Top 6 Best Free Job Search Apps

Top 6 Best Free Job Search AppsTop 6 Best Free Job Search AppsYoure busy, your life is hectic, you dont have a lot of time for job searching, and you dont want to be stuck to your laptop or use your work computer to job hunt. You dont need to. Just like almost everything else in your life, job searching has gone mobile and you can do it on the go. There isnt much you cant do with one of the apps that connects job seekers with available positions. Most of the application process can be done with your phone or tablet, though it can be a bit cumbersome at times. Even so, you can search and apply for jobs without using a computer. Taking it a step further, some of the apps will enable you to create a resume, match you with open jobs, and apply directly from the app, saving you search time. Which apps should job seekers use to give their job search a boost? There are many apps to choose from for both iOS and Android devices, so I asked someone who knows all about apps for his recommendati ons. Yarden Tadmor, the founder and CEO of Switch, shares information on free mobile job apps for job seekers, along with tips for how to use them. 6 Free Mobile Apps to Boost Your Job Search 1. Indeed Job Search Indeed is the best app of the massive desktop job boards. Indeed allows you to upload your resume and apply rather easily. This app can feel too much like a mobile extension of the desktop platform. It is search-based, making it harder to passively discover new positions. The app also requires you to fill in some job-specific information in order to apply to some positions, including items like cover letters, portfolios and samples. That can be an anxious process when youre doing all that from a handheld device. Get the App Download on iOS Download on Android 2. CareerBuilder CareerBuilders app provides job seekers with tools for every step of a job search and beyond. Users can create and save a personalized resume with a few clicks. You can then use your resume to app ly for jobs of interest. There are alerts that proactively inform you when your resume has been viewed and who is viewing it. Job searching is simple and easy with the artificial intelligence and augmented reality powered app. Humair Ghauri, CareerBuilders Chief Product Officer, says, We can tell you which jobs are in your immediate vicinity or any designated distance and provide an augmented reality view of job openings and what they pay - as you walk by businesses. Our local targeting provides a map view and list view of jobs and serves up an entirely different experience for job seekers. In addition, the app sends notifications on new job openings based on the job seekers preferences and show higher paying jobs with information on acquiring the skills needed to get to the next level. Users can use the tools to start planning for the next stage of their career. Get the App Download on iOS 3. Glassdoor Very similar to its much-heralded desktop experience, Glassdoor allows mobile users to both access thousands of up-to-date job listings while getting first-hand knowledge of companies from current and former employees. The app is segmented into different categories jobs, companies, salaries and interviews and can feel a little overwhelming to navigate. Much like the Glassdoor desktop experience, the company reviews and employee insights are the attraction here. Filling out full applications via your mobile device? Not so much.Get the App Download on iOS Download on Android 4. SnagAJob The premiere mobile job app for hourly employees, SnagAJob understands that the non-salary workforce needs to move fast. After importing your social profile from Facebook or Google and filling in personal details, browse hourly positions in your area and click to apply. Filter positions by Schedule (part-time, seasonal, summer jobs) and Type of Job (automotive, construction, food restaurant) and Distance. The app also features a handy map function to show you the companys location. Drawbacks? While SnagAJob has many jobs that need just a single click to apply, some require a longer application process, and the lack of skilled, salaried positions can feel limiting.Get the App Download on iOS Download on Android 5. Good.Co The job search is as much about self-discovery as it is job discovery, and Good.Co is a useful reminder of that fact. The app users find companies and careers that will benefit their overall well being, not just their bank account. Through personality quizzes like What Are Your Unique Strengths? and How Do You Come Across to Others?, Good.Co unlocks increasingly nuanced insights about yourself and offers you companies and jobs that might match your personality and working style. You cannot apply to these jobs within the app, but instead are redirected back to major job boards for that part of the process. Get the App Download on iOS Download on Android 6. Simply Hired Another job aggregator, Simply Hired has a continuously improvi ng mobile app interface. Recently, they added features that allow job seekers to sort their job searches by date and relevance, in an attempt to relieve the crushing weight of endless job scrolling. Your homepage includes your recent searches and it is easy to save and share jobs. Like other search apps, though, Simply Hired seems to have one foot in mobile and the other on desktop. For example, some jobs allow one-touch mobile applications, while others require you to upload a resume and even a cover letter. The app is still search-based, requiring candidates to find relevant jobs rather than have them delivered, and the user experience can feel like the web platform shrunken down to a handy screen. Get the App Download on iOS Tips for Using Job Search Apps How can you get the most out of the apps youre using to streamline your job search? These tips will help you search and apply for jobs and connect with hiring managers, with just a few taps on your phone or tablet. Distill your resume to fit on a smartphone screen. Forget your traditional one-page CV. Mobile job apps require an even more succinct display of your skills and experience. If formulated correctly, less can be more. Be certain to prioritize your most marketable credentials to capture the hiring managers attention. Forcing yourself to distill your background in this way will help you have a better understanding of your professional self and eventually help you better market yourself in networking and interview situations. Know the keywords. The best job apps use smart algorithms to match relevant candidates with open jobs and vice-versa. These algorithms rely on keywords that illustrate certain experiences and skills, those that candidates may possess and job listings may include as requirements for a position. If youre a salesperson with expertise in channel sales, for example, ensure youve listed that under your skills. Clarity is vital. Save the nuance for after you connect with a hiring manager. Polish your profile. A great photo, a compelling headline, and a clear outline of skills and experience can help separate you from the crowd and inject some much-needed personality into your professional profile. Stand out, but try to limit confusing or cute language and images. Make the first move. Many job apps match candidates and employers in a one-on-one chat once theyve shown mutual interest. At this stage, its important you be assertive and initiate the conversation. Theres no point in being passive here. Especially if its an attractive posting, hiring managers receive many applicants and an aggressive approach can set you apart from the pack. Why not use this first impression to paint yourself as a go-getter with the skills to boot? Be attentive. Job search often rewards the timely and attentive, and this is especially true with job apps. Being more streamlined than traditional job boards and company websites, job apps require more consistent engagement and typicall y move rapidly. Keep track of your matches with employers and messages with hiring managers or recruiters. For apps with in-app chat, your response time should be quick. Hiring managers appreciate this kind of aggressive punctuality. Be professional. Even if youre using a job app on your phone, you still must abide by the rules of professionalism when corresponding with employers. Sure, the dialogue and environment feel refreshingly casual and stress-free, but you must remain vigilant about accuracy, proper grammar, attention to detail, and professional etiquette. You might be tapping to apply to jobs and texting with hiring managers, but always remember that this isnt social media - our professional future is at stake More Apps for Job Seekers In addition to the apps that will help with your job search, there are apps you can use to directly find quick gigs and professional money-making opportunities.

