Sunday, January 5, 2020

10 Steps to Create Demand for Your Work for Your Careers Sake

10 Steps to Create Demand for Yur Work for Your Careers Sake Remember Bo Jackson? He was one of few professional athletes to play and excel at two different sports baseball and football.What does Jackson have to do with your career? Its simple, really His example teaches us what it means to be in demand. Jackson so proved and maintained his excellence that teams in both the MLB and the NFL wanted him on their rosters.Staying in demand is the key to a successful career. If you want to stay in demand, you need to take a page from Jackson. Your strongest skills must be evident in all that you do. You must exploit their value, showcase them to the world, and create demand for yourself.Here aresome steps to take in order to create and sustain demand for the value you produce as a professional1.Stay Focused on the Value of Your WorkMost of us need to be reminded occasionally of what our work means and how it impacts others.Find out how your work improve s other peoples lives, and keep this in your sights at all times.2. Keep Proof of Your Best Work Close ByYou will have to show others your best work not to brag, but to illustrate your value. Share proof of your best, most recent work on your social channels. Use the channels where your work is mostly likely to reach its intended audience.3. Know Who AppreciatesYour Work and WhyYou may have to do a little schmoozing in order to better understand whom your work reaches and whom it serves, but thats okay. Over-delivering is mora thanjust an extra scoop of ice cream its a way to build intimate pathways between your work and the people it affects, not to mention the additional brand loyalty it yields.4. Reward Constructive FeedbackConstructive feedback can be tough to swallow, but its necessary. Most importantly, pay attention to the source of the criticism. Can you accept constructive feedback from someone who may not care about the outcome? If you can, and you can respond positively to that feedback, you can stay ahead of your competition. Thank people for their critiques. Doing so will build goodwill and show others you are serious about what you do.5. Engage in Meaningful ConversationsGood networking isnt about getting things from people.Good networking is an exchange of value. When you make connections, look for ways to build trust not just for now, but for the long term. Also give as much as youre getting if not more.6. Anticipate Your Professional Peaks and ValleysAll careers have periods of thriving and periods of decline. Layoffs and terminations happen toeven the best of us people. Stay connected to the meaning of your work. Respond quickly and appropriately to both good and badeanstalt news.7. Become Your Own Master PublicistYour future employers and business partners want to know you. The more people rave about you, theeasier it is to buildtrust. When you have people bragging about the value you deliver, new opportunities will come to you.Why not l end your voice to a podcast, magazine, or television interview? Get your message out there, and get other people spreading it for you.8. Share Your StoriesYour message, voice, and delivery matter to the people in your network. Peoplewant to know how you got to where you are. Part of why people invest emotionally or financially in anything is because they understand the journey and want to be part of it. Get your message out there through relevant, engaging stories. People will listen.9.Connect With ExpertsWhom you meet matters. It is essential toforge relationships with hiring managers and executives. They may not hire you, but they can certainly help you on your journey in some way or another. Employers who offer insights into their hiring practices on LinkedIn and other platforms are valuable. If youre bold and tactical, you can engage them.10. Give Without Expecting to GetWord spreads when you give more than you take. People care more about your generosity than your skills. If yo u prove you arepersonally drivento create value for others, people will be impressed and theyll want you on their side.People wont demand you if they dont know or trust you. You must create demand. It wont show up at your door. Put your work out there. Connect with employers, referrers, and other people in your industry. Make yourself available to others the people who want you in their network, the employers who could use your skills, and the people who need your help.Mark Anthony Dyson is a career consultant, the host and producer of The Voice of Job Seekers podcast, and the founder of the blog by the same name.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

