Career Tips and So Much More

The first five minutes of your day is very important. How you begin your work day often determines if you’re satisfied when it’s through.

You can improve the quality of your workday by deciding what it is you want to accomplish. You’ve got to specifically identify the self-defeating behavior in your early morning routine and set about to change it. Let us take a look at the common scenarios and identify some problems.

The distractions

• Small talks and social conversations in the lobby, in the elevator, at the coffee pot, in the ladies’ or men’s room, etc.

Although socializing is an undeniable part of work life, if it automatically and regularly occurs at the beginning of the day, chances are the socializing will get in the way of work that needs to be done.

• The mail

Even though you spam filter has done its job, it’s not likely to contain the most urgent and the most pressing items of the day, more so with snail mail letters. The habit of checking your mails first more often than not comes from a combination of childish curiosity and a desire to slide into the work routine in the least demanding way possible.

• Interrupting phone calls and text messages

Even more so than mail, unnecessary phone calls and text messaging distracts and steals time away from work.

• Chitchat with colleagues

This, most common interruption combines all of the problems of the above items with a double dose effect done by two or more people resulting to detriment of the task ahead. They come in the form of “important” dissemination of facts (office gossip) or “brightening up” someone else’s day (flirting).

• Coffee breaks

Coffee breaks are intended as a break from working productively. This is the appropriate time for socializing. However, if the worker hasn’t really begun working yet, it’s a different story.

Generally, the worker who is most productive can take full charge of his or her day. This is true because active, decisive responsibility is likely to be more productive than passive habitual response. Because of the nature and variety of work situations, every worker’s appropriation of these truths will be particular and personal. But general guidelines can be applied.

What do you have to do?

• Save the socializing for later.

Keep your greetings at the lobby, elevator, or washroom short and courteous. Your mind should be on your work and not to become involved in extended conversations at the beginning of the day.

• Start the day with a plan.

Before going at the end of the day’s work, the last task you should do is to arrange the next day’s schedule. Of course, there will be occasional emergency interruptions, but they will only be occasional, not daily.

• Spend the first hour on the most important task.

Devote the first hour of the workday to the accomplishment of an important task that needs to be done. Have your secretary or an assistant take all phone calls and handle other interruptions.

• Establish a phone policy.

We could work more efficiently if we devise and adhere to a “phone philosophy.” It would probably increase the productivity of workers in some specific company set-ups if this would even be a company-wide policy. You may also apply this as a single employee or in your own business set up. For example, you may inform your secretary or specify to your clients that you only accept calls at a specific time period, say 10 am – 5pm only. You may also use a different cell phone number for business and another one for family to separate the available calling hours.

One of the benefits that might result from this practice is that your business associates will respect you more. If they discover that you value your time enough to protect it, chances are they’ll begin to value it more highly, too.

Remember, also that answering the phone is a passive reaction, and not as productive as an intentional action.

• Make your coffee break an actual break.

This is your time for socializing. Even the most dedicated and disciplined worker’s attention span has limits. In the long run, it is just as counterproductive to attempt to conduct business nonstop for eight hours as it is to mix your professional and social life.

• Finish your day with a plan.

A productive worker always knows how to plan the next morning’s activity. At bare minimum, the next day’s most important item should be isolated and prepared.

Of course, no recipe, not even a general one, is suitable for each specific situation. Different individuals have different warm-up rates, and different jobs require different strategies.

For all of us, how we begin the day gives a significant impact on how we feel when the day is through.

Copyright © 2011 Athena Goodlight




Read More......

The resumé, a traditional document which describes your abilities and past experiences is, as we all know, a very important requirement. How you present yourself in a resume can be vital. You have to be concise and selective. Concise, because the average resume receives only five to seven seconds of viewing, and you won’t get a second chance to make an impression. Selective, because you can’t explain everything you’ve done or a list of all your abilities. That much information would be too much for a potential employer to process. You must be discriminating in choosing the items that most relate to the position for which you are applying. A selective approach helps to hold the employer’s attention and leaves him or her with a few unanswered questions. It serves to motivate the employer to want to see more of you and hence invite you for an interview. Obtaining an interview is the sole purpose of the resumé. No one is hired strictly based on how they look on paper.