Top 100 Resume Keywords

Top 100 Resume KeywordsTop 100 Resume KeywordsThe resume keywords recruiters are using to find you.What are the words recruiters use most often to find the candidates theyre searching for?The following are the top 100 terms used by recruiters to find candidates on Ladders between April 1 and Oct. 1.If these words apply to your experience, skills and target job, be sure to incorporate them into your resume and professional online profiles.Top 100 Recruiter Search TermsschlussverkaufCPATaxBusiness DevelopmentMarketingControllerHealthcareHuman ResourcesInsuranceSoftwareManufacturingFinanceRetailCFOMedical DevicePharmaceuticalSales ManagerSoftware SalesFinancial AdvisorPharmacistMedicalSupply ChainSAPAccountingMedical SalesAccount ExecutiveAuditTax ManagerFoodEngineerRecruiterProduct ManagerConstructionManagerProject ManagerOracleHVACJavaOperationsDirectorInside SalesHospitalAttorneyCall CenterSECPackagingPharmacyPhysicianOutsourcingInternational TaxLogisticsDeloitteFAS 109ComplianceSAAS Real EstateElectrical EngineerNurseSEC ReportingSecurityTechnologyStorageEnergyERPAerospaceProcurementPrivate EquityRNBusiness IntelligenceCompensationCiscoC++EngineeringMechanical EngineerIkonCPGChemicalADPBankBankingMortgageFinancial ServicesITBusiness AnalystAdvertisingAccountantKPMGProduct DevelopmentWealth ManagementTransportationSales EngineerInternal AuditBenefitsBPOLitigationLeanSeries 7TelecommunicationsGovernmentCRM Source RecruitLadder, October 2009

