Welcome to “Dear Dana”, our weekly column to give you career and workplace advice/coaching. Please write in and tell me about a career challenge or frustration you’re facing at the office! – Dana Theus
Dear Dana, I just got a job offer within my company (in another division). I’ve wanted this job for a long time, and I’m afraid to ask for anything because I don’t want them to withdraw the offer. My husband says I’m crazy to think about NOT negotiating a job offer. He says I have to ask for more money. I don’t want to mess this up! What should I do? – On Pins and Needles in New York
[Note: I have already answered Pins and Needles since her timeline was short, but I’m putting the full answer here for the record. And good news! She got the job with a better employment package than the first offer!]
Dear Pins and Needles,
Congratulations on the job offer! I’m especially psyched that it’s a job you’ve wanted for a long time. That shows that you’re doing more right than wrong in both your work and your career development.
As for the question of negotiating a job offer, I have to say I think your husband has the right idea here. Before I explain why, I want to unpack some of the assumptions you may have, based on your question.
Welcome to “Dear Dana”, our weekly column to give you workplace advice and coaching. Please write in and tell me about a frustration you’re facing at the office! – Dana Theus
I recently got put on a team with a boss who is so negative that I’m feeling “infected” by her. It’s not just that I don’t even want to go into work anymore, it’s that you’d think she doesn’t think we can be successful at all. Every time we get an assignment or have to solve a problem, she just talks about all the reasons “it can’t be done.” I’m starting to worry that I’m going to be seen as the reason we don’t succeed, when she’s the problem! – Demoralized in Des Moine
Dear Demoralized,
Ouch! I feel your pain! Success is hard enough to achieve for most teams even when everyone on the team believes it’s possible. When the team leader believes “it can’t be done,” that’s a real weight to carry around. It sounds like your boss has some seriously negative beliefs about herself and possibly the team, which may come true if you buy into them. So don’t! Beliefs are amazingly powerful and the good ones and the bad ones, both, often become true.
Congratulations! You got the job interview! It’s totally normal to feel excited and anxious when you get the call or email. It’s also normal to want to dive into preparing, but before you do, take a pause and look at how much time you have to get ready. Use that time wisely!
If you’ve got short notice, focus on the essentials and the essentials only. Don’t get distracted by what you don’t know and focus on what you do know.
If you’ve got lots of time before your job interview, take the time to do your homework and then focus on the essentials and the essentials only!
The key is that when you walk into the interview, you want to be laser focused on three things:
Q: If you have held multiple positions at the same company, is it better to list those separately or grouped together on your resume and highlight that you were promoted multiple times? – Curious in New York
A: Generally speaking you want to optimize resume space so repeating the same company’s info is a waste of space. Also, beware that some people won’t notice you were at the same company when they are separately listed and it can give a first impression that you moved around a lot, so you want to minimize that unless it’s something you want to draw people’s attention to.
Resume Advice
There are times when you do want to emphasize different positions, however. This is particularly useful when you’ve made a career change inside an organization. Even though it’s the same company, you want people to notice you moved into a new field. For example, if you switched from commercial to government, or domestic to international focus, you can list them separately to call attention to this shift.
Is a promotion enough of a shift to call out? It can be if you took on a significantly greater managerial responsibility. For example, if you went from managing no body and no budget to managing a team of 10 and a .6 million dollar budget, that can be a good reason to list the two positions separately.
There’s no right or wrong answer in the end. It just depends on what you want to call attention to. Recruiters spend very little time scanning your resume the first time around (as little as six seconds!) so you want to be sure that your resume draws their attention to the things that will make them give you a second look.
P.S. – Have a question you’d like anonymous support on? Write me!
Take charge of your career development to get the job that supports your work and your life. Check out the tools and resources in the InPower Coaching Career Center.
