave on time as well

This will also be a new one.  I've never seen anyone who works salary or manage leave on time.  But the reason the blog states is really important and I think it's something I am going to try to do, too.  It states that if you can't leave on time, you are not managing your time well.  I understand sometimes there are extra projects that come along.  In one situation I had, we had happy hour and I didn't want to leave on time.  It's something that we all just accept nowadays; not leaving on time, burning the midnight oil.  Yet, companies don't want to pay overtime.  Unless I'm actually salary, that could be a lot of costs to a company.  

8. And actually take your lunch break.

I have a real hard time with this.  If I know that I have a lot of work or I know that it would be really busy, lunchtime seems to be a luxury.  But I think that it's probably a good reason to take that break, to re-energize yourself, and to allow yourself a detachment from your work.  Many times I find myself stuck with the problem and after knocking my head all night, I will go to sleep and realize all I needed was some sleep to answer my question.  So I think the same thing happens with lunch times, too.  I intend to keep that with my goals this year.

9. Don't settle into a job, push yourself.

I have to have a job in order to push myself in a job.  I am looking for a career with new experiences so I'm hoping that the job I choose will offer me those experiences.  I found another blog that mentioned ways that you can really push yourself and maybe I'll write about that one later.  It had some really good ideas that I never thought about and that I should put into practice this year.

10. Learn to love your job and if not look for something else.

Now that I have finally settled on a career path, the next is to find a company that offers growth and experience.  I know that as long as I don't feel stagnant which has happened to me before, not recently though, that I will feel there is potential for me and for the company.  As soon as I feel that I have nowhere else to go, I'll look for something else.

So there you have it.  My thoughts about the 10 things you have to be serious as a woman, and probably a man, too, in a career this year.  I see at least three potential changes in my life and it all has to do with better time management.

It Takes So Long

Since I've been looking for a new opportunity, I've been doing a lot of research and reading.  My classes start up again next week, so I'm catching up on my reading before I really get into a position and into classes again.  My goal this year is to read ahead of time.  I have three books I have to read.  I started reading one of them and will be picking up the other one today or tomorrow.

Some of the things I've been looking at online are job search tips.  Others are goals in life concerning finances, organizing, better health, and career.

The blog post I'm going to write about is from BusinessWorkforce called, "Why finding a job can take so long."

I know that one of the main reasons that finding a job is so difficult is because so many people are looking for a position.  At this time, it is considered an employer's arena where employers have the pick of who they want and what they want.  Even job descriptions do not necessarily tell you everything about the company and what they want.  I have been to interviews where I made sure I knew everything about the job description, the company, and answered all the questions concerning the jobs, and yet the interviewer asked questions that were not really necessary.  I don't mean the, "if you were a tree," type of questions. 

According to a few of the websites and blogs I've been reading, the tide is slowly turning.  I remember when I could just fill out an application and be hired.  There were very few positions that I did not get when I was starting college.  When I came back from Brazil, I have a really hard time trying to find a job for some odd reason.  It was only through a connection of my brothers, that I was able to get a job.  In fact, the majority of positions I have had, came through connections.  But the jobs were just a job, not what I really wanted to do.

Really pushing forward of what I want to do in my career direction, the process has been all in my hands.  My friends and connections have such diverse employment that it has been really difficult to find a position through connections.  And on the other side, many of my connections do not work or are retired as I previously mentioned.

So going back to the blog that I was looking at, the first idea that was mentioned was that it takes at least one month for every $10,000 salary to find a job.  If only that were really true.  If I consider when I really started looking for a full-time position after I got my bachelors degree, I should be already halfway through the first six-figure salary.  I had to laugh at that.  Granted, I was working for a month so that might cut into my six-figure pretend goal.

Another reason for job searches taking so long is that a company wants to go through all the opportunities to find the right person.  Some timelines will be a few weeks.  Some timelines will be a couple months.  It depends on what type of employment a company wants.  If it is a temporary position, it can be filled within a few days to couple weeks.  If it's a permanent, full-time position, hiring managers will take the time to find the right person for the right culture who will excel in the position.

One of the things the blog mentions is that it is still easier to find a job if you are hired.  I have to disagree with that at the moment.  Granted, you cannot be doing nothing.  But since I believe I am not connected to my previous job since the beginning of the year, and I really have not worked in a position since the end of October, it actually has been easier.  Temporary agencies can get a hold of me and I can start work right away.  It really depends what you are looking for.  If you are looking for full-time position and you are working already, that is a good basis.  If you are looking for a temporary position, companies will the want you right away.  At least, that is what I have seen in my own job search.  If you are available right away you can get hired right away.  But if you are looking for permanent positions, a company will want to make sure that you are already connected and will want that two week notice available.

No matter how badly you want the job, always give a two-week notice.  A company that does not allow you to give to give a two-week notice is probably the company you do not want to work for; at least in my own personal life.

The advice the blog mentions is to apply for as many positions as possible.  I have to agree with that.  One of the things I did learning career counseling classes is that you do not want to do that.  Your chances of getting a job really depends on how much you put yourself out there.   But you need to know why you applied for position.  Was it the job description?  Was it the company?  Was it the type of business?  I look at all of those.  The first thing I do is look at the job description.  If I can fit 90% or more of the description then that is one of my major push for applying.  Another thing is I decide is where the position is located.  I am pretty much open to any place within 100 mile radius of where I live.  I am even open to moving down south.  The next thing I look at is what the company does, if it is available.  I like to work for companies that I do not have  experienced.  Sometimes the interviewer will ask why I applied for the company.  I do not think that is necessarily a fair question to someone who is not working.  Maybe if you are working at the time, there is a reason why you do not want to work for the company anymore.  But if you are not working, the most important reason you apply for position is because you need a job.  

