Barton Career Advisors

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Career Emergency Preparedness Planning for 2011

At Barton Career Advisors we have found it to be exciting to have the opportunity to interact with professionals from many different disciplines and practices such as healthcare, financial services, pharmaceuticals, insurance and education. If you are curious about the work that your friends and colleagues do every day you pick up a few nuggets of wisdom here and there. WE give a shout out to our many IT and disaster recovery friends over the years for helping with this CareerFlash™. Specifically, the concept of implementing a Career Emergency Preparedness Plan (C.E.P.P.) came from countless hours and meetings with those devoted to business continuity in the face of the worst possible scenarios. Yes, there is an entire profession devoted to ensuring businesses are ready for emergencies. If a tornado hits, the business is ready. Building burnt down? The business has a plan and has been doing quarterly fire drills. If there is a snow storm affecting mid-west operations, capabilities get moved to the south-west. It begs two questions-

If businesses plan and devote resources to the protection of assets and capabilities, why don’t individual professionals?
As a professional do you have a Career EPP to weather the storm of career transition?

An EPP for professionals contains three core components that prepare an individual for the worst of times in career crises. This is illustrated in a simple acronym- Exercise Plan Pray.

Exercise is perhaps one of the most important life sustaining habits for professionals exposed to the daily rigors of demanding leadership roles. This concept goes well beyond the narrow thoughts of taking care of your physical health through regular movement. Our mental health and spiritual well-being are vastly improved through the process of “sharpening the saw” as made famous by Stephen Covey. Exercise in the purely physical sense has many published, researched benefits for the human body. The number one advantage to old-fashioned exercise as published by the Mayo Clinic is the improvement of our mood. Who can’t leverage this benefit? Beyond this, consider the critical nature of exercising your grey matter through a regular reading list on topics that not only entertain but inform. Additionally, make time to feed your personal hobbies and passions (including family) so that resentment does not create hostility toward the sacrifices you must make for your career.

Having a Plan for “career emergencies” and the act of daily planning are inextricably bound together by necessity. How can one plan for the future if one is not willing to make a to-do-list for today? This is where the discipline of professional focus comes into play. Within the “art” of planning the “duty” of goal setting manifests itself. We need a road map to get to a destination and we must have a plan to make a career long journey. Just as we plan for a family vacation, prepare for that big presentation or take steps toward losing 10 pounds, we must document what we will do in the event of involuntary career transition. Better yet, let’s come up with a plan to identify the signals that lead to major career changes. Among other items on your checklist to mitigate the effects of career transition, you should plan around the following questions- How strong is my current network of contacts and what can I do to develop it? Do my search materials set me apart from the crowd and do they reflect the most recent writing principles? Have I chronicled a quantitative set of wins to share with others? Do I need additional education or certification to update my skills? Have I allotted enough time to manage the stress of my career on a daily basis? Do I need professional help to prepare for a transition? Answering these questions and taking action will ensure that a company downsizing does not turn into a personal career apocalypse.

We tread lightly on the concept of Prayer because I understand the diversity of spiritual beliefs in our society. However, we tell anyone who asks on a personal level about the importance of prayer as a powerful cornerstone in our preparedness planning. When all else fails, meditative reflection enables a fountain of serenity that can come from no other place. In a December 2009 article written for the Harvard Gazette (“Want to Live Well” By Alvin Powell Harvard Staff Writer Thursday, December 17, 2009) Cheryl Giles a professor at Harvard Divinity School said-

“…..spiritual practice — regardless of personal belief — should not be limited to Saturdays or Sundays but should be part of every day. Giles recommended that people find quiet time each day for meditation, prayer, journal writing, or other forms of reflection. It’s an important exercise, she said, that helps people to avoid being consumed by routine daily demands.

“You should take 10 minutes, 15 minutes a day to sit down and be silent,” Giles said. “All this stuff goes through your head. This is an opportunity to let it out.”

Take the necessary time to invest in yourself and invest in your professional future by developing a Career Emergency Preparedness Plan. You will not regret it.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

"Almost Real" Shortcomings of Virtual Outplacement

Over the past 5 years the outplacement and career services industry has seen dramatic changes. The high fixed cost offerings of traditional outplacement firms have been under assault from a wave of low cost web based services. We have literally started a shift from “bricks” to “clicks”. Just like death and taxes the proliferation of the concept among Chief Human Resources Officers that outplacement is a “check the box” commodity offering is certainly right around the corner. And so we embrace the age of “Virtual” outplacement with open arms. But of course! Nothing else matters when you start competing on price. If the economic buyer of outplacement is looking for the lowest cost option and assumes that all offerings are essentially the same, the virtual option seems as satisfactory as every other option. The price is right! Virtual outplacement it would seem is the head usher at the funeral for a guy named “Customer Loyalty”.

