Habits That Make You Look Unapproachable at Work - The Muse

Habits That Make You Look Unapproachable at Work - The MuseHabits That Make You Look Unapproachable at WorkImagine that youre sitting at your desk and your co-worker, Tanya, walks by holding a sign-up sheet for the companys kickball team. Without even pausing, she passes you and asks your neighbor if hed like to join. Maybe you didnt opt to participate in the softball league last season, but that doesnt mean youve sworn off all organized sports forever. But, instead of piping up and asking if theres space for you to play, you let your mind wander with worry Maybe Tanya intentionally didnt stop at your spot. Maybe she and others dont want you on the team.But, why?You may not be a social schmetterlingsschwimmen, but you like to hang out with your co-workers, at least every now and then. If you find yourself opting out more often than you opt in, you might want to take a close look at how this appears to your colleagues. Is it possible that your work demeanor (business first) has colore d your co-workers impression of you? Are you inadvertently intimidating your colleagues with your head-down approach to tackling each day?If youre guilty of one or more of these three common (but potentially problematic) habits, then the answer is probably yes, your co-workers are scared to approach you.1. You Live in Your HeadphonesListening to music while working can aid focus and block out distractions. But it also makes it hard for a colleague to strike up a conversation with you. Concentration is necessary for meeting deadlines, but consider the benefits of taking a mental break every now and again- that means parting with those headphones and being open to conversation. Heck, you could even go the extra mile and initiate one yourself. Dont always wait to be included. Be the outgoing person sometimes, and show your colleagues youre nothing if not approachable. 2. You Rarely Engage in Office BanterNot everyone enjoys office banter (pretty rampant in open office setups) and maybe you avoid joining the chatter around you more often than not. You may even be the office introvert, but, regardless of your social preferences, you should still sometimes put forth an effort with your extroverted colleagues. Start small. Maybe instead of chiming into the discussion on this seasons The Walking Dead with eight of your nearest co-workers, you initiate a more intimate meeting (coffee) with a member of your team. This set-up gives you an opportunity to get to know someone in a relaxed setting, without having to put yourself out there with a big group. Making this kind of effort demonstrates that you do care about getting to know your co-workers beyond the shared spreadsheet. 3. Youre Always in a RushMoving quickly- from the door, to your desk, to the bathroom, back to your desk- may be your normal pace, but to others, it just looks like youre in a huge hurry. When you seem like youre in a rush, most peoplell be reluctant to interrupt you, for fear that youre too busy fo r them. Eating lunch at your desk reinforces the impression that you dont have time to spare. And, if you never ever stick around for happy hour, your co-workers probably dont have the first clue about how to include you in things. It might not be easy, but what if you tried changing up your routine every now and then? Give the impression that, while busy and focused, youre not so crazed that people should fear approaching you. Join your team for lunch in the office kitchen one afternoon, or check out one of the many social events on offer. Stop and say more than two words to your colleague the next time you bump into each other in the hall prove that you do come up for air every now and again. Make it a goal this week to try maybe one or two of these bad habits to increase your approachability. You dont have to completely change your routines, but one or two small changes can make a big difference in how your co-workers view you. While you may never be considered the office social butterfly (not your goal, anyway) you do wish to be included. So, next time, dont be afraid to pipe up and show your interest when its time for team sign-ups. You never know, you may even become the next MVP of the office cornhole league.

The Right Resume Gets the Federal Job

The Right Resume Gets the Federal JobThe Right Resume Gets the Federal JobThe Right Resume Gets the Federal Job Heres Statistical Proof that the Right Resume Gets the Federal JobBy Kathryn Troutman, President The Resume Place, Inc., andCreator and Program Director,Ten Steps to a Federal Job Certification ProgramPublished June 23, 2017For decades, weve felt supremely confident that a targeted, detailed, correctly formatted OUTLINE FORMAT federal resume gets results.And now we have up-to-the-minute data that demonstrates that ourconfidence isnt just an intuition.In late May, we surveyed the 150 clients who we were honored to serve in 2016, yielding 54 responses. A large majority of these respondents had great news to share with us 25 had been hired into federal job, and another 16 had earned the status referred, best qualified or interviewedThese numbers are backed up by anecdotes Ive heard from many, many clients from military veterans to women returning to work after their children began school that theyve achieved incredible success in their professional careers with the federal government. But I was still pleasantly surprised at the outstanding results that our resume preparation services have contributed to 74 percent of our 2016 clients have seen positive action on their federal applicationsWHAT ur CLIENTS SAY ABOUT OUR FEDERAL RESUME WRITINGOne of our 2016 clients even gave us statistics on their individual federal job search With the resume you prepared, I was best qualified for about 85 percent of the jobs I applied for, referred for about 75 percent of them, and landed interviews for about 25 percent.Another client shared that, after she posted her Resume Place resume on USAJOBS.gov,I was hired as a contracting specialist. Thank you for the resume, which was phenomenal. It was geared towards the announcement and hit all the key points.Lets talk about her final remark How my colleagues and I can take the raw material of your draft resume and transform it so that federal hiring managers and human resources professionals can easily see how your perfected resume stands out to qualify you for the position you seek.BEFORE AND AFTER FEDERAL RESUME HIRED Take a look at these anonymized before-and-after resumes of decorated veteran of the seestreitmacht Corps, a helicopter crew chief who served in Iraq.Here is the Marine veterans resume before and afterwe helped him adapt it for Federal Human Resources Recruiters.Click to view before and after resumesWhen this war hero came to us with the resume he had been using, we had our work cut out for us. His resume lacked detail on his extensive military experience, including his specialized experience in security, which was ultimately critical to his successful application for the civilian position of Security Assistant or Intelligence Analyst. He wanted to CHANGE HIS CAREER And we had to translate his skills carefully. How did we improve our heros resume?We headlined his most impressive q ualification for any security job his interim top-secret security clearanceWe detailed his professional experience in security and safetyWe used the right keywords to describe his organizational skills, with subheadings like Scheduling and Coordination and Plan and Organize WorkWe detail his supervisory experience with terms like Team LeadSince the job he sought requires the ability to train others, we highlighted his experience in leading Army training classesWe named his accomplishments explicitly they did not stand out in his old resumeWe eliminated the irrelevant, such as the bartending job that was prominent on his old resumeFEDERAL RESUME BOOKS WITH SAMPLES OF THE OUTLINE FORMATfedjobtraining.com/booksFEDERAL RESUME WRITING SERVICESSee our hourly rates resume-place.com/federal-resume-writing/EXCERPTS OF SAMPLE FEDERAL RESUMESresume-place.com/services/federal-resume-samples/GET HELP WITH YOUR FEDERAL RESUMEGET A FEDERAL RESUME QUOTEThe Federal Resume Guidebook,6th Ed. is the Nu mber 2 best-selling resume book on Amazon and all book sellers today

A Wordy Resume Becomes a Two-Page Marketing Machine

A Wordy Resume Becomes a Two-Page Marketing MachineA Wordy Resume Becomes a Two-Page Marketing MachineMarcus Crayton is looking for a job as a absatzwirtschaft director though his functional experience is disparate. With help from certified resume writer Mary Schumacher he welches able to turn a wordy resume into a concise marketing document.When crafting a resume, you can use the bow-and-arrow approach specifically to target a job, or you can use the shotgun approach and just hope that something - anything hits home with an employer.Marcus Crayton was using the shotgun approach.The 34-year-old project manager has been looking for a new position since October 2007 he would like to find a position as director of marketing. Since beginning his search, Crayton has sent out thousands of resumes and applied for countless jobs, he admitted.The shotgun approach meant, however, that his resume was excessively wordy, tipping the scale at three pages.My old resume was like a proposal, Crayto n said.And he should know Crayton currently has an MBA and is pursuing his PhD in organization and management with a specialization in project management.Hed already paid hundreds of dollars to have his resume rewritten and garnered praise from associates who critiqued it. Nevertheless, Crayton said, he knew it still lacked focus. His resume was like a project-management spreadsheet. It was like a flawed analysis. I was putting everything on there.More words, less focusThe proof was in the pudding The shotgun approach wasnt getting him interviews. Thats because, like most resumes that are too long and too wordy, the resume was unfocused. One professional who critiqued the document told him that the resume just didnt let the reader know what Crayton wanted to do.Crayton had been told by a human-resources pro that his resume was just great and that it looks fine, dont change it. But he knew something was wrong, and he decided to try revising it again.In late May, Mary Schumacher revam ped Craytons resume. Schumacher is an MBA, as well as a CPRW, CEIP and CPCC (certified professional resume writer, certified employment interview professional and certified professional career coach) who works with Ladders.When Schumacher looked at Craytons resume, she saw somebody with ample education and a variety of experience who wanted to be a marketing director. (Crayton has a background working for nonprofits and educational institutions.) I havent had experience in big-name companies like IBM or ATT, no Time Warner, Crayton said. Id call my past positions college jobs jobs to get you through.Although he performed marketing functions in every position hes worked at - media specialist and program coordinator are two of his past positions he has never worked strictly as a marketer or had that job title.For Schumacher, the key to positioning Crayton as a marketing director was to tie his marketing experience together explicitly and present him that way on his revamped resume.A ct as ifThe first thing Schumacher did to make over Crayton into a marketing director was to put that title, Marketing Director, at the top of the new document. Immediately after the title, she added a summary section that pulls together Craytons disparate marketing credentials.An areas of expertise section then promotes important keywords buried in the lengthier resume, such as market analysis, negotiations, strategy development, team leadership and client relations.Next, a career highlights section comprises a four-bullet list of Craytons top marketing accomplishments, including such items as boosting educational program customer satisfaction rates by 93 percent by influencing program improvements following rigorous market research and analysis.The result is a resume that pops, Crayton said, and weighs in at two efficient pages.We wanted to pull together from all his different jobs, from all the things hes done, the idea that he can do that marketing job, to anyone whos looking, S chumacher said.Feedback on the revised resume has been glowing. (A previous critic) said, This is much better. Now I can look at it and pick out that he doesnt have a lot of corporate experience but he can learn, so maybe I can find a fit for him in our company, Crayton said.The revised resume pinpoints, even highlights, my skill sets and brings them to the forefront to allow people to say, Hey, this is what this guy can do, lets see if we can give him a shot, Crayton said. I think this will be the turning point.

