Top 10 #LifeHacks for Making Working Life Better #MondayMotivation

Top 10 #LifeHacks for Making Working Life Better #MondayMotivation Theres nothing worse than having your Friday ruined by realising its only Tuesday.  The average person spends 90,000 hours of their life in the workplace. With so much time spent at work, its important that youre happy there. Tuesdays should be just as good as Fridays. How can you make sure you have that Friday feeling every day of the week? By following the 10 #lifehacks Ive listed below: 1)  Make breakfast the night before: An incredibly simple but effective hack, that will make  your whole day more productive and healthy. Its actually proven that if you eat a healthy breakfast it means youre more likely to stick with healthy food and snacks for the rest of the day. It also means you can have a cheeky extra snooze in bed, which is always a good thing!  Check out my favourite  overnight  breakfast foods here and here. 2) Be the office hero: When moral is low, why not be the office here? Two words: Coffee. Cookies. Your co-workers will love you. 3) Follow the two-minute rule: The two minute rule is the perfect procrastination buster that you should definitely start following. If you can finish a task in 2 minutes (such as replying to an email or sending someone a reminder), then do it NOW. Dont put a 2 minute task off until later. 4) Have a full cutlery set at work: Just do it. It makes life so much easier. Stirring coffee with a fork is just so wrong. And you dont want to end up like this guy: 5) Make friends with the receptionist: Its the first face you see when you get into work and the last one when youre leaving. Having a friendly chat with the receptionist in the morning can start your day off in a positive way and set the tone for the  rest of the day. 6) Turn down your monitor brightness: This is a saviour for anyone who gets very tired eyes from looking at a bright screen for too long. Turning down the brightness will ease eyestrain and allow you to continue working productively without hurting yourself. 7) Give yourself an hour of zoned-in productivity: Working in an office is wonderful for creating a team atmosphere. But sometimes you just need an hour of working in solitude to really get some work done. Stick on some headphones with your favourite music, and get to work. Make that hour truly productive. 8) Plan for Monday, on Friday: Although Monday seems like a lifetime away from a Friday afternoon, its actually useful to plan in advance for the first day of the new week. Monday mornings are often full of boring catchup work and its easy to forget what you need to be doing, so planning what you need to get on with is a great Friday afternoon activity! 9) Dont get involved with work politics: Its an easy mistake to make, but getting involved with work gossip is probably one of the biggest mistakes you can make. It adds unnecessary stress into the work environment. So do yourself a favour and distance yourself from any gossip. 10) Finish meetings with 3 questions: 1. What do we need to do now 2.Whos going to do it and 3. Whats the deadline for this task? Answering these three questions means your meeting has been summarised, and the takeaways are clear. Theres nothing worse than leaving a meeting feeling like youve got no where. Answering these three questions means you will.

What To Look For In A Resume Writing Service

What To Look For In A Resume Writing ServiceResume writing is expensive and a good resume writing service can save you a lot of money in the long run. There are services that do not charge you to write a resume, but these are not necessarily the best resume writing services out there. So, what are the main things to look for when choosing which company to use?Resume writing companies that charge a fee should offer their services in the form of a template or an outline of what you will be expected to do. These companies do not charge you anything unless you want to work with them personally. If you don't feel comfortable working with a stranger then that's not a service you should be paying for.You should also choose a resume writer who has a portfolio of other clients who have used their services. You should be able to contact these people and check their opinions about the resume writer before you hire them. The same goes for the job description that they state.A company that does n ot have a website or a portfolio of previous clients should also have a lot of experience and potential customers could recognize this. One of the main things to look for when choosing resume writing services is if they have a proven track record of helping other people like you. It's a good sign if they can offer testimonials from satisfied clients.Some companies who offer to do resume writing may give you sales-pitch speeches and large sales letters. They would look like they know what they are talking about, but there's no way to know that this is true unless you go there themselves and ask them directly. If you feel like the company is pushing a product, do not trust them.Some companies offer that you need to pay to send in your resume. This is an extremely bad idea, because you will have to wait a very long time to hear back about it. Most of the companies that charge to send in your resume may end up not hiring you anyway because they will not have the time to review all of yo ur resumes. They don't have time to research what you are capable of doing or what skills you have.A good service that will give you a resume that is complete is a service that is simple and will send you a template with all of the information you need. There is no need to spend your money on everything you need. In fact, you can always hire a writer to do this job for you.When it comes to choosing a resume writing service, you need to make sure you are getting exactly what you need. There are many different things to think about. It's important to do a little research to find the best service and the best price.

