The Heart-Mind Alliance: Find Your Core Values and Let Them Guide You at Work
What comes to mind when you think about your morals and values? Is it plausible to think these very basic principles could quite possibly be responsible for your perception of the world around you? What about the effect they have on your job or your work ethic? Family development expert Stephen J. Bavolek defines our morals as a code of conduct with identified rights and wrongs; he...
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How to Manage Time-Off Requests This Holiday Season
Paid vacation is one of the most important employee benefits, trumped only by healthcare, according to a 2018 study from the US Travel Association. That means employees prioritize vacation time over retirement plans, flexible work options, bonuses, and sick leave. With the holidays fast approaching, you and your colleagues are likely itching to cash in your vacation funds. Employers...
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How to Spend Less Than 10 Percent of Your Week in Meetings
There's a lot to be said about how to do meetings better — fewer PowerPoints, fewer people, zero distractions. However, none of those tactics will move the needle enough on its own. The bold move most organizations must take, but rarely do, is to cap the total time employees spend meeting internally. Organizations depend on meetings, but having too many meetings is wasteful. By one...
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Problem-Solving May Be the Most In-Demand Skill for 2020 — Do You Have It?
According to the World Economic Forum, the No. 1 skill you'll need to succeed in 2020 and beyond is complex problem-solving. As the world goes increasingly digital and automation takes over more and more of our rote responsibilities, the average professional's job will transform into something more focused on creativity, innovation, and the other sorts of big-picture skills the robots just...
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Practicing Unpreparedness: Extensive Research May Not Be the Best Way to Prepare for Your Next Client Meeting
Before a meeting at Paradise Bakery with a client, I had studied this guy inside and out. I knew his background and education. I'd read every article he'd written or had written about him. I was ready to wow him. But then something magical happened — I met a real human being. The person in front of me was this funny, kind, and contradictory character I could hardly keep up with because I...
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Have a Plan, But Keep It Flexible: Thriving Professionally After a Medical Diagnosis
When someone is diagnosed with a serious health condition, it impacts several important areas of their life, including work. A person may start to wonder: - How do I balance work and medical treatment? - What can I expect from my employer? - What are my legal rights? - What do other people do in this situation? One common misconception is that people who have serious illnesses do...
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Distractions Are Your Enemy: 5 Tips to Win at Working Remotely
Remote work seems to be all the rage, with some 70 percent of professionals working from home at least once a week. Similarly, 77 percent of people report working more productively when they work from home, and 68 percent of millennials say they would consider a company more favorably if it offered remote work options. It seems to make sense: Technology, connectivity, and culture are...
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Insecurity, Introversion, and 13 Other Unexpected Traits of Excellent Leaders
Article by YEC A leader is someone who, through their personality and skills, inspires others to be the best versions of themselves. While leaders may display different types of leadership styles, they all hope to achieve the same goal: motivating the team they lead to be better and to do better. But what makes an excellent leader? To some, leadership comes naturally from an innate...
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13 Go-To Hacks for When You Need a Boost of Creativity
Article by YEC Creativity inspires us. It gives us purpose and direction, providing a way to pursue goals and establish dreams. However, creativity does not always come naturally, particularly during moments of stress. Sometimes, even the most creative minds need a little help to get that spark back. Boosting your creativity can be a simple matter of taking a step back and...
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Fall Into Routine: 5 Ways to Have a More Productive Autumn
There's no better time than the fall, the season of heading back to school and new fiscal-year possibility, to create new routines or recalibrate old ones. As a successful entrepreneur, I use routine to set myself up for productivity. Routine is the key to maintaining focus on your goals and preventing yourself from falling prey to impulse and circumstance. Here's what has worked for...
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How to Build a Bigger Retirement Nest Egg With Your Side Hustle
Financial experts recommend you save $1-1.5 million to retire comfortably. If that number sounds impossible, you may be part of a national trend. According to the US Government Accountability Office, 48 percent of households headed by someone aged 55+ have no retirement savings at all. If your retirement fund isn't as large as it should be, launching a side hustle can be a smart way to...
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Why You Should Think Like a Salesperson When Hunting for a New Job
The art of sales and the art of securing a job aren't all that different. Both center on your ability to hold a meaningful, mutually beneficial conversation. Both also have reputations for one-sidedness. Salespeople and hiring managers are often seen as prize-grabbing characters trying to get what they want while offering little in return. That couldn't be further from the truth: Both...
