Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom 5 Ways to Uncover Your Roots

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom 5 Ways to Uncover Your Roots My friend Pam Slim, who has been blogging about meaningful careers since 2005, has a fantastic new book out called Body of Work. The book helps every reader find the thread that ties their unique story together and has been praised by everyone from Seth Godin to Nancy Duarte. I recommend reading the whole book, of course, but I especially enjoyed the section on identifying ones roots. Your roots are the purpose, beliefs, and convictions that provide the foundation for your body of work. They keep you strong and stable when you face challenges in your career and remind you why its important to keep moving through adversity. Here are five questions Pam suggests you ask to harness the power of your own roots. 1. What do you value? Your values describe what is most important to you. They guide you to make decisions and set boundaries around what you will accept in your life and career. When you know your values, you can answer questions like, should I take this job? and should I partner with this person? Examples of values are critical thinking and honesty. 2. What do you believe? Your beliefs are unique to you and form the foundation for how you interpret and act in the world. They are shaped by your childhood, your life experiences, your education, and your philosophical or spiritual orientation. A simple way to understand beliefs is to answer the question: what do you know to be true? An example of a belief is that everyone has the capability to do great things. 3. Why do you believe it? Which experiences have shaped your values and beliefs? What has made you certain in your values and beliefs? Using the example above, you beliefe that everyone has the capability to do great things because you watched your father, who came to this country as an immigrant, build a successful business with next to no money. 4. Whom do you care deeply about serving? Of all the people who you could impact during your time on earth, whom do you want to work with? Which type of person gets you and really needs what you have to offer? An example is that you are a trainer and you love to work with highly technical people. You appreciate their intelligence, curiosity, and critical perspective. You notice that when you teach them, you are pushed to deliver the highest quality courses. 5. Which problems do you want to solve? Which challenges get you really fired up? What impact do you want to have in the world? What specific knowledge do you have that can make a difference? An example is that you are passionate about childhood nutrition. You notice that parents are so busy that they dont have time to plan and cook healthy meals and you feel you can help solve this problem. Pam says not to sweat it if you cant answer all of these questions right away. Simply plant them in your head and pay attention to the answers as they come to you. A little insight goes a long way!

Failing to Know About Eventbrite Writing May Kill Your Federal Resume

Failing to Know About Eventbrite Writing May Kill Your Federal ResumeFederal resume writing can be more of a challenge than you might think when you get to write your eventbrite listing. With a simple application for events, people can hire you to run their events, but you can't just place yourself in events that are publicized. There are specific things that you have to know about.With federal resume writing, you need to know how the program works before you can even start. For instance, what is an event? How does one go about obtaining an event? You also need to know what are the steps involved in getting the permit.In most cases, people know the answers to these questions but they don't really know anything about the program and the federal government. This is where I come in. I am a seasoned eventbrite professional and I can teach you everything that you need to know.A lot of people think that you have to be a lawyer to get into the federal government. They think that lawyers and people with specialized training are able to get into this program. The truth is that a lot of event organizers are non-lawyers. They know eventbrite and have worked with eventbrite providers before.You also need to be a medical professional to apply for a job in the federal government. While it can be a bit difficult to fit medical events into your schedule, it can be done. You have to be a qualified medical professional that is experienced with the events. You will get approved for this type of eventbrite in a couple of months if you keep at it.Other people think that federal government jobs are difficult to get. They think that eventbrite providers are trying to get rich by doing all the work. That's not true.Only about five percent of the jobs that are available in the government are offered by state government agencies. That is how important it is to have a good eventbrite provider in order to be successful. If you don't know anything about eventbrite or any event business, yo u are going to be very frustrated.To write your federal resume successfully, you need to stay on top of the eventbrite industry. You need to become familiar with the events that are needed by different events companies. You need to know the things that you should be doing to be successful.

