My responses to the ‘Remaining Questions’ area of the Article:
• How did you recognize that your were/weren’t a good fit for operations roles? Is there something you recommend others to try?
In my personal experience with operations roles, I found the following 2 points the most telling in terms of success in a role:
1) Values Alignment as Key to Maintaining Motivation, Consistency and Ongoing Personal / Professional Development Having the daily & weekly motivation to continue when things get busy / tough. This is rooted in the need to have aligned values with the organisation. Having the values-driven goal of ’making large sums of money & gaining outward signs of prestige’ may be favourable for some graduates or individuals at different stages of both their personal and professional development. Others may really be motivated by giving, helping and showing some sort of positive support / impact on pressing social and environmental issues—and would really be motivated by know that their chosen workplace organisation is also focussed on these key values—as interpreted by their organisational goals.
Values alignment give you that touchstone of motivation when times get hard or setbacks occur, when things get ambiguous and when a potentially draining task must be worked on over a long period of time or to a set deadline.
If you are a new hire, try to understand the differences between feeling uncomfortable as you are learning and adjusting, and the discomfort of values mis-alignment.
Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help However, if you are feeling as if you are constantly ‘drowning’ or ‘overwhelmed’, try first to speak to an appropriate colleague—and try to work out a better way of dealing with work commitments. Unless something really is wrong, sometimes adapting to work, learning your pacing, what levels of productivity you really can achieve on a daily basis and understanding work loads—and if/when you may need to ask for help.
If these don’t seem to be the issue—it might be a culture problem.
2) A Healthy Workplace & Organisational Culture As stated in my Operations Part 1 comment, a healthy workplace culture is something which can make or break the success of a new hire into a role. This covers everything from knowing the values and mission statement of an organisation—and whether these values are only given lip service, or if they are incorporated largely into the workings and culture. It’s a huge undertaking to get people organised under a single entity and set of goals, to ensure health of connections and communications on a daily and yearly basis.
A lot of things can go wrong through simple errors, misunderstandings, and communications breakdowns—where it’s likely not anyone’s fault, but a healthy team being able to recognise and correct for errors and curve balls.
Managing people is a large component to an organisation. This though, can differ greatly between organisations. If good values are instilled and re-iterated from the beginning, if the time is taken to train and settle a new hire into the organisation, and if there is an honest, open and non-critical space for respectful feedback and learning, to be able to ask questions, take responsibility of a role—even when a hire is still not 100% sure of themselves, and the focus on rectifying mistakes, learning from them and endeavouring to grow from lessons—then a new hire really does have the ideal environment to thrive.
This includes being able to find mentoring from a more senior colleague—especially in the first 6 months − 1 year of work. As much as it is a joy to find the almost impossible new junior hire who knows exactly how to do everything, better and faster—even the most experienced and senior hire will probably have to ask questions, read and learn about a company, it’s values, company culture and how it gets things done, before being able to do much more.
Also, sometimes, after a time, you may simply not feel like you’re ‘fitting in’ as an employee, or you might not entirely ‘grok’ the company culture. This, though unfortunate, is most probably not anyone’s particular fault (again, I’m looking at the averages here, not extremes in personality clashes or toxic company cultures). Difference can be both accommodated or it can facilitate change—so check both ‘sunk cost fallacies’ and ‘practicing perseverance in professional development’ during decision-making (either as a new hire or as a decision-maker in an organisation).
• What are the best ways of acquiring new valuable skills for operations roles?
I think Eirin & Jorgen covered this thoroughly in terms of gaining work experience, getting involved in projects or activities and low-cost, high learning yield activities.
“From little things, big things grow”—Paul Kelly
• What should promising candidates do to signal their fit and experience to potential employers to help smooth out the costly recruitment process?
1) The Self-Initiated & Tailored Presentation / Project | As Part of Your Application / Expression of Interest Like your previous projects and experiments you have had the chance to perform, why not use this experience to make a tailored & specific project, related to a real organisation and/or role you are interested in.
Aim to draft, create & present this tailored project within a 2 week period (1x AGILE sprint) to an actual employee / representative of your organisation of interest.
Like your previous projects, this could include: - • A website • Slideshow presentation • Small coding app • Compile a report • Build a marketing proposal
Connecting & Learning Then—either as part of an employment application or as a ‘cold contact’ - Find a relevant person to contact within the organisation (possibly an HR representative, via LinkedIn / organisation contact directory) and send a message stating your interest in working with the organisation in the future. Offer your project as a part of your interest and ask (politely) if there is a chance to gain feedback.
The person who you contact will most likely be very busy—and you may not even get a response. Feel free to contact again (a simple, polite touch base email) in 2-3 weeks and then perhaps in 2-3 month’s time to gauge if there is any interest in your project. It might not work, you may be ignored or given a vague response, and that will likely hurt personally, as rejection does.
