Nowadays, everyone has some kind of computer skills they can bring to the table when applying for a new job. So, does that mean you should still list your own skills on your resume? The answer to that question is, yes, absolutely. Everyone has experience in both hardware and software. Depending on the kind of job you’re applying for, you may not necessarily need to list the hardware you’re familiar with. The kind of computer software you’re familiar with, however, may make or break your chances of getting that job. Some software, like Microsoft Office – and, in particular, Microsoft Word – you can usually leave off your resume because an employer assumes you already have a basic understanding of Microsoft Word by now. Here, instead, are the most important computer skills you should absolutely list on your resume. Operating Systems You should list on your resume the operating system(s) with which you’re more familiar. The reason for this is because some jobs require Mac knowledge, while others use strictly PCs. If you have more experience with a PC, for example, you may find it difficult to navigate a Mac. This would require the employer to put extra time into training you if they ultimately feel you are the right candidate for the job. Therefore, it is important to be up front about the operating system with which you are most familiar. Google Drive Today, many businesses prefer operating in Google Drive, rather than Microsoft Office, when it comes to things like documents and spreadsheets. There are just so many more benefits to using Google Drive, like the ability to save your work in real time without doing anything at all, or sharing a document with multiple users, who can also edit it. However, simply listing “Google Drive” on your resume isn’t specific enough. You want to go into detail about what exactly it is you know how to do in Google Drive. For instance, you can list “Google Drive” as a main heading, and then, as subheadings, you can list the aspects with which you are most familiar, such as:
Google Docs Google Sheets Google Forms Google Slides
You can also use this nesting format for other software skills on your resume. For instance, if you chose to list Microsoft Office on your resume, you could do something like this:
Microsoft Office
Word Excel Power Point
This list is not only more pleasing to the eye and quicker to skim, but it also tells the employer exactly where your skills lie. Social Media Social media definitely falls into the category of “Most Important Computer Skills to List on a Resume.” Businesses everywhere use social media, and while they may vary up which channels in particular they frequent, they have come to understand that social media means everything when you’re in business. It’s the fastest way to spread the word about new products and services, as well as provide a sounding board for one’s customers and clients – and maybe attract new ones in the process. So, how do you tell a prospective employer that you’ve got what it takes to give their company the social media platform they deserve? Well, in addition to listing the specific channels with which you have the most experience (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.), you can also talk about the achievements that social media has brought you. For instance, at your last company, did you regularly monitor the company’s post engagements on Twitter? Did you scour Google Analytics to discover what worked about the company’s social media advertising campaigns, and what didn’t? Were you able to determine the company’s reach, and how best to expand it? These are all skills you can – and should – highlight in the computer skills section of your resume. Listing Computer Skills on Your Resume Something very important to note about listing your computer skills on your resume is that you should not dedicate one section in particular to these skills. Instead, you should incorporate your computer skills throughout your resume to show how they have benefitted you throughout your career. Ideally, you want these skills to be most concentrated in three areas in particular:
Your professional summary or objective statement Your main skills section Your experience
Of course, don’t try to shoehorn your experience into areas where it feels forced. Instead, find those areas that would benefit from your inserting a skill naturally here and there, and you will ultimately create a more well-rounded resume.
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An objective statement is the first bit of information a hiring manager sees on your resume. Within it is your well-defined career objective, along with a super-short blurb about why you’re the perfect person for the job to which you are applying. This is why your objective statement should be as impressive as the skills and experience that follow it. When to Use an Objective Statement Some say that objective statements are becoming outdated. However, while your particular situation may not call for an objective statement, it is always a good idea to have one on your resume anyway. In the following circumstances, however, an objective statement may mean the difference between getting or being passed up for a job:
If you are a recent graduate who is entering the workforce for the first time If you are considering relocating, else your out-of-town address may confuse the hiring manager and he or she will disqualify you If you are changing industries, to help explain why you are making the change
Here are some tips insofar as what to do, and not to do, when crafting your objective statement to help you stand out from the crowd. Be Concise An objective statement is an appetizer of sorts, designed to “wow” the HR department enough to convince them to conduct an introductory interview with you, typically over the phone. During your interview you can talk more about your skills and experience, but you don’t want to go overboard here either. One of the reasons people dismiss objective statements is because they tend to be narcissistic. Many applicants ramble on about themselves and their accomplishments, rather than highlight how hiring them can benefit the company. This is why remaining concise throughout the entirety of the interview process, from start to finish, is crucial to improving your chances of getting the job. Here’s a good example of a concise objective statement that gives the hiring manager just enough information without becoming overly wordy: “Ambitious and experienced technical support professional with proven success managing the help desk for an international corporation. Seeking an opportunity to use my five years experience to serve a nonprofit organization.” Do Not Use the Same Objective Statement Every Time Do not use a vague “one size fits all” statement to sum up your past career and future career goals. The entire point of the objective statement is to tell the employer why you are the perfect choice for that particular job. What is it about that job that enticed you to apply? Why do you think you, above all other candidates, would be a perfect fit? Plus, this also serves a dual purpose as well. When the hiring manager inevitably asks you, “So, why did you decide to apply to ABC Company?”, you can use your objective statement to jog your memory if you’ve applied to so many jobs this week that you honestly can’t remember why you applied to that specific job. Here’s a good example of an objective statement that, while somewhat cookie-cutter insofar as relocation, can be more specifically tailored to a particular position: “Current accountant with more than fifteen years experience in the field of finance seeking a tax advisor position when I relocate to Boston in May. I am excited to apply my tax knowledge and related skills and grow my experience as part of your established institution. Remain Relevant Make sure that the career goals you note in your objective statement match those that the company can actually fulfill. Many applicants talk about how the job they’re applying for now can help them land their dream job in the future. This speaks more to the company about what you want, rather than how hiring you could benefit them as a company. Consider the following example. You’re a high school graduate, and it is your first-time ever applying for a job as a cashier at a local retail store. Do not simply put in your objective statement that you would like the job because it would give you the experience to one day become a store manager. Focus more on the give-and-take, on how you can grow within the company and what you can do for the company by growing within it. Here’s a good example of how you might want your objective statement to sound in this situation: “I am a highly driven team player and aspiring store manager with proven analytical skills seeking to grow my knowledge of the retail industry by using my communication skills as a retail associate for your department store.” List Degrees, Certifications, or Licenses You May Have A quick blurb in your objective statement regarding the certificates you have acquired over the years (and which are relevant to the position to which you’re applying) is an impressive start to your resume. An objective statement should be an outline of sorts. It tells the reader, “if you think that’s good, keep reading!” Putting your licenses, degrees, and certifications right in your objective statement gives the reader a clearer picture of what you can bring to the table.
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Have you extensive experience in the field of customer service? This is an invaluable resource, as it tells an employer that you have kept your cool in situations where customers were less than happy, and when it might otherwise be difficult to remain calm. You should therefore be sure to highlight your customer service skills on your resume so that a prospective employer can find them easily. Even if you are not applying for another customer service job, you still want to put these skills on display to show the employer exactly what you are capable of. Here are 6 tips to help you better highlight your customer service skills on your resume. 1: Use Your “Skills” Section Wisely Almost all resume templates employ a “skills” section. This is your time to shine! You should put both hard skills and soft skills on your resume. Soft customer service skills you can highlight include your effectiveness and efficiency when it comes to problem-solving. In your hard customer service skills section you can include typing, including your words per minute, as well as the software you used (proprietary or otherwise) to help you do your job effectively. Bottom line: never make a “one-size-fits-all” resume, and then send it off to every Tom, Dick and Harry with whom you want to work. Tailor your resume to each job you apply to. Yes, this takes more time and effort, but it shows the hiring manager that you truly thought about the position you’re applying for, rather than applying at random to anything with an “Apply Now” button. 2: Be Concise No matter the type of job you’re applying for, remaining concise on your resume is always preferable to letting yourself get too wordy. Don’t include a list of every little task you did at your last job, even if you’re trying to make your resume more dense. Mention only those details that are relevant to the type of job you’re applying for, and try to group similar skills under one bullet point. Many applicants find their resume goes into a second page, so they beef up the word count in an effort to make it longer. In reality, you don’t want to go onto a second page unless you have a wealth of skills and experience that justify it. 3: Make It Your Own Using a resume template you find online is fine as a guide. But do not simply copy the structure of a resume template and replace the template’s information with your own. Remember, any resume you find online can be found just as easily by a prospective employer with an internet connection. Further, when a hiring manager sees hundreds of the same style of resumes coming in on a weekly basis, it’s not difficult to see which applicants are not putting the time and effort into making their resumes truly unique. Stand out from the crowd, show you care, and make your resume your own, and you will show the hiring manager that you are willing to do what it takes to earn that job you’re eyeing. (This also hints at the dedication you’ll bring to the role, too.) 4: Use Keywords Keywords are important because for those companies who use software to evaluate resumes automatically, the software will select the resume that uses the right keywords and dump the rest. Do some research insofar as a list of the customer service skills that exist, and incorporate only those relevant to your personal experience in your resume. You can use keywords to describe everything from your skills to your credentials. Try to incorporate as many as possible without getting too wordy. The goal is to catch the hiring manager’s eye – not drown them in details. 5: Keep the Focus on Your Results Many applicants explain on their resumes what they did in a position, rather than on what they accomplished or learned during their time with that particular company. For example, an applicant may put that he or she “provided technical support for [company’s product] to approximately 150 customers each week.” A better sentence would be something like “achieved the company’s target of 95% customer satisfaction rating within the first three months of employment.” See why this is better? Not only is it less generalized and, frankly, boring, than the first statement, but it gives the company a clearer picture of who you are as an employee, what you have accomplished in your prior roles, and how their company can benefit from hiring you over all the other applicants they have left to consider. 6: Think Outside the Box If you have never held a customer service job before, read through the qualifications of the job you’re interested in and see how they measure up to your personal experience. Have you helped customers over the phone or in person, even if your title did not technically include “customer service”? Do you have experience in training others on a particular product in a prior position that would translate well to helping people more regularly in a customer service job?
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Searching for a job nowadays is a far cry from the way things used to be. Now, recruiters “ghost” you (i.e. leave you hanging without a return phone call or e-mail), and you don’t even know why. Sadly, one reason could be because your resume is making you look “too old.” It’s a tragic truth. While you may think giving your all over the last 35 years to the same company proves you are a loyal and dedicated worker, all the recruiter may be thinking as he or she looks at your resume is that you’re over 50 years old and that you’re going to want to retire soon. In that case, the recruiter thinks, it’s probably best not to choose you for a long-term position. Here are three tips to help you craft your resume in such a way so as to not let your age define your qualifications before the recruiter even agrees to meet with you. Keep Your Experience Relevant It seems logical that if you have a plethora of experience in a variety of areas that you should include that experience on your resume. After all, you never know which of the jobs you’ve held previously will be the closest match for the position you’re seeking. However, as tempting as it may be to include all your promotions over the last 30 years, don’t. Even if you don’t include dates, the hiring manager knows how much time it takes to accrue that much experience. Whittle your resume down to two pages, and include only the most relevant information from your career. Try to match your resume as best you can to the skills and qualifications listed in the job posting. Many recruiters use software that only selects the resumes that match the terms they’re looking for, so the more terms you can legitimately include on your resume, the better. Watch Your Dates While this builds on the advice in the above tip, you should be careful of any and all dates you include on your resume. This goes for graduation dates and dates on which you earned certifications. For instance, if your last Windows certification was from when Windows 95 was released, this is a dead giveaway that you’re not fresh out of school. You shouldn’t not include dates, because this too is a bad idea. So what can you do? It may seem like overkill, but if you want to freshen up your skills, you may want to consider taking a nighttime or online class. Not only will you freshen up your resume, but you may also find you’re able to apply for more positions by learning something new. Then you can leave off the older certifications (like Windows 95) entirely and replace them with newer ones (like Windows 10) that make you more employable. Switch to a Professional Summary If you’re including an objective statement on your resume, this too can make you look “old school.” Today’s candidates often use a professional summary. The difference is that, instead of one line of at the top of your resume describing your purpose in applying, you instead include a blurb of factual evidence that proves you have what it takes to succeed at the job. Consider the following: Example Objective Statement: “Seeking a position that allows me to use my strengths as a project manager to provide quality feedback to my team while helping the company achieve its organizational objectives.” Example Professional Summary: “Business graduate with proven communication, email and project management skills. Seeking a position as a project manager at Company ABC, to leverage management skills to support internal and external communication.” The differences are minor, but by staying on top of trends in job applications, you’re giving the recruiter or hiring manager one less reason to question your longevity with the company. This is also a great space to fill in a little more of your experience without attaching dates.
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Most recruiters nowadays conduct phone interviews before they meet with you in person. Initial phone interviews are typically on the shorter side. If they go well, the recruiter will call you back for a second interview, which may be either another phone interview, a video interview, or an in-person interview. While a phone interview can be an efficient way for both the candidate and the recruiter to take the temperature of the candidate’s interest in the job, a phone interview can be an unnerving experience. It’s difficult to read a situation when you can’t see the other person’s reactions to your statements. With that in mind, here are six tips to help you ace your next phone interview and move on to round two! Maintain Good Posture While the interviewer can’t see you over the phone, you still want to maintain good posture while speaking to him or her. This is similar to the idea that if you smile, the other person will hear it in your voice. Good posture encourages you to sit up straight and helps you breathe better. A confident posture will lead to confident answers. Use a Landline Phone When you’re on a phone interview, you want the process to go as smoothly as possible. Taking a phone interview on a cell phone is a bad idea for several reasons. For one, you certainly don’t want to risk dropping the call. Secondly, you want the interviewer to hear every word you say – something that is not always possible with spotty cell phone signals. Using a cell phone also encourages you to get up and move around, which changes your breath and your voice – and not for the better. If you don’t have a landline – it is 2019 afterall – consider a VOIP service. Rehearse Your Answers You should not be improvising your answers on a phone interview. Part of the research you should do before taking the call, in addition to finding out all you can about the company and the position, is finding similar responses to questions candidates have answered in the past. Some questions are unique, but many are standard fare. For instance, you should already have a situation in mind that you can speak about with confidence when questioned on the biggest challenge you have faced in your previous experience, or something you accomplished of which you are particularly proud. Pause Before Answering When you’re asked a question on a phone interview, you may feel like you need to answer immediately, lest you sound unprofessional. After all, silence can seem to last longer on a phone call. However, it’s actually in the pauses you take that you allow your confidence to shine through. Telling the interviewer “that’s a great question. Let me think about that for a moment,” demonstrates to the interviewer that you’re someone who doesn’t rush into a situation without giving it serious thought first. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Notes You may think you will be able to answer all of the interviewer’s questions with ease, but the moment you answer their call, fear may kick in and cause your mind to go blank. Don’t hesitate to make a “cheat sheet” of sorts. Write down anything you may need to refer to on the call, such as the questions you have about the company and the position, and the salary range you’re considering. Just be sure to keep your notes short, like bullet points. You certainly don’t want to sound like you’re reading from a script. That would make you sound more like a telemarketer than a candidate, which only works if you’re applying for a telemarketing position. Remain Upbeat One of the biggest mistakes candidates make in phone interviews is that they don’t sound excited or energized about the job. Unfortunately, because the interviewer can’t see your face, you have to work extra hard to infuse your voice with the enthusiasm you have for this position. However, you have to keep that delicate balance of not going so overboard as to sound phony either. Just be honest. Gesture as you would if the person was sitting right in front of you, as this helps you emote better. And don’t be afraid to laugh if the interviewer says something funny. You’re both human, after all. The job search can be difficult, but following these tips will make at least one part of the process a little bit easier.
