8 Ways a #Mentor Can Help You Win Right Away

I have been a business coach for almost six years and I hear the same question all of the time, “How do I make it, and will I be successful?”

I am always hesitant to answer that question because truthfully, there are a whole bunch of reasons why some people accomplish everything they put their mind to and why some people don’t. But, there is one thing that every successful person has in common, and it’s that they don’t reach their goals on their own.

Business could be booming or it could be slowing down, but the first step in your plan should always be to find a mentor.

Over the last half of a decade, I have helped people move their business forward, resolve problems, and completely change their industry focus. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at in your career path, or what growth stage your business is currently stuck in, a business mentor can provide a few different benefits that are essential to your success.

They are a levelheaded sounding board. Every business owner I have ever met; mentally lifts the Statue of Liberty every single day. A mentor can help alleviate some of that mental work. They are there to listen to your concerns, your ideas, and ask you questions to get you thinking in a different way. Consider it therapy for the entrepreneur.

They keep you accountable. A big struggle for young professionals and those branching out on their own is their ability to stay personally accountable. A mentor is someone that you have to answer to; they will hold you responsible to what you have made a commitment to achieve.

Help you stay focused on what’s important. It’s important to find balance, and as an entrepreneur that can be difficult. You need the time to renew and regenerate so that you can stay mentally and emotionally energized.

Keep you organized and productive. Having a scheduled appointment once or twice a month can keep you on track, especially if you know someone is going to ask what you’ve finished over the past few weeks. Having someone checking on your to-do list will make it much harder to justify procrastination.

They allow you to be better to your own clients. With a mentor or business coach, you feel emotionally supported in your business. When you feel supported, it makes it much easier for you to more efficiently prop up others.

Help you implement what you’re learning. It’s easy to take the notes and file them away for another time, but a mentor or coach can give you a plan that will help you implement what you’ve learned.

They increase your access to resources and network contacts. This is possibly the biggest ROI when it comes to a business coach or mentor. When you hit a crossroads in your business career, they will know who to put you in touch with. This industry experience and network size is invaluable to someone new to the industry, and will have you achieving your goals much faster than you would trying to do that networking on your own.

They are a cheerleader who is driven by their motivation to you. Working as a mentor and doing coaching sessions are some of the most motivating experiences that I can have on a day-to-day basis. There is absolutely nothing more inspiring to me than watching someone achieve his or her goals.

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Sign me up for a mentor, I need one right now!

I am a true connector and I love helping people achieve the success that they dream about. Whether it’s introducing you to the right people, or helping you focus your business, I am motivated by your success.

Whatever mentor or business coach you choose, your head, heart and bank account will thank you.

3 Ways to #Mentor Your #Millennials to Success and Retain Young Talent

The often-talked-about generation is starting to graduate university, and employers seem to be struggling with keeping young talent. What is it about Millennials that we do not understand? In 2020, they will make up 50% of the workforce, and five short years after that it will be almost 75%. Isn’t it about time we figure out what to do with them?

Millennials come from a generation of helicopter parents and have an almost unreasonable need for feedback. But, you can’t complain because we created that problem.

Millennials are no longer satisfied with a healthy pay cheque and benefits; instead they want their work to be personally fulfilling. Millennials crave the opportunity to make personal connections in their professional life and are constantly looking for mentorship opportunities.

The trouble that our generation is having is that as much as Millennials say they crave that mentor-mentee relationship, they just aren’t receptive to traditional styles of coaching.

So how do you mentor a Millennial?

 Let them teach you. I am always asking my Social Media Manager how I can post a photo to Instagram, what filter should I use, or what she thinks of a new app. Giving a Millennial the opportunity to teach you something gives them some insight into the executive level of the business in a way that is not intimidating or overwhelming.

As always, there are plenty of times that she has come to me for advice in return and we have had plenty of “Employee Therapy” sessions, so this mentor-mentee relationship is mutually beneficial.

They love figuring things out as a team. If nothing else, Millennials are definitely well connected. They are in constant contact with each other and always moving forward on the newest social media trend. When is the last time you sent a Snapchat to one of your friends, or left an Instagram comment? They are always talking to each other in one-way or another.

They are a constant sounding board for one another, which is what makes group-mentoring opportunities so valuable. Giving Millennials the opportunity to work it out together is a great way to take some of the onus off of individual mentors and let them figure it out for a change. They’ll come back to you with what they’ve learned.