Career Benefits of Networking - The Muse

Career Benefits of Networking - The MuseCareer Benefits of NetworkingHow many times have you been told how important networking is? Plenty, Im sure. So, at this point, you know that who you know can be the difference between you getting that new gig or not.But, if thats not motivation enough for you to go out and meet new people, here are four more ways networking can help you, beyond just growing your network in preparation for you next big career opportunity.1. Gather Info on the IndustryWhether youre changing industries or furthering your knowledge of your current one, networking and conducting informational interviews are a great way to figure out whats going on in your field of interest.Ask people you meet or sit down with about their recent challenges and accomplishments or about trends theyre seeing in their work. In particular, if something big has recently happened in your industry, see what your conversation lebensgefhrte thinks of the impact it might have on the field as a whole. Youll get a much broader perspective if you expand the conversation beyond your own friends and officemates.2. Learn From the Wins (and Mistakes) of OthersSometimes it can be difficult to get people talking, even if youre meeting one-on-one and not at some large awkward networking event. If this is happening to you, try asking the person youre networking with about his or her successes and failures. Of course, you dont want to say, Tell me about a time you failed- so try asking if, looking back on his career, if theres anything he would do differently, or if theres anything she would definitely recommend to people just starting out in the field.Dont feel weird asking about personal experiences. Theres plenty to be learned from the achievements and mistakes of others, and people love to talk about themselves.3. Get Free Career AdviceAnother bonus of networking is the chance to get some free career advice. Chatting with more experienced professionals in your industry of intere st gives you the chance to ask them what they think of the career moves youve been mulling over.Aside from getting good advice (heres how to know if its not), its also a great way to show people your admiration. You wouldnt be asking for advice if you didnt respect their opinions, right?4. Bounce Ideas Off PeopleYou can also take the advice seeking a step further and bounce ideas off of people you meet through networking. Maybe you have an ambitious work-related project that you want to pitch to your boss or a presentation youre thinking about submitting to an upcoming conference. Seeing what other industry professionals have to say can help you refine your argument and think through weak points. This is also a great way to show off your skills a bit. Sharing some of your ideas gives you an opportunity to talk about your expertise and the issues that you care about. Its usually easier to talk about your ideas than it is to talk about yourself, so if you feel weird tooting your own h orn, this can be a good strategy.Bottom line Theres no excuse to not be networking. You stand to benefit from it no matter what stage of your career youre in. And, if none of these four reasons appeal to you, consider this final perk of networking helping people. Maybe you wont directly benefit this time around, but helping someone else out has its own intrinsic value.Photo courtesy of Nana B Agyei.

How to Create Winning Team Building Activities

How to Create Winning Team Building ActivitiesHow to Create Winning Team Building ActivitiesWant to make your next gruppe building activity live up to its true potential? Integrate the gruppe building with real-time work goals. Establish a systematic workplace integration and follow-up process - before you go on the kollektiv building adventure. You need to make the good feelings and the outcomes from the kollektiv building activity last beyond the final team building exercise. Impact of Team Building Events Without this attention to integration, corporate team building or planning events are, at best, a short-term boost to employee enthusiasm and positive morale. If they are planned and executed well, people feel good about themselves and about each other. Employees get to know each other better and have a common experience to talk about back at work. A frequent expectation from team building activities is that they build trust. Team building events have little to do with buildi ng trust, however, unless company planning, that is carefully followed up on and yields real results, is part of the team building event or retreat. Team Building Downsides and Risks At worst, team building sessions help employees become cynical about their organizations. It occurs when the team building events are held outside of the context of the companys modell way of doing business. If you send people offsite to an event, for example, but all rewards in your company are based on individual goals and efforts, the team building event will have no lasting impact. People will lose productive hours complaining about the time and energy invested in the team building or planning activities. Unhappiness, management criticism and employees complaining to each other sap energy, productivity, and joy from the workday. An event that is not followed up with meaningful activities in the workplace should not be held. They harm trust, motivation, employee morale, and productivity. They don t solve the problems for which they were scheduled and held. You will eventually lose the people you most want to keep especially if they dont see your organization getting better as a result of off-site team building and planning sessions. If the team building has zero follow up, people become jaded about such events as a waste of time and energy. In fact, I dont lead ansicht events that are just for team building without a business purpose, in addition to, or to build the event around. With recent organizational downsizing and cost cutting, people feel as if they are already doing more than one job. In this context, team building for team buildings sake has lost popularity. Team Building Success Factors The success of a team building or a strategic planning activity begins well before the start of the sessions. Use a team to plan the event since you want to model the behavior you seek from the team building sessions you schedule. The likely long-term effectiveness of a team b uilding event or corporate retreat is enhanced when you incorporate annual team building events into an overall company structure. This cultural framework of philosophies, values, and practices is designed to build the concept of team on a regular basis. In this environment, team building sessions can yield supportive results. Ifteam buildingand other offsite events are to offer value,their inclusion in an overall corporate structure of philosophies, values, and practices is critical. People must already operate in a team-oriented environment that is characterized by such philosophies as a shared purpose,vision,mission,and a performance development system that enables people to grow both personally and professionally. Or, your organization must be proactively pursuing teamwork as a business and employee strategy. In such a system,team behaviors are rewarded and recognized. Teams solve problems and improve processes. There is a genuine concern for employees that the policies and work are employee and employee-family friendly. When a problem or failure occurs, the search is not for the guilty, but instead, managers ask, What about the work system caused that person or team to fail? When such a structure exists on an ongoing basis within an organization,team building events can enhance and help the system grow stronger. Again, build the team building events around a business purpose to which all attendees can contribute, and you have the opportunity for an energizing, exciting growth opportunity. Successful companies regularly demonstrate their commitment to building team unity, trust and positive morale among their employees in their daily workplace. Without this commitment and the presence of team building success factors, negative effects can result from formal team building or planning sessions. I facilitated a team building and planning event recently in which amanagement teamgathered to put together their annual priorities. The group did a salutary job they were set up to spend the quarter both productive and focused. They were excited and felt a strong sense of direction. The next day, much to my sorrow and their lost morale, their manager pulled out a list of everything that had not made their priority list at the team building event. He called this the B list and said that, even though these were not the priorities, they all had to be completed, too. Can you imagine the impact of telling them that all their work, thinking and prioritizing didnt matter? They had to accomplish it all anyway. Conclusion Team building and planning events and activities have the potential to bring the people you employ a strong sense of direction, workable plans, and solutions, a powerful feeling of belonging with and on the team and clear, strategic customer-focusedvalues. Poorly planned and executed, created outside of the context of the total organization, the team building, and planning sessions bring disillusionment,low moraleand negative motiv ation. They fail to deliver the results expected. Organizations flounder with little strategic direction. Everyone works hard, but, usually on the wrong tasks and goals. Employees take baby steps toward accomplishing key action items and nothing important is finished. And, when the next team building or off-site planning event is announced, the cycle generally repeats itself. Which approach to team building would you prefer to institute in your organization?

What to do when youre offered the job during the interview

What to do when youre offered the job during the interviewWhat to do when youre offered the job during the interviewGetting a job offer can bring on a slew of emotions - like feelings of validation, success, and nervousness about whats to come. But receiving one during a job interview is a different story. Heres what to keep in mind before jumping off the deep end.Dont jump for joy just yet - pump the brakesRichard Moy, a content marketing writer at Stack Overflow, writes in The Muse that you shouldnt feel like you have to immediately take the job - request some time to think. Moy also discusses various reasons why the company could potentially be trying to hire you so soon.One of them is, the position has been open for a long time, and The Person In Charge just wants to end the search. Another is, youre getting low-balled and the hiring manager is hoping to lock you in for a little less money, or it could just be that the company is not a particularly great place to work.Negotiat e the termsAuthor and career expert Alison Doyle writes in The Balance about how to ask for what you want when you need a moment to figure out where you stand about a job offer (whenever you got it).If youre not 100 percent sure you want the job, consider negotiating the compensation package so youre sure the position is the right fit for you. There are many parts of an employment offer that are negotiable, in plus-rechnen to salary, she writes. You may be able to negotiate an offer that will make you feel more comfortable about accepting.When you start the job may be negotiable as well, and having extra time before you join a company may make your decision easier. Review these tips for negotiating a start date for a new job.Get it in writing firstVickie Elmer writes on Glassdoor that you should ask for an offer package, and features advice from David Janowsky, a partner at WinterWyman The offer letter will spell out the key details of whats included in the benefits and more. Get it in writing. It does make it more official and a solid offer, said Janowsky.Talk it out with someoneGet out of your own head before making such a big decision - this definitely cant hurt.FlexJobs Content Manager Jessica Howington writes on the site about what to do if youre still unsure about the offer.If you need some more perspective, consider talking to a third party, she suggests. Sometimes another point of view can help with being objective, even if its just getting your concerns or worries off your mind.

