Author: joerecruiter

You Want to Be in Management?

Not everyone can be the manager


People tend to think that the natural progression of a corporate job is management. It’s almost a perfect formula: start at the bottom, put in 5 to 10 years, become a manager. And if you have extraordinary ability, move up into a VP, Director, or C-level role.

That Would Be Great | Know Your Meme

In speaking with candidates, the current mindset seems to be that they are ready for management, or rather, they deserve management. Not everyone can be Manager, and not everyone has the chops to effectively do it.

Motivating Factors

The ideal manager is somebody that has an innate tendency towards leadership, and through their sheer attraction and willpower, can convince others to follow them. Others are inspired to take action on their behalf. There are only a handful of leaders in world history who fully achieved this ideal (Napoleon, Caesar, Washington) . In a corporation, these are the types of people you notice right away that are destined for leadership. There’s an aura about them that exudes confidence and influence.

Donald Trump's Nether Universe, and Napoleon Bonaparte

Believing that it is your turn, or that you put in enough time at the company as a qualifier for leadership, is pervasive. It does make sense from a strictly “promote the most senior colleague” point of view, but it might not be the most effective. After all, those that have been there the longest likely know the business the best, the rationale goes.

what would you say you do here - Misc - quickmeme

Now, the worst reason people become managers is that some people just don’t want to grind anymore. If you are in sales, you don’t want to knock on doors or make cold calls. It’s not necessarily negative to want out of that daily struggle, but moving into management to avoid it doesn’t seem like a noble cause. It’s a harsh way to look at it, but we’ve all worked long enough to know this is a reality that can’t be denied.

The Importance of Friendship in Sales

Interviewing managers

Here are some questions to ask potential managers:

  • Why do you want to be in management?
  • What are the skills that qualify you for management?
  • What is your management style?
  • In your mind, who exemplifies great leadership?
  • Will you step in for an underling and do a “low-level” task?
  • What is your day-to-day plan for personal and professional growth?

Using these questions, you should be able to get a good sense of whether this person is destined for leadership, or if they are hoping for management to “get out of the trenches.” The goal here is to find out if a potential managers has genuine intentions towards leadership.

P.S. You can use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to assess potential managers. The science behind Type and leadership has been proven out.

To chat more about MBTI and management, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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The Thing You Did Wrong in College

I heard the absolutely worst story you could possibly imagine. Well, to a recruiter like myself and someone that cares about people’s careers, it’s the worst kind of story.

A teacher friend of mine had a really exceptional student who was looking for an internship. They were ending their junior year in college, heading into the summer. This is prime summer internship season for those looking to land permanent jobs after they graduate. This teacher knew a business owner in her field that was offering summer internships, and contacted them in hopes of getting this student an interview. This business owner interviewed the candidate twice and ultimately offered them the job! A dream scenario for the student.

The student turned it down.

Turned. It. Down. I couldn’t believe this!

Hearing this story made me more angry than I’ve been in a while. How could you possibly turn down an opportunity like this that would help you get your foot in the door to your industry?

YA BLEW IT Mfw Only Admin That Posts and It Still Isnt a Lot ~ Red ...

Here were the reasons given:

• I just don’t feel ready
• The drive is too far (45-60mins)

Lessons

Internships are exceedingly hard to come by. A paid internship, even more so. You have to seize opportunities like that no matter the cost. The drive or inconvenience can be worked out later. Focus on your inner Grant Cardone and commit, then figure out the details later. When you have no experience and someone is willing to give you experience, the first thing you say is absolutely yes, and fill in the blanks later.

Grant Cardone 10x - Why Artists are Starving - Episode 50 ...

When you are young and coming out of college, you don’t really understand how things work in the professional world. (You actually need to de-program yourself after college and start self-teaching right away.) Professionally, you aren’t aware of what it means when somebody puts their professional reputation at stake on your behalf. More than that, you aren’t aware of what time means to professionals. Remember, this was two interviews with a business owner, the person with the least amount of time. The fact that you have turned this opportunity down reflects poorly not just on you, but also on the teacher who referred you. It’s very unlikely this person will vouch for you again moving forward.

Stick your neck out | Adventist Record

Solutions

I think the reasons this whole transaction derailed so terribly are:

  • No expectations were set from the beginning (blame teacher)
  • No context was given for what this internship would mean down the line (blame teacher)
  • Possible issues with travel were not brought up at the beginning (blame student)
  • Being uncomfortable as a reason to turn down a once in a lifetime opportunity (blame student)
Setting Clear Expectations: Leadership Essentials

Everyone involved will (hopefully) learn that if this situation happens again, the best solution is to get out in front of the problems before they arise by setting proper expectations at the forefront.