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Drug testing. It’s a trope used as an anxiety-inducing plot device in countless stoner comedies. Perhaps it has even made its way into your real-world job search with your current or former employer. For years medical drug screening has been a tool utilized by well-meaning but cautious companies who want to ensure their newest hire is focused on their work and not under the influence or partaking in illegal activities on personal time. It’s also big business with some estimates predicting the drug testing market will have a value of $13.89 billion by 2027. While that’s all well and good, the increasing number of states that have legalized medical and even recreational marijuana use places a snag in the previously streamlined system. Can, or should, companies expect their employees to not engage in perfectly legal behaviors outside of office hours? As it turns out, many states are wrestling with exactly that question. The Push to Legalization Beginning in the 1990’s states began taking a serious look at the potential benefits to marijuana use. By the time the millennium rolled around, five states had legalized medical marijuana use via a doctor’s prescription. In 2012 Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use. Today 11 states have laws on the books legalizing recreations weed use. Marijuana and Drug Testing Years ago, employers realized the utility in drug testing potential new hires. The logic went that anyone who engaged in illicit drug use during personal time probably wasn’t up to company standards. You could eliminate problem employees and ensure that anyone you brought on board was in line with your corporate culture and focused on their daily job duties. Marijuana was typical one of numerous substances tested for on broad screening panels performed by third-party drug testing labs. With the advent of legalized recreational marijuana use, however, many employees are rethinking screening for its use, and for drug use altogether. As of 2017, one in seven U.S. adults admitted to occasional marijuana use. With the increasing number of states taking action on the topic, it only stands to reason that the number will continue to increase. Marijuana use continues to be studied for its benefits on a range of health conditions from insomnia to pain management and is consistently touted as a useful and enjoyable tool for many adults. While the topic is hotly debated, many advocates tout marijuana as a safer drug of choice than alcohol for recreational use, a legal but regulated substance. With the increase in use and legal status, it’s not too hard to see the quandary employers are faced with when it comes to drug testing for marijuana. Companies in states that allow recreational marijuana are narrowing the potential applicant pool by eliminating otherwise talented candidates from consideration. With the increase in acceptance and mainstream use of weed employers also run the risk of alienating younger talent who tend to be more focused on company culture and inclusiveness in the workplace. Then there are the legal considerations. New York state recently passed a law prohibiting pre-employment screening for marijuana in all but a handful of professions such as construction workers, nurses, and police officers. While drug screening for marijuana use is still allowed in many states, it’s not hard to imagine similar legislation being enacted as the push towards federal legalization continues. What Can (and Should) Employers Do While the verdict is still out on marijuana’s ultimate status, there are common-sense steps employers can take now to provide guidance and clarity with their new and existing workforce. For starters, companies are well within their rights to prohibit the use of drugs or alcohol while employees are on duty. Reasonable policies that clearly spell out the ability of employers to terminate anyone who shows up to work intoxicated or high are an accepted and safe course. Likewise, it’s also a reasonable expectation for careers in industries that deal with public health and safety that employees refrain from drug use that may impact their ability to operate at a high level of attention. What companies shouldn’t do, however, is throw the baby out with the bathwater by enacting zero-tolerance policies that alienate and limit their access to quality talent. Finally, it may be worth your time and money to consult with an employment attorney to learn about the laws of your particular city or state concerning drug screening and use. Taking this holistic approach allows companies to adapt to changing the societal acceptance of marijuana while still protecting their business.
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If you’ve turned on the radio, switched on a television, or scrolled through a news app anytime in the last few weeks you’re probably aware of the U.S. economy’s recent wild swings. Chances are you’ve also heard or seen terms like “recession”, “yield curve”, “bond market”, and “trade” more times than you can count. Even if you don’t have a deep portfolio of investments or aren’t a Wall Street trader, economic performance as a whole can still have a major impact on your ability to land a decent job. One of the most relevant sets of statistics for anyone currently in the employment market is the monthly JOLTS report. Here we break down where those magical “jobs” numbers come from and how the results could influence your employment search. What is the JOLTS Report? Launched in 2000, the JOLTS, or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, is a monthly report prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The information in the report is based on voluntary reporting by certain U.S. employers. The data collected from key industries and employers is crunched and used as a base to derive wider national numbers of hirings, firings and total open positions. The report is released monthly for the time period two months earlier. The most recently released report on August 6th, for example, covers statistics gathered from June of this year. Breaking Down the Numbers The August 6th JOLTS report shows little change from the May results. The total number of job openings clocked in at 7.3 million with 5.7 million total monthly hires and 5.5 million separations. 3.4 million of those separations were “quits” or people who chose to voluntarily leave their job while 1.7 million were involuntary firings or layoffs. When comparing total job openings with the number of unemployed individuals there are around 1.4 million more jobs than people currently on the market which is slightly fewer than during the previously tracked month of May. What Does This All Mean? While the gap between open jobs and those looking for work is closing, the facts still point to an employee market in that companies will have to work harder to attract individuals given the short supply of talent. While this may not ring true for every field, it’s a good gauge of hiring prospects and your ability to potentially negotiate for a higher salary. This is further enforced by the healthy number of workers willingly leaving their jobs since this is a strong indicator that employees feel like they have other, better prospects. While total job openings didn’t quite meet analysts expectations, the consistency with the previous month speaks to the stability of the current job market and your ability to find work, if you’re looking. If you’re looking for a specific industry to target, the JOLTS report also has some useful tidbits in that area. Private versus government jobs didn’t see much of a change, but openings in real estate and rental leasing along with state and local government education were on the rise. Hirings also ticked up in foodservice, indicating restaurants may be in need of talent. While this data may be useful to your immediate employment prospects, it also provides insight into larger trends in the economy. An increase of companies interested in hiring realtors may indicate that the housing market is about to boom while the strong foodservice showing is a good sign that people are dining out and spending money. Hirings and Firings Bottom Line If you enjoyed our breakdown of the employment prognosticating, be sure to tune back next month when the July report is released on September 10th. In the meantime, if you’re looking to add to these numbers by leaving your current job, be sure to check out the Simply Hired blogs for tips on making a graceful exit.
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During an interview, the interviewer may throw a curveball your way with a tough question that you may not know how to answer. While these tougher questions may seem out of left field at best, or silly at worst, it is important to maintain your professionalism and answer them accordingly. Even if you have a stellar resume, how you answer a tough question is just as important as what you say when you give your answer. Here are some tips on how to handle some of the tough interview questions out there. “What is Your Greatest Weakness?” The key to handling this tough interview question is to give an answer that doesn’t make the interviewer’s job easy for them by giving them permission to reject your application. You always want to remain upbeat in an interview, focusing on your strengths. But how do you focus on your strengths when they’re literally asking you about your weaknesses? One thing you definitely don’t want to do is say that you “don’t have any.” Everyone has a weakness, and the interviewer, of course, knows this. The key is to pick out something positive about yourself that you might see as a negative but that employers might see as a positive. For instance, if you say “I tend to put my job over my personal life,” this tells the employer that you are a hard worker, perhaps at times to your own detriment. It’s a weakness, yes, but it’s also a strength. “Tell Me About Yourself.” This is one of those tricky questions because: a) it doesn’t even seem like a question – more like an icebreaker, and b) it’s easy to get wrapped up in this one and drone on and on forever. The interviewer is not looking to have a friendly conversation before the interview proper. He or she simply wants a two-to-three-minute summary of your experience thus far and a reason why you are the only person for the job. If you’re overwhelmed by the question and unsure how to answer it, think of it instead as “tell me something unique about yourself.” Give the interviewer a quick summary of your experience and education, as well as one strong quality that you have learned thus far to help you in your career. For instance, you can say something like “my business degree, coupled with my experience as a Hospital Director, has made me a strong leader, and I am confident my leadership skills could also carry me far in this role.” “Why are You Looking to Leave Your Current Job?” Even if you’re leaving your current job because your boss is a lot to handle, or you haven’t received a raise in five years, you never want to give these as your reasons. Remember to stay positive and upbeat with every answer you give. And also remember, how you talk about your current employer may be how you talk about your prospective employer one day – and your prospective employer knows this. The best way to answer this one is to focus on the positives of the job you’re applying for. You can never go wrong with expressing your desire to pursue a more challenging opportunity. Also, remember to keep your tone upbeat, too. If your real reason for leaving your current job is because you are desperately unhappy, the interviewer will be able to tell and may fear you’ll do the same thing to them in six months. “Do You Have Any Questions for Me?” The answer to this tough interview question is always “yes.” You must always have questions prepared for the interviewer. Else, it looks like you don’t really care about the company and that you are only interested in a paycheck. Even if this is true, you certainly don’t want to convey it to the interviewer. Ask questions that you could not have answered yourself with a quick online search. Lazy questions are just as bad as not having questions prepared at all. Ask the interviewer questions that no one but he or she could answer, such as “what do you like about working for the company?” or “can you describe the company culture?” You want to ask about two or three questions total. Three is often better, but you can usually gauge from the interviewer whether to ask that third question or stick to the two. Riddles You’ve made it to the end of your interview, and you know you aced it. Then the interviewer asks you something incredibly odd and out of left field, like “how many ping-pong balls can you fit inside of a minivan?” or “how many marshmallows can you fit inside of an airplane?” This is another one of those situations where they’re looking for how you answer as much as, or more than, what you answer. Rather than acting cute, stick to logic. Try to come up with an honest solution to this question, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to you. The interviewer is testing your ability to be a problem-solver, and snark is just not going to fly here. Have you ever been asked a tough question you weren’t sure how to answer? Tell us about it in the comments!
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You hear it all the time, how highlighting problem-solving skills on a resume or cover letter is more important than throwing together a shopping list of the tasks you performed at your previous job(s). But you may be wondering which way is best when it comes to highlighting these problem-solving skills. Examples of Problem-Solving Skills First and foremost, in order to be able to highlight problem-solving skills on your resume or cover letter, you have to be able to identify them. In fact, you may have more problem-solving skills than you give yourself credit for. Here are some examples of some of the more common problem-solving skills that candidates tend to list in their resumes and cover letters:
Research Skills – In order to fix a problem, you have to be able to understand it. And sometimes understanding a problem requires you to go deeper, to research and discover its root cause, before you can figure out how to fix it. Communication Skills – Communication is important at every level, from informing others that a problem exists in the first place to brainstorming ways to resolve it. Analytical Skills – Sharpened analytical skills can help you discover and understand a problem, as well as come up with ways to research and, ultimately, solve the problem. Dependability – It may not seem like a problem-solving skill, but dependability is crucial in that employers can depend on you to solve problems in a timely fashion. This is an invaluable skill in that it can save your employer time, money, and other finite resources.
Customization is Key It’s a lot of work, yes, but it’s important. You should tailor your resume and cover letter to each individual job you apply to. In other words, you should consider the job you’re applying to, and compare the skills they’re asking for with the skills highlighted on your resume and cover letter. Do they match? If there are skills that you have and that the job requires, but you have not listed them on your resume, then now’s the time to do so. You want to show the company that you are the best candidate for the job because you have performed and accomplished everything they’re looking for in an employee. If this causes your resume to be longer than it should be, then you should weigh which skills you could do without in favor of highlighting the more important ones. Be Short and Sweet In most situations, hiring managers don’t have the time, nor the desire, to sit and read a lengthy cover letter. If you ramble on for too long, you practically guarantee your application will end up in the “outbox” (garbage can). You want to strike that delicate balance between telling the hiring manager enough about yourself to strike up interest, and keeping your cover letter short and sweet so as not to drone on and lose the person. The best way to sum up your problem-solving skills in a cover letter is to, in one paragraph:
Briefly explain a work problem that either happened or could have happened, and whether it was resolved. Elaborate, briefly, on your role in the situation and what you did to solve the problem. Describe the positive result of your actions, and whether there were any positive, long-term effects.
You should be able to cover all these points in one paragraph. You should be able to flesh out the first bullet point in one or two sentences, and the remainder in a sentence each. Cater to Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) In today’s world, the odds of an actual human being reading your job application are less than they were ten years ago. This is largely due to the introduction of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which scan a candidate’s application, looking for certain keywords. If those keywords aren’t there, then the system rejects the application. Therefore, the best way to ensure that your application receives a phone call back is to try as best you can to match the problem-solving skills in your resume and cover letter to the exact qualifications listed within the job posting. The more your skills match what the company is looking for, the more likely you are to receive a phone call for an interview, rather than a bot-issued rejection. If, for example, you’re looking for a secretarial job, you may see “time management” listed among a job posting’s required skills. You should therefore include the keyword “time management” in your resume and briefly describe your experience with that skill.
The post Highlighting Problem-Solving Skills on a Resume or Cover Letter appeared first on Career Advice.
When drafting your resume, you normally include a line at the bottom stating “References: Furnished upon request.” But what happens if the hiring manager actually requests your references? Who should you list? Most places ask for two personal references and two professional references, but what if you no longer speak to any of your prior coworkers? What if you were the only employee at your former job? What if you have never even had a job before? Here are some ideas for job references you can use if you’re not quite sure who to turn to. Just be sure to always ask the person’s permission before putting them down as a reference. You don’t want to put them in a situation wherein they feel like the hiring manager is putting them on the spot. Not only do they not have enough time to craft their answers, but they could end up resenting you for not giving them the common courtesy of simply asking their permission first. A Former Professor or Teacher If you’ve never had a job before, a former professor or teacher works wonderfully as a “professional” reference of sorts. This is because a teacher is an unbiased party who will provide the hiring manager with the information he or she needs regarding your work ethic and level of enthusiasm when it comes to learning new things. In that same vein, another option is your college advisor. An advisor is a great choice because he or she can explain to the hiring manager what your career goals were when you started your college career and how you have evolved in meeting those goals. If your advisor has been with you every step of the way and has seen how hard you were willing to work during your college years, then he or she can act as an effective witness to your character. A Former Supervisor If one of the reasons you are leaving your current job is because you don’t get along with your boss, consider asking a former supervisor to act as your reference instead. Chances are, your supervisor spent enough time with you on your projects to provide a hiring manager with a clear picture insofar as who you are as a person and what you accomplished as an employee. Past and Present Colleagues Most folks choose former colleagues to act as their references. While former colleagues you still speak to are more than likely your friends, they are also valuable references because they can inform the hiring manager of the kinds of projects you worked on together. They can fill in the blanks on your achievements as part of the team that you might have forgotten to focus on in your resume and cover letter. The same goes for present colleagues. Some folks may not realize they can utilize the people they still work with as references. And who better to give the hiring manager a current snapshot of your skills as a worker than someone who is still presently working with you? A Family Member For most people, putting a family member down as a personal reference is a no-brainer. However, this packs more power if you have a family member who can also speak to your skills as a professional. For example, while you may want to list your mother as a reference, because she’s sure to give you a glowing review, why not consider instead listing the cousin you worked with at the ice cream shop over summer break every year? Your cousin is just as likely to give you a glowing review because he or she is family, but you also have the added benefit of a professional reference, having also previously worked with your cousin. An Authority Figure from Your Past While not as common, some folks don’t have much, or any, remaining family, and/or they have never held down a job. What does a person do then? You can use any authority figure from your past whom you trust and who can speak to your character as one of your references. This can be anyone from your pastor to your former Boy or Girl Scout leader – anyone who served as your leader or organizer of sorts. Just be sure to ask their permission first – especially if it’s someone you haven’t spoken to in years. And, of course, no matter who you choose as a reference, always be sure to thank your references, whether or not the hiring manager contacts them. Thanking your references is just as important as thanking those who interviewed you. And be sure to return the favor and offer to act as a reference for them too, should they ever need one.
