Career Management Newsletter

Issue #8

Brought to you by Iris Wood from Pro-Active Human Resource

Management http://www.proactivehrm.com/index.html

Inspirational Quote

‘If you look what is, you might never attain what could be’

ANON

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Welcome back to Career Management Newsletter

This month I want to relate a story I had forgotten until reminded by Trish, an old friend. It brings home the fact that we must all take responsibility for informing our employer's of new skills and qualifications we gain and update our employment file and resume.

We had a mutual friend who completed a degree over an 8 year period. She graduated with a double major in commerce and info tech. However, because she is a very private person I doubt if anyone in her company knew. We were never asked for advice despite our experience as change managers.

Downsizing retrenchments were on the table for a year, but our friend

just hoped or thought she would be retained. In fact she seemed to

expect it. Then one day the bad news came. She was being retrenched.

Apparently the decision was made by looking at the application forms

and other data in the employees’ files. My friend was deemed to be

amongst the least qualified to fit in with new systems that were going to be installed.

When she told her supervisor about her qualifications (no she didn’t go to human resources as she should have), the supervisor was very

surprised to say the least. Decisions had been made and there was to

be no appeals.

So this month I am going to talk more on how this situation could have

been avoided by ensuring you company regularly updates your employment file so that it reflects your training, qualifications, professional development undertaken, team project work and your overall abilities and achievements

Now I know I have mentioned that you need to keep your resume updated in case you are headhunted or want to apply for a job That comes up when you least expect it. This month I just want to run through a few pointers that tie in with this theme.

This is a very long section. Please find the time to read it as it is essential to advise you employer of skill changes and achievements

Topic covered in issue

How to Manage our career by ensuring your employment files Is kept up to date:

Is your resume effective or is it outdated?

Position yourself for success

When does your resume need updating?

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Career Advancement

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How to Manage Your Career

Ensuring Your Employment File Is Kept Up To Date:

Position Yourself For Success

Basically it is up to you advise Human resources/management

if you have made changes that could affect your employment,

promotion and remuneration according to your contribution

to the company. It doesn’t matter if it is a small company or a

large one. Obviously larger companies are not going to

know each individual.

Remember, someone may have to enter your information

into the computer so make a précis of the information. It is a

good idea to enclose a brief cover letter outlining how this

information can be utilised within the company.

Don’t go overboard and make this a sales pitch, just say

why you would like this information to be added to your file.

Ask for confirmation that it has been received an entered onto

your employment record. Obviously your tone should reflect

your position in the company, for example if the reader knows

you. The person who maintains employments records may

know you well. However, you may be prospective competitor.

So make it factual.

Ensure your supervisor and immediate reporting manager

are aware you have provided this information to human

resources. Give them a copy. Be ethical and non threatening

at all times. Read the office politics. Be aware of how each of

your colleagues operates in the workplace. But this is a subject

matter in itself. For the time being, make sure no-one is offended.

But not at the price of your career.

Deliver it personally and start building a relationship with the

person in charge of employment files. Make sure you are

well groomed. Don’t make it a quick trip in your dirty overalls,

for example. If this is your work uniform then it is appropriate

to wear it, but do make sure you are looking your best. A good

haircut for men is a good tip. Women should ensure their hair

is well done and you are dress it the profile of your position plus.

For example a back office person and front office person will

be dressed accordingly. But don’t go overboard and dress for

an interview. My pet dislike is coloured hair with a lot of regrowth

showing. It tells me this person doesn’t care about his or her

appearance, is a bit sloppy and does not pay attention to

detail. Unfair? Maybe but it is a perception I hold and this

does reflect on your chances of gaining any promotional advantage.

One point unemployed client’s often made to me was how sloppy

Centrelink employees (or Social Security employees in some places),

looked and they thought it was unfair as they could do the same job

so why haven’t they got work

Now, just checking. You know that this information should be

recorded on your employment file when it pertains to jobs within

the company don’t you? You are not going to tell then you have

taken a Fireman’s course because you hope to get into the

Fire Brigade - are you? Make sure the knowledge and skills you

have acquired can is to be used for a career within the company.

Ok so getting back to my retrenched friend. Maybe at the time she

started the degree it looked as though it wouldn’t be applicable.

Knowing what I do, I believe it was possible that the company could have used her knowledge and experience years before. Should she have acted proactively and let the company know that if they

move towards changes she was getting qualifications? She should

have at least made sure it was known when there was talk of

downsizing and changing systems.

