Top Performers Never Work ‘For’ A Company

Posted on April 11, 2013 by mportis Comments Off

J.T. O’Donnell of Career & Job Search Expert | CEO of CAREEREALISM Media, recently published the following article:

“Top Performers Never Work ‘For’ A Company“

And then J.T. O’Donnell followed up with a few thoughts on why top performers never see themselves as working “for” a company. They believe it’s better to work “with” a company. | Read J.T.’s article

The above sentiment is just very, very true of working within many industries.

You need to work with a company as long as there is a good fit between what you want to do and where the company is going.

Companies like to say that ‘People are our biggest asset’. While technically true, companies more often than not treat the job security of their folks as the biggest corporate liability.

ALWAYS follow the jobs and seek greater opportunities within your careerfield. If that means leaving the company that you are with then so be it. Just be prepared to do so. Always be prepared — you never know when your boss will walk in and inform you that things have changed and …

You can be sure that 8-9 out of 10 companies believe that it is easier to change the workforce than to grow it. Reality.

Best regards,

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How Baby Boomers Interaction with Millennials in the Workplace

Posted on July 11, 2012 by mportis Comments Off

 

Baby Boomers Interaction with Millennials
(excerpt from chapter 3 of College to Corporate for the Millennial recent College Graduate…by Nathanial Portis
Since many Millennials today are the children and grandchildren of Baby Boomers, Boomers have some patience for the Millennials. Boomers welcome the digital age and are often willing to work with new digital devices, but they too are not as quick to use them, as the Millennial would like. Although Baby Boomers tend to be supportive and tolerant of the Millennial, research has shown that the Boomer often grows frustrated with what is perceived as the overuse of digital devices and often views the Millennial as lazy and selfish in the workplace. Like the Silent Generation, it’s important to give the Boomer complete attention while in discussion. Since Boomers welcome much of today’s technology, they are usually tolerant of text messaging and digital devices. However, the Millennial must be careful not to overplay the digital hand when working with Boomers. The Baby Boom generation is the most heavily populated generation of our time and because of that they are very social and usually enjoy direct personal conversation rather than text messaging. Most often, the more face-time spent with Boomers, the more they may relate to a coworker.
Working with Baby Boomers in Corporate America
In Corporate America, this generation is the mature, experienced group, usually taking lead roles such as senior managers, partners of large firms, chief engineers, CEOs and vice presidents. Since they have seen so much changing history they have made plenty of mistakes and are more cautious than most generations, they are very knowledgeable and one of the most opinionated generation. However, the Boomer can be unpredictable, and many have changed careers after years of service to an organization.  They are the most established individuals in the current workforce.  The Baby Boom generation has a wealth of knowledge that can be tapped for mentoring. When approached correctly, Boomers usually take it as a compliment when asked to be mentors.
Unlike their veteran parents, Boomers didn’t have to endure much economic hardship and were able to focus more on themselves and family (Millennial, Generation X children). On the job, Boomers thrive on accomplishments and are willing to go the extra mile. They’re optimistic, team-oriented and into pleasing the boss or customer. Boomers in general put a premium on developing relationships, but many don’t like facing conflict and are very sensitive about feedback. Boomers think they changed the world, and nobody could do better.
Gloria is a 57-year-old Baby Boomer working as an executive assistant. I spoke with Gloria to get her take on working with the Millennial in today’s corporate environment.

“I have two grown sons…….. (read more in College to Corporate for the Millennial Recent College Graduate by Nathanial Portis book coming July 18th  available at all book retailers and online at Amazon.com bn.com and target books)

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Young workers Don’t want to depend on Corproate America for Health Care

Posted on June 29, 2012 by mportis Comments Off

More than 3.1 M young adults gained health coverage since provisions of the health care law took effect.

During their prime years many Boomers worked under well funded government programs such as United Post Office, NASA and entered
their careers as interns and new college graduates while America was in
a serious race to land the first man on the moon. Boomers also had
plenty of opportunities to develop first-of-their-kind technologies, like
those used in the NASA space shuttles, the Hubble telescope and the
space station. They also developed the missile and defense technology
that would lead America out of the Cold War era. Baby Boomers worked
during a period of ample government funding and unlimited defense
spending programs and had parents who idolized government. They also
elected many of the officials who laid down much of the governing policy
and regulations that shaped the U.S. economy throughout the 70s, 80s
and 90s. The Baby Boom generation  lots of government spending, low medical insurance and good paying jobs, today they are  slowly retiring from today’s
Corporate America.

During the late seventies and early eighties, many of the nation’s young professionals (Generation Xers) began to see a shift in the type of work being offered to them. They saw a shift from a nation of industrial manufacturing such as rubber plants and steel factories to automotive manufacturing and social sciences and medical careers. Many of the Xers prepared to enter medical and professional careers designed to support the aging Silent and Baby Boomer Generations through the mid-nineties. Again in the early 2000s, Xers began to see another workplace shift from the auto industry to the Internet and the Digital Age. This shift came at a time when many Xers saw their parents’ and grandparents’ retirement savings wiped out by corporate fraud and weak government regulation that should have protected them.

The uncertain and changing dynamics of the US economy during the  90′s motivated Xers to find better ways to allow future workers to be more mobile and in control of their own retirement without having to be committed to one company for a long period of time such as their previous generation had to do.

The introduction of new policies gave average workers the power to manage their retirement plans by investing into 401K and IRA plans. These allowed employees to transfer their retirement balances if they left a company rather than having to stay committed to the same company for a number of years to collect benefits from a company’s pension plan that may not be there when they left the company. Although these new programs allowed workers to be more independent, many argue that the major introductions undercut pension plans and other benefits that had been introduced by work Unions of the Baby Boom Generation. Still, I like to think that Xers took existing policies and adapted them for the changing times and made them better.

With the well paying corporate and government jobs during the 60′s, 70′s 80′s  its easy to see why “Boomers” became so dependent on the benefits and great pay of the stable job economy of that time.

Today health care is at an all time high, previous generations have all but depleted most government funding. The once prized  government jobs such as the Post Office, GSA and NASA haven’t had major hiring in years and are now reducing working hours, offering early retirement plans and laying off in efforts to cut-back spending. Young graduates do not see the same stability in the job market nor are we afforded same low-cost company sponsored health plans that came with the profitable corporate and government jobs and for that reason can not and should not have to depend on a job to have health benefits.

According to CNN Money more than 3.1 M young adults gained health coverage since provisions of the health care law took effect. This is just more proof of why changing times require changing laws to govern  a changing society.Read more about this at 3.1M young adults gained health coverage since law took effect

College to Corproate for the Millennial Recent College Graduate a guide for generation Y entering Corporate America. BOOK AVAILABLE JULY18th 2012

Millennials and corporate America