Group Writing Project Results What I Learned From the World of Work

Group Writing Project Results What I Learned From the World of Work 2 These are the final results from the What I Learned From the World of Work group writing project. Learning the Easy Way Most people I know would agree that the easiest way to learn something is by doing it. But is this learning by the seat of your pants really the best way? Wouldn't you rather learn first and then avoid making the same mistakes that someone else has already made? That's where this list comes in. The Results What I Learned from… …My First Job, by Pete Aldin at Great Circle …Working at a Startup, by Alex at Brick Bloggingeval …The World of Work, by Troy Worman at orbitnow! …Writing at Work, by Joanna Young at Confident Writingeval …Working in a Bar, by Genesis at the At Home Mom Blog …Unemployment, by Markk at My Opinions are Important …Working for the Government, by Lillie Ammann at A Writer's Words …a power-cut, by Karin at The Kiss Business Two …Blogging on Real Estate, by Michael Chantrel at MortgageGuide101 …Roofing Houses, by Nic Darling at Marketing Neophyte …an Unscheduled Trip to Cleveland, by Mike DeWitt at Spooky Action …the Corporate World, by Laura Spencer at WritingThoughts …Work, by Bob Glaza at One Reader at a Time …Working at a Larger Company, by Jim Estill at CEO Blog â€" Time Leadership …Homer Simpson About Jobs, by

How to Become a Follow Up Artist - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Become a Follow Up Artist - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Whether you are looking for a job, trying to setup an appointment or thanking someone for their time, there is an Art and a Science to following up. This post is designed to help you become a Follow Up Artist. Sending thank you notes for gifts. Following up with a note of appreciation for someone’s time. Or just a quick note to a friend or colleague can be very effective. This is something you have likely been told for most of your life. Diligent parents may have  helped you form the foundation of great following up skills. If you had parents or others providing this guidance… good for you. Perhaps you are  already a master at following up. If so,  then you have already learned the value of following up. However, if you only occasionally send thank you notes I hope this post encourages you to do so more often.  The impact on your reputation can have long term effects. At this time of year it is especially important because of a lot of students are looking to secure their summer internships and graduating students are looking to make a great impression. Following up consistently, professionally and quickly can help you stand out from the competition. Keep in mind everyone only has a limited amount of time in their day. Those that follow up effectively will likely stand out and stay top of mind. Below are  a few tips for following up like an artist. The goal is to help you stand out, to show your personal and professional brand, and to help you communicate effectively. Be Direct  â€" State the reason for your follow up note. This is not the time to dither or ramble. Let them know why you are following up. If there is a call to action or a request for the recipient… Tell Them/Ask Them. Be Respectful  â€" Your follow up notes should be courteous and easy to consume. Be Concise  â€" Shorter is better. Seek to get your point across quickly. This is not the time for chit chat. Be Uniqueâ€" If you are only following up once this is less important. However, if you are sending multiple notes (maybe your first efforts did not get the desired response) then you should seek to change it up a little to get the recipients attention. A few more tips that may be obvious, but still could bear repeating. Penmanship, Timing and Presentation Penmanship Matters  â€" True, we aren’t in 3rd grade anymore. However, if you choose to hand write a note (and I can highly recommend you do) please take the time to write legibly. It doesn’t need to flow like calligraphy, but it should look nice. Timing  â€" The general rule of thumb is that sooner is better. This is especially true if you are sending something via the postal service. It will take a few days for the mail to be processed. Pro Tip: I carry a set of thank you cards and pre-stamped envelopes in my bag. I can write them and send them before I get on the plane. Format Presentation Your chosen format matters too. I recommend a customized set of stationery. It doesn’t have to be very expensive. However, your thank you cards should represent you and the message you want to put across. By learning (or re-learning) how to communicate via follow up notes you will stand out in your career. When you put all the pieces together and consistently communicate with your peers, colleagues, prospective employers and current or prospective customers you  too will become a Follow Up Artist.

