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Why You Should Get a Summer Internship
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2011 Comment (3)Internship programs have taken a lot of heat, particularly in the last year or so. Some for good reason—not every internship is legal according to the Fair Labor Standards Act, especially opportunities where for-profit companies expect candidates to work full-time for no pay.
With nearly three-quarters of students enrolled in four-year colleges and universities taking on at least one internship during their school career, it’s no wonder people are worried about internship programs taking advantage of young professionals. However, as long as the company abides by the laws surrounding internship programs, those opportunities should not be written off.
And just because some companies are taking advantage of interns does not mean that all internship programs are bad. Quite the contrary, actually. The benefits of internships for college students (and even recent graduates) include—but are certainly not limited to—the following:
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5 Non-Work Ways to Boost Your Career
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2011 CommentWhen people focus on career development, they typically look at how to grow their skills and knowledge, factors directly related to their work. Clearly that’s an important piece of the puzzle, but if you want to make the most out of your career, there’s more to it.
Your life is a holistic system. You don’t exist in a work silo, disconnected from everything else. You’re not an automaton, a machine that can punch the clock and automatically work with maximum efficiency till quitting time. What happens in one part of your life effects the others.
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Improve Your Observational Skills to Get the Job
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2011 Comment (2)We’ve all heard the saying, “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason,” meaning it’s more important to listen than it is to talk. Never underestimate listening skills when it comes to career success. However, we also have two eyes; have you considered how to improve your observation skills? A true leader (and a successful job seeker) not only listens well, but also develops a keen sense of what is happening in the environment.
Improving your observation skills will help you read and interpret body language, allowing you to “listen” with your eyes to communicate better. It will also improve your decision-making abilities, and help you to be more accurate in written and verbal communication. Memory and observation skills are linked; improving your ability to notice what is around you should help boost memory and recall.
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Why a Quiet Office Is Bad News
Tweet Share on Facebook April 26, 2011 Comment (20)Everyone requires a different set of circumstances to concentrate. And every job calls for a different level of communication. But why is it that the only sound emanating from many of today’s offices is the sleepy hum of electronic equipment?
The demand by some companies for office silence is counter-productive, even Dickensian in its approach to basic human psychology. Silence can be deafening. A noisy office has its problems, too. But any boss who encourages a library-like atmosphere isn’t helping the employees or the company.
A quiet office is bad because:
1. Quiet effectively kills open communication. If you’re talking to a colleague or have an issue you need to discuss with someone, quiet will enable the world to hear your conversation. Being reduced to whispering is childish and stepping behind closed doors creates a climate of secrecy and suspicion, even fueling paranoia.
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How to Create an Effective To-Do List
Tweet Share on Facebook April 26, 2011 Comment (3)Ever sit down to write a to-do list and realize you can’t stop?
The problem with to-do lists is they become a “catch all” for your career, life, home, and health. It’s as if you were waving around a huge butterfly net with really tiny holes in it. The small items don’t escape.
That means you end up jotting down everything that pops into your head. You don’t want to lose any of it. Even if you should.
So it’s easy to fill two full pages with stuff. You kind of get on a roll, right?
Another problem: Creating a big long list starts to feel productive. It’s almost as if you’re actually getting started on a few of these items simply by capturing the need to do them.
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10 Things Your Boss Isn’t Telling You
Tweet Share on Facebook April 25, 2011 Comment (13)Part of being a boss is having difficult conversations. But managers are human, and while they should be tackling difficult or awkward topics head-on, in reality plenty of them shy away from it.
Here are 10 things that your boss might be too uncomfortable to say to you:
1. You talk too much in meetings. Before you take up the group’s time at the next meeting, ask yourself whether everyone there really needs to hear what you’re about to say.
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How to Investigate Your Potential Future Boss
Tweet Share on Facebook April 22, 2011 Comment (4)Congrats! You’ve landed an interview with a company you’d like to work for.
You probably realize you need to research the company in more depth to get a good idea of how you’ll fit into their culture (although you should have done some of this research when submitting your application materials). But did you consider investigating your future boss?
Here are a few ways to find out a bit more about your potential supervisor:
Read through company bios. Visit the company website and look for an “About Us” section. Often, individual employees are listed with short biographies about themselves. You can learn how long your future boss has been with the company and the specific expertise that person brings to the organization. The website might also include additional information, such as interests, hometown, and favorite quote, movie, food, etc.
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How to Market Your Skills in Your Job Search
Tweet Share on Facebook April 21, 2011 Comment (2)If you‘ve ever looked for a job, you’ve probably seen skills checklists, ones that ask you to tick off every skill on the page that sounds like you. The trouble with that is, when it comes to telling your story to a prospective employer, it’s still pretty one-dimensional. There’s nothing to back it up.
If you want to talk about your skills in a compelling way, you have to go deeper than that. One way to do this is to give the checklist the heave-ho and take a longer and more fruitful approach to identifying your skills.
Don’t forget that potential employers aren’t actually interested in your skills—they’re interested in how those skills can help them meet their needs. This process will help you make your story more compelling by letting you demonstrate that.
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Improve Your Listening Skills to Win the Job
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2011 Comment (2)When there are so many qualified candidates, it is even more important to do everything you can to make the best impression possible during an interview. If you’ve been preparing, it’s likely you’ve been rehearsing how to answer questions. Of course, it’s important to be ready for typical inquiries and be able to respond to questions with well thought-out stories detailing your skills and highlighting accomplishments as they relate to the job.
But it’s just as crucial to practice how to be a good listener, to help you hear and understand nuances of each interview question. Being a good listener isn’t only key for the interview; it makes you a better employee. When an employer sees that a candidate is unable to respond to each part of a detailed question or notices that candidate failing to answer key points, it’s a red flag. It suggests that potential employee may not follow instructions, attend to clients’ inquiries, or be able to get the job done.
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Beware of the ‘Easy’ Job Interview
Tweet Share on Facebook April 19, 2011 Comment (9)Job interviews aren’t usually easy. It requires an intense effort to prepare for a job interview, plus the need for mental focus and a big time commitment—all at a stage when you already feel pressure to find a new job.
But sometimes you’ll run into an easy one. Not the whole day, mind you. But just one easy interview tucked into a full day of more difficult ones.
So what are these easy interviews and how do you handle them?
In terms of how to handle them, well, your first reaction might be: “Hey, I’ll enjoy it, of course!” And see it as a nice break in an otherwise tiring process. But while interviews can be enjoyed, they first need to be productive.
