Blog - Page 10 of 22 - The Career Success Doctor

How To Use Your Voice For Maximum Impact

I’ve just published a new video called How To Use Your Voice For Maximum Impact.

If you go online you’ll see plenty about the importance of body language when preparing for interview, doing a presentation or attending an important meeting, You’ll see a lot less about voice, yet our voices convey all manner of unconscious messages about us to the listener.

In this short video, I talk through 3 things that you can use to ensure your voice is making a great impact. And I’d love to know what you think of it. Leave a comment if this resonated (like a good voice) with you.

Professional Leadership Development: 5 Encouraging Signs For Women

Written by Natalia

Great news for women who are committed to their professional leadership development and aim to be bosses! According to Aaron Guerrero’s article in US News, “trends are slightly moving in the favor of females who want to lead“.

I particularly enjoyed the part where the author refers to a Pew Research Center survey. Its results showed that Americans rate women superior to men in many leadership qualities, and believe that they are equal to them in some others. With women being the minority among business leaders, I find this study quite encouraging. It was about time for people to understand that women are competent, are not meant just to follow, and acknowledge their leadership skills.

Mary Barra made history this month when it was announced she’ll become General Motors’ first female chief executive officer.

Over a span of 33 years with General Motors, Barra, 51, has moved up the ladder from intern to chief of global product development and soon CEO, succeeding Dan Akerson on Jan. 15. When she starts her new post, Barra will join the ranks of 23 other women who head Fortune 500 companies. What’s more, she’ll be the first woman to lead a major automaker.

For some women, aiming for a higher office can be stalled by worries about work-life balance. In an October Pew Research Center survey, 51 percent of working mothers said being a working parent made it harder to advance their career, compared with 16 percent of working fathers who felt the same way. Other women may feel held back by sexism in the workplace. According to an August 2013 Gallup poll of 1,309 adults, about 15 percent of U.S. working women surveyed said they have at some point felt passed over for a promotion or opportunity at work on account of gender.

Still, here are some encouraging reasons why more women might be moving up in the workforce.

Read the whole article here “5 Encouraging Signs for Women Who Want to Be Bosses”

Preparing For Job Interviews: 6 Secrets You Should Know About

Written by Natalia

Are you preparing for job interviews? Whether it is due to New Year resolutions and making plans, or because in January people are extremely motivated to achieve success in every aspect of their lives (including their career), or just that a New Year means a change and a new beginning for lots of people, the fact is that January is certainly one of the months that job hunting thrives.

If you’re looking for a change and are currently searching for a new job, you will soon need to start preparing for job interviews. You might even have some scheduled already. If that’s the case, you will surely find this article in Careerealism to be really helpful. The author, Anna Johnson, shares 6 secrets “for crushing job interviews“.

Although it is mentioned in the article (of course!), I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to do your homework! The more information you have about the company and its employees, the better you can prepare yourself and ace your interview.

However, you should keep in mind that this is a two-way road. You will get ‘googled’ too! That is why it’s so important to keep your social profiles, and any online information about you, always ‘clean’. Maybe having your Facebook photos from the New Year’s Eve crazy party viewable publicly is not really a good idea.

“Interviews are like spending the holidays with the in-laws – a necessary evil that’s never as bad (ok, rarely) as you’ve worked it up to be in your mind. I swear, I used to get hives at the thought of an interview until, by some twist of fate, the roles were reversed and I actually became an interviewer myself (bwahaha – insert evil grin here!).

However, I’ve come to learn that, contrary to popular belief, the interviewer isn’t out to set you up for failure… who knew? So, as a show of good faith, I’ll give you some of my best learned secrets from the other side of the curtain. Here are six secrets for crushing job interviews”

Read the whole article here: “6 Secrets For Crushing Job Interviews”

Another source that you might find useful is this “Interview Cheat Sheet” from The Daily Muse. You can print it and have it with you, in order that you won’t forget anything.