The standard resumé, which is one or two pages in length, can be creative but must at the same time contain some basics:

1. an objective

2. a summary of your experience

3. a record of your education

4. other related activities

The objective section of your resume is one or two sentences that state, as precisely as possible, what you want to do. It gives anyone reading your resume a general framework of your direction and interests. To avoid being too general or too specific – which may at times exclude you from positions—do both. Indicate the major field you are considering or general job category, then list your specific job title preferences. For example: “A mid-level position in product management such as New Product Development Manager or Area Sales Manager.”

Your experience is probably the most important information on the resume for the potential employer. This category states what you are doing now (listed first) and what jobs and what jobs you have held in the past. List the three of four most relevant positions. Choose which are most relevant by the following criteria:

1. how similar the position or specific responsibilities are to the position being sought (always emphasize similarities between your past and potential job),

2. how long you spent in that position, and

3. how recent your experience was.


Your job responsibilities should be described from many business angles as possible. What did you achieve? How much responsibility did you have? Did you supervise anyone? Did you have any budget responsibility? Were you promoted? Did you work independently or as a team member? Did you take projects from start to finish, or were you responsible for a specific part of a process? Did you work with customers? Did you sell any products or services? What innovations, improved productivity or cost improvements did you bring to your previous positions? These are the type of questions that provide useful information to potential employers. Numbers, percentages, and time periods quantify and qualify your past, and should be used whenever possible. Professional organizations, committees, volunteer activities and special projects which relate to the position you are seeking should all be included in the “Other Related Activities” section of your resumé.

Some modern resumés do not include pictures or extensive personal information, and they mention very little unrelated experience. References are becoming less frequently used now because of legal restrictions, so they should not be specifically listed.

A cover letter will often need to accompany your resume. It should always be sent to a person (not a department or function) with whom you have already spoken. The personal contact increases your chances of getting special attention throughout the job hunting process. The cover letter must be clear and direct, starting with an attention-getter, mentioning highlights of your resume and ending with an indication of what action YOU will next take. Do not ask the employer to call you. If you are creating work for them before you are hired, even if only a phone call, how much work can they expect you to create once you are hired? As an employee, your job should be to help make their job easier.

Copyright © 2011 Athena Goodlight


Read More......

When you are at a career crossroad, you may sometimes question yourself if you really are in the right job. Here are some questions that will help you rate your job satisfaction:

Like a shoe that doesn’t fit, being on the wrong job or wrong workplace will pinch you all day. Eventually, all that “pinching” will take its psychological and physical toll on you. Go ahead and ask yourself these questions to determine whether this manner of earning a living is costing you too much. Read More......

You can learn profound theories of psychology or simple rules for dealing with people, but neither will be of any value until you actually put them to use.

Making good application of your knowledge in a specific situation, involving specific situation, involving specific individuals should be your ultimate objective. There are at least two considerations, however, which complicate the matter of making effective application.

Read More: Applying Techniques in Good Human Relations Read More......

Does procrastination have something to do with motivation? Yes it does. According to psychologists there are several primary reasons why we do what we do. These are the following: we hope to get something we want, we are afraid of getting something we don’t want, and a combination of hope and fear. This important influence on our emotions that tells us to act on our inner urges is called motivation.

The habitual procrastinator always tends to rely on “gut” feel.

Full Article: Motivation Versus Procrastination Read More......

Each of us needs to discover the specific adrenalin-reducing tactics that work best to relax the mind and body.

It is especially easy for many of us to get hooked on the challenges of a job or career, because attachment to a career is so highly valued in our society. While “workaholism” can sometimes mask home or personal problems and basic insecurities, most often it is an addiction to the adrenalin surges brought on by challenge and competition.

Competition is part of our way of life. Schools and businesses depend on and utilize the high that a challenge can create. But there is a black lining to this euphoric could. Stanley Sunderwirth, a prominent biochemist says we are “drugging ourselves” into an artificial existence. The short-term effect is pleasure—but the long term effect may well be stress disease.

However, it is never too late to start controlling the abuse of your body’s defense system. Even if you are an adrenalin addict with advanced heart disease – or you have already experienced a heart attack—you can promote healing and prevent further damage by learning to manage the behavior that creates the problem in the first place.

Each of us needs to discover the specific adrenalin-reducing tactics that work best to relax the mind and body. Many people have found the following tips helpful:

1. Talk audibly to yourself. Tell yourself to calm down, to quit acting as if life were a 100-meter dash. Remind yourself that you are just a part of a bigger whole. If you stop playing Messiah, you will have considerable less stress.