What is the best way to get a promotion

What is the best way to get a promotionWhat is the best way to get a promotionWhat is the best way to get promoted?At the start of my career I was under the impression that working hard and doing great work would get me promotions. Over time, I was met with the harsh reality that hard work alone does notlage progress you forward in yur career and that therbeie are TWO other elements you have to focus on.The light-bulb moment for me is when I learned that to ascend the corporate ladder it boiled down to PIE - a concept introduced by Harvey Coleman in his book, Empowering Yourself The Organizational Game Revealed. Coleman became discouraged when he hit a glass ceiling in his career while others continued to surpass him with promotions. As an African American man in the corporate world, he suspected racial bias was at play. Yet, after extensive research, he came to realize that there is mora to career success than being a top performer, and that a person also needs to bolster their ima ge and exposure.PIE stands for 3 factors to determine career successPerformanceDefinition How well you do your jobAttributes to Career Success 10%ImageDefinition How you are perceived by people who work with youAttributes to Career Success 30%ExposureDefinition People know what youve done and how it matters to the organizationAttributes to Career Success 60%These numbers were astounding to me. Performance at 10% feels way too low, and Exposure at 60% makes me feel exhausted just thinking about it. But then it started to make sense when I thought of my career in terms of a product.A product could have top notch technology and features, the Performance, but if the Image is wrong, such as the packaging doesnt convey its value or stand out on the shelf, few people are likely to buy it. Additionally, if the Exposure is minimal, such as theres no marketing, and essentially no one knows this incredible product exists, then it will fail. The greatest product, or career, can never reach its full potential if it doesnt have the the right Image and Exposure.Upon changing my mentality around promotions, I came up with three practical ways to improve Image and Exposure at work.1. Change the way you talk about yourselfSelf branding is ridiculous these days- I am not recommending that you start self-labeling to cringe-worthy levels that we have become accustomed to on LinkedInInstead, you should start characterizing yourself in the way you want to be known. Such as lets say you want speaking opportunities at events but no one has ever asked you. Write a post on LinkedIn that says,For your future events on digital education, I am available to speak on the following topics Then list some topics that may spur some interest. No one deemed you worthy to speak - you did. And by you declaring you should be speaking on those topics, thats the first step to it happening.Additionally, heres a more in-depth example of an Office Manager who rebrands herself to ultimately be promoted t o the Head of Corporate Events.2. Tell people what you want.I have a friend who was upset because she wasnt nominated for the emerging leaders program at her company, so I encouraged her to tell her boss she wanted to join. When she did, her boss was thrilled that she was interested in joining the program and immediately got her into the program. It wasnt that her boss didnt think she was an emerging leader, he just didnt realize that was something she wanted.Its incredible how many of lifes opportunities are given to people who ask for them. While we would all prefer that our bosses and colleagues would ensure we are afforded all the opportunities we deserve, people are usually too oblivious to realize they should help you.So help them help you, spell it out for them. Tell them you want the promotion, you are interested in a specific project, you want to lead the next meeting, you want to go on stage during the magic show - whatever it is, make sure you tell others and they will ve ry likely help you get there.3. Debrief your major projects.You just finished a big project, and instead of charging ahead into the next one, set aside time to do a retrospective with your boss. Its not fun, in my opinion, to comb through a finished project to get all the data - but I promise that once you do, it is so gratifying to be able to articulate the journey you took and how you moved the needle.In the debrief, emphasize the pain and problems presented at the beginning of the project - we often forget how bad things were. Then, take your boss through all the steps, the results, and key learnings. Dont forget to toot your horn a bitWe made it by the deadline and under budget. I led the Peterson account which ended up securing us our biggest sponsor. Here is the feedback from that sponsorThey want to work with us on the next one.Every time I do this, its such a great moment of thoughtfulness, reflection, and celebration. Bosses feel proud when their team accomplishes great t hings, so make sure to provide them with that moment to understand how things went and praise you for it.An example from my own career is that, on several occasions, Ive heard my boss say that he is exasperated by the number of requests for money he receives to spend on different initiatives. I realized I was doing things on a monthly basis that were saving us money as a company, and it occurred to me that he would like to hear some actual good news instead of requests.So I showed him how much money we spent per hire to recruit our team last year, and compared it to how much we spent this year, which revealed that the cost dramatically decreased and the quality of talent stayed steady. He didnt ask for that information, and there is no one else on the team that would have pointed that out for me. Therefore it was my job to give my performance the exposure it deserved.Make sure to find organizations where you can grow as a professional and then think about PIE as you set your sights on that next promotion. Performance isnt everything, because if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, is it actually going to be considered for the regional supervisor position? Image and Exposure are essential to make it happen.For more rapid-fire, battle-tested career tips and tricks, check out Self Made Millennial YouTube Channel.This article first appeared on Quora.

