Jay Wren – Page 62 – Be in the Top 1% in Mindset – Leadership

There is more than One Way to Get a Job.

There is more than One Way to Get a Job.

I read a great deal about getting a job through direct referrals.

However, some career coaches recommend that you limit yourself to a dozen companies where you really want to work and use a direct referral to get into those companies. Companies still use several sources for finding job applicants.

Recruiters
Job boards
Company websites
Newspapers
Trade journals
Internet want ads including newspapers and Craigslist
Social Media
Press releases and other methods

There are many opportunities that you will never find through your network alone.

I do recommend that you pick companies that really interest you. I also recommend that you try to network into those companies directly. Companies use direct referrals. As a contract recruiter, I have recruited for companies that also paid a referral fee to their employees for direct referrals. Direct referrals come into the company with a solid reference from a person the company knows. A company can evaluate the value of the referral based on the company’s knowledge of the person making the referral.

I do not recommend that you have exhaust your network resources before you to turn to other resources for a job. If you really need a job, contact and build your network daily. However, also use the other resources on a daily basis.

One way to search for jobs is to use Google or Bing. These search engines will pick up opportunities that are on job boards, company sites, recruiters’ websites, or many other places on the Internet. You will only need to spend a few minutes a day searching through job search engines to find opportunities.

I created the website Jay Wren Jobs. The website has a job board. In addition, I built a custom search engine that will help you find a job.

If you really need a job, use all your resources. Make your job search as much of a full-time job as you can. Good luck with your search. Finding a job is not easy for everyone. However, as you use more resources, you will find more opportunities.

Status Board

One of the tools for organizing a job search is a status board.

Using a status board is a great way to track on-going projects. Status boards come in all types of formats to fit the purpose. When I was a Navy officer, there were at least four status boards on the bridge of the ship. Each one was different and served different purposes. Some were on Plexiglas®. Some were printed.

I have used a basic status board throughout my career as a corporate recruiter. For me, using a spreadsheet makes the process easy. The mock-up below is a brief illustration of what a basic spreadsheet status board might look like. In this case, the example is an illustration of using a status board to manage a job search.

As you can see, a status board is different from a calendar. The purpose is to give you an overall view of what you are doing across all activities.

This tool becomes even more useful when people are working on teams. Each team member has a copy. When the team meets to discuss the activities for the day, the members add notes to update their status board. Literally, all the team members are on the same page. In my search firm, team members used a simple form similar to the one above to manage dozens of activities.

As team members go through the workday, they update their copy of the status board to prepare for the next day’s meeting. With the sharing features of online documents, it is now possible for teams to work on the status board from different locations. What you will see is another person changing the status board as that person works.

There are apps for status boards. Many of these digital status boards are more really organizers than status boards. For example, Google Now for Android and Morning for iPad give you updates on news, weather, sports, commute, traffic, shopping, events nearby, and reminders, and not effective for project management.

Why You Should Never Accept A Counter Offer When You Resign

Why You Should Never Accept a Counter Offer When You Resign

Counter offers are risky. The reasons you resigned seldom goes away if you stay. In addition, when you met with your boss to turn in your resignation, you showed your boss that you have been disloyal by interviewing for another job.

However, your boss cannot afford to lose you at the time that you are resigning. Companies prefer to lose people based on the company’s timing. This concept is easy enough to understand. Your company is in the middle of work project that could fail if some people leave at the wrong time. You are one of those people.

So, what happens during a counter offer?

You go through a standard process to keep people aboard until the company can throw them overboard.
Your boss asks you the reasons that you are leaving.
Your boss shows understanding about your frustrations.
Your boss promises to make adjustments to keep you on the job where you are currently working.
You may receive a pay raise or a promise of a pay raise. Remember that you forced the pay raise by trying to resign.
Your boss may even may promises to improve things as time goes on.
Your boss gets the details of your job offer and shows you the flaws in going to the new company.
You feel pressure from the counter offer process. You become indecisive. Even if your company does not offer you a pay raise or change any of the conditions that have made you unhappy, the company pressures you to stay.
You begin to waver in you decision.

As a recruiter, I have had applicants go through so much stress, they have cried. I had one manager who was going through a counter offer that was so stressful he called me at 2:00am. He was in tears. He was still in tears later that day when he called me to say that he had accepted his company’s counter offer.