The post Who Makes for a Good Job Reference? appeared first on Career Advice.
LinkedIn launched a new feature a handful of years ago that lets you quickly and easily endorse people in your network for one or more skill sets they've chosen to list for themselves. Anyone who is actively looking for work right now should be striving to get endorsed often. Here's why...
Before this feature was launched, people could "game" their profile for a type of job by filling it with skill sets—in other words, keyword-optimizing their LinkedIn profile—to ensure their profile showed up in a recruiter's proactive search for talent via LinkedIn. Simply fill your headline, "About" section (Summary), and "Experience" section (Work History) with these keywords and you were improving the chances you'd be looked at.
You absolutely should optimize your LinkedIn profile, and this is a great strategy that most job seekers don't use, so you might have a competitive advantage over those people in your job search. The problem is just because you claim you have these skills, doesn't mean the rest of the world thinks you have them too.
Endorsements solve that problem! Now, when a recruiter sees you say you are good at "sales" and it's validated by dozens of endorsements, they know you are the real deal. They'll be more likely to contact you instead of another job candidate who is not endorsed for that skill.
Taking a page from the highly successful #followfriday ritual over on X, coupled with the statistical evidence to support it, Monday is a terrible day to reach out to recruiters and others for help in your job search, so it occurred to me that Mondays are the ideal day to start an "Endorse Day" ritual.
The idea is simple: every Monday, take 10 minutes out of your morning to pay it forward by endorsing 10 people in your LinkedIn network. Imagine how you would feel if, in your inbox on a Monday (aka the day of the week when even the most cheerful people struggle to get going), you found endorsements of your skill sets from your peers. Would it make you feel good? Yup. Would it make you realize what a great colleague they were for taking the time to do it? Sure thing. Most of all, would it make you want to endorse them back? Bingo!
In short, you have to give to get. So, why not make Mondays the day you give to those in your network? Not only will it make you feel good, I guarantee you will get a good return on your investment!
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Are you suffering from job burnout? Job burnout is a very specific type of stress that differs from the stress that we experience as part of a "normal" life experience. The folks at the Mayo Clinic define job burnout as a "state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity."
Having experienced a severe case of job burnout myself at one point in my professional life, I have some suggestions that I would like to share that might help you avoid or overcome the pain of burnout on the job. Try one or more of the following 10 tips if you're feeling overworked and burned out at work (I wish I had).
When feeling stressed, it is far too easy to default to eating for comfort instead of for health. "Comfort foods" are those that are high in fat and sugar, and they do, in fact, help you feel better because they boost the level of dopamine in your brain. In the long run, however, they do more harm than good.
Your body needs the minerals and nutrients that whole foods offer. You also need to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. Your body flushes out the toxins that it manufactures daily when it is properly hydrated. Eating and drinking more mindfully helps to a degree if you are feeling the ill effects of job burnout and the stress that accompanies it.
Just as it is far too easy to make poor choices concerning what to eat when you feel stressed, you may default to not wanting to work out regularly. Exercise, however, can help you destress and get rid of some of the frustration and pent-up anger that may be accompanying your job burnout symptoms.
Work out for at least 30 minutes a day three to four times a week even if it is nothing more than taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood. Working up a good sweat may help to alleviate some of your pent-up emotions around work, and vigorous workouts can help to produce endorphins that will help elevate your mood.
Sleep is routinely ignored as a bodily need. We're kidding ourselves if we think we can either delay or defer the sleep that we need for optimum health and performance. We should neither delay nor defer sleep, and we need a certain number of hours each night.
More and more research is supporting the notion that everyone needs between seven and nine hours of sleep per night in order to operate at their optimum level. If you are staying up late in order to get extra work done, you may be engaging in counter-productive behavior. Your brain needs to turn off from work periodically. Working late hours and failing to get the rest your entire body—including your brain—needs can hurt your productivity rather than help it. Do yourself a favor and decide to make sleep a priority. Your mood will improve and perhaps your attitude about your job will, too.
Your sense of job dissatisfaction and burnout may be due to a sense of overwhelm which is only exasperated if you have allowed things like books and papers to pile up around you.
Take the time to organize your workspace. Put papers in folders and label them. Throw out what is no longer needed. Prioritize tasks and projects. If you need help, ask for it. There is more harm to be done in trying to do everything yourself and letting things fall apart than in recognizing that you need help and asking for it in a timely manner.
Gold stars are not awarded to the workaholics who never step away from their desks, even when they need to. You may be working for a raise or a promotion, but doing so at the risk of your health and well-being is not a good strategy. Research supports the fact that you need to give your mind—and your body—periodic breaks throughout the day.
Take a morning break. Go out to lunch with friends or colleagues and try to talk about something other than work over your meal. Take a mid-afternoon break by walking around the building rather than going to the vending machine or the coffee maker. Steer clear of late-afternoon snacks that are high in sugar or caffeine. Do take a break, however, in order to help your brain reset itself every few hours.
If you are feeling a real sense of job burnout as in you are considering quitting your job altogether, take some time off first to see if that might be what you need. Perhaps you just need a long weekend or a couple of weeks of vacation instead of a whole new job. At least by taking some time away from the immediate source of your stress, you may gain some perspective that you are currently lacking.
Don't do anything rash. If you have some time to take, do it before making any life-changing decisions.
Most companies offer an employee assistance program or EAP. These services are free of charge for the employee, and they are confidential. You can make an appointment, go in and talk to someone, and share your concerns about yourself and your sense of burnout. Perhaps all you need is someone to talk to so that you can talk through whatever it is that is getting to you.
If you use this resource and you still feel like the job is the problem, at least you will have taken the time and made the effort to get some perspective on the matter.
Turn off your computer, cell phone, and even the TV for a short period every day. We tend to stay so plugged in that it is difficult to turn off our brains. Part of the sense of overwhelm that some people experience is the result of the inability to relax and get away from things...ever. This is especially true if you are in the kind of job where you need to be reachable 24/7.
I know that for me, part of my job burnout was the result of feeling that I had to be available all of the time—even when I was supposed to be "off." In four years, I never got to take a decent vacation where I could responsibly turn off the phone or not check email. As a result, at the end of those four years, I was so exhausted that I needed six months to rest, relax, and rejuvenate. Most people don't have six months that they can take out of their lives like I did. Do yourself a favor and pace yourself so that you don't get to that point.
It is possible that most of the pressure you feel is self-imposed. Do you really have to be burning the midnight oil or giving up on the family vacation in order to do what needs to be done at work? The pressure you feel may be coming from your sense of obligation or responsibility, but is it really necessary?
Take a look at that possibility, at least. If it turns out that your sense of burnout is self-imposed, adjust your schedule and your attitude accordingly. You may feel an immediate sense of relief as a result.
If after considering all of these options and taking some time away from the situation you still feel depleted and unfulfilled by your current job situation, it may be time to think about making a change.
Is a new job a realistic possibility? Is it possible for you to find a position in which you might operate with more autonomy and less stress? Do you need to consider what those options would be? Do you need a job with less responsibility? Do you need more help in a similar position? Do you need more clerical assistance? Do you need a different job altogether? Only you can answer these questions, just as you are the only person who can determine if you are experiencing job burnout and how severe your job burnout may be.
The bottom line is that job burnout is real. It is not something you made up. If you are feeling emotionally depleted, and you are experiencing a sense of just being "worn out" physically, emotionally, and mentally, then you may be experiencing job burnout. You need to take a look at it and consider what you can do about it.
Life is too short to spend it feeling constantly overwhelmed. Consider what you need to do for yourself in order to take better care of yourself. You need to do this for you. You also owe it to the family and friends who love you and may be feeling like you are "missing in action" because your mind is always on work even when your body is somewhere else.
Congratulations, it’s 2025 and you are now the COO of a major pharma (or life sciences) company. Right away you get to work improving your company’s value chain including all those activities and processes involved in creating whatever product or service is being offered.
These challenges require at least a tertiary mastery of a myriad of operational topics (i.e., risk management, quality control, resource allocation, supply chain, technology, finance, strategic planning, etc.). You know that success (or failure) will ultimately impact the lives of patients or consumers (not to mention quite possibly the future of your own career) and you are worried that you may not be successful.
Compounding the issue, it becomes increasingly necessary to consider the changing societal and technological landscape. Widening gaps between the economic classes and political parties are met with advancements in social technology and new ways of working. This all comes together to produce a landscape that has not seen this much tumult since the late 80s to early 90s when we witnessed the end of the Cold War and the rise of the internet. Back then we had to deal with factors like the debt crisis and globalization; but what factors should be considered in today’s evolving socio-economic landscape and how do we rise to meet those challenges?
Here are three things to take into consideration in 2025.
By now you may be tired of hearing about how everyone is talking about ML and AI. For many, AI is that cool chat interface which, when provided with a detailed prompt, can quickly provide feedback in human terms. Machine learning, a component of AI, is just a tool to connect data tables to provide useful insights across data sets. The truth is that ML and AI are much more than that with a host of operational use cases.
* https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/ai-in-business/
* https://www.investopedia.com/how-ai-is-used-in-business-8611256
In the very near future, the flavor of the ML and AI application selected for your use case will not be as important as how it is used. As ML and AI become adept at accepting more than simple prompts and data tables as inputs (i.e., using robotic sensors, scanners, cameras, etc.), the line between human and machine resources will blur. While operational decisions today are only supported by ML and AI, who is to say how they will be made moving forward given that human-to-machine parity*. As COO, it will be up to you to define those decision boundaries by ensuring controls and governance are put in place to make sure that ML and AI remain as tools and do not become carpenters.
*https://techxplore.com/news/2024-01-ten-ways-artificial-intelligence-years.html#google_vignette
This may not seem as cool or sexy as ML and AI, however, its relevance is projected to continue long after ML and AI have matured from nascent operational tools to fully adopted operational mechanisms. From the perspective of the COO, aligning portfolio activity with your organization’s long-term objectives becomes your primary concern. In addition, external environmental considerations, which can potentially disrupt your otherwise harmonious operations, must also be considered.
Portfolio management methodologies like Axelos Management of Portfolios (MoP) may be used to align the state of external markets and competitor landscapes with internal organizational imperatives through the establishment of operating principles to optimize delivery cycles. PMI’s Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) certification methodologies may also be leveraged to standardize day-to-day portfolio operations while taking into consideration the impact of changes in the operating environment.
As COO, your insights into portfolio performance will come from both strategically focused and qualitative objectives and key results (OKRs) to drive the measurement of strategic imperatives and operationally focused and quantitative key performance indicators (KPIs).* Introduction and support of the toolsets offered by these and similar methodologies is and remains paramount to ensuring factors of changing landscapes are incorporated successfully into your organization's operations.
*https://www.aihr.com/blog/okr-vs-kpi/
According to the July 2023 US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the 2023-2025 Outlook, the economy is anticipated to continue on its positive trajectory as business investment spend increases from 1.9 % in 2024 to 3.5% in 2025. This increase will be due, in no small part, to the projected decreases in the cost of capital as interest rates level off and begin to recede.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) echoes this sentiment globally, forecasting infrastructure spend (including technology, education, and research) to reach nearly $9 trillion in 2025 (up from over $4 trillion just 12 years prior). More specifically, within R&D, spending is predicted to increase from $212 billion to $255 billion in 2026*. In short, the days of temporary spending austerity will come to an end and COOs will need to be poised to invest in tools and technologies that drive real value and efficiency. The trick for COOs is to time operational spend to take advantage of the ebbs and flows of capital value while continuing to deliver on organizational needs. Two-to-five-year budget forecasts need to account for this increase to ensure readily available funding for the anticipated spending increase in 2025 and 2026.
*Pharmaceutical Market Size, Share & Trends Report, 2030 (grandviewresearch.com)
Focus on these considerations should not diminish the impact or importance of typical issues plaguing operations management in pharma and life sciences (i.e., changing product landscapes, supply chain pressures in meeting demand surges, developing or acquiring talent, etc.). Rather, these viewpoints should serve as a lens through which to begin to tackle them. For example, in thinking about the changing product landscapes like the rise in new modalities (e.g., gene and cell therapies), it may be helpful to consider the extent AI is being used to drive innovation and the subsequent potential legal pitfalls (e.g., patent and intellectual property disputes).
As COO, you are poised to best position your organization to address the coming tide of operational evolution. Keeping these things on your radar can ensure you are not blindsided by the coming waves of change.
Although a resume is the first impression job seekers get to make, it's amazing how many people continue to gloss over errors. In today's job market, you need to make sure your resume is going to be read rather than quickly scanned and thrown away.
You want your resume to impress the future employer reading it. So, do you know what your resume really says about you? Here are some typical resume mistakes job seekers make and how they translate to employers.
Typos, misspelled words, and bad grammar mistakes can make a hiring manager think you're careless or won't pay attention to details on the job. Show you are serious about the job opportunity and capable of doing the job by choosing words carefully and catching any mistakes.
Including too much information can make employers think you aren't able to write clearly and concisely, which has become increasingly important in today's high-tech world. Your resume might not be read if it's too long, either. For an effective resume, focus on white space, bullet points, and quantifying your work experience.
A busy, cluttered resume may make employers think you are unorganized and scatterbrained, and that those characteristics could carry over to the job. Make sure your resume formatting is consistent throughout the document and use headings and bullet points to organize information on your resume.
This shows you don't care enough about the job opportunity to send a tailored/customized resume. It might also tell employers you aren't great at adapting. Always customize your resume for each position you apply for. That way, the potential employer will see the exact skills and experience you have that are relevant to the position and realize you're a great, qualified candidate who could help them reach their goals.
This will very likely make hiring managers skip your resume altogether. It's unprofessional. Create an email account with some variation of your name for job-seeking purposes.
This can make the employer think you haven't updated your resume for the job opening—or worse, that you aren't being honest. Lying on your resume is never a good idea. Instead, learn how to properly demonstrate your value as a business-of-one.
Need more resume tips? Here's how to spruce up your resume in just a few minutes:
The lesson is to take your time to make your resume showcase the best “you." Highlight those accomplishments. Update it when necessary. Make it concise, compelling, and error-free. Once you do this, you'll be ready to apply for your dream job and find the career success you deserve.
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You go to work, you do your work, and you come home wondering where this is all going. You wonder what your next step is. What can you be doing to elevate your career?
So, you ask your manager. And your manager stares at you blankly and points to your projects. You're confused and head back to your desk. It is too easy to continue this routine until you get frustrated with your current situation and start looking elsewhere.
What's the problem with this story? You're not managing your career.
You're doing your work, you're talking to your manager, but you aren't actively managing your career. You're actually looking for your boss to manage it for you. The problem is that your boss is busy managing their own career. So, you need to start managing yours. You need to own it.
Far too many professionals today look to their managers to manage their career path and trajectory when, in fact, this is yours and yours alone to manage. It's so easy to get caught up in our work that we lose sight of our career. So, how do you manage your own career with confidence?
Here are seven ways you can start managing your career today...
