Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Workplace Lessons Learned from Prison

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Workplace Lessons Learned from Prison Do you ever wonder what happens to all the disgraced business leaders and politicians who get caught and end up in jail? Jeff Smith, a former up-and-coming star in the Missouri State Senate, can partially answer that question for you. After all, he went to prison for a year for covering up an election law violation. Smith spent his tenure talking with fellow prisoners, who were mostly drug lords, about business. It turns out that there are some striking similarities between life in the Big House and life in the business world. Now a political commentator and writer, Smith inspired these workplace lessons in this recent TED Talk. Everything is a Hustle As you might gather from watching cable, prison life is not easy. In order to survive, you have to hustle. Smith tells us that prisoners have to pay for everything, including toothpaste, and the in-house jobs don’t cut it. If you want something, you have to find an unorthodox way to get it, such as charging another inmate to clean his cell. Think about it â€" it’s the same deal in the business world. Unless you’re the boss, getting people to collaborate with you can be like pulling teeth, and bureaucratic red tape often keeps you from doing your job. Success absolutely requires the ability to hustle. Innovation is King Smith says that one of the defining aspects of prison life is ingenuity. Whether it’s concocting delicious meals from stolen scraps from the warehouse, sculpting people’s hair with toenail clippers, or constructing weights from boulders in laundry bags tied on to tree limbs, prisoners learn how to make do with less. The most effective professionals are the ones who can innovate in order to improve operations, products, and services and save the organization time, resources, and money. Your upward career trajectory directly depends on being able to accomplish spectacular results on a rapidly fraying shoestring. For more about what prison can teach you about the business world, visit the full post at Intuits Fast Track blog.

How to Write an Asu Resume

How to Write an Asu ResumeAs a business owner, your company has taken a hit on its morale and profitability if you fail to capitalize on the importance of a strong, powerful and highly capable executive team. A great (and engaging) human resource team are crucial for any organization, but they can be even more valuable when they are focused, dedicated and successful. Your goal, therefore, should be to learn how to write an Asu resume.A Suitable Asu resume writing strategy will focus on all of the following elements: job title, goals, and experience; education and qualifications; references; and working culture. Those are the critical aspects of your job search, but that doesn't mean you have to follow them strictly. However, you should always make certain that your skill sets align with the Asu strategy you are pursuing. Keep in mind that you are looking for a leader with a track record, not necessarily a career job. In other words, your aim should be to attract potential employers w ho are trying to do the same thing.Another consideration when it comes to ensuring your Asu resume writing strategy will come out well is that you don't necessarily have to become a professional writer. Remember, you want to appear professional, so avoid making statements like 'write me up like a lawyer!' or 'the only way I will ever work in this field is if I write myself up like a lawyer!' If your job title is a little confusing, try to keep it simple, avoid using acronyms or terms that may be unfamiliar to your audience and use only the proper terms, e.g., Director, Supervisor, Project Manager, etc. In addition, you may want to consider learning some skills that will allow you to write a great Asu resume without breaking a sweat.The most common ways to create an Asu resume is to use a template or word processing software to create a resume document. Although these systems do make it easy to create a great-looking document, it is important to note that a great resume is not a stat ic document. It needs to be flexible and fluid, changing based on your personal circumstances and as the company that is hiring you continue to evolve.Whether you choose to create your own template or hire a professional to create one for you, you shouldn't expect your Asu to be completely ready for the general public. You need to communicate it to people, read it, revise it, and speak it. This is what your human resource team is for! Even if you have a great marketing or communication team that can handle the bulk of the communication on your behalf, it is still important to let the individuals who know your company best know about the ass, too.You also shouldn't expect your team to be available around the clock, but if they are having trouble writing a great Asu for you, they may be willing to lend a hand. Remember, they are there to assist you and only you. But a personal recommendation for you might get them to volunteer for a few hours at a time to work on your resume or market ing material. For example, if your human resource team works for a professional staffing agency, they may be willing to volunteer their time to read your Asu resume to try to make it look better. If they are able to work more than 20 hours a week, they may be willing to do that for you, and they may be willing to apply some of their own creativity to make your ass look great!Don't overlook the importance of contacts, either. If you are trying to convince an executive recruiter that your Asu has been written correctly, they will usually look at the list of reference that you have compiled and make some recommendations for you. If they haven't used the lists that you've provided, they can try to add their own ideas, if applicable.Resumes are an important part of your job search, but they are a magic bullet. Follow this Asu resume writing strategy, take steps to make sure that your Asu is polished and complete, and always ask for a reference to provide the approval for the final produc t before sending it off.

