EUOakland SUCCESS TEAMS
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What's a Success Team?
A. A Success Team makes your job search and career transition activities easier by promoting and organizing interactions with other EUOakland members.
Q. What do Success Team members do?
A. Success Team members ...
- PROVIDE each other with useful referrals and networking contacts
- MOTIVATE each other's job search activities
- KEEP each other accountable on individual action plans
Q. What are the guidelines for a successful Success Team?
A. Here are some guidelines for success:
- FACILITATION. Choose one or more facilitators from among the regular members of your Success Team.
- OPEN COMMUNICATION. Discuss your needs and expectations with the other Success Team members.
- MUTUALITY. Reciprocate others' attempts to help you in your job search.
- CONFIDENTIALITY. Respect the sensitivity of personal issues that are discussed in your Success Team meetings. Cultivate an atmosphere of trust with the other members of your team by respecting others' confidentiality. >
- TIME MANAGEMENT. Make a commitment to attend your Team meetings. If you're unable to attend, let your Facilitator know. Arrive on time so that everyone's needs can be addressed in the allotted time.
- TEAM SIZE. EUOakland recommends that each Team have between five and ten active members.
- ACTION and RESULTS. Concentrate most of your time on setting goals, clarifying issues, and providing a safe meeting place where successful networking, referral, and support activities can take place.
Q. How can I get more out of my Success Team meetings?
A. Here are some ways:
- LISTEN actively before responding to what others are saying.
- SUMMARIZE what you think the other person has said, to make sure you have understood correctly. (For example, "Let me see if I understand what you're saying. What I heard was ...").
- ASK questions in an effort to understand the other person's point of view.
- PRESENT your own ideas in a clear and succinct way.
- REALIZE that much communication is nonverbal. Gestures, body posture, facial expressions, and tone of voice all communicate your intent as much as your words.
- PROVIDE constructive criticism in a caring, supportive, and honest manner. All criticism should be designed to help others make progress in improving their job search techniques.
- KEEP in mind that physical surroundings influence communication. Lighting, time of day, and the physical layout of the room all affect how people communicate with each other.
- MAKE yourself accountable to the other members of your Team. Articulate your weekly goals at each meeting, and check in again the following week on the status of your efforts to achieve those goals.
Q. I'm thinking of changing careers. Can a Success Team help me?
A. Yes, your Success Team can help you identify your skills and brainstorm ideas for a new career direction.
Q. Help! Our Team doesn't have enough members.
A. Send a message to prosearch_community@yahoogroups.com asking if anyone would like to become a member of your Team. You might also consider merging with another Team.
Q. How can I learn more about the existing Success Teams?
A. Go to www.euoakland.org and click on Login. Log in with the members password. Click on Success Teams. You'll see a list of existing Success Teams, meeting locations, meeting times, and contact information.
Q. How do you set up a new Success Team group on Yahoo! Groups?
- Go to http://groups.yahoo.com. If you have a Yahoo ID or e-mail address, click on "Sign in!". If you're a new user of Yahoo, click on "Click here to register."
- Click on "Start a new Group!"
- Select a Yahoo! Groups category. We suggest "Business & Finance > Employment and Work."
- Click on "Place my group in 'Employment and Work'."
- At the "Describe your Group" page, enter a name for your group. We suggest that you make your email address similar to the name of your Success Team.
- Provide a brief description of your group in the description field. Use the word "ProSearch" so that other EUOakland members can find your group.
- Click on "Continue."
- Verify the email address and Yahoo! Profile you will use to administer the group (i.e. your own).
- Enter the word verification and click on "Continue."
We recommend that you make your group a restricted group. Here's how:
- Click on "Customize Group."
- In Step 1 of 3, under the question, "How can people join your group?", select "People can join only with my approval."
- Click on "Finish."
It's now time to invite people to join your list:
- Click on "Invite People."
- In the "Enter email addresses or Yahoo! IDs" box, enter your addresses, one per line.
- In the "Enter an Introductory Message" box, add a message that tells your friends why they should join.
- Click on "Submit Invite."
- On the next page, review your introductory message and click on "Invite Members."
The invitees will receive a message from Yahoo! Groups inviting them to join the group. When they accept membership, they will become full members of the group.
Sometimes members will request permission to join your group from the Yahoo Groups website. You will receive a message notifying you that someone would like to join. To accept them into your group, if you know who they are, do the following:
- Go to the Yahoo! Groups home page at http://groups.yahoo.com
- Sign in as the group's owner, and select your group.
- In the "My Groups" section, select your Success Team's group.
- Click on "Pending" at the left side, just below "Members."
- In the Action column, select "Approve" for all members you want to include in the group.
- Click on "Save Changes."
To facilitate the administration of Yahoo Groups, you need to add an EUOakland Web Department user, euoakland_webdept@yahoo.com, as an owner. This will allow the Web Department to delete defunct EUOakland Yahoo! Groups. Here's how to add and configure the EUOakland Web Dept user:
- Click on "Members" at the left side of your group's home page.
- Click on the "Add Members" link, located on the same line as the "Search Members" button.
- Type in the email address "euoakland_webdept@yahoo.com" in the top box, and a message like "Adding Web Dept user to our Success Team group." in the Introductory message box. Then click "Continue."
- Confirm your adding of this user on the next page.
- Click the "Members" link at the left side of the group page again, and find the new user in the listing. It may take a couple minutes or several hours for the new user to appear in the listing.
- Set Message Delivery to "No Email" for the euoakland_webdept user.
- Click on "Save Changes."
- Click the "Edit" button to the left of the listing for the EUOakland Web Dept user. This will take you to the Edit Member page.
- Under Membership Privileges, click on "Change to Owner." This will take you to the Make Owner page.
- Uncheck both boxes in the Email Notification section.
- Check all boxes in the Owner Privileges section.
- Click on "Make Owner." This will take you back to the Edit Owner page.
- Click on "Save Changes."
For more help on Yahoo! Group settings, go to:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups
The Oakland Chapter of Experience Unlimited
675 Hegenberger Road, Oakland, CA 94621-0110
Tel 510.563.5310
Fax 510.563.5334
www.euoakland.org
A No-Fee Staffing Resource and Outplacement Service for Professionals