Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

How to Cope with Pay Inequities

My friend Lisa Haneberg over at the Management Craft blog cites an excellent article from HR Capitalist on how to deal with pay inequities.  Kris Dunn shares the following scenario.  You're a young manager new to your role, and after 2-3 months, you finally get some payroll data on your team.  You're scrolling through the detail and BAM!  Sally, your direct report, is making $5K more than you. 

How does that happen?  The answer?  It's complicated.  Sally was hired for a different role and was slotted into her current job in a reorganization.  Sally has 15 years of experience, you have 5-10.  Sally was hired by Bob in Global Sales, and man, did they like to pay a lot up front.  Of course, after you go through the reasons, the reality is the same.  Sally's making more than you, and you're her manager. 

Although it’s technically taboo to compare salaries in the workplace, there are still cases, like the one above, where you might find out information indicating that all is not fair in love and pay.  Kris offers the following tips:

• If the pay information you have is based on rumor or secured through the access your job provides, you probably shouldn't go into the conversation "guns a-blazing" – you’ll hurt your credibility by identifying the direct issue to the powers that be.  Nobody wants to hear that you're combing the payroll records, putting them to memory and stirring the pot.

• If your career is on a solid arc upward, and the identified issue involves a peer or direct report that doesn't deliver what you do, be confident the market will balance the issue over time.  If you're a player and the other person isn't, don't muddy your brand by starting a negative conversation.  The market knows you're a player, and over the course of the next few years, you'll be rewarded.  If you are managing those that make more than you, then that process has already begun. 

• If you have to have a conversation about money, identify who the best person is for that conversation, and keep the negative emotion out of it.   No one wants to hear an emotional rant.  Figure out the best way to ask that person to take a look at the issue on your behalf, and ask them for their help without defining the end result you expect or those that make more than you.   

The bottom line is that if you intend to act on the information you receive, you must proceed with caution.  A stronger way to address the issue of your own subpar salary is probably to go in with data illustrating that the market is paying above what you’re making, not a claim that one individual on your team is. 

5 Personal Qualities Every Resume Should Demonstrate

Employment Digest has an interesting post on the qualities that potential employers want to see, and how these qualities can be translated on a resume.  Among them:

·         Communication Skills: For example, the phrase “Ability to be persuasive when interacting with clients, junior colleagues and CEO both in person and via telephone and e-mail” or  “Wrote clear, informative and effective guidelines to ensure successful project execution.”

·         Motivation/Initiative: For example, the phrase “Set and achieved challenging goals while demonstrating persistence, commitment and dedication” or “Identified and implemented ways to improve and promote quality through accuracy and thoroughness.”

·         Leadership: For example, the phrase “Inspired, motivated and incentivized a team of talented professionals performance” or “Monitored, evaluated and enhanced individual and team performance.”

·         Flexibility/Adaptability: For example, the phrase “Adapted to changing needs of individual business units” or “Followed company guidelines and instructions and adapted rapidly to management directional changes.”

·         Organizational Skills:  For example, the phrase “Planned and prioritized to ensure that set deadlines are met” or “Coordinated and scheduled colleagues’ work.”

I appreciate the spirit of this post, because it’s always important to consider the point of view of the employer when crafting a resume, and these are qualities that most, if not all employers, would look for.  However, I do feel that these examples are a bit vague.  What challenging goals did you set, and how exactly did you achieve them?  What specific things did you do to motivate your team to perform?  What was involved in scheduling your team’s work?

Remember that employers want to see concrete examples of how you were able to contribute to a former company, and how the organization was better off as a result of the work that you performed.  This means that in addition to describing attractive qualities and skills, you will want to use hard numbers and statistics that show quantitative change.

Looking for the Small Blessings

Though I rarely discuss my personal life on my blog, some of you know that it has been a pretty tough year for my husband and me.  We’ve had more than our share of scary incidents, illnesses, deaths, and overall misfortune.  Suffice it to say that we’re looking forward to a fresh beginning with the start of a new year. 

One thing I have learned from this year, however, is that getting through difficult situations with your sanity intact requires looking for the small blessings.  Part of this process is realizing that regardless of what has happened to you, it could always be worse.

For example, suppose you were laid off just before the holidays.  Now getting laid off is always an unpleasant, dejecting experience, and having it happen when everyone around you is celebrating can feel like an extra thorn in your side.  But you’ll recover faster if, rather than feeling universally sorry for yourself, you spend a few minutes of every day considering how you were fortunate instead of unfortunate. 

Maybe some of the other people laid off at your company received only two weeks severance, whereas you got six months.  That’s enough time and money to prevent you from panicking and allow you to make an educated, well-executed, next move.  Maybe in the back of your mind, you really weren’t happy at work anyway, but couldn’t summon the motivation to launch a job search on your own.  Maybe the unexpected time off will allow you to take that winter vacation with your family that you’ve been struggling to fit in for years.

Bad things happen to everyone, but good things do too, and it’s important to remember those when it seems like the world’s got you down. 

