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FranklinCovey Blog | Great Work, Great Career
Dealing with Career Setbacks
I was about to be fired from my job waiting tables at a Mexican restaurant when I quit. I refused to serve more than one jumbo margarita to a pregnant woman and later in the week a burrito platter was knocked from my hands onto another diner’s new coat. In one case I made an unpopular point, in another, it wasn’t my fault. However, I needed a night job so I could finish my graduate degree and I was finally getting Friday night shifts (big tips!) after a year at the restaurant. Financial setback. And a hit to my morale (“it isn’t fair”).
Previously, during my undergraduate degree, I was a salesperson in the Juniors department at a big department store. I had a full-time job with a full-time school schedule and was living away from home for the first time. I was tired. When traffic slowed down one night, I laid down on the sale table, covered myself with $9.00 dollar t-shirts, and fell asleep. Until the screams of an unwitting customer looking for a t-shirt woke me up. My manager lectured me, but gave me a second chance. But it impacted the trust I had with my manager and my colleagues. I was no longer on the “high potential” list to become a manager. I was watched closely, which was embarrassing.
We’ve all had setbacks, whether we made a mistake, or we made a stand, or something happened we had absolutely no control over. The point is: what do you do next? Does the situation begin to stand for who you are, what you can contribute, your outlook on life? Or do you learn something, make amends as best you can, and move on. Resilience is a key character trait for a great career.
Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey
Follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo
Tips For Writing Great Cover Letters
I’ve been asked, “Isn’t it a waste of time to write a cover letter for every resume I send out?” My answer is: Only if you want to get a job.
The purpose of a resume is to obtain an interview, to start a conversation with the employer. Your cover letter is your opportunity to begin that conversation. To say, “Hi, here’s why you should talk with me.”
The worst thing you can do is write a “one size fits all” cover letter. Just like your resume, you need to target your cover letter to the specific needs and values of the prospective employer. Ideally, your cover letter is a one-page proposal to fill an important business need at your target employer. This will require you to research your target employer—on the web, by asking if anyone knows anyone who works there, by reading blogs that mention the employer. Your cover letter should include four things:
- Start by summing up the problem or opportunity your target employer faces and describe how you plan to help solve it. Use numbers that are meaningful to the organization.
- Give evidence that you can solve the problem and, if applicable, that you have solved one like it in the past. That evidence could include work and educational accomplishments—facts that would lead your prospect to conclude you’re right for the challenge.
- Provide contact information.
- Request a meeting.
What tips have you used when writing cover letters? I would love to hear from you.
Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey
You can also follow Jennifer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jencolosimo
How to Build Emotional Bank Accounts
Below is another great question that has come in regarding Great Work, Great Career.
Q: I struggle to find ways to add value to my contacts/network/village. What are some other ways to build the Emotional Bank Account?
A: I see my village as three circles, each one a bit smaller than the other with different levels of EBA deposits required for each. The largest circle is the network to which I contribute in a largely electronic fashion. The middle-sized circle are colleagues or friends that I have met face-to-face and probably talk to occasionally or meet for lunch. The smallest circle are my most trusted friends, family, and colleagues. Each circle of the village requires different activities. I contribute to my large social network by posting and answering questions and passing on information that will be useful to an individual or group of people. Just today, on the Organizational Change Practitioners group on LinkedIn I responded to a request for a change activity for large groups. It started a conversation with Hanna, the woman who posted the question. I also contributed to a conversation on the Sales Executive Council Peer Roundtable regarding the Inside Sales function. By contributing to the small number of groups I belong to, I build relationships and build my reputation without investing more than 30 minutes/week. › Continue reading
Find Career Fulfillment in Tough Times with new iPhone App
With the national unemployment rate in double digits and talk about layoffs and the economic crisis dominating newscasts and dinner tables everywhere, it’s no secret that today’s employees and job-seekers are more stressed, discouraged, and drained than ever.
To help people find work and career fulfillment in these tough economic times, Stephen Covey, author of the best-seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Jennifer Colosimo, chief learning officer at FranklinCovey, have launched the Great Career iPhone application, which was developed in partnership by FranklinCovey and Signal Patterns based on their new book Great Work, Great Career.
Get the Great Career iPhone application at iTunes at: http://bit.ly/GreatCareer
The Great Career iPhone app can be used in conjunction with the content in Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo’s book or independently. Its specific activities and functionality include:
- Know Your Strengths – Research-based assessments help users to discover personality, strengths and career interests
- Define Your Contribution – A contribution statement builder helps users specifically define how they can match their strengths, talents and passions to an opportunity that matters to an employer.
