Personal items, info and things that don’t fit into my other blog projects… including the occasional rant.
BNET asks this question and offers several views, from family ties to the rules of family governance. Then they ask: Are you in a family business? What are the pluses and minuses from your perspective?
I’d be interested in that answer as well. I don’t have a family business, but cannot imagine working with my siblings.
Today is the day I’m supposed to do an end-of-month inventory on my goals. But I won’t, I know it. I’ve been avoiding looking at my status against what I’m supposed to be accomplishing.
I don’t want to know.
I haven’t reached my financial goals, I know without even looking. I haven’t achieved my weight loss goals, I know without even looking. I haven’t reached my professional goals, I just know. I don’t need to see it on a sheet of paper to know that.
I worked really hard to make sure that the goals I set this year were realistic. And I’m still falling short.
What’s my problem? If I had a therapist, this is the part where I’d moan about my counter-productive attitudes, my self-destructive tendencies.
The good thing is that these tendencies never make it into my workplace. No matter how much my personal time is wrecked by my personal foibles, they don’t seep into my job. I get my work done, and done well, regardless of what I have to suffer through to make it happen.
A friend of mine convinced me to start the program through “An Artist’s Way at Work.” I’m finding that the daily pages are getting my creative juices flowing. The words that were stuck in my brain, in my throat, are getting out in the pages of my journal, and now in here.
Unfortunately, I’m being slow in actually posting the words, but I am writing them.
Just losing the weight I have lost required tremendous willpower, especially as the people around me were ever-so-subtly attempting to sabotage my commitment. I don’t know if they were aware that that’s what they were doing, but it is. And I survived it.
Thankfully, the sabotage attempts from family have stopped. They seem to understand that I am fully committed to seeing this through.
I know that a lot of us are worried about keping our jobs in today’s economy. Here are five tips on how to do just that, presented by The Five O’Clock Club at HispanicAd:
Why is it that the days when I’m too tired to blog are the days when I have the most to blog about? My assistant gave notice today. He’s leaving me for a full-ride scholarship to Harvard, where he’ll be pursuing a master’s degree in public policy. I guess if I have to lose my very capable and talented PR assistant, that’s an acceptable place to lose him to.
I am happy for him. I told him so. It’s a great opportunity.
Later it will hit me that this means that I have to hire someone who may end up less qualified and less talented to do his job.
Oh, happy days…
I am always looking for a better job, and I know a lot of people out there are in the same boat — by necessity or desire. Here’s a roundup of articles, tips and tricks to help you on your way.
Things to do
Volunteer work is a good way to add weight to your resume, at least according to Monster.com: “You may have altruistic reasons for volunteering, but giving your time has career-enhancing power, too.” Not bad, you feel good for doing it and add some zest to your resume.
Start a blog. According to The Boston Herald, “Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.” And they give eight reasons why:
Need some tips on acing the interview? Membox.com has a quick reference guide to help out:
They also have a more detailed list of things to do to prepare. Worth a read, if you’ve already landed that all-important interview.
Brand Yourself
One of the ways to get your career on the fast track and guarantee continued success is to successfully brand yourself.
Tips from Quick Sprout on what to do in your first 7 days:
Thousands of people are trying to brand themselves every day, but the majority seem to be making critical mistakes within the first week of their own personal branding campaign. If you haven’t thought about personal branding much and are looking to start branding yourself, here is what you should do in the next 7 days:
These provide a good plan for a way to get started. Don’t think that personal branding can work for you? Just look at what it did for Rick Mahn. From Fast Company, “Mahn’s online conversation has not only paid off with reams of Internet pages talking him up. Online personal branding has begun to change Mahn’s life. Recruiters call him about job offers. Microsoft wanted his take on some pre-production and just-shipped products. And reporters at publications like the Wall Street Journal Online want his ear.”
What not to do
Sometimes the place to start is with a list of things to avoid. Monster.com recommends avoiding the top 10 resume mistakes:
Read the article for more info on how to avoid these mistakes. I know that I’ve bookmarked it for myself.
Staying where you are
Thinking about staying in your current job? Being underpaid is one reason that compels many people to quit. How do you resolve that? Do good work, says John Wagner, and your bosses will notice.
If that’s not enough, here are some tips to help you get along with your co-workers and on negotiating workplace conflicts. I know that that’s something we can all use.
Seth Godin would argue that you need to know when it’s time to quit. Have you been branded internally? “The time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable. Go. Switch. Challenge yourself; get yourself a raise and a promotion. You owe it to your career and your skills.”
I’ll probably post on this again, later. This is all for now.
Resources:
I’m at the University of Houston this morning, waiting for the first session of the People’s Law School to begin. Yes, for a change, I actually signed up for one of the workshops I said I’d look into.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
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StevePavlina.com has a very interesting post listing the 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job.
Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working? Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working? Who taught you that you could only earn income while working? Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?
Found via LifeHacker.
I have a lot of friends who are looking for work. I have a lot of friends who are thnking about looking for work. My job search is on hiatus.
Just in case, though, I keep my eye out for information, tips and tricks to help me when I decide to get back out there. About.com’s Job Search site has the Top 10 Interview Blunders. The shortlist:
The one to pay attention to in this list:
4. Too Much Communication
Believe it or not, a recent candidate for employment, who, by the way, didn’t get the job, didn’t hesitate to answer his cell phone when it rang during an interview. Leave the phone behind or at least turn it off before you enter the building. Same goes for coffee, food and anything else other than you, your resume, your job application, and your list of references. They don’t belong at an interview.
Good info. Now all I need is an interview where I can put these into practice.
I’ve bought books on the topic and am scouring the Internet for articles on ways to improve my resume. At this point, I’m just compiling research. At some point I will start to use these tips.
The whole question of how much personal information to include in a resume is one that evidently baffles lots of people. “Your resume speaks volumes about you,” notes V. Michael Prencipe, a principal at HR Staffing Solutions, a temp agency. “Unfortunately, sometimes it screams, ‘Don’t hire me.’ ” He adds, “I look at about 200 resumes a week, and I’ve read plenty that do refer to the job seeker’s divorce.” Prencipe has even seen at least one resume that gave the reason for the split-up, i.e., a cheating spouse. This is way, way too much information.
More posts on this topic:
Sources:
I’ve already shared the fact that I keep learning, or at least try to keep learning. Then I came across this post in my del.icio.us account: “Information sharing: Don’t hoard your knowledge” by Blog Business World.
The quote I liked:
Along with the desire to help others accomplish their goals and objectives, I always make certain to learn more information on almost every topic. I am constantly buying books on subjects either practical or arcane. I try to learn as much as possible. The mind is a muscle that demands workouts to expand and develop. A few books are barbells for the brain.
Nice to have someone reinforce what I wrote. Of course, I think theirs is dated before mine. Oh well… still true.