This article was published in the National Career Development Association’s Career Convergence Magazine (Sept 2011).

Ken’s Story

Like many young adults, Ken made a “practical and realistic” career choice, and entered the work force with technical skills that were in high demand by employers. He landed a job as a software tester in a large company during the hi-tech boom…and got stuck there.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Before we get together at the Career Thought Leaders Conference in Baltimore in mid March, there is another important date for our diaries: the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Visit the official website, and you will see the buzz and excitement growing by the minute – more and more events are being added as you read this post.  All the world over, thousands of festivities will take place to remember, honour and celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements.

In the UK alone, there are currently 365 events listed – from grassroots events, business clothes swops for unemployed women, to women entrepreneur conferences and the Global “Join Women on the Bridge” event.

Annie Lennox – lead singer of Eurhythmics, solo artist, political campaigner, and an admired and cherished role model by many women baby boomers like me – will open the London event by leading the walk across the Millennium Bridge.

The centenary in 2011 will be a very special day – also in the light of the political developments in the Middle East and Northern Africa. And although so much has been achieved, so much still needs to be done. As women in the western world, we might have gained the right to work – but we are still a long way off equal pay for equal work, and a fairer representation on company boards.

To me the day is also a wonderful reminder of the importance of our work as career professionals. Client by client, we make a positive contribution to the workplace, whether it is helping mothers return to work after a career break, coaching executives to break through the glass ceiling or supporting new women business start-ups. (And yes, I am not negating all the important work we do with male clients, but it is International Women’s Day after all).

The centenary also made me realise how important it is to keep sowing the seeds: as a rebellious teenager and student of history, I devoured books by Mary Wollstonecraft, Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg and Emmeline Pankhurst. To this day I have kept my collection of women suffragists posters and postcards. So when my 13 year old son told me that he was now studying British women suffragists at school, and that somehow all these women’s names and faces had looked incredibly familiar, I couldn’t help but smile: “Happy 100th International Women’s Day!”

Ruth Winden

 A new CA Career Café website has been launched.  This is a web-based resource for students, developed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.  The CA Career Cafe is ready to share with students in counseling sessions and in counseling classes.

This website has a very user friendly visual layout. Many of the materials include links to careers centers at UCLA, UC Berkeley and Stanford.  Here is a brief overview:

Section 1: GET STARTED (http://www.cacareercafe.com/get-started/) to uncover who they are and where they want to be. Self assessments cover  the following areas:

• Identify your strengths, talents and passions.
• Define and match your personality to careers.
• Capitalize on your learning style.
• Focus on your goals.

Section 2:  GET A PATHWAY (http://www.cacareercafe.com/pathways/)  helps students to explore California’s 15 industry sectors.

Section 3:  GET EXPERIENCE (http://www.cacareercafe.com/get-experience/) is to practice and build workplace skills.  If they need to solve problems that get in the way, they can choose GET HELP (http://www.cacareercafe.com/get-help/). 

Section 4:  GET HIRED (http://www.cacareercafe.com/get-hired/) includes specific steps to find a job.

There are also HOT CAREER TIPS (http://www.cacareercafe.com/hot-tips/) to encourage students do little things to make a big difference (There are a total of short120 tips ) and COOL CONNECTIONS (http://www.cacareercafe.com/cool-connections/) to make helpful career contacts.

 I look forward to hearing what you think about this resource!

Three groups of talents are often associated with people in supervisory positions: the initiators or developers – the people who come up with the vision and get the ball rolling; the planners and analyzers – the people who take that vision and make it a reality by planning on how to put the right elements in place, or improve upon what is already there; and the front-line managers or operations supervisors- the people who maintain it and keep the organizational crank turning efficiently and effectively.

All three have a knack for dealing with conflicting priorities in organizations, and for conflict resolution. 

These three groups make up about 30% of the workforce.

Your clients can learn to do these things through training, but if they have a natural talent for supervision, they will have one of these three, which puts them in a category of 10% of the working population.

This is one reason it is so difficult to find good managers. They are few and far between and many supervisors/managers end up in jobs that don’t match their natural managerial talent. 



