Career Change, Career Management No comments yet

Want a Promotion? Here’s Your Plan.

By Coach Wolfgang on February 20th, 2012

Many individuals enjoy the company they work for. They like the company values, the company product, the company mission or a multitude of other aspects. However, after some time in a specific role, many individuals are ready to take that next step. Is it time for you to start thinking about a promotion at work? If so, consider taking the following next steps.

  • Understand what the next job entails. What are passionate about career the skills that are required? What experiences do you need to gain before moving on to the next step? Find a job description for the next position. Review the requirements. Speak to individuals who are in the position currently. They will be able to share insights into the role that a job description couldn’t possibly describe.

  • Make a plan to get the skills you need to move into the next position. Some skills you will learn on the job but you will need to bring a solid base of talent to the table. Determine what the required skills are and make a plan to achieve them. You might do this by taking on new projects at work, getting a certification, or learning new skills in the classroom, through books or through volunteer endeavors.

  • Have a conversation. Does your manager know that you will eventually be looking to move into a particular role? If not, then when a position opens up, you may not have the advocate you need to make sure you are considered. Have regular conversations with your manager about your current performance as well as your future career aspirations.

Promotions can happen when your hard work meets an open opportunity. You cannot control when the opportunity might arise, but make sure when it does you are ready for the challenge.

Career Coaching, Performance No comments yet

Enough About Your Weaknesses. What Are Your Strengths?

By Coach Wolfgang on February 13th, 2012

What are your strengths? I’m not posing this question in the context of a job interview but rather, as a career coach. Think through your skills and strengths and list them out. What do you bring to the table that others don’t?

Your Current, Actual Skills

For many of my clients, this is a much harder question to answer than “what are your weaknesses?” Again, I’m asking from a coaching perspective, not a job interview perspective. It seems to me than many people are good at thinking through areas they want to improve or wish they were more skilled in. However, when asking clients to list out their current strengths, many of them struggle after the first one or two.

Your Skills are Unique

For many of my clients, they take for granted many of their skills and strengths because the strength or skill comes so naturally. Some feel, subconsciously, that if they are good at something, others probably find it easy as well. They take for granted that they have strengths in many areas that others wished they were skilled in!

Identify Your Skills and Strengths

Look through your past performance reviews and pick out the areas where you were strong. Even easier, ask a trusted co-worker or family member or friend what they think is your two greatest strengths are. Finally, do some introspection. What are those ‘things’ that come very easily to you or you recall being praised for in the past (i.e. “you are the most organized person I know”).

We all have strengths as well as areas that we can develop. While many people focus much of their time trying to progress in their development, I challenge you to identify your strengths as well. Become well-versed and confident in the areas you are strong in because that’s what sets you apart.

Career Change, Job Search, Motivation, Networking, Resume No comments yet

5 Steps to Make that Career Change Happen

By Coach Wolfgang on January 30th, 2012

Recently a friend told me her philosophy on life: “Life has no remote control. You have to get up and change it yourself.” This is very applicable to your career. It would be nice to just press a button and land in a new career that is fulfilling, pays more than our current job, and has a shorter commute . As we are very well aware, life just doesn’t work that way. If we are unhappy or unfulfilled in our career, we need to work to change it.

A career change can be like deciding to lose 20 pounds. We wish it could happen overnight and painlessly, but that won’t ever happen. Here are 5 steps to help you make the career change you want:

  • First we have to evaluate what is not working in our current job. This might mean assessing if your job is un-fulfilling, or too demanding, or the environment is not positive.
  • Now that we know what isn’t working, we can decide on a plan of action on how to change our current situation. For a job change, this can mean evaluating positions that interest us, review and update our resume, pulling together some collateral on work that we have accomplished, identifying job search sites and networking groups and so on. This plan includes creating small and achievable goals that we can accomplish each week. With weight loss, we might plan small goals like exercising two days for 20 minutes the first week, three days for 20 minutes the second week, 3 days for 25 minutes the third week, etc. Those goals can be obtained. We wouldn’t give ourselves a goal of exercising 7 days for 60 minutes each day in week one if we haven’t exercised in awhile. That would be setting ourselves up for failure. Setting a goal of making changes to a resume or identifying 2 networking groups in week 1 are small enough to be effective and keep us moving in the right track.
  • We also have to hold ourselves accountable for achieving the small goals. Meeting the small goals each week will lead to a much bigger change. It is much easier to accomplish a series of small goals rather than trying to make a large change all at once.
  • Remind yourself that change can take time. Some individuals have a goal of finding a new job within 2 weeks. That is an aggressive goal. It can be done, but so many things have to fall into place, that it is unlikely. Make sure you give yourself a feasible time frame to achieve your goal.
  • Making progress toward your goal can continue to motivate you. When losing weight, you will notice that your clothes begin to feel looser well before you hit that goal weight. With a job search, finishing a resume or making new connections or landing an interview will help keep you motivated during the search.

