Career Advice

What Are Soft Skills? A little over a decade ago, social psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman wrote a bestselling book that turned how organizations evaluated their employees upside down. "Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ" established an entirely new means of evaluation and became a popular psychology bestseller. Now, in addition to IQ, standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and school grades, individuals could be evaluated for their emotional intelligence. "Soft skills" is a casual reference to the bulky term "emotional intelligence," often shortened to simply EI. Divided into two types—ability emotional intelligence and trait emotional intelligence—emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to identify, assess and control the emotions of oneself, others and groups. Are Soft Skills Important to Business? According to Arlene Sota's article, "Soft Skills Are Key to All Success," "Studies have shown [that] individuals who scored … [Read more...] about Soft Skills for Hard Times

So you finally graduated college and have the coveted degree you need to find a job. But somehow after those four long years of school, your resumé just looks empty. You can't get a job without experience and you can't get experience without a job—and so begins the endless cycle of job hunting. Although this situation might seem hopeless, there's a way to use other experience to your advantage. Volunteer work is a great way to give back to the community, while also developing experience in your field. Careful, though: not all of your volunteer experience will be a great fit for your resume. The following tips and guidelines can help you discern between what's appropriate and what you might want to leave out. Ask Yourself, "So What?" So you spent five years in Africa building wells so the locals there could have access to clean water. So what? This experience undoubtedly had a major influence on your life and your character, but is it really relevant to the resumé you'll be sending … [Read more...] about Is Your Volunteer Experience Resumé-Worthy?

Employers tend to make a ton of mistakes during the whole recruiting, interviewing and hiring process. Therefore your company's hiring manager needs to evaluate and re-evaluate his/her hiring practices if bad employees are being hired on a regular basis. In the following article we discuss a few mistakes that hiring managers make when hiring new talent... 1. Going too Narrow with Job Specifications Every manager wants to hire the best talent while being in the rush. New employees are usually hired because a project requires the right help or a specific set of skills. But since most hiring managers don’t have the time to cover the training process, they go overly narrow with the job specifications, which is a mistake. What every hiring manager needs to realize is this: When you hire somebody, you’re paying for his abilities, and not for specialized knowledge of a tool or technique. A good hire will almost always learn how to use the tool you hand him or her and if he lacks some … [Read more...] about 3 Mistakes by Your Hiring Manager That Are Costing You a Fortune

Procrastination can be misleading. For instance think of a standard email inbox and instead of getting emails about meeting minutes you are getting 'tasks' to put on your do to list. Before you know it, there are is one thousand unread emails sitting in your inbox. A productive worker would say to themselves, "okay, let's get cracking!" But there is several other characters in this scenario and they are all belong to the procrastination family. There is social media and his younger brother, YouTube and his twin sister, Vimeo. Sure procrastination can be very relaxing and fun; especially you are watching a comedy show on YouTube. But it is not making you productive, now is it? In order to beat your procrastination tendencies, you first of all have to make a conscious decision to beat it, because the power of just doing tasks in and out of work comes from the power of your mind. And ironically it is your mind that is increasing your urge to procrastinate in the long run. Such as, have … [Read more...] about The Power of "Just Do It" at Work

There is so much going on in social media today that it is safe to say that nothing is sacred in this arena. We have all seen on the news about celebrities saying the wrong things and being put in the position to apologize. Just because we are not celebrities does not mean we can say anything we want either. There are several subjects that should never be sent in work e-mails. Most of these are common sense to most but these things continue to get circulated so many of us are lacking in common sense or we just do not care. If you are either one of these people you are at risk of serious retribution by your employer or at the very least your co-workers. Your boss - Do not discuss your boss on an e-mail. If you feel the need to vent then go in person and talk to someone about your boss but do not do it over e-mail. If you say it in person did was it really said? If you put it down on e-mail then there is hard proof that it has been said and exactly who it was that said it. The best … [Read more...] about E-mails to Never Send at Work

If you feel in need of seeing your job differently, the first question  to ask yourself is whether you should you be looking for a new job? Maybe the reason you are having problems is because this job isn't the right job for you? Lack of fulfillment, poor work/life balance, long or unsociable hours, lack of control or autonomy, bad workplace politics and no promotional prospects are common reasons that people leave their jobs for. However, maybe you can't or don't want to change jobs, for whatever reason. You’ve weighed everything up and decided to stay but you know you need to change how you view your job. So what can you do to refresh your job for the new year?Talk to Your BossSee what options are available to you. Ask about other prospects and the possibility of promotions. Could you love to a different department and learn new skills or a new role within the company? Make Your Workplace More PositiveWhat can you do to make your workplace more positive? Even if … [Read more...] about How To View Your Job Differently

We live in a society where impressions count, and the impression you make with your appearance at work can make a big difference. We, as humans, judge others on their appearance and how we dress at work will affect greatly how we are perceived as an employer, employee or as a co-worker. The more appropriate our appearance to the type of work we are employed in, the better we will be associated with being better and more appropriately suited to it. It goes without saying that turning up to work wearing a suit if you work on a building site is not going to do you any favors but there are always ways to make the most of your appearance that will benefit your work. Dressing well, and appearing well groomed can inspire self-confidence. With self-confidence comes better performance and a greater belief in one's abilities as well as more self respect. It's easier to respect someone who demonstrates self respect through caring about their appearance, especially if you recognise these … [Read more...] about Dress for Success!

To place the word incredible in front of any objective is in itself a productivity hack, as it helps you visualise the outstanding performance you are expecting from that particular piece of advice. Productivity hack tips are basically built around finance because we actually live to create more money so that our lives can be easier and more enjoyable. The trade off is a certain amount of work for a certain amount of return. The secret is in getting the balance right, therefore to give you  seven incredible productivity hacks they will each have to have some degree of special  importance that will assist you with reaching your financial goals that much easier and faster. The following tips can help you do just that: Remain Passionate.  This is placed at number one because if you are not passionate about what you are doing you won't get far with your aims of increasing your productivity. Passion drives you like nothing else. It will be your driving force and when you are passionate … [Read more...] about 7 Handy Productivity Hacks