There is No Such Thing as Luck - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

There is No Such Thing as Luck - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career We’ve all said it and thought it. That person is SO LUCKY! However, the reality is… There is no luck. Perhaps the author Robert Heinlein said it best in his book Time Enough for Love There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe. Success in business and in life does not involve a series of tricks. It does not require a special set of mirrors or any special smoke. What success does require can be summed up in two words… hard work. Yes, there is an aspect of timing that might be attributed to luck. But really… It just takes a LOT of hard work. Those that are committed to putting in the work will often find the success they are seeking… eventually. That success will come from putting in the hard work. Of course, everyone defines success differently. Some consider it to be money. Others consider it to be influence. And others consider it to be how much they can give back. You will have to decide what success means to you. Then go out and do the work to make it real. While there are a lot of people that seem to Get Lucky a lot… and I dont mean in the sense of the Daft Punk song. I mean in the sense that they often find themselves (or do they put themselves?) in the right place to take advantage of an opportunity. That parenthetical question above is one of the most common attributes of those that are considered “lucky” the fact that they are often at the right place and at the right time. To which, a quote from the famous scientist Louis Pasteur rings quite true. Luck Favors the Prepared Mind  ~Louis Pasteur What can you do? Whether you are just starting out your career or whether you are well established in your chosen profession, put in the work. Then put in a little more for good measure. If you are looking for a job: Put in the extra time to research the company, the industry and if possible the people you will be interviewing with or otherwise might want to reference. Your career may depend upon it. If you are working on a project: Take it upon yourself  to look at the big picture to make sure the project aligns with company goals and objectives. Doing so allows you to show your leadership skills. As a general rule of thumb: Assign yourself a task to do a post-mortem write up on an event, a project or even a company meeting. Your personal brand may just get a nice bump up as you become known for your communication skills. In the end… if you are in the right place at the right time… perhaps this good luck will rain down upon you too. However, I predict you too will find that when you put in the time and you make the effort youll realize that there is no such thing as luck. Author: Jeff  is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet (IBM), K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

