Reporters Aren’t Your Friend, They Aren’t Your Enemy…They’re Reporters

Most journalists – online, on air, print – don’t ask tricky, tough questions.

They simply ask a question and let the interviewee fill in the awkward silence.

Or as Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) said in All the President’s Men, “I never asked about Watergate. I simply asked what were Hunt’s duties at the White House.”

Bad coverage – or fear of it – reinforces why many executives avoid media interviews.

Open the door too wide, they appear to be grandstanding.

Being over reactive/defensive, can expose too much company private information.  The results can damage the company’s, executive’s image/value.

It isn’t a journalist’s job – regardless of the medium – isn’t to be your friend and help you advance your agendas.

Journalists have two responsibilities – to be professional and to fairly, accurately present the information to their audience.

All of the rest is your job.

Of course there are times it’s best to take Abe Lincoln’s advice, “‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”

Interview Timing
There are times when an interview just isn’t possible for any number of reasons.

Suggest an alternate date and/or time.

As long as the interview isn’t deadline critical this is why both parties like an email Q&A:
- answers can be researched, thought thru, accurate
- responses can be provided from anywhere in the world in a timely manner
- little chance of being misinterpreted, misquoted

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Downsized organizations, tough economic times, demands to reduce costs and improve quality and a myriad of other reasons can stimulate the need for an employee incentive program. Done properly, the investment can be minimal but it can produce very positive results.

If you want to improve results and morale throughout the organization, here are some tips on ensuring your employee incentive program meets your goals:

1. Realistic Pay for Realistic Performance…Rewards for Extraordinary Efforts
Rewards are no substitute for a decent paycheck. For example company stockholders/management shouldn’t expect employees to give back benefits and go the extra mile. Especially in light of the side deals senior executives received just for showing up at the office. Given the tough economic environment the industry is operating in today management should expect decent performance for decent pay. At the same time, management – in any industry – should be creative in developing programs that will help encourage off-the-chart performance, even if the rewards are deferred.

2. Don’t Let Them Strike Out Early
If they are half way through the incentive program and half the team has no opportunity to be rewarded you have lost half your team. They have no incentive to push harder and be more efficient/more effective if they are out of contention. Putting forth the extra effort and winning should be a team effort, not an individual effort. Keep the team interested and involved throughout the campaign.

3. Prepare the Team, Administer the Program
Don’t launch your employee incentive program and then go about explaining it to members of the team as the program progresses. Plan a promotional campaign for the internal program just as you would for a product launch.

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If you have been reading articles or listening to news reports about the job market, you are aware that you are in a tough job market and that you will have to do something to make yourself stand out from the rest of the crowd during your interview.

You realize that you are competing against the odds. The question is, “How can you make yourself stand out when there are so many other candidates looking at the same job?”

The answer is to “BRAND YOURSELF.”

What this means is you have to discover WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE.

Let’s assume that you have an outstanding resume and that you make it to the top of the stack of resumes of people to be called for an interview. You, and maybe nine or ten other equally qualified people for the position, that is.

Because companies have so many candidates to choose from they are interviewing more people so that they can select the “best.” When you are lucky enough to be invited to an interview it is essential that you be ready to sell yourself – to let the interviewer know what makes you unique – what makes you a “remembered” person – what added value you can bring to the position—in other words, why you are the best person for the job? Your goal is to leave behind an impression of your “brand.”

By doing some basic preparation, you can determine your uniqueness and where you should focus your attention. The first step in this process is to identify your five areas of strength. These strengths are the areas where you do very well. This will take some work and some thought on your part.

“What is your area of expertise?”

“What are your strengths?”

“What is your work ethic?”

“What would your co-workers or former bosses say about you?”

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If you are seeking to earn from home, you are likely searching for available business opportunities. With so much home based work available, you are certain to discover an option that will work for you.