For other content related to the job search, resumes, and MBTI, please check out my other terrific articles.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Knowledge is Power

Everybody wants more power; not in the negative, evil way, but as in more power over their lives, more power over their discipline, more power over their careers and success. If we can agree on a foundational level with the title of this article, then the rest of my argument will be coherent.

Check out this transparent The Brain looking angry PNG image

Gaining knowledge

If knowledge does equal power, then it’s a simple formula; to acquire more knowledge gets us more power. Then why aren’t we spending a little part of each day becoming more powerful? There are limitless amounts of free, or nearly free, resources to gain a skill, acquire more knowledge, or become a better person.

I’m not talking about knowledge as in following current events or watching the news. In fact, I say you should stop reading the news and only read books. The reason for this is that scrolling through a news feed is a passive, rather than an active action, which is scientifically proven to be a better way for your brain to function. YouTube is also a great source, but the vaunted rabbit hole exists and will probably derail you from your goal.

Kill your television - Die Cut Vinyl Sticker Decal – Blasted Rat

I have a recommended reading section on this blog that lists the books that helped me with my personal development. Browse through it and find something that sounds interesting to you.

Becoming Complacent

Right now, there are endless advertisements for subscription streaming services that only serve to pacify and distract you from utilizing your valuable time to gain more knowledge/power. You’ve always said, “Man, if I only had the time I would read that book, learn that skill, or get back into (insert passion) .” Entertainment as it exists today is a weapon of mass distraction meant to hypnotize you into regression, not progression.

Consumer Culture – consumerismathome

People you idolize

90% of extremely successful people (my own statistic) are well-read and have a profound desire to learn and understand more than everybody else. They are never satisfied with just “knowing enough to be dangerous.” It’s been widely circulated that Bill Gates reads 50 books a year which, for someone as busy as he is, can’t be easy. He never said he “didn’t have the time to read.” You can surmise the importance he puts on gaining knowledge as a cornerstone of his success.

Bookshelf Full of Books | High-Quality Education Stock Photos ...

Gary V, a very influential hype-man and beanie-wearing motivational speaker, has been a proponent of obsessively studying your passion to the point where you know all there is to know about it. This follows the same general idea that says to become a professional, one needs to be put in at least 10,000 hours of practice. This applies to any industry or career without fail.

Gary Vaynerchuk on Twitter: "What's the number from 1-10 I'm ...

If you desire to become a digital marketing expert, you should have:

  • a giant stack of books on your nightstand
  • a queue of YouTube videos waiting to be devoured
  • 100 LinkedIn messages out to professional digital marketers asking for their advice.

Your goal is to be a giant sponge that soaks up as much information as humanly possible.

Becoming Powerful

Sunny Tripower – Part 1: More Power | SMA Inverted

If you do not try to acquire more knowledge, then you can never attain more power. You will always be somebody that is dictated to by others. How to live, how to work, how to be happy. I don’t want anybody to settle for mediocrity.

The very first thing you need to do is take the Myers-Briggs type indicator assessment and figure out who you are. This is the foundational knowledge from which everything else blossoms. Once you do that, you can begin to direct your life towards that which gives you happiness, and utilizes your best characteristics.

Contact me if you would like a personal Myers-Briggs consultation.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Introverts Guide to the Workplace

Being an introvert, no matter the type of environment you are in, is going to be filled with internal clashes and possible conflict with your more extraverted colleagues.

As an introvert myself (INTJ) who has navigated the corporate environment, I want to give you some of my personal tips along with some tips from various other MBTI materials that will help make the workplace a better place for you.

What are MBTI Types and How Can They Affect Your Career Choices ...

Understanding Extraverts

Carl Jung, in his original work, Psychological Types, spelled it Extraversion, which I will faithfully maintain.

We live in an E world. Though there is much debate over what the exact percentage of Introversion to Extraversion actually is, the official MBTI data shows it a dead heat. In the corporate environment, however, the ratio is skewed towards Extraverts. Starting with this as our foundation, we have to understand from the beginning that most people we’re going to deal with are not going to interact with the world the same way as us. That being said, here are a couple of things you will notice extraverts do that can disrupt your mood and your workflow.

Introverts vs Extroverts - YouTube

How Extraverts Act at Work (From the Introverts point-of-view)

• Chat incessantly about irrelevant things like what they did last weekend and what they will do this weekend
• Brainstorm out loud no matter who’s listening
• Stop by your desk and talk to you when you are clearly deep laser focused on work

This is how introverts interpret the actions of extroverts. However, this attitude creates a negative perception that is not actually real.

