7 Tips For Navigating Negative Career Feedback

iStockphoto.com | Feodora Chiosea

Nobody rolls out of bed in the morning and thinks, “I hope I get some negative feedback at work today.”

No one enjoys criticism, especially professional criticism. When we receive feedback at work, the likely reaction is a (sometimes justified) fear that the feedback is a precursor to unemployment. However, feedback – positive and negative – plays an important role in the overall success of an organization, and the personal development of the employee. The good news is that you can learn how to process and utilize negative feedback to help your career instead of inhibit it.

Corporate culture has evolved into an interactive environment with a constant feedback loop. Annual/quarterly reviews have given way to an ongoing structure that is flexible and nimble enough to resolve issues, whether company-wide or individual, in real time. That means constant feedback.

Here are some tips to demystify negative feedback, help you and your career grow, and help create better work relationships.

1. Be open to feedback. When you walk into your manager’s office and receive professional criticism, it is very easy to get defensive. Even though the feedback is work related, it feels personal, and may seem like an existential threat to your livelihood. Do your best to be calm, objective about your own performance, and to listen. Take notes.

2. Remember, the conversation is probably documented. Whether part of a regular scheduled review, or an unexpected performance appraisal, the results will most likely go into your personnel file. It is in your best interests to maintain a professional demeanor throughout the process.

3. Understand your manager’s position. Chances are your Manager doesn’t like to give negative feedback any more than you like receiving it. However, providing feedback is most likely a requirement of his or her job, and is necessary if he or she has an interest in your career development. Either way, your manager should be giving you feedback, and you should want it as it provides you the tools to move your career forward.

4. Negative feedback is an opportunity. I know what you’re thinking: “I should want negative feedback? That’s crazy talk!” Negative feedback gives you an opportunity to self-correct and to develop personally and professionally. If you are not receiving regular, valuable feedback, then request it. You need to build that loop so you will control the conversation. It is in your best interests to have reviews that are more about development, and less about performance.

5. Understand the real message. Managers may not be trained to give feedback in a clear or positive way. The true message, for example, may be buried under a mountain of operational issues, or missed sales goals. But what does the feedback have to do with you? Ask for clarification is necessary.

6. Perception can be reality. If a perceived issue is surfaced that you believe is off the mark, you must change the perception. Speak up in a reasonable and sensible way. Defend yourself without being defensive (easy, right?).

7. Compartmentalize the feedback. You’ve walked out your manager’s office. Even the most enlightened employee, who is wise enough to use all our excellent suggestions, is going to feel numb. No one enjoys criticism. To the best of your ability, decompress and detach yourself from the feedback. When ready, process it in as objective a way as possible, determine (to the best of your ability) how you can use it to improve your job performance and, more importantly, advance your personal career development.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.

7 Essential Social Media Tips For Career-Minded Professionals

iStockphoto.com | Gwengoat

In the beginning of the Oscar award winning film “Gladiator,” Maximus, played by Russell Crowe, gives his soldiers a rousing pre-battle speech and says this amazing line, “What we do in life echoes through eternity.” As goes for gladiators, goes for social media. Your online presence lasts pretty much forever.

Employers may look at your social media profiles when deciding whether to hire you; it’s not an unreasonable assumption. And even if you deleted everything on every one of your online profiles ten years ago, it’s could still be just one advanced Google search away. Sorry to say, but there truly is no escape from your digital past.

As of July 2019, here are the Top 10 Social Media Platforms worldwide according to Statista.com:

1.     Facebook

2.     YouTube

3.     WhatsApp

4.     Facebook Messenger

5.     WeChat

6.     Instagram

7.     QQ

8.     Q Zone

9.     Douyin / Tik Tok

10.  Weibo

You need to be aware of how you’re presented on each site. Here are seven tips to help you manage your Social Media presence so that you can become – and remain – gainfully employed. 

1.     Even though Social Media is still the age of a teenager, there is already an old axiom that applies: Don’t put anything on Social Media that you wouldn’t want your Mom to see.

2.     Social Media means never having to say goodbye. As long as the Internet is live, so is the picture of you chugging rum from a pineapple while wearing a bunny suit. Might have been fun times, but not so much fun great when a hiring manger finds it, much less notices that you posted it at 6 a.m. when you closed down the bar. Today. On Tuesday.

3.     Be conscious of where and how you present your political point of view online. We live in an emotionally charged and divisive political climate and you cannot control the snap judgments others will make about a seemingly innocuous post or comment. On business-oriented social media, such as LinkedIn, it might be advisable to steer clear of political topics.

4.     Likewise, it’s generally advisable to keep personal matters on socially oriented platforms (i.e., Facebook) rather than professional platforms (i.e., LinkedIn). And while we’re on the topic ­– it’s not a bad idea to check your Facebook/Instagram/etc. privacy settings so that only your friends and family have access to your photos and conversations.

5.     Many social media platforms (LinkedIn included) have “comment” sections, which are a breeding ground for internet trolls and flame wars. Comments are just as public as official posts, so if you’re active on platforms or forums with comment sections, you may want to consider any potential professional ramifications before you tell @area51conspiracy he or she is the “world’s biggest moron,” and that you hope they, “die in a hail of bullets.” That “moron” could be in a position to make a hiring decision on your candidacy.

