How To Prepare for Your Exit Interview

Deciding to change jobs was the easy part, telling you boss and going through the exit interviews is difficult and you need to be prepared. So, you have decided to leave the company and turned in you paperwork to your manager after much thought and introspection, what you need to prepare for are the next three to four exit interview sessions. This process is similar to buying a new car and getting bounced from one person to the next, they try to counteroffer and talk you out of leaving al the while trying to wear you down. It is always fascinating to me how companies can come up with extra $$$ when you tell them your leaving. Trust me on getting ready, you need to be prepared or you will wake up tomorrow and go back to you same position, in the same company and will soon be just as miserable as you were when you decided to leave the first time. There are three areas of planning for the exit interview process that you need to prepare for.

Step 1. Prepare a notification letter that you will give to your manager. There are two subjects to cover in your letter; planned exit date and brief explanation on why you are leaving. The question on *why* you are leaving will be asked several times, it is better to put you thoughts in writing so you can refer to them later. In your explanation, be succinct and straight forward in a positive manner. Do not single out any person or event that could turn against you and be the sole focus of discussion that may eventually turn into an emotional confrontation. Be firm in you convictions and refer to your letter for guidance, refer to professional growth, demonstrated company stability, communication, work environment, you now the reasons, put them in writing. After you complete the letter, have a trusted peer or family member read it back to you for critique and comment. Plan for staying the customary two weeks, this is the professional approach and allows time for management to try and back fill and cross train as appropriate.

Step 2. Realize when you turn in your letter, the psychological game begins. Be prepared with a counter offer when asked. I say *shoot for the moon*, because if they say yes, you do not want to have any regrets. The people you speak with will try to negotiate and talk you out of leaving. Be prepared for this and firm in your decision to resign. Common questions you will be asked besides why are:
*What company are you going to? My response would simply include comments such as, the company name is not important for our discussion and not any of your concern. *There is no reason for you to disclose this information to them, other than giving them an opportunity to degrade that company and convince you going there is a poor choice.
What would it take to keep you here? Counter with, what are you offering? You know what you want because you are prepared, but do not disclose that information first, let them offer you something. Think before you open your mouth!
*Why haven't you discussed improvements for the company before? Maybe we can implement some of your ideas. Bla bla bla I say... in my opinion the company should be doing these improvement activities anyway, why are they waiting for a person that is leaving to jump into action? Don't buy into this strategy; you have been around long enough to see what the priorities are and what actually changes from a leadership team perspective. If the company was on top of their initiative, you would have already seen activities for improvement.
*Have you thought about what this will do to your pension & retirement? Often the comment is, if you say for xx years, your pension will double or triple by the age of 55. Think about all the money you are loosing ...stop and think, I don't have that money now, how can I loose it? Again, you have researched the POTENTIAL impact to your pension and retirement when you were preparing to leave. I say potential because these people you are talking to have no more of an idea that the company will be profitable let alone still be operating in 5 to 15 years than you do. This will probably come from the Human Resource manager, and will be the last straw in trying to tell you what a poor decision it is to leave.

All in all, you should spend no more than 5 minutes with each person you speak with after your initial discussion with your manager. The reason I say this is, you can be assured they have spoken to their management and HR about your desire to leave and been coached on counter offers, discussion points etc. Realize that anything they have to offer will be should be of no interest to you, be professional and polite to a point, they are only trying to get you to stay. What can you do, take the initiative when speaking to each subsequent person by asking what do you want to know that is not in my letter? This is a great tactic to see if they have even read it, if not that should also tell you a lot.

In summary, leaving a position is going to be emotional, think through your decision completely, discuss with your trusted peers, family and friends. Consider the options and above all be prepared for the exit interview barrage. You can do it, go with your instincts as well because you don't want to wake-up with any regrets!

Time to Set Your Success Strategy

Every person and professional should have a success strategy in place that he or she can follow. The success strategy you produce for yourself should be specific and personal. As a professional, you’re departmental and company organizational goals must be incorporated to be successful, otherwise there may be conflicts. A success strategy is not only good for you, but it can also help your employees succeed as well. By having a success strategy in place, you will be able to track your results, and then deal with any shortcomings appropriately.

In order to write up a solid success strategy you should get together with anybody who is going to be involved. If you are a manager, you will need to get all of your employees together in order to ensure that everybody is on the same page. Setting up a meeting in which everybody will be able to contribute to the strategy can do this. One of the most important parts about putting together a success strategy is making sure that your employees believe in it. And if they have had the chance to help you put the strategy together they will more than likely believe in what it stands for. Employees will also be more prone to stick with a plan that they helped to devise. If you decide to put together a success strategy without consulting with your employees, you may get a backlash from them when they come across something that they do not agree with. So in order to avoid this problem, all you need to do is get everybody on the same page from the get go.