If you are hoping for a change in your career, I encourage you to begin taking some small action steps to make that change. It might feel slightly uncomfortable. It might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but the key to the change is action. The first one should be to print the steps above and review them regularly!

Career Management, Motivation, Performance No comments yet

Avoiding the 4 Job Performance Traps

By Coach Wolfgang on January 27th, 2012

It’s easy to fall into a comfortable routine at work. We go into work each day, complete our tasks, attend meetings, and go home. If we aren’t given any feedback on our daily job performance, we will most likely continue the same patterns. Since most of us don’t receive this feedback, I have a list below that you can use to evaluate yourself, or ask a trusted co-worker to evaluate you on, to see if changes need to be made in your work performance.

Are you falling into these traps?

  • Not Generating New Ideas
    We are able to accomplish all of our work tasks when they are laid out in front of us, but that’s about all. Oftentimes we can become complacent and complete the tasks as assigned time after time. Are there better ways to accomplish these tasks? Are there new projects or ideas that you would like to work on that would benefit your company? If so, when was the last time you spoke to your manager about these ideas? Bringing up new ideas not only shows your initiative, but can also lead to some great projects you can work on to grow your skills professionally.
  • Needing an Attitude Adjustment
    Work has its ups and downs. No one loves their job all day, every day. However, ask yourself if you are falling into the complainer trap. Are 60% of the words coming out of your mouth negative? Do you spend too much time focusing on the negative aspects of your co-workers, managers, projects or company in general? What are your responses to new assignments or manager/co-worker interactions? Are you even-keeled in listening to what they have to say? Do you take some time to process the information before reacting or are you oftentimes reacting in anger or other outbursts? Individuals who have a calm demeanor will have their ideas, suggestions, and input taken more seriously. Those who are positive and don’t focus on the negative, will command an audience longer.
  • Over-Reliant on Email
    Technology has been a wonderful aid in the workplace. Tasks can be done faster & delivered over great distances and collaboration is made easier. However, our reliance on technology can also include unnecessary work. Do you engage in lengthy and multiple email conversations with those who you can easily speak with? Do you IM the person who sits directly next to you? Are you using technology as a way to avoid face-to-face engagement with a co-worker or boss? Sometimes a face-to-face or phone conversation can easily answer questions, provide input, and finish the endless conversation on a specific issue. Don’t be afraid of old fashioned face-to-face interactions. It can be the best use of your time, while helping you develop personal relationships.
  • Hiding Your Mistakes
    Perfection is impossible in the workplace. No employee completes perfect work 100% of the time. Mistakes will happen. Your boss cares more about how you handle the mistake than the mistake itself. Don’t try to hide the fact that you made a mistake and avoid talking with your boss about it. Instead, identify your mistake, understand the impact of the mistake, understand the solutions that are necessary to fix it and to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future. Bring this information to your manager. She will appreciate your thoroughness in dealing with the issue.

Even when you aren’t getting the feedback you need from your manager or co-workers, you should take time to evaluate your own performance. The four traps listed above are a few ways to measure how you are performing, but they are critical in self-examination and, in turn, developing your career.

Career Coaching, Motivation 1 comment

5 Steps to Address Job Unhappiness

By Coach Wolfgang on January 22nd, 2012

I HATE MY JOB! It’s a phrase that is commonly heard by friends, family members and even co-workers. It can be a temporary feeling based on workload, team dynamics, or a difficult relationship with your manager. Sometimes you can’t avoid this, however, the best thing is to address these feelings not only so you feel better sooner but also so you reduce the chances of feeling this way again. So what can you do?

Evaluate the Situation

What is causing the unhappiness? Is it the job? Is it a specific task/project? Is it a relationship with your co-worker or boss? Helping identify the cause will help you assess what your next steps are.

Identify Your Next Move

If you are looking for a new job, what will be your first step? Just starting the process of looking for a new job can, in many cases, cause you to put the job unhappiness on the back burner while you focus on your next goal. Next, set goals for the job search and target dates for when to finish those goals. Make sure to set aside time in your search to accomplish those goals. When you work full-time, it can be difficult to find time to conduct a job search, but keep those goals in mind.

Relieve Stress and Smile

To address your unhappiness in the short-term, identify things that make you smile or relieve stress. This could be as easy as listening to your favorite music at work, getting fresh air, exercising at lunchtime or treating yourself to a snack that you enjoy. Exercise is a wonderful way to let go of your aggression, increase your endorphins, and help you maintain a positive outlook.

Learn a New Skill

Take time to learn a new skill, either personally or professionally. This can help shift your focus from the unhappiness at work to the positive feeling of learning a new skill. Who knows? This new skill could help in your search for a new career.

