A first answer for newcomers would be: watching TV, eating turkey and finding great bargains at the Mall. At least, that is how I remember my first Thanksgiving which caught me up me in a holiday that I had no clue about, except the fact that it added a couple of days off to my working calendar. So, that is what I did. I had just moved to the US, my husband was out of town and I had no friends. Therefore, I was at a complete loss. What were those days off all about and why should I celebrate them?
It’s been 8 years since that day. I had 3 kids born in Texas and some very strong roots to my adoptive Country. I got to love the wonderful reasons that Thanksgiving gives me to celebrate. Being new to a Country means that you stopped having your familiar faces and places close to you, which translates to the fact that you’ve got to open yourself to new ones.
My roots came as a professional developing my own extended network and especially with my 3 girls. As a parent and designated driver of their daily activities., roots meant finding a favorite playground, an ice-cream parlor with the right kind of ‘pink sparkles’ and an attendant that knows your name and meeting lots of other warrior parents who care greatly about having happy and entertained kids!. The fact that I go grocery shopping and I get to find people I know or that I go to a fund-raising event of my eldest girl’s elementary school and I happen to know quite a number of people may mean nothing to most. But to me it has created the atmosphere that fills my world and makes me call the beautiful suburb where I live with my family: HOME.
And home is this very International community where people from everywhere shop, sit, have coffee and share our daily lives in a very normal and routine way. I believe most of the foreigners that I’ve learned to appreciate and call my friends have come to discover what a wonderful opportunity Thanksgiving is to share with family and friends. We have risen to the occasion to enjoy ourselves and just be happy and relaxed. However, we may not follow the whole script. Some of us may have Turkey but others may have other fancy international dishes or even barbecue. We just do not stress too much about it. Most of us do not have relatives in town or in the Country to share a meal with but we have our bunch of adoptive relatives – friends – who join to have a great day of fun.
I think my kids will grow understanding and loving the American Thanksgiving holidays but as blended kids they are - whose parents come from somewhere else - they may relate those days to some additional international flavoring with those friends coming from other Countries, speaking different languages, sharing very diverse foreign accents. My girls are used to hearing people talk with accents from my friends on my European ladies’ playgroup, or our acquaintances from diverse places in Latin America . I believe it will certainly open not only their hearts, but their minds, and grow to be very inclusive citizens.
On Thanksgiving we may share our Venezuelan food with black beans, rice, black stewed cooked with lots of species, garlic, onions, butter, brown sugar plus a Coca Cola for the secret blackened touch or somebody may play exotic and bring an Indian meal or a European appetizer. But mostly we get to enjoy the fact of being able to call home where precisely our heart is.
And that is what we foreigners have in common with the Pilgrims. We’ve come with all to settle down on this land and you’ve welcomed us, we are now all part of the same Country that we call home and are thankful for.
So, there you go: Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Is it all right to stop an interviewer?
One of the things that has always got on my nerves is the ability of some interviewers to take advantage of their position of power to either minimize or disrespect a job candidate.
Some of my clients have mentioned consistently how this kind of situation usually catch them by surprise and while most have done nothing about it, there have been some who've got the tools to stop a misbehaving interviewer. The confusion comes from the lack of clarity between a 'difficult' interviewer who's got the wonderful capability to challenge a candidate beyond his/her comfort zone to prove a competency required for the job Vs. the disrespect that comes from even breaking the law (yeah, you got me right!).
So, I figure I could share with you some basics on how to handle some unusual questions and when to consider stopping an interview altogether.
#1. You are a female candidate. There's a very friendly interviewer talking about his personal stuff (beware right there!) and asking casually whether you have kids or are planning to have kids sometime soon. Your response: Is that a job requirement? Or I did not know that was a job requirement.
#2. You are a foreigner candidate with an accent. The legal question: Are you legally entitled to work in the US for any employer? Vs. the illegal one: Where are you from? For how long have you been living in the US? Every employer needs to know if you meet the basic legal requirement to work for them or not in order to consider you for a position but it is nobody's business your Country of origin or the period you've lived in the US. That could lead to ethnic related discrimination and at the end, would add nothing to the job requirements. However, a question on the languages you can fluently speak and read is a total legal one when it is job related.
#3. You are wearing a religious symbol. The question: Oh, I see you are wearing X, a close friend of mine wears the same, what church do you go to? Though it may look as a very inoffensive question, the fact is that as long as it is not a job related question it can open the door to religion based discrimination.
#4. The position requires lots of traveling as part of its job description. The legal question: Can you travel with very short notice to handle business "X where"? Vs. How are you going to handle the traveling requirements of this position with 4 kids and a cat? Have you got that taken care of? Again, who cares what you do with your personal life and caregivers? It is not a job related question if it lands into personal territory.
#5. You are a middle age candidate and an interviewer asks: “how old are you? Or how much longer do you plan to work before you retire? These questions are illegal based on age discrimination potential. However, an employer is entitled to ask you, for instance, What are your long-term career goals?
In conclusion, as a candidate make sure your potential employer compliances with the law during the interview. The rule of thumb is to ensure the interviewer asks only job related questions framed according to the law. If the interviewer persistently keeps asking illegal questions I encourage you to mention your awareness and their need to comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) which is a federal law that bars employers from discriminating against any person with respect to their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment on the basis of that person’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Some of my clients have mentioned consistently how this kind of situation usually catch them by surprise and while most have done nothing about it, there have been some who've got the tools to stop a misbehaving interviewer. The confusion comes from the lack of clarity between a 'difficult' interviewer who's got the wonderful capability to challenge a candidate beyond his/her comfort zone to prove a competency required for the job Vs. the disrespect that comes from even breaking the law (yeah, you got me right!).
So, I figure I could share with you some basics on how to handle some unusual questions and when to consider stopping an interview altogether.
#1. You are a female candidate. There's a very friendly interviewer talking about his personal stuff (beware right there!) and asking casually whether you have kids or are planning to have kids sometime soon. Your response: Is that a job requirement? Or I did not know that was a job requirement.
#2. You are a foreigner candidate with an accent. The legal question: Are you legally entitled to work in the US for any employer? Vs. the illegal one: Where are you from? For how long have you been living in the US? Every employer needs to know if you meet the basic legal requirement to work for them or not in order to consider you for a position but it is nobody's business your Country of origin or the period you've lived in the US. That could lead to ethnic related discrimination and at the end, would add nothing to the job requirements. However, a question on the languages you can fluently speak and read is a total legal one when it is job related.
#3. You are wearing a religious symbol. The question: Oh, I see you are wearing X, a close friend of mine wears the same, what church do you go to? Though it may look as a very inoffensive question, the fact is that as long as it is not a job related question it can open the door to religion based discrimination.
#4. The position requires lots of traveling as part of its job description. The legal question: Can you travel with very short notice to handle business "X where"? Vs. How are you going to handle the traveling requirements of this position with 4 kids and a cat? Have you got that taken care of? Again, who cares what you do with your personal life and caregivers? It is not a job related question if it lands into personal territory.
#5. You are a middle age candidate and an interviewer asks: “how old are you? Or how much longer do you plan to work before you retire? These questions are illegal based on age discrimination potential. However, an employer is entitled to ask you, for instance, What are your long-term career goals?
