The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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6 Signs Your Career is a Wilting Plant

6 Signs Your Career is a Wilting Plant

Many professionals coast, wait in the cut, or disengage from their job search because the Department of Labor numbers indicate it’s a “job seekers market.” Many more professionals dread the stressfulness of the application process, scrutiny, and potential rejection of their efforts. In any economy, starting a job search is hard because there are many things to manage, and it’s never easy. You don’t have to apply for a job to stay engaged in a job search.

My wife told me a story once of how she planted sitting for her roommate, and eventually, the plant died. Then she bought another plant to replace that one, and shortly after a while, the new plant resulted in a similar fate as the first. I know very little about plants, and it will show, but stay with me.

Many professionals work with their head down, focused – until the announcement of your position has been phased out. Is your career watered and nurtured? It’s not too late to keep it watered and nurtured. The parts that are still green, and cut the dead pieces – I mean, this is your career!

Recent history should have taught us remaining engaged in improving and moving your career along requires more attention you give your plants:

1. Prepare and cultivate the soil of your experience
2. Plant the seeds of new skills
3. Water them regularly growing new experiences
4. Prune old and useless weeds of skills you won’t need
5. Offer an array of vibrant and radiant personality

A plant is a living organism. Your career growth is similar to a plant’s health. It needs your attention. It will die if you’ve left it to fend for itself.

Like an unattended plant, your career lacks water (or life):

1. If you water your plant now and then

You’ll find out your company wasn’t using “cutting-edge” technology after-all.
Budgets crumble, management changes, innovation stifles, but mostly, they never used cutting-edge technology. The “cutting-edge” technology part was right ten years ago. You didn’t research, or network with others outside your company in your industry to see if they claim it is true. Let’s not make that mistake again.

2. If you don’t prepare the soil

You waited for the company to pay for the training to make you marketable
When companies spend money on training, their specific business need is at the forefront, not your career aspirations. You can find other business needs requiring the same training, or control of your career, and invest in the resources for skills other companies demand.

3. Oops, now you’re drowning your plants

You have to update all of your marketing tools (resumes, cover letters, etc.) by tomorrow. Just as flooding your plants with water is not right, neither is binge preparation.
Athletes train in their off-season so they’ll remain competitive to keep their position during training camp. Similarly, successful professional keep their resumes updated and ready to compete.

4. You may need to see if you have enough seeds

Your references and network have moved on in their careers (and they’re not rushing to your rescue)
Like jobs, former references become irrelevant, and perhaps, have moved on and no longer offer a relevant job reference. If they’re not more than ten years removed from your exploits, keep up with them. Don’t forget to add others who can offer testimonies about your work, and if possible, write favorable Linkedin recommendations for you.

5. Gone before you noticed and the loss is overwhelming

For many professionals, losing a job is similar to losing a family or family support. The narrative needs to shift as companies changing staffing, or sold is a new norm. Absorb the shock of a sudden job loss by engaging with your network, professional development, or industry organizations.

6. Afraid you’ll get caught watering other plants

Getting caught looking is not just a baseball batter’s worry, but it’s a legitimate career concern, too! There are so many ways to find work while working, and it’s easier now than ever to protect your current employment. You can conduct a stealth job search easier with many of the resources are available on your mobile as well as other ways to find job leads.

If you neglect a plant for long periods, it will die quicker than if you watered them regularly. Similarly, your career goals will fade away or die if they go unattended. Then again, your career reflects the life of a tree planted that grows in water. It’s big, healthy, and often has a long life – but it stays in water surviving any drought.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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Filed Under: Career, Job Search Tagged With: Career, Job Search

by Mark Anthony Dyson Leave a Comment

Today’s Millennials and Their Take on Careers with Hilary Sutton

Today’s Millennials and Their Take on Careers with Hilary Sutton
http://traffic.libsyn.com/thevoiceofjobseekers/thevoiceofjobseekers191.mp3

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For my Gen X and baby boomer listeners, it’s time to listen to millennials about their take on work. My guest, Hilary Sutton, speaks as a writer, a researcher, and a millennial.

Here are three ways you can let us know:

  • Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number
  • Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
  • Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Let me tell you a little bit about Hilary:

Hilary Sutton and she has a podcast “Hustle and Grace.” She contributes career advice for USA Today as well as other publications and an actress.
Earlier this year Hilary wrote a long-form report called “Marketing Hiring Trends” for McKinley Marketing Partners.

