The Power of the People (updated version)

The Power of the People (updated version)

Mesmerizing. Awe-Inspiring. Courageous. Scary.

These are the words that come to mind when watching the uprising in Egypt. The power of the people, to overthrow an authoritarian government of 30 years, is truly remarkable to see.

Having been a student in France in May ‘68, I have been in the streets when the people rose up to demand change. May ‘68 was started by students in lycees and universities to protest a change in admissions to universities. It snowballed into eleven million workers and others joining in a general strike, demanding changes in society and cultural values as well as a greater democratization of institutions. May ‘68 closed down the country, lasted two weeks, weakened DeGualle, who subsequently resigned and did transform key institutions. Even though elections were held in June and the Gaullists decisively won, the changes perpetrated by this uprising sent a shock wave through this conservative society opening up a more liberal approach to society and moral values. It also transformed educational institutions with greater participation by students.

Of course, May ’68 was an uprising in a democratic country with many democratic institutions and processes in place. This is not the case in Egypt. Thus, we do not know where this uprising will lead and if, in fact, it will lead to a more democratic and liberal society or an Islamization of Egypt.

The tremors, however, are being felt throughout the region, with the Jordanian government dissolved and calling for fundamental changes. And of course an anxious Israel and the West are watching and waiting to see how these monumental changes transform the geopolitical realities of the Middle East.

One can only hope and pray that the people, who have spoken in Egypt, do have the opportunity to transform their country into a more democratic society supported by key economic and political stakeholders. A prosperous, peaceful, democratic Middle East would be the greatest gift to the world. It would be as monumental as the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Ode to American Inventiveness

Ode to American Inventiveness

American inventiveness is fueling revolutions in the Middle East. One can only marvel at how Facebook, Twitter and You Tube have been instrumental in enabling fledgling democracy movements to fan their flames and come to life.

Right now, today, Friday January 28, the Egyptians have shut down the Internet, an American invention originating in Arpanet, a network for engineers and scientists working for the government that was established in the late 60s. Arpanet spawned the birth of the commercial Internet that exploded in the 90s. We all know how the Internet has totally transformed our lives, our work and our culture.

Other American inventions such as Facebook, Twitter and You Tube have enabled the pro-democracy movements in the Middle East to communicate with each other and the world. I remember how striking it was when the American government asked Twitter not to take down its network for maintenance during the uprising in Iran as Twitter was a major tool for communications during this event.

These tools have largely surpassed and supplanted traditional media outlets and will be, in fact, transforming them.

So during this time of economic uncertainty with many people still mired in unemployment, I urge my fellow Americans to keep dreaming, hoping and inventing to keep American inventiveness as a force for major change.

I welcome your reactions to this post. How lucky we are that we can blog so freely!

20 Jobs with Fast Growing Salaries

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2011

Jobs 2011: 20 Fast-Growing Salaries
You waited weeks to receive your offer letter, but after you tore open the envelope and scanned the form for the salary figure, your excitement was replaced by a wave of disappointment. If this sounds familiar, you're one of the masses.

There is often a disconnect between what workers think they should earn and what their employers are actually willing to pay them. It's also common for companies to intentionally lowball on the first salary offer. In fact, 58 percent of hiring managers surveyed by CareerBuilder.com say they leave some negotiating room in their first salary offers.

It pays, then, to negotiate with your employer to boost your starting pay. The key is to know your market value -- this will ensure that you accept an offer that's fair, but also prevent you from pricing yourself out of any position. (For example, if you're demanding $100,000 for an entry-level coordinator role, you may need to rethink your strategy.)

The Internet is an excellent source for finding salary information. For example, visit CBsalary.com, a site powered by CareerBuilder.com and PayScale (www.payscale.com) to offer free, comprehensive salary information and advice to help you negotiate your pay. On CBsalary.com, users can conduct a quick search for their position and city. For a fee, users can access a detailed salary report that factors in academic degrees, years of experience, type of employer, commute, bonus and other specifics.

Also consider your industry when evaluating your salary offer. Working in a hot industry can catapult you into a higher salary range and give you more negotiating power. Healthcare workers, for example, are commanding higher salaries as employers struggle to fill their staffs.

