First Thing Monday #9
This week: how to beat AI in your job search, being genuine with your boss, and why cleaning up the mess is important
🌅 Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I watched Bob The Drag Queen’s new special on Saturday and had lunch with friends on Sunday. Hope you also had some laughs and got some rest over the last two days.
☑️ FTM is a weekly newsletter that includes a recap of all the news Millennial and Gen Z leaders need to know to help make better decisions about their careers. Each issue also includes four tips for developing better relationships in your workplace. Weekly issues come out on Monday mornings!
❓ Have burning questions or topics you’d like us to discuss? Drop me a line 📱 misterfantastiksubstack@gmail.com or leave us a comment below!
I’m Jon Cochran, a consumer goods executive with 15 years of experience leading sales, marketing, and product development teams and working with brands like J.Crew, Hilton, and Mattel. I want to provide resources to help you take control of your career and maximize your satisfaction in the workplace.
⏰ What to read before your first meeting:
Improve your chances of getting noticed by AI on job sites with these tips (Washington Post): From how to format your LinkedIn profile for more recruiter views to tips on resume formatting for AI review, this article shares many useful tips for today’s job seekers.
New survey shows Gen Z and Millennials AI jobs fear – as 61% say it will take much of their role (HR News): The workers surveyed here worked in data industries, so the results are a little specific. However, these workers’ fears are related not to having enough training to compete with AI, something more of us may have to consider sooner than expected.
Why micro-mentoring works for Generation Z (Times Higher Education): Time and trust are just part of what makes a successful mentoring relationship work. The mentor’s training, or lack thereof, can really affect the onboarding and training of young employees. Tips for what they call micro-mentoring may prove helpful to all the supervisors reading.
How To Shape Organizational Culture For The Next Generation Of Employees (Forbes): It’s all about trust. Developing trust should be included in how companies design employee experience from the ground up. Trust enables confident communication and the productive flow of ideas and opinions.
Trust gap between executives and workers widens (Axios): Good companion piece to the previous link. Do you have deskless co-workers? Surveys show workers who don’t sit at a desk every day (think retail, service, and factory work) feel more disconnected from their companies’ goals and strategy. Those disengaged feelings encourage burnout and dissatisfaction.
🚰 The Water Cooler
“The Victoria’s Secret Show Could’ve Been an Email” headline from NYMag’s The Cut really said it all.
If you’re in NYC, beware of the Tabi thief! Does anyone outside of New York City even wear Tabis? If so, this one’s for you, too.
“Bongos,” the newest song and video from Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, is here.
Do you know Ayo Edebiri? You should—she’s everywhere these days!
📖 Reflections for this week:
For yourself: Spend some time this week networking within your organization. Developing positive relationships beyond your immediate team— with folks in other departments, peers working at different locations, and other supervisors— is crucial to your success. Making time for these relationships also develops trust with your colleagues, which we learned above brings good vibes to the office. Some of my best learning opportunities came through great conversations with colleagues beyond my immediate orbit.
For your boss: Be yourself in your interactions with your supervisor. I have always struggled with people-pleasing behaviors. But being someone you’re not will never make work better for you or improve your relationship with your supervisor. Use your interactions to show your values and personality. You were hired because you’re YOU, so be YOURSELF!
For your direct report(s): What does empowerment mean? Spend some time clarifying how you define empowerment in the context of your leadership. Does your team share the same values related to communal success? Discuss your desires for a motivated workforce with them. Getting the leaders you manage onboard will help you better understand how your team conceives of success, what motivates them, and what you can do to make them feel empowered.
For your co-workers: You know what no one needs? Your opinion on Pumpkin Spice season. I don’t care if you think a pumpkin spice latte is cheugy. I don’t care if you’re currently wrapped in a snood mainlining PSL. Let’s restore civility. If PSL isn’t for you, don’t let your weird complex yuck anyone else’s yum. If you’re a devotee to fall, maybe consider enjoying your bev silently instead of spreading the good word. We can get through this together.
⚡️ And one last thing…
This past week, I met with several local college students. We discussed what they were studying, what the upcoming semester looked like, and how they were already thinking about the transition from college to the working world. One student asked me, “If I were to drop by your office and needed a quick nugget of advice, what would you share with me?” I immediately thought back to the micro-mentoring article from Times Higher Education. This student conversation felt like one of those moments! In the minutes we had left, I narrowed my thoughts down to a few key points:
Whether you’re in class, a meeting, or any sort of Q&A: before you raise your hand to ask a question or make a statement, write down what you want to say. Writing your thoughts down gives you a chance to make sure what you want to say makes sense. It can also help you see if your point adds value to the conversation because you thought about it before saying it. I’ve found that sometimes after writing down what I want to say first, I realize I do not, in fact, need to say anything!
If you see a mess, don’t leave it for someone else to clean it up—clean it yourself. The mess can be literal or a metaphor, but the point remains the same. If the paper towel dispenser is empty, refill it. If the printer has lost its mind and there is paper covering the floor, pick it up. If you see someone struggling, ask them how you can help.
And if that mess requires bleach, you better be able to smell it when you’re done! The note about bleach comes from one of my favorite managers. When I worked retail, every member of the team would be expected to pitch in and clean the bathrooms. Part-time, full-time, manager, or sales associate, we all took turns with the bathroom. But it wasn’t about just saying, “Yes, I cleaned the bathroom” but being able to say, “I left this space better than I found it.” You knew someone used bleach to clean because you could smell it, and that had to be better than before! For my manager, a job well done was bleach-scented. Don’t half-ass the job just because you want to check it off your to-do list. Do the job right; make sure you feel it in your bones when you’re done.
If someone put you on the spot for a piece of advice, what would you share? I’d love to hear in the comments!
See you next week!
Follow me on Instagram at @mistersfantastik
The PSL of it all really got me this week!
I'm rethinking my resume now with those AI tips in mind. I wonder what HR professionals think about AI.