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How Twitter can help during Job Search

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twitter-bird2For those not familiar with Twitter – it is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? (Source: Twitter )

  • Quite a few companies now have their twitter sites or presence. If you are interested in those that are there and you might get some relevant tweets when the open positions are announced.
  • Quite often someone you know on Twitter might tweet an internal job opening or someone you do not know may be ‘retweeted’ for a freelance position that suits your qualification.
  • Follow the job boards and the career experts and you have some great free job search and career advice in less than 140 characters and some latest links come your way almost instantly as they are published. Fresh, crisp information right from the oven.

And right now there are many articles online on this very topic (I just found out as I googled the titled). One of the very best advices are on Mashable from Sarah Evans.

Although Twitter may seem quite a simple application but there are many features which can be used to your benefit, Darren Rowse has a great website on twitter tips – TwiTip, browse to discover how to use Twitter.

Yes, I am on Twitter too. Follow me on twitter

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How to Find a Job when there are none around

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If you cannot see something it does not mean it is not there; it only means that you have to try harder and perhaps with a different vision to find the unseen.
If you are in a layoff as a result of the economic downturn; then you will benefit from these tips on how to find a job when there is a hiring freeze everywhere and the companies are getting our of business left and right.

Network to Penetrate the Unpublished Job Market
Where all to look for jobs, when there are none being advertised? The answer is: Do your research and the answer shall come to you.

  • Read newspapers, trade magazines, journals, BLS website (this is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and would be different statistics if you are not in US). What are the current industry trends? Where all is the funding money being channeled? These could towards the new solar development companies or other green-tech; there might be many unadvertised jobs here and all you have to do is first find out which ones could be the ones to apply for and how.
  • Research and find out which companies are showing good profits and sales increase in the tough economy; they could be the ones looking for hiring new employees since money is not a constraint with them.
  • Research to gain knowledge on those companies that are launching new products and there is a possibility that the project teams could be expanding.
  • There could be some jobs that are recession proof, perhaps there could be the right job for you where you can channel or re-package your skills. (Read more at: Best Jobs to have during Recession )

Once you are ready with your research the next action step is finding the right contact to approach the position internally. Do not be put off if you do not see any advertised jobs on their online job boards. Some internal positions are not advertised and you can very well approach these jobs by smart networking.

Vocational Training for a new Job and Skill
May non-profit vocational training center and job placement centers offer training sessions for jobs like JobTrain which serves hundreds of youth (ages 14-21) each year in both in-school and out of school programs. Trainees also learn to improve their communication skills, to understand the importance of punctuality and working hard, and to build self-respect and self-sufficiency. JobTrain youth can spend summers working and gaining real-world experience, or can earn high school credit in non-traditional courses. This is very important for the youth especially since just out of college you may not land a job immediately during an economic downturn.

Use your Current Skills to Freelance
It won’t bring in the same money that you might be getting as a full-time job but when paying your bills and taking care of a family are the priorities then any supplemental income is welcome. Also make sure that you spend say about 40 percent of your “work” time in freelancing and rest of the time in networking with friends and ex-colleagues on any possible job openings leads and enhancing your skills.

Find Work that you can do during Weekends
You or your spouse can work a few hours during the weekend to make some extra dough – not a bad idea in a recession. Well, it could be as simple as helping in advertising for a local pizza place to showing your web savvies online by either learning a new skill (there is tons of information online and self help courses that you can learn from) or teaching others and charging them for it – Ok that means have your website or blog (Note: you may not monetize this option in a short time, it needs time and careful nurturing and advertising.. but yet again, it is good to begin something that and then evaluate the options on the returns and your interest in taking it to different heights).

Be Ready to Relocate
Many good corporate jobs are moving overseas, there have been many reports during the last few months where companies in India and China have offered good positions to those laid off from Lehman and others affected from the Wall Street roller coaster debacles. Asian economies are growing and many companies are eager to absorb these globally experienced professionals.
An international experience would only enhance your portfolio and there is always a possibility to return to your native land when the going gets good.

