New Year, New Career Survey Results

New Year’s marks a time of change for many people – some resolve to work off those holiday pounds, or reconnect with family / friends, while others plan to return to school or transition from one career (or job) to another. In a recent survey, exploring career transition, engagement, and balance, nearly 63% of respondents indicated they were considering a career change in 2012. Some noted external factors for the change (e.g., changes to BC’s employment services contracts, retiree needing to supplement pension), which can be easier to pinpoint than the internal factors noted by respondents (e.g., not happy in their current job or seeking to move onto something else). These internal factors may require a bit more reflection to determine the underlying reason for the anticipated career change (e.g., why aren’t you happy with your current job? Why do you want to move onto something else?). Level of engagement with your current work may be one reason to explore.

The Career Engagement model demonstrates that individuals need to balance the level of challenge with available capacity (e.g., skills, resources, support from colleagues) to be fully engaged. Those who are engaged in their current career are more likely to stay and less motivated to leave. If, however, challenge and capacity are out of balance, an individual will slip into disengagement through one of two ways – becoming overwhelmed (i.e., too much challenge for the available capacity) or underutilized (i.e., insufficient challenge for the available capacity). Although both processes lead to disengagement, they require different interventions.

When considering their own engagement, 70% or more of respondents reported their available capacity and level of challenge was fairly balanced and only a small proportion felt overwhelmed in their current job (i.e., 2% completely, 7% very much). But one’s level of career engagement isn’t the only factor impacting whether or not an individual may be seeking a new career in the New Year. An imbalance between work and life commitments (e.g., a single mom needs an office with day care facilities) is another area our survey explored. The majority of respondents (54%) reported a balanced life (i.e., either completely or very much); unfortunately the remaining 46% are struggling to find balance in their lives.

So why are 63% of our respondents considering a career transition? If they are engaged and have good balance between work/life demands, it’s possible that more external factors (e.g., labour market uncertainty) are at play. The good news is that, if respondents don’t follow through with a career change, their current jobs are working well.

Of those who indicated they were considering a career change, resources most commonly utilized by respondents include: websites (51%), informational interviews (30%), courses (27%), workshops (24%), coaching (22%), and webinars (22%). A small portion (5.4%) noted that they were not using any resources – whether or not this is because they weren’t aware of any or just didn’t feel like they needed any, we don’t know.

For whatever reason, if you are looking at a career transition in the near future, consider searching the Internet for websites or reaching out to your network to find key contacts you can speak with. One resource you may want to explore is Life Strategies’ Career Strategies for a Lifetime of Success workbook which walks you through the career cycle from self-reflection to proactive career management. We’ll also be running an e-counselling workshop based on this book starting January 18^th – register here

Having a Stress-Less Christmas

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations,
compounded by December's bad weather,
it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation,
and people to whom we are worth the same.
~Donald E. Westlake

The holiday season often seems like a great time to relax and unwind. Work tends to be quieter; there is a brief pause from the morning hustle of getting kids up, ready, and off to school; and many hope to enjoy the extra days off that come with the holidays. Unfortunately, Christmas can be one of the most stressful times of the year – a quick Google search of the “stress of Christmas” resulted in over 100,000 hits! In 2010, we put together 10 Tips for Surviving the Christmas Season; with just 5 “sleeps” until Christmas morning, they are worth revisiting.

Given the stress the season can bring, it may also be important to take a moment to review some stress management strategies; HelpGuide.org has a great list that is worth reviewing.

Remember to take time to enjoy the holiday; even if you don’t celebrate Christmas it can be a great time to focus on friends, family, and the joys that life can bring.

Pre-Employment Screening in the Workplace

Most employers and job seekers are familiar with the traditional methods for screening applicants (i.e., reviewing application forms, resumes, and cover letters, as well as conducting interviews, background checks, and reference checks); however, assessments can be a valuable addition to your screening process. Pre-employment screening assessments can help employers weed out applicants that either don’t meet their standards/requirements or don’t seem to fit well within the organization.

As there are numerous screening options available, we advise employers to follow Stephen Covey’s principle: Begin with the end in mind. Once specific assessment needs are clearly identified, tools can be selected to achieve those goals. Keep in mind that assessments for entry level positions may be different from those for managerial positions. Ensure you have a qualified test administrator interpreting results – someone who’s trained in assessment techniques and is equipped to use the test(s) you’ve selected.

A word of caution – assessments should be used in conjunction with other screening methods. Don’t base hiring decisions solely on assessment results but, rather, take a holistic evaluative approach integrating information from a variety of sources. A consultant can be helpful in determining which assessment will best fit your testing needs and how to integrate results with other screening methods.

