What does it mean to “Level Up Your LinkedIn Profile”? Look no further than Ms. Portia Obeng! Her generosity of spirit is unsurpassed!
Which words (illuminating? relevant? brilliant?) could possibly express the magnitude of our #gratitude for your endless support of so many students, Portia?
If there’s anything this pandemic has given us besides uncertainty, it’s the gift of time. How did you spend your time over the past two years?
Was it time well spent? Did you become laser focused on what’s important? You already knew. Did you rise and fall (many times) getting lost in the ebbs and flow of uncertainty? Or did you reach out and connect with someone to see if they were all right?
What the world needs now and always is connectivity, not the virtual kind but the humankind.
“When we meet face to face, we become human. We lift each other up. We need this.” – Rev. Cecil Williams, Pastor
Technology can be a beautiful thing. I taught my 91-year-old Mom to video call me on her shiny new red iPhone XR. My 92-year-old Dad wanted to touch my face on the screen. We laugh a lot.
We celebrated one hundred days since the birth of my good friends’ beautiful baby boy and raised a glass of Prosecco in one hand and waved at the faces in the little Zoom tiles.
We celebrated the life of our faraway dear friend in Malaysia last week and recorded a message for her to hear in her final days.
And we, colleagues and students, are about to celebrate two years of online teaching next month! Has it really been two years?
Some may ask, what is there to celebrate? Will Covid continue to lurk in the shadows as we make our way onto flights and visit Level 4 countries? How much risk are we willing to take when we share a coffee with a friend or colleague, hug family, or hold the hand of someone suffering?
Human and Virtual Connectivity
Thirty (!) years ago, I was in the computer lab at University of Calgary, updating my resume. I had just returned from a three-year posting in Sulawesi with the University of Guelph and Global Affairs. A young man peered at my monitor and asked, “Do you speak Bahasa Indonesia?” And I answered “Bisa! (Yes, I can!)
That was the beginning of our long-term friendship. His Mom cooked me Indonesian food and he now is in San Francisco. We stay connected with visits and chats and have lively discussions about life in the time of COVID.
Recently he shared with me Conor Neill’s Sep 2020 video on two ways of approaching life, “Freedom from or Freedom to” and also on “making a choice or decision”. Professor Neill, who teaches leadership at the global IESE Business School in Barcelona, has explained with great clarity about the distinction in both. Tune in as he asks:
Do you want to live your life merely to survive and removing pain or live your life making choices with confidence?
Do you want to choose and take full responsibility and commit to making your decisions work or do you want to continually validate and justify the decisions you’ve made and say it wasn’t the core of me that has failed?
I believe wholeheartedly in “freedom to …” and choosing confidently, all in, 100%. Go celebrate! Go for coffee, maybe with someone new! Go hug and smile! Hold both hands, touch a heart, connect a soul.
I don’t know about you but my parents taught me anything worth having requires hard work.
Hard work may mean a lot of hours which doesn’t fit neatly into this world of fast > faster > fastest.
With no formal #marketing background and the infinite support and encouragement from all my instructors, friends, family, and colleagues University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, I owe a huge debt of #gratitude. It’s no small feat to earn this certificate over four years.
Squinting at tiny source code through my reading glasses, scratching my head at search engines and landing pages, sweating at the possibility of simply not “getting it”, these are the benefits of being a lifelong learner.
I also have the privilege of teaching “Fearless Networking: Connecting Creatively and Confidently” at the School of Continuing Studies and with our learners, my learning has compounded like interest earned.
Our School is not only a place where you can build skills and learn more but it’s also a community and network where we help one another and stay connected. Why not join us as a lifelong learner? It’s hard work but it’s definitely worth it!
Introducing our honour roll of “Distinguished Dozen” at our Ryerson Chang School’s inaugural “Mentoring Makes a Difference” Event last Thursday, April 22nd from Left to Right above:
After pre-matching our “Distinguished Dozen” with our newcomer professionals from two #bridgingpprograms, the speed-mentoring evening zoomed by in four 15-minute rapid rounds of one-on-one conversations.
And a little like love, chemistry plays a big role in matching mentors and mentees together. In my experience in designing professional mentorship programs, I agree with the school of thought that mentoring “magic” doesn’t necessarily come from matching individuals from the same industry and occupation. What’s important is recruiting mentors who are leaders with solid experience in developing people and mentees who are coachable.
What makes a great mentor? To be a difference maker, you set an intention, have shared values, and communicate clearly and effectively with empathy. You #aspiretoinspire
Our “Distinguished Dozen” are solid with a total of 300+ years of experience! As founders and leaders, their experience spans staffing solutions and executive recruitment, law, coaching, international business development, private real estate development, professional services contracting, innovation consulting in sustainability. While some hold multiple professional designations and degrees – PMP, CPA, FCPA, MSc, PEng, MBA, BA, PhD, others graduated from the School of Life. Our mentors also work in multiple industries: renewable energy, oil and gas, banking, insurance, government, retail, and property management, education, Fintech, construction, engineering, and utilities to name a few.
To be a mentee, you are coachable, having humility, respect, and curiosity, asking good questions.
Our mentees are students and alumni from our two bridging programs: “Middle Level Managers with Technical Background” and the “Green Economy” at Ryerson Chang School. From Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, and Turkey, our mentees have also worked in the Middle East, Moldova, Nigeria, Uganda, and the United States.
We are infinitely grateful to our Mentors for their generous time, support, and wisdom and to our Mentees and their willingness to meet new people. Thank you to all who attended and participated. As the award-wining American author and 2017 Man Book Prize winner, George Saunders, wrote “Congratulations, by the way: Some Thoughts on Kindness” (2014), here is my parting thought: Congratulations, you all made a difference – an indelible difference!
