A Simple Guide to Help you Maneuver the Office Christmas Party

It's that time of the year again and many offices are  planning to have what has become a tradition of sorts in the corporate world; the office  Christmas party. The office  Christmas party has become synonymous with Christmas and has become so popular that it is a staple practice in countries where Christmas isn't even an official holiday and Hollywood has even made a movie with  Jennifer Aniston in the leading role based on the shenanigans that have become synonymous with such parties.

While the office party is usually a time for employees to take a break from the stress of the job and have a moment of fun relaxation while mingling with their bosses at a more informal setting, many have misunderstood that there are principles that apply to such parties and have found themselves in embarrassing situations which have soiled their reputations long after the last guest walked out of the party venue.

Before you attend your own office party, be sure to follow these simple etiquette guide so that you are not remembered for the wrong reasons.

Timing - Be on time, if the invitation says the party starts at 6pm, be sure to be there at 6pm. If you must come in later, be sure inform your colleagues but try to be at the venue within the first hour and a half as anything more than that shows a disregard to the organizers of the party as well as your other colleagues and bosses who arrived on time.

Dress code- Most offices organize their Christmas parties after work hours on a work day so as not to disrupt the weekend plans of their employees, so unless a dress code is specified, come dressed as you would normally be dressed for work and if there is a dress code be sure to stick to it.

Refreshment - A good rule of thumb is to have something to eat before attending any parties, just in case you get there and the food being served is something you are not familiar with or worse still is finished. Even if there is an open bar and there is an all -you-can-eat buffet on hand, eat and drink in moderation. A good rule of thumb is to stick to the two-drink rule.

Conduct- Conduct yourself in a professional manner at all times, no singing loudly and off key or performing a striptease. Instead, use the opportunity to engage with your colleagues you normally do not have interactions with on a daily basis by having light conversations, the office party is not the time nor the place for office gossip so , keep your smartphones safely tucked away to prevent distractions.

Exit - Stay for a reasonable amount of time (at least 2hrs). Don't be the first to take a leave and if you must leave before your boss, be sure to let her know  why without going into too much details. You don't want to be the last man standing either. so make your exit once you notice the party crowd thinning out.

While the office party is often gossip fodder for the days following it, be sure that all your colleagues would be talking about is how much fun they had and not how you made a fool of yourself. With that being said, eat, drink and be merry.

Dear Career Sensei - I want to quit my Job to start my own Business

Dear Career Sensei,

I am an intelligent and business savvy professional with over 10 years’ experience, 8 of which I’ve spent with my current employer. Though it’s a small company with a staff strength of less than 20, we control approximately 10% of the market.

There’s really not much of  a future for me here as I hold the highest office an employee can within the company, the only two positions higher than mine are held by the owners and co-founders of the business, a married couple.

I am a good leader, proven innovator and most of the award winning ideas that have led to our current success originated from me. Over the years, I have developed quite a good relationship with all our clients, have a strong network within the industry and have been able to save enough seed capital to start up a small firm of my own.

I know there’s never a perfect time to start a business and even though everything looks good on paper, I am afraid that I would fail and have to start from scratch.

Please help me.

Sincerely,

Scaredy-cat the Entrepreneur

Dear Scaredy-cat the Entrepreneur,

It’s okay to be afraid of taking the jump into the entrepreneurship pool as you’ve probably been informed that 8 out of 10 startups fail within the first 18 months. While not entirely factual, there are indeed more failed startups than there are successes.

My advice to you is to follow your dream and start your own firm, because until you do so, you would never know what could have been. However before you quit your job be reminded that entrepreneurship is not a walk in the park, but I’m sure you already  know this hence your apprehension. 

It’s always a good idea to have a backup plan, a plan b of sorts so that you are not left stranded if the business goes belly up. It could be in form of consulting for similar businesses or selling stuff on eBay as a hobby, just be sure to have a plan that would provide an alternative source of income.

Its also a good idea to start your business on the side while still in paid employment. This give you the room to learn the ropes and make your mistakes while still earning a salary. However, it’s important that you operate outside the hours you work for your employer. After work, weekends and when you are on vacation are good times to test the waters.

I noticed that you referenced the relationship you have with your current clients, please no matter how close you are to these clients its best to get your own clients instead of stealing  your current employer's customers. You don’t want to pay an organization that you’ve worked with for 8 years, taught you most of what you know and exposed you to invaluable networks by back stabbing or worse, making them your enemies. As a startup you do not want to use the little capital you starting a war with a company you confessed controls 10% market share of your industry. They can use their years of experience, power and financial means to run you out of business and ruin whatever reputation you have built within the industry.

Lastly, when the time comes for you to hand in your notice, make sure you make your resignation as amicable as possible, give them ample notice and let them know that you plan to start a similar business (if you lie about it, they would eventually find out). You don't want to leave on a sour note or burn bridges because as a startup, you would be needing all the connections and assistance you can get to forge ahead. 

Remember that entrepreneurship is often more arduous and tasking than it is glamorized to be and for every Mark Zuckerberg there are about 90 Elizabeth Holmes'.

All the best!

The Career Sensei

Why your online Activities May be Hurting your Job Search

In the early days when the Facebook userbase were mainly milenials, I would often update my status to reveal what I was upto from the important (job interviews, work functions) to the mundane (what I was eating for dinner). As the medium started to become more popular with generation x's and baby boomers, and my network began to grow to include older relatives and colleagues, I began to tone down the amount of information I shared but would occasionally share my plans for Friday nights. My typical Friday posts were often funny depictions of my love for alcohol, so I'd share something like "TGIF- Totally single so tonight I'm going to be spending the night alone with a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka" or "I'm going to dance and get wasted with my girls tonight", you know, typical single girl living a life of debuchery posts.

It all stopped the day my pastor sent me a friend request. You see, I was a very active member of  the local chapter of my church and held several leadership positions. I wasn't comfortable with my pastor seeing my 'cheeky' posts that often included updates about spending the weekend in nothing but my underwear with a bottle of red wine for company because I did not want him giving me sermons on how I had to comport myself to reflect my faith to the world. I wasn't going to start posting scriptures either because it just wasn't my style so I just stopped sharing updates all together and became a lurker, checking out what others were sharing.