- Build Your Village – A unique network-building and -nurturing tool; enables users to take specific actions and track them to build and maintain their most important career relationships
- Find Resources – Helps users identify “hidden resources” that can assist them to overcome specific challenges, or take advantage of promising opportunities, in building their career
- Action Center – Tracks, prioritizes and accomplishes all the necessary tasks to build and maintain a great career
- Ask an Expert – Allows users to submit questions to Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo as well as get answers to frequently asked career questions.
Get the Great Career iPhone application at iTunes http://bit.ly/GreatCareer
Click here to get the Great Work, Great Career book.
How to reach the mountain top.
Some of the really interesting questions that keep popping up regarding Great Work, Great Career are related to challenges: unemployment; socioeconomic challenges including poverty and education levels, race, gender, age; you name it, I’ve been asked about how GWGC addresses challenges. There is a great quote that says, “When you see a man on top of a mountain, you can be sure he wasn’t dropped there.” And, in effect, people who ask the “challenges” questions are saying, “Right, but some people were helicoptered to the ledge just below the top and some started out in the swamp 100 miles west of the base of the mountain. Some people have an easier hike.”
I agree. › Continue reading
New Book: Great Work, Great Career
I totally have an unfair advantage and read all the FranklinCovey new book titles well before you do. And I try not to hold that over you but I got to tell you about a great new book I just read today: Great Work, Great Career by Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimo.
This book re-inspired me and reignited my passion for what I do. I tell people I love my job but after reading this and going through the exercises I have come to realize that I really do LOVE my job. I have my dream job working and plus I work best people in the world. Well of course you do, you might say. You work at FranklinCovey where the people are highly effective, right? › Continue reading
Great Work, Great Career Q&A – part 1
Q: We had a lot of questions on the Great Work, Great Career webcast about having a personal brand. Some asked for more information. Others wanted to know how the idea of branding yourself works in our interdependent reality and how it aligns with collaboration and teamwork.
A: A “brand” is being known for something. You might be known in your organization or to a small group in your industry, or more broadly, to the websphere. As you know from a product focus, the most important thing to strive for in a product brand is trust in the brand. I believe the same is true for personal brand. There are many reasons this concept of personal branding has grown in importance. In the knowledge age, I can’t rely on your job title to tell me what problems you can solve, you have to tell me or build a reputation (brand). In order to gain any mindshare, you must be able to succinctly represent yourself because the rate of information has accelerated. Also, while face-to-face networking will never go away, I would suggest social networking gains in importance every year and without the nonverbal cues from face-to-face, who you are needs to be very clear on the web or your network will get confused.
Of course, individual brand is an independent concept. It is what “I” am known for. And I am suggested that your brand is in NO WAY a manipulative spin on who you are. It is, instead, communicating who you are. It does no good to your career if you have deep technical skills and have led projects resulting in cost savings and increases in employee loyalty if no one knows about it. In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Covey explains how interdependence is a choice only independent people can make. This is really important: Only by knowing myself—my talents, passions, and vision—and by taking responsibility for my choices regardless of the difficulty of the situation—only then am I capable of building win-win relationships and collaborating to resolve difficult challenges. The confidence in self, my deeply rooted worth, allows me to be open and curious on the surface of my life. I don’t have to be right all the time because my self-worth isn’t tied to being right or “winning.” I’m much more curious, knowing that I don’t know everything about anything.
If you get stuck in independence and don’t progress to interdependence, you might be effective in building a career, but you won’t be highly effective.
How do you use social networking to grow your personal brand?
What steps have you take to progress to interdependence?
We would love to hear from you.
Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Chief Learning Officer at FranklinCovey
What is a great career?
When we say that a person has had a great career, what do we mean? That he or she made a lot of money? Moved spectacularly up the corporate ladder? Became famous or renowned in their profession? And what about you? Are you looking forward to a great career? Would you describe your current career as “great”? When you get to the end of your productive life, will you be looking back on a mediocre career? A good career? Or a great career? And how will you know?
HOW do you create a great career for yourself? Can you have a great career and still have a great life at the same time, keeping the things you love – family, friends, work, and play – all in balance?
The answer is YES – look forward to Stephen R. Covey’s new book Great Work Great Career scheduled for release on November 15, 2009. More info coming soon.