Not everything needs to be life-long. While Millennials appreciate all of the career guidance they can attain, it doesn’t need to be a long-term thing. Millennials are attention sponges, and one of the generations who excel in taking EVERYTHING in (whether you mean to give them that stone to carry or not).

It could be a manager, or a co-worker. In any job position, whether it’s long-term or short-term, they have the ability to learn from the feedback and experience of their senior associates.

According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, the need for a constant stream of feedback and their attitude that success should come in a hurry isn’t really a surprise. But it’s not something that is completely unmanageable. Millennials have been driven to succeed by their parents since birth, and have been competing with each other for just as long, be it for spots in top academic programs or those all-too- competitive paid internships.

For a generation that grew up in one of the most uncertain times in North American history, it’s natural that they have a bit of anxiety when it comes to their future.

Gen X’er journalist Rick Newman described Millennials best as, “cynical, untrusting, and mercenary” because they have been told those are the traits needed to survive.

We, as their mentors, can combat those attitudes by providing them with professional coaches and role models who are inspired by the success of others and go through their professional life with integrity.

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We all have the urge and motivation to learn and grow. Collaborating with a business coach or mentor is one of the best ways to make sure that you are reaching your peak potential. Take the anxiety out of your career path.

Sign me up for mentoring.

How to Prepare for a Sales Call – The Right Way!

I’ve said this in a previous blog, but success is all about how much effort you put into your preparation. When it comes to sales success, it’s all about how much homework you do before getting on the phone with a prospective customer.

But when you have a whole world of information at your fingertips, it’s easy to get lost and miss what is actually important when researching your prospective clients.

So what exactly should you know, and what isn’t important? What should you prep on your end to be ready for the call?

Did you research the account? Sometimes you have an already existing client who you’re looking to up-sell, or maybe you want another order from them. It’s important to make sure that you know the complete history on the account and what they’ve needed in the past. Do you know the hiring manager? Do you have a relationship with someone over at that organization? Make sure you know everything there is to know about the account.

Have you learned something about the person with whom you’ll be speaking? Sometimes it helps to know a person tidbit of information about the person you’ll be speaking with beforehand. Nothing too creepy, but maybe they have an affinity for Golden Retrievers just like you. Maybe you share an alma mater. It’s small things that give you a friendly way to break the ice with you prospective customer.

Do you have a goal for this call? Whether you’re marketing candidates, trying to grab a new job order, or selling a car. Every sales conversation needs to have an end goal. If you don’t have an overall goal for the conversation, then do you really have anything to sell? Not having a point to the call will just waste your prospective client’s time.

Clean up your social media and update your website. Everyone these days is sitting in front of a computer while they’re on the phone in their office. If you call someone and tell him or her your name, you better believe that they will do a routine social media search while they’re on the phone with you.

I have asked my social media manager many a time to do some quick research on someone while they’re pitching to me and yes, it does affect how I react to them or their product.

Remember it’s not about you. If you ever hear yourself making the conversation about yourself, or how you really need this deal to come together, know that you’ve already blown the pitch. A sales call is never about what you need, or what you have, but rather what you can do for the prospective client.

Sales calls can be tricky but they don’t need to be with some simple preparation. It’s remembering that everyone you talk to is a human being with emotions, and likely a professional that is trying to fit you into their already busy day.

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Need more sales help? Curta Precision Recruitment offers a three-hour sales training course called Selling in the Knowledge Age that focuses on the Recruitment and Consulting industry. For more information click through to our website or email Cecily@curta.ca

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Beware the #SophomoreSlump

It’s a force of nature that many feel coming for weeks, the eventual slump. It may come after weeks of high productivity, or maybe right when you need to get everything done before your annual vacation. Sometimes, making a positive change in your work ethic seems difficult and it can be near impossible to adjust your vibe.

So how do you get that energy and motivation back so that you can get to closing deals again?

Have one clear goal in mind. When you are already struggling to find that motivation, it can be hard not to get too overzealous with your goals. Sit down and focus on what is important for you to start right away and make it your only goal. Once the ball is rolling again, start to tackle more.

Find inspiration. Find inspiration in whatever you can. Is it a financial dream? A trip you’ve always wanted to take? Whatever motivates you to start closing deals again is a great thing to focus on.

Get excited about moving again. Everyone has heard the saying, “Fake it until you make it.” Sometimes some false enthusiasm is enough to create the real thing. Get excited about every morning, and carry that energy through your day.