What to Wear to a Walk-In Interview How to Dress for Success - Career Sidekick

What to Wear to a Walk-In Interview How to Dress for Success - Career Sidekick What to Wear to a Walk-In Interview: How to Dress for Success Interview Preparation / https://www.edenscott.com/blog First impressions count for a lot, so its important to dress for success in any job interview. Yet theres a fine line between being well-dressed, and over-doing it.So lets take a look at how to dress for any type of interview. Well cover how to dress for casual interviews, as well as business dress and professional dress for interviews, so you can walk in feeling confident and land the job!Dressing for Success in Interviews:As a general rule of thumb, you want to dress at least as nice as the typical employee working there, and usually nicer. (For example just because the employees wear jeans doesnt mean its okay to come to the interview in jeans. The interview is not a typical day of work).If youre not sure what the employees wear, play it safe and wear a business suit.You also want to avoid wearing anything distracting, like bright colors or big earrings. Dress up, but keep it simple and subtle too. You want the focus to be on your interview answers, not what youre wearing.Youll also need to make sure your clothes look new and wrinkle-free. Dont wear anything that looks worn or old. This is extremely important when you decide how youre going to dress for your interview.Also, if youre traveling to the interview in snow or bad weather, bring a tissue to clean your shoes before going in. You can step into the bathroom before entering to do this.Quick tip: If you have a video or Skype interview, you should still dress professionally. The same rules apply.How to Dress for a Casual InterviewA casual interview would include a blue-collar job (like landscaping), a retail job, or some tech jobs where employees dress casual and typically wear jeans, polo shirts or short sleeve shirts, casual shoes, etc.Casual dress for an interview should still follow some rules though, and in general you do *not* want to dress like a typical employee you should go in looking nicer and being better-dressed than them.I would not recommend wearing jeans. Ever. Instead, if employees wear jeans, Id wear khakis or nice business pants at the very least, with a collared shirt (tucked in).Also wear nice shoes. Even if youre interviewing at a tech startup where employees wear sneakers, find some black or brown shoes to wear for the interview.As a general rule, its always better to be a little over-dressed in a casual interview, or any interview. You dont want to walk in wearing jeans when the interviewer or hiring manager is wearing a dress shirt and slacks.So if in doubt, dress up. At the very least, wear business casual dress shirt, tucked in. Dress pants. Black or brown business shoes. But no need for a tie, business coat, or anything like that in a lot of casual jobs.But if youre not sure, do more, not less. Its always better to go in over-dressed.Thats how to dress for a casual interview. Now lets talk about if its a more formal work environment and you need to wear professional dress or business dress in the interview.How to Dress f or a Business or Professional InterviewBusiness dress or professional dress in an interview is different. In this case, you want to aim to dress as professionally as possible (without being flashy or distracting). This usually means a business suit or an outfit youd wear to an important business meeting.Even if employees at a company dont always stick to a full business or professional dress code (suit, tie, etc.), you should wear that for the interview.Wear a dress shirt, tucked into business pants (not khakis!). If youre a man, wear a tie. If youre a woman you could also wear a professional-looking skirt instead of pants.Wear black or brown business shoes and a jacket. If you are bringing papers or documents, consider carrying them in a nice bag or briefcase. (Studies show that carrying multiple objects in your hands when you enter the room makes you appear less competent and more disorganized/scattered, so this is another reason to bring a nice bag!)What Happens if You Dont Dress for Success in Your Interview?You might be thinking okay, I dont own a tie, or I dont own nice dress-shoes, etc. And youre wondering what happens if you dress a little down for your interview.Youre going to be in there feeling uncomfortable, looking at an interviewer thats dressed nicer than you. Thats NOT what you want.You also NEVER want to be dressed worse than any employees. In fact, you need to be dressed better than the typical employee.Youre going to feel awful if you show up wearing khakis and a shirt, and the employees are wearing full business-wear.My advice: Dont risk it. Always dress nicer than you think you need. Invest in nice, professional dress clothes to interview in.If you dress for success in your interview, its going to pay for itself after a couple days of work at this new job youre going to land, so it really is an investment, not an expense.Thats how to look at it.Itll also help you feel confident in your interview. And it will help you impress the interviewe r.Most importantly, itll put your mind at easeIf you go in dressed poorly and you regret it, or notice people are dressed up more than you, its going to distract you throughout the entire interview youre going to be worrying about that and wondering if you blew it, instead of focusing on giving awesome interview answers that land you the job.So its a lose-lose situation if you dont put in the extra time and effort here to get it right.The good news is once you figure out one or two interview outfits, you can wear them every time.Other Questions/Concerns About What to Wear to an In-Person Interview:If youre going to your interview from your current job:If youre going to an afternoon on-site interview, and spending the morning working at your current job, you MIGHT be able to dress more casually.Example: You wear business-casual attire at your current job (no jacket, no tie, etc.)So if you dress extremely nice for your morning, theyll know youre interviewing somewhere (not good!)Or ma ybe youre going for an early morning interview, and then going to your job immediately after, at 9 AM or 10 AM. Same situation- if you show up dressed much nicer than usual, theyll know somethings up.SoIn this case, you have a few options:You can ask the company youre interviewing at for permission to come into the interview wearing business casual dress, so that your current employer doesnt know youre interviewing. Ive done this and its been totally fine with the employer.Bring formal business attire, but leave the jacket (and tie, if youre a man), in your car or in a bag. Then only wear it for the interview.If youre completely stumped and have no idea how nice people dress at the company:Just wear a suit or nice business attire. Dont risk it. Even if its a relatively casual job, showing up in a suit isnt the worst thing in the world.If you follow the steps above for what to wear to a walk-in interview, youll be well-dressed and confident so you can stand out in your interview and get more job offers.Good luck!

