Career Planning

Is Your Boss Hurting Your Career?

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Not all bosses are perfect—in fact, most aren’t. Some bosses aren’t interested in helping your career and some are just poor managers. Nonetheless, you can still have a successful career. Here are some ideas to help you succeed:

  • Make sure your performance is exemplary. Deliver high quality work products on time. Be confident (but not arrogant) in your abilities. This will help give your boss less to complain about and minimizes your opportunity to be seen as an easy target.
  • Have a conversation with your boss. Pick your time carefully and be prepared. Focus on what you need rather than what’s wrong with your boss.
  • Recognize that it’s not always about you. Your supervisor’s unpleasantness, disinterest, whatever, may have nothing to do with you—try to not take it personally.
  • Identify what you can learn from your boss. Everyone can you teach you something. Figure out what you boss has to offer and learn it—and forget about the rest (easier said than done, of course!) You can learn something, even from a bad boss.
  • Find a mentor. A mentor can provide perspective, act as a sounding board, and perhaps broaden opportunities for other experiences.
  • Try to be become an ally. Ask your boss what she needs from you to succeed. Listen carefully and deliver it.
  • See if there are other opportunities in your organization. Look for temporary assignments, details, or sideways movements within your organization. That will give you an opportunity to meet new people and expand your skills.
  • Keep you own counsel. While it is tempting to share your experiences with colleagues, be careful. Secrets are rarely kept and what is shared may not be what you said. And if it gets back to your boss (which it likely will), things are not likely to improve for you.
  • Determine if there are viable options for assistance internally. Many organizations have a Human Resources office, an Equal Employment Opportunity office, or conflict resolution resources. These options should not generally be your first resort but of course, there are situations that demand immediate third party intervention but in most cases, you should try to solve the problem yourself or at least peacefully coexist with your boss if possible.
  • Decide whether it’s time to leave. If you decide that the situation is irreparable, make a plan for a transition. Do not quit in a huff; if it all possible, begin a structured job search.

There is no perfect solution to a bad boss but having one doesn’t have to ruin your career. If you do need to leave your job, do not bad mouth your boss on the way out. Be sure to do your due diligence about future organizations and bosses during your search. You don’t want to end up in another untenable situation.

LinkedIn by the Numbers

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As you know by now, LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool. I look at LinkedIn profiles every day and see that many users do not take full advantage of their profile. Character counts are changing regularly; here are some current character counts—check out your profile and make sure you’re taking advantage!

  • First name: 20 characters. If you have a formal name but use a nickname, this can be helpful. For example, Robert (Bob). This is 12 characters and allows people to search for you by either your formal or nickname.
  • Last name: 40 characters. BONUS: If you name is difficult to pronounce, LinkedIn has a feature where you can record your name; this is a great tool to use!
  • Headline: 210 characters. If you don’t create a headline, LinkedIn automatically uses your job title. Consider using a customized headline so you can include words that are specific to your industry. This is a search feature that recruiters use.
  • Customized URL: 30 characters. LinkedIn allows you to customize your URL; a customized URL allows you to remove the random numbers that LinkedIn assigns. A customized URL can be used on your resume.
  • About: 2,600 characters. This is a great opportunity to get personal and tell something about yourself; who are you? What do you bring to the table? What is your story? Using first person is acceptable, as is highlighting your achievements and the things that are important to you. This section can also be searched by recruiters so be sure to include key words from your industry.
  • Company name: 100 characters
  • Location / Industry: this is a predetermined list prepared by LinkedIn. Don’t forget to include your industry and location. As of this writing, LinkedIn as identified 148 industries ranging from law enforcement to shipbuilding to retail to farming to computers and everything in between. These too, are searchable by recruiters.
  • Job Title (100) / Job Description (2,000) each. Don’t forget to populate these sections.

LinkedIn offers lots of other section too including Education, Field of Study, Volunteer, Skills, Projects, Publications, Certifications, Languages, Awards, Courses, and Patents. Take a good hard look at your Profile and see what you can do to attract more views and connections!

