What are your tips for working from home?

By on February 11, 2018   /   Career Skills   /   Leave a comment

Hi all

This time I’d like to ask you for your tips!

I am researching my forthcoming book ‘Professional in Pyjamas: 101 Tips for working from home’ – and I would love to hear your tips!

According to Survey Monkey (who know about these things) this questionnaire will only take 5 minutes to complete.

So if you would like to be (almost) famous and be included in the book, have a tip to share about working from home or just have 5 minutes to kill – it would be great if you could share your thoughts with me in this survey.

Thanks in advance!

Karen

You can access here – Complete survey now

or here….

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6 Traits That Show Leadership Potential

By on February 4, 2018   /   Leadership   /   1 Comment
Being a team player is a common leadership trait

Being a team player is a trait of successful leaders

By Beth Leslie

Power. Prestige. A paycheque to make your head spin.

There are plenty of reasons many of us dream of becoming a leader in our field. But when we’re stuck way down the career ladder as the office dogsbody, that dream can seem impossible to achieve. After all, when your work is mostly menial or low-level, you don’t have any opportunity to demonstrate to your bosses that you would be a kick-ass leader, right?

Wrong. In reality, you don’t have to manage anybody or anything in order to dazzle your company with your leadership potential. That’s because all great leaders share some common traits which even the lowliest intern can cultivate and display.

Creativity

Great leadership is synonymous with innovation. Simply overseeing the status quo won’t cut it; good leaders should be constantly advocating for and implementing new strategies. That’s why having a creative mindset is so important: it confers the ability to think outside the box and see potential in new possibilities.

Junior employees can prove their creativity credentials by constantly critiquing their own work. Think about your daily tasks. What works? What doesn’t? How could you do things differently? What effect would a different way of doing things have?

Be mindful, however, that your critiquing doesn’t stray into outright criticism of your company’s current procedures. Share your ideas with your manager as a discussion point on which you want to solicit their advice, not a diatribe of everything wrong with the way your colleagues currently do their job.

Dedication

Success is rarely easy. Becoming a respected and venerated leader requires a lot of hard work, particularly when it comes to hard-slog tasks that are boring but essential to a project’s success. Plugging away at the start of your career doesn’t just help you cultivate the sort of habits that will be crucial in higher positions, it also builds you a reputation for diligence and conscientious.

This reputation is your key to higher positions. Colleagues and managers who notice your grafting are likely to give you glowing references. A company who sees you excel at your current tasks will feel confident about giving you more responsibility.

Confidence

Leaders have to be able to inspire others and carry a room. They have to know how to get people to invest – emotionally and financially – in their projects. Part of this comes from competence. But a great deal of it also comes from confidence. After all, if you don’t believe in yourself, why should anybody else believe in you?

Think about the ways you could project confidence in your current role. Do you speak up in meetings and team projects? Can you communicate clearly and articulately? Can you make and stick with decisions when called for? Are you able to throw yourself into a new task and face any challenges head-on?

If you’re currently more of the shy and retiring type, there are plenty of online and offline resources to help you find your voice. If you’re already comfortable pushing yourself forward, just be careful that you know the difference between projecting confidence and projecting arrogance. Confidence is not about assuming you know better than everyone else.

Self-Awareness

Have you ever had a boss who insisted everything they did was wonderful, all while the company was crashing down around their ears? If so, you’ll understand why self-awareness is one of the most important traits a leader can have.

Self-awareness is a form of emotional intelligence. It’s about being aware of your own biases and emotions, in order to analyse and control them. Make it a point of principle to be constantly evaluating yourself – and regularly ask friends, colleagues and managers to evaluate you too, to see if your internal assessment is on track.

Think about where your weaknesses lie, and how you can best combat or overcome them. At the same time, think about your strengths. Where can you shine? Where would it be most productive to concentrate your talents?

Accountability

Bad leaders blame everyone but themselves. Good leaders evaluate mistakes fairly and honestly, only use criticism in a way that is constructive, and understand that as the leader of the project the buck ultimately stops with them.

As a junior employee, accountability is equally important. When things go wrong, switch your focus from pointing fingers to finding solutions. At the same time, be quick and willing to own up to your own slip-ups and shortcomings. It’s not about self-flagellation – we all make mistakes – but establishing a reputation for honesty and integrity.

Hold up your hands to the problem, fix it, then move on.

Team Player

If you think leadership is about shining a spotlight on your own achievements, you’ve got it wrong. Great leaders are venerated by other people, sure, but they themselves devote most of their attention to valuing and promoting their subordinates and team-mates.

Leaders take time to communicate and empathize with other people because they understand that that is how you motivate teams into producing great results.

So the next time you have the opportunity to hog the limelight, considering making some room for the people who helped you to your success. Giving praise where it’s due isn’t just a way to make your co-workers like you – it also encourages your managers to think that a person who is so great at working in teams should be given the opportunity to lead them.

 

 

Beth Leslie is a career and lifestyle writer. She is also the editor of the Inspiring Interns blog, which gives graduate careers advice to career starters.

