Careers Archives - Page 5 of 8 - The Voice of Job Seekers

Are We Biased? Kristen Pressner Says Yes She Is

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Today, I am sharing with my conversation with Kristen Pressner. This show is a slight departure from straight job search advice and this show may not apply directly to your job search. You’ll glean a few things, but this is to self-examine and become more self-aware of your own biases. I hope you’ll consider looking at yourself, remember we’re not navigating hiring barriers. My guest, Kristen Pressner (@KPressner), directly leads within Roche Diagnostics worldwide. She is sharing her story of how she was biased toward other women while making a business decision.

You know we’ve discussed unconscious bias several times this year. This show adds to the discussion.

I want to hear from you of how this episode resonates with you. Here are places you can add to the conversation at large:

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 [email protected]

More about Kristen Pressner

Last August, Kristen shared a personal reflective TEDx talk about her own bias toward women, Are You Biased? I am. As amicably and respectfully delivered as possible, it disarms any premonition of resistance you had previous to watching. I had never heard someone in her position be so vulnerable and transparent, which is part of the compelling story she shares. Although the video is eight minutes long, no matter who you are, it inspires and moves you to examine yourself, your biases, and how it affects others.

I love for you to listen to this conversation, rather than giving a longer preview to read. I would like to know what you think.

The show hiatus is coming up!

After this week, and one more show, the show will be on hiatus until September 12. I will still publish articles on the blog. If you haven’t already subscribed to my bi-weekly newsletter, please do. The fall shows collectively will be different than in the past but delivering as much if not more value than ever. One change is the shows will be bi-weekly instead of weekly for the fall. Since there are a couple of projects I will be involved with, I will need more time. There maybe a few bonus episodes and I am working on a live event here in Chicago, so if you’re in the area, look for that announcement.

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.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Two Conversations Parents Must Have: The Sex and Career Talk

My original article was first published on the Good Men Project!

Most of us dads jack up the sex talk and never have the career talk. That’s right. We concentrate on just talking about sex without helping them to have good sex. Or even, to perform like we’ve been there before. I mean to do all the right things to do before sex includes having the right kind of relationship, treating his partner the right way, being optimally considerate throughout. This means many things to many men, and although the means to an end is targeted towards marriage in my household, you can find multiple applications in this discussion.

Now, you’re thinking that the career talk is sending them to college or trade school, and telling them to find a job is the career talk. My argument is you couldn’t be farther from reality than our dads were with us. Today’s job search is complex, and many of the old rules don’t exist. The sex and career talk are complicated and requires an ongoing discussion with both parents whenever possible.

As the parental units, we need to stop the madness our parents passed on to us:

Telling them the world is theirs, but limiting “acceptable” career choices
Living our career aspirations vicariously through our children (it should be a sin)
Not know their heart’s desire but only know what you want
Lacking the tolerance of them changing their minds even if it’s 20 times between high school and college
College is not for everybody and anybody. We can argue the worth of a college degree later. It’s not a bad idea to explore organizations to get your son career ready
There’s no sin in your son to major in film school, liberal arts, or classical music majors

The career talk is as complicated as the sex talk. Although, with our son, it’s the relationship talk and both are related in this way: The better the relationship optimizes the physical engagement. Yet, as a family, we want to emphasize the results when the relationship building is the most critical. As fathers, we have an ugly assignment when talking about sex. As a teen, I grew up with my Aunt, she explained how beautiful sex is but I was so lost because I didn’t know how to get there or recognize it when I got there.

In the same spirit we need to change the dialogue about careers need to apply to the sex talk:

Relationship and sex are not synonymous
Sex is just an act
We never talk about sex (I don’t want to know)

Hopefully, you started early with the sex talk in talking about good touches and bad touches. Why not have the talk about doing work and getting a job? In my opinion, it is an entirely different discussion than “chores.”

Careers are talked about in the same way. We’re told the world is ours, and we can be anything but we were lost in conducting a fruitful job search. It’s difficult for young people to connect to how disconnected employers are intentional with job seekers. Employers set-up this wall of security for them (not for you) called the Automated Tracking System (ATS) to filter out the unqualified human beings. Many large companies are using computers and robots to do the work for them. Relationships are the best chance to reach and engage humans:

1) Both require sustaining relationships

Relationships are required for the long path of support and renewed faith of who are? When we lose jobs, or a relationship we wonder are we the same person or have we lost our way. Assessment tests don’t read our eyes, listen to our tones, or judge our behavior. Nor can they put a reassuring hand on our shoulder, tell us it’s alright, or reignite the faith we lose. I was a slow learner when it came to relationships, obtuse in my understanding of them, but thrived when I valued them both professionally and personally.

2) Both talks keep them accountable in ways that matter most

If you are just teaching them about sex, as you are teaching how to get a job, where are you leading them? A great career as in a great relationship is a continued learning. Much of the best lessons are from failure. As a parent, you can’t protect them all of the time. You can manage his expectations through helping them value relationships. The best talks with my first son and I had with his first job were immediately when he came home from work. We focused on his working relationships, not the work incidents. This made a difference in how he has navigated his search for other opportunities.

