oliviatamccue

With more past years in our career than future years, we are more frequently approached with the topic of retirement planning.  An important part of retirement planning is our portfolio investment.  Maybe not too surprisingly, there are quite some similarities between career and investment.

• Time, knowledge and skills are applied in a job to make a living or achieve something, so is investment.

• Stock selection in investment has the fundamental approach of starting from top down – pick the market, sector within the market, industry within the sector, and then the company.   Against the odds, one could have the right talent and luck to land on a job in a great company of a top performing industry.  That aside, would you prefer an average company in a top performing industry to working in a great company in an average performing industry?  Are there more chance for a company to be better in a top performing industry? What is the chance of a company to transform an average performing industry it is in?

• Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  Don’t count on your illustrious past?  Yet, also don’t underestimate your potential if things  have not worked out before.

• Have both an entrance and exit criteria for each investment.  How many have entrance criteria for a new job? And far fewer people have exit criteria.

• Review the portfolio every x years – where discipline battles against complacence.  Do you set aside time to reflect how you are doing in your job?

• Most of us could not beat the average.

• Money is a mean not the final goal.

I was once in an interview to a position where the hiring manager confidently said that “people don’t leave a company, they leave their manager”.  I give him the vote of confidence of a good leader and would not mind a bit working in his organization.

How does one differentiate great leaders from not-so-great ones?   People with enough years of working are likely having fair shares of relatively great, good or bad managers.

– is the organization a prosperous one with high spirit and high level of engagement?

– is the organization doing meaningful things?

– is the employee of the organization highly motivated, willing to try new ideas?

– is the leader competent in its position and ready to take up additional responsibilities?

– does the leader acknowledge challenges facing the staff versus make the staff feel incompetent?

– does the leader help to remove obstacles versus creating obstacles?

– does the leader listen and ask probing question versus offer solution that belittle the staff?

– does the leader expand the strength of people versus exploiting the weakness?

– does the leader say “thank you” enough?

– does the leader care about career goals versus squeeze the most?

– does the leader put effort to help people grow?

– does the staff learn from the leader?

– what does the top performer and average performer say about the leader?

There are zillion books on Leadership.   The reality is – when we run into great leaders, we know them; and when we run into bad ones, we also know.

There is a saying that “a bird should find a good resting place”, so is it that “one need to find a great leader along the way”.

Transition to a job in a new company is at times analogical to a migration to a new city or even a new country if it is in a different industry.   It is expected that each company speaks its own language, has its own set of acronyms, and not the least, its own set of culture, and attributes of top performers.   There could be tons of commonality, just like each spoken language has its vocabularies for “thank you”, “please”, “can do”, one just needs to find the mapping.

Here are some thoughts on surviving the transition:

–  Say “Yes”.  There are many situations that can start with a Yes, but with a different answer at the end.

– Develop questions to ask.  “Asking the right questions” is half way getting the right answers.   Good questions are those that can help others to think through and come up with answers.

– Don’t be bogged down by unfamiliarity of acronyms – we don’t understand every word either in our native language.

– Add values whenever opportunities arise.   This is where credibility starts.

– Find common grounds and/or objectives.  This helps teamwork and unity.

– When things do not make sense, the new company has the benefit of doubt that there is different way of doing things.

– Avoid criticizing people and process.  It does not make you an effective player.

– Convince yourself people are smarter than the problems you see (if nothing else, they know the company and environment better).  It can be done with an open mind.

For those who have worked in big fortune 500 companies, employee surveys are no new terms.   Are surveys the best way to gauge employee sentiment?  And for companies not doing annual survey, how can we tell?

While it is hard to see the overall employee engagement, it is more straight forward to figure out the employee morale of the immediate organization.  There are a few indicators that could be telling.

• Do employees show interest, pretend to show interest, or not pay attention in Staff Meeting?
• Do the employees bring new ideas outside of their area, new ideas within their area, or no idea whatsoever?
• Do they show enthusiasm or boredom in topics?
• Do employees share good tips, best practices with each other without being asked?
• Is there a sharp increase in Work-from-Home time and Early Dismissal when their bosses are away?
• Do the employees own company stock?  (This is probably harder to find out).

What kinds of organization would you join when the market is hot?  And when the economy is tough?

And what is the best fit organization for you?

There is skepticism and probably a valid one on people moving across companies of very different scales in their career.    If moving across companies of similar size is like a move from a city to a city within same country, moving across companies of dramatically different size may be more like immigration to a new country speaking a new language with a different culture.