The languages of appreciation A tool for growing soft skills

The languages of appreciation A tool for growing soft skillsThe languages of appreciation A tool for growing soft skillsHistorically, high-level business and organizational leaders have been taught to focus on the hard metrics of business financial statements, market share, increasing productivity and reducing expenses to maximize profits and shareholder value. These all are important aspects to monitor, to ensure the business is profitable and sustainable.Similarly, engineers, computer programmers and others who work in high-tech industries most often associated with Silicon Valley are trained, focused on, and rewarded for producing results. And unterstellung high-tech companies are known to offer competitive financial rewards and recognition programs to motivate and encourage employees to keep delivering high-quality work.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThe hard skills of tec hnical abilities, accounting, and financial analysis are primarily acquired through education, on-the-job training, and certificate programs. These skills are definable, quantifiable and easy to evaluate.To some extent, these approaches focusing on production and financial results have been effective in the short-term.But as many corporations and dot-com businesses have been experiencing in the past few years if attention and training arent focused on the soft skills in the workplace, major problems follow. Consider the recent chinks in the armor exposed in the work cultures at Google, Uber, and major media companies, to cite a few.These soft skills are the interpersonal or people skills needed to help an organizationofpeoplework together to achieve the organizations goals. Communication skills, conflict resolution, influence and leadership, working collaboratively, and being able to show your employees you value them are all examples of core soft skills. They are harder to defin e and measure (hence, the label soft skills), but they are no less important because they are key factors in creating healthy workplace cultures and effective collaborative relationships. Until recently, they have rarely been taught in classroom settings or on the job through coaching.Traditional reward and recognition programs have typically focused on quality and volume of work delivered, but what has been missing is appreciating employees asindividuals,both for the quality of the work they deliverandfor the values and attitudes they demonstrate while carrying out their work.The deficiency in soft skills among managers may be attributed largely to work cultures which emphasize competitiveness, innovation, and above allresults. An overemphasis purely focused on results obtained (primarily financial results) leads executives, managers, and supervisors down the path which culminates in treating employees solely as resources to be used to reach the leaders goals. Employees become prod uction units and cease to be valued as people.Languages of Appreciation as a Tool to Build Soft SkillsThe 5 languages of appreciation have been shown to be aneffective,structured approach to develop and improve soft skillsthat appeal to leaders across a wide range of industries and work settings. The languages of appreciation are a tool that can be used by any employee, regardless of seniority level and independent of leadership or management roles.The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplacehighlights the need to value employees as whole individuals. OurAppreciation at Worktraining process uses the 5 Languages of Appreciation principles to create a culture of appreciation in the workplace that can yield increased levels of employee engagement, job satisfaction, and numerous other positive effects for the employees, the company, and customers.CombiningThe 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplaceand theMotivating by Appreciation Inventory(MBA Inventory) creates a useful and s traightforward framework that can be used by anyone regardless of their experience level with soft skills. The 5 languages of appreciation address the how-to elements of creating a culture of appreciation and covers topics related to authenticity and frequency, and provides examples for each of the five appreciation languages. The results of each employeesMBA Inventorywill show how each individual desires to be shown appreciation, guiding you in how to effectively communicate appreciation to them.ConclusionBusiness and financial managers, and high-tech occupations are often motivated by interesting and challenging problems to solve, and goals to achieve. Focusing solely on achieving goals, however, leads to a tendency to treat employees primarily as resources to get tasks done. This often leads to a culture where employees feel used and taken advantage of.When the 5 Languages of Appreciation are used as a tool to communicate how leaders value their employees on a regular basis, in e veryday work situations, and across all responsibility levels, empathy for others develops and a foundation of important soft skills begin to be built.People, both colleagues, direct reports and managers, want to be valued for the contributions they make. Unfortunately, most team members actuallydontfeel appreciated. But very little is required to make a difference and communicate appreciation in the various ways individuals desire. Learning what form of appreciation your colleagues prefer isnt hard. And once you know what they like, a little appreciation goes a long way to encourage those around you.This article first appeared in the Appreciation at Work.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally s trong people