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Make Your Side Hustle Worth Every Minute With These 5 Principles
From driving for a rideshare company or tutoring online to reselling items on eCommerce sites or working at a local coffee shop, there are plenty of side hustles to earn extra money in the gig economy. However, all these side hustles take energy, focus, and time away from other things, such as leisure or time with loved ones. You may be hustling to grow your savings, to get out of debt, or...
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Coping With the Stress of a Job Search When You're Newly Sober
Looking for a job can be stressful for anyone. For those who may be fresh out of rehab for drug and alcohol addictions, the same stresses that every job seeker faces can be amplified by still other stressors unique to early recovery from substance abuse. For example, financial concerns about not being able to pay the bills and provide for one's family are common among job seekers. For...
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Stop Sabotaging Yourself: 13 Things to Stop Doing If You Want to Be More Productive
Consider an average eight-hour workday. How much of that time do you actually spend working? If you're like the average person, it's probably less than three hours a day. Yes, you read that right: The average office worker spends less than three hours in an eight-hour shift doing anything productive. For the most part, they're fighting distractions, combing through inboxes, and chatting...
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Don't Lose the Offer: How to Manage Multiple Executive Job Offers Without Burning Bridges
Getting the chance to consider multiple high-quality opportunities is the Holy Grail for a candidate in an executive job search. While figuring out how to manage multiple offers is a great problem to have, it is nonetheless a problem in the employment market. Candidates may feel great stress as they try to settle on the best job at the right salary among competing professional...
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14 Things You Should Never Say to an Interviewer
Who among us hasn't had the experience: You walk into an interview for a job you really want, sit down in a chair, and immediately start saying things you regret. So much hinges on what you say in the job interview — and unfortunately, it's all to easy to let that pressure get to you. No matter how calm, cool, and collected you might be the rest of the time, job interviews are uniquely...
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So You Made a Mistake at Work. Here's How to Fix It.
We all make mistakes. It's inevitable. But owning up to a blunder at work isn't always easy. "I think it's hard because to admit that you're wrong is not something that's comfortable for most people, especially in a situation like work where the stakes can be really high," says workplace expert Alexandra Levit, author of They Don't Teach Corporate in College. "Your first instinct is to...
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Negative Feedback Loop: What to Do When You Are Criticized at Work
We all like to be praised, but when it comes to improving performance and progressing in your career, negative feedback may actually matter more. According to research conducted by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman of leadership development firm Zenger/Folkman, 92 percent of people agree that appropriately delivered negative feedback effectively improves performance. On a similar note, a...
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From Jack Dorsey to Jennifer Hyman, Here Are 15 Entrepreneurs on Productivity:
Entrepreneurs: They're just like us. They, too, struggle to stay productive. The difference between the Alexa Von Tobels and Richard Bransons of the world and the rest of us, however, is that the most successful founders actively search for and use powerful productivity hacks to help them stay the course. In a new infographic, Resume.io collects 15 of these productivity tips from 15...
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Unnecessary Work: 12 Things Your Resume Doesn't Need
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Today's Question: What aspect of a resume do you find least useful? What would you prefer candidates do instead? The answers below are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization of the world's most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members...
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Sell the Version of Yourself That Gets What You Deserve: 5 Tips
It's hard not to get angry when you're passed over for a promotion that goes to someone with less experience. Your head probably explodes a little bit every time someone interrupts you while you're making an important point during a staff meeting — especially if that same person does it again and again, as if what she had to say were more important than what you were talking about. It might...
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Single-Mom CEO? 8 Tips for Navigating the Challenges
I started my New York City staffing agency six years ago, when my daughters were 2, 4, and 6 years old. It made sense to me: Parenting had taught me valuable skills that I felt prepared me to run a business — notably, multitasking, budgeting, organizing, and scheduling. Sure, I'd need to find a way to build strong relationships with clients while continuing to nurture the precious...
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12 Career Fair Tips to Help You Land the Job in 2019
Career fairs offer an unparalleled opportunity to network with a variety of businesses and can help you get your foot in the doors of top companies in your industry. Employers take career fairs seriously. In fact, according to Glassdoor, "Career fairs and on-campus recruiting account for almost 75 percent of employers' recruiting budgets. ... Add on travel, hotel, and food expenses, and...
