CAREER DIGEST - Executive Tips for Your Job
GOT A BIG INTERVIEW SCHEDULED AND YOU'RE NOT SURE HOW TO PREPARE? HERE ARE SOME IDEASNAILING THE INTERVIEWAct enthusiastic about the job. Employers are impressed by your energy level and a willingness to jump in and learn.
KNOW THE ORGANIZATIONWhile your college pedigree may be impeccable what is more impressive to an interviewer is knowing details about an organization where you are applying -- such as the number of employees on staff, how large it is and what they do.
DON’T TRY TO CHANGE AN ORGANIZATIONIf during the interview, If you’re asked about what you’d do on your first day on the job don’t tell a potential employer that you have a vision for changing the organization. In other words don’t over reach. Become familiar with the corporate culture before making suggestions about changes
PREPARE ANSWERS BEFORE HANDRehearse answers to even the most predictable inquires such as “What’s the most challenging business problem you’ve ever faced and how did you handle it?” Avoid appearing like a the deer-caught in the headlights withs double takes and vague replies. Don’t be caught off guard by questions that seem to make you look unprepared. Make sure you’ve researched details that you can weave into the conversation.
DON’T USE ANSWERS YOU’VE REHEARSED IN APPROPRIATELYYou can memorize your lines but don’t deliver them at the wrong time.
DO INCLUDE THE UNEXPECTEDNever sound boring or become intimidated by your interviewer. Always have a few anecdotes you’ve prepared to illustrate a point to make the conversation interesting.
DON’T FORGET TO EXPECT SOME HUMILIATIONAnswer questions calmly and stand your ground. Be honest and show your integrity, don’t allow the interview to make you sound angry or defensive.
BE LIKEABLEAnswer questions with an easy smile and disarming rapport and earn an extra two or three minutes to present your case just because you’re likeable.
DON’T BE TOO SLICKWhile it is good to be assertive and confident, don’t over due it. Shiny surfaces don’t impress executives who look beneath them. Employers are thinking about the candidate for the job in these terms," I have to like this person, think their nice. Can I work with this person everyday? Can I be in a meeting with him or her? Can I talk to him or her? Do I want my clients to be with him or her? Does this person fit into our culture?
DO LET THEM SEE THE REAL YOUBe open about your life as a wife or husband and businessperson. Don’t be afraid of adding anecdotes about your family if they are relevant and serve a point.
DON’T HID EVERY FLAWIt’s the oldest interview question in the book: what are your weaknesses? Tell the truth. Trying to hide every imperfection may result in revealing things you never meant too.
MAP A LIFE PLANLaw school, business school, professional football, your own company, you may seem to have it all except a sense of direction about f where you’re headed today. Your interviewer may think that if they hire you, you many change course again. Don’t let your interviewer see your weakness. Give yourself a clear direction in life, at least for the interview.
DON’T FORGET THE COMPANY’S PLACE IN YOUR LIFEMake sure you can talk about past jobs in length including the one you are applying for. Explain how your prior experiences have prepared you for the current job you are applying for. What personal growth do you hope to achieve at the new job and what can you contribute?“See yourself as victorious. We have a lot of chances and opportunities and the timetable for achievement is often greater than we think it is. Don’t ever shortchange yourself on what life has to offer. The only losers are people who never try. Failing means you tried something. That means you are capable of trying again, which means you are capable of success. It is very important to remain optimistic and keep moving forward. But above all, you can never give up. Never, ever, give up. Be tenacious. It is the best way to handle setbacks and the best way to achieve success. Believe in yourself in all circumstances.” --- Donald Trump
.MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS·Tell me about your leadership style- what’s it like to work for you?·
- Would you enjoy working for you?·
- When it is appropriate to bend the rules?·
- What do you think would be your ideal job in this organization?·
- How important is education to you?·
- Do you consider yourself a loyal employee?·
- Who is on your enemy list?·
- Why should this company hire you for this job?
Material for this article comes from Lessons from the Apprentice, by Michael Robin. The reality television show The Apprentice aired on CBS staring Donald Trump and his staff of advisors. During a 13-week period last fall , contestants competed for a job at Trump Enterprises. They were interviewed and tasked with grueling professional challenges.
ROMANTIC LOVE AND THE GOOD LIFE
What does romantic love and a good job have in common? A great deal, according to E.L. Kersten , a former professor of organizational communications. His article, appears in the February's Harvard Business Review.
