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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Tag Archives: Job Hunt Advice

May 15, 2013 Good Writing Matters

Just as any good writer must know the subject they’re writing about, a good leader must be able to communicate well, and this includes strong writing.

You don’t need to become a novelist to write well. Whether it is an e-mail, memo, initiative, or presentation, good business writing follows these principles: clarity, succinctness and authenticity. Here are some quick and easy tips to help you write in this manner.

Write Short Sentences That Mean What They Say

Limit sentences to one idea each, only at first. It’s actually pretty hard to write a short sentence that is both clear and to the point. We tend to add words over weak sentences in an attempt to make them more professional sounding, but this usually backfires and makes us sound like we’re trying too hard. As New York Times editor Verlyn Klinkenborg puts it:

“It’s perfectly possible to make wretched short sentences. But it’s hard to go on making them because they sound so wretched and because it’s easy to fix them. Making them longer is not the way to fix them.”

You won’t need lots of big words if the core of your sentence has a strong idea. Once you feel comfortable with short and sweet, you can begin fleshing out your sentences. But only use words you know…

Use Words You Know

I encourage people to use strong action verbs on their resumes. These are words that follow the first two of our three writing principles in that they describe specific actions (clarity) with a single word (succinctness).  You may be thinking, wait, wasn’t I just told to avoid big words? Well, yes and no.

If you can use action verbs appropriately, then please use them and use them often! The trouble comes with those who use words in ways that do not make sense.

If you aren’t sure about a word, don’t use it until you look it up. Be sure to read examples of it used in a sentence.

Write In Your Own Voice

I think many miss the point that writing is an extension of our communication toolkit, and therefore an extension of ourselves. This may be due to negative experiences in school, where it seemed as if all the writing rules smothered a person’s unique voice.

Well, I’m telling you now that writing should always reflect a part of you. You must always be authentic with your words. Don’t betray yourself to big words you do not mean or big ideas you do not believe. Write what you know and what you believe. Disingenuous writing isn’t convincing and hinders real communication within an organization.

In this way, writing can be pretty empowering. You get to share your views in your unique way.

For more specific writing advice, check out my posts on resumes and cover letters.

Reference

Klinkenborg, Verlyn. Several Short Sentences about Writing. New York: Vintage Books, 2013, page 11.

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April 17, 2013 Is It The Job, Or Your Attitude?

We spend at least 40 hours a week at our job. That’s almost one third of our waking lives. So we better darn well get satisfaction from all that time and effort.

To recap on last week, Cal Newport’s book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You highlights three components that result in job satisfaction:

Autonomy – feeling like you have some control of your job, and that your actions make a difference

Competence – knowing that you are good at what you do

Relatedness – being able to connect with your coworkers

Newport contrasts these “ingredients,” as he calls them, with the pervasive belief that passions lead to success. Instead of following your passions, Newport argues that becoming very good at what you do, and knowing that it makes a difference, transforms a droll job into a rewarding career.

But let’s narrow the focus today to you and your job. Do you feel you have control of your own work? Does it make a difference? Are you valued? And can you relate with your coworkers?

Answering these honestly will give you a clue as to why you may feel dissatisfied with your work.

From here, the first thing to do is to take ownership of your skills. You can blame your job and your circumstances all you like, and you may have good reasons to do so. But this won’t change a thing. Become determined, if only for your own satisfaction, to master the skills needed to excel in your field.

There is no excuse not to work toward mastery, because no one has ever mastered anything completely. Take Jiro Ono, for instance. Widely considered the best sushi chef in the world, 85 year old Ono tirelessly pursues perfection in his craft, as depicted in the award-winning documentary, “Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.” His age and position in the culinary world don’t deter him from chasing after perfection.

So, you can always get better. While at work, take a personal inventory of areas in which you need to improve, and occupy your day with trying to master the skills your job requires. You feel better when you know that your work is valued and desired. Aim to be sought after.

Second, look at your past to boost your confidence about your present situation. Leadership coaches Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins write: “To strengthen your confidence, first face the facts. When you look to your past, you’ll realize that successes often outweigh failures. And more importantly, that you survived through the failures and gleaned priceless lessons along the way.”

Looking back puts things in perspective. You may just realize that although your present job may not be ideal (and no job is), you have it now because of your accomplishments, qualifications and perseverance leading up to where you are now. This should give you some confidence and reassurance of your decisions.

References

Newport, Cal. So Good They Can’t Ignore You. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2012.

Su, Amy Jen, and Muriel Maignan Wilkins. “To Strengthen Your Confidence, Look to Your Past.” Harvard Business Review, April 11, 2013. Accessed April 17, 2013. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/to_strengthen_your_confidence.html

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April 12, 2013 The Difference Between Skills And Passions When It Comes To A Great Job

In his book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport makes a startling observation: “When it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful advice.”

How can this be? Don’t passions lead to great careers? That’s the common thinking, but Newport found that this is actually a dangerous way to search for a rewarding career. Your passions don’t always translate well from what you’re interested in to what you do for work, for one thing. For another, how can you know what a career will be like if before you’ve tried it? An aspiring musician may be passionate about music, but can they honestly say they’ll be happy with music for a career? Of course not; after all, I don’t think any of us have ever had a job that perfectly met our initial expectations of it.

Newport isn’t saying that being passionate is a bad thing. He’s instead warning us not to put too much confidence in our passions as the sure way to a rewarding career. It’s the other way around, in fact, as he explains:  “Passion is a side effect of mastery.”

It turns out that  current research (the Self-Determination Theory) has pointed to three main components that make you more motivated in your work:

Autonomy – the feeling that your actions throughout your day matter, and that you have control over your own work

Competence – knowing that you’re good at your work

Relatedness – connection to others in your place of work

These three ingredients, according to the Self-Determination Theory, enable you to achieve mastery in your work, and from there passion and happiness will naturally result. 

That’s right: rewarding careers are created through finding, refining and pursuing your skills, not your passions.

It may take a while longer to enact this principle, but I think Mr. Newport is onto something. We too often give “passion” too much credit when it comes to finding a great job and growing in it.

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Reference:

Newport, Cal. So Good They Can’t Ignore You. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2012.

 

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