The BAD boss

Sometimes, we all need a wake up call. If you are a boss or a manager leading a group of employees, read on to find out if any points are of relevance to you. If there are, you had better change it.

So many of the times, while talking to candidates moving from one company to another – it is obvious that management plays a big part in attracting as well as retaining employees.

Disrespectful Bosses

Being of a managerial level does not make you superior. Your title does not give you the superiority status, and if you want people to respect you – you just have got to earn their respect. If you think having the title make you superior, then you obviously do not deserve the title. 

Everyone is working really to get paid and are not begging you to get employment so everyone in the company, regardless of title deserves the fair share amount of respect. If you respect your bosses more than your colleagues, then you should also be doing your fair share of reflection.

This includes your inappropriate humour as well, about your other colleagues. Be sure to check with them on whether they are affected by your jokes about them.

Unreceptive Bosses

If you think your suggestions are the brightest and most feasible, and other suggestions provided by others have their shortcomings and you are their harshest critics, you might want to think again.

Besides, it can be quite annoying when you keep boasting about how you have climbed the hierarchy and you might appear stupid when people question how feasible your suggestions really are.

Micro managers AND Lazy Bosses

The reasons why we dislike bosses who micro manage are self-explanatory. But what is worse is not a micro manager but a lazy boss who always pushes the blame to employees when certain tasks and responsibilities are not done well, when it should have been his duty to oversee things.

Bad role models

Ever had a boss who stress the importance of punctuality, but is always late? Why should I be early, when you are always late too. Why should you be expecting things on people when you are unable to fulfil the requirement? If the policy is important, should you not advocate this yourself?

Job Search Can be Difficult

Job search is never an easy task and I have encountered it personally. There are many factors how you want your next role to be and what you are looking for. It can be difficult if the market is facing recession. You will see lesser job opportunities and yet somehow or the other, the number of applicant vying for the same role seems to increase.

One of the challenges that you might have to go through is that especially if you are moving up the corporate ladder or even changing different industries. You will lose out to the industry experts and this is not all. Being turned up during interviews can be disappointing, but always stay positive. There are factors to why – losing out to candidate who has more relevant experiences could be one of them.

In Singapore, more fresh graduates are facing the difficulties, but keep your expectations in check. Find out the reasons why you are not shortlisted. Financial crisis and economy downfall are just part of the market movements, but what is more important is how we react to the situations and face it. Never demand for what you think you deserve but what you want to pick up and learn from the companies and industries. You might even bloom and fly higher when the economy picks up.

Job requirement varies

It might be a hassle changing industries during your career switch but if you are all for it, press on! It might not seem easy but there will sure be companies who are out there looking for incumbents from different industries, so as to inject different mindsets for the growth of the processes and operations.

Different industries and cultures can be really different but if the companies are interested to bring you on board, that is because they’d want to ‘think out of the box’ in terms of processes. For instance, one in a manufacturing could be working on work processes and chasing numbers to support operational requirements, but one in the advertising industry will have to deliver creatives and introduce fun.

Don’t get upset by the process

It’s always the case that you have submitted your resume and all necessary details, yet companies still require you to go through the process to fill in the application form. I have seen one which is nearly 10-page long. It took me more than 30 minutes to fill them up.

There are also times when you don’t get feedback after the interviews. I think it is basic courtesy and respect for the applicants. Recruiters should inform the applicants so that you do not keep them waiting.

In any case, part of the time you will have to manage your expectations to accept such silence and search process. You can always follow-up with the respective recruiters. Stay positive – you never know if these interview processes will help you in future.

3 Recognition Rocks For Better Team Building

When it comes to building a solid team within the company, there are many factors to consider. For a start, people from different backgrounds are often thrown together in the office. It takes time for them to get used to each other and work with the vastly distinct personalities and skillsets belonging to each employee. The only thing that unifies them is their work. In order to get everyone to form meaningful and productive relationships within their working hours, it starts from the top.