One pre-employment screening assessment that Life Strategies Ltd. is excited about is the AMITAI Integrity assessment. It’s a computerized assessment, currently widely used in Latin America, which predicts an individual’s workplace behaviours related to loyalty, theft, bribery, credibility, substance abuse, and sexual harassment. What’s particularly innovative about this assessment is that organizations can set their own weighting and norms for each scale item. What this means is that if theft is a big concern for your organization, you can give it a higher weight leading to the theft scale contributing more to the overall integrity score (similarly for any of the measured factors).

We are currently researching the validity/reliability of the AMITAI Integrity assessment in North America, on behalf of the test publisher, HRD Global Solutions Ltd. Complete the assessment yourself to enter a draw for a $100 VISA gift card – click here for details. Interested in free credits for the validated assessment? If you’re an HR professional, manager, or recruiter, refer others to us (e.g., family, friends, colleagues); receive one credit for each of your referrals who completes the assessment – click here for details.

To learn more, or to get an access code for completing the assessment, email cassie@lifestrategies.ca

Let us know if you’ve used or have been asked to complete a pre-employment screening assessment. What was your experience like?

Celebrating the holidays

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
~Oren Arnold

Christmas is coming – just 26 shopping days left. As the busyness of the season approaches we thought it timely to conduct a brief survey on ways to celebrate the holiday season at work. We received some fabulous feedback – thanks to all of you who found time to respond.

Nearly all respondents (i.e., 96.5%) indicated their organization celebrates the holidays at work; most respondents felt it was very important (59%) with 11% indicating that organizations must celebrate the holidays. Although most respondents did report that Christmas was the specific holiday celebrated, most also noted how important it was to recognize that not everyone celebrates Christmas. Suggestions for being inclusive included taking a more general focus (e.g., winter solstice) and celebrating more holidays throughout the year (e.g., Chinese New Year, Diwali, Eid-al-Adha, Hanukkah).

There were numerous ways in which organizations celebrated the holidays – the top three selected were decorating the office (80%), holiday-themed staff party (80%), and supporting a charity (71%). The Life Strategies team does some decorating but always ensures we get together for a holiday-themed event which includes our families. This year we are going on the North Pole BC tour. We also support a charity every year . . . our team has a great time buying items from the World Vision catalogue. We’ve outfitted Canadian children with backpacks for school, helped families start businesses, and stocked medical clinics. If you don’t have a charitable project in mind, help our team make a difference by shopping through our World Vision catalogue. Other charities and organizations in need of support include the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau, the YWCAs Adopt-a-Family program, or the Pan Pacific’s Annual Christmas Wish Breakfast. 

For more on the 10 ways to celebrate the holiday season at work, check out our latest tip sheet.

From all of us, at the Life Strategies team, we wish you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday season, and all the best for a healthy and prosperous 2012.

My Diversity Dream

Did you know that November is National Career Development Month in the US? As this year’s theme is “My Career Dreams,” the National Career Development Association (NCDA) held a poetry and poster contest open to students (i.e., Kindergarten through College/University). In reviewing the winning entries, the diversity of the individuals became clear; each person coming from a unique background, experiencing the world in a unique way, and expressing their career dreams just as uniquely. For example, Sarah Elder's entry showcases both Eastern and Western influences and a unique mode of expression (i.e., art).

This contest celebrated diversity and encouraged students to creatively explore their career paths. This prompted me to think about my diversity dream. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for diversity to be truly celebrated in the workplace, not just through contests aimed at students? What if diversity and multiculturalism was more than just “policy,” but actually a corporate value in action? What if employers truly recognized and supported the benefits that diversity can bring to the workplace (e.g., creative thinking and problem solving).

Although many organizations do take a strong pro-diversity stance and walk their diversity talk (see http://www.canadastop100.com/diversity/), many still struggle to successfully integrate diverse workers. My diversity dream, is for those same students who submitted entries into the NCDA contest, to be able to continue to express themselves and be permitted to bring their whole selves to work when they enter the workforce one day.

Giving Back

As we approach Remembrance Day and reflect on all that our veterans have done for us (and are still doing) it seems like a good time to focus on how we can each give back in some way . . . whether to our immediate circle of family or friends, or, in a slightly bigger way, to our community, region, country, or world. Just like a pebble dropped into a pond, the expanding ripples from even a tiny contribution can make an incredible difference.

