Author Archives: Bill Ryan

What We Share With Ireland

Posted on by Bill Ryan

My wife and I recently returned to New Hampshire from a ten-day vacation to County Galway in Ireland. While there I wanted to get a sense of how the global economic decline was impacting the Irish. The news has been that they have been experiencing their own boom and bust story and I wanted to see how it may be similar or different from our own. I found that we share much that is troubling.

Historically, Ireland has not been known as an affluent country. In many ways it never seemed to shake its reputation of being a poor country from which millions escaped potato blight and the oppression of the English. Here in America, the Irish immigrants seemed to be more known for scruffiness and drunkenness until President Kennedy’s presence helped to polish their image.

Then, during the 1990’s we started hearing of a different tale coming out of Ireland. An Irish economic emergence, which was to become known as the Celtic Tiger, was recognized worldwide. Suddenly, we heard that more young people were walking the streets of Dublin with cell phones glued to the sides of their heads than were youth in New York City. Multinationals and major American firms were setting up shop. Apple, for example, established its European headquarters in Ireland. A well respected educational system combined with strong national pride had led Ireland to be a major player in software, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Property values, commercial development, and the overall standard of living began to increase.

Even the brutal politics of the North softened as Sein Fein and Unionists decided to oppose each other free of violence. Musically, the Chieftains moved over to make room for Riverdance and Celtic Women. Western Europe’s poorest country had suddenly become chic.

But along with much of the western world, Ireland’s economy began to sour, and precipitously. Last Autumn they, along with Iceland, had hit a brick wall. The Celtic Tiger era seemed to grind to a sudden halt. It didn’t take being in the country long by reading newspapers and speaking to the very open and chatty residents to see what had happened. Their story sounded familiar, albeit with a different accent.

The banks had over-speculated on property, construction, and commercial development. The largest banks, for example Associated Irish Banks (AIB) suddenly found 25% of their assets distressed. In order to remain solvent, commercial and residential lending needed to be sharply reduced or curtailed. The big national debate now is about the necessity of the government’s National Asset Management Agency (Nama) plan, which is their version of a bank bailout complete with all of the controversy we see here. Unemployment is rising and the youngest generation of workers is getting their lesson in impermanence by having to tighten belts for the first time in their lives.

So, what do I take from this dual sob story? It is that ordinary citizens have been alerted to the high impact which can result from the interaction of banks and real estate on everyone’s lives. These high stake business relationships can greatly affect the lives of people many degrees removed the principal players. Both Irish and Americans citizens are appropriately asking themselves whether or not greater oversight and regulation should be asserted to those in the banking industry and the politicians they report to.

If a bad decision hurt just themselves that would be one thing, but unfortunately their bad decisions can create black holes into which we all get sucked. The result of actions taken by unelected and enormously influential banking representatives has been economic calamity, especially in higher unemployment. Should not the people have a say in the possible negative outcomes of their decisions, which are contrary to our respective national interests?

Americans share much with the Irish both culturally and economically. And although it is not realistic to expect boom times to go on forever, it is nevertheless reasonable to expect business, especially a wide ranging one like banking, to be mindful of what is best for their respective nations. If they cannot regulate themselves in that endeavor, then someone will need to step in and do it for them.

The Most Important Decision of Your Life

Posted on by Bill Ryan

An unfortunate piece of legacy wisdom regarding career development suggests that it is very important that a young adult make their just-out-of-school career choice extremely carefully or else they may inflict irreparable harm to their future. Imagine feeling that such a weighty life/work decision, like what to do for the rest of your life, needs to be made by someone who has no significant employment experience. Talk about pressure!

Aside from quick thinking action-adventure movie heroes with lightening quick reflexes, most of us, particularly those just beginning adulthood, do not make the most high quality decisions under extreme stress. For big life decisions, like determining a career direction, there needs to be time and guidance to assess options, weigh benefits and risks, and in short, apply a rational process that results in a decision, which hopefully leads to success. The reality is we are transitioning from a world in which career choice was a onetime monumental decision to a world in which career is now comprised of iterations that are unified by a multi-faceted and dynamic theme. 