Who are these VIPS, Very Important People? Where are they? And why do you want to connect with them? Are you looking for a job or maybe your DREAM JOB? From their perspective, they want to know who you are and most importantly, why should they give you their time. How do you speak up?
If you are looking for your DREAM JOB, consider the help of a top professional recruiter. Mike Fedryk, my good squash friend and President of Flex-Solutions, a Toronto recruitment firm focusing on people and technology, is a regular and very popular guest speaker for our students. Not only does he share a unique perspective, he also is very generous in providing invaluable job search and interview tips and tricks
Mike: “You need to tell me who you are and what you are looking for in the opening third portion of the first page of your resume for me to continue reading the rest of your resume.”
Speak to Me – With Your LinkedIn Profile
If you are looking for your Dream Job, consider connecting with employees who already work for your “Dream Employer” on LinkedIn. How do you connect with a stranger? Try reverse engineering and start with a search with your Alumni. Find a first or second connection who works with your Dream Employer. Add a concise, clear, and compelling note. Invite them to link in you’re not already connected and always add a note. Nick Boyd, Senior Marketing Coordinator at KPMG, and also one of our guest speakers created the following simple self-intro template:
Speak to Me – On Our Website
If you are looking for your Dream Job, consider offering your skills as a volunteer to help the charity your Dream Employer supports. You can usually find out on their website. Connect with the person who is on your Dream Employer’s team and who leads the foundation or projects associated with their charity of choice. Tell them who you are, what you are looking for, and how you can help with their charity. Be authentic and relevant. Can you help them build, market, plan, lead an initiative? Stand out. Meet their Board of Directors of both the charity and your Dream Employer.
Speak to Me – On My Channel
When you initiate any form of communication, did you know it’s your responsibility to ensure your listener understands fully what you are saying? To have a meaningful connection, you have to find the right channel and the right frequency so both of you can tune in. How? By simply asking the other person which channel is best and most convenient for them – email, text, phone, video conference, and when.
If they are in senior executive roles, thought leaders, or entrepreneurs, find out where they are active for e.g. LinkedIn articles and posts, their company blog, notable industry platforms where they’ve been invited as a guest author, keynote speaker, or guest panelist whether they are at a conference or an industry event or quoted in a publication. You can also comment or ask a good question during a virtual event in the chat.
And if the person happens to be your Dad who hates wearing his hearing aids indoors, you not only have to find the right channel but also the right frequency in order for him to not only understand you but also hear you! What do you do when he already has his menu of monologues prepared in advance … and he won’t let you get a word in over the phone?
We rarely jump on a video call because they don’t have internet so it’s only when my siblings are visiting them. Last night instead of yelling louder, I decided to try another channel – analog. I grabbed my Sharpie and post-it notes and created flashcards, holding them up in front of the camera for Dad to read. He was very amused and didn’t miss a beat. Finding the right channel made a world of difference for us both.
Post-it notes with Dad
In our highly interactive networking workshops and courses offered both live online and in-person, “Speak Up” is Hack #3 of the “Five Hacks for Fearless Networking”. We focus on the importance of small talk, building rapport, and asking good questions using improv in individual, pair, and group activities.
So whether you are an aspiring networker or a seasoned connector, you will discover new and strategic ways to network in “Fearless Networking” at University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Reserve your spot starting at 10:00AM EST March 13th for three consecutive Saturday morning 90-minute live webinar sessions. AND you’ll get to put your new networking skill into practice at the invite-only monthly “Dream Network Drop-in” on Thursday March 25th at 18:00 EST. Find out more and register now to connect creatively and confidently. Or speak to me at [email protected] .
Jean is a part-time Sessional Lecturer and Instructor. She teaches online and off-line courses in networking, advanced career management, and leadership at University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and Seneca College. She also leads networking workshops for corporate clients and not-for-profits. As a business-career coach, Jean works closely with recent graduates, career-changers, and entrepreneurs and helps them realize and recognize their potential.
“We eat what we kill” was how one shark recruiter described how he made his living. I shuddered. After COVID closed our classrooms, I was looking for a recruitment professional to be a guest speaker for our students. I needed “Nemo”, not a shark. Then I remembered my good friend, Mike Fedryk. He is the Founding Partner of Flex Solutions. One thing I know for sure, Mike is not a shark.
When I first approached Mike back in March, he wanted to be sure he was the right person and asked good questions. By taking the time to ask, I knew he would be perfect. We decided to have an informal “fireside chat” (now “dockside”) followed by Q & A. He also generously critiqued student resumes before our chat so that he could offer his best advice during his live resume review. And because of Mike’s self-effacing manner, he expected absolutely nothing in return…no honorarium, no praise nor recognition, not even something to eat.
Mike’s in the middle of the third row!
Last week I invited Mike again to share again with our students. It’s rare to watch someone do what they love. I’m envious of Mike’s “hip pocket skill” (Indra Nooyi’s definition of super power). He’s able to communicate tough feedback with just the right amount of empathy and compassion so that his listeners know his intention in seconds. As a result, people trust and respect him and listen fully and truly appreciate his feedback. This is how he sets himself apart from the sharks. He is in a pool of his own.
Mike live streaming to students from Ashbridges Bay Marina.
Mike took time off last Saturday and live streamed from Ashbridges Bay Marina for us. He’s so passionate and engaging that when I looked at the time, I had to remind him it was time to wrap up because his sailboat was about to launch without him. Of course, he didn’t leave without inviting all students to reconnect with him on LinkedIn.
Thank you, Mike, for all you have given to help our students. Your generosity of spirit is unsurpassed. On behalf of our students and our faculties, I wish you and your family infinite happiness, success, and clear sailing in the days ahead.
