Career Advice

Obviously, no one wants to be unpopular at work so I have put together a list of common pitfalls that could make you unpopular at work, so we can all avoid them! 1.       Gossiping A little harmless gossip doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but be careful about talking about your colleagues behind their backs (especially being negative) and getting the reputation as the office gossip.  Being seen as a gossip could mean people are less likely to trust you and makes it easier to become embroiled in office politics! Keeping things simple means you can stay out of any drama and stay professional. 2.       Sucking Up Be yourself with your colleagues and boss without sucking up. Being authentic is an admirable quality; no one likes to be around people who are trying to be nice to people based on their status or what they think they can get out of them.  Treating everyone you come into contact with … [Read more...] about 5 Ways To Make Yourself Unpopular At Work

Blog this, blog that. It seems like everyone has a blog these days, and that's not too far off – millions of blogs have been started (and just about as many abandoned) in the last decade. Have you been toying with the idea of starting your own blog? Does the desire to be part of this vast universe of cyber-talking appeal to you? The good news is you can - there is no quota for blogs. However, there are some things you need to do first before you post that first article, and the very first one is to know the goals of your blog, which can be determined by two very basic questions:   WHAT do you want your blog to be about? Technology? Cooking? Crafts? Childcare? Auto repair? Sports? Fashion? Gardening? Creative writing? Design and décor? Whatever it is, you need to have a basic idea before you invest any money or significant time. Don't start a cooking blog if you also plan to talk about interior design. Start from the beginning saying that your blog is about the home, which … [Read more...] about Using Your Blog to Help Launch a New Career

I have always loved the idea of working from home.  I imagined how great it would be to work in your pyjamas if you wanted to, and just generally make the best of being in your home environment to do your work. Now that I do work from home, I enjoy it very much but have found that there can be headaches to working at home. Here are are a few of the things I have learnt that have helped me to enjoy working from home and be effective: Create A Schedule Like many people, I imagined working from home could mean getting up whenever I wanted to and working whenever suited me. The flexibility is great when it is needed but the reality is that a schedule can help you to get your work done and keep boundaries around your work and home life. Set Boundaries Boundaries are important when working from home, in getting your work done and also ensuring your work life doesn’t leak into your personal life. It might be that the people in your life may think you are always available … [Read more...] about Working From Home: How To Be Effective

Do you want to stay healthy but find it hard to do so whilst working in an office? If so, here are a few ideas that I use that you may find helpful: 1. Drink Herbal Teas Or Water Staying hydrated is essential for your health. I only drink herbal teas and water at work and this saves on buying milk for tea and coffee, reduces my caffeine intake and ensures I stay hydrated. I have one or two cups of tea and / or coffee after work but by only drinking water and herbal teas at work I have made this a regular habit. 2. Eat Healthy Foods As with what you drink at work, if you can prepare in advance and eat healthy food and snacks at work it will help you to get into a good habit. 3. Take A Break It is so good for your mental and physical wellbeing to take a break each day you are at work. Taking a break means you have some rejuvenation time in your day, it enhances your productivity when you are back at work and can help to reduce the chances of feeling burnout at work. … [Read more...] about Healthy Habits For The Office

Yearly performance reviews are commonplace in many companies and are often the main occasions when employees receive feedback from management. You may anticipate yearly reviews since this is typically when pay raises are received but you may also dread them for fear of negative feedback. Rather than worrying about performance reviews, use your energy more effectively by planning for the meeting. The following are three ways to plan for upcoming reviews and the lessons you should take away from the meeting. Take Criticism Constructively Criticism from management regarding your job performance can be difficult to swallow, especially for workplace perfectionists. Rather than worrying about what a ‘meets expectations’ rating rather than an ‘exceeds expectations’ rating may mean for your future with the company, take the criticism constructively. Listen to what your manager suggests during the review and begin incorporating that advice into future work projects. This will prove to … [Read more...] about 3 Important Lessons to Learn From Yearly Performance Reviews