I am from the much-ballyhooed Baby Boomer generation. Among the unique traits that we possess is that we are probably the last generation in which large numbers of us will have worked our entire careers in one job or industry, perhaps even with just one single employer. Boomers have gone from hip to dinosaurs in thirty quick years. 

Well, so it goes. But among the rapidly outdated notions we still possess and which we should be increasingly hesitant to pass along to young people is the one professing this up-and-coming cohort should approach career decision making the way we did. Not only is the pressure non-productive and unhelpful, but unnecessary. 

Initial career steps are more like speed boats in a relay race, not slow-moving ocean liners. Careers, like life itself, are fluid, changeable, and developmental. We progress and we grow. Choosing a career at the onset of your working years is essentially choosing an uncharted journey, one in which the routes are yet to be planned and the ultimate destination is unclear. 

Now, that is not to say that there are not some major decisions in life that have some relative permanency. Marriage, parenting, vocations of high dedication, like for example becoming a priest, are commitments which also see growth and change, but within well-defined parameters. A career is not this. Its structure over time is much more set by you, as opposed to for you by tradition or antiquated rules. You are completely in charge of this piece of your destiny. 

This is the message Boomer parents and grandparents should be getting out to young people. It starts with asking children and adolescents if what they are thinking, feeling, and how they are behaving is working for them. And as they approach their robust individuation years, helping them to see how the person they are becoming can best interact with the big wide world. 

We are all better off knowing viscerally that we will always be building on what was built by ourselves at an earlier time. Also, a helpful message and attitude is that there really is no sharp distinction between life and career. We don’t dive into one to escape from the other. What we do is who we are. 

So, let us adjust the way we prepare youth for career decision making. Let us make the point that what is most important is adaptability, experimenting, and continuous learning, not how expert one is at predicting what will make them happy for the rest of their lives. Helping to prepare our young people for the world to come, rather than the world being left behind, is a valuable gift to leave the next generation.

 

Working From Home

Posted on by Bill Ryan

Working from home. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Think of the pressures that get relieved. No commuting, no having to put up with people you would rather not spend time with at a workplace, dress however you like, the convenience and comfort of having all your stuff around you. What is not to like?

Working at home is the fantasy of many and the reality for some. I am a year into being one of the “at-home” workers. To be clear, I work at home part time, but it is a whole lot more than had ever been the case throughout most of my working years. The experience has given me some perspective on the relative productivity and satisfaction that can come from this arrangement.

Also, with much of the workforce either proactively structuring their careers for an at-home work setting or because they are being driven into staying at home due to layoffs or furloughs, the home-as-office scene needs some examination.

When I retired from my primary career a year ago, I knew that I would be working out of a home office, at least some of the time. I put some money and sweat equity into making a home office that I love. It is designed and decorated the way I want, and it has the gadgets I want, including a custom-built computer. The view out of my two windows is New Hampshire country. I feel lucky to have it.

But to be honest, in the months leading up to “working” in this space I was afraid that I would not be very productive. I expected to be distracted by all the things that typically need doing around the house and I thought that I would miss being around people. In my career as a teacher, I was surrounded by students and co-workers throughout most of my day. Could I be disciplined enough to get something done working alone in a home office?

I have to say, it has been good. I can remain focused and when it comes to my one-man career development business, I am able to work at a pace that usually feels relaxed and is surprisingly constructive. Of course, a big advantage that I have is that my kids are grown. I do not know how a home office worker could get anything done with young kids in the house!

I also have a part time job that is separate from my business. It is based in Manchester, about 18 miles away. Much of that job could be done quite effectively in my home office. But this employer has given me a beautiful office in which to work that is housed in an extremely attractive building. I do find for this job I travel to the Manchester office to be most productive. There is something psychological going on there which I have not yet figured out.

But what is clear to me is that there is some nuance between work tasks and work settings that should be considered if you find yourself employed at home. Whatever that relationship is, it would be wrapped up in the type of personality traits you have. To oversimplify, the extraverts may have a need for web conferencing and multiple data lines to interact with people more, while the introverts may be satisfied with a less people-oriented environment.

