If someone were to take a bird’s eye view of your schedule or daily activities, would that “glimpse” reflect what is truly important to you?- Do you participate in a daily ritual that enables you to take time out for yourself?
- Does your investment of time and energy in work, family and friends, balance with the amount of time and energy you spend on yourself?
- Are you able to leave “work” at the office?
- Do you feel in control of your schedule?
- Do you take and fully enjoy vacations?
- Is there time and room in your schedule for regular exercise and physical activity?
- Do you have time for a social life?
- Do you feel in control of your career?
- Can you happily and healthily sustain this pace for 5 years or more?
If you often feel out of balance and you answered “NO” to more than three questions, you probably would benefit from making some changes toward balancing your career. Rodas Coaching personalized career coaching programs focused on your unique needs. Together we can achieve real results that go above and beyond traditional routes to help you reach your career goals.
Posted in Career Coaching, Rodas Coaching
Team building is important for any organization, as success typically depends on the ability of individuals. Taking the time to build an effective team will improve productivity and motivation.
The following team building tips will give you ideas on how to accelerate your team building and build a more sustained, productive team:
- Create A Common Vision – Spend time as a team thinking about what you want to create and where you want to go.
- Set Common Goals – The goals of your organization should be understood and supported by all team members. Make sure team members know what role they play in supporting these goals.
- Make Clear Roles and Responsibilities – Clarifying individual roles will help in achieving your common goals.
- Provide Management Support – Make sure that managers are following up with team members regarding what their needs are and how team building can be improved.
- Plan Engaging Exercises – Team building exercises should be fun, engaging and challenging.
Creating an action plan is the best way to ensure that team building is part of everyday work. Innovative Team Building recommends having managers follow up during regular staff meetings. Other ways of sustaining team building include manager check-ins and internal/external coaching.
And, most importantly, don’t forget to have fun with your team!
Posted in At Work, Career Coaching, Leadership, Rodas Coaching
Team building is an important aspect of being a manager. Most organizations know the importance of building and fostering teams, but building an effective team requires ongoing work and input from managers. Rather than limiting teams to what each member can do on their own, the key is to unite your team around a common goal, which will raise productivity.
Huffington Post shares five steps to build an effective team:
- Establish leadership – Managers need to develop the right kind of leadership skills, so that employees will work effectively on their own. Instead of asserting authority, foster trust through honesty and transparency.
- Form relationships with employees – Learn more about each team member, like their skill sets and how they’re motivated. This information is invaluable to leaders because they can match each employee’s expertise and competencies. Giving your team open-ended projects will allow them to determine the best solution and encourage them to cooperate.
- Build relationships between employees – Examine the way your team works together and try to improve communication and cooperation. If there is conflict, act as the mediator.
- Encourage teamwork – Help your team work together effectively by encouraging them to share information among themselves and within the organization.
- Set ground rules – Include your team in creating team values and goals, so they know what is required and they agree to it.
What tips do you have to build an effective team? Share what has worked for you in the comment box below.
Posted in career, Career Coaching, Leadership, Rodas Coaching
Many people get to a point in their lives when they have worked hard for decades but don’t want to work 40+ hours every week. An “encore career” refers to a career transition that takes place in the latter part of one’s career. Typically an encore career happens in social sector fields like education, nonprofits, the environment, and health care.
If you are thinking about pursuing an encore career, you are not alone. According to a recent study, nearly 9 million Americans between the ages of 44 and 70 have encore careers.
If you are considering an encore career, first consider these things:
- Think about the skills that made you successful in your personal career and explore opportunities where those strengths can be used
- Once you’ve chosen an area to pursue, catch up on industry news by subscribing to industry newsletters and joining relevant LinkedIn groups
- When meeting with people regarding your encore career, be sure to promote the active part of your personality during networking activities and in interviews
You can see a list of resources for encore job seekers here.
Posted in Career Coaching, Job Search, Rodas Coaching
As you begin to make your resolutions for 2016, don’t forget to include your job search.The new year is the perfect time to commit to actions that will make positive changes in your career.
If you need some assistance with your career resolutions, we’ve got some suggestions to get you started:
- I will reach out to one new person a week who can help me with my job search
- I will make sure my LinkedIn profile is complete and up-to-date
- I will set up informational interviews with hiring managers, even if they aren’t currently hiring
- I will perfect my elevator pitch
- I will dedicate the appropriate amount of time to my job search
- I will educate myself on a topic that is relevant to my industry
- I will volunteer my time
- I will be open to asking for help
- I will be open to new job titles and departments
Posted in Career Coaching
Did you know that Autumn is the best season to look for a new job? Let the crisp cool air revitalize your job search!
5 steps to make your career dreams a reality before the end of the year:
1. Get focused
The summer is a tough time to spend inside job searching. Who wants to sit at a computer all day when you could be swimming with your friends or taking a vacation? In autumn, school starts back up, people go back to work and the majority of those distractions disappear. You’ll be able to focus better and hopefully land a new job in less time.
2. Have a current resume and LinkedIn profile
Go into your autumn job search armed with a truly stunning resume and LinkedIn profile—one that will fill you with confidence! Have a professional review and rewrite these documents to make you stand out from the crowd.
