Business Coaching | A-Plus Career and Resume, LLC

Working, Post COVID

May 8th, 2020

How do we deal with work-from-home post COVID? While there are people who can work from home and do so effectively, actually most are not wired to do so. Look around you at work. How many people struggle to pay attention, keep looking at their cell phones, may already dislike their work but can’t seem to move on, and/or pop up their Facebook pages and home shopping on the work computer? How many people do you see that need people interaction, not just a Chatty Kathy, but those that truly enjoy in-person communication with others? That only leaves about two out of every 10 people to work from home successfully.

Most individuals are too easily distracted, already struggle to “do work” at the workplace, are actually workaholics and being in a business environment helps control that problem, and/or need the in-person interaction of others to maintain their sanity. The COVID crisis, and so many struggling to work from home has made this quite apparent. It isn’t just about working with your spouse or children in the same room. Besides, can you really call it a home office if it is your kitchen table or couch.

I have had more than one colleague who worked from home and quit doing so due to time management, distraction and interpersonal engagement issues. Additionally, I have had numerous clients fail in a business while working from home, hate doing so for an employer, or had their spouse experience the same, because of identical issues. This doesn’t make you a bad employee – it makes you human, and a person who either wants or needs to be in a traditional work environment. Knowing that you need a conventional office atmosphere, makes you a good employee!

But Karen, we have video chat, IM’s, and email, etc. Yes, we do, and this type of technology actually means more time wasting for many employees than it ever creates. Look at those who can’t even manage their cell phone texting or emails. Understanding this fact gives us power and control, a huge benefit to our career.

Interaction, not just in the periphery, in social distancing, or via Zoom, is necessary for human beings. From hugs during tough times to just sitting close to another human being, we ARE wired to do these things! Certainly, our current environment has changed things, but this to shall pass. Precautions can be taken at work to mitigate risk and keep you safe. Admit it if you can’t really work from home, it will be of value to both your career and personal life.

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 20-50+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Coaching, Career Management, Careers, Human Resources, Life Coaching, Opinion, Talent Management
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View Challenges as Opportunities!

November 30th, 2019

Challenges and mistakes are opportunities for learning. Instead of seeing an issue, error or new software as a pain, see it as learning – an ability to expand your mind, obtain a new skill, or to ensure you don’t make the same mistake a second time. Your resistance is usually fear of the unknown, or that people will know you were inaccurate or made a misstep. Welcome to everyone’s life, as we all make mistakes and are called on to learn new things.

Start small, and chunk your learning into short blocks of time, creating far less stress and far more success. That seemingly unending maze of difficulty will become shorter and easier to tackle. Embrace anything learning/training as a chance to expand your abilities, career and life, and watch your fear disappear.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Coaching, Career Management, Career Transition, Inspiration, Job Search, Life Coaching
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The Salary Gap: What We Can Do About It

October 8th, 2019

According to an October 3rd, 2019 article in the Harvard Business Review: Closing the Gender Wealth Gap by Nicole Torres, the trend of companies to do little to nothing in closing the gender pay gap continues. “In the United States, women who work year-round earn somewhere near 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. But they only own about 32 cents for every dollar of wealth owned by men. Both of these gaps are far more acute for black and Latina women.”

This article isn’t about companies indiscriminately raising the pay of women in mass to the same as men as not all experience, education, certifications, etc., are the same. It is about analyzing where the disparities are occurring. Take one of my clients, we will call her Sara. Sara works for a Fortune 500 company, holds a coveted certification that none of the men in her department possess but is required for many in her job, has a specialized and related degree that her fellow employees lack, is the go-to for challenging clients which results in overbooking of her schedule, has a stellar set of performance reviews, and has been in this department for 15+ years (longer than most of the other employees), and yet, still gets paid $30,000 less than her counterparts. Thus, why she is working with me.

