Jennifer McClure`

Helping Leaders Leverage Influence & Create Maximum Impact.

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Written by Jennifer McClure

How HR, Recruiters And Job Seekers Can Prepare For The Future Of Work

Recently, I had the opportunity to be a guest on the Copeland Coaching Podcast, which is hosted by Angela Copeland – Career Coach and the CEO of Copeland Coaching.

Angela had some great questions related to typical challenges faced by job seekers, such as how to prepare for an interview, how to work with HR in the process, and how to ask for – and get – constructive feedback.

We also talked about the importance of managing your career like an entrepreneur, and why we must all become life-long learners – because the world of work is changing so rapidly that we’ll be left behind if we don’t.

[Read more…]

Categories: Career Development, Interviewing, Job Search, Personal Development
Posted on August 10, 2017

Written by Jennifer McClure

Set These 5 Leadership Goals To Achieve Career Success

Congratulations! You’ve just been promoted, and you’re ready to embark upon the next phase in your career as a new leader of a team. How can you best set yourself up for success?

Start by setting goals that focus on your team, your career and your continued personal development.

[Read more…]

Categories: Blog, Career Development, Leadership, Personal Development
Posted on March 3, 2017

Written by Jennifer McClure

5 Ways To Accelerate Your Career And Advance To The Executive Ranks

Back in the day, when I was a college junior being pressed to choose a major, I didn’t have a clue about what type of job I wanted to do for the rest of my life. (Times were different back then kids. We thought we had to work at the same place until we died.)

After very little research, I pronounced to my friends, family and university advisor that I wanted to work in Human Resources.

Why? Because I thought that working in HR would provide me with an opportunity to work with all employees in the company, and I could be the boss of as many people as possible. See? I was a Millennial before being a Millennial was cool!

[Read more…]

Categories: Blog, Career Development, Leadership, Personal Development
Posted on February 24, 2017

Written by Jennifer McClure

Choose Your Change – Then Jump!

I’ve been in a mood lately. A little restless. A lot ready for something new. And while I now know that this is good news, I didn’t always feel that way.

I have a history of restlessness in my life. A personal life that has taken more twists and turns than the girl who grew up on an isolated Tennessee farm could ever have expected, and a career that has morphed into a life spent as a certifiable introvert, whose job is all about people.

And it’s all good.

But getting here hasn’t been without uncertainty, struggle, missteps, wrong steps and pain.

[Read more…]

Categories: Blog, Personal Development
Posted on January 19, 2016

Written by Jennifer McClure

Is Stinkin’ Thinkin’ Keeping You From Getting What You Want?

While flipping through radio channels on a road trip recently, I came across a call-in show where the topic of the day was How to Attract Your Ideal Man.

The host of the show was an author of one of the many books on “Law of Attraction” and although I’m not much of a believer in that stuff, I decided to listen in anyway. (Not at all because I’m single – I prefer to call it research.)

The first caller to the show – a single mom in her late 30’s – explained how she’d given up on finding a “good man”, as she had a history of attracting only Losers. To help her out, the host asked the caller to describe exactly what she was looking for in her ideal man. She rattled off a few things, such as:

  • I don’t want someone who can’t appreciate what it takes to be a single parent.
  • I don’t want someone who isn’t kind and considerate.
  • I don’t want someone who does not want to be in a committed relationship.

After a few minutes, the host stopped the caller and asked if she recognized that she was creating a list of everything she did not want versus what she did want in an ideal mate. Surprisingly, she hadn’t noticed.

He explained his theory that her negative thinking was a huge part of the reason why she hasn’t been successful in finding the “right” man.

The host then suggested that she take some time to write down all of the things that she doesn’t want, then go back and change the wording in each sentence to instead reflect what she does want. By doing this, she would be changing her negative thinking to positive, which would allow her to actually attract her ideal man – who would ride up on a white horse and take her away to live in a castle far, far away where they would live happily ever after. (Ok, so I may have embellished a wee bit with the last part…)

According to the Law of Attraction, thinking about what you don’t want applies energy and focus in that direction and actually brings those things into your life, while applying positive thinking and intentionally focusing on what you do want sends “positive vibrations” out to the universe and attracts those things to you.

I don’t buy the universal positive vibrations mumbo-jumbo, but I do notice when people position things negatively in terms of their businesses and careers and recognize how often that limits their thinking (and mine) to potential possibilities and opportunities.

Ask a client to describe an ideal candidate for a position and they might say “We won’t consider someone who has worked in a very large company – they don’t fit with our entrepreneurial culture”.

Ask a candidate to describe their ideal opportunity and you might hear “I don’t want to be micro-managed or work in a company where there is a lot of bureaucracy”.

With each of these statements, I have to guard against going into a negative frame of mind, where I start subtracting from a mental list instead of adding to it. I’m also curious to find out more about the bad experience(s) in their past that are likely associated with their concerns, and as a result, we end up spending a lot of time focusing on what won’t or hasn’t worked instead of exploring what can.

Take a moment to consider how you’re describing to others what you’re looking for in terms of your career, your job search or your business. Ask yourself what your ideal opportunity looks like and then write down your thoughts without self-editing (just do a brain dump).

Or, go ahead and make a list of all of the things that you don’t want in your ideal opportunity, because those things may be more clear to you than what you do want at the moment. Once you’ve created your list, go back through it and change any negative words and statements into positive ones.

By doing this, when you’re asked about your ideal opportunity in the future, you’ll not only be prepared to positively describe it, you can also create an action plan to make it happen! You’ll find it much easier to create an action plan around what you want to accomplish versus what you don’t.

Do you have some examples of how focusing on the negative or what is not desired has affected you or others? Was there a change in thinking at some point followed by positive results? It’s definitely possible to get in your own way by being a Debbie Downer in terms of your business or career (or love life).

I don’t want that for you.

Scratch that. I want much better things for you!

Categories: Blog, Career Development, Job Search
Posted on August 17, 2009

Recent Posts

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  • Helping Leaders Succeed in Relationships, Work, Community, and Life With Mike Sipple, Jr.
  • Redefining HR: Embracing Modern People Practices To Fuel Business Success With Lars Schmidt
  • Turning Passion Into Purpose: From Career Coach to Recruiting Tech Company Founder With Ariel Lopez
  • Putting Yourself First and Finally Taking Control of Your Career With Laurie Ruettimann

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Recent Blog Posts

  • How to Live Hard, Embrace the Future, and Create Success With Dr. Todd Dewett
  • Helping Leaders Succeed in Relationships, Work, Community, and Life With Mike Sipple, Jr.
  • Redefining HR: Embracing Modern People Practices To Fuel Business Success With Lars Schmidt
  • Turning Passion Into Purpose: From Career Coach to Recruiting Tech Company Founder With Ariel Lopez
  • Putting Yourself First and Finally Taking Control of Your Career With Laurie Ruettimann

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