Friday, May 29, 2020

How to Become an Indispensable Leader Within Your Organization

How to Become an Indispensable Leader Within Your Organization Indispensable leaders are those who make employees better, drive revenue, and promote then maintain a sense of optimism around the office. They understand that each day of leading is a challenge and embrace the hurdles they encounter rather than avoiding or ignoring obstacles. These are the individuals who accept full responsibility for the performance of their people. They embrace the fact that the buck stops with them. Most importantly, indispensable leaders leverage their influence, knowledge, and experience in order to make the companies they work for win. They share an unwillingness to accept defeat and as a result, they figure out what must be done in order to achieve uncanny monetary improvements. Below, you’ll find a few key tactics to implement that will not only propel you to the next level of leadership, but that will also make you invaluable and indispensable to any company. Remember, the more important a job applicant is to their prospective company, the more options they have upon being recruited for other jobs. The importance of becoming indispensable: Personal success without leadership brings only limited effectiveness. Without leadership ability, a person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with strong management. When average leaders leave an organization, it is an annoyance to the company. HR has to take significant time and energy to find a replacement and people around the office may have to take on extra responsibility. However, losing a non-essential leader does not hinder bigger-picture growth. The more difficult you are to replace, the easier it is to negotiate raises, start entrepreneurial ventures within the company, and gain the respect of your subordinates, bosses, and clients. 4 questions for quantifying how indispensable you are: Prior to requesting a promotion, asking for a raise, or leveraging another job offer, you have to gauge how crucial you are to the company’s success. For measurement purposes, there are a few crucial questions.   Be honest with yourself.   Where theres room for improvement, work on your skills, work ethic, and sense of character: the greater the consequences for the company, the greater your leverage: Are employees or clients likely to leave if you depart? How much disorganization would result from your leaving the company? How much would morale suffer?   A leaders mood, for lack of a better word, is catching. How long would it take to replace you? 5 steps for becoming an indispensable leader at your organization: Create a unified vision among your subordinates.   A team doesn’t win the championship if their players arent working from the same page of the playbook.   Getting everyone unified will allow you to become a key part of the company, as the organization risks losing clients, employees, and morale if you leave. Develop a good relationship with those under you.   People want to go along with those whom they get along with.   Build trust by being honest and authentic. Be cognizant of market changes.   Really strong leaders have a special capacity to anticipate the radically unexpected.   Start to be cognizant of the moves made by your competitors and be aware of new entrants and threats to the industry. Companies live and die by their ability to alter business strategies with changing market conditions.   Often, the individual who can do this is worth their weight in gold (or, more literally, formerly-gold-backed currency) to the company. Surround yourself with people better and smarter than you are. A good leader has the courage to surround themselves with people better than themselves in different respects, in order to learn from those people. Cultivate heavy duty resilience in yourself.   Every leader makes mistakes; every leader stumbles and falls.   Indispensable leaders learn from mishaps, regroup, then get going with a renewed speed, conviction, and confidence. See it, believe It, make it happen: Work on improving yourself before you attempt to improve others.   Find a job that you are passionate about and an industry you are happy with.   Know where your time goes. Remember, becoming an integral part of a company will not only provide you with a happier, more lucrative career, but it will also foster self-confidence and a sense of well-being.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Explore Jobs With Inside Jobs - VocationVillage

