Mark Hirschfeld

A car dealership hired an individual on the autism spectrum. He had a driver’s license, which allowed him to be hired for a job as a car detailer.

In the case of this gentleman, he was fussy, even perfectionistic, in his approach to his work. He made sure that each car he cleaned and detailed met his exacting standards.

Customers loved his work.

In fact, customers would call ahead and request he detail their car and would even wait until he was available.

He was that good.

He did have some challenges when it came to social interactions, but the dealership was happy to work with him so that he could be in a job he enjoyed and was valued by customers.

Instead of looking at what a person doesn’t do, perhaps we can turn our attention to what a person can do, where they have skills and abilities that can be of value.

Because the car dealership was willing to look for abilities they employed a person who, to turn a phrase, “drove” customer satisfaction.

In my almost 40 years of post-college work experience I’ve had six employers. In three of those cases I secured the job because of networking. In a quick survey of thirty friends and colleges, four in five of my contacts indicated they had come to at least one job in their career via networking.

Over the last six months I’ve taken many calls from folks who are looking for work. I’ve learned from these conversations and have not seen them as a burden, a feeling I think most share.

I know it’s not easy to network, but if you’re having difficulty here’s a place for you to start:

Contact me.

If you’re not a connection let’s get that done and you can review my 3,000 contacts.

Looking forward to chatting!

There are free training videos on the web site of my faith community: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources 

#career #careercoach #jobhuntingtips #jobhunting #careers #jobsearch

In these changing times we need to help our sales leaders inspire and engage their sales teams to meet new expectations, including how customers buy.

These changes require strong leadership and, according to our research, the right kind of leadership.

This summer we conducted a study of engagement patterns of sales producers. We asked them how they felt about their work experience. We looked at several factors we know align with the Compassionate Leadership model researched by Brad Shuck.

Sales reps rated factors such as:

~ Did the sales representative feel they were understood by their leader?

~ Were their ideas taken seriously?

~ Did their leader act with their best interests in mind?

~ Did the sales representative believe that if they did good work their efforts would be recognized?

The results are clear—sales employees who rate these parts of their work experience and sales leadership are, on average, more engaged, committed and inspired than those who aren’t.

Compassionate leadership is the call for our challenging times. When sales employees are more inspired and engaged, they’re more likely to produce better sales results.

My wife and I were making some home improvements, so buying a new golf club wasn’t really in the budget. But when I received points from my workplace that I could use to redeem an award, I used those points to get my new club, which didn’t dip into the home improvement budget.

This is an example of why noncash awards from employers are helpful. They provide what academics call “justifiability”, where in my case I can redeem for a new golf club from my company recognition program and not feel guilty about taking away from our home improvement budget.

A noncash award such as a golf club also has the benefit of one where I would likely socialize that I received the award from my employer, and if you want to know how many times I’ve said that to the guys in my regular foursome they’ll tell you I say it every time I hit a good shot!

The psychology around the value of noncash awards is sound:when you’re developing plans for your company recognition program, use noncash rewards to engage and inspire your employees.

For discussion: In what ways can noncash awards be used to inspire your employees?

#ThankYouThursday #recognition  #appreciation #gratitude #grateful #inspiration

I consulted with a telecommunications company who had been working to hire individuals with disabilities in their call centers. The initiative had been in place for several years, and over that time they were tracking the results of individuals with disabilities in comparison to employees they had hired in similar roles who did not have a disability.

The results were stunning.

Individuals with disabilities, on average:

~ stayed with the company longer,

~ had better attendance, and

~ to the surprise of some, had lower benefits claims.

As you might expect, the individuals with disabilities did often require equipment to help them perform their job, so there was a “reasonable accommodation” expense…

$115.

Yep, the average “reasonable accommodation” investment reported over the years was, on average, $115.

To be sure, there were some accommodations that were higher, but the average was just a bit over a hundred bucks.

