Category: Career

Want to Reinvent Your Career? Here’s How

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date April 14, 2021

1. Start Now

Are you still stuck at home, or maybe still on lockdown or stay-at-home orders? Well, there is no better time to start thinking of how you want to develop yourself with your career. You have plenty of time where the social gatherings will still be relatively restricted. So you can use some of that to position yourself to potentially jump at an opportunity and reinvent your career.

So, knock the dust off your resume, and make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date (when have you logged into that thing yet this year?). Add any new job details, purge any old info, and be sure to update your accomplishments. Remember to keep it to about a single sheet for maximum effectiveness.

2. Check Out The Job Trends

Take a look at LinkedIn, and find some people doing what you envision yourself doing, and browse their journey. See how they got there from where they started, how did they handle crucial steps. Even if you can’t find examples of those positions, particularly if you’re pivoting to something pandemic-influenced, you can still get value from it.

You’ll get ideas. You’ll see trends of how important, influential, or otherwise successful people describe and market themselves. This can lead to a lot of scrolling. However, if you see someone that is doing exactly what you want to do, don’t be afraid to reach out.

3. Think Outside The Box

Step back and look at your personal, job, and educational experiences. How can those things benefit you in various roles and capacities either within or outside of, your current organization?

Many people don’t take this vital step in figuring out how they can add value. They only take into consideration their immediate day-to-day job. You may be able to find a version of your current job at higher value. For example, getting paid more for doing essentially the same work.

4. Make A Plan For Your Career

Now that you’ve taken a look at people on similar paths, as well as taken an objective look at your own experience, you should try to map out your next steps. With bigger changes, this may be a multi-phase plan, while shifting from one industry to another doing the same work may only need a few steps.

5. Profit From Your Pivot

With the huge shift in business operations from everything that does not require a presence in a “brick and mortar” building, there are a lot of new positions to fill. These are going to be positions that end up being created or staffed for the sole purpose of saving money or refining operations from remote working.

If you have an idea of how something can be done better now that business is largely virtual and remote, now is the time to pitch it! The old systems are out the window with the pandemic, and organizations (read: older generations that can benefit from your tech-savvy skills) are in need of help and ideas everywhere.

Tags career

8 Virtual Interview Tips to Help You Land the Job

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date April 14, 2021

The interview landscape has changed significantly in the past year, let’s take a look at the best tips for remote interviews.

1. Location, Location, Location

Sure, you’re stuck at home, maybe even on another lockdown, that doesn’t mean your interview backdrop has to look like it. Make a conscious effort to place your computer where you will have a blank background, or perhaps a bookshelf or houseplant behind you. Keep it professional, or at the very least, neutral.

2. Be Ready

Not on time, but technically ready. Have your appropriate plug-ins and updates installed and ready. Test your camera and mic, so that you aren’t showing up to your interview with no video, or a critical system update that won’t let you snooze it.

3. Dress For The Job You Want

Wardrobe selection is just as important here as it is for a traditional interview. Make sure your selection fits the situation, and if unclear, your HR contact point should be able to provide clear guidance. Generally, you want to avoid chunky or distracting jewelry and excessively bright colors.

4. Personal Space

Make sure you are positioned effectively for your interview. Check your setup and distance from the camera with a friend if needed. Make sure you aren’t hunched over in front of your computer, but make sure you aren’t 8 feet away. Place your camera a comfortable distance away, sit up straight, and don’t fidget with things on your desk during the interview.

5. Practice Makes Perfect

Go over and practice your answers to potential questions, so that they are clear and concise. Give yourself an honest chance to purge all of your “um”, “uh”, and “well…” fillers from your repertoire. Make sure you iron out all of your grammar and double-check any typed responses for accuracy.

6. Do A Dry Run

With the help of an honest friend or family member, run an entire mock interview. Not only will it give you a chance to go through the process front to back, but it will let you test your tech again to make sure the interview connection will be perfect.

7. Be Your Own Best Cheerleader

With virtual interviews, it can be challenging from an employer’s perspective, to get a real feel of the person being interviewed in a virtual environment. That initial “vibe” can be crucial, so make sure you tell them why you feel you’re a good fit so that they can feel it. Highlight your qualifications, achievements, and so on, and be enthusiastic about them.

