Category: Career Development

LinkedIn

Google

Uber

Airbnb

Pinterest

The list goes on…

What do all of these startup giants have in common? Well, everyone wants to work for one, of course. Or, have at least fantasised about it.

These days you can be the CEO of Ford and not many will blink an eyelid.

But drop casually at a party that you work for LinkedIn or Uber (even if it’s an entry-level role) and get ready to be the most fascinating person at the said party.

What’s the Big Deal?

There’s a palpable sense of romance, prestige and enigma that enshrouds the world of startups and, specifically, the idea of working for one of Silicon Valley-based unicorns.

There’s even an HBO TV comedy series named after it—that’s how hip it is.

By now, you’re probably wondering if diving into this scene would be everything it’s cracked up to be. Or is it mostly just hot air?

On the off chance you’re thinking that living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area for a few years would be a good career move, I’m taking a closer look at the pros and cons.

All I ask is that you hold off on buying your Tesla (and signing up for that $10,000/week one-bedroom apartment in Telegraph Hill) until you read this article.

First, a few basics about you:

What Do You Do For a Living?

If you’re a coder, great! A Stanford University graduate, by chance? Ah, too bad.

But all isn’t lost. Just know that some of the big unicorn startups give top priority to Stanford grads.

Not a coder?

If you’re in sales, marketing, customer service, product management or recruiting, you might be in luck. One caveat is that salaries trend lower than big corporation salaries. And negotiating equity can be tricky, depending on where the startup is in its lifecycle.

Quora is a great place to read real conversations on this topic.

How Many Years of Experience Do You Have?

What I really want to ask here is, well, um…how old are you? The average age of a worker in American is 42. In Australia and the UK, it’s 40.

But the average age at all the companies named above hovers around 28-29.

Something to consider when you think about who your colleagues will be, and how much you’ll be able to relate.

And, the Valley is known for rampant ageism.

When Zuckerberg was a tender 22, speaking at Stanford (naturally), he said “I want to stress the importance of being young and technical. Young people are just smarter. Why are most chess masters under 30?”

So there’s that.

What’s Your Tolerance for Risk?

No surprise, the market ebbs and flows. As of this writing, there’s a bit of ebbing happening.

Recently, Dropbox announced that it was doing away with certain employee perks to save money, such as meals, dry cleaning and shuttles.

They estimated the cost savings at about $25k per head.

Then there’s Twitter, which is a bit puzzling at the moment: Relevant because it’s emerged as Trump’s favourite way to communicate with the American people. But revenue is suffering, and not too long ago they made redundant about 350 people, or 9% of their workforce.

Point being, you have to be ready for anything.

Now On to SF and the Valley

It used to be that most startups were down in the Valley. But that’s changed.

Since 2010, San Francisco has seen 1 million square metres taken up by Silicon Valley startups. Twitter, Dropbox, Airbnb, Uber, Yelp, BitTorrent, Square, Slack, and Pinterest all chose SF as their home base.

Between 2012 and 2013, 24 companies relocated to SF – including Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Mozilla, eBay, and LinkedIn.

Now, bear in mind that San Francisco is a petite 5-kilometre by 5-kilometre peninsula. It’s tiny. One of its nicknames is “Little City”.

Also since 2010, 50,000+ new people have moved there to work for startups: Ouch.

Bring On the Cons:

In 2015, SF became the most expensive city in America.

As of this year, a mere 11% of the city’s population is able to afford home ownership while 85% of the city’s new real estate developments are targeting the high-income market.

Hence, there’s a housing shortage.

To the point where Google is talking about building housing near Mountain View and incentivising their employees to live there—10K bonus to live in a startup dorm, anyone?

And, according to sfgate.com, homelessness is at an all-time high.

Oakland used to be a viable option for less-expensive housing, but now Oakland’s pace of rental increases is only surpassed in the U.S. by San Francisco.

Foiled again.

While we’re on Oakland, no doubt you heard about the 36 artists who lived (and died) in the Ghost Ship Warehouse fire last year. It was never wired for residential use, but these artists couldn’t afford other housing in the Bay Area.

Case in point that it’s getting tougher to live in SF and not be a technocrat anymore. Conflicts between the tech elites and natives/long-term residents are alive and well.

Two poignant examples:

1. The Black Tech Buses that shuttle these workers back and forth to the Valley, or from the Valley up to the city, use Municipal transit stops.

Until fall of 2016, their use of the stops was not permitted. And residents protested across the city claiming these stops were raising the rents in their neighbourhoods.

2. Anti-AirBNB Posters can be found plastered to telephone poles and corner store windows throughout many SF hoods.

Sure, Airbnb was founded in SF. But the proliferation of its concept is taking potential housing away from residents whose landlords can make more money through Airbnb than with a long-term tenant.

