Nov
12
Book Summary: “Career Empowerment, Executive Recruiters on Leveraging Your Talents & Making The Right Decisions Around a Rewarding Career”, by Various Authors
November 12, 2009 | Comments Off on Book Summary: “Career Empowerment, Executive Recruiters on Leveraging Your Talents & Making The Right Decisions Around a Rewarding Career”, by Various Authors
This is a book summary I have written for “Career Empowerment, Executive Recruiters on Leveraging Your Talents & Making The Right Decisions Around a Rewarding Career”. The book was written by various experienced HR experts and recruiters, each contributed a chapter. Each chapter, although written by a different HR expert, touches on similar topics, therefore for clarity purpose, I have organized and summarized their points by topics.
On Job Hunting Preparation & Interview
Doing due diligence, and researching about the company, is essential for a successful interview. Read the annual report. Learn about the people, culture, opportunity, and products. See interview as an opportunity to learn about yourself and the company. You have to know your priority and what trade offs you are willing to make.
Employers usually look for several things in candidates: (1) Chemistry (2) The right portfolio of skills (3) Integrity. For certain high potential employees, employers may be willing to give a little even if they don’t have all the required skill sets. It is also possible for companies to hire someone who does not have all the required skills but are willing to learn quickly. Sometimes being too eager will not only look desperate, it may also inhibit your ability to communicate.
Questions to ask employers:
Why doing the search? / Why is this job open?
Why are you hiring from outside?
How do you measure success? What are some of the metrics?
What are the expectations of the job?
What are the goals and priorities?
What are the burning issues today?
Any impending M&A that will affect the position?
Key closing question: From our conversation today, it seems to me my core competencies really match up & align with your core competencies. How do yo use my background fit?
Be well groomed, well dressed. Try to connect with the person on the other side of the table.
On Today’s Working Environment
The biggest challenge today is to maintain the integrity of career development, as corporations are no longer took responsibility for helping individuals to grow. There are several things to consider when evaluating a job offer:
Doable learning curve
Sense of belonging
Reality based expectation
Sufficient resources and authority
Understanding of performance metrics
Fair relocation package
On Networking
It is advisable to have some mentoring relationships. One way to build relationships is to have informational interviews when you don’t need something.
On Self Improvement
It is advisable to do self assessment every year, to check whether you are happy in the current role. During early years of career, it is acceptable to focus on building skill sets, during the later years, in the second half of the career, change less and be specialized. Remember you are the best person to be accountable your career.
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