The company (including HR) doesn’t care about the inconsistency, nor does her management chain. She is just told “that is the way it is, you accepted the pay we gave you earlier” and “it was your choice to get that certification.” Really, do these particular HR and management personnel live in reality? No, they don’t, but if they analyze her pay discrepancy, they must look at all of their employees. The only thing that will force this organization to do so is a lawsuit, and it can’t be from a lone employee, it must come from many within the organization. The men in her department back her up, have asked that she be paid appropriately commensurate with her experience, skill, education and certification, and openly offered up their salaries to her for proof of the issue. These men are truly backing her up. But to no avail.

Another female client holds two certifications a large company had advertised as either “necessary or desired” in their ad, but offered her nearly $60,000 less than others in the organization without certifications. The one female employee she interviewed with stated she was embarrassed by the offer, but there was nothing she could do. The man (the manager) who interviewed her spent half the interview disparaging her experience and education, and then made her the insulting offer. Wouldn’t want to negatively impact that annual management bonus with a fairly paid employee, now would we? She turned them down. While she needed a job, she didn’t need that type of environment.

I thank my lucky stars every day that my parents taught me I could do anything I put my mind to, and to never accept discrimination of any type. My wonderful husband instills this same belief in me to this day. So, blessedly this has not happened to me, but it has happened to too many of my clients, and that is why I have three specialized employment attorneys that I provide as a referral when necessary.

What can we do to stop this, both men and women? First, awareness, by knowing it exists, and working to root it out. Second, ban the asking of prior and current salary. This is only used to discriminate in the salary offer phase against any potential employee, regardless of gender. A question of “salary desired” is more than enough to give a company the proper information about your pay requirements, while the interview, talking with references, and confirmation of credentials, if necessary, gives more context on appropriate pay rate. Third, perhaps employees should start getting together where they feel a gap exists, and talk about tenure, performance reviews and salary expectations within their company. It doesn’t mean that people must tell or show others what they are paid. However, it does mean where someone sees an imbalance, they make it known to the person negatively impacted (and this isn’t always women, sometimes it is a man). Fourth, ask for appropriate salary. Do your research and know what your industry pays. Be willing to turn down or leave a job that won’t pay appropriately. Lastly, some class action lawsuits may be necessary. As much as I hate the idea of litigation, sometimes it is the only way to get a lasting change.

Many a company around the country has been sued regarding job titles and their salary rates, resulting in compensation analysis and the awarding of back pay to employees. Some companies just change the job titles of employees so they can get away with low-paying of their staff, to potentially sell their company (this always looks good on the books), and/or hopefully avoid a lawsuit. This is something that impacts men and women, is the potential subject of another blog post, and is merely the reverse side of the same coin concerning inequitable salary. There is also some irony in my opening of an article this morning on TLNT.com, from EREMedia: Before You Decide Pay Raises, Do a Pay Fairness Audit by Kathleen McLeod Caminiti and Sarah Wieselthier.

Know your value and don’t be afraid to ask for more in the salary negotiation phase, regardless of what they offer you initially. If you don’t ask, you will never know if you could have gotten more money. Show them proof of salary research based on your true years of experience (not cobbled together, but actual length of unquestionably related experience – your biggest selling point). Use several of the free salary tools online to create a balanced report based on your industry, state and city, education/certifications/training, and years of experience. This includes what their company typically pays as is often provided via a Glassdoor.com search. If you feel lost in doing this type of task, or have difficulty identifying your true experience and value, contact a resume writer or career coach with experience in this area, who can help you.

Before you ever walk into an interview (or do a phone interview), you should understand the benefits you can bring to an organization, and know the bonus skills and experience you provide that might be of additional advantage. Do your research and find out everything you can in the interview about their culture. Get a tour of the facility, meet other employees and find out tenure rates (particularly in the department where you will work), and take your time, don’t be rushed into a decision. Any company that demands you accept or reject their job offer while sitting in the interview chair is a company that will treat you poorly. ASK QUESTIONS – never let an interviewer tell you to hold your questions until the end of the interview as you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. If you do your due diligence from the moment you start a job search, chances are, you will find a job that is satisfying, that won’t cause your heart to sink every Sunday evening, or stress you out 24/7.

