Follow your passion. Or NOT. Laurie Ruettimann

Follow your passion. Or… NOT. Laurie Ruettimann Laurie Ruettimann is The Cynical Girl (I thought she was the cynical HR girl).  She always tells it like it is, without any sugar coating.  Read this post: Passion doesn’t always mean profession. I agree that you should, to some degree, want to like what you do for a living, but the idea of simply following your passion and making a living off of that I think its a bit too Pollyanna for most people. Thoughts? Follow your passion. Or… NOT. Laurie Ruettimann Laurie Ruettimann is The Cynical Girl (I thought she was the cynical HR girl).  She always tells it like it is, without any sugar coating.  Read this post: Passion doesn’t always mean profession. I agree that you should, to some degree, want to like what you do for a living, but the idea of simply following your passion and making a living off of that I think its a bit too Pollyanna for most people. Thoughts? Follow your passion. Or… NOT. Laurie Ruettimann Laurie Ruettimann is The Cynical Girl (I thought she was the cynical HR girl).  She always tells it like it is, without any sugar coating.  Read this post: Passion doesn’t always mean profession. I agree that you should, to some degree, want to like what you do for a living, but the idea of simply following your passion and making a living off of that I think its a bit too Pollyanna for most people. Thoughts?

Resume Writing Sample Customer Service Resumes

Resume Writing Sample Customer Service ResumesIf you are a beginner at resume writing and you want to impress your prospective employer with your resume, then you should learn more about resume writing sample customer service resumes. Resume writing is a skill that is expected from every professional. You can develop this skill over time, but you will not be able to master all the skills required if you do not find a good resource to help you. So here are some examples of good resume writing samples that you may find useful.The first thing you should know about resume writing sample customer service resumes is that there are many different types of resumes. Each resume contains the same information, but each one is slightly different because the person writing the resume is writing for a different reason.You should be able to understand why a prospective employer would hire you as a customer service representative. A resume should include information such as your name, address, telep hone number, job title, work experience, education, certifications, awards, licenses, etc. Be sure to include all these things on your resume. Many potential employers will also require you to supply references that can attest to your credentials.Another thing you should do when it comes to resume writing sample customer service resumes is to check your spelling and grammar. Make sure that all the information provided on your resume is correct. If you have spent years in a business, then you know how important it is to provide truthful information on your resume. There is nothing worse than applying for a job and getting a final rejection letter because you could not write a good enough resume.Work experience is also a vital part of a resume. Most of the information on your resume should relate to your current position. For example, you should include dates of employment, location of employment, salary range, duties performed, and title of current position. If you have already start ed a new job, then you should mention this on your resume as well.Having worked in customer service can be a very beneficial profession. You can make good money and get to travel around the country meeting people and learning about different business needs.The best part about writing a resume that includes customer service oriented information is that you can be used for various positions. You can be an entry-level employee who has knowledge of the computer and can use it to your advantage. You can also go to a different department and work as a computer repair specialist or operations specialist.If you feel that you have what it takes to write good customer service resumes, then it is time to find a good resource for resume writing. It is better to find a writer that you can get along with than to hire someone who can not understand your needs and write a resume that is a waste of your time.