Friday, December 27, 2019

How to Become a Journalist

How to Become a JournalistHow to Become a JournalistJournalism is, in most respects, the backbone of the media industry. Therefore many media jobs require some aspect of journalism. The type of writing a journalist does depend largely on the subject they deckblatt. Aleidher thing which affects a journalists job is the outlet they produce nachrichten for TV, the Internet, a newspaper, etc. That being said, a traditional journalist reports the news. What does that mean? Well, it can mean various things. The standard image of a journalist and one often portrayed in ?movies is of someone working a beat for a newspaper and finding stories. Which begs the question What is a beat? Working a Beat A beat is a media term for the area, or topic, a journalist covers. So a beat could be anything from local crime, to national news to Hollywood movies. Beats can be very specific, or broader, depending on the kind of publication youre working for. A mid-size daily newspaper, for example, will ha ve reporters covering everything from local police goings-on to local sports. Why You Need a Beat A journalists job is to report the news. To find the news, you need to understand the subject matter and the people youre writing about. Lets say youre working a crime beat for a newspaper in Chicago. One morning the police report that theres been a murder in a posh neighborhood of the city. Now, in order to write about that murder, you need to know whats been going on in the city. Is this an isolated incident? Was there a similar crime two weeks ago? Two years ago? People always discuss the five pillars of journalism or the Five Ws - who, what, where, when and why - and, the why, section can only be filled out by someone with a background and knowledge of their beat. If, for example, you were asked to write about the aforementioned murder in Chicago, and didnt know anything about the city or the recent criminal activity there, you wouldnt be able to cover the story in the best wa y. Because lets face it, the story is very different if its a random act instead of a potential sign of a crime spree or, lets say, a serial murderer. Developing Sources The other big reason journalists work beats, aside from developing a deep knowledge of the subject theyre covering, is to develop sources. Sources are people you talk to report a story. Now some sources are obvious. If we continue with the example of working as a crime reporter in Chicago, you would have regular sources in the police department. Now some would be obvious - you would likely speak to a spokesperson for the department whose job it is to handle reporters (a kind of publicist) - but other contacts might be developed from relations you foster over years of covering a beat. A journalist often refers to their sources - everyone knows the saying, I cant reveal my sources - because these are people they turn to get inside information, or perspective, on a story. Now that bit about revealing sources po ints to an instance when a journalist gets an important piece of information from a person who does not want their identity revealed. If, for example, youre working on that story about the murder in Chicago and you get information from someone in the police department that the murder looks like it might be the work of a serial killer, that officer might not want his name given out. After all, hes giving you information that might get him in trouble. So, when you write the story about the murder, you wouldnt name your source or reveal his identity to anyone. (If you did reveal his identity, no one would ever want to give you secret information, or information that people in the business refer to as stuff thats off the record.) When a journalist works a beat over time they develop a multitude of sources. This means that they know who to call when something happens and they know the people who will talk to them. A good journalist establishes solid relationships with his sources so he c an turn to them to get information. Although people dont always like talking to reporters - especially when the story is about a scandal or something negative - a good journalist will have sources who recognize that there is a positive in getting a story out and getting it out correctly. In other words, a good journalist will develop a respectful relationship with his sources.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

