What Happens When Your Soft Skills Kill Your Career?
I spend a lot of time listening to job seekers discuss their skills and accomplishments and expressing their concerns as to how those skills can help or hinder their job search and their careers. Unfortunately, not enough emphasis is put on soft skills, which are the most important ones. Soft skills are the non-measurable, subjective skills that are not specific to one’s role, industry, or their career. They typically speak to how well one interacts with others. They are essentially personality traits that help define one’s character, however, they do offer less proof of their experience.
Leadership: The Sharing of Wisdom
Should you ever visit Australia, a trip to Australia’s island state of Tasmania is a must. On the Tasman Peninsula, near the township of Eaglehawk Nest, is a rare geological formation known as the ‘Tessellated Pavement’. This is a compressed rock formation that over millions of years has been eroded into what seems like tiles that have been laid by the sea. You can read more about this at Tasmania National Parks.
Looking for a Federal Government Job? These 7 Tips Can Help!
The federal government is the country’s largest employer, with more than 2.7 million nonmilitary employees and as many as 90,000 new hires each year. On any given day, the government has as many as 10,000 job openings in areas as diverse as health care, law enforcement, engineering, tech support, and landscaping.
The Secret To Communicating With Millennials
“I think the problem is that these millennials just don’t care,” Sara shared with us candidly in a moment of total frustration.
We both looked at each other and then at her, “Uh…you do realize YOU are a millennial, right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she acknowledged, “but I’m a DIFFERENT kind of millennial.”
Of course she is, and so were the people who were frustrating her.
No matter what generation you’re in, we’d bet money you don’t feel like you fit the stereotype.
Enhance Your Meetings by Taking the Emotional Temperature of the Room
Have you ever felt a certain “temperature” in a room when you walk into a meeting? I’m not talking about whether the room is too hot or too cold, but the emotional temperature.
Discover the emotional temperature by making it easy for participants to state their feelings about the topic, process, or outcome. This knowledge gives you a productivity edge. Check out this example. It was a tiring meeting, but we knew it would be. The strategic planning discussion would set the future direction and tone for the organization.
Two Proven Approaches to Catching People Doing Things Right
During a session with a culture change client, the organization’s president had an epiphany: “For 30 years I thought my job was to manage processes and results. This culture change journey has helped me redefine my job – to manage people’s energy.”
Why Your Self-Esteem Is Tied to Your Negotiation Skills
Do you feel extreme discomfort, anxiety, and apprehension whenever you have to reach an agreement with others on contractual terms? You may not realize this, but low self-esteem might be damaging your deal-closing success rate. Your self-esteem is tied to your negotiation skills in a number of essential ways.
Writing a Motivational Letter for a Government Career
You know how to write a resume. But when it comes to a government sector, it’s not enough for paving your way for the dream job. A wisely structured personal statement aka motivational letter is that very detail you need to stand out from the crowd of other candidates.
The Importance of Data Protection in a Government Career
World Backup Day is celebrated annually on March 31st. It serves as a reminder to the importance of protecting your data to avoid the risk of losing private and sensitive information. As a government employee, taking precautions to protect both your personal and work-related data is crucial.
Problems to Solve – You Need a Holiday!
Imagine giving such a response to your boss when they offer you a promotion or to take the lead on a strategically significant project for your Government agency. Imagine saying “sure, I’ll get onto that as soon as I’ve had a vacation with my family!” Too often we fear that such a statement will lead to such a career changing offer going towards someone else. We fear that it sends the wrong message! Does it though? The simple answer is that it does not necessarily have to be sending a negative message and creative leaders most likely know this!
Why Is the US So Unhealthy?
Why is the U.S. only the 35th healthiest country in the world? Can our federal and state governments do anything about it?
Building Trust Through Behavioral Integrity
Cornell University professor Dr. Tony Simons’ powerful article, “The High Cost of Lost Trust,” appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 2002. In that piece, he described his team’s efforts to examine a specific hypothesis (“Employee commitment drives customer service”) in the US operations of a major hotel chain. They interviewed over 7,000 employees at nearly 80 properties and found that employee commitment drives customer service, but, most critically, a leader’s behavioral integrity drives that and more.
How to Write a Resume (When You Think You Have No Relevant Work Experience)
If you’re feeling unappreciated and underutilized in your current job, you’re not alone. According to the Conference Board, nearly half of all American workers report some degree of dissatisfaction at work, particularly in the areas of professional development, recognition, and promotion — all good reasons to consider changing employers or even industries.
Fire Up Your Conversations: When to Communicate Electronically or by Voice
Imagine a fireplace blazing on a cold winter’s day. It could be a gas fireplace, like mine, or a wood fireplace like my friend’s. While both fireplaces warm the room, the experience feels different depending on the fireplace. (Many would say there’s no substitute for a “real” fireplace.)
3 Hiring Trends to Be Aware of During Your Job Search
Employers are always looking for new ways to streamline their hiring process and attract the top talent. For this reason, you need to keep on top of the latest trends during your job search, to ensure you’re ticking all the right boxes and to stand out from the competition.
Information Governance Insights: Don’t Move Junk Into a New House
Most organizations have been using Microsoft’s Exchange in the Cloud for quite some time and many of them have bought into Office 365 for the price point alone. A recent trend is to fully adopt the Office 365 environment, scale back the traditional on-premise server farms and move everything to the Cloud as part of an overall digital transformation of the workplace. This is a noble endeavor, but invariably there are issues mainly around what to do with all the “valuable” stuff people are hoarding in their personal files. Can we all agree that we all have our secret stash in our network shares that we don’t want to give up?
Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Health Care
Artificial Intelligence will help develop new cures, but to solve access and cost issues in U.S. health care, we will need new policies at the federal and state government level. Billions of dollars are being invested annually in artificial intelligence (AI), by large health care insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and venture capitalists.
10 Expert Tips for How to Attract Recruiters on LinkedIn
The digital age has transformed recruitment – and LinkedIn has been at the forefront of this transformation for the last 17 years. An online platform integral for career progression, LinkedIn is the best way to showcase candidate attributes, experience, and professional acumen to recruiters the world over.