If you're looking for a job with negotiation muscle, check out this list of 20 jobs with the highest salary growth in the fastest-growing industries, according to data from CareerBuilder.com and Payscale:

Accounting/Finance Jobs with high salary growth:

· Personal banker -- $37,700
· Commercial loan officer -- $75,700

Healthcare Jobs with high salary growth:

· Clinical research associate -- $61,300
· Anesthesiologist -- $225,000

Information Technology Jobs with high salary growth:

· Webmaster -- $49,200
· Senior database administrator -- $93,300

Engineering Jobs with high salary growth:

· Civil engineer -- $57,200
· Project engineer -- $65,200

Sales Jobs with high salary growth:

· Sales assistant -- $35,800
· Sales engineer -- $79,900

Administrative support Jobs with high salary growth:

· Human resources coordinator -- $40,200
· Financial controller -- $79,900

Professional and business services Jobs with high salary growth:

· Paralegal -- $39,500
· Financial analyst -- $70,500

Retail Jobs with high salary growth:

· Retail store assistant manager -- $39,100
· Buyer -- $47,900

Hospitality Jobs with high salary growth:

· Restaurant general manager -- $49,800
· Hotel general manager -- $56,600

Customer service Jobs with high salary growth:

· Technical support specialist -- $49,100
· Call center manager -- $53,800


By Kate Lorenz,
On JobiJobs January 26, 2011.

New Year, You Want a New Career, Now What???

A New Year and You Want A New Career, Now What????

So it’s a New Year and you have decided to change careers. You jump into a program that will be the golden gate to this new career, spend time, money and years on new training. Then you discover that there are few if any opportunities in this new field, you could not support yourself in this field, you do not really like this field and you end up going back to your former career. Has this happened to you or someone you know?
People may spend more time researching a new car that researching their new career.
Kicking the tires and being an EDUCATED CONSUMER before taking the plunge are just as important as trying out your new car before you buy it.
Here are some things you can do to fully investigate that new career about which you are thinking.

Does it Reflect You?
Think about who you are and what you enjoy doing. What are your strengths and talents? What do you love doing and want to do more? What do you hate doing and want to do less or not at all? What type of environment do you thrive in and what type of environment do you hate? What kinds of people do you want to work with? What is really important to you in your career and your life? Read Richard Bolles’ book “What Color is your Parachute? and complete the flower exercise. Post that on a wall near your computer to keep it in mind as you research your new career

I also recommend that clients take on-line self-assessments as the Self-Directed Search (www.selfdirectedsearch.com) to find out careers that match your career interests and the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (www.humanmetrics.com) to identify your personality type. They are free or quite inexpensive and can provide insights into careers that match your personality and profile.

Research is Key

After defining yourself, you want to match your profile to the market and the employer who would be interested in employing you. You will want to conduct secondary as well as primary research to find out about
• The occupation that matches your skills, values, interests, preferred work environment, etc.
• The occupational outlook for this field - is this field in demand, growing or shrinking?
• Salary trends – would this field support your life style or would you have to change?
• How your skills match this field and the new skills you may have to develop
• Trends in the field – new developments, emerging standards and trends, challenges
• Potential employers and key decision-makers
• Professional associations for networking
• Professional magazines and journals
• Targeted job boards for job leads
• Recruiters and headhunters in this field
The website Onetcenter (http://online.onetcenter.org) provides valuable career information such as job descriptions, skills, job conditions, job requirements and other important information. Another web site, the Occupational Outlook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs020.htm ) will give you the outlook on this career.

Information Interviews

Nothing beats meeting people in the field in which you are interested to find out what it is really like. Contact people on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) and at networking meetings and set up information interviews to ask the following questions:
1. What are the main functions of this job?
2. What is a typical day like?
3. What kind of people are successful in this job?
4. What are the positive things about this job?
5. What are the negative things about this job?
6. What are the most challenging things about this job?
7. What are the trends in this occupation?
8. What are the hiring trends?
9. What does it take to be successful in this job?
10. What are some professional associations associated with this field?
11. What are the salary ranges of this job?
12. Do you know other people doing this job with whom I can meet?