If you have a specific goal, tell everyone you know. No one wants to be embarrassed in front of his or her friends. If you have an attainable goal lined up, now is the time to tell the world. If you don’t do it, you’ll be embarrassed.

Think about your goal everyday. If your goal never leaves your mind, it doesn’t give you the opportunity to be ok with not attaining it.

Realize that sometimes motivation comes in cycles. Everyone’s brain schedule works in mysterious ways. While you may not work well on Monday mornings, you could be the lone dynamo working over the weekend. Motivation ebbs and flows, but it’s managing the slumps that makes you an efficient employee.

Stick with it. It seems simple to say, but don’t give up on your goals when you feel yourself start to slip. Understand why you’re slipping and readjust your plan.

Slumps happen to the best of us; it’s just working through the low spells and managing how you push through. If you’re in a slump now, take the mental time to figure out why and put together a plan that will keep you from going back down that road again.

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For any Recruiters who are currently moving through that ever-present slow patch, feel free to join our Recruiter Breakroom. Talk to other Recruitment Professionals about they’re working through their downtime and what keeps them motivated!

We All Know Someone Who Suffers From This…

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who has, and sorry to gross you out, verbal diarrhea? They just talk and talk, and they’ve made so many other points so many times that now you’ve lost their original message? These are the people that are often so long-winded that they leave you yearning to exit the conversation.

 

If you are this person I only have one thing to say, if you are talking you’re not listening! When you are constantly monopolizing conversations you aren’t leaving any room for your co-workers to share their ideas or opinions. Each time you dominate the empty air with a convoluted message, you push others away because they assume that you’re not saying anything of value.

If you need any advice on active listening, feel free to read one of our last blog posts.

Did you know that in 2000 the average attention span was only 12 seconds and has since fallen to eight? The average goldfish has a longer attention span coming in at a whopping nine seconds (Independent). When you’re halfway through one of your speeches, do you think anyone is still listening?

The average person stops listening attentively after 20 seconds, and actively tunes out after 40 seconds if the conversation has gone off topic.

An easy way to make sure you’re getting your point across is to make sure that you are able to get around to your message in less than 20 seconds. Everyone has heard of an elevator speech, you should start operating under the 20-second rule in each one of your conversations. Get your point across succinctly.

We’ve all been guilty of over-chatting or rambling at some point, but it can be a deadly habit in recruiting. If you need practice getting to the point, get yourself a Twitter account. This may sound silly, but if you can’t get it out in less than 140 characters, then maybe it’s not that important.

If you ever need any advice on how to slow down your speeches, feel free to tweet me for advice at @RebeccaSargeant.

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If you really feel the need to vent to your heart’s desire, feel free to join our Recruiter’s Breakroom. It’s a place where everyone in the industry can privately vent their frustrations, share news, or tell jokes.

We’re excited to have you.

I am a Professional Listener, Are you?

Simply hearing what I’ve said does not mean that you are listening.

How many times has your significant other said, “But, I told you that last week,” only to have you forget the conversation entirely?

Active listening would insure that you not only heard what your hubby told you last week, but also retained the information and carried out the task.

Active listening is a technique used by counselors, coaches, and even crisis negotiators. It’s an invaluable technique used in counseling, training, and conflict resolution that requires the listener to paraphrase what they’ve heard in the conversation back to the speaker. This means that the listener is always fully engaged with the conversation instead of only hearing a passive message at the end.

Active listening doesn’t stop at the ears, but becomes a conversation that you have with almost all of your senses. You need to be seen as an active participant in the conversation otherwise the speaker will assume disinterest and stop putting information in front of you. This means nodding, maintaining comfortable eye contact (not intimidating crazy eyes), and a posture that portrays a willingness to contribute to the conversation. With all of this feedback, the speaker in your conversation will be more willing to continue on.

I mean, how many times have you had a conversation with a teenager, only to have them immediately gravitate towards their phone while you’re talking? Does that make you want to continue?

However, it’s simple to feign interest with body language, so how do you make sure you’re actually listening?

Remember key points from the conversation. This is helpful in future meetings with that particular person because they will feel that you value their concepts and ideas.

Ask questions when necessary. If you don’t understand a point the person is trying to make, ask for a clarification without interrupting.

Have the ability to summarize. After a conversation you should be able to re-state in your own words what the person had told you. This allows them the opportunity to correct you if necessary.

