“Please share one piece of advice that has been the most valuable for you in furthering your career and professional development. Make it your best career tip, the one that’s been most effective for you”.

I got an interesting mixture of tips ranging from work/life balance, to avoiding embarrassing mistakes, to acting like you know what you’re talking about when you’re in charge.  I worked with a lot of these people for many years and for the most part they’re pretty smart and reasonable workers so check out the tips that have served them best in their career:

Be Honorable and Decent

I have always tried to do the honorable and decent thing. I’m not sure that it has helped my career in a tangible sense, but I am glad that I have done it even if it hasn’t.

If something goes wrong, it is better to confess and fix the problem than conceal the problem. The cover-up is almost always worse than the original problem.

It is much better to deliver bad news in advance than it is to deliver it by surprise at the last minute.

Take a Deep Breath & Pause

Take a few minutes before responding to anything.  Read that email or listen to that voicemail several times before responding – especially if it is a high pressure/client sensitive situation.  The initial reaction to a message may not be what the sender intended as well as you may find an alternative message you wish to convey and if you react quickly, you may miss the point or miscommunicate.

Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Don’t put your ALL in your work, share some with your LIFE.  After being sick, it was very clear that jobs, projects, and other highly prioritized events in my life could vanish overnight.  Your family, friends, and things you enjoy should get the best time and attention you’ve got.

Learn and Record

Ask lots of questions and take lots of notes!!

Issue Management

No matter what, there are only three ways to deal with a bad situation:
1.  Talk to someone to see if you can change it;
2.  Leave the situation;
3.  If none of the above work, change your attitude.

Management Tip

When in a management position, you do not have to know the answer to everything. Be prepared to know how to get the answer.

Always Be Positive

always stay positive around your peers. a positive attitude, no matter how much you don’t like a situation, will go further is being successful, than you will ever get by following the crowd of people that bitch about how bad things are going….

Don’t Over-Worry

If you can’t control it, worrying about it is a waste of time.

Learn the Rules

Procedure, procedure, procedure!  Especially in Corporate America, you have to know how things get done.  If you don’t know, ask.  You have to know what the proper procedures are before you can know how to bend them without breaking them.  And as a programmer, you will have to bend them sooner or later.

Put Family First

Don’t sacrifice family time for more pay and responsibility at work.

If you’ve gotten something out of the series of career tips I’ve been running over the last few weeks, click here to subscribe to Money Smart Life for more money tips and advice for a better life!

Have any career advice of your own that you’d like to share with everyone? Feel free to leave your tip in the comment section below.

Career Feedback

Readers were inquiring about the results of the 360 degree feedback survey I ran when I left my job so I thought I’d share some of the responses.  A little background, I was a team lead in my last position and was responsible for a group of software developers, ranging in size from 3 – 6 people over the last several years.

Self Improvement

One of the questions I asked was, “Name and explain 3 things I need to work on professionally that would make me a better person to work with.” Here are some of the things other team leads and some of my team members think I need to improve on:

Be less tolerant of poor performance from your direct reports.
Related to above, don’t step in and ‘save’ your direct reports too often. They need to be accountable for their mistakes.

I sometimes struggle with delegation and in an effort to make each project successful I would step in and help carry the load of their projects if they were behind their due dates.  There were a few cases where projects were behind due to poor performance of team members and I should have done a better job addressing their weak points so it wouldn’t happen again in the future.

1.  Better organizational skills, his desk looks like mine
2.  Work more with junior developers to make them more self sufficient.

My desk was definitely messy : )  I need to come up with a filing system at my next job.  Going back to the first response, I let my team members lean on me too much, I should have done more to “get them out of the nest”.

The only thing I think you need to work on are verbal (speak more clearly and loudly) and written (make documents more universally readable)communication skills

I do tend to mumble when I’m thinking out loud; I need to work on my annunciation when I speak.  I’ll have to follow up on the “make documents more universally readable” point and see what they meant.  Maybe I put too much unexplained technical jargon in documents.