Income You Can Earn From Home with Home Based Work
If someone told you that it was possible to earn from home even more than at your job, what would you do? What many people are doing is seeing how much they really can earn from home by doing part-time home based work. Let’s face it- economy is not good. There’s talk that it’s going to get better eventually but only after it gets worse. Home based work is becoming very hand as a way to supplement your regular job and earn from home in your spare time. Unfortunately, due to the millions of jobs that are being lost every day, earn from home opportunities offer the unemployed the only opportunity to bring in an income.

With talk of more jobs being lost due to companies downsizing in an attempt to cut costs, more and more individuals are looking for home based work where they can earn from home. These people are attempting to learn all they can about earn from home opportunities and home based work they may be able to become familiar with on a part time basis so they’ll be prepared for the possibility of needing it full time if they’re one of the unfortunate ones that lose their job.

Although the computer and the internet are a constant source of information and offer many ways you can earn from home or do internet related home based work, there are also many types of  home based work you can do that do not involve the internet. Some of these may include opening a daycare, doing seamstress work, learning a trade such as electrician, construction, landscaping, carpentry to name just a few.

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The loss of a job can hurt, especially if you have invested a lot of time into a particular career or a company. However, it is never the end of the world. Many unemployed people find a new passion or decide to shift to a completely different career path, reaping much more satisfaction in return. One of the factors that allow you to do this is unemployment insurance, which can cover up to a half of the living costs for a certain period of time. However, it is essential to know how to apply for unemployment benefits and to do this as soon as possible.

Unemployment Qualifications
To begin with, you must find out if you are eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. The specific requirements vary from state to state, so one of the first steps is to pay a visit to your local Unemployment Office, or at least check its website, if it is available. Unemployment insurance is aimed at helping workers who lost their jobs without a fault of their own, and lasts for a certain period of time or until that person finds a new job, whichever comes sooner. A phrase “without a fault of their own” is essential – depending on the state, any of these factors could disqualify you:

• Quitting your job without a justifiable cause
• Getting fired for misconduct
• Resigning due to illness
• Leaving to get married
• Being self-employed
• Being involved in a labor dispute
• Studying at an educational institution

There are also requirements for your salary or employment time during a certain period. These factors can be quite diverse, depending on which state you live in, so there is no single answer on how much you must have earned or for how long you must have worked to be eligible for unemployment insurance. Again, you will need to check with your local Unemployment Office to find out the unemployment qualifications.

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A job is not just a collection of tasks that you have to complete in order to receive a salary. Self-actualization is also very important. The same applies to the job search as well – you are probably not only looking for any job that pays, you also want to find a job that suits your interests and values. In the current economic downturn and a stressed job market, finding a job can be difficult.

Still Looking For Your Dream Job?
If you have a lot of work experience and are still yet to find a job which you could easily call your dream job, you probably need to adjust your approach to job searching. The most important thing to have in mind is your own aspirations. From this point of view, a temporary unemployment can be even liberating.

To begin with, you need to have a good idea of what your goals are to succeed in your job search. Do you want to earn a lot of money? Do you want something money cannot buy? Do you want to achieve self-actualization in a certain field? All these questions have to be answered before the job search begins, as aiming blind is rarely a good approach when you want to find a job that suits your needs.

Second, you will need to determine the positions that would help you achieve your goals. What kind of characteristics should your dream job have? Should it give you a lot of freedom? What about self-actualization and rewards? Will they depend on your efforts and insight? Will you be able to create something valuable and useful to society?

These questions may be hard to answer immediately – yet, you must think about them to find a job that is the best match for you. With the situation in the job market still grim, you need to play smart. After all, what is the point of job searching, if you know in advance that you will end up with something you do not really want?

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In current economic conditions, getting a pink slip can be disheartening, but it will rarely come as a tremendous shock. No company is safe from the downsizing or restructuring – and every employee should have a basic understanding about unemployment benefits. Furthermore, it would be wise to learn the rules of unemployment eligibility and the size of such benefits prior to moving to another location, as they can vary rather significantly from state to state. We have compiled a list of the best cities for unemployment benefits to give you a better idea of what to expect.