One of the best ways to unite the company is to establish certain recognition rocks. Employees are always looking to be recognised for doing good jobs. It not only encourages them to perform future tasks with equal or more zest, but also creates an atmosphere of appreciation that will improve the working environment. In this case, prioritising recognition as one of the team building tools become crucial as it effectively reinforces positivity and motivation. Here are three recognition rocks that can be easily integrated into the company system to highlight that, at the end of the day, the higher management cares.

START AN EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH AWARD

The day to day interactions between employees are important for finding top candidates within the company, as they not only have to be good at their work, but also their interpersonal skills. It is not enough to be armed with technical skills in today’s workforce, as great leaders often show a good balance between the two. Having monthly awards will encourage the office to get to know each other better, and act as a tangible channel to appreciate the tasks or favours other colleagues do for them. It will also pick out certain features that a company is looking for in their upcoming leadership roles, allowing it to be conducive for future incentives.

SEND THANK YOU NOTES DURING LENGTHY DAYS

It does not take a lot for one to say “Thank you”, but it is also possible to concretise it with a simple handwritten note that will remind the employees that their efforts are appreciated. There will be some days when the workload gets overwhelming and the employees have to put in extra time to complete the projects. Sure, they are working on a payroll, but the quality of the work can greatly differ if they are enthusiastic about it. Nothing perks up a long day like a personalised note to say that their efforts are recognised and valued.

MAKE SURE THE PRAISE GETS TO THE EMPLOYEES

If there is a job that is done exceptionally well, it will be nice to acknowledge the actual group of employees behind the work. Too often, praise from upper management gets lost within the offices or stops at the higher management level, and the employees never really get a chance to feel properly valued from their superiors. Such comments can be powerful tools to encourage the employees. If there is a positive remark, consider repeating or passing it on, or even forwarding a simple email from the relevant people will do. It also helps to bridge the gap between departments and brings the company together as a whole.

The Customized Employee Solution

It has been a well-known fact that many factors affect employee retention. Generally, what an employee experience could be the deciding factor if he should or should not stay. The optimal way to improve employee experience is to provide the customized employee solution, based on the different needs and preferences of the individual employee.

Create a career planning for each individual employee

What is that that employees have chosen to work in your organization and what are they looking for, going forward upon joining? It is common for one to think that career advancements are one of the more prominent reasons, and this should be accounted for by having a career planning for each individual employee. Career planning need not be a vertical climb, but sometimes lateral growth is deemed to be more important to employees, who are seeking for more exposure.

The career planning should be properly documented, where the plan aims to motivate and employee employees. Companies, with a clear and proper documentation with regards to their career planning and have a proper communication with regards to their goals are more likely to stay in the company.

Employee Recognition and Feedback

I am sure you have come across companies who allow you to just work tirelessly and when you realize that what you do becomes very routine and mundane. This is important for employers to recognize that people wants to understand how well or how poorly they are doing. If your employees are not performing as expected, you should also have an aligned action plan to allow them to understand what they can do to improve themselves. Employee feedback should also not be done on an annual basis, but a very regular one so to ensure employees are aware that they have an impact in the organization.

The reward system implemented should also be fair in giving out to those who have earned their rewards. Companies should also be offering different rewards to meet different needs of individual employees. Rewards given should also be properly communicated so other employees are able to give the recognition as well. The company’s culture would also be to celebrate employee’s success.

Getting to know your employees on a personal level

Knowing your employees on a private level, would make them have a sense of belonging. It gives them on a deeper impression than their employers care about how the feel or what is going on in their personal lives. The friendship developed, would also cause any long-standing employee to reconsider when thinking of moving on to greener pastures.

How you can respond to job advertisements

There are countless websites that offer job listings, and it is true that many of them offer attractive posts and salaries. However, there are also a ton of people competing with each other to get noticed by said companies. While there is no specific way to reply to a job advertisement, how can one be sure if the tone or language is appropriate to create a good first impression? It is important to note that these companies usually go through their list without properly looking at the resumes, so the reply itself is quite crucial in continuing the conversation.

