Month: April 2017

What is the most important advice you could tell your younger self?

I was asked this very question by Nottingham Trent Business School students recently whilst advising on mock assessments. At first my mind went blank. Then a string of typical “management speak” phrases leapt to mind.

No Good!

Then the memory hit me.  That’s it! I realised that actually the most important thing I could tell my younger self is to have CONFIDENCE!

Yep – to believe in yourself. That simple.

Like most kids and teenagers, I was wracked with self-doubt. Am I going to get the right grades? Complete that coursework to deadline? (um… actually do the coursework!). Can I take a sickie from my dead end first job to go to an interview for my then dream job?

Of course – I don’t have a TARDIS like Doctor Who. I’m lucky to have a car that gets me from A to B on time let alone go back in time!

So – who gave my younger self confidence? For the job interview it was my Mum. She simply looked at me, all suited and booted with self-doubt oozing from every pore and just said “What have you got to lose Mary? If you go and it doesn’t work you still have a job. If you go and it goes well – you’ll have a great new job!”

And that was that really. Thank you Mum. She gave my younger self the confidence to do something different and take a chance.

I got that job and it was the best feeling – I still to this day remember walking out of the offices in Hampton Wick with the sun streaming down bouncing off the Thames and the sky that perfect cornflower blue of summer. I recall thinking “now Mary – you have to walk to the end of the road and turn right before squealing or jumping!” And that’s exactly what I did. I squealed in pure and simple delight as soon as I turned that corner in the road.

This is a true story – so if you were walking near Hampton Court bridge 25 odd years ago and recall a smartly dressed girl in red jumping up and down laughing – that was me!

I told the students this story and thought I’d share this with you.

So – believe in yourself.

You’ll be amazed what you can achieve with a bit of confidence!

 

 

After speaking to a great Finance Director I’m representing and have known for a while and on talking to attendees at a CIMA event I was a speaking at on interview techniques, a common theme emerged which I think would be a great topic for discussion on LinkedIn – Warm vs Cold approaches to the hiring process.

Professional job seekers whether experienced in accountancy, law or other disciplines have two separate types of relationship with recruitment businesses and their consultants.

Some agencies have what I’ll describe as the ‘cold’ approach. This is where most communication is via email and there is very, very little in the way of a relationship where a sense of trust and openness can develop. Any correspondence is on a very formal basis, often the candidate is made to feel one of many and any sense of their own individuality and uniqueness is pretty much lost!

The other approach is the “warm” approach. This is one I personally have always believed in. Where a consultant meets the candidate face to face and thereafter a truly professional relationship begins to develop through positive interaction over time. A sense of trust, empathy and honesty is forged where the consultant and candidate relationship morphs into an understanding on a personal, platonic as well as professional basis.

There seem to be a lot of recruitment professionals who purely look for ‘the quick win’ the ‘fast placement’ and the ‘easy fee’. What they fail to realise and easily lose sight of is that the ‘win’ as they see it is a unique and individual person with their own career aspirations, commitments and priorities entrusting their professional dreams in the hands of that recruitment professional. The ‘win’ is the SME business owner who genuinely needs a business partner to work with them, be passionate and care about their particular company – not just someone looking for any role that will do!

Instead, there is a better way and that is to emotionally engage with your candidates and clients.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

The Finance Director I mentioned at the beginning – let’s call him Andrew– is facing redundancy and for the last few months he has been looking for a new opportunity. He has family commitments and is ideally needing a role that will not involve quite so many 70 hour working weeks! He told me he’d applied through one of the online agency recruiters for a great sounding opportunity with a manufacturer in his sector for a full time position which was offering flexible working hours. Andrew said that his frustration was that every time he tried to actually speak to someone at the ‘agency’ he was fobbed off, given excuses and never, ever had the courtesy of an email or phone call acknowledging his application – let alone arranging to meet him and explore his details further.

On chatting I asked him “Agency wise, what do you as a candidate feel is the most effective approach – the personal, ‘warm’ touch like me and my team, or the email based ‘cold’ approach used by other recruitment businesses where you can’t really speak to the recruiter or have the opportunity to build a really good relationship?” I said I’ll draft something and email it to him for his thoughts and then I’ll post on LinkedIn.. he thought that would be a great idea and I thanked him for his inspiration. In life the best ideas often come from listening to others I find.

So – what do you feel?

I’d welcome comments from hiring managers, recruitment professionals as well as those of you looking for a job or who have experienced the recruitment process as such through using a recruitment consultancy. Personally ‘warm’ wins it every time for me!

I hope this provokes some good discussion and thoughts and thanks again to ‘Andrew’ – you know who you are!!

 

How you can be lucky in life and in business.

 

After driving home, the other night my mobile rang.