Is It Ever Okay to Burn a Professional Bridge

Is It Ever Okay to Burn a Professional Bridge Is It Ever Okay to Burn a Professional Bridge Although there are many occasions where burning a bridge is probably going to hurt you more than it hurts your employer, there are some situations where it will actually be your best bet or even your only possible course of action.Just what situations would warrant burning a bridge? Here are fiveof them1. You Literally Hate Your JobRobert Tew once said, Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy. Life is far too short to work in a job that makes you miserable day in and day out.Some might argue that your attitude affects your job, and this is definitely true to a certain extent. However, having to force a positive attitude each day just to cover up the fact that you are miserable is only fooling everyone but yourself. Do yourself a favor and find a job that makes you happy.2. You Dont Believe in the OrganizationIt is absolutel y impossible to sincerely pour your heart and soul into work you dont believe in. Maybe you never shared your organizations values, or maybe youve started losing your faith, but whatever the case, its hard to be great when you disagree with your own mission.Just like a relationship, you can grow apart froman employer. You may have shared the organizationsideals and beliefs when you first started, but over time, that may have changed. And guess what? Thats perfectly okay. Accept it and move on.3. You Tried Something New and Hated ItPerhaps you moved from a corporate recruiting role to an agency recruiting role. You thought you would be okay with running a full desk. You thought you would be okay with the external variables that affect your ability to fill a position. You thought, Hey, I have an opportunity to make more money. This is great.Except, you tried it, and you hated it. Or perhaps you found that it just wasnt your cup of tea. Sometimes, we have to make these types of career decisions to find out what wedo or do not want to do for the rest ofour lives.4. Your Work Environment Is ToxicA toxic work environment means more than just hating your job it means you wake up dreading the workplace drama that you will have to deal with each day. You have a anfhrer who constantly micromanages you or belittles you. Your coworkers do not have your back, and they often make the environment borderline hostile through their speech and actions. The toxicity is sucking you in, and you find yourself beginning to feed into it.If this sounds like your life, its definitely time to leave. Why subject yourself to a highly toxic environment?5. Your Position Is in DangerThis is probably the most obvious scenario in which you may have to burn a bridge. Perhaps your organization is going through an acquisition ormerger, your department is downsizing, or you find that you simply dont have enough work to do to keep yourself busy all day.These are all signs that the existence ofyour position is in question. When it comes to dealing with this situation, its best to jump ship before you are thrown off of the ship. Beat them to the punch.At the end of the day, you have to look out for yourself. If your position is facing potential elimination, you need to make a choice to burn the bridge now or get burned later when the inevitable happens.Kristina Evans isthe director of HR and recruiting for Exactor.

The Secrets of Free Resume Templates for Word Exposed

The Secrets of Free Resume Templates for genau Exposed All About Free Resume Templates for sie sagen es Its possible for you to mention all of yur academic timeline or you may only mention the latest degree or qualification youve received. A fresher resume template will usually comply with a functional structure, where it will permit you to concentrate on your relavant abilities and qualifications for that specific job. Also, be sure that you tailor the document to the job which you are applying for. If youre looking for work in the accounting sector, an accounting resume template would be beneficial for you. A Startling Fact about Free Resume Templates for Word Uncovered Employing specific kinds of graphics and typeset is a superb way to receive your information noticed. In that instance, you have an outstanding host of resume builder tools readily available on-line today. Utilizing free resume downloads you will discover a range of alternatives for different styles that a re readily available. Once you have decided on your perfect resume template from our selection, follow our absolutely free expert guidance about ways to craft the ideal modern resume. In truth, its not that hard as it might appear to be. There are a lot of good choices available to assist you make a resume that will stick out among the others. There are lots of beautiful resume templates out there, but nevertheless, it can be simple to feel as a lot of the greatest cost a ridiculous quantity of money, require special design programs in order to edit, or both. Finding the best options is likely to be important to your success in searching for work. All sections can easily be visible so that recruiters will know where to search for the most crucial details about you. Professionally, our resumes are often the very first impression a prospective employer gets of us. When it is making a couple of resumes for various companies or even different positions, you merely require some minutes to acquire the completed. You may also read more on the very best approach to use our resume samples here. You will need to prove that you have done things. There are many free creative resume templates it is possible to use, enabling you to focus your energy on everything else you have to do. The freebie was made by Mats-Peter Forss. New Questions About Free Resume Templates for Word Whenever your work requires a visual representation, choose the portfolio category as opposed to a clean or modern resume. Learning the very best ways to draw the needed attention to your abilities and abilities are able to help you get that job that you would like. Producing your resume is essential. You must be wholly conscious of the strategic methods for writing a proper resume to be certain that it maintains a normal format and is in great calibration to the job. Click a resume template that you wish to use. You may download the resume template at no cost and can readily edit the t emplate using Microsoft word. The template can be found in Photoshop and Word file formats and you can also pick from dark and light color themes to make an attractive resume too. If it looks different than the example it may be because you dont have the correct font. How to Get Started with Free Resume Templates for Word? Timeless is an easy and clean Word resume template with a design fit for all types of professional resumes and CVs. Free resume downloads can be found in a variety of places today. While the template is the most acceptable for designers, other professionals can use it also. Whats more, you will discover templates for both freshers and expert nurses. Free Resume Templates for Word - What Is It? A traditional style resume template is also simple to customize. Though theres absolutely no cover letter template included, it ought to be simple enough to create your own. You can also select the template with logo or your private image. Sometimes all you will n eed is a traditional style template thats clean, clear and right to the point. When you have to create a resume or compose an employment letter, it can be handy to get started with a template. The freebie was made by Alamin Mir. Each template gives structure, examples and tips so you dont need to start from scratch when creating your resume. Type of Free Resume Templates for Word When you wish to find one thats fitting for a particular position, there are choices out there. Ideal design if youre choosing a brief one-page resume. Then it may be time to bring some style to your resume Each one of our creative style templates provide a perfectly balanced mixture of personality, professionalism and a little style. Things You Wont Like About Free Resume Templates for Word and Things You Will Show employers that youre current and make an excellent first impression by selecting the proper template. So now employers arent much affected by your private statement. You may change th e personal statement in line with the organization or job youre applying to but dont just make one-goes-for-all type of private statement. Provided that your resume can pull in the hiring managers attention, youll be called for an interview. The expert experience section of your resume ought to be full of achievements instead of details of your duties. It is easy to discover job application. Simple to use and customize, and that means you can quickly tailor-make your job resume for any chance and assist you to receive your job. You need to be particular about the job objective mentioned at the start of your resume.

