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Applying Feel Smarter Think Kinder to Multiple Job Offers
You got the job. Or the contract. Congratulations. Or is it?
Did you force your fit into this role?
Were you desperate for a job, any job?
Or were you infatuated with the reputation of the firm or the person you would report to?
Or instead did you apply a strategy such as offered in Feel Smarter Think Kinder where you:
did your research about the culture of the organisation and
professional development opportunities
considered your options in detail including meeting F2F, or at least via zoom, with each of your future supervisors
2 Job Offers Scenarios
Emelia
Having navigated a move into Corporate Law several years earlier and managed to bounce back from one poor recent job choice Emelia is at the cusp of accepting a step up role, a career move, into a government organisation. There has been a bit of turmoil in the organisation with a lot of staff movement but she can walk to work, so convenient! (Offer 1). She is now getting pressure from an HR consultant to accept the job that day.
Emelia is also short listed for another role however that organisation is a bit slower in making an offer. And it is further away, she would have to drive or catch a tram (Offer 2). On the day she was going to accept Offer 1 a senior executive, to whom she would report if she accepted job Offer 2, rings. His tone is encouraging and persuasive. It is clear from his persistence that he really wants Emelia to join his team as he tries to overcome her objections to his organisation. He wants her to meet himself and the team before deciding on the job. This would be the following day after she is meant to decide job Offer 1.
What Should Emelia Do?
Emelia met the Team and took Offer 2 and has been promoted since accepting the role. She was an excellent "fit" for the role - as depicted in the diagram above of the black interwoven triangles.
What did Core EQ Do?
Guided Emelia through her thinking and feeling process.
Encouraged her to think beyond the geographic convenience of the Offer 1 organisation
Asked provocative questions to assist Emelia to employ the smart feeling method; I feel this person's interest in me, the urgency of their call. What does this tell me about this person and their belief in my fit with their team and organisation?
Coached her to weigh up the genuine level of interest her future manager had in her development as a professional and a person.
Tested her resolve for Offer 1 and supported her as she made the decision to go to the Team meeting after Offer 1 expired.
Martin
Martin was coming back to Melbourne after a successful few years of working for a senior judge. He had been short-listed for 3 roles and was seriously considering 2 of them. His long term career aim was to be a partner, or a barrister and then possibly a judge or at least a board member. He did not know much about either law firm although he did know the person he would be taking over from quite well as they had studied at the same university, Offer 1. He had quite a few conversations about the role with this person. The second job was a closer match to his strengths and interests. However he did not know anyone in this firm personally (Offer 2)
The partner to whom he would be reporting in Offer 2 rang Martin and asked him to come and work with her. He would be able to build on his experience with the judge and specialise in this area of law. Martin did not know what to say or how to respond. He had no one to whom he could speak about how to make the decision about which offer to accept. He was drawn to Offer 1 because of his university colleague connections. For the rest of the week the partner of Offer 2 rang him directly and tried to persuade him to come and work with her. He was worried also that he might not be good enough to do the Offer 2 work.
What would Core EQ Advise?
Martin accepted Offer 1 and found himself in a small team of 2 with an extraordinary workload. When his partner went on holidays the administrative support for the area was re-allocated to another partner's practice and Martin had to answer all the calls himself.
Martin's health eventually suffered and he found himself unemployed. Martin was left out on a limb when he was no longer a fit for the Firm.When he did sign the Bar Roll some years later the firm did not send him one brief.
What would Core EQ Advise?
Guide Martin through his thinking and feeling process. Apply the Feel Smarter strategy about what message the partner in Offer 2 gave him about his potential value to the Firm and how he would be treated?
Probe Martin as to why he believed that he was not good enough for the Offer 2 role.
Reality check this belief and explore what Martin thought about himself (his self-image).
Encouraged Martin to think beyond the comfort and convenience of knowing more about the Offer 1 Organisation
Some deeper questions
What message was the Partner in Offer 1 sending about his level of interest in Martin as a person given that the communication was through his current employee?
Asked provocative questions to assist Martin to employ the smart feeling method; I feel this person's interest in me (Offer 2), the urgency of their call. What does this tell me about this person and their belief in my fit with their team and organisation?
Coached him to weigh up the genuine level of interest each future manager had in his development as a professional and a person.
The Equine (EQ) Link
Equine Experiential Education programs can significantly assist people to draw on their unique strengths and attributes and tap into their job crafting and leaderwork capabilities. Equine assisted Team building exercises can enhance this work.
Dr Deb 2021
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