10 Things You Should Never Say to a New Work Colleague...Ever

10 Things You Should Never Say to a New Work Colleague...Ever It would be lovely to think we could say anything and everything to our fellow desk slaves. But let’s get real: the modern office is a labyrinth, and even the best intentions go awry. Whatever your candidate is trying to express, be sure it’s not taken the wrong way. Give them this guide so they never say any of the following to a co-worker. 1. “What’s your salary?” Money is a difficult subject at the best of times. Asking a co-worker what they earn is risky on two fronts: the question may be taken as invasive, and the answer itself could cause trouble. After all, you’re unlikely to see someone the same way if you discover they’re paid double your own salary. Of course, there are occasions when asking a colleague what they’re paid may be acceptable. If they do the same job as you and you’re concerned about discrimination, knowing the difference between yours and another’s wages may be essential. In this case, frame your question as such, and make it clear that you will respect their decision should they wish to not share. You have no right to their financial details, just as they have none to yours. 2. “That’s not fair/not in my job description.” Come on, Negative Neil, pull your socks up. It’s a rare workplace where some people aren’t routinely landed with more work than others. Perhaps you’re a small workforce with a limited number of hands on deck. Or perhaps you’re simply the nearest mug to hand when something goes wrong. But if you do get asked to do something unusual or outside your remit, complaint isn’t the correct response. Let’s be real: life isn’t fair. Moaning about justice makes you look naïve, not hard-done-by. Besides, job descriptions are not contracts. Outside your core obligations, your employer can give you pretty much any task they want. If they’re asking you to do something illegal or morally dubious, that’s one thing. But loading the printer for the third time that week? Pipe down. If things get really out of hand, you can approach your manager privately and express any concerns about your workload. But don’t expect ‘it’s not fair’ to get you anywhere in the real world. 3. “Im so hungover.” You’re an adult. You go out. You sometimes consume alcohol. Yes, the office gets it. But making a point of these things is more likely to make you look stupid than ‘cool’ or ‘grown-up’. Fostering a reputation as the office party boy/girl may seem like a good idea until you realise that nobody cares, much less respects you for it. You’re at work to do a job, not to chat about the hottie who helped you to the tube because you were just so trashed yah. Do what you want with your free time. But leave it at the office door. 4. “How old are you?” Unless posited by an actual mate â€" which colleagues rarely are â€" nobody likes this question. In the workplace it carries especially negative implications, suggesting an attempt to measure yourself or your colleague against some age-based successometer. Avoid. 5. “Calm down.” What a minefield. First off, this statement is an imperative. It is a genuine order and, unless you are in a position to command the obedience of your interlocutor, you shouldn’t be using it. Secondly, it’s very patronising. Telling someone to ‘calm down’ heavily implies that they are wound up and you are not, that they are fraught and fragile when you are strong and stable, that they are incapable and you are pulled-together. Plus it’s no coincidence that it’s normally men directing such imperatives at women. Don’t do a Michael Winner. 6. “Your political opinion is wrong and here’s why.” Do you know what the dictionary definition of a bigot is? A person who is intolerant of those with different opinions to themselves. Don’t be the office dogmatist. If you want to voice your political opinions, do so quietly and with maximum empathy towards others, no matter where they sit on matters. Politics are always personal, forged by a person’s upbringing, education and natural disposition. If you can’t deal with someone else’s beliefs, feel free to quietly minimise contact with them. Don’t make a big deal of it. Don’t tell them they’re wrong. Just leave it. 7. “Are you pregnant/planning on having children?” Never appropriate and even, in an interview context, illegal. If a colleague wants people to know he/she is expecting, they’ll ensure you do. Otherwise, butt out. 8. “You look nice today.” (Or any other comment re:appearance.) Okay. It goes without saying that salacious observations are a massive no-no in the office. In fact, it’s best to avoid talking in any way about a colleague’s physicality. This includes offering ‘diet tips’ or supplying compliments that overstep the mark (e.g. “I like those tight jeans on you!”). But what about the common-or-garden ‘you look nice today’? Yes, I know. It’s just a compliment! Don’t people like compliments? The answer is, yes and no. While ‘you look nice today’ may sound (and be intended as) innocent, it still has the potential to make a colleague feel uncomfortable. Firstly, this statement is much more likely to be directed at a female colleague than a male. Workplace sexism rule no. 1: If you wouldn’t say it to a man then you shouldn’t say it to a woman â€" and vice versa. Ergo, problems. Secondly, if the person in question has made a particular effort that day with their appearance, you run the risk of implying that their normal look â€" sans additional mirror time â€" is unworthy of comment. When surveys show that the average woman already feels obliged to spend almost an hour a day on makeup, the double standard becomes clear. Finally, we all know that by ‘nice’ you actually mean ‘attractive’. Would you tell a work colleague they looked attractive first thing in the morning? Should you really use a person’s level of sex appeal as an icebreaker? Probably not. The solution? Generally speaking, you’re better off complimenting objects over people. If someone is wearing an interesting skirt, say: “That’s a nice skirt!” If somebody has their hair arranged in a new way, say: “Your hair looks great!” Et cetera. Oh, and never tell somebody they look tired. Just… don’t. 9. “My boyfriend and I argued yesterday and…” Stress is contagious. Apart from the fact that your personal life is personal for a reason, everybody has sources of strain in their life. Those people you’re moaning about your landlord to? They’ve got their own problems. Don’t lump them with yours too. 10. “She’s such a… He’s so…” and similar gossip. Lumping yourself in with the office gossips â€" even when everyone else is doing it is never wise. Not only might your words come back to haunt you when they’re inevitably relayed to the person in question, but mean hearsay will cause others to distrust you. Nobody wants to be friends with a back-stabber. Be courteous, be kind and say nothing about anyone that you wouldn’t say to their face. About the author: Susanna Quirke is a career advice writer and editor of the Inspiring Interns blog.