In conclusion, as a candidate make sure your potential employer compliances with the law during the interview. The rule of thumb is to ensure the interviewer asks only job related questions framed according to the law. If the interviewer persistently keeps asking illegal questions I encourage you to mention your awareness and their need to comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) which is a federal law that bars employers from discriminating against any person with respect to their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment on the basis of that person’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Monday, October 20, 2008
The global financial crisis could increase world unemployment ... what if you actually lose your job?
We are reading and hearing in the news every where about the impact this financial crisis may have in the unemployment. Just by reading some of the latest you can't stop wondering about what to do if you get to be impacted.
ILO the International Labour Organization - says The global financial crisis could increase world unemployment by an estimated 20 million women and men, as per its Director's words today. See below the link that gives you access to the total report. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the ILO’s preliminary estimates indicated that the “number of unemployed could rise from 190 million in 2007 to 210 million in late 2009.”
Mr. Somavia added that “the number of working poor living on less than a dollar a day could rise by some 40 million – and those at 2 dollars a day by more than 100 million”.
Mr. Somavia also said that the current crisis would hit hardest such sectors as construction, automotive, tourism, finance, services and real estate. He also noted that the new projections “could prove to be underestimates if the effects of the current economic contraction and looming recession are not quickly confronted”.
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--en/WCMS_099529/index.htm )
There are some few matters that you should take into account to be ready for a change of this proportions:
1. Have a backup plan, if you lost your job today, what's your backup plan? How long will your savings hold up? The answer should be, "I have enough saved up until I find another job ." Don't carry more credit card debt than you can pay off in three months. Be smart! Find a financial advisor to help you make a transition plan.
2. Design a strategy to land you the next job. Chart a search plan. Volunteering; professional organizations, or clubs. NETWORKING IS KEY!. Stay connected to people and open yourself to make new contacts. Remember to return the favor: What goes around, comes around. Especially today, if your contact is a valued employee and recommends you to his employer.
3. Get active. Make a structured routine of your week. Have weekly goals and start investing your time wisely, so you do not get psychologically impacted. Depression and other psychological reactions can be part of changing jobs. Embrace the opportunity to explore inside yourself on what your strengths, achievements, competencies are and create your brand to market yourself successfully. You may need the gift of a career coach who can counsel you on how to change jobs and be more successful in your search.
Face the job exploration with a sense of adventure. New opportunities can open up for you, after all, you may end up doing what you've always wanted. Keep learning and growing out of the experience and remember you CAN make this change works in your favor!
If you are already thinking or wondering on what your career transition plan could be and how to optimize your job exploration process, please e-mail me at career4changes@live.com to schedule your first free consultation appointment (offer valid only for new clients).
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"
Mahatma Ghandi
ILO the International Labour Organization - says The global financial crisis could increase world unemployment by an estimated 20 million women and men, as per its Director's words today. See below the link that gives you access to the total report. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the ILO’s preliminary estimates indicated that the “number of unemployed could rise from 190 million in 2007 to 210 million in late 2009.”
Mr. Somavia added that “the number of working poor living on less than a dollar a day could rise by some 40 million – and those at 2 dollars a day by more than 100 million”.
Mr. Somavia also said that the current crisis would hit hardest such sectors as construction, automotive, tourism, finance, services and real estate. He also noted that the new projections “could prove to be underestimates if the effects of the current economic contraction and looming recession are not quickly confronted”.
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--en/WCMS_099529/index.htm )
There are some few matters that you should take into account to be ready for a change of this proportions:
1. Have a backup plan, if you lost your job today, what's your backup plan? How long will your savings hold up? The answer should be, "I have enough saved up until I find another job ." Don't carry more credit card debt than you can pay off in three months. Be smart! Find a financial advisor to help you make a transition plan.
2. Design a strategy to land you the next job. Chart a search plan. Volunteering; professional organizations, or clubs. NETWORKING IS KEY!. Stay connected to people and open yourself to make new contacts. Remember to return the favor: What goes around, comes around. Especially today, if your contact is a valued employee and recommends you to his employer.
3. Get active. Make a structured routine of your week. Have weekly goals and start investing your time wisely, so you do not get psychologically impacted. Depression and other psychological reactions can be part of changing jobs. Embrace the opportunity to explore inside yourself on what your strengths, achievements, competencies are and create your brand to market yourself successfully. You may need the gift of a career coach who can counsel you on how to change jobs and be more successful in your search.
Face the job exploration with a sense of adventure. New opportunities can open up for you, after all, you may end up doing what you've always wanted. Keep learning and growing out of the experience and remember you CAN make this change works in your favor!
If you are already thinking or wondering on what your career transition plan could be and how to optimize your job exploration process, please e-mail me at career4changes@live.com to schedule your first free consultation appointment (offer valid only for new clients).
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"
Mahatma Ghandi
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Negotiating Expatriate Packages
As we live and work in a Global economy, chances are that a professional at some point in a career development plan gets into a potential job assignment offer overseas.
I found the following article written by Lionel Laroche and Catherine Mercer Bing very useful for those looking to make the move (Source: http://itapintl.com/ ). See below:
"Very few people want extended work abroad just for the experience. However, more global companies than ever now expect their talent pool to have international experience as a prerequisite for promotions into the highest levels of the company. Because companies recognize the reticence of employees to go abroad for "possible future consideration", they usually offer some form of financial incentive to those willing to consider relocation for periods of 2 - 3 years.
Expatriate assignments can challenge both the employee and his/her family. Companies recognize this challenge and compensate their expatriates. Expectations for the expatriate incentive package run very high. Individuals may know of other expatriates (who bought a large house or a nice cottage upon their return from a foreign assignment). We know of a senior technician, who was considering a six-month assignment to Mexico, hoping that he could take early retirement upon his return!
Managing employee expectations is the responsibility of Human Resources professionals. Their responsibility is to balance the genuine need for good salary and benefits for individuals, with the financial needs of the corporations. Their responsibility to the individual and the company means designing expatriate assignments to be win-win situations for the company and the individual, both short-term and long-term. Here are some things to expect from expatriate packages.
Direct CompensationSalary increases should take into consideration two factors at the same time -- changes in the cost of living and increases due to changes in experience and/or responsibilities - and equitable compensation plans take both aspects into consideration. In the case of expatriate assignments, both changes can be drastic:
Foreign assignments often include a significant increase in responsibility. For example, managing a plant of outside the home country is a significantly greater responsibility than managing one in the home country, because of the more restricted access to corporate support and of the cultural challenges.
Living in or near any large South American city is likely to be much more expensive than in a smaller or outlying city.Insightful Human Resources professionals plan to give expatriates two separate figures, one for the change in cost of living and one for the change in responsibilities. This simplifies expatriate package negotiations in several respects:
It improves consistency when a corporation sends people to different countries with widely different costs of living and helps prevent comments like: "Maria went to Buenos Aires two years ago and her salary was doubled. Why is mine increasing only by 20%?"
It also helps prepare expatriates for their return to the home country. Companies find it easier to remove the adjustment made for the change in cost of living if it is explicitly separated from the salary than if it is part of one's salary. This helps prevent expatriates from feeling demoted upon their return to the home country because their salary was decreased significantly.Note that cost of living adjustments should be based on the expatriate life style rather than the life style of locals. For example, expatriates living in some developing countries find that food and lodging is relatively inexpensive, while international telephone charges are very high. Given the amount of money that most expatriates spend on telephone, this may make the new place less affordable after all.