End of Year Wrap-up

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Hard to believe that 2020 is coming to an end—this year has definitely been different for most of us. Let’s hope that 2021 allows us to get back to normal—whatever that might look like going forward. As you prepare for year end, there are a number of things that you can be doing to move your career to that next step:

  • Work on reaching out to your network. The end of the year is a great time to catch up with people you likely haven’t seen in months—or had occasion to interact with. Send holiday cards if you’re able; and if you do so, be sure to include a personal note. It doesn’t have to be long; a sentence or two to acknowledge the recipient.
  • Add your 2020 accomplishments to your resume. The end of the year is a great time to reflect on your achievements. Try to identify 2-3 ways you added value to your employer this year—and quantify it. Add those new achievements to your resume.
  • Review your LinkedIn Profile. If it doesn’t include your current job, add it. If you haven’t customized your LinkedIn URL, do so (see: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/87/customize-your-public-profile-url?lang=en); it will make your profile more professional—and your new LinkedIn URL to your resume. Make sure that you have a professional photo, you have key words for your industry in the About section, and your headline (the words under your name) are other than the default which lists your job title. Doing these things will likely take you less than 30 minutes.
  • Assess your gaps. Are you missing a critical skill? Certification? Something else? Write down what you’re missing and make a plan to address it. For best success, take specific action: sign up for a class, find a buddy to hold you accountable, schedule time to practice what needs improvement.
  • Unhappy in your job? First, try to figure out why. Next, assess your strengths, weaknesses, and be honest—take an assessment if you need to. Identify what you want to do and whether you have the existing skills and experience to do so. If not, make a written plan to close those gaps and implement it.
  • Practice interviewing. Ask a friend or a colleague to give you a practice interview and record it. Spend 45 minutes (or longer) on your practice interview. You can use Zoom, Skype, or another platform—the platform doesn’t matter but the practice does. And when you watch your “interview,” do so critically and write down what you could do better—and practice again.
  • Identify what you wish you had done this year. And resolve to do it next year.
  • Prepare your answer to, “what do you do?” Everyone needs a good answer to this question. Make your answer interesting and engaging. Think about using this formula to craft your answer: what do you do/what you want to do + why you’re good at it + value you add.

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe, healthy, and joyous holiday season!

Advancing Your Career: Accepting Feedback

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All of us need feedback to be our best selves. And of course, we need a clear goal to strive towards. This article is about asking and accepting feedback; we’ll tackle setting goal setting at a later time.

Learning to accept feedback is hard; many of us are skeptical that the feedback we receive is correct or have difficulty understanding it. That being said, real feedback is invaluable; here are some ideas on how to solicit and use feedback:

  • Recognize that receiving asking for and receiving feedback requires trust; and trust does not come quickly. Before asking for feedback, make sure you have a real relationship with the people you are asking. And the people you ask are willing to be honest with you and not just tell you what you want to hear.
  • Ask for feedback from supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers. We tend to interact with people at different levels differently. For maximum effectiveness, try to solicit feedback from those people who might see you from different perspectives.
  • Thank people for taking the time to provide you with feedback. Even if you think the feedback is off-base or not helpful, you should thank people anyway. And find a way to let them know that you took their feedback seriously.
  • Listen, write the feedback down and look for themes. Practice active listening and really pay attention to what people are telling you. Write down what people say (not while you’re sitting in front them). If you hear the same feedback from multiple sources, believe it—even if you disagree.
  • Develop a plan to follow up and track your progress. Set personal goals for improvement and establish measures so you can track progress. As an example, if the feedback you receive is that you need to broaden your contacts, be specific in your plan: “meet one new person each week and invite them to coffee,” rather than, “be friendlier.”
  • Follow up. Don’t expect immediate change. Give yourself a couple of months of practicing new behaviors and then go back to the people who originally provided you with the feedback to see if they can see a difference.

None of us are perfect and all of us can use improvement. By sincerely soliciting and integrating the feedback you receive, you can help push your career forward and meet your potential.

Not on LinkedIn Yet? Here are 7 Reasons Why You Should Be

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What? You’re not on LinkedIn yet? What are you waiting for? While LinkedIn is de rigueur for the private sector, I see more and more federal agency managers using LinkedIn as well.