Explore Jobs With Inside Jobs - VocationVillage Career counselors frequently instruct clients to explore jobs as part of an overall decision-making process. There is a new online tool that makes the process of job investigation much easier and more fun: Inside Jobs. The site profiles 15,000 jobs and offers a Career Center that contains lists of jobs clustered in interesting ways: Jobs for Creative Types, Jobs for Hands-On Workers, Jobs for Animal Lovers, Jobs for Outdoor Enthusiasts, Jobs for People Persons, Jobs for Book Lovers, etc. . For example, if you love to work outdoors, some jobs suggested by Inside Jobs include Greenhouse Manager, Forest Ranger, Mountain Resort Designer, Nursery Manager, Balloonist, Tennis or Swimming Coach, Park Superintendent, Snow Ranger, Tree Trimmer, Soil Conservation Technician, Commercial Pilot, Fisheries Ecologist, and EMT Helicopter or Ferry Pilot.The Career Finder tool enables you to search for careers using criteria such as Category, Skill, Desired Education Level, Salary, Personality, Favorite School Subjects, Non-Academic Activities, Cause (the environment, children, animals, etc.) , Job Satisfaction, Scheduling (9 to 5, flexible, part time, etc.), and Work Environment. I played with the Career Finder tool and the site correctly identified different paths in psychology, sociology, and economics as good choices for me.Once you click on a specific career, the site offers information about the job: A description of what a person does during the day in that job, the personality tr aits needed in that job, salary and education required (according to the U.S. Department of Labor), and jobs similar to the one being explored. There is also a School Finder feature to identity academic programs to prepare you for that particular job, although this section doesnt seem as thorough since many educational paths are not represented.There are hundreds of job exploration sites on the Web but this is one of my favorite ones. Check it out today

Friday, May 22, 2020

What Does a Counter Offer REALLY Represent

What Does a Counter Offer REALLY Represent One of the most common reasons given for non-acceptance of job offers in modern-day hiring and  recruitment is undoubtedly the classic counter offer scenario. A counter offer is whereby a candidate is incentivized  to stay with his or her present employer after he or she has announced their intention to take a job  with another company. This usually takes the shape of one or a combination of the following actions: A significant salary increment. Greater flexibility on package, working hours or associated “hygiene” factors. The promise of greater levels of responsibility, autonomy, status or seniority. Emotional blackmail (“I thought we were friends” , “How could you do this in the middle of  our busiest quarter?” , “I thought you were better than that” etc) The candidate’s dilemma: Tempting as they may initially seem, acceptance of counter offers usually amounts to little short of  career suicide. If this initially sounds a little dramatic then here are several key factors to consider if  a counter offer has thrown an unexpected but nonetheless tasty spanner in the works of your career  move: Why are you worth £4,000 more today than you were yesterday? Why do you have to threaten to quit for this to happen? What sort of company does this make them? Where is this money COMING from anyway? Is your being “bought” at the eleventh hour not something of an insult to your intelligence  and integrity? Will your loyalty to the company and to your colleagues ever be truly seen in the same light  again? And most importantly of all What was the original reason that led to your seeking an employment move? Is it this or  your pride that the counter offer is addressing? Getting back to our original question then… What does a counter offer REALLY represent? To get to the bottom of this question, it is best to consider not what the counter offer represents  to the employee but, more importantly, what the counter offer represents to the employer. Nine  times out of ten the answers all invariably converge upon one central theme: damage limitation (and little besides). While there is clearly never a good time to learn that a competent employee is looking to move on,  most employers will be well aware that the counter offer is no permanent fix but more an exercise  in buying time while a replacement is found. Ideally a replacement that will not “try it on again for  another few grand next year”. More alarmingly still, statistics show that between 80% and 90% of people who have accepted  counter offers resign within 6 months anyway or are terminated between 6 and 12 months! Stick to your guns: Ultimately, this whole equation comes down to the fundamental difference between the two key  drivers of dissatisfaction and demotivation: Counter offers usually address dissatisfaction. However, it is usually demotivation that leads us to seek career moves in the first place. This glaring mismatch brings us back to what is really the ONLY question to ask oneself when  presented with a counter offer: What was the original reason for seeking a move? If you do accept a counter offer you will, almost without exception, find that this original reason for  leaving will still be there. It might be slightly more tolerable in the short term, but it will still be  there, and it will still be there in three months as it will still be there in six months, nine months, a  year or even longer. You too, employers! None of this is news to the best companies out there of course. Winning businesses will know full  well what counter offers really represent and, as such, good companies will NEVER counter offer.  EVER. Instead, they are managed fairly and correctly to begin with, recognizing individuals’ strengths,  motivations and aspirations and implementing robust recruitment policies (based as much upon  values as skills) to foster engagement, trust and a sense of unity in common purpose. They will NOT allow themselves to be coerced or blackmailed. Nor should you. Author:  Craig Leach is Business Manager at Poole Resourcing. You can contact him on LinkedIn.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

