It struck me the other day that once again, it’s a good thing I work from home. It was 3:30 p.m. and I was still in pjs. I WAS working, but if I worked in an office environment it wouldn’t fly. Especially as businesses are still enamored with the open floor plan concept, there’re quite few things I’d have to worry about besides my work attire. Yes, the “open office” creates the illusion of more personal work space, but what about privacy and distractions? PrivacyIf you’re still working in a cubicle environment, you may feel it shrinking as companies look to save money. But at least you can pretend you have a private space when you have a little four-foot high wall between you and the co-workers. You probably still have to find a conference room to make a personal call (or at least I hope you do), though. Think about how creepy it would be if your open office layout allowed everyone to know your business – with other people, like your boss … [Read more...] about The Open Floor Plan – But Not at Work
Career Advice Blog
How to Avoid a Cash Shortage During a Job Transition
For most employees, transitioning from one company to another is a natural process of advancing their careers. While a new job can offer an increased paycheck and more opportunity for career growth, it can also bring a cash shortage. Often, when employees transition between jobs, they face a temporary gap between when their prior job ended and their new one begins. While this job gap may only last a week or two, the lack of pay during the transition is enough to rattle the budgets of cash-strapped workers. The following are four tips for avoiding a cash shortage during an upcoming transition to help you focus more fully on preparing for the new job. Plan in Advance Except for in extreme situations, a job change should never be completed on impulse. Rather, this change should be made after lengthy assessments of the pros and cons of transitioning from one company to another. By planning a career change in advance, you’ll have ample time to save up slowly for any pay gap you may … [Read more...] about How to Avoid a Cash Shortage During a Job Transition
Choose a Career: Becoming a Linux Engineer
Linux is a computer operating system which is based on free and open source software. There are many different varieties of Linux and they are all based on the Linux kernel which was the first operating system to be released on October 5th, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The popularity of Linux has increased ever since and more and more users are using this alternative software on a daily basis. As this open source software is now becoming a bigger part of our daily life, there has been an increase in Linux jobs, especially when it comes to becoming a Linux engineer. Linux runs on a wide variety of computer hardware, from mobile phones, tablet computers, televisions, video game consoles, desktop computers and supercomputers. Linux is one of the biggest leading server operating system which runs the 10 fastest supercomputers around the world. The role of a Linux systems engineer is to design and implement Linux-based Internet web server set ups. A Linux systems engineer will typically work … [Read more...] about Choose a Career: Becoming a Linux Engineer
Staying Busy and Motivated During Your Winter Job Search
Like other mammals, humans have a knack for hibernating in the winter. When the winter season crosses paths with your job search, this temptation can be even more appealing. Not only is it below zero and snowing, but everywhere you look there is another advertisement for Christmas sales that remind you of all the presents you still have to scrounge up for friends and family. Besides the shopping, most companies are just counting the days to their holiday breaks and aren't exactly welcoming to new applicants, so if you’re in a job search in the winter time, things may look grim. Let's admit it: job searching in the winter can sometimes make you just want to go home and chug some egg nog until you pass out, but deep down you know you've got to keep that resilient searching spirit alive. If your job progress is frozen this winter, consider the following tips to heat things up. - Consider alternative money-making opportunities Before you get desperate enough to put on a Santa suit, grab … [Read more...] about Staying Busy and Motivated During Your Winter Job Search
14 Ways to Procrastinate Effectively
It hits the best of us, we are working, or studying, and we just don't want to do it anymore. You take a small break on Facebook. That break can end up taking a couple of hours. It may happen in a different way. You might want nothing to do with work or your homework. You've got it bad, you are procrastinating. Procrastinating is almost never good, but if you must, here are a few ways to procrastinate effectively. 1. Gym time! If you want nothing to do with studying or work, go to the gym. Exercising will give you a lot more energy, will lower your stress, and if will boost your level of concentration when you do decide to get back to studying. 2. Look up jobs, or scholarships. If you are still in school, start looking for scholarships that you might be eligible. If you are bored with your job, start looking for jobs that will be good for you. 3. Buy tickets. If you are going home, or you want to go to a concert, start looking up tickets. You might end up finding a great deal! 4. … [Read more...] about 14 Ways to Procrastinate Effectively
After the Work Project: Lessons Learned
