For more from Margaret Feinberg, listen to the entire show or visit www.margaretfeinberg.com.

To jumpstart your job search and career advancement today, visit www.betterjobbetterlife.com for 7 FREE videos that will transform your career.

Get the job you want. We can help you open the door to that new office.

If the job market in your area isn’t turning around yet, consider some options that friendlier markets around the country (or even internationally) may give you.  Depending on your marketable skills and your flexibility to relocate, decide whether it is best to stay put or look for work in another place or industry.  Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are:

• Are my skills marketable and where?
• Do I need to upgrade my skills to be marketable in today’s economy?
• Is my industry or function likely to improve, or should I consider a change?
• Given my current family and housing situations, can I consider relocating for a position?
• Should I consider interim work or a contract assignment for cash flow?

If you are in a market that has improved, then you need to get out and get noticed!  Hiring usually does not expand overnight, but if the economic indicators have turned positive in your market, opportunities should be opening up.  Whether you have been out of a job or are seeking to advance, a skills and market assessment is in order for you.  There still will be plenty of competition, so preparing to differentiate yourself and your value is essential to getting the job you want .

These are just initial steps to preparing to win in a bad or improving market.  You will need to be certain you have an excellent resume that reflects your VALUE to an organization.  You need a game plan or strategy to approach the marketplace and target the right opportunities.  If you have been searching and haven’t succeeded, then an evaluation of your strategy, tool kit, and job search skills is essential.

For 7 free videos on how to get a better job for better pay and a better life, go to www.betterjobbetterlife.com.

By Sheryl Dawson

Co-author Job Search: The Total System

COO, Total Career Success

www.betterjobbetterlife.com

www.totalcareersuccess.com

You’re never too old to learn, and approaching your life and career with curiosity and a desire to learn will give you energy that will propel you forward. Commit yourself to pursuing what is new and novel and to exploring new opportunities. Your openness to both unexpected and planned opportunities that arise in your path, combined with a passion for learning and your skills and interests, will help you define and reach your goals.

Embracing opportunities to advance your career will also enable you to make an impact and add value while growing and diversifying your skills and experience. Gauche transitioned from a large corporation to the small and growing National Oilwell Varco, and although some would consider it a risky career move, Gauche’s curiosity and eagerness to pursue something new helped him to see the change as an opportunity with enormous potential and possibility.

Maximize Your Performance and Your Career Potential

Success in any career, according to Gauche and countless career experts, is less about education than about your attitude and work ethic. You will get out of your career what you put into it. Maximizing your skills will enable you to contribute to the success of your organization and help you advance your career. It will also give you a sense of personal accomplishment and empowerment. As you advance on your learning curve you achieve more compelling results. All organizations want to attract, retain and develop talented individuals who are committed to producing results and who have impacted an organization’s bottom line.

You may not end up where you had initially planned when you embarked on your career, but trusting and following your passions and embracing new opportunities can lead to remarkable career possibilities and opportunities to make a difference. You can take control of your career each day by the choices you make, by the commitment with which you learn and work and by the contributions you make along the way.

Listen to the entire show.

This interview was conducted on the Total Career Success radio show via VoiceAmerica Radio with Ken and Sheryl Dawson, principals of Total Career Success, Inc. (www.betterjobbetterlife.com) and co-authors of Job Search: The Total System.

Sheryl Dawson is CEO of Dawson Consulting Group, a talent management firm in Houston, TX, and COO of Total Career Success, Inc., a job search and career development firm offering products and services to the retail, college and university career center and professional association markets. She is co-author of Job Search: The Total System, 3rd edition available at www.betterjobbetterlife.com. She co-hosts “Total Career Success,” an internet radio show on VoiceAmerica and World Net Radio.

Throughout his early career Dr. Harrison was involved in clinical and human potential psychology. He later became interested in organizational psychology, and as he consulted with companies he began investigating assessment instruments to help facilitate his team building and coaching work. As he analyzed various instruments he found that many lacked significant psychological depth, so he decided to create his own assessments. As a result, Harrison Assessments has gained international acclaim and enjoys impressive commercial success.

