Archive for category: Tips

Don’t Wait. If you are laid-off, file for unemployment benefits right away. You will most likely be able to file online or by phone. Waiting could delay your benefits check.

Make an Actionable Plan

Before you take a massive leap into a new career, take time to make an actionable plan. But don’t outline your five- or ten-year plan—while this is important, right now, you want to be thinking more immediate. Consider where you want to be this year, and what small, yet actionable steps you can take to achieve that objective.

For example, if want to make the move from salesperson to marketing specialist, there are a few actions you might take, including:

• Shadow a marketing specialist at my current job this month.
  
• Write a list of ways my sales skills applies to marketing so I can be prepared for interviews by next month.
  

Notice how each of these actions are specific and paired with a time limit.

To really influence others, listen more than you talk.

Every person you meet is a potential door to a new opportunity—personally or professionally.

Someone in a support role—an assistant, an intern—could be the best networking contact ever.

Hiring managers can smell desperation a mile away and they don’t like it. If you’re looking for a job, then act like your job hunt is your job. Keep a schedule, create task lists and execute them, and do everything you would do if you had a job. When you walk into an interview with the glow of someone who has a task to complete , you’ll change your interviewer’s demeanor. You cannot fake confidence. If you’re putting out resumes and scheduling interviews, then that kind of confidence comes out when you sit down and talk to a hiring manager. If you’re looking for a job but are currently working, then don’t act like you’re sneaking around. Stand tall and give strong handshakes when you walk through the door of a hiring manager to talk about your next career move.

1. Only check email at specific times during the day, and try to limit it to only 4-5 times a day. If you don’t have nearly this much self control, use a tool like Inbox Pause to keep emails from showing up in your inbox until you’re ready for them.
2. If email’s really getting you down, try Time Management Ninja’s system for only checking it twice a day.
3. Need to answer emails in a hurry? Add the perfunctory “Sent from my iPhone” signature at the bottom of the page—even if you’re emailing from your computer. While you shouldn’t do this all the time, it’s a quick way to bang out some one-sentence replies without people thinking you’re being rude.