The importance of follow through: thoughts from an educator

Saying what you mean, and meaning what you say; that is something we should all be striving for in life. It is even more important when you are hiring people, writing recommendations, mentoring people, etc.

I have said it before and will say it again, everyone’s time is valuable, including the person applying for the job. What kind of relationships are you building with a non-caring attitude?

This is more than just communication (which many people do not truly understand), this is about effective communication.

Lessons from an MBA program.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

The silent trap of job boards

When you are looking for a job, besides networking, everyone signs up on job boards. I just realized I have never met one person who said that they have gotten their job from a job board directly.

I would love to be proven wrong on this.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

PS. All of them claim to be the number one place to get a job, interesting

A Professional’s Credentials Deserve a Proper Look

I have been seeing a lot of resume posts recently on whether a resume “passes the 6 second test”, and it disturbs me. Do you mean to stay that my vast professional experience and education is only worth six seconds of your time? You mean to tell me you are not interested in a potentially excellent candidate?

A professional’s experience cannot be nor should it be summed up in mere seconds. If you are serious about recruiting the best than you need to act like it; the best deserves more of your time.

We all understand that there are many more applications today for a single job, but you owe it to your company and to future employees to do your due diligence and treat them as more than a number.

This also extends to returning emails and phone calls by the way, especially if you asked the person to do just that. There are far too many rude employers out there who feel they can just ignore a legitimate communication from someone.

How you recruit is what you get, and how you try and retain is what stays.

Lessons from an MBA course.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

Th ETeam

PS, Employers, for Pete’s sake keep communication formal as well. Use proper titles, tense, and tone. 

Do not be afraid of a career change

Sometimes, our careers become such a part of us that we lose sight of who we truly are and what are original dreams were.

It is alright to explore change, it is alright to dip your feet in the waters of a different career. Not risking anything could lead to questioning everything.

Life is full of surprises and it might show you your true path.

Lessons learned by a longtime educator….

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

The non-interview interview: why do employers do this?

Are you aware that most jobs posted (especially in the education sector where I work) have already been filled? Are you aware that it is a common practice for employers to interview people that they have no intention of hiring?

I am not going to try and analyze the various reasons as to why because that is not my problem; I am going to discuss why this practice is unprofessional and does a disservice not just to the candidate, but also to the company.

The candidate’s job at an interview is to bring their “A” game. They need to be prepared, have researched the company, have poignant questions to ask, etc. In today’s market, it is common to have most candidates prepared like this.

The employer’s main job is to have looked at the candidates resume, done some basic research such as LinkedIn, be prepared with good interview questions, and to be objectively considering every candidate they interview. From a candidate’s perspective, there is nothing worse than walking into an interview where it is obvious the employer knows nothing about you, where they are late to start the interview, people enter the interview late, and at the end, it is also obvious that they are not really serious about hiring.

A professional interview deserves professional interviewers who are truly looking at you as possible fit for their company. This current practice of the non-interview also explains why employers are not getting back to candidates at all after interview: lack of forethought about their company reputation and taking advantage of people in this saturated job market.

Word does get around, and if the company is not careful, it could become known as the company of “do not waste your time applying because they are not serious”.

At some point, we must understand it is not the candidates fault. Lessons in leadership.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Do not despair and know your worth

The social contract between employers and employees is all but dead; employers are not promising longevity and employees can no longer count on retiring where they started. Add to that is, the market worships youth, or seems to value youth more than experience. We see this in the high numbers of skilled over 40s in the job hunt, we see this in the want ads stating “recent college graduate wanted” (or some variation of that).

It is important not to let the actions of others affect one’s outlook; it is important that you try and keep your head up and know your worth. I say try, because we are all human and everyone has bad days.

Do not give up! There is an employer out there who will thank their lucky stars once they have you. You are worth it.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Issues exist in many sectors, not just For-Profits Institutions

“Former ITT Tech employees file lawsuit against dissolved institution”

http://www.educationdive.com/news/former-itt-tech-employees-file-lawsuit-against-dissolved-institution/426005/

There is an interesting part of this article which all universities need to pay attention too, because the same conditions are capable of being re-created in non-profit private universities:

“Though for-profits are specifically under attack by the federal government, there are other lessons for nonprofit institutions as well, particularly for terminating non-union or adjunct positions in the face of budget cuts, lowered enrollment, or other factors which may impact revenue or employment”

Nobody is perfect and we all can be doing better

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Discrimination in hiring is not as subtle as you think: an observation

“RECENT COLLEGE GRADS WANTED!”

“Entry Level Sales for Recent College Grad $40,000-$80,000 + Paid Train”

 

I have seen a lot of titles like this in the last few years, and I thought I would look into a little deeper. Especially since $80K is an excellent start for an “entry level” position.

 

The average age of a college graduate when I got my first degree was around 22 years old, todays grads are around 24, but still we are probably looking at college grads as between the ages of 22 to 24. The age of youth in the business world, the magic numbers!

 

I often wondered what would happen if I applied for some of these positions, after all I have the experience and qualifications. It was quite an interesting experiment.

 

What I found was that the places I did hear from, did not want anyone older than 30, and in one case a person told me outright that I was “too old”! Since when has mid to late forties been considered old? I should probably go back and tell them that they are breaking the law, but the trouble is they do not care, and it is quite common.

 

Who you know still matters highly, and age is not valued like it should be because THEY DO NOT WANT TO PAY YOU YOUR WORTH! Yes, this is true. We have not even gotten to how skin color or perceived ethnicity might factor in here, but if your staff all look like they are from the same family, you might want to look at your diversity practices.

 

The economy still has not really recovered the way we hoped, people are still willing to take less than they are actually worth, so there are a lot of applicants out there. A lot of these applicants have actually given up looking. The flipside is that there are a lot of qualified applicants out there, and they are not being given a chance.

 

So companies, as you place help wanted ads and job descriptions, please make sure you are being honest. There are many occasions when you have no intention of actually interviewing anyone, but you make professionals use their valuable time and submit paperwork that will never get looked at. There are times when someone is immediately dismissed because of their age or how they look. These practices were supposed to have disappeared from the workforce.

 

When are we going to rise above all this?

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam