White Papers & Articles

As we grow in our profession, we naturally pick up things here and there which aid us in operating as a professional.  These little nuances of professional life often times can’t be learned in a class room setting or text book, especially when it comes to behavioral tips like how to handle yourself in certain situations, shaking hands and introducing yourself at a networking event, overcoming challenges, etc.
 
Over the course of my career one of the best sources for information and perspective have come through mentors.  I’ve been blessed to have four (4) mentors throughout my adult life, each of them providing a different perspective and approach that I’ve been able to utilize to craft my own personal style of ‘me’.  For what it’s worth, I’m grateful beyond words to these four people for instilling in me valuable lessons about life, family, work and relationships.
 
Through these relationships I’ve learned a vital lesson that I will carry with me throughout my career, which is:
 
The only person responsible for your career is YOU.
 
Each one of my mentors have preached this lesson, using their own approach to reinstate the fact that we [you and I] are ultimately in charge of our own careers.  No one else.  Not our parents, not our teachers and certainly not our bosses.  It’s a universal truth I’ve tested now dozens of times and I still get the same outcome – it’s up to us, not them.
 
When we develop a mindset of self accountability we learn that it is in fact up to us [you] to drive our careers in the direction we want them to head. 
 
When people aren’t responsible for their own careers it shows up sounding like the following excuses: “my boss didn’t do anything for me”, “that’s not my job responsibility”, “I didn’t know I could do that”, “no one told me that was possible”, “that mistake wasn’t my fault” and on and on.
 
Casting aside the multitude of excuses we can drum up, once we learn it’s our ultimate responsibility to drive our careers it then becomes easier to ask for help while navigating the many facets of a career.  Once we ask for help and start getting it we remain in the drivers seat asking questions, following up and initiating conversation.  As a result we take responsibility for the outcomes.  What comes from this type of mindset and approach is an increasing attitude and desire to improve, learn and grow. 
 
Key Take Away:
Asking for help and guidance is a big step.  It means you want to improve yourself, congrats as you’re already ahead of many people around you.  When you ask for help from someone, whether that be a mentor, boss, teacher, friend, it’s up to you to drive that interaction.  It is your responsibility to drive the communication, follow up and request for direction.  Don’t sit back and wait for that person to do the work.  They are there strictly as advisors to give feedback and perspective, you must put in the time and effort.
 
Action Item:
Spend some time in a quiet place thinking about your own career and how you’ve gotten to where you are.  Happy with the present circumstances?  If you still have more you want to achieve go get yourself a mentor asap.  A good place to start is www.micromentor.org.  It’s a free service, one I wholeheartedly endorse. 
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​​It’s amazing to learn than an estimated 70% of companies don’t have a specific process they follow to ensure their hiring process is streamlined and effective.  As a result HBR identified that 80% of turnover is due to poor hiring decisions which can be directly correlated to a lack of planning and consistent processes along the way. 

While this sounds scary, we do know what it takes to be successful in the hiring process.  We know this because we can look at where company’s struggle in the hiring process and then use that information to improve our own processes. 

The eight reasons company’s struggle to hire great people are, in no particular order:

1. The WHY Failure: the current market is a candidates market, not an employers market therefore employers need to be able to share their story and their WHY for being in business and how that translates into a successful career with their company
2. Don’t Know What You’re Looking For: Company’s often use the interviewing process to help them figure out what they want in a candidate.  You should know this before you ever talk to a candidate about a job.
3. Unrealistic Expectations: Hiring manager has unrealistic expectations and makes hiring decisions based on being able to perform immediately rather than long term success
4. Everyone is Involved: the interviewing panel or team consists of 4+ people; most of the time each person is interviewing candidates for what’s important to them, not a common agreed upon pre-existing set of criteria
5. Inexperienced Interviewers: often times people on the interviewing panel or team don’t know how to interview people correctly therefore they tend to make decision based on if they like the person or if the interview impressed them, not if they can do the job and help the company
6. Job Discrepancy: The job description used to search and vet candidates isn’t the same as the real job responsibilities
7. Interview Process: it’s horrificically long, requiring candidates to jump through hoops like a tiger at the circus
8. Disrespect: Candidates are often disrespected going through the interview process (this happens all the time and is one of the quickest ways to lose a great candidate; disrespect comes in the form of wasting people’s time, not getting back to people, treating them poorly during the onsite interview, etc.)

Key Takeaway:  Be prepared to lead your hiring process with your company’s WHY and get a plan in place!

Action Item: Craft a specific plan for your hiring process including what you need in a new employee.  Get a couple key people involved, ensure they are trained on how to interview, while making sure everyone is on the same page with what the company needs in the new person before you start interviewing.  Everyone should be interviewing using the same criteria and scoring. Decision making should be left up to one or two people, not a kumbaya group agreement.
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