Do you feel that you have great ideas but are unsure about how to share them at work? Maybe you feel your ideas aren’t getting heard or others are taking the praise for them? Here are a few ideas to help you get your ideas heard: Speak Up For many people, a big reason they don’t get their ideas heard at work is because they don’t share them. It can be daunting to share our ideas and put ourselves out there. We wonder if they are good enough, if people will laugh etc but the reality is that no one can know about your ideas if you don’t tell them. If this is the scenario you find yourself in, bite the bullet and commit to sharing those great ideas with others. Get Confident If you are having trouble sharing your ideas or getting yourself heard, it could be time to get to the bottom of your lack of confidence and give yourself a confidence booster. Working with a good coach can be a great way to see why and where you might be creating obstacles for yourself. … [Read more...] about How To Get Your Ideas Heard At Work

When I first graduated from business school, I leveraged our school's alumni network to seek advice on securing my first job. One successful businessperson I spoke to advised that starting a blog would be one of the best things I could do to advance in my career. Looking back, I completely agree with this advice. Building a blog is one of the best tools for getting started and advancing in your career field. If you don't have a personal blog yet, I hope to provide some concrete reasons in this article on why you must start one today. 1. Personal Branding The idea of the personal brand that was coined by Tom Peters in 1997 has been greatly accelerated by the Internet which connects everyone and provides a platform for easy self publishing of content that can be broadcast to a large audience for free. By producing great content on your blog, you will establish an online presence that will strengthen your personal brand. For example, Dan Schawbel created a blog called The Personal … [Read more...] about 5 Ways a Personal Blog Can Boost Your Career

Most people are under the impression that asking for help will make them look incompetent, or hurt their career in some way, but this is absolutely false. Of course, if you are constantly asking for help because you are lazy or lacking time management skills, this is a different story. However, if you are asking for help because you want to learn, or come up with solutions or improvements, requesting help will likely make you look like quite a valuable employee. When to Ask for Help If you are trying to impress your boss, you need to know when you should and should not ask for help. After all, it would be pretty embarrassing to have that new hire showing you how to change the toner in the copy machine. Your questions need to be appropriate, and timing is everything. Project Details – If you are not sure of project details, always ask for help. It shows that you are eager to make sure every aspect of the project is handled properly. However, if your boss took the time … [Read more...] about Why Asking for Help Helps Your Career

As a professional, if you are not making use of LinkedIn, you are missing out. This is a powerful platform with more than 120 million members. If you just read that and instantly felt left out, that’s a perfectly natural reaction. It’s frustrating to know that millions of others may be getting a head while you are stuck in a rut, all because you are not making use of your resources. The good news is that whether you are just now joining LinkedIn or if you simply haven’t used the platform to its full potential, you can change this quite quickly. First Things First The most important thing you will do is take the time to fill in your profile as thoroughly as you possibly can. By doing this, you increase your visibility and provide the site with the information that it needs to make appropriate recommendations to you. This is also why being honest is crucial. This is a platform that will truly benefit your professional career, if you are honest about everything. Even if you are not … [Read more...] about How to Shine on LinkedIn

There are many people who still think that hoarding their vacation days is the best way to go. So, if this sounds like you, rest-assured tha you are not alone in your thinking. Unfortunately, just because a lot of people are doing it, does not make it right. It is estimated that billions of dollars are forfeited every year in vacation time because employees either quit or lose their time, they wait until the last minute when they can’t use them because others are on vacation, or they are scared of job security so they do take them. This just isn’t right. Plan Ahead One of the most important things you can do to avoid burnout and keep yourself healthy, is plan ahead for vacation. When you wait until the last minute, there is a good chance that you may not be able to take the time. If you plan on hoarding all your time to take over the holiday, you better hope you are not fighting everyone else for the same time off. There is nothing worse than forfeiting time because you waited too … [Read more...] about Don’t Hoard Vacation Days!