Jobseeker, this is your Monday Morning Rx!
Monday Rx
Let’s Remember…
November 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Today’s Monday Morning Rx is dedicated to the brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our countries, as well as the families who celebrate the victories and bear the pain. We honour and appreciate you…
If you are like me you don’t like wars of any kind. That said, in an effort to bring peace around the world, however fleeting it might seem, many people have sacrificed their lives, (and continue to do so), families have lost loved ones, and friends have lost friends.
As the heroes of WWI & II, pass on, we have a new generation with different challenges. Regardless of which side you are on, at least for today, let’s remember…
Canada Career Week – November 4 – 8, 2013
November 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Today’s issue of the Monday Morning Rx is a salute to Canada Career Week.
The week, November 4 – 8, 2013, has been designed “to promote, showcase and celebrate career development nation-wide”, by the Canadian Career Development Foundation and its partners.
Canadians are, indeed, at a crossroads in their careers, and even though there are a plethora of services and resources available, many are still not sure how to access these resources and make them work to their advantage.
public perceptions about career development and the workplace
At The Wright Career Solution, we will be hosting a FREE Q & A on Thursday November 7, at 8:00 pm EST, to provide answers to questions about career, resumes, interview strategies, or the job search. Details are below.
Can’t attend? No worries…send your questions to: careercoach[at]thewrightcareer.com, and we will answer them live.
To join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device: Go to Canada Career Week at The Wright Career Solution. If you would prefer to join by telephone, the phone line is: 1(424)203-8450 (US/Canada only). Meeting ID: 474 467 653.
If you are a career professional, then I invite you to participate as well.
Related information on Canada Career Week and Career Development:
CERIC’s Online Survey of Public Perceptions About Career Development and the Workplace
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving
October 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, even if you are not Canadian, eh?
Most Canadians woke up this morning without the ‘Monday Morning Blues’. Why? They didn’t have to go to work today. It is our Thanksgiving. Whoopee!
It is so easy sometimes to become bogged down with the trials and tribulations of life that we forget to pause and reflect on what we are thankful for. Today’s issue of the Monday Rx reflects on what Thanksgiving really means. It is not only a time to eat, drink and be merry. It has a deeper truth. That of being thankful for the many things we take for granted.
Allow me to be vulnerable and mention 10 of the things I am thankful for:
- I am thankful to be alive.
- I am thankful for my family and friends who keep me centred.
- I am thankful for my 5-year old grandson when he says things like “I bounced into a boy and hit my teeth, and now my teeth are scared.”
- I am thankful for Canada, and all that it offers.
- I am thankful for my five senses as well as the ability to write, speak, think, laugh and cry.
- I am thankful for my fingers and their ability to type extremely fast.
- I am thankful for the 18+ years I had my cats, Vanessa, Simba and Valentino.
- I am thankful for the work that I do, and for the clients and non-clients I serve.
- I am thankful for my Mom’s Bible, and the little notes she wrote or underlined throughout.
- I am thankful for Whatsapp that allows me to instantly keep in touch with my family from far and near.
How about you? What are you thankful for today? Let’s hear them.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Who is Hindering Your Career Growth?
September 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This is your Monday Morning Rx. It is something I saved in my archives from 2008. I have been unable to find the author, but in re-printing it here in its abridged format, I am paying tribute to that Unknown Author:
One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big sign on the door on which it was written:
“Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. Please go straight to the gym to pay your last respects.”
In the beginning, they were all sad for the passing of one of their colleagues, but after a while they became curious to find out who was the person who was so powerful to hinder the growth of his/her colleagues and the company. The nearer they got to the coffin, the more their curiosity peaked. Everyone thought: “Who is this person who was hindering my progress? Well, at least this person is out of the way!”
One by one the employees looked inside the coffin and they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin, and everyone who looked inside it could see a reflection of himself or herself.
There was also a sign next to the mirror that said:
“There is only one person who is capable of setting limits to your growth: it is YOU. Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs.”
Pause for a minute. Look in the mirror. Could this be you? Have you been looking outward and blaming someone for your lack of progress in your job, career or your life? Have you been the one hindering your own growth? If so, it’s time to stop playing the blame game and take ownership of your growth. And, even if someone is deliberately trying to hinder your growth, think of ways to circumvent that. Harness all the power that YOU have and begin to make a difference in your job, your career or your life.
Motivational speaker, Les Brown said: “The only thing that can possibly keep you from going after your dream is the person standing in your shoes, wearing your clothes, and thinking your negative thoughts.”
What’s the one thing you could do today that would put you on a path of growth?
To our success,
Why the F-Word Could Be Good for Your Job Search
September 23, 2013 by 4 Comments
This is your Monday Morning Rx!
…and, yes, it is possible that the F-Word could be good for your job search. However, it is not the F-Word you were thinking about. This F-Word is called FAITH!
Before you believe I am going off on some religious tangent, let me explain that one doesn’t have to be religious to have faith. Faith is about one’s belief system.