As my team lead and coworker I seriously have had zero issues with you but if I have to come up with something that will help you professionally, the only thing I can think of is talk slower at times, Not all of us can keep up

I mentioned that I mumble when I’m thinking out loud, I also tend to talk really fast when I’m excited or “in the zone” and solving problems.  I need to remember to take deep breaths between sentences if I feel like I’m talking too fast.

The only other thing i can thing of is showing confidence in your answers and decisions . not that you were really weak in this area, but once again, something that might need to be better developed as you move up…”

Of course being in charge means you have to make decisions, something I’m not always the best at. Some days are better than others but there were definitely times when I’d go back and forth before making a big decision about a project or issue.  I need to come up with a systematic way of analyzing decisions and gauging risk that will allow me to make faster decisions.

Feedback Results

The responses are still coming in but so far my survey has shown me areas where I can improve my communication, organization, leadership, and delegation skills.  I’ll share some of the other results later in the week.

Last Day of Work

Today was my last day at work, after working for this company for almost nine years I’m making a change and trying something new.  As I filled out my exit interview online and answered question after question about my boss, my group, and the company I realized I was providing human resources and management with a lot of useful feedback.

360 Degree Feedback

I saw an opportunity to help myself professionally so I built a short survey with SurveyGizmo and emailed it out to my managers and co-workers.  After working closely with me for many years, they knew my strengths and weaknesses well and it was a perfect chance to have them tell me what I was doing well and where I needed some work.  Getting feedback from all levels of your job hierarchy like this is sometimes known as 360 feedback:

“360-degree feedback, also known as ‘multi-rater feedback’, ‘multisource feedback’, or ‘multisource assessment’, is employee development feedback that comes from all around the employee. “360″ refers to the 360 degrees in a circle. The feedback would come from subordinates, peers, and managers in the organizational hierarchy, as well as self-assessment, and in some cases external sources such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders.”

Self Improvement Survey

Our typical review process is top-down, from our managers only, so this was a perfect chance for peers and my team members to let me know where I needed work.  I kept it short so people would have time to take it and left the answers open ended so they could write as little or as much as they wanted.  Below are the questions I asked:

1) Describe my contribution to one project where I did a great job or helped you out.  Pick one that really stands out in your mind and explain why you were impressed with my performance. Just to let you know, these are for the resume in case my next job doesn’t work out

Testimonials are wonderful things for a resume.  If you spent years successfully completing projects, don’t hesitate to ask for some documentation of your effort.

2) Name and explain 3 things I need to work on professionally that would make me a better person to work with. It could be a better employee, manager, developer, communicator. Just describe 3 things you think I do poorly or that could use improvement.

Not everyone gave three but most people gave at least one thing I could work on.  After looking through the responses, there were several things I wouldn’t have thought of that could definitely increase my value as an employee if I could improve them.

3) In your mind, what are my 3 best attributes? I’m looking for professional development feedback here so please don’t answer something like nice shoes.

It’s helpful to know what you’re good at.  Especially when you’re in an interview and they ask for the 3–5 adjectives that best describe you or what your strengths are.  Now you don’t have to think about it, your co-workers will tell you!

4) Please share one piece of advice that has been the most valuable for you in furthering your career and professional development. Make it your best career tip, the one that’s been most effective for you

Everyone has a nugget of wisdom to share that has made their work life easier or help them in getting raises and promotions.  Why not find out everyone’s “secret to success”?

On the Way Out the Door

Of course you can run a survey like this while you’re still working at a company too, the benefit to doing it when you’re leaving is that people feel more open about sharing your pros and cons since they don’t have to work with you anymore.

I also asked for their email address (non-work) as part of the survey so that I can keep my professional network growing the next time it’s time for another job change.  Of course I made the email optional so they didn’t have to share if they didn’t want to.

