The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
www.TheNewsyNeighbour.com
May Issue 115
Article Provided By: Gaylene Smith of McBride Career Group
I am going to let you in on a little secret
of mine. I think Z Nation is better than the Walking Dead. Oops, wrong
secret…The real secret is there are lots of things that you can do that require
absolutely no skill or training that will make you categorically remarkable to
hiring managers and supervisors. Skills can be taught and employers will be
willing to teach you required skills, especially if you exhibit the following
“free characteristics”.
I call them free because the cost you
nothing. You don’t need a degree or seminar to develop these skills, nor do you
need the greatest technology or the most expensive power suits to pull them
off. You just need to do them.
#1. Be On Time. No, be five minutes early! Beat
the boss to the office. If you are habitually late, you will be habitually
fired. I don’t just mean being on time for the interview or work, either. You
need to get to meetings and appointments right on schedule. Never make a
customer wait. Nobody has time to wait for you and your time is not more
valuable than anyone else’s. Life happens, I get that, so assume traffic is
going to suck, that it will take you twice as long to find parking, that a
horde of zombies might shut down the road you want to take. Leave time to deal
with it – worse case, you arrive early and have time to review your notes.
#2. Lose the ‘Tude. Attitude will take you
far in the world. It can also bring your job to a screaming halt. If you are
the Moaning Myrtle of the office, you probably have noticed your talent for clearing
out the staff room. If you suffer from “poor me” syndrome, you need to get over
it quick. Smile, laugh, be a friggen ray of sunshine because nobody wants to
work with Debbie Downer. Keep the negativity to yourself. When I have a bad
attitude day, I just imagine how I would mercy the people around me if they
suddenly became the walking undead. More than one person has met their
imaginary end thanks to an industrial stapler – and bonus, I walk around with a
smile on my face.
#3. Be Prepared. Yup, be a regular cub
scout. Don’t forget your name tag at home, have your notes ready for the
meeting, have enough marketing material ready for all your customers. Pack your
zombie apocalypse survival bag, or at least, show up to work ready to work.
#4. Be Coachable. I’m not talking about playing
for the company slow pitch team. Be willing to listen to feedback, take
constructive criticism without taking it personally. Be willing to take an
honest look at your own performance - own it and be willing to improve upon it.
Being coachable means you are open to the possibility that there is something
you still have yet to learn that can make you even better. Don’t be a know it
all. You don’t know it all.
People are fallible – they make mistakes. You
will make mistakes at work. Your employer has two ways to respond to your
mistakes – they can help you learn from it or they can help you out the door.
Odds are, if you have shown a willingness to be coached, have been on time and
ready to work, you will be shown the way to move forward and not the way out.
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