Resist Sharing with Co-Workers

Keep your unhappiness to yourself at work and away from your co-workers. It’s hard when you are unhappy at work not to share it with the people you spend so much time with. Oftentimes, though, the people you are complaining to can’t help improve your situation. More often, this type of information can further hurt your situation by spreading to the wrong people.

Unhappiness in a job is natural. Almost all of this will be unhappy at some point in our career. For some it is short-lived and for others it is more regular. Remember that it’s easy to get wrapped up the feeling of unhappiness. The feelings can sometimes keep us from seeing opportunities or other ways we can begin to make the situation more positive. Follow the tips above and you’ll be on your way to feeling much happier!

So how do you handle those “I hate my job” days? Let us know in the comments below.

Motivation 1 comment

Who Wants Unlimited Vacation Time?

By Coach Wolfgang on January 9th, 2012

Unlimited vacation time . . . a new trend in the workplace. It’s an interesting time to be discussing this topic. Two weeks ago, I spoke with KUT about a Right Management survey that indicated that 70% of individuals did not use all of their vacation time in 2011.

Why is Vacation Time Going Unused?

  • Some individuals felt pressure (internal or external) to make sure they showed their commitment to work by taking less vacation days.
  • Other individuals are allowed to rollover vacation days each year and might have been saving some days for 2012 when they will need extended vacation (honeymoon, maternity leave).
  • Some individuals are awarded compensatory time for hours worked after 40 hours each week and used the compensatory time rather than vacation.

Some individuals just don’t take a lot of vacation. They are wired to work more and vacation less.
Whatever the reason may be, I would expect people to take less vacation time when unemployment is high.

Another topic that we spoke about was whether individuals who did take days off really took a break from the job. Many individuals take time off and leave the office but are still plugged into the office through email or phone. They may call into meetings or answer emails while they are trying to relax. This, at times, defeats the purpose of vacation. Vacation is to truly relax and give individuals time away from work to become re-energized about their work. Is this a function of internal pressures (i.e. we want to be seen as a productive employee and worry about disconnecting from work), or external pressures (i.e. our boss never takes a true vacation and expects the same behavior from her employees), or a function of technology (i.e. we have the ability to work from anywhere so we do)? It can be one or more depending on the individual and the situation.

Will Unlimited Vacation Policies Work?

I love the idea. It is logical: each individual has different needs and can make vacation decisions based on their needs. On LinkedIn I saw an article speaking on the benefits of unlimited vacation days. An individual might not put off taking a vacation (even though she could really use it) for fear that she will run out of days if something comes up. Most individuals are aware of and can manage the work they need to accomplish each day and what they are responsible for. Unlimited vacation can be a very motivating factor for individuals who realize more control at work. It will work better for some companies than others and will be highly dependent on the company’s culture.

You might think that people will hardly come to work if they have unlimited vacation. In some cases, maybe, but the opposite problem is more likely. Thus, the company must ensure that employees are encouraged to take vacation time and make it clear that this is not a policy designed to make people take less vacation. For employees, this will be a shift from the traditional workplace. The workplace is ever-changing with flexible hours, telecommuting, technological advances, increase in independent contractors, etc. I am eager to see how the policy plays out as more and more employers implement it.

Please comment below with how you use your vacation days and what you like (or don’t) about unlimited vacation.

Career Change, Career Management No comments yet

2011 Career Evaluation and 2012 Career Management Plan

By Coach Wolfgang on January 5th, 2012

Whether you are happy in your current career or you are thinking about making a change, now is a good time to evaluate the past year. Many people set goals in the beginning of the year, but I am suggesting that you evaluate your performance more comprehensively. You should review 1) what went well, 2) what could have gone better and 3) what you are going to do differently in 2012. Going through this evaluation then enables you to set appropriate goals for the upcoming year.

How do I evaluate the past year?

Looking back… if you evaluated your career last year, review what you wrote down. Specifically:

  • What did you want your career to look like at the end of 2011?
  • What were your goals?
  • Are those goals still relevant and did you accomplish any?
  • What aspects of your career look the way you hoped and expected?
  • What aspects are “off” and do not look the way you hoped?
  • Why didn’t those aspects turn out the way you wanted?

If you didn’t review your career last year, that’s fine. Try to answer those questions and make sure you write them down so you can evaluate them next year. The last part of your evaluation should cover topics such as:

  • What accomplishments are you the most proud of?
  • What lessons did you learn in 2011?
  • What skills did you gain?
  • What was the biggest risk you took in 2011?
  • If you needed to sum up your career in 2011 in one sentence, what would it say?

How do I evaluate my career going forward?

