Youll be hired by a stranger

Youll be hired by a strangerYoull be hired by a strangerWhile youre reviewing the tens of thousands of job openings on Ladders this week, here are three ways you might be sabotaging your own job search.1. Can a stranger read your resume?Print out your resume. Rip off the top third of it. Hand it to somebody you dont know.Without asking you any additional questions, can they read the top third of your resume and determine what you want to do next?For too many professionals like you, the answer is no.When we try to tell readers of our resumes everything about us, we wind up telling them nothing special about us. Too much unfocused information, and you lose their attention.What does the reader of your resume want to know?Does this gal, or guy, want this job that I have open? And have they done it before?Obviously, given that youve spent the time to create a resume and send it to them, they know you want a job. But do you want this particular job?Is it something that youve done before? I f so, did you like it? If so, do you want to do it again?I know it seems obvious to you that you want the type of job that youre looking for.But strangers dont know that. And, chances are, youll be hired by a stranger.So its important that you make it easy for strangers to know what you want.Show them, at the very top of your resume, what job you want, and why youre qualified for it, and why you want to do it again. Youre not going to list every skill and experience you have, but rather youre giving the reader a sense of what you can do.If they cant tell, by reading the top-third of your resume, what you want to do next, then youll never get to the next step.2. Did you talk to a live partie today?The internet delivers you news, information, funny cat videos, electronic books, fashionable shopping, and, via Ladders, the latest and greatest job listings at the $100K+ level.So hooray for the internet.But heres the truth - the internet is not going to hire you.No, youll be hired by a l iving, breathing, thinking, smiling partie.So the question is did you talk to that person today? Did you try to?Its important, while youre searching, looking and applying to all those great jobs that you find here, that you also realize that you need to make a priority of talking to people.And by that I mean a live human voice, in person or on the phone. Email and text and Snapchat dont count.Have you called your old contacts? Returned the call from the company that perhaps youre only mildly interested in? Have you taken a former colleague to lunch? Did you call back the recruiters youve met over the past six months? Drop by a conference?Connecting with people, live, in person or on the phone, is essential to getting hired. Too often, we fool ourselves into believing that self-directed activity is the best way to get hired. Its not. Connecting with others is.If youre more of an introvert, or more comfortable communicating by writing than by speaking, you can still connect with other s. Im not going to mislead you and say that its better, but its still sufficient if you write thoughtful, sensible blog posts, comments, emails and contributions on industry-related topics and threads. But its important that youre connecting with others, not just yourself.When it comes to getting hired, you need to ensure that every day is a talk to a person who could potentially hire me day.Because eventually one of them will.3. E-mail addressWhat elektronischer brief address do you use professionally?If youre using AOL, or your local cable provider, you could be inadvertently shooting yourself in the foot.Only 3% of new users at Ladders sign up with AOL email addresses these days. And just 4% use Hotmail.com. If youre still using AOL or Hotmail to represent yourself professionally, it could be sending a signal that youre uncomfortable with new technology and that you havent prioritized keeping your skills up-to-date.Using your local cable providers default e-mail - whether its be llsouth.net, optonline.net, or tampabay.rr.com - increases the chances of a typo leading to a missed connection. Because people dont pay as much attention to what theyre typing after the sign, using less-familiar domains in your e-mail should be avoided.Just over 55% of new users at TheLadders use gmail.com. Because gmail is well-known for its utility, ease-of-use, and power, using gmail as your address is a smart move that also sends the message that youre up-to-date with the times.Whats before the sign is important too.Common household or joint email strategies such as jimandnancy, smithhousehold, or bluthfamily are not good e-mail addresses to use for your professional life. Professionals are accustomed to writing directly to other professionals. Requesting that they e-mail your spouse kids when contacting you is awkward.The best email address is your first name, followed by a dot, followed by your last name, at gmail.comsheldon.coopergmail.comIf thats taken, then for the pur poses of your job search, add next years number to your addresssheldon.cooper.2018gmail.comYoure probably going to be using this e-mail address into the New Year anyway and starting now makes you seem ahead of the times. And everybody wants to hire somebody from the future, right?So those are the three things you might be doing to sabotage your own efforts in the job search, Readers. Avoid them and prosper.Im rooting for youP.S. The fourth thing youre doing to sabotage yourself? Seasoned. If youre using the word seasoned to describe yourself dont.