Mobile Computing A Business Womans Tool to Increased Productivity

Mobile Computing A Business Womans Tool to Increased Productivity Today’s modern business goes outside of the walls of an office or retail space. Today’s modern business goes outside of the walls of an office or retail space. Whether you’re in charge of a local hair salon or you currently run a freelance writing business, the need to be constantly in the know is imperative. Technology has changed the way we do business and if you’re not utilizing the various tools and platforms designed to improve workflow and productivity, you’re going to be left behind. Pleasing the Modern Consumer Do you remember when a customer who wanted to know about your products or services had to send you an email or leave a voice message and wait 3-5 business days to hear back from you? Well, busy divas, in this day and age, the modern customer waits for no one! Let’s say you run a salon and your customer wants to book a consultation for a hair salon. If they don’t hear back from you right away, chances are they’re going to move on to the salon up the street. You see, technology has in many ways altered the way consumers do business and their ability to be patient. With the touch of a button or the click of the mouse, customers have access to hundreds of businesses and services providers all promising to fulfill a need. Customers can now utilize apps to purchase products, and click on calendars to make an appointment, send an email, or do whatever they feel necessary. As a business owner, if you’re not prepared to handle the influx of consumers you’re going to lose business. Mobile Computing Solutions As you know a business opportunity or issue can occur at any time. You could be on your way out of the office and find out that a client needs you to complete an urgent task within the next few hours, or you could be on vacation and need to delegate important tasks to your staff…. Mobile computing solutions makes that possible. Mobile computing is defined as the use of mobile technologies to conduct business. Whats great about these solutions is that it is increasingly easy to bring your own device.  Smartphones, laptops, notebooks, and even tablets can be used to do an array of tasks whether youre in the office or not. Those who benefit from  In fact, mobile computing solutions allow business owners to: Make important business decisions timely â€" Business doesn’t stop because it’s after hours, and issues don’t conveniently wait until you’re ready to deal with them. Utilizing mobile solutions allows business owners to respond to emails, delegate tasks to staff, upload files for review, and execute matters in a timely fashion. Increase productivity in the workplace â€" With the many hats that you wear as a woman and as a business owner, time is never on your side. Utilizing various mobile technologies allows you to get things done in an instant. Whether it’s sending an important file to a client while attending your kid’s soccer game, or updating your company’s website while traveling out of town for an important business meeting, mobile technologies give you the extra support you need to get things done. Improve Customer Relations â€" Satisfying customers is ideally the objective behind your business. After all, a happy customer pays the bills right? Mobile technologies allow you to accommodate the needs of your customers in ways you couldn’t before. Return phone calls, schedule meetings, provide technical support, and whatever else you might need no matter when you need it. In this face paced world of business, it is only right that we as women be ready to take charge and stay one step ahead of the competition. Mobile computing is cost effective, fast, and convenient and can be used in the office, at home, or on the go for even the busiest career woman.