How to make it into the Tech Industry

How to make it into the Tech Industry In this age, information technology plays a very significant role in every industry. IT drives the innovation known to fuel business success. In fact, the current formula for success in any industry is: drive innovation with IT. For this reason, the most vital detail businesses figure out is how to make smart IT moves during recruitment. They use IT in different departments including human resource, manufacturing, finance, and security. With IT, businesses have been able to view global market changes faster than ever before. So, how can you make it into the tech industry? How to learn about it If you hope to get into a lucrative tech job, you have to know how the industry works and be acquainted with the current trends. If you are a non-technology professional, understand that many IT jobs require a college degree, but there are some that have fewer barriers to entry. While there may be the absence of hands-on experience for a particular tech job, you can identify gaps and take quick tech courses to fill them. If you want to venture into the industry, CloudAcademy and other essential educational platforms can provide training and accreditations, like the highly requested Google Cloud certification for example. Here are some good tips that will help you to land a job in the tech industry. Here is how you learn about it. • Research- to get a sense of what companies are looking for, look for online job postings. After getting a glimpse, emphasise your transferable traits such as strong communication and interpersonal skills, customer-friendliness, ability to work as a team player, and proven analytical abilities. • Flexibility- you have to be willing to occupy positions below your experience level. This could be necessary for a career transition. • Passion- when hiring, most human resource managers look for candidates who seem to be inquisitive and with a willingness to learn more. A natural interest in IT can present you as a credible candidate for the job. • Coding- learning to code is a sure fire way of landing an IT job. As a beginner, start with codeacademy. While here, try new apps, be patient as you use the online resources, and with a keen interest in learning, you will quickly get in line. • Leverage your Network- when trying to break into the industry, it is vital to make connections in the tech world. This is a great resource when considering changing your career. Look for people who know your experience. Such are the individuals who can quickly help you match the right opportunities in IT. How to use the Skills to Make Career The skills should guide you in crafting a great resume. You should also get ideas on what to highlight during the interviews. That way, you can play up your strengths and get a chance to rise to the top. Depending on your background, look for a quality IT degree that will fit your schedule. It is the only way to gain expertise and develop the confidence needed to get the position you want. Even after researching and finding that your field is piqued, keep talking to those already in the profession. The more you study the industries looking for IT talent, the higher the chances you get towards your career path. Image credits. Main.  Networking.

Creative Branding Defined - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Creative Branding Defined - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career In today’s competitive market every business should be on board with a branding strategy that is clearly representing your mission statement along with an active community in order to be effective and attract sales.     Branding reflects all the elements that define the image, ethos and tone of the company or product your site represents. Everything about your website (and matching social media pages), from its layout to the color palette you pick, is part of creating a brand. Good branding creates an instantly recognizable snapshot of what your site has to offer. Think about iconic branding elements like the big brands. Hear or see those things and you’ll instantly know what the company is and what it stands for. Look for branding your message in a creative way that not only generates leads, but also provides a consistent image that people can become familiar with and trust. What defines branding? Think of a brand as the tone or image of your company out of which everything flows. It is the central theme that communicates what you are about, and the types of products or services you have to offer in an easy to understand format. With a powerful branding package in place the essence of your business is what you want to project to your audience, and carry over into your online outlets such as your website, and all of your social media channels in a consistent manner. Let’s look at, for example, the Coca-Cola company. Their brand is instantly recognizable, and uses familiar colors across all of its marketing channels. Your company should be no different even if it is operating on a much smaller scale. You will want to build upon delivering a great story and image to your audience that they will remember by following these three steps: Know thy audience The first step in defining your brand is to know who your target market is, and appeal to that. Pay attention to the demographics, what makes them tick, and the style of other companies they follow. Consistency counts The second step is to make your brand stand out from the rest. Pay attention to what the competitors are doing, and make your image stand out. It is vital to keep all of your online properties consistent, and fresh using the latest technological and marketing trends. Be memorable Making a memorable and lasting impression is what creates a successful brand strategy. Get together with your team, or someone you trust, and sketch out ideas. Find ways to be creative, which can include your content and logo colors. With proper planning, and execution, your business can develop an image that will be easily recognized and attracts new leads.