The key to getting what you want is knowing what you want. You must know what you want out of your career and you should be clear about these goals with your manager and your mentor. These career goals are also a great way to measure your progress through the year and should be mentioned in your regular performance reviews.
The hardest thing to do is to hear honest feedback because it isn't always positive. However, the ability to listen to all feedback and adjust accordingly is what will elevate your career. Be sure you are open to the good, the bad, and the ugly feedback. This will help you adjust your work and your goals.
Try to think about your work in terms of NEAR: numbers, examples, achievements, and results. We all have responsibilities. But the people who stand out talk about their responsibilities in terms of numbers, achievements, and results, and they have examples to back them up. This is called quantifying your work experience, and it's the key to landing a new job or getting a promotion. What numbers, examples, achievements, and results did you produce this year?
You probably do a great project once per quarter and one that definitely meets the NEAR criteria. You know, a project or deliverable that you are super proud of that contributed to the success of the company. Take that work and store it in a special folder on your computer or in the cloud. It's always important to have examples of your work in the event you want to angle for a promotion or raise, or give hiring managers a glimpse of the kind of value you add as an employee.
Read industry publications, websites, and blogs. Share the best articles with your connections on LinkedIn and have a point of view of your own. Position yourself as a voice of the industry and a valuable resource within your professional network. When you see great content, make an insightful comment and connect with influencers in the industry.
When a new project comes up and it aligns with your goals, raise that hand. Let your manager or HR team know that you want to learn some new skills or gain new, more advanced experience. Be clear about what you can offer to the project and get involved.
We know you're busy working and getting things done. This is the extra stuff that's required to take ownership of your career. Spend a few hours a week in the conversation and connecting with new people. You should also spend about an hour a quarter maintaining your best work files and your social profiles. It isn't a ton of investment; it's just a new habit to create in managing your own career growth and trajectory.
As a professional and business-of-one, it's incredibly important to take ownership of your career and actively manage it whenever you can. The best way to ensure you reach your career goals and build your personal brand is to "work it daily." Follow these tips today to actively manage your career and you'll find success sooner than you think.
I was talking to a client recently who's conducting a stealth job search. A stealth job search is when you're currently working for an employer and you don't want them to know that you are looking for a better job. Now, this is dicey because if you start doing some of the techniques that are helping people get noticed on LinkedIn these days, you could draw attention to yourself.
The number one way to get a white-collar job right now is to be very visible and active on LinkedIn. LinkedIn changed its algorithm recently, so now for you to be found by recruiters you have to be posting in your LinkedIn feed.
It's not enough just to have a profile anymore. You actually need to have a content strategy if you want to be found by recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn. The problem with that is if you don't know how to post the right content when you're conducting a stealth job search, it can alert a lot of people at your current employer, maybe even your boss, leading them to ask you why you're posting so much content—and that can be awkward. I've actually heard of some people who got fired because the company found out they were actively looking for work.
It's a buyer's market right now, meaning employers know that there is somebody who can replace you. So, you need to be careful with this content strategy in your stealth job search.
The solution, and the thing that we teach all of our clients over at Work It DAILY who are in stealth job search mode, is how to fill out and complete something called a content strategy matrix. This matrix helps you decide what content you could put in your LinkedIn feed without it drawing attention.
The secret? Creating content in which you can invite your co-workers, even your boss, to comment and contribute. This makes them think that they're part of the process and makes them blissfully unaware that you're actually looking for a job.
So many of my clients who use this content strategy matrix in their stealth job search ask, "Why didn't somebody teach me this sooner?" It's so easy to do. Their colleagues are commenting on their posts. Everyone is getting visibility on LinkedIn. And lo and behold, they're getting contacted by recruiters.
A content strategy matrix is the key to getting recruiters to contact you about jobs without you having to contact them. This is really important in a competitive job market because in the hidden job market, there are jobs that you are qualified for that you probably want really badly that aren't publicly posted, and that's because companies don't want to get hundreds, sometimes thousands, of unqualified applicants. So they don't post the jobs. Instead, they send their recruiters out on LinkedIn to find the right candidates. You're not going to be able to apply to jobs secretly because these jobs aren't anywhere for you to apply to. The only way you're going to get them is if a recruiter finds you, which is, again, why you're going to need a content strategy matrix and a posting strategy that's simple and easy to implement.
If you're looking for a job while employed, it's essential to learn all the stealth job search techniques. A content strategy matrix will get recruiters to contact you about jobs that are a fit for you. Learn how to create one with a Work It DAILY membership.
Good luck, and go get 'em!
Soft skills get a bad rap. Yet more organizations are requiring development on the softer side than ever before. So, what's the deal?
"Companies have moved away from the 'command and control' decision-making style," says Marie Holmstrom, the Charlotte, N.C.-based director of talent management and organization alignment with Towers Watson. "Managing day-to-day decisions takes away [leaders'] perspective and capacity to focus. Leaders must lead through others. You don't accomplish that only with technical skills. You have to have [those skills], but to achieve the next level of success, you have to be able to lead through others."
Research from HBR states, "Once people reach the C-suite, technical and functional expertise matters less than leadership skills and a strong grasp of business fundamentals." In a nutshell, soft skills.
Female traits are winning.
There are a lot of experts jumping on the bandwagon of the evolving leadership model. Soft skills have always been at the heart of great leadership. With the research that John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio have published in their recent book, we need to take note that two-thirds of survey respondents felt that "the world would be a better place if men thought more like women."
I always associate the softer side with female traits. However, I can't tell you how many times I have been told I wasn't "warm and fuzzy" enough as an HR leader. That's insulting, to say the least, as I am sure a man in a similar position would not be given that feedback. However, I did embody loyalty and intuitiveness—both feminine traits and in the category of soft skills.
I am relieved of this renewed focus on the softer side. It allows women to lead as authentic women, and men to exude some of their innate qualities that otherwise might stay hidden.
Here are three soft skills every leader should be demonstrating on a daily basis to raise their game, lift up their teams, and help their organizations reach their goals.
Whether in speaking or in writing, communicating up, down, and across is always important. How you communicate is even more crucial.
Those who know how to articulate their point with influence, directness, and compassion are demonstrating a real ability to raise their organization's game.
In order to influence your customers, vendors, board of directors, team, and other management, you need to be savvy. Influencing takes a soft touch, time to understand your audience, and the ability to bring them to your side of the table.
Yes, I put this in the top three. Humility can be defined as the quality or state of being humble; a modest opinion of one's own importance or rank.
In today's environment, leading with power and authority, albeit effective at times, is going by the wayside. Leaving your ego at the door and allowing others to lead with you is paramount to the future growth of your team and organization.
This, my friends, is humility.
There's nothing warm and fuzzy about these skills. They're just the softer side of the skills we all need to be a game-changing leader. If you want to be a great leader, focus on developing and practicing these three skills on the job today. The success of your team depends on it!
Remember when you started at your current job? You may have felt excited about the opportunities that were ahead, and the new skills you were going to learn.
Fast-forward to present you at your job. Do you have that same excitement? If not, you may want to consider switching jobs.
Studies show that people who are mentally checked out on the job but not proactively looking for new work can end up becoming underperformers.
In worst-case scenarios, these people could get fired for poor performance.
You don't want that happening to you, right? We don't either. That's why we're giving you this three-step strategy to help you decide whether to leave your job or not.
It may be hard to hear, but if you aren't growing in your career, you're dying in your career.
The experiences you're having at work should be building up your skills, not dragging you down. Every couple of months, take a step back and look at the work you've done. Have those work experiences made you learn and grow into a better professional?
If they haven't, then you're not growing as a professional. That's a problem.
The experiences you're having at work should help you grow in the following three ways:
1. Financial - You want opportunities within your organization that will let you build up your income. You could be looking for a raise, or a promotion, to keep up with your personal goals. It's important to know if your company is giving you the opportunities to achieve this.
2. Influence - This is meant in terms of power and control over your career. The more influence you have in terms of the respect and the support from your peers and managers, the better. Successful experiences will help you earn their trust and respect.
3. Skills - You must stay relevant to your work if you want to be happy with your career. As you build up your skill set, you become more valuable to your employer.
If you feel like you're hitting a dead end in any of these areas, it's time for a change.
Once you've gone through the first two steps of this process, you know whether or not you've hit some major roadblocks.
If you have hit those roadblocks, you can do one of two things.
Final tip: It's always easier to find a new job when you have a job! We recommend you look for a new job while still employed at your current employer (aka don't quit before you have another job lined up!). That way, you won't feel desperate in your job search (employers can smell desperation a mile away) and you will also have a steady paycheck, enabling you to make the transition when you're ready.
At the end of the day, it's up to you to decide if it's time to leave your job. That's why it's so important to really think through this decision and decide if it's the right thing to do. Follow the tips above to make the right decision with confidence!
In fact, whatever you're using LinkedIn for, you should follow these 10 tips.
What do you think on LinkedIn if you see someone without a photo? Well, you might think that they're not a very experienced or serious LinkedIn user, and you probably wouldn't want them in your network for this reason. You might even get the impression that they've got something to hide. Either way, there is nothing good about not having a photo.
You want to seem approachable and professional on LinkedIn. You want to give the impression that you are active and invested in your career and an expert in your field—someone people would want to network with. Not having a photo automatically turns others off from your profile. So, don't skip it!
Groups are how you get things done on LinkedIn. They're how you build credibility and expand your network as a professional. If you're also creating content on LinkedIn, groups allow you to distribute that content in a more efficient and targeted way.
By joining groups, people can get to know you and your business. Join as many groups as you can manage, keeping in mind you'll have to be an active member in them to benefit and be seen as a valuable connection. Think about your skills, interests, and expertise, and find groups that will help you achieve your career and business goals.
What's the use of belonging to groups if you're not out there as an influencer? None, really. Don't be a vapid bystander. Participate! Post discussions in your groups on a regular basis. But, be careful. Make the discussion to be something of actual interest to the group.
Posting a link to your website to sell something will just make people avoid you like the plague. Post articles (that aren't self-serving), announcements, real events (not promoting or selling your product or service), requests for real advice, and discussions about a topic relevant to the group. Again, no selling!
If you're just a poster and not a participant, it will become clear you are just in it to promote yourself, rather than be a fully participating member of the LinkedIn community.
Participate in threads with useful remarks. Again, no selling! And no "trolling," either! If you must make political comments, be polite. Don't attack people. Be civil and professional. Remember, your entire network can see what you post, like, share, and comment. This includes employers, hiring managers, and recruiters. Think about how you might be perceived as a professional before you post something to avoid hurting your career and job prospects.
If you participate in threads, follow the same rules as above. Be useful, not self-promoting.
There are two philosophies on LinkedIn. One is more effective than the other. The first is you only connect with people you know well. That is LinkedIn's official philosophy, although they really speak with a forked tongue on this one. This will keep your connections pretty low, and it will not build your network. The other philosophy is to accept all or almost all connection requests, at least from individuals with a photo and enough information on their profiles to ensure it isn't fake. The second philosophy will build your network much more rapidly.
Here's the deal: You may have no interest in networking with the individual who invites you. But you might have an interest in someone in his or her network. Connecting gives you access to that network. The more connections, the more likely it is that someone you want to meet will be "in network." This makes your life on LinkedIn much easier.
LinkedIn is a very large networking party. Now, at a networking party, you don't just go up to people you know and talk to them. Or, if you do, you're a lousy networker. You have an opportunity to meet very interesting and dynamic people on LinkedIn. So, connect and be an open networker!
Recommendations are essential to your LinkedIn profile. Seek them proactively and seek them passively.
Proactive recommendation seeking involves reaching out and asking someone to recommend you. Passive recommendation seeking involves recommending someone, at which point LinkedIn asks them to recommend you back. The latter is actually a bit more effective.
Having recommendations on your LinkedIn profile makes you so much more attractive to recruiters and hiring managers. If other people are recommending you for the service you provide as a business-of-one, you must be an incredibly valuable employee, someone who could help a company reach its goals. Make that impression with lots of recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to build your business in a particular city? Then invite people from that city for the most part. Are you trying to go international? Make sure you invite people who can help you internationally.
Don't just invite everyone who pops up on "people you may know." Invite to build your network the way you want to build it.
As stated above, don't just connect with people you know on LinkedIn. Also, don't just connect with people in your industry. Invite people who have similar goals, interests, and career paths. Invite people who fascinate you and have really cool insights on topics that are relevant to your career.
The more diverse your network, the easier it will be to find a job and network your way into a company.
If you have a question that needs answering, ask your network. If you have something stupendous, share it with your network. Whatever you do, make sure you're providing value to your network, and they will happily return the favor.
By actively engaging with your network and providing consistent value as a connection, no one will bat an eye when you ask for help with something. A strong network is all about equal give and take!
If you go to your home screen, you can see a place to update your network. Use it frequently. This is like a tweet or Facebook post, but it goes to your LinkedIn network instead.
In addition to updating your network about any major career developments or sharing articles you find interesting, update your profile frequently. Your job responsibilities are changing and you are accomplishing new things at work all the time. Don't keep the same stuff in your profile. Update, update, update!
When you create a LinkedIn profile, you need to follow the 10 tips above if you want LinkedIn to be an effective job search tool, one that will also help you build your network and grow your career. Get started today and see how much of a difference being an active member makes in your job search!
Picture this: You come across a job posting and think, "Wow, that's my dream job!" You instantly get excited about this opportunity and start crafting your resume and cover letter. However, when you work on your resume, you realize that you have very little relevant work experience to show off.
This could be because you're a recent college graduate, or maybe you had to take time away from work to deal with some personal things.
If you're in this situation, don't worry—your job search is far from over. You can use the following tips to land a job interview, even if you don't have a lot of work experience.
Pick 10 companies in your area (or ones that aren't located near you that allow remote work) that intrigue you. This is called your interview bucket list, and it's something every job seeker should have.
Narrowing down which companies you'd love to work for helps you focus your efforts and tailor your message in your disruptive cover letters which will help you stand out to potential employers.
Not sure where to look for these companies? You can check out Glassdoor to find reviews from current and past employees and get a sense of what companies are located in your area.
Once you've narrowed down which companies you'd like to work for, you need to figure out why you want to work for them.
Think about what connection you have to these companies. What do you respect or admire about them? Maybe you're passionate about the products or services they provide. Maybe you feel connected to their mission. Whatever your reasons, you should genuinely want to work for these companies and help them reach their goals.
Knowing why you want to work for these companies will help you in future conversations with their teams. It will also help you stand out as a great candidate during the hiring process.
Networking is the best way to land opportunities at your target companies.
Before you apply for any positions in your job search, connect with at least one current employee at each company on your interview bucket list. After they accept your LinkedIn connection request, start a conversation with them, and then continue to add value to everyone in your professional network consistently through sharing articles, offering to make introductions, etc.
Building a network within your top companies gives you the chance to share your story, learn more about the companies, and gain trust with current employees. And who knows? One of your connections might even refer you to an open position down the line!
Setting up an informational interview could really help you get your foot in the door, despite your lack of experience. You'd be able to show your passion for the company, which could make hiring managers more likely to take a chance on you.
There are other things you need to highlight on your resume besides your work history. For example, you can (and should!) emphasize your key skill sets.
Even if you have little to no relevant work experience, there's a good chance you've developed valuable, relevant, and in-demand skills through the jobs, internships, and volunteer experience you've had throughout your life.
If you emphasize those skills and make them stand out on your resume, your job application will be more likely to get past the ATS and into the hands of the recruiter or hiring manager.