So, the morale of the story is to keep abreast of what is happening in

your environment. Don’t put your head in the sand and act proactively

to manage your career.

So what sort of information would you ask to be put on your

employment file, and how do you go about it?

Full details of any training or professional development courses

you have completed/attended.

As stated, make sure the information is relevant to your company and

gives all the above information in a concise way. If you have to type

up a précis, then do so. Don’t jam company records with irrelevant

information they have to sift through and store. The person receiving

them will not be looking forward to receiving you next update.

You need to provide a course outline course outcomes, number

of hours you attended, the name of the company who provided the

training, and any certificates awarded. Do you name the

facilitator/trainer? Make a decision. Is this person well known and credible?

If so, name them.

You commenced a degree/certificate course?

It is important the company knows you are starting this course. Don’t

wait 8 years until you complete it. provide the above details with a

"to be completed by date” and point out how you think this information

will provide you with better work opportunities and/or how it could

benefit the company. After all why do the course if it wasn’t going to

add to your skills?

Have you have just completed a special project? If your company

doesn't do performance appraisals then do not assume your role and

contribution is noted on your file. Once again write a short note

and précis of the project, what it entailed, your role and final

outcomes. Ask for it to be noted on your employment file.

Any other achievements/recognition for your contributions?

Did you receive any verbal recognition for any contributions you

have made. Now be careful here. At an appropriate time ask

your Supervisor or immediate reporting manager to see that it gets

added to your employment file.

Why the different approach? A special project is likely to be a formal

process and therefore you have the right to ask for it to be recorded

. Explain why you want it on your record. It would be bad form to go

behind anyone’s back to do this. Think through what you are

going to say. A wrong word or tone could put your supervisor offside.

Did you receive a compliment via your Manager or Supervisor

from a client or customer regarding your performance or the

way in which you handled a task/complaint?

It is also appropriate to ask the person who received the compliment

to have it recorded on your file.

Has a client asked how he/she could let your company know

how efficient/empathetic/helpful you were when handling their

complaint, for example?

Be clear about what you should do if this situation arises. Have this

worked out in advance. I don’t know how many times I have brushed

this off and said ‘just doing my job’. DON’T ever say this. Turn it into

a career strategy.

Ask if they would mind putting it in writing. Provide the name, position,

and address of your reporting manager or supervisor. Make sure they

have your full name and position and correct phone number. Then ask if they wouldn’t mind sending a copy to human resources or whoever keeps your employment record. Provide them with a name if applicable and address details. In this electronic age they may want to email it.

Make sure if they are going to email it that they have the correct email

address and tell them what to put in the subject line. Have this typed

out and stored on your computer if you have one. If you don’t make sure

you can put your hand on it quickly so you can send them the details if you think it is appropriate. Make sure you state in your correspondence or phone call – “here are the details you requested”. Things have a way of coming back to bite you.

Any out of work achievements/contributions to the community?

If you achieved a leadership award or something that demonstrates

your planning or teamwork, for example, then it is appropriate to have

it recorded. If you got a write up in the newspaper then better still. Write a friendly note the record keeper with a copy of the article. Be friendly and say you think this is worthwhile putting on your employment file because it demonstrates leadership or whatever you think it demonstrates. You may want to say. I think this information is important and give reasons then say, don’t you?

This is only after you have added a few things to your file already. You

don’t want them to see you are a pain in the neck, so try and get them

on-side as to why you are building your portfolio. It may give them the

idea to update their own employment file. They will certainly remember you when they here of an appropriate position that may become vacant if they are familiar with your file.

Why is it important to record any substantial community work or

involved in sport?

These are the attributes employers are looking for more and more when they look at someone that is promotional material. Sometimes the skills are only secondary. Read any job advertisement and you can clearly see this.

So these are a few situations where you can build your employment profile with the company and avoid my friend’s fate. Oh and of course you still need to keep a diary of the work you have done outside your job description and use the Star Approach.

S= situation (one to two paragraphs).

T= tasks you had to undertake to solve the problem. Maybe one paragraph or less.

A=Action you took. This is the main part of the work you undertook. This is limitless but be concise please.

R= result or the outcome. This is the important part. it must be measurable.