Even if your pastor/boss/cleric or anyone you hold in high esteem doesn't follow your online activities, you still have to be careful with your online activities. This because the internet never forgets and whatever you do on the internet stays there forever and even if you delete  it,  chances are that it may still exist on other computers, websites, search engines or someone with a fast finger screen grabbed it.

To project your personal brand, it is important that you are careful with the information you put online. Too many people are losing their jobs and elected positions because they aired what they believed where their personal opinions with friends on social media. Recent instances of high profile people losing their jobs as a result of their social media activities include a mayor, a director, a  police officer and  Hamilton's Brandon Victor Dixon who was initially  praised for speaking to Vice President Elect - Mike Pence's until his credibility on speaking on important social issues was questioned when one of his tweets from 4 years ago was dug up.

As a career professional, it is important that you keep your online activities as professional as possible. This is because 60% of employers use social network to research job candidates. Hiring managers will pass up a candidate based on the information found about them online. Top of the list why a hiring manager will eliminate an otherwise qualified job candidate includes posting provocative or inappropriate photographs or information,  information about candidates drinking or drug use, discriminatory comments related to race, religion, gender and bad mouthing previous employers or colleagues. Poor communication  is also very big no no to a recruiter.

You may think that you can prevent a recruiter from seeing your social activities by keeping your social media accounts private but keeping your profile private can be counter-productive as 41% recruiters report that they are unlikely to hire someone if they are unable to find information about them online and employers who use social media in their hiring process admitted to sending such cadidates friend requests anyway.

Here are some important points to guide you on making the best out of your online activities

- Be consistent: use a consistent username across all your social networks or even message boards and online communities you belong to, this is helpful in establishing your digital footprint and strengthens your personal brand

- Join online forums/groups that are pertinent to your industry and make intelligent/well researched cotributions

- Limit the amount of personal information you post online, seemingly harmless information about your interests or family can be used by hackers for identity theft or by stalkers or criminals to know your whereabouts (Kim Kardashian can tell you a something about this).

- Steer away from engaging in unnecesary arguments/fights, you may just be having an argument with a troll, who has far less consequences to suffer in the event that the post becomes public

Remember the rule of thumb is not to post or engage in activities online that you would not say or do in public.

How to Comeback from a Poor First Showing

A personal poor first impression incident happened early on in my career as an entry level e-business banking officer. Part of  my job scope at the time, included going to client locations to pitch our electronic banking applications to a group of often high ranking officials. It was a pretty standard routine, I would start off by delivering a  power point presentation to highlight the product features, follow it with a Q&A session after which I would launch the application and proceed with a live demo to emphasize how user friendly the products were.

I delivered these presentations so often that it got to a point when I could do my presentations without having to look at the slides and could predict the questions that would be asked  and answer them preemptively. I had also learnt from doing so many sales pitches that almost every audience had a 'problem person' and could spot them almost immediately I stepped into the meeting room. A 'problem person' in this instance refers to that one person that pretends to have more important things to do than being bogged with 'your' sales pitch, they usually spend most of the meeting fiddling with their phone/tab  and would only spring into action during the time for questions to ask questions with the sole purpose of throwing you off.

Over the course of doing these pitches, I had learned that to manage the 'problem person', I needed to pay them more attention than necessary and answer their questions as politely as possible no matter  how mundane or meaningless the questions were. The trick was to identify  them for what they were (distractions), navigate their obstacle courses as effortlessly as possible, stay on focus and never lose my cool or let them get on my nerves.

On one occasion, I was tasked with making a pitch for an important prospect of the bank and before heading to the  meeting my manager informed me of how big the prospects account was and the decision as to whether they would start banking with us rested on the product I was going to talk to them about. So I was already a bag of nerves heading into the clients office and it didn't help matters when I spotted the problem person the moment he walked in as I was setting up. He sized me up and said to my hearing that he would have preferred someone 'more senior' than I was  to handle the presentation.

After doing what I believed was an impeccable presentation and fielding all his questions, it was time for a live demo and from that moment, everything seemed to go south. I couldn't gain access to the application, and after several failed attempts, I excused myself from the meeting to put a call through to our support team, who were able to resolve the issue after what seemed  like the longest 5 minutes of my life. I returned to the meeting  flustered, apologized for the glitch and proceeded with the demo all the while trying my best to ignore the problem guy smirking behind me as I struggled to regain my composure. After logging into the application, I attempted to simulate a payment process but got logged out, I tried to downplay the glitch by re-signing in and demonstrating another product feature but got signed out again. At that point I was forced to admit to the group that there was a system malfunction which I would have to log in with our developers and rescheduled the demo. Thankfully, they were quite sympathetic to my plight and agreed to have the demo at a later date.

As I was packing up my equipment, problem guy walked up to me with a huge grin on his face scoffed and said "You know you don't get a second chance to make a first impression right?"

It took everything within me not to snap at him. I just smiled and continued with my bags, thanked the room for their time and walked away. I would save the frustration brought on by the humiliating experience for the support team back at the office.

One of the most popular quotes in business is  'you don't get a second chance to make a first impression', You are expected to put your best foot forward the first time because  first impressions set the precedence for how the relationship that follows will go. Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D argues that people will form an impression based on your gender, age and race when they see you for the first time. The impression is hinged on your appearance and how attractive they judge you to be. This means that your appearance is the most  important part of creating a good impression.

In the course of your career, it is important to create good first impressions but what happens if you blow your chance at making a good first impression? You do not have to bury your head in shame and give in to the false notion that by missing that one chance of putting up a good showing it is over for you. You can recoup by doing the following;


Do not apologize if the gaffe was no fault of yours as apologizing is an admittance of wrong doing on your part. You should instead work towards offering a plausible explanation for why there was a gaffe. But if you must apologize, be graceful about it, make your apology short and straight to the point, try not to grovel or avoid eye contact, crack a smile if you can manage one.

It's okay ask for a second chance, there's no harm in asking for 5 minutes to gather your thoughts and sort out whatever it is that is unnerving you. You can take a quick break to the restroom, pop , take several deep breaths, some mints in your mouth, look yourself in the mirror and give yourself a pep-talk. If like me your failure to launch was caused by something outside of your control, place a call to whoever is responsible and find out if it can be rectified immediately or if you need more time.

