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Work For A Terrible Boss! It’s Great For Your Career!
No one accepts a career anticipating a horrible, terrible, awful, no good boss but perhaps it is something you should consider as you go through a career assessment. Working for a terrible boss is like opening the golden gates to your career and here’s why:
You Simply Learn More From A Bad Manager Than A Good Manager:
You Learn To Wear Different Masks: You learn quickly that the way you talk to one person is not the way you can or should talk to someone else and a terrible boss will make that very clear, quickly.
You Learn To Do Be Resourceful: You want to avoid your boss so you will find different ways to get answers and you will certainly be sure to get the right ones, the first time around.
You Learn To Work With Difficult And Different Personalities: It’s easy to work in an office where everyone is more or less easy going…try working with the 50 shades of an office…
You Learn What To Keep To Yourself And Vice Versa What To Say Allowed: A bad boss normally doesn’t want to hear or read from you, or they want to hear and read from you every second so you will learn to discriminate your thoughts regarding what to say when and to who.
You Learn Self Respect: Deep down you know you are great at what you do, so you tell yourself that and you know what you just won’t tolerate.
You Learn Patience: There’s a reason patience is a virtue and many deep breaths come with a bad boss.
You Learn Not To Associate Yourself With Gossip: It’s that simple. You are working. You learn to be more like your boss and care less about the world around you and more about your work.
You Learn To Think Before You Speak Or React: It’s very common for people to react in action and speech but with a bad boss, your mouth and body language is sealed since you want to keep your job…don’t you??
You Learn To Value Feedback And Know How To Accept Criticism:Bosses can be rough, mean and tough. Having a bad boss, means you understand that some things are genuine points you need to improve on and other points that just need to slide. You accept criticism and feedback as you know it is to help you improve without crushing your ego…in fact it makes you stronger.
You Learn How To Understand People: Some people flourish when working with difficult people and it’s simple, because they “get it”. They can read the good days, the bad days, and even the moments. They understand that EVERYONE even a bad boss has great moments!
You Learn Negotiations Skills: If your mind is set on something you will be as articulate as possible to ensure what you are about to present or offer is sure as hell worth it. A bad boss, doesn’t accept mediocre.
You Learn How To Help Others: When someone new comes to the office you can’t help but feel a little bad for them. You go up to them, console them and work with them. They are not your new best friend, you are their confident and what keeps them from quitting, and you know that!
Learn To Read People: You know how to read body language and quickly!!
Learn To Value Relationships: The people outside of your office are important to you. They are what keep you grounded and the people you get along with in the office are your common ground and they are your release center as well..as they understand you.
Learn What to Do When Left Alone: You don’t need to be hand held, micro managed, or babysat. You know how to prioritize your work and your time because you know what will get you in trouble and what won’t.
You Learn Everything You Are Doing Today Is Preparing You For Tomorrow: When you go to work day in and day out working for a bad boss you aren’t looking at the now, you are looking at the big picture. You know it’s more important for you as you know it’s your stepping stone to the mountain top.
So next time you are about to turn down an interview or a job at that “terrible” company. Look deeper as there is a company out there for everyone and just because you may know a lot of people who didn’t take a job at that company, know the company survived somehow and those that did survive have an amazing learning ground.
Stop Crashing Your Career By Doing THIS!
You are sitting at your computer, ready to apply for your dream job. You have been waiting for the perfect job to be posted or the certain person to reach out to you and so you start to ponder your cover letter. The butterflies are in your stomach and anticipation of getting the job is in your head. You are sitting there thinking “What should I write in my cover letter??” Well, be relieved that as much as you hate writing covering letters, hiring manager hate reading them.
It takes 7 seconds to review a resume and 1 second to scan your cover letter. So the truth is if we see another cover letter that expresses the “desire to learn” or how your education and experience matches that of the job, or how you managed 15 people which can clearly be seen in your resume please, don’t shoot us, just pull our eyes out! As there is no such thing as an “eye catching” cover letter. Don’t be fooled by posts with information that must be in the cover letter. For the love of anything do not have one…it’s old school!
In the new school of thought, there is no secret to writing a great cover letter, except for not having one and here’s why:
Cover Letters Have Proven To Be Your Window For Error: Countless people make so many errors in their cover letter. Aside for the fact people still make spelling and grammatical errors, people also forget to ensure their cover letter matches their resume and social media platforms.
The ATS- Applicant Tracking System Is Against You- All recruiting firms and most companies use an ATS to make their recruiting efforts more efficient so your cover letter isn’t even kept! It gets deleted as your resume put into the system.
Your Resume Tells Your Story: We know your cover letter is full of jargon about how you want the job but would you apply if you didn’t want the job or work at the company your writing about in detail??
It’s So Damn Long!! What the heck are you writing?? You make it as though we have all the time in the world to sit an read a novel during our work day. If you can’t write quickly, what will it be like meeting you??