BenefitsBecause of their very different situations and needs, the benefits offered to expatriates generally go beyond the benefits offered to other employees. Many companies offer benefits in the areas of taxation, moving, accommodations, visa, immigration, and language training. Other benefits that are less commonly offered can significantly ease expatriate package negotiations:
Cross-cultural training helps manage expatriates' expectations. By learning more about their future lives, they can understand better what will be important to them in their assigned destination. They can also calibrate their expectations versus the experience of other expatriates in that destination. For example, some expatriates are asking to live in very large houses in cities where such accommodations simply do not exist. On the professional side, they may expect to achieve objectives that may be essentially unrealistic in their new context; in this case, they may expect rewards that may never come.
Family benefits: It is critical to keep in mind the fact that the whole family is affected, and particularly the spouse. Family adjustment and lifestyle issues are the leading causes of early return .Support and financial help in finding adequate schooling for the expatriate's children is often a prerequisite for the family to accept the assignment. In the case of dual-career families, recognition for the spouse's efforts can come in several forms:
Helping the spouse obtain a work visa and a job.
Helping him/her find suitable unpaid activities (studies, volunteer work in non-profit associations, or hobbies) when local immigration laws preventing him/her from receiving a salary. This can be done through dedicated career counseling.
Compensating the spouse for his/her loss of income.
Career counseling: Providing career coaching / mentoring to them throughout their assignment, and particularly during the first and last six months of their assignment, and after they return to the home office helps them ensure that both they and the organization reap the benefits of their newly-acquired experience. It also helps manage their expectations for their subsequent assignments - some expatriates come back to their home country hoping that they will hold far more senior positions than they should realistically hope for.
Repatriation training: Expatriate families and employees benefit from repatriation training to help readjust to living in the home country and returning to the original work environment. Length of the training often depends on the length of the assignment and the ages of the children.
Reassignment: If the leading motivator of the expatriate is the long-term career aspect, the company needs to provide a challenging assignment upon return to the home office or shortly thereafter. If this is not feasible, communication about future plans for such an assignment and the timing needs to come from a mentor or senior manager or the company risks losing its entire investment to turnover of returning expatriates.One size does not fit all expatriate packages. A young, single engineer who is going to work on an oil extraction platform in Indonesia has very different expectations and needs compared with a senior, married-with-teenage-children manager who is going to start and lead a plant in Spain. A significant degree of flexibility should be provided to both to be able to design packages that suit their own needs within a given budget - just like flexible health benefit plans.
Seeking external adviceIn many cases, neither the expatriate nor the HR manager has gone through an expatriate assignment. As a result, their understanding of what the expatriate and his/her family will need in the assigned destination may be significantly off. Seeking informal advice from other expatriates or obtaining formal advice from consulting firms specialized in setting up expatriate packages may help ensure that the most important needs of prospective expatriates are addressed. "
I found the following article written by Lionel Laroche and Catherine Mercer Bing very useful for those looking to make the move (Source: http://itapintl.com/ ). See below:
"Very few people want extended work abroad just for the experience. However, more global companies than ever now expect their talent pool to have international experience as a prerequisite for promotions into the highest levels of the company. Because companies recognize the reticence of employees to go abroad for "possible future consideration", they usually offer some form of financial incentive to those willing to consider relocation for periods of 2 - 3 years.
Expatriate assignments can challenge both the employee and his/her family. Companies recognize this challenge and compensate their expatriates. Expectations for the expatriate incentive package run very high. Individuals may know of other expatriates (who bought a large house or a nice cottage upon their return from a foreign assignment). We know of a senior technician, who was considering a six-month assignment to Mexico, hoping that he could take early retirement upon his return!
Managing employee expectations is the responsibility of Human Resources professionals. Their responsibility is to balance the genuine need for good salary and benefits for individuals, with the financial needs of the corporations. Their responsibility to the individual and the company means designing expatriate assignments to be win-win situations for the company and the individual, both short-term and long-term. Here are some things to expect from expatriate packages.
Direct CompensationSalary increases should take into consideration two factors at the same time -- changes in the cost of living and increases due to changes in experience and/or responsibilities - and equitable compensation plans take both aspects into consideration. In the case of expatriate assignments, both changes can be drastic:
Foreign assignments often include a significant increase in responsibility. For example, managing a plant of outside the home country is a significantly greater responsibility than managing one in the home country, because of the more restricted access to corporate support and of the cultural challenges.
Living in or near any large South American city is likely to be much more expensive than in a smaller or outlying city.Insightful Human Resources professionals plan to give expatriates two separate figures, one for the change in cost of living and one for the change in responsibilities. This simplifies expatriate package negotiations in several respects:
It improves consistency when a corporation sends people to different countries with widely different costs of living and helps prevent comments like: "Maria went to Buenos Aires two years ago and her salary was doubled. Why is mine increasing only by 20%?"
It also helps prepare expatriates for their return to the home country. Companies find it easier to remove the adjustment made for the change in cost of living if it is explicitly separated from the salary than if it is part of one's salary. This helps prevent expatriates from feeling demoted upon their return to the home country because their salary was decreased significantly.Note that cost of living adjustments should be based on the expatriate life style rather than the life style of locals. For example, expatriates living in some developing countries find that food and lodging is relatively inexpensive, while international telephone charges are very high. Given the amount of money that most expatriates spend on telephone, this may make the new place less affordable after all.
BenefitsBecause of their very different situations and needs, the benefits offered to expatriates generally go beyond the benefits offered to other employees. Many companies offer benefits in the areas of taxation, moving, accommodations, visa, immigration, and language training. Other benefits that are less commonly offered can significantly ease expatriate package negotiations:
Cross-cultural training helps manage expatriates' expectations. By learning more about their future lives, they can understand better what will be important to them in their assigned destination. They can also calibrate their expectations versus the experience of other expatriates in that destination. For example, some expatriates are asking to live in very large houses in cities where such accommodations simply do not exist. On the professional side, they may expect to achieve objectives that may be essentially unrealistic in their new context; in this case, they may expect rewards that may never come.
Family benefits: It is critical to keep in mind the fact that the whole family is affected, and particularly the spouse. Family adjustment and lifestyle issues are the leading causes of early return .Support and financial help in finding adequate schooling for the expatriate's children is often a prerequisite for the family to accept the assignment. In the case of dual-career families, recognition for the spouse's efforts can come in several forms:
Helping the spouse obtain a work visa and a job.
Helping him/her find suitable unpaid activities (studies, volunteer work in non-profit associations, or hobbies) when local immigration laws preventing him/her from receiving a salary. This can be done through dedicated career counseling.
Compensating the spouse for his/her loss of income.
Career counseling: Providing career coaching / mentoring to them throughout their assignment, and particularly during the first and last six months of their assignment, and after they return to the home office helps them ensure that both they and the organization reap the benefits of their newly-acquired experience. It also helps manage their expectations for their subsequent assignments - some expatriates come back to their home country hoping that they will hold far more senior positions than they should realistically hope for.
Repatriation training: Expatriate families and employees benefit from repatriation training to help readjust to living in the home country and returning to the original work environment. Length of the training often depends on the length of the assignment and the ages of the children.