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Filed Under: Career Insight, Job Search

Which Apps do you use at your Workplace?

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cubicle-lifeWhich software applications do you use most frequently at work?

A very broad question indeed and it differs from industry to industry, but we all get hooked on to one or more of the ones we get used to, but tomorrow is another day and another app launch stirs up the water cooler talks.

You may be a fresh graduate applying for jobs, a stay-at-home mom looking forward to enter/re-enter the workplace, a baby boomer eager on learning new applications which weren’t around when you first joined your job or a savvy keyboard-happy office dweller; what we all need to do is be proactive towards career management and the tools and applications we use at the workplace may help us in efficient work and collaborations.

It is not always necessary and required that you learn all the new tools before anyone can say “launch”, but it is good to be up to date to technology. Agreed, it is thoroughly time consuming and takes you off tangent from what you are doing now, but there are tools on efficient information management – almost like reading the newspaper as you sip coffee/tea and takes a few minutes of your time.. so there you go apps to manage apps and helping you be more time savvy.

There can be a full fledged debate on this topic but let’s stay close to the topic – the apps at work. And only the basic ones are covered in this article; this article would prove informative to those readers who want to familiarize with the general software applications in use at the 21st century workplace. If you are a Millennial ready to enter the mighty cubicles and wondering which applications you would be playing around with; you have arrived at the right place. Read on. 

And before we do that, let’s take a quick look at the ‘meaning’ of software applications:

According to Webopedia:

A program or group of programs designed for end users. Software can be divided into two general classes: systems software and applications software. Systems software consists of low-level programs that interact with the computer at a very basic level. This includes operating systems, compilers, and utilities for managing computer resources.
In contrast, applications software (also called end-user programs) includes database programs, word processors, and spreadsheets. Figuratively speaking, applications software sits on top of systems software because it is unable to run without the operating system and system utilities.

Industry Leaders in Software Applications

The leaders of software applications those you would be familiar with (or wish to be familiar with) are: Microsoft, Google, Adobe

The Major Competitors

Google Apps includes Sites, Video, Docs, Spreadsheets, Calendar, Gmail and Start Page. Google Docs competes with Microsoft Office products like Word and Excel. While Google Calendar competes with Microsoft’s Outlook.
Get more info on Google Apps on the official Google Enterprise Blog

Get more info on the Microsoft Office application at http://office.microsoft.com/ . Here you will find many how-to articles, downloads, templates, clip art, and training.

There are many versatile applications out there but the article breezes through the most used and famous ones, but of course open to comments and suggestions that you would like to see listed here.

Word processors applications you might be most familiar with (and some new ones):

Microsoft Word

Office Word 2007 helps information workers create professional-looking content more quickly than ever before. With a host of new tools, you can quickly construct documents from predefined parts and styles, as well as compose and publish blogs directly from within Word. Advanced integration with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and new XML-based file formats make Office Word 2007 the ideal choice for building integrated document management solutions.
More info at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101656411033.aspx

Google Docs

Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allow you share and collaborate online.
More info at:  http://docs.google.com/

Adobe® Buzzword®

Is a new online word processor, perfect for writing reports, proposals, and anything else you need to access online or work on with others. It looks and behaves like your normal desktop word processor, but it operates inside a web browser on Acrobat.com, so there’s no installation required.
More info at: http://www.adobe.com/acom/buzzword/

Collaborative Applications

Webex

Cisco’s Webex provides web conferencing and collaborations solutions. With Webex you can

  • Collaborate with people across town or around the world as if you were “face-to-face”
  • Share documents, make presentations, demonstrate products and collaborate like never before
  • Start a secure web meeting from the comfort of your desktop instantly, with just a click of the mouse

More info at: http://webex.com

Google Wave

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
More info at: http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

Which applications do you use most frequently and those that you just can’t do without?

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What are Performance Reviews or Appraisals

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Be it the year end review or the beginning of the year goal setting meeting, you might feel as if it is just another meeting to get done with.

Think again, your performance management, appraisals and reviews impact you in different ways.

