Jill Protzman’s Post

I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: Lucidchart Diagramming Foundations from Lucid Software!

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I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: Learn with Workday from Workday!

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I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: Workday Basics Series from Workday!

Stop Judging Me - Another Way to view Feedback How do you handle employers judging you and their critique? The knee-jerk response is always along the lines of, "I cannot do anything right in their eyes. Why are they judging me? Why do they never praise me?" I would be remiss if I did not admit I feel and have felt all those things above. It is hard to hear judgment and criticism. But we must put ourselves in the employers' shoes and reassess our use of those two words. We are the ones who are most familiar with our own skills and work output. Employers do not know us. They can easily mistake silence instead of asking questions, for example, as a sign you are not grasping concepts. But we know we are grasping everything. How should we handle this when an employer judges us? There are multiple books and blogs out there, but I like putting myself in the employers' shoes and thinking about things from their perspective. It is like selling something on Craigslist. Have you ever sold anything on Craigslist only to find you have to accept way below what you are asking for the item you are selling? That is because buyers ultimately determine the price. The item is only worth what buyers are willing to pay.  Sadly, it is not those of us who sell the item who truly dictate the price. It took me years to learn this and to be patient with buyers on Craigslist. In parallel, our perception of ourselves must grow and change with how our employers perceive our actions. Time to walk in their shoes. Employers do not know us like we know ourselves. But we can at least ask questions to show interest and to show we are hearing and listening at the same time. Continuing in the employers' shoes, they are paying us to work for them. They are giving us money to be SMEs and to help the team in keeping the company afloat and make sales. So, to be a bit harsh here to those who always must see things their way and not think of their employer, show some respect and hear what the employer is telling you as not judgment nor critique, but as a way to grow and develop. Show respect to your employer and always show interest and passion. Employers need respect. They need us to both hear and listen to what they say. "But it is not my problem they do not understand me." I have heard this from others in the past. To be curt, it is our problem because like on Craigslist, the sale price is what the buyers are willing to pay.  Who we are in the career world is how our employer perceives us. Perception is everything. So throw all your personal preferences out the window and think about what your employer tells you as not judgment nor criticism, but as helping you grow.  Adapt, change, and integrate into the team player they need you to be. Are employers truly judging us? No. They are trying to mold us into better beings which brings with it more marketable skills.

I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: Celigo integrator.io Mastery Level 3: MASTER from Celigo!

Rejection "Darn it!" "Why me?" "This is not fair" "This stinks!" "Why is this happening to me?" "I will never get another job." Ok...who has thought the above even if a bit more non-professionally verbose in your head when rejected? Oh, I hate rejection! It really does stink! I remember the line from the 1986 Labyrinth movie when Sarah says to Jareth, the Goblin King, "That's not fair!" when he threw yet another obstacle in her path of self-redemption and growth in her quest to retrieve her brother, Toby, from Jareth's kingdom. David Bowie's character, Jareth, responds with, "You say that so often. I wonder what your basis of comparison is." How true this is to all of us! I was rejected multiple times in this past week alone. Yes, angry. Yes, frustrated. I am human, after all. But remembering the lines of this movie, which I have seen dozens of times, and staying in line with my personal growth and development mission, I take it as a blessing. Yes, I still need encouragement from time to time. It does not matter why they rejected me. They rejected me. It is what it is and you can never change what is or what was. You can only control your future and your destiny. So who is with me in leaping forward, taking the blessing, and pressing full-speed ahead? I could always use support and am here to support anyone who needs it as well. We need to come together as rejectees, and be proud of that name as it shows we are getting "blessed" a lot. We need to show the business world we are here to help them in any capacity they need. We are flexible. We are open-minded. We are optimistic. We are the rejected who are actually a really good fit for your organization because we never give up and we see things through, even the job search. We just.....are.

I’m happy to share that I’ve obtained a new certification: Introduction to Generative AI from Google Cloud Training Online!