How to make yourself more valuable to your boss

 

Excerpted from The New Psychology for Managing People
By Mortimer R. Feinberg et al

• Be a source of good current information. — Industrial psychologists have noted that the higher a man goes in an organization, the more insulated he may become from what is going on.  Partly this is a matter of choice; he does not want to involve himself in everything. Partly it is an inevitable result of the broad nature of his responsibility, and partly it is because people tend not to tell the top man what is going on. You can be a source of pertinent information to your boss, but make sure it is information, not gossip. And make sure it does not in any way reflect upon the performance of others. Sometimes, just a brief anecdote about something that occurred at a departmental meeting can give your boss a valuable feel for what is happening in an area that has become increasingly remote from him.

• Cover his area of least interest. — Your boss is not equally skilled at all facets of his responsibility—no man is. Nor is he equally interested in all facets of it. As you get to know him, you can come to a pretty accurate determination of certain areas that, while important, do not intrigue him. To the extent that you can handle these areas for him, he will welcome your help, come to rely more heavily upon your judgment, and recognize the fact that your efforts are increasing the overall effectiveness of the operation.

• Anticipate. — Routine subordinates wait for the boss to give them instructions or direction, and then react. This wastes time and places a great burden on the boss. As you come to know your boss and the operation, try to develop the ability to anticipate what the boss is going to want and need. At first, make a few “dry runs”; anticipate and then see how well your anticipations work out in practice. Then, when you are able to, anticipate and move. When you conclude that the boss is going to want to move in a certain direction, begin to pull together materials that will assist him in his decisions. Prepare the ground for him. He will recognize it and appreciate it.

• Exercise Tact. — There may be times when you have every reason to be justified in raising hell with a colleague. You may go ahead and do it, and a fair-minded superior will have to agree that you are right. But agreeing that you are right does not necessarily mean that he appreciates what you are doing. Use your judgment in difficult situations. It may be best to hold back from “rocking the boat” for the simple reason that if you do, you will just be making a boss’s already tough job immeasurably more complicated and difficult.

• Be Willing to take on the Dirty Jobs. — Status is important to all of us. As a manager moves higher in the organization, he may well feel that he is no longer to involve himself in some of the more unpleasant tasks that were incumbent upon him at a lower level. And he is probably quite right in feeling this way. Nevertheless, “dirty jobs” do come up, and they have to be handled. The manager who is willing to step in and handle them, even when his status does not require it, is a manager who will be particularly valued by his boss.

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4 ways you're ruining your chances for a promotion

MAGE: GARY WATERS/GETTY CREATIVE

LILY ZHANG for The Muse

It’s been a few years, and you’ve been exceptionally diligent. Ever since you realized it was a possibility, that promotion has been your goal, and you’ve been gunning for it with everything you’ve got.

But, wait. Before you keep charging blindly ahead, make sure your grand plans aren’t derailed by any of these easy-to-make mistakes.

1. Winning over your boss but not your co-workers

Your direct supervisor will have a big say in whether or not you get to move up, so it makes perfect sense to curry his or her favor. But before you keep nodding yes to everything your manager says, consider the impression you’re making on your colleagues. It might be completely obvious to everyone but you that you’re “running for office” and ready to sacrifice anyone standing in your way.

To prevent any resentment from building up, you’ll want to be a bit more mindful of the way your actions to please your boss make you look in front of your co-workers. After all, it’s not like these people just go away when you get promoted. In fact, you will still have to work with them—and possibly even manage them.

2. Focusing on new responsibilities but neglecting your current ones

It’s great to be eager, but obsessing over your next career move instead of focusing on your present role isn’t going to get you anywhere. It’s easy to get carried away with newer, possibly more exciting responsibilities, but neglecting your core duties will get you in trouble. You won’t make a very compelling case for yourself to take on a greater role in the team if you can’t even manage your current assignments.