It's not impossible to land a job with limited work experience. You just need to have the right job search strategy. By building a network within your target organizations and including key things on your resume, you'll navigate the job search more effectively and meet key players who can help you get your foot in the door.
Three weeks ago I was invited to join my CEO in a last-minute meeting. Without giving too much detail (for obvious reasons), we were meeting a marketing executive from a major brand. He was interested in our technology and wanted to learn more. It was a first meeting, so we did the usual demo and discovery questions; we showcased relevant case studies and brainstormed high-level ideas. Very unexpectedly, we came away from that meeting with a project outline and a mandate to be ready to pitch in less than a month. Great—if only every meeting went so well and every (potential) client moved so decisively! But walking out of that meeting I was immediately facing two issues:
Because of its quick turnaround, this project, in particular, required clarity and a very proactive approach to planning and execution. As an executive producer who works predominantly in start-up and early-stage environments, I work across multiple touchpoints with multiple stakeholders. And I’m usually working with very limited resources. Implementing a framework is vital to defining the vision of a project and keeping it on track.
Whether working across business development, creative and content production, or tech integration, I work through the same four-step process. It’s a simple framework that I adapt to every project. And it’s exactly the framework I used on this project.
(Aside: We pitched early this week and received a great response. I hope to have an update soon and will share more when I can. It’s a very fun project. I can’t wait to tell you about it.)
This step is all about clarity. Start by defining objectives and goals, and know the difference between the two: the goal is the long-term outcome; the objective is a measurable short-term action that helps you achieve it. In this instance, my goal is to secure a new client partnership, initially producing a single project with additional projects in the future. The immediate objective was to create a pitch and presentation that fulfilled the brief provided to us in that first meeting.
With your goals and objectives in mind, assess your resources. How much time do you have? How many people are available and what do they do? What technology is available to you? What content already exists? What processes are in place and where are the gaps? Be specific here, and think about why it matters. This is your energy tank: knowing what you have and how you can use it will make for a much more efficient process further down the line.
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan… There is no other route to success." —Pablo Picasso
It’s time to define the project and build a plan. In this step, you are thinking about strategy and tactics. Both terms originated as military terminology in Sun Tzu’s writing The Art of War but are now used in a variety of everyday scenarios, especially in the workplace and business environment.
Strategy comes first. This is the "big picture." It’s an overarching plan of how you intend to achieve your objectives and goals. Tactics, on the other hand, are the specific steps you will take to execute that strategy.
Strategy is where you want to go, and tactics are how you will get there.
The type of strategy and the framework you use will vary depending on what type of project you are working on. If your objective is efficiency and process, you might focus on an operational strategy; you could analyze technology usage or measure the effectiveness of existing systems. Either way, the emphasis is on internal capabilities and how they can be improved. A content strategy might be beneficial if you are trying to drive visibility or sales-centric messaging. This type of strategy is more externally focused and designed to build awareness.
Process mapping is also useful at this stage. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good diagram or flowchart, but visualizing a workflow or plan is actually a very effective communication tool, particularly if you are working across multiple stakeholders or departments. These can be as simple or as complex as they need to be and can be used to demonstrate existing processes as well as suggestions for future optimization.
In the case of our pitch, we used process maps to demonstrate our production process and the integration of technology into existing workflows. We also used them creatively to illustrate content narratives and moments of audience interaction and participation.
The key here is to remember that your strategy and tactics should always be aligned with your objectives. Collectively you want everyone and everything to be moving in the same direction and towards the same common goal.
Most people get caught in the planning stage, but this is the time to execute. In a start-up environment, especially with limited resources, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of reactivity and respond to situations rather than actively driving them. The key to being proactive is to draw on your previous planning and mobilize your action plan.
As an executive producer, it’s my responsibility to understand the bigger picture, and in turn to educate, facilitate, and mentor everyone else who is working on that project. Start this step by assigning roles, getting clear on responsibilities, reinforcing timelines and budgets, and clarifying that everyone understands the objectives and expectations. This is where the earlier assessment of resources comes into play too, ensuring that everyone has the tools they need to complete their tasks.
Good communication is integral to maintaining momentum towards your goal. Decide on your preferred methods of communication in advance, whether it’s a group Slack or Telegram channel; schedule regular check-ins and stand-ups; and agree on how best to pre-empt and address any blockers.
Task management tools are a great way to monitor progress, especially on a fast-paced project with lots of moving parts. I personally stick with Google Drive and have used Zapier to integrate my emails, Slack, and calendar. Asana, ClickUp, Monday, Trello, and Smartsheet are all great platforms too. My advice is to try them out and see which one works best for you and your team.
And if all else fails: communicate! communicate! communicate!
This is where you measure and review the project. How effective were you at achieving your objective? What worked? What didn’t? What other opportunities did you find? The actual data points you are measuring will depend on the project specifics, but these should be agreed on when you are defining your objective. You’ll measure before the project begins to set your baseline, and again after to see how you performed.
The types of metrics are usually categorized according to efficiency, performance, accuracy, or financial impact. You might also consider whether a measurement is leading or lagging. Does it offer insight into future performance? Or does it assess the impact of past actions or strategies? Both are valuable.
We were pitching a content project that involved aspects of user engagement, and so our suggested KPIs were: active users; new users; session time; retention; and revenue. We’re also including AI functionality, so we added some KPIs to measure accuracy and performance.
Metrics are a great way to measure project successes, but they can also uncover areas of weakness, providing opportunities for improvement. Be sure that you are measuring the right metrics and—you should know this by now—ALWAYS REVERT BACK TO YOUR OBJECTIVE.
It’s time to take all the information you’ve gathered and feed it straight back into step one, ready to start all over again. The world of start-ups and production can be fast and frantic, but implementing structure is a game-changer for productivity and efficiency.
In the next few weeks, I’ll dive into more of the processes I use to manage workflows and will showcase some of the exciting projects I’ve had the privilege to work on. Stay tuned for a mix of unfiltered opinions on everything related to creativity, planning, and interactive technology.
If you have an MBA and you're looking for a job right now, I strongly advise you not to put MBA after your name at the top of your resume or on your LinkedIn profile. Here's why...
Recruiters are skimmers, and when they're reviewing resumes for a job that doesn't require an MBA, they don't expect (or want) to see applicants with MBAs.
So, when the very first thing recruiters see on your resume is your name with MBA after it, they think they shouldn't even bother to contact you.
There are a lot of jobs that no longer require advanced degrees. Therefore, when you put MBA after your name on your resume or LinkedIn profile, your application could potentially be skipped over because you're being seen as overqualified. This is why I don't encourage you to put MBA after your name.
As a career coach, the only letters (abbreviations for degrees/certifications) I advise my clients to put after their name are the ones you need to have in order to do the job.
For example:
Those abbreviations, and others like them, are the exception. However, the job market is saturated with MBAs, and I have many clients with MBAs who are being told they're overqualified, so why broadcast that degree only for you to be screened out before they even look at your skill sets?
Instead of putting MBA after your name, keep that information in the education section on your resume and LinkedIn profile. That way, if a hiring manager needs someone with an MBA, they'll be able to find that information there.
You're not taking the degree off your resume or LinkedIn profile. You're simply changing how you market yourself so you don't come off as overqualified in your job search.
This is one of the many tips and tricks that a lot of people aren't aware of, and it's impacting their ability to be seen in this super competitive job market. Play down the MBA right now. You don't need the letters after your name. Trust me.
Navigating project management in the apparel industry involves anticipating challenges and seizing opportunities. This guide covers seven key considerations to help you deliver successful and innovative apparel projects.
Defining a clear objective for a project and how it relates to your business goals is crucial. Does the new product aim to acquire new customers or supply existing customers with more of what they love? Is the launch meant to make a splash or test the waters in a new direction?
The objective acts as a guiding principle, informing production planning, initial inventory, marketing strategies, and everything that comes afterward. You can refer back to a well-crafted objective, ensuring that every decision made aligns with your overarching goal, and ultimately results in a coherent product strategy.
When using data to gain insights into developing new products and making strategic decisions, it’s important to devise a strategy for how to use it. It is easy to decide to offer a product in a mid-tone blue if the data proves that the colorway is already a best seller, but how does one introduce a new product if there is not enough data to support it?
The Pyramid Approach to data organizes product ideas by their level of data support. The most data-supported ideas form the base, while the least supported but potentially innovative ideas are at the top. For example, when launching a new apparel line, place proven colors and styles at the base, moderately supported new designs in the middle, and bold, trend-setting designs at the top. This structure then acts as a roadmap to developing a product offering—produce more products from the bottom and fewer from the top to mitigate risk.
Vendor relationships can impact product quality, pricing, and delivery times, all of which contribute to the overall success and growth of the business. When negotiating and communicating with vendors, consider what is best for developing and maintaining a strong relationship. If the relationship is not mutually beneficial, the supply chain becomes unreliable. Will a vendor accommodate last-minute changes in product specs or the timeline of the launch if they are unsatisfied? Maybe not.
Open communication and fair negotiations with vendors can establish mutual trust and improve collaboration when problem-solving. A good relationship can not only ensure a more agile and resilient supply but also enable quick pivoting in response to last-minute changes in products, timelines, and trends.
The product creation process should be iterative and flexible to allow for the identification and incorporation of unexpected discoveries. Allow for deviations in the prototype phase, let the best product prevail, and consider customer feedback after launch. Flexibility in the initial phase of development and launch can greatly impact the success of a product.
For example, flexibility and an effective feedback loop played a crucial role in renaming Skims after a public backlash, enabling the products to be salvaged by sewing new labels over the former name (see vendor relationships). This is one of those "happy accidents" where adjustments made based on real-world feedback led to a more user-friendly, memorable name for the brand.
Planning production schedules to meet demand without overproducing or overspending can only be achieved with proper communication. Managing a project usually has more than a few moving parts, and the project manager is often the only party holding all the information.
To prevent mishaps, create a detailed timeline with built-in milestones to distribute to the necessary parties in order to communicate the importance of target dates. If necessary, flesh out the costs associated with various delays such as expedited shipping or work stoppages, then communicate those to the relevant parties. Oftentimes, an understanding of the consequences of one part of the process falling behind can encourage on-time delivery.
Projects are seldom executed without having to navigate unexpected obstacles. To mitigate the risk of delay, practice creating contingency plans at the first sign of a potential problem. Address different scenarios such as worst-case, best-case, and expected-case outcomes, and outline specific responses for each.
These plans enable project managers to take action to address issues quickly and can prevent problems from escalating or creating a domino effect that disrupts the entire project.
Post-launch evaluations can lead to a greater understanding of the successes and failures of a product after launch and help to highlight growth opportunities in the development process. Return to the objective of the project and measure the outcome through performance metrics, customer feedback, and overall market reception.
Evaluate the process—what worked, what didn’t, and how the process can be improved. Assess how resources (time, budget, personnel) were allocated and used throughout the project. Identify areas where resources were underutilized or stretched too thin to optimize future project planning. Each successive evaluation offers an opportunity to improve the operations of the company.
Receiving a job offer after a long job search is one of the best feelings in the world. Before you say "yes" though, it's important to determine whether you're making the right decision for you and your career.
After an incredibly difficult job search, it can be tempting to take the first job offer you receive. Of course, there are many factors that go into whether you should accept that job offer, but for most professionals, it's not wise to blindly accept your first one, unless it's a position at one of your bucket list companies.
The decision to accept a job offer shouldn't be taken lightly. In order to advance your career, you need to make sure each job you take provides you with opportunities to grow as a professional, while also factoring in work-life balance.
Here are four questions you must ask yourself before accepting any job offer.
It may be hard to know if you'd work well with the people at a particular company just after a few interviews and handshakes. But it's important to make an effort to get to know the people you'd be working with before moving too far into the hiring process.
Your co-workers can make or break your experience at a company. If you didn't get a good vibe from the people you met during your interviews, then maybe you should think twice about accepting the job offer. We're not saying you should be friends with your co-workers. You just need to be able to work well with them.
By getting to know as many people as possible early on in the interview process, you won't only learn who they are and whether you could get along with them, but you'll also strengthen your network within the company.
Part of your job during an interview is asking the right questions so you can learn as much about the company and the position as possible in order to make an informed decision if a job offer comes your way.
After a couple of rounds of interviews, you should have a clear idea of what you'd be doing every day if you were to accept the job offer. Are you excited about those projects? Will you be able to leverage your strengths to help the company meet its goals? If not, then you probably won't get very much satisfaction out of the job.
An employer will offer you the job if they believe you can add value to the company. But if the way they want you to add value doesn't align with your career goals or strengths, it might not be the right position for you.
This question is an easy one to forget to ask ourselves when we're offered a job.
Although you should always feel connected to a company's mission or values before you apply for a job there (so you can write a disruptive cover letter and actually land an interview), maybe you haven't considered the company values and beliefs until this stage in the hiring process. If you haven't done so, you should research the company until you know what its purpose is. Why does the company exist? What problem is it trying to solve? Could you work towards this mission every day?
The bottom line: If your values and beliefs don't match up with the company's, then you won't be truly invested in what you're doing, and your performance, career happiness, and job satisfaction will suffer.
A commute is a bigger factor in your career than you think. A lot of people underestimate the kind of toll a long and difficult commute will have on them. That's why it's important to be honest with yourself: Do you really want to spend an hour or more on the road every day?
Before saying "yes" to a job with a long commute, consider your schedule, lifestyle, and family commitments. Are you willing to sacrifice and compromise on certain areas of your life for this opportunity? Will you still be able to achieve some type of work-life balance with a long commute?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, more and more professionals want to work remote jobs, and companies are listening, offering more remote work opportunities to attract top talent.
If you'd prefer not to commute at all, then you should probably apply for jobs that offer the flexibility to work from home (at least some of the time). Being a remote or hybrid employee definitely has its perks when you consider how stressful, expensive, and time-consuming a commute can be, and it absolutely should be a factor in your decision to accept a job or not.
By asking yourself these four questions before accepting any job offer, you'll be sure you're making the right decision—for you and your career.
To make sure we're on the same page about dealing with an "incompetent" boss and not a "bad" boss, let's be clear on what the term means. An incompetent person is someone who is functionally inadequate or insufficient in knowledge, skills, judgment, or strength.
If this is what you're talking about then you're right, they are incompetent. It happens. In other words, the boss doesn't know squat about being a manager and probably knows little to nothing about the area of work you do.
While it can be frustrating to have an incompetent boss, an incompetent boss can also seriously damage or derail your career. If they do have a serious lack of knowledge, we know that they can do nothing to help you grow as an employee which means any growth will be yours to make happen through creating your own opportunities outside of your job.
Let's look at the potential damage an incompetent boss can inflict and what you can do to minimize or avoid the career problems that might arise from having one.
Bad decisions - Because they don't know your work, the decisions they make can have an impact they are clueless about. They lack insight and understanding. This means the impact on you can range from cleaning up a mess to putting you in a position that makes you look like you tanked the business. It can make you lose precious time and focus or even cause you to get fired.
Bad direction - We look to our boss to provide direction in the form of "how to" all the way to yearly planning. When the boss is incompetent, their directions can be bad or pointless, often leaving important issues untouched.
Bad support - Our boss can be the single biggest supporter of our career trajectory, but if they are clueless about the nature of your work, they may be supporting either the wrong things or people. You can't expect them to really know or understand if you're delivering well. They may be a roadblock in your career or simply no help at all.
