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CATEGORY ARCHIVES


CAREER ADVICE
09Jun
2016
Career Advice, Interview Tips, Management Tips, Resume Tips  

Your Courage Makes Us Stronger!

Thank you for your vulnerability and letting us in your intimate space.


As I grow older and life teaches me, I have learned that the experiences I have on relationally intimate ground are the experiences that impact my life the most.

I have a fresh 7 week old baby girl at home. Lydia has been a gem. As the third child in our family, my wife and I have had less stress and more joy throughout the whole process of raising her thus far. It has been an abundant season of reflection, working through adversity, and constant focus on being the team we need to be to surround Lydia with love. As I rocked Lydia back to sleep this morning, before the birds were awake, I had such peace and joy in my heart. When reflecting in gratitude, on this joy and peace, it became clear that, in my life, the areas I had grown the most were in the new births of my children, the death and dying process of those that I loved and the times when vulnerability of others or myself led to greater self-awareness.

Birth and death are obviously intimate space. These two life realities cause one to ask a lot of questions that will define belief and drive behavior. Beyond these, I am grateful for those intimate opportunities to do life with others. Among these intimate grounds are the many people who have opened up their life story as we walk with them through the process of selecting a better career path. Navigating through the process of career transition is very uncomfortable to most. It requires deep reflection, intentionality and a process. Through a time tested process, we have the privilege to watch the progression towards greater career fit awareness. This is a true blessing for us!

The career seeking process also carries many emotions, especially when the individual has already left a role or been let go. It is said that the most common grieving takes place during death, divorce or loss of job. We get to experience this often in our workplace and do not take for granted the feelings of grieving needed when job loss occurs. It is not rare that an individual will try to sweep the feelings of job loss under the rug and move on.  It is those sweet moments and sweet people that allow us to speak into their lives by ask probing questions that will lead them to greater self-awareness and the vulnerability that follows that is mutually impactful.

Brene Brown is a leader in the space of research and conclusion regarding vulnerability. She concludes that vulnerability takes courage. There is no doubt. We see this every day and are the benefactors of many career seekers courage to open up and better themselves. Doing so benefits our lives more than you can imagine. Thank you for serving us through your courage, truth and trust. This intimate ground is not taken for granted and has forever changed who we are!

Neon Night ClubChicago, IL

10Mar
2016
Career Advice  

Connectication: Communicating with Intentional Empathy

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In all the relational circles I spend time in it seems there is a growing grumbling and concern for the trends in communication. With the realities of busyness and reliance on email, texting and social media correspondence less people genuinely connect in communication these days. This is why I am coining a new term for where we need to focus on in all levels of our relationships: Connectication

Connectication is a hybrid of communication and connecting. Psychological research shows that human connection is a major variable to happiness in one’s life and I am concerned that true connection is on the decline because of some of our world’s communication trends; therefore, I am going to make 2016 a year where I focus on connecticating.

To connecticate one must value the person that is being communicated with. Genuine value for another can only better relationship. It seems with the quantity of people I communicate with each day it is harder to realize the genuine value of each person, but that is no excuse. I am seeking to have high quality relationships in my life not high quantity. I have found when life gets tough and I need to lean on others those who step up are the genuine relationships so I seek to deepen quality relationships this year, not expand my rolodex with quantity of shallow relationships.

One of my core focal points to better connecticate this year is to look for opportunity to be empathetic to create genuine value in relationships. I believe the difference between sympathy and empathy is the ability to truly relate to another’s circumstance. For example if my friend gets in an accident and breaks his collarbone I can have sympathy, while if in the past or present I have also broken  my collarbone and I truly understand the nature of the hardship, inconveniences and pain then I can have empathy. To take more of an empathetic posture in my relationships I am having a keen ear to listen to other’s life circumstance that I have or am also experiencing. Doing so will help me listen and relate genuinely with the ability to help, speak into and pray for that persons hardships.

I am excited about building deeper relationship through intentionality and connectication.  Please help me and others learn how you are connecticating and maybe we can change the growing grumbles and concerns for the trends in communication towards depth, empathy and richness.

26Feb
2016
Career Advice, Interview Tips  

Understanding the Elements of Time to Ace that Interview

The Conscious Candidate: Understanding the Trilogy of Time

One of the greatest ways a candidate can convey self-awareness in an interview is to be able to understand and clearly communicate all the aspects of their past, what has made them who they are and their vision, for where they want to go.