The STAR approach and other similar ones are excellent for interview situation and of course where you have to “address the selection criteria” for a Government jobs or positions within Statutory Authorities and Gov’t funded agencies. One book you will find extremely helpful is Lloyd White's book Winning Applications: A Guide To Responding To Selection Criteria” Although

Lloyd has expanded his book he is basically the guru of selection criteria writing in Perth, Western Australia. He has a load of experience and trained many groups to work with selection criteria, interviewing on interview panels. I think the content is very useful for organising your journal and answering question, which show the process of of problem solving.

You can order it through this website. It is hard cover and only available in Australia. 2007 version better than ever. Postage is very fast. For more information visit

http://www.proactivehrm.com/careersupport/SelectionCriteria.html

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When Does Your Resume Needed Updating

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Is your resume effective or is it outdated?

Reassessment of your resume needs to be taken every three

months at least.

I have already mentioned in another newsletter that you need an

up to date resume at all times to take advantage of any promotions

and when you see your dream job, for example.

It is time to update when:-

*You learn a new skill, gain new knowledge or qualifications* Change

your role within an organisation,

*Achieve something that is going to be put on your employment record.

*Change your personal details.

*Can no longer do a task due to dislike of it or physical/health reasons.

*A skill becomes obsolete.

So when do know it is time to rewrite your resume?

There is a short answer to that and it is does it reflect and market

your capabilities to operate in a highly completive market place:

But no there are a lot of more tangible pointers.

Be honest - will your resume pass the review stage?

The greatest problem technical people have is that the firmly believe

that there resume will be assessed by someone in the same

job classification. “They will know what that mean” I heard this

often, and it is further from the truth

Having an unknown person doing the short listing is the biggest

gamble you will take. So your resume must conform to the scan test.

Consider these points:-

If you are looking for a new job you need to know who receives

and processes your application and who will do the initial screening?

*What is the size of the organisation? Are there differ rent divisions

or will your resume go the head office.

The size of the organisation is important. Does it have a personnel

or Human Resource Management Department? Who first sees the resume? The receptionist, admin officer personnel dept administration or the decision maker.

If it is a smaller company the receptionist may receive the resume and

sift them out. They will probably be following a job description. It then

may go onto the admin administrator before going to the hiring department.

Is it going to go be run through a scanning device. If so this will pick out the key words and may match them to the job. Today there is good and not so good software that is used to input resumes onto a database. Some only pick out generic phrases. Has the scanner been programmed for that particular job? We don’t have any way of knowing this.

How many applications are they likely to receive – i.e. is it a highly technical area or fairly generic.

The screening process can eliminate the best applicants. So you can see the need for your resume format and design needs to cover all the above scenarios.

DESIGN FORMAT AND CONTENT

Assess your resume as an employer with a thousand other things to do and read your resume with a critical eye. Is your resume tired, haggard and old fashioned? If so, it is a reflection upon your own abilities and personality.

The first page of your resume is critical. Yet time and again I see useless information on the front page.*Does you front page contain key words related to you field/occupation?*Does your resume show your achievements and are they measurable?

If your resume looks like this, you are really out of date

NAME : Ross Greenwood

ADDRESS; 21 Chillington Drive

We do not need to be told that Ross Greenwood is your name and we can

certainly recognise an address when we see one.

*Has it go your marital status on it?

*Have you used a lot of subjective attributes rather than experience or

outcomes?

*Does you experience claims represent the level you operate at. i.e.

project management? For example, How big are the projects $150m?

or organising the local fundraising.

You need to make sure that the reader can gauge your level of skill.

if you are not strong in an area then it shouldn’t be on your resume.

Does it have a lot of white space on the mist important position on the

page. For example, and I really do not understand this, people start their paragraphs three quarter of the way across a page?

I could go on for another four pages. If you have any doubts fill in the order form send me your resume for an review. However, you need to demonstrate that you have the skills to change it and follow instructions on how to rewrite it. See details on how to order a resume review HERE

If you want to gain a competitive edge in the workplace you have to be proactive and make it happen. Take advantage of our products and services.

http://www.proactivehrm.com/careersupport/index.html

http://proactivehrm.com/JobSearch/index.html

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So that is it once again, I hope you found this issue informative.

Your feedback will be appreciated.

E-mail me at proactivehrm@tpg.com.au

If you know anyone who can benefit by reading the range of subject matter, refer him or her to us at:-

http://www.proactivehrm.com

To your success - cheers

Iris Wood

PS. Don’t forget to keep checking my career development and

Job search articles and resources as they are changing all the

Time.

http://www.proactivehrm.com/careersupport/index.html