‘He who walks with the lame learns how to walk.’
- Latin Proverb
Let me share with you a story I came across in a book I cherish so much. The story goes thus.
Many years ago a promising Greek artist named Timanthes was under the tutelage of a well known instructor who was serving both as his coach and mentor. After several years of tutelage, the young painter created an exquisite portrait. The young painter was so enamored with what he had created that he sat day and night gazing at his work. One morning however, he was horrified to discover that his teacher had deliberately ruined his painting. Angry and in tears, Timanthes ran to his mentor and asked why he had destroyed his cherished possession. The wise man replied him by saying ‘I did it for your own good. That painting was retarding your progress. It was an excellent piece of art no doubt, but it was not perfect. Start all over again and see if you can do better.’ The young artist took his mentor’s advice and produced a masterpiece called “Sacrifice of Iphigenia”, regarded by some as one of the finest paintings of antiquity.
What is the moral of this short story? It is that as an individual you do not know it all. No matter what you might have achieved in your field of endeavor, there are still some people better and more successful than you. To achieve more and become more successful therefore, you need to follow in the footsteps of someone who has done it before and will act as your guide. You need someone who will direct your steps when you are straying. Someone who has been there before and will help you avoid certain pitfalls that might befall you in your journey through life. This simply is what mentoring is all about.
Stretching this a bit further, if for example you want to learn how to climb the mountain, you need to watch and listen to someone who has done it before.
What therefore is mentoring?
The word mentor was derived from the character “Mentor” in Homer’s epic tale ‘The Odyssey’. Mentor was a trusted friend to Odysseus, the king of Ithaca in the tale. He was to later serve as a counsel and friend to Odysseus’ son Telemachus after the father’s death.
Mentoring however refers to ‘a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.’ It therefore relates to a process for sharing knowledge relevant to work, career or professional development. By this is meant supporting and encouraging people to manage their own learning in order to maximize their potentials towards the accomplishment of their career goals. The relationship is therefore non-reporting and does not replace any of the organizational structure. Mentoring is supportive and the mentor guides the mentee through modeling of positive behaviors. Furthermore, the real impact of mentoring is made through consistent and ongoing relationship building.
Why mentoring?
Mentoring serves several benefits. It benefits the individual both as an employee or self employed. It benefits the organization where an employee serves. It also benefits the mentor and of course the profession of the mentee.
In the Workplace
1. You are provided with someone with greater knowledge and experience to turn to for advice.
2. You feel less isolated at work.
3. You are guided through problem solving.
4. You are provided with tips on career growth.
5. Employers enjoys greater productivity from the employees as a result of fewer mistakes
6. Employees enjoys greater job satisfaction
7. There is less employee turnover as a result of greater loyalty to the company.
8. Availability of mentorship program attracts new employees
Benefits to the Mentor
1. The opportunity to teach and advice mentees increases the confidence and job satisfaction of the mentor.
2. Listening to concerns of mentees help develop better understanding of employee issues and enhances stronger communication skills.
3. If the mentor is a supervisor or manager, it improves supervisory and management skills.
4. Through maintenance of professional connections it enhances reputation/connection.
Benefits to the Profession
1. Mentored employees value collaboration and sharing of information which makes the organization stronger.
2. In the workplace, it helps employees become more self directed and develop stronger communication and problem solving skills which allows business to become more creative on focused growth.
3. Mentored employees are apt to be involved in professional organizations which further their career and profession itself.
How do you go about mentoring?
The main purpose of mentoring is to create a better you! If this has been identified, how do you go about doing so? How do you find that mentor who will guide and support you all the way? Even when you have found that mentor, how do you build that enduring relationship that will benefit you?
Listed below are some action steps you could take to achieve your aim.