Floating Turbines Harness Offshore Wind

Floating Turbines Harness Offshore Wind Floating Turbines Harness Offshore Wind Floating Turbines Harness Offshore WindUntil now, offshore wind has meant fixed wind towers built into the seabed near the shore. Their proximity to the shoreline often raises issues, ranging from marring the seascape and unwanted noise to killing birds that fly near them. Locating them further from shore resolves some of those problems, which is likely to speed permitting needed to build wind farms. It also opens up more real estate on which to build.Dominique Roddier, CTO of Principle Power. Image Principle PowerFloating wind turbines is still new technology, and Principle Power is one of the few companies with hands-on experience with full scale prototypes and financed contracts. ASME.org recently spoke with Principle Power CTO Dominique Roddier about how his companys WindFloat a floating wind turbine platformworks.ASME You did not start your career with wind power in mind, did you?DR I always loved th e ocean, and being out on the ocean was always a big part of my life. In college, I studied ocean engineering and naval architecture and other ocean related activities. I also taught sailingthat was my side job and a pretty good one. After college, I worked for ExxonMobile on offshore projects and later co-founded a consulting company, Marine Innovation Technology.Hear more on ASME TechCast Renewable Energy Experts Shine Light on Solar Farms and GridsASME How did you make the move to wind energy?DR What became our WindFloat technology was a little side project we started at Marine Innovation Technology. Eventually, it grew on us and we decided to go full speed ahead and form a company, Principle Power. Later, we merged Marine Innovation Technology and Principle Power into one geschftliches miteinander and now we are focused entirely on offshore wind.ASME Does Principle Power build and install its platforms?DR At Principle Power, we make thousands of engineering documents that we send to a fabricator in a shipyard who then builds the WindFloat platform based on our specifications. The end result is a floating platform with a turbine placed on top.Move in the Right Direction Five Steps from Engineer to LeadershipASME A lot of companies are offering something similar. What make your platforms different?DR The WindFloat platform uses an active ballast system that helps the tower remain vertical and water entrapment plates at the towers base that help keep it balanced. These innovative features let our WindFloat platform withstand winds of 25-30 meter per second and waves over 25 feet high. In rare circumstances, when winds or waves exceed the limits, the turbines automatically shut down.ASME Your platforms are designed to be built in a shipyard and towed to their location, much like an offshore oil platform. How do you anchor it?DR Prior to towing, another vessel would have already set the anchor lines at the location. These lines are similar to those used by s ailboats or offshore platformsthey have anchors and chains, only much bigger, and we place them in the seabed beforehand. When the platform arrives, we pick up the anchor lines from the seabed and connect them to the platform so it keeps its position.Our towers are very slender structures, so they incur low wave exciting forces. This reduces the wave loading on the platform and lets us have a relatively small mooring system. Consequently, we are a fairly light operation. We dont have to do heavy drilling, or use lots of concrete, or bring cranes offshore, which makes the economics of our setup very good.With our WindFloat, we strive to be very competitive with other forms of offshore wind productionwe try to be under 10 cents per kilowatt when doing commercial projects. And we are very much on track to get there.Join ASME and Leading Industry Experts for Offshore Wind Turbine Webinar seriesASME Principle Powers first WindFloat project was off the coast of Portugal. How did you launc h it?DR At the time, few companies were willing to take a chance on this very new technology, but a local electricity company, Energias de Portugal, financed our prototypes. So in 2011, Principle Power deployed a full-scale 2 MW WindFloat prototype, which was fully assembled onshore and then towed about 400 kilometers along the Portuguese coast. The system produced over 16 GW of electricity delivered by sub-sea cable to the local grid until it was decommissioned five years later. It completed all of its project objectives. From this project, Principle Power gained important operational data and experience for future WindFloat systems.ASME What projects are you working on now?DR Currently, we have three ongoing projects that are already financed. We plan to install the first one, a 25-MW project with three 8.3 MW turbines in Portugal this summer. Right now, we are spending a lot of time in the shipyard, and we are almost done. The second is in Scotland, a 50-MW installation with five 9.5-MW turbines for which we have just bought steel. And the third one is in southern France. It is a 24-MW project that will receive four next-generation turbines. In the pipeline, we also have projects in California, Hawaii, Korea, and Taiwan.ASME What is your take on the current state of the offshore wind industry?DR The fixed offshore wind industry is very mature. brde year, capacity was 16 GW and now it is at 18 GW. The floating industry is starting to grow now, as well. There are players that do believe in it now, and its pretty awesome to see that. We are really active all over the world, and we look forward to working on new projects.Lina Zeldovich is a freelance writer based in Woodside, N.Y.Register today for ASMEs Offshore Wind Summit to learn about the latest technologies, opportunities, and supply chain strategies from leaders in the oil, gas and wind energy industries. The Best Stories of the Month Insect Drone with Camera Flies Like a Bee Research into Kids Knees Co uld Prevent ACL Tears Rats Play VR Game to Explain How Human Brain WorksThe fixed offshore wind industry is very mature. Last year, capacity was 16 GW and now it is at 18 GW. The floating industry is starting to grow now, as well.Dominique Roddier, Principle Power

The Human-Like iPal Robot

The Human-Like iPal Robot The Human-Like iPal Robot The Human-Like iPal Robot Its true that loneliness is not something that can always be avoided. But a new branch of robotics is seeking to make it a rarer condition than ever with human-like robot companions. And the new iPal is one such robot, designed to help with the gloom. However, that name doesnt nearly encompass all of the functions of this robot friend, as it is also a teacher, an entertainer, and even a health assistant.I dont think people always envision the elderly when they imagine what robotics can do, but it actually may be one of its greatest gifts, says John Ostrem, CEO and Co-Founder of AvatarMind, the manufacturer behind iPal. Weve done support-type tests in assisted elder care facilities and they have problems, one being a limited number of caregivers for many residents. Caregivers were interested because it could provide additional attention and one-to-one companionship for residents. The robot can remind them wh en it comes to their medicines and can lead them in physical therapy exercises on a customized basis. It could even in the future maybe help with simple medical tasks, such as taking blood pressure and mora.The IPal robot can talk, dance, tell stories, play games, encourage physical activity, share videos, and connect to the internet and social media. Image AvatarMindThe robot has 24 motors and 10 degrees of freedom in the shoulder, he says. There are multiple sensors, according to Ostrem, who has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California. Theres a directional array, determining where a sound came from. It has touch sensors to turn the robot on or off and there might eventually end up being short cuts for certain things you want the robot to do, like follow you. Other sensors on the body are for medium-range obstacle detection and around the bottom of the base are infrared sensors for short-range obstacle detection.It moves around with the aid of four wheel s. We didnt build a walking robot because of a matter of cost, Ostrem said.Right now, were trying to keep it at $1,500. Its designed with a low center of gravity, he says, which make it more difficult for someone to push it over. It weighs around 27-28 pounds and is three and a half feet tall, he adds.Ostrem says the bot can even potentially help when it comes to working with autistic children.A goal of therapy is to help in interacting with people and iPal could assist here, he says. It doesnt just have a screen to teach but can show with its own gestures to help ease their a patients way into human interactions. Even in speech, it can help. You can use different modalities to institute therapies in different ways.But another aim is to give youngsters a stronger understanding of science and robotics and possibly even encourage them to learn programming. We have the thought of teaching a child enough to one day program the robot themselves if theyd like, he says. They could go throu gh developers like APIs application programming interfaces and develop their own applications. It can be more than just having an iPal, they can learn some things in the field and who knows where they can take it?Not Just About the PatientiPal has already had a series of prototypes and was demonstrated at CES, but the real test will be out with consumers.We hope iPal will be a friend to both the person using it but maybe also for the one who buys it for them, Ostrem says. The one with an elderly parent who has to work and could use a little help with giving them companionship. The parent who has a child who wants to expand their learning. iPal can never replace human beings, but it could hopefully add to their lives.iPal can never replace human beings, but it could hopefully add to their lives. Dr. John Ostrem, CEO, AvatarMind