How does this benefit you at work?

• Above all, it shows a certain level of respect for the person you’re speaking with. It shows that you respect their ideas.
• As said above, it allows the speaker to correct you if necessary. Which in the long run will save you and your manager time and money. As a manager, this also means that you will be able to detect and solve any problems that may arise in your team much quicker, as you will know exactly where they’ve gone wrong.
• It will expand your capacity to retain further knowledge. It means that you are not only showing respect to those you are speaking with, but every conversation becomes a learning experience instead of just time wasted at the coffee pot.

I have been a Recruiter’s Coach for many years now and implement these active listening techniques in each session with a client. I am able to get to the root of your problem each time through processing your stories and ideas. I am always available to speak with those in the industry for career consultations or scheduling coaching sessions.

Time to Celebrate Those Little Wins

To a Recruiter, a placement is a win. It’s an uphill battle to find that candidate and to present to the client, but when you finally get up to the top of that mountain it’s tantamount to a podium.

You have entered the Winner’s Circle, you’re riding the high off that win, but the moment is fleeting.

You still have open reqs, and need to get more candidates into your pipeline. Your win was a single firework in a ten-minute show.

Imagine a racehorse winning the Kentucky Derby, and instead of having the roses laid across his withers, he’s still running around the track after the race.

Take the time to celebrate your wins, or you’ll never have the energy or ambition to go out there and win again.

Put Together Some Easy Wins

If you’ve just found your purple squirrel, or closed a req with a particularly difficult client, celebrate that big win and work on something simple. Maybe your desk got a little bit messy during a stressful week. Work on reorganizing your office for a morning, or updating your spreadsheet.

An easy win allows you to keep the self-confidence that you just got from your big win, instead of allowing another week of grinding with no traction defeat you in the blink of an eye.

Get Your Perspective Back

Say you just got that big win and immediately took on another large project. If you’re feeling like you’re failing take a step back and put that feeling into context. Take an aerial picture of your career, or even the past couple of months. How many successes lead you to where you are right now in your career?

Think about how many times you’ve won the game, how many people you passed in the race so far. Is that failure really so bad?

Dress for Success

Go buy some new shoes, or polish your old ones. Curl your hair, or spritz some cologne on your wrist. If you look good, you feel good. Doesn’t winning feel good? Dress like you’re going to be accepting your award this evening. The better you feel, the more confidence you’ll retain from that last win.

Remember That You’re an Expert

Everyone is good at something, it’s not everyday that recruiters get to flex their muscles for an audience. Do you know a lot about dog training? Maybe someone asked a question about your favourite sport.

Explaining something that you are passionate about, or that you understand on an above average level gives you a position of power even if it’s fleeting. It’s a boost of confidence to be needed for information, so take advantage of all that trivia floating around in your head every now and then.

Enjoying and celebrating a win is having the confidence to know that it will happen again and not letting yourself get bogged down in the failure when you try to replicate that experience. Confidence is not the same as arrogance where you believe you are better than you are, but knowing that you have a realistic self-assessment and perspective on not only your career but also yourself.

So go have a drink, listen to some music, chat with your friends, you deserve it!

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We have created a new Facebook group that gives Recruiters a place to vent about their day, joke about the industry, and even ask questions about their careers. It’s judgment free, private place for Recruiters to discuss everything under the sun. Join today, everyone is accepted!

Job Progression is Important, But Why?

As you progress in your Recruitment career, you understand that you can tell a lot about a person based on their resume. When sourcing candidates, Recruiters should always be wary of the resume with no clear job progression or a big break between jobs.

If you see a big break, you should take a big step back.

A break in job progression can say a lot about the person behind the resume, and as I always say, “Past behaviour indicates future behaviour.”

Longer they climb, the more they know.

A candidate who has spent time climbing the career ladder has clearly invested time into learning the ins and outs of the industry in which they work. Someone who has been climbing the ladder within a certain organization, or has a very clear and developed job progression has certainly had more in-depth and valuable training than someone who has jumped around in his or her progression and career choices.

This candidate would also be interested in training and development opportunities, with a significant interest in continuing to progress their career.

This is also valuable information for your client if they end up liking that candidate, it tells them how much they will need to invest into training for that potential employee.

Expect them to keep jumping if they tend to jump around.