I do have to say, when someone actually told me that they needed a job, I would look at them and say, "Everyone needs a job.  Why would I hire you?"  So even if you need a job, you do not want to give that reason as an explanation.  Be creative.

I was just asked that and I looked for the company's name and it was not available unless it is a really generic name.  The name did not catch me.  The position and the description caught my eye.

If I knew the name of every company out there, it would be a lot easier to say, hey I want to work for this company.  At times, job descriptions do not have the company's name or even what they do.  It is not that I do not want to be part of the culture and not work for a company.  I feel that there are so many companies out there, it is really difficult to define what I want to work in, when my career choice is something that can be used in all areas of business.  If I were a scientist, there may be certain companies that want to work for.  If I was in health and medical, there would be positions in companies I would specifically work for.  If I wanted to work in retail, there would be specific companies that want to work for.  But in human resources, I really do not have a particular area or business that I want to work.  I am open to all sorts of things because I want to have a nice variety of experience.

Looking Ahead-2015

It's a new year.  It's time to put away the past and learn from the mistakes.

Last year was very interesting for me.  I had the opportunity to work in a contract job, with an IT company, as a temp, working in teams, working for staffing agencies, and starting my Masters degree.

Some of the things to learn from last year is that sometimes even working your hardest and best, it doesn't always get you the job.  I'm learning a lot about the importance of connections.  I have a huge pipe line of connections, but sometimes the people in the pipeline are in the same situation as you are when you don't have a job.  In fact, the majority of people I know either are not working, or retired, or are not interested in the same areas that I am trying to break.  Hence, the desire to get into recruiting.

So, I went online to take a look to see what some of the websites offer for the new year in the workforce and I found two websites that have some very interesting things.

The first one came from Hubspot.  The title of the article is called, "9 professional resolutions you should actually keep."  I thought it was a pretty good title and it enticed me, so I peeked and found that I agree with a lot of the suggestions.

The first one was master Excel.  I consider myself pretty good but I am old school with some of the formatting and keystrokes.  Mastering Excel is actually one of my goals to do after finish my Masters degree this summer.  I'm planning on taking a very intense course on advanced use of Excel.  I use Excel and most programs on Microsoft all the time, even in my personal life.  I use Excel to keep track of programs I use at church, personal finances, and other lists that I feel Excel would be effective.

The second one was improve your design skills.  This is another one of my goals after my Masters degree, to get into design, especially with websites.  I used to have my own website a long time ago and really had fun designing my pages although I probably wouldn't be considered a web designer.

The third is hire new, awesome teammates.  I don't have that option right now, as I'm not working, but I am awesome teammate and I can be new anywhere they have me.

The next one is develop a mobile strategy.  I get that everybody does their stuff on the phone or tablet.  I still like my keyboard.  I've had a lot of mobile application ideas and if I don't get them out soon somebody will probably get to it.  Another thing to do after I finish my Masters degree or maybe even use it as part of my Masters paper.  Who knows?

The next one really hit me.  Blog consistently.  I didn't know that blogging was still a big thing and compared to people who have accounts with various social forms, blogging seems to be a bit passé in some areas.  I mean, how many times do you go to a website to read the blog?  Did you know that the majority of shopping websites have blogs?  Even with such little return on website information or investment, blogging seems to be really important.  I love blogging.  Maybe I should consider a career in writing.  I suddenly have three ideas to write for books, which is something I never dreamed of doing before.  I have this blog, my personal blog, and a couple of blogs that I keep with my other interests.  I use all kinds of social forms and look for new and exciting places to share my interests.

The next one is don't forget your older content.  Last year, I did have to close up one of my personal blogs or transfer them and I haven't done it fully, completely yet.  I really haven't found the blogging place that I really gets me going.  My last blogging sites had everything I wanted except for one thing that bothered me.  But that one thing wasn't a big deal.  Compared to the content and the allowance of creativity, one little thing didn't bother me.  I've yet to find a website or blog site that allows me that outside of this blogging hosts.  Maybe it's one of those things that have to come up with myself.  I'm the kind of person who tries to find what I want in a product, and if it's not there, I'll start thinking about how I'm going to get what I want.  I don't wait for someone to make it but sometimes I'm not the only one thinking about it.

The next two I put together: run big strategic test and invest in better measurement.  At this point in my career, the biggest test I have is just to put myself out there and to identify everything I know how to do.  And then the measurement is how many responses I get back right away.  I keep track of those responses and all my work in various Microsoft programs.  I'm constantly updating my skills or practicing my skills in those kind of areas.  But I know that when the position of my career comes along, I will be ready for these kinds of measurements.

Last but not least, moved to the next level of your career.  My goal this year is not only to find a permanent, full-time job but to get a position that allows me to grow and learn.  I'm really excited because there are a lot of different type of companies I have never put my foot in.  I would like a little bit of experience in a lot of different things.  I am really opening up myself to not just one area business, but to all the types of businesses with experience and positions I have had, to find that one position that I can count as my career.

This is it for the first blog that caught my eye.  I think I'll do the next one in a couple days.  Hope I will have the steam to keep up with the blogs again this year.  I will have a lot of information, especially finishing up my degree and see where to go from there.  And of course, finding the primo position.