Reassignment: If the leading motivator of the expatriate is the long-term career aspect, the company needs to provide a challenging assignment upon return to the home office or shortly thereafter. If this is not feasible, communication about future plans for such an assignment and the timing needs to come from a mentor or senior manager or the company risks losing its entire investment to turnover of returning expatriates.One size does not fit all expatriate packages. A young, single engineer who is going to work on an oil extraction platform in Indonesia has very different expectations and needs compared with a senior, married-with-teenage-children manager who is going to start and lead a plant in Spain. A significant degree of flexibility should be provided to both to be able to design packages that suit their own needs within a given budget - just like flexible health benefit plans.
Seeking external adviceIn many cases, neither the expatriate nor the HR manager has gone through an expatriate assignment. As a result, their understanding of what the expatriate and his/her family will need in the assigned destination may be significantly off. Seeking informal advice from other expatriates or obtaining formal advice from consulting firms specialized in setting up expatriate packages may help ensure that the most important needs of prospective expatriates are addressed. "
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
For the curious mind: What is Appreciative Inquiry? and what is an Appreciative Coach? (me!)
I get asked sometimes what is what I mean with being an 'Appreciative Career Coach' and once people get the notion that what I do comes from Appreciative Inquiry, then the follow up question about what this is arises.
I am going to try to summarize it based on what I've learned myself and others have written about it either in books or internet sites.
Let's start by saying that Appreciative Inquiry is a positive approach to change. It is about the power of the question. It was created in the Academia world - Case Weatherhead School of Management -I'll share with you a little tiny piece of what its 'founder' has shared on this regard:
“It all starts with Inquiry…the questions we ask, the things we focus on, the topics that we choose determine what we find. What we find becomes the data and the story out of which we dialogue about and envision the future. And so, the seeds of change are implicit in the very first question we ask.”
Cooperrider, 1995
So, basically, what have you done that's worked out really well for you? Let's do more of that!" - how to discover things that have been successful -- What have you done that's worked out really well for you?
Instead of discovering what the client - you - is "doing wrong" and telling them - again you- how to do it right, my process as an Appreciative Career coach becomes to discover what is what you are doing right (what your particular talents are), reminding you that those things are enjoyable, and suggesting that you do more of that.
Does it make more sense now?
OUR IMAGE OF THE FUTURE DRIVES OUR ACTION! or as Peter Drucker put it: The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Not falling too much more into the details of how it works I can tell you that there are very solid examples of AI success stories around the world. I'll share the one that is the closest to my heart as I worked at the particular Business Unit in which the story took place where I learned a lot about the AI application and potential for success. (BP case: http://aradford.co.uk/images/stories/ODJournalFall2007_DG_and_AR.pdf ).
Now, go, take a look and if wanting to open an inquiry about your career that is what I am here for. My offer for you is a free introductory complimentary session either face-to-face , over the phone or by Skype .
Enjoy the ride and go and start creating that future you want.
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it".
(Goethe)
I am going to try to summarize it based on what I've learned myself and others have written about it either in books or internet sites.
Let's start by saying that Appreciative Inquiry is a positive approach to change. It is about the power of the question. It was created in the Academia world - Case Weatherhead School of Management -I'll share with you a little tiny piece of what its 'founder' has shared on this regard:
“It all starts with Inquiry…the questions we ask, the things we focus on, the topics that we choose determine what we find. What we find becomes the data and the story out of which we dialogue about and envision the future. And so, the seeds of change are implicit in the very first question we ask.”
Cooperrider, 1995
So, basically, what have you done that's worked out really well for you? Let's do more of that!" - how to discover things that have been successful -- What have you done that's worked out really well for you?
Instead of discovering what the client - you - is "doing wrong" and telling them - again you- how to do it right, my process as an Appreciative Career coach becomes to discover what is what you are doing right (what your particular talents are), reminding you that those things are enjoyable, and suggesting that you do more of that.
Does it make more sense now?
OUR IMAGE OF THE FUTURE DRIVES OUR ACTION! or as Peter Drucker put it: The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Not falling too much more into the details of how it works I can tell you that there are very solid examples of AI success stories around the world. I'll share the one that is the closest to my heart as I worked at the particular Business Unit in which the story took place where I learned a lot about the AI application and potential for success. (BP case: http://aradford.co.uk/images/stories/ODJournalFall2007_DG_and_AR.pdf ).
Now, go, take a look and if wanting to open an inquiry about your career that is what I am here for. My offer for you is a free introductory complimentary session either face-to-face , over the phone or by Skype .
Enjoy the ride and go and start creating that future you want.
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it".
(Goethe)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Online Technologies and Their Impact on Recruitment Strategies—Using Social Networking Web Sites to Attract Talent
Are you wondering if the time you spent in doing networking either face-to-face or virtually (e.g. linkedin anyone?) is well spent or wasted? Think again!
See below what the SHRM - Society for Human Resource Management - just published on a study they just did on this regard.
"Since 2006, there has been a 17 percent increase in human resource professionals who use social networking sites as recruiting, resumé verification, and applicant screening tools at least occasionally, according to a survey released today by the world’s largest human resources organization. And what they find can be damaging to an applicant’s hiring prospects.
The overview of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, Online Technologies and Their Impact on Recruitment Strategies—Using Social Networking Web Sites to Attract Talent, showed organizations still recruit primarily through national online job boards (48 percent), but 3 percent of human resource professionals make social networking sites their primary recruiting source.
“Social networking sites will change forever how human resource professionals recruit new employees, check for corporate culture fit, and verify resumé accuracy,” said China Gorman, acting president and CEO of SHRM. “HR professionals need to use caution when they see potential inaccuracies on social networking profiles, and employees should be wary of how they portray themselves online. SHRM’s survey shows that negative information contained in profiles has more of an impact on hiring decisions than positive information.”
Key findings in responses from nearly 600 HR professionals:
• Negative information on an applicant’s social networking profile, such as personal views or values contradictory to the hiring organization, negative or slanderous discussions of current or former employers, friends, or co-workers, and excessive alcohol use, have a greater impact on hiring decisions than positive information.
• Social networking sites were most effective (“somewhat” or “very effective”) in recruiting for exempt/non-management (61 percent) and middle management (64 percent) positions.
• The top reasons for using social networking sites for contact and recruitment were to recruit passive applicants who might not otherwise apply (69 percent), followed by the ability to target applicants with specific job levels (40 percent) and skill sets (38 percent).
• Organizations who don’t use social networking sites to contact and recruit applicants cited a lack of staff time to add this recruiting method (49 percent), and questions about credibility of information from those sites (42 percent)."
In addition to this here is some further data related to the Recruiting Resources primarily used when Recruiting Job Candidates:
1. National Online Job Boards (e.g. Career Builder, Hot Jobs...) - 48%
2. Employee Referrals - 43%
3. Career Section of organization's website - 35%
4. Internal Job Postings - 16%
6. Niche Online Job Boards -13%
7. Print Advertising - 12%
8. Job Fairs - 8%
9. On Campus College Recruitment - 8%
10. Regional online Job Boards -5%
11. Direct Hire Agencies (excluding temp) - 5%
12. Informal networking - 3%
13. Temporary Agencies - 3%
14. Social networking (e.g. My Space, Facebook...) - 3%
etc.