Connecting & Learning | Real World Feedback as Part of Your Growth as an Individual & New Professional However, do your best to not take it personally, treat yourself for achieving the exercise, regardless of the result. You could do a personal post-moratorium / review of the process to hone your next application. And if you are able to, chalk this up as a well achieved learning & growing experience. Keep your project in your portfolio of experiences and look for another organisation / position. Don’t feel too afraid of touching base every 6 months to a year if there has been a positive initial response however; especially if you do end up further into the recruitment process and are given positive responses—especially if specifically stated that you should keep in contact.
2) Seek Real World Advice | An Exercise in Putting Yourself Out There If you can, it can really help to start having conversations with people who are ideally in an employed position in an organisation and role similar to your own interests.
Even if this person is ‘only’ a family friend or someone working in ops in a company / industry your aren’t interested in, you can learn something from them.
So, as awkward as it can seem, ask if you can take them out for a coffee meeting (pay for their coffee too!) and see what you can learn. A lot of people may be too busy to help you, but if you ask enough people, you will get a meeting—and even if you think you’ve learned nothing from the meeting, don’t worry, you have.
• Given the answers to the above questions, what can local and national groups do to find and train potential candidates and help in the recruitment process?
Developing EA Specific Frameworks & Tool / Platform Usage Putting together information, frameworks and tools from EA Organisations and the HR industry may result in a number of positive outcomes. Though I have not done any research on this as yet, these outcomes may include: -
• The development of HR / hiring / employee best practices and frameworks which could be disseminated as an open source resource to the greater EA network. • Updating of current EA resources and bodies of knowledge. • Finding solutions to strengthening current and future EA memberships, where a more streamlined and consistent practice can be developed in order to help EA members and EA organisations meet & fit with each other in less time—more smoothly and with well measured expectations & outcomes. • Possible formation of an EA HR organisation, group or consulting body to work on this direct need. • Building a larger EA network of professional contacts and industry connections. • Creation / further development of an EA learning & development education portal / learning management system. • Serving as another aspect of getting the EA Movement’s awareness into the professional industries which may affect both earning to give and experienced operations hiring potential.
——— Adding obligatory apologies! I have likely repeated a few points here, some of which Eirin & Jorgen have already covered—and what may well have already been covered in previous EA discussions.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment! We’ve noted down all your points, and found especially the one about signalling fit and thoughts on the role of national/local groups very interesting and valuable.
My responses to the ‘Remaining Questions’ area of the Article:
• How did you recognize that your were/weren’t a good fit for operations roles? Is there something you recommend others to try?
In my personal experience with operations roles, I found the following 2 points the most telling in terms of success in a role:
1) Values Alignment as Key to Maintaining Motivation, Consistency and Ongoing Personal / Professional Development
Having the daily & weekly motivation to continue when things get busy / tough. This is rooted in the need to have aligned values with the organisation. Having the values-driven goal of ’making large sums of money & gaining outward signs of prestige’ may be favourable for some graduates or individuals at different stages of both their personal and professional development. Others may really be motivated by giving, helping and showing some sort of positive support / impact on pressing social and environmental issues—and would really be motivated by know that their chosen workplace organisation is also focussed on these key values—as interpreted by their organisational goals.
Values alignment give you that touchstone of motivation when times get hard or setbacks occur, when things get ambiguous and when a potentially draining task must be worked on over a long period of time or to a set deadline.
If you are a new hire, try to understand the differences between feeling uncomfortable as you are learning and adjusting, and the discomfort of values mis-alignment.
Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help
However, if you are feeling as if you are constantly ‘drowning’ or ‘overwhelmed’, try first to speak to an appropriate colleague—and try to work out a better way of dealing with work commitments. Unless something really is wrong, sometimes adapting to work, learning your pacing, what levels of productivity you really can achieve on a daily basis and understanding work loads—and if/when you may need to ask for help.
If these don’t seem to be the issue—it might be a culture problem.
2) A Healthy Workplace & Organisational Culture
As stated in my Operations Part 1 comment, a healthy workplace culture is something which can make or break the success of a new hire into a role. This covers everything from knowing the values and mission statement of an organisation—and whether these values are only given lip service, or if they are incorporated largely into the workings and culture. It’s a huge undertaking to get people organised under a single entity and set of goals, to ensure health of connections and communications on a daily and yearly basis.
A lot of things can go wrong through simple errors, misunderstandings, and communications breakdowns—where it’s likely not anyone’s fault, but a healthy team being able to recognise and correct for errors and curve balls.
Managing people is a large component to an organisation. This though, can differ greatly between organisations. If good values are instilled and re-iterated from the beginning, if the time is taken to train and settle a new hire into the organisation, and if there is an honest, open and non-critical space for respectful feedback and learning, to be able to ask questions, take responsibility of a role—even when a hire is still not 100% sure of themselves, and the focus on rectifying mistakes, learning from them and endeavouring to grow from lessons—then a new hire really does have the ideal environment to thrive.
