General (Careers) Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-07-2022

Wouldn’t it be nice to boost your productivity and performance at work without having to put in extra hours or break your back in the meantime? Being effective at what you do takes a little bit of planning, some basic tools, and a lot of positivity.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

Whether you want to know how to succeed in life or how to succeed in business, you need to create habits for success. Success, or excellence, is always created by establishing positive, repetitive habits. Unfortunately, almost anything we do repeatedly can lose its luster, passion, and energy. Without doing something repeatedly, you won’t establish it as a habit. When you focus on repeating the actions that lead to success, you create habits. So, repeating and success are like peas and carrots: They go together.

Article / Updated 03-07-2022

Women want to be given the same opportunities to succeed as men, but often they want to succeed in a different way. The generalization goes that women (more than men) tend to embrace the desire to want to live more authentically, and that translates into being more of who they are in the workplace. Be your authentic self Personal branding is about living your authentic self and building on natural talents and strengths. In general, some of the following characteristics may be more true for women as a group than for their male counterparts: Collaborators Connectors Socially oriented Focused on community Natural multitaskers Awareness of visual identity Strong verbal communicators Empathetic and intuitive Engaged in stories Builders of deeper relationships When a woman works on her personal brand, she needs to let go of the fear that these characteristics are bad things in the workplace (especially if she’s in a male-dominated work environment). Often, male coworkers don’t see these qualities as intellectual or as worthwhile as the characteristics of individuality, facts, and logic. These are the complex subtleties that women face every day in the workplace. As you refine your brand, you continually need to be true to yourself and to know how to play the game in your particular workplace. In rapidly changing work environments, the rules aren’t as clear for women about how to be who you are, what you should wear, and what qualities are acceptable. Building a female personal brand means focusing on your best self within the variables that you can control and not being afraid to be seen for your uniqueness. Be confident in what you know The story goes that there was a dinner with a group of partners in a professional services firm. The event was equally comprised of men and women. One of the men at the table was a senior leader in the firm. There was a lot of talking, laughing, and sharing of stories. One of the women was telling a work story when the male senior leader said, “Do you know what is wrong with women?” The table gasped and all turned to him. He continued with, “You are at least as smart as the men in the workplace, and probably smarter, but you wait until you know how to do something at least 80 percent before you say, ‘I can do that.’ Most men will say we can do something when we know it 25 percent. We are confident enough to know we will figure it out. If you want to get ahead in business, have the confidence to say that you know how to do something much sooner.”

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-03-2022

Making the most of your time at work means learning to make productive decisions quickly and asking effective time-saving questions at meetings. Save time on the road by keeping a list of your important travel details with you so you can get to them easily. Before you call it a day at work, take a few steps to prepare for tomorrow so you can start your day off on the right foot.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Personal branding is a marketing strategy focused on your most important product: you. Developing a personal brand requires figuring out who you really are (your skills, values, passions, and personality), who you want to serve (your target market or audience), and how you differ from the competition (your unique niche). A successful brand creates a consistent, targeted impression that helps you achieve your personal and professional goals. It also allows you to live authentically because a great brand is always honest; you can’t fake your way into a successful brand.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Choosing your career can be daunting, not to mention the training for it, landing a good job, and succeeding in your career. That’s darn hard and, okay, even overwhelming. This cheat sheet can make it easier.