This study gives YOU as either passive or active job hunters good ideas in how to build your own brand more efficiently in order to market it more successfully to potential hiring managers.
For instance, on how your profile on a Social networking site influences - or not - their hiring decision more than 50% would be somewhat more likely to hire the individual if involved in professional societies or organizations or in volunteer or civic groups. And 46% would do the same if the information on the applicant's profile page supports that provided on the applicant's resume. Out of all the data they provide the conclusion on this is: "Negative information has a greater influence on hiring decisions, than positive information".
Also, the number one reason social networking sites are used is to recruit passive applicants who might not otherwise apply or be contacted by an organization.
Isn't this great meat for thought? Now if you are looking to find your next ideal job this is a good opportunity for you to sit and review your job hunting strategy. How are you investing your time? what's your niche? have you built a brand? have you identified your target in the job market?
Go now and google your name and see what's out there? Nothing? Time too work...go ahead and start building your virtual brand.
And whatever Brand you define to build... make it real and authentic.
"To grow is to go beyond what you are today.
Stand up as yourself. Do not imitate.
Do not pretend to have achieved your goal, and do not try to cut corners.
Just try to grow"
Svami Prajnanpad (1863-1902) - a Hindu philosopher.
See below what the SHRM - Society for Human Resource Management - just published on a study they just did on this regard.
"Since 2006, there has been a 17 percent increase in human resource professionals who use social networking sites as recruiting, resumé verification, and applicant screening tools at least occasionally, according to a survey released today by the world’s largest human resources organization. And what they find can be damaging to an applicant’s hiring prospects.
The overview of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, Online Technologies and Their Impact on Recruitment Strategies—Using Social Networking Web Sites to Attract Talent, showed organizations still recruit primarily through national online job boards (48 percent), but 3 percent of human resource professionals make social networking sites their primary recruiting source.
“Social networking sites will change forever how human resource professionals recruit new employees, check for corporate culture fit, and verify resumé accuracy,” said China Gorman, acting president and CEO of SHRM. “HR professionals need to use caution when they see potential inaccuracies on social networking profiles, and employees should be wary of how they portray themselves online. SHRM’s survey shows that negative information contained in profiles has more of an impact on hiring decisions than positive information.”
Key findings in responses from nearly 600 HR professionals:
• Negative information on an applicant’s social networking profile, such as personal views or values contradictory to the hiring organization, negative or slanderous discussions of current or former employers, friends, or co-workers, and excessive alcohol use, have a greater impact on hiring decisions than positive information.
• Social networking sites were most effective (“somewhat” or “very effective”) in recruiting for exempt/non-management (61 percent) and middle management (64 percent) positions.
• The top reasons for using social networking sites for contact and recruitment were to recruit passive applicants who might not otherwise apply (69 percent), followed by the ability to target applicants with specific job levels (40 percent) and skill sets (38 percent).
• Organizations who don’t use social networking sites to contact and recruit applicants cited a lack of staff time to add this recruiting method (49 percent), and questions about credibility of information from those sites (42 percent)."
In addition to this here is some further data related to the Recruiting Resources primarily used when Recruiting Job Candidates:
1. National Online Job Boards (e.g. Career Builder, Hot Jobs...) - 48%
2. Employee Referrals - 43%
3. Career Section of organization's website - 35%
4. Internal Job Postings - 16%
6. Niche Online Job Boards -13%
7. Print Advertising - 12%
8. Job Fairs - 8%
9. On Campus College Recruitment - 8%
10. Regional online Job Boards -5%
11. Direct Hire Agencies (excluding temp) - 5%
12. Informal networking - 3%
13. Temporary Agencies - 3%
14. Social networking (e.g. My Space, Facebook...) - 3%
etc.
This study gives YOU as either passive or active job hunters good ideas in how to build your own brand more efficiently in order to market it more successfully to potential hiring managers.
For instance, on how your profile on a Social networking site influences - or not - their hiring decision more than 50% would be somewhat more likely to hire the individual if involved in professional societies or organizations or in volunteer or civic groups. And 46% would do the same if the information on the applicant's profile page supports that provided on the applicant's resume. Out of all the data they provide the conclusion on this is: "Negative information has a greater influence on hiring decisions, than positive information".
Also, the number one reason social networking sites are used is to recruit passive applicants who might not otherwise apply or be contacted by an organization.
Isn't this great meat for thought? Now if you are looking to find your next ideal job this is a good opportunity for you to sit and review your job hunting strategy. How are you investing your time? what's your niche? have you built a brand? have you identified your target in the job market?
Go now and google your name and see what's out there? Nothing? Time too work...go ahead and start building your virtual brand.
And whatever Brand you define to build... make it real and authentic.
"To grow is to go beyond what you are today.
Stand up as yourself. Do not imitate.
Do not pretend to have achieved your goal, and do not try to cut corners.
Just try to grow"
Svami Prajnanpad (1863-1902) - a Hindu philosopher.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Are you already in the land of opportunity? How truly inclusive are you?
One of my favorite tales is the Peacock in the Land of Penguins which describes the following...
"The land of opportunity is more than a place.
It is a state of mind.
It is where we live and work.
When we choose to see with new eyes,
Live from our hearts,
Allow ourselves and others,
To be who we truly are...
OURSELVES!"
Watch the video of the story as written by BJ Gallagher and Warren H. Schmidt at:
http://www.perrythepeacock.com/
Then, ask yourself, how inclusive do you think you are at work? in your community? in your family? with your kids' friends? Do you see yourself consistently as a penguin or as a peacock?
There is another video that is a 'classic'. It is 'A Class Divided'. It's a classic documentary about a school teacher who in 1968 taught her students a powerful lesson about discrimination by setting the environment where they treated each other differently based on the color of their eyes. The first time she did it was the day after Martin Luther King was killed. The story makes a nice connection to the Pygmalion Effect - we hold different expectations for people depending on all kinds of differences
The first 20 minutes compiles the actual experience. What comes later is a conversation with the kids once they were grown ups.
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Power-of-Prejudice-A-Class-Divided
Next time you wake up with your 'penguin suit' remember what it is like the times you have decided to wear the peacock one and ultimately, dare to be yourself! Dare to do your best and try the thing that you enjoy and want to do in your career and ultimately in life!
Have a blast today and every day!
"The land of opportunity is more than a place.
It is a state of mind.
It is where we live and work.
When we choose to see with new eyes,
Live from our hearts,
Allow ourselves and others,
To be who we truly are...
OURSELVES!"
Watch the video of the story as written by BJ Gallagher and Warren H. Schmidt at:
http://www.perrythepeacock.com/
Then, ask yourself, how inclusive do you think you are at work? in your community? in your family? with your kids' friends? Do you see yourself consistently as a penguin or as a peacock?
There is another video that is a 'classic'. It is 'A Class Divided'. It's a classic documentary about a school teacher who in 1968 taught her students a powerful lesson about discrimination by setting the environment where they treated each other differently based on the color of their eyes. The first time she did it was the day after Martin Luther King was killed. The story makes a nice connection to the Pygmalion Effect - we hold different expectations for people depending on all kinds of differences
The first 20 minutes compiles the actual experience. What comes later is a conversation with the kids once they were grown ups.
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Power-of-Prejudice-A-Class-Divided
Next time you wake up with your 'penguin suit' remember what it is like the times you have decided to wear the peacock one and ultimately, dare to be yourself! Dare to do your best and try the thing that you enjoy and want to do in your career and ultimately in life!