8. Be Your Best You

You aren’t going to be interviewed extensively at first, your potential employer is looking to see in a more general sense if you seem like a good fit for the company. The best way to lower your stress is to just be yourself. Don’t worry about what you think they want to hear, just tell them who you are. This will always give you the best shot at finding the best fit for you too.

Tags career, job, virtual interviews

Career Career & Education Health & Home Recreation & Leisure

Lunch Break Ideas that Will Make Your Day Better

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date April 13, 2021

You may have made an ideal early morning routine for yourself, considering how it needs to gear you up for the day at work. But what about the rest of the day after your lunch break? Doesn’t it deserve to be unique and worthwhile too?

Of course, it does, and we have ideas of things to do on your lunch break to spruce up the rest of your day.

1. Play Time

Yes, it’s not just for students. Rather, adults working in offices can do with some playtime too. Try playing dumb charade during lunch break with your colleagues, or just put on some music in the cafeteria (if you can) and encourage your colleagues to shake a leg with you.

The rest of your day is sure to brighten up automatically.

2. A mid-day Stroll

Why not combine lunch with a stroll afterward? Encourage as many as you can to join in. A walk outside will relax everyone’s bunched muscles and brains and let some of the stress out. The light activity will also energize you for the rest of the day.

3. Lunch Roulette

This is a great way to expand your networking at work. Lunch roulette is a game wherein you invite someone you’d like to know to grab lunch with you. This is an excellent way of making friends with someone you could never start a conversation with, even though you’d sat across from them for months.

4. Look Up Recipes to try

If you’re a good cook, whipping up recipes for dinner is a sure way to spend the day in optimistic anticipation. You could look up recipes at lunch break and make plans for a special dinner in the evening for the family or even for yourself only. Food never fails to delight.

5. Call Your Best friend

If your best friend has the skills to brighten up any conversation, then a chat over the phone with them during your lunch break is a great idea. It would surely put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.

6. Make Plans

Work friends have a charm of their own and partying with them is a lot of fun too. Use your lunch break to make a dull day sound a lot better by planning an outing, a movie night, dinner, or getting together at home with them. It will put you all in a festive mood.

7. Take a Power Nap

Power naps have endless benefits, and no one needs scientific evidence to believe them. Napping at any time refreshes and reenergizes you, gearing up for more activities for the rest of the day. Besides, a bit of rest in the second half of the day is good for your health too. It helps your body regulate some processes while improving your memory as well.

8. Work out

If you can manage a late lunch break, you can make the most of this opportunity by fitting in some workout. Your physical performance is at the peak between 3 pm to 6 pm, and the risk of injuries even lower. Plus, your lungs perform optimally, too, so it would be great to exercise at this time.

Tags lunch break, things to do on lunch break

Career Career & Education

7 Things You Can Do for Your Career

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 31, 2021

With the recent pandemic, millions of people have now found themselves home much more than they have in the recent past. Many of us don’t mind the additional comfort and decreased anxiety of pursuing our career from home, particularly when you get to see your spouse, child, or even your dog much more than before.

But to many people, the extended lockdowns and remote work have also felt like they were delaying or stagnating their career. Others were in constant fear or anxiety of the possibility of being laid off entirely. The numbers of those in fear grow each day that the economy becomes more volatile.

Even if you aren’t worried about job security, you probably still have pressures from remote working challenges, lack of networking opportunities, and the cancellation of many industry events like conferences and expos.

It can be frustrating in different ways for all of us. But we’ve also redefined how we work and collaborate using technology, so this also brings us opportunities. Here are some great ideas on preventing stagnation and malaise in your career while you’re stuck at home.

1. Update And Stay Current

Have you even logged into your LinkedIn account this year? Take a day to update your resume and LinkedIn profile, making sure you pull old info and update with new. Don’t forget to highlight new career accomplishments!

2. Continue Your Education

Learn something new. Another language, programming, an art skill, or any number of random things. There are a number of websites that offer micro-degrees or other structured courses that you can use to break up the time. Some may even add value to your skillset that you can leverage for more pay at work.