Set An Example Of Action - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Set An Example Of Action - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Networking is a verb. By definition, it is an action word. Thus, you cannot network by sitting back and letting the world operate around you. You need to get out there and actively involve yourself. At work, if there are extracurricular projects to tackle or committees on which to serve, be at the forefront of getting involved. In your business, take the initiative of finding an industry association to join. In addition to your work or business, actively involve yourself with local school, civic and charitable organizations. Action transforms you into something special What is so special about you being actively involved? People want to associate with you when you are actively engaged in something beyond the daily minimum requirements. At these times, you transform yourself. When you become involved, you are no longer merely “someone” sitting on the fringe â€" actually or figuratively. You become a more central figure with very visible cares, concerns and goals. When you set an example of action, you project yourself as a doer and a person of achievement potential. It is these prospects of success that attract others to you. From here, it is inevitable that your network will become more productive. This is because not only are you more accessible to others, but these others have a much greater interest in getting to know, like and trust you. What else? not how much? Understand, however, you cannot approach your involvement with the mindset of “just how much do I need to do” to project yourself as a person of action. If you do, you convey a “how little do I need to do to get by?” attitude. This serves to say, I am only interested in taking action to the extent that it is going to benefit me, a sort of quid pro quo. Rather, your attitude needs to project a “what else can I do?” attitude. You need to look to take action. This casts you as an actively involved person, someone who sets an example for others. The test of active involvement There are no hard and fast rules as to what constitutes active involvement. There are certainly many levels of involvement in any setting, from the founder, initiator, or visionary on down to the person who just works in the background to make it all happen. You should simply seek out a role that seems to suit you and pursue it. Moreover, there is not a strict guideline that would dictate how actively involved you should be. Whatever the choice of involvement, the test of sufficiency is simple. You need to ask yourself this: Is my active involvement projecting me as someone giving more than the minimum required contribution? If your answer is yes, your involvement is sufficient. If no, you simply need to become more involved and take more action. Setting an example of action requires that you go beyond the minimum. If all we ever do is the minimum, then all we can ever expect is to obtain the minimum. Author: Frank Agin is the founder and president of AmSpirit Business Connections. In addition, Frank is the author of Foundational Networking: Building Know, Like and Trust To Create A Lifetime of Extraordinary Success and the co-author of LinkedWorking: Generating Success on the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website and The Champion: Finding the Most Valuable Person in Your Network.

11 Habits That Can Absolutely Transform Your Productivity

11 Habits That Can Absolutely Transform Your Productivity Productivity fluctuates; sometimes you do a lot, while in other instances you can’t seem to complete even the easiest tasks. Some assignments that can be completed in a short period of time take hours or even days.Isn’t this frustrating? Of course, it is!Low productivity has a major impact on our confidence. When you perform well, your self-esteem and confidence are through the roof. On the other hand, productivity struggles usually make you feel you’re incompetent or that you are just not cut out for the task at hand.evalFirst, bear in mind that everyone experiences problems with performance so the root of the issue is not your competence. Instead of blaming yourself, you should focus on identifying productivity killers.Why? When you determine factors that affect your performance, you can develop a strategy to solve them or avoid those situations. The result is logical â€" better productivity.The biggest productivity killers are:Social mediaChecking email constantlyUnreliable technologyTextingNoiseLack of sleepGossipThe internetLet’s not forget that poor organization skills can also make you work more and accomplish less. Basically, everything you do has either positive or negative impact on your productivity.What can be done?Good thing is, you CAN become more productive. In order to do so, you have to make some changes and correct habits that affect your performance.To help you out, AssignmentHelper, released an interesting infographic with 11 easy yet effective ways to enhance your productivity and get more things done faster than ever.evalWhat makes this infographic useful is that it takes evidence-based approach instead of randomly listing tips and tricks. Scrolling through this infographic helps you learn why do certain factors affect your productivity and how you can overcome this problem.Infographic Credit â€" AssignmentHelper