Do you believe in YOU? Do you have faith in your capabilities? Have you been so knocked down by your current job situation that you have lost faith in YOU? It’s time to realign your thinking. Here are three facts about Faith:
- Faith is progressive. It keeps you moving forward. When you are about to give up on your job search it reminds you to keep going.
- Faith doesn’t linger long at the pity party being sorry for itself. According to Jentezen Franklin, “Faith never gets into a bad situation and says, “I’m just going to sit here and die. It’s over. Faith never stands in the desert, having a pity party with everything drying up around it.” Faith brushes itself off and tries one more time.
- Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.). Sometimes you just have to trust the process; trust that you are doing and saying the right thing, even when you can’t see it.
Here’s your challenge for this week. Forget the other F-Word, and hold on to your Faith. Begin, one more time, to have faith in yourself and your capabilities. Tell yourself that there is a job out there with your name on it, and you are going to do whatever it takes to find that job. That’s called FAITH!
Happy job hunting!
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others, Claim Your Greatness!
September 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This edition of the Monday Morning Rx is asking you to stop comparing yourself to others. That is, on the assumption that it’s something you often do. Do you find yourself saying things like:
“She always seem to have it all together, what’s the matter with me?”
“He gets all the attention in meetings, why I can’t I?”
“Why did she get the promotion over me? We have the same qualifications.”
Have you ever said any of the above, or something that close? We all do, at some point or another. Even the image above is that of an orange wishing it were an apple. We should stop these comparisons. Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken”.
While reading a Fast Company blog post recently, “How I Learned to Stop Comparing Myself to Others and Love My Own Ideas” it brought back memories of the poem Desiderata. One particular line says, “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” Isn’t that the truth? When we begin to compare ourselves to others, it makes us feel less about ourselves. Shouldn’t we be spending time valuing our uniqueness? Paraphrasing Meredith Fineman in the article, “In order to succeed, you have to be the best you.”
It is a mistake to compare yourself to others. Why? Because you really don’t know what’s happening in the other person’s life. All that portrayal of having it all together could be a farce. The Fast Company article suggests that, “…when we compare ourselves to others, whether it be a marriage, a career, or a specific achievement, we are only comparing ourselves to our perception of this person.” That’s right. We are making comparisons against things we don’t know or don’t have enough information about.
During the coming week, instead of comparing yourself to others, reflect on these words from Desiderata: “Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.”
Here’s my personal message to you today: Opportunities are lost on those who spend time comparing themselves to others. Quit doing so, embrace your uniqueness, and get ready to play it big and win!
Life is Like a Camera, and So is Your Job Search
September 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Happy Monday!
For readers who do not know about my Monday Morning Rx, it differs from a regular blog post. It is a small dose of encouragement to brighten your Mondays as you begin your work week, or as you continue your job search. It is supposed to be short and uplifting. So here we go:
Let FOCUS be your keyword today.
- Focus on what’s important
- Focus on your job search
- Focus on your interview prep
- Focus on revamping your resume
- Focus on that difficult project
- Focus on building your network
- Focus on self-development
- Focus on that awkward conversation you need to have with the boss
- Focus on _______________. (Fill in the blank)
Focus, focus focus!
To your success,
Is Your Resume Telling Your Story?
August 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This is your Monday Morning Rx…a weekly does of career inspiration (or humour)!
Once upon a time there was a resume that thought it was the best resume in town. It had an Objective that focused on what it wanted from the employer; followed by a series of job description statements and ended with References Available on Request. The resume looked at itself in the mirror and was quite pleased with its appearance.
Off to the job boards it went – Workopolis, Monster, Indeed, Eluta – where it applied for all the jobs that were available, whether it met the qualifications or not. It was so busy applying that it forgot to customize itself for each position. This resume then to sat and waited…and waited… for calls! It started thinking, “I have sent out so many resumes, why am I not being called for interviews?”
After a frustrating few weeks, it found the courage to call one of the employers. It was told that they received the resume but it was tossed into “File 13”. “What is File 13?” the resume asked. “The garbage bin”, the employer answered. “You did not include any achievement stories, neither did you demonstrate how the company would benefit from what you had to offer.”
As you can imagine, that was not a happy-ever-after story for this resume. It had to go back to the writing board to think of strategies to create an effective resume. Luckily it found a blog post on 5 Ways to Get Your Resume Ready for Prime Time.
Moral of the story… A resume that dresses itself up with a ‘me-focussed’ Objective; a laundry list of job descriptive statements instead of success stories, and a meaningless References Available on Request declaration, will never tell a convincing story or open doors.
While I can’t lay claim to the resume acronym below, it clearly illustrates that to capture an employer’s attention, a storytelling resume must contain:
Relevant
Experiences and
Skills, which are
Understood and
Measured by
Employers
What about your resume? Is it telling a compelling story? If not, it’s time to seek help.
Hope you received some resume inspiration from today’s dose of Monday Morning Rx.
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