The Nuiances of Fiverr Resume

The Nuiances of Fiverr Resume Details of Fiverr Resume In a nutshell, LinkedIn is now a bit like Facebook. The LinkedIn pages of organizations are typically a lot mora informative than their corporate pages. As soon as you own a profile, youre all set. My profile was not optimized for my perfect job description. Oftentimes, youre only required to send in work application or submit your resume. If you think that you would prefer a more professional looking resume, and dont think that youre likely to do an effective job, then you could always outsource the endeavor. Job interviews can be really, really stressful and I find that the best method to truly feel confident during an interview is to be placed in the exact same situation again and again. At the close of the day, your resume is a means to advertise yourself. Maybe you should place a positive spin on a dicey circumstance. So, once youre not trying to find work, you ought to be making yourself easier to market. Perha ps youre able to get used to a brand-new team in the shortest possible moment. Building a good resume is simply 1 step in a very long walk to landing a wonderful job. The Fiverr Resume Game While you might not wish to advertise how you work at home, you will have a lot of company. Being aware of what you want makes the work hunt a whole lot simpler. Most people that are hiring only devote a couple of seconds looking at a resume. There are plenty of choices for where to really make your resume. The Appeal of Fiverr Resume So, you ought to focus on all the appropriate experience and skills youve got for the area. ur team usually sees poor resumes which do not draw in the employer. You ought to be able to stay confident when speaking about yourself and your abilities. Strong soft abilities and basic motivation may give you an advantage over candidates with similar hard skills. What to Expect From Fiverr Resume? The remarkable thing about exercise is that its a secure and natural antidepressant. Even if you wont execute the work yourself, its still true that you should know what things to ask from the team and to have the ability to demonstrate correct use of tools and the most suitable method of performing each task to steer clear of fire hazards and other dangers. A few of the things you can see are detailed pricing, work portfolio, samples of earlier work etc.. The sole thing youll need is a steady online connection on your computer or smartphone. The important thing is to identify our own uniqueness and use it in order to craft a powerful positioning strategy. You will need a geschftlicher umgang program and be in a position to show that youve got the experience to run the company and the company will make enough money to produce the investors a wonderful profit on their investment. Best customer care A nail technician isnt only accountable for giving the client a great set of nail, but additionally for the experience they give during perfor ming the true work. As soon as its true an ATS cant read graphics, it is going to read around it. You dont require any prior expertise in programming. Our experienced group of specialists will pick the perfect style for your paper and give you a flawless bit of writing. Some students who have not ever composed a resume before think that writing resume is extremely easy. If you must continue to keep your idea confidential, dont utilize crowdfunding. To make an impression, you must work hard and give it your all. Whether youre searching for a job associated with design or not, design thinking is an invaluable skill to get. In case you have, you could be at the application stage. When youre in exactly the same area as the companies which youre applying to, putting your address tells employers that youre prepared to start the work immediately. The tool has a totally free trial. It is quick and easy to use and requires no special skills. One of the absolute most powerful too ls in your advertising arsenal is customer testimonials. Find out more about the organization and role before applying to be sure you get a crystal clear grasp of the job specifications. Its possible to become involved in groups and discussions on the medical device business and the work marketplace. The qualified experts have written the very best papers in many distinct locations. Why should you should offer all experience. Fiverr Resume - the Story The cover letter provides you with the possiblity to highlight the positive attributes that make you a best employee. The target of your resume is to secure you the interview. The very first statement is more inclined to grab an employers interest. If you make an application for a job which you saw advertised on the internet or in your neighborhood newspaper, theres a fantastic possibility that you wont be submitting your resume in person.

Life After Linkedin Download Resume

Life After Linkedin Download Resume To me, design is a belief system that may offer order in a huge chaos. In some instances, youre become very lucky to land a job without the conventional CS background. You dont require any coding skills whatsoever. Including your professional skills could result in mora endorsements. Ultimately the aim of such a website is to give a visual representation of your experience, as you look to spell out why youre suited to a certain role, geschftsleben or industry. Utilize bullet points underneath instead of paragraphs to highlight accomplishments and obligations for each job paragraphs take more time to read and have a tendency to use additional words that produce the appropriate information hard to discover. Theres tons of means to organise the info on your resume, but the decent old reverse chronological order is still your very best bet The project supports the conventional PR work being conducted, and is made up of content planning and prod uction along with external events to boost awareness. The Most Popular Linkedin Download Resume LinkedIn Job Search gives you all of the tools you require to easily locate your dream job or let it find you. Your Resume is critical to securing your fantasy job in technology. Resumes continue to be a fairly significant part getting work. Most resumes that recruiters sort each and every day from their inbox are extremely bad. Recruiters are becoming more and more active online and across social networking websites. The issue with LinkedIn is the fact that it excels at nothing. Phillips estimates that more than 75 percent of men and women in america who buy fake degrees know just what they are doing. A free account is fine to begin with. Now its time to compose the content for many of your private advertising collaterals, plan your work search strategy, and start networking your way to a great-fit new job. Beyond assisting you to focus your search, having the ability to clearly a nd succinctly communicate just where and how you are going to add value to a business or organization can help you learn how to tell others how they can help you accomplish your career targets. Your LinkedIn contacts might not be your friends in any way. If a content writer develops its LinkedIn resume and attempt to use some weird keyword for its profession like Content Artist, he then will not receive the expected reaction. Luckily the web is here to help save you. You will also desire a LinkedIn account. The purpose of the app is to continue opportunity always at your reach. The app will permit the benutzer to sort by certain forms of sightings in addition to by proximity, and will consist of in depth information and photographs for each case. For instance, the app incorporates real-time notification support and itll demonstrate all your notifications from LinkedIn on the Action Center in Windows 10. The app is just readily available for desktop PCs. If you restrict the r ange of pages in your site map you will not just ensure it is a lot easier for readers to navigate the site, but you are going to also present yourself with increased clarity and impact. From time to time, if youd like to add media content you have to supply your own links. Well, its essential to know the characteristics of best resume for LinkedIn, so it would be simple to decide on the ideal online resume service. Along with content, but the site is built around data visualization thats accessible, user friendly and informative. If youre using LinkedIn, its critical to have an impressive profile, as it serves as your digital business card. Main task is composed of maintain present toolset and code base like the asset exporter and asset gallery viewer. The potent tool is currently readily available for PC and you may benefit from all its useful features right from your desktop. IPad is a great device for many of your social media activities.

The Foolproof Good Fonts for Resume Strategy

The Foolproof Good Fonts for Resume Strategy Resume paper selection is a significant element of the presentation of a completed resume. Your CV is your very first impression, and you would like to generate an excellent first impression. Your abilities and experience ought to be seen in the very first few seconds. Use this to your benefit Its universally acceptable and extremely suggested by the majority of human resource managers. So, youve chosen a clean and crisp font for your resume, youve worked out just what information youre going to include, youve even created perfectly highlighted bullet-points for your key abilities and qualifications. When youre competing for a particular job or project, you want to produce the evaluation as simple as possible for them. You have to invest time into each application and guarantee that your resume is tailored to every employer and the job that youre applying to. The 5-Minute Rule for Good Fonts for Resume In case the employer is l ikely to find it hard to read, your resume will be left behind. Speaking of unique, the main purpose of your resume is to make you stick out from the remainder of the folks applying for exactly the same job and another means to create that happen is to use action verbs and power words (also known as resume verbs). Well, regardless of what stage youre in your career, youre likely to should understand how to make a resume for a job interview and we are likely to explain to you how Most individuals look at writing a resume as just something youve got to do to have a job. Life, Death and Good Fonts for Resume Presently, there are a fantastic deal of beowulf epic hero essay companies which specialize in how to compose a resume. Naturally, there are dozens and dozens of distinct fonts to select from, but not all them are befitting to use on a resume, so picking one is extremely important to be in a position to land work. You may still choose a font which you feel is representative o f your personality, because there are lots of very good options in word processors today. There are lots of fonts available online at no cost, so take a look around. Keep reading to know how you are able to write a powerful resume. Be consistent with stylization, and just select one or two to make sure your resume appears professional and simple to read. Lies Youve Been Told About Good Fonts for Resume Review these formatting tips to make certain your letter is likely to make the ideal impression. Occasionally it might feel as though you cant win in regards to crafting the ideal CV. Writing a resume can be an intimidating task unless you take advantage of a template to build one. Top How to create a Resume. Good Fonts for Resume - Is it a Scam? The info above applies primarily to instances where youre sending a conventional cover letter by snail mail or whenever youre sending an official cover letter for a aber ja or PDF attachment to an email message. Formatting your re sume can be quite tricky. Your resume should resemble an expert document, not merely a bit of paper which has been stuffed with as much content as humanly possible. Be sure to produce your font large enough so the reader doesnt need to squint to read your letter, but not so large your letter doesnt fit well on the webpage. As youve already increased your resume font size for headings, there might not be any demand for bolding. If you get a massive font, it is going to look as if you want to fill up space on the webpage, and you probably are. Employing an easy font will make sure your cover letter is not difficult to read. Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Good Fonts for Resume Is Wrong The access to unique sizes, weights, and spacing selections for any specific font usually means that you may receive a lot of mileage out of a single typeface. More frequently than not, totally free fonts only arrive in 1 weight. Its the most frequent expert font for a reason. There a re specific fonts that may be paired, but if you are not certain, its much better to have precisely the same font throughout the document. Observing the instance of traditional Arial, Arial Narrow is a remarkable alternative for a resume. If you would like to use a sans-serif font, Arial is one of the greatest options for your resume. If youd like your resume to seem contemporary and exciting, pick a sans serif. The font is often employed for official letters. You ought to go with a very simple font that indicates that youre serious. Serif fonts are excellent for reading on paper. Therefore, its a font for resume you ought not ignore.