Walk out with your shoulders square and with your head held high; no matter how badly you think your performance was, when you leave the room/meeting/interview leave with your dignity in tact. This is because the more confidence you convey, the more other people will react to you.

Make a killer second impression: If you were lucky to get a second chance, make the most of the opportunity by preparing for it with the precision of an Olympian training towards winning a gold medal. Ensure that you dot your i's and cross your t's and to dwell on your past poor showing, even if it is brought up by your audience, politely steer the conversation away and leave it were it belongs which is in the past.

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Dear Career Sensei - I Hate my Boss

Dear Career Sensei,

My boss is lazy, rude, crass and vindictive and I really hate him.

He makes what would have been an otherwise great job stressful and even though I am actively searching for another job, I'm starting to think that it's best I quit now because I fear that I may soon be forced to react to his  mood swings and constant condescension by lashing out at him and saying what I really feel about him which could lead to me  losing my job on the grounds of insubordination.

Please help because I am at my wits end.

JR



Dear JR,

You are not alone. According to a staffbay.com survey of 15,000 job seekers, a whopping 87.2% admitted they were in the job market because they did not trust or they hated their bosses.

I can tell you a thing or two about having to work with a "horrible boss" because I too have  lived through it. You see when I was a junior executive, I had a boss that I was sure hated me because it seemed like she was always picking on me and never seemed to appreciate all the effort and hard work I put  into my job.

Like you, I decided to get out of the organization as I was sure that I was never going to grow within the organization as long as I was her direct report. After applying for several jobs with nary a new job in sight, I decided to look inwards and transfer to a different division with the company. As part of the inter-departmental move, I had to explain to our director why I wanted to move and after beating about the bush, I opened up to him that my boss and I were not really getting along and that it had started to affect my performance negatively.

I would share with you what he told  me back then as with the passage of time and acquired experiences, his advice has held tried, trusted and true. He stated of all the reasons for changing jobs, the relationship you have with your boss or colleagues while important, should not be top of the list. This is because you are not in control of the way people would  behave towards you and what if you change jobs and meet with people with worse off personalities? Are you going to continue to change jobs until you find a job with people with the right kind of personality?

He told me not to focus on my boss's behaviour as there was little I could do to change it but to instead work on managing my own emotions. He asked me not to take her attitude towards me personally as her behaviour could be linked to much larger issues such as stress and advised  me to observe and learn why she seemed to treat me poorly for possible triggers and patterns and for me to develop my own strategies for handling her perceived bad temper.

Once I realized not to take her outbursts personally, I started to see things in a different light. I noticed that she was usually at her worst behaviour just before the company's monthly performance meetings and started to empathize with her knowing that those meetings could be brutal.
While I was of the opinion that she was specifically picking on me, I would eventually find out after having a chat with her that she was harder on me than the rest of my colleagues because she expected much more from me as I had worked with her longest.

I also devised coping mechanisms for staying calm whenever she would lose her cool by excusing myself from the office whenever I felt like reacting to her outbursts. I would normally take a walk out of the office to a quiet corner, whip out my phone and go through the pictures of my then baby son. I also learned to become proactive in my dealings with her, I made sure my reports were on time and as error free as conceivable.

Today, several jobs and multiple bosses after; some of who turned out to be worse than she was,  I can categorically tell you that the 'horrible boss' you know is better than the 'great boss' you don't know and instead of leaving a job you rightly admitted is a great job because of your poor relationship with your boss, try working towards having a mutually respectful relationship, it may surprise you how instrumental this person may become in your career trajectory.

All the best!

Please send your questions for publication to dearcareersensei@gmail.com

Overcoming Working Mom Guilt

Working mom guilt, yes there's such a thing and if you are a mother who has a career or work outside your home, you probably know a thing or two about this phenomenon. Working mom guilt is not to be confused with just plain good old mom guilt which is the kind the shame mothers feel for issues they face in the process of raising their children such as making a choice of not exclusively breastfeeding your baby to giving in and letting your child eat candy before dinner. Working mom guilt is another kettle of fish entirely, as it is exclusive to mothers who work to support the family income and in doing so are not spending time with their children as much as they would want to.

As a mother of two young children myself, I can tell you a thing or two about the pain I felt when I had to go back to work for the first time after having a baby and how jealous I would get every time my son would light up when my sister (his caregiver at the time) walked into the room. Working mom guilt is a recurring topic on several of the mommy boards I belong to and any thread on the topic garners hundreds of comments from mothers sharing how much they cry alongside their babies/preschoolers when they have to leave for work or how sad it makes them that their children have become more attached to their nannies, daddies, grandparents or even daycare teachers.

I don't think mothers would ever overcome this type of guilt but I've dug up a few facts  that ought to lift your spirits up whenever the working mom guilt starts to creep in:


You are doing it for the kids: According to research at Cornell and Denmark, children of women who worked between 10-19 hours over the first four years of their child's life will have a GPA that is 2.6% higher on average than children of stay at home moms.
Findings from a Harvard Business School study determined that sons who were raised by working mothers were more likely to help around the home and spend time looking after their own children.

You are doing it for your daughter(s): The same Harvard Business School study revealed that daughters of working mothers grow up to have more successful careers, have higher earning power and take on supervisory roles than their peers.

You are doing it for your mental health: A Gallup survey reported that stay at home moms report more sadness, anger, and depression than working mothers.
A study by the Journal of Family Psychology found that working moms are healthier and happier than mothers who stay at home when their children are babies and preschoolers.
Working moms tend to be

You are doing it for your family: The most obvious perk of being a working mom is the extra coins you bring to the family's finances. Your contribution goes into giving your children a better standard of living and would take some stress of your significant others wallet thereby leading to a healthier, happier and more comfortable family.

So the next time you start to feel guilty about going to work remember that you are doing it not just for yourself but for your child's future succeesses.

Dear Career Sensei - I'm in Love with my Boss

Meetings just became more heated

Dear Career Sensei,

I'm in a fix. I think I've fallen hard for my boss!

She's hot, flirts with me, assigns the best projects to me and sings my praises to our director.
My colleagues have even noticed that she treats me differently and now refer to me as 'Teachers Pet' behind her back.

We are both single with nothing to lose should I go ahead and ask her out?

Yours Truly,

Hot and bothered


Hello Hot and Bothered,

I don't know what your company's policy is with regards to office romance but I know that office romances are largely frowned upon because they have the tendency to interfere with work and bring about conflict of interests.

