Another Pirating Blog (Because One Just Isn’t Enough)

Like all other conversations at The Gabriel Institute, the topic of my impending departure for life on the high seas came full circle back to RBA.  While the average person might have thought of Blackbeard or that episode of Family Guy in which Stewie imagines his musical life on deck, Dr. J’s mind went straight to 15^th century Italy.  Leave it to a Founder to take things in a different direction.

According to the good doctor, Renaissance Italy offered few vocational choices.  You either went to work on a ship, raised livestock, or spent your days stomping grapes.  So if you’re Christopher Columbus, and you aren’t feeling the sheep or the stained socks, you hop on board the first ship that’s hiring.  The sailors who were actually good would likely have been Explorers, had they taken RBA.  Considering the 7,790 miles (thanks Google) that separate America and India, it seems likely that Chris’ Role wasn’t such a good fit for his occupation.  Then again, with only three career options and ten Roles, there were bound to be a few people who weren’t exactly at home in their jobs.

Taking our imaginary DeLorean back to the year 2009, we find that there are millions of careers to choose from.  This difficult decision can be made easier by determining your Role, and thereby ensuring that you don’t end up in America, when you should’ve been in Italy all along making wine with your feet (figuratively speaking, of course).

 

Ahoy, Me Mateys!

Ahoy, and goodbye.  This will most assuredly be my last blog (well, not really, but go with me here), as I’ve just discovered that marketing is not my destiny.  No, my fate lies beyond the world of cubicles, beyond suits and briefcases, beyond land even.  You see my friends, the stars have aligned and shown me my true path: shipmate.

By now you’re probably wondering two things; “what is he talking about” and “why doesn’t The Gabriel Institute randomly drug test interns?”  Sadly, this is not the work of LSD or any other illegal substance, but rather a career test (which shall remain nameless).  Earlier today I was researching some of the options people can employ when attempting to choose a career path.  I was led almost immediately to the site-that-shall-not-be-named, asked three questions, and voila, sailor.  Now I have nothing against sailors or the occupation itself, but the idea of me as a sailor is beyond ridiculous.  But alas, it is my fate, so sail I shall (again, not really).

[If you did not read the post loudly with the swashbuckling accent of the Spongebob opening narrator, I ask that you kindly reread it in such a manner.]

 

Craigslist & Dwayne Johnson

Internships in today’s economy are getting harder and harder to come by.  As a result, many college students are turning to less legitimate job sources, even… Craigslist [cue dramatic music].  Every time a friend tells me that they’re looking for jobs on Craigslist, I am reminded of my first experience with the site.

I was looking for a marketing internship, and sure enough, Craigslist had one.  I applied and went for an interview.  The owner gave a vague description of his start-up marketing company that he ran out of his parent’s house.  The internship would be from home and sounded cool enough, so I took it.  I received no instructions or training, forcing me to ask questions every step of the way.  After a few weeks, I stopped receiving emails.  I immediately jumped to the conclusion that I had been a terrible marketing intern.  What else was I supposed to think?

Looking back, I can see two problems, neither one of which was my own ineptitude.  Firstly, I was working for a guy who thought it was appropriate to cold shoulder an intern.  More importantly, neither of us was aware of our Role.  I now know that I am a Vision Mover, and as such, I need a clear vision to work with in order to be successful.  While I learned absolutely nothing about marketing, I did come away with a newfound appreciation for the wise words of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who frequently reminded the WWE audience to “Know your role!”  Can you smell what the Rock is cookin’?

 

He said, she said – not so different

When I started this blog, I did it with the intent that I’d turn it over to the younger, fresher voices of our interns.  Brian wrote this and I had to laugh because I was well into my – ummm – more than thirties – and still dreading the question.  In fact, if I wasn’t doing what I’m doing, I’d be dreading it too.  Here’s Brian:

College is a very uncertain time for many of us.  One of the most confusing things can be the one thing that everyone feels compelled to ask constantly; “So… what do you want to do?”  I personally cannot escape this question.  Anyone I’ve ever met that has run out of legitimate things to say to me immediately falls back on this question.

Unfortunately, it’s a question many of us can’t answer.  There are the lucky few who happen to love the first thing they do, but most of us just try things until we find something that we’re good at, and even then, happiness isn’t guaranteed.

Fortunately for those of us who fall into the latter category, there are tools out there to help us answer this difficult question.  One such tool is Role Based Assessment.  RBA offers a different way of looking at ourselves, and how we fit into the workplace.  Universities across the country are noticing its usefulness.  One prominent northeastern college is considering offering RBA to all of its undergraduate business students, after being taken by only six students.  While there are other tools out there that were created for career guidance, RBA has been proven to work.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have something else to say the next time someone asks what you want to do?  Keep in mind: Thanksgiving break is approaching rapidly, a classic time for that question.

—

Ok Brian, I hereby promise NEVER to ask that question again.  Well, unless I’m trying to interest someone in getting the answer that’s right for them.

 

Happy Landing!