The Dog Ate My Homework and Other Lame Excuses

The Dog Ate My Homework and Other Lame Excuses Hes not feeling that great either I never told a teacher that the dog ate my homework in grade school. It would not have worked for me because a.) I usually had my homework done and b.) we did not have a dog. But somewhere along the line, it must have been used by some enterprising student who felt safe because the dog wouldn’t talk. Because of loyalty, of course, and because…dog lips. The adult equivalent of the dog ate my homework is food poisoning. As a manager, I’d heard this excuse or its euphemistic alter ego “It must have been something I ate” dozens of times over the years, but I never thought to question it until I read Sarah Todd’s piece on Quartz titled “Why You Should Never Tell The Boss You Have Food Poisoning.” Todd makes a compelling case for why food poisoning is the most lame yet effective call in excuse ever. She writes: “Food poisoning… is an excuse that is wildly overused, suggesting an ominous world in which the average diner must be under near-constant attack from armies of raw chicken and bombardments of unwashed lettuce leaves. It’s a perennial favorite on message boards where workers swap tips about what to tell their bosses to  take advantage of sunny days  or otherwise  skip out on the office, and CNBC has even gone so far as to  recommend it as an apropos summertime excuse: “There are a lot of festivals, picnics, work events, county fairs, state fairs and other events where people eat all kinds of crazy things, so your chances of getting food poisoning probably go up in the summer,” it noted in a piece from 2012.” While food poisoning happens  US Centers for Disease Control  estimates  that 48 million Americans come down with a foodborne illness each year it’s also conveniently gross enough that no one wants the details. Todd writes: “There are several reasons people tend to fall back on food poisoning as an explanation: Real food poisoning often requires that you spend much of your day lying on the bathroom floor by the toilet, which is exactly what you’d be doing if you were, say, wretchedly hungover. It comes upon you suddenly and without warning, so there’s no problem if you came to work appearing perfectly healthy the day before, only to get unexpectedly dumped that evening, requiring a mandatory day of crying in bed. It’s flexible. You can recover from food poisoning in a one-day period, should you just be ducking out for a quick day at the beach, but it’s also believable that it could stretch on for another 24 hours.” Plus, it’s gross. Everyone sympathizes, but no one believes you, according to Todd and her colleague at Quartz, who she quotes as saying: “At this point, I read ‘food poisoning’ as a polite way to say, ‘I’d rather not say’ or ‘I’m playing hooky.” For the record, I have had food poisoning (once, over 30 years ago) and it is a miserable experience. You’re equally afraid you might die and you might have to live through it. Worst 24 hours ever. But next time you need a mental health day, say the dog ate your motivation. And it gave him an upset stomach. He’ll never tell.