It could mean a higher raise, an opportunity for a promotion or even that very important meeting that can protect you from a possible layoff further down the year.

If your performance reviews tend toward on the negative front; it could very well mean that it is time to deal with it and get it right else the time to say goodbye to the company is not far along.

Your review could have been positive or negative, but would help you a lot if you take time to understand what it is all about.

 

What is a performance review?

In simple terms performance review at your workplace is similar to what grades were at school. In other words, it is a process to review mutual (company/manager’s to yours as well) expectations on your past and current work performance.
Through a performance review you can figure out how you are being “graded” for your work and if/if not the goals set by your manager or expectations as per your job descriptions are being met.

Performance reviews are a great way to provide feedback to the employees and for the employees to know how well they are performing their assigned tasks and duties.
However performance reviews differ with company policies so they now apply universally to all industries, the format and frequency also varies with different companies and in different countries.
Your HR policies or intranet pages have (most likely) good and detailed information on how the review works for your particular org. (if not, ask your HR or manager directly to apprise you on the details, do not wait until the last moment).

 

What does a performance review cover in general?

Whether it is the 360 degree feedback to the employees or the managers or the personal one on one performance appraisal, it is time to revisit your goals and perform a detailed work analysis at the middle of the year. If you are working towards a bonus, salary raise or just being in the “not-in-the-layoff” list, continuous self development and keeping track of your performance is the key to success and ensures no surprises jump on you at the time of the appraisal.

Do not wait for the year end review as the main measure of your performance, it needs to be done regularly.

 

Employee Role in Performance Management

It is very important for the employees to be responsible for their own performance management rather than the pull or push coming solely from the HR department or management team.

Steve McMohan of SuccessFactors says:

It definitely needs to be a two-way street of communication. While management should provide a forum for employees to participate in their career development and the tools to facilitate growth, at the end of the day an employee is responsible for his or her own career.

With SuccessFactors, we aim to bridge this line of communication, teaching managers to engage in constructive conversation with their team, while allowing employees to feel empowered in determining the course of their career path.

SuccessFactors is a leading provider of Performance & Talent Management solutions to small, mid-sized and large businesses.

Also you may or may not agree to your performance review but it is to your benefit to be proactive towards this important process. Consider it an opportunity to enhance your career and an essential step towards your professional development and prepare well for your next performance review.

 

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How to Negotiate Flexible Work Hours

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check_it_2Many working women think about going part-time due to work-life balance issues, dependent care responsibilities or due to personal problems or preferences. Part-time works or flexible working hours gives many a working mothers a considerable choice to not opt-out of the workforce after having a baby.

According to the US Office of Personnel Management, The courts have also ruled that flexible and compressed work schedules are fully negotiable. In Bureau of Land Management v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 864 F.2d 89 (9th Cir. 1988), (Bureau of Land Management), the court held that “[i]n order for employees to have the flexibility and choice envisioned by the [Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules] statute, both the overall contours of the employees’ available choices and the manner in which an individual’s choice is exercised within those contours, must be subjects included within the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and hence negotiable.”

Here are some of the terms and their definitions that you must be aware of before proceeding with the negotiations.

Flexible Work Hours
This is the part of a flexible schedule during which employees may, within agreed upon limits, choose their arrival and departure times.
Credit hours
These are hours–in addition to the basic work requirement–that employees elect to work so as to vary the length of a workweek or a workday.
Other-than-full-time employees (includes Part-time employees)
Work hours are lesser than the regular 40 hours per week as defined for a full-time employee. Because these employees work fewer than 40 hours a week and fewer than 80 hours a pay period, they are not always entitled to the same treatment/benefits as full-time employees.
Compressed Work Schedules
A compressed work schedule means that an employee’s basic work requirement for each pay period is scheduled for less than 10 workdays. Compressed work schedules are always fixed schedules. Another difference between flexible and compressed work schedules is that an employee on a flexible work schedule may be credited with a maximum of 8 hours towards the employee’s basic work requirement on a holiday or Sunday, whereas the number of holiday or Sunday hours for an employee on a compressed work schedule is the number of hours regularly scheduled for the employee to work on that day if not for the holiday.