The social dynamic is complex, to say the least.

Now On to the Pros

Whew. Time for a deep breath.

After all that heavy social stuff, I think we’re ready for a little nature. Luckily, the entire Bay Area is rich with natural beauty and blessed with a mild climate.

Depending on where you live in the city itself, there are great beaches (a couple more urban and a couple that feel like you’re in the Mediterranean). Golden Gate Park and the GGNRA are also really spectacular.

And foodies will find endless local, organic, vegan, free-range, gluten-free and raw options.

Plus, some of the best Mexican food north of the border and any kind of yummy Asian food you can imagine.

Winos likely already know that great regional wine is everywhere.

The question is…

Will You Be Able to Afford Any of This?

The good news is (these are the pros, remember?) your salary will be higher. So it may just barely even out if you watch your budget.

Plus, unlike anywhere else in the world, you could actually meet for coffee with someone who works at a company you’re curious about—Zendesk, Slack, Salesforce, Google, Uber, you name it.

They’re all just a short Lyft ride from each other. Or, if you prefer, a brisk walk in the fog.

And the Blue Bottle coffee is out of this world. It’s backed by the Valley’s elite – of course – including one of my favourite Valley characters – Shark Tank’s outspoken loose cannon Chris Sacca.

It’s like a LinkedIn network gone wild.

Speaking of wild, Trump’s immigration policy is a definite wild card for anyone considering relocating to America. So keep your eye on that one.

And the Last Pro Is…

You don’t even need to move to the Bay Area to join one of these legends.

Most of the companies we’ve referenced have international branches, offices and remote teams. Or, you could explore a more reasonably-priced city in another part of the U.S. such as Seattle, Austin or even Charlotte.

And while none of the big names offer this, some startups don’t even have offices.

TopTal – an American company that provides freelance software engineers and software designers to other companies – insists that you work remotely. Even it’s from a beach, mountaintop or a tropical island.

As long as there’s Internet.

So, clearly only a crazy person would pay Bay Area rents if they didn’t have to. Unless, of course, you’re one of the crazies from way back—an adventurer who wants to experience firsthand the reality of this unique point in time in the global hub of innovation.

Unless you’re one of the ones Steve Jobs talked about in that first Apple ad from the Think Different campaign:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels. The troublemakers. The problem child. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently….

“They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you cannot do is ignore them. Because they change things….

“They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Unless that.

Believing in yourself and your skills is important in any career field. You want to be the very best at the job you’re doing at all times. As an HR Newbie, there will be a lot of challenges while you’re learning the job, the workforce, the company, and upgrading your skills.

Walking into a new workplace and knowing nothing can be daunting, especially for an overachiever. You must understand and acknowledge how you come off towards others, and yes, in our profession, that is extremely important. An HR professional saying, “take me as I am” might not be the greatest way to start off a new relationship. Knowing your job is great, but it doesn’t make you better than anyone else in the building.

Confidence in yourself helps others grow their confidence in you. It is knowing that you can possibly be the best in the building and not turning others off or being selfish. Trust throughout your organization will take the HR department far, especially when you expand to working with more than just the CEO.

Being arrogant in the workplace will put the entire organization against you. Pride creeps in and destroys the work that you’ve done.  Just because you’re new to the company doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing, but there is also much to learn and much more that should be taken into consideration. Arrogance will ruin the culture of the company if too many people possess the trait and no one is willing to work as a team.

It is very easy to come off as an arrogant person when you’re actually trying to show confidence. It is the same with learning how to have a conversation in which you might not agree with something that is being discussed.  When you’re new to the organization, you want to prove what you can bring to the team. If you’re not careful, it might be taken the wrong way, and yes, that is something you will need to deal with in the workplace from time to time. You can state your opinion – I’m not telling you to hide who you are as a person, but instead, helping you understand how to talk with others.

Listening is key in this situation. When you’re arrogant, you know it all, and nothing is necessarily wrong with having a lot of knowledge to share, but how you share it makes a big difference. If someone tries to approach you and you can’t take the time to listen to their opinions on the subject, you’re telling that person and your company that you’re not willing to learn. This also makes it extremely hard for others to come to you with an issue or an idea.

Being confident in your work is a beautiful thing, you should be proud of everything you’ve discovered and want to share it with others. Take the time to be a better person and a better leader.

