Friday, May 29, 2020

How to Feel valued at work

How to Feel valued at work by Amber Rolfe When your job loves you, you’re more likely to love your job.Let’s get this straight: getting paid is often the least you should expect from a job. Whatever the size of your salary, wanting to feel valued at work doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful or needy.If you want more from your job â€" and you should, given how much of your time you’ll spend at work â€" learning what makes you tick is time well spent. But how do you tell if you’re appreciated, and what can you do if you’re not?We spoke to Ruth Bushi, Editor at money advice site Save the Student, to find out more:Financial rewardsWhile a fat salary doesn’t guarantee job happiness, slim pickings won’t help, either.Your earnings should at least cover your budget and be in line with the average salary for your role. Earning extra on top is always nice â€" but what if your income leaves you wanting?If you can make the case for a pay rise, you could just ask for what you’re worth based on experie nce, qualifications and achievements. Alternatively, you could agree on things you need to do or develop to be worth the extra cash six months from now.Non-salary suggestions also have their worth. For example, time off for voluntary or personal projects, training courses, or even mentoring.Note that things are slightly different if you suspect you’re not being paid fairly (i.e. because of discrimination). It’s still worth talking to your employer first, though you may need outside help to resolve things: Citizens Advice can explain what to do next.There are ways to help yourself in the meantime, whatever the size of your salary.If you don’t have a sound money plan (a budget, savings strategy and future goals) in place, start there.How to: Negotiate a payriseSix ways to supplement your incomeFeel-good factorsIt sounds simple, but being personally thanked goes a long way to making people feel good.Do your manager or colleagues say thanks when you do your best? Do you remember t o say it, too?Not all companies are quite so communicative, but there are other ways to show gratitude. Team events, awards and bonuses can all help you feel recognised and appreciated at work (you can organise social events yourself if your workplace is slow on the uptake).What about give-and-take: does your job fit around you and your lifestyle? Are flexible working hours an option, for example, and how does the role impact your work-life balance?Being treated as though you matter is important; it’s worth thinking about what that means to you. That could include:A staff representative to help you be heard, or to air grievances anonymouslyBeing kept in the loop about company or department news, goals and achievementsTreating others â€" and being treated â€" with respectStaff policies and activities that make you feel cared for as a person, not just an employeeHow to: Ask for flexible working hoursHow to: Have a positive attitude at workDon’t get sabotagedIf you’re there to do a job, it’s reasonable to expect to have whatever you need to do it well.Clear instructions, two-way information and essential equipment should all be standard. Ideally, you’ll also feel able to ask for help or clarification on top if needed.On the other hand, being micromanaged â€" where even routine tasks are dictated, overseen or interfered with â€" is demoralising, though there are things to try if   you’re dealing with a particularly unpredictable boss.Feeling trusted, independent and supported can mean the difference between a job you enjoy, and one you only tolerate.For that reason, it’s helpful to evaluate how much you have â€" or don’t have â€" in your role right now, and what you can do to increase the mix.How to: Stay motivated at workIt’s on you, tooFeeling valued at work is a shared responsibility: you and your employer both have to chip in.In reality you’ll have to lead on this, if only by recognising and developing your worth for yourself.This doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Make it a 15-minute monthly review and check-off:Achievements, lessons learned, progressWays you’ve brought value to your role and the companyWhat gets you out of bed every day? What do you want from your career?There are limits to this. If personal issues are weighing on your mind or bringing you down, being validated at work won’t be a magic fix. Likewise, if you’re struggling with low self-esteem or life-changing events, you may not always have space to think objectively about work.But remember: you don’t have to change the world overnight.Have more of the things that make you feel good, try to minimise things that make you feel bad, and ask for help if you need it.Even baby steps could make a real difference in getting you where you want to be.Still searching for your perfect position?  View all available jobs nowRuth Bushi is an editor at money advice site Save the Student.Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Ca reer AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Work-life balance Workplace culture

Monday, May 25, 2020

Geography Graduates University of Manchester Careers Blog

Geography Graduates University of Manchester Careers Blog Top 5 online resources for Geography Graduates To give you a helping hand as you head out into the big bad world of job seeking I thought it would be useful to list our top 5 online resources for Geography graduates. I hope you find them useful. Prospects ‘options with your subject’  Includes a range of job profiles and information on typical employers, work experience and a breakdown of what graduates in this area have gone on to do for a range of subjects. Starting Point Series A range of helpful job seeking resources including help on applications, interviews and specific help on finding work experience in earth and environmental science. Sector Pages   Really useful information and links to further resources and job sites. Get an insight into different sectors such as environment and natural resources. Royal Geographical Society Includes information on careers with a geography degree and provides advice on applications, interviews and finding work experience. Geography Jobs Search for Geography related roles in the UK. Remember although your studies are over your contact with the Careers Service doesn’t end now. As a graduate youll receive full services for the next 2 years. This will include information, advice and guidance as well as access to vacancies and events listed in Careerslink. Find out more about eligibility and services here. Graduate