Whispered Resume Template Pages Secrets

Whispered Resume Template Pages Secrets What Resume Template Pages Is - and What it Is Not Keep in mind that your resume may be read by means of a computer. Dont forget, every part of a persons job hunt needs to be strategic. Keykorrekts can make or break your work search, but its tricky to understand what keywords should be used. To raise your chances of being picked by the machine you ought to use keywords that are particular to your industry. Vital Pieces of Resume Template Pages Work request letter is a fundamental stage that may establish whether youre pleasant to work for the company or place youre applying for or not. If you would like to re locate work, you probably know its best to render your present address off your resume. Developing a nursing resume is difficult, notably since there arent any rules. The receipt is created in accordance with the laws or rules of the country. The War Against Resume Template Pages If you are able to change a vorlage easily, you simply may be able to make a great one yourself. As soon as you download the template, it is going to be entirely designed for you. A template may be a one-page resume, or a two-page resume, but until you understand what you need to spend the resume you dont understand what length will work best. It is available in PSD format. All About Resume Template Pages You can choose the template which is suitable for your preference and requirements. Fortunately, you dont need to be a designer to produce a professional resume. Design your own custom made designer resume using templates that can be customized to your particular needs and wishes. As a consequence of sharing is beautiful. While recruiters have a tendency to be expensive, they work for your benefit and aim to place you in the international space of your pick. There are lots of online websites that provide Word resume templates at reasonable price to help men and women in developing a good resume. A number of the templ ates are free while others cost a couple of dollars. When applying for most jobs, you would incorporate all your previous work experience, no matter whether its related to your existing career objectives. A stunning, minimal and user-friendly template that you may edit based on your abilities and experience. So you be sure that dream job doesnt go beyond your nose. After their resume writing strategy can help you land more auditions. Zetys resume templates are made with the assistance of recruiters and adhere to the best practices in HR. People searching for jobs have to have a professional resume to boost their odds of employment over others. Submit the same resume for every single job. It is never too best to imagine you can find because many jobs where you wish to work just like it. Up in Arms About Resume Template Pages? Along with the resume, in addition, it contains a cover letter template. You might be interested in general receipt templates. Utilizing the templ ate can generate a proper and very superior receipt form. A blank receipt template has features that could be rather appropriate for broad array of businesses. If youre helped by the notion of the article Pages resume template, dont neglect to share with your pals. Each page can be named based on the sections that show up on the webpage. Contents are well-organized and simple to skim. Using Microsoft word to create a resume can be exceedingly straightforward but at the exact time just a little bit sophisticated if you dont understand how to start it. Absolutely free printable resume template with creative and easy design. You are able to also see Resume Templates. Hence, utilizing a Professional Resume Template, an individual can create a very good impression on the employer from the first stages. A one of a kind 3-page resume template that youre able to edit utilizing both Apple Pages and MS Word. Pages resume template is among the design ideas which you can utilize to r eference your Resume. It resume template is one of the pictures contained in the category of Resume and many more images contained in that category. Resume Template Pages Fundamentals Explained In the event the job opening to which the applicant is applying isnt related to a resume template, or in the event the applicant isnt applying to a particular job opening, the system utilizes the resume template that you specify for that on-line job application website. Professionally, our resumes are often the very first impression a prospective employer gets of us. An employer spends only a few seconds on the resume and makes the choice. Any employer would be astounded by the very first look at your resume. Resume Template Pages Secrets Description types are categories of information which you wish to compose the whole job posting. Make certain you create a resume with the correct design and accurate details. There are many templates and internet tools available which make organi zing the details really simple and a fast approach. The template permits you to easily group your relevant abilities and accomplishments in a distinctive category. Life After Resume Template Pages By obtaining an exceptional comprehension of stuff youll be doing everyday on the job youre most likely to learn exactlywhat that the fantastic pre-interview job ought to be to prove youd be the acceptable fit. Its two-column layout permits you to set a lot of information, which makes it a very good alternative for experienced job seekers who want to limit themselves to a one-page resume. In a variety of ways, your resume will be much more straightforward and easy to write. A complete pick for candidates with lots of experience who desire to have a really good one-page resume template.