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10 Innovative Tips to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

By on January 28, 2018   /   Get the job you want   /   Leave a comment
A strong LinkedIn profile will get you noticed

A strong LinkedIn profile will get you noticed

By Abhyank Srinet

LinkedIn is a great platform for personal branding and a powerful tool for recruiters. Over 450 million professionals use it for job search, networking, lead generation and more. This can also be a great channel to grab that job you have been dreaming about. Being aware of some tips and tricks will help your job search.

  1. ACCEPT REQUESTS FROM STRANGERS TOO

LinkedIn after all is a professional social network. The more connections, the higher the chances you have of developing stronger relationships with people from your industry. With every acceptance, there is a ripple effect and you could be just one or two degree of connections away from your life career changing job. By not adding a stranger on LinkedIn, you are stopping the possibility of its happening. In the digital world, accepting requests from strangers will not only help you break geographical barriers, but also open up new opportunities. Vast network comes with varied skills and expertise. This is could be a great way to share, expand and develop your skillset.

Of course, there are a few things one should always check. For example, their network connections should be decent, profile photo, and genuine recommendations. As long as the request fills those key requirements, you should be safe to accept the invitation.

  1. KNOW YOUR WORTH USING LinkedIn SALARY

To help professionals worldwide, LinkedIn has a feature to view salary information which would help make better career decisions and optimize your earning potential. This feature is available to all site users, but the ones who are premium members have an option not to share their salary details.

Knowing how much your fellow colleagues from the same industry are being paid will paint a clearer picture of whether your salary needs to be negotiated further. The filter function will help you sort the information based on location, years of experience, education qualifications and so on. With this you can get answers to questions such as which city pays the highest, or which company has a better remuneration for your qualifications.

  1. PERSONALIZE YOUR PROFILE URL

A personalized URL gives a sense of familiarity. It makes it easier to remember whose profile you have viewed. It also enhances your personal brand and makes it easier to share the link in email signatures and your resume.

In this ever-competitive job market, one needs to have an eye for detail. So, it’s time to remove the gibberish towards the end and personalize your url for a professional outlook.

  1. SHOWCASE YOUR ATTRIBUTES

LinkedIn goes beyond being a prospecting and recruiting tool. It can also be an incredible inbound marketing tool. Just by adding skills, one can get 13x more views. Listing your skills will help recruiters understand why you could be the best fit for a certain job. You can use the Skills section to showcase your skill set.

Endorsement is another great feature LinkedIn has to offer where your recruiters can see how your connections see your attributes and can vouch for you. As recruiters have no way of knowing how good you are, multiple endorsements will help you gain their trust.

  1. RECOMMENDATIONS ARE A GREAT TOOL

“When you say something about yourself it’s bragging; when someone else say something about you, it’s proof!”

Recommendations is a feature that could influence a recruiter’s decision-making process. Most recruiters want to know see if your peers and bosses agree with what you’ve said about your work. They are interested in knowing who you are. They want to get a sense of what it would be like to work with you. This can also positively affect your search rankings in LinkedIn and chances of grabbing that job.

  1. WRITE A STUNNING SUMMARY

A great LinkedIn summary is essential. It provides your professional essence to readers, and if it intrigues them, they will keep reading. It sums up your professional history, and qualifications, tells the reader what you looking for in your career. Mention what skills you possess that will add value to others. Also mention what kind of work you are involved in, be it projects, professional achievements, or soft skills. This will help people a get multi-dimensional view of you.

Add appropriate words that recruiters from your industry can relate to. This, if written well, will give you an extra edge over others. Also remember only the first 220 characters are visible at once. So, the more robust your summary, the more you will get noticed.

  1. A PROFESSIONAL PHOTO FOR A PROFESSIONAL NETWORK

Your profile picture is one of the most important elements of your profile. It is likely to get your profile viewed 14 times more by others and help recruiters recognize you when they meet you in person. As for a job seeking candidate, this could be a great chance for you to make a good impression. Key to this is a professional photograph. It could go a long way in creating a good impression.

Here are some important pointers to keep in mind, before uploading a photo.

  • Your photo should resemble the way you look.
  • Around 60% of the picture should contain only the face. Your neck and a little of your shoulders should be seen.
  • A formal dress code is essential for a corporate role.
  • Be picky with the background. A bright colour for the background of the profile picture like red or orange works well.

Overall it should be professional. Also, make sure it’s only you in the photo, and does not include any ancillaries such as your pets, your parents and so on.

You have only 100 milliseconds to form an impression through it. So be sure that your picture invokes a feeling of trust and credibility.

  1. PERSONALIZE YOUR REQUESTS

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”

Another blunder people make is not personalizing request messages on LinkedIn. This can severely affect the number of LinkedIn connections you’ll be able to make. Those 300 characters can have a huge impact in your career and it’s not worth taking this chance.

Use this opportunity to say something relevant and build a strong relationship. If you are connecting with someone who you don’t know well, use this opportunity to remind them how you met or know them. Introducing yourself or just adding the context of your relationship leads to a stronger connection and better work relationships. This can go a long way in creating a stronger network and a great rapport with your connections.