For more details on the definitions see, the Handbook on Alternative Work Schedules.

The Part-Time Employment and Job Sharing Guide, has some interesting tips on how to make your full-time job a part-time job.
Here they are:

Keep a detailed record of what you do.
• Could all your most important tasks be done in fewer hours?
• Could less important tasks be discontinued or done by someone else?
• Could your job be shared with another part-time employee?

Get information about your salary and benefits.
• Assess changes to salary, leave earning, health insurance cost, and retirement and life insurance benefits.
• Could you afford to earn less pay and pay more for insurance?
• Could you do with less leave and potentially less retirement?

Research policies and practices
• Study Government wide policies in this guide.
• Consult your supervisor about your agency’s policies and programs.
• Talk to part-time employees about their experiences.

Devise a strategy
• Propose restructuring your full-time job into a part-time job.
• Find a partner and propose a job sharing arrangement.
• Apply for any part-time/job sharing vacancies.

Make a written proposal
• Propose a schedule and explain how your duties would be handled.
• Focus on employer’s needs, not your own.
• Suggest a pilot test where managers, clients, and co-workers could assess the arrangement.

The above tips were adapted from Flexibility at Work … 5 Steps To Get You Started, a brochure produced by the Association of Part-time Professionals.

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Filed Under: Career Insight, Career Self-Help, Work Smarter

5 Essential Tips to Influence and Persuade Others at the Workplace

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Influence

Influence

Persuasion and influence are your stepping stones toward success, whether at the workplace of in our personal lives — we are influencing and persuading others in different ways.

How good are you at this essential art of having tasks done your way?

Before you head on to persuade others, mark the following checklist and see how well you are prepared before others listen to what you have to say.

1. Get in the Shoes of those you wish to Persuade

Always think why the other person would be influenced by you, it is now always about how good you are at persuasion but first think about what they want and how they would want to be influenced for a particular work or situation. Do the ground work first – always do your research on how would they benefit from the solution you have to offer.

2. Get Credible

Before you are able to persuade others think how credible you are to that person or situation. Why would they listen to you? Work on this question the other way – think of a seminar you are invited to – Why do you want to attend? Being an expert at something always excites interest and respect from others. Credibility is a must for effective persuasion and influence. Are you knowledgeable enough to persuade others to act according to your idea? If not, first act on this checklist item before approaching others. Credibility comes from your experience – your past and present achievements. Work on how you can present these before the persuasion ”session” or meeting and during your presentation.

3. Be an Effective Communicator

Note I did not say a “good” communicator. Being good and being effective are two different things. How effectively you persuade others depends a lot on how smart and effective you are at your communication skills. Polish your soft skills and learn the art of tact before you walk the path of influencing others.

4. Be a Good Listener

Influence and persuasion are not a one way street. You must know your audience well to see what areas you must work on to hone your persuasive skills. Listening and knowing the receiving audience is a must-perform research. And note that not only the words that are exchanged but the body language says a lot about how you finally get persuasion and influence to work. Show patience and empathy towards what others have to say and change your persuasion style accordingly. We all are different and there is no universal style of persuasion that works for everyone. Prepare your presentation or the final solution after you assess and understand how others respond to your ideas.

5. Practice Persuasion in Real and Hypothetical Situations

Do not assume that on day one you would head out and persuade anyone and everyone and get things done your way. The art of persuasion and influence is a hard nut to crack. It takes practice and experience before you can master the act. Practice and rehearse how you will present the situation and create all possible “or-if” possibilities and how to best present your proposal which is mutually beneficial.