 

So, you’ve had one of those awful stomach-drop moments. You’ve made a major mistake at work – maybe you yelled at your bully boss, deleted a critical company file, or failed to pick up a software glitch that’s cost a client thousands – and in the aftermath, you’re feeling that crippling mix of horror, shame, and anxiety. Good news is, even though you might be convinced your career is over, it is possible, in most cases, to come back from a workplace slip-up if you respond in the right way. We recommend taking the following steps to minimize the damage caused by your blunder and to up your chances of recovering completely.

 

The worst thing you can do when you’ve messed up majorly at the office is reacting impulsively or defensively – do this and you’ll probably just dig an even deeper hole for yourself. You need a solid plan of action, and in order to put one together, you need to be thinking clearly. So, step out for a while to let the panic pass – go for a walk, phone a friend or consult a superior if necessary. The critical thing here is that you take time to reflect on what happened and to gather yourself before moving forward.

 

There might be a thousand excuses running through your head right now, but if you’re serious about bouncing back, you won’t use a single one. When you’ve made a major mistake at work, honesty is always your best approach. Own your error. Say, “Yes, I messed up”, and leave it at that. If your slip-up directly impacts client relations, then offer to get on the phone with the client and personally explain what went wrong – don’t expect your boss or HR to do it. By accepting responsibility and responding with grace, you communicate to those around you that you’re taking the situation seriously and are genuinely remorseful. 

 

 

A simple apology can go a long way towards rectifying your wrongdoing and saving your professional reputation. Just make sure it sounds sincere and is directed at the right person – don’t apologize to management alone when you should really be saying sorry to your co-worker. Keep your apology brief and professional, too. Don’t ramble, weep or collapse into a heaving, self-loathing mess. This won’t feel all that genuine to the recipient, and in any case, you don’t want to bring more attention to your epic fail than is necessary.  

 

• Pinpoint the origin of your mistake

It’s hard to move forward if you don’t fully understand why you made the blunder in the first place. Take time to dissect the event and its causes. If you messed up an important procedure, could it be because you’re not actually sure how it should be done, and you’ve just been too nervous to ask for help? Or are you dropping balls because you’re trying to juggle too many? Did you scream at your co-worker because you’re feeling overwhelmed at work? Or going through something difficult at home? Get to the bottom of the “why” behind your screw-up and you can turn your mistake into an invaluable learning opportunity.  

 

Maybe your mistake can be fairly easily corrected – by working all weekend to recreate the document you deleted, for example. If this is the case, then be the first to suggest a solution, and demonstrate that you’re 100% ready to start implementing it. If there’s no quick fix, then at the very least, you’ll want to take your learnings from the step above and convert them into a plan for change to ensure that you never repeat your mess-up. This might mean attending courses to improve your skills or even changing something in your work environment so that you’re better able to cope.

The key thing here is to communicate to your boss how you plan to prevent future errors. You might even want to document the events surrounding your major mistake at work in a post-mortem report so that other employees can learn from your experience, too. Not only will this approach show emotional intelligence, but it’ll also help to position you as a problem-solver who’s committed to righting wrongs.

 

 

Ideally, your apology and proposed fix will be enough, but HR might feel the need to discipline you in other ways. If this is the case, don’t throw your toys out of the cot and harp on about the injustice of the penalty. Accept the repercussions quietly and move on like the genuinely regretful professional you are.

 

• Let your actions speak for themselves

Once you’ve apologized and committed to doing better in future, all you really can do is show management, and your colleagues, how serious you are about putting your major mistake at work behind you through your actions. Be a first-rate employee in every way – put extra effort into your duties, go out of your way to assist co-workers, take initiative and spearhead new projects, attend after-work events and catch-ups. Essentially, do everything you can to remind your boss and work peers of your value and to turn your blunder into a distant memory in their minds.

About the Author: Instantly create a resume that employers will love with Resume-Now. Whether you’re applying for your first job, changing careers, or returning to work, Resume-Now gives you the tools to help you find a career you will love, including resume templates, formatting tools, a collection of resume samples for every industry, and a resume builder.

More and more Americans today are going all-in with their side hustles. What started as a way to make ends meet or get some extra cash for the weekends turned into an unstoppable movement. Suddenly, 9-5 employers are turning into first-time business owners, and this means they finally can reclaim their time for themselves and their businesses.

A survey in 2017 reported that over half of all Millennials today have some kind of side hustle. There’s nothing more exciting than making some extra cash from your favorite hobby or skill. Whether you’re selling crafts on Etsy or freelancing web design, it might be time to take that skill of yours full-time.

While all entrepreneurs have to take a risk, there is a right time and a wrong time to strike it out on your own. Here are 5 signs you’re ready to turn your side hustle into your full-time gig. Are you ready to take the plunge?