Emotional Intelligence Teamwork Lessons from Monkeys

Emotional Intelligence Teamwork Lessons from Monkeys Some interesting business lessons can be learned from the psychology of monkeys.   The video below explores how capuchin monkeys view teamwork and fairness, two fundamental skills to have in the workplace. Monkey Business Discoveries There are two fascinating conclusions the experiment demonstrates. Monkeys understand their cohabitants skills and abilities, as well as, when they may need to delegate their tools to solve a problem. Monkeys know whats fair, and would sooner starve then take an unfair reward for the same task completed. In some of the dog eat dog work environments we work in, this video can seem like a polar opposite of how business works in our world.   We all know that person who when given a rock, jar, and some hazelnuts, would leave us hanging despite the help we gave. It is common to see this in sales.   In my experience, the rare times someone called us with a sales lead, it was a fight to see who would claim the prospect.   There was no consideration for which Account Executive might have had the right kind of experience or knowledge to close the sale.   If a sale did close, the commission was narrowly centered on one person. Fairness and Our Emotional Intelligence The second conclusion from the study, has an even deeper meaning when you pair it with a study from the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm School of Economics. If even monkeys know when they are not being rewarded fairly, how much more do humans recognize it? Brain scientists took that question and explored it further with MRI data. Their study worked this way.   Take 35 subjects and tell them they are going to play a game with money.   One player is going to suggest to the other player how they will split a fixed sum of money, ie 50/50, 75/25, 90/10.   The second player now chooses whether they accept the offer and take the money, or to reject the offer and prevent either from receiving the reward. In roughly half the cases, when the second player was offered a smaller share, they rejected the suggestion, which really was COSTING THEM MONEY. But what does this have to do with Emotional Intelligence? While conducting the experiment researchers had this to say. Previous research has suggested that the area controlling the ability to analyze and make financial decisions is located in the prefrontal cortex and insula. Using fMRI, however, the researchers saw that the brain area controlling for fast financial decisions was actually located in the amygdala, an evolutionary old and therefore more primitive part of the brain that controls feelings of anger and fear. Thats right, the amygdala.   The key area of our brain that is involved with emotional intelligence. What does that mean for us? Think about it this way.   When was the last time you knew you werent treated fairly?   How did you feel?   Were you angry, upset, or sad?   How did it affect your work?   Were you distracted, did you want to treat them unfairly in return? Watching the monkeys, I was afraid the trainer would be attacked if he continued to give Virgil the darn biscuit.   If it were a human he was doing that to, I wouldnt have felt bad if there was some retaliation.   Again it goes to show, that having fairness in the workplace is crucial.   Understanding emotional triggers such as this, and preventing them will improve workplace productivity exponentially. How to Apply These Studies in the Workplace Take advantage of your teams unique skills and opportunities.   Its sometimes hard for us to give up the honor of completing the task ourselves or taking that finishing step.   The capuchins understood this though.   It wasnt about who completed the work, it was about how to complete it with the least amount of problems. Recognize your peers. Chances are most projects we work on touch many hands before theyre completed.   Show gratitude to the people behind the scenes.   Recognition is a valuable skill. Treat others fairly. We dont like to be on the receiving end of a bad deal, so why even create one for others?   The harm thats done is often invisible to others, but eats away at the subject inside emotionally.   Their decisions afterward are often a result of this unfairness. Your Turn How do you see fairness affecting the work around you?   Are these studies relevant? Image courtesy of pasukaru76

Using Canva To Layout Your Resume

Using Canva To Layout Your ResumeIf you've worked on your resume for a long time, then you may have forgotten some details that are so important to the presentation of your resume. Whether you've forgotten or not, using Canva to help you with your resume has been a very good idea.With Can't, it's easy to upload the cover letter and other types of information onto your resume. You can fill in the blanks with the right formatting, and that includes changing fonts and color schemes. The template is easy to customize, and you'll be able to access a lot of features that allow you to take advantage of the layout.Resume templates aren't the only thing that's changed with Canva. It's been upgraded to include basic resume features like page number buttons and links to different sections of your resume. It's also got a whole bunch of bullet points that are included in its layout. You can also choose to format each section of your resume with the best bullet points for your best benefit.Using C anva to format your resume is an excellent way to make sure that it looks professional. In addition to the web-based program, you can access Canva via your computer and use it online as well. There's no reason why you can't have a professional looking resume on your computer right now with Canva!In addition to its capabilities for resumes, Canva is also used for website designs. There are all kinds of online websites that can benefit from a professional looking Canva template. If you're working with a freelance designer, it's a good idea to have an official Canva template to use for your own website. It's very handy to have to use Can't design capabilities for sites like portfolios and websites.If you're still using Canva to layout your resume, there are many advantages to using Canva as well. A Canva template is affordable. It comes in a range of prices, but many designers find it helpful to use Canva to get started on their own design. You can find websites that offer free Canva t emplates, and you can also buy them on a subscription basis.Another good advantage of using Canva to layout your resume is that it allows you to customize it the way you want it. Whether you want to change the font, or change the color scheme, it's a very easy to do. This means that you can turn your resume into a personal style that you can use easily.Using Canva to layout your resume makes a lot of sense. You can take advantage of its great designs and features and still have your resume look professional. You can use canvas to create a beautiful layout and you can use it to get great results as well.

What is Your Promise of Value

What is Your Promise of Value What is Your Promise of Value? What is Your Promise of Value? April 20, 2010 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas Leave a Comment So, what is your promise of value? And is it the right promise of value? The answer really depends on your current career situation. Over the next couple of weeks I will explore suggestions for your Promise of Value in three different career scenarios. 1 â€" Employed and struggling in your current position. 2 â€" Employed, performing successfully in your current position and ready to move up the value chain. 3 â€" Ready to transition into a new role, company or industry. As always, I would love to hear your comments or personal experiences related to my posts.