The following is adapted from INFLUENCE: Science and Practice (Allyn and Bacon, August 2008). In this new edition Dr. Robert B. Cialdini, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of persuasion, reveals six universal principles that everyone needs to understand for business and personal success. The six principles include:

  • Reciprocation –
    People feel indebted to others who do something for them or offer them a gift. That’s why free samples are so effective. Getting something for nothing makes buyers feel obligated to purchase.
  • Commitment and Consistency –
    People are more likely to follow through with something if they have committed to it, verbally or in writing.
  • Social Proof –
    Whether they realize it or not, people look to others for cues on how to behave and what to believe.
  • Liking –
    “People prefer to say yes to individuals they know and like,” says Cialdini. Research shows that people attribute talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence to people they find attractive.
  • Authority –
    There is strong pressure in society for people to obey authority figures and experts. Authority comes in many forms. Dressing in a business suit makes one appear authoritative at work. Size – being tall – and status – such as a high-ranking job title – also increase one’s authority and makes it easier to influence others.
  • Scarcity—
    According to the scarcity principle, people assign more value to objects and opportunities that come in limited quantities or are more difficult to obtain.

 

What tips can you share on how to influence and persuade managers, employees or co-workers at your workplace? Please comment.

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How to Deal with a Bad Performance Review

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The first advice: do not react on impulse!

Take your time, an hour or even a day or two. Go through carefully on what has been mentioned in the negative appraisal and write down the precise words (for example; which  tasks were not marked to your satisfaction, what were the goals you did not meet etc.) which you disagree with.

Here’s what you should NOT do:

  • Anger and resentment often tend to backfire especially when your reaction is negative.
  • An angry email or barging into the manager office will only do harm to your overall “employee rating” or rapport with the management/HR.
  • Try not to take in the criticism unreasonably (of course easier said than done, but since you are reading this tip, you can implement it too).

Get started on the cool down phase now.

The second step: Cool Down and Get Ready

As a part of your research and cool down time you can also discuss this issue with your career coach, mentor or your colleagues (of course you may consider this confidential and discuss with only those who you feel more comfortable). Perhaps your co-workers have received bad reviews from this manager before and maybe it is his/her working style to see a better performance in employees (though not a good way for sure!). A second opinion and a second look might clarify things more than how you have been looking at it so far.

Read the tips below; they suggest on how to go on further once your research and documenting phase is over and hopefully your emotions are not as overwhelming as they were when you first went through the negative review.

Initiate further Meetings to Clarify Review

Contact your boss to talk to him personally on the performance review. Not over phone or Email but a face to face meeting is recommended to initiate clarifications on the review. In this review try not to be on the defensive and do not let emotions overcome you.
Before this meeting take time to carefully analyze the performance review you have received and also research on company’s policies on how to respond to bad performance review. Often organizations have a comprehensive HR webpage on the intranet, read company policies or don’t feel shy to contact the HR on tips on how to respond to the performance review.

(Suggested reading: What are Performance Reviews or Appraisals)

It is very important to first acquaint yourself with the review policies and process, prepare a list of points on which you were assessed during the review and compare with the goals and expectations previously set for you for the year.
Preparing in advance will make this meeting more meaningful and successful. Just a random discussion might get you nowhere – prepare and present facts during this meeting. Don’t arrange for this session in a hurry, think about the time you need to prepare and research for the details and then suggest a time frame to your boss to discuss the performance review. Keep in mind that it should not be delayed for a long time. Ask your boss if he is on vacation in the coming days or not, if yes, then schedule this meeting before he leaves for one.
Make sure that the boss is not in a hurry to end this meeting and getting ready to attend another one.
It could be your one last chance to change the review in your favor, prepare well beforehand.

Discussing with your Boss

Use good communication skills during the discussion with your boss.
Some tips on this crucial discussion with your manager:

  •  Make sure that there was no miscommunication towards expectations put upfront. Is the assessment / review based on the goals put forward at the beginning of the year, or were there some expectations you were truly unaware of? (See below for more details)
  • Defend your case logically and present written evidence in support of your argument, do not get emotional or agitated in such meetings.

Paraphrase the Accusations

Miscommunication is most often the cause of a bad performance review, it could be on your part your boss’s or comments through other managers which have filtered in the wrong sense to your immediate supervisor. Spend time with your boss to clarify the accusations and also ask for specific instances where you have been accused of negligence or poor performance. If your boss has written in the review of delayed project submission or under performance, do ask him to pinpoint the dates or the projects he/she is referring to.

Follow-up on the Meeting

If you and your boss are reaching arbitration on re-evaluating the performance review, ask your boss to schedule a quick follow-up meeting within a week or so. If your boss has agreed to change the performance review based on the discussion and facts you have presented so far, use your best persuasion and negotiation skills requesting him/her to incorporate positive feedback.

Don’t think of Quitting on one Bad Performance Review

Bosses come and go. Teams dissolve and the company reorganizations are very much possible. A bad review does not mean it is time for you to start looking for a new job. Analyze the situation and see if there are some valid points perhaps you can do your best to perform better next time. Else if there have been unjustified accusations and your meetings with your manager have not been fruitful so far, then reaching out more to the higher management and the HR could be a possible solution.
Just remember to be more proactive towards your career in future.

When to let it go

If you think you have been wrongfully accused and there is no way that your boss is ready to change or discuss the performance review, then think about the worst case scenario.
- What is the worst that can happen with such a performance review?
- What would happen if you just let it go?
If the answers do not bother you and you truly love your job, think about getting over it and trying to see the positive side – perhaps the others in your team have got worse reviews, maybe it is not you it your boss who just has to be a terrible critic at the workplace.

But definitely do not let it go just because you do not feel fighting back for what you deem unreasonable. Don’t let it go before a good discussion (not a fight!).
But be cautious of all consequences, if you cannot afford to be out of job or be in the bad books of management of HR re-think your steps towards the protest. It is a good idea to talk to your colleagues who have been in the company longer to find out if there were any actions taken against those who “revolted” against a bad performance review.

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Searching for Local Jobs? Here is one Website you must know about

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OLX is the next generation of free online classifieds and with usage in over 90 countries in 39 languages, we wonder why we didn’t know about it earlier.
And if this is a website that you must know about if you are searching for jobs or ready to post some locally (and of course, job ads are just a part of this huge free classifieds site), here are some answers from Fabrice Grinda (co-founder of OLX) which throw more light on the usage and potential of this website.

About Fabrice Grinda: In March of 2006, Fabrice co-founded OLX, Inc. with business partner Alec Oxenford, in the hopes of building the largest free local classified site in the world. As co-founder and co-CEO, Fabrice drives the company’s business development, oversees an organization of over 80 employees and negotiates acquisitions with global partners.

Q.
I was quite impressed to see the OLX website and good to know that anyone can post free classifieds and job ads. How is it doing in the US mainly on the local ad postings?

We launched in the US three years ago without fanfare. The US is relatively small for OLX, but growing. We get about 5 million unique visits per month and have over 1 million ads online. We have been most successful in real estate and jobs – the two categories where Craigslist charges in certain cities (while we are free).

Q.
What is interesting to see in the job ads section is you have classified various industries and sectors, but how are you ensuring that spam job ads are not showing up which is important for the user trust?

We eliminate spam in various ways:

  • We rely on our community to help us identify spam and scams (there is a “Flag this ad as scam” button on all listings).
  • We have a dedicated team of 20 people who check the ads after they go live.
  • We use keyword and duplicate content filters to prevent spamming.

All in all we remove 60% of the ads posted on the site.

Q.
Also can a user add or request more job categories on OLX jobs search section? If so, how?

When “Other” becomes a big category we look at the type of ads there to determine what new categories we should create. We also receive suggestions from users through the “Contact OLX” form accessible in our footer.

Q.
How would you compare yourself to Craigslist if someone to post local ads online?

Craigslist is a fantastic site that works well, but we felt we could bring the concept of free online classifieds to the next level. We added a number of features which we believe help make OLX a “Craigslist 2.0”:

  • Pictures in the listings and search results pages
  • Fantastic mobile version – http://m.olx.com
  • The ability to search nationally and from a certain distance from your zip code
  • The ability to display your listings on your social networking profile
  • Great ajax WYSIWYG editor to easily create rich listings
  • Better search options – especially in cars and real estate

We are also committed to being free forever. We don’t intend to charge for posting in any category – ever. Granted charging helps limit spam, but we feel you also lose many legitimate postings. We prefer to control spam differently.