In other words, before you get too preoccupied with revamping the internship training schedule or planning the regional conference, make sure your main responsibilities are completed in a timely and consistent manner.

3. Going above and beyond but not letting anyone know

So, you’re knocking out old and new responsibilities, helping out colleagues, and mentoring interns. If anyone is paying attention, that promotion should be yours. Problem is, you can’t rely on other people to pay attention. If you’re not fully promoting yourself and your achievements, it almost doesn’t matter that you’re killing it at your job.

So, how does one actually do this? It’s all about setting aside time to talk about and celebrate team successes with your manager. Check out this handy guide on how to brag at work (without sounding like a jerk) for a more step-by-step guide.

4. Not creating a plan for when you actually do get promoted

This one might be the least obvious one. What is your team or company going to do if you’re not longer in your current role? If you don’t have a plan in place, that can be a serious deterrent for promoting you.

Plan for your succession, or if you’re in a more entry-level role, document processes you oversee, training you’ve completed, and your general responsibilities so that it’ll be easy to train someone to take your place. It might feel a bit presumptuous to be getting ready to move on to a new role that you may or may not get, but when it does happen, you’ll look completely prepared and ready to take on that promotion.

The moral of this story is that getting promoted shouldn’t just be about you. If you’re able to make it about what’s best for the team or the company, you’ll be not only be making a better impression on everyone involved, you’ll also be more likely to get that coveted promotion. Good luck!

How To Avoid Becoming A Hiring Mistake

By Elena Bajic

Hiring mistakes can be costly in terms of employee morale, project delays, severance costs and additional hiring costs.

While the cost of employee turnover varies widely by industry and job type, studies by the American Management Association and others report a range between 25% and 250% of annual salary per separating employee, with higher level, more skilled management employees pushing the upper edges of that range.

I recently had to part ways with a senior member of my team after only a month on the job.  He was the wrong fit for many reasons, but mostly because I’d rushed to fill the position.  I was so eager to fill the position I ignored my reservations and made the offer.  As a manager you will make hiring mistakes when filling a position becomes more important than the person you hire. I certainly did.

What puzzled me most was that this senior executive didn’t execute even the most basic onboarding success strategies in the four weeks he spent with us.  If he’d done these things, he might still have his job.

What should you do to successfully onboard at a company at a senior level?

Here are some recommendations:

1. Check your ego at the door and keep the ‘been there–done it before” attitude under wraps.  You may have truly been there and done it, but that doesn’t mean the new work environment won’t have its own ‘flavor of the day’ that will require you to dream up unique solutions.
2. In your early days on the job, dig into the nits and grits of the business you’re running.  Roll up your sleeves.  Get your hands dirty.  Build your own understanding of your department, function, and areas from the bottom up.
3. Spend one on one time with key team members – top to bottom and listen to what they have to say.  Assume everyone you meet is a potential teacher.  Be humble.
4. Ask questions.  Lots of questions. Big strategic questions.  Small procedural ones.  Be curious.
5. Venture out beyond the confines of your office or the executive floor.  If you team is remote, visit them.  Learn people’s names, their faces, a little bit about them – beyond just your administrative assistant and your direct reports.  Know who’s who and who’s doing what.  Observe.
6. If your boss gives you advice/suggestions, take them seriously. Implement them as best you can if they make sense.  They are windows into your boss’s thinking and expectations of you. If they don’t make sense, then circle back and have that conversation with your new boss.  The first few months are a get to know period – so expect a lot of back and forth.
7. Take notes on your findings, your conclusions and possible solutions.  You should be building your plans for your areas from the moment you step in the door, defining your value add in this new role along the way.
8. Be honest – with yourself, your people, your boss.  Make it one of the hallmarks of your operating style.

If you follow these steps, you can improve your chances of holding onto your senior position long enough to add value and become a hiring success story – a “keeper.”

Four Degrees That Could Ruin Your Career Chances

Source: Yahoo

Your college major might have serious implications for your future career, so choose wisely.

