Favorite Friday LinkedIn Recommendations

Favorite Friday LinkedIn Recommendations I recently got a comment on this post and it reminded me how good the post (and over 20 comments) was. November 20, 2009: LinkedIn Recommendation and Other Recommendations: SO WHAT??? The question I address in this post is: When you get a Recommendation on LinkedIn, what do you do with it? I think most people hardly do anything with it. And that should change. Click here to read what to do with your LinkedIn  Recommendations dont skip the comments Favorite Friday LinkedIn Recommendations I recently got a comment on this post and it reminded me how good the post (and over 20 comments) was. November 20, 2009: LinkedIn Recommendation and Other Recommendations: SO WHAT??? The question I address in this post is: When you get a Recommendation on LinkedIn, what do you do with it? I think most people hardly do anything with it. And that should change. Click here to read what to do with your LinkedIn  Recommendations dont skip the comments

Resume Advice in 140 Characters or Less

Resume Advice in 140 Characters or Less witter involves a rapid firing of advice, links, and tips which can be a bit overwhelming to any reader. As a job seeker, how can you decipher which people (tweets) to trust while narrowing your search for quality content on resume assistance? Start by plugging the hashtag #resume into the search box and voila = a wealth of top tips will be streaming right before you.   Watch for patterns (who posts on this topic regularly) and research these people or organizations.   Is the source reputable and long-standing and are they qualified in providing job search support (especially on resume writing)? To help you determine some of Twitter’s top #resume experts I have compiled a list of some of my favourite #resume advice in 140 characters or less â€" from the past few weeks (in no particular order):                     By no means is this list exhaustive, but it offers a good starting point  of professionals to follow to help you keep up with current resume trends.  Search for additional professionals using the hashtags  #resume,  #resumetips, or any of the other tags shown in the posts above.  I also post regularly on Twitter and invite you to follow me on the following two profiles: Resume Advice in 140 Characters or Less Twitter involves a rapid firing of advice, links, and tips which can be a bit overwhelming to any reader. As a job seeker, how can you decipher which people (tweets) to trust while narrowing your search for quality content on resume assistance? Start by plugging the hashtag #resume into the search box and voila = a wealth of top tips will be streaming right before you.   Watch for patterns (who posts on this topic regularly) and research these people or organizations.   Is the source reputable and long-standing and are they qualified in providing job search support (especially on resume writing)? To help you determine some of Twitter’s top #resume experts I have compiled a list of some of my favourite #resume advice in 140 characters or less â€" from the past few weeks (in no particular order):                     By no means is this list exhaustive, but it offers a good starting point  of professionals to follow to help you keep up with current resume trends.  Search for additional professionals using the hashtags  #resume,  #resumetips, or any of the other tags shown in the posts above.  I also post regularly on Twitter and invite you to follow me on the following two profiles:

Good grammar might derail your career

Good grammar might derail your career I love grammar. I can remember in sixth grade when we spent weeks parsing sentences. There was a moment of self-awareness when I thought to myself, If I let anyone see how much I like this, Ill never get invited to good parties. So I know I love grammar and I know its not normal. My first real corporate job came right after I went to graduate school for English. The job I landed was managing content for Ingram Micros web site. The experience I had was HTMLI turned my masters thesis into HTML before anyone knew what HTML was. So the head of copy writing had to teach me the AP Stylebook. I was the only person in the department who had gone to graduate school for English. I was the only person who had been published in literary journals. But when it came to grammar, there is a whole book of rules I had to learn so I could write in the Fortune 500. An example (which, by the way, is e.g., not i.e.): Follow up is two words if its a noun: Im doing a follow up. But its hyphenated if its an adjective: Follow-up meeting. But when I say I love grammar, that is not what interests me. Im interested in how we naturally know grammar because we naturally speak in sentences with good rhythm. I will spend an extra hour editing a blog post by reading it out loud and hearing in my cadence where a preposition is wrong. This is all to tell you that I think we need to stop judging people by their grammar. We should judge people by their ideas, their creativity, their enthusiasm. None of this naturally comes at the heels of good grammar. (Please note that I am not talking about typos, even though I do think you should largely ignore them. Writing without typos is outdated. Its impossible to proofread your own work, and it is not financially viable to produce typo-free copyif it made financial sense, the newspaper industry would be booming. But instead, the riddled-with-typos blogging industry is booming.) What good grammar reveals is what sort of education you had. The more conventional and well-funded your education was, the better your grammar will be. And this is largely how people use grammarto make snobbish judgments. Heres a great example of someone doing just that. The person who wrote the post says that if you dont know grammar rules, youre stupid. Its snobbish because its a set of rules that are not actually that useful. Yes, there are some grammar rules that, should you violate them, completely change the meaning of your sentence. However these situations are so rare that they are actually interesting, and even created a bestselling book: Eats, Shoots Leaves. Most grammar rules dont matter, though. That is, if you get them wrong, the reader still can find the meaning. For example, few people know when to use effect and when to use affect. But it doesnt matter because the first is a noun and the second is a verb so the likelihood youll mistake the meaning of a sentence because of a grammar error in this case is extremely low. Heres another example: Find me a sentence with the wrong version of its that you cant understand due to the error. Wait. No. Forget it. Because you cant. So a lot of grammar does not clarify meaning, it just serves to show you are good at grammar. But why is being good at grammar more important than, say, having good social skills? It shouldnt be. People get hired and fired for getting along with people. Not for knowing when to use lay and when to use lie. The irony is that most people who are great at the rules and details of grammar do not have great social skills its just how the brain works. Why do we need to spend our brain power learning the rules of grammar if it is not interesting to us? Why not focus on what we like? Really, if each company is hiring a range of personality types with a range of talents, then only twenty percent will be interested in the philosophy of grammar, and only twenty percent will be good at memorizing rules. Do you think Im nuts? Heres whats on Googles home page on May 16, 2009: Over 28,000 children drew doodles for our homepage. Vote for the one that will appear here! Test yourself: Can you find the two grammar errors? The AP Stylebook says over is a way to movea preposition. And more than must precede a number. Also, if you are voting for one, specific doodle, then the AP Stylebook tells you to use which rather than that. But look, there is no page in the universe that gets more traffic than the Google home page. So you can bet someone who knows grammar knowingly violated AP Stylebook rules. Anyway, if Google is deciding that these rules are no longer useful guidelines, then we can all follow suit. And if you dont, you risk being more newspaper and less Internet, and we know where thats going to put your career

Want to Be More Productive Try out Luxafor

Want to Be More Productive Try out Luxafor Photo courtesy Luxafor.com Millennials are beginning to dominate the workplace, and they are flexing their design muscles to help themselves become more productive. It’s no secret that this hyper connected, multitasking generation needs some help to stay focused on the job, especially in an open design office where there are no doors to close for privacy or quiet. I write recently in my column about do not disturb signs for computers. A company called Luxafor, a company based in Latvia, reached out with information about their LED signal for your workstation that offers digital features an analog sign doesn’t. In their own words, “Luxafor is a productivity gadget that lets you stay focused on your tasks. With the help of built-in LEDs, it uses light to show your colleagues when you’re hard at work and can’t be disturbed, provides alerts about all manner of notifications at the speed of light, helps you effectively plan your day with features like the timer or Pomodoro, and even lets you track the quality of your work with productivity app integrations.” Luxafor cites studies that say workers lose an average of 86 minutes a day of productivity due to office distractions. Luxafor offers both an attached signal flag model and a detached standalone Bluetooth model that offers green and red signals to indicate whether you’re open to being approached or busy on an important project. You can also customize color signals for any other message you’d like to indicate. The detached bluetooth model can be used for other purposes as well outside a meeting room to indicate whether it’s vacant or in use, for example. The software can also alert you to emails, meeting invitations, and other incoming notices. The tools work with free downloadable software that is open source so you can integrate it with other productivity apps. It already offers Pomodoro productivity features and ways to schedule work and break periods to fit your own preferred working modes. The  Pomodoro Technique  is a  time management  method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s.  The technique uses a  timer  to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. These intervals are named  pomodoros, the plural in English of the  Italian  word  pomodoro  (tomato), after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used as a university student. At less than $30 (the company will also quote on bulk orders), the Luxafor signals are a cost-effective way to increase your personal productivity. Find more at Luxafor.com.