If You Don’t Mean It, Don’t Offer

Have you noticed that if you send an e-mail to a Web site address labeled “Info” (for example, [email protected]), you will never, ever hear back from a real person?  It seems that this “Info” address is akin to a black hole, and it’s particularly upsetting if the site lists no other person or entity you can contact with a question or concern.

If companies don’t respond to mail to this address, then why have it there at all?  You could also take this question a step further and ask why even have the Web site?  After all, a critical benefit of the online medium is that it allows a company to have a two-way dialogue with consumers.  Putting up a site with no mechanism for people to communicate with you seems to defeat the purpose.

I’ve gotten burned several times recently by sending detailed messages to “Info” addresses, and I’ve come away with terrible impressions of all of these organizations.  And it set me thinking that there’s a lesson in here for all of us.  When you’re at work and you’re thinking of volunteering to help your boss with a difficult project or asking a roomful of co-workers to provide ideas to incorporate into your new initiative, decide in advance if you really mean it.  Are you just paying these people lip service, or do you really intend to follow through? 

Those of us who offer assistance or request feedback often do so in the spirit of generosity, and at the time, we genuinely intend to keep up the interaction.  But please keep in mind that dropping the ball after you’ve proactively picked it up makes you look worse than if you’d never played in the first place. 

The Value of Sharing Stories

Whenever I speak at a corporation, university, or nonprofit event, I always tell a lot of personal stories.  Why?  Because I feel that it’s the best way to crystallize the lessons I’ve learned for the audience, and provide examples of practical applications.  Also, I feel that these stories allow audience members to get to know me on a more intimate level, so that they can relate more to what I’m saying.

Apparently the story-telling technique is extremely effective, as human beings have been using it since the dawn of civilization.  And I’ve noticed that with the breakdown of the traditional community and the rise of online network participation, people are hungrier than ever for ways to create emotional bonds with others.  Sharing personal stories, whether via writing or oratory, motivates us, inspires us, and allows us to take advantage of the life experiences of those who have gone down a path before us. 

The inherent value of sharing stories is one of the reasons the Chicken Soup for the Soul series has been so successful.  One of my friends, Christine, has been having a great time putting together the forthcoming twenty-something edition, and I’ve been lucky enough to have one of my stories accepted for the book. 

You might not be a professional writer, but if you are in your twenties (or were in your twenties once), than you too can share your stories about the twenty-something life, whether they pertain to career, relationships, family, money, life lessons, fate, travel, risks, acts of kindness, challenges, coincidences, or tragedies, with the millions of readers who follow the Chicken Soup books. 

Sound intriguing?  Feel free to visit Christine’s website and submit a story.  Should your entry be accepted for the final manuscript, you will receive $200 and a free copy of the book.  If you’ve ever been touched by someone else’s journey, here’s your chance to give back during the Thanksgiving season!

Avoid Clichés Like the Plague

One of my colleagues at Edelman, Dan Santow, has a great blog of writing tips, and I thought this week’s post on clichés was worth sharing with all of you.

Says Dan:  A cliché is a metaphor or phrase characterized by its overuse. For the most part, using clichés is lazy, an easy out, a ready-made excuse not to take the time needed to think about what needs to be said in an original way. Sometimes, when writers want to use a cliché but they also want the reader to know that they know it's a cliché, they put it in quotation marks. I know I'm using a cliché, they're saying. You know I'm using a cliché. You know I know. I know you know I know. This all may be true in a Lucy and Ethel sort of way, yet that doesn't disguise the fact that using the cliché in the first place was a bad idea.

As William Safire put it, “Last, but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.”  But how do you know if a phrase is a cliché unless it’s a really, really bad one? Dan has some great suggestions:

• If you can automatically finish a phrase without hesitation, such as “pure as the driven. . . ”
• If a combination of words can’t really be altered without it sounding peculiar: “pearl in the rough” and “stick out like a sore index finger,” for instance.
• When it’s not possible to switch the order of words: “cons and pros,” “behind key and lock,” and “a game of mouse and cat,” for example.

Some clichés are less offensive than others, and here are a few to watch out for that you may find creeping into your everyday business communications:

• Uphill battle
• Par for the course
• Come to a head
• Maintain the status quo
• After all has been said and done
• Best laid plans
• Few and far between
• Unwritten law
• Make or break
• Other things being equal
• Sooner rather than later
• A whole new ballgame

Remember that part of communicating effectively today means getting yourself noticed amongst the clutter and noise that clogs most people’s consciousness.  Avoiding clichés in your written and even verbal exchanges can go a long way in facilitating this, so thanks Dan.

New Job? Don’t Be a Bulldozer

During recent talks I’ve given about young people entering the workplace, a new issue has been cropping up.  “These twenty-somethings come in and expect to take over the company right away,” older managers complain.

Whether you’re twenty-two or sixty-two, arriving on the scene like a bulldozer is not good strategy for starting off a new job on the right foot.  Here’s a reality check.  Inevitably, your days at a new job will involve administrative work in some shape or form.  If you’re a recent graduate, there is a good chance the company sold you on using your existing skills to do meaningful work, and thus, you are probably insulted to be answering phones for the price of a college education.  My best advice is to think of your time as an administrative assistant as a rite of passage.  Everyone must do it, and by the time you emerge from your mountain of executive expense reports, you will appreciate the mundane tasks that go into running a business and will have the knowledge and experience to contribute in a consequential way. 