List of ways to ruin a list

List of ways to ruin a list The goals you have for your life are only as good as your daily to-do list. You can make all the grand plans you want, but if you dont stay on track each day, you wont reach those goals. To-do lists are for people who believe in their dreams and their ability to reach them. List makers create daily plans for success. In other words, everyone should have a daily to-do list. If you arent careful, however, your list will become more of a procrastination aid than dream machine. Here are seven typical ways you can undermine your list: 1. Ignore it. This is my pet thing to do. If I cant handle my life that day, I dont look at my list. This allows me to think I dont need to do anything. But then the rest of the week is hell because Im compensating for stuff I ruined by ignoring it. It would have been easier to review my list, accomplish the most pressing items, and then go back to bed. 2. List vague tasks. Take, for example, work on presentation. When is this job finished? How many things need working on? Why would you start this chore if you have no plan for completing it? This item is like poison ivy â€" you see it and go another direction. Break down the items on your list into manageable parts. Besides crossing items off the list is fun, and the more to cross off the better.. Ive been known to write buy envelopes as one of the tasks needed to send resumes. Its an easy step in a hard process â€" makes me feel like Im getting something done in my big-picture goal of landing a job. 3. Create a wish list. A wish list is not a to-do list. Its important to have life goals and its nice to be lofty, but no point in putting buy a house on your to-do list. If you really can buy a house, try listing an easier item like, call mortgage broker If you cant get that far, make a list of things youd like to have in 10 years. Include buy a house and post this list on your fridge. Then get back to your to-do list â€" every 10-year plan is the culmination of 3,650 daily to do lists. 4. Switching manically between types of tasks. E-mail, phone, errand, e-mail, phone, errand. This is not a productive day. A good day is e-mail,e-mail, e-mail, phone, phone, phone, errand, errand, errand. So organize your to-do list so that you do all your e-mails in one or two sittings. 5. List items youd like to do but shouldnt. These are fun things like learn 1000 words in Italian or knit an extra-large sweater. Most working professionals do not have time for these in a typical day. Unproductive adults indulge themselves in doing them anyway because it makes them feel productive. I know I do not have time to make cupcakes for my husbands birthday and I should buy him a cake from the local bakery. But I put making cupcakes on my to-do list anyway, and then, when he comes home, Im annoyed because making his cupcakes ruined my workday. 6. Lose sight of the big picture. How many people are unemployed but dont have get a job on their list? If youre among them, good for you â€" because get a job is too vague. But you should include job-search-related tasks, such as Send out six resumes or make two networking calls. So many people omit chores related to their most important goal because they seem obvious. But if you dont put them on the list, they wont happen. 7. Write a novel. A list is not a novel. It is one page.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Public Service Announcement Get Jay Z to invest in your start-up