He stayed with the company he wanted to leave.

Seven month later, he was out again interviewing with another company. Nothing changed after he accepted the counter offer.

He hated where he worked. He needed to get another job.

Unfortunately, his boss saw him interviewing at the St. Louis airport and the poor guy did not know that his boss had seen him. The guy turned in a daily report that showed that he was making sales calls. The report was false. His boss knew that the report was false. His boss had seen him interviewing at the airport. At this point, his current employer no longer needed him. The same boss who had talked him into staying seven months before fired him.

So he lost the offer from the company that wanted to hire him. The company that gave him the counter offer had fired him.

He was unemployed.

Many people feel pressure when they resign. You can reduce the pressure. When you resign, make the discussion short and to the point. Just be polite. Say that you are leaving. The reasons are strictly business, but they are the confidential information of your new employer, and you can’t discuss them. Then head out the door and keep walking.

Companies Use Social Media for Hiring

Companies Use Social Media for Hiring.

Companies use social media to find job candidates.
Companies use social media profiles to weed out weak candidates.
Companies use social media to terminate workers who break company policy on what workers can say and write in public.

Candidates who get high marks as job applicants often market themselves with a polished public profile on social media. These candidates list their accomplishments. They include a profile picture. The candidates who are successful in using social media to advance their careers make positive statements about themselves, about situations, and about other people. Candidates who get high marks avoid conflicts with other people on the Internet.

Companies want to hire people who will focus on the job. Companies do not want to hire people who can create tension in the workplace through open discussions about politics, race, religion, gender, or any issue in conflict with company policy. These types of people create distractions for other workers, take the focus off the function of the company, and can damage a company’s public image.

Discussions of politics, race, gender, or religion put readers in a position to take sides. These discussions affect the unity of teams. Companies want to hire people who will inspire other people to focus on the job.

In social media, however, people have varying points of view. Using social media to promote your career requires you to focus on polished information that will attract everyone to read what you have to say. Not everyone is going to read what you have to say when you write about polarizing issues.

College applicants face the same evaluation process. College applicants can get low marks for posting links to controversial websites, or writing about political, religious, gender, or racial issues. Even if the admissions department agrees with the applicant’s point of view, colleges and universities avoid negative or polarizing points of view that can cost an institution money and damage its reputation.

However, I continue to see social media posts from educated professionals who apparently just have to make statements that polarize people with different points of view. Making the mistake of treating social media as a soapbox is easy to do, but certainly not always wise.

Job Search is a Numbers Game

Job search is a numbers game.

Contacting more people will increase the likelihood that you get a job.

In terms of numbers of prospects or shoppers, getting a job is similar to running a retail store. If the store has no shoppers, the store will have no sales. If shoppers line up out the door, the store has greater odds of selling products and services.

First, you do the job search basics.

Write a terrific resume.
Write a template for a great cover letter.
Polish your online profile.

Creating the job search numbers game

Begin connecting with people who can hire you and with people who can connect you with people who can hire you.
The best contacts are the people you already know. Start by making a contact list of these people.

As you contact people, ask those people for names and contact information of other people who can help you.

After you have written your list of people you know, go to membership sites to add the names of other contacts to your contact list.

Make a list of companies where you would like to work. Build this list from your industry knowledge, from recommendations of people in your network, and from job listings, which you find on job boards.

Before you apply for a job on a job board, review your contact list for people you know at the company. If you do not know anyone at the company, research names of people who work at the company. Your application is more effective if a person recommends you for a job. Try to get a direct referral from a person at the company. Many companies pay employees for referrals. Direct referrals will give you more credibility than applications you make online.

Job Search is a Numbers Game.

Continue to contact as many people each day as you can. Put the numbers in your favor. Remember that your contacts are like retail shoppers to a retail store. The more contacts you make will increase your chances of getting a job.

Are Standing Meetings More Productive?

In a study at Washington University, St. Louis, MO., researchers found increases in the performance of people working in groups.

Beginning with the knowledge that standing and working is healthy, the researchers, Andrew P. Knight and Markus Baer, created their study to learn how standing affects the performance of groups. They published their study in Social Psychological and Personality Science: “Get Up, Stand Up, The Effects of a Non-Sedentary Workspace on Information Elaboration and Group Performance.”

