Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Personal Development

We all need a little personal development mixed in with our professional and career development. Read blogs in this category for stories and best practices for personal wellness and wellbeing, skills improvement, and  more.

  • Interview Prep for Today’s Job Market

    Interview Prep for Today’s Job Market

    I’ve received several requests over the past few months in regard to preparing for an interview. Interviewing can be tricky. It varies from job to job and from employer to employer. Throw in a pandemic with virtual interviews and it gets even trickier!

    Just last week, I received a text from a wonderful client who was unsure of how well she did in a recent interview. She (jokingly) asked, “is there a class for interview anxiety?” If you don’t get anxious during an interview, please share your secret with the rest of us! On a side note, I’m sure she did amazing!

    Also last week, a colleague shared a few fabulous resources that are great for interview prep. One of the resources was specifically about what to do during the interview. Here are my favorite takeaways:

    • Ask the Right Questions: Come with prepared questions and ask questions during the interview. Ask informed, open-ended questions to show your interest in the company and position. (examples include: What is your vision for this department? What challenges do you expect in the next six months?) On a side note, don’t ask the wrong questions (avoid questions about vacation time, benefits, or salary).
    • Sell Your Skills: Match your skills to the skills sought by the company. You can usually determine this from the job posting’s “required and preferred skills” section. Share a concise description of your experience that matches the company’s needs.
    • Keep Responses to the Point: Be a good listener. Stay on track and be direct with your responses. Keep your answers to a two-minute maximum. To prepare/practice, try the S.T.A.R. prep tool. Check out The STAR Method: The Secret to Acing Your Next Job Interview to find out how to use the S.T.A.R method.

    If you are preparing for a virtual interview, check out 20 Video Interview Tips to Help You Dazzle the Hiring Manager and Get the Job.

    Stay tuned, maybe we will offer an interview class soon!

  • Are There Differences in What Women and Men State as Career Needs and Goals?

    Are There Differences in What Women and Men State as Career Needs and Goals?

    “Grow in my current role.”& “Personal growth.” 

    “Financial security.” & “Growth in earnings.”

    These are two sets of responses gathered working with our clients and with Horizon Point and MatchFIT team members when posing the question, “What do you want out of your career?” as a part of our Leaders as Career Agents Process. 

    Which pair do you think came from men and which one do you think came from women?   

    Although not a scientific study, I have seen over and over again how the majority of men focus on the financial aspects of career growth and plans whereas women focus on getting intrinsic satisfaction from that growth.   Both men and women cite impact and influence on others in career growth fairly equally as I’ve seen it.

    There are a million reasons that play into these differences and similarities I would venture to guess, but I think the reality of this is important. 

    If you are a leader facilitating some type of solicitation of this type of information, I would encourage you to help balance these discussions if they are weighted more heavily towards financial or personal growth needs by asking open-ended questions like:

    • Tell me what your thoughts are on your current compensation and where you’d like to see yourself move throughout your career in terms of pay and rewards?
    • Tell me about your personal growth and learning goals?  What would you like to be exposed to? Who would you like to learn from and what would you like to learn?
    • How do you see yourself giving back to the organization and others throughout your career? 

    Finally, as a leader, take ownership in helping people understand what they are worth and driving them towards the learning and development that helps them reach their financial needs and desires.  Engage in helping people feel comfortable talking about both. 

    What differences have you seen, if any, between what women and men state as career needs? 



  • A Book Review of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

    A Book Review of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

    Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking is a must-read for introverts and extraverts alike. It explores the misconceptions of introverts and their many positive attributes.

    I have two children who are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to introversion and extraversion. This book resonated with me on so many levels. I also love that it has a Tips for Educators section at the end. 

    The back cover notes Quiet as The Book That Started The Quiet Revolution. It explains:

    At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society. 

    In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

    Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Quiet:

    “We don’t ask why God chose as his prophet a stutterer with a public speaking phobia. But we should. The book of Exodus is short on explication, but its stories suggest that introversion plays yin to the yang of extroversion; that the medium is not always the message; and that people followed Moses because his words were thoughtful, not because he spoke them well.”

    “Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.”

    “So stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multi-tasking, stick to your guns. Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way.”

    Regardless of your MBTI results, you will find value in this book. Unsure if you are naturally an introvert or extrovert? You can check out 16 Personalities to find out for free!

  • Satisfied or Standing Still

    Satisfied or Standing Still

    I’ve been thinking a lot about satisfaction at work and in life. If you’re a fan of Hamilton, you know the iconic song, “Satisfied”, about the struggle of feeling dissatisfied with your life when you’re aware of other possibilities. I’ve felt this personally, and we’ve seen it in others through our work helping individuals and organizations find mutual FIT. We believe person-organization fit leads to job satisfaction and engagement.

    If you know “Satisfied”, then you also know the line “I am not standing still, I am lying in wait” from the song “Wait For It”. (Is it obvious I just rewatched Hamilton on Disney+?) That line – and the entire song – describes those of us who find ourselves waiting for something better to come along. A better job. A better boss. A better company. We’re waiting for something better, but we’re not taking any action.

    My message today is to stop standing still and take action toward satisfaction. That doesn’t have to mean leaving a job, although the timing for that might be right. It could simply mean taking a moment for self-reflection to understand yourself and identify why you might not be satisfied. Is it a values mismatch?

    We know from research and our work with organizations that a mismatch of values or work environment preferences is likely to lead to dissatisfaction, disengagement, and eventually turnover. Long-term FIT is more likely to occur when individuals and organizations share a common approach to work and balancing that work with life.

    Question of the day: Are you satisfied or standing still?

     

    Jillian will be speaking at the NASHRM September Workshop on Tuesday, September 8th. Find out more information or register here.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Want to learn more about finding your fit? Check out our sister company MatchFIT. Visit thematchfit.com

  • Turn Your Passion into Your Career

    Turn Your Passion into Your Career

    Forgive me if I get teary-eyed, but my oldest just started his junior year of high school. And while he still has two years left, the serious conversations have begun- careers, colleges, and scholarships, oh my!

    Since he was little, he’s always known that his biggest passion is music. And I’ve encouraged him to explore that over the years, he’s got such a knack for it. He’s self-taught on drums, guitar, bass guitar, and he has an amazing voice (my house is rarely quiet!). Last year his high school partnered with a local music conservatory to start a music production club and he was hooked. He would spend weekends at the conservatory learning how to use music production equipment and playing around with creating his own music. A year later he’s still hooked. After saving up his own money he bought a (ridiculously expensive) music production software program and spends hours creating music, learning how to use the software, and taking online courses to learn from the professionals. He’s also starting to slowly collect his own production equipment.

    I’ve always encouraged my children to find their passion and then figure out how to make it a career. I often get asked why I chose consulting instead of working as an HR Manager or Director for a company and my response is simple and honest- I tried it briefly and I just wasn’t happy. My passion is helping companies. I love to go into an organization and help them build up an HR function where there wasn’t one or help them fix an HR function that’s broken, then I want and need to get out and move on to the next. I thrive on that challenge, but once the challenge is completed, if I don’t move on I stop thriving.

    I want that for my children, I want them to find a career that they are passionate about, that they thrive in, that makes them want to get up every day and go to work. Not one that makes them dread the next day. And I want them to understand that money doesn’t equal happiness. I’d much rather my children have a career that they love that pays just enough to get by than to choose a career they hate just because it pays well. I want them to find a career that doesn’t feel like work. And I think my oldest is well on his way to doing just that.

    Is your career your passion or your prison?