Career 01 (Sep 08 - Mar 10)

[helios]

Given such turbulent times, and with prospects of job losses looming over the horizon, perhaps it is time again to revisit the need to proactively manage our careers. Among other important things, besides maintaining your network, and having a camera-ready resume, is the need to have a Plan B. A Plan B is a plan that you activate when Plan A expires, that is when you are fired from your current job.

I always believe in doing 3 things, perhaps in a consecutively or timely manner, a time-proof business plan for yourself - whatever you called it.

(1) if your current focus is to build up a corporate career, then you need to picture your running track in a field or like a clotting cascade pathway once triggered you only see the end-point, ie. thrombin clot formation ...

(2) plan B for (1), this could hinge on your sideline interests, or build up your net worth through investing;

(3) invest in networkings to 'expense' the spare time you have. this will allow you to meet different groups of people across the globe. how do you want to position yourself in the networkings? positionings are very important ... when people say 'you are very young', what should you say to them?

tell me, isn't the execution of business plan is the hardest part of all?

[helios]

& in this current market and economy,

maybe by doing (1), (2), (3), any of them could trade into a major opportunity now ... it could also be (3), (1), (2) in priority ... have good networks to secure your jöb?

[millionairemind]

I have read in repeated studies that taller men earn on average $1k/year more for every inches of height they are above average height. I saw it in a documentary in BBC back in 2000 and was just reading it in a book by an economist so I tot I post this article from BBC below

Tall men and slim women 'earn more'

The taller the better when it comes to your pay packet

Tall salesmen are earning a whopping 25% more than their short colleagues, says research based on child development.
The study, by the London Guildhall University, stated that short men and plain or overweight women are taking home thousands of pounds less in their pay packets than their colleagues.

Those studied come from the National Child Development Study which tracks the lives of 17,733 people born in March 1958.

They were last interviewed in 1991 and their looks were assessed by their school teachers when they were aged seven and 11.

The long and short of it?
Plain men earn 15% less
Plain women earn 11% less
Tall men earn 5% more than average men and 10% more than short men
Fat women earn 5% less
Fat men earn as much as slim ones

London Guildhall University spokesman Stuart Hogarth said researchers also took into consideration any "measurement error" in the teachers' attractiveness ratings.

But he said: "Evidence from previous studies suggests that assessments of beauty by different individuals are quite uniform and only change slowly over time."

Across all professions tall men are head and shoulders above short blokes - earning an extra £1,000 for every £10,000 earnt by short men.

Short women are penalised 5% on average.

How handsome or pretty you are deemed to be also affects your pay packet - men considered to be unattractive earn 15% less, equal to £3,000 on a salary of £20,000.

While "unattractive" secretaries earn some 15% less than prettier colleagues, plain women on average, are penalised less than men, at 11%.

The study of 11,000 people aged 33 found height also has an effect on marriage prospects.

Last down the aisle?

By the age of 33, tall women and short men are less likely to be married.

Obese women are also more likely to be single though fat men are as likely to walk down the aisle as a slim bridegroom.

The study by Barry Harper from the university's Department of Economics recorded looks, height and obesity.

They were matched to pay rates and employment prospects in the first large-scale investigation of its kind in the UK.

Researcher Mr Harper said his findings confounded popular belief. "We found looks were as important for men as for women."

He added: "The effects of appearance are generally widespread suggesting they arise from prejudice and in particular, employer discrimination."

"There is an urgent need for business and government to review their equal opportunities policy to address this issue."

[winston]

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*** Article: Finding the Perfect Job - By W. Mason Preddy ***
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I worked as a healthcare recruiter for an awesome community hospital. In my time there, I was responsible for helping achieve record-low vacancy rates (there is a worldwide shortage of healthcare professionals) and increasing retention. I started new programs and was responsible for applying for national and local awards, many of which we won. We then merged with a chain of hospitals in the area.

My position was eliminated, and I was devastated. I couldn't understand how they could do something so nasty to someone who had given them so much. I received a severance package and was able to use some of the money to work on a double master's certificate program from Tulane University. In looking back and examining what had happened, I realized that the work environment had really become miserable, and it was not a fun place to work anymore.

At first, I had my sights set on joining a consulting firm that did work in the healthcare industry. They were interested in me, and I went through a series of interviews. I was constantly writing affirmations that I got this job with "X" company, making "X" amount, etc. The job required constant travel -- four or five days every week all over the country. While this was really not appealing to me, I told myself I would like it and it would be okay. Well, you can't "trick" the Universe!