Friday, May 22, 2020

How to Sell Your Big Business Idea - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Sell Your Big Business Idea - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career It’s hard to imagine a world without ideas, without innovation and without the charismatic presenters who are seemingly in possession of the Secret to Success. While it is true there are degrees between effective and ineffective communication, the art of selling a foreign concept to others is a skill that can be learned. Most realize that pitching an idea is akin to providing a new solution and that its reception largely depends upon one’s ability to present a coherent argument. It’s all about improving the odds and to do this, entrepreneurs need to understand the risks involved. Grasping the Gravity of the Situation According to a recent article from Forbes, one of the reasons why 80 percent of startups fail in the first 18 months isn’t due to lack of funds or the misalignment of personal branding, but rather miscommunication. As such, you need to be good at convincing others. You must prove you can take an idea and turn it into something that can persuade even the most hesitant investors, colleagues and decision makers. No doubt you’ll have heard of the elevator pitch and are aware of its importance â€" even if the format is simply too restrictive for use in most formal presentation scenarios. That said, a similar structure and the following tips can be used to create truly compelling pitches. Don’t Oversell or Overcomplicate Things Take care to limit your scope to avoid speaking too broadly. The last thing you’ll want to do is give your audience the chance to interject with their thoughts. Having to explain a tangential point or spending time getting back on message may create further opportunities for debate, negatively impacting the longevity of your idea. You’ll want to avoid advocating for organizational or structural change and instead present a clear set of realistic goals that can be achieved by your company, ensuring your ideas will have the best possible chance of making it through till morning. Bank on Your Credibility and Previous Successes If you’re at all worried about receiving an outright rejection, the best thing you can in do is provide examples in support of why you’re the one to turn your ideas into a business model, lead the team or carry out the steps necessary. Assuming you’ve been an integral part of helping develop the company’s personal branding strategy or were involved in some other equally important capacity, you will have some leverage in the following negotiations and should be able to increase your odds of success. Know What Investors Want to See In addition, remember that investors are concerned about where the idea came from almost as much as they are concerned about the idea itself. Make it a point to address your track record or at the very least, nominate a colleague you think would make a capable personal branding or project manager. Competency and experience will be key factors in building lasting relationships, but you’ll need to prove your idea is able to make the company and its shareholders money. You can do this by presenting any relevant statistics, visuals and/or real-world examples where something similar has worked in the past. Understand What You’re Asking for and Why The best presenters let their passion for what they’re talking about shine through; however, they never let their ideas get ahead of themselves. At the end of the day, the solutions you pitch must be linked to an aspect of business imperative. In other words, make sure that the problem you are trying to solve with your idea actually addresses an immediate or foreseeable need, and that it fits with the general philosophy of the organization and its members. Focus on Framing Your Story The great way to go about selling your idea is to tell engaging stories, which is fast becoming a vital skill. Knowing that what you say is just as important as the way you say it helps to foster a connection with your audience. This has been the defining characteristic of some of the best TED talks of all time. Of course, you’ll need to alter your talking points to suit the situation and limit the amount of technical jargon you employ to make the information that little bit more accessible. Take Shipley for example, an energy company that has crafted its history into an interesting narrative that is compelling to investors. They’ve taken away all of the technical jargon and have let their story do the convincing. Manage Your Expectations and Those of Others Selling your next business idea is ultimately about instilling trust. You should develop a systematic approach when managing the expectations of not only yourself, but also of all other interested parties. Think about how you can divide your idea into manageable sections and protocols to ensure that whoever will be working on the project will benefit from a degree of autonomy. If anything, you want the team to underpromise and overdeliver. Prepare Answers to Any Difficult Questions Everyone will come to the table with their own concerns and once you arrive at the end of your pitch, you’ll likely be asked a few confronting follow-up questions designed to put you off-guard. In a pitch-type scenario where you’re whole argument is geared toward convincing others, it will be your last impressions â€" not your first â€" that matter most. Do your best to control the energy of the room and answer questions as quickly as possible before moving on to show that you’re confident. If you can do this while incorporating the other tips we’ve talked about in this article, you should notice your ideas go over much more positively before being met with a round of applause and a standing ovation.