A generalization of differences based on company size is an invitation to different opinions at best.   How about these?

– Most companies using email, and often MS outlook email.  What would you say of the company size if outlook is using “first name” to locate people versus “last name”?

– Companies have news travelling so fast, that whatever news you share upstairs, it would be known downstairs before you finish walking downstairs.   Does this sound more like small company or a fortune 500?

– Is Gossip more common in small companies or big ones?

– Pace of work – many would say pace of work is faster in small company, I think a fast pace in a big company is like running fast with tons more consideration and a few pounds of weight on your feet.  If one can achieve things in a fortune 500 companies, probably the person can handle the pace in smaller companies.

– Big Minds, Small Minds.  Where do you find more people with bigger picture?

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Sometimes, small companies hire folks with experience in big companies.  The idea could be that new folks, with big companies’ experience, could add scale, structure and process to facilitate growth.  Unless there is critical mass of new hire in senior enough positions, such a hiring strategy could backfire.   The new folks could find themselves going backwards because things in small companies tend to be achieved with varying qualities, through relationship in lieu of process; and change control process or change management process may not be easy to pull off.

Hobby helps to discover many more things.

I came across this beautiful poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling when watching Wimbledon many years go.   There are days I remember more of it, days I hardly remember; beautiful things do not get erased from our memory all together, or at least I hope.

In Wimbledon, when tennis players are waiting to come out to the Center Court to play (at times) the most important match in their life, how would they feel as they read this verse above the doorway –  “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same”?

This is a poem from a father to son with many “If” in life.    It is a beautiful poem to read regardless.

Anyone, with job seeking experience, probably  knows well to put accomplishments on resume;  and the persuasive power of PSR (Problem – Solution – Result) to use in interview.  Outside of networking, a good resume is still an important entry point to further a job application.

Here are my IFs for those returning to work…

“If you can do the job and keep in mind your resume, and treat those with the same rigor …”

“If you can face a problem, and pursue the solution, and come out with the result …”

And you’ll be a better seeker; or being sought after.

Six months gave a reasonable work break after years of working, not quite enough, yet long enough to make it memorable.

It would be wonderful if companies consider sabbatical leave as a way for employees to refresh mind and soul; and return more productive.

With six months, it was possible to do meaningful learning related to a field.  Beyond blogging, I had enough time to try out creating app, an epiphany through hands-on learning on software as service and Agile software approach;  tried new education model and did volunteer services; let alone many hobbies I enjoy.     Time and relaxed mindset injects the creativity and energy into life about many interesting things in life.   There are still so many things on the list I could have wanted.  Life has been a lot more busy!

Then, a good position brings challenges, rhythm, and rewards.   One cannot get everything.    I am back to work.

There are many wonderful job seeking services that help people to formulate convincing stories in interviews –  in format of problem-solutions-results (PSR); or situation-obstacles-achievements-results (SOAR).   And it is effective.

In as much as such an approach aces interview, these techniques reflect bias towards established and stable companies for job seekers with years of experience.  Companies are all different –  Let’s say Type I for the established, stable, big, structured companies;  Type II for the rising, fast growing, most-admired, exciting companies.

Type I: PSR and SOAR could be effective if you show how the past experiences can solve the current problems of the job position .  If you know your area, the interview is not too hard, though many candidates are prepared in similar manner.   Questions like “tell me a time when you have to deal with ….?”, “how would you handle ….?”  could show up.

Your CURRENT VALUE matters more.

Type II: Some of these are companies with like 1-2000 job-applicants ratio.  You feel winning a lotto if granted with an interview.   Here, it may not be so much what you did in the past, more what you are capable of on-the-spot.  Sometimes, there are books like “Are you smart enough to work in . . . ?.  This is where the brain-teasing questions start, like give me an evacuation plan for San Francisco? give me a plan to increase credit card enrollment; or how to measure 9 minutes when you have only hourglass of 4 and 7 minutes?   You kind of get it.   It is like “are you smart and capable?”.   It also has questions about your passion – this is where like “what kinds of cell phones do you have?”, “what are the books you are reading?”, “teach me one thing you are passionate about”.  The idea is simple, the companies want people who are smart, learn fast, adapt to changes, solve unpredictable problems and love the work.

Your VALUE SLOPE matters more.

Type II interviews are intense, could-be-fun, could-be-embarrassing and heat up your brain … Isn’t it also a good reflection on how you feel  if you work in these companies?

Which types of companies would fit you more?