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10 Questions to Ask When You Fail
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2011 Comment (2)At some point in your career, you’re going to experience failure. Probably numerous times. And when you do, you have a choice. You can either plow forward and pretend it never happened, or you can treat it as an investment in your future success.
If you want to take the latter option, here are several questions to help you get the most insight out of the experience:
1. How did this happen?
Start with a simple, “How did this happen?” Unless the failure came out of left field and had nothing to do with you, there is typically chain of actions and events that led to the failure. Tracing that chain of events can help you find the weak links.
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Why First-Time Managers Fail
Tweet Share on Facebook July 12, 2011 CommentThe transition from worker to manager can be overwhelming. Perhaps that’s why so many first-time managers suck. They suck time, energy, and resources from many organizations. If you are a first-time manager, read on for some great tips from the experts.
If you are an employee who works under a first-time manager, take a deep breath and learn how to meditate—your patience will be tested!
Here’s why many first-time managers fail:
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The Importance of a Confident Follow-Up
Tweet Share on Facebook July 12, 2011 Comment (6)I hear it all the time from frustrated job seekers. So many resumes sent out and so little success. You rarely get any feedback and no calls for interviews.
Is this your experience? If so, you may want to ask yourself a few questions:
How many resumes am I sending out each week? And how am I tracking the success or failure of each submission?
If you’re applying for too many jobs each week, the odds are you are being fairly unproductive. In job search, high activity does not equal results.
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Ignore These 10 Outdated Pieces of Career Advice
Tweet Share on Facebook July 11, 2011 Comment (58)Job-search advice that worked a decade or more ago isn’t always effective today. In fact, some of it can hurt your chances.
Here are 10 pieces of job-search advice that are now outdated and you should ignore:
1. You must use a landline for a phone interview. These days, many people don’t even have access to a landline, so this advice has become unrealistic. It’s still better to use a landline if you have one, but if you have to use a cell phone, check first to make sure that you’re somewhere quiet with good reception and strong sound clarity.
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How to Benefit from a Mentor Relationship
Tweet Share on Facebook July 8, 2011 Comment (7)Ever think about seeking out a mentor? It may sound like an outdated business strategy, but a mentor can be a great resource, especially if you find one who has navigated your industry before and has ample experience. This individual is a prime source of support, constructive criticism, and unbiased advice when it comes to your job opportunities, workplace conflicts, and much more.
Here are some ways to find the right mentor for you:
• Look for someone in your same (or a similar) field or industry. If you’re looking to break into another industry, find a mentor who already works in your desired field.
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How a False Sense of Impossibility Can Hurt Your Career
Tweet Share on Facebook July 7, 2011 Comment (1)A career worth having is seldom a just-add-water option. And sometimes that means being confronted with goals that, at first blush, seem impossible. But if there’s one thing I have learned over the years of helping people move out of feeling frustrated and stuck in their work into careers they love, it’s that often, the impossible isn’t really impossible.
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A Recruiter’s Tips for Job-Hunting
Tweet Share on Facebook July 6, 2011 Comment (6)Job seekers receive a lot of conflicting messages about how to look for opportunities. Many focus on applying via job boards as a main strategy, while career coaches often encourage them to use networking (or social networking) in lieu of job boards.
However, as Chris Havrilla, a talent acquisition/recruiting consultant who focuses on corporate recruiting strategy, process, and technology, says, it’s a good idea to incorporate searching for and applying for opportunities online as part of a well-rounded approach. “You wouldn't build a house with just a hammer,” she says, “and you should approach a job search the same way. Some tools will be more valuable and effective than others, but the whole ‘house’ will get built faster and more efficiently if you use a toolkit instead of just one tool.”
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Twitter Chats for Job Seekers
Tweet Share on Facebook July 5, 2011 Comment (8)If you’re smart about how you use them, social media sites can be a purposeful place to learn during a job search, network, and identify job leads. Using tools like Twitter can help you highlight new ideas, engage people in conversation, and help others.
Twitter chats, or live conversations via Twitter that last about an hour, are one effective way to connect with others. Participants use and follow a specific hashtag, a unique word with a # in front. Including the hashtag in your tweet allows everyone following that hashtag to see your contribution, rather than just the people who follow you.
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Rules of the Paper Inbox
Tweet Share on Facebook July 5, 2011 CommentDespite the increasing volume of electronic communications in the workplace, most offices are still overrun with paper. Request forms, applications, interoffice mail, and other documents are circulated daily, which means most desk dwellers have an inbox. That’s right, a physical inbox.
But anyone who has spent an hour at a desk knows that the Laws of the Inbox are often violated—and that the "green office" is mostly a myth. Documents are left on chairs, taped to monitors, or worse yet, tossed onto our already crowded desks.
If you’re new to office culture, in need of a refresher course, or an admitted inbox violator, let these rules serve as a guide to make work a better place:
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What You Should Never Say in a Job Interview
Tweet Share on Facebook July 4, 2011 Comment (14)Just as important as saying the right things during a job interview is making sure you don’t say the wrong things.
Here are 10 things you never want to say in an interview:
1. “What does your company do?” If you ask questions about the company that could have easily been answered with a modicum of research, you’ll come across as unprepared, unmotivated, and maybe lazy.
2. “My old boss was a jerk.” Your boss might have been an abusive tyrant, but, rightly or wrongly, the convention is that you don’t badmouth previous employers in an interview. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances were. It’ll raise enough of a red flag in your interviewer’s mind that it’s just too risky.