How can you help your clients determine if they are natural supervisors and, if they are, which particular kind of manager are they?

Developers & Initiators

This kind of talent likes to get things started. Listen for stories about starting up things—projects, enterprises, causes. Do others describe them as entrepreneurial? Why? What do they see your client doing that causes them to say this?

They will be good at getting projects off the ground, or taking an existing enterprise and turning it around. But, once it’s off the ground, or making progress again, they will probably have a tendency to lose interest in maintaining that project.

In fact, others might criticize them for not finishing things. Or, for being impatient, or for acting too quickly without weighing the evidence more carefully because when they are part of a group or team and things get bogged down, your client will tend to take the ball and run with it, even if it means going against what’s popular or currently accepted.

In action, this talent often appears as a spark plug or catalyst for coordinating the activities of others to start up new projects, programs, or systems, often as a self-starter who works on hunches.

Planners & Analyzers

This kind of talent likes to take something already created, make it come to life, or improve upon it. 

These clients have a natural talent for planning – a knack for seeing into the future to determine the details and sequences of events

Listen for stories about them devising and planning an approach to meet a specific goal, whether it’s playing chess, or football, or a major home renovation, or a political campaign, or a major holiday. They enjoy working with strategies, tactics and angles.

Do they like to plan things out before they get started on a major project? Or do they tend to plan as they go? This talent has a clear idea of how to map out a long range plan over 3-5 years. Do they get excited about the details that are necessary in planning a project that involves a combination of people, processes, and schedules? You may find that they know about or find it easy to learn to use a GANT or PERT chart or a critical path methodology. They have a knack for budget planning or term cost scheduling. And, they may express frustration with others who really don’t take time to plan things right!

In action, this talent likes to give full consideration to time, costs, equipment, personnel, facilities, so much so, that others might criticize them for paralysis by analysis, for being indecisive and afraid to take risks, when they are simply trying to ensure accuracy and precision.

Front-line and Operations

This kind of talent loves to get their hands dirty solving problems on the “shop floor’ or at the front desk. Listen for stories where they are running things on a daily basis.

A stay-at-home who enjoys making her family’s busy life tick over efficiently and effectively probably did the same thing in her previous life as an office manager, or nursing supervisor, or classroom teacher.

How do they get people who are very different with different objectives to work together towards a common goal? Do they like to bring out the best in others? If so, how do they do it?

In action, this talent is very good at process, and makes a valuable contribution to any organization as a stabilizing influence–at home or at work, they are the glue that holds things together. Others might criticize them for lacking spontaneity and flexibility because they prefer things to be permanent.

Listen carefully for important distinctions

Someone who says they can do anything if only people would get out of the way, is not a natural front-line supervisor. An individual who would rather manage a project from start-to-finish is not a natural operations manager, who would prefer to manager a department, plant, or company over a period of time.

And, of course, the number one distinction to listen for is consistent enjoyment in these tasks. Just because somebody is good at something doesn’t mean they have a natural talent for it.

For example, the oldest child of four who grew up in a single-parent household may, by necessity, learned how to help out their parent by getting their younger siblings organized for school and life each day, so they are successful at running an office, or plant, or company, but it may drain them rather than energize them.

Natural supervisors get energized by initiating, planning or managing at the front-line. That’s what sets them apart from others who can do the same thing.

As I have suggested and argued for many years most high performers don’t just possess a set of references, they assemble a board of directors. Lynette Lewis in her book Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos reminds us of how important it remains for women to do this throughout their career. She reminds us all that a personal board should help you get to the next level if you can picture that next level, those next dreams you see.

Many of these concepts can be started during any career upheaval. It would be nice if these ideas were all supported by your current company. But most of the time they are not. If they are great. If not then it is up to you to put together your critical team members. In other words, do not rely on your current company or organization to do this for you. You do it.

Man or woman, early career or late career, this message is meant for you, really for all of us. Some of the Lynette Lewis formula for creating a board and tips to do it occur throughout her book that emphasizes quite a corporate focus on career progression with a strong, liberating and entrepreneurial spirit.