Things You Should Know About What to Say when Emailing a Resume

Things You Should Know About What to Say when Emailing a Resume After a couple weeks of not having heard anything, it is an excellent concept to proactively contact the company to discover if theyve read your resume and if theyre interested. Sell Yourself As they say, you cant get another opportunity to create a first impression. Utilize Mr. or Ms. followed by the individuals last name at the beginning of the emaille. Employing a short, direct, concise, yet intriguing e-mail will make it possible for the hiring manager to rapidly see that you might be the proper candidate the organization is seeking. Maybe you encounter an article about a new fashion in the recruiters industry. Provided that youve got the name of the hiring manager and the name of the organization, you will be capable of making an educated guess. Once an opportunity opens up, you are going to be on the front part of the hiring managers mind. The Hidden Truth About What to Say when Emailing a Resume Inclu ding a message to your connection requests is vital. At times youll come across clear instructions on what they want in the topic line. Its fehlte nicht viel and simple to use. See if youre able to find a fantastic idea about what the company is searching for. An additional tip, always remember to create your whole job application relevant and specific to the job that youre attempting to land. Actually, you just might wind up with a new job. Landing a job with no experience may be an even larger challenge. Speak to us today to receive startedspaces are limited Be cautious in regards to the time you opt to send your resume email. Essentially, there are two sorts of email resumes. There are steps that you may take to make your resume email stick out from the rest. As you probably wont be in a position to directly recognize the hiring managers email, you ought to be able to discover how they format their email address. Knowing the format by which the provider assigns email addresses, alongside the hiring managers name will provide you with an awesome idea about what the email address is inclined to be. If you become stuck, you always have the option to attempt guessing the email address as a final resort. Also, make certain youve got a professional-sounding email address. The Pain of What to Say when Emailing a Resume Dont use HTML or other formatting options as you dont know which email client is used by the recruiter. Therefore, when you have a fantastic version attached, that will be simpler to read than will a text-only file that may be hard to sort through. Should you decide you need or will need to incorporate a cover letter, its possible to either post the text directly in the email or attach it like a second file along with your resume. It is possible to still attach your cover letter in a different file, just be sure it matches the content of your cover email. The What to Say when Emailing a Resume Stories Fortunately, youll discover a lot of samples of resume in the internet website. If youre using a site like Monster then youll basically have the ability to build your resume and make it appear professional with their zugnglich tools. You are able to also check the business website (see if theres a directory or list of staff members), or call the business and ask the administrative assistant for assistance. You may also narrow your search results by region to locate local recruiters in your region. The Nuiances of What to Say when Emailing a Resume Emailing a resume isnt as easy as it looks. Resumes should fit to a single page. It is possible to read about it here. Sending an email is free of charge, it doesnt call for a stamp, take a look at the post office or a visit to the organization youre applying for. Understand that and be certain your correspondence is crisp, well-written and simple to read. If you dont, wait a couple of days get in touch with the company, and ask if your documents are rece ived. What Does What to Say when Emailing a Resume Mean? A scarcity of dates will read as an effort to hide something. When theres any extra information I can supply you with to help in your decision, please allow me to know. Your resume ought to be focused, concise and emphasize achievements and techniques that fit the job which youre applying for. Whatever the case, its important to supply the context in your messaging to make sure the recipient understands the aim of the forwarded resume.

The Evolution of Job Interviews #Infographic - Spark Hire

The Evolution of Job Interviews Infographic - Spark HireJob bewerbungsgesprchs, while commonplace today, were once nonexistent. Instead of proving their worth in a job interview, people were born into their jobs, and nearly everyone remained in their hometowns.It took forward-thinking technology like the railroad, telephone, and Internet to transform the process of finding and landing a job. What was once inherited is now earned through many interviewing techniques. Major breakthroughs includeAdvancements in transportationThe birth of the interview itselfAdoption of technology into the processThe rise of social and digital mediaThe adoption of modern interview technologies such as video interviewingSpark Hires new infographic, The Evolution of Job Interviews, illustrates the journey from no job interviews to the traditional job interview to virtual job interviews. Check out the full infographichere to see the evolution for yourself.Whats next for job interviews? Share your prediction s by commenting below

How To Tap Into The Best Talent Pool Your Alumni - Spark Hire

How To Tap Into The Best Talent Pool Your Alumni - Spark HireYou love your university. As an employee there, you fully support its main goal to educate young adults and prepare them for their futures. Did you know by doing this, youre also creating a quality talent pool? Its time to learn how to access skilled alumni to fill your open positions.Consider what past graduates have to offerYou can be confident in their educationTheyve proven their work ethicYou know theyre a good cultural fit for the universityKnowing these facts before interviewing candidates allows you to speed up your hiring process. Instead, focus on learning what theyve been doing since graduation. This will show you if theyre truly ready for the open position.Now that you see how valuable of a talent pool your alumni network can be, lets look at the best way tap into the sourceKnow how to reach themMost universities distribute an alumni newsletter. List open positions at the school in this publication. This way you have access to job seekers who are still invested in whats going on at their alma mater. These types of candidates are more likely to want to contribute to its success.Put a link to your interview scheduling tool on the alumni website, too. This allows job seekers to record video interviews whenever theyd like. Youll also have access to a library of information about eignung candidates.Here are some questions to have them answerDo you list job openings in your alumni newsletter? hiringtipsClick To TweetJoin forces with career servicesA universitys career services center is a great resource for students who are trying to prepare for life after graduation. But many alumni also turn to the center when theyre looking for new jobs. Having a strong relationship with career services allows you to tap into this talent pool.For example, get a list of alumni who participated in relevant internships while at school. That will give you the names of former students who have the basic job requir ements. From there, reach out and see if they want to apply.Also, keep up-to-date on all the events the career services center holds. These can be great opportunities to network with alumni. Attend events such asJob fairs where you can meet both active job seekers and professionals at the boothsCareer talks where alumni are invited to talk to students about their careerRelevant meet-and-greet eventsCreate a professor referral programNobody gets to know students as well as their professors. They get to see firsthand what the individual is capable of. This makes professors a good judge of whether or not a person could be successful as an employee for the school.Tap into this talent by creating a professor referral program. Keep professors in relevant departments up-to-date with open job positions at the school. Then ask them if they know of any former students who would be a good fit. If the alumnus is worth pursuing, invite them to interview for the position.Approach a professor refe rral program the saatkorn as you would a normal employee referral program. Keep the following in mindBe very clear about required job skillsGive them information about all open positions not just those in the classroomBe sure to reward a professor if they refer a quality employeeCreate a professor referral program to find talented alumni to fill your open positions.Click To TweetIf you follow these tips, youll be able to turn alumni into a very reliable talent pool. Being able to turn to these types of job seekers whenever you need will make your hiring responsibilities much easier.

Landing a Job When Unemployed

Landing a Job When UnemployedLanding a Job When UnemployedLanding a Job When UnemployedIts easy to get discuraged if youve been unemployed for a while.You know that you are a hard worker and are ready to put your efforts towards a fulfilling career, only to not get the job you had hoped for. Its important to stay positive during this time, and to keep moving forward. Avoid sitting around at home feeling sorry for yourself, and instead try some of these tactics that will help you land your next vorstellungsgesprch.Keep honing your skills.Whether youre a writer, salesman, office administrator, or any other profession, keep building on your skills. Follow bloggers in the industry and stay up-to-date on current trends. Consider taking an online class that makes sense for your industry, go to conferences or try doing some freelance work. This way youll be sharp on your next interview instead of falling behind.Take on a side project or volunteer work.Building off of what we said above, tak ing on some freelance work or even a project just for you will help you in the long run. It keeps you active in your field and is also a great way to network and meet fellow professionals. Volunteering is another great way to meet other professionals and to give back to your community. These actions show hiring managers that you didnt sit back during your unemployment, instead you active sought out opportunities.Beef up your networking skills.Update your LinkedIn profile and ensure all your other social profiles are private. Potential employers will look into your profiles when considering you for a role. You can also use these networks to connect with people in your industry. Know an old high school friend that has a great job in your field? Suggest they meet you for coffee. Ask them how they ended up at their company and if they have any tips for you during your search. Follow companies that you are interested and stay up-to-date on their job listings and any important people you should be following. Its easier to connect than ever before, and you have all the social properties at your fingertips.Staying active by volunteering, networking and continuously working on your skills will not only keep you motivated to reach your goals, it will help fill that gap in your resume. Remember what you are working towards and put some effort towards it each day. You might be surprised how quickly you find your next opportunity.Worried about how to handle those gaps in your employment history? Learn how to make the most of those spaces, here.Want to see how your resume stacks up? Try out our free critique today

5 Steps to Prepare for Your Second Interview

5 Steps to Prepare for Your Second Interview5 Steps to Prepare for Your Second InterviewGetting asked back for a second interview rightly can be seen as a positive step toward landing a job offer. Its purpose, however, can vary, so smart candidates should come prepared for anything.For entry-level and some mid-level positions, the second interview can serve as the hiring interview as well, meaning the candidate qualifies for the position and the anfangsbuchstabe interviewer provided a recommendation for hire. In this scenario, the hiring manager will conduct a brief interview and, if all goes well, provide an offer, says Linda Matias, president of CareerStrides and author of 201 Knockout Answers to Tough Interview Questions The Ultimate Guide to Handling the New Competency-Based Interview Style.Other second interviews can serve as peer interviews. Once the candidate is deemed technically qualified, colleagues are given an opportunity to see if they would like to work with said candid ate on a daily basis.Whichever direction it takes, be ready to shine by usingthese actions to get ready for a second interview1. Look and act your best.Just as during the first interview, people will be formulating an impression of you. Arrive on time, dress appropriately, and be polite to everyone.2. Know your story inside and out.Go in with clear ideas of what you want to highlight. Dont assume people you meet for the first time have any knowledge of what you said in the first interview. Thoroughly and enthusiastically answer their questions, even if they seem repetitive.3.Do more research.Think about subjects that came up during the first interview. What might you be able to add on these topics should they arise again?Likewise, another look at the companys website or a Google search might reveal up-to-the minute information that is useful to know or that can serve as a conversation anlasser (e.g., I heard the charity fun run last Sunday was a big success.).4. Be comfortable with the subject of money.The closer things move to an actual offer, the greater the need to be ready to discuss compensation. Know the regional going-rate for this position, as well as what you would truly be willing to accept. Factor in benefits to come up with an overall picture. If negotiation isnt one of your strong points, consider brushing up on tactics.5.Be ready with questions.Finally, a second interview should be a two-way street. Youre moving closer to potential employment, so learn what you can about the position, the people with whom youll be working, and the company culture.Not only will this information help you make a more informed decision about whether or not this job is right for you, your genuine curiosity will make a positive impression on those you meet.Readers, what do you do to prepare for your second interview? Shareyour job interviewing tips below