Looking forward… since you just reviewed the past you have a much better idea of what you expect in 2012. Now starting thinking about your goals and write down answers to the following:

  • What do I want to do more of in 2012? Less of in 2012?
  • What personal and professional goals do you want to achieve in 2012? More importantly, why do you want to achieve those goals?
  • What do you want your career to look like in 2012? How will you hold yourself accountable and ensure this happens?

As you probably imagined, this shouldn’t be a quick process. In fact, the more time you spend evaluating and planning the more focused and granular your plan for 2012 will become. This is why many career coaches are busy this time of year – helping people find the time for this exercise while guiding them through these questions and other questions that may come up.

Best of luck to you in 2012 and happy new year!

Career Management No comments yet

Ron Santo and Your Career Legacy

By Coach Wolfgang on December 27th, 2011

As a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, I was excited to see that Ron Santo was elected into the baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans committee this year. This achievement and Ron’s dedication to find a cure for diabetes, a disease that he suffered from, led me to think about two broader career topics.

What is your end goal with your career?

Ron Santo’s goal was to reach the Hall of Fame. ron santo career legacy What is the highest level you are hoping to achieve in your career? Is it to be awarded a patent in your field? Achieve a level of Subject Matter Expert? Pass a certification test? Speak at a conference on a topic related to your field? Become published in a book or article? Spend some time thinking about the highest level you want to achieve. It will be different for everybody depending on the work you do and the work you want to do. Once you write down what you want to achieve, spend some time thinking about the actions you are going to take to achieve that goal and the timeline you have.

What will your legacy be?

Ron Santo loved baseball. In addition to his career playing the game, he was also a radio announcer for the Cubs. Beyond baseball, though, Ron Santo spent a significant amount of time raising money for diabetes research. He raised over $60 million for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This leads me to ask, what do you want your legacy to be? Spend some time thinking about what legacy you want to leave after your death. For some people this will be directly correlated to their career. For others, their career won’t be a part of their legacy. Once you decide what you want your legacy to be, spend some time thinking about how you can begin working towards that now.

The beginning of the year is a time that many people spend setting goals for the upcoming year. This year, consider including goals related to your career and the legacy you will leave behind.

Job Search No comments yet

Learning from Past Job Search Mistakes

By Coach Wolfgang on December 11th, 2011

A job search can be a long process and oftentimes I work with clients to focus on the positive aspects of their search. However, at times, we need to focus on a more negative aspect – our past job search mistakes – in order to learn from them. We can learn a lot by analyzing our successes in a job search but oftentimes we can learn even more by analyzing the things that don’t go right.

Today I want you to think through your job search and the areas where you may have made a, mistake or things did not go the right way. Some examples:

  • Did you submit a resume without customizing it for the job
  • Did you forget to send a thank you letter following a job interview
  • Did you neglect to followup with a contact who could have gotten your resume to a hiring manager

training and development
Create a list of the mistakes you have made, whether big or small.  Next categorize the mistakes.  Some may be related to your resume, others to your job search and others to your interviewing process.  When you are in that specific part of your job search, review the list to ensure you don’t make that mistake a second time.

Please note that this is not an exercise to berate yourself. In fact please do not spend time dwelling on the negative feelings associated with the mistakes. The past cannot be changed no matter how much we want to changed. Instead, the purpose of this list is to use it as a learning opportunity and a way to change a few aspects in your job search.

As you plan your search for 2012 think through the areas you want to concentrate on and the aspects of the search you will do differently this time around.

Job Search, Motivation, Networking No comments yet

4 Reasons Not to Let December Pass You By

By Coach Wolfgang on December 4th, 2011

December – a time for holiday parties, shopping, decorating, making cookies, etc. It’s a time when many individuals in a job search decide to slow down. While it makes sense that free time can be much tighter to come by in the month of December, I want to caution job seekers from slowing down their search. Below are 4 reasons why you should not ignore your job search in December:

  • While many companies may not be looking to hire an individual to start work in December, there are still many job postings for jobs that will start in the New Year. Don’t miss these opportunities!

  • For many job seekers, taking small steps each week helps them continue to make progress in your search. By taking the month off, you will need to find that motivation and re-start your search in January. Getting the motivation to get started again is much more difficult if you have taken a month off than if you continue your search through the month of December (even if you scaled it back a bit).
  • January is the time for resolutions. Gyms are more crowded and more job seekers have entered the search. Get a jump on those who start their search in January, by continuing all your hard work through this month.
  • Take advantage of the month of December to increase or strengthen your network or networking relationships. Meet individuals for coffee or lunch. Start the conversations with those individuals who may be able to help you in the job search. By laying the foundation in December, you may be able to increase your chances for opportunities in the New Year.

Many of you have worked hard on your search for months. Continue this progress through the month of December, even though you have other distractions. You may find it necessary to slow down the search, but don’t abandon it all together. Keep that motivation and drive going throughout the month and it will be much easier to ramp up again in January.