5 Ways to Get More Women into Your Workforce

5 Ways to Get More Women into Your Workforce Gender equality has been under a harsh spotlight for some time now, with pitiful percentages of women in upper management and inexplicable differences in pay. Sure, we’ve made significant progress in the last 100 years, but diversity is still a huge issue and we can’t afford to stop pushing forward. There are many, many ways in which you can make your workplace a more hospitable place for diversity â€" not only women. Here are just five! 1. Finding candidates from new pools When questioned about having so few female employees, a lot of hiring managers will respond defensively, pointing out that so few female candidates applied for the role. While this may be true, it doesn’t mean that the situation is out of your control. Be a little more creative with your recruitment strategy, advertising in places that might appeal to your target employees. Look for places where mothers looking to return to work might congregate, or industry-related online forums with a higher female ratio â€" spaces like Women in Tech, STEM Women, or whatever your industry equivalent might be. 2. Having an unbiased hiring process Bias is one of those sneaky things hiding in plain sight. You might think that your job description and hiring panel are gender-neutral, but chances are they’re actually skewed to show an unconscious preference towards male candidates. For example, using terms in job descriptions that are harder for women to identify with, like “hacker”, “ninja” or “rockstar” â€" these might look neutral, but they’re still coded as male. Writing an inclusive job description is very tricky but when it starts to balance out the number of male and female candidates applying for your vacancies, you’ll quickly see how much of a difference it makes. Likewise, when it comes to interviewing, recognize that every person in your company will have their own unconscious bias, with many people preferring candidates that look and behave like themselves (known as “affinity bias”). You can neutralize this by making sure your interview panel represents more than one race, gender, age group and body type. 3. Cultivating women leaders Make sure you’re providing professional development opportunities that are accessible to the women in your company, which will, in turn, help new female candidates to see their potential in a vacant position. Reverse mentoring can be particularly effective when pairing an experienced male leader with a younger, female mentor. Both parties gain valuable insight into a new perspective and it puts a spotlight on the female employees that you believe will be leading the company in years to come. Don’t have any potential leaders to show off? Maybe it’s time to open up new opportunities for your current staff. 4. Develop neutral, inclusive benefits You already know that advertising specific types of benefits and specific parts of your company culture will attract a specific type of candidate… so why aren’t you using this to attract more women? These could include childcare subsidies or parental leave (including paternity leave that is as fair as maternity leave), but be aware that not every woman will fit the same, family-centric cookie cutter shape. Instead, work towards offering all of your employees benefits that suit their needs, whether that’s accessed to subsidized fitness (of their choosing), time off for volunteer activities or a certain amount of remote working days. 5. Flexible working Actually, remote working and flexible hours are so important that they deserve a point to themselves. For the most part, women are still expected to be the primary caregivers and chief of the household, even when they’re back at work. By actively demonstrating flexible working policies for all members of staff, you’re reassuring female candidates that they don’t have to choose between having a personal life and a professional one. In practice, this requires open lines of communication and organization, particularly where you bring on board employees with different working requirements, whether they’re based around children, pets or other external requirements. Using an online system â€" particularly for shift-based work â€" will help your team and HR department to keep track of employee schedules. It can be difficult to see how an individual can impact the gender diversity of their working environment but don’t think that you’re off the hook just because you’re not a hiring manager. Now is the time to be having open discussions across departments about how to level the playing field and encourage fresh and experienced female talent into the workforce. Do your research and make sure you can take part in these discussions, no matter who you are and how it affects you personally. About the author:  Mike James  is an experienced business writer specializing in HR, tech, and cybersecurity. On the latter, he has contributed to many of the leading publications both online and in print such as StaySafeOnline, GlobalSign, Tech London and more.