3. Create a clear, concise and understandable elevator pitch
Break your basic elevator pitch down into three parts:
- Intro to you, discipline, sector
- Value you have brought previously (one or two “knock out punches” (i.e.. financial & other tangible performance results are ideal here)
- Aspirational piece – what are you now looking for?
4. Build a networking strategy
Recruiting budgets start to shrink as the end of the year approaches, which means that more job openings will likely be filled through employee referrals or networking. Meet new people online and offline to learn about unadvertised job openings for which you might be a good fit.
5. Manage your search proactively
Documentation and follow up are the keys to any successful job search. Create your own job search log or use the job search log template that Excel offers to make sure you are documenting every single activity you do to land your next position. Once your documentation is completed each week, you will be able to see who you need to follow up with to move you closer to your dream job.
Posted in Career Coaching, Rodas Coaching
A recent study examined how today’s hiring managers evaluate candidates. As predicted, relevant work experience and skills are the most important aspects of a resume for hiring managers. 74 percent said the most important factor in hiring is the interview. Surprisingly, only 18 percent of hiring managers ranked cover letters as important, being outweighed by the interview, resume, references and soft skills.
As millennials take over management roles, they are relying on a broader set of methods for getting to know potential employees – candidate’s level of education, schools attended and GPA (27%, 13%, and 16%, respectively). With this set of hiring managers, the cover letter paragraphs about passions and key skills seems to be fading out.
So will a cover letter hurt you? Bloomberg points out that 55 percent of hiring managers said typos were the biggest turnoff, so why risk a typo when a cover letter is unlikely to help you land the job?
On the other hand, if you have a stellar cover letter, you may stand out as one of the few people still sending them.
Where do you stand on the cover letter debate? As a job seeker, do you still send them? As a hiring manager, how much weight do you place on these in the interview process? Leave your opinions in the comment box below.
Posted in Career Coaching, Interview, Resume, Rodas Coaching
Finding the right career – one that is rewarding, meaningful, and enjoyable – is one of the most challenging things a person will ever do. With today’s tough job market, it’s important that professionals find their competitive edge. An outside opinion can be helpful to guide you in times of uncertainty or in moments for motivation.
The Ladders points out that a career coach can help job seekers handle everything from resume consulting to interview training. Choosing the right coach can not only help you land a great job, but ensure it’s the right fit, giving you the long-term success you desire.
Here are some things a career coach can do for you:
Expert Career Advice
Before you launch your next job search, a career coach will act as an advisor to determine your skill set and long-term goals. Then they will help you come up with a strategy to achieve your goals.
Resume Review
A career coach will review your existing resume and provide tips on how to improve it. They can also review your LinkedIn profile.
Job Interview Training
A career coach can help you formulate responses to match your personal branding, so you’ll know how to answer difficult questions.
Do you feel stuck in your career? Do you want greater professional success? Career Coach Deborah Sakelaris is known for her exceptional personalized career coaching programs focused on client’s very unique needs. Her only focus is about getting real results and going above and beyond traditional routes to help you achieve your career goals. Contact Deborah today to learn more about Career Coaching.
Posted in Career Coaching, Job Search
Our emotional intelligence – the way we manage emotions, both our own and those of others – can play a critical role in determining our happiness and success, especially in the workplace.
Employers are placing high value on emotional intelligence when finding the right employees. In fact, according to Mariah DeLeon, VP of People at Glassdoor, a person’s emotional intelligence is a quality that should be non-negotiable.
One of the ways companies are vetting the emotional intelligence of candidates is by asking revealing interview questions. The answers can be a key factor in determining a person’s emotional intelligence.
Below are four interview questions that employers use to draw revealing answers from job candidates – so they can find employees with great emotional intelligence.
- Who inspires you and why?
This answer typically gives the interviewer a peek into who the interviewee models him or herself after. The response can also highlight the behavioral patterns the interviewee respects. - If you were starting a company tomorrow, what would be its top three values?
This answer will give insight into a person’ priorities, as well as their integrity. - What skills or expertise do you feel like you’re still missing?
Curiosity and the desire to learn are vital signs that an interviewee wants to get better at something. - What are the top three factors you would attribute to your success?
This answer can determine whether or not a person is selfless. Does someone talk about “me, me, me” or do they talk about “the team” or “us”?
Your emotional intelligence could be the step you need to your next career goal and working with a career coach can help sharpen that. Contact me today for a free consultation.
You can see the full list of interview questions from Time here.
Posted in Career Coaching, Interview, Rodas Coaching
One of the best ways to gain tips and knowledge for advancing your career is by reading career strategy books. The summer months are the perfect time to catch up on all those books you keep meaning to read, but haven’t had the time to.
Your time is valuable and there are endless reading options to choose from, so here is a list of good books for your career that will provide you with solid takeaways:
To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
Daniel H. Pink
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
David Allen
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Moving the Needle: Get Clear, Get Free, and Get Going in Your Career, Business and Life
Joe Sweeny
Lose Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness
Kerry Hannon
See a great book that I left off the list? Share your favorite reads in the comment section below.
Posted in Career Coaching