| Water Cooler
Information and insight
about your career and the workplace at large
February 2004
News and Views
When women don’t negotiate for
themselves, their careers can suffer—and so can their
organizations, according to
the report “First You Have to Ask,” by Linda Babcock
and Sara Laschever. Babcock and Laschever recommend assuming
that everything about your working life is negotiable, volunteering
for projects that interest you, and actively pursuing your
professional goals. The report is available for purchase (product
N0401A, $4 electronic download) from http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/
en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=N0401A
Workers often overlook subtleties of
communication that can trip them up
on everything from sales calls to meetings with the boss,
says Loretta Malandro, author of Say It Right the First Time.
Here’s her advice on how to avoid 5 common word traps:
http://www.salesandmarketing.com/smm/online_exclusive/article_display.jsp?
vnu_content_id=1983975
Don’t wait too long to reinvent
your career—and don’t look at your past to reinvent
your future. Instead, use a
“test and learn” approach that says act first,
think later. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/76/identity.html
ToolBox
Negotiating on your own behalf sometimes
hinges on how you portray your value to your employer,
especially during your performance review. Make your next
performance review pay off for you in terms of ratings and
recompense. Want a free checklist of “20 Things to Do
Before, During, and After Your Performance Review”?
E-mail me (Joanne@mentorme.info)
and put “Send 20 Things” in the header.
In career transition? Check out these
templates for résumés,
cover letters, etc., downloadable from http://office.microsoft.com/templates/category.aspx?
CategoryID=CT061993551033&CTT=4&Origin=ES790000301033
(Contributed by Beth Hand, leadership mentor extraordinaire,
www.leadershiphand.com)
Making It Work for You
Readers, this is your
space—for tips on how
you've solved a problem on the job, "gotten over"
not tooting your own horn, or anything else related to being
your own best advocate in the workplace. Send your "a-ha's"
to watercooler@mentorme.info and watch for your byline in
a future issue.
This month’s
contribution comes from Karen Krzmarzick, who used self-mentoring
techniques to move her career from secretary to Assistant
Director of Education. Karen now has a masters’ degree
in business and is certified in association executive management.
Want to Be Remembered?
Try Giving Yourself a New Name
Several years ago I attended
a professional development workshop on networking. During
the workshop, we participated in an ice-breaking exercise
that I will never forget. Each of us was asked to introduce
ourselves to another attendee by coming up with a snappy word
or phrase that rhymed with or gave a hint about our name.
For example, “Hi, my name is Sue Rose, like the baseball
player, Pete.” The thought was that the catchy phrase
would help the individual remember your name. The problem?
My name. What rhymes with Krzmarzick? Most people can’t
even pronounce it (kirz·mar'·zik).
After I left that workshop, I decided that
I needed something for people to remember me so I created
a personal email address that colleagues would remember: associationgirl@yahoo.com.
People didn’t have to remember Karen Krzmarzick; instead
they only had to remember association girl. I began using
my call sign on all the career-related email correspondence
and listservs. I got (and still get) e-mails from my peers
saying they like the name. And, it’s not unusual for
me to attend an association event and hear, “So you’re
association girl.” Last year I even wrote “association
girl” on my nametag at the annual ASAE event. During
this time I developed a website (www.associationgirl.com)
to promote my accomplishments and to provide some tidbits
about my background and links to articles I have written.
My website has had more than 3,000 visitors in the three years
it has been in existence.
--Karen Krzmarzick, CAE, ASISonline, Alexandria, VA; kkrzmarzick@asisonline.org
Coming Soon
Workshops on Self-Mentoring
National Credit Union, Alexandria,
VA. March 9, 2004, and March 16, 2004: 11 am – 1pm.
Contact: Joanne Lozar Glenn, 703.721.7088; joanne@mentorme.info
The Women’s Center, Vienna, VA. March 23, 2004: 7 –
9 pm. Contact: Jane Beddoe, 703.281.4928; http://www.thewomenscenter.org
National Business Education Association 2004 Annual Convention.
April 8, 2004: Time TBD. Contact: 703.860.8300; http://www.nbea.org
Book Signings
Meet the Authors,
International Women’s Writing Guild, New York, NY. October
17, 2004. Contact: Hannelore Hahn, 212.737.7536; http://www.iwwg.com
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