Making your work profitable and worthwhile at home requires assessing yourself openly and determining what type of work will satisfy you in that setting. Peel back the layers of the work-at-home fantasy and see if this is practical. Some parts undoubtedly will be. Intentionally consider what your balance of assets and liabilities is. Working from home has become an option for a greater number of us. But like every major life decision it requires some clear-headedness. 

Getting Cover Letters Right

Posted on by Bill Ryan

Next to a well-constructed resume the only other written document that counts big time in your hunt for a new job is the cover letter. And just like a resume, getting a good one requires a lot of thought, research, and for many of us, guidance. Unlike the resume, which is about you, the cover letter is mostly about the company or organization to which you are hoping to apply. To be more precise, the cover letter is your attempt to show that you would be a great fit for an organization whose needs you know well.

The mistake commonly made with cover letters is that writers think it is just another variation on the resume. In other words, it is just another means of presenting yourself, like how you approached the resume. Therefore, cover letters often read like a rehash of language found in the resume. This will not impress hiring managers. 

Remember, when writing a cover letter, display that you have discovered the organization has a need for talent to satisfy some function or problem they are experiencing. Your tone should not be to say, “I’m here and I need a job and I would like to work for you”, but rather, “I understand that you have a need for [something very specific] and I’d like to suggest that my background, training, and interest will meet that need.”

This should not be too hard to do if you are attempting to secure a position for which you are qualified. Where this gets problematic is if you are grabbing at job straws because you are desperate. Even during times of despair, knowing who you are professionally and building upon the career you have already established, positions you better than what might be otherwise the case.

Other errors with cover letters include making them too short or too long or too generic. This should be a highly customized document. If using a professional writer, don’t hire one who simply writes it for you, but rather one who works with you through multiple drafts. Working together on the writing process and on conducting the necessary research will mean you will come up with a genuine co-authored piece that will be much more effective.

If you are going it alone, be very careful to stay away from trite phrases and clichés. “I’d like to be considered for…” and “Allow me to introduce myself…” are deadly to someone who reads many of these. Assuming that you are passionate about the idea of taking the position and working for the organization, then let that enthusiasm come through in your writing. Start off with something like, “I was excited to read in HealthCare Journal about Jordan Hospital’s expansion of your Medical Records and Health Information Department. This move is consistent with Jordan Hospital’s well known progressive health care service to Central New Hampshire. I have a history of success with electronic data storage and retrieval technology that could augment this initiative.”

The second paragraph is where you really show what it is the organization is looking for. Totally pick through their web site, any ads they have posted, and the brains of networking contacts to show that you know this company and what they want. Use keywords from their publications and in any way possible show that you have done your homework.

Also, as much as possible look for ways to quantify what your accomplishments have been when trying to make the connection between yourself and their needs. Never lose sight of the objective of cover letters, which is that they need something specific you have done or are doing or something like to it. Emphasize that you can do for them what they want. If they want to know much about you specifically, then they will read your resume.

It is all about giving yourself an edge these days. Knowing how to prepare quality cover letters is an important part of what you need to do.

The Advantage of Networking

Posted on by Bill Ryan

One of the great advantages of living and working in New Hampshire is that it can be a relatively close-knit community both socially and professionally. Our individual path often crosses each other’s paths. It’s not unusual to hear through our workplace networks about how each of us is progressing or not. The twists and turns, dips and rises of your career journey are on display, for better or worse, in this state than they might be in a more densely populated setting. This being the case, how we conduct our careers should be influenced by this openness. 

If you’ve had a reasonably successful career, this level of exposure may help set the stage for future opportunities. More to the point, if you have been smart about establishing and maintaining valuable professional relationships, then you are better positioned for landing on your feet if a sudden work transition is forced upon you. Layoffs are an epidemic in New Hampshire right now as they are elsewhere. The decreasing level of job security is resulting in growing uncertainty among workers across industries. Being prepared for how to react to a job termination is a wise move to make during these tough times. And a significant part of this preparation should involve an understanding of networking.

