Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • Career Spotlight: Most Stressful Jobs

    Career Spotlight: Most Stressful Jobs

    Do you like to live on the edge? If so, you might find your future career on the most stressful jobs list. A recent study suggests that jobs that require you to face unpredictable conditions, immediate dangers and high-stakes situations rank among the most stressful of 2014.

    According to a study from job search site CareerCast, jobs where people are putting their lives on the line are the most stressful. Who tops the list you ask? Military personnel (enlisted and generals), firefighters and airline pilots are all there.

    According to the site, salaries and education levels for the most stressful jobs vary. The median salaries and education required for those jobs are:

    Enlisted Military Personnel – $28,840 (GED or high school diploma)

    Military General – $196,300 (varies: specialized training, may also require a master’s degree)

    Firefighter – $45,250 (training varies: certificate, 2 years or 4 years of college)

    Airline pilot – $114,200 (training varies: license, 2 years or 4 years of college)

    According to ONET, the only one of these careers that will be considered high demand in the next several years is a career as a Firefighter.

    If you are interested in learning more about these careers, check out these links: Military Careers,Firefighter, Airline Pilot.

    Would you want to have one of these most stressful jobs? Why or why not?

  • 5 leadership lessons I learned in the Army that help me in the real world

    5 leadership lessons I learned in the Army that help me in the real world

    Davis Ozier is a perfect example of the value Veterans can bring to business. After serving in combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Army as leader, he is now working on his MBA at the Darden School of Business to apply his leadership skills in the private sector.  Through his experiences, he can help us learn some very important lessons in dealing with real world problems.

    Here are 5 leadership lessons Davis learned through his service:

    1. Make the decision (or recommendation).  We will never have all of the information that we wish, but will still be forced to make the decision.  The Army did a wonderful job of forcing me as a junior officer to make an informed decision with the information I had at hand and then execute accordingly.   We will never be perfectly at ease in ambiguous and constantly shifting environments, but we can at least be comfortable with making a well thought out decision instead of suffering from paralysis of analysis.

    2. I have to work with others for the unit to be successful.  Contrary to popular belief, I could not simply issue an order and expect it to be carried out without opposition or voices of discontent.  Leaders in the private sector also recognize this and hopefully incorporate consensus building and collaboration into their managerial style.  This does not mean I have to accept every recommendation or cater to specific requests if I believe it isn’t in the best interest of the organization, but I do need to listen and incorporate feedback into my decision making process. This applies not only in the direct organizational hierarchy, but also with regard to working with adjacent departments and supporting functions.

    3. Work within the commander’s intent.  The boss doesn’t need to specify exactly what he wants me to do or not do.  It is my responsibility to listen to his vision, his plans for my role within the broader organization, and understand his priorities.  I should ask clarifying questions where appropriate, but I have the necessary information to make sound and independent decisions on a daily basis.  I can exercise initiative to support the boss’s vision and improve the organization.

    4. Deciding what I’m NOT going to do is just as important as what I am going to do.  Deciding where I am going to focus my energy and allocate resources is a constant struggle because I never have enough capacity to do everything I would like or that my boss has asked me to do.  In the Army, I realized I can continue to try to do it all with often mediocre results or I could prioritize and make informed decisions to assume risk in certain areas to ensure outstanding results in priority missions.  The latter always achieved better organizational and personal results than the former.  My bosses expected me to make tough decisions just as they had to do and when the situation prevented the successful completion of everything then I had to understand what the critical, no-fail objectives were and focus my energy and resources to be successful in those areas.

    5. Assume positive intent.  It was a personal wake-up call when someone interrupted my complaining one day to point out that the individual didn’t wake up this morning wanting to screw things up for me.  I stood there speechless.  What a great reminder that we are generally all doing what we think and hope is the right thing to do.  My outlook and attitude as a leader completely changed when I decided to assume that the soldiers under my command, the staff personnel supporting my unit, and the people at higher headquarters were all working to try to make the unit better just like I was.  I became more patient and understanding, and guess what?  The organization improved much more drastically than when I was sitting back and complaining.

     

    Davis Ozier served 8 years on active duty including combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and currently serves in the Army Reserves.  He is currently pursuing his MBA at the Darden School of Business at The University of Virginia.

  • Career Spotlight: Legislative Aide

    Career Spotlight: Legislative Aide

    Are you a good communicator? Do you enjoy doing research and analyzing data? Is making arrangements and planning trips something you love to do?

    If so, you should consider a career as a Legislative Aide!

    Legislative aides work with representatives, senators and government officials to manage communication with constituents, organize representatives’ schedules, research legislation and typically direct activities in their offices. The requirements for a position as a legislative aide often vary according to the office and needs of the legislator.

    Education Required:

    Associate Degree or Bachelor’s Degree

    Skills and Personal Abilities:

    Written and Oral Communication

    Organization

    Critical Thinking

    Monitoring

    Pathways and Salary Information:

    Most employers require that legislative aides have a bachelor’s degree. There is no specific degree of study required to work as a legislative assistant, but degrees in fields of political science, social science, business or public administration may be preferred. So, one pathway to becoming a legislative aide is by obtaining an undergraduate degree. You may also want to enroll in a graduate program, pursue internships and volunteer opportunities as well as obtain experience in administrative support. If you would like more information about legislative aides, check out this article from Chron.

    Legislative aides carry different titles as well as salaries. Check out Congressional Staff Salaries here.

    Legal assistants and paralegals are often grouped in the same category as legislative aides. Another pathway to becoming a legislative aid is to become a paralegal. The median wage for a paralegal is $47,570 in the state of Alabama and the field is growing. Several community colleges offer a 2 year degree for legal assistants/paralegals. If you are interested in learning more about paralegals/legal assistants, check out this BLS website.

