Late for work?

A friend sent me this. (A PowerPoint presentation) Watch it till the end.
Looks too weird too be true, but a great reason to be late for work!

More interesting than saying you're late yet again because of traffic .

Have you ever noticed the way Dublin traffic gets worse and worse coming up to Christmas and then eases after Christmas? Operation free flow started today- more commonly known as operation go slow in our neck of the woods.

Thankfully, I don't commute every day, but I still can't believe how much time I spend travelling to our corporate clients. Friday, due to roadworks, I took a wrong turn and spent 40 extra minutes sitting in traffic as a result. Luckily I'd allowed the additional time as I hate the stress of being late for meetings.

I always carry extra paper work (non client of course) with me, so that way if I do arrive early, I can work away, be it in a cafe or in the car. It's a great way of getting more work done without increasing hours or stress.

I've actually turned down work, because of the commute involved, so when considering a new job always look at this issue.
Talking to a few very tired clients, this week,who spend up to two hours travelling each way daily, the impact on their quality of life is obvious.

So before you commit to a new job try travelling to the proposed new location at peak times if you're unfamiliar with the area.

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Frying pan into the fire

I’ve noticed many clients are nervous about moving jobs. They are worried the new job will turn out to be worse than the old job i.e. the cliché of moving from the frying pan into the fire. But there’s a lot you can do to minimise this risk. In this post I’ll concentrate on using the actual recruitment process to assess a company.

How a company manages the recruitment process is a very good indicator of how they will treat you as an employee. After all if they can’t be bothered to present a good image whilst trying to attract employees, what will they be like when you’re on the payroll? Whilst it can be difficult to ask all the right questions you can use your eyes and ears to learn a lot.
Make sure you use every opportunity to observe what is going on around you. Does your potential new employer

1.Acknowledge your application promptly and professionally?

2. Does the recruitment process appear efficient- i.e. plenty of advance notice of interviews or test times, availability of job descriptions, phone calls returned, clear timetable?

3. Are the receptionist and other people you deal with courteous or unfriendly? Do they appear committed to the company?

4. Are you left waiting beyond your appointed time for interview or test and if so is a sincere apology given

5. While waiting in the reception area, you can often hear the receptionist taking phone calls or dealing with visitors. What kind of queries are being raised? Are there many calls from dissatisfied customers/clients? Is the receptionist able to deal with the calls or is he/she constantly apologising for staff not returning previous calls?

6.What is the atmosphere like in this building, is it busy and efficient, or is the receptionist/people passing though moaning amongst themselves or at anybody else who enters?

7. If interviewed in the office building, is it clean, bright and attractive?

8. If you use the toilets are they clean?

9. If you are not interviewed in the office building, is a reason given?

10. Is the manager you are going to be working to, on the interview panel?

11. Does he/she appear supportive and enthusiastic?

12. Do the other members of the interview panel appear friendly and interested?

13. Does the interview panel appear to operate as a team, indicating good team working in the company or do they appear to be operating independently?
( Tends to indicate intense office politics.)


Whilst I have no academic research to back this up, I’ve noticed companies presenting a good image of themselves during the recruitment process, tend to be well managed and have respect for their employees, with proper training and induction. If your answers to the questions above indicate a poorly run organisation, you may need to do further research to find exactly what you’re taking on before accepting any job offer.

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Thanks to Karin for picture

Are you young at heart?

What a rotten week. Went to the doctor on Monday morning who said I would be out of action for at least a week due to a viral infection. So no fast acting antibiotics for me. He says it can’t be the flu as I’ve had the anti flu vaccination. Feels like the flu to me, I’ve got a red hot poker in my throat, my head is on fire and every muscle and joint is giving out. Plus the least effort and I want to go back to bed and sleep for a month.

Not listening to the doctor, I decide to just cancel Monday’s and Tuesday’s appointments- I’ll be better by Wednesday. On Tuesday I have to cancel Wednesday’s appointments. After some bouts of vomiting and coughing on Wednesday I decide to cancel the rest of the week’s appointments. The relief I felt when I did this was amazing. Realised I should have accepted what the doctor said and just cancelled all appointments on Monday.

Would have been less stressful, as I was still worrying about letting clients down, passing on the infection etc rather than concentrating on getting better. Once I made the decision and rang clients- who were all very nice, of course I was going to feel better.
I’m guilty of not following my own advice which I give to clients. When you’re in a situation you can’t control, the first thing you need to do is to accept you can’t control it. Only then can you take the right actions.

I was still feeling sorry for myself until I remembered this video. It shows young@heart who got together singing in a senior citizens home and now tour the world. Unfortunately I missed them singing in Dublin recently. They keep losing key members on a regular basis(they die) but they just get on with it. Notice the male lead singer is singing and walking with an oxygen feed. The voice quality has decreased, they can’t dance like younger people, but the sheer fun they appear to be having is amazing. It's highly entertaining. They are definitely young at heart. Every time I watch this, it reminds me that life is not just about surviving but about making the most of what we’ve got.

