Category: Hints & Tips

Candidates ·

A CV is formal wear. LinkedIn is smart casual. Have both in your wardrobe.

I’ve recently read blogs stating you should burn your CV and only use LinkedIn. It’s an inane premise, but seems to be gathering steam nonetheless. Time to set it straight. Both are now necessary when building one’s career and profile. Both are quite different. No one dresses in the same style wherever they go, nor…

Hints & Tips ·

A Job Is Not A Career. It’s a Job. And a House Is Not a Home..

Many of the people I coach have worked over 20 years. They’re halfway through their career trajectory (yes, about 40 years or more of working is about right) with enough variety in their jobs and locations to know what they do well. Moreover, they’ve been around long enough to have built a varied and professional…

Communication ·

10 Points To Consider-The Importance of Workplace Manners In A World of A.I.

More than simple politesse, manners are the “instruction guide” for us humans. Indeed, manners matter even MORE today than in the past. Machines cannot be geared for manners, nor conscientiousness. As AI becomes ubiquitous, the importance of human behaviour will increase in utility. Friction is caused by two objects moving against each other. Manners are…

Communication ·

The Authentic Voice When Interviewing

If you’re going to invest time and effort putting yourself “out in the market”, it’s necessary to show who you are, both written and verbally. Obviously, there is a degree of artfulness in how to present yourself once know your audience. In all that preparation of getting pushed onto the stage, what can get buried…

Hints & Tips ·

Your Three Main Network Groups. Use With Care.

I recently spoke to someone going through a re-org within a large MNC, unsure whether he’ll stay longer or be asked to move on. In the meantime, he was sending out notes to everyone he knew. The “Putting-Out-The-Word” shuffle, getting hold of the most valuable contacts to see if they could help. He wasn’t having…

Talent and Hiring ·

The Common Sense Job Description – In Short Supply

The JD is far from outdated. As technology continues to reshape hiring, the JD of the future will be different (here is a recent such column from the FT). But in 2016, it remains a pillar of the hiring process, as does a CV. So let’s focus on the here and now.. I see an increasing…

Communication ·

Salary Negotiation; Another Story From The Trenches

I recently had lunch with a friend of mine, comparing notes on her business and mine. A lawyer by trade, she has worked for her current company–a US MNC–for about seven years. That day she was somewhat preoccupied by the pending merge she and her team will soon make, into another division of the company.…

Communication ·

It’s Never “All About Me”

“You know the times you impress me the most are the times when you don’t even try.” –Joni Mitchell One of the common behavioural issues confronted by executive coaches are with people who are compelled to let everyone know they’re smart, or smarter than those around them. It’s a blind spot, and am sure they’d…

Coaching ·

The Business Dietitian–4 points on shedding excess habits

When I coach someone, the goal is often a behavioural change, similar to changing a food or tobacco craving. Although I can’t lose someone else’s weight or kick their habit, I can usually help guide them to be better than they are, change some patterns, and ultimately improve their presence. The ideal time to use…

Hints & Tips ·

Why we dislike writing CVs–but shouldn’t

For many of us, writing our own CV is unpleasant, a thing to be put aside until it needs to be done. Often the resistance is because a CV rehashes the past, forcing you to highlight your genius, repeating how many times you’ve re-organised the company and saved the day. Seldom do we write–or talk–about…

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