She understands that board members must perceive the value proposition in serving on your board and you must offer something in return. She also understands the value of ideas, connections and inspiration that board members on a personal board can supply. Lewis also emphasizes the kind of specific, thankful spirit that must be acknowledged by you to your personal board.

Just a few tips that I like on creating your personal board include:

- Taking great care in choosing and approaching your potential board members

- From Doug Eadie, author of Extraordinary Board Leadership, – create “high impact boards”

- Focusing on evsluating the Time, Talent and Treasure the person may bring to your board

- Reminding us that success is a barbarous journey without key confidantes

I would emphasize to anyone considering the development of their own board a few pointers that will make it more successful. These ideas don’t need to be in stone. But in working with executive men and women in career transition for 20 years I would also add:

- Consider board members who don’t work at your current company

- Be willing to hire someone to serve on your board for a nominal fee or as a part of your team

- Remind board members of any confidentiality you will need as you ask for advice

- Set some limits on communication, what you will share and how often

- Talk to them about expectations (both sides) in their communication with you

Although it would be nice to have this personal board in place before you face career transition, it’s certainly a good idea to develop this board even during an impending transition. I encourage you to look into these ideas as you pursue your work life mission.

Would you like to set up a board of directors and have help? Do you want more ideas on this subject or do you have more ideas on this subject? We would love to hear from you

The following interview is with Julie Selton, a Master Electrician of 27 years, owner of The Universe Electric Service, LLC, and an electrical technology instructor at St. Paul College in St. Paul, Minnesota for the past 12 years. Julie is a good role model for both female and male students by breaking down gender stereotypes as to what is considered “women’s work.” 

Were you encouraged to pursue work in a male-dominated field?  

Yes, I grew up in a family where we didn’t hire out for home maintenance and remodeling. The theme was, “You can do it. You can build it.” Women weren’t just cooking and cleaning. My immediate and extended family (aunts included) participated in their own home improvements. My mother was a trail-blazer as one of the first female letter carrier’s in the 1960′s. Later I met my future husband, a sheet metal worker, who exposed me to the trades and encouraged me to pursue a job in the trades.

How did you get started in your career? 

While in junior and senior high, I took accelerated math and science classes. In the early 1980′s I enrolled as a pre-apprentice at a technical college in Minnesota where I received my diploma as an electrician. In 1986, I earned my license as a journeyman electrician and went on to earn my Master Electrician license. I worked for several companies as an electrician. 

In 2004, I started my own business, The Universe Electric Service, LLC, which was created to provide quality electrical services to homeowners and businesses with a niche of high-end remodeling. I have several part-time electricians and a part-time book keeper. In the beginning, I did most of the work myself and now I am phasing out of the hands on and concentrating on administration duties, sales and training. Last year I became a NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer and I now have the premier certification to install environmentally-friendly solar panels on residential homes. 

What challenges have you encountered working in a non-traditional career and how did you overcome them? 

Well, the first challenge was heights. I didn’t realize that I would be working up high on a ladder at times. That wasn’t mentioned in school. With time I have become comfortable with heights. 

Initially, as a female, I thought the older male workers would be difficult to work with, but I found them to be very accepting of me. I found that I have gotten along well with most everyone throughout my career. I found that the folks I didn’t get along with were the same folks that the other guys didn’t get along with either. 

I did have a challenge with my first boss who thought I should be taking care of his office paperwork. I clarified what my job was- an electrician and needed to remind him of that several times. Finally, after he asked one too many times, I told him, “My attorney will be calling you.” That was the last time he asked me to do HIS paperwork. 

What’s the salary range? 

An apprentice electrician earns about $30K/year. A journeyman with overtime can earn up to $80K+ year. As an electrical technology teacher, the salary is similar to that of a journeyman without overtime. For a business owner, the salary is unlimited. 

How do you use math, science, and computer skills in your job? 