1. You must first understand the role of a mentor: Better still you must understand the kind of mentor that you desire. Is it a career/professional mentor or a spiritual mentor or a business mentor or academic mentor or a financial mentor? A good mentor must:
Be able to access your strengths and weaknesses
Help you understand the structure and organization of any topic
Introduce to you new perspectives and correct any wrong thinking you might possess
Boost your ability to make decisions
Help you familiarize yourself with the various tricks of your profession
Introduce you to important resources and useful references
Help in developing and creating a better and effective you
2. Think about the best ways of establishing communication and building a relationship with the mentor: Basically this is all about how to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the mentor. This requires certain action steps.
You must decide what specific role you want the mentor to provide, what you specifically want to learn from him or her. Further, you must decide what you are looking for from him and how often you will like to meet with him.
You must make a list of potential mentors according to your own personal criteria and desires for the relationship you are trying to build. Your mentor however must be someone who is well rounded and not one you admire in certain aspects alone.
You must think about what to say to convince him to be your mentor
Start approaching potential mentors on your list until you meet the one who will agree to be your mentor.
Make plans on where to meet.
3. Endeavor to keep the mentorship healthy: The relationship with your mentor has to be nurtured to make it enduring. To do this, you must:
Keep a schedule and keep to it.
Make the relationship with your mentor mutually beneficial
Show appreciation as at and when due
Keep the relationship strictly professional. Remove all forms of emotion from it.
4. Be accountable to yourself and others: That is you should avoid being selfish. You must share your hard work as well as your progress with others. Just like your mentor has done by sharing his.
Mentoring is therefore about modeling yourself after someone you have identified as worthy of emulation, a role model of some sort. Someone who is ready to support and guide you to become the kind of person you want to be. A mentor must be prepared to help you create a better you. Not a person who will be jealous of your achievements. The guidance and support must however be voluntary. It must not be pecuniary.
I hope you have benefited from reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I thank you for sharing your time with me. I really do.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Tips on Dressing to Beat the Competition During Your Next Interview
Dr Frank Bernieri, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Oregun State University in the United States once enthused that “Within the first ten seconds of meeting your interviewer, the person had decided whether you are fit for the job or not. Those who came across as being polished and appropriately dressed are deemed to be more likely to be fit for hire than those who put in less effort to do so.” What this means is that you need to make a conscious and deliberate effort to make your appearance not only appealing but seductive for your next job interview in order to create a lasting impression and enhance your employ-ability. Your dressing therefore plays a critical role in your success during the interview. If your appearance is appropriate and attractive enough it will set you apart from the crowd of other job seekers. What you wear will afford a prospective employer the clue to determine whether you can fit into their corporate culture or not.
What then repulses the hiring manager the most about a job seeker during any interview session? Why would a prospective employer suddenly develop a dislike for a prospective employee in the course of a job chat? Of course it is creating a sloppy first impression during the job chat. Your appearance is what communicates the first impression to the recruiter during the interview session. It can make or mar your interview. You see, immediate judgment is formed about you based on the way you dress, your warm smile, your hair style or hair cut and of course your conduct. Being sloppy about all these during a job chat is a potential danger to a successful interview. Your contact with the interviewer therefore contains some element of seduction. A neat and appropriate dressing therefore goes hand in hand with this.
Stretching this a bit further how do you then create a good and lasting first impression with your dressing during an interview? From my years of experience as a recruiter, the following tips although may or may not land you the job but will surely enhance your success during the interview.
1. Conducting proper and accurate research on the organization’s dress code: Do your homework on the dressing code of the organization putting the job on offer and consequently conducting the interview. Check the dress code of the organization on Google. You can even visit their office during office hours and check out the outfits of the better dressed employees. Endeavor to dress that way to convince the hiring manager that you can fit into their corporate culture.
2. Abiding by the interview attire golden rule: We interviewers expect a prospective job seeker to appear for a job chat in an outfit typical of the profession she is being interviewed. You will be credited for being appropriately dressed, however you will lose marks if not properly dressed for the interview. That is why you need to do your home work on the dressing code of a prospective employer well.