3. Maintain Networking Connections And Bonds For Your Career

Just because you can’t hit happy hour and shake some hands, or attend the yearly industry events doesn’t mean you can’t keep networking. Communicate with your work contacts, especially ones you may have neglected recently, and see how they’re doing. Maybe set up a zoom coffee so you can chat.

4. Start A New Project Outside of Work

Kick-off a new side-hustle outside of work, tweak your personal brand or even start a new blog, book, or website. Original content is valuable, particularly with the rise of NFTs.

5. Get A Jump On Busywork

We spend an average of one day out of every five to six, simply researching our information and setting up documents. Take some time to cook up a few templates, references, or cheat sheet resources to help you save time down the road when you are at work.

6. Volunteer For A Project That Scares You At Work

It doesn’t literally have to scare you but step out of your comfort zone, that’s not where growth happens. You’ll not only help your team and organization, but you may even inspire some enthusiasm.

7. Crack A Book

We’ve got a lot of free time lately, which many of us are using to get some great information from experts. Many experts have written books about subjects that are incredibly important to your field or industry. Find one or two, and make it a point to read them over a month or so.

Tags career, work from home

Career Career & Education

Want A Promotion? What You Should Be Doing

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 30, 2021

The current employment landscape can be a challenge to navigate, particularly when normal office politics are not playing their normal role in water-cooler chats and the like. But even with lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, many people are still trying to get a promotion. In the best of times, this requires determination, hard work, and often, persistence.

What is the best way to ensure you have the best shot at that promotion? We’re going to take a look. Not only at the #1 thing that will put you ahead of your coworkers, but at additional factors that can also give you a performance edge.

1. Strong Leadership Skills

The #1 thing you should be doing to get a promotion is to demonstrate leadership abilities. When you are evaluated as a potential candidate for a promotion, you are seen as having the potential to be groomed for management, or even higher. This means you need to be able to lead and motivate effectively.

2. Add Value

If your organization is going to invest not only time but more money in you, they must see the value that you bring to the table. This isn’t about coming in early and staying late to the point of burnout, that’s boomer value.

Nobody needs seat warmers. You need to bring value to the organization because when your employer invests in you, they are hoping to multiply that value and gain a healthy return on their investment.

3. Attitude is (Almost) Everything

Attitude in the workplace is crucial. Every office has a person or two that people simply don’t want to work with because they just don’t have a good attitude for whatever reason.

Rest assured that you will be constantly weighed and measured. People seriously considered are going to be people that are respected contributors and morale-builders. Future leaders almost always stand out to current leadership.

4. Skills To Pay The Bills

Anytime you are being considered for a promotion, your higher-ups will be evaluating your skill set in comparison to other candidates. You should be prepared to show that not only do you engage in personal or professional development but that you plan to continue such.

The habits of older generations were to become skilled in something, and then stagnate at that level. This paradigm is completely dead, and few things are more attractive to employers nowadays than individuals who invest in themselves and commit to growth.

5. Be Bold

When opportunities come up, jump on them. Be ready to trust a feeling that says “volunteer for that project” when it scares the hell out of you. Growth doesn’t happen in your comfort zone.

When you were hired initially, leadership saw qualities in you that they were confident would bring value to the team. In most cases, that will not have changed, and you will only have honed your skills further. You have the ability to be great, you just need to use it.

Tags career, get promoted, promotion

Career Career & Education

In A Career Rut? 4 Tips To Help Stay Motivated

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 30, 2021

Finding a fair and satisfying work-life balance has become far more difficult in recent months. As the pandemic drags on and we are largely working from home, more people are feeling stuck in their career. Sure commute times are zero, but it can still leaving you feeling like you’re just following the same recipe day after day. Like millions of Americans you might need a little help to keep things fresh.

1. Never Stop Investing In Yourself

This is number one for a reason. If the things you learn and the skills you develop will increase your value no matter what you do, and you keep them no matter your employer, then it seems like a no brainer. Learning a new skill set can open up significant opportunities without even leaving your current organization.

In addition to building marketable value in desired skills, you may find that a bit of professional or personal development adds a spark of motivation where maybe before was only monotony. Always research new trends, tools, and techniques. Never be afraid to invest your own time and money in your development.