Networking accounts for anywhere from 75% to 95% of all the open positions filled in the U.S. Employers can often be reluctant to advertise for jobs, preferring instead to be notified of the so-called passive job candidate, that is a referral from a trusted source. Your task is to become referenced, tested, and known by colleagues, both present and former, who can attest to your qualifications. While still employed you should be not only building relationships that will enhance your career but achieving an expertise by which you become better known. This makes it easier for your referral contacts to describe you in terms that make your value more readily apparent to potential future employers. 

One inaccurate perception of networking is that it is all one way, in that it consists only of others doing something for you. If that were true, networking would just be another word for exploitation. Networking works best when it is reciprocal such that both parties are prepared to give to one another by leveraging common interests, enlisting each other’s support, and sharing information, values, ideas, advice, and of course referrals.  

Approaching a networking contact by first reaching out to help them is a sound proposition. If you have already secured yourself as a colleague or contact who is quick to aid others, then it won’t seem disingenuous when you are reaching out in hope of getting some support coming back to you.  However, if your work style has not been of the open and cooperative type, then quality networking will be more difficult to accomplish.  

Giving of yourself to others may not always have short term benefit, but it can certainly set the stage for longer term utility. And besides, like your mother told you, it’s a nice thing to do! 

New Hampshire has the potential for being a network-rich environment. In many ways, this small pond makes it easier to become a big fish. The best way to strengthen yourself while employed, and to prepare for a time when you may suddenly not be, is to enhance and strengthen the kind of employee you are. Networking should not just be a tactic deployed after a layoff, but rather a skill that you are developing all the time. When done well, the personal and professional relationships you build will benefit you no matter what your employment status becomes. Networking is not only practical, but also enriching. 

NHBR Debut

Posted on by Bill Ryan

The New Hampshire Business Review has picked me up as a contributing writer! My debut appearance can be found at http://nhbr.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090703/INDUSTRY18/906309929.

I look forward to contributing more pieces concerning the intersection of career development and New Hampshire business news. Please look for more pieces and let me know what type of topics you’d like to see covered. Your suggestions are very much welcomed!

Decision Making Examined

Posted on by Bill Ryan

How well you cope with and react to improving your career is driven primarily by the quality of your ability to make decisions. Whether a job change is forced on to you by a layoff or the nagging dissatisfaction of being stuck in a bad line of work finally crystallizes into the realization that change is needed, how well you can make an important decision will determine how satisfying an eventual outcome of change will be.

It seems that some people have the gift of decisiveness whereas other people flounder, allowing themselves to be bounced around by circumstances. Even though you might be closer to the latter, it is still possible to examine the nature of decision making and how you approach this mental exercise. For all of us, decision making is made up of five sequential steps: 

1. Identifying the problem

2. Knowing the cause of the problem

3. Developing possible alternatives

4. Prioritizing those alternatives

5. Appraising likely outcomes

When it comes to making decisions regarding your career this is often done with much uncertainty, which can make following these steps, particularly #5, harder. Nevertheless, it can still be helpful to be systematic when confronting a big career change challenge. Are you finding that one or more points in this sequence are hanging you up? Why do you think this is so?

Carrying on with making lists of five, career development researchers have identified five decision-making styles:

a. The Rational style, which is structured and logical

b. The Intuitive style, which relies on gut feelings and impressions

c. The Dependent style, which needs the support of others

d. The Avoidant style, which puts off decision making for as long as possible

e. The Spontaneous style, which is quick and impulsive

Now, if you listen to your inner parent / teacher speaking you’re probably hearing the message that having a Rational style is best. It is hard to argue with a viewpoint that says careful examination of facts and likely consequences should be applied in making a decision like career direction. The Intuitive style, on the other hand, sounds like your inner artist talking, encouraging you to go with the natural flow. But the other three appear to be more like styles of indecision. If you see yourself as reflecting one of these styles, then I would recommend a re-examination of how you make or do not make decisions.

When I look at the Intuitive style in juxtaposition to the Rational style I’m reminded of the right brain / left brain construct, which implies a balanced cognitive approach. A combination of Rational and Intuitive styles suggests a greater individual awareness of self and environment, which can lead to better career choices.