How will Recruiters be Affected BEFORE GDPR Becomes Law

How will Recruiters be Affected BEFORE GDPR Becomes Law AI, Chatbots, GDPR, Google Hire all looking to “disrupt” the recruiting sector / online processes.  We’ve yet to really get to grips with any of them… but our initial instincts have been a little of “run for the hills” and “Quick! Get on the phone!” We’ve written and webinar’d a lot about GDPR â€" mainly to fill the gap left by the dull and boring ”we’re doomed” GDPR bandwagon jumped on by so many.  You can watch our “thanks for making GDPR a GOOD thing” webinar and listen to my podcast with the knowledgeable Neil from Volcanic over on the Barclay Jones blog under the GDPR tag. What I want to focus on today is how recruiters and marketers may be disrupted by GDPR well before the legislation comes into effect. Plus I want you to think about how your candidates and clients may be “gearing up” for May 2018 too!  And how you deal with them may help/hinder your reputation and pipeline. Don’t Ask a Recruiter About GDPR One crucial element of GDPR is that you need to demonstrate that you are compliant, not simply just be compliant.  This means that you need to be educated, and educate your teams to understand the legalization and the resulting processes. So, something to do right away is to review the 3Cs (candidates, clients, and consultants) and how they can currently get in touch with you and ensure that their route into your business has been “tested” for GDPR questions.  This includes any chat facilities you have on your recruitment website! I’ll go through a cheeky example of the sort of thing you need to “sort” way before May 2018. GDPR: I’m Judging You! As part of the judging panel for the Marketing and Digital Recruitment Awards I was asked to review the websites of the finalists for the “Best Recruitment Website” category. I was in a cheeky mood, so thought I’d test out the “chat” of one of the recruiters. I stroked my white cat, rubbed my hands together and with a maniacal laugh whispered… “let’s see if anyone’s home”… I asked the chat… Immediately the chat responded and said that they were “waiting for a consultant”. Tick tock… Then a lovely lady came online â€" with a name and photo â€" nice touch! It felt like quite a while before I got an answer and it was interesting…  I wondered what could possibly be happening.  I had asked if they had my CV on file but my name was not asked for… Tick, tock, then… GDPR for Recruiters: Shaken, but not Stirred? I had an image of what may have been going on in the office whilst this process was happening…. A scene from Airplane when they realize that there is no pilot? (I don’t flatter myself) A quick check on Google “What is GDPR?” (Maybe â€" but the average recruiter can be forgiven for that â€" for now) Perhaps, to be fair, a group of intelligent people quickly trying to come up with an answer… In any event, imagine I am a candidate with an axe to grind… or maybe just a candidate with a genuine question.  GDPR is such a big topic, as is candidate loyalty, candidate experience, “recruiters are crooks” etc… so I wonder if opening up chat facilities (and social media etc…) will just bring on more contact from candidates asking questions about recruitment (god forbid!). Don’t just take my word for it â€" the stats speak for themselves. In this candidate-driven market, understanding what drives talent to engage with you is key: 31% of candidates said the main thing they look for in an agency is honesty 27% said great communication is most important to them 21% said its they way they are dealt with that influences their choice Don’t get me wrong, I liked the response â€" it clearly was human, but it definitely gave me an excuse to blog and gave me food for thought when I am working with clients on their marketing and GDPR strategies. Recruitment businesses â€" think about the messages you send through chat.  Get some personality in there.  Be ready for challenging questions.  Be ready for people asking you about their data. And even if GDPR turns out to be a storm in a teacup, use this chance to really get to grips with genuine queries about personal data.  You’ll get some genuine, loyal candidate fans… a recruiter’s dream! (I’ve called the recruitment business and had a chat with them â€" all’s good â€" they’re lovely!)

Finding the Best Resume Writing Service

Finding the Best Resume Writing ServiceOne of the most important parts of a career is a perfect and well crafted resume. A seasoned executive from the renowned company of a Rochester NY resume writing service will ensure your company is well represented on the resume page.The resume is not only a representation of your skills but an objective of the organization. A good resume writer will make sure the design of the resume is clearly visible to the reader. A good resume also carries a professional look with a touch of professionalism which helps in getting you noticed by the hiring personnel of the organization.The professional resume writers from the Rochester NY resume writing service team will provide the right formatting of the resume. They will ensure that the entire outline of the resume is arranged in a logical manner. A thorough preparation of the resume will be very important to impress the hiring personnel.Another important aspect of the resume is the language used in the r esume. The style and format should be in the most common English language. The writers from the resume writing service will provide you the necessary professional writing techniques to include the contact details in the resume. This will help in giving a personal touch of the person.Quality is another essential factor in a resume. You need to ensure that the resume is free from grammatical errors. The writing style must be efficient and readable to catch the attention of the hiring personnel. The resume writer will add the applicant's achievements in the area of creativity and innovation.Most of the time, the resume is a reflection of the skills, qualifications and abilities. A skilled writer from the resume writing service can create a masterpiece of the qualities of the person. The resume writing service will understand the needs of the organization and the position that you are applying for. An efficient resume writer will highlight the business skills and abilities while a creat ive resume writer will highlight the personality.The creative resumes will reflect your ideas and inspiration and show your creative abilities. The writers from the resume writing service can express yourself in unique ways that are reflected in the resume. A quality resume makes an impression of a highly motivated individual.This resume is supposed to get you noticed by the potential hiring personnel. It is better to hire the professional resume writing service provider to make your dreams come true.