  1. CHECK WHO’S VIEWED YOUR PROFILE

This feature shows in the last 90 days, who has viewed your profile. LinkedIn allows only up to 100 views a day, so use it wisely. When someone has viewed your profile, you will be added to that person’s ‘Who’s viewed your profile?’ list. This is a great a way to show someone that you’re interested to connect with them. This is one of the best ways to grab attention of recruiters during the job search process.

This way the recruiter has a higher chance of becoming familiar with your name and while shortlisting profiles, this can buy you extra attention for your application.

  1. POWER OF STATUS UPDATES

Status gives you the power to be remembered by your connections and to stand out from others and get noticed by recruiters looking for people like you. Using the status update, you can really accelerate your job search. Due to its positioning on a profile, a recruiter may read the status even before reading the summary.

A good status update will demonstrate your personality and show a recruiter how motivated and engaged you are towards your career. Considering, a single status update can occupy up to 80% of the feed screen this could be highly influential. The secret sauce of a good status is in sharing updates that appeal to your network and potential employers.

 

Following the above tips will definitely help you boost your LinkedIn profile a few notches higher. If you need some more hacks to polish your LinkedIn profile further, visit ‘Top 33 Linkedin Profile Tips for Job Seekers In 2017’ to check out an in depth checklist, following which your LinkedIn profile would be ready to shine!

 

Good Luck!

 

Abhyank Srinet is the founder of MIM-Essay. He is a passionate Digital Marketer, Business Developer and Entrepreneur and lives in Paris, France.

 

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Career Chat: The importance of working in teams

By on January 21, 2018   /   Career Skills   /   1 Comment

Let’s chat about the importance of working in teams

by Karen Adamedes

There’s an old proverb, ‘sticks in a bundle are unbreakable’ which I think relates strongly to the benefits of teams for both a business and the people in a team.

How you work in a team is also important for your career. Ally was a highly successful sales person, used to working on her own, but found that it was not until she learned to work well with others her career took off. Now in a sales management role she said, “It was hard learning to trust that other people would pull their weight in a team, I had some very bad experiences with group assignments at university. But when I started to trust other people it meant I could focus on what I was good at. And my relationships with colleagues really developed”.  

Why is working in a team important?

People will judge your performance at work by looking at how you work in and with teams. Successful teamwork is central to achieving your objectives in the business world. Plus being seen as a team player is of value to your career. Being able to work successfully as part of a team is another skill set that you need to develop as part of your Operating Style.

Think of any of the TV shows you love to watch. Getting them to your TV screen involves many skillful people, including writers, actors, editors, publicists and production staff. Take the gaffer, for example, who heads up the electrical department of a production and is responsible for the lighting. Although this job doesn’t have much of a profile, it’s integral to the show. An actor could give the most impressive performance of his or her career, but there isn’t much point if the set wasn’t lit and no one saw it. Everyone involved in a project can be an expert in their area, but they all need to work together for a successful result.

So, too, in the business world: the complexity and expertise required mean there’s little room for any one person to play the role of the actor, and take center stage, without the rest of the team to help them succeed. Whatever your role, whether you’re leading a team or supporting it, working successfully with a team will help you achieve business goals and contribute to your career success.

Like Ally’s experience, sometimes it just seems easier to do something yourself, rather than work with a team. Many people find teamwork frustrating, and you’ve probably heard people muttering, “When you want something done properly, do it yourself.” Particularly, if they’re fixing someone else’s mistakes or making up for those who don’t pull their weight or deliver work to a good standard.

What do I need to do?

Unfortunately, as appealing as it is to do it all yourself, the reality is that in business, it’s just not possible. You need to be able to work in teams.

You need to work with other people to share the workload and gain access to their expertise and specialized skills.

In the business world, this translates to working in teams. No matter how proficient you are at what you do – to be successful you need other people and their skills to help you achieve your best.

To do this you need the skills to work well in teams.

What is a team?

A team is simply a group of people who work together to achieve a common purpose or goal.

Teamwork is beneficial because it can:

  • motivate people who want to belong to a group and contribute
  • give a sense of pride in team membership and results
  • create a productive work environment, which stimulates and promotes engagement and collaboration, and
  • provide business outcomes that are superior to those that individual team members could have achieved.

To enjoy these benefits, and the success that comes with them, we need to learn to incorporate the skills that make you a successful team player into the way you work. Because, quite simply you need all of the skills of a team to be a success – so that you can focus on what you do best!

What did Michael Jordan do?

Even the best individuals in their field in the world, like sports stars, have to learn this. Michael Jordan has been described as the greatest basketball player of all time. But his success was tied to his ability to play with a team. No matter how many baskets Jordan could sink, he had to learn to pass the ball to become a champion.

If you let the other people in the team do their part, you get to focus on your area of expertise. Michael Jordan focused on sinking basketballs and playing defense.

What would you do if, instead of doing everything yourself, you focused on what you are good at and what you enjoy?

What does this all mean?

Trust the team and concentrate on your area of expertise!

Karen

 

Updated from Hot Tips for Career Chicks by Karen Adamedes

 

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