Your situation is a bit dicey because of the power dynamics with her being the boss and you being her subordinate, she wields more power, at least on a professional level. Even though your colleagues are laughing about it now, they may start to resent you and feel that you went into the relationship with the intention of getting ahead (you have already admitted to enjoying some form of favoritism) .
You also have to consider what would happen in the aftermath of the relationship ending. Would you be able to continue working with her or would dive back into the job market?

While entering a relationship with your boss may be a good idea, it can be disastrous to both your professional and personal life if one or both of you are not mentally prepared for it or if either of you are not going into it for the ssame reasons.

Before you ask her about, consider these points in my earlier post on workplace romance.

All the best!

The Career Sensei

Please send your questions for publication to dearcareersensei@gmail.com

How to Network Successfully

My, this is the best fruit salad I've ever had!

Earlier in my banking career, I was redeployed to the sales unit without requesting for it and on short notice.  Even though I like to believe that I love taking on new challenges I took on the redeployment with a lot of anxiety and trepidation because all my years in banking, I had been told that sales was the most difficult job function to excel in as the market was saturated with several commercial banks selling the same products to the same customers.

My manager at the time tried to calm my nerves down by giving me a prep-talk by sharing some nuggets that had helped her excel to become a star sales person with several promotions and awards to show for it. She explained that like me she had been thrust into sales but that she was able to succeed by leveraging on the strength of her network. She advised me to take advantage of the people in my social circles and to always be prepared by having my call cards and a couple of account opening forms I would never know when the opportunity to meet a prospective client will come.

Armed with the "secrets of banking sales success" and having only a handful of friends who also doubled as colleagues, I called up my social butterfly cousin and told him that I now wanted to run in his social circles. He was more than pleased to include me into his circle and promptly asked me to join him to a barbecue party that was scheduled to take place the next weekend as a right of passage into his circle of high flying executives and business owners.

Armed with my business cards and a dozen account opening forms in the back seat of my car and dressed down in a cropped t-shirt and jeans I drove down to the venue of the party with high expectations. As one would expect, I left the party without opening any accounts or making any meaningful business connections although I met a few people that I am friends with to this day.

You see it would take me several months of unsuccessful networking attempts to learn that there is an art to networking and if I was going to succeed at it I would have to follow some laid down rules some of which I have outlined below:

Know your event and plan accordingly; looking back I realize that it was a networking faux pas to have gone to a party that was filled with what would be total strangers and try to get them to open accounts with my bank. I should have taken into consideration that a barbecue party is more relaxed/casual social event and as such most guests are going there to unwind and not looking to make any serious business deals or connections.
I'm not saying that you can not have success by networking at a social gathering full of strangers but your  chances of succeeding at such events are slim. Some great places to network include conferences, trade shows, associations, leads groups and events specifically setup for networking.
Before going for the event, get as much information as possible, such as who would be attending and if possible their sitting arrangements, the aim is to be strategically positioned such that you can meet the people you plan on bringing into your network without too much hassle.
It also helps if you get to the event early/before the events kicks off.

Dress Appropriately: Dress as you want to be addressed, we humans are visual creatures and as much as we are told not to, would often judge a book by its cover. If you want to project the image of a serious professional capable of managing a 6-figure portfolio, you would need to dress the part.
I now realize that even though I was dressed appropriately for a barbecue party,  my outfit did not project the image of a banker, one whom a client is expected to entrust their investments with hence my failure to launch.

Have your elevator pitch ready; Every sales person is expected to have an elevator pitch, a 60-second succinct and persuasive sales pitch that should use to sell yourself/products or services. It's called an elevator pitch because it's basically giving a brief of your business to get your concept across to a person in the time between floors in an elevator. When networking, time is very important so you don't want to waste your time or that of your subject by beating about the bush or making meaningless small talk.


Read and speak body language fluently; to network effectively, you need to be a master  on interpreting body language and unspoken cues. You are better off not making an impression than making a bad impression. Study your person of interest from a safe distance to determine if they will welcome a chat with a "stranger" and once you determine that they may be open to talking to you be sure to know when to it's time take a friendly exit.

Follow-up: Send an email or put a call through expressing how much you enjoyed meeting the person and ask if you could get together and share ideas. I personally like to make my follow-up call within 24hrs of the meeting when the event is still fresh in the mind of the prospect.

Free Resume Evaluation

Have you ever identified an advertised job that you were qualified for and applied for it only to never get a call back or worse still received an impersonal auto response notifying you of your ineligibility for the position?

If you answered yes, know that you are not alone. You see in todays saturated job market, recruiters are expected to seieve through hundreds of applications for a single advertised job. To make the selection process easier, recruiters have been trained to select applications based on very specific criteria and if your resume does not contain these key terms, you will continue to be passed over for jobs you are qualified for.

For a limited period, I am offering to evaluate your resume to make it stand out and ensure that you are seleted for interviews by employers for free!

To get your free resume evaluation, simply follow us by entering your email address in the Follow by Email widget at the bottom of the blog.

Remember that I would only be evaluating a limited number of resumes, so hurry and don't miss out on this opportunity to make your applications stand out!

TGIF: What's so Special about Fridays Anyway?

I'm sure like me your social media channel feeds are flooded with TGIF status updates, posts and memes.  

Fridays are the least productive day of the week with 35% work being less done than on Mondays the second most productive day of the week (after Tuesdays). Even the commute to work on a Friday is chill with less traffic.

There's a generally relaxed vibe when you walk into an office on a Friday,  meetings are not as intense, no one seems to be in a rush and people at the office are in a more celebratory mood. 

So why is Friday such a special day for employees?

The start of the weekend. Friday heralds the start of the weekend and unless you work in retail or an emergency worker, medical professional or a clergy, you get to have two days off to rest, hang out with your family, run errands and attend social functions.

Casual Fridays. Friday for the average employee also means that you can ditch formal attire as many organizations have adopted a casual Friday dress code where employees who are normally required to wear business attires are allowed to dress down in more comfortable clothes.

Friday Night Lights. Friday is also more exciting because of Friday nightlife. You get to stay up late at night because there's no pressure to be up early for work the next morning. Many employees utilize their Friday nights by going on date nights, hanging out with their friends or if you are a mum of small children like I am, stay up late watching TV and catching up on my favorite television shows. Little wonder that most bars have special Friday night happy hour.

