Career Miners

01/10/2017

Happy to our great country Nigeria! A land so rich in culture and resources. God bless Nigeria!

12/07/2017

03/05/2017

Rules of the Workplace

Happy New Month and Happy Workers Day to You all!

As we begin another week at work after being celebrated nationally, it is just great that we know the essence of work, the opportunities available and what is expected from us as individuals.

* Work is an Opportunity:
The essence of the work place is work. The world revolves around work and work is what distinguishes men and women on the earth. Work is the key to reward. Work is a not a right or something you can lay claim to by inheritance.

It is an opportunity and it should be treated as a privilege. It is an opportunity to impact, produce, impress and offer value. Several thousand covet the work opportunity you have and if you do not make the most of it, they will be glad to do a better job.

Competition is the language of the free society and if you don’t work on yourself to maximize the opportunity of work, the workplace might just work against you. So, when nest you get set to work, think of how you can use the opportunity maximally and to your advantage.

*Time is a Measuring Tool:

Life is expressed in time and so is work! Right from when you resume, how long you go on break, when you close, how much time it takes for you to settle in, judgment is made about you based on time. Probation usually takes 6 Months. You generally don’t have the time in the world.

Managing one’s self, emotions, assignments and deliverables is key to making the most of time. A smartphone, a diary and a personal organizer can enhance your ability to manage yourself and setting the tone to managing time more efficiently. Speed is one of the languages of the 21st century.
Planning is very essential for you to accomplish and execute tasks. Hence, you must always plan ahead of time what your day, week and month at work should look like.

Organizations are looking for faster, smarter ways to get things done. Those who refuse to adjust to this reality are late, just not on time and will be left behind.

*Team Work Does the Dream Work:

A team is a group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to achieve a common purpose. Becoming skilled at doing more with others may be the only single most important thing that increases your value.

One of the greatest 21st century skills is ability to work and perform well with people (teams). Organizations are building work and projects around people who can use their complementary skills to get results. No man is an island and can work in isolation as everyone has to work together to achieve a common goal.

Hence, team building is essential for every individual willing to succeed in the world of work. Whether you are a contributor, collaborator, communicator or challenger, one thing is sure; you must be a team player able to work with people to achieve set targets and goals in the workplace.

You must build skills on how to work with people and rapport with co-workers no matter how and who they are just to get the job done.

*Performance is Transparent:

Gone are those days when people are paid for a job not done or under paid for a job well done. Organizations spend a lot of money on down time, low performers and incompetent workers.

In today’s world of work, performance is as transparent as a glass house. In today’s world it is all about the language of performance! Technology has enabled various performance based management tools to evaluate and measure performance. Rewards are tied to performance at the workplace. Hence, your net worth is determined by your net work. Hmmm!

Therefore, there is no longer an excuse not to put in your best and get the job done. It is not only about doing your best for the job, but also improving and developing yourself. How? If you strive to be better at what you do every day at work and pursue excellence and great performance, it builds your own capacity as an individual and improves your skills. On the long run, you turn out a better skilled person with transferable skills even when you leave the organization

So when next you think of why you need to perform high and pursue excellence at what you do, think of it as an investment into yourself for the future.

I live and work by these rules and they have propelled me to greater heights and are still doing same every time.

Thus, when next you settle down to work, please ponder on these things and let them shape your behavior to work!

Happy Workers Day once again!

Have a great month ahead!!!

04/03/2017

Hi Guys!

Digital connectivity and exposure is the norm in today’s social world. I enjoyed speaking on how social media has changed the world of work and ways an individual can leverage social media to advance their careers. It was awesome and engaging.

Just in case you missed it, here's the summary of the tweets at the tweet chat event! Kindly log on so you can be informed and advance your career too.

https://storify.com/annerezi8/leveraging-social-media-for-career-advancement

Summary tweets of my tweet chat held with and community!!! Courtesy: Mara Jobs.

05/01/2017

Happy New Year CM Community!

The much anticipated New Year is here! Trust we weren't too excited to have forgotten the main aspect of what a new year brings. What did we do to prepare for it? Did we Plan?

What is Your *PDP* for 2017?

Your *PDP* is Your *Personal Development Plans*. 😃😃😃

Your *PDP* must be a *Detailed, Well-Structured, Articulated and Written Plan* that will demand your *loyalty and commitment*.

Your *PDP Guide* must include the following:

1. *Building Spiritual Capacity* (Moving from Just *Relationship* to Quality *Fellowship* with Your *God*)

2. *Inspirational And Motivational Books* to *Read* in 2017 (weekly, monthly or quarterly)

3. *Professional And Career Development* Seminars, Conferences or Workshops to attend. (either *Paid or Free*)

4. *Mentors and Coaches* you must *connect* with in 2017, that will *add great value* to your life and work.

5. *Relevant/Additional Skills* to *Develop* or *Sharpen* to enhance your ability to *SERVE* people and *EARN* more.

6. *Events, Places, Cities And Nations* To *Visit* for personal *relaxation, receation and education*.

7. *Networks or Associations* to join, that will serve as *leverages* for *opportunities* and *connections* (online or offline)

8. What *Products or/and Services* will you be creating in 2017 to multiply *IMPACT* and increase *INCOME*.

9. *Negative Relationships or Friendships* to cut off (that *drains personal energy*)

10. *Wise and Intelligent Investments* to *undertake* in 2017.

11. *Negative Habits, Attitudes and Behaviours* to *confront* and *conquer*.

12. *Positive Habits, Attitudes and Behaviours* to *cultivate* in 2017.

Let Your *Plans* Begin Now!!!