Looking at a resume with a lack of focus and career progression is a direct reflection of the candidate. If there is no clear progression on their resume or they often take time in between jobs, it can mean that it will be very difficult to tie that candidate down for any period of time.

Tells you how to approach them.

Aside from predicting future behaviour, a candidate’s job progression is a great way to determine your approach. A blanket approach with all levels of experience is an ineffective way of attracting to quality candidates. Remember to respect the qualifications and tenure of those you’re contacting.

Salespeople are the exception to the rule.

As always, salespeople are often the exception to the job progression rule. There is often very little standard job progression in sales. They can go from a manager to a vice president within a couple of years, only to go back to a managerial role.

An important rule to remember in terms of job progression is simple, “Past behaviour indicates future behaviour.”

This is Why People Hate Us

What happens in this video is why candidates hate the Recruiting Industry.

Every time an untrained, desperate Recruiter steps out into the marketplace and mass emails canned responses to candidates, the reputation of our industry takes yet another hit.

If you’re not concerned about the reputation of the Recruiting Industry, then you should at least be worried about your own. If your Recruiters are sending irrelevant job offers to unqualified candidates, they are hurting your brand. Do you think that top talent is going to want to work with green Recruiters that are desperate to jam a candidate into an open position?

If your Recruiters are untrained then they are NOT ready to be in the market.

Thank you so much to Matrix Resources for posting this video!!

8 Steps to a Stress-Free Job Change

In our busy world it is difficult to make changes without planning. Buying a new house, new relationships and changing jobs are a few examples of the most overwhelming time in our life. Without planning, they can seem almost impossible and cause you to make the wrong decision.

Changing jobs is very stressful, and the idea of “sneaking around” behind an employer is taxing.

Here some tips on planning a successful career transition:

Set out and clarify your career goals.

This is the step that most people miss. They know that their current place of employment is not working, so they know exactly what they don’t want, but don’t plan where they’d like to go instead. Think about company culture, career advancement, location, flexibility, management, and income. Remember, this isn’t a wish list, but a plan of action. Set priorities and good things will follow.

Open a new personal e-mail account just for your job search.

This is one of the first things you need to do as it will be one of the primary channels of communication between you and prospective employers. This is for your career search only. Cover your bases. Personal e-mail accounts are usually safe, but if they are forwarded to your work account or smart phone, they will cycle through your employers e-mail server and could get you caught.

Update your resume.

Rule of thumb here is that you should be updating your resume every year, so this is something you should already be doing on a regular basis. The regular rules of resume writing still applies here. Submit your resume the way you would submit a candidate to your hiring manager.

Reach out to your personal network.

If you know someone who works at a company you are interested in, take them out for coffee and pick their brain on working there. Get referred into an appropriate hiring authority. Many companies have referral bonuses. Your friends will be more than happy to put you in contact.

Connect with a Recruiter who knows your industry.

A good recruiter will know everything about your industry, including who is hiring and standard salary ranges. Take the time to meet and understand the Recruitment Professional to understand how they work. Agree to certain terms for your search as you do not want to be bombarded with every job opportunity simply because your terms were too loose. As well, every company you have already represented yourself to should be communicated with your Recruitment Professional.

Get your professional and personal references in line.

Make sure the business and personal contacts are aware that you would like to use them as a reference. If you are in a small industry where everyone knows everyone, it can be risky.

Plan ahead on getting out of the office for potential interviews.

Taking sick days, coming in late or leaving early several times a week will raise suspicion. Plan whole days off or work-from-home days where you can step out for a couple of hours to “run errands”.

Interview attire.

If you have to leave directly from your current office and you have to maintain the business casual attire, plan on an outfit that can be upgraded when you leave. For gentlemen, it can be as easy as adding a blazer and a tie. Or even changing your shirt in your car and adding the tie and jacket. Maybe even switch from loafers to dress shoes. For the ladies, changing shoes and adding sharp accessories can dress up a casual outfit.

Taking the time to plan will ease the stress and make your search an enjoyable one. It may take some time to find that right career move.

I would love to hear more suggestions on how to make any job search more enjoyable and safe for everyone.

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For over six years, Curta has been taking the guesswork out of Recruiter Training, and strives to achieve consistent training across the Recruiting Industry.

As of April, we have officially kicked off our 2015 Spring Training programs. Of the hundreds of Recruitment Professionals that Curta has trained, many have gone on to be top performers with their organizations. Join our mailing list for more information about upcoming training sessions and coaching openings.