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Browse published articles attributed to Todd Rhoad, with full-archive search.
One of the toughest things a graduate has to do is to find suitable work. The big question is….where? In this post, we’ll take a look at where corporate recruiters say the best places are to search for a job if you’re a 2010 MBA graduate.
Achieving the success we want is probably one of the most difficult challenges we’ll ever face in our lifetime. For most of us, success is often a moving target. Our current perception of our needs almost always sits center stage, giving direction to our internal focus. I say perception because we do relinquish our definition of “enough” at times and listen to others who tell us success requires more than what we have. Unfortunately, we are influenced by our surroundings. Some give in to exte al stressors and blame them for our inability to achieve our goals.
My latest interview brings you phenomenal insight into what it takes to become a change leader in a world that is full of change. In this interview, we talk with Dr. Samuel Chand. As a Dream Releaser, Dr. Samuel R. Chand serves Pastors, ministries and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change strategist. Dr. Chand has served as senior Pastor, college President, Chancellor and President Emeritus.
Surely you know that a job interview requires preparation and research. We often spend hours and hours practicing answering the most common questions. Yet, our greatest keys to success come from asking only a few questions prior to the interview. In this post, I’ll present three key questions that you must ask to set the stage for your interview preparation, as well as give you the competitive advantage you need to win each conversation. A job interview brings with it great tension. Mostly due to the barrage of unknown questions, for which success requires brilliant riposte.
In a meeting with an alumni group, a young man stands up and tells me his “MBA is broken.” He goes on to say that it hasn’t done anything for his career. My response to him was that the MBA is blind. Of course, the expression on his face was pure bewilderment. As I began to elaborate on that comment, his expression changed drastically. Here’s what I offered to help him understand the issue with the MBA’s vision.
Sometimes I try to imagine that I’m a young MBA aspirant (again) in the midst of an investigation of the value of the MBA in today's marketplace. Is it worth it or not? If you take a look around at some of the press the MBA gets, you might get more confused. Let’s take a look at some of the stories and see if we can shed some light on the topic.
Many aspiring executives flock to business schools to obtain the coveted MBA degree. Optimism oozes out of every pore, while visions of money, promotions, raises and opportunities dance in their head. Then, graduation comes. Uncertainty and doubt flood the mind as reality begins to take hold. They have to find a job and work now. For most MBA graduates, it’s not a daunting task. However, the trends are starting to change and show stress in the market, even for the MBA graduates.
A roadblock is something that blocks progress or prevents accomplishment of an objective, according to Merriam-Webster. With regards to our career, roadblocks are things that keep us from new opportunities, advancement, raises and bonuses, new jobs and recognition. These obstacles keep us from getting the rewards we seek. They can be internal or exte al. Some we can see. Some we don’t. One year ago we began to take a look at the roadblocks many of us face in reaching our career goals.
It’s hard to imagine that your values play a big role in the level of success you achieve in your career, but they do. In a recent session with Mike, a finance guy with a high tech company here in Atlanta, we were able to highlight how a simple misalignment of values can impede career mobility. Mike had been at this company for 4.5 years and had seen some success early on but had somehow reached a plateau. He did get one promotion that made him head of his department. He was happy then.
Too often we confuse our expectations with our aspirations. You may know it as expecting too much. Career dissatisfaction results from a misalignment of these two factors. To stay on track, you need to only understand the difference and ask a few questions. In this article, I’ll tell you what they are. I recently asked MBA grads to tell me how the degree has met their expectations. I wanted to know specifically what they sought and where the expectations came from. What are your expectations? You think of one, now. Quick.
Creating future leaders for business is on the verge of becoming a crisis. Three reasons reign supreme on the subject: it limits power and threatens the future, companies aren’t good at it and the qualities of tomorrow’s leader are nothing short of the modern day Da Vinci.
In developing our latest series of ebooks for MBAs, we’ve spoken with many MBA graduates around the world. Our discussions seem to present only two real value assessments for the MBA. One category of graduates feel that the degree provided sufficient knowledge and skills for proper career growth, while the other group claims the MBA has done nothing for them. In reviewing the backgrounds of the more optimistic group of graduates, we found some interesting observations that may prove to be quite useful if you’ve found that your MBA isn’t impacting your career as you expected.
Very few argue with the power of networking and its potential impact on your career. Most professionals, especially MBAs, have access to groups and associations, both professional and social. To understand how we should go about selecting these groups and associations for membership, we’ve tapped into the expertise of Gail Romero to give you a few more reasons why you need to engage, attend and learn within an association. We'll also learn how to choose one to join.
Here’s a story that might keep you up at night. I was talking with a client who had graduated with his MBA just a year ago. He was upset that things had not changed for him in his current company. No raise. No promotion. No new opportunities. In fact, no one even recognized that he earned his MBA. “My job doesn’t require an MBA but I have one. Now I worry that my current employer will see me as overqualified, likely to get bored and leave, further damaging my career mobility,” he explained.
As the unemployment rate continues to climb (8.5% in March 2009, Bureau of Labor Statistics), many of us are seeking out new options for maintaining some sense of stability for the future. One very popular option is the MBA. As a career coach, I’m inundated with questions relating to how it can help your career. Some want to know what doors it will open, what fields they can go into, and how to use it to get what they want. These questions don’t just come from potential students. They come from graduates too, illuminating a misalignment of expectations.
In our latest ebook, The MBA Guide To Networking, we featured author Thom Singer who reminded us that opportunities come from the people around us, not the college degree we hold, the long hours we dedicate to our efforts or even the many accomplishments we gather. Yet, many of us still spend a career collecting these things. Sure, our initial entry into the workforce may be influenced by these factors but our career is driven more by the relationships we build. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70% of all jobs are found through networking.
While this may sound like a strange question, it is one that I get asked often. Since we are all looking for opportunities for greater success, networking might be a skill we might want to learn. In this post, I’ll take a look at some of the reasons for our inability to connect with others and how we might be able to overcome them. It’s not hard to understand why it’s important to be able to network. A quick look at the job situation in March shows that we are about 30,000 jobs short of what we need to keep up with our growing US population.
In a recent breakfast discussion with college students, I was asked why personal branding has become a requirement for future opportunities. My immediate response was “technology.” Years ago companies would sift through a stack of resumes trying to find that one perfect candidate. Then, populations grew. Unemployment was low but the numbers of unemployed was larger. The stack got bigger and bigger. Then, the employed weren’t happy. The stack grew even bigger.
Staying motivated throughout the life of your career is challenging to say the least. There are so many forces that will drive you away from career satisfaction. The major problem is that we are always changing. I don’t just mean you will change, I also mean that your environment will change as well. I hear arguments all the time that you need to make sure you have a good “fit” for the new company you want to join. While I agree with this idea, it’s important to understand that organizations change too.