Enjoyment Performance Theory

Dr. Harrison shared the ideas, methods, and theories behind his assessment instrument. The general theory that has driven the development and effectiveness of his instrument is rather simple and quite intuitive: people who enjoy their jobs are more responsive to their work situations, perform better, and possess the drive and motivation to succeed. Dr. Harrison calls this the “Enjoyment Performance Theory.” “It is counterproductive for an individual to perform in a role that does not match his or her behavioral preferences because not only the individual’s level of enjoyment and job satisfaction decreases, but so does job performance.” Dr. Harrison added that when mandatory tasks make up more than 25 percent of a position’s responsibilities for which there is a poor fit, job satisfaction and performance will often suffer. He emphasized that organizations should consider behavioral fit when they evaluate for hires and promotions and not focus exclusively on skills and eligibility. According to Dr. Harrison for optimal success, a job needs to be mostly about what you enjoy doing. Every job comprises tasks and responsibilities that can be mundane, and most positions will require us to try on different hats based on the circumstances. However, in general these conditions last for brief periods of time, and then we return to what we enjoy doing… or performance suffers.

Reliability, Validity and Consistency

Harrison Assessments‘ extensive research has developed a unique assessment instrument that produces reliable and valid results with high test/retest scores. Dr. Harrison also incorporates performance research to enhance his instrument, and in particular he focuses on the relationship between job performance and behavioral traits. Rather than abstract concepts in psychology, Harrison Assessments measures the things that people like doing and the behavioral traits related to those things. When an individual’s personal traits match with his/her job description and job requirements, that individual tends to perform exceptionally well, demonstrating a close relationship between empirical data and construct validity.

We asked Dr. Harrison if the type of stress that many people are currently experiencing due to layoffs or the fear of layoff could affect assessment feedback. He mentioned that if a person is under significant stress this may affect how they respond to questions, but since the instrument is very sensitive to inconsistencies, it will indicate that the results are not accurate or reliable. Moderate stress and other factors or conditions, however, minimally influence results because individual preferences are remarkably stable over time and do not change significantly from one situation to another.

Paradox Theory

In its simplest form the paradox theory suggests that an individual can possess and demonstrate seemingly contradictory traits simultaneously. Dr. Harrison illustrated this fascinating reality of the human psyche’s polarity with the following example:

“An individual possesses the qualities of frankness and diplomacy, two apparently antithetical behavioral traits. Most behavioral assessment instruments would score these traits on a linear scale, and eventually produce results that would reveal the individual as either a frank or a diplomatic person. In contrast, Harrison Assessments investigates just how frank an individual is compared to how diplomatic, since a person can possess both traits, or neither. The instrument compares the individual’s frankness to his/her diplomacy by measuring each trait independently and then analyzing the results together. The relationships between complementary behavioral traits are identified as part of an interconnected system, and therefore the tool reveals the complexities of the human behavior and performance to produce results of enormous value.”

Your Paradox Traits – It’s a Balancing Act

Dr. Harrison expanded on the Paradox Theory and how it reveals profound information about performance success. By understanding the complex relationship between two antithetical traits, Harrison Assessments measures the potential for stress responses. An imbalance between paradoxical traits in individuals provides a clear insight into how they will respond under stress. Dr. Harrison again employed the example of the diplomatic and frank individual to illustrate how this works:

“If an individual tends to be much more diplomatic than frank and he/she encounters a situation that requires directness or frankness, the individual will immediately withdraw or become evasive in response to what he/she perceives to be a stressful situation. Tension and stress will build so that the individual eventually flips in the opposite direction and becomes overly blunt.”

This insight allows us to see where and how our natural tendencies can benefit us and also where they may hinder us in stressful situations.

Know Your Weaknesses and Give Power to Your Strengths

The paradox concept demonstrates how our strengths and weaknesses influence each other. Dr. Harrison emphasized that when it comes to the relationship between contradictory traits, it’s really all about understanding and balancing the two. For example, if you have a strong sense of empathy, then you know that this quality’s corollary trait is permissiveness and less willingness to enforce rules. However, when you understand your weakness, you can work on developing it: in this case if enforcement is important to the performance of your job, you can develop your ability to enforce. By doing this you can actually give more strength, power, and depth to the empathy you naturally possess. How fascinating that we can actually add more value to a strength by developing and improving our weakness in a particular paradox! The additional advantage of developing balance in an imbalanced paradox is the elimination of the potential stress behavior and the enhanced flexibility in responding to a given situation and in your interactions with others.