Leadership Development Plans - Spark Hire

Leadership Development Plans - Spark HireLeadership Development Plan sounds like HR mumbo-jumbo cue employees groaning and hoping that they have a conflict with the scheduled training. In reality, this type of employee development can be a miraculous cure for what ails you when it comes to workplace problems. Leadership development, in its most basic form, sets a series of goals for your organization that can be accomplished by empowering employees to take ownership in their work. Wish your volunteers had better phone skills? Zap Leadership development plan. Wish your managers knew how to give constructive criticism? Shazam Leadership development plan. Wish your employees brought you ice cream sundaes and rubbed your feet? Thats a little gross. Cant help you there.As with any employee development, leadership development plans begin by setting goals with stakeholders. Right away, your plan will probably take one of two forms. In type A, you will be grooming a specific set of employee s to take on a greater ownership role in your company. This sort of leadership plan might follow a restructure or change in workflow. Or, it might be parte of your routine management training.Your leadership development plan could also be type B. Type B would involve leadership training to a large group of non-management employees. This type of leadership development would be aimed at improving overall employee performance by encouraging leadership qualities. For example, a type B goal might be to teach employees to better deliver unfortunate news to clients. Achieving this goal requires that employees adopt leadership qualities in their day-to-day jobs.The development of both types of leadership plans is very similar. It is important to begin by inviting stakeholders to your meetings about employee development. For type A, invite the group of individuals you want to train. For type B, invite select employees from the group that you want to train. Learn more about why this is import ant here. In short, doing so is both considerate and valuable.The leadership plans themselves will include 3 main components goals, activities, and timelines. behauptung are the same components of any good employee development. The defining characteristic of a leadership development plan is the activity. The activity will involve teaching employees a new skill or perspective. Good activities involve active participation, flyers/handouts for employees to keep for reference, and interesting leaders. The best leadership training is to watch a great leader in action The folks performing your training should be the kind of people you would want to hire, and they should empower your employees in fun and innovative ways.Head over here for some great examples of leadership development activities, and get your plan started todayHow do you incorporate leadership into your employee development plan? Share your success stories and questions belowIMAGE Courtesy of Flickr byVictor1558

