If you create the right conditions, you can help your employees be the best they can be in their professional lives.
If you’ve ever tried to start a garden, you will be well aware that certain plants can only thrive in certain conditions. Every plant can bloom if you give it the right amount of attention and tailor its environment to its specific needs.
It’s not hugely dissimilar to successfully helping new employees find their place in an organisation. You’re not going to achieve anything by completely neglecting their development, nor will you make a lot of progress by assuming that a one-size-fits-all approach is going to work.
This week in Careers, we meditated a lot on the best ways to ensure that workers thrive in their professional lives and amount to their full potential.
We headed down to Mastercard’s Dublin hub to speak to Shauna Naughton and Kingsley Chimeszie, two software engineers working at the firm, about how the graduate programme they came through aided their career development.
Both noted that hands-on mentoring and an opportunity to express their individuality really helped them flourish in their new environment – and, importantly, these were factors that made them want to continue growing their careers with Mastercard.
We also heard from Radhakrishnamurthy Donthu, a product development manager and principal SAP developer for Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Technology, about the challenges and benefits of moving abroad for his work.
He explained the considerations, both personal and professional, involved in uprooting your life to pursue an opportunity.
He also spoke about how his work colleagues and managers facilitate a “friendly working environment”, and how this has helped him feel at home in Limerick, where he is currently based. The support of his peers made the turbulence of the move feel much smoother, meaning Donthu was able to hit the ground running and fully embrace the dynamic challenges of his work.
We also got some excellent advice from Hays’ Jane McNeill about why cover letters, an accompanying element to CVs you may be inclined to overlook, are as relevant as ever. Having a good CV is definitely important, but the cover letter is where you can allow your personality to truly shine through and show prospective employers why you are an ideal employee.
Still stumped? Luckily, McNeill drafted an extremely helpful guide for writing a cover letter that will make you stand out during the recruitment process.
For more on any of these stories, check out the links above.
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