3. Choosing your outfit conservatively: When preparing for your next interview and in the course of taking decision on your dressing, endeavor to choose an outfit customary to your industry or sector and in particular your prospective organization. Younger job seekers often make the mistake of thinking that college dressing or night club dressing is appropriate for interview. This is far from the truth. Your image should portray professionalism. For conservation businesses (like banking or law) a man should wear suits (color black or navy blue with nice socks, white shirt or blue with matching tie, belt and pair of shoes while a woman on the other hand should wear a nice skirt or pant suit with pantyhose and closed shoes. Those in the internet and public relations industry or other less formal sector, could dress a little trendier by wearing button down shirts, a pair of slacks and nice pair of shoes. If however the interview is less formal, like in the software development sector where they are not particular about suits, the candidate should try and wear something nicer than what the others in the company are wearing.
4. Paying attention to the other accessories you wear: You should not pay attention to the dress you wear to an interview alone and forget the other accessories. They all go hand in hand. Endeavor to match the shoe you wear with the color of the belt. Make sure your shoes are polished well and fit.
5. Fragrance: Avoid using your favorite cologne, aftershave or perfume as part of your dressing when going for your next interview. Some interviewers are sensitive to smell and may not like the scent as much as you do. Such smell could therefore offend them and consequently count against you during the interview.
6. Avoid showing too much of your skin: The more of your skin you show during the interview, the more your credibility wanes. A common complaint by prospective employers is that most women wear clothes that are too revealing to work. You will therefore not want to prove them right. Do you?
7. Your jewelry, piercings and tattoos: The less the better. Overdoing it may count against you.
Dressing indicates commitment and seriousness on the part of you the job seeker and consequently endears you to the hiring manager. Further it indicates that you the prospective employee will fit into the culture of the organization. In the words of Samuel Johnson “Fine dressing are good only as they supply the want of other means of procuring respect.” Dressing appropriately for your next interview will therefore open all doors for you including that of the hiring manager. You see good dressing may not make the man, but it has certainly gotten many a good job.
Did you enjoy reading this article as much as I did in writing it? Your comments will be appreciated.
Thanks for sharing your time with me.
What then repulses the hiring manager the most about a job seeker during any interview session? Why would a prospective employer suddenly develop a dislike for a prospective employee in the course of a job chat? Of course it is creating a sloppy first impression during the job chat. Your appearance is what communicates the first impression to the recruiter during the interview session. It can make or mar your interview. You see, immediate judgment is formed about you based on the way you dress, your warm smile, your hair style or hair cut and of course your conduct. Being sloppy about all these during a job chat is a potential danger to a successful interview. Your contact with the interviewer therefore contains some element of seduction. A neat and appropriate dressing therefore goes hand in hand with this.
Stretching this a bit further how do you then create a good and lasting first impression with your dressing during an interview? From my years of experience as a recruiter, the following tips although may or may not land you the job but will surely enhance your success during the interview.
1. Conducting proper and accurate research on the organization’s dress code: Do your homework on the dressing code of the organization putting the job on offer and consequently conducting the interview. Check the dress code of the organization on Google. You can even visit their office during office hours and check out the outfits of the better dressed employees. Endeavor to dress that way to convince the hiring manager that you can fit into their corporate culture.
2. Abiding by the interview attire golden rule: We interviewers expect a prospective job seeker to appear for a job chat in an outfit typical of the profession she is being interviewed. You will be credited for being appropriately dressed, however you will lose marks if not properly dressed for the interview. That is why you need to do your home work on the dressing code of a prospective employer well.
3. Choosing your outfit conservatively: When preparing for your next interview and in the course of taking decision on your dressing, endeavor to choose an outfit customary to your industry or sector and in particular your prospective organization. Younger job seekers often make the mistake of thinking that college dressing or night club dressing is appropriate for interview. This is far from the truth. Your image should portray professionalism. For conservation businesses (like banking or law) a man should wear suits (color black or navy blue with nice socks, white shirt or blue with matching tie, belt and pair of shoes while a woman on the other hand should wear a nice skirt or pant suit with pantyhose and closed shoes. Those in the internet and public relations industry or other less formal sector, could dress a little trendier by wearing button down shirts, a pair of slacks and nice pair of shoes. If however the interview is less formal, like in the software development sector where they are not particular about suits, the candidate should try and wear something nicer than what the others in the company are wearing.