Our thought leaders, partners and clients got together to discuss this phenomenon and we agreed on the undeniable fact that virtual is at its best only “Almost Real”. Think about it for a moment. You don’t have to go far to realize the inherent and embedded outrageous guarantee that comes with the virtual outplacement model. Wikipedia will tell you what we found-

“The term has been defined in philosophy as "that which is not real" but may display the salient qualities of the real. Colloquially, virtual is used to mean almost, particularly when used in the adverbial form e.g. "That's virtually [almost] impossible". By extension to the original philosophical definition, the term virtual has also come to mean "modeling through the use of a computer," where the computer models a physical equivalent. Thus, a virtual world models the real world with 3D structures and virtual reality seeks to model reality, enhancing a virtual world with mechanisms for eye and hand movements.” (Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual, Retrieved October 29, 2011)

An interesting parallel in the examination of virtual outplacement services is the use of virtual flight simulator technology to train commercial and military pilots. It is widely acknowledged that these simulators are excellent tools in the training curriculum for pilots. It is also evident and accepted that these technological tools have inherent limitations. In an October 2007 report from the FAA researchers outlined the following in their opening remarks-

“Yet it remains unproven that skills developed in such training devices improve a pilot’s ability to regain control of an actual airplane during an in-flight upset. Moreover, because of flight simulator limitations such as unrealistic control input responses or lack of control force feedback, the potential for negative training exists. Even Level D flight simulators, for example, are known to present pilots with unreliable models of actual airplane performance when flown near the limits of, or outside of, the normal air transport operating envelope. Finally, almost all ground-based flight simulation devices—including all Level D flight simulators—lack the ability to replicate the high G forces pilots likely will encounter in upset-recovery maneuvering.” (Source: Rogers, Bouquet, Howell & DeJohn (2007) Preliminary Results of an Experiment to Evaluate Transfer of Low-Cost, Simulator-Based Airplane Upset-Recovery Training, Office of Aerospace Medicine, Federal Aviation Administration, Retrieved October 31, 2011 from www.faa.gov)

The question is somewhat obvious. If some of the most technically advanced virtual flight systems in the world cannot accurately simulate “real world” flight emergencies, how can corporate economic buyers expect that virtual outplacement will adequately prepare those in career transition for the rigors of today’s marketplace? To be fair, virtual flight simulation is quite good and it does make more sense to train on simulators rather than testing it out in real airplanes with real downside consequences. However, career transition and reduction in force situations don’t involve big airplanes and complicated technology. These situations involve people and relationships.

The interesting part of technological innovation is that it can be easily duplicated. Virtual outplacement too will be under assault from new offerings and innovations in the coming months and years ahead. In the world of outplacement people must be at the center of the engagement. Yes, technology and on-line resources are important but they should not represent the nucleus of a complete outplacement offering. In the 2010 Outplacement Industry Benchmark Report completed by MacFarlan Lane the study found that managers going through an outplacement program rated six top factors in determining their satisfaction levels with the program. Technology and web-based tools were noticeably absent from the list. The top two satisfaction factors were-

1.) Ability of the consultant (coach) to actively engage with individuals

2.) An ability to develop shared understanding of capabilities and strengths in the individual

(Macfarlan Lane Career Development Research, Sandra Beanham & Associates, (2010) Outplacement Industry Benchmark Report, Retrieved March 22, 2011 from http://www.macfarlanlane.com.au/ml-career-development-research/w1/i1001650/)

It is our belief that the best outplacement solutions are relationship based and facilitated by career coaches who can meet a client at their level of need and professional skill. Barton Career Advisors, like many other firms in the outplacement space, leverages technology (CoachOnetoOne™ web-based portal) to better serve our clients. However, we keep things in perspective. Technology = Tools. Tools ≠ Relationships. Therefore.....Relationships ≠ Technology! Virtual outplacement is "almost real". In our opinion, web-based career transition services are a tool, not an outplacement program.