Most of us are busy – in some circles, busy-ness is worn as a badge of honour, in others it brings sympathy, and in still others it’s abhorred. However, it really doesn’t serve as a good excuse for not finding a way to give back. You know the adage, “If you need something done, ask a busy person!”

Identifying a worthy cause isn’t much of a challenge either - local news stories, fund-raising campaigns, conversations with friends and colleagues, and personal reflection will likely surface 100 or more ways you could make our world a better place. Choosing one may be the real challenge – you can’t do it all but don’t let that stop you from doing something!

For several years now, I’ve adopted a personal philosophy of “tithing” my time as well as my income. Tithing is an ancient notion of setting aside 10% for others – in a Christian context, the money is considered to belong to God to be used to help others. Aside from churches, however, there are many organizations in Canada and abroad that rely on donations of time and money to do important work.

Statistics Canada is able to track trends of charitable donations through income tax records – only about 23% of Canadian taxfilers report making charitable donations and, sadly, that number is going down rather than up. This number, however, doesn’t represent the far larger number of Canadians who do report giving to charitable organizations (84%); it does reflect, however, that most people aren’t giving enough to be claiming their donations on their income tax forms. The Fraser Institute reported on percentage of income that Canadians donate to charity – at 0.73% it’s nowhere close to tithing (and is only about ½ of the US average). In tough economic times, giving money is challenging (the stats reflect that) – but some people find other creative ways to give back, perhaps by giving up a coffee or purchased lunch each week, carpooling to save gas, or donating empty bottles and cans to a local youth group’s fundraiser.

Giving your time, however, doesn’t need to have a negative economic impact on your personal finances. About half of Canadians 15 and older volunteer with associations or organizations (considerably less than those who give money to charities); a much larger number (84%) state that they’ve helped someone outside of their family – volunteers can offer direct support to friends and neighbours in need rather than
contributing formally through an organization.

Similar to the stats on charitable donations, though, the bulk of the volunteer hours are contributed by a small percentage of the volunteers – in fact, according to the most recent Statistics Canada report,the top 10% of volunteers contributed more than 50% of the total hours.

I personally invite you to join me in making our world a better place. Consider choosing one organization to financially support this year and one organization to support with your time. I’m confident that you will experience what most volunteers do – you’ll gain more than you give. Dag Hammerskjold, former UN Secretary General said, “You have not done enough, you have never done enough, so long as it is possible that you have something to contribute.”

Note: If you’re in the position of recruiting or motivating volunteers, you might find these tip sheets helpful, from a workshop on Volunteer Engagement that Jayne Barron and I facilitated this week:
http://www.lifestrategies.ca/docs/10-Keys-to-Volunteer-Recruitment-and-Retention.pdf
http://www.lifestrategies.ca/docs/10-Tips-to-Maximize-Volunteer-Engagement.pdf

Leadership During BC’s Business Transformation

BC’s career development sector is working its way through one of the biggest transformations in its history. A fundamental shift in service delivery and funding structure will see over 400 employment service agencies  replaced with 73 (read more at http://bit.ly/vjaJ5p, starting on page 20). As one might imagine, there is great debate about whether this means good things or bad things for our sector and, most importantly, our clients. For the moment, what appears to be certain is who will get the contracts (see the Government’s announcement at http://bit.ly/uTv2Jp). Everything else remains to be seen – the negatives and the positives.

While this is the biggest, this isn’t the first transformation of BC’s employment services I’ve witnessed in my 18+ years as a career professional. I left government services almost 10 years ago so, while I’m not immediately impacted by this transition, I’ve watched my colleagues and students struggle to identify what transformation means for their future.

 

John Kenneth Galbraith, a Canadian economist once said, “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the sense of leadership.” Most would agree that BC’s Business Transformation is a major anxiety for today’s career development sector so, as leaders, where do we begin?

While I wish there was a quick and easy answer, where to begin likely depends on where each person and/or agency is at. Some elected to not participate in the RFP process, so have likely already begun to work through a shut-down process. Others submitted proposals, or partnered to submit, so will be transitioning into the new model or planning their own shut-down process. Drawing on two of the lessons in the book Leadership Lessons for Transformational Times a good place to start might be

1. Make time for transformation – remember that change is the event and transition is the process;  each person on your team will acknowledge, accept, and move through a transition at a different pace. Give people the time they need to digest and create a vision for their future
2. Deal with the tough stuff – don’t avoid the difficult and crucial conversations that will need to occur; ensure there is an opportunity for open and honest dialogue, whenever and wherever its appropriate

Interested in the other lessons? Join our webinar on November 22, 10am; learn more at http://www.lifestrategies.ca/docs/Leadership_Webinar.pdf