Unemployment is Rising Is it Time to Upskill - CareerAlley

Unemployment is Rising Is it Time to Upskill - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle It seems like not a day goes by without another gloomy report on the news about rising levels of unemployment, businesses laying off staff and companies going out of business. Across the country, people are concerned about their future prospects, and worry about whether or not their job is safe. In such a fragile business environment it makes sense to do everything you can to increase your value to your current employer and maximize your chances of quickly finding employment if you should be so unlucky as to lose your job. Upskilling is a concrete way to improve your prospects and increase your security What does Upskilling Show to Employers? Upskilling by taking advantage of training courses or considering something like an online degree can help to persuade your company to keep you on when they are downsizing and increase your value to other employers. Firstly, it provides you with up-to-date information and skills, which is essential in todays fast-paced business world. Secondly, it demonstrates you are someone who is not content to rest on their laurels, but rather you are constantly striving to improve yourself. This kind of motivation and drive is a prime consideration for employers. Upskilling can also give you the qualifications you need to be considered for promotion within your current company, increasing your salary and giving you valuable experience. What can Upskilling do for You? In addition to the greater level of employability and prospects of promotion that upskilling can give you, there are other possibilities. You can take advantage of the lessons you have learned and skills you have gained with an online business degree to live out the American dream by setting up in business for yourself and becoming your own boss. You could choose to take a whole new career direction by developing skills and gaining qualifications in a more modern, growing industry. Alternatively, you could choose to specialize in a more essential area of your current field, becoming an invaluable expert. These varied options show the freedom and flexibility that upskilling can bring you. What are the Options for Upskilling? Your current employer may offer opportunities for training courses or further education. While there is always the option of taking a sabbatical or quitting your job to go back to college for a degree, that may not be wise in the current economic climate, and you may not be able to afford to do so. One good option is an online degree, which allows you to work and study at the same time, so that you get the best of both worlds a stable income and an advancement in your prospects. Guest post written by Elizabeth Milane. After reading about upskilling, youre probably interested in learning more about an online business degree. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to identify and land your dream job. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search

Words for Fashion Designers

Words for Fashion DesignersWriting a resume for fashion designers is different from other types of resumes because the job requirements for this type of job are very specific. A fashion designer resume has to be different from an ordinary resume, and some applicants might think that it is very simple to write one. The truth is that it is not that easy. Designers need to put a lot of thought and effort into their resume to ensure that it comes out on top.Writing a resume for fashion designers is different from writing one for other jobs because they have to work with very little space in order to create a small letter. In other cases, designers can work on an average sized piece of paper. That is not the case with designers because they have to design a resume that fits in the spaces allotted to them.It is also important for fashion designers to think about every word on their resume. They should not worry about the content, because words make a fashion designer look impressive. In fa ct, they need to know how to use words in order to have a nice presentation. Focusing on the right words is necessary for creating a successful resume. The most effective way to do this is to focus on finding words that describe the experiences and qualifications that a person has for the job.However, it is also important to be aware of what words are important and what words are not important at all. For example, in order to explain the past job that a person has had, they need to include experience. A person who has no experience in the field will need to include some references that show that they can do the job successfully. In order to do this, they need to include experience.For other words, there are those that can indicate what skills a person has in the job. Using keywords such as these can help applicants to make sure that they put the right words on their resume. A qualified applicant knows the importance of these words and this knowledge is what makes them look like they know what they are doing.One of the most common mistakes that designers make when writing their resumes is that they make the mistake of not including keywords. They take a designer resume as just another piece of paper that they have to fill in so that they can get a job. Unfortunately, this is not the case. A fashion designer resume must be different because the job is very specific and no other type of resume has the same kind of requirements.So, while these letters may be similar, there are not the same types of words. For example, people who know the general type of jobs that people do might know that there are five separate types of jobs in the world. They know that some people are born to work in the fashion industry. When a designer is trying to find words that they know will help them find a job, they need to make sure that they include the types of words that relate to their job.If a designer does not write these types of words, they are limiting themselves and they might have a hard time finding the job that they are looking for. It is important for them to know the words that people are looking for, even if they do not know the words that people use to find the jobs that they are applying for. If a designer does not know what words are important to write, they will not find the right job.