Written by Debbie Webber
Keynote
Kenyon Curtis is a personal development professional who brought his motivational ideas and techniques to the Career Connectors audience in Gilbert on September 23.
Kenyon began by acknowledging to the standing-room only crowd that he does indeed have two first names, which are often switched around. He also noted that there are quite a few Curtis Kenyons out there that probably have the same challenge with their names.
Kenyon made several points that we all can use to refine our thoughts and motivate us to pursue our goals through to completion. He noted that only 20% of people will succeed in attaining their goals, so his purpose is to help us make progress and become part of the 20%.
He started by reminding us of the Aesop’s Fable about the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise in the story is slow and steady, while the hare is fast. While the traditional moral of the story places the traits exhibited by the tortoise as those to emulate, Kenyon took the opposite view. The rabbit was quick because he was comfortable with his skills. While his fault was stopping to take it easy, Kenyon’s point was that the rabbit could have been successful by changing the way he thought. The hare only needs to alter his way of thinking from “Goal Setting to Goal Getting” to win the race.
The remainder of his presentation concentrated on two main points:
Affirmations don’t work
Kenyon asserts that telling yourself over and over that something is true doesn’t work because our brain’s logic overrides it. For instance, since we (at least most of us) are actually NOT rich, our brains will override an affirmation that states “I am rich.” He recommends we change the affirmation in this example to “I will find more ways to earn and save money.” Our brains are wired to begin working on the solution to the situation we’ve voiced. Instead of conditioning our brains to insist that we are NOT what we are visioning, we are setting the brain up to find a solution, and progress toward the goal begins.
Change “and” to “or”
Kenyon encouraged us to think of the characteristics of the job we’re looking for. Chances are that our ideal is a position at a company with a great culture and good salary and good benefits and a short commute and good growth prospects. All of these particulars make it harder to find that job. If we changed at least a few of the “ands” in our wish list to “ors” it could more easily set us up for success. If we wait for all those “ands” to come to pass we may be setting ourselves up for failure. Kenyon emphasized that this doesn’t mean you’re settling for less. If you attain most of your “ors” in your job search you will feel successful and that sets you up for future success.
Failure is easy, so work to make it harder by setting goals you can achieve.
Success is hard, so state your goals so that it makes it easier for you to achieve.
Stay focused on your goals, make them attainable and remember that personal development is a continuous process.
Hiring Companies
State of Arizona
Jan Plank, Human Resources Manager III
Jan encouraged the group to consider thinking about “what you can do that I would pay you money to do.” Her advice to successfully applying for jobs on the Arizona State website include adding an objective at the top of your resume that states exactly which job title you’re applying for and lists the exact requirements from the job description that you fulfill. She also noted that the average age of State employees is about 47, and that mature workers are valued. There are currently over 400 positions available in a variety of agencies. Apply here.
Liberty Mutual
Kelly Robinson, Talent Acquisition
Liberty Mutual has over 55,000 U.S. employees and is growing rapidly so continues to hire. The insurance company has three locations in the Valley. The I10 and Ray location holds the sales and call center operations, the airport location is the customer service center and the claim division is in Glendale. Kelly is currently recruiting for call center positions, which come with great benefits. Apply here.
Insight
Ryan Buschkamp, Recruiting Manager
As a Fortune 500 company based in Tempe, Insight is a sales company that partners with others to resell their products in order to provide IT solutions to companies and government institutions. The company offers excellent benefits. Open positions include both IT sales and operations. Since Insight is a federal contractor, they can accept applications online only. Check LinkedIn for open positions, or apply here. Ryan also offered his email address in order to answer your inquiries.
Education Management Corporation
Mark Pierce, Staffing Manager
EMC is composed of The Art Institute, Argosy University, Western State College of Law (as part of Argosy), Brown Mackie College and South University. Student success is the strongest value at EMC and the culture of education and success extends to the employees as well. Mark noted open positions include Administration Reps, Academic Counselors, Financial Aid Processor and Support Analyst. Apply here.
Up Next…
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2014
Phoenix – The Job Fair Game
Hiring: American Express, Insight, Education Management Corp.