Long gone are the days of scanning through newspapers, or relying on relatives to refer over their companies for jobs. It is true that the convenience of having all these job opportunities at your fingertips can be quite daunting, and one can make many minute errors without noticing it. However, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The usual practice is to reply to their advertisements with a quick email, but there are certain ways that can bump a candidate up and help get their foot into the door faster.

BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

After giving a succinct introduction, jump right into what you are expecting from the company. Be sure to list helpful information such as salary expectations and working hours, so that they can also determine if you can a suitable fit for the company’s requirements. This will also help them to filter out potential candidates faster, and save on the extra logistical emails requesting the aforementioned information. Otherwise, if they did not list out what they are looking for in candidates exactly, offer to give a brief description of your credentials and what you can do for the company. 

AVOID SPELLING AND GRAMMAR ERRORS

Always double check, even triple check, the quality of the replies before sending it out to the companies. This is because once the reply is in the email outbox, it cannot be edited or retracted. As mentioned, such replies are paramount in creating good first impressions, and spelling and/or grammar mistakes are a huge warning sign for the recruiters to skip over your reply. There are multiple online tools that can help vet spelling errors and even grammar blunders, so be sure to put them to good use before hitting that send button.

INCLUDE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION

If the format of the reply does not allow you to include your resume, then either consider including a short blurb of your skillset in your reply itself, or take the initiative to offer to send over the resume via another channel. For example, leave your contact details for them to contact you and lead with something like, “I would be more than happy to send over my resume. Let me know who I can contact for this.” It opens up a conversation with them and encourages them to contact you in order to find out more, just be sure to follow up!

Improve Your Social Resume

Technology plays a major role in our lives, so it is essentially, even critical, to use it as a tool to complement our offline activities. While having a proper paper resume is key, recruiters are increasingly going the extra mile to determine if an individual is a right fit for the company based on their social resume.

Social resume is a combination of online profiles under an individual’s moniker, and can consist of multiple platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Depending on the privacy settings, it is easy to find out and determine the personalities behind such profiles with a few clicks. It helps to put a face to the cover letter, and without even having an actual interview, filter out the candidates from their online lifestyle. Whether the employer is looking to headhunt or confirm credentials, one can definitely benefit from having a strong and positive online presence from these tips.

STEER AWAY FROM CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS

While many of us like to separate our personal and working lives, it is easy to mix both of them once they are online. Any public information shared on social networking platforms becomes accessible by anyone, and can paint a whole different picture of the candidate. Although the skill set requirement is met, sharing or posting about such negative practices may be a huge disadvantage. Generally, recruiters dislike behavior that deal with illegal drugs, sexual content, spelling errors, and regular alcohol consumption. If this is part of an individual’s lifestyle, consider a private profile because it can also negatively affect the company’s brand image in the long run.

BE CREATIVE WITH INFORMATION PRESENTATION

There is an information overload online, and one of the ways to beat this is to present such important information creatively. This can help to narrow down the information to focus on certain core aspects or skills, and leaves the employer with a good impression. One of the ways to achieve is to go the extra mile and design your resume, such as presenting the information in pie charts or a landscape graph. These help to form an information landscape that is readily accessible by the recruiters. Another way is to alter the content to suit each company specifically, so that it becomes an unique appeal and memorable design to get into their good books.

HAVE A PROFESSIONAL ONLINE AVATAR OR PROFILE PICTURE

It goes without saying that a good photograph can make all the difference with the attention and likes, but maintaining a professional online avatar or profile image is equally as important, especially for individuals looking to make a good first impression. Photographs with skimpy outfits or questionable activities should generally be avoided as it can cloud the potential of the resume. Instead, consider investing in a professional business photoshoot so that your best appearance is put forward for the company's’ consideration. Other than having proper business attire, a good smile and strong posture will help to convey the individual’s suitability with the company.

