In my travels, I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who confuse perfectionism with excellence. In this blog, I hope to help you see the differences.

The most important thing to remember that personal excellence is all about YOU - not the project, not the customer, not your employees, and not your co-workers. It's about doing the right thing in the right way for the right reason.

Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind when striving for excellence. There are ten (10) all together, and I'm sharing four (4):

"All or Nothing" thinking - Perfectionists and Excellent People alike tend to set high goals and work hard toward them. However, an Excellent Person can be satisfied with doing a great job, even if their very high goals aren't completely met. Perfectionists will accept nothing less than, well, perfection. 'Almost perfect' is seen as a failure. 

"Push" vs. "Pull" - Excellent People tend to be "pulled" toward their goals by a desire to achieve them, and are happy with any steps made in the right direction. Their drive is that of doing the right thing. Perfectionists, on the other hand, are "pushed" toward their goals by a fear of not reaching them, or fear of what others will think.

Unrealistic Standards - Unfortunately, a perfectionist's goals are often not even reasonable. While Excellent People set their goals high, they know that they are achievable. Perfectionists often set their initial goals out of reach. Because of this, Excellent People tend to be not only happier, but more successful than perfectionists in the pursuit of their goals.  
Focus on Results - Excellent People can enjoy the process of chasing a goal as much or more than the actual reaching of the goal itself. Conversely, perfectionists see the goal and nothing else. They're so concerned about meeting the goal and avoiding the dreaded failure that they can't enjoy the process of growing and striving. 

Too many times, we lose sight of what excellence is - and that's about doing the right thing for the right reason in the right way.

Take a moment to think about how to apply excellence in your workplace. It will be worth the effort it takes!

Hi, this is Bill Kasko , President and CEO of Frontline Source Group, Inc. a temporary staffing and direct hire employment placement agency based in Dallas Fort Worth. When preparing for an interview that will take you to a senior level executive it can be intimidating.  It is known that the interview is not necessarily about you…but how you can help this company to grow and be successful. You must decide how you could be an asset to this company. This interview will be different from others before because the interviewer knows that their own continued success depends on hiring the best people. Business Week has come up with seven things you must do in an interview. These are things that can make you stick out above the rest!

Show You Get the "Big Picture " – TIP: Demonstrate you recognize patterns and understand their importance; that you know how to use and synthesize information.

Find Out What Keeps the Boss Up at Night - TIP : Make that knowledge part of your interview conversation. Show an interest not only in the specifics of the job, but in the product and markets for that company. Ask broad questions: "What do you think the potential growth in the Indian market is?"

Look for Answers - TIP: Think about problems in the past you've identified and managed to solve. Show readiness to tackle the tough issues.

Some Guts - TIP: Be ready with an example of a time when you weren't afraid to go out on a limb and your actions helped bring about real change.

Show Your Softer Side, Too - TIP : Think about past experiences you can discuss to demonstrate you're comfortable with the challenges of a dynamic environment.

Listen - TIP: Ask questions that reflect the concerns of the questioner in a constructive way. For instance, if you are asked what you would do in a certain situation, resist the temptation to answer before you've asked some questions of your own.

Keep It Positive - TIP: Steer clear of any criticism of prior managers, even if invited to offer it.

 

Using these 7 steps is your best chance to show the interviewers you are ready for the “big leagues!”

Please visit us at www.frontlinesourcegroup.com where you will find information about us and our available positions. Make sure you submit you resume!

Frontline Source Group is one of the fastest growing Staffing agencies for Technical Services Information Technology Accounting Finance Human Resource Legal Administrative and Clerical employment staffing. Our offices are currently located in Dallas , Fort Worth , Plano , Houston , Sugar Land , The Woodlands, Austin Texas and Pensacola , FL.

Martha I. Finney helps companies improve their performance by attracting, keeping and inspiring high-passion, high-performing talent. This posting is based on the principles from her new book, The Truth About Getting the Best From People . For the full collection of her extended blogs, including, "Why I Love HR,” visit www.hrjourneys.blogspot.com. Contact her at martha@marthafinney.com 

Unless you’re one of those people who enjoy beating their heads against a wall, it’s rarely any fun to be in the job market. But if you’re looking for a job in the leadership levels, it’s even worse. Reason: Chances are almost 50/50 that you’ll be looking for another job before the year is out.  For some reason, new hires in leadership roles have an abysmal success record. And, even though the cost of recruiting, hiring, losing people of your level  – and starting the cycle all over again – is the most expensive of all the open positions, employers seem to take this hard knock as a cost of doing business. 

What a terrible waste of money, resources, precious time for all concerned.  Especially you, if you’re the one out on the street in a few months’ time.  The good news is that the power is in your hands. You can say, “This cycle of frustration stops with me.”  But that means that you have to take control of the interview (hey! Your first leadership assignment in this organization) and be willing to be the one to decide whether you might not be the best culture match (hey! Your second leadership assignment in this organization).

Here’s the problem: Even though companies are becoming increasingly aware of the real importance and impact their culture and values have on engaging the discretionary effort of all their employees, for most companies that awareness isn’t showing up in the kind of leaders they hire from the outside. When it comes to hiring people leaders, employers can be like fish. They’ll leap out of the water for anything bright and shiny, without first taking into very serious consideration what lurks between the feathers and twirly, swirly, glittering things. For fish, of course, the bad news is that there’s usually a sharp hook buried inside all that attraction. But for employers, they don’t discover that buried inside that bright and shiny resume is a set of behaviors that could destroy their carefully cultivated culture. 