Improving Relationships by Mastering the Paradox

Dr. Harrison also shared some of his insights on how understanding paradox and polarity in our own behavior and in those around us can help quell fears of termination and neutralize office politics. Tense situations arise because people with opposing personality traits polarize each other. For example, if your boss is frank and blunt and you are diplomatic, there will inevitably be tension between you because you are each other’s “disowned selves.” In other words, any antagonism you feel toward your boss stems from the reality that you have “disowned” the frank trait in yourself in favor of being diplomatic. To counter these tense situations, Dr. Harrison suggests knowing what your natural stress behaviors are and teaching yourself to exercise the opposite behavior in stressful situations. For example, if you tend to be more diplomatic than frank, just being a little more direct in the beginning of an interaction will significantly help that interaction to stay on track, usually avoiding the stressful situation in which the other person doesn’t respond to what you want and you need to tell them.

A Panoramic View of Career or Position Fit

While other behavioral instruments measure 10 to 20 behavioral traits, the Harrison Assessment evaluates over 150, providing a range and depth of information that is comparable to a broad picture window view of behavioral preferences vs the limited kitchen window view of many style indicators. Dr. Harrison explained that any given position, job, or work situation requires more than five, 10, or even 20 qualities because there are so many situations that elicit different behaviors. For any career or position success profile, the Harrison Assessment evaluates a set of 30 to 40 traits that influence performance. Harrison Assessments provides a comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s potential fit with careers and positions making it ideal for both career evaluation and selection for hiring and promotion.

Personal Growth and Career Selection

Individuals can use the feedback from Harrison Assessments for personal growth by investigating how one of their paradox traits has the potential to help or hinder its complementary trait and their performance. In addition, the instrument adds value to job searches and career transitions because individuals can review their report and see how their behavioral traits match with over 600 careers. This allows them to determine the degree to which they fit various roles and identify what careers will give them the greatest amount of satisfaction.

Dr. Harrison emphasized that understanding your strengths is the most important variable in the career selection process, and after completing the assessment you can begin to look at how your strengths apply to various career paths. When you really know yourself you can go through the process of researching, investigating, and gaining knowledge for suitable careers. This is a very valuable way of determining and validating your career path.

Applying the Harrison Assessment to Your Job Search

Having utilized the Harrison Assessment for many years, we have assisted clients in targeting areas of self-improvement and workplace preferences as they sought to better understand how to advance their careers and make career changes. Additionally, the instrument’s comprehensive report has helped clients compose more detailed and powerful reference letters highlighting their strengths. Finally, the instrument’s Interview Report benefits our clients by helping them prepare for behavioral questions in a job interview.

Behavioral Questions for Hiring

For organizations, the Interview Report objectifies the interview by providing behavioral questions specific to the position. For example, if an individual’s assessment reveals that he/she is enthusiastic about their goals an interviewer can probe further to learn how their goals relate to the job for which they are being interviewed.

Assessing Eligibility

Organizations can employ the Harrison Assessment as part of an online system to assess job applicants’ match to a particular position’s eligibility requirements. These questions are related to education, work experiences, and skills, as well as behavioral characteristics and tendencies. Setting up online screening systems with the Harrison Assessment allows a company to get a complete assessment of an individual applicant even before reviewing the resume. This saves companies as much as 80% of the time typically required for the selection process because it allows them to interview applicants that most closely fit the requirements without having to first sift through resumes and conduct interviews with individuals who do not match eligibility requirements.

In addition to new hires, the instrument can be applied to selection for promotion because it examines both performance and potential. When an individual is introspective and understands his/her own behavior, that individual has the opportunity to develop certain behavioral preferences, which can impact whether or not he/she receives a promotion. However, Dr. Harrison cautioned to evaluate whether the position for which you are being considered for promotion is a good fit for you.

HATS off to Talent Management and Recruitment!

The latest enhancement to Dr. Harrison’s remarkable assessment provides a comprehensive resource for applications across talent management within an organization. Called Harrison Assessments Talent Solutions (HATS) it assesses eligibility as well as suitability, both essential to evaluating appropriate job or position fit. In the recruitment module, companies are able to customize online questionnaires for potential applicants and recruits, regarding education, training and skills, experience, and work preferences for specific positions. A person within the company then evaluates the questionnaire responses in lieu of reviewing resumes to determine which candidates to interview. As the candidates go through the interview process, companies can use the Harrison Assessment to assess behavioral suitability as well. This enables a company to more effectively determine which candidate is the best fit for any given position.

In the recruitment module organizations establish job criteria and requirements in detail before evaluating candidates, providing structure to the selection and hiring process. Additionally, the module enhances the legal standing of the selection process because the job requirements the clarified and quantified in advance so that all applicants go through the exact same process. Dr. Harrison revealed that companies can integrate the recruitment module with their own automated HR systems so they can use both to screen and track applicants.