As an electrician, I use math a lot- for circuit sizing and dimensioning. I use physics in mechanical assembly. I don’t use computer skills in my work as an electrician. As a teacher, master electrician and business owner, I do use math and computer skills for administrative tasks extensively. 

How did you move up in your career?

 I was able to move up in my career by being excited about the challenge; setting and achieving my goals. Initially, one of the driving forces behind becoming an electrician was to support by horse hobby. At times I worked overtime to support my budget. Eventually, I became bored in the field and decided to go into teaching. More recently, I purchased a new condo and decided to launch my own business to increase my earnings to afford it. 

What do you enjoy most about working in a non-traditional career? 

I enjoy innovation and in my field, there are changes often, e.g., changes in codes, materials, and the way we use electricity. New parts are being created every day to make our job easier. I enjoy going to different places and meeting different people. And, I’m excited about being a pioneer of sorts. I was one of the first female journeyman electricians to start my own business in Minnesota and one of the first female electrical technology instructors in my state. 

What are you teaching in the electrical technology program? 

I am currently teaching the following classes: introduction to national electrical code, blueprint reading, direct circuit analysis, alternating current analysis, alternating current motors, and trade calculations. 

How many female students are typically enrolled in this program each semester? 

Typically there is only one female at the most enrolled each semester. For four straight years during my tenure, there were no females enrolled. 

To what do you attribute the low number of females in your program? 

One reason I think there are so few females in our program is the general lack of awareness females have of non-traditional career options and the job skills that are needed to be an electrician. The females are often provided career guidance by someone with a four-year degree path that has had no exposure to non-traditional careers. 

Another detriment is the stereotypical images that go along with the trades, for example, that all trades people go to the bars and drink after work. Another stereotype is that trades people aren’t well-educated, where in fact; apprentices have a minimum of five years of education to reach journey-level status and require continuing education after that. 

What advice would you give females who may be considering a non-traditional career? 

Engage in a self-discovery process. Do some soul searching to identify your true likes and dislikes along with your strengths and weaknesses. Identify your interests. Explore different career options. Try out new things. Dare to dream! Also, have a sense of humor and don’t take things personally. 

Julie Selton can be reached at 651.775.8777 or by emailing universeelectric@yahoo.com.

As public relations experts we strive to successfully deliver the goods for our customers and clients. “Brand” for us is critical and a solid reputation is what is important at the end of the day. Words are the vital threads that we weave together in a cohesive statement that fully and succinctly describes the organization so that it strongly resonates with customers and other audiences. Yet who among us has taken the time to consider a statement that describes who and what we are and the value we bring to those with whom we work and interact.

Perhaps it is time to treat ourselves as clients and spend the intellectual capital required to effectively brand ourselves. So how best can you smartly craft a brand statement that will help you strongly resonate with customers, clients, friends and family? Here is a ten step approach that can help you encapsulate the essence of “you.” Bear in mind this exercise may take up to two weeks to two months depending on how responsive your friends and colleagues are and the amount of brain power you dedicate.

The basic framework for a smart brand statement is typically one sentence that succinctly captures your value in a way that is memorable and intuitive. The structure might be as follows but use your best judgment based on your own style:

“I am (your name) and (an/a) (descriptive attribute) (title/role noun) (descriptive verb of value) (object of value noun).“

For example, “I am John Doe and a versatile and experienced PR brand strategist focused on surfacing and promoting the vital attributes for organizations to strongly bond with their audiences.”

Statement Guidelines: As noted, the simpler the statement, the likelihood it will be more memorable. So keep these criteria in mind as you craft your brand description.

1. Keep it simple
2. A reminder of the beneficial effects of your talents/skills
3. Intuitive
4. Understandable
5. Easy to Remember
6. Paints a picture
7. Universally understood

Process: As you go through the ten step process, be thoughtful, penetrating, honest and brief.

1. For each session that you spend on this exercise, sit down in a comfortable place with your favorite instrument of composition and beverage of choice.

2. Compose a list of your six best characteristics as you view them. Be succinct but descriptive. For example, “versatile,” “strong writer,” “insightful strategist,” “intuitive thinker,” etc.