5 Things Successful People Do After Being Rejected (Instead of Moping Around)

5 Things Successful People Do After Being Rejected (Instead of Moping Around)5 Things Successful People Do After Being Rejected (Instead of Moping Around)Your hopes were high- and now theyve been dashed. You received a curt, Thanks, but no thanks for anopportunity you were really excited about.Theres no way around it- rejection is tough for all of us. And, while theres nobody out there who will claim toenjoyit, there are some people who seem tocope with it better than others.Take some of the worlds most successful people, for example. They notlage only deal with rejection with poise and professionalism, but they also use it to their advantage. They extract lessons from the experience that they can use to better themselves moving forward.Want to know how you can do that same thing? Begin doing these five things that all successful people do after facing rejection.1. They Recognize Their RoleRejection can be brutal, and its often enough to inspire us to begin playing the blame game. It s their fault that they didnt see the value we were offering or that they decided to go another direction.When were hurt, its pretty much human nature to make ourselves the victims of the situation. However, successful people understand the importance of recognizing the role they played in their own rejection.Were they as prepared as they should have been? Did they settle for mediocre when they should have put their all in? You need to accept responsibility for anything you did that might have contributed to you being passed over, or you simply wont learn as much from the situation.2. They ReflectSimilarly to the point above, successful people dont immediately jump into action after being rejected. Instead, they press pause and take a little bit of time to look back on the experience.Are they blindsided by this rejection, or did they not feel great about their chances to begin with? If they could rewind time, what key things would they do differently?Before you can use rejection to help you improve, you first need to pinpoint exactly where you could make some changes.3. They Ask QuestionsWhen youre turned down for something, your first inclination might be to bury your head in the sand and get as far away from that humiliating situation as possible.However, successful people resist the temptation to run and hide. They know that its better to use this as an opportunity to gather more information that will help them to become better in the future.Swallow your pride and directly ask what you did well and what you could do better next time. Thats all valuable information- directly from a reputable source- that you can use to improve moving forward.4. They ImproveFar too many of us fall into the trap of collecting feedback, but then never actually doing anything with it. But, not successful people. They go the extra mile to actually implement the suggestions they receive.You know you cant continue to do the same things and make the same mistakes while expecting dif ferent results. So, remember to detail an action plan you can use to put those tips for improvement to use. Youll be better off for it.5. They Move OnRejection can bruise even the healthiest of egos. But, it wont do you any good to obsess over it- which is why successful people know its better to take a deep breath, let it go, and move on.Yes, youll need to take a little bit of time to reflect on the experience and pull out the necessary lessons and value. However, once youve done that, dont continue to dwell or hold a grudge. Ultimately, that will only hold you back.Theres no denying that rejection can be a painful experience, but it can also be extremely educational- as long as youre willing to make the most of it. Take these five strategies, and youre sure to use rejection to your advantage.More From Inc.One Behavior Separates the Successful From the Average18 Effective Habits of Highly Successful PeopleWhy You Should Love Rejection

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Innovative Reward Techniques for Your Employee Referral Program