Article / Updated 09-01-2021

Listen, we've all been there. Sometimes it feels as though your career path is simply not for you, not fulfilling or challenging you in all the right ways. You can try to work around these doubts but if you've already decided on a career change — whether by choice or necessity — give yourself plenty of time to plan ahead. Consider the following before making that jump. Connect with others in your intended field When your change is voluntary, at least six months in advance of your leap, join a professional association of members in the career field or industry where you want to go. When your change is involuntary and you’re suddenly left high and dry, assemble a personal network of people who can guide you into your intended field. Find out who’s who and what’s happening with professionals who can connect you with employment. Ask what you should read and what workshops you should attend. Ask if you can visit a professional’s workplace as an observer. Educate yourself Seek out short-term certificate programs and workshops offered during industry conferences, as well as those available locally. If you study online, get the scoop on the pluses and pitfalls of distance learning. Here's one valuable resource to get you started: GetEducated.com. Bone up on the industry Do some extensive research on your proposed destination. Those greener pastures sometimes bleach out when something about the work isn’t what one realistically expects or can do well. Also, learn to talk the talk. Study the lingo of prospective new colleagues and you’ll seem like one of them already. Brace yourself for interview pitfalls When you find yourself trapped in a behavior-based interview setting and you’re coming up short trying to answer a question about what you have done that’s relevant to the new career, answer quickly. And then reframe your response segueing from behavior-based interviewing (the past) to situational interviewing (the future), such as: "That’s a good question. And here’s what I would do if we decide I’m the right person for this position. I would . . . ." Make the experience connection The bridge you use to join the old with the new must be rational and reasonable. Your qualifications have to come from somewhere — skills you already possess, volunteer work, part-time jobs, training, hobbies, and so forth. Strive to present a believable relationship between your qualifications and the career you’re targeting. Accentuate the positive Don’t say you hope to change careers because there are no more jobs in your field. An exception might be when a condition is well known, such as real estate agents who got out during the recent downturn in home sales. Even then, add that you’d been thinking about making a change for a couple of years and have decided to redesign your life for a better fit with your priorities and goals. Tell true stories Expect to be asked the same kinds of questions that new graduates often face, such as some version of “Why shouldn’t we hire someone more experienced in this line of work?” When you work out your answers, remember to tell your story — that is, back up your claims of superior qualities with true examples of achievement. Otherwise, what you claim will likely be blown off as hot air. You must be believable. Inventory your core skills and knowledge Sort through to see which will crossover to a different industry or career field. Push them to the front of your memory where you can find and translate them as needed.