Knowing and feeling through a situation and self-encouraging an interplay of thought and emotion may allow you to identify and evaluate plausible alternatives and outcomes as you process choice. Since we now know that significant personal career decisions will occur developmentally across the lifespan, then working to refine, and when necessary, practice a workable decision-making style will result in outcomes that make life more satisfying. And isn’t that the point of a career? 

A Livelihood Can Be a Life

Posted on by Bill Ryan

I’m going to start this piece off by stating something that for some readers may be too obvious, but which I think is worth saying anyway. There is a big difference between searching for a job and searching for a career.

For the sake of simplicity, I see a job as something you do for money, whereas a career is something you do to give meaning and purpose to life. Many of you may be perfectly content separating livelihood from living and see a job merely as a means to a financial end. Living, for those of this mindset, consists of contentment found in mainly choosing things and experiences that make life interesting and stimulating. Together they make up a life that is at a minimum, good enough. Getting paid for being sufficiently stimulated, by whatever means, appears to be the primary goal. Money is generally necessary for this kind of lifestyle and therefore getting and keeping a job that pays decently becomes important. Fine. It is a perfectly conventional viewpoint about work. And one I don’t recommend. 

Work in a capitalist democracy such as ours displays its greatest value not in just how productive the society becomes, but in how everyone has the potential to express their unique contribution to both the greater good and to themselves. I do not see a benefit in drawing too sharp a distinction between living and work. I am alright with thinking that what you are is what you do. Now, some of you may think this sounds like a workaholic Boomer talking, who has not yet learned how to chill. Perhaps. Rather, I am suggesting that integrating work and life, career and self, can result in a fuller sense of being and completeness. 

It is good to have an identity. It is of value to see yourself and to have others see you as comprised of those significant elements of our lives, be they family member, citizen, leisure-lover, or worker. To define yourself in terms that exclude or downplay your work and how you spend such a large amount of time and energy denies yourself much of the richness you could be feeling from life. 

I am impressed by people who know something very well, be it a skill or body of knowledge. These people enjoy sharing their expertise through reaching out and teaching others or by making available the products and services they can craft expertly. To develop a talent to the point in which you are an artisan means you can be living a great life. You have meaning and purpose. You give yourself a gift beyond what money alone can provide. 

It is easy to blame our employer or simple circumstances for our despair with work. Having each week be a countdown to the weekend starting with a Blue Monday is sad. If you associate Wednesday with Hump Day, then your career is not on track. It’s not working for you.

Take time to reflect on what you are doing. Are you just working or are you living? Life does not have to be just getting by or getting through it. You can have a relationship with yourself that is highlighted by growth and mastery. You can be somebody and your work can be a big satisfying part of who you are. 

Despite the current Recession, this is a great time to form a career in America. We are not as constricted by class, family legacy, race, or gender roles as we once were or as is still the case in many parts of the world. Here, a true meritocracy is coming about. [Update: In the years since I wrote this paragraph, I have become more aware of how gender roles and meritocracy can lack fairness. I address this issue in future essays.] 

The upcoming years should be open to entrepreneurial solutions and our collective value propositions. Now is the time to find your place and to carve out your niche. Do not let the difficulty of shifting to this way of thinking hold you back. Enjoy the congruence of livelihood and life. You can be happier than you ever thought possible.

Beware of Too Much Education

Posted on by Bill Ryan

I am a big fan of education… particularly college education. I used to think when I was in my twenties that I could easily have become a professional student. And if it hadn’t been for getting married and becoming a parent, I would have. Even now, many years later, I can still feel the nerdy thrill of taking classes and planning degree work.

I was also a teacher for thirty-one years and would encourage students any chance that I got for them to pursue post-secondary education, if they wanted to increase their chances of finding satisfying work at a decent salary. I would cite statistics showing that a college education could on average double their lifetime earnings compared to someone with only a high school education. My faith in the power of higher education remains unshaken. I think nearly everyone should continue formal education for as long as possible.