By Jennifer Berry

If you're going to spend the time and money to go to college, you're probably going to expect to see a good return on your investment. But here's something you might not expect: Some degrees could actually hurt your chances of getting the career you want.
Unemployment figures can range widely depending on the major, according to a 2013 study by the Georgetown University study titled "Hard Times: College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings." To understand why, it helps to look at a degree in the same way an employer might.
"Your major provides two key elements of job readiness: subject matter expertise and essential skills and training," says Carol Barash, founder and CEO of Story To College, which teaches students how to use storytelling tools to advocate for themselves in school, work, and life.
And those skills need to be in demand, too. “If you want to be employable upon graduation, you have to learn tactical skills that are needed by companies that are growing,” explains Michael Staton, partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm focused on funding entrepreneurs with a vision for better and smarter learning.
The good news is that for many majors with a statistically high unemployment rate among recent graduates, there are similar alternatives with lower unemployment rates. Read on to learn about a few majors with high unemployment rates - and some potential alternate degrees with better prospects.*

High-Unemployment Degree #1: Economics
Unemployment Rate: 10.4%

You're fascinated by the life-blood of our economy: money. A degree in economics might seem like a perfect fit, but think twice before you get started: With so many people pursuing this degree, you could be left high and dry after graduation.
"Economics is a very popular major - at many universities it is the most popular major," says Barash. "But there are very few entry-level jobs as economists." Why is that? "An economist is someone who analyzes and predicts trends," says Barash. "Most people right out of college don't have enough analytical experience to work as economists."
This degree can also be heavy on the theory and light on the practical know-how, says Staton. According to the College Board (a nonprofit organization committed to excellence in education), some of the classes economics majors take include comparative economic systems, economic theory, and econometrics.

More Promising Alternative: Finance

 Unemployment Rate: 5.9%

Looking for an alternative degree where you can still explore the impact of money on our modern life - but also prepare to pursue a career after graduation? Check out finance.
According to the College Board, a degree in finance can prepare you to make financial decisions for companies, raise funds, and invest wisely - all practical know-how skills that potential employers might be looking for.
How It Improves Your Odds: "Economics teaches market forces, but finance teaches you how to manipulate spreadsheets, package and evaluate financial products, and handle operational concerns of companies," explains Staton.
Next step: Click to Find the Right Finance Program.
Just look to the College Board for evidence of what you could learn: Typical major courses are accounting and statistics for financial analysis, financial management, and investments.
"Finance is replacing economics as a high-impact, high-salary career choice," adds Barash. And while Barash notes that your first job will probably be mostly working with Excel manipulating numbers, she also notes that these jobs tend to be compensated well.
Career Options**:

• Financial analyst
• Personal financial advisor

High-Unemployment Degree #2: Political Science and Government
Unemployment Rate: 11.1%

Are you a political junky, addicted to blogs and political news outlets? Before you jump into a political science and government degree, you might want to do some serious thinking, as its unemployment rate suggests it might not put you in the best position to get a job.
Why? It's another degree focused more on academics and less on applicable skills. As Staton says, "Political science covers high-level theory and research methods." Just look at some of the courses listed by the College Board: political theory, judicial processes, and contemporary political ideologies.
And while the degree may have some important application, its job potential is very narrow. According to Barash, "These are great degrees if you want to run for public office - and we definitely need young people committed to this type of public service - but not for very many other entry-level jobs."

