Career Coach Office Hours October 18 2022 | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I answered questions about job search, hiring staff, management, career transition, as well as workplace issues. Join me at 1 PM Eastern on Tuesdays and Fridays on LinkedIn or YouTube (JobSearchTV.com channel). You can also message me on Linkedin before the show and I will answer it, too.
A Bonafide Guide to a Midlife Career Crisis
03:25
How should I take it when my boss removes my promotion but lets me keep the salary? Should I quit? I don’t know what your personal financials are like but I’m always hard-pressed to tell people to quit. I will tell you to go look for another job because in taking away your promotion, there’s a message in there. Now, was the promotion taken away from you because of performance. Poor performance indicates that there are areas where you should improve. That might show up in your next job, too. Ask your manager, ask your boss about why the demotion took place. “We didn’t demote you!’ Sure when you take away a promotion, that is a demotion by definition. So find out where the areas of improvement were and how they benchmark you for having satisfied those. Having stepped up and improved your performance adequately to re-earn the promotion. Listen, learn. If you don’t like what you hear, take what makes sense. Go to the next organization instead of staying and waiting for them to get around to re-promoting you. And that’s going to be hard because even if you do earn it, this always gets followed around with you within the organization. So, again, don’t quit. You need the money. I know very few people who don’t. You may be the richest person I’ve ever run into. I doubt it. But the reality is you need compensation. And you want to be in a situation where you also want to learn where you can improve. Do that. Take it to your next organization.
05:28
What are the best ways to improve your personality? Wow. Do you know where the personality is, quote unquote, deficient? In what context do you need to improve your personality? Is it professional? Is it personal? I don’t know. It’s hard to answer this question without knowing where this is showing up and what the issues are with your personality. Are you obnoxious? Are you timid? I don’t know. Different things require different responses. Message me again, and let me know in more detail, what the issues are with your personality.
06:19
Do managers actually care when a good hard-working employee in a hard-to-fill position says they’re quitting? Hell, yeah. Not because of you, but because of them. You know, you may have a personal relationship and in that personal relationship, the fact that you are quitting may hurt them and may disappoint them. They care. But without that personal relationship, it’s all about them and the fact that your resignation will impact their performance. They have to get other people to provide coverage for your work until they hire someone to replace you. You know, a good hard-working employee under all circumstances is important. But if they can’t afford you anymore, if someone is able to pay significantly more, they’re gonna let you go and feel disappointed, miss you, and all that kind of stuff. So yes, they normally do feel some disappointment. And the fact that they do shouldn’t be important to you. The fact that you’re going to another organization where a firm is willing to pay you what you believe you’re worth, that’s where the focus should be.
08:07
When your boss says, they’re going to give you back the remaining time when the meeting ends early, does that mean you can do whatever you want, or does it mean it has to be work-related? It means the meeting is over, go back to your desk and get back to work. It’s really that simple. Go back to your desk, and get to work. That’s what they’re saying.
Tough Interview Questions: What Is Your Greatest Success?
08:31
If I’m asked about a weakness during an interview, should I mention what I do to compensate for, even though I’m not explicitly asked to do so. The weaknesses question is one of those questions that shows up on interviews. I’ll just say, as soon as you hear the question about strengths, the question after that, or soon after it is going to address weaknesses. So if you’re asked about your weaknesses, the way I encourage people, which I know is different than many of you have heard before, is to start off by saying, you know, everyone has weaknesses. I’m no different than anyone else. Heck, you probably have some weaknesses, too. So I’ll simply say, in the places where I’m world class, there are few better than me. In the areas of weakness where I really focus on them, there are still a lot of people who are better than me at these things. So I’ll just simply say, if you want me to talk about weaknesses . . . “and then you rattle off two or three different things that you can see yourself weak at and then talk about the things that you’ve done to compensate for it, or to improve there, do so. Then from there, continue on by saying, ‘but understand It takes a lot of focus and energy for me to self-correct around these things. I do that. I try but it’s not officially a habit yet. As a result, there are people who do this kind of stuff better than I.’ And remember, you’ve spoken about two or three things that are considered weaknesses for you. You can, you can continue by saying, ‘you know, I try these things, but it’s hard for me. It requires a lot of effort. It’s a challenge and doing better. But I’m still not perfect yet.’ So that’s the best way I think to answer it is by pointing out that there are people who will always be stronger than you in these areas. You don’t talk about anything critical of yourself and others,. You lay it out as I did. That’s a really smooth tactic.
11:06
How can I tactfully tell my boss that his or her idea will not work without sounding like I’m challenging their authority? This is a great question because it happens all the time and you’re showing the wisdom of wanting to check how to express it to someone, before they in effect get into trouble. So to me, the way to do this is by simply asking them to a meeting, a one-on-one for a few minutes. ‘Do you have time around 2:30. today? I want to talk with you about a situation that I think, you know, I’d like to understand your thoughts about So can you give me 15 minutes?’ I’m sure they can, if not then at another time. Also, when you sit down with them, I’d start off by saying ‘you know, I’ve thought about your decision and I’m curious. what don’t I know that prompts you to make that choice? Because when I look at it, from my perspective, I don’t see how your solution works. Maybe there’s stuff I don’t know, which is why I want to check with you first. I’m not here to challenge your authority. I’m just trying to understand and learn.’ So I’ll just say the way to do it is in a private conversation and in doing so, be friendly. And this way you’re not challenging them. You’re asking them to teach you. That will work. Okay?
12:50
Does the term employment gap mean an experience gap or were you out experiencing something else? It refers to a deficiency in knowledge base. That’s what it’s about, in some way, shape or form. They believe you have deficient knowledge to do this job. That’s what they’re referring to about an employment gap, an employment gap might occur during maternity, during a time where you were not working in some way. So that’s what the term refers to. It’s not necessarily out experiencing something else although you could have been ‘traveling the world and the seven seas. Everybody is looking for something.’ Sorry, I decide to sing the lyric. As a result, all it refers to is a period of time when you are not working for anyone. That’s it.
14:04
When someone says they improved productivity by 35%, what’s your interpretation of them? How did they measure this especially when that individual is a small fish in an ocean of other employees? Well, good question. And that’s a question for them. ‘I hear that you say you improved productivity by 35%. How did you measure that? Teach me how you looked at this.’ Then listen to them talk. Are they credible in what they’re saying or does it sound like BS? Are they hemming and hawing, especially with junior people? They know that metrics are important. And there are some jobs where it’s easy to measure improved performance. After all, if you talk about, ‘I work at a help desk, and I improve performance 35% over the typical employee, that’s pretty easy to evaluate, quantify and measure. But other jobs, it’s less easy to do, do so. So start by getting them to explain before you become critical. Start off by getting, having them tell you a story about their work. That will work. From there, listen carefully, ask follow-up questions. That makes sense.
15:48
How do you prepare for a job interview when you don’t know what the position is? Easy. What you do is you send an email to the person who you’re going to be meeting with, and you say to them, ‘I’m on your calendar for tomorrow at 2 pm. I haven’t seen a job description. Could you tell me about the job that you’re recruiting for?’ Almost everyone will get back to you. And if they don’t, they just don’t want to talk about it in advance. But normally, the courteous thing is, they will get back to you. And thus you’ll be able to hear about the job before you interview so that you can prepare, feel prepared and deliver very well.
Job Interviews Falling Flat? Your Attitude May Be To Blame
16:36
What should a candidate do if they feel their recruiter is no longer interested in them and has stopped communicating with them? So when I did recruiting, I’ve run into this regularly. If the recruiter is no longer interested in them, I’m going to assume this is a corporate recruiter, and they’ve stopped communicating with you, the way you get them to surface is you send them a message with the subject line, ‘Are you okay?’ Usually people will respond and say, ‘Oh, I’ve just been really busy.’ By the way, are you okay is the subject line the message reads? ‘You know, I tried reaching out to you on Tuesday. I haven’t heard back. I did an interview with the firm a week and a half before that. Haven’t heard anything back, I just want to make sure you’re okay.’ Usually that’s enough to get them to surface and make apologies and all sorts of happy BS.
17:49
Do all companies hide their employees’ names on LinkedIn? Now, it starts off with the profile being owned by the individual who open the account. It’s not owned by the company. As a result, they can’t really do anything. If you wind up in a situation where they want to shield you from further contact, that makes sense. They want to keep their employee and they don’t want you out and about interviewing at other firms, let alone with their competitors. As a result, most of the time, your profile is not shielded or blocked. That’s the reality to it. So if you’re in a situation where an employer is blocking your access to LinkedIn, or the internet, I think you go public with it. You message internally saying ‘I don’t have access to the web,. I don’t understand what’s going on. And from that, what you’re able to do is have access to your record and thus be able to broadcast it or have it available for recruiters to find you. I don’t know of any company that really blocks people or hides their names because they don’t have access to the name on the account. What they can do, and I know of one bank in particular, that has a practice where they say, you know, you’re terrific. We think you’re wonderful. You can have your name and title and dates of employment on your LinkedIn profile, but no text about what you did. Yes, no text about what you did, because we don’t want people going out and recruiting them. Okay, so if they recruit them, they might have to lie to stay. That’s what winds up happening under those circumstances. So I’ll just say, most companies don’t have people hide their names.
20:30
Is it best to be me or someone else during an interview? I need a job. So, I don’t want to say this is a tricky question. It’s a fascinating question. I believe interviewing is a lot like dating. As such, you could be a phony date, and only reveal yourself and your personality once you join. And suddenly you wind up in situations that you don’t find pleasant. That’s what happens most of the time. But the idea of being yourself, . . . why wouldn’t you want to do that? “Well, I need a job, I want a job, I must have a job. So help me! I’ll do anything!’ And that kind of desperation isn’t particularly attractive, Put yourself out there. Risk rejection. If you’re someone who’s desperate, must find a job, and is afraid that you might be out of work for some period of time, suck it up and do what the employer is telling you to do. However, most of the time, that’s not the case. Most of the time, you’re in a situation where people want to be recruited and employers don’t want that to happen. So don’t be so revealing. Do you need something like you must have something now like I’m broke, I need a job. I’m clear, we run out of money. I go on and live in my car. I’m not being facetious. This happens to people much too often. So the goal becomes what can you do to find work quickly. And as such part of being hired is how well you interview. Connect with the person because again, when firms hire competences is only one thing they look for. They look for self-confidence, character chemistry, maybe a little charisma (charismatic, people always do better than non-charismatics). Put yourself out there. Risk everything. Someone will hire you.
23:29
How long should you pause before answering a job interview question? Well, you’re not going to sit there thinking for 10 minutes, are you? You don’t think that’s a good thing. And you might just simply pause for a moment. And I’m a believer, in just really a moment, because you don’t want them getting anxious about whether or not I just tried to illustrate with a long pause might be like. Too long, isn’t it? So, a second tor two really. That’s as long as you really should. And then from there, as they go further, you can simply say, ‘you know, . . . ” and then talk about the job, what you like about it, where the problems are. Don’t take a lot of time when you pause. Just a second or two. And that’s really all you should do.
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgYzcGT6zDE[/svp]
How Long Should You Stay in a Job You Hate?
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
Website: www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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