Reliable Results

HATS is designed to minimize “gaming” or manipulation of the assessment. He explained that the consistency score, which goes along with the suitability assessment, tracks repetitive cycles throughout the system and cross-references them mathematically to measure whether an individual answers consistently. For eligibility, Dr. Harrison revealed that the questions are structured to elicit multiple responses, and questions can be revisited in the interview, which minimizes manipulation.

Comprehensive and Expedient

The HATS prescreening system presents a complete set of factors to give a comprehensive picture of how a person fits a job’s behavioral / suitability and competency / eligibility requirements. This helps companies minimize the number of unqualified candidates and increase the number of qualified individuals under consideration beyond the initial screening process. The HATS position template incorporates questions about education, training/skills, and experience as well as behavioral suitability questions in order to provide the most comprehensive picture of a candidate’s potential for success in a job. Additionally, organizations can weight the various aspects of the assessment and regulate other factors to determine the optimal picture of their applicants or employees for the assessment application they need. According to Dr. Harrison, the instrument eliminates an estimated 80 percent of the administrative workload by allowing companies to deal only with individuals who fit the job requirements. Dr. Harrison called this comprehensive, inclusive picture of applicants the “job success” formula.

Self-Knowledge Leads to Career Success

The Harrison Assessment success formula has complemented Job Search: The Total System time and again. The self-knowledge that individuals in job and career transition gain from the assessment helps them better understand their strengths and learn how to apply them effectively in the right career and job situation. When they combine this knowledge with The Total System’s job search and career advancement principles they create the best opportunities for themselves.

Indeed, finding your ideal career begins with understanding yourself — your strengths, passions, behavioral preferences, interests and goals. Self knowledge helps set the course of your job transition and career advancement for optimal satisfaction and success. Dr. Harrison concluded with these powerful words of wisdom: “In terms of careers, know what you’re good at, and stick to it. Know how that applies to different jobs and keep developing your strengths. That’s the key to job and career success.”

Listen to the entire show.

This interview was conducted on the Total Career Success radio show via VoiceAmerica Radio with Ken and Sheryl Dawson, principals of Total Career Success, Inc. and co-authors of Job Search: The Total System.

Sheryl Dawson is a certified Harrison Assessment distributor and has helped organizations as well as individuals apply the assessment to their needs across the talent management applications. For additional information, contact sdawson@tcsworldwide.com.

Be a Leader in Your Job Search

In the first segment of the show Doug Gehrman shared tips on effective leadership and his experience with Job Search: The Total System. Mr. Gehrman is the former director of the MS – Human Resources Management Program at Houston Baptist University, the Managing Director for Bridge Consulting Group, and boasts years of experience in the mortgage banking and energy and petrochemical industries. He also has extensive knowledge of the human resources field, has helped companies manage change and develop leaders, and has spoken at national conferences on numerous topics ranging from knowledge management to leadership. Based on his years of observing leaders and being a leader, Mr. Gehrman thoughtfully penned Leadership for Life: Your Guide to Becoming a Transformational Leader. The book encapsulates his vision of leadership, and throughout it he demonstrates why we are all leaders and how truly transformational leadership emerges from who we are as individuals and is based on our values and inner qualities.

We first met Mr. Gehrman when he utilized Job Search: The Total System to help his employees find the best outplacement opportunities after his company restructured. We asked Mr. Gehrman to reflect on his experience and share some of his impressions of Job Search: The Total System with our listeners. He stated that he was initially struck by how richly all of the essential steps of The Total System were linked together to provide the right focus for people to find the best job. The entire framework of The Total System directs job seekers toward success by giving them the knowledge and confidence necessary to confront the challenges of a job search. He also commented that The Total System is a valuable tool for individuals looking to advance their careers because it imparts advice and encouragement for overcoming the challenges of reinventing oneself and one’s work. One of the final insights that Mr. Gehrman shared regarding Job Search: The Total System, is that the book’s value extends beyond the job search, and that The Total System philosophy can serve as a way of thinking about leadership and life. Planning, being a proactive individual, and leading and building relationships and legacies are vital elements of both a successful job search and a fulfilling life.

Mr. Gehrman also commented on how he specifically envisions the role of leadership in the context of a job search, stating that a search first begins with the positive, proactive decision to commit oneself to finding the right position. Then, having the humility to accept criticism and advice, the self-awareness to follow one’s passions, and the fortitude to do what seems intimidating, are all actions that make the individual both a successful job seeker and a leader.