1. You have a safety net.

Unless you’ve got a million dollar idea, it’s unlikely you’ll start making big bucks overnight. Don’t worry, this is normal, and it’s just a part of running your own business. That’s why you need a financial safety net to fall back on before you give up that paycheck. If you’re used to receiving a certain paycheck every week, it’s hard to rough it on your own if you don’t have funds stored away. You also don’t want to squander your credit right away by making bad financial decisions.

You’ll need at least a few months of living expenses saved to start off strong. Make sure you can pay for rent, all bills, and even extra spending money for at least 3 months prior to quitting your day job. This will help you not feel so panicked when you first get started since you don’t have to rush to just get food on the table.

2. You’re motivated.

When your side hustle is a hobby, it’s easy to make time for it. Maybe you love to dive into your hustle after work every day or you spend a few hours here and there keeping up with it on the weekends. These are all good things, but you need to be ready to go the extra mile. When you work for yourself, there’s nobody there to make sure you get your work done every day. It all falls to you.

If you’re not sure you can stay motivated to stick it out even when times get tough, you might not want to jump in full-time yet. Having great ideas and talent are good first steps, but that alone won’t keep you motivated to wake up early on the weekends or to put in extra hours.

3. You understand how to start a business.

Starting a business is not always as easy as just making a website and landing a sale. You need to consider business formations, you might need to learn how to start an LLC, and you’ll need to keep your own taxes in mind. These things can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve never studied them before. Again, that’s okay as long as you’re ready to learn.

You don’t want to mess around when it comes to the legality of running a business. You need these things to be understood clearly before you put yourself in the swing of things full time. The more you can learn before you quit your day job, the better equipped you’ll be to handle new challenges.

4. You know how to market yourself.

You can be the most skilled Etsy crafter or freelancer in the world, but if you don’t know how to market yourself you won’t get far. Self-promotion doesn’t always come naturally, and that’s okay. As long as you’re willing to learn, try new things, and put yourself out there, you can make it work.

The art of promoting your business is complicated. There is no one-size-fits-all, but you need to be ready to put in the work. How are you going to find new clients? It’s safe to assume they won’t fall in your lap, at least, not at first. What’s your plan for finding new customers in your niche?

5. You have too many projects to keep up with.

Finally, the biggest indicator that you have a winning side hustle on your hands is the demand. Are you getting so many orders or projects that you have to turn many of them down? Are clients reaching out to your left and right? If so, it might be time to call it quits with your day job and go full-time.

There are limits to how much you’re able to do if you’re also working another job. If you’re sure you have enough demand to commit yourself to this full time, then do it! It’s time to say yes to more projects.

Leaving behind your full-time job to start your own business out of your side hustle is nothing to scoff at. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it to own your own business. Side hustles are becoming the foundation for today’s entrepreneurial spirit. Are you ready to take yours to the next level?

If you’ve been interested in becoming a lawyer for a long time, it may well be because you’ve watched a lot of legal-related TV shows or movies over the years. Big productions such as “Suits,” “The Good Wife,” “Boston Legal,” “Law and Order,” “Legally Blonde” and “Erin Brockovich” have made the legal career path more popular than ever. However, many people don’t realize that what’s portrayed on the screen isn’t necessarily true to life!

As you would imagine, what gets shown on films and series is purposely created to excite, enthrall, amuse and entertain viewers, and as such, the portrayal is amped up and lacking all of the more “boring” parts of legal jobs. This means that if you want to pursue a career as a lawyer of any type, and are about to enroll in or complete a higher education program like a Master of Jurisprudence or the like, you need to be clear about what your day-to-day work life could really be like.

To get ahead in your career ASAP, you need to be able to hit the ground running rather than be taken aback by what’s involved or the types of tasks (or rewards) you get. Read on for some of the most commonly perpetuated legal myths which need to be busted.

The Job Is Glamorous

For starters, one of the biggest pervading myths is that the job of being a lawyer is always glamorous. While we watch popular legal television series and movies because of how exciting the cases and work seems to be, in reality, things can be quite different. Rather than spending all their time in court, orating great stories and appealing to jurors’ emotions, most lawyers actually end up doing a lot of research, planning and client meetings.

Most of the cases depicted on-screen are those which cover mass civil suits or big criminal trials. While a select number of lawyers do work on these types of cases, most don’t, and none do so all the time. For most people in the legal arena, work is about mediating between two or more parties, attending short civil court cases and providing consultation to clients.

Furthermore, a lot of would-be lawyers get the idea that being in this field is exciting because, on the screen, it seems like everything happens quickly. In real life, there is much less drama and a lot of cases actually go on for months or years (often it’s many months before they even get to court).

