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The Big “O” of Success

I have been paying attention to successful people lately and it seems that there is one thing that both successful job seekers and successfully employed people, including workforce development professionals, have in common.  The big “O” stands for organization.
 
Organization is the key to success for everyone. If you look online, you can find many ways to organize all aspects of your personal and professional life. If you go to the store, you will find hundreds of products designed to keep some aspect of your life organized, so it should not surprise you that you will find that successful people are organized.
 
For a job seeker, this is a subject that should be discussed as part of the advising process. It is important to ask the job seeker how he will be staying organized during the job search. Will he be using traditional paper log record keeping or will he be recording his job search online through an app? How about tasks and meetings? Will a paper calendar be used or an online calendar?  Job seekers that can quickly access information, can follow up on leads easier and will ultimately find employment faster.
 
Once employed job seekers need to remain organized to be successful. Each job has a series of tasks that need to be completed. For those that are in culinary arts, an example is the term “mise en place.” This is French for “everything in its place.” Those in the culinary field prepare all the ingredients and have them ready before they begin beginning the cooking process. In other industries, it may be having all the necessary tools and raw materials for a job before starting the task.
 
The same is true for workforce development professionals. Accomplishing all the tasks necessary to complete a specific industry job requires organization. Although workforce development professionals do not use food ingredients or mechanical tools to complete the job, everything must be in place before beginning to work.  Do you check your calendar in the morning to see what appointments, meetings, and tasks are listed?  Based on that review, do you prepare information or materials?   The most successful workforce development professionals, like job seekers, and other professionals, prepare for the tasks of the job.
 
Success starts with organization. What are your tools, tips, and tricks for organization that you can share for both job seekers and professionals? Leave your comments below.
~Karen Cirincione
Twitter: @kcirincione

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