Why Women Rock As Business Leaders How To Be One

Why Women Rock As Business Leaders How To Be One Today’s business landscape is changing. Women make up half of the workforce, and in 50% of families, women are the sole or co-breadwinners.   Gone are the days where “leadership” is perceived solely as a male trait. Women are moving into powerful roles in companies, taking their place at the helm and making their mark. But, we’re still way behind other developed countries in the world. In fact, in the United States, women only account for 15% of executive roles, 17% of board seats, and 5% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. The double X chromosome is the full package when it comes to a well-rounded workforce. We’re smart, hard-working, driven, ambitious, and competitive while also being compassionate, empathetic, intuitive leaders who help create healthy workplace relationships.  In a world where collaboration and communication are key, simply put, women have mad skills and in turn, the upper advantageâ€"helping to create a healthy balance of the transactional and transformational aspects of the business. The climb to the top is not without its challenges. Here are some simple practices that can help propel your career to the next level.   If you’re up for the task, consider these four tips to start your climb: Gain a Mentor AND an Advocate: Increase Your Internal Visibility Find a successful woman executive in your industry that you revere and respect and reach out to herâ€"share the reasons why she inspires you.  Ask her to be your mentor and learn from her in any way that you can. In addition, identify an advocate within your organization, male or female, who will vocally celebrate your achievements and greatness to those in leadership positions and help you attain visibility within your company. Constant Learning and Growth: Stretch Yourself Plain and simple: learn from everyone â€" seek knowledge from areas outside of your skill set(s) within your company. Dig deep and learn the business from every angle. Absorb as much as possible outside of your functioning job/role and go after and grow in areas with P L (Profit and Loss) responsibilities. Knowledge is power; the more you know about the business as a whole, the more you’ll have the ability to be recognized as a higher potential executive. Increased Confidence and Networking: Be More Assertive Believe in yourself. You, and the way you think, are uniqueâ€"celebrate it!  Use your individuality and distinguishing qualities to your advantage. Bring your whole self to work every day. Seek out opportunities, show compassion, and let your emotions guide you in building sustainable relationships.  Don’t miss an opportunity. Have faith and trust in your abilities and your skillsâ€"if a project is up for grabs, take it and volunteer to spearhead it. Attack it head on and show them what you’re capable ofâ€"you’ve got this! MOST IMPORTANTLY: Be Authentic Be true to who you are and make your differences be your biggest asset. Embrace your emotions while staying factual. Don’t chase a title, but rather focus on delivering results. Make sure that you’re not guided by fearâ€"don’t forget to share and help others, especially other women, be successful. What makes you different is that YOU’RE A WOMANâ€"that’s your superpowerâ€" what that gives you is chutzpah to bring your feelings, emotions, and experiences to the table, delivering an invaluable perspective that’s crucial to achieving success in the workplace. The bottom line is (whether you’re a male or a female), make the commitment to help and support women in the workplace. Embrace diversity and inclusionâ€"see us not as just a gender, but as an undeniably important force with a unique, insightful perspective and approach toward driving and thriving in business.  Be a voice and take initiative for women’s advancementâ€"we’re unstoppable and worth it! This guest post was authored by Mona Ameli, President of OPTAVIA As President of OPTAVIA, Mona is responsible for providing day-to-day leadership and direction to OPTAVIA in order to optimize performance and profitability. Monas focus is on helping to develop and implement effective and creative plans for the long-term growth of the business and providing leadership, direction, and coaching to Field Marketing, Field Operations, and Field Business development. She is also responsible for driving OPTAVIA strategic initiatives while insuring their alignment with Medifasts overall strategic goals. Mona brings over 20 years of progressive and successful executive leadership, management, and cross functional international expertise in the direct selling industry covering all major regions of the world: North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Before joining Medifast, Mona held the role of General Manager, United States Division of Belcorp, the ninth largest direct selling company in the world with $2B in sales across 15 markets. Prior to joining Belcorp, Mona was the Vice President of Marketing Business Development at CGT in California where she managed the development and execution of their business strategy, market segmentation, branding, and budget and product portfolio. In addition, Mona has had leadership positions at Shaklee Corporation, Natural Alternatives International, and Herbalife.

