NEW feature! Job postings via careerjet.ca

Job seekers,
I am excited to team up with Careerjet.ca for the latest job postings in Canada. Whether you're looking for a position in St. John's, Montreal or Vancouver, be sure to check the latest listings here!


Melissa Martin 
bilingual career/social media strategist
Twitter: @ravingredhead and @melissacmartin
FB: fan page: www.facebook/com/melissacynthiamartin2

4 kinds of workplace cultures that can affect career choices

What would happen if you had some choices that you could control in your career? While it's often true that we cannot choose our co-workers, we can make conscious choices to improve our career prospects. When career professionals advise job seekers to check out a "company's corporate culture," this refers to collecting information, such as work culture, before accepting a job offer.

The Wall Street Journal  reported that there are four kinds of workplace cultures.  They include:
1. hierarchical -As the term implies, this workplace culture is highly structured and rigid. A prime example would be the military or academia. If you are prepared to accept this work culture, and conform to it, hierarchical could be advantageous for certain personality types. (If you are unaware of your personality types, check this blog for my post, "Why you need to use your personality and ask for help in your job search," and another article, " Do you represent the 25% or the 75% personality type?")

2.Dependable-This represents a process-oriented culture, where change happens slowly. What comes to mind? Manufacturing, above all. The wages may not be competitive, depending on the company, but certain products are relatively stable. Another example may include healthcare (i.e. geriatric).

3. Enterprising- Creative and competitive in nature. This culture may attract creative arts, such as graphic artists, free lance workers and media. If you can tolerate a "dog eat dog" mentality with minimal discomfort, this may be worth exploring. Intellectual stimulation and motivation levels are fair game here.

4. social-The work culture emphasizes collaboration, trust and relationships.  Charitable organizations or non-profits come to mind, where decision making is especially valued.

If job seekers have the ability and freedom to choose their work cultures, all the better. Supposedly, there are 12 factors that affect career satisfaction, and workplace cultures are no exception. Working in these cultures can affect such factors as stimulation,  career advancement, productivity, and most of all happiness.

If you could make a difference in finding career happiness, wouldn't it be a worthwhile investment to explore workplace cultures?

Melissa Martin
bilingual career/social media strategist
webinarcareercoach.blogspot.com
Twitter: @ravingredhead and @ravingredhead
Facebook: www.facebook.com/melissacynthiamartin2

Do you represent the 25% or the 75% personality type?

Nicolas Lore was one of my inspirations for how I gained credibility and a a solid reputation in career coaching.

His book entitled The Patherfinder, inspired me to engross myself in innumerable facets of career services.

One of the most interesting chapters in his book referred to two personality types: maestro and tribal.


Lore wrote that 75% of individuals have "a personality type that we describe as tribal. Tribals are group workers, usually most successful and satisfied working with and through other people as members of an organization, group or tribe."

Lore observes that tribals are "usually bored with work that is highly specialized and narrow in scope. They are at their best contributing to the goals of an organization..like a flock of birds or a herd of gazelles, they move with the flow of the group...."

Can you think of work environments that would be compatible with tribals?

Lore says that "many tribals are more gifted than maestros at understanding human nature without specialized training."

Does this sound like you, trying to match your personality with an ideal job, work environment and suitable employer?

Typical career choices: business, management, sales, PR, administration, etc.

Introverted tribals: administrator, clerical worker, corporate lawyer, etc.

Now enter the approximate other quarter of the population....

According to Lore, "Maestros comprise about 25 % of the total population...> As extroverts, they are usually in direct communication with other people. Examples: college professor who loves the classroom, seminar leader, actor, dancer, trainer..." Introverted maestros process information related to their special area of expertise internally: scientist, artist, research, inventor, accountant... Extroverted maestros are performers. They want to be on stage communicating as an expert..." picking something that does not exactly fit your combination of tribal and maestro increases the risk of winding up in an unsatisfying career."

This is one of the clues to finding out where we are suited in a career, job or vocation.

Just today, I had a client who lamented that she gained 30 pounds, worked 18 hours a day and lost herself. She was so mired in a toxic environment that she could not discern how much stress was wreaking havoc on her physical, social and psycho-mental states.

Did you know that 87% of job failures result because of a mismatch between your work personality and the job that you are doing?

Whether you are trible, maestro or a combination of both, use whatever you have in your arsenal to entice employers and find the right career fit.

