Matchmaking (CIM February) - Minto Roy
Featuring Career Development Expert Minto Roy
February is the month of Valentine’s Day in Canada and the U.S. It’s kind of a funny holiday manufactured by flower shops and chocolatiers, no doubt, to help them rebound from the post-Christmas retail slowdown. But the mythology behind Valentine’s Day, the story of Cupid, is not just about romance; it’s about match-making. And that’s really what employers and jobseekers are trying to do, isn’t it? Make a good match.
Minto Roy:
A good plan for choosing an employer match is to select companies whose products and services sincerely interest you. By that I mean, regardless of where you work, you would be using their products or services and interested in business news about their organization. Think about activities you enjoy and subjects you love to talk about. Chances are, many of those things are represented by companies. And the leaders of those companies covet employees who share their interests and values and sincerely believe in their products and services.
For instance, if you love sports, invest time in learning about sports and fitness-related companies. With a little research, you can develop a list of 20-30 companies that directly match your interest. Personal identity linked to your professional identity provides the perfect foundation for an exciting career. Your career shouldn't be about what you do for your job, it should be a reflection of who you are as a person.
It's also critical to feel you have a match with the people who populate these companies. Remember you will be spending 8-10 hours of day with them. A popular metaphor asserts that we become the average of the 5 people with whom we spend the most time. If that’s even partly true, you need to be very careful about who those people are as they will directly influence who you become. If you don't know people at the company, do some research. Check news articles about their community activity. Pick-up the phone and call a department manager and ask him/her for 15 minutes of their time based on your interest in their products and services.
Invest in research and relationships and the right match for you is out there.
Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net