So next time you get a new job, make sure you find out from your peers, managers, and underlings where you can improve so you can fast track your way to success, and hopefully corresponding raises and promotions.

What Do You Like/Dislike About Your Job?

As you may know I recently found a new job and had to fill out an exit interview for my current employer, giving them feedback on my experience with the company.  As I answered questions about my boss, my group, and the work I did, I realized that I was going through an exercise in job quality improvement.   In order to attract and keep good talent, the company was reviewing the components that can make or break a job so they can do more to remain competitive in the industry.

What Can Make Your Job Better?

Then I realized that this exit interview is actually a perfect set of questions for any employee to ask themselves to help gauge how happy they are in thier job.  I’m including all 20 questions below so that you can evaluate your job.  Your answers will show where there is room for improvement. You’ll benefit from taking the time to answer these questions whether you love your job, think your job is just okay, or are already looking for a new job. 

Love Your Job
If you’re content where you are, just remember there’s always room for improvement, you can talk to your boss about any questions or concerns the survey raises.

Unhappy with Your Job
If you’re not really that happy but don’t want to look for a new job, these questions can help identify your main gripes with the work you do and figure out the main things you need to address to be happy at work.

Looking for a new job
If you’re on the job hunt, these are all things you’ll want to consider when selecting your next job.  No point in jumping from a job you hate into another that’s not so great. You could definitely use some of the topics covered in the questions as evaluation criteria in your job comparison tool.

Job Satisfaction Survey

Here they are, 20 questions that a big company asks its employees when they leave the company.  Answer them about your current job to see how happy you really are or what you should look for in your new job.  Some of the questions are worded such that they assume you’re leaving, just play along and see what you come up with.  For example, your answer to the first question, “Why are you leaving the company”, should reveal right away a high level list of all the things you don’t like about your current job.

I started off this piece by saying, “If you love your job, consider yourself lucky”, but in reality many people who work in jobs they enjoy are there because they took the time to answer questions like these and then acted on their answers.  Take the time to answer the questions below and help yourself find a job that you look forward to going to each day. I know 20 questions can be a lot to answer so I alternated the colors to keep your eyes interested : )

1) Why are you leaving the company?

2) What prompted you to look for another job? 

3) Before making the decision to leave the company, did you investigate other options that would have enabled you to stay?

4) Could anything have been done to prevent you from leaving the company? 

5) What company will you work for?

6) What type of work will you be doing?

7) In what way do you consider your new position to be different?

8 ) How would you rate your immediate manager? 

• Demonstrated fair treatment
• Provided recognition of your job performance 
• Developed cooperation and teamwork
• Was available to answer questions
• Resolved problems in a timely manner
• Provided resources/information to perform your job duties
• Communicated policies, procedures and expectations
• Provided regular, timely performance feedback
• Encouraged suggestions and new ideas 

9) What would you have done differently if you were the immediate manager?

10) How would you rate the following in your department?  

• Teamwork within the department
• Teamwork with other departments
• Communication within the department
• Communication with other departments
• On-the-job training
• Equipment provided
• Physical working conditions
• Overall morale 

11) How did your management communicate job expectations?

12) Was your workload usually?
Too Great   About Right   Too Light   Too Routine

13) Were your skills and abilities sufficiently utilized?

14) What did you think your chances for advancement were?
Good   Fair   Poor

15) What did you like most about your job or department?

16) What did you like least about your job or department?

17) What did you like the most about the company?

18) What did you like the least about the company?

19) Evaluate the following company-paid benefits:  

• Paid holidays  
• Paid floating holidays 
• Paid vacation or PTO 
• Paid sick time 
• Rate of pay
• Stock service awards program
• 401(k) plan match/profit sharing
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Long-term disability insurance
• Life insurance 

20) Evaluate the following additional benefits/services:                        

• Vision insurance 
• Voluntary life insurance/AD&D 
• Short-term disability insurance 
• Leave of absence policy 
• Wellness programs
• Educational assistance
• 401(k) plan
• Direct deposit
• Total pay card
• Internal on-line job posting  

If you do decide to leave your current job just remember to calculate the costs of a new job, carefully evaluate the new city if re-locating, plan for health insurance coverage, make sure you rollover your 401k, and give two weeks notice so you don’t burn any bridges.