Up Your Personal Brand Game - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Up Your Personal Brand Game - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career I was reading an article today about the two tech giants Google and Microsoft.   The article focused on how Microsoft may be positioning itself to make a play in the highly competitive search marketplace. Dominance and perseverance Google was referred to as having market dominance. Microsoft was referred to as having perseverance. Clearly, the article was referring to market share and market position.   I started thinking about how these words could be applied to personal branding: Brand Dominance Market dominance is a measure of the strength of a brand relative to competitive offerings.  Market leaders are brands with clearly defined personality. The brand personality is the chosen character that best communicates the brand proposition to the target audience. It is not the personality of the target audience, it is the personality that is most likely to draw their attention, interest them, and encourage them to take action and buy the brand. The vulnerable brands in any market sector are those with vaguely defined brand characteristics. Brand Perseverance Brands that are sustained superior performers are those that maintain a higher than average market share over an extended time span.   These brands are said to be superior persistent performers because their performance endures. Somehow they stay above the crowd.   Such brand perseverance, despite obstacles, can provide reassurance to brand loyalists. Applying this to personal branding I like what Gill Corkindale offers in her Harvard Business School blog 11 Tips for Creating Your Personal Brand. Here are four points I think fit in with the concept of dominance and perseverance as they might help you up your personal branding game : Learn from the big brands. Identify what makes you distinctive from the competition. What have you done recently to make yourself stand out? What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest strength? Build and manage your marketing network. Your friends, colleagues, clients, and customers are an important marketing vehicle for your brand. What is said about you will determine the value of your brand. Learn to influence. Use your personal power, your role and your network. But use them sensitively and intelligently, or else you will not be regarded as a credible or trustworthy leader. Make yourself visible. Build your profile internally and externally. Ways to do this include networking, signing up for high-profile projects, showcasing your skills in presentations or workshops, writing for internal or external publications, volunteering for committees or panel discussions at a conference. At the end of the day, a brand is a promise. Make sure your personal brand promise can deliver by thinking through what it takes to dominate and persevere. Author: Beverly Macy is the Managing Partner of YM Partners and teaches a social media class at the UCLA Extension.   She also co-hosts Gravity Summit events.

How To Protect Yourself From A Career Disaster - CareerMetis.com

How To Protect Yourself From A Career Disaster Risks are something that most people try to avoid wherever possible, but sometimes in life, the worst happens whether we like it or not. Working in a job of any kind involves a certain degree of risk-taking, so being prepared is the best way to deal with any disasters should they occur.Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comEven if you have just worked in a single job role or career field throughout your entire life, it is worth evaluating and preparing for any negative situations you can envisage arising.1. Be Prepared for Any EventualityFirst and foremost, you should have always have a contingency plan in case anything should happen to go wrong in your career. Probably the most common of these is finding yourself in a situation in which you are no longer able to work, or you suddenly lose your job without warning.evalAll you can do is to get yourself into a strong financial position to deal with this change, and also build up a network of contacts so you are in a better place to find other opp ortunities quickly. Another potential risk is getting involved in an accident at work.Whether it actually takes place in the workplace itself or is an accident on the road, making sure you have appropriate insurance and the number of an injury lawyer should be a priority.2. Focus on Building SkillsAs you progress through your career, you should always be aiming to build up your skills so you turn yourself into a commodity that is desirable for more businesses.The more skills you have, the more likely it will be that you quickly find employment should things go wrong in your current job role. Building up your skills is also a way in which you can progress through the career ranks so it makes sense for you to keep doing this.3. Build Your Professional BrandToday’s world is built around the creation and preservation of strong brands, so you should work to build and cultivate your own. Creating strong profiles on platforms like LinkedIn is a good starting point, as this puts you in th e strongest position to learn about new opportunities and showcase all your skills.Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comYou should also be looking to create a polished resume that you have ready to send out in case you suddenly need to start applying for new jobs. As well as this, you should also be looking to impress in your current job role so that you have a strong reference when it comes to getting the next one.4. Develop a Network of ContactsHaving a wide circle of contacts that you are able to call on is something that you should be aiming to build up throughout your career. If a disaster strikes such as your company suddenly goes under, the more people that you know in your field, the more chance you have of finding a new position quickly.evalThese four methods are a great starting point for protecting yourself against career disaster should it strike at any time.

