Day: May 14, 2015

8 Steps to Getting on Track When You Start a New Job

by

Starting a new job can feel like moving to a new country. Your language skills may be modest. You have little knowledge of the laws, let alone the customs and traditions of the society you are entering. All you have is a passport and the goodwill of management as you enter unfamiliar borders.

 

1. Get to know your colleagues. Ask questions and listen to their answers. Get a sense of what is said and what is unsaid. You don’t need answers to all of your questions at once. Take your time.

2. Have lunch with different people in the department every day. Learn about the corporate culture and who the leaders are and the unofficial leaders are.

3. Get to know some of the key people in your organization and what matters to them.

4. Get connected with your boss’ objectives and how you fit in to them. What are his/her challenges and how can you help meet them.

5. PLAN. Plan your time and plan how to meet your objectives. Create a schedule that allows you to stay connected with your personal life and your career objectives.

6. Complete a project within your first 60 – 90 days. Keep your boss up-to-date on what you are doing and, if uncertain about something, ask for advice.

7. On the days that you are unsure of yourself, remember the days that you were most successful. Everyone has bad days. It doesn’t mean that you are a failure or that you made a wrong choice to join the firm. Get yourself back on track.

8. Enjoy your successes. Celebrate the victories.

Joining a new firm may initially feel like moving to a new country but with time and effort on your part, you, too, can achieve the success that so many immigrants have.

“The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels” by Michael Watkins is described by Publishers’ Weekly as an “. . . earnest guide to career transition periods-when a new job or promotion puts an employee in an unfamiliar role-asserts, reassuringly, that navigating the all-important first 90 days is a “teachable skill.” Business professor Watkins, co-author of Right From the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role, lays out a “standard framework” for leadership transitions, based on “five fundamental propositions,” “ten key challenges,” and a four-fold typology of situations that new managers find themselves in.

Fortunately, Watkins balances the theorizing with practical steps managers can take to get on top of things and initiate changes, including elaborate self-assessment checklists, planning exercises and meticulous guidelines on how to have conversations with underlings and bosses. “

 

 

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2007

“I Know We’ve Made a Job Offer to You. But Things Have Changed and We’re Rescinding the Offer”

by

Imagine receiving this phone call or email:

“Hi! This is a hard call for us to make but . . . yes, we know we’ve made a job offer to you but things have changed and, uh, we need to rescind the job offer. We understand that you resigned your job and made plans to join our company but, like I said, our circumstances have changed. Good luck!”

How about this one:

“Hi! We understand that you’ve been working for our company for three weeks and we’ve decided that, even though you’re a terrific performer doing a great job for us, we’ve decided to go a different direction. Friday will be your last day.”

I suspect you might feel shocked, angry and hurt all at once.

“Why did you hire me if you were considering ending the function?”

“I’m out of work now because you didn’t plan properly? I’m suing you for damages. You’ll pay for whatever income I lose because of this!”

So let me ask you this:

Why do so many people think it is OK to back out of a job offer or, even worse, start a job and quit a week or two later because “things have changed” or “something better” has shown up? Didn’t that something better exist while you were interviewing?

Of course it did and you were dishonest. You can rationalize things as much as you like but understand this: You gave your word and they made plans because they trusted you. You betrayed them and screwed them (I apologize if my language offends you). They did nothing wrong but you did.

One of the things about being responsible orabout being an adult is accepting that we make choices that affect others.

Had they done this to you, you would have been furious and lost a lot of money in lost wages.

You cannot consider yourself a professional if you calmly go about doing this to others.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2012

Hope Springs Eternal

by

For those of us who were able to work through the most recent recession in our chosen field, or for those of you who landed in new jobs in new industry, the future is extremely bright. Corporations are starting to hear the message that the future will hold labor shortages in the US.

Research conducted by the McKinsey Consulting Group titled “The War for Talent” indicates that the search for the best and the brightest talent will become a constant, costly battle.

The reason for this talent shortage has to do with demographics. In the very near future, there will be 15% fewer Americans in the 35 to 45-year-old range than there are now. At the same time, the U.S. economy is likely to grow at a rate of 3% to 4% per year. As such, over that period, the demand for bright, talented 35 to 45-year-olds will increase by 25%, and the supply will be going down by 15%.

Your goal is to remain in “the sweet spot” of your marketplace. Cultivate high demand skills, training, education, certification necessary to command higher salaries.

If you’re an accountant, study for and become a CPA; if you’re a network engineer, study for and get as many quality certifications as you can. Do you have a Master’s degree? Consider getting one/ Certifications and training become positive differentiators in the marketplace.

Years ago, I spoke to a young man who already had 7 years in the industry as a technologist but did not have a college degree. He was managing payroll systems for a multinational firm but he was finding doors closed. After explaining his concerns, he asked for advice and I suggested that he find a good and convenient degree program. I told him that having the degree wouldn’t guarantee a job but would eliminate excuses as to why he wasn’t being hired and put him on an equal footing with peers with whom he was competing.