Bob Mankoff, former New Yorker cartoon editor, on starting a new career

Bob Mankoff, former New Yorker cartoon editor, on starting a new careerBob Mankoff, former New Yorker cartoon editor, on starting a new careerDuring his 20-year tenure at The New Yorker, iconic cartoonist Bob Mankoff published a whopping 950 cartoons and reviewed thousands of submissions.Mankoff is about to launch Cartoon Collections, a new website which will house Mankoff pieces and material from famed sources including The New Yorker, Esquire, Playboy Magazine, National Lampoon and many more.Mankoff spoke with Ladders about his next big move and adding humor to your day.Done leid doneMankoff said At this point, most people in the field of humor and cartoons know what Ive done but leid all of them know that Im far from done. I welches cartoon editor of The New Yorker for twenty years and a cartoonist there for twice that long. That was a really nice run in which among other things I founded The New Yorker Cartoon Bank and invented The New Yorker Caption Contest. Nice laurels to rest on but Im a restless guy with a laurel allergy, so, among other things, I left The New Yorker to become cartoon and humor editor of Esquire, co-founded an AI humor company Botnik.org as well as a new cartoon licensing business CartoonCollections.com.The same but differentWhen asked about his new launch, Mankoff said My new venture cartooncollections.com is very similar to cartoonbank.com in structure (they both seek to license cartoons in all kinds of media), but differs in a number of ways. The first, and most important perhaps is that cartooncollections.com works and cartoonbank.com doesnt. Thats a harsh statement but true. Its almost impossible to license a cartoon on cartoonbank.com because of cost-cutting and a revolving door of execs who had no feel for cartoon humor and how to monetize it. Quite simply Ive created in the first place to do right what cartoonbank.com is doing wrong. And then do it better than it ever did by adding collections of cartoons beyond that of The New Yorker such as Esquire and The National Lampoon. Were starting off with around 20,000 cartoons and a year from now should have over six-hundred thousand on every conceivable subject for every conceivable use.Funny you should mention it (but not to HR)First off, humor doesnt have to be edgy to be funny, Mankoff said. We often confuse shock and the excitement it causes with funniness. Edgy humor is humor that makes us feel uncomfortable in some way akin to embarrassment. Same thing with offensive humor. When were embarrassed we laugh.When we laugh we often retroactively assign funniness to anything that made us do that. So, not always, but often, we dont laugh because something is funny but rather we think its funny because we laugh. That said, Im not against humor being offensive because humor is part of free speech. There is no objective standard for going too far. In fact, no one can even give a good definition of what going too far is.In the workplace, the best rule of thumb is n ot to joke about anything that HR doesnt think is funny and HR doesnt think anything is funny.Be more playful to be funny (even at work)You cannot teach anyone to be a comedian anymore than you can teach anyone to be a professional tennis player, Mankoff said. But you can teach anyone to play tennis and you can help anyone learn to have a playful attitude that will lead them to be amusing in social situations with friends and colleagues. It doesnt take much to make someone laugh in a conversation, especially someone you know. In fact, most laughter occurs naturally in informal conversations and the humor required for it is very minimal.Humor works at workI told Mankoff Id once read that humorists are the greatest masochists on earth since they earn a living hoping that other people will laugh at their work (paraphrasing. it was actually mostly about stand-up comedians). Mankoff replied, That seems sort of like a joke that misses the point. The laughter in that instance is not ridicu le but praise. Theyre not laughing at your work or at you but with you and your humor. If the audience doesnt laugh as a comedian, youve failed.The point is made is this jokeEveryone laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. Theyre not laughing now.Well if youre a professional humorist, one thing that should motivate you, since this is your profession, is money. Always get paid. But if thats the only thing that motivates you, youre a hack. Its important to me that other people appreciate my humor but its more important to me that I do.Lessons in being pithy and to the pointIf youre trying to add humor to your work, take note In terms of writing a joke, with the exception of shaggy dog stories, the shorter the better. You can do that by editing to make shorter or better with tweaks.Everyone laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. Theyre not laughing now.Is made better by substituting They for Everyone at the start of the joke above.They laughed when I said I was goi ng to be a comedian. Theyre not laughing now.Also, in being funny you need the element of surprise so the punch line should always be at the end. For example is this cartoon of mineThe word jail is the punch. The caption would not work as well if it wereNow, youre going to have to go to jail for this over hereOne more thing Mankoff suggests you Check out cartooncollections.com. And, if youre not 100% satisfied with it, try 75%. That usually works for me.