In closing, money isn’t everything. If you chase it, there will never be enough. If that is all you want in your job, you will never be satisfied or happy. Besides, what we really need and what we want are often very different. You must view the whole picture, not just a part of it. Wonderful colleagues, a great boss, good benefits, a decent commute, feeling like your work makes a difference, enjoying the work you do, and being treated as a person not a “resource,” can beat a high salary any day of the week!

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 20-50+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Coaching, Career Management, Careers, Human Resources, Interviews, Job Search
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50 Shades of Privacy

September 20th, 2019

Let’s face it, we already knew our online public data was being used for targeted marketing purposes and for public search information (both paid and free). What about data analysis for your company’s use? Are you comfortable with that potential? What if that supposed “free data” was being used to determine if you were going to leave your current company? Well, the fact is, this is currently being done, and the courts are protecting it.

LinkedIn has recently been in a legal tiff with HiQ Labs, a San Francisco-based company that analyzes free data like public LinkedIn profiles to identify the potential of employees to leave a company. Here is what HiQ says about their Keeper technology:

“Keeper is the first HCM tool to offer predictive attrition insights about an organization’s employees based on publicly available data. The solution turns those attrition insights into consumable, easy-to-deploy action plans so HR and business leaders can retain their key talent.

By identifying risk early, addressing potential issues proactively, and deploying remedial actions quickly, Keeper drives immediate business impact across organizations – and provides a built-in feedback loop so you can communicate your retention win to management.”

Both organizations have great points in their arguments presented to the courts. LinkedIn discusses an expectation of privacy for their customers. Essentially, they are stating that their clients shouldn’t have their information harvested that they entrusted to LinkedIn.

I also, have zero doubt, HiQ’s intention with their Human Resources program is as stated above. It is a great idea to determine if valuable employees might be wanting to leave, and why, then take action to retain them in an organization. And their argument that they are using data in the public realm only is absolutely correct.

What is problematic is how Corporate America will really use this technology. Just as companies troll the online world for those using Monster or Indeed for a job search, or mentioning they are unhappy with their current company on Facebook, this is yet another tool to target those that might leave with downsizings, position elimination, and dismissals (often falsified to avoid paying unemployment). Is this the fault of HiQ? No. They are merely providing a service. It does however beg the question, when is enough, enough in protection of our personal data online, public or not?

There are other issues though that might not have been put forth in this legal tussle. First, how are rankings of employees made? Red, Yellow and Green are nice, but how accurate is the data; does it look at the age of the information or how long since it has been updated? What about inaccurate data online? While HiQ would not want to give away the algorithms that detect retention issues, it is scary to think you might be putting something on your LinkedIn profile or elsewhere online in the public realm that is problematic without knowing it. You could be a person that is in no way unhappy with your current job, but an algorithm could have you targeted for termination in some form. Please do not blame a company for coming up with technology to try to stop employee loss. HiQ does offer the ability to have your data eliminated from their database, which is comforting. Still, could having your info deleted from their system be an “alert” to HR that you might be looking?

So many questions, which now in the age of AI will be even more impactful regarding privacy. I suppose this article is merely a warning, to again be careful what you communicate online. To remember that nothing you put online is private, no matter what you are told. And now, to keep your information current and without opinion regarding anything job related, lest you become the focus of unwanted attention.

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 20-50+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Coaching, Career Exploration, Career Management, Career Transition, Careers, Human Resources, Interviews, Job Search, Opinion
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What is Capacity?

June 6th, 2019

I have recently gone on an interesting journey. One that was unexpected and quite enlightening. If you already know me, then it is obvious I have more certifications than I need, but I love learning. So, when I saw a new certification called Certified Capacity Coach, I was intrigued. My certs all surround resume writing, career coaching, interview coaching and assessments. What would I do with a Capacity Coaching cert, and what the heck did that mean? I will answer those questions throughout this article.

