• How to prepare for a performance review
• What NOT to Wear to a Career Fair AND Why
• Q&A with the Vocational Coach TM

How to prepare for a performance review

An impending performance review often creates anxiety. Solid preparation not only can relieve this anxiety, but also can help show you in the best possible light. Do your homework by implementing the following steps:

1. Examine the period under review. Ask yourself if agreed-upon goals have been met. If you're honest in this self-appraisal, nothing your boss says at the review should come as a surprise.
2. Pinpoint your shortcomings. If you identify those areas where you have weaknesses, you'll know how to respond should your supervisor raise the subject. Be wary, however, about mentioning these yourself because: (a) you perhaps are being overly self-critical, as many people are; and (b) there is no point in unnecessarily raising a warning flag. One positive strategy is to ask for approval for training that will enable you to master new skills.
3. Document your achievements. Be prepared to showcase your accomplishments and prove your value to the organization. Bring along memos, minutes, reports, and statistics that show how your ideas have been implemented. Be sure to focus on positive results. Your boss may not be aware, or may have forgotten, that these successful programs were the result of your ideas.
4. Listen very carefully. This is your opportunity to get feedback on the kind of job you're doing. It also could reveal what career advancements are ahead–for example, if your boss talks about long-term goals involving you.

-Adapted from Working Smart

Back to Top

What NOT to Wear to a Career Fair AND Why

What do you plan on wearing to the next career fair you attend? Will you don the traditional navy blue suit and tie or a dress with sensible heels or will you go with the more recent trend of dressing “down” so that you look like someone who ‘already matches the company dress code’ in one of your targeted organizations?

Will you look more like you’re going to play a game of golf than take the first step in what could be a long-term source of income and professional satisfaction? Are you wearing what you might wear to a rock concert instead of what could be a meeting with your future boss that could yield an incredible new position?

Studies show that your wardrobe decision could so radically influence your chances of getting hired, that I suggest you give it more that just a little serious thought.

In my travels leading seminars and critiquing resumes as a career coach at career fairs around the U.S., I’ve interviewed many job seekers about their choice to go casual. Most of these job seekers cite the now- popular adage, “dress like the people who already work there”, counsel recommended by a great number of people who give career advice on how to dress for face-to-face contact with an employer.

The problem with this tactic is that it backfires. “At a career fair”, says Kevin Donlin, president of Guaranteed Resumes in Edina, Minnesota, “there is no way to predict the corporate dress code of all of the companies that will be represented there”. “If”, says Donlin, “you show poor judgment in how you dress yourself; (then, the assumption is) you will show poor judgment on the job.”

Employers glean the first impression “in the first 30 seconds that they see you”, says Carole Martin an interview coach in Silicon Valley, California and author of ‘Raise Your Interview IQ’. “I think it’s risky”, she says, “for the average person” to dress ‘down’.

According to over 40 interviews I did with the recruiters who staff these events, dressing down is a risk that no job seeker can afford to take. My first query for the hiring personnel at several fairs was “What do you think of the general manner of dress at this event?”

The sameness of responses surprised me. They said of the dress of the average job seekers at these fairs that they were, “inappropriate, disrespectful, unbusinesslike, unprofessional” and even “appalling”. Pretty strong judgments for such a ‘superficial’ item as how one chooses to stay warm that day! Yet, wardrobe has at least as much symbolic meaning to some people as it does practical function.

When I asked the potential employers, “How would you judge a person who walked up to your recruiting booth wearing a well pressed suit and tie or a woman’s business suit and heels?” These were the responses I fielded: “Self-disciplined, well educated, higher income, high self-esteem, self-respecting, more responsible and “a good representative of my company”.

What we learn from this study is that people with the power to hire you not only judge you by what you wear before you even open your mouth, but that they even base certain personality characteristics and expectations of job performance on how you’ve decided to dress that day!

Kate Wendleton, president of a leading career counseling and outplacement firm in New York, The Five O’ Clock Club, agrees that “If in doubt, err on the side of dressing more formally”.

