Get your mind right!!! Rising Up!

During a time when unemployment is at an historic high, it's hard to resist the temptation to be very reactive when it comes to searching for that next opportunity. Most people have a tendency to just start "doing" things (i.e. revising their resume, going through their address book, stalking the online job boards, etc.). While all of these activites are certainly part of an effective job/opportunity search, there's a preliminary activity that I assert is more important than all the others combined. My grandmother called it "getting your mind right". By that she meant take some time to assess and adjust how you are thinking BEFORE you DO anything. The simple wisdom of elders is so profound!

Without taking time to identify how you THINK about work, the marketplace and your place in it, the job or opportunity search becomes a meaningless activity. As Coach Kevin Johnson admonished our listeners, you need to put your job/opportunity search in the context of your personal and professional purpose. For some, getting a pink slip could be just the needed nudge to move them into a more purposeful life and career.

So if you're currently unemployed, think you might be the next recipient of a pink slip or are voluntarily making a career transition, this show can help!! Check out the podcast for the Rising Up! show titled Laid Off: Strategies for the Unemployed to hear more!

Also thanks to our caller Victoria from Chicago, IL. We wish you luck with your upcoming career fair. For those of you in the Chicagoland area, here's the information:

VJS Enterprises Career Fair & Expo
May 30, 2009
www.vjsenterprises.net

PLAY NICE !!! Some ground rules for networking

I've been recently struck by the emergence of so many new networking groups....online, off-line, cyber, social, cyber-social. Everyone it seems is hitching their car to the networking train. And while I'm a big proponent of networking in all of its forms, it does require a few ground rules. So in the spirit of the "Top 10" from most late night shows, here's my Top 5:

#5. Focus. Don't join networking groups that are in no way related to your career, goals, passions or hobbies. You can easily become overwhelmed and distracted by joining too may groups.

#4. Develop a professional email account. After all, who wants to network with LadyNred@hotmail.com or TeddyBear69@yahoo.com. There are other types of "networking" sites for that. Nuff said.

#3. Stay engaged. Dead weight is no fun even in cyber space. The group only works if everyone participates.

#2. Know your stuff. Only comment and provide information and expertise on subjects that you know about. This also helps the group determine its strenghts and where there might be opportunities to invite other people.

#1. Give as good as you get. Networking is about seeking help and guidance when you need it and providing it when someone else needs it. Don't only think of your needs. For every person that you solicit help from find one person who you can help.


This is all really basic stuff but as a colleague of mine often reminds me "common knowledge isn't always common practice".

You "must" join the conversation

It occurred to me while on a SHRM-Atlanta webinar today that HR professionals are and can be very instrumental in helping their organizations embrace and exploit social media to their company's best interest. Steve Cadley and Chuck Zdrojowy conducted a webinar for SHRM-Atlanta's membership on the topic of social media and some of its implications for the internal HR practitioner as well as the external HR Consultant. Whether the issue is social media policy, employee morale, productivity, defining new job roles, communication, culture, or increased revenue, HR professionals have a hand in how social media is viewed and implemented in corporations.

Steve admonished us to "join the conversation" that is happening all around us and in some cases in spite of us. HR has always had to balance the needs of the firm with the needs of the employees and that is even more the case in this new, virtual, geographically dispersed marketplace. The webinar was very informative but also provoked more questions for me as I try to figure out how to help organizations shift how they think about social media.