Part of our discussion about millennials is drawn from the articles below:

http://mckinleymarketingpartners.com/2018/01/recruiting-millennial-marketers-in-2018-what-you-need-to-know/
http://mckinleymarketingpartners.com/2017/08/millennial-motivation-what-these-job-seekers-really-want/
http://mckinleymarketingpartners.com/2016/10/millennial-motivation-what-factors-into-their-job-hunt/

Highlights from our discussion:

  • Fewer millennials are actively on the job search than non-millennials. The numbers indicate greater job satisfaction.
  • Millennials are not as money motivated as you might think. In many cases, they would accept lower salaries if they come paired with other perks like a clear path for advancement or an open PTO policy
  • Millennials are by and large NOT drawn to perks that seem to make the workplace “cooler”: beer in the fridge or a ping pong table, etc. The more ‘perks’ an office has, often the more employees are expected to work long hours and not achieve a high value of millennials: work/life balance. Millennials like to keep their work and personal lives separate. If they value working from home, most likely they have already found a job to do that. It’s not a long-term career goal.
  • While they don’t care about those ‘office perks,’ millennials are hyper-aware of culture in the office, and it can make or break an experience for them. Taking the time to coach and congratulate millennials on job performance is huge and will impact their loyalty and retention. Regular team events (more than once a year) also builds bonds that mean a lot to millennials.
  • Millennials also value mentors and professional development and would welcome an optional mentor program in the workplace as well as professional development opportunities.
You can also sign up for my weekly newsletter at the top right of my page to be on the early list of my free e-Guide, “219 Modern Job Search Tips for 2019” to be sent to subscribers the third week of October!

About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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Filed Under: Career Management, careers Tagged With: Career, millennial, Work

by Mark Anthony Dyson Leave a Comment

5 Ways Sentimentality Is Ruining Your Career

5 Ways Sentimentality Is Ruining Your Career

I have a Spotify playlist called “Endorphins.” As of today, it contains more than 200 soft rock love songs/somebody-done-somebody-wrong songs. These songs take me somewhere pleasant and calming. I’m sure you have a playlist that does the same for you.

Similarly, you may also look back on a previous workplace the same way I look at my playlist. Perhaps you remember an office where you once felt wanted, needed, and even praised. There are good reasons to feel sentimental when someone or something makes you feel valued.

But unlike my playlist, which is harmless, sentimental feelings toward a workplace aren’t always good news for your career. Never should such feelings drive your job search or your career choices.

Many of us are sentimental about our ex-anythings — friends, loved ones, and yes, even jobs. For a period of time, these may have been the best things in our lives.

The company you used to work for might have been the place where you cut your teeth. It was good for you at the time. Maybe now your sentimental feelings have you wondering if you should return as a boomerang employee.

Read 10 Job Search Strategies Beyond The Resume

But returning to old workplaces doesn’t always work out. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade worked together twice on the basketball court. One time was hugely successful — the other time, not so much. We as basketball fans bought in for a moment, but they weren’t winning like the old times. They had to part ways.

Are you, as a job seeker, ridden with sentimentality? If so, you may be derailing your own career path

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. You may be headed down a dead end because your feelings are getting in the way of making clear decisions for the good of your career. You can’t build a career on the way you used to feel.

via GIPHY

Unsure if sentimentality has infected your career journey? Consider the five ways it may be harming you:

1. Sentimentality Distorts Your Perception of Reality

Just because you received several promotions and did some memorable work doesn’t mean the company is still the right place for you. A lot can change.

Instead of relying on fond feelings, check in with your old employer. See what has changed about the organization overall and your former position in particular. Make career decisions based on what the company really is, not on what you remember it to be.

Read How to Create Realistic Expectations During Your Job Search

2. Sentimentality Makes You Confuse Relationships for Results

You’re friendly and hold great conversations. You built great friendships with the people you used to work with.

But did you really accomplish much in that role? Try to write out a clear list of concrete accomplishments to see if the job was really as good for your career as you think it was.

3. Sentimentality Comes and Goes

The feelings you have about that old job may not last, and you should never make career decisions based on what your mood is at a given moment.

Click To Tweet

Step back and soberly dissect each aspect of that old job. Did you really love everything about it? Or are you letting sentimentality cloud your judgment again?

4. Sentimentality Doesn’t Account for How Much You’ve Grown

It took me years to swallow something one of my mentors taught me: “Never do your old job.” We’re supposed to outgrow our old positions as we progress. You can’t produce more value for employers if you never move beyond your old job.

Listen to Layoffs? Did Someone Say Layoffs?

5. Sentimentality Hinders Rational Judgment

When we’re facing challenges at work, we have a tendency to romanticize our old jobs — but we probably had problems there, too. Romanticizing rarely helps us understand the situation or address the issues at hand.

Your job search strategy must rely on facts as much as possible.

Click To Tweet

I will admit that elements of emotion and faith may enter the equation, but a strategic approach requires a foundation of truth.

—

Relying on the way it used to be is not good intel, and it could misguide you. Instead of letting sentimentality guide your career, try to put yourself in a clear, objective mindset. Make the choices that are best for your professional journey — not the choices that your fickle heart urges you to make.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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Filed Under: Career, Career Management Tagged With: Career, Career Management

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Listen to my NPR podcast interview on “Jazzed About Work” with Beverly Jones from 8/13/2020!

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