All that said, we won’t deny the obvious: you will get more replies on Craigslist. However, given the better user experience, users should use OLX as well. It costs nothing :)

Q.
What are some of the new features that we should look forward to that would make your website more user friendly and unique in future?

By the end of the year, we should have a few cool new features including:

  • An iPhone app
  • Google Maps integration in the real estate section

I posted an ad today and was quite impressed by the fast online posting. Wonder why I never heard about OLX before. Keep up the good work and I am sure my blog readers will benefit from the various job postings on your website.

It’s definitely a problem we are trying to address. We are becoming reasonably big, but no one knows us yet!

Check out OLX on YouTube.

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Who is the Happiest Working Mother?

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How would you define yourself as a working mother (if you are one)?
Happiest, happy, just getting along, overworked and tired, miserable or “don’t know” (the one who has no time to gauge your emotions in the ever rush of getting tasks done)?

Reading Lucy’s answers on FT.com columns had me thinking on who and what makes you appear in the happiest working mothers list?

Lucy says:

    It struck me recently that the happiest are the women who do little or no paid work and concentrate on their children. But then I realised they are the least ambitious and so are likely to be happiest anyway. The next happiest are the ones with successful full-time jobs, who let their husbands and nannies take charge at home.The least happy are the ones who are both doggedly committed to work and who want to be proper mothers too. Trying to do both usually means the mother will be in tears before bedtime, even if the children are not.
There are some very interesting comments to this article.. do read. (a glimpse here of the many comments on this post)
    – I couldn’t wait to return to work but now, after 3 years of paid nannies (big bucks), the novelty of being a ‘working mother’ (oh and by the way the ‘mummy track’ does exist – big time!) has well and truly worn off and we are fed up of other people bringing up our child. My partner, the lesser paid wage slave, has negotiated flexible working times to become a stay at home dad

– And just be grateful that you are not having this same problem in America, where women take an average of six weeks’ maternity leave, flexible working is a joke, and employees have little to no rights.

Hmm,… my thoughts on the article – it is a very relevant topic always and for every generation and the thoughts expressed are right in many ways.
In my experience with working with full time and part-time working mothers I have found that the happiest indeed are the ones with full time jobs and a earning a decent salaries but have made their lives easier by either hiring a nanny or delegating different household tasks like cooking, cleaning, laundry and picking up kids from school to paid services. Of course all these tasks require you to shelve out a good amount of money, but if you can buy happiness with money won’t you do that?
If I am given a choice to save this money monthly and be miserable daily since I would be overworked and tired as opposed to sparing and saving extra cash to pay for these services I would choose the latter.
What would you do?

I am a great proponent of part-time working mothers too. I feel to keep ambitions and aspirations alive a woman can feel complete and guilt-free (well, almost) if she works part-time and can spend some quality time with kids also. This arrangement helps the woman to feel financially independent and also continue with the very important aspect in life, raising “feeling-loved” and “spent-quality-time-with” kids. Although this may not work out for everyone but if the society and the employers support (of course government policies will make al the difference too) such a support for the working mother, the world would be a much happier place.

“Happiest working mother” is a debatable topic because even what you perceive as the happiest have their problems.. life is hard woman but make the most of it …

After I had this post online, I happened to read a similar article on The Huffington Post and just have to mention some stats they have there:

The above picture has been taken from the same post, the label says:
Average happiness index value for the period 1972-2006 Source: Based on responses to question 157 of the General Social Surveys
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcus-buckingham/whats-happening-to-womens_b_289511.html