The Generation Game at Work

The Generation Game at Work We are living longer and retiring later, and this means up to five generations of employees may be working together at any one time. With employees often working well beyond 70, as school leavers join the workforce, companies have a striking challenge managing a multi-generation workforce with very different characteristics. It is changing the way we work. Older workers are adapting to their technological challenges while workers just entering the workplace must adjust to how things are done by their older co-workers. A survey by the Office for National Statistics cites the main challenges in managing a multigenerational workforce as: Different communication styles Expectations of in-office work and flexible working Balancing the needs for new ideas against maintaining the status quo Managing expectations for speedy promotions Negative generational stereotypes Company culture clashes How we communicate is a key issue: meetings are more popular with older employees than younger ones who, you won’t be surprised to learn, prefer to communicate electronically either using email or chat platforms. What motivates different generations: Baby boomers (1946-1964) want health insurance, a boss they respect and a decent salary Generation X (1965-1980) value salary, job security alongside job challenges and are self-sufficient Generation Y (1981-1996) known as millennials put equal value on remuneration and job security but also want to pursue their passions and need regular feedback Generation Z (1997-present) also value salary, but pursuing their passions is preferred over job security, they also want plenty of feedback It can be useful for HR to get a handle on the demographics within the organization. Use data and analytics to gauge insight from employees, to understand how your workforce is made up, and identify trends within the groups. Those of different generations and at different stages of life want different things from their careers. If you can take an employee-centered approach and accommodate employees where possible, it will pay dividends. A focus on results rather than the process will allow the organization to make changes to suit an employee’s preferences, so they deliver better results be flexible around the needs of different generations. Don’t be misled by lazy stereotyping, lots of older workers cope very happily with technology and younger are keen to contribute. On a cautionary note, the CIPD report that their research found diversity within each generation as significant as across generations. We all bring unique strengths to work. Share and collaborate Bear in mind that mixed-age teams allow older employees to play off their long experience and share knowledge with younger workers, enabling the institutional knowledge transfer that can help in bringing millennials up to speed. Feedback is a key issue. Older generation workers are used to structured feedback, for example through formal annual appraisals; while younger workers tend to prefer ongoing regular feedback which is developmental and aimed at real-time learning, rather formal performance appraisals. Managers need to evolve strategies to identify the strengths and abilities of each working generation while recognizing that each employee responds to different management styles, work environments, and motivational techniques differently and that affects overall performance. It is important that employers facilitate an organizational culture that recognizes employee values, provides relevant rewards and development opportunities while creating meaningful work that gives individuals a greater sense of engagement and satisfaction. At 10Eighty, we believe that building a culture which encourages collaborative working is crucial to good workforce planning. A multi-generational workplace benefits from diverse skills, learning styles and aspirations around career progress but it also involves a range of challenges for corporate leadership. We can all learn from each other and examining generational trends is a starting point in understanding others preferences and dealing with differences from a professional perspective.

Personal or Professional How to Balance Your Brand Online - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal or Professional How to Balance Your Brand Online - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career When building your personal brand, you’re constantly told to keep things on the professional side. People will respect you as a professional if you act like it. But between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and whatever other sites we’re on, it’s hard to create a balance between the personal and professional things we post online. The average Millennial employee is connected to 16 coworkers on Facebook. So, does that mean your Facebook can’t be so personal? Not necessarily. It does mean you have to watch what you post because your social media can affect your work. You need to consider how you act, what you wear, where you go, and who you interact with. All of these details play into your brand. Even though you mostly use social media to interact with friends and family, your profiles have become an extension of your personal brand. Considering this conflict, there are ways to balance the personal stuff with professional stuff on your social media profiles: Decide what you want to be known for This should always be the first step when it comes to your personal brand. Taking into account your profession, your goals, and your hobbies, make a list of the things that best define you. Now narrow the list down to the few most important items (some personal, and some professional). These are the things you should be writing about on Facebook and Twitter. Obviously, it’s OK to stray away from them at times, but you should largely focus on a few key topics that make you, you. Use the right social media platform at the right time It’s important to use the right site for the right posts. For example, LinkedIn should be completely professional. The site is for professional networking, so your posts should always be related to your career. Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, are more challenging to define. You have different audiences on both platforms, so consider the people who can see your profile before you post things. Don’t alienate your audience Your social media audience consists of friends, family members, co-workers, acquaintances, and more. You don’t want to post too much professional stuff or too much personal stuff. This is where most of the balancing comes into play. One suggestion for catering to all audiences is to post professional things during the day (when people are at work, and thinking professionally), and post personal things in the evening. However you manage it, try to keep it even between the two sides to your brand. Think, would I want my future boss to see this? No matter how you go about creating balance, don’t cop-out and create multiple accounts on the same social media platform. This makes things confusing for your friends, and leaves your brand seeming inconsistent. The things you wouldn’t want your coworkers to know about should probably not end up on the Internet at all anyway, so keeping them in mind when you post is a great way to keep yourself in check. Your online brand can be both personal and professional. If you manage to find the perfect balance, your brand will be stronger as a result. How do you balance your brand between the personal and professional? Author: Heather R. Huhman  is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder president of  Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for job search and human resources technologies. She is also the instructor of  Find Me A Job: How To Score A Job Before Your Friends, author of  Lies, Damned Lies Internships  (2011) and  #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle  (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for  numerous outlets.