Chasing The Dream... Starting With You - CareerAlley

Chasing The Dream... Starting With You - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Weve all been there, in a job that merely pays the bills and nothing else. It doesnt entertain us, challenge us, or even feel like weve done anything at the end of the day, so you start daydreaming about what career you would love to do, but have you made that next step? For a lot of us, taking that leap of faith is incredibly difficult. After all, jumping ship on your career into the unknown is, well, scary. So the best approach to take is to make the necessary changes gradually, but what you can do is make some changes to yourself first Dont Keep It A Secret For many people, turning a dream into a reality means keeping it to yourself. If you really want to manifest that dream career, its time to start talking about it to others. And although it might sound very simple, it is verbalizing your aspirations, and it will inspire others to help you if they can. At least when your career choice is out in the open, you will have support coming from somewhere. Take Responsibility When were chasing the dream, we tend to opt for the approach where our efforts will be rewarded, rather than make our own path. Make sure to keep track of every accomplishment youve made and make it clear what you have to offer. Your resume is the main bit where all your achievements can be put down, and if you have an enticing resume to hand to your dream employer, they will look for the narrative in your journey, and not necessarily the experience. Making the narrative pop out at your employer can be difficult, and hiring a professional resume writer to make it clear can be your meal ticket. It can take a long time, but by tracking your progress that you are making, it works as motivation as well as taking responsibility for your life and what you really want to do. Always Network! If you dont have the skill, theres plenty of time to learn it, but you need to be aware that an opportunity can crop up at any time, and possibly when you least suspect it. But in professional circles, such as meetings, you can sharpen your skills by just talking to these people. It can be very intimidating at first because you will naturally overthink everything because you want to make a great impression, but this leaves you nervous and, even worse, not communicating your true self. To thine own self be true. You need to remember that you cant change your personality, so dont even try, stick to your own habits and what you normally do! Just be yourself, and the rest will follow. Begin Learning The Skills You Need To successfully manage a career change, you need to highlight the skills your new job requires that you have very little of. If you have no idea where to begin, spend some time asking people already in the industry, and its important to reach out on places like LinkedIn too. As a comprehensive guide, LinkedIn is proving to be a real game-changer for those who are researching ways to start a new career. The trick to starting a career youve dreamt of is to embody that role before youve even begun it. By doing your research and learning the skills that will be demanded of you in the role, then you will become the person that is ideal for the role. Because, dont forget, its not just the skills that will land you the job, its the type of person you are too. Break It All Down The key to accomplishing any task that is seemingly out of reach is to plan, and then break it down into manageable chunks. This works for two very good reasons. Firstly, by developing an action plan, you are taking every precaution necessary to get to your dream career in a carefully thought-out manner, and secondly, by breaking it down into small manageable chunks, you are making the task easier to accomplish. The sheer gravity of changing careers is usually enough to stop people in their tracks, or just look at the amount of work to put in and be put off. If you need new skills, look at the skills and then break them down into chunks, and break them down again, until they become one simple and attainable goal. If you needed to learn French for your dream job, it wouldnt do just to put down learn French on your list. How are you going to do this? And its this process that will serve you well. Changing careers isnt easy, but you can definitely do it. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+