Job Searching Tips From LinkedIn For Resume Writing Advice

Job Searching Tips From LinkedIn For Resume Writing AdviceIf you're like me, it's hard to believe that so many companies still allow LinkedIn for their job posting submissions. It would be one thing if the ads had been in magazines or newspapers, but LinkedIn is now used by almost every company on earth.I had this thought the other day while browsing through a few resumes on LinkedIn. One applicant had a very creative resume and a very impressive cover letter, which left me wondering why no one else submitted his or her resume for consideration. I decided to go check out his profile to find out.He wrote: 'The resume must have passion. Your resume should speak of the type of people who would be interested in reading your CV.' The resume must have passion, he said. He told me that if a person applying for a CEO position didn't show enthusiasm about the position, the candidate wouldn't get a call back.I thought this was interesting, so I Googled it and discovered that this was LinkedIn advice dating back to 2020. I also learned that the same advice is offered in the LinkedIn Home Page. You have to make sure you use both the word 'credibility'authenticity' in your resume and cover letter.There are so many jobs out there these days that involve interaction with others on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. If your resume is not up to par, you're going to find that you're being passed over for applicants who are better prepared. In fact, I have noticed that the best resumes come from those who were passed over for an opening. So, what can you do to make sure you get hired?First, write a job description of what you can do for the company. Determine the key skills that will be required of you and include those in your job description. The HR director will have an easier time screening your resume and cover letter because they know exactly what they are looking for.Second, list all of the qualifications you possess in order of prior ity. You don't want to leave anything out, but focus on what you can bring to the table and don't make your cover letter too long. At the end of your resume, you want to make sure you include the keywords you've used throughout the resume, such as your current location, your training experience, and your present employment.Last, include any testimonials that you may have for the company, but make sure they come from people who actually have had some exposure to your job. This could help the HR director to make an evaluation of your qualifications before they read your resume and cover letter.

#105 - A Day In The Life Of An Interior Designer - Darci Hether - CareerMetis.com

#105 - A Day In The Life Of An Interior Designer - Darci Hether The Career Insider Podcast Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSSForEpisode 105of The CareerMetis Podcast, we will learn about:A Day in the Life of an Interior Designerfrom our guest Darci Hether.evalGuest Introduction â€" Darci HetherevalAs an esteemedinterior designerlocated inNew York Cityâ€" with projects that span coast to coast and internationally â€"DarciHether specializes in luxury, full service, turn-key residential interiorsEpisode Summary1.Since her childhood, Darci Hether has had a strong affinity toward interior designing. It was not uncommon for her to rearrange her parents living room or her bedroom furniture. Not knowing it was a viable career, she was prepared to take courses until she found what she enjoyed.2.After helping a friend with a design project, Darci found her passion and pursued it without regrets.3.Darci goes into detail about what an interior designers do, and how it differs from what we see on HGTV. Her firm takes the project from conception to completion, and that takes a lot more attention to detail and communication than most people are aware of.4.Darcy outlines her day to day, complete with meetings, outlines, marketing, client relations and communication. She also has to stay on top of the marketplace to see what’s new and available for her next client.5.The selection process and curating the items for presentation tends to be Darcy’s favourite part of the process. When she was a solo entrepreneur, she had to run it all, and there were parts of her job she didn’t enjoy as much, but now that she has a team she gets to focus on business development. Bringing in the finishing touches and injecting the client’s personality into the space makes her truly happy.eval6.Darci shares her thoughts on how someone who is interested in becoming an interior designer could get started. She feels that both design and business courses could make a huge difference in the success of a new designer.7 .Darci also talks about the value that can be gained from working alongside another designer in order to learn in a more immersive way.8.Darci also talks about certification, and the best ways to learn more within the interior design industry without paying a ton of money for courses.Quotes“I feel like a lot of times there’s a misconception that we pet pretty fabrics and we pick pretty sofas and it’s all very fabulous”.“There’s kind of a saying in the industry where it’s 10 to 20 percent design and 80 to 90 percent business”.eval“There’s a lot that happens behind the scenes, and we’re very detailed.”“I do recommend at least taking the intro class”.“You need to know your numbers, you don’t want to just blindly hand it off to someone”.“There’s definitely space within the industry”.“Find a mentor, somebody who can help you along the way”.Links ResourcesTo learn more about Darci Hether , you can visit her website. You can also connect with he r on LinkedIn,Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.Intro Music provided courtesy ofAccelerated Ideas(www.accelerated-ideas.com). Soundtrack â€"Siren KickbackEnding Music provided courtesy ofAccelerated Ideas(www.accelerated-ideas.com). Soundtrack â€"No Need to Rush