Lawyers Do Everything Themselves

Another misconception that keeps doing the rounds is that lawyers do everything themselves. On the screen, it appears like most attorneys know everything possible about the law, in all areas, and apply this knowledge to cases solo. However, while attorneys certainly do tend to be very smart, they’re not experts with photographic memories who never need any help!

In reality, the majority of lawyers specialize in one particular area, not multiple ones. They also typically choose to be either transactional lawyers, who assist clients with things like regulatory filings or mergers, or litigators, who represent people in court cases and arbitration.

Note, too, that a lot of the time attorneys work in groups. Rather than there being a single “hero” who finds ways to score last-minute victories and save the day, teams of lawyers, clerks, and other assistants typically put in dozens of hours together on research, fact-checking, investigations and other preparation to get results. It is important, therefore, for attorneys to be adept at working well in groups and interacting with a wide variety of people.

It Always Pays a Lot

Lastly, a very prominent myth is the one that lawyers always earn big bucks. While we see people on the screen wearing designer outfits, living in luxury pads, driving expensive cars and always having impeccable haircuts, accessories and the like, not all attorneys have high incomes.

Those working at large firms (usually with 100-plus lawyers) tend to be highly compensated, but these people make up only a fraction of the legal workforce. The majority of attorneys work in small organizations where they receive a fairly standard wage, or they’re government employees or work for public interest groups and as such are paid quite minimally. Once you factor in the huge amount of hours that most lawyers work, their per-hour rate is actually low — but their job satisfaction can still be quite high.

 

Spring graduations have been put up on social media over the last few weeks and we still have many to go. It’s exciting to see people completing the college journey and finally earning their degree, no matter what degree or what age. Sadly, many college graduates finish the same way they started college, confused.

You Have a Degree in (Human Resources) HR…Now What?

Getting a degree in HR and human resources is just the beginning of starting your new life and career. It can lead to more questions than answers, a lot more research (yes, the work never stops), and the beginning of the job search. I recently obtained my Master’s in HR and now I’m trying to understand where this will take me and if I’m ready for everything that’s coming.

HR is a field of experience, in my opinion, the more you have the better you’ll be accepted. Recently during a search of HR Positions in my state and worldwide, there a lot more jobs available than I thought there would be. But, that doesn’t mean it’s the perfect job for you. You’ve gotten that degree, now here are a few next steps to take.

Understand Your Goals Post Graduation

This can be hard, there are so many areas of HR, who exactly knows where they want to end? It’s tough, but it’s necessary. Understanding your end game will help you through the rest. It allows you to understand what jobs you’re going to need to be held responsible for and get experience in before applying. While yes, you might want to take your employers job within the first 3 months because you THINK you could do it better, that’s usually not likely. If you don’t understand your end goal, how can you understand your positions?

What Does HR Mean to You

You’ve gotten the degree, so hopefully, you really believe this is the career field for you, but sometimes that’s not the case. You finally get that official HR Title and realize you hate it and everything it stands for. Leave. No matter how much you’ve collected in student loans. Figure out what it is you actually want to do, but don’t ruin employees lives because you’ve decided this isn’t it. Don’t stay in HR for the money, the speaking gigs, the books, or whatever it is that you see fit if it’s not for the better of employees and the company.

Job Search

Hopefully, you didn’t leave this until you actually graduated and you’ve already been filling out applications, sending resumes, and creating a network that will be a source of support before the big day. If you haven’t this isn’t the time to party and wait around. Some people can get jobs 5 days after graduation, while some might be 5 months. You never know exactly where you will land in this game of life. While waiting for that callback, you should be keeping up with laws, policies, creating systems, attending webinars, anything free that will get your name out there, in a safe place. HR isn’t a career that you can just hope and wish you’ll get something correct every time an employee comes to your office with a question. This also shows your potential employer that you’re serious about the job.

Research and Plan Your HR Educational Goals

A lot of this boils down to researching what is possible in HR. Certifications, teaching, more degrees, joining an HR organization. How can you get yourself out into the HR world and continue learning, growing, and advancing in your career? One thing I’ve learned over these last 2 years in HR is that the job never stops. There will always be an employee needing something, a government agency wanting to request something, some forms needing to be completed. Buring yourself out early (or at all) shouldn’t be part of the game. Your job is not defined by the generational differences. If you’re not happy with the company you decided on, leave. If you’ve stayed for a few years and the money isn’t adding up, leave. Don’t stay where you’re not wanted or valued.

Congratulations, you received your degree in Human Resources! Now comes more work, but with the joy of actually helping someone in need and not just turning in your assumption in a paper. This journey, long or short, to achieving this goal, will now help employees who are searching to be heard by their non-existent HR department, hopefully, you’ll be the change the company is searching for.