Creating a Career Success Model (Guest Post)

Creating a Career Success Model (Guest Post) The Path FROM Success: Working Backwards to Plan Your FutureChance favors the prepared mind. Louis PasteurEach day that we show up at work, we like to think were making progress toward a larger goal that were doing more than just staying afloat. Whether it be stockpiling in case of misfortune, making something of ourselves, living the high life or simply avoiding failure, we are seeking to gain more more abundance, security, fun, influence, and freedom.What keeps us going is the hope that each accomplishment will take us farther along the path to our success. We try to gain momentum work smart, not hard keep our eyes open for opportunities take on new responsibilities find partners with equal passion even plan out our career goals and pursue them. But by focusing our efforts on what were doing now, we can actually water down the potential we work so hard to create. That is, if we dont have a clear mental picture of our particular kind of success.Live Your Successful Life NowRepeat edly playing a mental video of successful performance is an effective training method for many professional athletes. It is proven to open up channels of communication between the mind and muscles, preparing the body to respond when called upon. In this way, an expert pianist can quickly become an expert typist because those channels between his or her brain and fingers are already open.In the same way, by taking time to engineer in your mind a video of you living your future success, you can prepare yourself to actually live it when key opportunities finally arrive. It will feel familiar to you, and you will be less likely to shy away from success or miss the open door altogether.But before you start visualizing your life on a yacht surrounded by wealth, beauty, power, romance, luxury and exotic places, consider where you got that image of success. Was it handed to you? Were you pushed toward it? Its essential that the mental picture or Career Success Model that you create truly represents your inner potential and deepest desires. Because if you are conflicted about what you truly want out of life, you will not be able to create an image powerful enough to program those all-important channels of communication between your mind and your muscles. Its not enough to see it in your mind you have to feel it in your body and experience the emotions as if its happening now.Creating a Career Success ModelIf you were planning to take the bus to an appointment with a new doctor at 3 p.m. on the other side of town, it wouldnt make much sense to take the first available bus that stopped at your corner. You would look at the bus schedule to see which bus arrives at the destination just before 3, then you would see what buses you could take to hook up with that bus from your point of origin. The logic is, if you know where you want to end up, you can then follow the possible routes backwards to your current position in order to map your itinerary. The more bus routes, th e more options you have to get you where you want to go in a timely fashion.Career planning can be approached similarly. By first defining a clear expectation of your success, you can then map out the trip according to what will get you there from destination to origin. The more connections you create through your dedication to work in the present through accomplishments, networking, gaining expertise, and developing complementary career paths the more routes youll have from which to choose that will ultimately bring you to your destination.The first step is to create your Career Success Model that mental video of your personal version of success. Here are some questions to help you brainstorm the details (the more detail you put into the answers, the more powerful mental image youll have working in your favor):Career role What kind of work do you see yourself doing, if any? How do you spend your days? Do you see yourself doing most of your work in an office, at home, in a cabi n, on the road, on a boat, or elsewhere? What are you using to get your work done? Are you directing others, letting someone else call the shots, or on your own? What do people call you at work? At the end of the work day, what gives you a sense of deep accomplishment?Focus What was the one thing, more than anything else, that was the catalyst for your success? What understanding about yourself finally came through as a revelation, clearing away assumptions or self-imposed obstacles that had gotten in your way previously? What decision did you make that changed everything? At what moment did the momentum start building and keep building?Work environment As you look at the office, garden, home theater, work bench, ski jump or studio where you do your work, whats on the walls? Whats in the refrigerator? Whats under your feet? What tools do you have in easy reach? Is the environment calm or fast-paced?Sphere of influence Living your future success, what types of people surround you? How are you connected to power and resources? What relationships have lasted throughout difficult transitions, and why? When you are in public, how are you interacting with people? What are you known for, and among whom? In what ways has your career path to that point had a positive or negative impact on others?Lifestyle What geographic area do you see yourself calling home? What does your home look like? How many people are in it? What kinds of relationships are parts of your successful life? What colors are on the walls? What do you smell when the windows are open? What does your favorite chair feel like? How do you spend your free time?Personal profile Who are you as the person living your career success? What skills and abilities do you have? What moral positions do you take, and how are they different or the same from the ones that got you to where you are? What meaning and purpose has brought you this far, and what drives you forward? What hurdles have you overcome or skill s mastered?Onward and upward From where you are in your success, how much more success is available around you? How could you have accomplished even more than you have in your vision? What would make that future life even more fulfilling? And from that moment, where are you headed? What is the next challenge, goal, or reward that you would pursue? How would you give back?Your model will continue to develop as you put thought into it going forward, so dont worry about nailing everything down now, and leave yourself room to adjust it as new inspiration arrives.Mapping the JourneyOnce youve filled in the puzzle pieces to arrive at a beginning Career Success Model, consider it from a birds eye view. Imagine a grid made of triangles covering a map of all potential career opportunities available to you even those you dont know about. Find the dot where you are, and the dot where you intend to be, then notice how many ways you can follow the line segments formed by the triangles to get f rom your destination to your point of origin.Perhaps some segments of the pathway are clearly labeled with names (for example, get part time job in as accounting clerk to help pay for college, join a professional association, get accounting degree, pass CPA exam, mentor with a self-employed CPA, find job as CPA, start financial strategy blog, become partner in CPA firm, open own corporate accounting firm, gain several Fortune 500 clients, etc.) while others have yet to be labeled.Like a transfer point between bus routes, the node at each crossroads can be considered a benchmark of progress like a flexible checklist. (Got the part-time job, started the blog, got the mentorship, spoke at a conference, got a scholarship, got the degree, passed CPA test, got certified as financial advisor, taught community workshops, taught classes at local college, opened own financial strategy consulting firm, found partners to expand business, landed first Fortune 500 client, etc.) Each time you rea ch a new node, revisit your Career Success Model to add additional detail.The point is, there are many paths that lead to your vision of success. The key is to know what to look for on the way and be ready for catalysts as they come. Youve begun a new form of mental exercise that becomes easier and more productive with practice one that will position you in the pocket of opportunity where conditions are most favorable for manifesting the necessary resources for the next leg of your journey. Following the grid can take the fear out of taking the next step, knowing that all routes are interconnected.For more information about the science behind the use of mental imagery for success, read a href=http://www.suite101.com/content/visualization-a17777 target=_blankSetting Yourself Up for Success: How and Why Visualization Works.Ellen Berry is a member of the BrainTrack.com writing staff and has contributed a great deal of content to the sites a href = http://www.braintrack.com/career-plan ning-guide Career Planning Guide.

