In this issue...

• Decisions, Decisions....

• Knowing When It's Time to Move On

•Don’t Talk Yourself Out of a Job

•We Need Your Help

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Decisions, Decisions. . .

The ability to make good decisions is often the difference between runaway success and abject failure.  Life is full of decisions, both big and small, and many of those decisions concern your job and the advancement of your career.  In this issue of the ASM, we explore two of the bigger employment decisions you might face—what to say during a job interview and when to move on from your current position.  However, we can already tell that you’re in the habit of making good decisions . . . after all, you’re reading the ASM!  We hope that you enjoy this issue, and of course, please contact us if you have any questions.

—Dan and Don

The decision to leave a job, any job, is often not easy to do.  Many people are endowed with an intrinsic sense of loyalty, which is certainly noble.  However, that same sense of loyalty can backfire on them when they’re mired in a job they don’t really want to be in.  Right now, the country’s economy is in good shape and improving everyday.  It’s created what’s termed a “candidate’s market.”  That means there are more and more attractive job openings and fewer and fewer candidates to fill them.

As a result, this is an excellent time to conduct an honest self-analysis of your current situation.  Even if you believe that you’re satisfied with where you are, such an analysis is a healthy exercise that all employees should conduct.  An accurate assessment of your employment situation is a precursor to not only professional growth, but personal growth, as well.  Your job constitutes a major component of your life, and as such, it can greatly contribute to (or detract from) your overall happiness and well being.

A five-point measuring stick

Below is a list of five criteria against which you can measure yourself.  How does your current position stack up?

• You have no passion for what you’re doing.  Sure, you might technically be in the industry you’ve always wanted to be in, but that doesn’t mean that what you’re doing excites or motivates you.  If your work is boring or it doesn’t challenge you, then it’s difficult to be passionate about it.  Of course, on the far end of the spectrum, there are some people who dislike their jobs so much that it actually causes them to be physically ill.  Hopefully, you are not currently enduring an adverse reaction such as that.

• The company you work for doesn’t seem to have any clear vision or direction.  Companies are guilty of this more than you might think.  And if they do have a vision or direction, and they’re not communicating it effectively to their employees, that’s nearly as bad.  A company in this situation is basically wasting their time and your time.  They may be compensating you, but they’re compensating you in lieu of making any tangible progress.

• Your potential for growth at the company appears to be limited.  If you’ve been left out of new project assignments, then the possibility exists that you could be pigeonholed.  In other words, management believes you’re an “expert” in one particular area only, even if you know that your skill set far exceeds that area.  It’s up to you to convince them otherwise (often a difficult proposition).  If you can’t start, polishing that resume.  

• Your current position doesn’t fit in with your plans for career advancement.  Everybody has dreams of bigger and better things for their future, and that includes their employment future.  If your current position doesn’t appear conducive to the achievement of your long-term goals and ambitions, a change is more than likely in order.

• The position begins to seriously interfere with your family responsibilities.  These days, companies take a more relaxed stance when it comes to employees and their families.  They understand that employees who are able to meet the needs of their family are happier and more productive.  If your company is not among this group, that’s not a good indication.

Don’t wait until it’s too late

Unfortunately, many employees wait until their situation grows almost unbearable before they take any action.  This is not healthy emotionally, psychologically, and even physically.  The key is to continually analyze where you are and where you want to go.  If the position you’re currently in doesn’t seem to be part of that equation, it’s probably time to start thinking about moving on.

You only have so much time, so much energy, and so many resources.  In the final analysis, it doesn’t make any sense to waste those things while engaged in a position that’s basically not going to benefit you.  Loyalty is admirable, but loyalty to yourself and to your family is more than that—it’s a necessity.  Can you see yourself doing what you’re doing right now four or five years down the road?  Does the thought of that make you want to cringe?  If it does, get the ball rolling.  Start looking for a position that will give you energy, not sap it from you.  You’ll thank yourself later.

If you have any questions about this subject, feel free to email me at brg@charterinternet.com.

There are two ways to answer interview questions: the short version and the long version. When a question is open-ended, I always suggest to candidates that they say, “Let me give you the short version. If we need to explore some aspect of the answer more fully, I’d be happy to go into greater depth and give you the long version.”

The reason you should respond this way is because it’s often difficult to know what type of answer each question will need. A question like, “What was your most difficult assignment?” might take anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty minutes to answer, depending on the detail you choose to give.

Therefore, you must always remember that the interviewer’s the one who asked the question. So you should tailor your answer to what he or she needs to know, without a lot of extraneous rambling or superfluous explanation. Why waste time and create a negative impression by giving a sermon when a short prayer would do just fine?

Let’s suppose you were interviewing for a sales management position, and the interviewer asked you, “What sort of sales experience have you had in the past?”

Well, that’s exactly the sort of question that can get you into trouble if you don’t use the short version/long version method. Most people would just start rattling off everything in their memory that relates to their sales experience. Though the information might be useful to the interviewer, your answer could get pretty complicated and long-winded unless it’s neatly packaged.

One way to answer the question might be, “I’ve held sales positions with three different instrumentation companies over a nine-year period. Where would you like me to start?”

Or, you might simply say, “Let me give you the short version first, and you can tell me where you want to go into more depth. I’ve had nine years experience in instrumentation product sales with three different companies, and I’ve held the titles of district, regional, and national sales manager. What aspect of my background would you like to concentrate on?”

By using this method, you telegraph to the interviewer that your thoughts are well organized and that you want to understand the intent of the question before you travel too far in a direction neither of you wants to go. After you get the green light, you can spend your interviewing time discussing in detail the things that are important, not whatever happens to pop into your mind.

If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to email me at dan@consearch.com.

We Need Your Help
(By Matt Deutsch)

During the Animal Science Monitor’s existence, we’ve always welcomed articles and information from the animal science community, specifically the readers of our publication.  We believe that that there is a wealth of valuable information circulating in this community, and we certainly want to include some of that information in the ASM on a consistent basis.

This information can take a number of different forms, and I’ve outlined those forms below:

• An occasional column from a professional in the animal science industry.  For example, Jeff Bewley, who’s currently in the process of starting a Ph.D. program in Dairy Management at Purdue University, is a regular contributor to the ASM.  (In fact, an article by Jeff about trade journals will appear in a future issue.)

• A description of a college or university’s graduate program in the field of animal science or a related field.  We’ve run a number of these descriptions in the past, and we’d very much like to feature more graduate programs in the future.

• Interesting news, articles, facts, or trends concerning the animal science industry.  If it interests you, it will probably interest our other readers.

In addition, if you know of somebody (a colleague, friend, instructor, etc.) who might like to contribute to our publication, please forward a copy of the ASM to them.  We’d love to hear from them, as well.

Please note that we reserve the right to decide whether or not information is ultimately suitable for publication, based on a predetermined set of criteria.  As you can imagine, space in the ASM is limited, but it’s our goal to fill this publication with the kind of timely, relevant information that you want to see.  Our priority is to serve our readers to the very best of our ability, but to effectively accomplish that objective, we need your help.

To submit an idea or information to the ASM, email it to matt@mattdeutsch.com.  I’d like to thank you for your time and for being a loyal reader of the Animal Science Monitor.