Are competencies part of our DNA?

by Mitch Byers :: Sunday, October 5, 2008 :: posted in Enhancing Your Career

“Competency” as defined by Richard Boyatzis, a professor of organization behavior, is “an underlying characteristic of an employee which results in effective and/or superior performance.” Lyle and Signe Spencer, in their book, Competency at Work, define competency as “an underlying characteristic that is causally related to…superior performance in a job or situation.”

Job Competencies include different types of thinking, such as Analytical, Conceptual or Strategic - together, these are the components of Critical Thinking. A superior sales person would be particularly strong in Relationship Building, Persuasion, Interpersonal Understanding, and Customer Service Orientation. In training, a superior performer would also have Persuasion skills along with a high level of Integrity and be able to Develop Others. A few more of the 24 job competencies include Organizational Awareness, Organizational Commitment, Initiative and Flexibility. 

At a recent talk at Dallas Baptist University (Frisco Campus), I was ask if “underlying characteristics” are something we learn or something that is part of our DNA. [More…]

Resource for Millennial Professionals

by Mitch Byers :: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 :: posted in Enhancing Your Career

For the growing number of Millennial professionals, there is a career resource website all about you: Employee Evolution. [More…]

Marketplace Reality: Working Harder AND Smarter

by Mitch Byers :: Sunday, July 27, 2008 :: posted in Enhancing Your Career

With all the talk of our economy sinking into recession, it is time to increase your productivity in the workplace to assure your position is secure.
Mildred Cup writes about emerging trends in the workplace. She shares recent industry research in her article, Taking On More Work Can Benefit You in Tough Times.

• 68 percent of employees say it is a good time to increase workplace responsibility - up 5 percent from last year
• 50% of employees say it is a good time to look for a new job with a higher salary - down 4 percent from last year

[More…]

Explaining Critical Thinking and Problem Solving in the Interview

by Mitch Byers :: Friday, June 20, 2008 :: posted in Interviewing to Win, Enhancing Your Career

Last week, I received a Workforce Vision publication from SHRM. I have commented on the article in several posts, but today will try to tackle one of the central concerns. The article is a wake up call regarding the shortage of specific skills that employers expect to increase in importance over the next five years. The number one expected skill shortage is Critical Thinking/Problem Solving.
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Teaching Smart People How to Learn

by Mitch Byers :: Friday, June 20, 2008 :: posted in Enhancing Your Career

A business associate recently shared, Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Argyris. Though the material was published in the Harvard Business Review back in May 1991, it still has relevance for today’s career professionals. As I was reading the article, two truths kept swirling in my mind: [More…]

Speed Interviewing: Coming to a company near you.

by Mitch Byers :: Monday, May 19, 2008 :: posted in Interviewing to Win, Selection & Hiring, News & Events, Enhancing Your Career

A recent article from Dr. John Sullivan discusses up an emerging trend – speed interviewing. Speed Interviewing takes its name from the once popular, Speed Dating. Speed Interviewing severely compresses the interviewing process. Compare cooking popcorn the old fashion way - heating up oil in a deep pan and adding a shallow layer of popcorn to today’s fast and easy microwave popcorn. The popcorn today is ready in jiffy with no mess or cleanup. Speed interviewing hopes to achieve the same results: faster and easier without all the messy protocols of a traditional interview. The slimmed down version is making inroads because [More…]

An easy way to check your life/work balance.

by Mitch Byers :: Thursday, April 17, 2008 :: posted in Enhancing Your Career

It is said that Baby Boomers live to work and that Gen Yers work to live. No matter what generation you fall into, it is always healthy to how you utilize your time in the week. There is an easy-to-use work/life calculator that factors your work hours, sleep, meal times, commute time, leisure and chores.

The calculator provides a snap shop of how you currently invest a rare commodity, your time. [More…]

Workforce Readiness: 10 Top Skills Needed by Those Entering the Workforce

by Mitch Byers :: Saturday, February 16, 2008 :: posted in Selection & Hiring, Enhancing Your Career

The Workplace Visions publication discusses the mismatch of business needs and lack of available skills of young people currently entering the workforce. The recent Society of Human Resource Management publication highlights and how this mismatch will impact the challenges on managing the emerging workforce. Their research indicates “a staggering 94% of human resource professionals do not feel that their workforce is adequately prepared to meet the future goals of their organization.”  [More…]

3 Benefits of tracking contacts and calls

by Mitch Byers :: Sunday, January 13, 2008 :: posted in Interviewing to Win, Selection & Hiring, Enhancing Your Career

People in job transition often lament that looking for a job is a full-time job. Activities such as company research, network meetings, job fairs, connecting with recruiters, meeting company insiders for coffee, scrolling the job boards and preparing for the interview keeps you moving forward towards the end goal, landing a new position. During your job transition, you will have multiple conversations with dozens of people. Part of your “full-time job” should be to organize and track each of your contacts. Tracking your job transition contacts has several benefits: [More…]

Success in Your First 90 Days

by Mitch Byers :: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 :: posted in Enhancing Your Career

I recently requested a white paper from Cox Learning Group. The company specializes in helping organizations with their employment turnover and retention issues. The “Smart Steps for Creating an Employee Retention Strategy” article had a couple of statistics that I wanted to share with job seekers.

Deloitte conducted a survey of U.S. companies and concluded:

1. It takes up to 6 months for a new employee to become assimilated into their new role
2. It takes 18 months for a new employee to become fully integrated into the company’s culture
3. It takes 24 months for the employee to understand the business and its strategy

The article later quotes [More…]

Being the Bridesmaid

by Mitch Byers :: Thursday, November 15, 2007 :: posted in Interviewing to Win, Enhancing Your Career

A friend of mine spent three months of his life engaged interviewing with a Fortune 100 company only to be told that the position was offered to an internal candidate that transferred from a downsized department. Ouch, that one stung.

Being the runner-up (brides maid) in a job search is something we all will experience in our career. It is a painful situation, but don't let it be a missed opportunity. There are several things you can do to leverage the company's investment of time in you.

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