While your project may have come to an end it is by no means time to put your feet up and take a break. If you want to develop as a project manager then this is the perfect time to look back over the now completed project and review it. The reviewing process is necessary so you can create a list of lessons learned; a list that is vital to stop you making or repeating any mistakes or problems you encountered over the project’s course. It doesn’t matter what project management methodology you use, be it PRINCE2, Agile or anything else, if you keep repeating previous mistakes future projects will suffer. The process of looking back and listing your mistakes highly increases your chances of avoiding them in the future, or at least flag them up early on. So how can we analyse our projects effectively? Get Your Team Involved Getting the perspectives of all of your team gives you a much better view of the overall project, with some picking up problems others didn’t. By holding a … [Read more...] about After the Work Project: Lessons Learned
How Not to Be Discouraged by Failed Interviews
Receiving a rejection letter after what you thought was a great job interview can be discouraging. Even more disheartening is leaving a job interview knowing you failed to provide top notch answers. While not landing a job you really wanted can be disheartening, there are ways to avoid the discouragement and to find the drive needed to continue the job search. The following are a few methods to try. Assess Your Mistakes After each job interview, good or bad, review your mistakes. While reliving any awkward answers you gave can be difficult, this review process is essential for avoiding the same mistakes in future interviews. When reviewing your mistakes, consider what you would do differently if given another chance. These changes can then be implemented in future interviews. Also, consider how you presented yourself during the interview. Review the clothing you wore, the condition of your portfolio or resume and any other factors that may have contributed to the rejection. The … [Read more...] about How Not to Be Discouraged by Failed Interviews
3 Tips to Determine If Your (Future) Employees are Trustworthy
People who are interviewing potential employees always have one single overwhelming concern: that the person across the table is out and out lying to them. There's little worse than sinking thousands of dollars in taxes, fees, training costs, and materials into an employee only to have them turn out to be a dud. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to find out if an employee is trustworthy or not -- some obvious, some devious. Get Your Facts If the candidate has passed a few rounds of interviewing and looks quite promising, you can (and should) take the time to contact their previous employers. Get every bit of information you can about how they were as employees, why they left, and so forth. Also, call their references and ask for details that might be less than perfect about them. Then, simply ask them about their previous work experience. If they don't give you a perfectly honest answer, that's OK -- everyone has a tendency to remember the good and forget the bad -- but if … [Read more...] about 3 Tips to Determine If Your (Future) Employees are Trustworthy
4 Reasons to Consider a Career in Search Engine Marketing
The increased use of the Internet for entertainment, commerce, and sharing information has come so far so fast it is nearly impossible to measure, and search engine marketing (SEM) is a key driver of this growth. SEM is a complex and exciting field that incorporates several disciplines such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid search (PPC), and social media marketing (SMM). In a nutshell, SEM covers all things that can impact how customers find a web site via search – which is increasingly the life-blood for many companies. Below are listed 4 reasons why you should consider a career in SEM, but keep in mind that there are a number of other excellent reasons not mentioned here – this is not an exhaustive list by far! 1. Reasonable Barriers to Entry Generally speaking, SEM is all about improving websites’ positions on search engine results pages (SERPs), both organically and sponsored. While that may sound overly complicated and require a computer science background, … [Read more...] about 4 Reasons to Consider a Career in Search Engine Marketing
Landing a Job During These Competitive Times
As more and more people are losing their jobs or taking redundancy, competition in today’s job market is becoming ever more cutthroat. Millions of young people, many of them graduates, are moving back in with their parents, unable to find work. This raises the question as to whether there is any way to increase your chances in these competitive times. Firstly, any budding job candidate is going to need a diverse and interesting CV, which demonstrates their capabilities and knowledge. If your CV is looking a little sparse there are some great ways you can spruce it up before sending out copies to potential employers. Think about doing some volunteering. Not only does volunteering show that you are a considerate person but also shows your willingness to give up your free time to work for something you believe in. On top of this, volunteering will give you experience that will be applicable in the work place, such as learning how to deal with people or organise events. A second option … [Read more...] about Landing a Job During These Competitive Times