PPS – The graphic is a reference to a funny line from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Welcome to “Dear Dana,” our Friday column to give you career coaching workplace advice and coaching. Pleasewrite inand tell me about a frustration you’re facing at the office and I’ll publish my answer in an upcoming column. We’re also discussing these topics on ourTuesday Coffee Break talkshowwith our guests. I can’t wait to hear from you! – Dana Theus
Dear Dana: When you are actively seeking a new job and your current employer is aware of this (because they’re the ones laying you off), do you recommend posting something like “seeking new opportunities” in your headline or only in your summary? – Not Bitter in Boise
Not Bitter – Regardless of whether your employer knows or not, it’s not a good idea to put “seeking new opportunities” in there because it makes you look desperate. You can use a more generic title like “Operations Specialist” or “Strategic Marketer” to signal your expertise and job category as your “title.” For recruiters this usually is a signal that you’re open to being an operations specialist or strategic marketer for an organization other than the one you’re currently working with. (more…)
I’m a positive person and the recent election in the U.S. has dealt my positivity a serious blow. But I will do my best to turn it into a lesson we can all learn from.
A week ago the world watched as a highly qualified Wellesley and Yale educated public servant, with decades of experience for exactly the job she applied for, was rejected in favor of a bully and braggart with absolutely no experience for the job he now holds. Many of us played a part in this process and regardless of which side you were on, the gender dynamics of the contest were hard to ignore. It’s a story many of us have seen too many times: the misogynistic bully gets away with all kinds of indecencies and inadequacies, garnering the favor of the decision-makers with his braggadocio and willingness to say what they want to hear. All this while the highly qualified woman is discredited and pushed aside making room for the braggart to ascend. (more…)
Welcome to “Dear Dana”, our regular column to give you workplace advice and coaching. This question about LinkedIn best practices is informative if you’re looking for a job or simply building out your business network. – Dana Theus
Dear Dana:What is the protocol or LinkedIn best practice for connecting with the person who posted a position on LinkedIn? Should the applicant send the HR person a message via LinkedIn after submitting an application, if it isn’t possible to make a more personal connection via one’s own network? Thanks! — Puzzling in Virginia
Dear Puzzling:
I don’t think this is an either/or question. If you can make a personal connection, that’s always best, but if it’s going to take time to make that happen, don’t wait to make sure they know you’ve submitted. (more…)
What is the brain state model? And how can we use it for our success?
A while back, I attended Sarah Baca’s Brain State Model talk at the Agile 2015 Conference and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to take away from the discussion how I could best communicate and collaborate with a team in different environmental situations.
There are 3 brain states: the survival, the emotional, and the executive. And there are different reasons why some people are using different parts of their brains vs others. And there are different ways to work with individuals in these brain states.
Sarah will be discussing:
What the brain state model is
How we can use the brain state model to become better team members
How to move from survival state (Am I safe?) to the executive state (How can I learn from this?)
Tools you can use today to help you move from your survival brain into executive brain
Sarah Baca is an Agile Coach who has been coaching conscious ways of working for over a decade. She currently works as a ScrumMaster and coach for Medullan, Inc.
She’s is very passionate about creating workplaces where we put people over processes and create cultures and processes that grow awesome teams and amazing products.
“I know what I want to say, but HOW do I say it without getting ignored or killed?” In my experience as an executive coach, this question stymies women leaders as much as any other issue. Why? Because organizations often require women to operate within a painfully narrow stylistic range: nice, but not TOO nice; strong, but not TOO strong. The metaphor of dancing on the head of a pin comes to mind. How on earth do you navigate this?
Here’s what doesn’t work. It doesn’t work to dilute your message, minimize your strength, or chip away at your authenticity so much that you disappear. Nor does it work to “damn the torpedoes,” just letting your message rip full throttle. (more…)
Welcome to “Dear Dana”, our Friday column to give you workplace advice and coaching. Please write in and tell me about a frustration you’re facing at the office! – Dana Theus
Dear Dana, I need help dealing with difficult people at work. I love my job. I’ve been with the same company for 8 years and have had great co-workers until this summer. My boss just hired a total jerk for our team and he sits next to me. So annoying! He’s loud and pushy like when I’m on the phone I have to make excuses for the background noise because he’s yelling over the cube wall to someone in the walkway. How does he not know this is inappropriate? Obviously his parents didn’t teach him any manners! What should I do? I have tried to talk to him but he just nods his head and keeps being a jerk. – Fuming in Savannah