3. Ask five of your best friends to compose a similar list of your best six characteristics as they view them. 

4. Next ask five colleagues at your place of work/business to do the same assuming you are actively employed. If not, ask five colleagues in your support group.

5. With all characteristics in hand, create a 6 by 11 matrix so that you can assess, cross check and select the characteristics that are most common among you, your friends and work colleagues. Make sure that the most common characteristics or traits personally resonate with you.

6. With your characteristics narrowed down and in hand construct three sample statements based on the framework noted above that are authentic, fit your thinking and match your character.

7. With the three statements in hand, enlist the help of your colleagues and friends to provide to you their favorite two statements.

8. Go through the same exercise as step 5 and select the two most preferred statements. And sleep on it.

9. With fresh eyes and brain, select the one statement that most resonates with you and commit it to memory.

10. From here on in, use this statement religiously and consistently until you decide it is time for a new role for yourself. Feel free to use this statement for the introduction on your Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter profiles or any other social infrastructure platforms that you employ.

It’s Monday morning again! “How do you feel about going into work? Perhaps you’re having a hard time getting started. Write down right now 2-3 job duties that drag you down; you’d prefer to push them aside, and do them later in the day, or tomorrow…or never.”

This is a simple conversation that you can have as a career professional with any client. Many of our clients will present us with a story about a bad jobfit, which is often characterized with negative opinions about the job’s circumstances, such as lousy pay, a bad boss, a long commute, and so on.

But take some time to probe their story for more details about regular or frequent job duties.  Here’s a simple exercise you can use to bring more clarity into the situation.  Ask them, what are the 5-10 job duties that they are expected to perform each day or week as critical job requirements? Get them to identify which  job duties they enjoy and don’t enjoy.

Ask them if they can remember a time when they looked forward to Monday mornings, in their current job, or in another job.  If you have their resume handy, ask them to highlight  the critical job requirements that they enjoyed performing on a regular basis in their previous jobs.

Perhaps they procrastinate with starting or completing certain job duties.  Get them to identify the job duties in their current and previous jobs where they procrastinated.

Identify items (both positive and negative) that seem to recur in their performance evaluations, regardless of who does the assessment.

Make a list with two columns: one of job duties that energized them, duties that they enjoyed performing consistently; and, another column, of job duties that drain them, duties that they push aside or procrastinate on.

Then take their current job description and estimate how much time is spent each day or week performing job duties that drain them. If they are spending 40% or more of their time performing job duties that drain them, or duties that they chronically delay doing, they may be suffering from a job misfit in terms of their critical job requirements.

What is a good jobfit?

It may be helpful to remind your client that there is no such thing as a perfect job where one is 100% happy and satisfied all the time with their core job duties. The world is just not organized that way! However, many studies show that the key to career success is to limit the downside of a job to 40% of job duties.

The remaining 60% of job duties should be organized around your client’s natural strengths, especially how well their talents and motivations correlate with their core job duties. In general, if we spend about 60% of work hours in a jobfit, then our work will be challenging and will provide a sense of growth and fulfillment.

Try to correlate your client’s natural strengths with specific job duties. Help them develop a job description aligned with what makes them happy and productive in the workplace, so that they can operate 60% of the time in a mode that comes naturally and effortlessly to them. This 60/40 split will energize them. This is jobfit.

However, we may also need to remind them of the likelihood that many times this 60/40 ratio may slip to 40/60 or worse, in which case they may feel drained by brief periods of routine work. This is nothing to be alarmed about as long as the ratio returns to 60/40 in due course; if it doesn’t, they’ll need to take action.

In performing this simple exercise with your client, you may discover that they do, indeed, have a good jobfit. You can then turn your attention to the frustrating factors of their job circumstances. I will deal with those factors in my next article.

But if you and your client agree that there is a serious misalignment between their natural strengths and the critical requirements of their current job, you can then discuss opportunities for refashioning their current job into a better jobfit, or finding a better fit with their current employer, or identifying other careers/jobs that will recognize and reward them for the job duties that energize them.