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Why a Casual Dress Code Might Be the Best Work Perk of All
Office dress code policies are changing with the times, and it's not just Silicon Valley tech startups getting in on the trend. Goldman Sachs made waves recently when it announced it was ditching the mandatory suits and ties in favor of a more flexible dress code. More and more companies are moving away from formal business attire and embracing casual dress in the office. In fact, 50...
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Your Late Summer Playlist: 10 Career Podcasts to Take in Before Fall
There's no better time to focus on career development than the quiet summer season, when office distractions are at a minimum. Unfortunately, we don't have many warm, slow days left on the calendar. So, if you've been doing more relaxing than growing this summer, now is the time to get in some last-minute professional development. The best (and easiest) way to do this? Take in a few...
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8 Tips to Help You Make a Career Change at Any Age
Starting fresh in a new industry is a challenge for many people for a variety of reasons — including, of course, the fact that switching careers often involves at least a temporary reduction in income. After all, you don't have as much experience in your new field as you did in your previous one, so you can't expect to command the same salary. Before making any kind of career change,...
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The 12 Best Side Gigs for People Who Love Pets
Those of us who wish we could spend more of our days with animals are in luck: Today, there are plenty of viable pet-related occupations in the job market which you could actually make a decent income. The best part? You can start many of these gigs on your own without having to quit your day job. For instance, becoming a dog walker may just be a matter of meeting the right dog owners in...
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6 Things Every Side Hustler Should Invest In
According to a 2017 survey from Bankrate, more than 44 million US adults have a side hustle. If you're one of them, you've probably put some thought into what it would require to take your gig to its next level in the employment market. Then again, perhaps you feel hesitant to turn around and spend that money you've worked so hard to earn. That's completely understandable. You're working...
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Whose Opinion Matters Most in the Interview? Yours.
You've clearly identified the type of company you'd love to work for, the kinds of projects you'd like to be involved with, and the impact you'd like to make. You've tweaked your resume, networked your heart out, and sent your strategically crafted cover letters to the right people. And now you have the interview! Gulp. For most people, interviewing is nerve-wracking. We so badly...
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How to Address a Past Drug- or Alcohol-Related Conviction in a Job Interview
Preparing for a job interview can be even more stressful than it normally is when you have a conviction on your record, a reality that disproportionately affects people with addiction histories. As illustration, statistics from the National Institutes of Health reveal the surprisingly high extent to which addiction is entangled with the criminal justice system: - 45 percent of inmates in...
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The Key to Happiness: Choosing to Change Your Present Mindset
Article by Steve Rizzo Unhappiness is a disease spreading rapidly in the workplace and in our personal lives — but are you aware that the quality of happiness you have at this point in your life is determined by a particular mindset you yourself have created over a period of time? In other words: Happiness can be a choice. No matter your personal or professional circumstances, you...
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3 Ways to Help Your Fellow Introverts Succeed at Work
Getting ahead and thriving in your career is difficult enough for anyone, but research suggests it may be especially hard for introverted workers. According to a recent study out of Australia, introverts tend to predict more negative outcomes for themselves than their extraverted counterparts do. This consistently gloomier outlook can hinder their climb up the corporate ladder. Nothing...
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7 Signs You're Not Delegating Enough — Plus 7 Tips to Get Better at It
In all the recent hubbub surrounding the designation of burnout as an occupational syndrome, one simple way to fight workplace overwhelm has gone largely unnoticed: delegate more. Managers and leaders often set themselves up for exhaustion and steep productivity declines by refusing to delegate. This aversion is more common than you might think. One study found roughly half of...
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Your Shot: Finding a Career When You're Young (Or Not), Scrappy, and Hungry
Sitting in a Broadway theater watching the amazing Hamilton, I noticed a catchy line sung by our eponymous hero: "I'm young, scrappy, and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot." Thinking about this line later, it reminded me of the many students I've had who fit the bill. They were young (college students), scrappy (about to graduate), and hungry (in need of a job). We'll get to the...
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Can Your Myers-Briggs Type Help You Find Well-Being at Work?
In my writings and presentations, I drive home the importance of finding what you love to do and then doing all you can to make that your career. This, however, is a journey that will involve a few stops along the way, during which it is critical to keep up your spirits. As you continue in your career exploration, how can you also honor your well-being throughout that journey? More fully...