However, I have seen a troubling downside to acquiring too much college education. In a word, it is debt. It is not unusual to run across thirty-somethings and others who have multiple degrees and/or certifications and no satisfying employment. What they do have, though, are thousands of dollars owed for the education received to get those degrees and certs. I’ve heard staggering figures. There are relatively young people who are looking at decades of school loan payback ahead of them. This restricts their lifestyles, as all debt does, and makes further education appear impossible to achieve.

Now, it would be one thing if the folks I’m talking about had exciting, stimulating careers paying them robust salaries. But too often this is not the case. Instead, they are settling for second rate job choices and realizing as they approach middle age that they are not happy career-wise, leaving them feeling stuck.

How did this happen? It is what can occur if you do not enter higher education with at least the beginning of a career plan. Everyone has heard the story that a college education opens doors and leads to career success. And as I indicated earlier, there is much evidence that it can. But it is far from a guarantee. A college degree should not be thought of as a magic bullet. If years spent at a university are not a well thought through means to an end, then it can be a costly waste of time.

A typical sequence is this — you are a student who majors in some undergraduate program for weak reasons, generally because you were without enough quality guidance. Afterwards, you find yourself in a ho-hum job and think that the way out is to go back to school to get another degree. You hope that this time it will “work”.

But your decision making again has not been monitored by someone who can properly assist you. So, you find yourself again in a less than stellar job and think that if you had only followed your heart the first time you would not be in this mess. So, you go back to school to study your passion, incur more debt, and realize a gazillion dollars later that you are still not happy. 

Career planning should begin very early in a student’s education, whether it is done by a parent, a guidance counselor, a teacher, or a privately hired career development specialist. Basically, someone who actually has time, interest, and perspective to focus on you. College costs way too much to have the experience squandered. However, properly directed higher education can help lead to meaningful and sustained careers.

I recommend taking the time to think through what you hope to achieve from education and process these thoughts, along with crucial elements of your personality, in the presence of a career professional.  It is worth the effort and money to do this one right.

The Forward Leaning Consultant

Posted on by Bill Ryan

In my last blog, I suggested that we Americans may not be as entrepreneurial as we think we are when it comes to getting or staying employed, particularly during a Recession like this one. My observation is that we continue to heavily rely on open positions to fill rather than trying to create our own marketable situations.

For many young and middle-aged workers, it’s easier to understand the greater need for security and the steady paycheck given that they are raising families and building wealth. For them, free-lancing may indeed carry too much risk. But for the seasoned older professional worker with accumulated wisdom and experience, I find it a bit odd that far too many continue to seek a job offered and defined by someone else.

Now, if you’re happy with a work life following someone else’s job description, because it lightens the mental and emotional load you need to carry, then fine. For those of you, however, who have been around the block a few times and have formed confident opinions and positions about how your industry can best function, then you may want to codify those ideas into proposals that you present to managers in need of solutions.

I believe there comes a point in many professionals’  lives when you reach a level of maturity and sophistication, which prepares you for analyzing the known workplace with the intent of discovering and offering remedies to common or unique problems. This approach can form the backbone of your “job search”. Don’t just look for a job, look for innovative methods and protocols that add value to the workplace and propose them to organizations in search of these solutions.

The notion that becoming a consultant is reserved only for the gutsy cream-of-the-crop type is old fashioned. To the dismay of unions and traditionalists, we are becoming a freelance nation. It is true many workplaces are still traditional in how they source talent, but there is ample evidence that this is changing. More and more Human Resource departments are becoming used to searching for outsourced talent that reduces their costs while offering more targeted impact on production. The actual implementation lies in how well you unravel issues, advance answers, brand yourself, and negotiate an arrangement with an organization that needs you.

So, my suggestion is to use the time you usually spend searching through Monster and CareerBuilder to systematically build cases that you can confidently present. Your time will be better spent, and you get the added benefit of imposing professional development on yourself.

You probably already know the standard means of writing proposals within your industry. If you don’t know, find out. From there, apply marketing principles, especially personal branding, that assist you in reaching the audiences who need to hear from you. And go for it.

Might this style of employment search be too cowboy oriented. Perhaps. But, what’s the downside? At least you leaned forward into your employment status, acted, organized yourself, and learned some things. Is that such a bad way to spend time finding work?