career plan

Five Ways Job Seekers Can Avoid New Hire Failure

March 25, 2013 By Katherine Burik

5 ways new job seekers can avoide In our last blog (“Get the Right Cultural Fit in your Next Job”, March 21, 2013), we talked about a 2005 study by Leadership IQ showing that “46% of newly hired employees will fail within 18 months while only 19% achieve unequivocal success.”

According to the study, poor interpersonal skills are the primary reason these new hires fail. It breaks down like this:

26% cannot accept feedback

23% are unable to understand and manage emotions

17% lack the necessary motivation to excel

15% have the wrong temperament for the job

11% lack necessary technical skills

This is kind of scary to job seekers. From the job seeker point of view, job seekers have almost a 50/50 chance of accepting a job that is wrong for them, a job that will end in termination. No one wants that.

Although the hiring manager has the power to extend an offer, job seekers have a responsibility to themselves to make sure they fit. Consider it self-defense.

Here are five ways job seekers can avoid new hire failure:

Do your research. What is the company reputation? Financial results? Who do you know who works there? Can you talk to them? What is it like to work there? Learn about products, marketing, and the website.
Be prepared. Know what you want to share and what you want to learn. Have your questions already prepared. Know how you want to answer the frequently asked questions and practice so your responses are smooth.
Know who you are and what you have to offer. Take responsibility for making sure the hiring manager knows too so they can test whether you will fit. Try to meet other people on the team to see how well you will mesh with them.
Ask good questions. How do they set objectives and provide feedback? Probe beyond standard performance appraisal processes to find out more. How does the team operate? Who do they interact with? What defines success? What happened to the last person in the job?
Evaluate carefully. Listen to your gut a little. Do you feel comfortable? Do you like these people? Can you imagine spending hours upon hours with them? How do they set objectives? How will you be evaluated? How do they communicate? Does the way they communicate with each other match with the way you like to communicate?

Take responsibility to make sure the job you accept is a great fit for your skills, ability, and behavior. Increase the odds that you will be an unequivocal success!

Does your job search plan leak?

March 18, 2013 By Katherine Burik

boat picture The email came across my desk. “All Boats Leak” by Seth Godin. Intriguing. You see I am on an extended boat trip. “All Boats Leak” is not in our lexicon. All boats do not leak. Our boat does not leak. You don’t want a leaky boat when you are in deep water. So I had to open this email.

All boats leak

There’s always a defect, always a slow drip, somewhere. Every plan, every organization, every venture has a glitch.

The question isn’t, “is this perfect?” The question is, “will this get me there?”

Sometimes we make the mistake of ignoring the big leaks, the ones that threaten our journey.

More often, though, we’re so busy fixing tiny leaks that we get distracted from the real goal, which is to go somewhere.

I was thinking literally and Seth, as usual, was thinking metaphorically. He is right too. “There is always a defect, always a slow drip, somewhere.” It is a concept worth exploring for job seekers.

Every job seeker needs a plan. Without a plan you just flounder around wasting energy. You don’t get anywhere. At least with a plan you have a valid chance of finding the job you want. Your plan outlines your goal and the tactics you plan to use to achieve the goal. Your plan is as detailed as you want it to be.

Seth’s point is valid. Every plan probably has a hidden defect somewhere. You don’t create a glitch on purpose. You don’t want a leaky boat. My boat never leaks. Until it does. Then what do you do?

The measure of a person is not making a mistake (getting a leak in the boat). It is what he does with it that really counts. How do you react to problems and distractions – leaks if you will? Do you beat yourself up and throw in the towel? Or do you figure out how to respond and go forward anyway? Fix the leak and start again.

Small leaks can be just as distracting as big leaks and often turn into big leaks if neglected. So you have to pay attention to what is going on around you. Adjust to the subtle messages you pick up about leaks, distractions, and roadblocks that must be acknowledged and accounted for.

There is always a glitch somewhere. Don’t let glitches, leaks, and problems distract you from your ultimate goal. Create a plan, adjust for minor changes, but stay the course. You will get there eventually maybe a little damp but smarter nonetheless.

The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time

January 25, 2013 By Katherine Burik

How many things do you try to do at once? Are you driving and talking on the phone? Are you sitting at your desk with a deadline, watching email scroll while half listening to a webinar? Or worse still, are you trying to make dinner while hungry kids congregate around the table while you talk to a client?

I am guilty of all of the above. And I am tired and I feel just a little a bit guilty. How much am I really getting done? What service am I providing to any of those I serve? What is the cost I am paying for my divided loyalties?

According to Tony Schwartz in his fascinating Harvard Business Review article, “The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time”, this frantic pace does cause some damage and might not be the most effective way to operate.

He says switching around tasks like that can impact productivity by an average of 25%. Plus you burn out your available sources of energy. Focusing attention on one thing at a time for a specified period allows you to get more done more effectively, probably with higher quality results.

There is a corollary here to job search. Job seekers have interruptions and distractions just like any other person. If you are working, you need to devote sufficient attention to your job to avoid drawing unwanted attention to yourself. If you are unemployed, unless you take steps, unstructured time can be as frantic as obligations from a formal job.

Distraction might always be there but unless you figure out how to productively search for a job, you will not achieve your job search goals.

What is a job seeker to do? Structure your day so you have time to focus on your job search without distractions. This requires an orderly approach to your day, which will be good for all aspects of your life. Let’s back into what you need and how to find it.

We know that networking is the best way to find a job. Networking includes LinkedIn updates and comments (about 15 to 30 minutes a day), setting up meetings with people who can help you (probably less than 30 minutes a day to identify folks and make calls), having coffee or lunch to network (probably 2 to 3 hours per week, which is averages about 30 minutes per day), responding to ads (15 minutes a day max) and correspondence such as thank you notes and follow up (maybe 1 hour per day). Add that up and a job seeker should probably spend less than 3 hours a day on a solid job search, some days more and some days a little less.

Where can you find that kind of time? More important, what are you willing to do to find that kind of time in your day? Assuming you still need to sleep and work if you are employed, the time needs to come from giving up something else or reorganizing your day. Again I ask, what are you willing to do to make that happen?

Tony Schwartz says “the best way … to fuel higher productivity and more innovative thinking is to strongly encourage finite periods of absorbed focus, as well as shorter periods of real renewal.” I agree completely.

Tony Schwartz recommends three changes to personal behavior. I would like to adjust them for job seekers:

Do the most important thing first in the morning, preferably without interruption and before normal work hours if possible. If you are employed, schedule a meeting in your calendar for one hour first thing in the morning. Schedule a conference room for privacy if you need to. Then attend that meeting every morning to read and comment on LinkedIn, make appointments, handle correspondence, and follow up with previous meetings. Use your personal telephone and computer if possible.
Establish regular, scheduled times for networking meetings. Put these times on your calendar and do not allow other meetings to interfere. Schedule and be sure to attend the local chapter meetings of your professional group.
Take a real break every day. Take time off and truly disconnect, as Tony Schwartz says. Put your phone aside, step away from the computer and be in the moment with your friends and family. Laugh. Breathe. Think about something else. You will return to your regularly scheduled activities refreshed.

If you focus on what you want you will achieve your goal. What are you willing to do to get what you want?

The Interview Doctor® can help you organize your job search so you find the job you love. Call and find you how.