Monday, May 18, 2020

What I Learned When I Lost My Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What I Learned When I Lost My Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career No one likes to admit theyve lost a job. It could be performance issues, personality issues, or even the company performing mass layoffs. Everyone loses a job now and then, but that doesnt mean we like to admit it. Wed rather quit in a blaze of glory that leaves upper management standing there, mouth agape, frightened at the prospect of facing the future without us. Or leaving them with the realization that they are awful, awful people who will spend night after night sobbing in front of the television, eating a can of cake frosting, with their seven cats. Alas, I dont think that has happened anywhere ever, except in our own minds. Yet. In a recent LinkedIn article, Sallie Krawcheck, past president of Merrill Lynch, US Trust, and Smith Barney, wrote about some of the things she learned When (She) Got Fired the First Time, which inspired my own lessons learned from my own job losses (and firings). 1. If You Hate Your Job, Have Something You Love to Do In a perfect world, you would love your job so much, you would hardly call it work. Ive had two jobs like that. One was my first marketing job, when I got to travel around the country and to Western Europe. The other is the one I have now, owning my own business. Not everyone is going to have a job they love that much. In fact, many people will have a job they can tolerate, while most will have a job â€" or boss, co-workers, or clients â€" they dread. That cant be everything you have going for you. For your own peace of mind, you need to have a hobby or something you truly love to do to reclaim your humanity once you get home. It may be all that gets you through the day until you find something better. 2. Your Network Needs to Extend Beyond Your Co-Workers Ive talked to people who lost their job and said they were going to tap into their network to find their next job, only to discover said network consisted solely of their former co-workers. The only job opening they know about is the one the job seeker just created, so thats no help. Thats when they realize their network sucks. While you have a job, start looking for your next one. Network with people outside the company, build your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, and find work-related reasons to get to know those people. Theyre going to be your lifeline when the axe falls again (and yes, it will fall again). Create trust and value within the network, and develop relationships with these people before you need anything. 3. Cut All Ties With the Old Company Krawcheck mentioned this lesson in her article and its worth mentioning again. Youll make yourself crazy staying in touch with the old company, trying to learn whether your boss has freaked out about your leaving (she didnt), and how the place is falling apart without you (it isnt). Heres the sad truth: no one notices youre gone. They see your empty desk, and some of your friends may even silently seethe about how you were let go, but the fact that none of them have quit in solidarity tells you just how much â€" or little â€" youre actually missed. If they call you, dont answer questions for them. Dont tell them where files are located. Dont call to make sure everything is running fine. If they needed any of that, they would have asked before you left. Anything they ask you to do after that is work, and theyre not paying you for it, so you dont have to do it. (And if they do, charge them an hourly consulting fee thats double what you originally made in an hour.) 4. Nothing Beats Owning Your Own Business For one thing, you cant be fired from it. For another, you set your own hours. For a third, youre presumably doing the thing that you love the most. Ive owned my own business for nearly four years, and while its been a struggle, Ive never had to deal with a boss who didnt know what he was doing. Ive never had co-workers I secretly despised. And Ive always been able to do what I want on my own terms. Plus, I get to do what I love the most: write and speak in public. There are days it hardly seems like work, and I keep wondering if my happiness and complete lack of neckties is somehow against the rules of Corporate America. If you find youre out of a job and working to find your next one, start your own business in the meantime. Become a freelancer or a consultant. Working for yourself plugs up any gaps on your résumé, it helps you make money, it keeps your skills sharp, it lets you meet with decision makers who might hire you, and it may even turn out to be a success. Losing your job for any reason is never easy. But that doesnt mean its the end of the world. The only time you lose your job permanently is when they wheel you out feet first. Until then, stick it out, but have outside interests; work to find something better; grow your network of people who can help you with your next step; and, consider starting your own venture. Just remember, you are not your job. Youre the sum of your network, the books you read, the people you associate with, and the interests you have. Keep that in perspective, and losing your job wont be that painful. Author: Erik Deckers  is the owner of  Professional Blog Service, and the co-author of  Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself  and  No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Does Your Online Identity Scream Hire Me - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Does Your Online Identity Scream Hire Me Think your online presence, or lack of it, doesn’t factor much into executive hiring decision-making? Think again. Given two equal candidates, in terms of skill sets, education, work history, and all around good fit for the job, recruiters and hiring professionals are likely to choose the one with the stronger, more vibrant online footprint. According to Boris Epstein, CEO and Founder of BINC, a Professional Search Firm that specializes in the Software Marketplace, in his Mashable post, Do You Pass the Social Media Recruitment Test?: The problem of today completely flipped from the one of yesterday where we went from candidate scarcity and limited information to an overabundance of candidates and even more information available on each one. In today’s world of information overload, talent is literally available by the truckloads. What exactly about your online footprint will tip the scales in your favor? Boris says he would contact the one who: On Has a 100% complete profile. Has genuine recommendations from peers, managers and colleagues. Belongs to more Groups related to their field. Has a photo on their profile. Lists volunteering and other non-paid projects on their profile. Frequently posts status updates. Asks and answers more questions. Links to their employer, blog and other relevant sites. Has more connections. On Twitter Tweets 2-10 times per day. Boasts an appropriate followers/following ratio. Has the biggest network. Balances personal and professional tweets well. Does more than just update. Responds to others and generally gets Twitter. On their blog Writes interesting content about their respective profession and industry. Writes some about their personal life and passions â€" family, friends, hobbies, etc. Does not bad-mouth their current or previous employer. Links to their social networking profiles. Links to their current resume. Publishes new posts on a regular basis. Keeps the content non-controversial. Has a blogroll with link to other interesting blogs. When Googled Does not have digital dirt. Leads discussions and commentary on other social media sites. Leads to their own blog, web profile, or social media profiles. Has a healthy number of search results for their name. Why are these criteria so important? Boris says: Nowadays employers rarely hire just skills and are looking for much more of a complete package â€" skills plus a well-rounded individual that fits well with their team and company. And a person’s social media footprint gives employers (and others) the best insight into your passions, interests, communication styles, work habits, work/life balance and all sorts of other valuable information. The bottom line is obvious. If youre not using social media, get busy. Create  fully fleshed out   and Twitter profiles and leverage them and other platforms fully.  Dont stop even when you get the job. Related posts: Executive Job Search and Blogging: Perfect Together Online Executive Personal Branding: Are You Digitally Distinct? Executive Branding and Your Profile: How to TransformYour Executive Brand, Resume, and Career Biography Into a Winning Profile 00 0

