“Having your goal be time-bound is also critical because it not only provides a sense of urgency, but affords you the ability to establish more control for overall goal attainment. Open-ended goals often end up being more aspirational than achievable. Establishing a timeframe is also another measurement opportunity, which speaks right back to motivation and milestones.” - Gretchen Skalka on What are SMART goals? Templates and Examples
"Team members who take their career and skill advancement into their own hands are often good candidates for promotion. Every year, I rewrite the job descriptions for positions on my team. This means everyone is continually skilling up without it being burdensome. I provide a Lynda.com account and access to external training. Not everyone takes advantage of all the opportunities, but I make note of those who do. Taking control of your own career is one of the most telling signs of leadership potential." - Gretchen Skalka on The 7 Signs of an Employee Who Is Ready for a Promotion
“We see these great images of awesome office spaces or cheery colleagues or business perks that this person says they're getting or that this business is purportedly offering, but we don't dig deeper than the surface image in many cases. Truth be told, the grass isn't always greener; and sometimes when it is, it's nothing more than a good paint job.” - Gretchen Skalka on How to stop 'career FOMO' from ruining your work life
“Some bosses are micromanagers by nature, not necessarily doing it in a negative way,. Micromanaging is always bad but not always done because of dissatisfaction with the employee.” - Gretchen Skalka on 10 Signs Your Boss Isn’t Happy With You
"If your boss seems to be keeping track of what time you arrive in the morning, how long you spend at lunch, and when you're out of the office on personal matters, that's likely to be a bad sign." - Gretchen Skalka on 4 Signs Your Boss Might Be Thinking About Firing You
"I've had managers tell me they knew the interview was over before it began based on what the candidate wore or looked, if they were nervous (which many are) or if they were too confident. This is rooted in a fundamental disrespect either for the candidate, the company or the job itself (or sometimes all three)." - Gretchen Skalka on 10 Behaviors Scaring Your Interviewees Off
"Recommendations. They’re gold to me. Word of mouth is huge. We call it reputation management when we talk about brands, but the same applies to individuals.” - Gretchen Skalka on 12 Things Recruiters Really Look for on LinkedIn
"Become a subject matter expert in whatever your core field is. For admins, that could include support, project management or administrative oversight. If and when you can demonstrate prowess in your particular field, people will be more inclined to listen to your advice and suggestions." - Gretchen Skalka on How To Build Your Influence At Work
“The goal of analysis isn’t to solve a problem, actually — it’s to better understand it because that’s where the real solution will be found. Looking at a problem through the lens of impartiality is the only way to get a true understanding of it from all angles.” - Gretchen Skalka on What Are Problem-Solving Skills? Definition and Examples