Admittedly, at first, I was a bit dubious. My coaching is definitely outcome focused and I border between coach and consultant. There is no “get the crystals out, light the candles, and sing Kum Ba Yah” in Karen. Regardless, I just dove in and gave it a shot. The first three weeks were rough, and I was still not sold. It felt a little “hippy dippy” and that was not my style at all. But when I allowed myself to see past my bias in my feelings, I discovered a very unique skillset I was about to add to my coaching.

Some things were inherent to my coaching style already, but I never thought about them as part of my “style” until this coaching class. I learned to ask myself the question “what is it like when you don’t have all the answers?” Certainly, I knew this in dealing with coaching clients and in my own life, and was willing to admit it and go looking for answers. However, I never thought about various situations where it may have led me to feel inadequate or worried as to my qualifications – or as I call it – the Imposter Syndrome. This is where my classmates came in, coaching me to see the worth in feeling those emotions, and how to leverage them with my clients. While I have never been afraid to admit to a client that I have weaknesses to bolster their trust, in my personal self-assessment, I probably made it “less than” it was or used it to bash myself depending upon the situation.

Now I am set free to say, yep, I screwed that up, and here is what I learned from it, and that is just fine. After all, mistakes aren’t there to create problems, but to teach us, expand us, and better us going forward. Giving myself more compassion in my personal life will enrich my coaching and my writing, as I am probably hardest on myself with my writing of blog posts for my own site. Meanwhile, I have truly engaged my “Controller” to clear all the clutter, both in my home/office and mind, cleaning up and clearing out excess paper and stuff. With the help of my fellow coaches I have developed a more targeted set of goals, combined with compassion that doesn’t allow the Controller in me to sabotage my forward motion, and won’t allow “fight or flight” to constrain my progress.

So, what does capacity mean? It means FREEDOM. The freedom to be more connected with clients. The freedom to be compassionate to myself and not just my clients. The freedom to always frame failure as learning. And the freedom to go after loftier goals that can actually create more capacity (or freedom) in my life. FREEDOM means peace, it means being more productive, it means more clarity, and most importantly it means a more abundant life.

Oh, and as a side note, I write articles and then make myself crazy with rewriting, rereading and sometimes not posting for months (or ever). I challenged myself to write this new post on the subject of Capacity in one morning, did so in 45 minutes, didn’t initially review it, just wrote it and sent it out to my class. I even read it back to my class as well the same day (again without reviewing). Now comes the goal of only reviewing once prior to posting on my blog. Update: I only reviewed once, a couple of months later, and posted. Freedom is a blessing!

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 20-50+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Coaching, Career Management, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Opinion
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Social Media Spammers: Why I Won’t Buy Your Stuff or Give You Free Help

May 31st, 2019

Okay, you are on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., and you are a jobseeker, need some career advice, or are a business owner. How do you develop a relationship with someone you don’t know? Well, right now the way many are trying to develop that rapport is by spamming connections the moment we accept their invite, and often with multiple “InMails” attempting to sell us something or get free career or business help.

As a business owner, and as someone who provides help to jobseekers and business owners, I am sensitive to the need to cultivate business or garner valuable networking contacts. On the other hand, no one likes the person who just wants free help or tries to get you to buy their service or product from the get-go. The issue has become so obnoxious on the business side (people wanting to sell me products or services) that I have resorted to providing a free coaching moment or a very nice refusal via the particular social media venues InMail or messaging service. Here are the two things I say, depending on the situation:

Coaching Moment Email:

I know you are anxious to build your business or career and would like to offer you a free coaching tip to help you expand your network in a way that cultivates a relationship. I truly appreciate your inquiry but will tell you that networking is always and will always be about establishing a bond with the other party first. Networking is NEVER ABOUT YOU or your needs, but the other person. It works because you are offering them something of value that has nothing to do with your work or what you want. It’s also not an item or article you or a person you are in business with created. This “value” could be a networking contact you think might be useful to them (outside of your business partnerships), a referral, tip, hint, lead, etc., to open the door to an initial conversation, and then you can approach them after a real affinity is developed, but not until then.