2. Always Be On The Lookout For Bigger & Better

One of the ways that you can tell it might be time for a career change, is if that motivation just won’t come back and there are no more opportunities for advancement where you’re at. Because, sometimes in long-time positions, you can end up only doing one thing by default, and are overlooked for other positions and opportunities.

Take an objective look at your career, and decide if it really fits with your vision of where you want to be in 5 years, 3 years, or even twelve months from now. If you question it, then it’s time to market yourself and move on.

3. Increase Focus On Non-Work Activities

It is possible, and incredibly likely in our highly-competitive economy, to become too focused on your career. While what you do is a part of who you are, make sure you retain a part of yourself that is not related to your work.

Make sure you are investing in other parts of your life. So take some time to start a new hobby or activity, many websites and apps provide ways to learn different skills and talents, even other languages, directly from experts in those skills. Taking time away can help you to remain committed to the long game, and can increase motivation when you start to feel like you could be burning out.

4. Keep The Big Picture In Mind

Don’t forget that this all revolves around your passion, which is the key to retaining motivation. If you get into a rut, then keeping your focus on that passion can be challenging. Keep your career choice vision clearly in mind, don’t be afraid to pivot if you need to.

It’s important to remember that your job isn’t your career, it is just a part of it. Your career will be filled with various jobs and roles that are all ultimately aligned with that choice.

Tags career rut, stay motivated, stuck in your career

Career Career & Education

Work Hacks? Here Are 9 to Implement This Year

Post author By Staff Writer
Post date March 25, 2021

Are you stuck working from home this year? Looking for the some great work hacks? Well, look no further. Read here for the 9 best work hacks to implement this year.

1. Leverage The Pomodoro Technique

I used to skip breaks and even lunch on occasion, sometimes working an entire day without leaving my desk. I also have some attention disorders that lead me to be incredibly easy to distract. This technique for taking smaller breaks more frequently helps to manage fatigue, distraction and overworking.

Split your workday into half-hour chunks, and for every 25 minutes of work take a quick 5-minute breather. Stretch your legs, get some water, whatever helps. After four smaller “pomodoros”, take a longer break of 20 minutes.

2. Stop Notifications

Notifications used to be the bane of my workday. Every single time that little “ding” went off, or a saw a system notification pop up in the corner, I had to check it. It always made me feel like I was just barely treading water, distracted me from my current task or project, and made my workday much more stressful.

Silence your notifications, particularly on your email and your smartphone, and set any messaging apps to “do not disturb”. Not only will this cut down your sense of urgency about everything, and will help you focus.

3. Prioritize The Important Stuff And Do It Early

Make a to-do list for your day, before leaving for the previous day. This helps you set your priorities based on what you feel you need to do, rather than what’s waiting for you in the morning. It’s also a way to cut out some prep work from the beginning of your day.

4. Increase Focus With Priority Coding

When you’re creating your priority list, use an easy-to-remember coding system to let you know where the task is located on your task energy spectrum. Use symbols, colors, whatever works best for your thought processes.

5. Eat Well

I know it sounds silly, but it’s really important for an effective workday for you to eat well. This includes eating breakfast and lunch. Protein is best in the am to get your mind ready, even a simple hard-boiled egg is an order of magnitude better than nothing. Try to do a weekly lunch prep if you’re as equally terrible at daily prep as I am.

6. Bracket Your Email Time

Rather than leaving your inbox accessible and distracting you every 90 seconds, set yourself scheduled email answering hours. Set aside 30 minutes or so, three times during your workday to read and reply to emails.

7. Small Goals Add Up

Particularly for larger projects, create a series of smaller milestones that you can reach periodically. These checkpoints are great opportunities to take a breather, evaluate your progress, and gear up to continue. This is a great technique to fight burnout.

8. Dedicate Time For Self-Care

Seriously dedicate. Make time and block it off in your schedule or calendar, whether it’s a walk, dinner out, or a veg night alone or with a friend. This is incredibly important for your mental health. Scheduling the time disallows you from using the excuse of “there really isn’t time”.

Tags work from home, work hacks