“Hello – is this Mary?” I heard a familiar voice say, but I couldn’t place who it was on the other line.

“Yes” I said, “Sorry who is this?”

“It’s Anne-Marie.”

Anne-Marie! I’d not spoken to her for years! We’d gone to school together, primary school, middle school and were really good friends. We lost touch when she moved and changed schools. Two weeks ago, I was randomly scrolling on Facebook and thought of her. In the moment, I thought I’d try and find her on Facebook. Doubts ebbed at the back of my mind – would she want to hear from me after all this time? Maybe she’s changed her name? Still I popped her name into a search and there she was! I sent her a friend request then thought nothing more about it. Now, here she was on the phone!

Half an hour flew by and in that time, we’d exchanged life’s happenings – marriage, divorce, kids and jobs. After arranging to meet up she said; “You have been so lucky Mary, you have your own business, a great marriage and two wonderful kids!” I paused and said “well, yes I guess I have been!”

This exchange set me thinking: – Have I really been lucky? Or have the decisions I’ve taken and choice’s I’ve made, lead me by myself to be where I am today. Has ‘Luck’ got anything to do with it or as my Dad always said, ‘you make your own luck in this life.’

The dictionary definition of luck is: –

‘Success or failure apparently brought on by chance rather than through one’s own actions.’

E.g. ‘It was just luck that the first kick went in’

Synonyms: good fortune, good luck, success, successfulness, prosperity, advantage.

1:1 Chance considered as a force that causes good or bad things to happen

Verb Informal: –

Chance to find an acquire “He lucked into a disc – jockey job”

1:2 Something regarded as bringing about or portending good or bad things. “I don’t like Friday the 13th – it’s bad luck”

 

The earliest origins of the word luck was around the late 15th Century from the then middle Dutch “luc” a form of gelucke shortened down to ‘Gluck’.

Through the ages people have done things to try and keep good luck or acquire it. Wear a lucky pendant, touch wood, refrain from walking under ladders (me!)

According to Noah Webster’s dictionary luck is a “purposeless, unpredictable and uncontrollable force that shapes events favourable or unfavourable for an individual, group or cause. The author Max Gunther defines it as “events that influence one’s life and are seemingly beyond one’s control”.

There are two senses that people use the term “luck” Prescriptive and Descriptive.

 

In the Prescriptive sense luck is supernatural and deterministic concept of forces (religious or other) that prescribe that certain events occur the way very much the laws of physics, will prescribe that certain events occur. It’s the prescriptive sense people mean when they say, “I do not believe in luck”.

In the descriptive sense, people speak of luck after events that they find fortunate or unfortunate or maybe improbable.

Cultural perceptions of luck, vary greatly them it being a matter of random chance to contributing to such explanations of faith or superstition.

The Romans believed in a goddess “Fortuna”. The philosopher Daniel Dennet believed “Luck is mere luck”. Purely down to chance, fate or kismet.

Carl Jung described luck in terms of synchronicity as “a meaningful co-incidence”.

Luck is, and probably always will be a universal concept to both celebrate success and attribute causes of failure. “I was so lucky I got that job offer!” or “I was so unlucky not to get that job!”

Throughout history philosophers and writers have universally framed luck with destiny and the result of one’s conscious actions. In chapter 25 of Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ he says: – “Fortune only rules one half of men’s fate, the other half being of their own will”. He reminds the reader that Fortune perceived as a woman, favours a strong, even violent hand and that she favours the more aggressive and bold young man than a timid elder. In other words we have the power – each and every one of us to shape, mould and carve out our destiny.

Shakespere was no stranger to Lady Fortune: “When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state”

Sonnet 29.

So back to you my reader – how does all this relate to you?

I’ll tell you.

Human beings one and all have a deep sense of self. We all have unique and amazing brains capable of great avarice, humility, love, ambition and reflection, of ourselves and of the wider world around us.

My take on luck is that in your own life, it is YOUR OWN ACTIONS AND DECISIONS that frame what you do and ultimately how successful you will be. You need to expand your horizons, step outside your comfort zone and meet new people. Learn new things. You also need to recognise opportunities when they arise and embrace them. Instead of viewing redundancy as a negative – think of it as an opportunity to look for a new job. I did. I set up my own business with my former boss after we were both made redundant!

If you have an exam/ driving test/ job interview/ presentation to give, make sure that you plan and prepare as much as possible.

‘Lucky’ people are more often than not the ones that don’t just dream about change but actually do something positive to make that dream happen. They are also people who refuse to be negative, have a strong belief in themselves and will actually work very, very hard to achieve their goals. So my friends, luck to me is what you make it!

 

Carpe Diem.

Seize the day.    EVERY DAY!

Please let me know if you have enjoyed this and have any comments!