Deciding Your Direction

This week, Deciding Your Direction is featuring an interview with Una, a Human Resources professional working in the healthcare field. Her job is a remote position, and it primarily involves conducting phone screening interviews with applicants and helping prepare new hires for working with the onboarding team. I've included our conversation below: –––––––––– Q: What does an average day look like for you? A: For me, an average day looks like calling candidates who've applied for a position and interviewing them based on specific screening criteria. Then I spend time interacting with newly-hired employees to carry out their final identity verifications and get them ready to begin onboarding. I interact a lot with the other recruiters on the team as well. Q: What is your favorite part of your job? A: My favorite part of the job is definitely the people I work with. Even though it's a remote position, I've still been able to build connections with my colleagues, which I...

For bachelor's students who are quickly approaching graduation day, it can be hard to know whether to return to school for a graduate degree. Especially in more 'arts' driven studies (e.g., business, design, leadership), it's more difficult to evaluate if it will be worth the investment. Harvard Business Review published an article that explores some of the reasons whether to pursue post-bachelor education. Among the reasons to do so are to increase your salary earning potential, set a career change in motion, and to follow a passion. At the same time however, they warn that the benefits don't necessarily always outweigh the costs. Before you commit the time and money to a graduate degree, there are a few things to decide. First, make sure you know what your (broad) career goals are. Where do you want your career to take you? Adding more education to your credentials may or may not help you achieve these goals. Do some research to see if employers in your field typ...

Featured this week is an interview with Mick, the director of a grassroots nonprofit organization that operates in the realm of human rights and legal advocacy. As is the case with many new organizations, the role of a leader often changes on a frequent basis as procedures are developed, mission statements are crafted, and new opportunities are pursued. Our interview is transcribed below: –––––––––– Q:   As the Director of a nonprofit organization, what does an average day look like for you? A : Once I get settled in at my desk, I start by planning my day. I usually spend the morning doing administrative tasks and fundraising work, then I spend the afternoon communicating with clients and collaborating with members of my team.  Q:   What is your favorite part of your job? A: I would have to say that my favorite part of my job is that I'm able to directly help families who are in need. Helping people navigate difficult circumstances is something that I find very...

The nonprofit sector is often construed as being very different from the world of commercial, for-profit enterprises. While these entities are quite different in certain foundational ways, they look pretty similar on a functional level. Habitat For Humanity identifies six core ways that nonprofit organizations differ from profit-driven ones: purpose, funding, target, audience, management, organizational culture, and taxation. Most of these components affect the mission, values, and structure of the organization and not the actual operations– marketing departments still need to develop strategic plans, accounting teams still need to accurately track financials, HR still needs to process payroll and conduct performance management, and so on.  What does this mean for someone currently evaluating the viability of career options and job opportunities in both industries? For professional individuals working as part of the Technostructure (HR, accounting, marketing, etc.), job roles and ...

This week I'm featuring an interview with Trent & Grant Reiman, two digital marketing entrepreneurs who started their own business in 2018–The Big Picture is a social media management and digital marketing firm based in Morton, IL. Trent & Grant are identical twins, and have bachelors degrees in marketing from Eastern Illinois University. They've answered a few questions below: –––––––––– Q:  As digital marketing entrepreneurs, what does an average day look like for you? T & G: We wake up early (anywhere from 5-6:30am) and start creating content until we are finished–nothing but focused and concentrated work until about 11am or noon. Afterwards, we take client meetings and check in. Those meetings vary from getting pictures for fresh content, talking about upcoming promotional ideas, to just checking in. We believe that building a relationship with the client is very important. Q: What is your favorite part of your job? T & G: Definitely the relationship and ...

When and where you work is a really important consideration to make when evaluating a job opportunity or career path. Rightfully so, the issue of work-life balance has become a  massive topic in corporate dialogue. It's difficult to fully define where a job's boundaries begin and end–and, left unchecked, a job with a lot of responsibility can spill into your life and cause you to become overwhelmed. First, you must set your own boundaries. Consider your lifestyle. Consider your skills. Consider your field. Consider your other responsibilities. Consider any unique factors about your working situation. Before you can really conduct a "fit-test" for a job opportunity's work-life balance, you need to know what you are looking for. If necessary, set some rules for yourself such as "no emails after 5pm" or "no phone calls on my personal phone," and use them as a bar to eliminate positions that you feel will overstep those boundaries. This will, neces...