Monday, May 11, 2020

Black is the new thrill - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Black is the new thrill - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog The wonderful girlfriend and I hit the slopes in Alpe dHuez 2 weeks ago and just kept on hitting them. I expected her to improve, this being only her second time skiing. I did not expect her to start tackling red and black runs with total abandon. Gotta be those swiss genes. I also did not expect myself to turn into a total off-piste hound. Untill now Ive been your normal, polite, never-stray-outside-the-slopes snowboarder. Now its more like Hey look: Powder! Im going over there. The steepest slope in Alpe dHuez is called Le Tunnel. You take the lift to the top of the mountain (at 3.330 meter), then ski down a 200 meter long tunnel they drilled straight through the mountain top. On the other side, this view greets you: Yep, I did that. Didnt even blink :o) I had more trouble dealing with what has to be the worlds largest cappucino: Its been great and its just as great to be back. A special, great big thank you to Traci Fenton for guest blogging while I was away. Traci, you rock! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Friday, May 8, 2020

Use Resume Writing Comics for Winning Recruiters Interests

Use Resume Writing Comics for Winning Recruiters' InterestsDo you write resumes only in a few cases? Then you will have to consider other activities that you can do in your spare time and in other non-recruitment activities. The idea is not so far-fetched if you realize that every human being has certain abilities which he/she does not get the opportunity to utilize because of a certain set of circumstances. Recruiters cannot hire you if you are unable to do the things required by them, so make use of these abilities and do some of the activities mentioned below:o Write some informative and creative stories at times you find it difficult to spend some time or resources on your work. You can start by giving some ideas to your relatives and friends. These stories can be kept under wraps during the actual interview period.o Have an expert prepare reports, research papers, manuals and brochures about such things at times you find it difficult to spend some time or resources on your work. You can start by giving some ideas to your relatives and friends. These stories can be kept under wraps during the actual interview period.o A popular approach is to ask your friends for the help of a professional writer. Find someone who has enough experience in this field and can write some samples of stories you can put up for the consideration of recruiters. You can show your samples and then ask for a reference from a recruiter as soon as possible.o You can also approach some professional graphic artists to produce a poster for your resume. After such a design, you can have an interview session with them. In this session, the potential recruiters can get an idea about the skill sets that you possess and can get you considered for a job offer.o You can use technology in addition to other mediums and methods for gathering information and details about yourself. There are online services where you can post your resume for more visibility and also get it published. You can give so me personal details and data so that recruiters can get some ideas of what you can do for them.It is not necessary that all these activities will help you get a suitable decision from recruiters. But it is an option for you to know what other activities are available to use in order to improve your career.Resume writing cartoons are indeed very attractive way to enhance your skills, talents and abilities. They help you write one of the most important documents in your life.