    Would you want to be a legislative aide? Why or why not?

  • Impacting the performance of employees when you just want them to show up, do their job and not complain

    Impacting the performance of employees when you just want them to show up, do their job and not complain

    “I just want them to show up and do their job and not complain,” said one burned-out manager to me not long ago.  He was struggling with how to motivate the performance of several members of his staff, and in his exhaustion to try to be a leader, had adopted a mindset of something far from leadership.

    So how do leaders influence and impact the performance of employees when sometimes we just want them to show up and do their job and not complain?

    1.  Adopt a Leadership Mindset. First, a mindset of leadership needs to be present.  Leadership is grounded in seeing people as assets and realizing that the greatest responsibility of the role is to invest in people to drive their performance.   This means spending most of our time as leaders with those we are trying to develop, not wishing they would disappear into the oblivion get their work done and not bother us.  My manager client is never going to be able to drive performance in his employees long-term if his mindset about what his role is doesn’t change to one of leadership.

    2.  Get over your own burn-out. You can’t motivate performance if you’re burned out yourself.  My client was tired.   On top of dealing with employee issues that were unpleasant, he was trying to run a business, meet client needs and juggle a never-ending myriad of tasks.    The personnel issues were just another thing that he was barely spending enough time on to be able to see any results, and his people know from his actions that they are being seen as just another annoyance in a never ending cycle of being hopelessly behind and burned-out.  If you aren’t working smarter, not harder, why would they?  Part of a leadership mindset is setting an example.  If you are burned out and annoyed, you’re probably complaining and that’s why they are complaining too.

    If you are burned out:

    1. Take some time to regroup; get away if you have to and unplug.
    2. Manage your time. Consider how you can kill two-birds with one stone by empowering your people through delegation.
    3.  Get rid of stuff that doesn’t matter- say no.  And saying no to investing time your employees shouldn’t be one of the no’s on your list.  Saying no to things that aren’t important leads you to be able to say yes to your employees, who are important.

    The bottom-line is leaders impact the performance of their employees by the example they create.   If you want people to show up, do their job and not complain, then do the same.  Adopt a leadership mindset and find ways to get over the burn-out and negativity you may be experiencing.   If you can’t, then maybe you’re in the wrong role.

    You’ll find that if you empower employees through your positive mindset and results, you’ll get much more than just a group of non-complainers who do their job.  You’ll get a group of people who are engaged in their work and drive productivity. Start with yourself and it will rub off on those you seek to lead.

  • How to Answer the Interview Question “What is your greatest weakness?”

    How to Answer the Interview Question “What is your greatest weakness?”

    How to Answer the Interview Question “What is your greatest weakness?”

    I can just hear the canned answers to the question, “What is your greatest weakness?” from an interview candidate.

    Most of the time the response goes something like this… “Well, I’m a perfectionist.” Or, even better, “I’m a workaholic.”

    Or how about the question, “Tell me about a time when you’ve failed?” and the candidate just stares at you before responding, “Well, I can’t think of a time when I’ve failed.”

    I’ve actually had more than one student being interviewed for an ambassador program at a their high school tell me and the other panelists on the interview team that they have never failed.   This may be a lesson for another day about parenting, but we’ve all failed. Obviously, these kids haven’t learned anything from it.

    And that’s the point. The reason the interviewer is asking you these questions that seem to seek to convey you in a negative light or get you to throw your own self under the bus, is nothing of the sort. It is actually an assessment to see how you have learned from or adapted from weaknesses and failures.

    So how do you move beyond the canned answers and respond to these difficult questions without hanging yourself out to dry?   You answer them the way you should answer any other interview question, and that is through the STAR or (SAR as some use) method.   (For a worksheet to answer questions using this method, click here for the Behavioral Based Interview Prep Tool)

    This method, with any interview question, outlines a response by the candidate defining:

    1. The Situation.   Think about a time where a weakness of yours has been demonstrated or a time when you failed. Describe that situation to the interviewer.

    Example: “The company I worked for honored industries in the area that were celebrating 25 year anniversaries.”

    2. The Task:   Describe what your assignment/task was related to the situation.

    Example: “I was asked to invite members of the leadership team of the company to a dinner in their honor.”

    3. The Action: Describe what you did to fulfill that task.

    Example: “I called the CEO of the company and invited him and his leadership team to the dinner and gave him the details of the event. He said he would call back with a headcount once he found out who could attend from his team.”

    4. The result: Describe what happened because of your action(s).   In the case of questions related to a negative trait or situation, this response should include what you LEARNED as result that led you or would lead you to take a different action next time.

    Example: “The CEO called back and said he would have 20 people from his company attend. This was way over the number of people we had planned for which made the event way over budget.   I had to express to him by ‘leadership team’ I meant his top 3-5 leaders; he had included all of his middle managers in his ‘leadership team’.  

     

    It was my mistake that I wasn’t clear with him, so I apologized and we absorbed the added cost.   From this, I have learned that I need to be more specific in my communication with others.   For example, I should have given him the number 3-5 people, not assumed that he could read my mind that this was the number of people we were thinking. Now I always make a point to be specific when communicating details and requests to others.”

     

    Let’s face it, we all have weaknesses and we’ve all failed. Trying to hide that by acting like we don’t doesn’t make us look like the ideal job candidate, it makes us look like we’re lying, or quite honestly, dumb. Instead, be honest when these questions come up, because they will, and tell the interviewer about a specific situation (just like you should do with every interview question) how you responded to it, and most importantly, what you LEARNED that led to change behavior so you won’t make the same mistake again at their organization.

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