Networking tips to help you land your first job -

Networking tips to help you land your first job - Are you planning a transition “from college to career?” You won’t want to miss out on advice from Lindsey Pollak, a recognized expert on next-generation career trends. She recently released a new edition of her terrific book, Getting from College to Career.   In this second of a two-part Q A with Lindsey, she outlines some best practices for networking, following up, and transitioning to your first job. (Dont miss part I of our interview.) In addition to LinkedIn, what online tools do you think are most helpful for new grads to improve their networking potential? Lindsey: I think people misjudge Twitter as a career and networking tool. It is a phenomenal research tool for following companies, people and industries that interest you and learning what they want you to know about them. We never had such direct access to such information before. Twitter gives you a million topics to learn and think about â€" which can then be used in a variety of networking situations from informational interviews to career fairs to informal conversations. What are your best tips for following up after an informational meeting? How about how to follow up after an interview? Lindsey: I recommend that people start the follow-up process during the actual meeting or interview by asking the other person how he or she likes to receive follow-up. For instance, at the end of a great chat at a networking event, you can say to the other person, “I really enjoyed speaking with you. What’s the best way to keep in touch?” Then you can find out if the person prefers email, phone or perhaps connecting on LinkedIn or another social network. If you haven’t had this conversation, follow up is still extremely important. I suggest following up with a concise email that has a really descriptive subject line, such as “Nice to meet you at Thursday’s NYC Networking Night” or “Thank you for the interview â€" online marketing assistant position.” This helps your email stand out from all of the bland follow-up emails that say “thanks” or “interview.” Next, thank the person for his or her time and mention something from the meeting that stood out to you or a topic that you could tell the interviewer was particularly interested in. Finally, end with some sort of added value â€" another thought you had from the meeting or an idea that it sparked. Show that you are someone who always gives a little bit extra. In your book, you write about being persistent â€" without being a pest. Can you share a tip or two for how a job seeker should know how to identify that fine line between following up enough and too much? Lindsey: There really is a fine line. The right kind of persistence is always polite, positive and appropriately timed. You should send a thank you email within 12 to 24 hours of a formal job interview using the tips in the previous answer. Then mark in your calendar to wait one full week before attempting any other follow up. I know a week feels like a long time when you want a job, but it’s a short time to the person who interviewed you. If you don’t hear back after a full week (or even 10 days), it’s okay to send a second email. Now here’s the fine line: it’s pestering to write, “I haven’t heard back from you and I wanted to know if you’re still interested in hiring me.” It’s polite and appropriate to say, “I wanted to thank you again for our interview last week. In the meantime, I’ve read more on [something you discussed] and [then say something you learned or an idea this research sparked]. Would you be able to let me know any next steps at this point?” If you don’t hear back from the second email, it’s probably not a great sign. If you’d like to give it one more try, a third follow up action is the last I would take. You can try another polite email, leave a voice mail message after hours (with a similar, positive follow-up comment) or reach out to the person on LinkedIn or Twitter if you know he or she is active there. In my opinion, three attempts is the maximum. Youve given it your best shot and, unfortunately, not everyone is responsive. I believe employers should let you know if you are not getting a job you’ve interviewed for, but that doesn’t always happen. Hopefully you have a lot of irons in the fire and your persistence for other positions will pay off! What do you think is the most difficult thing for new college grads to manage in their transition to a first job? Lindsey: Communication skills are very different between college and the “real world” and that’s where I tend to see new grads make the most mistakes. In a professional environment, you have to remember that everything you write or say is contributing to your professional reputation. This means that emails need to be written in a professional style and tone (limit text message speak, limit or eliminate emoticons, avoid using “Hey” as a greeting, etc.) and you have to carefully choose your communication methods. Texting and IM are generally not appropriate for the workplace (unless you’ve specifically discussed using these methods with your boss or your company has an internal IM system) and you need to learn to speak well in meetings and professional presentations. Be sure to check out her book: Getting from College to Career. This post originally appeared on Salary.com, where I am a contributing writer.