When you have an incompetent boss, you have to think through how this person functions in order to use whatever strengths they do have to your advantage or minimally avoid career-limiting outcomes.
Let's look at some of the things you can do to deal with an incompetent boss...
In other words, leadership can come from you. If you know your area well enough, there is no reason to not go ahead creating and pursuing a direction you know will achieve good results for your company.
People who upskill at work are naturally regarded by their peers as informal leaders. Management, although maybe not your direct boss, will notice your initiative. Of course, you don't want to do something that undermines the boss, so keep them in the loop.
The boss's incompetence is annoying, but it usually impacts you and others in specific ways. Try to observe what those are and make a plan to counteract the problem.
I once had an incompetent boss. The biggest issue was that he would sometimes make decisions for the group I managed that negatively impacted the company. I sat down with him and asked if I could either be involved in those decision discussions or if he could direct the person asking questions to me. It mostly worked. There were times when that direction simply wasn't possible, but people soon learned that they needed to come to me for good decisions. We worked around the problem.
Every time you speak to your boss, you have an opportunity to train and teach them about your area. It seems kind of ludicrous to train your boss, but the ongoing investment will be worth it once they are savvy enough to know what you're talking about.
It's very important to avoid being condescending when offering to help your boss get a better grasp on things. Be respectful, and always come from a place of genuine kindness.
Just because your boss doesn't bring much in the way of growth doesn't mean there isn't someone in your company or industry that can be good for your career.
Look around for someone at a higher level who is sharp and going places. Ask them to be your mentor. It will be flattering to them and helpful to you to have someone supporting you and helping you navigate your career.
Ultimately, this kind of situation can be damaging to both you and your career. Sometimes it's better for your career to leave rather than try to stick it out. If you've tried several things and there is no improvement, it may be time for you to pursue another career opportunity.
While an incompetent boss can be annoying and frustrating, it isn't the worst kind of boss to have—unless they are nicely packaged with other shortcomings in the personality department. Many times you can make up for their shortcomings and also "manage up" as they know innately that they lack many skills and knowledge.
Don't let your frustration get in the way of managing the situation more effectively!
When I joined Greyhound back in 1996, as an IT developer, my plan was to stay for a year and then move to some cutting-edge development company. Greyhound was not the sexy development shop that I had hoped to work for.
Now having worked there for 25 years, I have nothing but fond memories of the challenges, opportunities, and people.
I’m pretty sure everyone knows what Greyhound is. This has been a benefit, never having to explain to people what my employer does. The problem has been convincing people I am not a bus driver. Why would Greyhound have any IT needs? As it turned out the technical opportunities were thoroughly abundant and sexy.
I was initially hired to “retire the mainframe.” The mainframe was used for several key business processes including dispatching and managing the fleet. Being young and aggressive, I was sure I could knock this out quickly. Digging in and realizing the complexity of a national network, ensuring DOT compliance, union rules, and having a bus and driver available was a challenge. I became obsessed with accomplishing this project. I quickly realized this was a multi-year project, hence my one-year plan was quickly dashed.
This ended up being a very large, sexy, and evolutionary project for Greyhound, leaving me hungry for the next big sexy project. Thanks to the economy, getting the big sexy projects approved became a new challenge. With my ability to understand technology, work with the business, and present thorough and convincing business cases, I was able to keep the projects flowing. Projects included implementing e-commerce (greyhound.com), implementing mobile phone sales solutions, implementing mobile phone driver applications, as well as implementing a data warehouse and moving to the cloud amongst several other projects.
Throughout my tenure, Greyhound was purchased by new parent companies a few times. Each owner presented different opportunities and challenges. The most recent purchase was by a German company shortly after the pandemic. This was a technology company with several existing systems. This proved to be another sexy project that even included international travel.
I was an integral part of the operational integrations and was excited to manage the integrations and development teams. The business relied on me to help them understand and trust the new systems will meet their needs. I architected the integration to protect business processes unique to Greyhound. Some systems were too cumbersome to replace and really had no application for European operations. This included the core dispatch and operational systems I developed 25 years ago, still in use today.
So, the not-so-sexy company can have some sexy projects, providing several years of rewarding and challenging work. I have since moved on from Greyhound feeling confident I left them in much better shape than when I joined.
Community engagement is at the core of good public health. Every successful public health project I’ve been a part of has had community voice at the core of every aspect of the work. Leading with community voice assures that equity is not only a discussion point, but a value.
In a project to assure a fair and accurate census count in diverse Michigan communities, I collaborated with local organizations to reach the hardest-to-reach populations and managed a project that improved community voice and power.
Everyone Counts, Everyone Wins. That was the message of the nonprofit community campaign that was put in place in late 2018 to assure Michigan not only achieved a fair and accurate count in the 2020 Census but reached (and counted!) the hardest-to-count community members.
Typically, the once-a-decade count of the U.S. population conducted by the federal government undercounts many people in our communities: people of color, people who have experienced incarceration, people who are undocumented, and people who are low-income. Missing these populations is a huge miss for communities, as census counts determine community power and funding for vital programs.
The hypothesis of the Be Counted Michigan project was: leaning on trusted, local organizations to help educate people about the census and provide opportunities for them to take it would mean higher numbers and a more accurate count, and, therefore, more funding and a stronger voice for local communities. When communities can come together in a project like this, it means empowerment, involvement, and a win for everyone.
This state-wide campaign included four key elements:
Many barriers already existed that prevented fair census counts and access to being counted. It had already been shown in every previous census that communities were undercounted, particularly communities of color and low-income areas. These barriers were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, increased government distrust, and the possibility of the addition of a question that asked about U.S. citizenship (a question that had not been included in the census in decades).
As a result, multiple Michigan counties were at risk of being undercounted. Further, this was the first census that would be online-first, meaning those without internet access or those who were transient were at risk of not being counted. All of these factors made for a challenging environment that took creativity to overcome.
The Great Lakes Bay Region (comprising Saginaw, Bay, Midland, and Isabella counties) sought to address the many barriers and assure its communities were counted. This region experienced the most community engagement around the census that had ever been seen previously. Unique ideas flourished and community members were engaged with the ultimate goal of reaching the hardest-to-reach neighbors.
One example of the excellent outreach that took place as part of this project is in the city of Saginaw. Multiple community partners came together to throw the block party of all block parties. Grant dollars covered a mobile census unit (a city bus, wrapped with a locally designed Be Counted! logo and a DJ on the bus spinning hits). The bus was equipped with volunteers and iPads and went to neighborhoods all over the city, providing an opportunity for community members to take the census and ask questions. The party continued at City Hall, where grant funds covered food, music, games, and prizes, along with more opportunities to be counted in the census and interact with local celebrities.
Thousands of people were counted that day, with volunteers celebrating major victories and inroads with communities. It was rad to see. This is one example of over 50 grant projects in the Great Lakes Bay Region and shows how communities came together to reduce barriers, improve community knowledge, and work together for a positive outcome.
Michigan finished eighth in the country for census self-response rate and exceeded its 2010 self-response rate. Unfortunately, despite achieving a higher count than expected, a seat in the House of Representatives was lost. But what was gained is of huge importance. This project showed how to work with communities, how to engage local organizations, and how to build something together to make sure everyone is included.
The gains in trust that were made in local communities can’t be counted. People felt part of something and empowered to push for improvements. Networks of partners grew and developed, and this project laid the groundwork for similar endeavors going forward. It showed that when communities are valued and engaged in culturally sensitive ways, long-term and sustainable changes can happen. Now that is good public health!
Whether you're new to LinkedIn or a seasoned user, connecting with new people can be a challenge, especially when you're not sure what to write in your LinkedIn invitation. You might be tempted to use the generic "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn" template, but beware! By not personalizing your message, you could lose a precious opportunity to network.
Here are seven great tips on writing LinkedIn invitations from our approved career experts.
"Explain why you want to connect with the person," says Amanda Haddaway, author of Destination Real World: Success After Graduation For New And Soon-To-Be College Graduates. "Just say something. There's nothing worse than receiving a LinkedIn request with the standard, generic format and not having any earthly idea who the person is or why he/she wants to connect with you."
Dorothy Tannahill-Moran of Next Chapter New Life says honesty is the best policy when trying to connect with someone, especially if you're looking to do some serious networking. "If you want to work for their company," Tannahill-Moran says, "don't be shy about admitting that they are working for your targeted company and are looking for insights about that company. Open communication is always best."
"I get a lot of requests and I always appreciate a brief mention of why the person wants to connect," says Jenny Yerrick Martin of Your Industry Insider. "Whether they saw my post on LinkedIn Groups, found me through my website, or know someone who knows me in real life, that extra step usually gets me to accept the invitation."
When trying to find something in common with your potential connection, Haddaway suggests asking yourself these questions:
Here's a request example offered by Debra Wheatman of Careers Done Write...
Dear Jane: I see that you are a member of X Group. I am also engaged with this group and would like to share some ideas with you. Please accept my invitation to connect.
This example is short and sweet, but it gets the point across effectively.
"One-size-fits-all invitations are a waste of time," says Cheryl Simpson of Executive Resume Rescue. Always personalize your invitation to connect in some way, she advises. Mention a shared group membership, note a common contact, or point out similar backgrounds, education, or experience. If all else fails, tell the prospective contact what you hope you both will gain from the connection.
"If you're approaching the CEO/founder of a startup on LinkedIn, as part of a job search, you want to start and end by showing your enthusiasm for their business," says Kathy Ver Eecke of Working For Wonka. "Your expertise, background, and skill set should take a backseat to your enthusiasm and passion for their business. You want to get their attention and break the ice? Lead with that and you're in."
Ben Eubanks of Upstart HR suggests taking a moment to check out your potential connection's profile and referencing something in it.
Example: Hey, Mike! I saw on your profile that you attended XYZ University. I have a good friend who went there and have heard great things about it. I'd love the opportunity to connect with you. Thanks! Have a great day.
"Reaching out without offering some reason is a quick way to get your message relegated to the 'spam' folder, and LinkedIn will eventually suspend your account if you hit the limit of those responses," he says.
Arnie Fertig of Job Hunter Coach says it's important to thank the person in advance for agreeing to connect. Not only that, but you also want to offer to help them in any way possible and encourage them to call on you. That way, your potential contact feels like they can benefit from the connection. It's all about providing value. Remember, you get what you give!
The next time you're trying to connect with someone on LinkedIn, follow these seven tips. You'll grow your professional network faster than you think!
I recall a time when software for the hospitality industry was almost non-existent, mostly consisting of Excel spreadsheets and Word documents to track revenues and maintain customer records. Utilizing Excel to maintain customer accounts and ensure opportunities for future marketing campaigns was extremely inefficient and cumbersome at best.
Driven by the lack of a comprehensive events management program available at the time, or the costs to purchase what was available on the market were prohibitive or inadequate at best, led me to develop a software application of my own. Utilization of relational databases to track client contracts, determine pricing models, ensure operational efficiencies, and ensure revenue capture took years of toiling to create a system that would automate the process of maintaining sound client relationships and ensuring operational efficiencies.
Today, the hospitality industry has grown to such levels where projections for current revenues in the United States have surpassed the hundreds of billions of dollars and increasing exponentially by roughly 7% yearly to 2028. The hospitality software industry’s revenue projections in the United States are slated to be in the tens of billions and growing.
The multitude of systems available on the market is vast, and often confusing, requiring a deep dive into understanding what each system does, and how it might compare to its competitors. Systems exist for point of sales (POS), integrated operations, customer retention and marketing, small restaurant and online ordering, and the list goes on and on. Most likely, any hospitality industry venture may require several different software applications to run a particular business.
It is important to remember that when choosing software ensure that you are choosing wisely. Selecting software that is easily updateable and will not become obsolete within a few years, or that information inputted into past systems can be easily migrated to new systems as your company scales and grows are keys to successful software mitigation and renewal.
Because the hospitality software landscape is so vast, I selected a number of different types of software available on the market to synopsize.
Cloudbeds is an integrative software service available for the hospitality industry. Using the latest technological improvements to ensure viability between various booking platforms, Cloudbeds provides users with opportunities to not only customize the guest experience but enhance marketing efforts and increase efficiencies within the operations sphere. Cloudbeds provides a wide variety of software modules to create a seamless operational platform to better serve guests' needs through increased efficiency, tracking guests’ reservations and history, and managing the backend operations in the hospitality industry.
Dack software assists the vacation rental market by helping to manage the user experience and ensure seamless opportunities by making the check-in and checkout process easier for guests. Additionally, Dack provides rental owners the ability to customize guests' experiences by offering additional services, and to increase revenue potential. Ensuring that customers receive specialized booking availability as well as providing useful information about the rental and environs increases opportunities for guests to enjoy their stay.
Lighthouse Hospitality Management software provides users with insights into their business by integrating functionality of disparate data into one system. Lighthouse enables the user to understand the competitive landscape and ensure that room rental pricing complies with current market rates by viewing and comparing competitors’ pricing. The software also enables users to develop targeted marketing campaigns for potential customers through predictive analysis.
Revinate software for the hospitality industry provides users with the ability to advantage marketing through customer contact and reviews. Utilizing customer feedback to develop marketing campaigns is an essential means for hospitality properties to ensure that information is current and accurate. Additionally, Revinate enables users to contact guests for follow-up through a variety of different mediums to maximize potential outreach.
Superb POS software provides restaurants and customers with the useability to meet current market demands. Superb acts as an all-in-one system for restaurants and cafes whereby ordering, seating, kitchen menu management, customer online ordering, and payment are integrated for a seamless experience. Currently, the drawback of Superb POS is it is only used in Europe and may not be available in the United States.
Tablevibe enables restaurants to take control of their online ordering opportunities and maintain customer data which is so important to engendering customer loyalty and customer promotion. Additionally, Tablevibe enables restaurants to market directly to past customers and create marketing schemes to further engender loyalty. Lastly, Tablevibe aggregates online ordering initiated through other online ordering systems that a restaurant may use and ensures a seamless experience for the customer.
Thynk hospitality software provides users with an integrated solution to better manage various aspects of the user’s business and integrate multiple properties into one seamless application. Thynk software enables users to have greater control and functionality of the data available to make more informed decisions regarding future revenue streams and opportunities. Additionally, Thynk software helps to automate specific processes and generate functional reporting on a consistent and easily accommodating basis.
Vouch hospitality software automates operational tasks to increase efficiency for both guests and staff through an easily usable and highly functional application. Increasing efficiencies in hotel operations engenders added customer satisfaction and generates greater operability for staff. While human interactions are important in the guest experience, having the ability to bypass lines during check-in or ask for more towels in your room enables staff to better manage guests’ expectations and reduce wait times for needed services.
Wheelhouse hospitality pricing software enables users to better understand the market and competitive marketplace when determining pricing strategies. Wheelhouse software uses available data to help users better understand what aspects competitors may be using to develop pricing strategies and better help you understand how these aspects can increase profitability and generate additional revenue opportunities. Wheelhouse enables users to better understand the competitive marketplace by developing data sets that generate increased insights into the competitive landscape.
Determining which software to purchase depends on the type of business that you have and the needs of your operations. Understand that when selecting software, it is important to ensure that what you purchase will integrate with your current systems, or that your current systems will allow for the information to be migrated to the new software. Do not get caught up with the idea that one software system will do it all, but rather ensure that if purchasing multiple systems they are working together with either your current systems or that the underlying architecture allows for easily migrating information in the future.