Saturday Sleep Ins. Your alarm clock gets the day off as you can sleep in on Saturday morning. The morning alarm is rated the 34th most annoying sound in the world coming in before fire alarms, little wonder as the morning alarm interrupts your sweet dreams and jolts you into the reality of the start of another work day.

So what would you be doing this Friday? 

You can now Facebook at Work

Well, it's not like you weren't already Facebooking at work, the difference is now you don't have to swiftly minimize your web browser when your supervisor walks in.

Yesterday Facebook released Workplace by Facebook, a service designed for internal business communication. Just like the Facebook you've come to love as a medium to connect with family and friends, Workplace offers group, messenger chats, trending posts, videos  and Facebook live. So now your CEO can address the entire company via Facebook live.


Facebook announced there are already over 1000 companies using the service around the world but getting it will cost your company as high as $3 per user for companies with less that 1000 users and $1 per user for organizations with over 10,000 users but is free for educational institutions and non-profits.

Workplace accounts are separate will be from your personal Facebook accounts so try to keep things professional and know when to draw the line with sharing the inappropriate memes.  Maybe Workplace would make  the internal communications process within organizations more fun and organizations would have improved employee engagement. We would have to wait and see.

6 Surefire Ways to Overcome a Work Slump

Does the mere thought of getting to work make you tired? Do tasks that would normally excite you now seem mundane? Do you find yourself getting irritated by office chatter that you would normally find amusing? You may be going through what is known as a work slump.

A work slump is defined by a loss of energy, lack of drive and motivation, feeling irritable, stressed and constantly procrastinating at work. Not to be confused with career fatigue, a more serious condition, work slumps tend to strike towards the end of the year as the seasons begin to take a calmer tone and the burst of energy you received after your summer vacation begins to wear off.

Even though work slumps are almost inevitable in the course of our careers and you are certain to experience them often, below are 6 simple ways to get out of a work slump


1. Take a break: If you've used up your vacation days for the year you can take a 3-4 day weekend off work. It's best to leave home during this timeout as staying at home is not necessarily a break and wouldn't give you the satisfaction and benefits that taking a break brings. Instead of spending your time off on Netflix, opt to go hiking with a friend or two or visit family out of town. Research has proven that a well-spent break will ease your stress, make you happier and more productive.

2. Tweak your morning routine:  A simple change in your morning routine can improve the course of your entire day. Simple tweaks like having a smoothie instead of your morning coffee, waking up 30 minutes earlier to exercise before your shower or even walking to work instead of driving can give you a boost and increase your energy levels for the days' task.

3. Redecorate / de-clutter your workspace: According to Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese practice, everything in your surrounding environment affects your life. It is believed that the way physical objects are placed around your space can attract positive or negative energy or chi. Clear your workstation of unnecessary items that may be draining your energy and redecorate  by adding a few elements that are believed to attract good vibes. Place items like fresh flowers or a small potted plant to attract wealth and prosperity; motivational images (such as a picture of your graduation or an award or even a photograph an industry leader you look up to) to attract fame and reputation and a picture or two of the special people in your life for love and relationships.

4. Re-assess your career goals: This is a good time to re-asses your career goals. Are you where you want to be or have you veered off?  By re-assessing your career goals you can get out of your work conundrum  by developing a plan to get you back on track (if you had veered off) or even starting a new career!

5. Volunteer for a project: If you've been working on the same projects, you are probably bored and in need of a change. Ask your boss to put you on a project that you does not necessarily fit your specialty but its something you can handle.You can also take on a new responsibility in addition to your current workload if you have the time and can handle both.

6. Take a class to learn something new: Enroll in a class to learn something new, maybe a craft or a new language or even a foreign dance. Not only will it give you something to look forward to after work, but it develops your knowledge base and improves you for better by giving you access to new opportunities, meeting new people and making new friends.

Dear Career Sensei

These shoes were made for walking

Dear Career Sensei,

I have just taken up a new job as a sales representative. Yesterday I was informed by my manager that I am not allowed to wear flat shoes to work and that I must keep my hair either in a bun or straightened shoulder length.
While I don't have an issue with the hairstyle, I'm uncomfortable in heels, I told my manager this and she suggested I wear kitten heels or wedge shoes.
I wasn't informed about a dress code during the interview process and the employee handbook makes no mention of these (it just states that we should be professionally dressed to work). Isn't this discrimination?

Yours Truly,

Uncomfortable in Heels


Dear Uncomfortable,

Unfortunately,  stipulating a dress code that is not hinged on your gender, race, national origin, religion or age is not discrimination because your employer is within their rights to enact a dress code. Unfair? maybe but it is not illegal.

You can try having a chat with HR about your discomfort with wearing high heels and see if they will be willing to bend the rules for you or you can choose to wear kitten heels or wedges as advised by your manager while you begin searching for another job.

All the best!

Please send your questions for publication to dearcareersensei@gmail.com

You got Fired, So what?

You are Fired!

According to Joan Kingsley, a consultant clinical and organisational therapist who has spent over 25 years researching workplace psychology, the number one fear for employees is the fear of being fired, this fear ranked higher than the fear of failing on the job and the fear of being disrespected by the boss. People fear getting fired not only because it affects the source of their livelihood but also because many people have come to associate getting the axe as proof that they are the worst at what they do since we have been conditioned to believe that it's usually the most unproductive employees that get fired.

It's no doubt that getting fired from a job can be a traumatic professional experience and can leave you feeling hurt, embarrassed, humiliated and broke; but while it can do a number on your self-esteem. you shouldn't let that singular act define who you are or where you are headed in your career.
In fact getting fired may actually be good for you, and here's why:

You are in good company! Some of the most successful and influential people have gotten the pink slip in the course of their career journey. Congratulations because you are now part of an elite group of people that include Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Anna Wintour, Michael Bloomberg and Walt Disney.

It's a life lesson. Instead of wallowing in self-pity and letting the experience take a slice out of your self-esteem, take it as one of life's many lessons and learn from the experience. Most organizations would let you know why you are getting axed but if you weren't informed, make it your mission to find out why and resolve to change for the better. If you were fired for poor performance, you would need to work on yourself by developing the skills required to excel in your field as well as learn to effectively communicate to potential employers how you have been able to turn your life around as a result of the firing.

