Accelerate Your Search™ Now

Coaching or preparing to fire, which is it?

I got a call from someone who had attended one of my presentations several months ago.  He said he landed a job after 50 weeks of searching and had been on the job about 30 days.  His question, “Am I destined to fail in this job and should I quit now and I start a new job search?”

Hearing fear in his voice, I ask what had just happened.  He shared that in 20+ years of work he had never been coached on his performance until that morning. His new boss sat down with him to discuss his performance during the first 30 days.  His reaction was that he was destined to fail and that his “30 something boss” did not like him because of his age and experience and he wanted to know if he should go in the next day and quit.

WOW!  The company he joined had high standards.  He was told during the interview that the boss would review his performance and goals monthly.  His attitude was he had heard that before, it had never happened.  He viewed this experience in a very negative light and wanted to quit rather than be fired.

As the severe recession ends and companies rush to hire they may relax their hiring criteria, but not their standards.  They may also hire rookies without industry experience and train them.  Not at all a bad thing, everyone does their best to consistently hire talent with the skills to do the job, and who fit into the culture of the organization but no one bats a 1000 all the time.  In my view, a 30- day check in is great for all and a win-win.

One bad hire can cost a department or a company big time, in profits, morale, etc.  As this gentleman noted in over 20+ years, no one had discussed his performance with him.  Was his new boss doing the right thing?

How do you feel when someone agrees to a meeting with you to review progress, and offers input on areas that require improvement?

Many people work for 90 days or a probation period without the personal awareness to ask about their performance or a boss who trains, coaches and is interested in their performance or its improvement.  The result the job does not continue and they don’t have a clear understanding of why they didn’t make it.

What advice would you offer?  Should he quit?

What would you do?

For years I have been helping job seekers tell their story in a clear manner.  At some point almost all job seekers figure out the importance of being able to tell potential employers their story, and to respond to “tell me about yourself” in a clear and authentic manner. 

In today’s world managing your personal brand online and offline is not just a good idea, but a requirement.  If you are serious about your career, your job search and your reputation you not only need to be able to tell your story in person in a clear, consistent manner to be known, liked, trusted and hired, you must also be able to tell your story online.

Your online presence, and your online your identity will tell a story.  You can either manage your online presence and your online identity to tell your story or you can allow search engines and maybe others to cobble together information about you.

If you are still sitting on the fence, hoping those around you are wrong about all “the buzz” about social media, or if you still think social media and an online presence is just for tech savvy professionals and not for you, for those in your industry or professional – think again!

There was a time you could elect not to have an online presence, I believe that time has passed. Not having a strategy for an online presence may be very costly.  So maybe you will be lucky and find a job before you need to worry about your online profile, or online identity or maybe not. Stop making excuses and think of the benefits of offering your story.

A solid personal story communicated via your online presence offers a consistent message to help you grab the attention of your audience.  It defines who you are, and what you have to offer with the right amount of history and detail about the value and impact your can offer without choking the reader’s interest with unwanted or surplus details. 

Telling your story well helps your create an emotional connection.  It can be the first step in helping someone, get to know you, and like you.  Once someone has knowledge of you, and finds you likable, you are on your way to creating a foundation for trust.  All lasting relationships are built on a solid foundation of know, like and trust. 

You can overcome first impressions, and the cobbled together story search engines may tell about you, but at what cost?  Do you have time to do that?   Do you want to do that?

In most cases it really comes down to “pay now, or pay later”.  Do you want to invest time and energy now, to be prepared, to establish your brand, and take time to building your online presence now or later?  Do you want to set yourself up to be known, liked, and trusted?  Then spend a little time and energy each week managing your brand, and your online presence, or do you want to take your chances and invest later. 

What are the costs the missed opportunities and that you need to overcome a poor first impression?  Maybe you believe the cost will go down over time!  That has not been my experience neither the experience of most of the people I know.

Everyone has a personal brand and an online identity.  Is your story helping your online presence?  Does it help you accelerate your search?   If not, what are you doing about it?

Last week Dan Schawbel captured the just of Google Buzz and provided four simple steps to begin to use Google Buzz, check out his post 4 Step Personal Branding With Google Buzz .  It is important to have a basic understanding of the many tools available to help you assemble your online presence and build relationships.

How are you communicating the value you add to the world and your future employer?

Being visible and helping those you want to reach find you is not only critical in a job search it is a requirement to accelerate your career.

What are the best tools for you to use?