Article / Updated 08-26-2021

After service and value, communication is where you truly build the customer relationship. Up until that customer service is fully rendered, a customer assumes that you are providing the service because you want to gain compensation. All the calls, texts, e-mails result in your service being delivered in exchange for funds. But after the exchange of service for funds, all service and value you deliver from that point onward shows that you care about your customers. That’s a powerful difference. Businesses operate in a competitive environment, and that's true whether you are a professional, operate a restaurant, have a sales-based distribution business, manage a local dry cleaner, or own a large conglomerate. You have key competitors that are attempting to take your customers and clients away from you. To think, “Oh, that will never happen” is to be naive. The quality of service you deliver and the depth of the relationship that you have with your customers will determine your success, profitability, and longevity in business. There are plenty of competitors that do an outstanding job in the moment that service is delivered to the customer. The key habit is to come up with after services — what you do after service is rendered. What do you do after customers have picked up their dry cleaning for the month? After they've bought hedge clippers at the hardware store? After they've bought a home from you and won’t buy for another one for five to ten more years? Solve problems and create value The value of any product or service can be summed up in this equation: Value = Benefits – Cost We as consumers feel like we received value from a service provider or business if the value exceeded the benefits we received, subtracted from the costs we paid. For example, let's say you are having a wonderful meal at a restaurant. The food was delicious and ample in quantity. The waiter was prompt and attentive to your needs. The ambience was comfortable and enjoyable. Who you spent the evening with can also influence your perception of value. The received benefits of enjoyment, fun, well-being, satisfaction, wonderful tastes, and pleasant experiences are all there. If all those benefits you felt about the restaurant exceeded what you spent, you will likely be back and even tell your friends about what a good time and wonderful meal you had there. That’s the power of Value = Benefits – Cost. In business, we deliver value to customers, but we also solve problems. The best products and services are designed to solve problems for people and other companies. Why do you go to the doctor? It’s to respond to a present health problem you are experiencing or to head off, through preventative medicine, a problem in the future. We might also learn how to enhance the quality and longevity of our life. Doctors ask a lot of questions because they want to solve problems for their patients. That’s a good model in business as well. As a business owner or employee, you should be asking your best customers these questions: What are the key challenges you are experiencing right now? How might we be of service to help you solve them? If we could improve our products or services for you, how could we do that? What are you not getting from us you wish you could? What other companies like ours are you receiving service from? What are you receiving from them? Why did you select them to receive _____? These types of questions give you insight into your customers and will help you improve service and solve more of their problems. This strategy of solving problems increases your value with each person, client, and company you do business with. Under-promise and over-deliver We have all heard this advice: “Do what you say you will do.” In the business world of today, I think that is expected at the bare minimum. And that bare minimum standard will not prevent your clients and customers from going to your competitors in the future. In business, we all need a way to “plus” our clients. A plussing strategy is a unique way that we can add value, which means under-promise and over-deliver. Doubletree Hotels has a unique plussing strategy. When you check into a one of their hotels anywhere in the world, you receive a warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. They have a warming drawer built into the front desk in every hotel. It’s their way to add value, make you feel welcome, and place you in a delightful chocolate-chip-sugar coma all at the same time. What’s your plussing strategy in your business? Connect in business integrity Business is about, first and foremost, trust — the trust between company and customer. Customers need to be able to trust that the company will perform as promised. Employees of the company must believe that the company will fulfill promises made by the company to the customer. What I'm talking about is essentially integrity among all parties in this relationship. People in leadership breed a culture and environment of trust. That foundation of trust creates a thriving business that benefits both customers and employees. Employees have a key responsibility to their employer's of integrity. For example, significant productivity is often lost through employees being on their phone at work. Checking Facebook and Instagram accounts and answering texts outside of break time show a lack of integrity on the part of the employee. The arriving late, leaving early, or extending your lunch break is stealing from your employer. These habits are pervasive in the office environment of today. We need to put our phones down, leave them in our purse, desk drawer, or car. The businesses we work for will be significantly enhanced by this simple practice. Establish long-term service relationships The true value of a customer doesn't come from a one-time transactional sale. You want your business to become an indispensable part of their life so that you gain the honored and hallowed position of serving them for years, decades, or generations. I have some clients that I have been serving for close to 20 years. I consider it an honor to have established our relationship and helped them grow their business for almost two decades. Let me share a few tips to help: Communicate frequently with value. Set up a video blog, e-mail newsletter, Facebook group, or some method to communicate regularly with your customers and clients. The communication should be valuable to them. If you are a doctor, focus on health, new medical discoveries, reminders of new immunizations available, eating and exercise tips, and so on. Communicate personally by sending texts, making calls, or writing personal notes to key customers or clients. The mass communication of value through e-mail, social media, or blogs is wonderful, but if you want to deepen personal relationships, it must be personal. All relationships are deepened through one-on-one connection. Most of us get busy and fail to make time. The habit of personal communication creates success, and it takes less time than you think. Set a reasonable standard so that you can establish the habit. Start with making one personal call per day, each workday, to a key client. Resolve to not leave for home until that’s completed. In a year, you will have 240 conversations with key clients. Can you think of a better way to establish long-term relationships with them? Recognize milestone moments. Milestone moments can recognize how long you've worked with a client or customer. Or you could commemorate personal events like weddings, anniversaries, births, promotions, or birthdays. When you recognize milestone moments, you deepen the customer relationship. Select one or two types of milestone moments that you will recognize in your best customers.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-22-2021

The secret is out: Working from home can be a sustainable, successful option for professionals in today’s global economy. As you jump into working from home, be sure to follow a few pieces of important advice, as well as some virtual meeting etiquette.