This job satisfaction survey and tips on job evaluation are part of the Career Finances Guide.

Career Finances

The financial intricacies of finding a good employer can be pretty overwhelming and in some cases can be the cause for people staying in jobs that aren’t necessarily right for them.

I heard a piece on the radio a while back that talked about the history of corporate benefits and how they fit into the economic landscape of the United States.  Due to the rising cost of providing these benefits and smaller profits resulting from increased global competition, corporations are cutting back on the benefits they offer.  This leaves us employees the task of maximizing the benefits we can get from our job and learning about what we can do to cover the gaps.

Managing Job Benefits

While there are certainly things you can do to increase your salary, such as learning the company salary policy and promoting yourself you should be sure to consider all the financial aspects of the job you work in.  In the coming days we’ll be covering some of common issues and questions people encounter about benefits and finances when looking for a job.

So far we’ve covered a tool for comparing jobs, tips on determining the cost of relocation if you move for a new job, and some of the expenses of a new job that you might encounter.

Click here to stay tuned for more coverage of career finance.

My Two Weeks Notice

After almost nine years of working for the same group, I had a long talk with my boss yesterday where I gave my two weeks notice and let him know I was taking a better job for a lower salary.  Of course I didn’t word it in that way, he asked about the reasons I was leaving and I was honest yet tactful.

The main reason for exiting cordially is that you never know when you’ll need a job or a reference in the future so it’s smart to keep the relationship you built intact.  In my case it was also because I’ve become friends with my boss and many of my co-workers.  However from a purely career-centric point of view, leaving gracefully keeps your professional network intact should you need to call on it sometime down the road.

Here are a few things to consider as you leave your job for greener pastures:

Give Two Weeks Notice

In many companies you’re required to give the official notice and go through an exit interview otherwise you forfeit being paid out accrued benefits such as vacation days.  Some companies have a policy that you can’t be re-hired in the future if you don’t give proper notice before leaving.

Wrap it Up

It’s really tempting to wash your hands of everything you’ve been working on and cruise through the last two weeks but if you dump a load of work on your co-workers or boss that will be the last thing they remember about you.  If you come looking for a job or referral in the future that last bitter memory will likely be the first to pop up.

Transition Responsibility

Let people know where all the bodies are buried.  Train your co-workers on necessary tasks and document important processes.  If you don’t do this you may be getting phone calls and emails for weeks or months after you leave your job.  Plus your co-workers will really appreciate the documentation.

Manage Change

Try and avoid the sinking ship syndrome.  When someone leaves a group, especially if they’re in a leadership or key operational role, the people left behind often ask themselves whether they’ll be the last ones left on a sinking ship. 

• Why are you leaving?
• What will happen once you’re gone?
• Is the group or company in trouble?
• Will they have to work overtime to make up for your absence?
• Should they start looking for a new job as well?

These thoughts will likely go through people’s heads in a time of change but you can help calm their fears by the way you handle your exit.  Announce your departure personally to your core team, the people you work with on a daily basis, so that they hear it from you instead of the rumor mill.  Tactfully explain your reasons for leaving, don’t bad mouth the company or other co-workers.  Be ready to answer questions about transitioning responsibilities and shifting project work. 

Smile On the Way Out

Those poor suckers are still stuck working there and you’re moving on!  So smile and be friendly on the way out the door.  You can’t help but feel bad for your co-workers as you leave for bigger and better things.  If you can quit gracefully and leave as a friend it will be better off for your career in the long run.