It's your chance to start over. Getting fired also gives you another chance to start over, maybe like a lot of people in the workforce you took the job for the money and not because you enjoyed it or had the skills required to thrive in it. Robert Redford, an award-winning  actor/director and founder of the Sundance Film festival  got fired from a number of jobs which included working in a shipping yard and driving cranes and forklifts before moving to New York to pursue a career in film industry.  If he wasn't fired so many times he may have ended up as a very good forklift driver at best, but his firing spurred him to pursue his passion and today the rest is history. Take your firing as another chance to start over, use the time out to think about what you really want to do and work towards it.

Or maybe do better. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank were fired from Southern California home improvement chain, Handy Dan. Together, they founded Home Depot, the largest home-improvement retailer in the United States whereas Handy Dan shut down operations in 1989. Mr. Marcus and Mr. Blank  started Home Depot as an entire store of discounts, an idea they had while working with Handy Dan. You may have had bright ideas that were being stifled because perhaps you were a lowly officer but with the right people (an investment banker to raise capital and a merchandising guru in the case of Home Depot), you may just be able create a brand that would rival or even run your former employers out of business!

 I hope you can now see why getting fired shouldn't be the end of the road for you. I'll leave you with this gem from American Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour while addressing a room full of budding fashion industry followers during the Teen Vogue Fashion University in New York

"I worked for American Harper's Bazaar . . . they fired me. I recommend that you all get fired, it's a great learning experience."

How to Optimize your LinkedIn Profile for more Opportunities

Now that you have gotten your LinkedIn profile to all-star status, its time to take things up a notch by optimize your profile so that you can be found more easily by recruiters or other professionals looking to connect with people in your industry.

Our friends over at Leisure Jobs have created an ultimate LinkedIn visual guide which you can use to optimize your profile. Follow the guide underneath to get the best out of your LinkedIn experience:

Name: Include your first middle (if applicable) and last name. Avoid nicknames and other popular industry jargon.

Headline: By default, LinkedIn would use your most recent position as your headline. As this is the most important aspect of your profile, edit it to include terms that would make it easy for others to define your industry and your role within it. So instead of Marketing Manager, XYZ Company, Award Winning Marketing Manager who has worked with some of the leading FMCG Brands.
Be sure to add your location and your industry to be more visible in searches.
Pro-tip: Customize your URL to make it easier for people to find you. By default, LinkedIn creates a URL for you, which looks  like this linkedin.com/pub/career-sensei7342/7864 you should customize it into this linkedin.com/in/careersensei. You can do this by clicking on the grey box underneath your name.

Profile Photo: A profile photo can result in 14 times more profile views. Use a recent professional head shot.
Pro-tip: Be professionally dressed on your profile picture and keep the picture true-to-life, meaning that if you wear glasses or have your hair in bangs in your day-to-day life, be sure to capture the same in the photograph

Summary: Write a creative, succinct description which should include your present and future careers ambitions. Be sure to include your specialties/ areas of expertise as well as a call to action with your point of contact such as your phone number or email. E.g of a call to action "I am open to new opportunities, Call me on 000-000-000"
Pro-tip: Use the add media link to add links to slides, articles, blog posts etc to your summary to give credibility to your claims.

Experience: LinkedIn would arrange your experience chronologically starting with your current or most recent role. Be precise with your past experiences and current roles. Add as many roles you have functioned in as long as it relates to your current career goals. Avoid using passive language and opt to use action language instead as this shows you are more of an achiever than a doer.  Include awards received or measurable metrics achieved.
Pro-tip: Add clips from videos, in-article quotes and other contents you have created that is pertinent to your professional life.

Projects: Include projects you championed or were part of to your profile. Including projects demonstrates your skills and reinforces assertions made in your job description. LinkedIn allows you to add connections that were involved in the projects.
Pro-tip: Add links to current projects to support credibility.

Education: Include information about degrees acquired and schools attended.
Pro-tip: Be sure to include activities you participated in while at school such as the societies you belonged to and the sports you played, this would help you make connections with other alumni and also impress onlookers.

Skills & Endorsements: LinkedIn users that include relevant skills to their profiles receive on average 13 times more profile views. Add skills that define your professional role, experiences and contributions.

Connections & Groups: Be strategic in making connections. You should not connect with people you do not know or don't have any common here's why. Make connections with co-workers, peers in your industry, present and past clients and customers.
Join groups to leverage on LinkedIn's networking potential and utilize the ability to contact other group members.
Pro-tip: Aspire to make at least 500 quality/relevant connections but try to keep your connections under 3,000.

Next up, I would be sharing with you how to use recommendations and endorsements effectively on LinkedIn, keep a date.

Dear Career Sensei

Dear Career Sensei,

A friend sent me your post on switching careers and while I found it insightful, I think that it is not practical in my case.

You see, I am 38yrs old with over 10 years experience as a bank teller. I feel very unfulfilled at my job as it is too monotonous and there aren't many growth prospects (have you ever heard of a Chief Teller Officer?). I would really love a career in Public Relations because I always had a flair for public speaking, writing and I really enjoy engaging people in deep, meaningful conversations but I feel that my first degree in Computer Science and post-graduate diploma are unrelated to my dream career.

Even if I take your advice of educating myself by taking PR courses and certifications, by the time I'm done I would be at least 40. Would any firm hire a 40yr old greenhorn?

Yours truly,

Sick and Tired Bank Teller




Dear Sick and Tired,

I'll just start by saying it's never too late to start over. There are many cases of pensioners ventured and succeeded in new and different fields after retiring from their first careers. 

The good news for you is that a career in PR isn't hinged on degrees but on the possession of some  fundamental skills which include communication, writing, research, and creativity which you already possess. To gain insight as to what PR practice entails, you can take some online courses as well as apply to join a reputable professional PR body such The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and International Public Relations Association (IPRA).

Finally, you do not need to go outside your current employment to get a job in PR as every organization more or less practices some form of PR, you can start by applying to work within the PR department of your bank. That way your 10yrs banking experience interacting with customers will come in handy, as you have first-hand skills in dealing with your company's publics. 

Good luck!