Bored of Work – Finding New Excitement

After a few years on the job and that you thought that you have mastered the skills required and that you are doing the same old work every day... Sometimes, the itchiness in you just tell you to move on and find more challenges, something that’s more “exciting” and “better”.

Sit down and really think – you achieve a level of trust with your bosses and colleagues and maintain certain flexibility at work – in terms of schedule and project timeline with colleagues. Imagine stepping into a new environment and having to build relationship and understand the culture and working styles all over again… well, some call that challenges. However, I thought challenges and excitement can be found elsewhere.

PARTICIPATE IN VOLUNTARY WORKS

Here you are, with neighborhood or surroundings with people who are the less fortunate. Don’t let our free time run wild. Use this time to return to the society. Look out for the causes that you feel you can relateand that you do not seek favors in return. Be sure to attend voluntary works with heart to help others or expect nothing in return.

You will get to meet more people, and feel the warmth of the society and people who are going around with you. While you may find slight unhappiness and boredom at work, see the faces of the people you are helping, they will let you forget about unhappiness and you will be looking forward to seeing them for each cause or project you’re supporting.

GO FOR VACATIONS

You have your annual leave to consume yearly. I’m not telling you to use your annual leave all on vacations, but one or two vacations will be sufficient. Go for one that you leave your work behind totally – emails and business calls out of reach. Leave your work to your deputy in-charge or even your covering colleague. Have the trust and confidence that they’ll be following up with your work closely.

Honestly, there will never a “good” time to go for vacations. Every boss will tell you that they need you to be around. I’m sure your boss said that because you have been the person he/she has been relying on but when you start your break, they will respect your absence from work. Come on, he knows it – he yearns for the break too!

DO SOME SMALL SIDELINE

Start a new mini project out of office time. May not be the challenging and big money making project but it’s okay… do a really small one. For instance, picking up a small sale business like selling things off Carousell or assisting wedding photography. Things that are totally unrelated to your office-hour job.

Look, your current job is giving you a stable income and peaceful environment to pick up new skills (with more income)

How to deal with negative colleagues?

Experiencing negativity in the workplace can be challenging. It can become distracting and pull focus away from goals and responsibilities, or create so much drama in its wake that the whole working environment becomes toxic. Other than avoiding these toxic colleagues completely, is there anything else that can be done? There are situations when different people have to work together and it can be mutually harmful if such negativity isn’t handled appropriately and professionally.

EMBRACE POSITIVITY AND ENCOURAGE IT IN OTHERS

We all know the mean-spirited and highly-competitive colleagues can be the trickiest to work with, especially when they are constantly putting people down in order to feel better about the job at hand. The way to counter this is not to have a difficult and awkward confrontation, but instead channel good thoughts and embrace positivity in the self. Remember that not everyone has the same perspectives or opinions, so there is never any singular right answer to a problem. The workplace is for people to learn and grow together, so just be positive.

BE FIRM IN DRAWING PERSONAL BOUNDARIES

Put a feet down if things get too hard between conversations with these people. If their negativity is affecting the job, then one has to be firm and draw boundaries as to how much of this negativity can be allowed in the workplace. Do not allow it to become personal as it will further complicate things and let the matter live on for longer than appropriate. If one can keep cool, calm and sitting down, then the problem will only limit itself to the professional space and be dealt with properly.

POWER CHECK YOURSELF TO KEEP EVERYTHING IN ORDER

One of the most common traits of negative people is their constant habit of doubting everyone’s abilities. This will cause people to overthink their work choices and delay decisions, resulting in tardiness or excuses about work that cannot be completed with confidence. The fact is that everyone has complete power over themselves and how they react to negativity, so as long as the individual is collected and believes in himself or herself, all decisions ultimately weigh and matter only to the self.