Unemployment Benefits
When calculating the size of a particular unemployment benefit package, it is necessary to take into account the cost of living in a particular area – if John Doe from a neighboring state receives $100 less per week than you in his unemployment benefits, but your cost of living is much higher, does that mean that you got a better deal? Definitely not! Here is the list of cities that are the best to live in from the aspect of unemployment eligibility, with a previous annual salary of $150,000:

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Have you ever wondered what the highest paying jobs are and how to get them? Finding this out is not very difficult, but we would like to save you some time. Further down in this article, you will find a list of 10 highest paying jobs, along with the most important information and advice on the characteristics and requirements for such jobs.

What are the Ten Highest Paying Jobs in 2009?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, top highest paying jobs in the U.S. in 2009 are:

1. Surgeons – $206,770
2. Anesthesiologists – $197,570
3. Orthodontists – $194,930
4. Obstetrician and gynecologists – $192,780
5. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons – $190,420
6. General Internists – $176,740
7. Prosthodontists – $168,810
8. Other Physicians and Surgeons – $165,000
9. Family and General Practitioners – $161,490
10. Chief Executives – $160,440

  
As you can see, all professions except one lie within the medical field. It is not surprising as the health care sector is both highly lucrative and largely immune to economic downturns, such as the one we are experiencing now. However, getting such jobs is not easy – to begin your medical career, you would first have to spend eight to twelve years in a medical school, which is one of the most demanding places to study in. School loans are also going to be extensive. In addition, almost any position in the medical industry, especially if it is among the highest paying jobs, can be extremely challenging and risky, as human lives can literally be in your hands.

For these and many other reasons such high pay jobs, though attractive at first sight, are not the best match for many individuals. The rewards that these jobs offer may not be worth the challenges they entail.

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The Risky Economy
A job search under any circumstances is no treat – rewriting your resume at least a dozen times, job searching on the Internet day after day, and landing maybe two interviews for every hundred openings you dig up – but in a shaky economy it can be downright brutal.  Business revenue declines, which causes companies to cut payroll, and then the lack of personnel drives frustrated customers away.  It’s a vicious cycle.  But why get trapped in that rat race if you don’t have to?

Starting a Business Trumps Job Searching
Looking for jobs can be a very shortsighted process.  Long gone are the days when people worked at the same company for decades and retired with a nice pension.  Since at least the 1980s, most professionals change jobs every three to four years, and it’s usually the employer’s choice rather than the worker’s.  Starting a business can be a scary proposition – especially if you come to the process with a lot of unanswered questions in your mind – but a job search can take up just as much time, effort and even capital.  Besides, here is all you’re left with at the end of that road – just another job that you might hold for five years, after which it’s the same process all over again, except you’re now five years older!

Four Reasons to Drop Job Searching for Entrepreneurship
If you have reached the stage in your career where you’re earning a comfortable living as an executive or someone with skills honed over many years in business, there are many strikes against you on the job search front.  Here are four reasons why starting a business may better serve your long-term financial goals:

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Bigger Booms – Deeper Busts

The U.S. economy has always been in flux, vacillating between boom and bust times ever since the country was founded.  Just in the last 120 years there was the Silver Crisis of the 1890s, the great stock market crash of 1929, and the dot-com bust in the first few years of the current century.  Shaky financial times generally go hand-in-hand with job loss.  Companies disappear due to bad business decisions, lack of capital, insufficient sales, plus other reasons far too numerous to mention here, and end up pitching their employees out on the street.  Companies that manage to keep their doors open often cut staff, sometimes severely, in order to wait things out until the economy improves – which it has always done, so far.  But the current downturn, for the first time since the Great Depression, is touching the working lives of a layer of citizens not used to this sort of economic strife – the solidly middle class.

Out of Work and Anxious

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Part-Time Becomes Full-Time
These days, many of us choose to work more than one job.  Oftentimes this involves a full-time job plus something part-time.  The 40-hour position pays most of the bills, provides needed benefits, and offers a stable work environment.  The auxiliary job might simply be a way to put more money into your pocket, but more and more it represents the beginnings of a dream career as a business owner.  At some point, your success in building that part-time work into something self-sustaining will cause you to make two of life’s tough employment choices—when do I quit my regular job, and how do I leave it without damaging the relationships I have built there?