Linking with someone and immediately asking for referrals, business or connections without the foundation of a relationship is no different than walking up to someone on the street and asking them for any of the above. It is the rapport that builds trust and gives a person the proper context to offer help, and it is both give and take.

While I understand the reason for the InMail, many won’t be as understanding, and it could ultimately work to alienate you instead of creating a connection. Since I coach people on how to network, I wanted to share this free tip with you. I am hoping this will assist you in building a dynamic and worthy network of connections and create a true rapport with others that could lead to your next opportunity. Best wishes and many blessings, Karen Silins

Nice Refusal:

I am very happy in my current business, and love what I do, and do not desire to increase my workload at this time. I greatly appreciate your inquiry and wish you many blessings in your business. Karen

Believe it or not, most are very kind about it or don’t respond, though we remain connected. Sometimes they even reach back out to let me know they are changing their approach. However, I did recently get a response from someone saying. “I know you are a business woman!! But I would be a jerk for not sharing this!!! Can’t you afford three minutes to help your clients, etc., etc.” Hmm, snarky and unpleasant – not going to get my positive attention that way, oh, and I disconnected from you. This whole exchange started with a common ruse of “I need your help, can I get a few moments of your time” or something similar. My colleagues and myself must respond to these requests, as it could be a person wanting to discuss services or just has a very quick question that we can help them with, but too frequently it is a spammer. Nevertheless, the initial trick of needing my help is not an introduction to do business. No relationship has been developed.

Remember, the acceptance of a connection is not an tacit invitation to start asking people to help you without formation of at least an initial rapport. Immediately sending out an article, white paper, software trial, etc., that you, your friend or business upline/connection authored is not a proper way to cultivate a client either. The resource or other help you provide must always be external to what you want to sell or the advice you seek. Furthermore, the initial contact email or InMail saying you are looking to connect with “like-minded” coaches, business owners, or wanting to learn more about my business, etc., is not a relationship builder either, it’s just spam if all you want to do is sell them something.

Know that wanting help or business immediately and for free from a new contact is improper and will definitely get you uninvited/unfriended from many a social media connection. Finally, please consider that you are taking people’s valuable time when you ask them to read your marketing email or want help, but in no way want to repay them for the help. Furthermore, the supposed “I will pay you later after I get a new job or you just have to see this business venture I am offering you,” is not a payment. In most cases you are chasing away leads and losing links to others because many of my colleagues, clients and acquaintances just delete you. That is no way to run a business or a job search. Help yourself by helping others first, and be of value, it will result in your business and/or career thriving!

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 20-50+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Management, Careers, Job Search, Networking, Opinion
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A Worthy New Year’s Resolution: Invest in YOU!

December 26th, 2018

Now is the time we all make that New Year’s resolutions list. My question to you is how often list includes investing in your personal and professional development? I’m not talking about buying yourself a present or an espresso, losing weight, exercising more, or the myriad of typical resolutions. I mean true investment in your career and life? While many in the workforce claim they want this benefit from an organization they work for, when offered it is often not utilized unless companies force the issue and require training. This article is to steer you towards investing in yourself for 2019.

Just like you lose money and essentially work for free a part of each day if your company offers a 401K with a match and you do not take advantage of the “free money,” the same goes for personal and professional development. From taking a cooking or photography course to Business Writing, Microsoft Excel or Stephen Covey’s Seven Habit’s course, you gain insight into you, learn something new, expand personal or professional horizons, and, if professional development, bolster career potential, possibly preserving your job in difficult times.