More Promising Alternative: Criminal Justice

 Unemployment Rate: 8.9%

Want to check out a related degree with a lower unemployment rate? Why not consider criminal justice?
Criminal justice is an interdisciplinary major where you might study everything form law to psychology, says the College Board. Some of the typical classes for this major include criminology, juvenile justice, criminal law, and the U.S. criminal-justice system.
How It Improves Your Odds: Why might this be a better choice than a poli-sci degree? "Public service is out - but catching criminals and terrorists is in," says Barash. In other words, job prospects for people who get out in the world and stop the bad guys might be better than job prospects for people who theorize about political ideologies or judicial processes.
Next step: Click to Find the Right Criminal Justice Program.
"Criminal justice teaches you how to enforce and work within the growing justice system," says Staton, highlighting another benefit to this degree.
Career Options**:

• Probation officer
• Police officer

High-Unemployment Degree #3: Information Systems
Unemployment Rate: 14.7%

Given the tech-driven world we live in, you may think any computer-related degree could help pave the way to a great career. Think again. Not all computer-related degrees are created equal - and if you choose to major in information systems, you could be limiting your future career options.
"Information systems is conceptual work around information management and computer systems in the corporate environment (which is moving to the cloud, so very few people will be employed in information systems like they are now)," says Staton. In other words, with more information being stored off-site, there will be less need for people employed on-site.
Barash also points to rapid changes in technology as one reason why this degree is not what it used to be. "People with degrees in information systems used to plan the computer programs and systems that other people built," she says Barash. "But everything moves more quickly now, and the whole tech world is much more entrepreneurial." Instead of one set of people planning programs and systems and another set building them, Barash says, the builders are becoming the designers as well, so they might have degrees in electrical engineering and/or computer science.

More Promising Alternative: Computer Science

 Unemployment Rate: 8.7%

Compared to information systems, computer science has a much less frightening unemployment rate, and it could be a great alternative degree for anyone interested in computers.
If you want to design computer programs, impact the way humans and computers interact, or help pioneer artificial intelligence (all what the College Board says you could learn in this program), a degree in computer science will get you a lot further than a degree in information systems. Some of the courses typical for this major include digital system design, software engineering, and artificial intelligence.
How It Improves Your Odds: "Computer science teaches you how to write the code that makes the whole Internet work," says Staton. Demand for this degree is high, he continues, but there aren't enough qualified graduates to fill the open positions in the growing internet sector.
Next step: Click to Find the Right Computer Science Program.
Barash shares that sentiment: "Computer science is a great degree because you get actual experience writing computer code and building things," says Barash. "This is so important that we should be teaching more of it in high school."
And why is coding so important? According to Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to growing computer programming education, "Learning to code unlocks creative thinking and opens unparalleled career options. Coding is the new American Dream and should be available to everybody, not just the lucky few."
Career Options**:

• Network and computer systems administrator
• Software developer

High-Unemployment Degree #4: Architecture
Unemployment Rate: 12.8%

Do you dream of creating landmark buildings or custom homes to delight your clients? Think carefully before you sign up for that architecture degree - in the "Hard Times" study architecture has one of the highest unemployment rates among recent college graduates.
One of the main drawbacks of this degree is what it doesn't teach you. "Architects are planners, designers," says Barash. The trouble is that in today's market, she says, there's a demand for people who can design and build. "Often people with training in the build side gain the design skills later. It's much harder to do the reverse."

More Promising Alternative: Civil Engineering

 Unemployment Rate: 7.6%

So what should you consider as an alternate degree that could help prepare you for the "build" aspect of the job? Why not look into civil engineering, which reports a much lower unemployment rate among grads?
Rather than focusing primarily on design, as a civil engineering major you might study crucial practical skills which according to the College Board might include structural analysis and design, strength of materials, and environmental awareness for engineers.
How It Improves Your Odds: Civil engineering majors learn to build projects in addition to designing them - a marketable skill that many architects lack coming out of school, says Barash.
Next step: Click to Find the Right Engineering Program.
And the practical skills you learn can help prepare you to pursue a career creating buildings - or even designing communities.
"Unlike an architect who designs and plans on a small scale (think one building), a civil engineer plans and implements on a much larger scale: town and city planning, roads and bridges, redevelopment, even green urban planning," Barash says.
Career Options**:

• Civil engineer
• Construction manager