So, give yourself enough time for preparing for job interviews, have faith in yourself and your capabilities, be confident, calm yourself and, as Anna Johnson beautifully closed her article, “Que sera, sera!”…

It’s Annual Career Development Plan And Self-Evaluation Time!

Written by Natalia

Have you sat down with your manager yet to work on a career development plan? The month of January is often the time for your annual career development conversation (for some companies this is done at the of the year, in December, rather than the beginning, or is tied in with the organisation’s financial year).

Self-evaluation is the KEY to career development

In most cases, companies ask their employees to complete self-evaluations for their managers to review. This is a great opportunity to communicate with your supervisor and remind him or her all the things you have accomplished throughout the past year, the projects you were assigned and completed successfully and in general the reasons you were hired at first place (if you are keeping a “brag list” it will be so much easier to remember everything and sort out the most important ones). And, if this is a long list and you are ready for it, you could also get that promotion you are after.

However, you have to be completely honest with yourself. We are not entirely 100% strengths; we also have weaknesses. Think honestly about yours. What are the areas where you could improve? Considering all the projects and tasks you were involved with during the past year, where do you feel you could have done better? Assuming you were asking for feedback, you should consider the feedback you’ve received throughout the year as well to list your improvement areas.

As soon as you build that list, you’ll have to come up with an action plan. What are you going to do about your weaknesses and your professional development? How are you going to improve these skills? Maybe you need additional training, practice, or more experience. Maybe you need your manager’s help on this by providing you with opportunities to take on responsibilities, to lead, to undertake challenging tasks, or to take a class you need.

If you include all this information within your self-evaluation, you will have a meaningful discussion with your manager during the annual employee evaluation process, and you will be ready to take your career one step further.

Martha Austin, in her article in FedSmith, gives a different perspective to developmental areas. She provides a framework for you to use to present them to your boss in a way as she states, “to turn the Career Development Conversation into something that brings out the best in both the employee and supervisor“.

In most cases the employee is supposed to come to the meeting having identified three areas of strength and three “Developmental Areas” to work on in the coming year. (…)

So of course the employee walks into the session knowing that no matter how wonderful their strengths are, and no matter how dedicated they’ve been to their work, at some point there will be a discussion about how they fall short. And if the employee has not identified three Developmental Areas, the supervisor will identify them for him.

This is a No-Win situation all around. The only thing more disempowering than looking at yourself and identifying the things that are wrong with you is having your supervisor do it for you. And we wonder why employees and supervisors alike HATE these conversations.

There is a more useful way to define Developmental Areas…

Read the whole article here: “Your 3 Most Important ‘Developmental Areas’”

   

Image courtesy of Ambro, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Career Success In 2014

Written by Natalia

2014 has finally arrived, and among the wishes we all exchanged for this year, is achieving career success. We have already made our New Year career resolutions, but sticking to them is critical in order to be successful.

According to statistics, 45% of people make resolutions for the new year, but only 8% stick to them. This article by Carrie Pinsky in NCBR reveals the five steps we need to follow to stop being a part of the 92%.

As the author says, these strategies will also ‘help us live and work with greater purpose and meaning‘. The 5 steps she proposes can be summarised in these bullet points:

Identify your values
Revive your passion and get inspired
Improve your online presence
Review and update your resume
Improve your networking skills and invest in relationships

The only thing I would add is that another good strategy that will help you stick to your resolutions is to make realistic goals split in milestones. Besides the fact that it will be easier to achieve your mini goals one after another, you can also reward yourself each time you reach a milestone. We all know that positive reinforcement does wonders for keeping someone motivated!

” Business moves at a fast-forward pace. If we are just going through the motions at work or resting on past laurels, we soon will be left behind. Career planning is vital in today’s ever-changing market.
Whether you have a job you love or are looking for your next opportunity, it is equally as important to manage your career. What is calling you now? Where to next? And, what do you need to do to get there? ”

Read the whole article here “5 steps to career success in year ahead”

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