Communication Habits That Make Candidates Appear Immature - CareerEnlightenment.com

Communication Habits That Make Candidates Appear Immature The difficult thing about experience is that it takes time to get. Coupled with a lack of experience, these communication cause employers have no choice but to consider you too immature for the position!The Challenge Facing Today’s Students and Recent GradsOne of the challenges facing many of today’s 20-something grads upon exiting school is that they are too young to have gathered much experience in the professional world. Did you ever ask yourself this question when you were that age: “How can I have experience if nobody is willing to employ me so I can get some experience?”As a result, many students address this shortcoming with a variety ways to build experience through internships, part-time jobs, volunteer experience, extra-curricular activities, and summer jobs. Activities such as these are critical to crafting a résumé that will secure an interview, but they are not an even exchange for years of full-time work experience.So the last thing a job seeker needs is to c ommunicate in a way that makes him or her sound too young to be a serious candidate to fill the employer’s opening.Communication Habits That Make Job Seekers Seem Immature1. Making every statement seem like a questionQuestions are good when you’re learning something new. Yet ask them too often and they become as annoying as a two-year old asking, “why,” to everything you say. Equally annoying is the relatively recent habit of ending statements with an up-note. Instead of saying, “I have two years of experience working with patients,” ending this statement on an up note makes it sound like, “I have two years of experience working with patients?” So the candidate sounds unsure and immature, which is not a winning combination to receive a job offer.The rule to follow is to make all your statements end on the same note as the body of the statement, or on a slightly down note if you want to emphasize something in a more declarative tone of voice. Questions, on the other h and, should always end on an up-note, so that your interviewer recognizes it as a question.2. Unbridled exuberanceYes, you do stand, high-five, and cheer when your team scores the go-ahead points, which is appropriate for being in-stadium or watching with friends at home.   High-fiving or exclaiming, “yeah baby!” is not appropriate at a job interview, no matter how much you might agree with something that is said.Here are four  other examples of youthfully exuberant communication that can mark you as too immature:Giggles and laughing. Ok for children, and maybe OK when you have the job and are socializing at a company party.   If something is really funny and the interviewer is laughing, then smile and chuckle.Overusing strong affirmative statements such as, “that’s fantastic!” or “sweet!” A total of one or two during an entire interview when appropriate is fine.Overuse of punctuation in your written communication can also mark you as immature!!! Got that???!!!Those li ttle smiley faces and 3. Constant use of vocalized gap fillersEven the most polished speaker occasionally uses an “ummm” or “uh” when answering questions. That’s to be expected. The problem arises when you use a vocalized gap-filler multiple times when answering your interviewer’s question. What happens is the interviewer starts counting your umms and uhs and stops listening to the content of your answers.4. TeenspeakListen to most teens speaking among their friends and you’ll quickly notice the words and phrases that teens say that aren’t heard in the workplace (unless it is, like, Rita’s Water Ice or, you know, California Pizza or places that employ mostly teens).  Like and you know have become emblematic of teenspeak, though there are other teenspeak  Google words teenagers love to use and you’re likely to find a list like this one from Netsanity. The problem with teenspeak is that it makes someone sound like a teen and not a serious candidate.5. TextspeakBeca use teen culture is overrun with texting, textspeak can easily creep into written communications. LOL, TBT, HAND, ICBW and similar abbreviations used in texting are great shortcuts for texting among friends. Your interviewer, recruiter, and representatives of the employer are not your friends.  Textspeak is never appropriate for written communications leading up to your hire.Bottom Line. Don’t reduce your chances of getting hired because your communication is deemed too immature by prospective supervisors, hiring managers, and HR.