Assume that you may be required to take smaller steps toward software integration or capacity versus ensuring that you are set for the next 10 years. Remember that technology changes so rapidly that most likely by the time you have purchased a new system, it is already out of date.
If there's a noticeable employment gap on your resume, you may be concerned that it's impacting your chances of landing interviews and moving forward in the hiring process. Explaining a job gap on your resume can feel tricky, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it.
Here's how you can successfully explain a job gap on your resume.
Don't mention your employment gap in an objective statement. Objective statements don't belong on a resume anyway. They show what you want, but it's what the employer wants that matters.
An experience summary should replace your objective statement. This is a list of any skills you possess that are required for the position you're applying for. So, not only should you not mention your job gap at the very top of your resume in an objective statement, but you shouldn't be writing an objective statement at all.
If there's a big employment gap on your resume, you have to list something to fill it. Companies might discriminate against you for having nothing to show for that period. Even if they don't, they will still ask you about the gap. You're better off explaining it yourself first.
Be careful, though, because if you go on for too long about it (on your resume and in a job interview), employers will be turned off. Sharing too many details will make it sound even more confusing if your reasons are already complicated. Keep it short and sweet to get your point across effectively.
Why were you out? Were you raising a family? Were you caring for sick loved ones? Were you in school? Whatever the reason is, make sure it is listed. That way, the employer will have something to ask you about instead of being suspicious of missing time.
All they want to know is what you were doing, so one line on your resume should be enough to satisfy them.
Don't try to explain an employment gap in your cover letter!
Just like a resume, a cover letter is not about you. It's about what you can do for the employer.
Unless you learned quite a bit from your job gap experience, then it's not worth mentioning in a cover letter. Cover letters are supposed to be concise, and do not include superfluous information.
Tell a story about how you've come to understand the power of that company's product or service. You need to show your support and passion for what they do and how they do it. Share how you're connected to their mission, so they understand your importance to them. The more interesting a story you can tell them, the more connected they'll feel to you before you even meet them. If it's done correctly, you'll get an interview because of it.
We hope these tips will help you feel more confident navigating the job search process with a job gap of any size. A gap in employment won't prevent you from landing a great job if you have the right strategy in place!
Is your job search driving you crazy? You're not alone. A recent survey from The Hustle found that 58% of job seekers believe job interviewing is out of control. And they're right: interviewing is grueling right now.
If you're looking for a job, you know what I'm talking about—hiring managers being disrespectful, getting ghosted after multiple rounds of interviews, and so many more horror stories.
We know job interviews are out of control. Now, let's unpack why...
First of all, it's a buyer market. When there are so many qualified candidates in the job market, companies feel obligated to see what's available and consider every option.
Think about what you do when you're making a really expensive purchase because, essentially, that's what's happening with employers. They're investing thousands of dollars in you, so they need to make sure they're getting the right person for the job. They're not just going to pick the first person who comes along. They draw out the hiring process in order to compare and contrast people and, hopefully, hire the best candidate.
The second reason interviews are out of control is that AI has sped up the death of the resume, and it has created a lot of recruiting confusion. People are applying online with fake resumes. They're using AI tools like ChatGPT to create a resume that's a direct match for a job in order to get through the ATS (applicant tracking system) only for a recruiter to then call this person, do an interview, and waste their time to find out this person isn't really who they said they were.
This is creating a lot of messiness in the recruitment process, and recruiters are pretty upset about it. They now have to authenticate that somebody is who they say they are. This draws out the interview process. There are more interviews involved. There's more testing involved. This is the new reality. But the good news is that this is also speeding up the improvement of the interview process.
The most important part of the entire hiring process is the first interview, that first time you talk with a recruiter or a hiring manager because that's the moment when you're authenticating yourself—you are who you say, and you're also providing "impact evidence" that you're the right candidate for the job.
Your resume and LinkedIn profile only list your features, and in the beginning, employers compare your features to other candidates' features, so the applicants they choose to interview all look the same. But that first interview is where you start to break away from the pack, where you're able to convey the benefits of hiring you, your unique value add (UVA). This is the moment when you can really shine and catapult yourself into being the must-have candidate.
Now, how do you make that happen?
First, create videos of yourself answering some of the most common interview questions. Then, proactively send those videos to recruiters and hiring managers.
The key to getting hired in this job market is documenting your knowledge and expertise. And that's what this strategy accomplishes.
Plus, when you use a tool like the McCoy mobile app, you're able to record those videos, put them all together in one link (kind of like a LinkedIn profile link), and send them to recruiters and hiring managers in a few easy steps. This is the kind of game-changing technology that's going to help you and other job seekers get better jobs.
Video is the way for you to authenticate yourself and provide that impact evidence to recruiters and hiring managers before the first job interview. Try it today so can get more interviews and beat out the competition.
Getting through to the job interview stage in the hiring process means the employer believes you have the right experience and skills for the job on paper. But now comes the real deal-breaker: whether you can communicate those skills effectively in person and come off as the right fit for the company's workplace culture.
There are typical red flags employers watch for in job interviews. Any red flag can reduce your chances of getting a job offer, so here's what you need to avoid in your next job interview...
This includes everything from talking too little, talking too much, or simply having poor nonverbal behavior like a lack of eye contact or making the situation uncomfortable with poor body language. When it comes to questions and answers, a job candidate who can't provide effective responses to questions that are necessary to assess their experience and skills is always a problem.
Be prepared to address every point you have on your resume. And when an employer presents a follow-up question like "Tell me more about..." they are trying to dig deeper either because they're curious, or you provided an insufficient response.
An inability to communicate well in a job interview will leave the employer questioning whether you have the experience and skills you say you have on paper.
When an employer puts out a job offer, it's going to be to someone they believe is committed to the job—not to someone who's simply looking to fill in an employment gap until a more fitting job comes along. Any reasonable job seeker wouldn't present such a front, but sometimes casual conversation can lead you to say things that are better off unsaid.
Avoid talking about challenges in your job search or how you were looking for a job in fashion marketing, but somehow you're now applying for this job in healthcare marketing. It brings into question if you're really interested in the job the employer has to offer.
Also, avoid talking about any long-distance relationships, and try not to mention that your spouse and kids remain in another state. The employer will question if your personal situation may impact your job loyalty down the road if a relocation package is not going to be a part of the offer. And if they ask where you want to be in three years, answer with a position that corresponds with their growth opportunities.
The purpose of the interview is to demonstrate why you're a great candidate for the job and effectively convey what you have to offer. It's not about letting your frustrations out about a boss you don't like or people you don't like working with. Any bad-mouthing sends a negative message about your character. It'll also make the employer question if you can manage workplace relationships professionally.
Often, bad-mouthing occurs when employers ask questions like, "Why are you leaving your current job?" Stay focused on answering with a positive response that relates back to the goal of improving yourself and utilizing what you're capable of offering.
Yes, it's wrong to judge a book by its cover. But in a job interview, this is what happens. If you're not dressed the part to look like you suit the job, it's going to be hard for the employer to see that too.
It might also make the employer think that if you can't even manage to present a well-groomed appearance for a job interview you'll be a slacker when on the job—and that's not going to work, especially if this is a position where you may have interface with customers or business partners that require a professional appearance.
Salary is a factor in determining whether the job offer is ultimately right for you, but bringing it up too early in the interview process comes off as though you're only in it for the money. And when you're the one to bring it up, it puts you at a disadvantage. You create a situation where you need to reveal your desired salary before the employer offers insight into what they're considering, which may end up being much lower or much higher than what the employer has budgeted.
The point is to first make the most impressive mark you can. If you're the one they want, they'll bring up the topic of salary and you'll have an idea of what they're offering, which you can then further negotiate so it meets your expectations.
Employers take into account many factors during the job interview. It's not just about the experience and skills you put on paper. Now, you can avoid all the typical red flags to keep yourself in the running.
While it's good to have regular friends, everyone needs a best friend. You know, that person you can go to whenever you need help, a confidence boost, or just a laugh. The same concept applies to the workplace.
While it's great to have trusted colleagues, it's especially nice to have one person in particular to confide in—a work buddy.
Sometimes if you're a new employee just starting with a company, you'll be assigned a work buddy to familiarize yourself with the job and work environment. There's nothing wrong with this. It could be that your supervisor has a particular person they want you paired with based on job responsibilities who could help you ease into and adapt to your new role.
If you're assigned a work buddy, that's one less thing you have to worry about. But if you're not assigned a buddy, look at it as an opportunity.
Some of the best friendships are the ones that are formed organically. Be open to getting to know all of your co-workers. Be friendly. Ask questions about their jobs and lives. Try to make a connection.
Having a work buddy is a great way to help you assimilate into the company culture and quickly fit in with other co-workers. An office buddy not only has knowledge about job requirements and expectations, but they can also provide information about the work styles and personalities of co-workers, and give a rundown of any office politics.
Beyond the office landscape, having a workplace buddy helps to improve confidence. It's nice to have someone who can share advice and make you laugh.
All jobs can be stressful at times, so being able to face work challenges with the help of a buddy reduces stress, too.
When it comes to building a relationship with your colleagues, it shouldn't always be about work.
Check in with your work buddy from time to time about how things are going in their lives. Grab lunch, attend happy hour, or plan some other fun activity once a month.
Trust goes beyond the workplace, so it's important to work on the relationship like any other friendship.
Strengthening the friendship is also beneficial if you ever reach a point where you are no longer co-workers. You may want to keep this person as a personal friend or use them as a professional reference in the future. At the very least, you'll both be valuable connections for each other in your professional networks. This is where those bonds formed at the workplace really come in handy.
Many companies have incorporated the buddy system into their onboarding process as a way to be more efficient in getting new employees familiar with the company.
If your company doesn't have such a system, be proactive about finding a buddy and make an effort to fit in with co-workers.
Fitting into the company's culture can be just as important as learning job responsibilities. One of the reasons why you were hired is because your employer thought you'd be a good cultural fit. Now, it's your job to prove them right. A work buddy can help.
At every company you end up working for, make sure you have a work buddy. Not only will they help you learn the ropes at your new job, but they'll also be a valuable friend and connection—someone you'll be able to count on as you grow in your career.
Millions of Americans struggle to work at desk jobs, often unaware they're jeopardizing their health. Sitting down all day long can be a pain—literally. The sedentary lifestyle associated with sitting for prolonged periods can lead to a variety of physical ailments and chronic pain.
Whether it’s back pain, neck strain, or increased risk of cardiovascular issues, the act of being seated for the majority of the day can have severe consequences on your well-being. However, with a few alterations to your daily routine, you can significantly decrease the negative impact that a sedentary 9-to-5 job could have on your health.
Here are six tips for staying healthy with a desk job.
Maintaining proper sight lines means keeping your eyes at screen level so that your neck does not have to contort. Adjust your monitor and chair to put your neck and head in a comfortable position.
Staying ergonomically pure with your hands and wrists prevents serious joint and ligament injuries. Consider a cushioned wrist mouse pad to keep your mouse hand comfortable. Pads are also available for keyboards, while ergonomic keyboards enable hand placement that seems more natural.
Proper posture is probably the most important tactic in staying healthy with a desk job. Good posture is essential to overall health in general. Keep your back straight and your feet on the ground. If you are experiencing any back pain, you'll need to consider an ergonomically fit chair. Chairs for back pain enable positive posture and help restore the back and spine to a more natural state.
It sounds simple but looking away from the screen periodically will benefit your eyesight. Constant monitor viewing strains our eyes. We need a break from time to time. Take 15 or 30 seconds every 10 minutes to ensure that your eyes remain strong. Also, consider investing in a pair of blue-light glasses to further reduce eyestrain.
Research demonstrates the benefits of leaving your desk at periodic intervals to stretch and walk around. Grab some coffee, visit the bathroom, check in with your boss, or just take a five-minute walk. A five-minute stretch and walk every hour or two will do wonders for your body. A few minutes away stretches your muscles and reorients your skeletal system. You'll also be refreshed by the time away and able to refocus on your tasks.
Of course, proper diet, rest, and regular exercise remain essential ingredients to any healthy lifestyle. You'll find that exercising three to four times per week will keep you energized at your desk and able to endure through the day. On days off, be sure to stretch to stay limber. You'll notice a big difference.
These six tips are simple ways to stay healthy while working a desk job. Try them out today and you'll feel a lot better by the time you log off!
Need help with your career?
It's no secret that many people wish they could be happier at work. So, what's the solution, if any?
Money is often thought to be the biggest predictor of job satisfaction, but a survey from the BBC that ranked nearly 300 jobs from most to least satisfying shows that although money does play a role, it's not the only motivator.
For instance, internet technology and telecommunications professionals ranked at number 147 on the list, while farm workers were rated as the 23rd most satisfied workers, despite earning only about half as much as IT people.
Arnold B. Bakker, professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, has found that job resources can have a hugely positive effect on work engagement and, more importantly, there are practical changes that employees can make to increase their job satisfaction.
"Job resources, such as opportunities for development and growth, social support, skill variety, and performance feedback, are the most important predictors of both job satisfaction and employee work engagement," says Bakker. "Our research clearly shows that employees can 'craft' their own jobs so that they become more satisfied and engaged. Job crafting refers to changes employees can proactively make in their own job demands and resources. It can take the form of increasing one's job resources, decreasing one's hindrance job demands, or increasing one's challenges."
Professor Jane E. Dutton from the University of Michigan and her colleagues Justin M. Berg from the Wharton School and Amy Wrzesniewski from Yale School of Management have also done extensive research into the effects of job crafting. One interesting finding is that people in low-status jobs, which are arguably also the least satisfying, are actually in a better position to craft their jobs than people at higher ranks.
Their research outlines three broad ways in which employees can shape their own work experiences and find value in just about any job.
Although it's probably safe to say that most of the time you would prefer to be doing something else, there are likely at least some aspects of your job that you do find enjoyable. To increase your overall job satisfaction, you can emphasize the tasks you enjoy by spending more of your time and energy on them.
For instance, a professor might feel most fulfilled when interacting with students. So, in order to increase their job satisfaction, the professor might decide to limit the time they spend contributing to university committees and spend more time working with students instead.
Another way to make work more meaningful is to take on an additional task that you find fulfilling. Even if this increases your workload, it can still be beneficial if it helps you feel happier about heading to work every day.
Finally, if you can't emphasize or add tasks, it might be possible to re-engineer existing ones by introducing an element that inspires you. If you could use some help figuring out what jobs you'd feel truly happy in, take our free Career Decoder Quiz!
Another way to create your own happiness at work is to create meaningful relationships with your colleagues. Research on employee interactions indicates that even short-term connections, especially when they are high quality, can be reinvigorating. So, taking the time to build up relationships with colleagues, customers, and overseers can be another way to increase job satisfaction.
For example, you could spend time mentoring a less experienced co-worker, or get to know some of your colleagues on a more personal level. Even just making a point of chatting with customers and getting to know the regulars can help you derive more meaning from your work.
The way you view your job and the tasks you perform on a daily basis also affects your engagement and satisfaction in the workplace. Crafting your perceptions about work, or "cognitive job crafting" as the researchers refer to it, isn't as physical as building relationships or performing specific tasks, so it can be more difficult to do. But the goal is to help you to find more meaning in your job as a whole.
"The more you look for the benefits of what you're doing, the more it feeds you psychologically," explains Dutton. For example, although zookeepers spend much of their time cleaning out enclosures and feeding animals, they tend to view their work as a way of ensuring that the animals receive proper care, rather than as a series of menial tasks, which helps them find meaning in it.
