Monthly Archive for March, 2009

College Students: Professional Organizations Can Separate You From the Pack

Published
by
Anthony Portuesi
on March 30, 2009
in Gen-Y and Job Hunting
. 4 Comments

  standout1 College Students: Professional Organizations Can Separate You From the Pack

According to a new study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer new grads from the college Class of 2009 than they actually hired from the Class of 2008.

Without a doubt a scary statistic for graduates this May, yet for those who still have a few years of college to go, a reiteration on the importance of making yourself as marketable as possible before graduation. Having “real world experience” is no longer optional when it comes to diving into today’s job market. Internships continue to be one of the best opportunities for experience; however they can be just as challenging to obtain as a full time position! One way to expand your experience is to become an active member of a professional organization in your field of study. Not just a group to add on your resume, but an organization that can really add value and differentiate you in your future job search.

pselogo3 College Students: Professional Organizations Can Separate You From the PackThis past weekend, I attended Pi Sigma Epsilon’s (PSE is the only national professional fraternity in marketing, sales management, and selling) national convention in Norfolk VA. The organization is comprised of 56 chapters from colleges and universities around the country, each one boasting their school’s best and brightest looking to get ahead in the business world. Their annual convention serves as the climax to the organizations year, where nearly 500 PSE members (collegiate, alumni, educator, professional, associate and corporate representatives) join together for a week of professional programming and special activities. This convention included a dynamic lineup of keynote speakers from Procter & Gamble, Kodak, and Myspace.com among others; along with a range of professional workshops, networking sessions, a marketplace career fair and over $35,000 in available scholarships for undergraduates. The convention also served as a competition where students from their respective chapters showcased their achievements over the past year. Presentations ranged from sales projects raising thousands of dollars for charity, to market research studies conducted for Fortune 500 companies. The competition was a spirited one, as many attempted to seize the groups’ popular awards such as the Top Business Plan Award, Top Salesperson Award and Top Marketing Plan Award, with further hopes that theirs would be the school to take home the coveted “Top Chapter in the Nation” honor.

I joined in the festivities on Friday as a judge of the Pro-Am Sell-a-Thon, where students were given the opportunity to experience a simulated business-to-business sales environment, with coaching and feedback from an established sales professional. I must say I was quite impressed at the ability and professionalism of the contenders, a few of which had been offered jobs from sponsors and judges after watching them in action!

My challenge for you today is to get involved! Be it PSE or one of the many professional groups or student organizations around, don’t wait - start today. Look for opportunities to work in “real world” situations, create networking opportunities and further your professional training. I can tell you from first hand from conversations over this past weekend that the “real world experiences” provided by this particular group were major differentiators for many of the students between obtaining a position and continuing to send out resumes. If you know of or a part of a group that offers such experiences please share it and add a comment!

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How Much Recognition Do Employees Need?

Published
by
Anthony Portuesi
on March 25, 2009
in Employee Engagement and Motivation
. 0 Comments

employee recognition How Much Recognition Do Employees Need?

If you’ve asked yourself this one, you’re certainly not alone. When it comes to praise and recognition, managers and employees often have two very different opinions on the subject. Managers feel that they provide ample recognition while employees generally feel that praise is glaringly absent in the workplace. Because of this disconnect, it’s not uncommon for managers to unknowingly run the risk of  demotivating employees, simply on the fact that they don’t provide enough praise.  So the question still begs, “How much recognition is appropriate?”

According to Gallup data, the key to effective recognition is that it be honest and based on outcomes that are measurable. They suggest that the correct answer to our question is once every seven days.

“Once every seven days, all employees should be individually recognized or at least told that they have done a good job or that they have set a record. And you can never give too much recognition if it is honest and deserved.” - Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter, 12: The Elements of Great Managing

Think of the last time you were praised for providing your best efforts or the time you put into a particular project. How did you feel? Recognition doesn’t always have to be a grandiose event. Even simple recognition of routine efforts can be the difference between an employee increasing productivity and silently looking for other jobs over their lunch hour.

In the research for their book, 12: Elements for Great Managing, Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter found that less than 1 in 3 employees can give a strong positive answer to the statement, “In the last seven days, I have received recognition for doing good work.”