The Cover Letter Profiles Your Monotony: Everything you have written in the cover letter is profiled in the resume..we get it. You worked at a, b c company for x years, managed so many people etc etc…again there’s no need to reiterate it in your cover letter.
Your resume, if strong enough, will highlight the elements of your resume that will ensure you are the right match for the job and company you are applying for. If it doesn’t then revamp your resume. Gone are the days when it had to be one page. If you have experience profile it, highlight it, embrace it but let the cover letter die in peace.
If you want to get noticed, don’t write a cover letter write an introductory email about the person you are writing to, as it’s not all about you.
Jessica Glazer is the Recruitment Director/Founder of www.MindHR.com-a head-hunting and resume writing agency. She can also be heard on Montreal’s NewsTalk Radio CJAD and seen on BTMontreal and Global television speaking about employment related issues.
14 Small Business, Big Hiring Mistakes
Expanding a small company is never easy. Everyone has a role and in a small office a bad hire has a greater impact. Below are 14 of the biggest hiring mistakes small business make:
Hiring A Friend Not A Fit: Your friend is great but unless you already have an established company keep them out of the office. There are studies that less work is completed when hiring a friend plus there is a reason you don’t mix business with pleasure…not everyone can separate the two.
Not Knowing What You Need:You know you need someone but do you know where or how. Write a list regarding where you feel your company is lacking strength from there you can decide where you need to hire but once you decide to commit to hire, hire.
Hiring Someone With Limited Skills: Don’t pin one person into a specific category. When hiring, think of their growth potential as you intend on growing.
Hiring Someone Do To A Bit Of Everything:You don’t want a jack of all trades with skills in none. You want someone who can fill a specific void or strengthen a weakness.
Hiring Someone Who Is Cheap: When push comes to shove if you hire the cheapest option you will get the least results. There are times you need to pay more to get more or at least know the market value of what you are looking for. Pay less and you risk losing that person which will cost you a lot more in the long run.
Hiring Someone To Help Them: You need someone, and yes many people need work but even a non-profit has to be selective and you are not a charity. You became an entrepreneur to run your own business, make your own hours and see success where there were clear issues in the systems out there. Remember that when hiring.
Making People Partners Too Soon:If you can’t afford someone, don’t hire them. Making someone a partner too soon means you will not have control over your own company, is that what you want so soon?? Hire those with potential but don’t make them partners off the bat.
Take Too Long To Take A Decision: Great talent who is interested in your company will get off the market quickly if they decide to interview at other places so don’t take too long to hire your ideal candidate. If you like them, put a ring on it!
Nitpicking: Being overly picky will hinder your chances of hiring the right person. There is no such thing as perfect. You have to make compromises
Over Hiring: Do not hire so many people that you don’t know what to do with them or that you have to train everyone at once. Know what your needs are then hire accordingly. Everyone will have their place but there’s no point in hiring 10 people if there’s only enough work for 4.
Over Interviewing: You need to know the person you are going to bring on is the right person for you. You can interview them, have them interview team members, give them a test and have a trial but after all that, you really need to make a hiring decision.
Not Prepared To Conduct An Interview: When someone arrives at your office, have your questions in hand. Know what you want to know from the person. Respect their time and ask questions about them while giving information about your company. This is not a you show. You do not need to prove why you are worth working for. Let them figure that out through their own answers.
Do Not Do Background Checks: You love the person, they have everything you need and want. They are 11 on 10 but don’t jump the gun just yet. Make sure you or someone you know checks their references or does a background check on them. Just because they appear great, know they might just be great interviewers…be weary.
Don’t Consider Head-Hunters: Small companies work on tight budgets. Shop around as some agencies aren’t as expensive as you think they are and can work with you to ensure you make the right hire. As stated earlier a bad hire can cost you a lot more then a little recruiting fee and a great recruiter will help you through the entire process.
12 Sure Ways To Not Get A Job
1) You are are applying to jobs you want to work for but have zero experience in the field or industry
2) You are pushy. If you are pushy in the interview process how will you be in the office?
3) You are late. You don’t call. If you want a job and you are late you call, if you are lost you call, it’s that simple.
4) You know everything so act like you do. This is sure to be a winning personality trait.
5) Ask about money and benefits. You don’t want a job you want a vacation your first day!
6) Talk terribly about your previous employer and coworkers. People love gossip chatter box away!
7) Ignore recruiters. Ignore their emails and their calls. What do recruiters know anyway? There’s no way they know what they are doing, just because they have a job, doesn’t mean they are good at it!
8) Don’t analyse the company, the team or the people you will be working with. The less you know the better. Who doesn’t love surprises anyway??
9) You job hop like a pub crawl.
10) You don’t sell yourself. You don’t care about the job and you don’t care about you. You wonder why they are even interviewing you in the first place. You were only picked out of probably 50 profiles!
11) Your biggest weakness when asked you answer “organizational skills and prioritizing” (yes, we have heard this)
12) Your resume hasn’t been modified so it’s not only outdated but you actually didn’t change the template, not even the words “place information here”
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