It is important to consider your passions and values in your job search, especially when you evaluate potential companies. Self-assess, research the company, and ask the right questions in interviews to see if your values are in sync with the company’s. Even in a difficult economy and a challenging job market it is still important to follow your passions and conduct a job search that is true to them. If you cannot find a position in a certain sector, look at related jobs and industries and keep a positive mental attitude.

Leadership is About Taking Positive Action that Benefits Others

We later delved into an enlightening discussion of some of the highlights and themes of Mr. Gehrman’s book Leadership for Life. In the book Mr. Gehrman defines leadership broadly, stating that leadership is quite simply taking the opportunity to make a positive difference. We all have the ability to act in positive ways, and by virtue of this inherent potential for positive action, everyone is already a leader regardless of his or her position in life. We act as leaders by making conscious choices to initiate change and make a difference, and our actions often follow a pattern of what Mr. Gehrman describes as the “leadership framework.” This consists of the individual recognizing what needs to be done, understanding and taking into account external forces, and initiating a course of action. “The leadership framework is linked to every situation and action,” says Mr. Gehrman. He cites the example of an individual taking the initiative to close a classroom door in order to block noise from the hallway, and he defines that simple, seemingly insignificant action as genuine leadership. By linking leadership so closely with our everyday actions, Mr. Gehrman gives it greater ethical weight and ties it to our broader sense of purpose and desire for fulfillment in our lives.

Management vs Leadership

Mr. Gehrman’s book also addresses the importance of differentiating between management and leadership in a job setting. He defines leadership as a state of being and a way of thinking, whereas he attributes concrete skills, knowledge, and intelligence to management. Management gives direction while leadership ultimately sets direction and tone. Genuine leaders therefore possess incredible responsibility, and they must be willing to be vulnerable, admit mistakes, and accept assistance from others in order to be effective. Strong leaders also strive for greater self-understanding because they recognize that their individual backgrounds and experiences shape their visions of reality. Their deeper self-awareness allows them to see situations more objectively, which enables them to plan, strategize, and implement change most effectively.

Even the Ugly Duckling Is Perfect

In the third segment of the show we continued to discuss the nature of leadership and the values and practices of effective leaders. In his book Mr. Gehrman examines the idea of personal perfection and makes the seemingly radical claim that everyone is perfect. He explains that perfection is, by definition, a quality used to describe something that possesses the properties naturally belonging to it. This leads to his conclusion that people are perfect when they simply are who they are by nature. Mr. Gehrman emphasizes looking within ourselves and striving for excellence as valuable and effective ways of tapping into our inner leaders and learning to appreciate our own unique gifts. Just as in the story of the ugly duckling, we all find perfection and fulfillment by being who we truly are and not by fulfilling what others expect us to be. Through self-discovery, unlocking our passions, and pursuing what really matters to us we can find success. We also become more effective leaders and role models for others when we pursue lives of passion and purpose and give meaning to what we do. Mr. Gehrman refers to the Ten Heart Values in his book, which are paradigmatic personal qualities that lead to fulfillment and success. Integrity is the first and foremost quality of an effective leader, and to have integrity means to be true to our values and honest with ourselves. This will then translate to being honest with others, honoring them, and acting in their best interests.

Causes for Leadership Failure

All leaders are confronted with challenges and faced with difficult situations, and these are often defining moments in terms of one’s success or failure as a leader. Mr. Gehrman shared his insights into some of the common causes of leadership failure and how we can avoid these pitfalls. Problems often arise from a leader’s own self-deception and inability to see past personal biases or stereotypes. Inferior leaders often do what they want instead of what is best or what needs to be done, and these shortcomings prevent individuals from clearly assessing situations, determining what is in everyone’s best interest, and acting with empathy and compassion.

Leaders are Spiritually Mature

Mr. Gehrman suggests that effective leadership qualities emanate from spiritual understanding and maturity, and nearly all spiritual people place love and compassion at the epicenter of what they believe. For Mr. Gehrman, values of love and compassion instill a more profound appreciation of other people and prompt individuals to seek happy and productive lives and to live in harmony with those around them. Compassion and empathy enable individuals to remain true to others, and to their own values, interests and strengths, thus allowing them to become transformational leaders, to make valuable contributions to the world, and to lead lives of success and significance.

To listen to the interview visit the Total Career Success Archives.