What Cashier Resume Entails

What Cashier Resume EntailsCashier resume is something that most new employees do not think about much until they start to get a lot of questions about it. You have to remember that this position requires you to be a computer whiz, but just like any other job, it does not mean that you are automatically qualified for the job. If you want to know how to write a cashier resume, then you have to learn the basic skills and knowledge.The biggest advantage of this position is that you are expected to work as a sort of assistant to the customer; therefore, it's the role of the cashier to keep him satisfied with his product or service. This is one of the things that makes cashier resume very important. For those who want to make the most out of the position, writing a great resume that shows you are dependable and will always be there for the customer is what they should look for. Asking people about their experiences might also help you in your decision.Cashier resume can be created in a nu mber of ways. You can use a basic template and modify it with the information that you learned. However, some people prefer to create a cashier resume on their own.First, they should understand the basic idea of the resume. In particular, they should know the format of this document so that they don't end up making it too long. They should also know what kind of style they want to go for.Another important aspect is knowing what should be on the cover letter. There are different types of cover letters. However, they are most commonly about showing how the person was impressed by the cashier's efficiency and confidence level.For the main aim of the document, you should include a good objective. You should state your purpose in writing the document clearly and briefly. Also, when you are interviewing people, you have to prepare the documents so that the employer will remember it easily.Cashier resume can also be edited for time constraints. People often ask their friends and family mem bers for samples. If they're really good at what they do, you can give them the samples and have them edit them to your liking. Of course, you should also be able to revise the resume if needed.Cashier resume is the first step in getting the job. While you are still starting your career as a cashier, it is always better to be sure that you're ready.

You Truly Matter In This World, But Do You Realize It - Kathy Caprino

You Truly Matter In This World, But Do You Realize It Something REALLY powerful emerged today in my Amazing Career Project course. It was a discussion prompted by one of the members about Do I really matter? Wowthis is such a critical question that so many people, either consciously or subconsciously, grapple with. And Ive witnessed that because they doubt whether they matter in this world and question that anything they do is important or consequential enough theyre held them back from accessing the bravery, commitment and strength to do whats necessary to move forward to build a happier life and career. And not understanding that they matter makes people erect an incredibly high bar to jump over, in order to feel theyre worth anything. Questioning if we matter also stops us from thinking we have the right to claim a more joyful, meaningful life because we doubt if were worth it and if anything we do can ever make a real difference. Id love to share my take on Do you matter? I believe this: Everyone and everything on this planet matters. Every creature, being, and soul matters. It doesnt depend on how much you earn, what accomplishments youve made, how beautiful or powerful you are, or the size of your house. You matter. Have you ever been kind to someone who was down and depressed? You matter. Have you ever helped someone who was vulnerable and afraid? You matter. Have you ever taught someone a skill or shared an idea that helped them? You matter. Have you ever expressed love or compassion? You matter. Have you ever asked a question in a way that added to the conversation? You matter. Have you ever challenged something that needed challenging? You matter. Have you ever made a mistake that helped someone learn? You matter. Have you ever said STOP! and paved the way for others to say NO! to what was damaging and hurtful to them?  You matter. Have you ever been a guide, mentor or helper to someone who was all alone and needed guidance? You matter. You matter, because you are doing your best every day in this life thats full of bumps, bruises and challenges, and no matter how many times you fall down and fail, you still impact the world around you by your very existence and your strength to keep moving forward. In our class today, I offered a week-long exercise that I believe will help us understand just how much we matter. But as often happens, one of the course members offered an improvement on what was given. Heres the improved version: For the next week, every single night, take 5 minutes and write down just one thing that you did, that made a difference, even if its the tiniest difference. One kind word, gesture, idea, or conversation where you offered something. One smile that you offered someone, one helping hand. One question that   shared a new perspective. And if youre game, also write down: 1 thing youre grateful for 1 positive experience from the last 24 hours Write these down and spend only 5 minutes, and in one week, look back at all the ways youve mattered and made a difference, no matter how big or small. I think youll be amazed at the impact youve had but never knew. In talking about this with my course members, I recalled an experience that was unforgettable. We were at my beloved dads funeral, and so many people came out to tell us just how dad had made a beautiful difference in their lives the funny, wonderful things he did that touched them in a way theyd never forget. I was so moved and grateful for their kind sharing, but I couldnt help but feel so sad that in many of these cases, my father never knew the Impact he had. You matter, and so do so many people in your life today. Lets not wait until someone dies for you to tell them how theyve mattered to you.Tell them now, today. A course member also shared this beautiful quote from the   19th century Rabbi  Simcha Bunim of Peshischa: Everyone should have two pockets, each containing a slip of paper. On one should be written: I am but dust and ashes, and  on the other: The world was created for me. From time to time we must reach into one pocket, or the other. The secret of living comes from knowing when to reach into each. What this brings up for me is the question of how to effectively and positively balance the feeling that we matter with the feeling of humility and impermanence that comes with human life. I offer a simple solution understand and embrace both, each and every day. Theyre not mutually exclusively. We are, as physical beings, fleeting and impermanent. But we are also so much more than that. We matter in a lasting way because each word and each deed and action we put out into the world has huge ripple effects that extend very far, even into eternity. I hope youll embrace the realization that you do indeed matter, and take action in your life that honors that fact. And I hope you know that you matter to me. Sending brave love to you, Kathy For help to understand just how much you matter, and to build a more joyful life leveraging who you are, join me in the next session of my 16-week Amazing Career Project course.