Top 10 tips for productive, creative, fun writing - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Top 10 tips for productive, creative, fun writing - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Well whaddaya know: Its only been three months since I wrote and posted the first chapter of the happy at work book and now the whole book is done?(minus one chapter which is almost done). Im having trouble believing it myself: Not only did I write a book in three months, Ive also taken a holiday in that time, worked on other projects and done a serious amount of blogging. This means I actually wrote the book in twenty writing days, writing only before lunch. So howd I do it? Well the answer is obvious isnt it? Clear goals, hard work, perseverance, sticking to it, eliminating distractions and writing no matter what, right? Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I tried that. Didnt work. So I tried the exact opposite and that worked. Here are my top 10 tips for fun, creative and productive writing, which can be applied to blogging, writing a book, an article, a report at work, a thesis, a term paper or any other major writing project. 1: Go out and write On writing days (ie. days where I feel like writing and have nothing else to do before lunch) I get up whenever I wake up (typically around 7:30 or 8) then make my way down to a local caf? with free wifi. I set up my laptop, order coffee and breakfast and start writing. My desk at MJ CoffeeGetting out of the house means Im not distracted by all of the other stuff I could/should do at home (from washing the dishes to finally fixing that loose door handle). Also the caf? has noise, music, people coming in and out and while this may not work for everyone, its a nice level of distraction for me, and actually allows me to concentrate better than I do in a quiet office. 2: Leave the laptop charger at home This may be the most important tip. This way the battery life of my computer sets an upper limit to how long I can write. I cant sit there all day I have 3 1/2 hours at the most. This means I spend zero time surfing the web, checking up on news, etc Also, I could never write for a whole day. I have about 2-3 good writing hours in me per day before the creativity, productivity and qualityof my writing starts to plummet. 3: Decide on the structure first I start by lining up all the chapters, so I know what sections the book has and which order they will come in. I dont write the chapters in that order, and I also change this outline as I write. But I do know where each chapter will fit, and approximately what it will contain. This saves me from moving a lot of text around and it also makes it easier to write the chapters without always having to refer to something thats coming later in the book, something I find sloppy and indicative of a messy structure. 4: Write what you want to write Every morning, I work on the chapter that interests me the most that day. Because I have the overall structure in mind, I dont need to tackle the chapters in sequence. If I feel like writing about why happiness at work is important to you and me I do that. If the question what is happiness at work is on my mind, I write about that. This helps make the writing process fun and less of a chore. Theres a corollary: If you dont want to write, dont. Writing is rarely fun, productive or good when youre not in the mood. Instead of forcing yourself to write, consider if theres something you can do to change that (like going out to write) or if maybe its just time for a day off from writing. 5: Work on it in your head before writing One reason the writing can go so fast is that I know what I want to say. I have spent a lot of time thinking, taking notes, talking to people and gathering stories and business cases about happiness at work. Writing while at the same time finding out what to say takes a lot more time. So find out what to write first. Talk it over with other people. Then write it. 6: Work on two chapters in parallel I always write on two chapters at the same time. Well not at the exact same time, but on the same day. One of these is almost finished and just needs a rewrite and some polish. The other one Im just starting on, and this is where most of the actual writing happens. The good thing about this approach is that I dont aim to finish a chapter the same day I start it I can fill out most of it, but leave open questions or difficult sections to another day. This also means that each writing session contains both original writing and re-writes, so the process is more varied. Spending a whole morning just re-writing chapters is way too boring. And finally this eliminates the practice of writing the whole thing and then doing reviews and rewrites which only serves to make reviewing intensely unpleasant. 7: Write alone Even if youre working on a project together with someone else, do the actual writing alone. Two (or more) people sitting at a computer arguing over each sentence is not a good use of peoples time. If youre collaborating with others then: Decide on a structure for the whole project Decide who does what Do the actual writing alone Then get together and compare notes Never, ever do the actual writing together :o) 8: Get feedback as you go Because I post chapters straight to the blog, people are reading what I write right away, not in some distant future where the book may have been published and people may have bought it. This gives the process an immediate pay-off that motivates me. Also I get great feedback in the comments. I have already gone back to previous chapters and updated them, based on the comments people leave. Also, I get encouragement. Im a sucker for praise, and the fact that people leave encouraging comments motivates me a lot. 9: No deadlines or goals I have had no specific targets or goals. I did not set out to write half the book in 8 mornings that wouldve been serious hubris. I have no deadline, no goal to write so many words per day. I could never write to a specific deadline, because writing is a creative process. I can do it when Im in the mood. Trying to write when Im not, is a frustrating exercise in futility. But having no deadlines does not mean Im slacking Im actually looking forward to getting up in the morning to write. This attitude is the basis for good writing. To me, good writing can never be a chore. To quote The Laziest Man in North America: If it feels like work, youre not doing it right. The sci-fi author Lois McMaster Bujold tried this approach and to her great surprise found that she wrote more than twice as fast as when she was writing to a deadline. She also had a lot more fun. 10: Make it fast While I have no fixed deadline I did decide to write the book quickly. I couldve given myself half a year to write, but I prefer to immerse myself in the project for a short period of time as opposed to having it on the backburner for monhts on end. This keeps the structure, content, tone and feel of the book consistent in my mind and makes the process easier and ultimately more efficient. The result The thing is, Ive started on a book before but had to stop again because I just couldnt focus on the writing or because I lost steam somehwere along the way. But this time Ive found a process that works very well for me and this has made writing: Fun I just cant wait to write, its that much fun Productive I mean a book in 20 days Creative Im taking some chances and trying a lot of things I havent tried before Good I like what Im writing, and its really high quality for what is essentially a first draft And the very best thing is coming out of the caf? with the really, really great feeling that MAN, this is fun and MAN Im proud of my work. That is what writing should feel like! I dont know if these tips could work for you. Theyre very different from traditional writing tips, which focus mostly on setting goals, concentrating, eliminating distractions and generally sticking to it no matter how unpleasant it gets. Unsurprisingly, I focus more on trying to make the process natural and fun after all, the book Im writing is about being happy at work writing it has to be fun or it just wont work. Try some of these tips out on your next writing assignment or project. Be sure to experiment and find out what works for you. Done right, it transforms writing from a chore to something you actively enjoy and look forward to. And that is guaranteed to result in better writing. If you liked this post Im pretty sure youll also enjoy these: Top 5 business maxims that need to go part I part II 5 reasons to make your startup a great place to work The top 10 advantages of low-rent living 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