How You Can Get a Job as a Waiter in a Restaurant

How You Can Get a Job as a Waiter in a RestaurantHow You Can Get a Job as a Waiter in a RestaurantWorking as a waiter can start as a part-time job or as your full-time occupation and is a great way to start a career in the food industry. The foodservice industry is a growth industry, and new restaurants and work opportunities are being created every day. Waiters at food establishments carry out a function that is familiar to fruchtwein of us. Servers help patrons understand menu choices and make recommendations about selections based on the preferences of their patrons. Characteristics of a Good Waiter A good waiter will positively engage patrons and set a pleasant tone for their meal. Servers should inspect the food presented by cooks before delivering it to the table to make sure that the order is complete and cooked to specifications. Waiters check with customers regarding their satisfaction with their meal and advocate on their behalf if there are any complaints. They may als o be required to receive and process payments for meals. Servers work for the foodservice component of a variety of establishments including hotels, resorts, bars, and restaurants. Many servers work part-time on evenings and weekends to supplement their income from other jobs. Good Communication is Crucial Good waiters enjoy serving others and are comfortable interacting with a broad range of individuals. You will find having a pleasant disposition with a ready smile will help you establish a positive connection with customers. It is important to know how to communicate. From the minute you walk up to the table, your communication skills can make or break your ability to be a good server. In many cases, it will be the factor between a good tip and a great tip. Once in a while, you will get a customer who is critical or demanding. Even in difficult situations, waiters should be patient and have the ability to tolerate challenging people. You will have to be able to listen to comp laints without reacting negatively or defensively. Busy Multi-Tasking Work You must be able to multi-task. There will be times you will be expected to keep track of many customers simultaneously and to have good memory recall of menu choices and customer orders. You may need to memorize daily chef specials including ingredients and how they are cooked. When bedrngnis actively serving a table you could be tasked with arranging silverware, filling condiment bottles, or even doing light dusting or other cleaning tasks. Waiters Appearance Needs Your appearance is very important. In most situations, you will be expected to present a clean-cut image. Not only will it help during your interview, but the way you look can also bolster customer confidence about the quality of the restaurant and the safety of the food being served. Your appearance includes more than just your clothing. Your hands and nails must be well kept and your hair looks clean and professional. In most cases, you r employer will require long hair to be neatly tied back in a ponytail or bun. Your clothing or uniforms and apron should be clean, pressed, and neat when serving customers. Some dining establishments will have requirements that require you to wear a tie. Getting Your Foot in the Door Keep in mind that waiters often start their careers as bussers or hosts and then move up in the same restaurant or the restaurant hierarchy from casual chain restaurants to more upscale establishments.Consider accepting a job that may not be what you are looking for to start. It could be a way to get started on a restaurant career. One distributionspolitik you can get a head start is to get the food safety training required by your state or local authorities. This training covers everything from how to wash your hands to the correct serving temperature of meats and other food items. By having this training in place, it may give you a leg-up on the competition. There are many companies that provide classroom and online food safety courses, Some even offer training that is available on connected smartphones. Formal and Informal Job Hunting Many restaurant jobs are filled both formally and informally. The usual job boards are a good place to start your search. Formal job searches include job sites like Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com. Search using keywords like food server, waiter, and restaurant to generate job listings. If youre interested in working for a restaurant chain, check the website to see if they accept online applications. Have an updated copy of your resume and any food safety training that you have completed available to attach to the application. You may also find a position informally through personal referrals. Start looking for a job by asking people you know if they are aware of any job openings. Your best chance of getting introduced to restaurant managers and owners will be through members of your family and friends network. Reach out to everyone you kno w and ask if they know anyone in the restaurant business. Ask any friends who are already working in restaurants if there are any open positions where they work. If you do find someone with a job lead, you can pass your resume so it will get to the right person quickly. Proactive Job Hunting Visit restaurants in your target schauplatz and ask to speak with the manager. Stop by during lull times in the restaurants activity when managers might be more available to meet you. The quiet time in a restaurant is usually before the lunch rush. Bring a copy of your resume for the manager and be prepared to fill out a job application. Remember to interact with these managers as you would a customer. Show off your warm smile and bubbly personality. It is a good idea to review the menu in advance and note the experiences you have had with that type of food or clientele. Restaurants are concerned about the image they project to the public. Make sure that your appearance is appropriate for th e position you are interviewing for. Interview Essentials Choose clothing that would be considered business casual. It should be on the dressy side yet not overly formal unless it is a very high-class establishment. If you can visit the restaurant ahead of time, check out how the waiters are dressed and wear an interview outfit that is comparable. Personality is everything for servers, so the interview is the time to exude positive energy. Greet your interviewer with a warm smile and a firm handshake. Listen carefully and articulate clearly. Interviews for server jobs are often more about how you interact and communicate than what you say to show your expertise. Be ready to share examples that highlight your ability to be reliable, outgoing, and well-organized. Start by showing your reliability, arriving about 10 minutes early. You may want to do a test drive to the restaurant beforehand to make sure you are familiar with where it is. Dont forget your resume and a list of refere nces. Even if the interviewer does not request them, offer them, and encourage him to contact your past employers. Interview Questions You May Hear Review some of the interview questions youll be asked for a waitstaff job. What jobs have you worked that required you to be in a fast-paced and crowded environment? How did you maintain quality standards in this environment?What do you consider to be good customer service?Describe a time when you had to verstndigung im strafverfahren with a particularly difficult customer/table. How did you handle the situation? Is there anything you would have done differently?Have you ever taken charge in a restaurant in an emergency?How do you handle fast-paced work environments?How do you entertain customers as a waiter? What is the most difficult part of being a waiter?Imagine a customer asks for an item on the menu that is not available at the time. How do you convince him to select something else?What would you do if a customer sent his meal back?If a customer asks for a suggestion, what would you say?What is your favorite item on our menu? After the Interview Say Thank You After your interview, compose a thank-you cardor letter expressing your keen interest in the job.Briefly, mention why it is a good fit and express your thanks for your interview. It is best to hand-deliver it to the restaurant as soon as possible after your interview.

Compensation in Financial Services

Compensation in Financial ServicesCompensation in Financial ServicesWithin the financial services industry, especially in Wall Street firms, compensation packages tend to be much more generous than in other sectors of the economy. There can be great year-to-year variability, since annual bonuses linked to company profits tend to be a significant part of total compensation. Salary For bonus-eligible positions, regular salary often is called kusine pay. The frequency of pay tends to be monthly rather than biweekly at higher levels of management, usually starting at vice president. Annual salary adjustments are typical. Bonuses Policies on annual bonuses vary from employer to employer, but some general observations can be made. At Wall Street firms, bonuses are a more significant part of total pay for more employees than at banks and insurance companies, which represent the other end of the spectrum. As you move up the management ladder anywhere in the industry, more of your pay will come in the form of the bonus. The bonus pool for your division or department will be driven by a combination of its profits and those of the company. Bonus pools rarely are purely formulaic instead, executives exercise great discretion in setting them. notenzeichen that changes in the number of employees who will participate in a given pool (as the headcount fluctuates in a division or department) typically will not have an impact on the size of that pool. That is potentially bad news if headcount is growing in your area. Finally, the eventual distribution of a pool to the employees participating therein tends to be a highly discretionary process. Draw For positions paid on commission, there normally is no salary or base pay. However, inexperienced employees in these jobs frequently receive something called a draw that superficially mimics a regular, fixed paycheck. The difference is that a draw eventually must be offset by commissions earned that is, a draw is effective ly an advance payment of commissions. Commissions Unlike bonuses, commissions are indeed formulaic. Employees who receive commissions (notably financial advisors) tend to be in sales positions. Revenues generated by their clients, as well as other key metrics (such as the value of their clients accounts), drive the compensation formulas. Pay typically is on a monthly basis for commissioned jobs.

Brain Dump and Brainstorm Your Way to a Resume

Brain Dump and Brainstorm Your Way to a Resume Brain Dump and Brainstorm Your Way to a Resume If you’re not a professional writer, writing about yourself is hard, but brainstorming techniques can get the ball rolling and the creative juices flowing.The woman was blinking back tears.She was one of a group of realtors learning how to write their resumes and bios. She’d just started as a realtor, she told the woman teaching the class. “I don’t have much experience,” she said. Hence, she had “nothing to write about.”Anyone who’s worked with a professional resume writer has been asked to provide a short bio and a synopsis of her career. Most job seekers balk at this step or struggle to provide a complete history. Most people feel uncomfortable writing about themselves; Lynda McDaniel knows. Our minds go blank. We blush. We freeze up. But McDaniel â€" who is director of the Association for Creative Business Writing and author of ” Words at Work : Powerful business writing delivers increased sales, improved results, and even a promotion or two” â€" can read peopl e when they don’t even know how to read themselves, and the gray streaks in the woman’s hair told McDaniel volumes.So McDaniel suggested that the fledgling realtor brainstorm using a process she calls “brain dump.” She instructed the woman to write down every skill, paid or unpaid, she’d developed over the years. Then, she told her to sort through those skills to see how many applied to her new career.Within one hour, the woman’s spirits soared “from dejected to confident,” and she even hugged McDaniel before she left.How can you perform your own resume brain dump? First, stop weeping. Stop staring blankly at the questionnaire your professional resume writer has asked you to fill out. Most of us have ample skills and qualities that can shine in a well-done resume. Ladders spoke to professional writers for their tips on how to mine that gold and brainstorm your resume.Brain-dump prepProfessional writers recommend job seekers take these steps before sitting down to bra instorm resume writing:1. Analyze the job posting. What specifically is the employer looking for? This will come in handy when a job seeker analyzes which of his own skills and qualities will match the job description.2. Get organized. Before tackling your resume, Heather Rothbauer-Wanish advises job seekers to make a list of previous employers, dates of employment and job duties. Know the official names of schools and dates of graduation. You’ll use all this information when you sit down to write the resume, said Rothbauer-Wanish, a professional resume writer and owner of Feather Communications.Brain dumpMcDaniel’s brain dump is a simple technique that should take about 15 minutes but “yields incredible results,” she said.1.Brainstorm First, set a timer and write without stopping for a minimum of 5 minutes. The key to success is to keep your pen flowing without stopping; just keep writing, no matter what garbage you cough up, even if it’s, “This is stupid,” or “I do n’t know what to write,” MacDaniel said. The technique, familiar to creative writers who’ve worked through the Zen techniques Natalie Goldberg teaches in her book ” Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within,” breaks down your internal filter, “opening the way to fresher ideas and deeper insights,” MacDaniel said.If this is too loosey-goosey, try this exercise from Rothbauer-Wanish: Ask yourself, “What did I really do at that job?” Many times, she said, people don’t give themselves enough credit for the tasks and responsibilities they’ve had in the workplace. Detailing a typical work day and writing down your activities “may spark ideas and help you recall additional job duties,” she said.2. Find the nuggets. Next, McDaniel said, set the timer for 5 minutes again. Go over what you’ve written, and sift out the key points. If most of it is chaff, don’t worry: “Even the rejects are part of the process and lead you from one point to the next.”3. Outline. Assign each key point a number. Make the best information No. 1. That’s the material that you’ll feature at the top of the resume. Go through and label the rest of the key points in this manner, from most to least important. This form of outlining is “organic,” McDaniel said, because it evolves from the material and “helps to cut down on procrastination.”4. Write. Using the key points from the outline, start adding to the meat of the resume. Make sure you prove your worth in quantifiable ways. Amanda Collins, chief of staff for The Grammar Doctors, suggests using the CAR (Challenge,Action,Result) formula.She provided this example:Sales were down (C), so you implemented training and employee recognition programs (A), which boosted sales 25 percent in six months (R).“Of course, quantitative results are best, but qualitative are great too,” she said. “Consider things like increasing revenue, decreasing costs or improving customer service/employee relations.†