This includes being able to find mentoring from a more senior colleague—especially in the first 6 months − 1 year of work. As much as it is a joy to find the almost impossible new junior hire who knows exactly how to do everything, better and faster—even the most experienced and senior hire will probably have to ask questions, read and learn about a company, it’s values, company culture and how it gets things done, before being able to do much more.
Also, sometimes, after a time, you may simply not feel like you’re ‘fitting in’ as an employee, or you might not entirely ‘grok’ the company culture. This, though unfortunate, is most probably not anyone’s particular fault (again, I’m looking at the averages here, not extremes in personality clashes or toxic company cultures). Difference can be both accommodated or it can facilitate change—so check both ‘sunk cost fallacies’ and ‘practicing perseverance in professional development’ during decision-making (either as a new hire or as a decision-maker in an organisation).
• What are the best ways of acquiring new valuable skills for operations roles?
I think Eirin & Jorgen covered this thoroughly in terms of gaining work experience, getting involved in projects or activities and low-cost, high learning yield activities.
“From little things, big things grow”—Paul Kelly
• What should promising candidates do to signal their fit and experience to potential employers to help smooth out the costly recruitment process?
1) The Self-Initiated & Tailored Presentation / Project | As Part of Your Application / Expression of Interest
Like your previous projects and experiments you have had the chance to perform, why not use this experience to make a tailored & specific project, related to a real organisation and/or role you are interested in.
Aim to draft, create & present this tailored project within a 2 week period (1x AGILE sprint) to an actual employee / representative of your organisation of interest.
Like your previous projects, this could include: -
• A website
• Slideshow presentation
• Small coding app
• Compile a report
• Build a marketing proposal
Connecting & Learning
Then—either as part of an employment application or as a ‘cold contact’ - Find a relevant person to contact within the organisation (possibly an HR representative, via LinkedIn / organisation contact directory) and send a message stating your interest in working with the organisation in the future. Offer your project as a part of your interest and ask (politely) if there is a chance to gain feedback.
The person who you contact will most likely be very busy—and you may not even get a response. Feel free to contact again (a simple, polite touch base email) in 2-3 weeks and then perhaps in 2-3 month’s time to gauge if there is any interest in your project. It might not work, you may be ignored or given a vague response, and that will likely hurt personally, as rejection does.
Connecting & Learning | Real World Feedback as Part of Your Growth as an Individual & New Professional
However, do your best to not take it personally, treat yourself for achieving the exercise, regardless of the result. You could do a personal post-moratorium / review of the process to hone your next application. And if you are able to, chalk this up as a well achieved learning & growing experience. Keep your project in your portfolio of experiences and look for another organisation / position. Don’t feel too afraid of touching base every 6 months to a year if there has been a positive initial response however; especially if you do end up further into the recruitment process and are given positive responses—especially if specifically stated that you should keep in contact.
2) Seek Real World Advice | An Exercise in Putting Yourself Out There
If you can, it can really help to start having conversations with people who are ideally in an employed position in an organisation and role similar to your own interests.
Even if this person is ‘only’ a family friend or someone working in ops in a company / industry your aren’t interested in, you can learn something from them.
So, as awkward as it can seem, ask if you can take them out for a coffee meeting (pay for their coffee too!) and see what you can learn. A lot of people may be too busy to help you, but if you ask enough people, you will get a meeting—and even if you think you’ve learned nothing from the meeting, don’t worry, you have.
• Given the answers to the above questions, what can local and national groups do to find and train potential candidates and help in the recruitment process?
Developing EA Specific Frameworks & Tool / Platform Usage
Putting together information, frameworks and tools from EA Organisations and the HR industry may result in a number of positive outcomes. Though I have not done any research on this as yet, these outcomes may include: -
• The development of HR / hiring / employee best practices and frameworks which could be disseminated as an open source resource to the greater EA network.
• Updating of current EA resources and bodies of knowledge.
• Finding solutions to strengthening current and future EA memberships, where a more streamlined and consistent practice can be developed in order to help EA members and EA organisations meet & fit with each other in less time—more smoothly and with well measured expectations & outcomes.
• Possible formation of an EA HR organisation, group or consulting body to work on this direct need.
• Building a larger EA network of professional contacts and industry connections.
• Creation / further development of an EA learning & development education portal / learning management system.
• Serving as another aspect of getting the EA Movement’s awareness into the professional industries which may affect both earning to give and experienced operations hiring potential.
———
Adding obligatory apologies! I have likely repeated a few points here, some of which Eirin & Jorgen have already covered—and what may well have already been covered in previous EA discussions.
I found your input valuable. Thank you!
Thanks again for taking the time to comment! We’ve noted down all your points, and found especially the one about signalling fit and thoughts on the role of national/local groups very interesting and valuable.