Dont Let Your Employees Spend Too Long Staring At Computers

Dont Let Your Employees Spend Too Long Staring At Computers The reality of the modern world is that most of us spend the vast majority of our day to day lives staring at screens. We wake up, check our phones, watch TV with breakfast, and then go to work where a lot of us spend the entire day at a desk in front of a computer. For a lot of people, this is just fine. They feel comfortable, theyre able to get all of the work done, and they can go home at the end of the day feeling entirely happy. However, for a lot of people, things can be more difficult than that, especially when you’re running a business.. The truth is that spending all day sitting at a desk, staring at a screen can take its toll on some of your employees. With that in mind, here are a few things that you can do in order to prevent your employees from burning out. Give them frequent breaks One of the most common reasons that people burn out and become totally exhausted at work is that they simply arent given a chance to get away from the screen at all. Sure, most people have their lunch break, but that still means that there are going to be long periods where they are stuck in front of the screen. Make sure that you allow your employees to take frequent breaks to get up, stretch their legs, and even get some fresh air. It might seem like a very small thing, but it can make a big difference. Create a comfortable atmosphere Your employees are never going to be working at their best if theyre in an environment that feels dark, bleak, and oppressive. Its a great idea to make the office feel as welcoming and comfortable as possible. There are plenty of ways that you can do that. One of the best ways you can do it is to make sure that the temperature is right. Finding the right aircon units from places like iscsales.com is a great way to keep your office at a comfortable temperature. You should also consider the lighting as well since the wrong lighting can make working very difficult for your employees. Allow for flexibility Your employees are not machines. They might be your most valuable resource, but if you treat them as a resource and nothing more then youre never going to get the most out of them. They need you to provide a certain degree of flexibility. Whether its allowing them to adjust the time of their lunch break or working hours, or even allowing them to work remotely from home from time to time, if you treat your employees well then theyre not going to take advantage of that and youll probably find that productivity within your business increases by a pretty significant margin. Its pretty likely that your employees need to spend most of their time staring at computer screens and thats not going to change anytime soon. However, that doesnt mean that you dont have a responsibility to them to make sure that youre always taking as much care of them as possible.