Author: Seniye Groff

All the Light There Was

Posted on by Seniye Groff

“All the Light There Was” by Nancy Kricorian takes on a common topic: Nazi occupation of Paris but with a unique twist: the Armenian immigrant experience. In this novel, the reader meets Maral Pegorian, an innocent 14 year-old girl in 1940’s Paris. Maral lives in a cramped apartment with her family. Many Armenians and Jews live just like her in her Paris neighborhood. She soon loses school friends and neighbors as the Jews are rounded up. Those that are left in the neighborhood are fearful and hungry but not too scared to fight back in their own little ways-hiding a Jewish child, spreading pamphlets and showing up for rallies. Maral experiences death first-hand, as well as, her first love. When the boy she loves, Zaven, is imprisoned with his brother, Maral is distraught as the families grieve. When WWII is over, those that have survived have their own losses to deal with as they try to resume “normal” life.

Kricorian’s tale is based on history and gives the reader a glimpse of the Armenian experience in 1940’s Paris. As you read this descriptive tale, your stomach will ache with hunger and you will be convinced that Maral’s nightmares are you own. I could not put this book down. Once I started reading; the story was immersive like quick sand!

“The Woman Upstairs”

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Claire Messud’s “The Woman Upstairs” introduces the reader to Nora Eldridge.  Nora narrates the story and portrays herself as an angry and disappointed almost-forty-something.  She dreamed of being a successful artist and instead finds herself as a never-married, third grade teacher with little excitement in her life.  She then gains a new student in her classroom, Reza Shadid and his parents Skandar and Sirena.  Nora almost instantly sees Reza as her son and his parents as her family/potential lovers.  She believes she is in love with each of them and becomes hungry for what they have:  Reza, a beautiful boy, Sirena, an Italian artist and Skandar, a Harvard academic.  Nora’s false reality causes her to distance herself from her friends and sick father.  She becomes ferocious with a lust for life.  She rediscovers the artist within her.  Unfortunately, her dream reality is shattered when the ultimate betrayal happens.

Messud’s book is hypnotic.  She writes with emotion and a storyline full of metaphors.  I could feel the passion and anger of Messud’s characters.  Messud’s skillful writing, coupled with a compelling story that hinted of disaster at the end, kept this me reading late into the night.   I tried reading Messud’s “The Emperor’s Children” a few years ago and could not get through it but I am motivated to give it another shot, since I loved this recent book so much.

 

Who Says It’s a Man’s World

Posted on by Seniye Groff

With a byline of “The Girls’ Guide to Corporate Domination” how could you not be interested in “Who Says it’s a Man’s World”? Emily Bennington has written an intriguing book full of advice, tools and action-oriented mantras for women trying to find their place in the workplace. The book is divided into six sections: self-awareness, social skills, personal effectiveness, team development, leadership and toolbox. Each section begins with a core principle, bulleted-list of what you will learn and a quotation of, “What your coworkers are thinking”. Bennington contends that if the reader selects three goals from each of the five sections to create an action plan and complete the goals in 60 days they will be a rock star and be promotable. She offers a career plan template on her website to complete this task.

Bennington writes with a snappy and humorous style, which engaged me right from the beginning of the book. She uses tons of real-life examples and quotes from executive career women. I love all the tools sprinkled throughout the book and the action plan items are realistic and achievable. Read this book several times, take time to create the suggested action plan and then take action. This book is the tool you have been waiting for to set your career on the right path!

Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tarts

Posted on by Seniye Groff

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I like to make new recipes and am always on the hunt for good vegetarian recipes, given that I am a vegetarian for 18 years.  The rest of my family is not vegetarian but they are pretty willing to try my new creations.

I saw this recipe in Rachel Ray’s monthly magazine.  It has a few steps so be prepared.  Make the crust and cook it in advance.  Then saute the mushrooms and leeks (separately).  Cool the crust and make the egg, cheese, milk mixture.  Assemble and cook!  This was delicious!  Give it a whirl.

 

Pizza Night

Posted on by Seniye Groff

The other night we had friends over after work.  I decided pizza would be easiest on me and satisfying for everyone-adults and kids.  I typically make my own dough, but I was short on time so I decided to try Grand Central Bakery’s pizza dough out of their freezer.  It turned out to be light and airy and I would definitely use it again.  And as an added bonus, if you have their cookbook, the recipe is included!

I made two veggies, one pepperoni and sausage and one pepperoni and pineapple.  An added bonus was that it was so nice, we got to eat outside!

 

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Taking a Break From the Workplace

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Lately I have been coaching several stay-at-home moms that are considering going back to the workplace now that their kids are older. It is a big decision and lifestyle change. Although, the decision can be daunting, I believe that there are several employ-able skills that happen when you stay-at-home.  But re-entering the workplace takes some active participation, on your part, and even some soul-searching.

First of all, consider your goals. Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish by going back to work?” It is money? skills? purpose? being a part of a team? Whatever your answer is, understand what is driving the call to action.

Next, consider what type of role you want. Do you want to return to your previous career or try something different? Know that if you are re-entering your previous career, things have changed.  You need to find out what has changed.  Keep in mind that trying something completely different is not impossible, but certainly a more difficult road to take.

It might be a little to late for this bit of advice, but do not let your network dry up while you are on the mommy-track.  Keep in touch with your business contacts.

Most schools are begging for volunteers, so it is likely that you have done lots of volunteering.  Write out how that volunteer work tied to business results.  Take on some leadership volunteer roles, work on a team, raise funds etc.  Ensure there are transferable skills from all your hard-earned volunteer hours!