Innovative Reward Techniques for Your Employee Referral Program Innovative Reward Techniques for Your Employee Referral Program These compelling reasons form the basis for rewards offered by organizations as incentives to participate in the program. Referral rewards do notlage merely constitute offering cash incentives for successful referrals, but extend beyond that to include ways of engaging with employees through recognizing and appreciating their contributions to the referral program. A referral reward is only as good as the employees ultimate recipients of the rewards have to find them motivating. A referral reward, even if it is of high financial value, is worthless if it fails to excite employees to participate. On the other hand, there are many examples of organizations who have achieved a great verstndigung im strafverfahren of success in their referral programs through comparatively smaller rewards.It is therefore essential to first have a good understanding of what mo tivates your employees before defining the referral rewards. Organizational culture plays a big role in understanding the nature of employees and what is a good motivator for them. For instance, employees in a consulting organization with frequent business travel might find rewards related to travel experiences bigmotivators. Then again, healthcare professionals might appreciate family outings, like a fully paid family day trip.Employee referral rewards can broadly be classified as monetary or non-monetary rewards. While most organizations have monetary rewards in place to incentivize people for successful referrals, it is actually the non-monetary rewards that can actually keep employees engaged and active with the referral program.Monetary rewards are generally cash bonuses offered to employees if the candidates they refer are hired by the organization. Most organizations release the cash bonus once the hired candidate has been in the organization for a certain period of time usu ally 3 months. Apart from this, many organizations also offer supplementary bonuses for niche positions.Non-monetary rewards are ways to recognize employee efforts and contribution in small and big ways without doling out money or cash. The big advantage to non-cash incentives is that they are comparatively more cost effective. They can be used to reward employees participating in the referral program even if their referral is not hired. Ability to recognize more employees means more motivated employees and greater participation and enthusiasm among employees.It is because of the twin benefit of cost effectiveness as well as higher reach that organizations have started experimenting more and more in the realm of non-cash incentives to reward employees for their contributions to the referral program. They have ranged from the usual gift cards and movie tickets to highly adventurous ones, like flying and wine tasting experiences, and family pampering ones, like fully paid vacations to exotic destinations. Another big addition to rewards programs is the concept of gamification the opportunity to earn redeemable reward points based on how far you have progressed in the referral game.Below is a list of some of the more innovative referral rewards and recognitions successfully implemented by organizations, to help you get an idea of the kind of thinking that goesinto designing rewards for employee referral programs.A leading American video game developer has implemented gamification to reward employees because it has a very strong gaming culture. The rewards start small and get bigger and bigger in value as the referred candidate progresses through the recruitment process. For instance, the employee is presented with a Head-Hunter mug if his referred candidate receives an interview call. If the candidate is found suitable to be made an offer, the employee receives a sweater. In the case that the candidate is hired, the employee becomes eligible for the referral bonu s.Accenture, one of the foremost advocates of referral programs, has used the charity concept very successfully int their referral reward program to inspire employees towards a higher and nobler cause. Employees can choose to donate a part of their referral amount to a charity of their choosing, and the company donates a similar amount. Similarly, Informatica welches able to triple participation in its referral program by allowing employees to donate the referral bonus to Philippines typhoon relief over a two-month period.KPMG has been using micro rewards like gift cards for local coffee shops and other local events and places to improve employee participation in the referral program. They generally offer the gift cards for hard-to-fill and niche positions as a means of rewarding employees for their contributions.A leading engineering and service companyhas been able to achieve a 55 percent rate of employee participation, mainly by displaying leaderboards of top referrers on company boards and in newsletters. This, along with regular mails appreciating the efforts of top contributors, has helped keep employee participation well above industry average.A good employee referral reward program should strike a balance between cash and non-cash rewards, since both have a part to play in motivating employees. The nature of rewards should be defined based on your companys own unique culture, which shapes the way employees react to different motivators.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Career Skills for a Job Transition

Career Skills for a Job Transition Career Skills for a Job Transition While you might feel a sense of trepidation while making acareer transition especially if you have never been faced with such a challenge. Eventually, you will benefit from making the move. Remaining stagnant in a changing job environment is not the answer.Companies expect their employees to be computer literate and able to use all of todays latest technology to help perform their job faster and more efficiently. Acquiring theskills for a new careermay seem difficult at first, but with a little determination, you can do it. Perhaps you are deficient when it comes to computer skills. You may know how to get on the internet, check your e-mail and maybe use a word processing program to write a letter. Do you know how to create a financial spread sheet? Can you create a PowerPoint presentation? How about learning to create a web page or using social networks to increase a companys recognition and perhaps increase th eir sales?However, technology goes much beyond regular Word processing and spread sheets. The profession that you are trying to enter into most likely requires highly specialized skills. Make sure to do research into the specialized technology skills that will be required. Should you have an understanding of supply chain software? SAP? Microsoft Dynamics? Make sure to look up what technologies their employees list on social networks like Linkedin and if you dont have ansicht skills, read a book about the technology before interviewing with a new company.These are a fewcareer skillsthat can enhance your chance of findingemploymentin any number of jobs from secretarial and clerical jobs all the way up to management and executive stttes. The most important career skills of course have to do with how you work with people. Working well with teams, ability to market yourself, and confidence are the most important skills you can have. If you feeldeficientin one of these areas, be sure to try to improve. Join Toastmasters or a similar public speaking club if you need to improve your interpersonal skills.While some jobs require technical skills and special training, many more require common skills and basic intelligence. If you have good math and communication skills, are organized and have a good attitude, you can be an asset to most companies. If you add in great interpersonal skills, making a job transition should not be difficult for you.To give yourself the best chance when changing career paths, get the career skills you know you are lacking, walk in to the interviewers room, hold your head up high and tell them why you should get the position being offered. Remember, career success is not a matter of necessarily having the required career skills, but rather knowing how to talk in the vernacular of the profession and engaging well with the interviewer.