Student (is this real) Life? | The Michigan Journal

Extroverts need to work their ideas out by bouncing them off other people. Brainstorming and throwing ideas around are standard actions that help E’s determine their plan of action. This process is completely foreign to I’s.

Introverts like to consult themselves and bounce things around in their head. Oftentimes you can catch them “self-talking” or debating themselves before coming to a conclusion about a plan of action. This fundamental difference in approach to life can be quite the annoyance to the introvert who just “needs a second to think about it!”

The Importance of Positive Self-Talk – San Diego – Sharp Health News

Introverts get their energy from within, while extraverts get their energy from without. If you take this at face value, then you can see where the conflict will arise. Extraverts need to do things in a team setting and be in constant communication with others as it keeps them motivated to figure out what they’re going to do next.

Introvert Solutions

Once we understand how extraverts interact with the world, we can start implementing some solutions right away. I want to make it clear that all the literature tells us this could take a very long time to adopt and is not something that will change by next week.

• Schedule time in your day to do something outside of work away from the office. This could be listening to a podcast, listening to music, reading a book, or something that allows you to mull over things in your head.
• Re-frame your view that extraverts are purposely trying to annoy you. This is the hardest obstacle to hurdle, but it’s the most important one for progress to happen.
• Fake it! Try to emulate other extraverts or access your inner extravert (it’s in there somewhere) and strengthen that part of you that’s likely very weak.

Reading Music to Concentrate | Study Music | Relaxing Music for ...

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, poor communication is not a sign of intelligence, it’s a personality type difference. As soon as we learn to cater to our opposite type, we can relieve some of the stress and friction that exists in our workplace.

If you know someone who would benefit from MBTI counseling, please send them my way!

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Don’t Forget your Significant other When Looking for a New Job

Accepting a new job is as much your choice as it is your significant other’s. The amount of job offers that have gone completely sideways due to a significant other not being involved in the process is higher than anybody wants . In my experience, the core issue is not bringing the significant other into the process at the very beginning. In conjunction with that, there are a number of conflict areas that need to be resolved before a job can truly be accepted.

New Job Conflict Areas

Here are a couple of areas where a new job will directly or indirectly affect a spouse:

  • Work/Life Balance: depending on where one is in their career, this may not be as big an issue as happiness gurus make it out to be. For those that have obligations like young children or an aging parent requiring caregiving, this is likely to be a top priority for your significant other. Those who are single or not planning on having kids are likely to de-prioritize this area.
work - life balance
  • Benefits: Salary is one thing, but more weight is given to healthcare and 401(k) than just the base salary. Certain job seekers prefer to stay on their current healthcare plan and will turn down a job if their current plan is not offered. This is way many job seekers clamor to get into a state or federal job, as the benefits far outweigh the salary.
Progressive Perks: How to Build a Strategic Employee Benefits ...
  • Bringing work home/Stress: How much work after work is going to be required? For example, a new business development rep is likely going to spend an entire year building there book of business and network. This can require 50-60 hours a week of work to become successful. A spouse will need to weigh how this will effect the home life with their partner being unavailable for longer periods of time. Similarly, is this the type of job that ends after 5pm, or does the workplace drama follow you home?
Stress and the Brain | Academic Success Center Online | RIT
  • Relocation: This is a conflict area that surprisingly causes a high amount of job offer declines and upset companies. I have personally had a job offer declined at the last moment due to a significant other that “suddenly” came into the picture. In addition to making sure their spouse is OK with relocation, candidates need to assure themselves that they are OK with relocation. All too often the “are you OK with relocating for this position?” question is quickly glossed over without any real thought.
Play Internet Games Free Online | Time

The very simple and straightforward advice is to keep your significant other in the loop when you’re interviewing, and get a temperature check if it looks like an offer is going to be made.

I know life is more complicated than 4 bullet points, but these are the most prevalent ones I’ve seen. Please let me know what you have experienced in your job hunt and message me directly.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Brittinay Lenhart — 5 Ways to Promote a Healthy Remote Work Culture

Brittinay Lenhart

You need to follow Brittinay Lenhart on LinkedIn for all her charming and useful content surrounding improving corporate culture. Here are some of her relevant links for you to get to know here better:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittinay/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCue4PueHkduZUdA_Un3mhhw

Business page: https://www.workcultureconsultant.com/

In this wonderfully concise video, Brittinay outlines 5 ways to promote a Healthy REMOTE Work Culture:

  • 360 Degree feedback
  • Check-In with your people.
  • Have Effective Meetings
  • Avoid Micro-managing
  • Transparency

Give her a follow and connect with her on LinkedIn so you don’t miss out on her content. She is very active and engaging with her audience, truly utilizing her talents to help others.

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