`”Hey,” you might say. “Life’s tough. Deal with it.” And of course, you’d be right. Life is not designed with anyone’s happiness in mind, and it has the disconcerting habit of not rewarding the good as much as we’d expect, of punishing the wicked less vigorously than we’d like, and even, on occasion, of getting the two completely mixed up.
Even so, only the most wasted of cynics would deny that something’s got to give. Not only is this “tough life” significantly tougher on women than it is on men, but the advances of the last 40 years were supposed to have changed things for the better. And not just for womankind, but for each individual woman. The hard-won rights, opportunities, and advantages were supposed to have netted women more than just another burdensome role to play–”you at work.” They were supposed to have fostered in each woman feelings of fulfillment and happiness, and even, for the special few, the sustained thrill of living of an authentic life.This hasn’t happened. Over the last 40 years or so, life is not trending toward more fulfillment for women; life is, in most ways we can measure, becoming more draining instead. To use Thomas Jefferson’s words, though women now have the liberty to choose whichever life they’d like, many are struggling in their pursuit of a happy life.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcus-buckingham/whats-happening-to-womens_b_289511.html

Sure enough – What’s going on?
Although the above article cites that the unhappiness is not because of women working more hours but I would most certainly say that what has happened in the last 40 years or so has seen more women in the workforce and the happiness levels have gone down, no matter how hard we are trying to “un”complicate our lives. To work two shifts certainly drains out the woman and how can you expect a “happy return”? Of course there are exceptions everywhere but in general women must try their best to ease off on multitasking and begin delegating more.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Please comment.


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When you do what you’d rather not do

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In the last one year I have received quite a few advice seeking emails on this very issue “I do what I do because that is what is around, but I do not like it” the reason may varied on why these people are stuck in a job they would rather not do; but the number of such people is on the increase since recession hit us last year.

I have replied to many such emails and thought it would be good to list a few suggestions on the blog too, hopefully we will get more suggestions from the readers.

You have perhaps taken the first step by asking yourself “what else can I do”, this itself will help you towards a better living if you plan and act practically.

First step:
KNOW
Know what you want – a better job, better pay, better timings – what are your priorities? List them now. It is a very important step; you cannot act and get what you want unless you know what want and do not want. Hint: you may think on these lines:

  • What are the reasons that make me unhappy at work: is it the workload, people, type or work, stress, less recognition, less pay, or just bored of the same routine and looking for variety?
  • Also list what are the things that would make me happy at work – any work. Don’t just get stuck on one point; list at least 3 to 4.
  • Delve deeper to find out why do not like what you do today; is it just the circumstances, the environment and others responsible for your dissatisfaction or is it you and your personal reasons?

Second Step:
HOW
How will you achieve what you want? What kind of a job would make me happier than I am now? What jobs match up to my expertise or education? Research and prepare list. Need some hint on how to go about this step? See below:

  • What types of jobs are the job boards advertising today? Are there any that match my skills or those that excite me?
  • There are many job search advice articles and forums online, consider researching well on what are the most effective methods on looking for advertised and unadvertised jobs. (for example here is one with a few relevant links: http://www.rileyguide.com/execute.html )

Third Step:
PLAN AND PREPARE
Make a plan – if this job is what I would love to do what do I need to do or what skills do I need to acquire. Prepare a list on your short-term and long-term goals. Think on these lines:

  • How can I prepare myself better with new training or certifications in an area where I want to see myself in the coming months?
  • How can I prepare an action plan to network effectively in the industries that interest me?
  • Can recruiters or career experts help me in finding the job of my dreams? How can I connect to them?

And of course there are many other steps which will eventually lead to where you would be more satisfied and happy in the work you do but the above that I have listed are the first important steps to get you moving. Always remember that knowing itself is not power, power and success comes through practically implementing your knowledge.

Also keep in mind that always set up realistic and time set goals; you could end up more disheartened than you are now if you disregard the present hiring realities.
It might take some time if you need to polish your skills but if you continue doing what you are doing now you will get what you are getting now – the point is DO SOMETHING TODAY TO CHANGE YOUR PRESENT and the future will take care of itself.

What would you do to get unstuck?


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Filed Under: Career Self-Help, Job Search Tagged With: , , , ,
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