Broader Implications of Standing Meetings

Further study on group interaction while standing will no doubt come later, perhaps from Andrew P. Knight and Markus Baer. They have developed methods of measurement and an environment for this type of research. What is especially meaningful about this study is how standing affects the performance of all worker performance, not just workers in groups. Could standing to work make all workers more productive?

Standing at work is exercise. According to Jennifer Cohen, wellness coach to executives, Forbes.com, exercise makes you smarter and more effective.

Standing at Work has Grown in Popularity

Standing while working burns calories at a rate that adds up to running marathons. Because of the increase in the number of workers at desks with computers, some people consider sitting at a desk a health hazard. Endurance athletes who sit at work damage their health as though they were smoking.

Is Your Desk Killing You?

Self-doubt is a Sign that I am Growing

Self-doubt is a sign that I am growing.

Things that I can do easily do not create self-doubt. I do not get nervous when I ride a bike or use a keyboard. I have had a lot of practice at doing both of these things.

New, complex things create self-doubt. I feel anxiety. I feel confused. I am reluctant.

As a newly commissioned Navy officer, I had self-doubt about my ability to navigate a Navy ship. While going through Naval Officer Candidate School, I learned the basics of navigation. I learned about course and speed through the water. I learned how to know the position of a ship relative to land and the position of a ship in the open sea. Unlike highways and streets, waterways do not have marked lanes, traffic signs, and traffic lights. During classroom training, I learned how navigate a ship safely around other ships at-sea.

When I graduated from Naval Officer Candidate School, I used my classroom training on the bridge of an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S Midway.

What I learned was in a classroom training did not give me confidence that I could do the complex things of navigating a ship at sea. Plotting ships in a classroom is very different from standing on a bridge navigating where there are dozens of other ships around my ship and the positions of those ships change as the position of my ship changes.

However, through experience, I was growing. Self-doubt changed to self-confidence. Maneuvering a large ship became natural. I did not so much think about how to do things. I simply did things.

What I learned

In the case of navigating a ship at sea, self-doubt was a sign that I needed to grow. I had things to learn. I had skills to develop. However, as I developed those skills, my self-doubt eased. I became more self-confident.

What I learned is that self-doubt is a sign that I have an opportunity to grow. I can learn new things. I can develop new skills. I can gain self-esteem from what I learn. I can grow into a more skillful and useful person.

Hidden Expenses at a New Job

If you have a job offer, congratulations. Before you sign the offer letter, consider the hidden expenses that can change the pay increase in the job offer. Here are some things to consider before you accept the job.

The hidden expenses in tax increases with a pay raise

Have you checked to see whether the new salary puts you into a higher tax bracket? The Internal Revenue Service provides a tax calculator that you can use without signing into the IRS website. You do not have to identify yourself when you use the calculator. To use the IRS tax calculator, start here.

The hidden expenses in the commute

Will the new job have a longer commute? If so, some elements of your car cost will increase with a longer commute.

Depreciation
Gas
Insurance
Repairs and maintenance
Tires
Tolls and/or Parking fees

Failing to evaluate your increased car costs is a mistake. To give you some idea of how much a commute affects your income, the Internal Revenue Service allows a deduction for business use of a personal car. Although in most cases you cannot deduct your commute costs from your taxes, you can use the IRS numbers as a basis for the cost of operating your car for your commute.

The hidden expenses in clothing costs

For some people, getting a new wardroom is a lot of fun. However, paying the bills for the costs of those new clothes is not a lot of fun and can take a bite out of the pay raise that came with the job.

Other costs to consider are washing and ironing of work clothing. Some people wear T-shirts and shorts, baggy jeans, or a wrinkle-free skirt. They do little more than fold their clothes when they take them out of the dryer. These people may never pick up an iron to prepare their clothes for work.

Other people send their clothes to the laundry and dry cleaners. If your new job will increase your clothing costs, you should include those costs in your evaluation of job offer.

The hidden expenses in insurance costs

It is great that when a new company offers insurance for your health. However, the costs to you can vary greatly from insurance plan to insurance plan. You need to look at the costs to you in the medical coverage: the deductible, the prescription coverage, hospital coverage and charges, and other charges that can raise your medical costs.

The hidden expenses exist in every job offer

Understand the hidden expenses at a new job before you take the job.

