Career Management (01)
Once upon a time...
There was a man named Joaquim Silva, born in Lisbon, son of a couple of public employees that came to live and work in Lisbon by the middle of the XX century, now buried at the cemetery Alto de S. João, Lisbon.
Joaquim Silva is a retired physician (currently living in a small village, in Algarve); he made his studies in Lisbon and started working at local public hospitals and a couple of years later made his private clinic, but never ceased working for the Portuguese public health service. Married with the deceased Joana, he lived all his life at Alvalade, a quiet Lisbon neighbourhood.
Mr. Silva does not understand why he cannot gather his sons for vacations or Christmas. The elder is a manager working in Brasil for the group Sonae, António, the second, was sent by his company, Renova, to Barcelona and Maria works as a teacher, lecturing this year in a small town in the north. The girl has been a teacher since graduation, but wishes to embrace his own business, while the boys had changed job and home for several times. That is why, in Mr. Silva’s view, both are divorced.
Well, as Bob Dylan’s lyrics said by the sixties: Times…they are changing!
Therefore, if you are young and hoping to make a career as a manager, marketer, scientist, economist, engineer, whatever, you should consider how to manage your path. Ask yourself where you want to be within 10, 15 or 20 years.
Managing careers is not only for professional sport players with coaches, lawyers and an array of agents. Everybody aiming for success should be concerned.
I will use this blog as a tool to help you, within my limited knowledge and resources, giving some hints as to how to deal with this issue. In the end, career management is a matter of using common sense and grabbing all the opportunities that lay ahead of one’s life.
Career Management (02)
Take a look at the introduction of the personal development program "The Next Chapter of Success" held at Harvard Business School:
How do you use past success to create a platform for the next meaningful stage of your personal and professional life? Increasingly, accomplished individuals find that the right mix of goals and skills changes over time as their visions and responsibilities grow, making it imperative to continually recalibrate their measures of success.
Whether you plan to remain in your current job, take on different responsibilities, or rescale your work commitments, Choices: The Next Chapter of Success will help you to rebalance your life plans by addressing critical issues that continually resurface for high-achieving individuals.
This Harvard course is a good example of what might be seen as career management: it is targeted to middle aged managers facing rapidly changing environments. It provides a tool for those wishing to embrace new challenges. Notice the words used to describe it: "recalibrate, rescale, rebalance"
Therefore career management apply to all of us; not only to young generations seeking entrance in the labor market.
And what benefits can we get from coaching? Here are some examples:
Time management
Higher self-awareness
Career
Financial
Spiritual
Better goal-setting
Better family relationships
etc.
keeping the above in mind, I will try to focus my next posts on the needs of students and starting professionals.
Career Management (03)
If you are interested on career management (call it career coaching, if you like) you should start by reading - gathering information- some books on the subject.
Here is a short-list of recommended books:
On Change Management:
Living at the Leading Edge of Change
by Willian J. Morin and Sherry Cadorette
Shifting Sands
by Willian J. Morin and Robert W. Lewis
On Career Development:
Career Anchors
by Edgar H. Schein, Ph.D
The Pathfinder
by Nicholas Lore, pub. Simon & Schuster
Life Coaching: A New Career for Helping Professionals
by Dave B. Ellis
Training Games for Career Development
by James J. Kirk (preface), Lynne D. Kirk, Brandon A. Kirk (illustrator)
Building a Career Development Program: Nine Steps for Efferctive Implementation
by Richard L. Knowdell
On Transition:
Parting Company
edited by Bob Stirling and Pat Mortin
Real Life Resumes That Work !
by William J. Morin and James C. Cabrera
50 Winning Answers to Interview Questions
edited by Charles F. Albrecht Jr.
Stay in Control
by Carla-Krystin Andrade, Ph.D.
Basically, career management is a well-developed area in Anglo-Saxon countries. You should search there for authors, articles, books, papers, etc .
Career Management (04)
If we were to define the typical client of a career management organization, here are some of the most frequent situations:
Executives and managers facing dramatic organizational changes (typically, the open window for the outplacement companies)
Leaders with big opportunity or challenge in a start-up or turnaround situation.
Rising stars who need to be prepared for more rapid advancement.
People that have difficult with work/life balance.
Technical experts (like engineers) who need to enhance leadership.
People dealing with conflicts (personality, communication).
People facing high employee turnover or other warning signals.
People unable to cope with “generation gaps”
Successful people uncomfortable with the pressure to keep success.
People needing to change careers, due to failure.
Etc.
What are the common issues here? First, “change” and the ability to cope with it. Second, lack of knowledge to deal with “unplanned” life. Third, aging and the need to be up-dated . And fourth, mid and long term professional strategies.
However, many of the above issues can be solved without having to pay to service providers. If we are aware of them...
Career Management (05)
Today I will introduce one of the most important issues for a successful career management: networking.
This means that you have to build throughout your life, consistently, a contact network of your friends, school colleagues, business collaborates, clients, suppliers, professional colleagues, relatives, etc.
You will need them and you must find a way to become needed by them.
How to do it? “Keep in touch” is a good start.
Join and cooperate with alumni and professional associations; go to professional events like seminars, trade fairs, conferences, etc. and be sure to carry and distribute your cards; attend social events; reply to requests even if that means to sacrifice your free time.
Remember, you are not alone and you must participate!
Career Management (06)
I will add now that it would be wrong to sit and wait for those opportunities to come. You must seek them! If you need coaching (who doesn’t?), find a tutor.
A tutor or a coach, if you like, must be someone with experience, not necessarily on your specific area, who has some spare time to share with you and with whom you can talk or exchange correspondence, from time to time.