If you’re a mid-level employee and someone requests that you assist with administrative work, do it with a smile.  Yes, I hear that you paid your dues a long time ago, but no one at this company knows you blistered your fingers making seven million photocopies as an admin.  Trust me, you won’t be doing it forever.  Provided you command a higher salary than an admin, the company will want to leverage your skills elsewhere. 

When your manager involves you in a project that includes co-workers, resist the temptation to jump in and take over.  Do more than your share of listening and ask for direction from your teammates rather than suggesting your own course of action.  Nothing turns people off like a newbie who waltzes in and says, “Well, at my old company, we did it like this.”  The second that comes out of your mouth, people will think that since things were so swell at your old company, maybe you should go back.  This is the last thing you want.  For the sake of your reputation, use your first projects as an opportunity to observe how things are done at your new company.  You’ll have your time in the sun soon enough.

How to Avoid Age-Bias Landmines

Thanks to Todd Raphael’s World of Talent blog for pointing out TechRepublic’s new article on how to avoid age-bias landmines during the interview process.  According to the article, you may encounter subtle age bias in questions and comments from interviewers. The trick is to identify the questions and know the best way to answer them, dismissing concerns about age right off the bat.  Here are some of my favorite practice questions and suggested replies:

How would you describe yourself?

The employer may be concerned about your fitting in with younger workers, taking direction from a younger supervisor, and coping with a hectic schedule. Research studies by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) have found that many employers think older workers lack flexibility and adaptability, are reluctant to accept new technology, and have difficulty learning new skills. Demonstrate a high energy level throughout the interview. Highlight examples of your willingness to learn and take on new projects, your latest technology skills, and your ability to remain flexible and/or handle stress.

You seem overqualified; why do you want this job?

This is the question that often cloaks subtle age discrimination. The employer may be questioning your goals or challenging your long-term commitment to the job. Also, a younger hiring manager might be intimidated by your experience or be uncomfortable supervising someone older. This question may give the interviewer the opportunity to ask about your salary, which leads to the cost excuse needed, or to say that you’d be “bored in this position.” Indicate your sincere interest in working for the organization. Emphasize your unique attitudes, abilities, and interests that led you to apply for the job. Express your enthusiasm for the job and for the opportunity to learn. De-emphasize your many years of experience, but do stress the skills that relate to this particular position.

Will you be comfortable working for someone younger?

Some employers may be concerned that midlife and older workers will be reluctant to accept younger people as managers and bosses. Age should not be a determining factor in leadership; both younger and older people are capable of leading and managing.  One response that can be very effective for dispelling this concern is, “I’ve had other managers who were younger than I am, and just like the older ones, some are better than others,” or “I’ve learned something from every manager I’ve had.”

New Episode: 30/20 Vision Podcast

Just wanted to let everyone know that a new episode of the 30/20 Vision Podcast is archived at Blog Talk Radio.  This month, my partners in crime Christine Hassler (author of 20-Something, 20-Everything) and Lindsey Pollak (author of Getting from College to Career) and I discuss the top ten things we wish we'd known when we were in our twenties.  Please have a listen and let us know if you have any topic ideas for our next episode, taping and airing in December!

There is No “And” in “Brand”

Back when I was in college, I met Andy Sernovitz while working at an internship at the Association of Interactive Media in Washington DC.  Since then, I’ve been tracking his movements, most recently as President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.  Now, over at Escape from Cubicle Nation, Pam Slim discusses Andy’s recent remarks at Jason Alba’s Personal Branding Summit.

In the session, Evangelizing Evangelists to Build Your Business and Build Your Brand, Andy reminded listeners that there is no “and” in “brand.”  Actually there is, but what Andy meant is that you should not convolute your brand and your business by trying to be all things to all people.  For example:

• Bill, the Cleveland plumbing specialist AND acupuncturist to the stars
• Juan, the executive coach  AND expert iguana tamer
• Linda, the financial planner for growing restaurant businesses AND sunblock consultant to nudist colonies

Andy said that the hardest thing for entrepreneurs to do is to let go of portions of their identity so that they can focus on one specific, targeted brand.  But this is exactly what you have to do if you want to catch the attention of customers, press and web surfers.  Most people think that targeting a specific market niche is limiting and restricts opportunity.  In fact, the opposite is true:  the more specifically you define who you serve, the better chance you have at finding them, and they you.

Allow me to admit that I have been guilty of this myself.  For years, I’ve been a twenty-something career author and expert AND an interactive marketing consultant.  I’ve tried to make things a little clearer by narrowing the focus of both roles – for example – targeting twenty-somethings in business as opposed to twenty-somethings in general – but more than once, I’ve heard people express confusion as to what exactly I do.  So, Andy and Pam, thanks for the prompt to re-think my positioning.