Workplace Relationships: Accept, Change, or End

Workplace Relationships: Accept, Change, or End (A.C.E.)

Sometimes, working with other people becomes difficult. Carrying the problems in my head is stressful. Understanding that I do have options helps me stop worrying and start working on solutions.

In dealing with relationship problems, in fact, in dealing with most problems, I can ask myself three questions.

Should I accept the situation, change the situation, or end the situation?

Accept

Accepting something does not mean that I like it. It simply means that I am not going to focus my attention on an ongoing situation or behavior.

When should I accept the situation? For example, if a co-worker is a few minutes late for work every day, the person’s behavior may annoy me. The behavior may inconvenience for me.

I could try to correct the person. However, correcting people can causes stress between those people and me.

If I go to a supervisor and complain, I create in the supervisor’s mind a mental connection between the bad behavior and me. Even with the best intentions of improving a work situation, I become involved in a negative situation involving a co-worker. I create stress for the supervisor, who now has to deal with a problem.

Additionally, I become known a person who gets involved in other people’s business. Therefore, I should often accept the situation and focus on my work.

Change

Can I change the person’s behavior? Changing my own behavior is not always easy. I have to break old habits to start new habits. Quitting fast-food restaurants, giving up junk food, failing to exercise, and staying up too late are hard habits to break. Some positive habits are hard to form. Arriving at appointments on time, remembering to say thank you, and letting people have room to merge in traffic are sometimes difficult things to do. It is good for me to remember how difficult it is for me to end bad habits and form good ones.

When people do things that annoy me, I first take a look to see whether I can change my own behavior and make the situation better. If necessary, I can speak with people about their behavior. I remember to focus on the behavior and not the person.

Dealing with Difficult People

End

Should I end a relationship? People change. Their interests change. People learn new things about each other. I may need to end an unhealthy or a meaningless relationship.

Some work relationships are not required for getting a job done. Ending unhealthy meaningless relationships is often the best thing for both people.

I try not to burn bridges. I try not to make ending the work relationship a moment of closure. Sometimes I find that it is better for me to just drift away from a work relationship.

Things to Understand About a Job Offer

Things to understand about a job offer

Disclaimer: Federal and state laws change. I am not a lawyer. At the bottom of this article, I have posted a link to a source for information. The points in this article will helpful lead readers to find the information they need.

A job offer is more than an invitation to go to work for a company. Depending on the company and the type of job, a job offer includes these elements.

Salary, Bonus
Benefits to include medical/dental benefits, vacation, paid holidays, retirement, profit sharing, stock plan
Job title
Job function
Quality of your supervisor
Location of the job

Federally Required Employee Benefits

The federal government requires all companies to provide some benefits. Companies with an effective human resources program give people information on the federal benefits as part of the job offer. Here is a list of those benefits:

Disability Insurance

The following states and territories require businesses to provide partial wage replacement insurance coverage to their eligible employees for non-work related sickness or injury:

California
Hawaii
New Jersey
New York
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island

Leave Benefits

The majority of common leave benefits offered by employers are not required by federal law, and are offered to employees as part of the employer’s overall compensation and benefits plan. These leave benefits include holiday/vacation, jury duty, personal leave, sick leave and funeral/bereavement leave. However, employers are required to provide leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Family and Medical Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles employees up to have 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during any 12-month period for any of the following reasons:
Birth and care of the eligible employee’s child, or placement for adoption or foster care of a child with the employee
Care of an immediate family member (spouse, child, parent) who has a serious health condition
Care of the employee’s own serious health condition
FMLA requires group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if employees continued to work instead of taking leave. FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees, and to all public employers. Visit the Department of Labor’s website for more information.

Social Security Taxes

Every employer must pay Social Security taxes at the same rate paid by their employees.

Workers Compensation

Businesses with employees are required to carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance coverage through a commercial carrier, on a self-insured basis, or through the state Workers’ Compensation Insurance program. Visit the Workers’ Compensation page for more information.

Understanding the job offer

Before you sign an offer letter, understand your job offer. Ask the hiring company to help you with things you do not understand. Talk with your confidential mentor and friends and with your spouse before signing a job offer letter. If you are looking at a job offer right now, congratulations and good luck with your decision.

Federal Law Source: SBA.gov: The US Small Business Administration