HAVE YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS ALREADY COME AND GONE?

Every year we set resolutions to achieve, and most of us are already done with them by the second week of January. Below, I have given you six tips to breakthrough your struggles and make your New Year’s Resolutions, or any goals you set, stick. These tips have worked for me personally, and will help you continue to set attainable goals in the future.

1)     Write them down by hand first, put a pen or pencil to paper. Writing goals down by hand helps you to clarify thoughts, makes you spend more time crafting your objectives, and offers your mind a more physical and tactile process. Typing can become mindless and discourage the creativity that physical writing can provide.

2)    Make them specific.  General goals such as “I want to lose weight” offer no definite goal, but a precise amount by a particular date can help you plan accordingly to meet your objective. “Exercise more” sounds wonderful, but “exercising three days a week for 30 minutes per session with a combination of cardio and stretch” is far more doable, and gives you a true goal to reach for, not just a vague aspiration.

3)    Make them realistic. Losing 50 pounds in two months isn’t going to happen unless you are on “My 600 lb Life” and being treated by a doctor while adhering to a seriously strenuous diet. Setting a goal of losing five pounds per month could definitely happen, and simple dietary changes along with exercise could see that number go beyond your monthly target.  Getting a job in one month is most likely unrealistic, but looking at changing or obtaining a job in the next six months gives you purpose and pragmatism in a job search.

Likewise, don’t set too many goals that will overwhelm you and cause you to give up. Try setting one goal in each area of concern. For instance, set one goal for health, one for finances, one for relationships, and one for the workplace. Four goals are more than enough to pursue concurrently, but not so many they can’t be accomplished. Remember, once you have completed a goal, you can replace it with a new one.

4)    Get an accountability partner. Don’t do it alone. Tell people about your objectives who will support you and encourage you to meet your goals.  Let your supporters know your specific intentions to keep you accountable. Even better, find a buddy who has a similar goal and use the opportunity to collaborate and compete.

5)    Keep the goals in front of you and track progress regularly.  Putting them on paper and perhaps on computer is great, but then rarely or never looking at them and not tracking your progress will eliminate all chances of success. Post them on the refrigerator, next to your home computer, put them on your smartphone, but wherever you place them, make them constantly visible with definable results you can track.

6)    Reward yourself for hitting a goal. Rewards don’t have to be costly. From an outing at a new museum or garden in the area (with free admission) that you have been meaning to visit, to a dinner at a new or special restaurant with a significant other or friend, or a new out outfit to celebrate a weight loss success, having a reward can make your goals more tangible.  When you know there is an incentive on the other side of an objective, something you truly want, it can spur you on to achieve it to “win the prize.”

Whatever you do, don’t give up. Just because you didn’t fully accomplish a particular goal doesn’t make it a failure. If instead of losing 30 pounds over the next six months, you only lost 20, is that really a catastrophe? 20 pounds is still a great feat, and your health will benefit. Now set a new goal to lose the last 10 pounds. It is the constant chipping away at a goal that gets you to the finish line, not a sprint, but a marathon. Taking each goal in bite-sized chunks that can be realized, instead of viewing the end goal in its entirety, will ultimately mean victory.

Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 30-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.

Background Checks: What Is Really Necessary?

While background checks of potential employees are certainly necessary, some aspects that are being used today are inappropriate.  I am all for the criminal history check, verification of past employers, and when necessary a person’s driving record.  However, a credit check – your FICO score and overall credit history are no business of a potential employer.  From the numerous studies that have been done showing credit history has no meaning to the ability or trustworthiness of an employee, to the less than stellar economy, and privacy issues (a credit check actually borders on infringement of a person’s right to privacy and is not a business’ concern), there are a multitude of reasons your credit history is meaningless.

With one in 10 losing out on a job due to their credit score (and these are the candidate’s that were actually informed of this issue), there is a real problem.  To quote a 2010 New York Times article and Jerry K. Palmer, a psychology professor at Eastern Kentucky University, “At this point we don’t have any research to show any statistical correlation between what’s in somebody’s credit report and their job performance or their likelihood to commit fraud.”  The article goes on to state “Bernie Madoff had a pretty good credit score” and I am pretty sure no company would want to hire him for any position.  Dr. Palmer continues to comment in the article that “he was not aware of any studies that showed a correlation between poor credit and employee fraud or violence.”

It wouldn't be fair however if I didn't also quote TransUnion and other credit organizations in this article as well who say “credit checks are an important security measure for companies.” Keep in mind though that credit organizations also make a lot of money from all the credit checks.  These same organizations also point to the fact that many jobseekers lie on their resume – but this has nothing to do with their credit score.  Candidate’s lie about whether they have a college degree, their dates of employment, and their job tasks.  But, many a candidate who has lied on their resume has an excellent credit score.  The resume lies and criminal history (that the candidate doesn't disclose) should be what an organization targets, not a FICO score.

So, let’s look at the various things that could have happened to impact a candidate’s credit history (particularly in light of the economic troubles of the last eight years) and are used against jobseekers:

–Unemployment

–Underemployment

–Unexpected medical expenses

–A fail business

–Inaccurate credit information

–Cosigning for an adult child’s loan (and the child doesn’t pay it back)

–Getting behind on a mortgage (sometimes due to predatory lending)

–Divorce

–Death of a spouse

–Long term illness (you, spouse, child, parent)

–Long term care expense for an aging parent

–Lowered income and increased expenses necessitating paying bills late

–Replacing an automobile

–Large automobile repairs

–Large home repairs not covered by insurance

–College expenses

…and those are just off the top of my head.

To be judged as somehow unworthy for a position due to any of the above is ridiculous and shameful.  It is also embarrassing to a candidate to have them explain credit history issues in an interview situation when in all honesty a company or individual is merely being nosy.  I have had so many clients experience this over the past seven years I can’t even begin to relate the number of horror stories I have been told.  Clients have been called and told they weren't hired due to credit history, asked embarrassing questions in interviews, felt the need to pre-explain the embarrassing situation prior to being asked the questions, and been treated as some sort of second rate citizen because they had a financial issue.  It is all undeserved if only in light of the recent economic climate.

I typically believe the federal government should stay out of such matters, but this is one case where a law should be passed to stop the credit checks from even happening for employment.  And, don’t give me the excuse it is due to money handling – I just recently had a high level bank manager as a client.  This bank manager spoke of helping a new employee become bonded who had only two-month’s prior claimed bankruptcy.  As she told me, she was hardly going to judge someone based on a score and a financial issue, as the employee and her husband had both experienced nearly a year of unemployment each.  The employee has turned out to be stellar and is on their way to a promotion.

Let’s reserve the background check for what it was meant to do, detect lies about criminal history and employment history, thus protecting the company and giving insight into the veracity of a candidate’s information.  Spend more time interviewing people and more time talking to references, as getting a true picture of a person doesn't come from a FICO score.

Karen Silins is a multi-certified resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses.  After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm.  Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals.  She keeps her pulse on the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 50-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area.  She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.