Yes, it is work to stay current or even ahead of the curve and, for most people, it will pay off financially and in terms of job satisfaction many times over.

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2006

Giving Notice: 6 Things to Do to Prepare to Leave

by

 

After days, weeks, months or longer of interviewing, you have received a job offer that meets your needs and have decided to give notice to your employer and resign your current job.

1. Get your job offer in writing. Having the offer in writing is both your legal protection against an employer should they make an attempt to deceive you with the terms of the offer AND your protection against you having made a mistake in hearing the offer. The letter should include both your new salary and position title within it. Some will provide a benefits summary; most large firms will not provide that until employee orientation during your initial phase of employment with their firm.

2. Meet with your boss for a few minutes and tell them personally and provide a written letter of resignation. “May I get a minute with you uttered on a Friday,” has started more discussions about resignation and sent many employers into unhappy weekends and managers into anxiety attacks about how to replace someone than almost any other question.

3. Give two weeks notice. Sometimes three weeks is the right thing to do, but remember, your new job is waiting for you and if you’ve told them you’ll be there in two weeks, do not adjust your start date to accommodate the job you’re leaving. After all, if you died tomorrow, they would still survive without you.

4. Your letter of resignation should be simple.

Dear ____________,

I have decided to resign my position with Mega Company effective today. My last day of employment will be _____________.

Thank you for the opportunity to have worked with you and to have learned from you. (OPTIONAL SENTENCE TO FOLLOW). Please respect me and my decision by not attempting to make a counter offer.

Sincerely,

Your name

5. If you are asked for reason you are leaving, do not be hypercritical and answer simply. “I believe that this opportunity will further my career goals,” is acceptable. If you want to go into details, do not discuss any slights that you received. Focus on objective things, rather than on your (emotional) reactions to decisions. You do not need to disclose the name of the firm you are going to work for although there is nothing wrong about doing so.

6. For most people, do not consider accepting a counteroffer. How did you “suddenly” become worth more money? Because your departure inconveniences your employer. As a result, they will have to delay plans or have work assigned to others less capable and will be adversely impacted. For most people, a counteroffer only addresses and corrects the financial failings of their job and does nothing to improve their job.

Resigning well will allow you to complete your final week(s) of employment well and head to your new job with confidence and certainty.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2005

Offer Letters

by

It never fails.

At least once a year someone walks over to me and starts up a conversation with me.

“Did (my wife/husband, friend, uncle, aunt) call you?

“The long and the short of it is they went on an interview, filled out all the paperwork and received a job offer. They accepted the offer and gave notice to their job(s).”

“The day before they called up to find out what time to be in at work on Monday and were told, ‘Gee, we just met with our accountant and he told us we should be laying off people and not hiring someone so we can’t bring you on board right now.'”

“What can I do?”

I then ask, “Did you have the job offer in writing?”

“No.”

“Well, without proof, if I were you, I would turn around and apologize and tell your current boss that you made a terrible mistake and would like your job back.”

“But . . . ”

“No ‘buts.’ No letter. No proof.”

In case you’re wondering,  always get the job offer in writing. Even if an agent is representing you, the agent is generally being paid by the employer and works for them and not for you (There are exceptions to this rule)

Get it in writing!

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2010

 

No B. S. Job Search Advice: How Long Can You Consider a Job Offer?

by

A few weeks ago, a young man I was representing almost lost a job. He had interviewed with the firm on Thursday afternoon and received a job offer that day. He wanted to consider the offer until the close of business the following Friday . . . and almost lost the opportunity he ultimately accepted by insisting that he had “a right” to “consider it” until then.

From my client’s perspective, they understood that he was comparison shopping, had actually hired three people from the firm he was waiting for an offer from, were interviewing more people from there and didn’t want to risk losing everyone.

This situation offers an opportunity to examine how long you have to consider a job offer once you receive one.

The correct answer is that you have as long as they will give you.

Most firms would like an immediate or almost immediate response. I don’t mean an answer in 10 minutes. I mean an answer where you sleep on it. After all, in most cases, you’ve interviewed there several times, why haven’t you been thinking about it before now and able to make a decision?

And delaying for too long gives a message to the hiring firm of how you make decisions . . . or that you are shopping for another option . . . or just aren’t that interested.

The fact is everything you do on an interview is a reflection of you and how you will work with your new employer. A day to think is OK (truthfully, now, you’re not going to take a day off from work, sit in a chair in isolation and contemplate the job offer, are you), two days is often OK and more gives the employer reason to feel hesitant about you and your thought process.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2009

How Do I Choose? 6 Steps to Choosing Between Job Offers

by

I want to offer a methodology for choosing between alternatives.

Step 1: BEFORE you start interviewing, jot down what the most important things are in your next job or organization.

Step 2: During the search, as companies start to come into focus and you start to see the choices that will be available, make up three lists.

a. What do I like about this opportunity
b) What I do not like about the opportunity
c) What am I unsure about in this opportunity
Step 3: Get answers to your uncertainties and move them and the questions to one of the other two lists.