The Great Quit-Work Fantasy is a Fallacy
For any budding entrepreneur preparing to take that giant leap from worker to business owner, one of the fantasies involves charging into the boss’s office, shouting out all your past grievances, and storming off by tossing an “I quit!” over your shoulder before slamming the door behind you.  That scenario is fine for the movies, but it is likely the first mistake you would make as your own boss.

Every Business Relationship Has Value
As an employee, you are involved in four distinct relationships every workday.  These are with:
1. Employer / supervisor
2. Coworkers
3. Clients
4. The company itself

Each one of these associations has value to you as a future business owner.  Your employer is someone who can serve as an excellent reference or advisor in your new position.  Your coworkers can send you business leads or recommend your venture to their friends.  The people doing business with your existing company fall into a similar category.  And the company you are leaving is a potential future customer.

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You know you need to change your career when …

1. You fantasize about working in a tollbooth on the M50.
2. The highlights of the day are tea breaks and lunchtime.
3. You know you have said all this before but you can’t remember when.
4. You keep ringing the talking clock because you know the clock at work is slow by a few hours.
5. You go to work and when you return home you have no memory of what happened in between.
6. You wonder what the new person at work is so enthusiastic about.
7. You volunteer to do the photocopying for everyone.
8. You wish your customers would leave you alone … they always seem to want something.
9. You pretend to be on the dole when people ask you what you do.
10. You create a calendar that shows how many days you have until retirement.
11. You mark off each day on your calendar with a big black marker.
12. You wonder idly what it would be like to spend time in Mountjoy … and speculate that it really couldn’t be much worse than this job.
13. You offer to swap jobs with the cleaning staff.
14. You begin to think about beginning to smoke … at least it gets you out of the office.
15. You wonder why all the stupid people of the universe congregate in your office.
16. You spend all week thinking about the weekend and spend most of Sunday dreading going to work.
17. You consider going to the zoo and hiring a monkey to do your job … you doubt if anyone would notice the difference.
18. You wonder what sort of deeds you committed in a past life to get saddled with your job, colleagues and boss…and speculate that you were probably Attila the Hun.
19. You have rung in sick with so many excuses that you are rapidly running out of dead relations and illnesses. You have already tried the Ebola virus and bird flu.

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You have just had another crap day at work. Some of these indicators may be familiar to you! You are tired and you wonder what went wrong. Everyone told you (family, friends, neighbours, the guy on the toll bridge) that this was a great job with great prospects. Now, you are just tired of it. Tired of the politics, the changing requirements, tired of your boss who always seems to be changing the goal posts?  You want to change careers not just change job. The problem is that you have no idea what you want to do. You have had vague ideas about working in the Third World or doing something to “help” people…whatever that means. There has been so much talk about life purpose...what does that mean anyway? How could you find your life purpose? And will you have to get fired before you do? And does a career change mean that everything you have done up until now is lost? The good news is that there are answers to all these questions.

• Yes, you can find your life purpose (and there are clues if you look back over your life)
• No, you don’t have to get fired…but sometimes getting fired or experiencing redundancy is what you need to get on track
• As for losing everything … nothing is lost. Everything you have done will benefit you, even if it’s only to teach you that you never want to do X again.

Laura Berman Fortgang outlines a powerful 12-step career change plan in her book: Now What? Uncover your Life Blueprint. Here are some of the tools she suggests you use to get back on track.

First of all get really clear about what you hate about your current life.

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Stability, Benefits and Support
If you share the American dream of running your own business some day, chances are you have given some thought to the challenges that await you.  Since most of us are not independently wealthy or have a trust fund to fall back on—and knowing that it takes time to get a business off the ground and into profit mode—we need to have a reliable income stream.  Thousands of people every year start their own business while continuing to work a full-time job.  A regular paycheck and guaranteed benefits such as health care not only provide financial stability, but also give you enough peace of mind to devote positive energy toward your entrepreneurial goals.