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How to Plan a Budget as a Side Hustler
If you're an established professional with a full-time job but you've got that entrepreneurial itch, you may have considered (or started) a side hustle that puts your passions to work. But what do you do with the cash that flows into your account each month, especially if it's erratic and unpredictable? Whether you're taking advantage of websites that pay you to shop, reselling items online,...
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The 6 Mindset Principles of Successful People
Article by Julian Hayes The path to accomplishing your biggest dreams and goals has never been clearer, thanks to the wealth of information on personal and professional success now available. However, just because the price of admission to the game has decreased, that doesn't mean the journey will be a cakewalk. That said, it's also not quantum physics. In reality, all that separates...
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Mask Off: 5 Types of Imposter Syndrome and How to Overcome Them
You pulled it off. You got that major project finished under budget and on time. Now, your teammates and your manager are slapping your back and showering you with praise. But you can't enjoy it. The only thing on your mind is: "Just wait until they find out it was all luck. The next project — that's the one I'll fail. And then they'll see. I'm not as good as they think I am." Sound...
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3 Ways to Own Your Anxiety in the Office
What's even more important than showing up to work is how you show up to work. How we show up ultimately dictates our attitudes in meetings, our contributions, and how we feel after the workday has come to an end. What's the point of being there if you're not actually there or you are so anxious that it's a miserable experience? The following three ways to own your anxiety in your office...
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For Business Success, Be Innovative, Not Satisfied
In 2008, when the Great Recession hit, my recruiting business quickly began to shrink. It took me years to recover. In the process, I came to realize that my satisfaction had created complacency. My business model had been working, and I was following the adage, "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" This satisfaction practically predicted eventual failure. In the disruptive world of business,...
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In Fiverr We Trust? Why Freelancers Should Beware of Relying Too Heavily on a Single Marketplace
Imagine that, one day, you wake up to find the freelance platform you rely on to make a living has simply disappeared. Your work history, clients, portfolio, contracts, and reviews are gone, just like that. What now? Fiverr, Upwork, and similar platforms may seem like titanic institutions that are too big to fail, but what if they did? What would that mean for the countless freelancers who...
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8 Things to Accomplish During Your Company's Summer Slowdown
After months of navigating the hard slog, it can be tempting to kick back and coast when your workload wanes during the inevitable summer slowdown. Taking steps to avoid burnout is all well and good, but is doing the bare minimum really the best use of your time in this quiet season? The truth is, these slow weeks virtually free of meetings and deadlines present a great opportunity to...
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3 Strategies to Manage Your Time and Maximize Your Results
Article by Karima Mariama-Arthur Time is a nonnegotiable, nonrenewable resource. Somehow, we all seem to forget this, especially when we become overwhelmed. However, if you learn to remove distractions and prioritize important tasks, you can do more with your time — and live a much happier life, too. Consider this: Do you proactively engage in your day or simply fall into various...
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What You Really Want: How to Test-Drive Your Passion
When I was growing up, the world wasn't as rife with career advice as it is today. Back then, it really amounted to this: Get a job! So I did. Actually, I got two jobs. If making some money was good, making more was better, right? In the past few decades, we have been hit with an avalanche of career how-tos. It's an exciting development, but it can be difficult to sift through all the...
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Purposes Don't Have to Be Lofty: 4 Ways to Discover Your Calling
Over the past 20 years, I have interviewed thousands of incredibly successful individuals — their success being why I, as a headhunter, was talking to them in the first place. Most of these successful individuals were unsatisfied in their work — which, of course, was why they were talking to me, a headhunter. You might think I was interviewing people who were working soulless jobs in...
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The Unlimited PTO Policy Conundrum: How Much Vacation Should You Take When You Can Take All the Vacation You Want?
Just joined a company that boasts an unlimited PTO policy? It's likely that such freedom and flexibility were major draws at first. But now that you're an official employee, chances are you're not so sure how to handle unlimited vacation time. Should you take full advantage and book a month's holiday in Portugal? Should you play it safe and stick to the traditional two or three weeks a...
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Science Says Do These 12 Things to Survive Your Toxic Workplace
With the World Health Organization now recognizing burnout as an official medical diagnosis, there's no longer any excuse for working professionals not to take the issue seriously. Burnout can cause serious damage to your mental and physical health — plus it makes you a less productive employee to boot. One of the key causes of burnout is a toxic work environment, in which stress runs...
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