3) Both talks deepes our relationship with our sons

Our sons will feel weird about talking about either sex or career. Once my oldest (and now my youngest son) starts to trust because of his experiences, triumphs, errors and even failure, he is more open to deepen any part of the ongoing dialogue. We need patience in order for them to absorb all we say contrary to their peers, but he will rebound and adapt parts if not all we share. If he rejects it, don’t worry, he will grow into what makes sense for them. In most cases, the bonding will infuse your world with his, which will mean much to both of you.

4) It’s the catalyst for healthy relationships and life

Since there are many definitions of what a healthy relationship looks like, there is no argument of what it means to our life experiences. It also builds a sustainable careers path and also creates depth in romance.

Getting a job, or just having sex solely for the act has a long-term low expectation of meaningful success (if that’s your definition). The sex talk these days about sustaining the right relationship, education, and respect. The career talk today is not just getting a job, but navigating and building a meaningful career throughout several opportunities, not one long stand with one company (that’s not bad, it is rare for an individual to do so).

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

5 Career Lessons Learned During My Son’s First Car Purchase

This article was originally published on The Good Men Project.

Not that it wouldn’t have mattered that my dad and I never went car shopping, it would have been important under any circumstances for me to go with “Boy Wonder” when his time came to shop for his dream car. He’d turned twenty-one, was now a college senior, and ambitious. My wife and I let him drive one of our cars for the summer while away at college.

I was nervous at first, but he took care of it. We talked about it for a while, and now it was time. When he was in high school he was not a great driver (what 16-year-old is?) Although he didn’t have any accidents, we were wary of him driving by himself. He wanted to drive to prom, but we got him and his date a driver for prom. Over time and more experience, he has become a decent driver. That’s the way it’s supposed to go, right?

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He was a mature young man even in his teens. He achieved the honor status for most of high school, worked part-time, and was on the rugby and bowling teams simultaneously during his junior and senior years. With the fall and spring semesters in his college freshman year, he worked throughout his college years to date.

He researched cars for months, but when it came time to buy, CarMax was the best choice for him. Although I was with him, he engineered the process for himself, and I watched while sparsely advising. What I saw told me a lot about how he’s going to handle his career (and taught me a lot that we can all learn about success in general.)

He is personable without being personal.

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Eye contact, smiling, asking questions, and respect goes a long way. “Boy Wonder” is never pushy but is aggressive in pursuit of seeking more information. He was able to get the salesman to share about his family and diffuse his aggression. He also persuaded the salesman to take a picture with him.

There is an art to balancing what is being personable and what is overly personal.

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We can argue that there is no difference, but mostly it is contingent on the person you’re trying to reach. His experience as his fraternity president has given him a lot of practice in speaking with many influential people in his organization. This skill transferred well in learning the art of connecting quickly and amicably.

He showed the respect of a younger man talking to an older man. “Boy Wonder” learned the art of relating to people.

To mature people, he has learned to speak to them as fathers, grandfathers, mothers, or grandmothers. It is a rare quality these days but it’s engaging, and it wins mature people over. The tone of voice, inflections, sans the use of slang, and the emphasis of the right words can make a big difference when young people relate to mature people. Those of us who are older can learn from this as we seek jobs where our potential bosses are much younger — not to talk down to them, but understanding our value from a fatherly perspective.

Likewise, mature people should cease using old clichés when talking to young people who are influential in their employment or business conversations. He answered questions completely the first time as succinctly as possible. People will test you to see how transparent and honest you are because that’s who he or she wants to partner with. I can tell “Boy Wonder” is working on this part of his business game. I watched him get better at it just during the course of his shopping experience. I think this is reflective of the amount of accountability he has accepted in his years of working, playing sports, and leadership roles.

In my experience in coaching clients, this is one of the big challenges for all ages. Successful people instinctively measure time and efficiency incessantly. It is essential while in the market for jobs, networking, and interviews that business conversations are purposeful and to the point in the least amount of time. At the beginning of the conversation, while my son was talking, the salesman became slightly anxious to respond. Fortunately, “Boy Wonder” truncated his spiel after noticing the salesman’s response.

He left the “expert-speak” at home.

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When you’re twenty-one, you speak as if you have all the experience need. His “I want to learn why” attitude was impressive to the salesman. “Boy Wonder” was actively asking questions the entire time. I believe people shy away from proactive networking opportunities because of the unknown instead of taking ownership of the interaction. What I mean is more listening, not necessarily more talking. I dare you to go to an event and ask someone, “What’s the story behind getting this job?” You will have to say little for someone to complement you on your conversation style.

He took his time choosing.

One thing I liked was how “Boy Wonder” was patient throughout the process without committing to buy or showing anxiousness to get done. For young people, this takes much discipline. After all, they were checking HIS credit, and verifying his information. His patience and silence showed control and confidence in the outcome. Most people have a hard time demonstrating self-restraint during the interview process.

He or she thinks that the choice is solely in the employer’s hands.

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My theory is job candidates filter their answers through “yes.” He desires to accept initially and irrationally find a reason to say no (and usually don’t). They miss out on opportunities to negotiate their compensation package! I tend to filter my answers through “no” and contrarily look for reasons to say yes while gathering data and opportunities to negotiate shrewdly. The strategy is as critical in the car buying process as the job search process. What you don’t say is as important as what you will say. Patience, discipline, and listening are leverage in many ways if you want more say in the outcome.