30/12/2016

Hello CM community,

It has been an amazing year with you and it has been a pleasure trying to help people find purpose, build successful careers and connect them to job opportunities.

As you and your family celebrate this season, may the joy of this season dwell in you and your family richly.

Looking forward to a glorious and more fulfilled 2017 with you all.

We the Team at CareerMiners wishes you a very Merry Christmas!

01/12/2016

Thinking of becoming a professional? Why not try out these 10 great tips. Remember, practice makes perfect!

30/11/2016

A vision is a picture of a better future! So what's your vision?

30/11/2016

You are always one decision away from a totally different life! Take charge of your choices. Live is too short to make mistakes.

29/11/2016

Ten years ago, there where no social media
Ten years ago, we didn't have the web
If you work in the web programming, online marketing or mobile phone industries..... your job didn't exist 20 years ago.

Who knows what jobs will exist from now?

CareerMiners building careers not jobs!!!

25/11/2016

ATTITUDE NOT SKILLS

I was having lunch during break with a colleague at the office one certain day and we were chatting and discussing some business issues. All of a sudden, he changed the topic of discussion by telling me about something he read from an article which was striking to him… I quote “Ann, I read an article by a lady who said Attitude not skills can get you a job” and I was puzzled. He went further, telling me how he pondered about this statement not until he had a real life experience.

Fortunately for him, he had a friend (Tobi) who just finished service and had nothing doing. He connected her to an organization that needed a volunteer staff. Tobi went for the interview and unconsciously wasn’t ready for the interview.
She got to the organization, she was receiving a call so without greeting, she by-passed the receptionist, some staff siting at the reception area and walked straight down to the interview room. Even during the interview she wasn’t composed as her phone kept ringing and disrupting the interview process.

At the end of the day, Tobi did excellently well at the interview but wasn’t called for the job! Why? The interviewer’s feedback to my colleague, who was curious at the end of the day, was that he couldn’t leave an office with responsibilities to someone who couldn’t show respect and courtesy to people around her and manage herself at an interview.

This leads me to the topic of the day Attitude Not Skills.

First of all let’s define attitude and skills.
The business dictionary defines Attitude as a predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person or situation. Attitude influences an individual’s choice of action. And responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards (together called stimuli).

While Skills is defined as the ability and capacity required through deliberate, systematic and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carry out complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills) and or people (interpersonal skills).

Based on the above “attitude” is a way of thinking and they shape how we relate to the world. It is the way an individual responds in terms of manner, disposition, feeling, to a person, a thing or a situation and a “skill” is a trade an individual learns.

Hear this… Skills can get you a job but you need attitude to keep that job. Yes! Your course of study, career path and experience can get you your desired job no doubt about that; but the way you behave, relate with people (colleagues), and respond to challenges will determine if you get to stay on that job or not. One major thing about skills is that individuals can be trained to acquire skills; however attitude is hard to learn and difficult to change as they are acquired over a period of time.

Of course in the case of my colleague’s friend, skills didn’t even get her the job. In our present knowledge based economy, you need exceptional skills to get you your desired job. Yes! I mean an exceptional skill as extraordinary is becoming the new ordinary.

However, you need attitude to keep you, once you have gotten the job.

Do you have the right attitude? Stay put for my next article on “Attitude and the Work place.

I sure know someone is still trying to process this information…. Your thought, comments and contributions please.

25/11/2016

CAREER ADVICE
Message in a bottle to my younger self

My early career was a follow-the-crowd formula with a Bachelors degree onto a well-paid tech job onto changing for a higher pay in 5 years.

Nothing against pursuing a fatter pay check but just that it kept me off-track with finding my true north.

Today I’m well on my dream career path and here’s my 3-point simple “message in a bottle” parceled via time machine, addressed to you, my younger self (YS).

1. You define yourself, don’t outsource it

14 years ago, just into my first job, I painfully chewed every critical feedback with a fixed mindset that I was limited by my inborn talents.

I was enthralled as I read a neuroscience revelation on growth mindset that I can acquire as many skills as I wish if I worked on them.

So my dear YS, Take charge of your personal identity. Don’t undermine the valuable feedback that helps refine your individuality but never let your bosses, colleagues and community judge their way to your sense of self.

2. Work to build your dreams, not your resume

Three years ago I sat on my appraisal discussion with an amazing boss.
I presented a carefully scouted list of annual accomplishments and personally solicited appreciation letters from customers.
I anxiously waited for him to reveal his hopefully big plans for me.
This first question he asked still remains etched in my memory: Does what you do, excite you?

I did not have a succinct answer but it was an aha moment for what was missing in my career.

My beloved YS, Realize that career path is a journey that you’re excited to embark on, to narrate stories of, having used your innate and acquired talents to make a difference to your company, daring to solve big problems, losing your sense of self to a purpose much higher.

3. Make money work for you, don’t work for money

A year back, I went on an unpaid leave of absence from work to pursue my dream of getting back to college to learn what I wanted to.
That helped change my trajectory.

It was an opportunity cost, but it paved way for a meaningful path that I’d always wanted.

Now dearest YS, What would you do if you were not afraid?.
Listen to your soft inner voice.
Do what you love; love what you do.
Experiment, get better and be awesome at what you love doing. By law of karma, money will follow.

Here’s the benefit of my experience handed to you on a silver plate but as the paradox of experiential wisdom would have it, you will get wiser from your experience than from this advice.

All the very best, believing in yourself!

Now it is your turn to let your younger self, know what you’ve learned.
Let the world know what you’ve been through to become the person you are, today!

1. What major event do you consider a turning point in your career?
2. Which conversation was an ‘aha’ moment to your career?
3. What are some of the fears you’ve overcome to be where you are today?

VAISHNAVI