This is the most painless way to tell employees bad news

This is the most painless way to tell employees schwimmbadeanstalt berichterstattungThis is the most painless way to tell employees bad newsBeing the bearer of bad news in the office is always an unpleasant task, but there are some methods that are more unpleasant than others. A new survey of preferred methods of giving and getting bad news found that most of us prefer directness and candor over the cushion of small talk when discussing the breakdown of social relationships - like a breakup with your romantic partner or your employer. We just want to know where the fire is so we can get out.In a survey of 145 participants, Brigham Young University linguistics professor Alan Manning and the University of South Alabamas Nicole Amare got participants to rate how they would want to receive different bad news scenarios. The majority of participants valued clarity and directness over being eased into the information.If youre on the giving end, yeah, absolutely, its probably more comfortab le psychologically to pad it out - which explains why traditional advice is the way it is, Manning said. But this survey is framed in terms of you imagining youre getting bad news and which version you find least objectionable. People on the receiving end would much rather get it this way.The survey showed how we dont want to hear bad news. Heres how to deliver it to your co-workers with grace and compassion for them1) No small talkGood managers who make small talk before delivering bad news are usually considerate, compassionate people who think that talking about an employees family or weekend plans is a polite way to lift an employees spirits before delivering the crushing blow.But the most compassionate move is to be direct about the bad news. Of course, you dont want to just blurt out, Youre fired for all to hear, but the researchers suggested that the buffer can be as small as telling the employee we need to talk. Thats enough to signal the severity of the situation. Once you get the employee in a one-on-one setting away from prying eyes, rip the BandAid off quickly and explain why youve called for this meeting.2) No corporate jargonNervous managers often use corporate speak or legalese to hide behind the weight of their actions when saying terrible news, thinking that it will lessen the pain - or, at least, ease their personal pain at having to do this. Im not telling you bad news, the companys jargon is telling you bad news. Its a passive way to distance yourself from a crisis. I once had a manager who announced a series of layoffs at my company as employees being impacted, a euphemism that created confusion and chaos in an already emotional period at work.Deliver the unfortunate news clearly without metaphor, so that employees can process the bad information more quickly instead of wasting time deciphering jargon from meaning.3) Let the recipient of bad news express emotionAcknowledge the emotion in the situation. After bad news like terminations, l ayoffs, or pay cuts, grief, shock, and anger are to be expected. Have tissues on hand.Allow employees to vent their frustrations at the news, but dont get into a debate, because the information youre delivering is not a negotiation, its a fact.4) Time it wellOnce you learn of bad news youll need to deliver to an employee, its best to schedule a time as soon as possible with as much discretion as you can. As career coach Hallie Crawford notes about a speedy news delivery, Letting the person know as soon as possible is a way to show that you respect him or her, and again,show your professionalism.Unless the news is very urgent, career experts suggest timing it for end of day when fewer people will be in the office. The overarching goal with any advice on how to give bad news compassionately is to preserve the dignity of the recipient as much as possible. That means no babying them with overly polite small talk. It means treating them as a professional and telling them straight up what s wrong.

Americans spend 22% of monthly income treating themselves

Americans spend 22% of monthly income treating themselvesAmericans spend 22% of monthly income treating themselvesTreating ourselves to a nice dinner or a fun concert may help us feel good, but it can come at a high cost. A recent survey of 2,000 Americans by Eventbrite and research company OnePoll found that we spend about $199 a month, or 22% of our disposable income, on non-essential items for ourselves.All those pedicures, massages, and nice fancy treat yourself moments quickly add up to $2,388 a year.We would rather pay more for experiencesWe feel less guilty about paying a premium for once-in-a-lifetime experiences than for luxury retail items. Participants said they felt twice as guilty for spending money on material goods than for experiences, which may explain why Americans spent a high average of $368 on special one-time experiences.Lately, self-care has become a popular catchphrase that encompasses everything from self-esteem and self-improvement to material luxuries we us e to self-soothe our weary, worried brains. The business of self-care - all those wellness institutes, motivational speakers and self-help books promising to heal us physically, mentally, financially or spiritually - are clearly convincing us, or at least, our wallet. Self-care is estimated to be a $9.9 1000000000000 dollar industry. Its no wonder that we are tempted to spend more to attain a better self.After a long day at work, it is good to wind down and treat yourself kindly. Just remember to not get played by the expensive temptation of self-care. It is possible to make a self-care routine that feels extravagant without the price tag of extravagance.