6.     Be conscious of your tone, too. Social media is just that – social. You may have written posts or comments to family or friends that had an intentionally snarky tone deliberately chosen for effect. While you and your friends who share a collective sense of humor may find your repartee hilarious, others might be turned off or offended. It’s not fair, but people observe how you interact with others and form a perception of you based on that, right or wrong, fair or not. If someone believes you are condescending online, they might believe you will be condescending to them in the workplace.

7.     This list has been filled with negativity (sorry), but here’s a good one. Make sure to explore the job portals on the various social media platforms! Naturally, LinkedIn has a robust job postings section, but companies are starting to wake up to the idea that the social social media platforms are where all the people are hanging out! As time progresses, you’ll continue to see more and more companies building job portals Facebook and other sites to reach key users. Don’t miss out!

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.

Can You Turn That Side Gig Into A Full-Time Career?

iStockphoto.com | richcarey

The routine of most working professionals is to get up, and go to work. But what if your routine is, “Get up, go to work, come home and do a second job you are more passionate about than the job that pays the bills?” What if your routine is a balancing act between what you spend your time doing and what you truly love? Can you turn your “side gig” into a “full-time gig,” and if so, how?

It may be possible to transform your passion into a full-time job. It happens all the time. Here are some important steps to take to determine if such a move will work for you.

PHASE ONE: RESEARCH

Step 1 – Determine your skill level.

This must be an honest assessment. Ask yourself if you have something that the marketplace demands, and for which the market will compensate you enough to make a living.

Here is a perfect real-world example – photography. Our example, Bill, got hooked on underwater photography during his many deep-sea diving excursions around the world. His photos were stunning, looked amazing blown up and framed, and he generated some earnings by selling his work on the side. Could he do this full time?

The professional benchmark for natural photography, undersea or otherwise, is National Geographic. Bill compared his work to what was published in National Geographic, and determined it didn’t quite compare to what he saw. He made a deliberate and honest assessment of his skills vs. the marketplace, and decided that his photography passion should remain a side gig. He is now a PhD in psychology with a thriving private practice.

Step 2 – Benchmark the professionals who are successful at what you want to do.

Whatever it is you want to do, there are already many people doing it. Familiarize yourself with their educational and professional backgrounds, identify the professional organizations to which they belong, take note of the broad perspective of their career arcs, and analyze any barriers to entry that may exist.

LinkedIn is a great platform on which to conduct this kind of research. Let’s take a closer look at the “barriers to entry.” A quick LinkedIn search should give you plenty of professionals from whom you can easily deduce vital shared credentials that are common to success.

Take a look at, for example, consulting vs. graphic design. Consulting full-time may require much more applied experience than a full-time job in graphic design, but graphic design requires specific degrees and knowledge of industry standard design platforms. So, for the individual without a visual arts education but a deep business background, the graphics field may have more barriers to entry than consulting in the form of going back to school.

Step 3 – Conduct a cost/benefit analysis.

Take a look at your current finances. If you live paycheck-to-paycheck, your strategy to transition a side-gig into a full-time one is going to be more challenging than someone who has a year’s salary saved up as a cushion.

Research salaries related to your side gig vs. what your current position pays vs. your baseline life expenses (e.g. rent/mortgage, health care, car, insurance, etc.). Determine how a move will impact your financial status and stability. Create as full of a portrait of your financial landscape as possible, including potential changes to your tax liabilities.

Step 4 – Determine your Happiness Factor.

Now you must ask yourself the most important question of all (and YOU are the only person who knows the answer!): Will you be happy doing your side gig on a full-time basis? The work you do as a hobby may not be so rewarding when you are doing it day-in, day-out and your livelihood depends upon it.

And there are psychological risks associated with turning your passion into full-time work. You must now trade the freedom of approaching your side gig in whatever manner you choose to conform with the realities of the marketplace. Being self-employed or freelance carries demands that are very different than those you face working for a company. Now you must be three people: the CEO of your business, the head of sales marketing (the market can’t compensate you if it doesn’t know you are there), and the full-time employee who does the actual work.

PHASE TWO: MAKE THE MOVE

You’ve decided to make the move. But how? What is the best way to go about it? Your primary options are, 1) Baby Steps, or 2) Full-throttle.

Option 1 – Baby Steps

Taking baby steps means slowly building up your side gig and gradually transitioning it into a full-time operation when financially and professionally appropriate.

There are many advantages to this approach. It may minimize the financial impact of the move, it allows you more space to make rookie mistakes and adjust your methods as necessary, and gives you more pathways to grow and develop like apprenticeships, internships (apprenticeships for students), or even part-time/contract jobs.

Disadvantages to the Baby Steps approach include carving out the needed time to be a success while treating your endeavor like a legitimate full-time business, maintaining a level of professionalism that separates work from a hobby, and measuring your happiness factor with only one foot in the water.

Option 2 – Full Throttle

If you are the type of person who believes in bold moves, then you may decide to go full-throttle, which is pretty self-explanatory.

This approach is more dramatic, carries more risk, will have a greater and more immediate impact on your finances, and requires you to build a business from scratch. A business with one employee is still a business, and its success requires a whole different skill set than the skills you need to perform the actual work, which must already be of a professional quality and service level the market demands.

That said, dropping everything to fully commit to a new endeavor can be a challenging and exhilarating experience. You may make a few more mistakes, and you may hit some extra bumps along the way, but an immersive and aggressive learning-by-doing approach may accelerate your professional standing and turn your passion into a successful full-time career.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercareerstrategies.com.