This relationship of the past, the present and the future is what I call the trilogy of time.

PAST: The conscious candidate can speak clearly about their past failures and their past successes in their work. In regards to mistakes made, the conscious candidate will be able to pinpoint the details of what they would do differently. They will not pass the buck and they will show willingness to learn from the experience. They will, essentially, be able to make lemonade out of lemons. The conscious candidate will also be able to talk about their success. They will able to articulate the importance of those who have mentored them and made them a better leader. They will be able to pinpoint the types of environments that they are most successful in and the essence of a job that they find most rewarding. Ultimately, the conscious candidate will be able to communicate exactly what of their past career highs and lows have taught them about who they are in the present moment.

PRESENT: The conscious candidate is highly aware of who they are in the current season of life. They must be able to speak to their specific motives of career change. They must have consciousness and intentionality about why they are seeking a specific company they are interviewing for. They must be aware of the aspects of the organization they are trying to join and connect the dots as to how that organization and themselves are a great fit. To do so, the conscious candidate must have done their homework on the organization they are interviewing with and have taken the time to retreat and reflect on who they have become through the journey of their career.

FUTURE: The conscious candidate must have vision for the future and be equipped to clearly communicate where they want to be in their career in the future. There is a fine line between realistic ambition and over ambition. Just the right level of ambition can be a great selling point to a prospective employer, while over ambition will concern the hiring manager that the candidate might be a flight risk and will minimize offers. Patience and desire to absorb as much as possible are traits that are highly desired. The conscious candidate will have thought out how they want to convey the vision of growth for themselves and their future. They should do so in light of the research they have done on the organization so that their growth plan is feasible for the organization.

The conscious candidate is prepared, intentional, and aware. Understanding your past work experiences, your skill set that has been derived from these experiences, who you are today because of these experiences and detailing a vision that is consistent with the structure of an organization will help you ACE that interview and increase great opportunity.

Connect with AGI Hospitality so we can help you gain better awareness around who you are and how you can better your opportunities today!

23Dec
2015
Career Advice  

2016 is Approaching!

As we say goodbye to the year 2015, we consider (and hope) for what 2016 will bring. Resolutions are made, whether that means losing extra weight brought on from holiday goodies, starting school, spending more quality time with family or saving more money for that dream vacation… we’ve all got something we want to accomplish next year!

A recent survey asked 2,300 people if they were happy with their job. A surprising 43% were unhappy and wanted to change something; more money, more time at home, advancement, growth, development.

If you are one of those individuals unhappy with your current situation, consider adding a new career to your 2016 resolutions. A new year is a new beginning for our GREAT employers with budgets, territories and unfilled needs.

We’ve got the opportunities and are happy to walk along side of you in your career path to find you a career that offers more money, better advancement, growth prospects and added time with your family.

We wish you the happiest of holidays and happy beginnings to your 2016!

22Sep
2014
Career Advice  

Is your Company People or Profit First?

Do you work for a company that is people or profit first?

ID-100279691We live in an era where financial performance is the major measure of business success.  As the recession still lingers, leaders of business in every industry are faced with the challenges of maintaining and growing profit.  It is a tough task and as I analyze and connect with leaders in the restaurant industry, I have identified two distinct paradigms of thought which from an interesting dichotomy of financial sustainability.

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These two paradigms are different in nature and develop the course of decision making throughout a culture.  Companies are either:

1. Developing business through focus on profit that depicts their people processes.

2. Having their people processes first that in turn, develop profit.

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Those that have the eye on the bottom line and use that metric as the focal point to cut costs, be below market on compensation and focus on quantity over quality are the profit first companies. I certainly understand the short term ramifications taking these measures can have on increasing profitability; however, I fear these tactics will not lead to sustainable profits and will certainly lead to a higher turnover. The long term ramifications of employee turnover are a major financial stressor. Leaders in these types of organizations tend to be short term thinking and less in tune with the most important silent business partner – organizational culture.

On the other hand, organizations that have derived their profit from people first mentality are winning the war on talent, developing healthy culture and loyalty from their team. These outputs do not hit the bottom line in the short term; however, they will trump long term success and sustain companies for growth. These companies realize that people are the foundation of successful business.ID-100244673

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So are you working for an organization whose focus is on people first or profit first?

At AGI our goal is to connect GREAT managers to GREAT employers within the restaurant sector. One of our criteria to determine if an employer is GREAT is whether they adopt a people first mentality.

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