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
10 Ways to Manage Stress at the Office
In today's hypercompetitive business environment, it's common for workers to experience workplace stress. Stress will not only make you less efficient at your job, but it can also negatively affect your health. The following are 10 easy ways to manage workplace stress: Acknowledge the stressor. Sometimes simply acknowledging what it is that is causing you stress at the office can help put it in perspective and reduce the stress. Take a break. When stress gets too much to handle at the office, get up from your desk and take a break. If possible, leave the office completely. Even if it's just for 15 minutes, this break can calm you and give you new perspective. Try deep breaths. Stress results in a physiological response that includes muscle tension, an increase in one's heart rate and faster breathing. Deep breathing can counteract these responses, allowing you to relax and address the stressor at hand calmly and coolly. Let it all out. One of the best ways to manage stress at the … [Read more...] about 10 Ways to Manage Stress at the Office
How to Turn Your Talent Into a Career
Growing up I always heard the popular “if you do what you love you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” This is especially frustrating because it’s true. Most people would love to be able to take their hobby and run with it for their entire lives. Unfortunately, this isn’t always easy. I enjoy writing, but if I tried to write a novel worth publishing it would take years (and who has that long to hope something works out?). My brother enjoys playing basketball, but he’s only 5’ 7”. In other words, there are a lot of things that can discourage someone from taking their passion and turning it into a career. However, many have discovered that it is entirely possible to take a skill and put it to good use. Consider the following steps to help ensure you never have to work again: 5 Steps to Creating a Job You Will Love Step #1: Prepare to Be Part Time Starting an entire career is difficult no matter what the industry. Be prepared to start your company as part time work. Quitting … [Read more...] about How to Turn Your Talent Into a Career
6 Tips for Creating a More Relaxing Workspace
Sweating under blindingly bright fluorescent lights in a stark white workspace isn’t exactly considered an ideal working condition. Rather, you must feel at ease in your workplace to produce your best results. The following are six tips for creating a more relaxing workspace to help you feel more at ease each workday. Listen to Music Music is relaxing and can instantly improve your spirits. Whether you’re annoyed from listening to coworkers in surrounding workspaces or simply work best with some tunage, bring headphones to the office and crank up Pandora or your favorite iTunes playlist. Adjust the Lighting Lighting is often a major hindrance to workplace productivity. Working under too bright of lighting can be stressful and irritating while lighting that’s too dim often puts employees too much at ease. If you aren’t happy with your workplace’s current light settings, discuss the possibility of adjustments with your manager. Also, consider bringing in a soft lighting lamp to make … [Read more...] about 6 Tips for Creating a More Relaxing Workspace
Don’t Trust the 80% Rule if You Hope for a Comfortable Retirement
The 80% rule is the rule most often cited by retirement planners. This rule of thumb states that, in retirement, most people will need an income equal to between 75% and 80% of their pre-retirement income to maintain their pre-retirement lifestyle. The average of the two percentages, 80%, gives the popular rule its name. If you’re one of those people who can live on 80% of your salary, that’s wonderful. But for many of us, paying all the bills on 80% of our current salary would be impossible, and leave us strapped for cash as retirees. The rule is based on the idea that a retiree’s income goes down by approximately 25% once he or she is retired. It’s true that there are certain things you won’t need to pay for once you’re no longer part of the workforce. You may be able to move to a less expensive place which is further from your former place of employment. And you can quit gassing up the SUV every few days. But there are other parts of the equation that may have nothing to do with … [Read more...] about Don’t Trust the 80% Rule if You Hope for a Comfortable Retirement
3 Ways to Beat the Work Winter Blues
Work is a bore. With the nights drawing in, and winter spreading her icy fingers over pavements, squeezing life from the trees and freezing the air in your throat, days spent in the office seem more depressing than ever. It’s dark and cold when you get up, it’s dark and cold when you leave work, and all there is in between is an endless monotony of spread sheets, meetings, bureaucracy and sycophancy. It’s at this point, with those halcyon summer days all but a distant memory, and the joyous coming of spring many months away, that people start seriously start considering why they bother. Why spend 8 or 9 hours a day cooped up in an office staring at flickering screens, strip lights and fake pine desks when your only reward is a cold journey home surrounded by people sniffling and coughing on the bus, and another reality TV show about vacuous idiots from Newcastle/Essex/Chelsea/Essex for entertainment. Basically, Work + Winter = Woe. But what are the alternatives? Quit work and go on … [Read more...] about 3 Ways to Beat the Work Winter Blues