We have all heard about the importance of learning and development, aka training, yet not many employers do it. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers with fewer than 100 employees provided only 0.8 hours – that’s only 12 minutes – of manager training per six-month period. Organizations with 100-500 employees provided only 0.9 hours (6 minutes) of training for the same time span. Why is this? The number one reason is cost. Whether it is a small business or a Fortune 500 company, training is looked at as just an expense with no return on investment. WRONG! Training is an investment in your employees. The return is better productivity, higher retention rates for top performers, and the creation of a culture of learning.

When you have a top-down structure – think of a pyramid – with the CEO on top, middle management, then regular everyday employees filling the majority, it’s the majority that keeps the business moving forward. It is a common phrase: “Employees leave a manager not a company.” By training those managers more effectively, you can help reduce turnover. In fact, a Gallup poll stated that, every year, disengaged employees cost the U.S. economy $370 billion. And the primary driver of that lost productivity is poor supervision.

What types of training do managers need?

The first step is to find out where the issues lie and conduct a training needs analysis. Creating a survey for anonymous answers from all employees is a great start. Employees feel a better sense of security and less likely to be retaliated against when it is anonymous. By asking employees where they feel management is lacking you receive a better picture of areas where training might be beneficial.

Typically the top seven areas for manager training are:

• • Leadership Development – Holding effective meetings and expanding the capacity of performance.

• • Communication – Business writing, conflict resolution and negotiation.

• • Harassment Prevention – Sexual and non-sexual harassment.

• • Organization – Time management, how to delegate and project management.

• • Diversity – Examining biases, learning to see all views and all laws associated with it too!

• • Performance Management – Building strong teams, employee performance reviews, setting goals.

• • Customer Service – Without a happy customer, you don’t have a business.

What’s the best way to start offering training?

There are several avenues for implementing a training program. For example, if the company is smaller, they probably won’t have a learning and development professional on staff, so outsourcing videos, consultants, and online courses are a good option. Being in the technology era, there are many games and apps that can be used too. Consider having multiple options for managers to learn from and evaluate the progress of each training. If people aren’t engaged in what they are being taught, chances are they aren’t learning. When implementing a training plan, be aware of the content. Is it relevant to one of the seven areas above? Is is relevant to a business need?

The takeaway is that managers need continuous training, not a one-time class. A person retains information by repetition. Solicit continuous feedback from both the managers receiving the training, and the employees of the managers, to ensure the trainings are effective. The better a manager is trained, the better job he or she will do, and the higher the bottom line will be for the company.

Your toolkit to make confidence a way of life

Congratulations and thank you for joining us for this blog series!  We hope you’re making fabulous progress towards your dream career!!

Our mission has been to help you reboot your confidence and make the journey from self-doubt to self-belief.

We’ve looked at how your mindset can hold you back and offered practical steps to find work you love, and that works with the rest of your life.

Now we want to help you maintain your confidence for the long term!!  We want you to achieve your work dreams and flourish!

We know you want to be confident and bravely keep moving forward

When reality bites

We all want to make steady progress. But the reality is that it’s hard to build consistent self-belief, to make confidence a way of life.  Luckily, like physical fitness, we can develop it bit by bit.

Here are eight things you can start doing to build and maintain your belief in yourself.

You might like to pick one or two to focus on at a time or choose what’s most needed each week.

The Confidence ToolKit

1. Notice what’s working for you! We need to learn to pay attention to the positives.  It’s so easy to be critical of what we feel we haven’t done well that we often don’t pay attention to our awesomeness!
2. On a regular basis – quickly run your mind over the last day or so and look for examples of things you’ve done really well.
3. Do more of what’s working – once you get into the habit of appreciating your achievements you can be on the lookout for opportunities to repeat them and repeat them………….
4. Mentally rehearse what you need to do before you actually have to do it. Visualising the process AND the desired outcome helps us to believe things are possible and gives us a boost of confidence to carry out the steps needed.
5. Build your support networks.  Try to surround yourself with people who will cheer you on, people who believe you can do it.  Also look for role models who will inspire you and provide new ideas.
6. Keep your eyes on the prize – if you’re feeling overwhelmed, go back to your goals and values.  Remind yourself of WHAT you’re trying to achieve and WHY.
7. Keep calm and carry on!  There will be weeks when it’s almost laughable how many things go a bit wrong.  Sometimes we need to flex our self-regulation muscles and just keep on going.
8. Nurture yourself! Sleep, diet and exercise all play a role in priming us for confidence and achievement. Exercise allows us to feel a sense of mastery and achievement at what our body can do, whilst sleep and diet play a key role in our energy levels.
9. Seek out positive emotions for a mood boost to drive positive action – look for moments of amusement, joy, love, inspiration, gratitude and serenity.