How to Prospect Ideas for Financial Advisers

How to Prospect Ideas for Financial Advisers How to Prospect Ideas for Financial Advisers Prospecting is the lifeblood of a healthy, growing financial practice. Most advisers who have been in the business for a while have favorite methods that work for their target audience, local market, and personal preferences, but its a good idea to roll up your sleeves and try new prospecting activities every so often. We polled a handful of active financial advisors (and dusted off some old sales manuals) and developed a list of five prospecting ideas to breathe some fresh air into your sales funnel. Shake the Referral Tree Its the tried and true method of tapping your network for qualified prospects who might be looking for your services. This works best when you dont regularly contact your network for leads and have specific ideas in mind about the types of referrals youre seeking. Instead of sending out generic queries, consider developing a specific list of prospects youd like to contact and requesting introductions, or creating an ideal profile of the clients youre seeking (eg. technology executives, or nonprofits of a certain size.) Take some time to expand your network through a church, school, or family activities. Host a Client Event Hosting a casual client appreciation event with a strategic partner as a speaker is a great way to provide valuable information while bringing in new leads. Invite your most valuable clients (youve segmented your book, right?) and ask them to bring two friends who might be interested in the topic. Topics could range from retirement planning  to college savings, or charitable giving. Consider asking a wholesaler or strategic partner to split the cost of the event to keep your financial commitment low. Become an Expert Everyone wants to work with an expert who understands their specific needs. Take a look at your book and determine what niche youd like to focus on and develop a prospecting and service strategy designed to target that niche. Show your niche that you understand their needs and can offer custom solutions. This is definitely more complex than dialing for dollars but can yield tremendous benefits to your practice in terms of referrals and new leads. Make Friends Do you have a strong network of alliance and referral partners? If not, establishing ties estate attorneys, CPAs, and insurance agents can be a great way to cross-sell services and offer your clients comprehensive care. If you already have partners, are you getting enough leads from them? Consider refreshing your relationship by taking them to lunch or offering them the opportunity to speak at a client event. Sponsor an Event or Charity Community ties are important and sponsoring a local event, kids sports team  or charity is a great way to show that your business is part of the community while increasing your visibility. Choose a sponsorship opportunity that will get your logo and name in front of your target market. For example, if you want to target women investors under 50, consider sponsoring a kids soccer team to build rapport with their mothers. Get your logo on their sports jerseys and consider offering hot coffee and donuts on game days. Youll become appreciated for your thoughtfulness and generosity - great traits for a financial adviser. It can be tough to find time to prospect when youre busy working with clients and managing a busy practice. However, its a bad idea to ignore prospecting completely lest you find yourself high and dry during a slow month. Hopefully, weve given you a few ideas (and refreshed some old ones) to get out there and start drumming up new business. Remember that like most marketing activities, a prospecting strategy often yields its best results with time, patience, and consistency.

Salary Negotiation Tips for First-Time Job Seekers

Salary Negotiation Tips for First-Time Job Seekers Salary Negotiation Tips for First-Time Job Seekers 7Even for the most seasoned of job seekers, salary negotiations can be uncomfortable. So it makes sense that only an estimated 38% of recent grads negotiated salary when they received a job offer, according to a NerdWallet infographic. With barely any job experience under your belt, you may feel unsure whether you should even negotiate salary at all, but you definitely should! Here are some salary negotiation tips for first-time job seekers:   Understand your expenses. Before you begin salary negotiations, it’s a good idea to have an idea of how much money you have to earn in order to live. That should be your base number from which to start your negotiations. So if a dream job is offering you a salary that you just won’t be able to survive on, you can begin negotiating to get the increase you’ll need. Be confident. Just because you don’t have oodles of experience listed on your resume doesn’t mean that you should be paid less than other job candidates. So look for other strengths that you possess that others may not. Potential bosses might favor your youthful energy and exuberance over other “been there, done that” job seekers. Chances are, you’ve also been schooled in the latest in industry info. And internships count, too, so be sure to list any previous experiences that you can relate to the position you’re applying for. Don’t sell yourself short just because you don’t have paid work experience on your resume yet. Be knowledgeable. It’s understandable that you might be nervous to engage in salary negotiation as a first-time job seeker. Knowledge is power, though, so get updated on what the fair market value is for the position you’re applying for. While it’s illegal for a potential boss to change the salary based on your age, it’s important that you know what salary ranges to expect before heading into the interview. Websites like Salary.com and Glassdoor are helpful for finding out salary ranges for your job level, career field, and location. Look at the entire offer. Sure, it can be discouraging to hear a smaller salary than you were hoping for. But jobs are more than just salary. That’s why you need to consider the whole job offer, such as medical and dental benefits, work flexibility, PTO, tuition reimbursement- even retirement savings contributions that your employer will make. And if you’re able to work remotely, factor in how much money you could save from not having to commute to an office every day. Suddenly, your salary might start to look a whole lot sweeter than it did before! Be ready to ask for other benefits. Even if you are offered what is considered to be a fair salary for the type of job you’re applying for, that still shouldn’t stop you from negotiating other benefits. Ask if you can have work flexibility in terms of a flexible schedule, especially if you’re going to travel to work daily. If you’re planning to continue your education, you might even ask if the company can pay for it, especially if it relates to your current career. Even if you negotiate only a small salary increase or the ability to work from home one day each week, that first negotiating win will give you the confidence to go after what you’re worth for the rest of your career. Don’t accept the offer on the table. Unless the job offer is absolutely everything you dreamt of and more (it allows you to work remotely, has a great starting salary, killer benefits, room for growth, etc.), don’t feel compelled to accept it immediately. Even if you’re a first-time job seeker, you have every right to think the offer over before you take it. This can give you time to really assess if the job offer is right for you- or not. So run the numbers and see if it makes sense to accept the offer outright, or begin your negotiations towards a salary that you want and deserve. Looking for More Career Advice? TRY OUR CAREER COACHING SERVICES This is a version of a post that was

Robots are taking over company job interviews

Robots are taking over company job interviews Robots are taking over company job interviews The future has arrived: Robots are now smart enough to judge us. And because some employers have decided that technology is the solution to their recruiting problems, Americans are starting to field generic job questions posed to them by “no one.” These artificial intelligence and recorded interviews have a lot of positives. They circumvent traditional human limitations such as work hours so interviewees can schedule an interview at their convenience. And when programmed correctly, AI can weed out some of the implicit biases that recruiters have, meaning that companies can recruit a more diverse labor force. But according to potential candidates, the new interview techniques also have major downsides. It seems across the age spectrum, people find one-sided interviews to be cold, odd and difficult to ace. Why it’s happening The U.S. labor market is facing a shortage of qualified candidates for many industries, and a low unemployment rate means there are fewer people actively sea rching for opportunities. In this environment, companies have identified the need for speed to recruit the best people for their offices. But businesses are not only looking for great candidates; they’re also eager to diversify their workforce. LinkedIn’s 2018 Global Recruiting Trends report found that “diversity” was the top trend shaping the future of recruiting and hiring. Reasons for the trend include improving culture and company performance and better-representing customers. With these aims in mind, companies are looking for technology to streamline their application processes while getting rid of implicit biases that often hurt more diverse candidates. One company has experienced “a 5- to 7-day improvement in the time it takes candidates to complete a phone interview” after implementing on-demand voice interviews, according to The Wall Street Journal. That’s likely because applicants can choose any time for their interview and are not subject to the same confine s of having to speak with a hiring manager during office hours. Robots are also more inclined to give a less traditional candidate a chance if they’re right for the job. They do not step into the same pitfalls as humans, who can sometimes judge applicants on their attractiveness, the way they dress, shared interests or connections and other factors. But even robots are not perfectly impartial; after all, people create them. Amazon reportedly had to retire an AI recruiting system in 2015 because the bot was giving women lower scores than their male counterparts after being programmed to identify candidates similar to Amazon’s mostly male hot shots. So while the new technology may make the recruiting process more efficient and give hiring managers more time to complete important work, it also has its downsides. And that’s before considering the impact on the people who are now being interviewed by robots. The reaction It turns out that not everyone’s on board with having their application processed by a non-human. “It’s highly impersonal,” Jeremy Maffei, 42, told the Wall Street Journal. He said during his automated interview, he “blanked out” and had no way to know whether his answers were resonating. 23-year-old Eden Hoffman was asked to do a video interview with a robot that scored her responses through an algorithm. “It was very unnatural,” Hoffman told the New York Post. “I’m a big people person; when I’m in front of someone, I’m using my hands and making eye contact. It’s awkward when you’re just doing that for yourself.”When Darlene Racinelli had an automated phone interview, she hung up before it was over.  â€œI hit 9 and just ended it,” Racinelli told the Journal.No one knows if new technologies will be the long-term solutions to companies’ fraught recruiting processes, or if they will go out of fashion as candidates complain about how “impersonal” and “unnatural” they are. But for now, they have become pa rt of the job interview process, and it’s time to be ready for a call from a robot.