How to Answer the Tell Me About Yourself Question - Ask Me Anything IM HIRED

How to Answer the Tell Me About Yourself Question - Ask Me Anything How to tell them all about you well only the good bits Sell yourself! This questions maybe approached in many different ways but I haven’t seen an interview yet where it isnt asked in some shape or form. A great piece of advice for getting this spot on is to write a short paragraph about yourself and repeat it to yourself before your interview. (In the same way you practise your Oscar acceptance speech in the mirror, you want to be fluid in your response but not scripted and no need in this one to thank Mum and Dad!) I wrote all about this in my  The Interview Answers that will get your Hired!  so feel free to check out the whole post. You need to show them why youre perfect for the role; this is usually the first question and you want to start on a bang as it will set up the rest of the interview well. You need to be confident in your own abilities and know why you fit the job because to put it bluntly if you cant sell yourself and talk about what makes you great, no one else will be able to see it. Although throughout the interview you will discuss your experiences in much more detail, your introduction should be a summary. Think about the highlights of your career so far and all the roles or projects you have been involved in that are most relevant to the job specification. Its all about tailoring again! If you dont have experience dont worry, instead replace this with your relevant skills and strengths, giving short examples to add depth and to demonstrate you have showcased those strengths previously. Whilst you are tailoring your answers, look to add in key points of information about the company from your research. Its important to not go overboard when youre dropping those facts you picked up online and instead feed it into your interview. Finally, you need to explain why you are interested in the job in question. Be passionate about the role and show your genuine interest into their company and role. Dont make it sound like youre just going through the motions and instead make it clear you only want their job!