Public Service Announcement Get Jay Z to invest in your start-up Your average entrepreneur can have anywhere up to 99 problems. But as of right now, a quality investment aint one. Hip-hop legend and multi-millionaire Jay Z is launching a venture capital fund. Axios reports that Jay and Roc Nation president Jay Brown are teaming up with Sherpa Capital to launch a VC fund, thus proving his 1998 hypothesis that money aint a thang. Update (13/3): Jay Z has put his money where his mouth is! The mogul has announced the launch of new venture capital firm Arrive. Arrive will be a subsidiary of Jays Roc Nation conglomerate and operate separately from his and Jay Browns Sherpa Capital-backed VC fund, which is still to be confirmed. The company will exist not only to offer investment to early-stage startups but to apply Roc Nations runaway success in developing artists and athletes to help build the brands of new businesses. It seems Hov is getting ready to give away his famous Blueprint for the right returns, of course. Serious business If youve caught lighting in a bottle and you just need someone to get behind it, your million-dollar idea is safe in the hands of Hov.  I mean, he gave  Kanye West  his start and look how that turned out, right? The music mogul, as well as holding the record for most no. 1 albums by a solo artist, is a great business mind in his own right. Hes been investing in start-ups since 2012, pouring money into the likes of Uber, luggage maker Away, beauty product manufacturer Julep and private jet start-up JetSmarter. Hes also dabbled in all kinds of industries from alcohol to film and television to fashion lines. He famously bought a stake in the then-New Jersey Nets basketball team and moved them to Brooklyn in 2012. In 2015, Jay Z launched the Tidal music streaming service which now has 3 million subscribers. Usually I dont do this but, uh go on and break em off with the preview of the remix. pic.twitter.com/2QgI740M â€" Mr. Carter (@S_C_) 26 September 2012 All these shenanigans have made the object of Queen Beys affection a man of considerable resources. Forbes put his 2016 net worth at a cool $610 million, a $60 million dollar increase on the 2015 figure. Say what you want about the Brooklynite, but you cant knock the hustle. Carter and Browns fund will focus on seed-stage companies, but the fund size is yet to be confirmed. Whatever it is, an investment from Hov himself would definitely be seen as the Holy Grail of the start-up community. Download the Debut app and get connected with top graduate employers in an instant. Connect with Debut on Facebook and Twitter

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Where Your Online Presence Really Comes From - CareerEnlightenment.com

But a far better approach would be to simply publish more, and more flattering, content. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you have to go out and write a bunch of articles, although that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.The best way to bury the content you don’t want is to publish more, thus pushing the old stuff down.And what better way to publish than to repurpose old stuff. Check out this list, surely you have something that would work:Old presentations from school or work (nonproprietary of course)Old photos of you looking nice and professionalVideo footage of you giving a presentation or talkReports, papers or articles you’ve worked on or been quoted inOnce you dig some of this content up, it’s time to dust off the cobwebs. With a fresh pair of eyes, see if you can freshen it up. Can you make the slides stand on their own? Can you update the article?It’s important to make sure your name appears in each of these documents somewhere, either in the content, or the file name.T hese old documents can now be distributed to Google friendly content distribution communities:Slides can get posted on Slideshare.comPhotos can get posted on Picasaweb.comArticles can get posted on Docstoc.comVideos can get posted on Youtube.comAfter a few weeks, you should start to see some of these documents on Google’s first page.Bottom LineIf you are concerned about your online presence, leave Google out of it.   Your best option is to follow the tips above to clean things up.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Writing Online and Print Resume

Writing Online and Print ResumeIf you have been thinking about writing online and print resume, then it is high time you wrote a formal one. Even if you are not an official in the post-schooling industry yet, you can still give some professional advice to other professionals who have also taken up their first steps in the business world.Online and print resume are not just paper resume that is collected in a box. These are further transformed into a solid document that can be used as a guide when searching for a job or continuing your career. Besides this, there are some more information you may want to have on your resume.First of all, let us have some information about yourself. Why are you seeking employment? It could be that you are looking for a promotion within your company, a change in your present assignment, or a different job altogether. The best way to find out this is to list down all your previous positions, and make sure you are not leaving anything out.From personal in formation, you can start listing down your skills and qualifications. In order to do this, you need to consider your previous work experience. If you had the opportunity to work with a certain discipline or industry, you can easily list it down on your resume. There are many people who have been trained in many fields; therefore, they can easily transition into another field if needed.Second, you can list down your previous job history. As you have read above, your previous experience can be very useful for your future employment search. You can be able to distinguish yourself from the other candidates if you have a better career history than others.Third, you can also list down your strengths and other things that you can offer to the employers. Do not forget to write down your experiences asa person. Sometimes, employers will ask for this. Being honest about your personal experiences is also a good thing.Finally, it is always a good idea to mention about your computer usage, educa tion, and other important qualifications. You can also use this information for your upcoming career assessment. The point here is that you need to write down some things that the employer can see at the first glance of your resume.Writing online and print resume is not that difficult. The only thing that you need to do is to make sure that you do a thorough job so that your resume will appear to be professional.