Step 4: Negotiate your job offer

Step 5: Prioritize the alternatives based upon Step 1 (REMEMBER: NO PLACE WILL BE PERFECT. Some will be less perfect than others.

Step 6: Decide!

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2007

Ask for Advice from Experts . . . But Make Your Own Decision

by

In recent days, the press has spent a lot of time talking about the current Republican candidate for Senator Delaware.

Is she too extreme?

Has the party made the right choice?

How can such an extreme candidate be chosen?

For several months before the election, no one considered her a viable candidate. Nor did they consider any of the other Tea Party candidates who were nominated by their party.

Going further back, no one ever heard of Jimmy Carter when he announced for President, thought Bill Clinton could ever be nominated after a scandal broke early in his campaign, though he could survive the various scandals that led to his impeachment, thought Bush was the legitimate President of the United States even though no recount, even those commissioned by the Washington Post or New York Times, ever overturned the results of the Florida tally, ever considered that Senator Obama stood a chance to become President . . .

My point is not about political commentary but about so-called experts.

All these experts, including almost everyone who makes a living forecasting the stock market, was correct about any of these elections or foresaw the collapse of the financial markets in 2008.

You will need to make a decision about a job offer at some point and, like everyone, you will have blind spots that will need illumination. Create a “Court of Advisers” before you need to make a choice and ask for their help while you interview.

But ultimately, it is your decision. You will have to live with the consequences and, perhaps your family, if your decision is wrong.

You will have to decide, not them . . . and use that power and authority wisely.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2010

The Brand of The Company You Join Matters, Too

by

One of the most undervalued criteria people use when making a decision about a job offer (or two or three) is the brand of the firm you will be working for.

Yet that brand can make it easier or harder for you to find your next job when it comes time to look for one again . . . and despite everyone’s best intentions, you will probably look for another job again.

Let me show you how brand can influence decisions in your every day left and then show you how it affects employers’ decisions.

When you go to a store to buy a detergent, do you pick up the different brands tat are available, examine the list of ingredients, and come to a conclusion and say, “Huh. The chemical combination in this package should make my wash cleaner and brighter than this one.”

No. You make the decision based upon price, whether you have a coupon, whether your Mom used to use this brand . . . anything other than whether your laundry will be cleaner based upon the chemical combination in one package vs. another.

When a hiring manager is looking at resumes, choosing between candidates or deciding how much to extend the offer for, they are often influenced by the brand of the employer.

Consulting firms hire from their preferred competitors.

Hedge funds are influenced by the schools you attended and your grades.

If I say to you Google, Microsoft or Apple vs. “Three Men in a Garage Bank” or Small StartUp No One Has heard of,” you will probably prefer hiring someone from the companies you know and not the ones you don’t.

This doesn’t mean not to join the startup no one has heard of. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple were once seen that way and now things are a little different, wouldn’t you agree? Just like things are a little different when we mention the names of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and many many other firms that lost their way and eventually went out of business.

So don’t ignore your potential employer’s brand when making your decision. After all, no one else is.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2013

Strung Along

by

Often in job hunting, you can’t control the process. What you can do is control your response to what is happening.

There are many places in the job search process where that can be true, but none more than when waiting for an offer.

I was recently representing someone for a C suite position. The candidate would have had to relocate, embraced the job and the opportunity, clearly did a great job at each step in the process, yet when it got down to checking references, there was this little lag that took place.

Our “BS detector” went off. He continued interviewing. References were checked. They were to make a decision by that Friday and no offer was extended. He continued to interview.

The following work, he called to say, he was close to another offer and had promised the CAO to let him know if he was about to receive another offer. It was time to do so.

He dropped him a great note, taking what might be an ordinary courtesy letter into another selling opportunity. No response.

Friday (a week after when the hiring firm said they would be making a decision), he emails saying that he has another offer.

“Contact the CAO,” I say, “Let him know you have the other offer. I suspect I know how this will go.”

“Do you know something,” he asks.

“Let’s read the tea leaves. I could be wrong in how I read them so don’t treat this as fact. My guess is that they made the offer to another person and you’re the second choice. They will have a decision today or Monday . . . but let him know what is going on; after all, it’s your first choice.”

He called and let the CAO know that he hasd another offer.

“Can you give us until Monday.”

“Bingo,” he thought. “I’m the second choice.”

“I can’t. I need to commit to a decision today.”

“Let’s speak at 6:30.”

At 6:30, my candidate was thanked for his professional conduct throughout the process and told they had chosen someone else.

Can you imagine what might have happened if after his final round he had sat back and not continued interviewing?

You never stop interviewing until you have the offer letter in hand.

And when delays start to occur (and these were very modest delays), adopt the headhunter axiom– Time is never an ally. Time delays rarely indicate something good will happen for you, particularly on later rounds of job interviews.

Understand it for what it is–procrastination. Sometimes, the procrastination is caused because of bureaucracy. Sometimes because they are “shopping” for a better candidate. Rarely is it because of good circumstances.

Keep going until you receive an offer you are ready to say, “Yes,” to.

 

© Jeff Altman, Asheville, NC, 2014

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn