Linked In... nah.

There is a real good reason that while in school I am not on Linked in, it seems that everyone I worked with thinks its Facebook light. And posts pictures to their personal profile that belong on Instagram, not in a professional profile or environment. Then my special friends want to connect with me, but unfortunately linked in now works you are in a bind to use all the free services without a specific number of connections meaning that to use LinkedIn  I am forced to link up with these individuals.

Yes, they are friends but they do not understand the need for a professional image nor know that organizations frown upon such profiles, when associating with specific candidates I have tried to discuss these issues with a friend who was guilty of the professional futa poa their response was that they did not care what Organizations thought! But they also did not care how that decision impacted others as well. If employers frowned upon their profile then they will definitely assume (falsely) that I was unprofessional as well.

The proof was in the pudding during a job search last year I shut down the linked in account when searching for opportunities and that being the only change I made, I was not surprised when I received more emails and calls from prospective employers. Now, this not a scientific study but the evidence to us was plain to see. Without the linked in account, I was more professional and more of a mystery to organizations that did not want to chance to associate with someone who was in turn with people who were unprofessional themselves.

Although you do not want to hurt your coworkers or friend’s feelings nor do you really want to deal with an organization that looks past your resume and accomplishments but this is the real world and these Things actually occur reaffirming the old saying not to judge a book by its cover, but in reality organizations and people who hire still do that being the case that is why I shut off linked in so I do not give any organization a reason to judge me until that first live interaction and maybe you should too.

Looking to connect.... not so much

I received an email once from a prospective employer wanting to see if I knew someone interested in a job that they were offering in a suburb far away from me. Now, this may seem like the new way of doing things, and a way to network, however, it does stump me quite a bit and leaves me perplexed. Looking at the copy of the email you can see that the Recruiter, in this case, was confident that this methodology is effective. When in reality, it deterred me from answering his email and passing it on to others.

As part of my studies with Emotional Intelligence, we are to assess the feelings of others and adapt our actions to bring forth an understanding between two parties. One thing on a personal and professional level that I do not do is to send “job offerings” to people I know because unemployment can be a sensitive topic one in which can cause distress and conflict. The “Drama for your mama” as many would say, opening one up to all types of issues that the Recruiter if doing their job properly would take the time to search for possible candidates instead of trying to refer that responsibility on others.

Plus, this raises the question if this recruiter “noticed” my skills and to use their words “great minds think alike” why even mention anyone else? Another question is if he wanted me to recruit a candidate for him, where is the detailed information regarding the position? And I do mean details, within the email, not a hyperlink. Details in which catch the reader’s attention, the possible candidate’s attention or the next person who is interested. Many organizations can learn from something like this when reaching up to probable candidates, details are key to gaining interest and receiving the action or actions that they want.

Everyone, every organization knows the first contact, the first impression is everything, this email does not need an Organizational Development Perspective to tell one that there was something “off” and that is why it did not hit its mark.

Classes done for now, and a lesson in Organizational Development

Finally got done with class for the semester I do not restart until wayyyyyy far into the future. This is due to scheduling irregularities and the fact my University placed my degree programs under a Business section (wing) disrupting all of my classes. This is great material for blogs into the future because I was not told that the “switch” would disrupt my program and it almost added another term to my degree plan!

Keeping all stakeholders informed regarding any Organizational changes and how it will affect them is fundamental in Organizational Development so it is kind of funny or ironic that this is happening with this program! I nearly had my graduation date pushed back three extra months. When dealing with any organization that you invest a huge deal of time and money in like education, you really need to be on top of the people on the administrative side. Some employees feel the effects of their organization’s company culture and it can disrupt what you are trying to do as a customer.

The best thing I can advise when dealing with an organization that may disrupt your plans, whether it is scheduled completion dates to simple task activities always take it seriously, manage your time as if you will need to do double the work to complete it and get everything in writing! When you do so in Organization development you just line yourself up for success, and you also reduce the risk of wasting precious resources like time and money.

I should have some new posts up here soon with links to free downloads, Organizational Development tips and other discussions about various articles which professionals in the field have a hand in dealing with.

Organizational Clarity: “Don’t Clap Throw Money Misadventures in Employee Engagement” article

As you see by my comment from February 10, 2017, had a definite opinion regarding Vince Cyboran’s article “Don’t Clap Throw Money Misadventures in Employee Engagement” on the Roosevelt University RU Training blog site.

“I have, at a past organization endure one of these “pep talks” experience mentioned in this blog and unfortunately, it only caused the morale of myself and my coworkers to go further south. The introduction of just the basic aspects from Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor–Model of Workplace Motivation could have changed, in my eyes, the entire organizational culture.

This post states that hygiene factors do not motivate employees but most of the organizations I have worked, believed that to motivate employees they had to offer free lunches or breakfast donuts, instead of offering raises or bonuses. The introductions of these initiatives were successful at first as most of the employees at the time thought that this was good as a reward they were going to get.

However, with a high turnover rate, there was a constant influx of new employees, plus there was a new hiring requirement in which employees needed a Bachelor’s degree to be hired. These new employees did not favor the idea of the hygiene factors being used as a substitution to monetary or professional motivation factors. Therefore, with these new employees these initiatives quickly failed, but every once in a while, management does fall back upon free lunches or breakfast donuts, as motivators.”

Unfortunately, this still occurs many times over in a lot of different organizations, what happens is that people lowered their expectations of what they desire and organizations go to the level to meet them. Usually because giving their employees with these lowered expectations is better for the organizational bottom line than anything else. Keeping an idea of your professional self-worth, keeping a positive point of view you may get more than what you deserve, and if you do not why should you accept what the organization deems is logical or worthy of you? Maybe that is not a place that you, at the end of the day, deserve to be.

Reference

Vince Cyboran (2015) “Don’t Clap Throw Money Misadventures in Employee Engagement” Roosevelt University February 16, 2015 Retrieved from:

https://rutraining.org/2015/02/16/dont-clap-throw-money-misadventures-in-employee-engagement/

Organization Clarity: when you choose your career path

When it comes to selecting your career path it, as this article states, is based off of us, as individuals comparing ourselves against the success of others (Sonenshein, 2017). Also, cultural influences play a part of the individual, as the article states, chasing goals that are not their own. We look at others in our peer groups or even outside as standards of success when we should actually look and identify with what we are comfortable with.

Most of the time psychologically we are not equipped to do the things that the individuals we consider a success have done in the process of being a success. Sometimes we are not even emotionally able to handle the amount of rejections, losses or even critique that come with these career paths. Some people can handle the 24/7/365 high-speed corporate world and looking from the outside this may seem like a standard of success due to the money made and respect garnered, however the daily grind to making this possible is not acceptable or possible.

Either due to the lack of emotional intelligence or even a lack of professional skills as you see I mention multiple variables that constantly rear its ugly head to determine if an individual is able to handle a particular career path. You may want to be the next president of the United States, when if you take into account all of your psychological needs, and capabilities you may be happier being as a blogger! 

In essence, when you choose your career path just take a really good look at yourself, not someone else, to determine if you are putting all your time and energies into the right field. Culture, friends, and family may tell you one thing but in the end, they are not paying your bills, dealing with the struggles in your professional life, nor are they the ones who live with this decision every moment of every day. Reflecting upon yourself will allow you to be happier in your occupation but also you will save yourself time, money and a whole lot of stress!

Sonenshein, Scott (2017) Why Do People Chase the Wrong Career Paths? February 15, 2017 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc http://www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/why-do-people-chase-the-w_b_14749038.html