Kick the Tires

I highly recommend that you seriously consider shadowing someone in your new career to find out what really goes on during a typical day. I once took a week off from work to spend a day at the different settings of a particular field to see if I would like to work in this field and in which setting. In the end, I decided that it was not for me. Ask people if you might be able to spend a day with them just to get a better idea of the type of work, environment, challenges, etc. This may or may not be possible for certain fields. You may have to sign non-disclosure forms or get patients’ or clients’ permission. However, this is an invaluable exercise in finding out if this would be a good match for you.

Educational Training

Once you have decided on a particular field, it is really important to be an EDUCATED CONSUMER about the institutions providing training for this new field. Everyone is out to get your money and promise you the moon.
First of all, find out if you need to get additional training or will you get it on- the- job? Some organizations, including Google, hire highly skilled people and will train them in their content and ways of doing things. Other companies prefer to hire off the shelf professionals who require very little or no training.
Carefully research the institutions providing training for this field. Compare curriculum, costs, reputation, professors’ qualifications, career services support and placement, internship and employment opportunities, graduation rates, jobs that graduates have gotten, alumni of the program and networking opportunities. Speak to current students and alumni of the program to get their opinion of the quality of the program.
During your information interviews, ask people in the field about recommended institutions to get training and from which institutions they recruit. If the same program exists at Columbia University or a community college, ask your networking contacts which institution they would recommend and from where they would hire. Sometimes brand recognition can make a difference in hiring decisions.

Networking is Key

Start developing a network in this new field and go to networking meetings to develop contacts in the field, find out what is going on in the field, where the opportunities are, which organizations you would like to work for as well as which ones to avoid. This will be your window into your new field and will provide invaluable insights as well as job leads.

These are just a few tips on how to investigate a new career to make sure it is a good match before you take the plunge. Be an EDUCATED CONSUMER and know what you are getting into before wasting your valuable time and money. Let me know additional insights that you may have on this topic.

carlavisser@ghrsonline.com
www.ghrsonline.com

Telecommuting comes to Washington!

Telecommuting comes to Washington!

In today’s New York Times (July 15, p. A20 in the National Section), it was reported that “federal agencies would be required to establish policies to encourage more employees to work from home, under a bill passed by the House on Wednesday.”

The Senate bill had approved a similar bill in May. Both bills would give guidance to managers and employees on telecommuting or “telework.” Government agencies would put someone in charge of these policies and would allow employees to work offsite, at home or at telework centers. Employees precluded from this new way of work were those who had downloaded pornographic materials or why had a high rate of absenteeism or tardiness.

This is good news for the videoconferencing world as videoconferencing would be an important tool in managing remote and virtual teams. Videoconferencing fosters communications and collaboration, enhancing teamwork, problem solving and decision making.

Of course, passing a bill does not make it happen. A major culture change also needs to accompany this bill with a different management culture that focuses on objectives and results instead of face time. Employees need to feel that they will not be “out of touch” if out of the office Managers need to feel that they have not lost control and can count on their employees to achieve their goals.

So Federal videoconferencing teams- sharpen your sales plans and road tours to show the great products and services you can provide to help managers and employees embark on a new era of work.

Tipping Point for Telepresence

Tipping Point in Videoconferencing/Telepresence and Unified Communications

A tipping point has been reached in the videoconferencing/Telepresence/Unified Communications industry. As defined in Wikipedia, tipping points are “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable."[1] Martin Gladwell defines a tipping point as a sociological term: "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point."

This is precisely what is happening in the videoconferencing/Telepresence space. A convergence of factors is driving this industry’s growth. Travel disruptions, cost containment, budget cuts, carbon footprint and social responsibility concerns, the need to enhance client and partner engagements and team decision making, quicker product introductions, telecommuting, the globalization of work, all these factors point to a need for all corporations and organizations to seriously look at videoconference, Unified Communications and Telepresence solutions.

Videoconferencing now features a range of solutions, from desktop to HDVideo Telepresence room solutions. The cost of hardware is falling in this competitive market. Most importantly, Polycom has launched a major interoperability forum, the UCIF, which will ensure compatibility between vendors. The UCIF initiative should spur additional competition in the field with a subsequent growth of the market. It should also reassure users about the viability of their investment.

I recently learned about two organization who could benefit tremendously from videoconferencing solutions. A non-profit organization, with budget problems, had people attend to a one day conference, disrupting work, spending money on food, travel and conference facilities instead of using a videoconferencing solution that would have enabled it to accomplish the same goals. Another non-profit organization is planning a new training program that would require constant training on a regional basis with its training consultants on the road constantly. Both of these organizations, with limited budgets, would benefit tremendously from videoconferencing solutions.

