The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ "The Job Scam Report" on Substack! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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Parental Leave and How It Will Impact Your Career

Parental Leave and How It Will Impact Your Career

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Parental Leave and its nuances may change and possibly alter your career in some way. Who knows, maybe parental leave benefits will wane? We can’t say until we know for sure the stance our government will take. My return guest, Scott Behson parses some of what we know to date, and how parental leave is a viable option for America. Will it affect your career aspirations, plans, and goals? Probably. Listen how you can make sense of it for your career.

I hope you enjoyed the introduction this episode. I wanted to surprise you a little.

Join in on the conversation. Here’s how:

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Today’s guest,  Scott Behson is a professor of management at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has a doctorate in Organizational Studies, and blogs at Fathers, Work, and Family. He is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Time, Wall Street Journal. He’s the author of The Working Dad’s Survival Guide: How to Succeed at Work and at Home.

Highlights:

  • Scott mentions the push for a national parental leave policy. California is the first to adopt 12 or 13 years, then Rhode Island, and recently, New York
  • The ideal program would allow a tax to pay into a plan. If you travel to another state that has the program, you will qualify.
  • Program–it’s like disability insurance or unemployment insurance
  • E.g., “..the maximum in New Jersey that anyone could get taken
    out of their paycheck in a given year is twenty-eight dollars. And it funds an insurance system where  you could take in New Jersey up to six weeks of Family leave, and you get wage replacement up to a certain amount that is paid out of the insurance funds.”
  • Scott continues to say,
  • “…this is not money that comes out of an employer’s pocket just the employer has to give you the time off and you
     know to guarantee your job upon your return.”
  • Under the Family Medical Leave Act–Only 60% of Americans are covered
  • Why can’t we have the same level of benefits like the United Kingdom, Canada, or Australia who are similar to our culture
  • Many companies see paid parental leave as a way to attract good employees while other companies don’t look at employees in the same way

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Simple Steps to Steer Your Child Toward Career Success

Simple Steps to Steer Your Child Toward Career Success

Put yourself in the shoes of a young mother, working hard to succeed in her corporate job. She dreams of a college education for her six-year-old son, a career with high earning potential and benefits. But then the little boy announces that he wants to be a garbage collector when he grows up.

What would you do? Would you say, “Don’t be silly” or “You can’t be that”? Would you laugh and shake your head? These reactions will communicate that there are right and wrong answers to the “What do you want to be?” question, and they can steer the children you love away from their talents and interests.

Study after study tells us that over 50% of Americans dislike or disengaged from their jobs. The knock-on effect is huge – stress related illness, high absenteeism, low morale, road rage, etc. And our kids are watching. When their career dreams fade, they’ll start to see work not as a way to share their gifts with the world, but as a necessary evil of life.

But certainly, you don’t want your children to grow up with a life motto of “T.G.I.F.” As a parent, you have the opportunity to see beyond the surface of their naïve career declarations. You can help your children decipher their career dreams effectively into something that’s a great match for their talents and skills.

First, watch your response

Since you’re actively pouring your life into your children, the thought of any of them in a career that doesn’t match your standards can understandably cause stress, usually resulting in a hasty response that shuts down the child’s dream. Take a step back and try to assess the child’s statement with less emotional attachment.

Second, take a few moments for discussion

Our potential garbage collector made his career announcement in the midst of busy family life. Despite that, try to respond more openly to the idea, asking questions like, “What part of being a garbage collector do you think you’d like?” That’s when you may discover the main attraction. Maybe it’s primarily the truck, an interest in the variety of things people throw away, the chance to travel around town, or the ability to provide a helpful service to people. From there, you can discuss other jobs that have similar aspects (minus the stench).

And finally, you have years of experience—life experience and career experience 

You may have had a few years in a job that wasn’t a great fit for you. Maybe you can look back to your childhood and see where you made a wrong turn when you entered the job market. Or perhaps you’ve been fortunate to have years in a job that was a great fit for you. With your perspective, you can see the skills and interests of your kids. You can understand how much better it would be to apply those skills and interests in their day-to-day work as adults.

So be sure to keep your eyes open for the talents and areas of giftedness in each of your children. Encourage discussion when they share dreams of their future. And as they grow older, be sure to point out what you’ve seen over the years—their desires, their talents, their achievements, and the positive attributes they bring to the world. Your insight can help propel them into a career that’s a perfect match.

Karleen Tauszik is the author of eleven books for children, ages 8 to 12. The goal of her latest book, the career possibility journal titled When I Grow Up, I Want To Be… is to change the current dismal job satisfaction statistics for the next generation. The goal of her fiction books is to get kids to LOVE reading. Learn more at KarleenT.com.

 

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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3 Unforgettable Career Lessons from Hidden Figures The Movie

3 Unforgettable Career Lessons from Hidden Figures The Movie
Besides Hidden Figures being a great movie, there were useful career lessons. It’s rare a Hollywood movie features character and positive personal attributes. The film depicted three African-American women breaking gender and color barriers at NASA. The three main women characters showed how skill and character add value to employers. These attributes energize meaningful careers, and the movie reminded us why.
Oh, did I say this is a real story? It’s historic. Yes, men, we can learn from them too! But like the evergreen tree, these lessons are planted in water, and eternal.
Each woman has an extraordinary story and talents: a mathematician, computer technologist, and engineer. Bias impeded their breakthrough: Color and gender. They had to prove their value first breaking through extraordinary barriers. Even when they shattered expectations, it wasn’t enough.
These women challenged the status quo, race relation barriers, and gender bias. Consider these attributes and similar obstacles during your job search:

1. Strategy without patience and resilience is useless

Janelle Monae’s character Mary Jackson exercised great patience but also understood her value. She had to go to court to attend a class traditionally held by men but prohibited African-Americans. Mary was willing to go through the barriers, and still confront the challenges awaiting her.
Lesson learned: Job search takes time, and waiting until you’re jobless is excruciating.

Start networking for your future even if you don’t know the final destination.

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Networking adds to the intelligence you’ll need to navigate obstacles.

2. Sometimes you’re the last to know the significance of your contribution

Octavia Spencer’s showed how Dorothy Vaughn managed rejection for a promotion for years. She learned a computer language enabled her to functionalize the mainframe computers. Dorothy mastered it before the men assigned to set the computers did. Once she understood the new computer language, she taught her staff. This action resulted in the ultimate prize: A promotion to supervisor.
Lesson learned: Job trends shift incessantly in most industries. Find out how technology will play a part. Robots and computers will be the tools and the catalyst.

Focus on understanding what it takes to be competitive in your industry.

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3. Opportunities are created and boldly requested
Taraji Henson’s character Katherine Johnson was steadfast getting to the big meeting. Women were not allowed in this session! When she finally attended, she didn’t hesitate to show her abilities. Later, those skills shaped the space program forever and saved John Glenn’s life.
Lesson learned: Be persistent when it comes to meeting key people. Look to ask the key holders and not depend on the gatekeepers.

Your breakthrough requires doing the unexpected and more than what is expected.

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The tools and techniques we read about are necessary. What employers respond to is character and personality. Those are attributes employers cannot train employees to own. The modern job seekers cannot afford to be passive. Today, to achieve results, your action must have actionable steps. You be intentional and follow-up, and at times, ask more than once. It’s not easy but will yield results in time.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.