It’s wonderful to hear about people landing a job these days, but even more so when they give credit to their Role-Based Assessment!

Got this email, forwarded from a friend who helped a man who went through Tools4Careers.  He wrote:

“By means of an update, I’ve landed with a great organization as their new Director of Projects in what I think will be a great fit.  I described the position to you briefly when we first spoke back in June and I remember your reaction was something along the lines of “Of course!” per my assessment results.

“I wanted to give you a quick thanks, as our conversations and my exposure to Role-Based Assessment really helped to shape the way I thought and talked about my job prospects and interests this summer.”

Would he have gotten the job without his RBA?  Maybe.  They rely a lot on resumes in that world, and I understand he had a good one.  Sounds like after his RBA, he aligned his words more with who he is rather than the typical parroting of the job requirements, and it worked.

Either way, it’s cause for celebration!

 

Are you in the market?

The market is recovering, the market is tanking – take your choice.  Now, and for the next year at least, that recovery (if it is really happening) may not make finding a job any easier.  If you’re out of work, what the market is doing may not make much of a difference to you.

About all you can do is make sure that if you’re in the market for a job, you’re in the right market.  These are the key questions you should be asking yourself:

• Is the market I’m looking in priced right for what I’m selling?  If you don’t know the current value of what you have to offer, how will you know you’re in the right market?
• Is the market I’m looking in loaded in favor of buyers or sellers?  If all your colleagues have been laid off and no one’s had as much as an interview in months, d you want to consider switching to a market with less competition?
• Does the market you’re looking in appreciate the intangibles you bring, or does it dislike those special characteristics you really enjoy expressing?  If your best quality is your friendliness, why are you looking at jobs that don’t involve much human interaction?

Whatever market you’re in, I hope it is a free market – one where you have the right to negotiate for your full value even as your potential employer has the same.

 

What’s your ‘job choice’?

The unemployment rate isn’t improving, it’s getting worse, especially for 20-somethings.  The headline article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer,  Recession a Roadblock for Young Careers, cites 14% in the Philadelphia metro area as opposed to the overall national rate of 9.4.  Worse, unemployment among younger workers is rising at a faster rate than the overall rate.  And that doesn’t include newly-minted MBAs and newly-barred attorneys working as baristas.

So, for a great deal of people, especially those in their 20s, there will be three options for ‘job choice’:

1. Do nothing. (This is also known as ‘live off your parents’.)
2. Do something you really don’t want to do but that is in an industry that is hiring workers.
3. Find some other people who want to do something, even if they don’t know what that is, and start dreaming something up.

It may take a few iterations before you get the team right, but it’s a start.  At the very least, you’ll have a story about exploring a new business to tell the next person who interviews you for a job you really want.

 

How to pass a ‘personality test’

In the spirit of public service to those who are applying for jobs they never thought they would apply for – much less be thrilled to be hired for – and are confronted with some sort of ‘personality test,’ here’s some advice:

• Choose the first answer that comes in your head. It’s probably the one that’s most correct.
• Try to avoid committing to strong words or absolutes, like ‘never’ and ‘always.’ For instance: I have never taken anything from an employer. True or false? If you choose ‘true,’ the odds are you’re lying.
• Consider the position you’re applying for. What are the three most important success factors?  If you say you aren’t good at them – or interested in them – you won’t score points.

Rightly or wrongly, companies that give these ‘personality tests’ to prospective employees are looking for a certain type of candidate. If you try to slant your answers, you may end up in a job that you’re not right for.  More important, if you can’t be yourself and get hired, maybe they’re not right for you.

 

Do you work in a ’suckritocracy’?

I better set a good example here.  I take no credit for the word ’suckritocracy’ but seriously, doesn’t it describe at least one place you’ve worked?

I heard it attributed to Edith Waltz, a sociologist who morphed into an IT director for Fortune 500 companies.  In her experience those companies were not meritocracies, they were not even aristocracies, and they certainly weren’t democracies – they were, pure and simple, suckritocracies.  And, apparently, in her experience, few people cared.

Call me Pollyanna, but I really meant it when I wrote The Gabriel Institute’s vision line – Making the Workplace a Better Place to Work.

So in that spirit, I ask you to join me in a revolution to banish suckritocracy from the workplace.  Here are the three ‘rules of engagement’:

• First, believe that you can end suckritocracy in your lifetime.  All you have to do is to stop contributing to it.  Don’t take credit for other people’s work and, if you can, share the credit other people give you – whether you think you deserve it or not.  Being known as a team player is worth more to your career than being known for being smart.
• Second, figure out what you really like to do and try to work with other people who will do the parts you don’t like.  If you get yelled at for that, you are working in a suckritocracy that has hardened into something like the corporate equivalent of the Zombies from Outer Space.  It eats fear and it can only survive by creating that fear in its young.  All you can do is starve it.
• Finally, rock your own world.  Find the rest of your team.  They are out there.  (This is something like finding true love.)  Respect them,  Trust them.  Build something together (think Bill Gates, Mary Kay Ash, Ben & Jerry) and just say no to suckritocacy.