Boundaries and Time Management
Very few companies prohibit their employees from having a business on the side, provided you will not be a direct competitor.  So long as you continue to work just as hard in your full-time position, there is no reason not to make the first move in what may prove to be your best-ever business decision—to become your own boss.  Managing the time you devote to that start-up is crucial, especially if you have other commitments to look after, such as raising a family.  Some companies expect you to tell them when you begin to run a side business, while others make no such demand on their workers.  Your employee handbook is usually a good place to find any such restrictions or requirements.

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Retrenchment is no longer a dirty word, and in today’s climate a vast majority of the population have been affected by retrenchment at some stage of their working life whether directly or indirectly.

The familiar ‘one job for life’ mantra seems to be a fleeting memory of the days of old while job uncertainty and the constant threat of unemployment teeters on the edge of our minds constantly reminding us each time we’re ‘called’ into a private meeting.

Lets be honest, being retrenched is stressful, especially the first time. It’s a tough road moving from denial to acceptance and while some people manage to go through these stages with relative ease others may take a little more time.

Whether we like it or not retrenchment is something many people may have to face at some stage of their careers. Here are some constructive tips to help you cope with retrenchment if you happen to find yourself in such a situation.

Don’t take it personally
It’s only natural to feel shock and anger, shock that your company is letting you go and anger that you didn’t get to snatch that great stapler on your way out the door. That being said, you have to understand that being made retrenched is not your fault and is not a reflection on you as a person, its just business. Don’t let what happened to you lower your self-esteem and affect your self-confidence as a job does not define what you are worth as a person.

You need to get back on your feet, so share what you are feeling with those around you and recognise that this happened because of the changing economic situation and the retrenchment of workers is one crucial step that many companies must take in order to cut down costs to survive.

Since it has happened, don’t take it too hard.

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At this critical time in the economy, it is important to reduce costs and avoid mistakes – especially when it comes to hiring new employees. Finding the right recruiter to help you sort your way through job applications is a cost effective and logical solution for all businesses.

An outsourced recruitment agency will assign a consultant to find the right person for your organisation, freeing up your valuable time to concentrate on what you do best – your core business activities, whatever they may be – mining, contracting, consulting or architecture.

Here are seven tips to help you find the right recruiter:

1. Get to know the agency – spend some time with the consultant who will be working for you to ensure they understand your individual needs, the industry in which you operate and the role you need filled. It’s also imperative that the consultant knows exactly what you need in an employee, including interpersonal skills, education level and salary expectations.  The most important information that is needed cannot be found on a website, it is the culture and environment of your business that makes the difference with finding the “right fit”.  It is a waste of your time and money if the candidates the agency sends to you are completely wrong for your business.

2. Check the agency’s first impression – it is a common phrase, but we all know first impressions count. Look at how quickly the agency responds to email and telephone enquiries and the language and manner used by the agency staff. How do the agency staff dress and are they punctual and reliable? Assess how this reflects on your business because, after all, this will be your prospective employee’s first introduction to your organisation.

3.

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Hiring the wrong person for the job can be detrimental to the productivity of the company, and may cause avoidable expenses.

The cost of hiring the wrong person is higher than taking the time to find someone with the right personality fit for your business. Think about the time and monetary costs of having to go through the recruitment and training process again. It is better to find the right person in the first place.

The key to finding that candidate – is to concentrate on their personality & culture fit within an organization. Here are some tips to help make your recruitment job easier.

Effective interview techniques
It is not just the jobseeker who needs to be prepared for the interview – you need to do some homework too. A recruiter will need a good understanding of what type of individual will fit into the business which including their personality, skills base, attitude and manner. Use these techniques to ensure you always have effective interviews:

•    Be clear on the competencies required for the job, including your required output and key performance indicators.
•    Determine characteristics and traits of the person you think will succeed in the role. Look at employees who are doing well in the same job and list what they bring to the position.
•    Prepare a job description for candidates.
•    Read each person’s resume and cover letter before meeting them so you know their experience. It will also give you a springboard for questions.
•    Prepare interview questions beforehand covering the skills base you need, but also questions that will help you assess the candidate’s behaviour.