I’m not implying, of course, that you’ve got a sharp hook imbedded in your resume or personality, but let’s face it, we’ve all got hooks – a branded story of who we are, what we can offer the employer, our set of leadership beliefs, the market performance of our previous employer while we were at the helm.  The problem is that if you are luring the wrong employers, there’s going to be a lot of pain, and actually you’re going to be among the 40%+ of new management candidates who lose their jobs before they’ve really had the chance to prove themselves.

I’m torturing this metaphor; I guess it’s time to get on with my point.

The more successful you were at your previous company or the greater the cachet of your company (especially as regards its reputation for an engaged culture), the greater the likelihood that you’re going to land in a new job that could make you miserable.  Like it or not, your new employer isn’t just hiring you, they’re hiring where you’ve been.  If you’ve been with a successful company that performed supremely in your marketplace and enjoyed a cadre of over-the-top dedicated employees, your new employer is going to want to have some of that mojo. And, because you’ve seen it first-hand and from within, they reason, you’re just the one to give it to them.  They’re so invested in asking the questions that will result in a job offer and acceptance that they tend to avoid those questions that could reveal you to be a bad culture fit.  Or, more to the point, the company is a bad culture fit for you.

You’ve got to do that piece of the dirty work. Sorry to have to break it to you, but that’s just the way it is. The truth will come out eventually, and believe me, you’re being back out on the street is going to be a lot more painful for you than it will be for them.

During the job interview itself, go deep into questions about the company culture. This is the first place where a big mismatch can be revealed. For instance, it’s not enough to simply know what the company’s values are. (You can find them on their website and after a while they all look the same…integrity; service; servant leadership, performance; collegial; collaborative; people-first…they very quickly appear to be the workplace versions of personal ads. Replace them with “candlelight dinners,” “puppies,” “walks on the beach,” and you’ll see what I mean.)

The trick is to ask your interviews how those values have been demonstrated by decisions and choices in recent years. If the company really takes its values seriously, your interviewers will have plenty of stories at their fingertips. A few good questions to ask, for instance, are:

1.       Can you tell me of a time when you hired a star candidate who turned out to be a culture mismatch (if you’re really brave, say, “toxic manager”)?  How did you handle that situation?

2.       Can you think of a time when you were able to save a new hire who got off on the wrong foot culturally? What happened with that person?  Can I talk with him or her?

3.       Do you have any mentorship or culturalization onboarding programs in place, so I can be sure to hit the ground running?

4.       What exactly does servant leadership look like here in terms of behaviors and expectations? Could you introduce me to someone who is known to represent the best leadership qualities that work in this culture?

Sure. You’ll take your interviewers by surprise with these questions (unless they’ve read this blog as well…in which case they’ll recognize immediately how brilliant you are!).  Most interviewers are accustomed to asking behavioral interview questions, not having to answer them.  If they draw a blank on these questions, and can’t tell you stories to support their cultural ideals, that’s your first big sign that there could be a culture mismatch here. And that you would get zero support while trying to integrate yourself into your new team.

But others will be so relieved to discover that you recognize the importance of a culture fit for managers, that – assuming everything else is in place – they’ll be falling all over themselves to hand you the keys to the 60% Club. That’s the club you’ll want to join. There’s staying power there.

A special note from Martha:  If you’re a manager, your company is counting on you to be an engaging leader. But what exactly does that mean? And how do you do engagement? Just because you’re brilliant at your technical skills, that doesn’t mean that you’re a natural at people skills. New managers need a book that can help them figure it out in simple, straightforward ideas.

That’s why I wrote The Truth About Getting the Best From People. It’s a book made up of 49 short, simple truths designed to help new managers understand how their beliefs and behaviors directly impact their employees’ passion factor on the job.

Click on the title and check it out! I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Solar Air Conditioning and Heating is looking for a Service Tech.  We are a family owned corporation that does residential and commercial heating and air conditioning contractor.  We are willing to pay the right person.  Go to the posting here on Jobing.com to apply.

We are conducting ON THE SPOT INTERVIEWS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE POSITIONS! You are cordially invited to attend our OPEN HOUSE, this Monday & Tuesday, June 30 - July 1st, located at Crestview Towers, 105 Drive, #300, Irving, TX 75062. Please see our OPEN HOUSE Posting and check out our website www.impartialservices.com for more information!

The Northeast Tarrant Chamber will host their third annual Business Showcase on Friday, August 1st from 11AM to 3PM at the Wiley G. Thomas Coliseum in Haltom City.

For the first time this year, a professional job fair area has been added to the community event. Employers who are interested in attending to recruit employees may call Megan Smallwood, Northeast Tarrant Chamber of Commerce, 817-281-9376 or msmallwood@netarrant.org for more information.

There are a limited number of booths for the job fair so register early.

From all of us here at Jobing.com, thank you to all of the HR Professionals that supported us at the National SHRM Conference in Chicago.  Our teams were amazed by the feedback that was given to us!  From stopping by the booth in the Exposition Hall to stopping by the Navy Pier and helping us celebrate, we were so excited about meeting you in the windy city.

As we all get back to DFW and get back to work building a greater community here in DFW, please remember that you always have a friend in Jobing.com!!!

Thank you to the entire DFW team for executing on a great event and thank you to the SHRM Conference Volunteers and the countless hours put into yet another spectacular conference.

In service,

Jobing.com DFW