Saturday, December 7, 2019

What Is So Fascinating About How to Spell Resume?

What Is So Fascinating About How to Spell Resume? Make certain if theres a watermark on the paper that its facing the suitable way and regardless of what you do, ensure it remains readable. Recognizing the way by which to tailor your work application will probably clearly provide you with a benefit. It will probably be split into sections. As pspecies of selecting the best resume builder, consider whether it provides you with the flexibility to modify section headings. The Argument About How to Spell Resume Maintains ought to be constantly improved, custom-made and edited in order to meet up with the demands of the work hunter. Your resume structure will also enable you to incorporate some achievements. Introducing How to Spell Resume Youd be hard-pressed to locate an employer who will sit there and read through a whole paragraph on a resume, plus, the ATS is just likely to locate keywords. The reply is it depends. It is yes if you want to. Its possible for you to enter your social websites profile address for an extra point of contact. For almost whatever you want to include on a resume, theres a category to help organize it. Bear in mind the idea of Less Is More and filter the ingestaltation that you have in your job program, only including the relevant information. Then take a look at the following resume writing tips to learn to compose a resume optimizing each section for greatest success. How to Spell Resume Ideas Obviously, there are a few skills to add to resume which can be considered recruiters favorites. Hence, no 2 resumes will probably be the exact same. Be careful while using the accented form resumeit could possibly be considered hypercorrect to some recruiters, particularly when it comes to resumes for entry-level positions. Looking at how others published their resumes can give you some adequate ideas. Spend some time matching your qualifications to the job to make sure youre including the suitable key terms and technique s. If youre developing a Squarespace website for your job search or private brand, you may want to add your resume to ensure it is accessible to prospective employers, contacts, and clients. You may also search and view resumes of different candidates who have the sort of job that youre searching for to obtain insight into the experience and skills employers value. A fast search online will display a lot of cover letters for resumes examples. Lies Youve Been Told About How to Spell Resume Along with helping your resume get selected, it will likewise help the hiring manager see how your abilities and experiences make you a perfect candidate for the particular job. Companies are constantly looking for talented team members. If you wish to catch the interest of the hiring manager, youve got to give them what they want. A legal professional seeking the most suitable job ought to have a strong resume as a way to be noticed by the employers. Whatever They Told You About How to Spell Resume Is Dead Wrong...And Heres Why Naturally, youre write what degree youve got. Each one takes a different strategy and what works for one wont do the job for one more. Whether youre looking for your very first job or attempting to earn a career change, the method starts with your resume. It is a rather simple process as it will be like expounding on the points. The Lost Secret of How to Spell Resume Men and women make it sound as if everyone lies on their resume, but thats not correct. Most people have this, and it is a quick, totally free download whenever they dont. They look at writing a resume as just something you have to do to get a job. The issue is, a great deal of people dont see it like an art formrather an obligation. The Basics of How to Spell Resume Together with thethree main sections to include in a resume, it is a good idea to tailor your resume to your private profile with the addition of different subheadings where you are able to develop the appro priate info. Use the checklist to be certain you have included all appropriate data in your resume. Youll receive several websites with all the info you want. Include your complete name, contact number, email and personal branding website if youve got one. The Benefits of How to Spell Resume Now press the letter you want to accent. Additionally, there are a few instances of cover letters. The accented variant of the letter appears. Finally, dont neglect to take a look at our professional cover letter examples. Surely, it is possible to find hundreds of resume examples on the internet to use as patterns. As soon as its only a page or two in length, a resume is among the most important pieces of a work application. Including a couple of numbers isnt an indication of a good resume. You should include both your telephone number and e-mail address.