Article / Updated 02-19-2021

Like many apps and web-based services today, Zoom requires users to establish accounts online if they want to host meetings. If you're working from home as an independent contractor or freelancer, you need to create your online account. Someone in your organization may have already created a Zoom account for you. That is, management may have already subscribed to one of Zoom’s premium plans and registered you. In this case, you don’t need to create a new account; you’ll just log in with your existing email address and password. If you’re not sure, just check with your employer’s IT department. To create a new Zoom account, follow these steps: 1. Go to the Zoom web portal. 2. In the upper-right corner of the website, click the orange Sign Up, It’s Free button. From here, Zoom provides you with three signup options via An email address Google Facebook If you select the second or third option, Zoom makes you authenticate your new account through that service. At a high level, you’re granting Zoom permission to access some of the data that you’ve provided to Facebook or Google. Admittedly, this practice is quite common. For example, for years Spotify has allowed people to sign up for new accounts with Facebook. When they do, new users don’t need to provide Spotify with their names, dates of birth, email addresses, and the like. Facebook already stores this information about its users — and plenty more, depending on how much they share on the social network. If that thought terrifies you or you don’t use those popular services, simply select the first option and continue. The following instructions assume that you’re signing up for Zoom with your email address, and not via Facebook or Google. 3. Enter your email address and click the Sign-Up button. Zoom informs you that an email confirmation is on its way. To minimize spam and the impact of bad actors, Zoom blocks certain domains from registering new accounts. For example, Zoom rejected [email protected] because people often use that domain to create disposable email addresses. 4. Check your inbox and open the Zoom authentication email. The message resembles the following figure. A Zoom email requesting account authentication. 5. Open the email and click the blue Activate Account button. Zoom takes you to a new window or tab in your default web browser. 6. Complete your Zoom account by entering the required information. Zoom requires you to enter your first and last name. You’ll also need to create and confirm your password. When you click the password field, Zoom prompts you with guidelines about what your password can and cannot contain. For example, setting your password as starwars won’t fly. Try again, young Skywalker. 7. Click the orange Continue button. The Don’t Zoom Alone screen appears. 8. (Optional) Invite your friends, family, and/or colleagues by entering their email addresses. You can skip this step by clicking the button in the lower-left corner of the page. Zoom ultimately directs you to a page that lists your personal Zoom web page or URL, such as the one shown. 9. Check your inbox again. Zoom sends you an email confirming your account and listing the features of your current plan. Congratulations! Your Zoom account is now active. You’re halfway home. To take advantage of the powerful features in Meetings & Chat, you’ll want to install the Zoom desktop client. Just as with many services today, you can create Zoom different accounts with different email addresses. In fact, you may want to create a personal Zoom account independent of your work account to separate church and state. Download and install the Zoom desktop client To be sure, Zoom users and customers can participate in meetings no matter where they are as long as they can connect to the Internet. Again, Meetings & Chat runs on anything: smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop. Still, to take advantage of all of Zoom’s robust functionality, you’ll want to install the Zoom desktop client. Fortunately, if your computer runs macOS, Windows, or even Ubuntu/Linux, Zoom has you covered. A desktop client is an application running on a desktop computer. Although purists will probably furrow their brows, the terms desktop client and computer app are used interchangeably. By the way, you can run that desktop client on your laptop. To install the Zoom desktop client on your computer, follow these steps: 1. In the Zoom web portal, hover over the word Resources in the upper-right corner. A drop-down list appears. 2. Select Download Zoom Client from the drop-down list. Zoom takes you to its Download Center. 3. Click the Download button. Depending on your browser and how you’ve configured its settings, you may receive a warning that you’re about to download a file. If you do, proceed. 4. Save this file to your computer. The specific location is generally a matter of personal preference, but it’s wise to follow these common conventions: For PC/Windows users: C:\Program Files For Mac users: Hard-drive name\Applications Remember where you save this file. 5. When the download completes, locate the file. The specific type of file hinges upon your computer’s operating system. As of this writing, here are the filenames and extensions: For PC/Windows users: An executable file with an .exe extension, named exe For Mac users: An installer package archive file with a .pkg extension, named pkg. Remember where you saved this file. You’re going to need it for the next step. 6. Double-click the file to launch Zoom’s installation wizard. The exact steps that you follow depend upon your computer’s operating system. If you’ve ever installed a new program on your computer before, you’ll recognize the steps required. 7. Complete the steps in the wizard. When you do, the Zoom desktop client is installed. You can easily host audioconferencing and videoconferencing calls with people on any device across the globe. If you want to access Zoom directly via your web browser of choice, you’re in luck. Download and installthe extension for Chrome, Firefox, or another browser. Note, however, that using Zoom via a web browser means that you won’t be able to do everything that you can on the desktop client.