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Barton Career Advisors, LLC is a relationship based outplacement and career coaching firm offering premier career transition services to corporations and individuals throughout the US and Canada. The company which is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware offers flexible outplacement for businesses and career coaching and resume construction for individual clients. The company supports its one to one approach with its innovative career transition portal, CoachOnetoOne™. Through Speaker Services the company works with corporations, professional associations, conferences and non-profits to provide training and key-note presentations on career related topics. Barton Career Advisors employs a need-based business model, BCA One-to-One, which is driven by experience and client outcomes.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Two Decades of Change in Career Search

Originally Published April 2010-

I was talking to a client last week about the importance of a simple networking tool that is now ubiquitously used by professionals, recruiters and astute entrepreneurs alike, LinkedIn. It is a powerful way to connect to the hundreds of professionals that you have interacted with, worked for and impressed over the years. More importantly, it’s a great way to establish a few “cyberspace building blocks” for a professional brand. You know what surprised me? This particular professional had no real frame of reference regarding the importance of social media in career search and branding. To be fair, this person is an accomplished senior level professional that has not had the burden of looking for a job in the last twenty years. “For two decades I have been simply tapped on the shoulder for my next gig. It’s always been that way.” Unfortunately, it’s not that way anymore.

Twenty years ago finding your next role was relatively simple and I am not talking about looking in the paper or filling out job applications. A good professional brand used to consist of three things- 1.) Be dependable and show up on time (i.e. “work hard”), 2.) Get an education in your field and 3.) Be loyal to the “hand that feeds ya” (i.e. be a company soldier). In 1990 with the US unemployment rate at 5.6% the services, financial and IT sectors were exploding. If you brought these three secret ingredients to the 90’s marketplace you got hired and stayed employed. Companies and their hiring managers needed professionals who could come to their roles with a few basic ingredients and stay for the long haul. Ah, the “good ole days”.

Today, career search is not as much about being “present” as it is about being “found”-- being found to be a solution to an employer’s problems, being found on LinkedIn (and everywhere else for that matter), and being found to have credible results and contributions. My high school band director used to say, “Showing up is not enough. Anyone can be mediocre.” How true! As in marching band competitions so it also goes in a career search and building a professional brand. Defining who we are as professionals and what we can deliver is critical to our future. We can’t compete with tools that are twenty years old……..

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Enlightened Job Seeker

Thought we would share this great one from November 2009! Enjoy!

It certainly is no secret to anyone reading this that there is a new “normal” in the process of personal career management. More than ever, professionals of all skill levels-- and within all industries-- have been tasked with the complicated process of managing their careers in transition. You know what’s scary? Not very many of us know how to navigate the labyrinth of the new economy. Take care! We now inhabit a career minefield. An old marketing concept from 1961 has re-emerged at the center of professional branding and…it makes perfect sense. Each of us as professionals must now understand our Unique Selling Proposition (USP). It’s simple. What about our professional brand makes us desired as a sought solution to our respective organization’s problems? Can we assess ourselves? Are we in touch with our professional wins? Does our body of materials demonstrate our worth? Can we count on our network to help us solve problems? The new imperative is the job seeker who can answer these questions--- the Enlightened Job Seeker.

Assessment is required to reach the state of career enlightenment and the job seeker must know herself better than ever before. She is willing to do the cathartic assessment to understand strengths, weaknesses, personality type and desired work. She knows however that too much “thinking” is probably not a good thing. When faced with mistakes her instinct is to act with purpose to correct professional flaws and continue the evolution. Because the enlightened job seeker knows herself she does not make desperate career management decisions. The right behaviors produce the right results, time after time. She knows it!

Winning in all types of situations makes sense. For individuals managing a career, not having a list of quantifiable accomplishments is suicide. Being able to demonstrate a solid track record of quantifiable accomplishments bolsters buyer confidence. And guess what? From a talent perspective--it’s a buyer’s market. Professional contributions must be presented to show bottom-line numerical impacts. If there are no numbers, there probably aren’t any results. This reality is tough but absolutely true. Our enlightened job seeker understands that documenting a lifelong inventory of professional accomplishments IS their career. Action oriented behavior makes it all possible.

Materials of all types demonstrate a linkage between the enlightened professional and their total body of work. And yes, this means solid search documents like a resume. More importantly the simplistic word “materials” is used here to represent an investment in professional brand (time, money, sweat equity) that the enlightened job seeker understands---really well. Social media is used responsibly and with forethought. Even the business “suit” becomes a part of the cadre of tools used by our new age career management guru.

Network your way to a successful career? You better believe it! The enlightened job seeker gets a tremendous “kick” out of their competitors who treat networking events like a drive by shooting! A collection of 2,123 “contacts” on LinkedIn is not a network---it’s a list of names. Making deposits into “relationship accounts” ensures that we get reciprocal benefits for the long run. Fully aware professionals prepare for every event and informational meeting with a purpose in mind. They go the extra mile to ensure that the most influential players in their network are not overleveraged. Getting out of the office pays big dividends for the enthusiastic practioner of enlightened career teachings. Post and pray? NEVER! Action conquers fear. Period.

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