The business case for a videoconference solutions shows that companies recoup their investment quickly by reducing their travel time and expenses while improving their productivity, communications and collaboration across the organization as well as externally with clients and partners.

When we look at our limited resources, be they natural or personal, it is incumbent upon every company and organization to seriously consider using videoconferencing, Unified Communications and Telepresence solutions to improve their business operations as well as their profits. As a shareholder, contributor, partner or client, ask key executives of an organization, be it a non-profit or a profit-making company, the question: have you recently looked at how you can benefit from the latest advances in videoconferencing, Unified Communications and Telepresence solutions? Sometimes just asking the question can get the ball rolling. The payoff can be tremendous, to the environment, to employees, shareholders and society as a whole.

Check out the culture of an organization

Check out the Culture of the Organization

It’s important when you are looking for a job to check out the culture of the organization for which you are seeking to work.

Getting a job is like getting married and compatibility is key to your success. Employers will be checking you out with your references. You, in turn, should check out the employer to find out about the culture and management style of the organization and if it matches your personality.

Here are some ways you can check out the culture of the organization to see if this would be a match made in heaven.

Know your Personality and Career Interests

First of all, it’s important to understand your own personality and career interests. Two tests that you can take to identify your personality and career interests are the Meyers Briggs Inventory (MBTI). You can take this assessment for free on www.humanmetrics.com.

Another important assessment is to identify your career interests on www.selfdirectedsearch.com (very low fee).

With this information, you will have a better understanding of yourself and should look at organizations that match your personality. For example, the Self-Directed Search may reveal that you are Entrepreneurial, Social and Artistic. In this case, it may be very stressful for you to work at a staid, bureaucratic organization that does not value creativity, autonomy and new ideas.

JobVent

Check out what employees say about their companies on this free web site. Employees anonymously provide insights into the culture and management styles of their companies. It can provide some good insights. Of course, one vignette does not a company make. See if there are several comments as this would indicate a trend.

LinkedIn

Find out about the culture of a company by asking information from current and former employees of this company. Go to LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) and connect with current and former employees. Ask them about the culture, management style, good points, strong points, areas to be improved.


Best Companies to Work for Lists

See if the company is listed among the Best Companies to Work for Lists. If a company is consistently listed, that is a very positive factor.

Get Engaged First

Another way to check out the culture is to work on a short-term contract or project first. This will give you an opportunity to view firsthand the management style, the decision- making culture, the personalities of key players, the team work or lack of thereof and many other things. If it is a good match, then your part-time gig can turn into a full-time job with a company that is a good fit to whom you are.

Interview Questions

During the interview, listen carefully to the questions they ask you. Which questions keep coming up? What do they indicate about the organization or the company?
For example, if questions are asked about resolving conflicts on teams, after describing how you handled the situation, you can ask if this has been a problem in the organization and find about situations and how the conflicts were resolved.

One of my clients was interviewed at a large non-profit. She has a very positive, optimistic personality. During the interview, she was asked if her personality ever got her in trouble at work. What did this tell her about the organization and its culture, its personality?

As if the position for which you are being interviewed is a new position or a replacement. If new, why? If a replacement, why? Discomfort with addressing replacement questions can indicate a problem. Frequent turnover at an organization also clearly indicates a problem.

Ask questions about the company’s culture and management style. For example, how would you describe the management style and culture of the company? How are projects initiated and managed?
What kind of person succeeds in this organization? What kind of person are you looking for?

Ask strategic questions to provide context to the interview and your subsequent questions. What is the current situation in the organization? What challenges are you facing? What initiatives are you undertaking to meet these challenges? This information can give you important background information to understand the challenges and needs of the business.

An Educated Consumer

Last, but not least, be an educated consumer in your job search. Listen to what people tell you about the organization. If you keep hearing the same refrain over and over, something must be going on. Research the company to find out about lawsuits, businesses sold, businesses bought, mergers and acquisitions, profits and losses, stock price over time, management changes, layoffs, etc. Do your due diligence to know what you are getting into. It’s better to be safe than sorry.