7 Tips for Building and Establishing a Good Workplace Culture

7 Tips for Building and Establishing a Good Workplace Culture Workplace culture is becoming increasingly important for attracting and keeping top tier employees. These are the key members of staff that you are going to want to hold onto, rather than losing them to rival companies. But how do you create that workplace culture that will attract the best? Here are seven tips to get you started. 1. Ask and listen First of all, start listening more to the team that you already have. What do they like about working in your company? What do they dislike? Encourage them to be open and honest, and allow them the chance to submit their thoughts anonymously if they prefer. A pattern may begin to emerge. Be mindful of the company culture you’d like to create, rather than just giving in to demands: if you’re hearing things that don’t gel with your ideals, then you might need to prune your current staff. 2. Create rewards One of the most important things an employee wants to know is what they are going to get out of working for you, particularly if they are working hard. Will they get bonuses? A company retreat? Gifts from the CEO? Extra time off? Find out what makes your people tick, and then give them a reward to work for â€" you’ll be surprised at how much better performance can be with an objective to work towards. 3. Clean it up A cluttered workspace or furniture old enough to be considered retro is not usually a sign of a good workplace culture. When was the last time you really cleaned up the office? Get rid of as much clutter as you can: old files, old furniture, things that no one is using. You can either sell them, scrap them, or put them in storage. It doesn’t have to cost the earth â€" you can easily find cheap storage on sharing sites. 4. Remodel and renew Now that the office is tidier, it’s time think about where people sit â€" and what they’re sitting on. Maybe you need to reorganise the desks, putting teams together in more cohesive ways. Maybe you should create standing desk areas, private workspaces, or even a soundproof call booth. Get new furniture which is both stylish and ergonomic, and suit your décor to your company values and branding. 5. Assess your staff Who do you have on board at the moment who isn’t adhering to the culture? If you’re trying to promote equality, tolerance, and forward-thinking, then that one employee who won’t stop making sexist ‘jokes’ might just have to go. Look at your team and bring them in for reviews to let them know their behaviour must change. If it doesn’t, replace them with someone who fits better. 6. Start hiring new Bringing in new staff can really help to build a new workplace culture. You can brief them during the interview stages on what your culture is (or will be) like, how you expect them to behave, and what they will get out of it all. When they arrive, they’ll already be in the right frame of mind. 7. Make it clear Finally, make your culture clear with signs, emails, code of conduct updates, and other clear signals that a change is happening. Your employees should get on board. It doesn’t have to be a set of rules: something as simple as a list of your company values could get them thinking. Building a culture is very much dependent on the people who are in it. Make sure that you have the right team, then give them the right environment â€" and watch them flourish. Emma Lewis is a loving mother, a devoted wife and a part of the team supporting Spacer â€" a company helping you find storage space in Sydney whenever you need it. Emma is also a staunch supporter of the sharing economy and often mentions its benefits.