Please send your questions for publication to dearcareersensei@gmail.com

Why You need an All-Star LinkedIn Profile

There are 350,000,000 professionals on LinkedIn which makes it the leading way in which professionals connect and network with one another. It is  also the number one tool recruiters use in hiring candidates and has become such an integral part of the career eco-system that there are now career LinkedIn profile writers, professionals who for a fee will write and optimize your LinkedIn profile to ensure that it comes up in targeted search results.

Users with complete  profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn than users with incomplete profiles and it is not just enough to have a complete profile as LinkedIn profiles are ranked by their strength which ranges from beginner to intermediate,  then advanced, expert and all-star.  

To get your profile to all-star status you need to do the following-

- Select your industry and current location

- State your current position with a description of your current function

- List at least 2 past positions

- List at least 3 of your skills

- Put up a profile photo

- Have at least 50 connections in your network

Getting an all-star profile will put you amongst the 51% of LinkedIn users who have complete profiles. That means you will be 1 of the 178,500,000 LinkedIn users with complete profiles. Not bad but if you need to stand out from the crowd you would need more than a basic all-star profile.

I would be sharing with you in an upcoming series, ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile for maximum result. Keep in touch.

Connect with me via email dearcareersensei@gmail.com,  Twitter @Career_Sensei and FaceBook @thecareersensei for more career insights.

Should you be Friends with Your Boss?

Going for after work cocktails with the boss #funtimes

Boss - employee friendships can be complicated because of the power imbalance that comes with having one person supervise the other, but like every relationship, there will be good and not so good moments.

For you the subordinate, the perks of such friendship can be enormous as your boss may trust you with information that you would normally not be privy to, can pick you for high priority projects and assignments and may even speak in your favour to the people that matter in making or breaking your career within the company.  But it also has its downside which can include resentment from your co-workers, accusations of favoritism when you get rewarded with raises or promotions and having to constantly prove that your successes well deserved and earned as a result of your hard work and dedication.

Is developing a friendship with your boss a good idea? That depends on a number of factors such as;

Were you friends before you became the subordinate? It wouldn't make any sense to cut off a friendship that was already established just because your professional positions have changed. However, you have to make a conscious effort to maintain a professional candour whenever you are on the job by giving your boss the respect he deserves.

Are your intentions for entering the friendship genuine ? Be honest, are you entering the relationship because of what you think you stand to gain on the job or are you entering it because  you and your boss have the same common interests and have a natural affinity to share a social bond? Most relationships entered into for the sole purpose of gaining power run a risk of ending badly, it would even be worse for you if your boss finds out that you are only in it to gain favours.

Can you set and maintain boundaries? You would need to have a direct conversation with your friend/boss on how to keep things professional when you are within the workspace. You would also need to work on keeping your conversations both within and outside the job as uncomplicated as possible by always remembering that she is both your friend and your boss.

Would your peers be okay with it? No matter how genuine your intentions of starting a friendship with the boss are, your co-workers are going to think otherwise and you may become the subject of many water cooler conversations. You may lose your position as an insider as they will no longer trust you with certain information for fear that you would take it back to the boss plus your achievements would always raise questions as to whether you are truly deserving of them or they were bestowed upon you as a result of being the 'teachers pet'.

With the right attitude and professional candour, a friendship with the boss can thrive and should even be encouraged but if you don't trust yourself to keep things uncomplicated then its best you keep your work and friendships separate.

How to Ask your Boss for a Pay Raise

See all of that? That was all me

You have paid your dues, you've have put in the hours, you have crunched the numbers and you've made your company richer so its only natural that you are rewarded for your hard work by getting a raise. If only it were that simple! Asking for a raise like negotiating a salary can be tricky as people are generally uncomfortable with talking about money.

If you think you deserve a raise and want to take it up with your boss, here's what you need to do to get the best outcome.

Be prepared. Before asking for a raise be sure that you are indeed due for a raise and your company is financially capable of giving you the said raise. Some factors to look out for to that determine your suitability for a salary increase include, if there has been growth within your division, if your colleagues you are getting raises, if you have specialized skills for specialized problems within the organization and if you have been getting more lucrative offers from competing firms. You also want to make sure that your company flourishing financially and the industry it operates within is thriving.

Know your value. Find out what people with your level of experience in the same industry with the same work scope as you currently earn. Since people are not very honest about their salaries, you can get fare idea by going here and here. It is also advisable for you to have a specific range you will be presenting to your boss. Instead of saying something vague like "I want a 30% increase in salary", say "I would like my salary increased from 30k to 45k".

Schedule a meeting. Once you've gathered all your facts, schedule a meeting with your boss. Try to fix the meeting at a time when she's in a relaxed mood (usually towards the end of the work day) and be sure to let her know the purpose of the meeting.

Be positive. Go into the meeting with a positive attitude. Instead of anticipating the worst, go in expecting the best possible outcome.  Do whatever it takes to get you in your happy place before entering the meeting, for some people its the thoughts of their baby while for others it is looking up random pictures of kittens on the internet.

Show Results. Present a list of successful projects you have worked on, recommendations you have gotten from customers (internal and external) and instances where you helped  the company save money or prevent loses. Present your case in a clear and concise manner, let your boss see the value you bring to the job daily while reinforcing how much more you have to give the team and how much you want to grow within the company. Make her see that you are in it for the long haul.

Do not resort to threats. Whatever you do, or whatever turn the meeting takes, do not resort to threats. Do not tell your boss that you would leave if your demands are not met or let her in on the offers have gotten from other company's. As tempting as it may be to show your boss that another employer places more value on you, it shows her that you have been attending interviews while on the job and even if she caves in with a counteroffer, she would have lost  her trust in you and may have giving in only to buy time while she starts looking for your replacement.

Listen attentively. Be sure to listen attentively to what your boss has got to say. Try not to raise your voice or talk over her even if you do not like the direction the conversation is taking. By listening attentively to her, you are showing her that you value her feedback and that you genuinely want to understand her position on the matter. It also helps you both to stay focused on the issue at hand and in the process you will get an insight into the mind of the company regarding your career with them.

Be patient. If your boss does not immediately commit to giving you the raise, ask her when you can expect to revisit the discussion. Suggest a time frame which can be anywhere from 3-6 months and ask her what you need to do within that time to earn the raise so that you can start putting in the work. If she fails to give you the raise after the review time elapses and you have met all the conditions specified, its time to move on.