4. Paying attention to the other accessories you wear: You should not pay attention to the dress you wear to an interview alone and forget the other accessories. They all go hand in hand. Endeavor to match the shoe you wear with the color of the belt. Make sure your shoes are polished well and fit.
5. Fragrance: Avoid using your favorite cologne, aftershave or perfume as part of your dressing when going for your next interview. Some interviewers are sensitive to smell and may not like the scent as much as you do. Such smell could therefore offend them and consequently count against you during the interview.
6. Avoid showing too much of your skin: The more of your skin you show during the interview, the more your credibility wanes. A common complaint by prospective employers is that most women wear clothes that are too revealing to work. You will therefore not want to prove them right. Do you?
7. Your jewelry, piercings and tattoos: The less the better. Overdoing it may count against you.
Dressing indicates commitment and seriousness on the part of you the job seeker and consequently endears you to the hiring manager. Further it indicates that you the prospective employee will fit into the culture of the organization. In the words of Samuel Johnson “Fine dressing are good only as they supply the want of other means of procuring respect.” Dressing appropriately for your next interview will therefore open all doors for you including that of the hiring manager. You see good dressing may not make the man, but it has certainly gotten many a good job.
Did you enjoy reading this article as much as I did in writing it? Your comments will be appreciated.
Thanks for sharing your time with me.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Tips on How to Prepare for a Job Interview
Preparing for a job chat has always been found to enhance performance during interview sessions. It increases your confidence as a candidate during the assessment process thereby improving your chances of success. Further, with adequate preparation possibilities and opportunities that otherwise would have been unavailable are opened up. Problematic questions which could have been asked during interview sessions would have been practiced beforehand and probable answers prepared for them. With adequate preparation and practice the interview skills and abilities required during the assessment process would have been learnt and exhibited during the session. This write up is therefore prepared to offer tips on making adequate preparation to make a success of your next interview.
Consider this scenario. Daniel and Joshua were both shortlisted for the vacant position of Marketing Manager. Joahua spent over one hundred hours preparing for the interview, holding mock interviews, practicing probable questions and answers, working on his communication skills and others, researching into the company putting the job on offer etc. Daniel on the other hand did none of that. Instead he relied on his intelligence and talent to take him through. The most he spent on preparation was the few hours he took to arrange the things he thought he would need to take to the interview session. From the foregoing, who out of the two will perform better during the assessment session? Joshua will perform better of course. Practice they say makes one perfect. With adequate preparation and coupled with hours of practice, several opportunities and possibilities that will enhance chances of success during the interview session will open up. Intelligence and talent can only take you to a certain level. Maybe get you past the first level of the interview session. It is adequate preparation that will take you up the ladder of success in any endeavor and during the assessment session will help you outshine your competition.
As a job searcher desirous of performing well during any job chat and consequently enhancing your employability, you need to take certain positive actions. What are these actions?
1. Conducting research on the company putting job on offer: First among such actions is learning about the company advertising a job. Go online and learn as much as you can about the company. You need to learn about what industry it is in. What it produces or the service it renders. The size of the company in terms of sales and turnover and in terms of employees. What the company says about its products and services etc. Further, you need to learn about what other people are saying about the company. All these will put you in good stead during the chat.
2. Familiarizing yourself with the job on offer: You need to learn about the job being put on offer. Learn about what skills and attributes are required and try to match them with ones you possess. To do this, you need to conduct a sort of personal assessment and audit to identify your good points and attributes and match same with those required for the job. You should note one or two examples for each personal attributes that best illustrate your suitability for the job on offer. Familiarize yourself with these and put them to use in the event of being asked questions on your suitability for the job on offer.