Melissa Martin
bilingual career coach
webinarcareercoach.blogspot.com
Twitter: @ravingredhead and @melissacmartin
FB: facebook.com/melissacynthiamartin2

Are you ready to return to work? Employment readiness list

Are you READY to return to work?

The decision to return to work is a thorny issue , one that is rooted in a number of issues affecting the unemployed. Among the thousands of clients I have assisted, including adults with severe mental illnesses, the decision to work again, or to end a lengthy absence from the workforce necessitates careful thought and reflection. I wish I could credit the author of a resource called the “Readiness checklist.”  The resource is organized into three categories:

-Can you...?

-Are you....?

-Do you...?

Leaving aside conventional wisdom, let’s put the “Readiness checklist” into context for you. 

1. In order  to initiate employment readiness, can you set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals? Goal setting, more than any other activity in a conscious job search, is most likely to propel  motivation, but one caveat. If setting goals seems daunting, do one simply thing-break them down into concrete steps.

 Seek new ways of using your skills. Volunteer, become a board member, contribute to a social or charitable cause.  When you are unemployed, doesn’t it seem like you have to juggle many things at once? A last-minute phone call to attend an interview, affects the ability to find respite care or an employer requests that you fill out a lengthy online application before even being considered a job candidate. All of sudden, the length of unemployment is trumped by employers’ increased demands. All the more reason why time management, resilience (i.e. dealing with rejection) and coping skills become  important while you await your job offer.

2. Are you worried about stress from other people or things that may affect your ability to get or keep work?  Take heart that being unemployed for a time, does not have the same stigma that people experienced ten years ago. Certainly, I cannot negate that those who have been absent for the workforce for a considerable amount of time face a greater disadvantage. However, that’s where building one’s confidence, with the assistance of a career professional such as a career coach, or job developer, can make a monumental difference.  This process make seem time consuming,  but you are worth it? Crafting a professional image, combined with identifying a USP (unique selling points) will be time invested, before preparing for upcoming job interviews.

3. Do you know what your challenges are, personal or professional? For example, are you experiencing an ongoing illness or disability which may curtail full-time employment? This refers to “work tolerance skills,” in other words, do you have the ability to accept part-time employment as a springboard to ultimate full-time employment? Sometimes accepting an entry level position, especially after a lengthy absence from the workplace, is just the ticket to building one’s confidence, one shift at a time.  I have assisted individuals with professional backgrounds (i.e. nursing, military, etc), who chose to return to work on their own terms, and not dictated by family pressures.  At the same time, do you have the supports (ie. Family and friends, community resources, etc) to overcome challenges? This is where self-advocacy skills come into play. 

Be aware of community resources such as  job centers or government subsidized programmes.  You might be surprised at the number of unemployed individuals, who at the beginning of their job search, are resistant to asking for employment assistance. I say beginning because the unemployment cycle resembles the stages of grief: shock, anger, denial and acceptance.

To sum up, a term that I learned in the military was WIN. What’s important now?

Melissa Martin

Bilingual career/social media strategist

Twitter: @ravingredhead and @melissacmartin

Facebook fan page: facebook.com/melissacynthiamartin2

Blog: webinarcareercoach.blogspot.com

Job search tip #7: Don't let the F word interfere with your job search

Hi job seekers,

Today's takeway lesson is quicker than usual.

Don't allow the "F" word to interfere with your job search.

Job searches remain considerably long (currently 33 weeks in the United States for example). So,  time is of the essence to land a job amid the sea of competition (roughly 1 job seeker in the U.S. competes against 5 others. In the same vein, 3.3 people in Canada compete for the same job).

Failure often derails a job search UNLESS you take steps to prevent that.

Two quick remedies?

1. Make the effort to regularly evaluate the success of your job search. That doesn't mean settling for the passive route of "blasting" your resume to numerous job boards. It means carrying out a sales/marketing plan to get RESULTS. Calculate how many of your job activities produced one phone call from a potential employer in a month.  Or an interview offer. Imagine!

2. Make the time valuable. In a previous post, the Wall Street Journal published a study that indicated Americans only spend 40 minutes in a daily job search versus 3 hours and 20 minutes of watching TV!

Replace failure (self-perception) with ACTION and achieve results exponentially in your job search!

Melissa Martin, bilingual career/social media strategist
Twitter: @ravingredhead and @melissacmartin
Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/careercoachingbyphone.com/melissacynthiamartin2

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