Have a blast today and every day!
Say Hola!
Hola,
I am sharing the best of a couple of articles I have found that talk about the Latino or Hispanic representation in the US.
One - Say Hola to the Majority Minority - was published on the HR Magazine by Susan J. Wells (SHRM -Sept.2008) and it relates to the demographic trends in the US.
Actual data shows that the Hispanic population represents 14% of the general population Vs. 29% in 2050. Just to put it in perspective, "The last time a demographic change of this magnitude occurred was in the second half of the 20th century, when, after World War II, women entered the labor market...".
Can you imagine? and that is not all, "Hispanic buying power has risen from $212 billion in 1990 to $862 billion in 2007, representing 307 percent growth over that time. The combined buying power of all non-Hispanics in the United States grew 125 percent during the period".
As per the Major Occupations Among U.S. Hispanics 24.1% belongs to Service, 21.1% to Sales and office, 19.4% to Natural Resources, construction and maintenance and 17.8% to Management, professional and related.
And that is how now I can connect this article to another one published at a different source. Read it and do the math.
Bilingual Demand: The Search for Spanish-Speaking Workers by Elaine RigoliOct (as published by www.ere.net)
Are you adding “se habla español” to your job descriptions for the remainder of 2007 and 2008? If you’re like half of all hiring managers who participated in a new survey, the answer is a resounding “claro que si!”
A recent survey of 2,417 U.S. hiring managers and human resource professionals suggests that Spanish-speaking job candidates will be in especially high demand by employers within the next year.
The survey was conducted by empleosCB.com, which is focused on the online job search for the Hispanic community. It found that 48% of hiring managers are hiring Spanish-speaking job candidates in 2007 and 2008.
When asked which segment of diverse workers they will be looking to hire, a good number say they plan to target Hispanic workers more aggressively in 2007 and 2008.
“With the Hispanic population growing in number and buying power, nearly three-in-ten hiring managers say they are placing a greater emphasis this year and on into next year on finding employees who can relate to this target audience,” says Jesse Caballero, senior career advisor for empleosCB.com.
Who’s Hiring?
The desire to add bilingual candidates is certainly evident in countless industries and across many departments.
According to Manuel Boado, CEO of New York-based search firm Spanusa, financial institutions, private banks that have a presence in Latin America, the insurance industry, and every company that is in consumer products is interested in Spanish-speaking professionals.
Also, in education, school districts are trying to attract more bilingual teachers.
For example, the West Valley City, Utah, school district hired 10 teachers from Mexico as part of an agreement between Utah and the Mexican Ministry of Education.
Under Utah’s visiting teacher program, these teachers receive salary and benefits commensurate with Utah teachers, and they can work legally in “high-need” public schools for up to three years.
(...)
Bilingual Job Fairs
Sponsored by UBS, participating companies at the CareerJournal event include Smith Barney, Eli Lilly, Fitch Rating, Coventry Healthcare, Target, and T-Mobile, among others.
On November 1, a bilingual job fair at the Charlotte Merchandise Mart in Charlotte, North Carolina, will connect employers looking for qualified workers and candidates who can speak both Spanish and English.
This is the second bilingual job fair in the area, and event coordinator Mylene Duffy says companies want to offer their products and services to the community but are lacking enough Spanish-speaking workers.
When you do fill enough positions with the sought-after bilingual candidates, LatPro.com , a niche job board for bilingual professionals, has some advice for companies.
The job board advises that hiring bilingual HR personnel is a “huge benefit” when communicating important or technical information with workers who primarily speak Spanish.
---------------
Hasta la vista.
I am sharing the best of a couple of articles I have found that talk about the Latino or Hispanic representation in the US.
One - Say Hola to the Majority Minority - was published on the HR Magazine by Susan J. Wells (SHRM -Sept.2008) and it relates to the demographic trends in the US.
Actual data shows that the Hispanic population represents 14% of the general population Vs. 29% in 2050. Just to put it in perspective, "The last time a demographic change of this magnitude occurred was in the second half of the 20th century, when, after World War II, women entered the labor market...".
Can you imagine? and that is not all, "Hispanic buying power has risen from $212 billion in 1990 to $862 billion in 2007, representing 307 percent growth over that time. The combined buying power of all non-Hispanics in the United States grew 125 percent during the period".
As per the Major Occupations Among U.S. Hispanics 24.1% belongs to Service, 21.1% to Sales and office, 19.4% to Natural Resources, construction and maintenance and 17.8% to Management, professional and related.
And that is how now I can connect this article to another one published at a different source. Read it and do the math.
Bilingual Demand: The Search for Spanish-Speaking Workers by Elaine RigoliOct (as published by www.ere.net)
Are you adding “se habla español” to your job descriptions for the remainder of 2007 and 2008? If you’re like half of all hiring managers who participated in a new survey, the answer is a resounding “claro que si!”
A recent survey of 2,417 U.S. hiring managers and human resource professionals suggests that Spanish-speaking job candidates will be in especially high demand by employers within the next year.
The survey was conducted by empleosCB.com, which is focused on the online job search for the Hispanic community. It found that 48% of hiring managers are hiring Spanish-speaking job candidates in 2007 and 2008.
When asked which segment of diverse workers they will be looking to hire, a good number say they plan to target Hispanic workers more aggressively in 2007 and 2008.
“With the Hispanic population growing in number and buying power, nearly three-in-ten hiring managers say they are placing a greater emphasis this year and on into next year on finding employees who can relate to this target audience,” says Jesse Caballero, senior career advisor for empleosCB.com.
Who’s Hiring?
The desire to add bilingual candidates is certainly evident in countless industries and across many departments.
According to Manuel Boado, CEO of New York-based search firm Spanusa, financial institutions, private banks that have a presence in Latin America, the insurance industry, and every company that is in consumer products is interested in Spanish-speaking professionals.
Also, in education, school districts are trying to attract more bilingual teachers.
For example, the West Valley City, Utah, school district hired 10 teachers from Mexico as part of an agreement between Utah and the Mexican Ministry of Education.
Under Utah’s visiting teacher program, these teachers receive salary and benefits commensurate with Utah teachers, and they can work legally in “high-need” public schools for up to three years.
(...)
Bilingual Job Fairs
Sponsored by UBS, participating companies at the CareerJournal event include Smith Barney, Eli Lilly, Fitch Rating, Coventry Healthcare, Target, and T-Mobile, among others.
On November 1, a bilingual job fair at the Charlotte Merchandise Mart in Charlotte, North Carolina, will connect employers looking for qualified workers and candidates who can speak both Spanish and English.
This is the second bilingual job fair in the area, and event coordinator Mylene Duffy says companies want to offer their products and services to the community but are lacking enough Spanish-speaking workers.
When you do fill enough positions with the sought-after bilingual candidates, LatPro.com , a niche job board for bilingual professionals, has some advice for companies.
The job board advises that hiring bilingual HR personnel is a “huge benefit” when communicating important or technical information with workers who primarily speak Spanish.
---------------
Hasta la vista.
Friday, October 10, 2008
"Bricks are there for a reason..."
Wouldn’t you like for somebody to tell you when you are frustrated or upset that every thing is going to be all right no matter what?