3. Preparation on how to relate stories about your achievements and accomplishments: Another positive action is the ability to tell stories related to your work experience and accomplishments during the interview session. You should be able to draw on such experiences that demonstrate your skills and abilities. You should therefore practice telling your story perfectly well. Since the interview session is a marketing activity designed to sell a product which is you the candidate, you should make the most of it. You should be able to convince the interviewer that you are the ideal candidate and the benefits they stand to gain by your employment. The story telling practice is therefore an essential tool to assist you in creating a natural flow to your stories so that the interviewer can focus on your potential benefit to the company putting a job on offer.
4. Choosing the right outfit to wear to the interview session: Endeavor to choose an outfit that will agree perfectly with your interview session. Most times formal dressing is required. In point of fact interviewers allot some marks for dressing. You should therefore endeavor to choose your outfit carefully. Choose such outfit that will not be too neither loud nor shabby looking. Make sure you choose one that will show that you are a perfect candidate for the position on offer.
5. Practice frequently asked interview questions: As a job seeker, one is not endowed with the skill of knowing all the questions that are likely to be asked during a job chat. Even if you know some you cannot possibly know all. It therefore becomes pertinent to prepare beforehand with likely and frequently asked interview questions. There are several websites on the internet with such questions. Practicing them beforehand and learning the probable answers to them increases your chances of answering them well during actual interview sessions.
6. Practice proper communication of ideas: Interview is all about marketing of a product which is you the candidate. In marketing therefore communication plays a major role. If you know so much about your product and you are not able to convince the customer to buy it from you, what is the essence of selling? That is where proper communication comes in. With proper communication of the benefits and values of the product, selling it to the customer becomes easier. Same goes for the interview session. With proper communication of your skills, attributes and accomplishment to the interviewers convincing them that you are the perfect candidate for the job becomes easier. This will consequently enhance your employ-ability. Therefore practicing proper communication of ideas cannot be over emphasized.
7. Use “STAR” model (Situation or task, action and result) when answering interview questions: Another vital method of preparing for a job chat is by practicing beforehand how to use the STAR model in answering questions during interview session. The intention is to provide structure and focus to your answers. For example if asked during interview a particular situation when you have displayed a certain interview skill, the interviewer is looking for how you will respond via a specific example. Using the STAR model therefore, you will break your answer into: the description of the task, the action you took and the final measurable result. This enables the interviewer to visualize your behavioral response to specific events and consequently gain the best impression about your future performance. You should therefore endeavor to prepare one or two example for each of the attributes you must have listed in your resume.
8. Let others help you out: While preparing for your interview session, endeavor to seek the opinion of a second person regarding your performance. You do not know it all. Having probably a friend or a colleague to help watch how you perform in a mock interview session will assist in identifying lapses and sour points that might otherwise not have been discovered.
From the foregoing therefore, the idea of adequate preparation before a job chat cannot be over emphasized. This is because preparation increases your value as a job seeker and consequently your success during the interview. With adequate preparation your employ-ability as a job hunter is further enhanced. My experience as a recruiter has shown that a candidate who prepares well for a job interview will always outshine one who does not. Individual talent and brilliance is essential but it can only take the job seeker to a level. Only adequate preparation can take you all the way.
Thank you for sharing your time with me.
Consider this scenario. Daniel and Joshua were both shortlisted for the vacant position of Marketing Manager. Joahua spent over one hundred hours preparing for the interview, holding mock interviews, practicing probable questions and answers, working on his communication skills and others, researching into the company putting the job on offer etc. Daniel on the other hand did none of that. Instead he relied on his intelligence and talent to take him through. The most he spent on preparation was the few hours he took to arrange the things he thought he would need to take to the interview session. From the foregoing, who out of the two will perform better during the assessment session? Joshua will perform better of course. Practice they say makes one perfect. With adequate preparation and coupled with hours of practice, several opportunities and possibilities that will enhance chances of success during the interview session will open up. Intelligence and talent can only take you to a certain level. Maybe get you past the first level of the interview session. It is adequate preparation that will take you up the ladder of success in any endeavor and during the assessment session will help you outshine your competition.
As a job searcher desirous of performing well during any job chat and consequently enhancing your employability, you need to take certain positive actions. What are these actions?