If you’re not already on LinkedIn these seven reasons outline why you should be on this critical professional social networking site.

  1. Because That’s Where The People Are. LinkedIn is the number one social network for professionals — and, arguably, the most important website for jobseekers — with more than 650M members worldwide. Not only are people you know already on the site (friends, family, co-workers, colleagues), but so are people you should get to know — recruiters, hiring managers, and your future co-workers.
  2. To “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty.” In his book of the same name, author Harvey Mackay advocates building your network before you need it — and joining LinkedIn now gives you time to build your network of connections.
  3. To Strengthen Your Offline Network. LinkedIn helps you keep track of people you know “in real life” — what they are doing, where they work now, and who they know.
  4. To Reconnect With Former Co-Workers. Sometimes it’s hard to stay in touch with the people you used to work with — making it difficult to find them when you need them (say, to use as a reference in your job search). LinkedIn allows you to search contacts by employer, so anyone who listed that company in their profile can potentially be found in the search.
  5. Because You Can Establish Yourself as an Expert. One of the ways to be seen as a thought leader in your industry is to increase your visibility. A great way to do this is to write articles using LinkedIn Publishing. Anytime you post articles or a status update, these updates will be available in your profile, so people looking for you can see that you are actively engaged in this online community.
  6. To Be Found as a Passive Candidate. Having a robust LinkedIn profile — filled with your accomplishments and strong keywords — will lead prospective employers to you, even if you are not actively looking for a job. Recruiters especially are always searching LinkedIn to find candidates to match their search assignments.
  7. Because Your Presence on LinkedIn Can Help You Be Found Elsewhere Online. It’s common practice for hiring managers and recruiters to “Google” job candidates, and your LinkedIn profile will likely appear high up in their Google search results. A strong LinkedIn profile can enhance your candidacy, especially if you have a solid network of contacts, at least a few Recommendations, and you’ve supplemented the basic profile information with things like lists of your certifications, languages you speak, honors and awards, and/or your professional portfolio.

5 Steps to Improving Your Life at Work

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There are 5 simple steps each of us can take to get what we want and need at work. Now I will not promise these steps will not necessarily guarantee that promotion or raise (or new boss) you’re dreaming about but they can help you ask for what you want and need, and move closer to meeting your goals.

Step 1: Plan and prepare. What exactly do you want? Is it realistic? Before you can ask for anything, you need to be able to define what it is you are looking for. A vague, “I want to be busier,” or “I want more interesting work,” is not enough. Define what those things mean to you. And write it down so you won’t forget. Once you define what it is you want, you then need to figure out who can help you get it. Just talking to your colleague in hopes that she will pass it on to someone in a position to actually help you, is not the answer.

Step 2: Keep your eyes open. Once you have defined what you want and who might be able to help you, make sure that your timing is right. Don’t make your “ask” the day a major project is due, the day your supervisor returns from vacation, or when it is clear that your boss is having a bad day.

Step 3: WIIFM. What’s in it for me (WIIFM)—or in this case, the person who can help you? As you prepare for your “ask,” think about how helping you will help the other person. Make your ask a “win-win.”

Step 4: Make your ask. Once you are fully prepared and have followed the first 3 steps, make your ask. Don’t wait to be noticed. Your ask should be polite, professional, and clear — ask for exactly what you want; don’t expect the person you’re asking to “get it.” It is critical to be clear.  Have your “business case” ready and be sure to include how meeting your needs helps the person you’re asking!

Step 5: Don’t stop with your ask. If the person agrees right away, good for you!! Be sure to say thank you. If the person asks to think about it, thank them for their consideration and ask if you may follow up in a week or so. And if they say no, again, thank them for their time and ask them if there are specific steps you can take to move closer to your goal. And take care to not “burn your bridges” or sulk if you do not get what you want. You may get it next time.

While these strategies are not foolproof, they will maximize your opportunities to get what you need to move your career forward. And what better time to be planning to that next phase of your career than the end of the year!