We’ve been doing a lot of interviewing at work lately and I’ve noticed that a lot of applicants list every single job they’ve ever had on their resume, regardless of whether they’re applicable to the job they’re applying for.

Looking at it from the perspective of the candidate, I guess they’re trying to show a long steady history of work ethics and continuous employment. Some of the jobs are quite diverse which I suppose could catch a potential employer’s eye and help them stand out. 

Just listing all your past jobs isn’t such a big deal but when you give extensive detail on past (irrelevant) jobs and even discuss them in the application letter or email it seems almost a form of “resume stuffing”.  As if you don’t have all the skills necessary for the job in question so you talk at length about other qualifications.

So what do you think, from the perspective of someone doing the interviewing/hiring for a specialized job do you care that the candidate delivered pizzas in high school?  When you submit your own resume, how do you decide which details to include and which to leave off? You can share your thoughts in the comment section below.

I was a little surprised when one person sent back the form with only three or four sentences filled out.  If you have an opportunity similar to this in your job, wouldn’t you put as much detail into it as you could to create the best performance review possible?  As I mentioned, you know best all the work you’ve done and things you’ve accomplished at work so be sure to let your boss know those things when it’s time for reviews. Promote yourself to get promoted : )

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John has informed me its time for annual reviews again. I’d like to incorporate your input into the review document so please send me any information you think is relevant, ex: projects you’ve worked on, congratulatory emails, achievements, training you’ve attended, process improvements, etc.

I’ve attached the form that will be used for the appraisal so you can get a feel for what kind of information is documented. Pay particular attention to:

SECTION I
Information that would be helpful here is a list of the projects you’ve worked on/contributed to over the last year.

SECTION II
As you can see off to the right of this section is where ratings are assigned for each Goal Area.  The Results column is where specifics are entered to support the rating.  Any details you can provide on how you helped work towards those goals during your projects would be useful.

SECTION III
This is similar to SECTION II except it measures the performance factors listed rather than the goals addressed in SECTION II.  You can offer your thoughts and examples on how you performed in each of the performance factors.

One of the things that we include in the appraisal are things to work on next year so be sure to include things you’d like to learn, projects you’d like to be involved in, or things you might want to work on next year.

Feedback Optional
Although I won’t necessarily be able to incorporate all the information you send into the document, I wanted to give you the opportunity to provide your input since you’re the most familiar with all of your accomplishments.  You don’t have to send me anything if you don’t want to, it’s just a way to allow everyone to participate in the appraisal process.

1) Determine Expectations
Identify the goals for the position you have and the position you want. Find out what your boss and your company expect from you in return for your current salary and the salary you desire. Many companies have a list of expected skill sets and duties for each job.

2) Perform a Gap Analysis
Find the gap between what you do today and what needs to be done to get promoted. Using the expectations for your current and desired role, make a list of the skills and responsibilities required for the next level that that you don’t currently possess or perform.

3) Communicate Your Desires & Intentions
Schedule an hour long meeting with your boss. Bring along your list of skills and responsibilities that are needed to earn a promotion. Start off by letting your manager know that your goal is to get to the next level. Then walk through your list and come up with projects you can work on that will help you achieve a promotion.

4) Monitor & Prioritize Your Work
Compare all new work that you’re assigned or that someone asks for help with against your list of skills and responsibilities. Focus your efforts on the work that will help you meet your career goals. This might sound a bit petty or selfish but in the corporate world, you have to be your own advocate because it’s likely one else will. As you finish projects and learn new skills keep track of these accomplishments, documenting them as you go.

5) Cash In Your Chips
Once you feel you’ve achieved the items on your list setup another meeting with your boss. Don’t jump the gun. Make sure you really have mastered what is expected of you and met any timeframe requirements that were discussed in your initial meeting. Bring along a document summarizing how you achieved each goal along with examples. After delivering your spiel, ask for the promotion.