It knows just by the way you feel. I didn't get the job. I was upset but knew that all the travel would have been a real drag. A series of other opportunities came along, and for various reasons, either I wasn't interested when I learned more or I didn't get the job. I continued to write affirmations with each position. What I didn't realize is that you are not supposed to be telling the Universe "how" or "who," etc. You are supposed to let the Universe handle that for you. That is a very difficult thing to do.

I decided to quit writing so many affirmations and just start concentrating on the way I felt. Looking back at the other jobs, I knew they really weren't the best jobs for me, but I kept telling myself they would be great and everything would work out. Instead, I started talking about what I really wanted in a job. I would write an occasional affirmation, but rather than naming the company, I let the Universe work on what the organization would be. I just focused on what was important to me.

I wanted flexibility, to make a lot of money, to be happy at what I was doing, to like my co-workers and have them like me, to have the "perfect amount" of travel to pleasant places, and to be successful at what I was doing. Well, the Universe has presented me with an awesome new opportunity -- with all of the above. I am very excited and start soon!

The major things I learned were: Don't worry about the "how." That is the job of the Universe. When something doesn't work out, know that something better will come along. The Universe had a plan for me, and even though I was disappointed along the way, it has all worked out perfectly. This opportunity will definitely make me the happiest and has all the things I wanted. Focus on what you want and let the Universe handle how to bring it to you.

[kennynah]

My position was eliminated, and I was devastated. I couldn't understand how they could do something so nasty to someone who had given them so much. I received a severance package and was able to use some of the money to work on a double master's certificate program from Tulane University. In looking back and examining what had happened, I realized that the work environment had really become miserable, and it was not a fun place to work anymore.

welcome to reality of capitalism....

[millionairemind]

In corporate life, only 5% are truly outstanding. The rest 80% are mostly just grinding time and doing OK work. We need to allow room for the stars to shine and spend 20% of the time weeding out poor performing staff at the bottom 15%.

Although it's hard to let ppe. go, I believe it is a way to ensure that the team performs.

Published December 22, 2008

Understand staff to retain them: consultant
By LEE U-WEN

BOSSES can spare themselves the hassle of exit interviews and keep their staff, if they can spot tell-tale signs of an unhappy employee early - and prevent his resignation.

Ms Gioia: 'Everyone junior or senior wants to feel like they are contributing to the organisation and doing their share of meaningful work.'

And bosses can pre-empt problems if they take the trouble to do regular 'stay' interviews with employees to find out more about them and how they are doing, according to Joyce Gioia, a well-known American management consultant and award-winning author.

'Companies need to ask themselves, what keeps their workers in the job? What do they enjoy or dislike? What motivates them each day? At the end of it all, everyone junior or senior wants to feel like they are contributing to the organisation and doing their share of meaningful work,' said Ms Gioia in an interview with BT.

Ms Gioia, 62, was in Singapore recently to give a talk as part of the inaugural HR Professionals Executive Briefings event, organised by LCI Executive Seminars. She is CEO of The Herman Group, a firm of strategic business futurists based in North Carolina. She rose to fame 34 years ago in 1974 when, at the age of just 28, she became the youngest magazine publisher in the United States.

'Stay' interviews are quite different from the typical appraisal sessions done every year, and can be conducted at any time of the year by bosses to help them learn more about their employees, said Ms Gioia.

These are also called 're-recruitment interviews', she said. 'We encourage employers to frequently re-recruit their employees by learning what they like, what they want, what's missing, and what changes need to be made to boost employee satisfaction.'

She said that to build longer-term employee retention, companies must make the effort to keep regular communication channels with staff open, so that management can make adjustments where necessary.

As part of her advice to employers when doing 'stay' interviews, Ms Gioia said: 'Listen carefully to what (your employees) say. Take notes to document what you learn. Meet with your colleagues to analyse what you have discovered, then assess the potential impact on other valued employees. Do you need to take any immediate steps to keep others from leaving?'

She added: 'I'm pretty sure bosses all don't want to be in a situation where they say, 'Oops, what's it going to cost me now to replace that person who just walked out the door?' It's definitely easier to retain than going out to find new talent, especially in this uncertain economic period.'

[millionairemind]

For the millenials generation corporate workers..