So are you ready?

Are you ready to continue your journey to do work that thrills and fulfills you? If so, we have developed a comprehensive resource to help you – -The Ultimate Guide to Do Work You Love.

This is your step-by-step roadmap to move towards LOVING your work and life.

If you’re at a crossroads with work and it’s time for a rethink, this guide is for you.

Click here to receive your FREE copy of our guide. It might just change your life! www.flourishingmothers.com.au/workyoulove

We’re in your corner,

Debra and Kate

 

This 8 blog series was co-written by our amazing FlexCoaches Kate Wilkie and Debra Close. You can reach out to them for more guidance and help here.

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About Debra and Kate

FlexCoaches Debra Close and Kate Wilkie are specialists in Positive Psychology coaching for mums. Whether you are at home raising a family, or are balancing a career with family commitments, Debra and Kate can help you to solve challenges you struggle with and answer life’s big questions.

FlexCareers offers a free 30-minute introductory meeting with our FlexCoaches, to help you establish if coaching is right for you and you can find out more about their practice, Flourishing Mothers.

Creating a resume is like fishing. Your resume is the bait that you disseminate into the workplace of a company that you would like to consider a career with. You cast your resume into the human resource pond hoping to hook a job. Resumes are all about catching the attention of management to consider you for an interview, not a job yet, just a face-to-face.

In today’s environment, technology allows you to do so many things to be seen by a company you want to work for. Besides a resume, you can make use of a portfolio website builder to help you make an amazing portfolio to showcase your talents. However, the use of traditional resumes is still important. Whether you are taking a paper route, where you physically bring or mail a paper resume to a business; or a digital page template resume, a good resume is a must. 

Resume Formats

Resumes continue to be categorized into three format styles:

*Chronological: a traditional format where your work experience and education is written in the reverse, meaning that your most recent careers are listed first

*Functional: a format that highlights skills, experience, and abilities

* Combination: a merge of specific information from both the chronological and functional formats

Soft Skills and Hard Skills

A well-constructed resume introduces job candidates to potential employers with a clear, easily read, concise history on one or two pages. Employers need to see soft skills and hard skills. Hard skills would be specific knowledge and abilities. Soft skills would include attributes and personality traits. Both hard and soft skills are important factors for employers to find the perfect fit for their business.

Styles and Content

Resume styles and their content has not changed. Employers are still interested in resumes that contain the following information:

a.Heading: This opening resume section includes your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address. Modern resumes now include any personal domain websites you maintain or more popular is a Linked-In profile.

b.Summary Qualifications/Skills: this resume section should focus on your professional experiences. It helps to raise your resume to the top of the list when you include keywords that match what a company is looking for as described in their job description. This section might also include the title of “professional experience,” but whatever you use, put your best experiences and skills in this section.

c.Education: list your education, preferably with the latest accolade first. You no longer need to include your high school information because it is a given that in applying for a particular career, it means that you attended high school.

1. Honors and Awards: this section can be included if a candidate is applying for a senior management position.

e.References: If adding a reference section takes your resume over to two pages, you can omit it. Your potential employer will ask you for references as part of your background check.

Resume Do’s and Don’ts

Use up to 4 or 5 short bullet points to explain your responsibilities and skills in each resume section. Recruiting managers are inundated with resumes, so a one-page resume fits their review time perfectly. However, when a senior management position is being applied for, sometimes two pages are needed.

Whichever resume format you choose, be consistent throughout the whole resume. Also, please re-read your resume or have someone read your resume to eliminate any typing and grammatical errors. Professional job sites or brick and mortar employment offices are suggesting that the following wording in job descriptions be omitted from modern-day resumes:

*Hobbies can be excluded. Unless professional hobbies are related to your work qualifications, hobbies are not needed

*Pronouns like I, me, my, etc. Your resume is about you so you don’t need to make this a prominent feature

*Words like “results-driven,” “team player,” “hard worker,” or “duties included.”

Your resume should not include fancy stylish fonts, graphics or extra features that actually turn-off hiring departments. Black only fonts in resumes that are easy to read include: “Arial,” “Calibri,” “Georgia,” and “Times New Roman.”

The font size that is a friendly read for hiring managers is generally size 12, depending on each font, but certainly nothing smaller than size 11. What is accepted on resumes are dividing icons, like horizontal lines, that are used in a simple way to separate categories.    

 

by Amber Rolfe

OK, so life at work doesn’t always go to plan…

Whether it’s that you can’t seem to get along with your colleagues, your workload is becoming too much, or your heart simply isn’t in it, there are a number of issues that can affect your happiness at work. But that doesn’t mean they’re all impossible to overcome.