So, do I follow this rule. Yes, I practice what I preach and hold 17 separate certifications, take several webcasts annually, and I am about to hold gain another certification. Do I advertise all of them? No, as many are antiquated and no longer apply, but I do certainly maintain several of them, and look to strengthen my skillset when possible with new training. Before you think, wow, she is addicted to training. I have been in business over 19 years and some of the certifications took six to eight weeks and some six months, so I don’t spend all my time obtaining them. I do however understand several things very important to coaching. One, I must realize I don’t have all the answers. Two, I must be willing to constantly challenge myself and learn new techniques, assessment types, ways of viewing a client issue, etc. Third, I must be willing to be coached and critiqued if I am to be an effective coach and writer to others. This means professional and personal development and having a coach. Soon, I will be participating in a mastermind group, and look forward to seeing how that might strengthen my business as well. Of course, that will probably prompt another article.

Where do I find the time? Well, to put it simply, I make the time, and so can you. We choose what we make time for in our lives. I will give you a couple of examples of friends who do this effectively. I have a friend who has four children, all very engaged in a variety of school and personal activities, she takes care of an elderly relative in her home, has a husband who works a great deal of overtime, works a full-time job herself, and is going to back to school to get her masters. Oh, and by the way, she is setting the grade curve in all her classes with her awesomeness. I am, needless to say, truly proud of her. Where does she get the time? She decided to make the time.

The second friend is a business woman, has two young children, a husband who runs his own successful business, is highly involved in volunteer activities, and she trains others in her business as well. Both ladies are more than full time, and both make it work because they made a decision.

We are the “excusitis” crowd in this day and age (yes, I made up the word), a multi-generational group constantly saying we don’t have time. Yet, we watch too much television, sit on iPhones and digital devices wasting hours of time, and run ourselves (and our children) ragged with excess activities we have no need to do. Whether it is just hard for you to say no to something or you are someone who simply cannot have downtime, you have created this situation! Stop saying you don’t have time for something as important as your career and personal development. Make time, it will pay huge dividends. That television show you miss, phone or digital device time you give up, or extra activity you should never have said yes to in the first place will not suffer, but if you don’t make time to improve yourself, your life and career will be impaired.

So, I ask, will you make the decision/resolution to create a little extra time in your schedule to be a better you in 2019, both in your career and personal life? To paraphrase a popular commercial – are you worth it?

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 30-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Management, Career Transition, Careers, Job Search
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Favorite Quotes to Bolster Your Job Search and Business

May 9th, 2018

“If you don’t know why you’d hire you, neither will they.” – Frank Sonnenberg

“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possible have imagined. – Johnny Carson

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

“Bad boss? Fire him/her. When you’re interviewing for a job, Your job is to interview them. You are an equal.” – Richie Norton

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.” – Mark Victor Hansen

“You have two choices in life, to accept things as they are, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” – Denis Waitley

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.” – Andrew Carnegie

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

“Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.” – Norman Vincent Peale

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Benjamin Franklin

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

Categories Business Coaching, Career Management, Careers, Inspiration, Job Search
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HAVE YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS ALREADY COME AND GONE?

February 15th, 2018

Every year we set resolutions to achieve, and most of us are already done with them by the second week of January. Below, I have given you six tips to breakthrough your struggles and make your New Year’s Resolutions, or any goals you set, stick. These tips have worked for me personally, and will help you continue to set attainable goals in the future.

1) Write them down by hand first, put a pen or pencil to paper. Writing goals down by hand helps you to clarify thoughts, makes you spend more time crafting your objectives, and offers your mind a more physical and tactile process. Typing can become mindless and discourage the creativity that physical writing can provide.

2) Make them specific. General goals such as “I want to lose weight” offer no definite goal, but a precise amount by a particular date can help you plan accordingly to meet your objective. “Exercise more” sounds wonderful, but “exercising three days a week for 30 minutes per session with a combination of cardio and stretch” is far more doable, and gives you a true goal to reach for, not just a vague aspiration.

3) Make them realistic. Losing 50 pounds in two months isn’t going to happen unless you are on “My 600 lb Life” and being treated by a doctor while adhering to a seriously strenuous diet. Setting a goal of losing five pounds per month could definitely happen, and simple dietary changes along with exercise could see that number go beyond your monthly target. Getting a job in one month is most likely unrealistic, but looking at changing or obtaining a job in the next six months gives you purpose and pragmatism in a job search.