8 Great Jobs for People Who Love Working with Their Hands - CareerMetis.com

8 Great Jobs for People Who Love Working with Their Hands Photo Credit â€" Pixabay.comAre you good with your hands? Are you looking to transition into a career where you can put your talents to good use and work with your hands all day every day??Here are some interesting career options for you to consider:1. CarpentryevalIf you are really good with your hands and you’re able to create beautiful pieces of furniture, or even doors and roofs, with your hands, then being a carpenter could be the career move you’ve been looking for all along.evalYou do not need to have any formal qualifications to become a carpenter, but you will need to learn the trade, and that means either learning on the job or via an apprenticeship in most cases, although some carpenters are completely self-taught.?The average pay for a carpenter in the USA is around $42,000, but the sheer amount of satisfaction you’ll gain from making something beautiful with your own two hands is much more important than that!2. ArtistIf you’re good with your hands and you’re a creative thinker, thenbecoming an artistis an obvious choice, but it isn’t one you should take lightly because it can be very difficult to make a living as an artist.?Still, if it’s your dream, you might regret not taking the plunge and giving it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?3. Casino DealerWhat does this have to do with being good with your hands? I can hear you thinking.?Well, when you think about what a blackjack dealer does, it’s obvious. As acasino dealer, you have to very quickly and accurately deal cards or chips, and having good manual dexterity will certainly help you with this.?If you’re looking for a job that involves using your hands, and your brain ?Compensation is low at $20,040 on average, but the tips can be huge!4. ContractingIf you’re good with your hands, a career in contracting could be for you. The great thing about contracting is that there is a lot of variety in the work you can do.?Fromroofing jobsto landscape gardening, wherever your talents, and your interest lie, there is money to be made. You just have to work out where your skills would be put to best use.Contractor pay can vary significantly depending on role and position, but on average, contractors in this country make $97,000 annually.5. ChefevalevalGood with your hands? Enjoy cooking up delicious meals or baked goods? A career as a chef or baker could be on the horizon for you.? The great thing about working in the food industry is that, not only do you get to work very hands on, but you can be extremely creative, coming up with new dishes and decorating cakes in interesting new ways, too.If you’re wondering about the salary, chef’s make more than bakers on average, with each earning $41,500 and $25,00 per year on average, respectively.6. A StylistBeing a stylist, whether you’re cutting people’s hair or doing makeup, requires a certain level of manual dexterity and the kind of artistic flair that people who are good with their hands tend to have .?Again, a career as a stylist allows you to get hands on and be very creative, which makes it a good choice for artistic types who also like people and who desire a steady income.?As a stylist, you can expect to earn around $24,000 per year, but remember that doesn’t include tips!7. MasseuseYou can’t get much more hands on than administering massage therapy to stressed out and injured individuals.?So, if you have magic fingers and you’re willing to qualify as a massage therapist, which usually takes around 500 hours of study and hands-on experience to achieve, why not give it a go??Helping people with your hands can be a very rewarding career, and you could earn around $38,040 annually.8. Interpreter for the DeafevalOkay, so this is a bit left-field, butinterpreting for the deaf, certainly does require you to use your hands and there are few careers I can think of that would be more rewarding than helping deaf and non-deaf people communicate clearly with each other.?The only downsides of such a position could be that roles are few and far between, and you will need a bachelor’s degree to apply for a position, but the salary isn’t bad at $44,190 on average, so it’s certainly worth considering.Do you work with your hands? Which career have you chosen?