So, I’ve just got a virus, and the family appreciate me a lot more, now they’ve had to do without me. So if you’re stuck in a job you hate for what ever reason, do you go in young@heart or do you go in a bad mood which gets worse as the day goes on?
Hope you enjoy this video as much as I have. Maybe show it to some older people you know who don't have access to the internet.







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CAO under attack!

The President of DCU, Dr Ferdinand von Prondzynski has called for the abolition of the CAO points system because it’s putting students off careers in science and technology.
He claims students with high points are being advised by Career Guidance Counsellors, parents etc to go for high points courses rather then follow their interests.

I’m not sure what he bases this on, as we and other career guidance counsellors we know, always advise people to follow their interests. Looking at the points required, is towards the end of most career guidance services- after you have established your interests and aptitudes.

Colleges are now competing fiercely for students, a point I’ll come back to. So no doubt this has influenced Dr Prondzynski’s call.

The CAO process is one of the few processes in Ireland where “who you know” or how much money you have does not dictate what course you’re offered. Yes I know your social class tends to dictate your points, but that’s a broader education issue, not a CAO issue.

Meanwhile, over in the high court the Irish Times reports that Frank Prendergast junior is taking a legal challenge about the quota on undergraduate medicine places. Having achieved an excellent 550 points he could not get into medicine. He offered to pay fees and be classified as a non EU student,(lower points for them) but he was not accepted.
Hope he wins his case, he’s a brave man to do this, as the medical profession do not like people who attack the status quo. (An Irish junior house doctor has written a book called the Bitter Pill, which really exposes the medical world. Afraid for his career the author is known simply as Doctor X. It’s a must read for all aspiring caring professionals)

I’ve often wondered why we have not simply quadrupled the number of medicine places available to bring points down to a “non genius” level.
I know the medical professions say there won’t be enough jobs for all the graduates, but world wide there’s a huge shortage of doctors and we currently import from developing countries. Literally, we’re robbing valuable resources from much poorer countries which cannot be justified. Once it’s made very clear to aspiring doctors that not every body will be able to work in Ireland, could we not consider the education costs as part of our contribution to the developing world?

More competition for medical posts might also help to improve patient treatments. Every week, we seem to hear about yet more misdiagnosis of cancers whether it be in Portlaoise or Cork. In some specialities there is so little demand for positions, there may be no applicants! So employer’s ability to choose from candidates is severely limited. I recall on one occasion interviewing a candidate even though the CV indicated this person was not a strong match for the position, we were just so desperate to fill a long vacant position.
The shortage of suitable candidates also helps to explains why consultant power is so strong in the medical world. In his book Dr X writes about consultants not washing their hands between patients and every body else being afraid to say anything!

If you’re interested in a career in medicine and unlikely to achieve the necessary points, don‘t despair. You can do a very innovative post graduate course in Limerick which is running for the first time this year. Also Minister Hanafin is talking about a new entry arrangement where Leaving Certificate points will be capped, and a universally accepted psychometric test for medicine applicants will be used to assess candidates. The Minister is planning to introduce this system in 2009. The Universities still have to approve this though, so 2009 is very optimistic. Expect lots of negotiations around this one!


Possibly Related Posts
Look beneath the surface -CAO trends
CAO is digging a
hole
Pick the right CAO course for you

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Workplace Ghosts

Halloween yesterday and despite the ban, loads of amazing fireworks and the bonfire was good.
Some of the fireworks were let off in a very dangerous way. Thankfully no body was hurt at this spot, though that’s not the case elsewhere unfortunately.

I though Irish people were big on ghosts and banshee’s but over in the very reputable English Chartered Institute of Personal Development they’ve been discussing ghosts in the work place.

Here’s a sample posted by Shoz Rahman

“I worked in a building which had a ghost.
When a staff member told me I was scared stiff, but was not wholly convinced until an incident later. It was remarkably clever and thankfull(sic) fell under the category of a 'good ghost'.
One day, at about 1.30am in the morning, a passer by saw white smoke in our premises (we had large windows). He called the Fire Brigade. A few minutes later, a single fire engine arrived. They too saw that the premises was full of white smoke, and cut a hole in the door and went in. The firemen found grease-proof cooking paper smouldering in an oven, and that was the source. There was no fire.

You can read the full story over on CIPD


We have a winner on our draw who we’re meeting next Monday. Hopefully every body who participated has now received a personal email from me, as distinct from the automated acknowledgement. Unfortunately we can’t provide a prize for everybody. We got some great emails so thanks to every body who participated.


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