To help you get over some of the biggest issues, here are five common work problems, and our advice on how to deal with them professionally:

 

You’re getting no recognition at work                                                                                                                   

The problem: You’re feeling undervalued.

The solution: Make your achievements known, and don’t be afraid to brag (humbly).

 

OK, so you’re working super hard. But is anyone actually noticing?

If you feel like your efforts are going unseen, it can be all too easy to think what you’re doing has no value. The knock-on effect? A lack of motivation, productivity, and ultimately, general happiness at work.

But although you want your manager to realise your achievements on their own, you may be better off taking it into your own hands. After all, you’re the only one who really knows the true extent of the work you’re doing – so it’s up to you to keep others up-to-date.

Whether it’s during one-to-ones with your boss, meetings, or even via email updates, don’t be afraid to highlight the efforts you’re making, and how they’re positively impacting the business.

Just don’t expect to be praised for every single thing you do – especially minor duties that are part of your day-to-day. There’s a fine line between having pride in your work and just outrightly fishing for compliments.

Six tips to improve your workplace wellbeing

 

You’ve done something wrong                                                                                                                   

The problem: You made a mistake.

The solution: Take accountability, and learn from it.

 

Let’s face it, nobody’s perfect – and mistakes happen to best of us.

Luckily, it’s how you deal with them that really matters.

Although it might feel daunting to face up to an error you made (especially if it was particularly damaging), ignoring it is the worst thing you can do.

Instead, go directly to your manager and tell them exactly what happened, making it clear you understand the importance of the mistake. Then, explain how you plan to reduce damage, and the impact it has on your team, your customers, and the business as a whole.

Crucially, make it clear that you’ve actually learnt from the mistake, and explain how you’ll ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Four lessons you can learn from famous failures

You keep getting distracted                                                                                                                   

The problem: You can’t stay focused.

The solution: Identify your triggers, and minimise them. 

 

When it comes to workplace distractions, everyone has a weakness.

Whether it’s that you’re battling a social media addiction, your group chat requires constant attention, you’re easily distracted by those around you, or a combination of all three – channelling the willpower to zone out of everything except work can be tough.

But although you can’t just turn off the internet (or your colleagues), you can limit the time you spend on non-work based tasks or interactions.

For example, waiting until you finish a task before checking your phone, or putting your headphones in for two hours of focused-work-time until you’re able to join in on office small talk could be a great way to get things done faster.

If a particularly noisy workplace is making it impossible to concentrate, consider changing your work environment. Working from home, in a quiet meeting room, or even from a coffee shop (if your manager allows it) are all potentially viable solutions.

Top 5 – Desktop distractions

How to: Stop procrastinating at work

You don’t get along with a colleague                                                                                                                   

The problem: You’re struggling to work with other team members.

The solution: Always be the bigger person.

 

Unfortunately, you can’t get along with everyone.

With some difficult colleagues, even maintaining a basic level of work-based conversation can feel like a constant battle. No matter how hard you try to keep the peace.

It could be that you’re disagreeing on a particular project, they seem to go out of their way to cause problems, or you simply just don’t see eye to eye. On anything.

Whatever it is, being polite and direct is the best first step. Informally discussing your concerns can often be the best way to resolve minor issues, especially if your colleague is unaware that their behaviour is affecting others. If this doesn’t work, and it’s affecting your ability to work effectively, consider mentioning it to your manager.

But remember: you don’t actually have to like each other. You just have to work together.

11 of the worst people you can work with

Top 5 – Irritating office habits (and how to deal with them)

 

You’re working too hard                                                                                                                   

The problem: You’re being overworked.

The solution: Learn to say no, and make your abilities clear.

 

So your workload seems to be increasing at an unstoppable rate, and you’re feeling a little overwhelmed.

In fact, you can’t remember the last time you didn’t stay late in an attempt to get everything done.

Whether it’s that you’ve inadvertently taken on someone else’s job as well as your own, your client base has expanded in size, or you’ve simply just been given too many new responsibilities – taking on more work than you can handle isn’t great for your wellbeing (not to mention your productivity).

Although it might seem like working extra hard will boost your chances of a promotion, it could mean the opposite if that burnt out feeling is affecting your quality of work.

So arrange a meeting with your manager to discuss your unmanageable workload, explaining the reasons you’re struggling, and exactly what you’re capable of.

Suggesting alternatives that work better for you and your team (e.g. passing some responsibilities on to others, introducing flexible working hours) will be particularly helpful – and ensure you start focussing on the tasks that are most important.

Six signs you’re working too hard

Five benefits of work-life balance

 

 

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