Well, I am going to borrow a beautiful phrase by Randy Pausch from his Last Lecture: “the bricks are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something”.
You can pretty much achieve what you want, once you have clarity on your goals, work really hard by focusing your energy and daring to remember and believe in your dreams.
Some people imagine that a career coach has the power to make miracles, but as the miracle power resides in you, I can be only a facilitator of a process that allows you to get to that tangible dream.
First, I believe in challenges, tests, walls and high mountains to be climbed on and lots of wonderful growing opportunities to lead you to achieve your full potential.
Second, if you’ve got the ‘ganas’, the ‘desire’, the ‘passion’ to keep going towards that dream, then it is just a matter of getting started.
Yes, you may have moved to a new Country and struggled a bit in how to relate to your working environment in order to succeed, but if you take action on it and step back to realize that the luggage you have is actually full of tools for you to implement in that new environment and allow yourself space to grow out of your comfort zone, wouldn't you find out, then that the opportunity is a complete win-win for your future?
Yes, you may 'hate' your current job and have a difficult supervisor. Isn't it there an opportunity to learn how to deal with a challenging situation? a space for negotiation and strong networking to overcome that 'job' to find a career that you want to grow into?
Yes, you may be balancing the act between your family and multiple business arrangements. Is there the window opportunity to sit and prioritize? to look at the very basic tools of time management between the important things and the urgent ones?
Yes, you may be shy and not too kind to go and expose yourself into social professional networking. But, can you see the benefit of exploring, discovering, defining and designing your own brand based on your talents and capabilities that you can easily expose to others in such networking opportunities?
Yes, ‘you know people’, then wouldn’t it be great that you know how to maximize those relationships you already have as a powerful portfolio of resources to help you achieving your goals?
All of this is possible and much achievable when you hire a Career Coach. So as you see, I can facilitate a journey that may start on your resume (or not) but doesn't end until you believe in your inner power, open up your mind for new(or forgotten) effective tools and have confidence in beginning to channel your hard work towards a path that produce the wanted results.
Switch your mind for a minute and think of all the benefits you may achieve once you decide you have what it takes to move on to have the career of a lifetime and not just a job to make a living.
Change is going to be part of your life, anyway. Wouldn’t it be best that you take charge of it?
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” John F. Kennedy
Well, I am going to borrow a beautiful phrase by Randy Pausch from his Last Lecture: “the bricks are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something”.
You can pretty much achieve what you want, once you have clarity on your goals, work really hard by focusing your energy and daring to remember and believe in your dreams.
Some people imagine that a career coach has the power to make miracles, but as the miracle power resides in you, I can be only a facilitator of a process that allows you to get to that tangible dream.
First, I believe in challenges, tests, walls and high mountains to be climbed on and lots of wonderful growing opportunities to lead you to achieve your full potential.
Second, if you’ve got the ‘ganas’, the ‘desire’, the ‘passion’ to keep going towards that dream, then it is just a matter of getting started.
Yes, you may have moved to a new Country and struggled a bit in how to relate to your working environment in order to succeed, but if you take action on it and step back to realize that the luggage you have is actually full of tools for you to implement in that new environment and allow yourself space to grow out of your comfort zone, wouldn't you find out, then that the opportunity is a complete win-win for your future?
Yes, you may 'hate' your current job and have a difficult supervisor. Isn't it there an opportunity to learn how to deal with a challenging situation? a space for negotiation and strong networking to overcome that 'job' to find a career that you want to grow into?
Yes, you may be balancing the act between your family and multiple business arrangements. Is there the window opportunity to sit and prioritize? to look at the very basic tools of time management between the important things and the urgent ones?
Yes, you may be shy and not too kind to go and expose yourself into social professional networking. But, can you see the benefit of exploring, discovering, defining and designing your own brand based on your talents and capabilities that you can easily expose to others in such networking opportunities?
Yes, ‘you know people’, then wouldn’t it be great that you know how to maximize those relationships you already have as a powerful portfolio of resources to help you achieving your goals?
All of this is possible and much achievable when you hire a Career Coach. So as you see, I can facilitate a journey that may start on your resume (or not) but doesn't end until you believe in your inner power, open up your mind for new(or forgotten) effective tools and have confidence in beginning to channel your hard work towards a path that produce the wanted results.
Switch your mind for a minute and think of all the benefits you may achieve once you decide you have what it takes to move on to have the career of a lifetime and not just a job to make a living.
Change is going to be part of your life, anyway. Wouldn’t it be best that you take charge of it?
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” John F. Kennedy
Monday, September 29, 2008
What Ike taught me about embracing Diversity (as published at http://www.americandiversityreport.com/)
I live in the United Nations, well, to be more accurate I live in a suburb that looks very much like the United Nations located Southwest of Houston which I have learned to embrace and love.
Right the days before Ike strike and the day after it hit, you could tell that ethnicities and national origins were totally out of our minds when it came to the sense of helping and supporting each other and our kids to feel safe.
I took this picture right after Ike was gone and all of our American kids were cleaning up the leaves and branches left behind by the winds. It is an image as the real richness of this wonderful Country I will always remember. The so called ‘Latinos’, ‘Europeans’ and ‘Texans’ were all working together as just good neighbors would do. I can tell they are growing to be part of a new generation, one that completely disregard anything related to race or the biases surrounding that concept.
Full inclusiveness totally gets your heart with the realization that we all are human beings with pretty much the same needs and goals.
When I started my business of career coaching, my thought was about helping professional immigrants that struggle to fully succeed in the labor culture of this Country but on my subconscious I was focusing on my own ethnicity – Latinos. However, as time has been moving by and I have extended my own network and relationships as part of my marketing side, I’ve discovered how biased I had been by not understanding that the working culture in the US is not as easy for anyone coming to this country, regardless of their ethnicity or continent of origin.
I am an immigrant myself from Venezuela. I have been a professional whose international exposure as a HR Consultant for a major oil company empowered her to create and focus her practice in Diversity and inclusion matters related to the professional success of her clients.
On my first year in the US, though I'd been previously exposed to working in a global working environment and I’d lived previously in the US as a student, I felt 'culturally blind' not understanding the fact that I was not just a person but a category that happened to be part of two minority groups - Latino and women -. It took a few punches to my self-esteem to discover that there was nothing wrong with me but the fact that as a new comer in a new world I just needed to understand how to relate, work and sell my ideas effectively in a foreign corporate environment. By then, I was part of a bunch of foreigners under the same circumstances supporting each other to be successful and learning the importance of having and extended and globally effective professional network.
The learning curve took us a while and now that I see it, I understand how I could have benefited myself from a mentor or career coaching services. Therefore, life had it that people started referring their colleagues and friends to me to help them to get out of the hole some of them saw themselves into for not being able to move ahead on their career development or career moves as planned which has become my inspiration to open my business, so they overcome their fears or doubts related to their own chances to succeed in this international and very competitive corporate world. And then, I see my own neighborhood stretching our minds and hearts to realize how easy it would be that what we do in our community life, we manage in our working environment.
The assumption that everyone is as best as they are completely switches your mind towards an open and generous listening to what the other side has to tell and how you can incorporate or blend what you know towards a richer outcome.