Also, when putting together a success strategy makes sure you set goals to go along with it. This way everybody will have something to work towards, and they will be able to feel a sense of accomplishment when the goal is completed on time. On the other hand, if you fail to reach your goal, you will then be able to reassess your success strategy and find out where you went wrong. If you have no way of tracking success, you will have no way of making sure that your strategy works.

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Finally, make sure that you success strategy is worthwhile. You do not want to set easily obtainable goals that do not take any hard work by you or your employees. If you do this you are only cheating yourself as well as your employees. Nobody will feel good about themselves if they only strive to be average.

A success strategy is something that every company should have in place. If you do not have one at this time, you should seriously consider it. Putting together a success strategy is a relatively quick job, and with the help of your employees you will have no problem at all collecting ideas. Do not overlook this much-needed aspect of you personal and professional life to achieve your desired levels of success.

What You Need To Know About Interview Attire

One sure fire way to miss out on a job is to show up at an interview dressed poorly. If you do this, the hiring manager will have a bad first impression of you, and you will probably have a very difficult time overcoming it. Showing up underdressed or with too many accessories on can put you in a bad light from the get go. It is important to remember that regardless of what kind of position you are applying for that you need to dress professionally.

First off we will review some tips for women.
1. Remember to wear a conservative suit that is a solid color. You may also want to consider wearing a common color such as black, brown, or dark blue. These colors will not make you stand out or draw attention. Avoid wearing bright colors such as pink or orange.
2. Choose shoes that accommodate you well. If you are a bit short and would like to gain a couple of inches feel free to wear high heels. If you are conscientious about your height wear something that has a flat sole. Remember to never wear sandals or tennis shoes.
3. Keep jewelry and accessories to a limit. There is no need to wear four bracelets and five earrings. Show your professionalism by wearing a couple (one or two) classy accessories.
4. Do not overdue it on the make up Give your face a nice, natural look that people will enjoy looking at.
5. Bring a portfolio or briefcase with you that will contain anything that you may need. This will include work samples, extra resumes, and additional references.

Now for the men.
1. Just like the women, wear a solid color, conservative suit. Black, dark blue, brown, and gray are your best choices.
2. Regardless of recent trends, you will want to wear a long sleeve white or light plain dress shirt. More and more people are going with colored shirts, but for an interview you will want to stay basic.
3. Keep your tie simple as well. If you are wearing a black suit with a white shirt, consider going with a solid black tie. If you want something to spruce up your outfit, look into a brighter color tie.
4. Many guys overlook their socks and shoes. Remember to wear socks that match your suit, and shoes that are professional.

Good Memory *=* Greater Success

If you can learn how to improve your memory you will certainly be able to become more successful. Just think of how nice it would be to be able to recall little nuggets of information from your last business trip. Sure you can write down a lot of information so that you can refer back to it later, but you will not always have the ability to take notes. In a face-to-face, personal conversation with a prospective client, you may not want to take notes. In this case you will be relying on your memory until you can translate the information onto paper.

There are two important parts to your memory: concentration and recall. These are the two areas that you are going to have to improve upon if you want to have a top-notch memory. There are a few ways that you can improve your concentration and recall skills.

The first thing to do is make sure you get the information correct the first time. It is very difficult to obtain bad information, and then replace it with the correct information. Pay attention to the speaker carefully so that you get everything right the first time.

Next, make sure that you understand what you are learning. If you do not have any concept as to what something means, you are going to have a very difficult time recalling the information. If you do not understand something the first time, go over the information again until it is thoroughly understood.

Also, being selective can also help you recall information. Instead of trying to recall the entire conversation that you had with a business associate, concentrate on trying to remember the important points. The less information that you have to remember, the easier it will be to recall it at a later point.

Concentrate on what is important, and try to test yourself as you move forward. If you are reading a manuscript and want to remember the main theme of every page, test yourself at the end. This will let you know if you have fully understood the page. If you have trouble recalling the information read it again.

Finally, remember to take everything that you have memorized and write it down. The second that you leave a meeting or classroom you will want to translate your memory onto paper. This way you can repeatedly study the information at a later date.

Implementing these tips will improve your memory and go a long way in helping you achieve success and reach your goals. http://www.TheOnlineSuccessUniversity.com

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