Got a question for The Career Sensei? Send an email to dearcareersensei@gmail.com

Dear Career Sensei

You may wear Prada but does HR know what you did last summer?

Dear Career Sensei,

I was recently passed over for a promotion that my supervisor and I were so sure that I would get. My supervisor recommended me for the promotion but informed me that our director chopped my name off the list because she felt I wasn’t qualified just yet. It really frustrates me that the said director gets to make such important decisions on my growth within the company when she doesn’t work directly with me and is not privy to how committed I am to the job.

I am gutted because I’ve given my all to this job and even turned down another offer 3 months earlier because I was certain I was going to get this promotion.

I’ve been nursing strong hateful feelings towards our director, so much that I’ve been strategizing on ways to ensure that she gets sacked. I have evidence of her flouting one of the company’s policies; an offence punishable by sacking and want to send it to HR via our anonymous whistleblowing portal.

Should I go ahead and report her? I plan on leaving anyway and have a few interviews lined up already.

Angry and vengeful Career girl


Hello Angry and Vengeful Career Girl

You must be good at what you hence the recruiters lined up to snatch you up from your current job but judging by your reaction to being passed on for a promotion, you still have a lot to learn about Emotional Intelligence (EQ), a very vital skill you would need to excel not only at work but in your general day-to-day encounters.

Instead of plotting on getting revenge on your director, why don't you request to have a one-on-one chat with her to find out directly from her why she feels you aren't qualified? By having her explain what she thinks your shortcomings are you would be able to gain insights on what you need to do to excel on the job while demonstrating to her that you are willing to learn and improve. And even if you decide to take up another appointment you would be better off  at the new position knowing that you left on good terms.

All the best!

The Career Sensei

Please send your questions for publication to dearcareersensei@gmail.com

It's not too Late to Switch Careers

My new career would make me as bright and free like these balloons

One of the biggest complaints I get from disgruntled employees is how much they are unsatisfied or hate their current jobs and how they would be happier and more productive in a different career. When I ask them why they haven't made the switch, I'm met with several excuses the most common excuse being how difficult it would be to switch careers at their level as the years of experience they have gained in their current field limits them from being hired  because they lack the necessary skills to function in the career of their dreams and they are too experienced to be new hires. While this is indeed a genuine concern, it should not prevent you from making a change.

Before you start making plans to switch careers you must first ask yourself what it is that is driving you in this direction. Many times the problem lies with your current job and not your career as a whole. Maybe you and your boss do not get along or maybe your company doesn't have a clear and defined career path or it could just be that the reward system is not fair and transparent. If your grouse is with your boss or colleagues, you may just need to switch teams, if it is with the company then a job switch is necessary but if you are adamant about doing a 360 and switching careers, then use this 5 step plan:

1. Research - Make a list of the industries you would like to switch to. Narrow your list down to those that best match your current skills and experience level. Find out what other vital skills and experience that are vital to the new career and draw up a plan with specific timelines on how you would achieve them.

2. Develop yourself accordingly - It is necessary for you to update your skills and broaden your knowledge. You can achieve this by taking courses or certifications or even getting another degree if this is a requirement to function in your new career. You should also find someone to mentor you in your chosen field, your mentor would provide you with industry knowledge, tips and hacks that you may not otherwise get through formal learning and you can also leverage on your mentor's network when you need to get a foot into your new career.

3. Gain experience - You can do this by working part-time, interning/temping or volunteering in your new career field. This would give you the much need first-hand experience and also help you develop relationships that would be beneficial to your network in your chosen field. This type of first-hand experience would help you decide if indeed this career is what you really want and if you can grow in it.

4. Network- A key to success in any career is your networking ability and you would need it more than ever in your quest to change careers. You can start by joining professional body's and LinkedIn Groups that are relevant to your new career, the people in your network would be instrumental in introducing you to others and providing useful insights and job opportunities that would be helpful to your move.

5. Job Hunt - Now that you've done the groundwork, gained the required skills, earned some experience and developed a strong network, it's time to delve into the job market. Make sure you are doing your job search the right way if you want to get shortlisted.

Now you have all the information needed to switch, what are you waiting for?

It's Okay to Call in Sick

Working while sick

I'm sure by now you have all seen the video clip of US Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton being assisted by secret service agents into her campaign vehicle after a fainting spell brought on by overheating. And even though she emerged a few hours later having rested and looking much better, her doctor had to release a statement that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia a few days earlier and that she would be taking a few days off the campaign trail to heal.

In an ideal situation you should call in sick whenever you do not feel well enough to function optimally at work, yet many people would rather come in to work for fear that their job security may be undermined by missing work days due to ill health.

As much as we want to be healthy all the time, the human body was designed to break down when it comes in contact with foreign bodies (germs, bacteria, viruses etc) yet 60% of workers still show up to work when they have the flu. Many of them show up not because they are overly committed to the job but because their bosses or workplaces discourages them from taking sick time.

Even though the typical employer frowns at absenteeism, it has been proven that coming to work sick is worse for productivity. So showing up to work just to count as present is more harmful to the company's output than if you had taken the day off.  Hillary Clinton's recent gawfaw is an example of why its better to stay at home when sick than show up. After a very public coughing spell at an earlier campaign stop and subsequent diagnoses, she should have taken a few days off the trail but instead continued on the gruelling campaign trail and olny had to stop after she was caught on videoe struggling to stand on her feet after an event to mark the 15yr memorial of the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Despite the fact that her campaign was forced to release her pneumonia diagnoses and placed her on rest, a recent poll of registered voters shows a lack of trust in the presidential candidate, as they do not believe in her explanation for fainting assuming there is more to it than meets the eye.

 Besides you don't want to be in confined spaces with other people if you are dealing with a contagious infection like the common cold as you can end up infecting your entire office.

Be straightfoward with your boss. Let her know what it is that is keeping you away from work and how many days you plan to be out by. This would help her make arangements for your tasks to be covered while you are away. However, if you feel that you are able to work from home be sure to suggest this but note that you shouldn't offer to work from home when you should be taking a sick day off and not working at all.

Depending on your company's policy, you might be required to bring a sick note from a certified medical practitioner to work upon your resumption. Be sure to provide one if it is required even if you aren't expressly asked for one by your boss.