By Mary Ann Faremouth, CPC
The Second Step of the Faremouth Method is “Ask Better Questions.” Lately, I have asked myself what lessons we could possibly learn from the year-end holidays that could allow all of us to have more success in the New Work World. This is the time of year when we evaluate the past and look toward the future. I believe there are many valuable lessons we can all glean from these times if we look more closely at what this holiday might represent moving forward.
“A Christmas Carol” has always been one of my favorite Christmas classic movies. It’s a 3D animation adapted from Charles Dickens’ book of the same title which starred Jim Carey as Ebenezer Scrooge. It talks about while it’s ok to want material success in life, the real gold is in finding human connection. For all of us post-Covid, how can we focus on building those solid networking skills, assisting our bosses and co-workers when it might be outside of our job description, going the extra mile, and working even harder to help that new employee learn the new software programs, etc.? Gratitude is one of the holiday lessons applied all year long that can contribute to making our career journey even more enjoyable and fulfilling.
Sometimes the best lessons come to us in the most unexpected ways. Your best friend is promoted because of all the extra work she did for that project. Your boss compliments you for coming in early and leaving late which affected the bottom line of company profits. You meet your old college professor at a Christmas party and remember how his advice about strong preparation for exams paid off. And because it’s the holiday season, let’s look at some traditional examples that may have long-term beneficial effects in the New Work World.
A holiday song that I associate with this time of the year is Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas.” The Christmas season invokes our desires after a year of working hard to obtain our goals. The two lines in the song that apply to the New Work World are:
“There is just one thing I need” and “Make my wish come true”
Wishes will always be wishes if we don’t write them down and date them for when we want to actualize the wish into a goal. Writing a daily, weekly, and monthly list of what we wish to happen is a good first step in making our wishes a reality. Just like the recommendations from your college professor or favorite high school teacher, those same instructions may apply to the New Work World.
The three most important things to keep in mind as you evaluate your success goals in the new year are human connection, a positive mindset, and action to achieve what you want.
1. The Human Connection
Reach out to those who have helped you along the way this past year. Who has aided you in your job search or inspired you to seek more education and training? Who has provided positive examples to improve your success in the interview process? This is a time to be thankful for those who have guided you along the way to a more successful career.
2. A Positive Mindset
A good starting point in finding a job post-Covid is a positive mindset. In my over thirty (30) years of doing this job, I can’t tell you how many times a positive mindset and strong preparation for the interview won out over a person with heavy experience. We need a plan in mind, focus on our goal, and strategically take the steps necessary to get our desired result. Mindset is a very important variable in these changing times that relates to the line in the song, “There is just one thing I need.” Going on an interview and complaining about all that has gone wrong in the last few years will never yield a positive result. As that professor may have mentioned, “strong preparation” for that crucial test in these times is the Interview!
3. Action to Take
Ask yourself your own questions about how you can make this holiday merrier, even with the impediments that you might face at this beautiful time of the year. There are always a variety of things that you may perceive as standing in your way of making your wishes come true. Some of these might be not having the right training or experience, the location of the job from where you live, or not the right timing. With the right plan, desire, and motivation, you can overcome those gaps to reach your goals in the New Work World.
Just like the Mariah Carey song: “More than you could ever know, you can make your wish come true.”
Keep in mind the importance of human connection, a positive mindset, and writing your goals. You can carry the lessons of this beautiful holiday throughout the year and make your career the best ever going forward in the 2023 New Work World.
Mary Ann Faremouth
Mary Ann holds a CPC (Certified Personnel Consultant) credential, was certified by the Board of Regents of the National Association of Personnel Consultants in Washington, D.C., and was awarded an Advanced Communicator Bronze, Advanced Leader Bronze Awards by Toastmasters. She cofounded Jobs: Houston magazine in 1997. Mary Ann maintains affiliations with professional organizations, including oil and gas, financial, construction, IT, and structural, mechanical, and civil engineering. (www.faremouth.com)
Mary Ann’s award-winning first book Revolutionary Recruiting has been listed by Book Authority as Number #1 Best 100 Recruiting Books; #1 Best Seller, Non-Fiction, Amazon (2019); Top 20 Recruiting books, Recruitics; Readers’ Choice finalist (2019), Houston Literary Awards; Best Non-Fiction (2018), Best Cover (2019), and Best Self-Help (2018), Authors Marketing Guild. Her books support individuals and corporations, tap into each candidate’s unrealized potential to find the right person for each job, maximizing both employee satisfaction and the employer’s bottom line. Mary Ann showcases her expertise of the recruiting world on a monthly podcast for The Price of Business and weekly articles for USA Business. Her new workbook, Revolutionary Reinvention, was recently released on Amazon. Mary Ann lives in Houston, Texas.
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