How does that compare to your situation? If providing praise at least once every seven days sounds like a lot, it may be time for a gut check. There should always be something that you can find positive about someones efforts within that time span. Without a doubt there is a direct correlation between recognition and level of employee engagement.

Rodd Wagner and James Harter may have said it best, “With its power, ridiculously low cost and rarity, (praise) is one of the greatest lost opportunities in the business world today.” Perhaps we should rethink our question, asking ourselves instead -“When was the last time I praised someone for good work?”

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Best Practices for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Published
by
Anthony Portuesi
on March 19, 2009
in Entrepreneurship and Motivation
. 2 Comments

det2 Best Practices for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

This month marks the launch of new website aimed at motivating aspiring entrepreneurs. Daily Entrepreneur Tip (DET) is a site that provides short tips (150 words or less) pertaining to various aspects of entrepreneurship. Certainly an interesting concept for those looking for those looking to gain additional insight, yet don’t have hours to spend searching in research. Each post contains only one lesson and is written by an experienced entrepreneur willing to share tips, suggestions and/or lessons learned from a variety of ventures. One new post is presented each day, Monday through Saturday, without exception.

Brian Linton, creator of the site, contacted me last week about becoming a regular contributor, to which I gladly accepted. DET is right up my ally being that, any giving time; I have my hand in or am consulting on various entrepreneurial projects. My first contribution entitled “Customer Service is King” debuted today and joins an array of best practices that continue to grow each day.

Should you need a little boost, DET also offers a free text service sending short, inspirational and motivational quotes directly to your phone at random times throughout the week. Take a look, learn something new or share your personal experience by submitting a tip. Though it’s still in early stages, I foresee this becoming a vast library of entrepreneurial best practices. I have a feeling you won’t be disappointed.

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8 Secrets to Settling Disagreements

Published
by
Anthony Portuesi
on March 15, 2009
in Communication, Managing and Personal Development
. 0 Comments

disagreement 8 Secrets to Settling Disagreements

Succeeding in any venture or relationship will bring about its share of disagreements. Be it with a customer, a colleague, or business partner, disagreements are an inevitable part of doing business that you can and should be well prepared for.  Aside from settling a particular dispute, properly resolving a disagreement provides the opportunity for increasing respect, building trust, and generally advancing the relationship with your opposition to an entirely different level. Yet even so, the word disagreement continues to hold a negative connotation in most peoples mind. Why? Because disagreements make people uncomfortable. And if handled incorrectly, they can lead to a full fledged argument where nobody wins and everyone goes home unfulfilled.

I first encountered one of my favorite models for settling disagreements while reading How to Win friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, a few years back. Without a doubt one of my all-time favorite books that I’ve been known to quote on more than one occasion. In his chapter entitled, “You Can’t Win an Argument” Carnegie sites an article from Bits and Pieces, offering a few suggestions on how to keep a disagreement from turning into an argument. The highlights are below.

  1. Distrust your first instinctive impression. Our first natural reaction in a disagreeable situation is to be defensive. Be careful. Keep calm and watch out for your first reaction. It may be you at your worst, not your best.
  2. Control your temper. Remember, you can measure the size of a person by what makes him or her angry.
  3. Listen first. Give your opponents a chance to talk. Let them finish. Do not resist, defend, or debate. This only raises barriers. Try to build bridges of understanding. Don’t build higher barriers of misunderstanding.
  4. Look for areas of agreement. When you have heard your opponents out, dwell first on the points and area of which you agree.
  5. Be honest. Look for area where you can admit error and say so. Apologize for your mistakes. It will help you disarm your opponents and reduce defensiveness.
  6. Promise to think over your opponents ideas and study them carefully. And mean it. Your opponents may be right. It’s a lot easier at this stage to agree to think about their points than to move rapidly ahead and find yourself in a position where your opponents can say: “We tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen.”
  7. Thank your opponents sincerely for their interest. Anyone who takes the time to disagree with you is interested in the same things that you are. Think of them as people who really want to help you, and you may turn your opponents into friends.
  8. Postpone action to give both sides time to think through the problem. Suggest that a new meeting be held later that day or the next day, when all the facts may be brought to bear. In preparation for this meeting, ask yourself some hard questions:

Could my opponents be right? Partly right? Is there truth or merit in their position or argument? Is my action one that will relive the problem, or will it just relive my frustration? Will my reaction drive my opponents away or draw them closer to me? Will my reaction elevate the estimation good people have in me? Will win or lose? What price will have to pay if I win? If I’m quite about it, will the disagreement blow over? Is this difficult situation an opportunity for me.