Keep up your resume.  I worked with someone recently that had not updated their resume in 10 years!  Yikes!  By keeping it current, you are always ready for a potential gig and by having to update your resume consistently, you are reminded of all those business-related skills you are using.  And when you are updating your resume, think about accomplishments, quantifiable numbers and successes.

Keep up your LinkedIn profile.  What?  You don’t have one?  Yikes!  Get to work on it immediately. Linked In is a very important recruiting tool.

Related to LinkedIn, you need to keep up with technology.  What are the productivity tools being used in the workplace?  You need to know, and further more, you need to know how to use them.

Hopefully you have been doing this all along, but make sure you are subscribed to (and reading) industry magazines.  Again, you need to have current information on the hot topics in your industry (or the one you aspire to make a leap to).  On that note, read at least one business book a year.  Again, you need to speak the current business lingo and know the hot topics in today’s competitive market.

Working with temp agencies are a great way to make a foray into the working world while you are trying to figure out your next step.  Make some calls and schedule some informational meetings so that you can learn what types of jobs and skills are in demand.

Hopefully,  I have given you plenty of ideas to get you started.  Feel free to contact me if you want to hire me for some one-on-one coaching.

 

 

Four Ways to Assess Learning

Posted on by Seniye Groff

The February issue of “Chief Learning Officer” had a great article on learning assessment. Learning assessments, in my mind, are often overlooked and undervalued. In numerous projects I am currently working on, no one really wants to get specific on the outcomes. For example, instead of “learn a new system”, how about really diving into the details. For example, the article suggests a few questions such as:

1. “What roles do the participants have and whom do they need to influence?
2. What is a typical scenario in which the participants are having difficulty influencing the other party?
3. What underlying problems may be contributing to this challenge?
4. What organization factors might help or hinder their ability to influence their key stakeholders?
5. How well do participants understand their stakeholder’s needs?”

Thought-provoking questions, similar to above, force you to check your assumptions. Often an obstacle to getting this type of information is time, but data can be gathered by keeping things brief and focused. The authors suggest a few tips to gain an accelerated needs assessment:
“Conduct short, limited conversations rather than lengthy surveys.”
“Prioritize rather than boil the ocean.”
“When identifying a gap, look for pockets of strength.”

Read the complete article to gain more tips and read specific questions to help you gather meaningful data so that recommendations can be based on more than “gut instinct”.

How Effective are those Job Boards?

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Someone in my network shared this information with me and since I thought it is pretty valuable, I am sharing it with you. Here are some great tips for getting the best results possible. I hope you will find some helpful information here.

Monthly visitors to job boards:

· Google (search) 170+ million  Note: Optimizing your key words will pay big rewards

· Twitter (search) 43+ million   Note:  Be sure to tweet your jobs

· Indeed.com (search) 22+ million   Note:  The most visited job board

· Monster.com (category/search) 17 million   Note:  A strong paid job board

· CareerBuilder (category/search) 14 million   Note:  A strong paid job board

· SimplyHiried (search) 5 million

· GlassDoor (search) 2 million

Of course, your industry may have specific boards that get more traffic, but this is a great starting point.

To gauge the best way to position your job, talk to your current top performers:

· Where did they look for a job? What job boards did they use?

· What words did they search for in search engines?

· What attracted them to your company? Why did they accept your offer? Why do they keep working there?

· Include this information in the job ad and description. Sell why it’s a great place to work!

· Job ads should be different from the job description. Often, only the top two or three lines of a posting will show in the job board listing, so use those first few lines to entice them to click and look further.

. Most searches are based on job location, so include the location in your job ad and job description.

Focus on job seeker vocabulary rather than your company’s lingo:

· Avoid acronyms they may not understand

· Use generic job titles they might search for rather than your unique title for the job

Look at competitors’ ads for good words (not just in your industry but companies who need same talent you do, Example: if you are looking for a front desk person, look at customer service ads).

Also check LinkedIn Profiles of people you’d like to hire and include words they use in their Profile.

Perform sample searches for the types of jobs you are posting and look at how competitors are presenting similar opportunities, then do a better job than they do.

Use multiple variants of words as keywords if you can add those through your applicant tracking system or careers page:

· accounting job/accountant job

· programming job/programmer job

· front desk job/customer service job/receptionist job

SEO Book Key Word Tool has a free subscription for key word search tool, what words are people searching for, etc. Use those words in your title.
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/?goback=%2Egde_2476011_member_207477710

Me Before You

Posted on by Seniye Groff

“Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes is a book you will think about even when you are not reading it. The story is so tantalizing and provocative, you will be immersed in Louisa and Will from the very start. Will is a thirty-something thrill-seeker who is handsome, rich and powerful. A freak accident leaves him a quadriplegic. Louisa, a twenty-seven year old, loses her job at the Buttered Bun and is not quite sure what to do next. Louisa gets hired by Will’s mother to be Will’s caretaker. Will is bossy, moody and, at times, down right unfriendly. Louisa likes to stay in her safe cocoon and has no intention of venturing out of her safety zone.

As Louisa and Will get to know each other, they begin to challenge each other’s beliefs. Will wonders if life is worth living, given his current physical state. Louisa wonders why she is not more brave and willing to try new things. “Is ambition a bad thing?”, Will asks Louisa. In turn, Louisa asks Will, “Since life can change so quickly, why not embrace your new normal?”

This is a novel that will suck you in from the first page. It challenges you to question your assumptions and decisions. If life changed so drastically and so suddenly, what would you do?