At that point, an assessment may be in order, one that can match them to good jobfits–specific jobs in specific work settings with the right combination of extrinsic and intrinsic factors to bring out the best in them and reward you for their strengths. A good career assessment can provide such matches with clarity. The information may be valuable in terms of developing options with their current employer or with a new career target.

If how you feel about going to work on a Monday morning is an accurate “thermometer” for measuring your jobfit, then you can raise the temperature by helping your clients wake up excited about the coming day’s activities.

In his 1969 book by the same name,  Dr. Laurence Peter, formulated the following principle: “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”  It is based on the notion that employees will be promoted so long as they work competently until they reach a position where they are no longer competent and there they stay, stuck, unable to earn further promotions.

This principle is famously played out in the popular TV series The Office by actor Steve Carroll, who portrays the role of Michael Scott, branch manager of paper company Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvannia.  If you watch the series, you may find it hard to believe that Michael was ever competent at anything!

But, the fact is that people are promoted because they are competent.  And they are competent because they have a particular flair or talent or strength for performing certain job duties.  Their work is valued so much that they are often rewarded with a promotion to a supervisory position.

Peter Principle

However,  the Peter Principle becomes active when a managerial position requires a set of skills that do not come easily or naturally to the person who has been promoted into it.

For example, I have worked with a good number of engineers who excelled at troubleshooting technical problems, especially when they were left alone to work in their own way at their own speed to analyze a particular problem and design a solution, often building the solution with special tools & equipment.

They were masters of a physical world of structures, machinery, and processes.  Then they are promoted into a managerial position where they are required to collaborate with others on committees and make decisions through long meetings before moving those decisions up a hierarchy for approval.

In the meantime, they must resolve disputes between employees who disagree on how to proceed; they must plan years in advance for potential scenarios and compete with their colleagues for scarce organizational resources, and fight about money and budgets—none of which they have a genuine interest in or a knack for dealing with.

However, some engineers feel they must put up with this job misfit for the sake of a better compensation package, or the admiration of their peers, or the expectations of power, prestige, and status for someone their age.

And, of course, it is very difficult for accomplished individuals to admit that they might not be good at everything they turn their hand to.  Ego.  Or, to put it in traditional terms: pride goeth before the fall.  But, the simple fact is, not every individual is cut out for management.  The American Management Association estimates that only one-third of individuals have a knack for core managerial duties.

Motivation is the Key

If someone is not motivated by their core job duties, their performance will degrade, so that when the inevitable downturns of an economy occur, they may be laid off when their performance is compared to others who are suited to managerial duties and feel motivated by their work.  Or, the level of job dissatisfaction fosters dis-ease that leads to physical illness, anxiety, depression or any number of stress-related disorders.

Sure, we can learn managerial skills by taking courses but just because we know how to do something doesn’t mean we will do it.  For example, you can learn how to do conflict resolution but if you avoid conflicting situations or highly charged emotional encounters then you will not excel in such situations.

Listen for talent clues

Helping our clients find their right jobfit is never easy.  But, in the end, guiding them into a managerial position when they are not suited for it does not serve them or you in the long term.  Listen carefully to their stories.  What parts of their experiences energizes them most?

- Do they come alive in situations during which they take an active role (high-involvement or high-touch) in managing the talents of people under their authority?

- Are they comfortable with authority and the inevitable stresses and strains that accompany it?

- Do they have a knack for selecting or choosing people, matching tasks and people, and tapping the strengths of those under them?

- Can they negotiate well with peers for competing priorities in their organizations, or do they tend to withdraw when they need to be assertive?

- Do they confuse leadership—the ability to motivate and inspire others to follow a cause, aim, purpose, or objective—with management, a talent for resolving conflict at different levels between corporate goals and union objectives, between stakeholder interests, contract disputes, supplier complaints, or putting out fires on the front lines of daily operations?

There are many paths to success.  The one most healthy is the one most natural.  Help your clients stick to their strengths.  Help them navigate the world of work and advance in their careers efficiently and effectively.  By doing so, you add value to their careers and to your business.