Likewise, don’t set too many goals that will overwhelm you and cause you to give up. Try setting one goal in each area of concern. For instance, set one goal for health, one for finances, one for relationships, and one for the workplace. Four goals are more than enough to pursue concurrently, but not so many they can’t be accomplished. Remember, once you have completed a goal, you can replace it with a new one.

4) Get an accountability partner. Don’t do it alone. Tell people about your objectives who will support you and encourage you to meet your goals. Let your supporters know your specific intentions to keep you accountable. Even better, find a buddy who has a similar goal and use the opportunity to collaborate and compete.

5) Keep the goals in front of you and track progress regularly. Putting them on paper and perhaps on computer is great, but then rarely or never looking at them and not tracking your progress will eliminate all chances of success. Post them on the refrigerator, next to your home computer, put them on your smartphone, but wherever you place them, make them constantly visible with definable results you can track.

6) Reward yourself for hitting a goal. Rewards don’t have to be costly. From an outing at a new museum or garden in the area (with free admission) that you have been meaning to visit, to a dinner at a new or special restaurant with a significant other or friend, or a new out outfit to celebrate a weight loss success, having a reward can make your goals more tangible. When you know there is an incentive on the other side of an objective, something you truly want, it can spur you on to achieve it to “win the prize.”

Whatever you do, don’t give up. Just because you didn’t fully accomplish a particular goal doesn’t make it a failure. If instead of losing 30 pounds over the next six months, you only lost 20, is that really a catastrophe? 20 pounds is still a great feat, and your health will benefit. Now set a new goal to lose the last 10 pounds. It is the constant chipping away at a goal that gets you to the finish line, not a sprint, but a marathon. Taking each goal in bite-sized chunks that can be realized, instead of viewing the end goal in its entirety, will ultimately mean victory.

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 30-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Management, Careers, Inspiration, Job Search
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Communication, Communication, Communication!

November 4th, 2016

In real estate it’s all about one thing: location, location, location. In the ever changing business environment however, the mantra should be: communication, communication, communication. Those frequent business changes also necessitate flexibility in how we communicate to customers, peers, management, suppliers, and especially to our own workforce.

For those of you who are closer to the Gen-X, Baby Boomer, and Depression Era generations, we remember when communication essentially came in only three ways – written/print, phone, or in-person. Now we have mobile/digital devices, texting and texting language, increased job jargon (just think of IT), faxes (yes, those are still used), email, IM, social media, blogs, online forums, and of course, traditional written/print, phone, or in-person.

Excellence in communication skills is a must at all levels. We can no longer accept change-paralysis in the exposure and mastery of new devices, communication methods, and sometimes the new words and acronyms that come with a job. Our employees should feel comfortable, and knowledgeable in their business interactions, and that means providing more training to our staff.

Every organization should either hold classes internally or send management and employees to external training to ensure their workforce has instruction in, and builds confidence in business communication skills. Training should include courses in business writing, digital device utilization, how to write an effective email, job-related lingo, business-related text language and abbreviations, and how to maintain professionalism in business and personal social media and online forum postings.

Yes, I said personal and professional. Having the discernment as to the suitability of language used in both professional and personal postings has led to many an excellent personal brand and career advancement. When that judgment has been absent, many a career and brand have been seriously injured or destroyed.

Unfortunately many schools aren’t really teaching the difference between casual language and the more formal business language utilized in corporate America. Awareness and appropriateness of communication can also be lacking, particularly when it comes to abbreviated messaging in texts, IM’s and social media posts. With so much potential for misunderstanding and broken internal and external business relationships, it is up to companies to ensure their workforce recognizes the difference and uses the language of work, in all of their professional interactions.

From problem solving and conflict management to traversing everyday business dealings, good communication skills are vital for every employee. Let’s make sure our employees and management are trained properly for both organizational and personal benefit!

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 50-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Categories Business Coaching, Career Management, Human Resources, Personal Branding
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