Posts Tagged ‘career advice’

Company culture - the impact on job satisfaction

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

One of the things about working life that many newbies don’t even know about is company “culture”.  Company culture is often described as “how we do things around here” and often forms the framework for what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. The culture is often created by senior management and often reflects the values and focus of the founder of the company.  There are lots of ways of describing any company’s culture. Essentially though, some cultures are traditional and favour hierarchy (not for me thanks), others are  much more entrepreneurial and encourage risk taking. There’s a saying in some companies that “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission”. If you hear that being said, you know you’re working for a company with an entrepreneurial culture. Some cultures are resistant to change, others are adaptive.

company-culture

What I’m trying to say,  is that the kind of culture you get to work within will have a real impact on how you do your job and how much you enjoy your work. So, it’s important to get a handle on it before you join. OK, for now, any job might do, but if you do have a choice, this is an important consideration.If you like a stable, secure environment with a focus on process and quality, you probably don’t want to be working in a start - up!

You need to know what kind of culture you’re going to:

1) Feel most comfortable in

2) Be most effective within

So, how do you find out? One tip is to check out the press releases on the company’s website. Press releases are really useful to get a sense of what’s important to the company, what they’re proud of achieving,  whether this is a formal environment or not etc. If you do know anyone working in the company, talk to them about how decisions are made, what goals are set and what managers pay attention to. That will tell you a lot. Make sure you go into that new job with your eyes open.

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What makes for a “healthy” career?

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Peter Weddle recently wrote about the minimum daily requirements for a healthy career. This struck me as being a really useful perspective. When thinking of careers, we tend to think about what is right for me, or where will my skills be best utilised etc. Thinking about a healthy career though is different.

healthy-career

He lists 7 facets to a healthy career and recommends these are worked on daily. Here they are:

  • Expanding and nurturing your network of contacts;
  • Acquiring ancillary skills to extend where and how you contribute;
  • Increasing your ability to adapt to new work situations and environments;
  • Identifying and finding ways to work with the winners in your field;
  • Giving back by sharing your talent with others in your community;
  • Pacing yourself so you are always able to do your best work; and
  • Adding to your expertise in your profession, craft or trade

Looking at the list, his view on what it takes to have a secure and healthy career is largely about investing in your skills, networking and giving back. I’m going to suggest a different view on what is required on a daily basis for a healthy career. Unlike Peter, I’m less focused on career security and more interested in a view of career “health” that emphasises fulfillment and job satisfaction.

Dr G’s list:

  1. The starting point is knowing what you value - what your priorities are (easier said than done)
  2. Having your contribution recognised - you are listened to and your ideas tend to be implemented
  3. Working within a team in an environment of mutual respect
  4. Being challenged to use your given talents to the max
  5. Being able to get home at a decent hour and to take holidays without any concerns
  6. Being fairly remunerated for your efforts
  7. Knowing that what you do fits who you are

I would say that if you get point 7 right, most of the others will fall into place. As we all know however, not a lot of us do very well on that score!

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Career Advice - the Elephant in the Room

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

So, for those of you not familiar with the term “Elephant in the Room”, wikipedia provides some ideas on the origins. I’m sure you’ve all been in situations in which you’ve been discussing a topic. Everyone knows what the problem is - but for some reason, no - one really puts the problem on the table. I think career advice is a bit like this.

elephant in da house

As you can imagine, I talk to a lot of people about career advice. Nearly every parent I talk to goes on (with very little prompting) about how bad it is, how schools and universities aren’t doing enough etc etc. Parents will almost always reflect on their own experiences and talk about how nothing has really improved. As parents have generally had bad experiences in their younger days with career advice this seems to make it difficult for them to think of ways of solving the problem. The weird things is that both parents and their kids seem to be viewing career advice as this huge elephant and trying to tap dance around it without grabbing it by the tusks and sorting it out. The kids, partly due to blissful ignorance, delaying tactics and a clear focus on enjoying life while they can, see talking about careers as about as attractive as cancer or perhaps a good dose of an STD. This elephant’s beginning to look quite complicated!

The key to both parents and their kids is to view the elephant as an inflatable elephant. No more do we have to chew on either end (you can start at the backside) and try to slowly digest this intractable issue. I recommend piercing it with one or two well aimed strikes and watch as it deflates before your eyes.
No more elephant

So what might these strikes look like? Well, how about organising some 360 degree feedback for the student in the family? Really easy to do. How about arranging an evening in which 5 parents present for 10 minutes about their roles? How about sitting down as parent and child and making a video about what you do? Make sure you send it to us though - we can make you famous. No need to eat all those worms and spiders in I’m a Celebrity!

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