A tip of the hat to companies like this, who sincerely and earnestly work to recruit, hire and retain individuals with disabilities. In doing so they found committed, responsible employees who had good jobs for which they were more than qualified to perform.

Hear me– disability does not mean inability.

Have you tried this communications exercise?

Two people face each other. The first person starts to talk about a topic, say the results of the latest sporting event. The second person listens to the first, and as soon as they hear something where they can start another conversation they jump in with their topic. The first then listens for an opening and when they see one jump in with another topic.

The exercise is called “The High School Reunion”, and if you’ve been to a reunion you know exactly why it’s named such.

To be clear, there is listening going on.

But the listening is only occurring so that each person can turn the conversation to what they want to talk about.

This form of listening might help you get through an event like a reunion, but it’s an awful form of listening for a leader.

Rather than listening so they can turn the conversation to their side, effective leaders listen with the intent of truly hearing their team members: According to research from Dr. Brad Shuck of the University of Louisville, leaders who listen:

~ are present for the team member,

~ they listen without distractions, outside or otherwise, and

~ stay present in the moment.

Effective leadership is about listening, and doing so with compassion and empathy.

#leadership #engagement #compassionateleadership

There was a time when our daughter was in the kitchen with my wife and me. She looked across the room, pointed, and said: “Mommy, what’s that for?”

She meant our oven.

Yes, there was a period of raising our kids when we weren’t doing a lot of cooking. Having said that, I was trained to cook by my mom and grandfather, and when the pandemic hit we weren’t going out to each as much so I brushed off some of those cooking chops.

As you think about your job search, there may some skills you haven’t used for a bit, but if you cracked  open the recipe book and fired up the oven you could improve your chances of securing a new job:

~ taking some online training,

~ reading up or networking with folks from a former industry,

~ volunteering with others where you take a leadership role.

To be sure, most employers will be interested in the skills and accomplishments in your more recent history, but there may something in your skillset that is worth returning to; to revisit and to hone again.

Grab the knives and sharpen them. It’s time to draw upon the old to make something new.

There are free training videos on the web site of my faith community: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources 

#career #careercoach #jobhuntingtips #jobhunting #careers #jobsearch

The psychologist Carl Jung said: “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

There will be people you meet in your job search that might even have tested the great Dr. Jung, but his admonition rings.

Along the way you will meet networking contacts, recruiters, hiring managers and others who will say or do things that will irritate you.

Lean in, just for a bit, into the irritation.

~ Is there a certain topic, perhaps of your work history, that makes you uncomfortable?

~ Is it something about the person? Is there a bias you have for which you are not aware?

~ Is it something about the setting? There are some work environments, for example, I’ve found to be less comfortable for me.

Early in my career I learned that I wasn’t comfortable with conflict. It irritated me. But over the years as I’ve come to appreciate and see the value in conflict, it is a bit easier for me to understand that the irritation I’m feeling might take me and others to a better place of understanding and action.

Don’t immediately dismiss some of those irritating moments. Reflect on them. Learn from them. Help them strengthen and inform you on your job search and beyond.

There are free training videos on the web site of my faith community: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources 

#career #careercoach #jobhuntingtips #jobhunting #careers #jobsearch

Do you remember this Seinfeld episode: Elaine has a birthday, and Seinfeld gives her as a gift… an envelope of cash.

She is completely underwhelmed, and Seinfeld is befuddled.

Kramer enters, sees Elaine, and returns with a package for her.

He got her a wooden bench, one that she was eyeing and for which Kramer had made a mental note.

Kramer is the hero and Seinfeld is the goat.

But why?

According to the academics, Seinfeld was caught unawares of “preference reversal”, where we SAY we want a certain thing (cash) but are ACTUALLY INSPIRED by the non-cash gift.

As you think about inspiring employees, don’t get caught in the same Seinfeld trap. Seek out non-cash awards, particularly “luxury” merchandise or experiences, where you get a far more inspired response.

#ThankYouThursday #recognition  #appreciation #gratitude #grateful #inspiration