I think the boom of all Cross-Cultural Career Coaching businesses will last maybe just our generation as the new one will be a global, open, unbiased generation used to and welcoming to all sort of ideas and dynamics. I can tell by the way the interactions so naturally occur and kids deal with each other and their commonness far more easily than their presumed differences.
It is us, the parents, the workers, the immigrants, the neighbors, the nationals that get pushed everyday out of our comfort zones to add to this mix. In the meantime, we just get along and do our best to understand or at least be open to an understanding of what others have to bring to the table. Ask yourself, am I transferring my good neighbor skills to my professional ones at work? I wonder what the answer would be, but I hope you get the picture on your mind of all the people that right now in Texas are re-building the disaster zone with the unique sense of a community building a better future together.
Right the days before Ike strike and the day after it hit, you could tell that ethnicities and national origins were totally out of our minds when it came to the sense of helping and supporting each other and our kids to feel safe.
I took this picture right after Ike was gone and all of our American kids were cleaning up the leaves and branches left behind by the winds. It is an image as the real richness of this wonderful Country I will always remember. The so called ‘Latinos’, ‘Europeans’ and ‘Texans’ were all working together as just good neighbors would do. I can tell they are growing to be part of a new generation, one that completely disregard anything related to race or the biases surrounding that concept.
Full inclusiveness totally gets your heart with the realization that we all are human beings with pretty much the same needs and goals.
When I started my business of career coaching, my thought was about helping professional immigrants that struggle to fully succeed in the labor culture of this Country but on my subconscious I was focusing on my own ethnicity – Latinos. However, as time has been moving by and I have extended my own network and relationships as part of my marketing side, I’ve discovered how biased I had been by not understanding that the working culture in the US is not as easy for anyone coming to this country, regardless of their ethnicity or continent of origin.
I am an immigrant myself from Venezuela. I have been a professional whose international exposure as a HR Consultant for a major oil company empowered her to create and focus her practice in Diversity and inclusion matters related to the professional success of her clients.
On my first year in the US, though I'd been previously exposed to working in a global working environment and I’d lived previously in the US as a student, I felt 'culturally blind' not understanding the fact that I was not just a person but a category that happened to be part of two minority groups - Latino and women -. It took a few punches to my self-esteem to discover that there was nothing wrong with me but the fact that as a new comer in a new world I just needed to understand how to relate, work and sell my ideas effectively in a foreign corporate environment. By then, I was part of a bunch of foreigners under the same circumstances supporting each other to be successful and learning the importance of having and extended and globally effective professional network.
The learning curve took us a while and now that I see it, I understand how I could have benefited myself from a mentor or career coaching services. Therefore, life had it that people started referring their colleagues and friends to me to help them to get out of the hole some of them saw themselves into for not being able to move ahead on their career development or career moves as planned which has become my inspiration to open my business, so they overcome their fears or doubts related to their own chances to succeed in this international and very competitive corporate world. And then, I see my own neighborhood stretching our minds and hearts to realize how easy it would be that what we do in our community life, we manage in our working environment.
The assumption that everyone is as best as they are completely switches your mind towards an open and generous listening to what the other side has to tell and how you can incorporate or blend what you know towards a richer outcome.
I think the boom of all Cross-Cultural Career Coaching businesses will last maybe just our generation as the new one will be a global, open, unbiased generation used to and welcoming to all sort of ideas and dynamics. I can tell by the way the interactions so naturally occur and kids deal with each other and their commonness far more easily than their presumed differences.
It is us, the parents, the workers, the immigrants, the neighbors, the nationals that get pushed everyday out of our comfort zones to add to this mix. In the meantime, we just get along and do our best to understand or at least be open to an understanding of what others have to bring to the table. Ask yourself, am I transferring my good neighbor skills to my professional ones at work? I wonder what the answer would be, but I hope you get the picture on your mind of all the people that right now in Texas are re-building the disaster zone with the unique sense of a community building a better future together.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
You CAN make changes...career4change is up to you
Quite a numbers of years ago I remember a particular Leadership training I was part of given by an International consultant, in which the facilitator emphasized the importance of our words in defining ourselves to others, the message was that we are what we say, we are our words. Though reluctant and resistant to that definition of my own essence, after all these years and experience working with so many people at all levels, I have come to my senses that we become what our own thoughts believe we are; therefore, we come to believe that we live and exist in a little box which we limit by our own words.
How many times have I heard "there's just no way", "it's such a long shot", "nobody has done it before", "do not even bother", "you are overly optimistic"? and at every single time I have defeated all the biases and learned from the lessons provided by every turn and every door that either gets open to a wonderful opportunity or shut on my face to invite me to move towards a path otherwise I wouldn't have walked on.
If you Google or check on entrepreneurs' biographies or just google inside your own self what make people take risks, you'll see that at every single time CHANGE was part of it. Change happens to all but some decide to make changes for themselves and be the creators of their own paths. You are literally 'the architect of your own Universe", you decide your every day and your future. Yes, you are your words when they tell you that you CAN change your career path, you CAN change your own self perception of what your true professional net value is, you CAN dare to invest in that asset that is your happiness of working on what you want and not just to make a living.
I am an immigrant myself to this Country as I looked for an opportunity to be transferred and fulfill a professional dream of increasing my global experience. I did not get the transfer by luck, I actually pushed for it and did lots of tiny steps until the moment and the opportunity matched and it landed. Then, when my first job in Houston was set to disappear, I did not get an offer to go somewhere else, but again networked and looked for the job I thought was my perfect match and got it. Two separate career events that could seem very 'lucky' but that were ultimately the result of those apparent small actions that allowed me to CHANGE my career according to my own aspirations.
All of us can provide many examples of that but many have felt stuck at one moment or another. That is why I made the decision of getting involved and officially opened my business as an Appreciative Career Coach because even if all of us are different we all have something in common: CHANGE HAPPENS AND WE CAN MAKE CHANGES.
How many times have I heard "there's just no way", "it's such a long shot", "nobody has done it before", "do not even bother", "you are overly optimistic"? and at every single time I have defeated all the biases and learned from the lessons provided by every turn and every door that either gets open to a wonderful opportunity or shut on my face to invite me to move towards a path otherwise I wouldn't have walked on.
If you Google or check on entrepreneurs' biographies or just google inside your own self what make people take risks, you'll see that at every single time CHANGE was part of it. Change happens to all but some decide to make changes for themselves and be the creators of their own paths. You are literally 'the architect of your own Universe", you decide your every day and your future. Yes, you are your words when they tell you that you CAN change your career path, you CAN change your own self perception of what your true professional net value is, you CAN dare to invest in that asset that is your happiness of working on what you want and not just to make a living.
I am an immigrant myself to this Country as I looked for an opportunity to be transferred and fulfill a professional dream of increasing my global experience. I did not get the transfer by luck, I actually pushed for it and did lots of tiny steps until the moment and the opportunity matched and it landed. Then, when my first job in Houston was set to disappear, I did not get an offer to go somewhere else, but again networked and looked for the job I thought was my perfect match and got it. Two separate career events that could seem very 'lucky' but that were ultimately the result of those apparent small actions that allowed me to CHANGE my career according to my own aspirations.
All of us can provide many examples of that but many have felt stuck at one moment or another. That is why I made the decision of getting involved and officially opened my business as an Appreciative Career Coach because even if all of us are different we all have something in common: CHANGE HAPPENS AND WE CAN MAKE CHANGES.
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