If the meeting ends with your boss agreeing you’ve earned a promotion, send them an electronic copy of your summary. Most managers have to submit some type of recommendation to their boss to secure your advancement, which requires time they often don’t have. You’ve basically written the justification for them so give them a head start and take away any reason they have to delay your promotion.

Progress Takes Time
Notice that some period of time will pass between 3 and step 5. This is where you must prove yourself competent or even extraordinary. This is the hard part, doing the actual work. The great part is if you follow these steps then you won’t feel like all the hard work is for nothing. You’re working towards a goal and your effort should pay off.

Growth Opportunities
One thing to consider at the beginning of this process is the amount of room for growth in your current environment. I started my career in a new product group that has grown from 8 to 50 people. As the product grew, there were opportunities for career advancement for its members.

If your current group does not offer much opportunity for growth it may be time to look for another job. If you follow all the steps above but there are no openings to fill then it will be tough for your manager to promote you.

Promote Yourself!
Planning and patience will help you get the promotion you deserve; ensuring your hard work does not go unnoticed or unrewarded. The best way to get promoted is to promote yourself!

1) Be Humble
No one likes a pompous ass! A recent mistake I’ve witnessed is trying to exude confidence but instead coming across as a cocky know it all. Be sure to convey your knowledge and experience but don’t turn them off by acting as though you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to your industry.

2) Be Google-Proof
The inevitable question always follows an interview, “Has anyone Googled them yet?” Don’t share anything online that you wouldn’t want a prospective boss to know. I know of several cases where a promising applicant ruined their chances of being hired by details they revealed on their website.

3) Be Honest
If you don’t know the answer to a question, just say so. If they ask you to rate yourself on certain skills, keep it real. Otherwise they’ll probe further and you’ll lose credibility once they break through the facade.

4) Know Yourself
My boss always asks some variation of the question, “What 5 words best describe you” or “What 5 words would your previous boss use to describe you.” Who do you think comes across better, someone who can list off their strengths right away or someone who stares at the wall trying to figure out how to explain who they are? Make sure you can back your up claims, read the next tip for more on this.

5) Always Know Why
An answer to a question often leads to another question. If you make a claim about yourself or your skills, make sure you can explain your answer to the interviewer. If you say “Java is the best development language hands down” but can’t come up with a reason for your opinion then you’re just full of hot air.

6) Share the Love
It’s important to figure out who the decision maker is in a group interview and sell yourself to them. However, avoid addressing all your answers and face time to them. What if you picked the wrong person? Or what if the boss will only hire based on a consensus from the team? For example, after a recent interview, our boss left it up to the three team leads whether we wanted the candidate.

7) Keep Skeletons in the Closet
Beware questions like “Describe your worst job ever” or “Tell me about a bad experience you had with a co-worker or customer and how you handled it.” Keep the answer short, to the point, and free of bad mouthing. Rambling on about your former boss or complaining about a previous co-worker puts a negative spin on things and may bring up questions in the minds of your interview panel.

Curb Appeal
Show off your skills. Provide a link to your web-based portfolio before the interview and make sure you reference it during the interview as well. You’ll have a limited amount of face time; give your prospective employer a chance to review what you’re capable of both before and after the interview.

9) Go on the Offensive
End the interview with questions of your own. In addition to answering your questions it reminds the interviewers that you’re a valuable asset who is evaluating them as well. Suddenly they are trying to sell themselves to you, not a bad way to end the interview.

10) Make a Connection
Make use of any personal details you pick up on during the interview. As you shake everyone’s hand on the way out bring up these tidbits and it will stick in their head. Wish them well with their new baby son Joshua or good luck on their upcoming project. They’ll notice your attention to detail and by human nature will appreciate the kind gesture.

There you have it, 10 tips to help you nail the interview for the job you always wanted.

For more in-depth tools and tips to help you ace the interview be sure to check out the Job Interview Success System and The Ultimate Job Interview Answers Guide.