Generation Y goes to work

Dec 30th 2008 | SAN FRANCISCO
From The Economist print edition
Reality bites for young workers

JESSICA BUCHSBAUM first noticed that something had changed in May 2008. The head of recruitment for a law firm in Florida, Ms Buchsbaum was used to interviewing young candidates for summer internships who seemed to think that the world owed them a living. Many applicants expected the firm to promote itself to them rather than the other way around. However, last May’s crop were far more humble. “The tone had changed from ‘What can you do for me?’ to ‘Here’s what I can do for you’,” she says.

The global downturn has been a brutal awakening for the youngest members of the workforce—variously dubbed “the Millennials”, “Generation Y” or “the Net Generation” by social researchers. “Net Geners” are, roughly, people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Those old enough to have passed from school and university into work had got used to a world in which jobs were plentiful and firms fell over one another to recruit them. Now their prospects are grimmer. According to America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics, the unemployment rate among people in their 20s increased significantly in the two most recent recessions in the United States. It is likely to do so again as industries such as finance and technology, which employ lots of young people, axe thousands of jobs.

This is creating new problems for managers. Because of the downturn, Net Geners are finding it harder to hop to new jobs. At the same time, their dissatisfaction is growing as crisis-hit firms adopt more of a command-and-control approach to management—the antithesis of the open, collaborative style that young workers prefer. Less autonomy and more directives have sparked complaints among Net Geners that offices and factories have become “pressure cookers” and “boiler rooms”. “The recession is creating lower turnover, but also higher frustration among young people stuck in jobs,” warns Cam Marston, a consultant who advises companies on inter-generational matters.

Such griping may reinforce the stereotype of young workers as being afraid of hard work—more American Idle than American Idol. Yet a survey of 4,200 young graduates from 44 countries published in December by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy, found that they want many of the same things from work as previous generations, including long tenure with a small number of employers. And they are willing to put in the hours to get them, if they are treated well.

Indeed, Net Geners may be just the kind of employees that companies need to help them deal with the recession’s hazards. For one thing, they are accomplished at juggling many tasks at once. For another, they are often eager to move to new roles or countries at the drop of a hat—which older workers with families and other commitments may find harder to do. Such flexibility can be a boon in difficult times. “In the economic downturn what we are really looking for is hungry 25- to 35-year-olds who are willing to travel,” says Frank Meehan, the boss of a fast-growing mobile-phone applications business that is part of Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate based in Hong Kong.

Net Geners’ knowledge of internet technology can also help companies save money. Consider the case of Best Buy, a big American consumer-electronics retailer. Keen to create a new employee portal, the firm contacted an external consultancy that quoted it a price of several million dollars. Shocked by this, a group of young Best Buy employees put together a small team of developers from their own networks who produced a new portal for about $250,000. Another Net Gener at the company cobbled together a mobile-phone version of Best Buy’s website for fun in seven days in his spare time.

Best Buy, which announced in December that its third-quarter profit had fallen by 77% compared with the same period a year earlier, is also betting that its Net Geners can come up with new ways of boosting sales using the web and other means. “We’ll weather the storm and be stronger because of the Net Generation,” says Michele Azar, Best Buy’s head of internet strategy. Estée Lauder, a cosmetics firm, is also encouraging Net Geners to help it innovate. It has launched an initiative called iForce which brings together young staff to dream up ways of marketing products using emerging technologies.

Programmes such as iForce are based on the notion that Net Geners are well placed to encourage their peers to dip into their pockets. According to a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company of The Economist, Net Geners place more emphasis on personal recommendations than on brands when deciding which products and services to buy. Hence the importance of hanging on to clever youngsters who have grown up with Facebook, MySpace and so forth, and who know how best to create buzz among their peers.

Net Geners who find themselves out of a job are likely to use the same know-how to create a buzz about themselves so they can find another one. Charlotte Gardner, a 25-year-old Californian who was made redundant by a financial-services firm in November, has since been using online job and social-networking sites, as well as micro-blogging services such as Twitter, to promote her skills to potential employers. Ms Gardner, who is optimistic she will find another job soon, describes herself as “a glue kid”—someone who can get different kinds of people to work well together.

Firms battling through the recession will need plenty of “glue managers” who can persuade Net Geners to stick around and work with their colleagues on important projects. They will need to provide regular feedback to young staff on what is happening in the workplace and why—as well as plenty of coaching on their performance (see article). Companies that keep Net Geners in the dark will find themselves the targets of unflattering criticism both inside the firm and online. “These kids will scrutinise companies like never before,” explains Don Tapscott, the author of several books on the Net Generation.

