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Welcome to the CEO Skills Corner Blog. IF YOU'VE FOUND YOURSELF HERE, YOU ARE ON OUR OLD BLOG. Please find our NEW Blog at http://ceojobexpert.com .jheckers@heckersdevgroup.com or my cell phone, 720.581.4301. Please feel free to ask questions and post comments, and I will respond, either personally, or on this blog. If you are asking the question, it is likely that others have a similar concern. Visit our website at http://www.heckersdevgroup.com/ . All posts/articles copyright 2008, John Heckers, MA, CPC, BCPC, all rights reserved. Posts may be forwarded only in whole and with appropriate attribution.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Stop Whining and Get to Work!

While most of my clients are great, there are some that are whiney as all get out. They are not likely to find executive level employment in a hurry….if ever.

Executives can be the whiniest and least proactive people on the face of the earth. They expect everything to be done for them as soon as they ask it to be done…even if it isn’t the job of the person to whom they’re speaking. So, executives out there who are looking for a job, here is some hard-core common sense and reality for you.

1). Your priority is not anyone else’s priority anymore. You are unemployed. You don’t have a “staff” you can order around. Networking contacts certainly aren’t your staff, nor is a transition coach, nor is your wife, your husband, your kids, or employers who might be looking to hire you. Things don’t happen “snap.” They happen when they’re going to happen, so learn a new word: “patience.”

2). You can’t order people anymore. You have to ask nicely and wait for a response. Sometimes neither you nor the people trying to help you will get one. Get over it.

3). You are no longer the most important person in the world. This especially applies to you CEOs out there. Get used to it. Learn another new word: “humility.”

4). Be nice to everyone you meet and everyone who is helping you. If you aren’t, we probably won’t bend over backwards to help you.

5). Be nice to everyone whether you think they’re your “equal” or not.
Get over your snobbishness and superiority complex and treat everyone like the human being they are. I know that, especially for large mega-corporation executives, this is a new and interesting concept…that people are human beings and deserve to be treated nicely. Get used to the idea. Karma is a bitch, isn’t it?

6). Realize that you were probably laid off for a good reason, and it doesn’t all have to do with the economy. Some of the reason you were chosen for layoff has to do with your behavior, attitudes, performance, or way of looking at life. Ask someone honest who knows you what you’re doing that is obnoxious and seek to change it. For example, I’m an ass and I know it. In my job, which is kicking executives in the butt to get out and do something pro-active to find themselves a job, being an ass or worse is a real advantage. But I wouldn’t try to work for Mother Theresa Ministries, either. Find out who you are and change it or use it.

7). Remember, if you’re in Denver, that this is a very, very small town…and some of us know almost everyone in it. Don’t go up against someone who is “old Denver.” You’ll lose. This is a strange town. I’ve been in Denver for over 50 years. Be nice to those of us who have been around this block for a while or you won’t get employed in Denver, period. This is an “old boy’s and old girl’s town.” Those of us who have been around for a while at least know OF one another and usually will help one another. If you’d like to get employed again in Denver, hook into this network and be nice to everyone in it, or start looking at out of town jobs. And, executives, this matters more than what you’ve done for anyone’s bottom line.

8). Shut up about where you used to live and stop expecting Denver people to behave like people where you used to live. This is Denver. We have our own way of doing things. Better learn it if you want to be employed. And you’d better listen to those of us who have been here for a while. We know Denver and we know how to get things done.

9). Stop believing you know how to interview. You don’t. You don’t have a “good network,” and you’re probably not a good driver or good lover, either. Get humble and get interviewing and networking help immediately if you want to get employed again. Humility is, again, the best word for you to learn. Learn it now or pay the price.

This is very harsh. I should have been harsher. Stop whining about your unemployment, or the slowness of people getting back to you, or anything else you’re being a crybaby about and get your ass to work to find a job. Don’t expect someone else to do it for you, even if you have a transition coach. It is your job and your responsibility. If some idiot career firm has told you that they’ll do it for you, or some idiot headhunter has said that you don’t have to or shouldn’t pay for help, they’re lying to you…ignore them. Even if you’ve paid someone to help you (an excellent idea if you want to be employed anytime soon), they aren’t going to do it for you.

Get out there, stop whining and get to work. You’ll be employed a lot faster. No one wants to listen to a crybaby and, certainly, no one wants to hire one. Oh, and…..act in integrity during your job search and after.

Good job luck,

J.

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