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The ‘job for life’ is not a term often used now, but employers need to consider the importance of employee retention as it affects turnover, productivity and the business’s long-term success.

Here are some tips to help you keep your staff:

Recruit the right people
It seems a simple thing, but so many companies stumble by not employing the right person for the job. To ensure you have the best staff write a job description and key performance indicators before advertising the position. Think through the key interview questions and ask each candidate the same ones so you can compare ‘apples to apples’. Know the type of person you are looking for, what you want them to do and their employment conditions and you are off to a great start.

Favourable work environment and culture
Make your workplace flexible and supportive so employees feel comfortable in the environment. After all, they spend a third of their time at work so it pays to make it somewhere your staff want to be. Establish a system where employees can regularly express their opinions and ideas freely – and act on any that are good for the business.

Training, career development and feedback
It is very important that employees feel welcomed, wanted and that they are given the chance to succeed in their job. Put together a structured program where new people are brought up to speed quickly and continue it by allowing staff to develop to take on new challenges. Ongoing training means staff can grow over time to move into new positions and increase their value to you. Give your employees regular reviews and support so they know what to aim for, when they are doing well and when they need to improve. Without feedback your staff will perform below standard.

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Nobody’s perfect. But nobody wants to hear about your problems and baggage either. Especially in the job interview. Some people’s lives begin to sound like a Soap Opera because there have been so many extenuating circumstances. The following is some advice to handle those tricky situations when interviewing that may be difficult to talk about let alone explain.

Returning To The Workforce After An Extended Absence.

1. Be able to explain why you have decided that now is the time for you to return to the work force – why now?

Have a convincing statement about your goals or intentions of staying in the work force after being away for a period of time – this is best done by scripting and practicing your answer so that you feel confident saying it in the interview.

2. Make sure that you are up-to-date on changes that have occurred in your field in your absence.

This may entail taking a brush up class or course. It is important that you be able to show that you can “hit the ground running,” particularly with so many candidates to choose from in this economy.

3. Do some research, using the internet to discover what is required in the type of position you are seeking.

Job postings are “wish lists” that employers put together in hopes of finding the perfect candidate. Use these postings to see what employers are seeking and make sure that your resume and your interview answers address the employer’s “wishes.”

4. Focus on your strengths – the skills that you have used in the past.

Think of five skills that you consider you do “best.” If your strengths are in sync with the employer’s wish list, emphasize your ability and past experiences using those skills to show that you have “been there and done that” and can do it again.

5.

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No matter where you are in your career, you can always benefit from keeping up with the latest literature related to career and professional development. Whether you would benefit from learning how to land the job of your dreams, how to get a promotion, or just how to function more effectively in your current career, there are excellent career development books that can be of great benefit to you.  

As a professional it’s important to continue learning and growing throughout your career, and keeping up with the latest professional development literature is a great way to stay ahead of the curve. The time you spend reading career development books is an investment in your long-term career success.  

Reading career development books enables you to learn from leading experts in the field from the comfort of your own home. No matter what professional or personal challenges you face related to your career, you’ll be able to find books that can provide valuable insights and tips regarding your employment-related concerns.  

Suggested Topics Include:

The following list includes a selection of current career development literature. These books are great tools for individuals seeking to grow as professionals. They are a great starting point, but just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the many publications that can provide guidance for building the career of your dreams.  

Career Advancement: Whether you are just starting out in your career, seeking a promotion, or are thinking about taking your career in a new direction, you will benefit from the practical tips and suggestions in Stepping Up: 12 Ways to Rev Up, Revitalize, or Renew Your Career by S. Gary Snodgrass. 

Take Charge of Your Career: Have you ever been faced with a difficult career situation that literally seemed to come out of nowhere?

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