I’ll be the first to admit it takes commitment and a conscious effort to consistently apply these principals, yet I’ll wager that if you take them to heart, you won’t be disappointed.

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Best Undergraduate Business Schools

Published
by
Anthony Portuesi
on March 6, 2009
in Education and Gen-Y
. 0 Comments
 classroom Best Undergraduate Business Schools 

In their March 9th issue, BusinessWeek published their list of the top undergraduate business schools for 2009. For the first time since the inception of their ranking in 2006, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has been dethroned as #1, to be replaced by University of Virginia’s McIntire School. In ranking the programs, BusinessWeek used a multitude of measures, including surveys of 85,000 senior business majors, nearly 600 corporate recruiters, median starting salaries for graduates, and the number of graduates each school send to top MBA programs, among other factors.

According to the article, schools that ranked high or moved up on the list from previous rankings, have put a more intense focus on guiding students in their career search. Top schools, Virginia and Notre Dame, have been able to tap a strong alumni network and create innovative ways to build student-recruiter relationships. The story goes on to explain how, regardless of ranking, the tougher job market continues to challenge students across the nation to consider other avenues upon graduation. It was not surprising to see that of the graduating seniors surveyed, 54% had not received job offers as of January (up 10% from 2008). Within the commentary, Roger Jenkins, Dean of the Farmer School at my alma mater, shared a few suggestions on how to deal with graduating in the uncertain job market. Visit the full article for the complete ranking and details on how each school made the cut.

BusinessWeek’s Top 20

  1. University of Virginia (McIntire)
  2. Notre Dame (Mendoza)
  3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
  4. University of Michigan (Ross)
  5. Brigham Young University (Marriott)
  6. UC Berkeley (Haas)
  7. MIT (Sloan)
  8. Cornell University
  9. Emory University (Goizueta)
  10. University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)
  11. Villanova University
  12. Richmond (Robins)
  13. UNC at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
  14. Wake Forest (Calloway)
  15. New York University (Stern)
  16. Washington University (Olin)
  17. Boston College (Carroll)
  18. Miami University (Farmer)
  19. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
  20. Indiana University (Kelley)
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3 Skills You Can Improve Right Now

Published
by
Anthony Portuesi
on March 1, 2009
in Personal Development
. 2 Comments

business skills 3 Skills You Can Improve Right Now

Yesterday I received my annual notice from Fortune to renew my magazine subscription for the upcoming year. Among the offers and advertisements they included a bookmark which incorporated a quick few tips on improving your business skills. Though they may seem oversimplified, I thought there was some value in the concepts and figured I’d pass them along. My question to you is, What would you add to the list? 

Compliments of Fortune:
Improving these skills can have a big impact on your career.

1. Public Speaking
 Conquer fear with a game plan.

  • Podiums disconnect you from your audience. Grab the mic and wander the stage.
  • Eye contact is your friend. Looking at people one by one shrinks the room.
  • Questions. If you’re stumped, talk about your team: “We’re lucky to have an expert on that. I’ll get you in touch with him later.”

2. Negotiating Skills
 Using the right phrase matters.

  • How did you come up with that number? Opens a window to the other sides thoughts.
  • Let me check with my wife. Or husband, or boss. Stops you from saying yes prematurely.
  • If things change, give me a call. Put the burden on them.

3. Memory Skills
 Never confuse Don with John again.

  • Introduce yourself first so you can focus on the other person.
  • Connect the name to your brain. When you meet a guy named Bill, think of other Bills you know.
  • Use the name three times. Once to confirm you have the name right, then in mid-conversation, and again when you say goodbye.
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