The romantic ideal of finding a perfect mate is doomed to failure Kersten argues because of unrealistic expectations. If you hold on to these false expectations, the author says you'll end up disappointed and make your life partner miserable. In the same way he says employees get excited about the corporate ideal of the “right job.” A job that will meet all your needs rarely exists. People who subscribe to these beliefs have bought into a personalized version of Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs customized to fit their ideals. They too share a fantasy that they soon discover rarely happens. As a result employees feel frustrated, disappointed and demeaned when they discover that business is more interested in what they do than who they are.
Statistic reveal that last year only 50% of U.S. workers were satisfied with their jobs, the lowest point yet in a steady decline that began in 1995, says the author. With an exception of a few years, job satisfaction in the U.K. has been dropping since 1991 according to research done at the University of Kent.
Participants in a study complained about the lack of personal fulfillment, “robotic” meaningless work, work/ life imbalance, insufficient acknowledgement of efforts and lack of influence with supervisors. Conventional wisdom blames unhappiness on poor leadership and a bad work environment. But have working conditions in the past decade really degraded so much for so many? Decline in satisfaction persists in periods when employers have the ability to make changes and when workers have been lucky to have jobs at all. Moreover, an average worker spends more than two hours of each eight-hour day surfing the Internet, conducting personal business or just spacing out. This suggests that many employees have autonomy and a manageable workload.
Perhaps employees are dissatisfied because they’ve been taught to expect too much from their jobs, Kersten says. In the 1990’s organizational behaviorists concluded that great work environments would produce happy, productive workers. Humanists suggested that work should be a vehicle for growth and self-expression. These ideas became part of conversation for companies and observers of companies including management companies and the business press. Employees as a result came to expect that their jobs would be satisfying and meaningful and their employers would help them grow professionally and develop their true potential.
Much misery could be avoided if employees do not expect companies to imbue their lives with meaning. You have the right to expect a decent wage, good working conditions but not self-fulfillment from your employer concludes Kersten.
This article was abstracted from Breakthrough ideas for 2006, Harvard Business Review “Why they call it work”, by E.L. Kersten a former professor of organizational communications.. Kersten heads a company in Austin Texas that produces satirical products for the office.
MANAGING A SCARY BOSS
Great intimidators create fear and loathing at work but they also create value in the work place, according to Roderick M. Kramer, a organizational psychologist whose has written about intimidating bosses in February's Harvard Business Review.
Kramer found from his research that intimidators have great political intelligence and are able to utilize the weakness and insecurities of others to get what they want through manipulation. They use the strategy of keeping everyone guessing because it is easier to change direction without losing credibility if people don’t know where you’re coming from, catching them by surprise. Despite all the chaos they create, intimidators are magnets for the best and brightest workers.
People want to learn from them and they inspire great performance. In the best situation, they are able to turn around organizations and in the worst situation may find themselves suddenly fired.. To subordinates, they may be unfeeling, cold, and abusive. Rage is always an option to strike fear in the heart of those who have displeased them. Employees are left with fear, trepidation and anxiety about being fired. In general intimidators are detailed oriented and do their homework. The great ones are organized, clear thinking, tough-minded and surround themselves with smart people who can engage in combat with them. They have people skills that can be turned on instantly when sucking up to those who count in their world as well as being cold, icy, and dismissive to subordinates.
So if it’s your luck to be promoted to a job under one of them, how do you survive? The trick to reaping big benefits, says Kramer, is to find a way to work effectively with them and get them to mentor you. Here are a few suggestions to get on their good side:
DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
Check out the great intimidator’s past. Find out which people have managed to work effectively with them. Learn what worked and what did not.
WORK HARDER
Work smarter and not harder means being efficient and clever with one’s time. Putting in time may impress the great intimidator even more. Matching their energy and drive is one way to get their attention. Work nights, weekends… give 200 percent. Be open to getting anything, anywhere and any time, Kramer suggests.
LAUGH AT THEIR ANTICS AND EARN THEIR RESPECT
Proving yourself unflappable is a great way to impress them.
CALL THEIR BLUFF
If you suspect they are mixing truth and fiction say out loud “I don’t believe it.” This puts the ball back in the intimidator’s court by showing you're not a push over. Show you’re tough under pressures and that your inner steel matches their own.
KEEP YOUR PERSPECTIVE
Don’t take things too seriously. One employer purposely interviewed his candidates by having them sit in the hot seat in an office with the hot sun streaming in a through a window while he remained in darkness. He secretly buzzed his secretary to come in very few minutes with new information to disorient the candidate and throw him off. However, he persevered and got the job.
