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?

The Unfaithful Queen

Posted on by Seniye Groff

Carolly Erickson creatively tells the tale of how treacherous is to be a wife of Henry VIII’s 1500’s England. In “The Unfaithful Queen”, Catherine is a young girl living in her grandmother’s house. Her mother is dead and her father is a destitute Howard with only his name to show for his lineage—no wealth or lands. Catherine is wooed by several men but when the king sees her he is reminded of his great love, Jocasta and immediately befriends the young maiden. Catherine is integrated into the royal household and Henry VIII leaves his fourth wife to marry Catherine. Henry VIII is old, smelly and sick and Catherine continues to see her true love, Tom Culpeper. The royal court is littered with deceit, rivalry and struggle for power and Catherine is too young and naïve to realize the court is not loyal to her. Of course, a wife or lover to the king is only valued if she can produce a son, an heir to the throne. Catherine is unable to produce the heir which leads to disastrous results. “The Unfaithful Queen” reads as if Catherine is telling you a personal story. Erickson writes vividly and realistically and I was pulled in from page one. The reader will definitely get a sense of what the royal court might have been like under Henry VIII’s rein.

Engage Passive Learners

Posted on by Seniye Groff

According to the January 2013 issue of “Chief Learning Officer” 60% of people are passive learners. I find this so interesting because when I design classes or content, I always focus on “active learning”. I want my learners to engage with the content, to actually have to use the new knowledge to change behavior. Randy Emelo suggests, “learning professionals need to construct learning environments, events and programs that encourage active participation and speak to employees in ways that trigger an innate need and desire to learn.

Sounds easy but it is actually pretty difficult. Think about all the “training” you have attended that is essentially information sharing. You are not asked to construct “new” knowledge or use the new skills and behaviors in thought-provoking, meaningful ways. Certainly social media has aided in engagement and collaboration, but more often than not, there are many that are “lurkers” staying in the background rather than getting involved in the conversation. But tap into someone’s passions or allow them to be an “expert” and motivation can increase. I think Trip Advisor does this really well. I was reminded of this during my recent trip to Palm Springs. When we wanted suggestions for things to do or places to eat, I would search Trip Advisor’s reviews. I was then compelled to “give back” by writing reviews after I visited places. And then Trip Advisor acknowledged my contributions by giving me a “contributor” badge and when another reader finds my review helpful, I get an email telling me someone thought my review was helpful. Genius!

The article suggests some ideas to foster active learning:
1. “Set up learning environments and systems that are personally motivating.
2. Look for systems that have push and pull.
3. Reward and recognize people for building the organization’s learning culture.”

Check out the complete article: http://read.clomedia.com/publication/?i=138586&p=32

Palm Springs for the Holidays

Posted on by Seniye Groff

I was fortunate enough to vacation in Palm Springs over the holidays. I have never traveled over the holidays and it ended up being a nice reprieve. Who could complain about the nonstop sun and 20 degree warmer weather?! I also visited Joshua Tree National Park which is stunningly beautiful and surreal in its own rite. Attached are a few pictures.

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Happy New Year everyone. Tonight I will spend the evening with good friends and good food…a great way to send off 2012!

2012 in Review

Posted on by Seniye Groff

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Narita airport, Tokyo

Image posted on by Seniye Groff

photo 3photo 2IMG_0635My husband has been to Tokyo several times and every time he goes, he sends back the coolest pictures.  These came from his most recent trip.  It is an oragami store.  He said it was so amazing and there was even an oragami that you needed to use microscope to see it.  Definitely, Tokyo is on my list as a “must see”.