1. Conducting research on the company putting job on offer: First among such actions is learning about the company advertising a job. Go online and learn as much as you can about the company. You need to learn about what industry it is in. What it produces or the service it renders. The size of the company in terms of sales and turnover and in terms of employees. What the company says about its products and services etc. Further, you need to learn about what other people are saying about the company. All these will put you in good stead during the chat.
2. Familiarizing yourself with the job on offer: You need to learn about the job being put on offer. Learn about what skills and attributes are required and try to match them with ones you possess. To do this, you need to conduct a sort of personal assessment and audit to identify your good points and attributes and match same with those required for the job. You should note one or two examples for each personal attributes that best illustrate your suitability for the job on offer. Familiarize yourself with these and put them to use in the event of being asked questions on your suitability for the job on offer.
3. Preparation on how to relate stories about your achievements and accomplishments: Another positive action is the ability to tell stories related to your work experience and accomplishments during the interview session. You should be able to draw on such experiences that demonstrate your skills and abilities. You should therefore practice telling your story perfectly well. Since the interview session is a marketing activity designed to sell a product which is you the candidate, you should make the most of it. You should be able to convince the interviewer that you are the ideal candidate and the benefits they stand to gain by your employment. The story telling practice is therefore an essential tool to assist you in creating a natural flow to your stories so that the interviewer can focus on your potential benefit to the company putting a job on offer.
4. Choosing the right outfit to wear to the interview session: Endeavor to choose an outfit that will agree perfectly with your interview session. Most times formal dressing is required. In point of fact interviewers allot some marks for dressing. You should therefore endeavor to choose your outfit carefully. Choose such outfit that will not be too neither loud nor shabby looking. Make sure you choose one that will show that you are a perfect candidate for the position on offer.
5. Practice frequently asked interview questions: As a job seeker, one is not endowed with the skill of knowing all the questions that are likely to be asked during a job chat. Even if you know some you cannot possibly know all. It therefore becomes pertinent to prepare beforehand with likely and frequently asked interview questions. There are several websites on the internet with such questions. Practicing them beforehand and learning the probable answers to them increases your chances of answering them well during actual interview sessions.
6. Practice proper communication of ideas: Interview is all about marketing of a product which is you the candidate. In marketing therefore communication plays a major role. If you know so much about your product and you are not able to convince the customer to buy it from you, what is the essence of selling? That is where proper communication comes in. With proper communication of the benefits and values of the product, selling it to the customer becomes easier. Same goes for the interview session. With proper communication of your skills, attributes and accomplishment to the interviewers convincing them that you are the perfect candidate for the job becomes easier. This will consequently enhance your employ-ability. Therefore practicing proper communication of ideas cannot be over emphasized.
7. Use “STAR” model (Situation or task, action and result) when answering interview questions: Another vital method of preparing for a job chat is by practicing beforehand how to use the STAR model in answering questions during interview session. The intention is to provide structure and focus to your answers. For example if asked during interview a particular situation when you have displayed a certain interview skill, the interviewer is looking for how you will respond via a specific example. Using the STAR model therefore, you will break your answer into: the description of the task, the action you took and the final measurable result. This enables the interviewer to visualize your behavioral response to specific events and consequently gain the best impression about your future performance. You should therefore endeavor to prepare one or two example for each of the attributes you must have listed in your resume.
8. Let others help you out: While preparing for your interview session, endeavor to seek the opinion of a second person regarding your performance. You do not know it all. Having probably a friend or a colleague to help watch how you perform in a mock interview session will assist in identifying lapses and sour points that might otherwise not have been discovered.
From the foregoing therefore, the idea of adequate preparation before a job chat cannot be over emphasized. This is because preparation increases your value as a job seeker and consequently your success during the interview. With adequate preparation your employ-ability as a job hunter is further enhanced. My experience as a recruiter has shown that a candidate who prepares well for a job interview will always outshine one who does not. Individual talent and brilliance is essential but it can only take the job seeker to a level. Only adequate preparation can take you all the way.
Thank you for sharing your time with me.
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