If youre not changing as a person then youre not intelligent

If you’re not changing as a person then you’re not intelligent If you’re not changing as a person then you’re not intelligent If you’re not changing, you’re not growing. If you’re not growing, you’re not being intelligent. Humans thrive in change and expansion - yet there can be so many internal or external blocks to change.Trying to keep things as they are is a very unhealthy approach to life. Avoiding change reflects a misunderstanding of the human condition and human flourishing. Change is not to be avoided, but embraced. Said Winston Churchill:“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”- - - How much have you changed in the past 12 months? How much have you changed in the past 5 years (60 months)? What new challenges are you taking on? What new books have you read that have completely changed your paradigm? What new relationships and experiences have opened you to new worlds of possibilities? What suppressed pain and trauma have you freed yourself from? What bad habits have you finally given up? What relationships have you healed or let go of? What addictions are still stopping you from living your dreams? What roles or “personality” are you still clinging to?The extreme importance of the parent-child connection“The parent-child connection is the most powerful mental health intervention known to mankind.” -  Bessel van der KolkIn the profound and life-changing book, The Body Keeps The Score, Bessel van der Kolk M.D. explains that suppressed emotions and trauma lead people to unhealthy and addictive cycles.One of the most fundamental components of making positive change in your life is developing a healthy relationship with your parents - whether they are alive or not.All parent-child relationships have some form of baggage because no parent is perfect. Every parent has their own problems and through those problems they raise their kids.It is then the kid’s responsibility to eventually evolve beyond the deficiencies of their parents. Any good parent would want this for their children: to go beyond where they themselves were.Parents must be fully forgiven and viewed in a lovi ng, appreciative, and honorable light. No matter how flawed. This doesn’t mean you must maintain a “relationship” if your parents are heavily abusive or toxic, as is the case of my three recently adopted children. However, if you neglect that relationship and can’t openly discuss it, it will come back to you later in life. Even if just at the emotional-level, this relationship is very important to your ability to make desired transformations.Your relationship with your own body (and food)“When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food.” -  James AllenDoes your body control you, or do you control your body? For most people, the body is completely in control. Want a gut-check about whether you’re in control or if your body is? How often do you impulsively check your smart-phone? How often do you impulsively eat or put other substances in your body? How is your ability to focus for long periods of time? How in-tune are you with your own intuition? How much time do you spend thinking about your physical appearance? How much time do you spend worrying about the opinions of others? If you don’t control your body, then you can’t control your mind. If you don’t control your body, then you can’t control your time. If you don’t control your body, then you’re life is far more impulsive and out-of-control than you realize. “If the spirit yields to the body, it becomes corrupt; but if the body yields to the spirit it becomes pure and holy.” -  Brigham YoungOne of the most basic and well-tested methods for regaining control of your mind and body is through fasting. There are many different forms, such as water fasting where you only drink water and don’t consume food of any kind for a period of time (often 1â€"3 days). There’s juice fasting and bone broth fasting (often 1â€"10 days) where you only consume liquids for a period of time to allow your digestive system to rest, recover, and reset.You can also fast from technology - something most people haven’t done since the internet.You’ll also want to fast from routine environments. Most of your triggers and memories - and thus identity - are tied to places and environments. When you get out and see new things, you open yourself to new insights and experiences which open you up.While fasting, you’ll begin to get a ton of insight. You’ll start to realize how reactive you’ve been to the environment. You’ll start to notice how off you’ve been. You’ll then have more clarity and capability to shift your life in a positive direction.Education through reading and experience“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” -  Charlie Tremendous Jones “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” -  Nelson Mandela “Where is the life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” -  T.S. ElliotIn a powerful lecture on how our brains change through experience, Neuroscientist Dr. Dafna Shohamy explains that our brains assimilate information for the purpose of prediction.Being able to predict how our behavior will lead to outcomes is one of the most important goals of our brains. For example, when you touch the stove as a child, you experience what is known as a “prediction error” - which according to Dr. Shohamy is a learning signal to update your expectations for the next time.Prediction errors are exactly what you want to experience more of … if you want a lifetime of growth.This is why failure is such a key part of success. Failure is what occurs when you incorrectly predict how things will go based on your limited knowledge. Because you experience failure or prediction error, you can then update your expe ctations and strategies for the next attempt.This is what growth and innovation are all about. Thomas Edison embraced prediction error. He embraced his own mental and experiential boundaries. He was willing to fail over and over and over because for him - failure was about learning. It was about changing and expanding himself. To quote Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”Thomas Edison had to update and refine himself constantly to become the man he became. His failures and experiences transformed to wisdom and understanding. Intelligence is applied understanding. It’s far more powerful than base knowledge. There are lots of people who have information in their heads. But wisdom and intelligence is the proper application of knowledge.Interestingly, there is lots of research showing that as people age, they generally become LESS open to education. They become LESS open to new experiences.As people ge t older, they really want their lives to be predictable. In order to keep their lives predictable, they don’t embrace new information, new experiences, new challenges, new relationships. Their life increasingly becomes an echo-chamber.If you’re not proactively seeking new experiences and learning new information, you’re stuck. If you’re stuck, you’re not growing and changing. And if you’re not changing, then you’re not intelligent. As C. JoyBell C. put it:“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”Change yourself and you’ll change the world“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” -  Mahatma Gandhi “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” -  Rumi “Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.” -  Jim RohnIf you’re not changing yourself, then you’re not intelligent.If you’re seeking external success without changing who you are, then you’re delusional.If you’re trying to make a powerful change in the world without changing yourself, then you’re simply trying to force the world into your box.When you begin changing yourself, you’ll be equipped to change the world.If you seek to change the world, you’ll be required to change yourself.If you’re truly committed to something or someone, you’ll be required to become whatever that commitment entails.If you sufficiently transform yourself, you won’t be able to stop yourself from helping others positively transform as well.Changed people change the world. They light a fire in others because they are on fire themselves.Measure the gain instead of the gap!“The way to measure your progress is backward against where you started, not against your ideal.” -  Dan Sullivan, THE GAIN AND THE GAP How much have you changed in the past 12 months? How much have you changed in the past 5 years?According to Strategic Coach founder, Dan Sullivan, it’s far more powerful to measure the gains you’ve made than the gap in front of you.If you look back on the past 1â€"5 years and truly consider how much you’ve grown and changed, you’ll be stunned.If you’re proactively seeking change and transformation, you’ve probably made HUGE changes. You can actually make enormous change in yourself in a relatively small period of time.1â€"5 years is a short period of time. In that amount of time, you can go from making almost nothing to making millions of dollars. You can go from being single and having no kids to being married and having three kids with two on the way (that’s what happened to me!).If you’re not growing, you’re not changing. If you’re not changing, then you’re not intelligent.It’s very important that you take time to examine and measure where you are from where you’ve been. When you do this, there are a ho st of psychological benefits.For example, measuring your progress injects enormous amounts of gratitude and appreciation into your life. Gratitude is one of the most powerful psychological experiences and relates to improvements in all areas of life.When you measure your progress, you grow in confidence because confidence is a byproduct of past experience.According to Sullivan:Your future growth and progress are now based in your understanding about the difference between the two ways in which you can measure yourself: against the ideal, which puts you in what I call “The Gap,” and against your starting point, which puts you in “The Gain,” appreciating all that you’ve accomplished. When you’re in The Gap, you feel as though you haven’t accomplished anything at all. This is because even though you’ve moved forward, the ideal remains distant from you. The ideal is a moving target. It might even get bigger, leaving you worse off than where you started if you measure against it. You’ve also used up time and energy getting to where you are, so if you don’t measure the progress, you’ll feel like you’ve wasted that time and energy and have fallen even further behind. But if you turn around and measure your progress against where you started, then you’re in The Gain, and you’ll experience a sense of having moved forward, of having achieved something, and you’ll be motivated to continue on to your next stage of growth.ConclusionAre you intelligent and changing? Or are you unintelligent and staying the same? Are you being transformed through new experiences? Are you being transformed by taking on new roles? Are you being changed as you grow into powerful goals? Do you have a vision and a mission that compels you to become far more than you currently are?Make a change today. The moment you even make a small change in the right direction, you’ll begin to experience a flood of motivation, energy, and momentum.As you continue to change, your mind will expand allowing greater insights and epiphanies to flow.This life is a classroom. If you’re not learning, growing, and changing, then you’re missing the point.Ready to upgrade?I’ve created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.Get the cheat sheet here!This post first appeared on Medium.