Whether it is “right” or “wrong” to make character judgments about people sheerly based on their manner of dress, it is par for the course in the hiring arena. Weigh a year’s salary against the cost of a $200 suit the next time you attend a job fair. The decision, to go casual or to sport a more businesslike attire could mean the difference between your resume meeting with the paper shredder or you meeting with the boss.

Ms. Stein is a career coach is San Jose, CA and the author of "Fearless Interviewing" (McGraw-Hill, 2003). She can be contacted at (408) 261-9569 or marky@markystein.com

Back to Top

Q&A with the Vocational Coach TM

Craig,
Do you really think it is practical for all of us to do what we love when the reality is; we all have to pay the rent or mortgage?
Name Withheld

We each create our own reality. What may seem practical to one person may not seem wise to another. It all depends on how you think about it.
-Regards Craig

Craig,
I have been out of work for five months and suddenly realize this might be the best time to finally do what I love.
Kyle

Dear Kyle,
You are right. When we are in transition, It is the best time since we tend to be more open and receptive to new ideas.
-Craig,

I am currently a sales person in a large high tech company. I am constantly under pressure to meet my sales quota. My passion is helping disabled children. Is there a way out?
Name Withheld

Sadly, some rewards and punishment at work force us to feel controlled and manipulated. Some studies have shown that performance goes down when a person is rewarded for doing something they already love to do.

So, it’s time for you to create your own reward; move towards teaching disabled children to appreciate themselves and their world. It’s a gift you’ll never have to give back.
-Regards Craig

Craig,
My husband is not thrilled I quit my job to run my own home based business. I collect and sell art which is my passion. How can I get him to understand this is what I need to do?
Ann

Dear Ann,
Explain to him why this is important. Minimize the impact to him where possible. Get other people if necessary around you who support what you are doing.
-Regards Craig

Craig,
What is the difference between doing what you love and just liking a job?
Sam

Dear Sam,
It’s a job when you like it. It’s your life’s work when you can’t be without it and you see no reason to ever "retire".
-Regards Craig

Craig,
In school, I was never taught how to choose what I love to do. Now at 45 years of age and recently laid off, my mind goes blank when thinking about what I should do next?
Anthony

Dear Anthony,
I am going to give you a gift; a day all to yourself. How will you spend this day from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Examine your patterns and notice which aspects of the day gets you the most excited. Start with this as a foundation to build on.
-Regards Craig

Craig,
Although I respect your advice, I do hate my job but I have just five more years before retirement. I have decided to hang in there and not risk anything that I have worked for all these years.
Name Withheld

The wonderful thing about life is that we get to make choices. If you are happy with your choices, that is what is most important. Word of caution; Don’t let your vocational passion muscles get too far out of shape in the next five years or they won’t be much use to you when you do retire.
-Regards Craig

Dear Craig,
I love my job but hate my boss. This is also starting to make me hate my job. What should I do?
Name Withheld

First think through why you hate your boss. How might you look at your boss from a new perspective? If you were your boss, what would you need from you? Don’t lose sight that you love what you do. You have reached a magical place.
-Regards Craig

Craig,
I recently started taking assessments to figure out what I love. The problem is these assessments all tend to label me in one way or another.
Judy

Dear Judy,
That’s the problem with many assessments. They are not usually emotionally based. Look however at the patterns of your answers and what you can learn from them.
Regards Craig

Craig,
I know what I prize most in my life but am not sure how to be consistent each day following what is most important to me.
Ali

Dear Ali,
Make a list of the most important things you would have to do each and every day to follow what’s most important and what you would have to do to not follow what’s most important to you. This contrasting list will help you focus on where to start.
Regards Craig



Craig Nathanson is The Vocational CoachTM working with individuals to discover and live their vocational passion. Craig is a local author, college lecturer and counselor with 25 years of management experience and a PhD candidate at the Fielding Institute. Craig is the author of P Is For Perfect; Your Perfect Vocational Day. Learn more about Craig’s work at thevocationalcoach.com or email Craig at craig@thevocationalcoach.com

Back to Top