STICK AROUND
Don’t pack your bag and leave because you want an easier job but remember why you wanted to work for the great intimidator in the first place. By learning through the processes of working for him, you can sharpen your own negotiation skills.
Abstracted from the article, The Great Intimidator, by Roderick M. Kramer, Harvard Business Review, February 20006
EXECUTIVE RECRUITING REMOVES BARRIERS
Executive recruiting, one of the most exclusive businesses around, is finally opening up its membership and that is paving the way for fresh faces according to Roger O. Crockett in February's Business Week.
Big headhunting firms are promoting new search talent including Heidrick & Struggles International Inc, and James Citrin at Spencer Stuart. part of the old boy network. But perhaps the most notable elite are Roger Tribbett and partner Andrea Redmond, co-directors of their CEO and Board practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc. The pair has been shaking up and the corporate world. For years Roche, 74, has ruled this high stake business as senior chairman at Heidrick and by Thomas J. Neff, 67, chairman of Spencer Stuart. It used to be that CEO succession was about attracting stars during the go-go 90’s. But the corporate world and the game of executive search is changing.. Today’s work force is more mobile. Loyality has been usurped by mobility even at the top.
CEO turnover of 12 percent now matches the normal attrition rate for all employees. According to BNA Inc, the rate of CEO dismissals among the world’s 2500 largest public companies increased by 300 percent from 1995 to 2004. At a time when China and India are the hot markets and Latinos, the surging population and Gen X workers are replacing aging baby boomers.
There is no inner sanctum more controlled by elder white males. says Joseph Daniel McCool, former editor of Executive Recruiter News.
Andrea and Charles represent fresh perspective in an industry that in many ways was antiquated. They are trying to get boards to think differe4ntly about leadership. Redmond is 49, is one of the few women at her level in the industry, Tribbett, 50, is regarded as the highest ranking African American in the industry
"We’re going beyond the top 10 companies for CEO’s "says Tribbett. When they are on assignment they try to become insiders at the company, familiar with its troubles, prospects, and culture. They suggest unknown names.
If someone shoots you down one day, you have to come back another day and say I listened and understand exactly what you are saying but I would like you to hear me out on this.
RECRUITERS’ TIPS FOR CLIMBING TO THE TOP
CONSIDER THE TRADE-OFF
Family time suffers, hobbies get shelved, work vacations don’t exist.
“If you ‘re running an organization, you can’t wake up Monday and decide to check your email,” says Redmond.
BUILD A REPUTATION
Executives should stay at one company for at least five years. Two or three years is not enough tenure to demonstrate success.
GET OUT OF THE US
There is no substitute for working abroad. Boards want global executives who can diversify the company.
LOOK FOR A COACH
Managers with big ambitions should find an executive coach... someone who can advise them on career moves and once they arrive, serve as a confidant
Information abstracted from Business Week –Roger O. Crockett The New Kingmakers,- February2006
THERAPY OVER THE INTERNET
E- Coaching may soon become part of the telemedicine and telehealth movement in the near future ...
Right now, however, E-therapy is one of the most innovate therapies being used by psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors overcoming major health barriers such as distance, scheduling, stigma and cost.
Therapy via the internet uses email, handheld computer devices, computerized telephone systems and websites and streaming video to treat conditions such as anxiety, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder for clients who in many cases could not receive traditionally therapy because of location and other problems.
For example, in San Jose California, office of addiction counselor Leslie Washburn, welcomes a group of alumni of an intensive alcohol treatment. The therapy sessions are broadcast using streaming video. The faces of 7 patients are broadcast individually on separate screens as they converse using microphones while participating in a group session. The therapist is located at the center on another computer. A list of screen names appears at the bottom of each screen as the members arrive. One logs in from Alaska, another from Cairo, Egypt and others from other cities in the US. The computer screen captures the intense emotions from each client's face and voice as they recount the events and problems of the previous week.
Jay Shore, a psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at the Veterans Administration Health Center, says this hi-tech treatment is already the norm for him.. Only four of his 20 hour a weekly clinical hours are traditionally face-to-face psychiatry, the rest involve patients located hundreds of miles away. For three years he’s conducted weekly group therapy using videoconferencing for Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
How well do these therapies work? According to a study being conducted at Penn State, preliminary findings indicate that the computer works as well as face-to-face therapy and is a lot cheaper. However, according to the American Psychological Association much more research is needed to determine how effective this type of therapy really is. what problems do you get quality health care.
This article was abridged from The Promise of Therapy by Beryl Lieff Benderly from Volume 16, Scientific American Mind. E of success.