By doing these three simple (but important) things, you'll improve your job satisfaction and find happiness at work. Don't wait to be happier at work today!
"Always read the fine print." Isn't that what they say? It's a vicious, dog-eat-dog business world and, more often than not, it's the underdog who suffers. However, if that underdog is properly prepared and has a few tricks up their sleeve, the tables could be turned.
If you feel as though you've been mistreated by your employer and they are in breach of your employment contract, you can take action. With the right knowledge and proper foresight, you should never need to worry about being swindled by your boss or company.
It's a sad fact, but most workers are simply not aware of their contractual rights. They very rarely take the time to read through their employment contracts. This is a dramatic oversight that is easily rectified by employees simply taking the time to read what they are agreeing to.
As with any formal contracts, contracts of employment are legally binding documents with the express purpose of establishing a written agreement between you and your employer. If any of the terms of that contract are broken, then it's considered a breach of contract.
The problems arise, however, when the breaches are against terms that were not written down as they are far more difficult to prove. For this reason, it is always advisable that you make sure every term you negotiate with your employer is written down in your contract. It might seem a little paranoid at the time but it's better to be safe than sorry.
If you think your employer is in breach of your contract, first check the hard copy over and make absolutely sure. There could be clauses written in "legalese" that you may not understand (indeed, that's essentially the point of legalese) so you might need to hire a lawyer or ask a friend from a legal profession to help.
Then, you should take the problem to your employer and attempt to sort it out face-to-face. If this fails, you may be forced to take legal action. Common breaches of contract that you could be able to claim compensation for include, but are not limited to:
Remember that not all of the terms of your employment will be written into your employment contract. Some of the terms are your right by law and some of the terms such as work hours and the job description itself might be found on the initial job advertisement, so remember not to delete or throw that away! Pay slips, staff handbooks, and other particulars can also be used as legally binding documents in the case of a contractual breach.
It's rarely straightforward when you're dealing with matters such as these and, as you would expect, there are numerous commonly held misconceptions and "loopholes" that employers can and will use in order to legitimize their contractual breach. You may, for example, think that it is not in your employer's power to force you to relocate against your will but there could be something called a "mobility clause" in your contract that states your employer has the right to move you and avoid paying you if you refuse.
There are also workarounds that they'll use when it comes to bonuses and countless other specifics, so make sure that you have at least a vague knowledge of what you're signing before you sign it. Really, it's as simple as looking before you sign, something far too few people appear willing to do.
If you're not familiar with the terms of your employment contract, get on it! Familiarizing yourself with it will make dealing with your employer far less stressful and, if you're really clever, you might even be able to renegotiate terms in your favor! Stranger things have happened in business.
Proximity is an essential tool in measuring the customer experience. The right mix of proximity could move a company’s customers from satisfaction to loyalty. The lack of proximity or the wrong mix could be the canary in a coal mine of a company’s fall from grace in their industry. CS professionals will benefit greatly in the SaaS industry when applying common sense measures to significantly impact the customer experience by leveraging proximity.
In this post, we will define proximity as it relates to customer success, its importance, and how two best practices can unlock improved business relationships and outcomes for your company.
Dictionary.com defines proximity as nearness in place, time, order, occurrence, or relation; closeness. In the mid-'90s, during the origins of customer success, the concept of helping customers to achieve their definition of success through a company’s products and services by being close in both a physical and virtual sense had not yet matured, primarily because there were no digital platforms, as there are today. Yet proximity to the customer experience is critical to product vendors and service providers.
In present-day corporate America, companies can feel a proximity bias toward vendors and service providers who are or are not in their orbit. Proximity bias has been described as an unconscious tendency where people in positions of power or leadership tend to favor those physically closer to them (Cooks-Campbell, Leadership & Management, 2024). I would argue that this type of bias extends to the vendor-customer relationship.
In 1990, United Airlines released a commercial that portrayed a sales manager who told his account team that they had lost one of their oldest customers. He said the customer, whom they had been with for 20 years, claimed not to know the sales manager’s company anymore. The sales manager said he and his team were to get back in front of their customers because they had relied more on technology (phones and fax machines) than face-to-face interaction. Today, product vendors and service providers have a portfolio of tools to connect and engage with their customers; however, they will require the right mix of engagement throughout their journey from awareness to consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. Indeed, this journey will require purpose, planning, and performance.
Place
Being geographically close to customers has its privileges. One of my largest customers was scheduled to renew 70% of their portfolio within 12 months, and even though we were in constant contact with them, face-to-face meetings would be crucial leading up to the renewal date. Many of the account team members were flying into town from faraway states. Coordinating schedules to get value from meetings was already challenging for both sides. I, however, resided only 90 minutes from the customer, and it was nothing for me to jump in my car and head to their offices for important follow-ups that required a quick physical response time when needed. Meeting face-to-face provided the regional presence that was needed to provide personal service.
Time & Occurance
As a customer success professional, I’ve seen my share of support cases, some involving outages. These cases can be damaging from a financial and reputation perspective and can get tricky when the incident happens in different time zones. My previous company had a Severity 1 notification system with follow-the-sun support, which informed me and support management of any outages the customer experienced. The standard response time was one hour. I would have such notifications sent to me via email and text so that I could connect with a support manager to get an engineer assigned immediately rather than receiving automated notifications that may not get a response until closer to the one-hour mark. I would then brief my account team on the incident and discuss the next steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Within minutes, I would connect with the customer to assure them that we had the right people working on their behalf to address the outage. This type of proximity in time was the high-touch experience crucial to confirming to the customer that this issue was promptly addressed.
Order
Customers expect priority status regardless of what product or service they have purchased or licensed from you. Other companies are willing to pay a premium to get that priority service. When planning a customer’s upgrade to a more current release, migration to a different application, or even doing a hardware tech refresh, I would coordinate with support to make them a hot site. A hot site is the status given to a customer when planning the date and time of the above-mentioned events after hours or on the weekend. Should the customer experience a problem during the above-mentioned events, they could contact support and receive priority status to resolve their issue. It’s sort of like the FastPass at Disney! This type of proximity, in order, provides personal service and assures the customer that they are in good hands.
Below are two common sense, evidence-based applications that are working in the CS industry to build trust and credibility between vendors and their customers:
Physical Proximity
Relational Proximity
Proximity is linked to customer success's effectiveness by building and nurturing relationships. CS leaders should develop and project a clear sense of being near their customers through these personalized engagements.
References
Cooks-Campbell, A. (2024, March 12). Leadership & Management. Retrieved from BetterUp: https://www.betterup.com/blog/proximitybias#:~:text=Proximity%20bias%20is%20an%20unconscious,the%20expense%20of%2 0remote%20workers.
Cooks-Campbell, A. (2024). Proximity bias: definition. BetterUp.
"Why should we hire you?" is actually one of the most common questions asked in a job interview. If you're feeling upbeat and glad this question is being asked, you're at a good starting point because it's a question that gives you the opportunity to specifically inform the employer what you have to offer, why you make a good fit, and continue to sell, sell, sell to seal the deal to get a job offer.
When answering this interview question, there are several things you need to think about...
Often, when you're asked, "Why should we hire you?" the thinking is to simply respond with relevant skills and experience. But if you really want to win the employer over, you need to take it a step further.
One of the most important questions to ask in an interview is: "What is the biggest challenge someone will face in this position in the first six months?" Knowing this, answer as to how you have faced these challenges before and stress the results you have achieved. Also think about not just the relevant skills and experience you have to offer, but how those skills and experiences differ from what other candidates may be able to offer.
Employers want to hire talent who will be excited to work for them, so when you respond expressing your interest in the company and the business, make sure it's backed up with information.
You don't just want to say a blank statement like: I like the company and its culture. Offer details on it like: "I've seen how the company has maintained its competitiveness with the product launch of X, Y, and Z and infiltrated new markets like Asia and Europe. I believe in the company's approach and that it will be a long-standing leader in the industry, and I'm passionate about the product and the company's mission, so I'd like to be part of it. I believe I can add value with my previous experience and success in…"
This latter response informs the employer more about why you want to work for them and how you can bring them value. Of course, you will have to do some research ahead of time on the company and business to be able to provide such a response.
The last thing to consider when asked, "Why should we hire you?" in a job interview is where you want to be in three years. This is where you have to show that you want to stay with the employer since retention is key to them.
It is also a great opportunity to ask the hiring manager about career growth. Good answers include: "I like to stay challenged and learn new things, and I think your company can give me that opportunity. What kind of positions have others who started in this role moved onto?"
Whether you're asked, "Why should we hire you?" in a job interview or not, be prepared with a response to this question by thinking about these three areas. Either way, you'll want to make it a point to talk about what you have to offer as an employee and business-of-one, why you want to work for the company, and where you see yourself in three years. With this strategy, you'll secure the job offer in no time!
"If I could just get my foot in the door…" is a complaint we often hear from job seekers. With AI and automated applicant tracking systems in such wide use, how do you bypass computers and connect with hiring managers?
Actually, there are multiple ways to do exactly that. Let's take a look at eight.
This isn't the most effective way to get your foot in the door at most companies, but it does still work for some. To maximize your chances of landing an interview, make sure you customize your resume by adding keywords from the job posting and write a disruptive cover letter.
Why isn't this an effective way to bring your candidacy to a company's attention? First, you have maximum competition for each role you apply for since applicants typically number in the hundreds or higher. Second, only 25% of available jobs are ever advertised on job boards, which means you're overlooking 75% of open positions at any given moment.
The vast majority of employers offer you multiple ways to interact with them online—LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, and one or more company blogs. If you're targeting specific companies (Have you created your interview bucket list yet?), make sure you follow them on social media.
Even more important, though, is to interact with them through that media. Follow them on TikTok or Instagram and comment on their posts and videos. Review their LinkedIn profile periodically and "like" their updates. Share their blog posts. Give them the impression that you're interested in them as an employer.
This is an old strategy that still works. An informational interview is just that—an interview you schedule to access insider information about an occupation or employer. It is not a job interview and shouldn't be treated as one. Rather, this is your opportunity to ask the questions you're not likely to find answers to on the internet.
Used strategically, informational interviews help you explore the company's culture and structure and determine which departments are most likely to have roles that match your skills and capabilities.
When you come across a hiring manager on LinkedIn that you want to connect with, find another LinkedIn member who knows them and request an introduction (not right away). When you stop by the profile of someone you want to connect with, LinkedIn shows your mutual connections. If you leverage these specific connections into an introduction request, you're essentially getting a "warm" referral.
Make your case to the connection you want the introduction from. Sell them on the reason you want the introduction and assure them your request is serious. We strongly recommend leveraging a "serving" approach that involves offering something of value before you make a request of any networking contact.
Once you're connected to the hiring manager you can, of course, share your resume with them. However, keep in mind that many other candidates are doing the same thing. It would be smart, therefore, to look for a way to make your candidacy stand out.
The best way to stand out from the competition is to write a disruptive cover letter, where you can tell your connection story that will get the hiring manager's attention. Remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
LinkedIn also tells you how you're connected to companies when you visit a firm's profile. Take advantage of this feature to help you deepen your connections with the company.
Request introductions to other folks in the same firm and issue invitations to others in the department you're targeting. Identify key employees in the company relevant to your search and review the groups to which each one belongs. Find an industry group they're a part of that you are eligible to join and do so. This establishes a third-level connection without you having to tip your hand or approach the contact. Best of all, once you achieve this third-level connection, you can message that contact directly without requiring an introduction.
As you build connections in a target company, try messaging those contacts to find out which external recruiting firms they use for the types of positions you'll be pursuing with them. Once you identify one or more external recruiters, build connections with them as well.
It's critical to leverage a "give to get" strategy with recruiters since they are inundated by emails, voicemails, and LinkedIn messages/invites from candidates. If you approach them in the same way you'll have to battle to stand out. Why not approach them differently from the start? Offer them something of value and allow your candidacy to prove itself over time. You'll stand head and shoulders above the crowd as a result.
With number five above, we mentioned sending your resume to hiring managers. An even smarter strategy is to court the hiring manager over time as we just recommended doing with recruiters.
Research the hiring manager via your favorite search engine and check out as many social media profiles as you can find. Ask your mutual connections to tell you about the person's interests and the needs faced by his or her department. Then, brainstorm resources you can share with them that they may find helpful before you bring your candidacy to their attention. Prove your worth first and a deeper connection is likely to follow. After a time, you can then request a phone call or meeting with the person to explore ways you may be able to contribute in more significant ways to their team.
With a little ingenuity and a fair amount of persistence, you can get your foot in the door at almost any company you can find. Make use of as many resources as you can, including as many social networking options as you're comfortable with to build a web of connections with your target companies. The result will be more interviews and more job offers—a decent payoff for a little work.
At Work It DAILY, we understand that true productivity and creativity stem from a well-rested and balanced mind. This is why we have implemented our "Week of Rest" initiative, where our team takes two one-week breaks each year to ensure everyone has the opportunity to reset and come back even stronger.
As a small, dedicated team of five full-timers and three part-timers, we understand the immense value of taking true breaks from work. Our commitment to well-being extends beyond offering resources like our "Break Through Your Burnout" training and insightful articles on managing burnout: we also practice what we preach. That's why, twice a year, we take a full week off to rest and recharge, ensuring we remain energized and effective in our mission to support you.
The "Week of Rest" initiative is not just a random occurrence, and Work It DAILY isn’t the first to do it either. Other brands like HubSpot, Nike, Mozilla, and LinkedIn also provide their own versions. It is a carefully thought-out strategy rooted in the commitment to promoting mental health and overall well-being within an organization, brand, and community. Work It DAILY continues this conversation about career satisfaction, work-life balance, and the critical need for dedicated downtime with members and audiences.
1. Enhanced Creativity and Productivity
Rest is not merely about taking a break from work; it is about giving your mind the space to wander, dream, and innovate. Studies have shown that periods of rest can lead to significant improvements in creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
2. Reduced Burnout
Burnout is a growing concern in many industries. It can lead to decreased productivity, low morale, and even serious health issues. By incorporating regular rest periods, we help our team avoid burnout and maintain their enthusiasm and energy for their work.
3. Improved Mental Health
Taking time off reduces stress and anxiety, promoting better mental health. It allows our team members to disconnect from work pressures and focus on personal well-being.
Our "Week of Rest" occurs twice a year, strategically planned to ensure minimal disruption to our operations and to coincide with American holidays when most employers and organizations are away. During these weeks, all team members are encouraged to leave their work responsibilities and engage in activities that help them relax and rejuvenate. Whether it's spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, or simply enjoying some quiet time, the goal is to come back refreshed and ready to tackle new challenges.
Leading by example is one of the most powerful ways to influence positive change. By openly sharing our "Week of Rest" initiative with our community, we hope to inspire others to prioritize rest and self-care in their own lives. Our members have responded positively to this initiative, often expressing how our approach has encouraged them to rethink their own work habits and make room for rest.
While not everyone may be able to take a full week off, there are still ways to incorporate regular rest into your routine:
At Work It DAILY, we are committed to fostering a work culture that values balance, well-being, and personal growth. Our "Week of Rest" is one of the many ways we strive to support our team and community in achieving a fulfilling and sustainable career. As we continue to promote the importance of rest and recharge, we invite you to join us in prioritizing your own well-being, ensuring you have the energy and creativity to excel in all areas of your life.