Where to find him/her? A senior or retired manager, an experienced teacher, a successful businessman, an old college fellow, a relative, a senior army officer, a successful lawyer, architect, engineer, physician, etc. could be the right target. Probably the best choice would be someone with experience on conducting/managing people.
Why would he or she be at you disposal? Many reasons, the first being your recognition on selecting him/her. Second, if it is a retired person, your request is a reason for feeling useful to society.
Think it over and don’t feel intrusive to others. Knock to some doors to get a Yes.
Career Management (07)
1. Connect with like-minded professionals:
See what you are looking for regarding objectives and values and find someone who shares those feelings. You might be interested on making money, while your mentor prefers to help people, so a conflict might arouse.
2. Get together often, but do not abuse:
People's goals and ambitions change constantly, so meeting about six times a year with your tutor gives you the chance to cope with that dynamics.
3. Be open and forthright:
The relationship with your mentor must be kept always at a confidential level, because you need to be open and trustful if you want to get a good and honest feedback.
4. Make it personal:
Do not limit discussions to career-related topics; serious problems at home in terms of finances or family can affect a person's ability to concentrate at their job. Remember that your tutor is an experienced person (if you made the right choice).
Career Management (08)
This type of situation can easily take its toll on your bill paying and money management, as you must learn to live with less income than you are used to. But more than that, it's stressful to deal with the lack of job stability; not knowing when your precarious situation might come to an end.
Don't give up because a window might open for you at any time; in the meantime, here are some tips to stay afloat until better times arrive:
Don't use your credit card as if it's a debit card. This may be difficult and require extra discipline, but bills can snowball quickly on credit cards and overwhelm a tight budget. Keep in mind that shoppers spend more and less responsibly when using credit cards.
If you know you will have difficulty paying bills, contact your creditors and try to negotiate a new payment schedule. Don't wait until after you are late with payments.
Take this job and do something with it. The job market won't be bleak forever. Get as much as you can out of your current position: Make yourself valuable, learn new skills and continue to seek a new position.
And remember: it is time to get the most of your networking.
Career Management (09)
The following tips can help to put women on the radar screen of decision-makers in your field:
Become an authority.
Developing an expertise helps you stand out, especially if it's territory no one else has yet staked.
Polish your public speaking.
Speaking at industry conferences and forums is a good idea. Volunteer!
Identify new ways to build business.
What have you done recently that “helped grow the business"?
Participate in an industry association.
Don't just join, volunteer!
Publicize your achievements.
Use your company's newsletter or Intranet site to highlight what you or your group have done. Or better, try issuing a paper and distribute it among your networking, if it is not confidential matter, of course.
Career Management (10)
Why? Because his most crucial insights were about workers . Long before the Internet, before even the first computer chips, he foresaw the arrival of "knowledge workers" motivated by personal pride as much as by fear and a paycheck. Harnessing their talents, he argued, required a new approach to management.
Mr. Drucker believed organizations should articulate a clear purpose, with specific, measurable goals; he developed the concept of "management by objective," to keep managers in step with those goals; he encouraged managers to ask unspoken questions and consider ignored issues.
Just two more samples of his thoughts:
“Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weakness irrelevant”
“Every enterprise is a learning and teaching institution. Training and development must be built into it on all levels – training and development that never stop.”
If I succeeded on making you wish to buy and read Peter Drucker’s books, this was one of my best posts.
Career Management (11)
As a simple case study, imagine one John Smith working as senior accountant manager, at the long-distance and giant company WorldCom Inc., which melted down in an $11 billion fraud, the biggest in corporate history.
Asked by his bosses there to make false accounting entries, John balked -- and then caved. Over the course of six quarters, he continued to make the illegal entries to bolster WorldCom's profits at the request of his superiors. Each time he worried. Each time he hoped it was the last time. At the end of 18 months, he had helped falsify some billions in profits.
And then, Justice came…
John Smith's story is a cautionary tale for good corporate soldiers everywhere who find themselves ordered to do something wrong. As John's experience at WorldCom shows, sometimes it's hard to tell right from wrong in the heat of a workplace battle. And when an employee's livelihood is on the line, it's tough to say no to a powerful boss. Jon Smith wasn't alone in these predicaments. Investigators hired by the company's new board found that dozens of employees knew about the fraud at WorldCom, but were afraid to speak out.
What to do? In a case study, you only find issues, problems, not answers. Finding answers is your job. One thing I do know: Mr. John Smith was found guilty and sentenced to jail. Because he committed illegal acts.
Another thing is that in a situation like this, probably, you are not alone. So, speak with your fellow co-workers, join forces and put the cards on your boss’s table. Remember, in cases like this, you head is at stake!
Career Management (12)
Here is the list:
"Get Paid What You're Worth: The Expert Negotiator's Guide to Salary and Compensation" By Robin L. Pinkley and Gregory B. Northcraft"This is a great starting place for anyone deciding to negotiate compensation. It covers all the basics."
"Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide" By Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever"Women often get paid less than men for doing the same job. This book explains why and what you can do about it."
"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" By Robert Cialdini"There is a lot of psychology behind effective negotiations in both business and everyday life. This wonderful work explains the 20% of that psychology that makes 80% of difference to your success."
"Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ"By Daniel Goleman"Sometimes it isn't what you ask for but rather how you ask for it that makes the difference. This work shows that getting ahead depends as much on your sensitivity to peoples' feelings as it does to the excellence of your work."
"Think and Grow Rich" By Napoleon Hill"Having the right mental attitude is critical when you are asking for more pay. This classic self-help manual shows you a step-by-step process for getting psyched up so you will achieve your goals -- for compensation and everything else."