2. Practice conscious physical relaxation. You must allow your body to unwind so that healing and restoration can take place. One way to help your body relax is to exercise regularly. Appropriately tailored to age and level of fitness, exercise can improve not only your physical health but also your mood and general feeling of self-esteem.

3. Remember that frantic behavior does not guarantee success. Though society sometimes rewards us for hurriedness, real happiness and long-term success in a job or at home come only from keeping everything in proper perspective.

4. If you feel you must succeed in the situation before you, ask yourself, “Is the price I must pay really worth the benefit?” The answer will probably restore a sense of balance and remind you of long-term goals and values.

5. Learn to deliberately slow down. Develop the ability to choose to go slow when you need to. What’s the real hurry? Few friends, fellow workers, or superiors will increase their respect for you because you hurry. If anything, most would be more trusting if you slow down.

6. Quickly resolve those emotions that are adrenalin “biggies”: anger, resentment, frustration, irritation, and excitement. Apologize if you are wrong. Bury your hurts that are a result of oversensitivity or cruelty.

7. Review your life goals. Ask, “Is the challenge before me absolutely necessary to my life goal?” Consider carefully if this quest will eventually build you up or just destroy you.

8. Look closely at the faces of those around you. Do they seem like friends or foes? Are you forgetting that they are people also, with right, longings, aspirations, with a need for love? Have you slowed down enough to really understand you children? Do everyone a favor by easing up your demands on them. When you do, a sense of peace will be restored.

9. Relax your expectations and take time to enjoy the world around you. Recover your total personality and poise. Try to be gracious, and keep your perspective about what is really important and necessary.
 
Copyright © 11/29/2009 Athena Goodlight (Socyberty)


Read More......

 When you hire a new worker for your business, you select him or her because of the special skill or ability he or she has which you feel you can use.

Whether you like it or not, you get the whole person, not just the employee’s skills and abilities. That includes the habits formed; you may not want these. That employee’s interests are his own and not necessarily like those of any others in your group. He may approach his job with little hidden fears and misgivings; and may be filled with a myriad of unanswered questions about the new environment.

You must answer the questions and, to a certain point, cater to his personal interests, and perhaps go so far as to help him mold a whole new set of habits. As a manager or supervisor, you must make him feel welcome and give him a feeling of being useful, desirable part of your group. What you do for this worker is a part of his induction for which you are responsible.

His ultimate value depends, to a large extent, upon how quickly and how well you help him adjust to his new, unfamiliar surroundings. This cannot be postponed; it must start the first time you meet the new worker and continue as long as he remains with you.


Instructing and Empowering your Worker

Teaching in some ways is not different from other work. You either like it or you so not. If you do not like to teach, you cannot do it successfully.

There is, in this, peculiar hidden truth not too often admitted. If teaching is an essential part of a supervisor’s job, the person who cannot teach successfully is not a truly effective supervisor. All those who define the job supervisor include instruction as an essential part of it. Therefore, you must do instruction if you are to do the whole of a supervisor’s job.

There is, though, a brighter side to the picture. You usually like to do the things you know how to do and learning to instruct is not too difficult. Once you begin to do it and like it, you will find that it can be one of the most interesting parts of your job. It is fascinating to watch people learn and grow. Knowing that you are part of that growth gives you a feeling of actually seeing a part of yourself grow along with the workers.

Good instruction, then, actually produces two very desirable results. First, your workers become more competent and, thus, are capable of doing a better job. Second, you have the personal satisfaction of knowing that through your efforts, each of your workers has improved.

Copyright © 11/28/2009 Athena Goodlight (Bizcovering)


Read More......

You haven’t been enjoying your work for a while now. You’ve decided you’ll be happier if you totally change career direction. Are you too old to retrain?








Full Article: You Don’t Enjoy Your Work Anymore, Now What? Read More......

You’re at your desk even way beyond office hours every night, and you always volunteer to take on the extra grunt-work projects no one else wants to do. You are hoping that someday you boss will promote you – not necessarily.

Realize that your career can also suffer because you spend too much time on the extra projects leaving you without enough time to devote to your regular, more creative work.

The Pathetic Pushover, you are.
Throwing yourself into your job is great, but being the office “yes-man” or “yes-woman” will only get you a reputation as a wimpy worker bee. You’re acting like a slave, because you treat yourself like one. As a result, your boss and co-workers may end up exploiting you, and in order to feel OK about piling you up with work, they mentally move you down on the corporate ladder to devaluate you in their minds.




Read More......