98 Glen Carlson - Key Person of Influence - Jane Jackson Career

98 Glen Carlson - Key Person of Influence - Jane Jackson Career Being great at what you do is not enough its the influence that matters Glen Carlson  3 years ago I attended a 40-week business Key Person of Influence incubator program and met a charismatic man with huge entrepreneurial spirit. With the help of this program, I’ve grown my coaching practice, published a best-selling book, Navigating Career Crossroads, and had a lot of fun along the way! So, who is behind this successful program?Glen Carlson is the co-founder Dent Global, together with fellow entrepreneur, Daniel Priestley. They are best known for the award-winning ‘Key Person of Influence’ program, acknowledged by INC.com as “One of the top personal branding conferences in the world”.The media call Glen a ‘small business expert’ but he says he’s really just standing on the shoulders of giants.Between Dent Global’s program mentors and 2000+ alumni across the UK, USA, Singapore and Australia he gets to see first hand what’s working and what’s not from the risin g stars of business.Glen and Dent Global now have 40 full-time team members in 12 time zones.In 2014 they became the 9th fastest growing company in Australia, and in 2015 they were awarded the ‘Investors in People’ award in London.And have recently launched their new Podcast called … The Dent Podcast!In this episode we talk about Glens career journey, what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, the Key Person of Influence Program, and the 5 Ps for success in business: Pitch, Publish, Product, Profile and Partnerships. Find out exactly what it takes to be a true entrepreneur.  Enjoy Glens energy and enthusiasm for all things entrepreneurial and be inspired to become a Key Person of Influence!SPECIAL OFFER:Take the Influence Test to find out how influential you are in your industry/business and receive a 30 page report from Dent Global.  Where to find Glen:Website:  www.dent.globalTwitter: @glencarlson

Resume Writing Service Reviews

Resume Writing Service ReviewsWhen you are choosing a resume writing service to use, it is important to take the time to do a resume writing service review. This will help you avoid wasting your time and money by using someone who has been through the process before and can guarantee that they will produce the best product. In order to get a feel for the quality of the work that is being done, you need to see what else is available for hire that is similar to what is being offered.Resume writing service reviews also show you how long the business has been in business. It is important to know that there are some established companies that have been around for years, but this does not mean that they are any better than those that are new to the business. There are some companies that have been around for a couple of years and others that have only been around for a year or less. No matter how long a company has been in business, you should be able to find reviews that can give you a go od idea about their success.What type of experience does the company offer with the products that they are offering? Most resume writing services use the same kinds of products. If you find that the writer is offering products that you like and are familiar with, then you can be sure that the writer will be able to produce the best quality product for you.You need to make sure that the writer is selling products that they believe in. There are some writers that come into the business and they want to get paid for getting sales for their products. You need to be able to feel confident in the product that you will be receiving and that the writer believes in. Many businesses sell products that are ineffective or that don't work as well as others do.The next thing that you need to look at when you are doing a resume writing service review is the time that is spent on producing the service. Many writers spend the majority of their time simply on creating their resumes. In order to get t he most out of your resume writing service, you need to find a writer that is going to spend the time that it takes to make you a professional. For example, if a writer focuses on only their resume, you are going to want to find a writer that is going to spend the time to write the resume for you.A resume writing service review will give you information about how long the writers took to complete the project, how many times they finished and the overall quality of the project. When you are working with a resume writing service, you need to be sure that you are happy with the work that you receive. Make sure that you are satisfied with the result of the work that you are receiving from the writer.Using a resume writing service is something that you can do yourself. You don't have to rely on the writer that is being hired to complete the job for you. You can still provide a resume that will work for you and the writer can follow the guidelines that you provide them with as to what you want in your resume.Using a resume writing service can be beneficial to anyone. However, it is important to make sure that you are getting value for your money by hiring a professional writer. Make sure that you get the best possible result from your resume writing service and take the time to find one that will be worth working with.