In the end, compromises will have to be made on both sides. Younger workers will have to accept that in difficult times decisions will be taken more crisply and workloads will increase. Their managers, meanwhile, will have to make an extra effort to keep Net Geners engaged and motivated. Firms that cannot pull off this balancing act could see an exodus of young talent once the economy improves. That, to borrow from Net Geners’ text-message shorthand, would be a huge WOMBAT: a waste of money, brains and time.

[winston]

Find Your Strength Zone By Paul Lawrence

I'm going to share with you a success strategy that can do more to help your career than just about anything else. And most people are doing the exact opposite.

What most people do is identify their weaknesses and then put a great deal of work into improving themselves in those areas. But as John C. Maxwell points out in his book Talent Is Never Enough, you will have a much better chance of rapidly advancing in business if you focus on your strengths.

Let's say cold-calling is not one of your strong points. It would take a great deal of time and effort to become passable at this skill. But if, instead, you take a skill that you are already good at and you put your energy into becoming even better, you'll quickly become remarkable.

[kennynah]

It is equally important to match your strength against what is needed by the industry...

for example... if one is very good at polishing boots... that talent may just land u a job in Mr. Minute

[millionairemind]

Five tips to make your midcareer job search a success
By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch
Last update: 4:14 p.m. EST Jan. 4, 2009

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- While finding a new job in a recession is tough, midcareer job seekers have some advantages, career experts say.

Midcareer workers have experience under their professional belts that younger colleagues don't. And they have the versatility that comes to practitioners who have picked up various skills along the way, recruiters and counselors point out.
But positioning yourself right in a midcareer job search is still a must in an economic environment that finds employers cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs every month. Here are five tips from experts on finding a job.

1. Review your résumé
Midcareer job seekers should make sure their credentials, especially for technology, are up to date.
"It's important to keep your skills refreshed and updated," said Kim Isaacs, director of ResumePower.com, a career advice site. "People in midcareer can get very complacent, and they may rely on their employer to sponsor training. Don't rely on your employer, because they may not have your best interests at heart."
Instead, take charge of your own professional development.

"It's just very competitive out there. If you go into the job-search world and you see a lot of skills on job postings, you need to have those," Isaacs said. "Even if you're happy in your job, once in a while go out and look for your job title and see what skills are being requested frequently."

2. Look for hybrid jobs
Midcareer workers could help themselves find a new spot during the recession by looking for hybrid jobs, which require knowledge of more than one skill, said Betsy Richards, director of career resources at Kaplan University, an online education service.
"If you can show you have multiple talents, you have a better chance of getting the job over someone who has spent their whole life being very focused," Richards said.
"We are moving away from the focused job where someone is only doing, for example, finance. Instead, they might be doing finance and project management," she said.

3. Network
You've built personal and professional relationships over the years--now use them.
"Tap into your contacts, and your contacts' contacts," said Jill Silman, vice president with Meador Staffing Services in Texas. "If you've gotten 10, 15 or 20 years under your belt, then your reputation can work for you. If you are kind of a quiet player, then you are going to have to rely more on your network."
Don't be shy about telling people you are looking for work. "You tell a couple of people, and they tell a couple of people," Silman said. "It wont hurt to have more eyes and ears out there looking on your behalf."

4. Know your online tools
Isaacs suggested that job seekers "build their own brand." That can include creating a Web site to highlight your portfolio of work and qualifications.
This recession will be the first time some out-of-work midcareer workers use the Internet to find a job, and it's important to learn how to conduct an effective online search, Richards said.
Focus on job boards that target specific industries or salary ranges, rather than a general listing service, advised Bob Skladany, chief career counselor for RetirementJobs.com.
"Ask yourself: 'Where would an employer post a job for someone with 10 or 20 years of experience?'" he said. "If you go to specific job boards, you are apt to do much better. The entry-level jobs tend to get broadly posted."

5. Be flexible
Because the recession has increased the competition for jobs and squeezed companies, job seekers should prepare to take a pay cut, Richards said.
"Expect a lesser salary than what you are used to because of competition," she said. "There are a lot of midcareerists out there looking for work. There are a lot of people out there who have a lot of experience."
Isaacs said that as a way to get started, workers can take positions with fewer-than-ideal hours, or even relocate or enter a new industry.
"In this tough job market, you need to be flexible. Consider temp work--it's not a bad thing. Consider contract work," Isaacs said. "Consider relocation or a career change. Because there is such a big applicant pool, employers can be selective. So that's why it's important for job seekers to know what their transferable skills are.