Work Coach Cafe

As far as I know there are no college majors preparing us for reception work. And yet it’s an important job that makes a real difference to almost everyone we come in contact with. Many of us have held this honorable and often under-appreciated title. And there are many many more of us who have held similarly important and likewise undervalued jobs.

To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, despite the pivotal roles we play in the world of business, all too often “We get no respect!” [Read more →]

We all screw up interviews now and then - even someone who’s been through this whole job interview thing many many times and writes a blog just brimming with interview advice! Here’s what happened to me just this week.

I decided to reach out beyond my usual consulting clients and look for something new. One job in particular interested me because it offers a chance to work with various locations and people, helping make sure a major project for the City of New York flows smoothly. So I sent my resume and waited.

Two days later, I got an e-mail from the consulting firm giving me a full job description and asking if I was still interested.  I was reading the e-mail at the office while trying to balance at least 3 other things, and quickly responded including the phone number at my current assignment where I could be reached during the day.

As I clicked “Send” I saw I had accidentally typed the phone number with two of the numbers interchanged. Aaaargh! [Read more →]

Dear Work Coach,

It’s been nice to read all the advice you have given. Still waiting for the official job offer seems to be the worst waiting game and I am in the same boat.

I flew in for a the job interview on July 7 and it went very well. It’s seems that I am their top candidate.

The hiring manager called a week later and said that he has put something together for me that should be a good territory and it just has to be signed off on. I spoke to him the week after and he said it is now in financing to be approved. So for now it has been two weeks and still nothing official.

I spoke to him on Monday and he said that he is still waiting for it to be approved and I am still “their guy”.

Do you think that I have anything to worry about? [Read more →]

Dear Work Coach,

I read your blog and it makes an interesting read. I am looking for some answers. I hope you can help me.

I have been working for more than 3 yrs in my company. I joined from a fresher level to go on to become one of the leads (though not on papers). Just a year and half back I was transferred from my dept and moved to another dept. I was doing pretty great there and was pinning on my appraisals for a promotion, which did not happen and as the process was closing down, there was no point on creating a scene about it.

In my new dept. I let my boss know that I would like to lead a team (as this was something that I was doing in my earlier role). He told me he would make sure that he would do that. The first six months I worked from an associate level trying to understand the process. After I understood the process completely, I was moved into a different team. I had a talk with the Manager again. Told him my concern, as I was aware that this could be one of the ploys of keeping me at an associate level itself. He assured me again.

Somehow after some months things picked up, as I had a talk with him again and I was been given other responsibilities. I had a lot on my plate and still managed to meet my deadlines and stay afloat. As I am of a reserved and an introvert nature, I kept my communication open with others. I used to keep my communication with my manager to minimum as he has a tendency to go hay-wire.

Due to my nature, people get the wrong feeling that I am arrogant. I guess my boss thought that too. I got a feeling that he did not like me. As I found myself being targeted by people for my mistakes, sometimes even when it was not on my end. [Read more →]

I’ve been thinking about the men and women who serve our country and what happens to them when they come back and need a job. Not all of them stay in the military. And not all of them get their old jobs back. So after all they’ve seen and after all they’ve done for us, are there some good resources to help them?

Whether or not you agree with the war in Iraq or the way we’ve handled things, I believe all veterans deserve our gratitude and a chance to get back to a normal life - and often they need some extra support making that happen. Unfortunately, a lot of our veterans are having trouble finding good jobs now that they’re back and ready to return to civilian life, and this really bothers me.

So with that in mind, I found a great post by Christina Laun on the Job Profiles website. This May 22, 2008 post is just loaded with links to job resources that hopefully can help former military personnel. If you know anyone in this situation, or if you yourself have served our country (and thank you if you did), you might find this well worth reading. [Read more →]

I occasionally get questions about how to handle the whole salary issue during the interview process:

• What am I worth?
• How do I compare to others in a similar job?
• Can I negotiate?
• What do I do if their salary offer is too low?

Best thing you can do is prepare yourself in advance for the possible offer to come. Research the company as best you can. Lots of info on the internet now. And you can check out what others are getting [Read more →]

Doug Conant has some great career advice for all of us.

I was reading my alumni magazine and saw an interview with Conant, CEO of Campbell Soup Company. After working at Kraft, General Mills and Nabisco, in 2001 he took on the enormous challenge of shaking things up at Campbell, which was declining in both stature and performance

Since then, Conant helped turn the company around. Even though Campbell had household-name products, when Doug arrived sales had plateaued and there was no exciting vision to bring the company into the future - or even the present. (You can just imagine how the employees felt!)

And now, there is that and much more. It’s an impressive story about the difference truly good leadership skills can make to a company’s success. And it’s a story I think any of us can learn from.

But more to the point…in the interview, Doug was asked what career advice he’d offer recent graduates just starting out. But I think this is great advice for anyone who works for a living, at any point in our career. [Read more →]

I’m laughing at some of the Google ads on my blog. I was checking a few of my posts, and found these ads just staring at me. Had to share them with you. And no, they aren’t clickable. (OK. I left one clickable…just for my own amusement.)

Found this one on a post titled: My Boss Screams at Me - Is That OK? The Google bots (they crawl website code) thought long and hard and came up with this:

Of course…that’s about the one and only Boss, Bruce Springsteen! Never knew Google had such good taste. (Although if it really is your screaming boss, that would be kind of scary.)

—-

After that, I found this one on a post called: Job Interviews: What’s Your Greatest Strength? [Read more →]

Dear Work Coach,

I’ve been in the interview process with a company who finally called to request references. While the position is at a lower level than my former position, it is for a company I’m eager to work with, in an area that really interests me. They have requested references from two supervisors plus one other source.

I have no problem getting three or four great references from the people I’ve worked with, but getting more than one supervisory reference might be tricky. I was with my past company for almost a decade and for half of that time, I was in a high-level managerial position, reporting directly to the President, the owner of the company. This person, despite being very intelligent, was often unstable and manipulative, and at times bordering on abusive.

While HR was aware of these issues, there was nothing that could be done about it. The stressful effect of my boss’ wild mood swings and screaming sessions was the key reason I chose to leave an otherwise great company, although I have been careful not to mention this in any hiring situations. As such, I don’t really want to use her as a reference if I can avoid it.

I have included on my list one person who was my manager during my early years with the company, who is still there in a different capacity and would have no problem discussing my growth and contributions to the company. Would it be feasible to also include someone who was in charge of a cross-departmental team that I was on more recently, even though technically I was at a higher job level than she was? She did manage and coordinate a number of efforts that I contributed to. [Read more →]

I just got this from one of my readers (someone I worked with privately):

Hi! Wanted to check back in and confirm– since I redid my resume and cover letter style a few weeks ago, I have had a dramatic increase in my response rate. This week: four interview requests. (Thank goodness! I was getting worried!)

TEB

I am SO happy to read this. Congratulations TEB. You go git ‘em grrrl!

I wrote about how she had some doubt that simply changing her resume and cover letter could make much difference. But it has! Nice to have confirmation.

(Here’s the original post: How a New Resume and Cover Letter Got Her the Job Interview!)

Your Boring Old Resume May be Costing You Interviews

Please…whether you’re just starting your job search or have been at it for a while, don’t assume just any old resume is good enough. Read the resume tips in my post. [Read more →]