The pillars of a creative life

The pillars of a creative lifeThe pillars of a creative lifeInMihaly Csikszentmihalyis mind, its the process of creativity that makes ones life fulfilling.In the 1990s, he interviewed 91 of the fruchtwein successful people on Earth (including 14 Nobel Prize winners), from various disciplines, to uncover what it is that made them different.As an accomplished psychology researcher himself, he knew that meaningful, creative work is high on the list of human needs, but there hadnt been any great, systematic attempts at undressing what exactly such work may look like. Thats, of course, until his famous study.After months and months of interviews and observations, Csikszentmihalyi and his team of researchers brought together everything they had learned and compiled it for comparison.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIn such a broad mix of people from artists to scientists to politician s naturally, they found differences here and there but, at the same time, they also uncovered many similarities.In every single case, for example, as he had predicted, the people cited their work as one of the core joys of their life. He also noted the importance of many things that now seem obvious things like long-term perseverance, discipline, attention, and curiosity.They all took great care to manage their health and energy, and each of them had learned to create a consistent personal rhythm and work environment through years of trial and error.There is a chapter at the end of his book (based on the study) that narrows it down to ten key similarities possessed by them all many that you would expect, a few that you wouldnt.That said, the most interesting thing about the whole experiment is the conclusion that Csikszentmihalyi presents as to what creativity is and the pillars that hold it up as it works.Contrary to popular belief, creativity isnt just artistry alone, and nor is it solely about the qualities a person possess. Its a way of life, one that has specific inputs and outputs.Creativity As a Product of ComplexityAs we go on living, all of us change and adjust how we see reality. Your belief system in late-adulthood is likely to be very different from the one you held in early-adulthood.This aligns with the message coming out of the literature in adult developmental psychology. Often, as we experience more, we slowly alter our interactions with the world around us.In spite of this, however, one thing that most adults have in common is that there is a certain consistency in how they operate at any given point. You may have believed one thing in your 20s and now a contradictory thing in your 40s, but you didnt believe them at the same time.But in roughly 1% of the population, what we find is that they are at a stage of development, which is usually the final stage, in which they live in a complex and contradictory manner.Its less about one extreme or another, but more so, its about knowing and balancing both of them at the same time and using whichever one is the most relevant at any given point.The core input requirement for creativity thatCsikszentmihalyi found across every person he interviewed was that they were all complex and contradictory people in this precise manner. Even beyond their surface-level similarities, this was the trait that connected everything.They were both humble and proud at the same time. They were rebellious, but they were also conservative. They were not only passion-driven but also results-driven. They valued the role of discipline while also leaving room for random play. Each thing had its place.This diverse complexity is what gave them the foundational tools to do new, original, and innovative work. They could attack their problems from a variety of angles as they needed.In the life-long process of creativity, the inputs you bring to the table heavily inform the outputs that are produced. They def ine the range in which you are capable of operating.To do interesting work, you have to be interesting. To produce complexity, you have to live it.Meaning Is in the Intersubjective RealityOne of the distinctions thatCsikszentmihalyi is quick to make is between lowercase-c creativity and capital-C Creativity. The latter being what he was trying to define concretely.Lowercase-c creativity is the art of making connections between previously unconnected things. Its something everyone does all the time. In this way, each one of us is creative.Capital-C Creativity, however, is what distinguishes the people he had isolated for the study.Great creative achievement isnt just a product of doing new and innovative work in your own domain, or merely making original things for yourself, but it emerges as you disrupt culture.What makes something meaningful is the relationship it has to other things. While doing good work in your own domain may be objectively relevant, and making something great f or yourself may be subjectively important, meaning is only found in the intersubjective realm.The intersubjective is neither objective or subjective. Its the world of collective ideas that drive our cultural direction. Its the realm that shapes what we value and what we believe.For something to be considered capital-C Creative, it has to satisfy all three of these criteria objectively important in your domain, subjectively valuable to you, and intersubjectively meaningful in a way that influences how society and its people operate and live.This output into culture is why almost all of the subjects in the study found their work fulfilling.There is no point, for example, developing a life-saving vaccine that stays in a lab. Similarly, writing a philosophy that alleviates spiritual suffering is limited unless others connect with it.A truly creative life is as much about other people in the world and what they gain from your work as it is about how it makes you feel and what it accompli shes in the eyes of your peers.All You Need to KnowIs the process of disrupting culture the only way to combine a life of creativity and fulfillment?Only if we narrow our vision. While its nice to appreciate how certain models understand achievement and the way it interacts with the rest of us, they contain only a partial truth.Although not all of us will live a life that produces something we consider capital-C Creative, we can all use this definition to help us enhance our lowercase-c creativity in daily affairs.There are important lessons to take away from the two pillars we have identified and the way that they relate to fulfillment lessons that are easily applicable to our own work and hobbies.They are a reminder that its okay, and even beneficial, to embrace the complexity that comes with balancing contradictions. When you can see opposing extremes in a way that does them both justice, you allow a diverse range of inputs that open up new possibilities.Similarly, when you look beyond just the objective results produced in your own domain or the subjective personal joy you gain from creation, a whole new world invites you in.There is profound meaning that can be created in our intersubjective reality, in both big and small ways. As soon as you share your creativity outside of the limitations of your domain and your personal space, there is unbounded potential in the connections that are available.Many people, by default, dont see themselves as creative because they treat it as some mysterious force they dont possess. But in truth, its just a matter of living and expressing.You dont need to chase a creative life to be fulfilled. You just need to avoid being boxed in.This article originally appeared on Design Luck.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe wor st mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

To Find High Performers, Stop Looking at Resumes

To Find High Performers, Stop Looking at Resumes To Find High Performers, Stop Looking at Resumes Great companies hire great people. But where do you find great people? How do you locate the high-performing talent your organization needs? To answer, that, we first have to look at the typical qualities of a high performer: Intelligence:  Fairly self-explanatory. Passion:  High performers love their jobs, are proud of their work, and are willing to go above and beyond. Grit:  High performers work hard  and persevere through tough times and challenging tasks. Integrity:  High performers often make difficult decisions to achieve ideal outcomes. They allow their strong principles to guide them. Teamwork:  High  performers help others, often putting the needs of other people ahead of their own. If we know what makes for a high performer, why is it so hard to find them? To put it simply, its because these qualities cant be found on resumes. Stop  Centering Resumes The trend in hiring today is to automate everything. This allows companies to measure every inch of the hiring process, capture data, and use it to improve their results. The problem, however, is that the efficiency of the hiring process doesnt exactly correlate to quality of hire. Despite this, we often blame the hiring process when new hires go wrong. We look for answers in new ATSs, new sourcing platforms,  machine learning, etc. - but all of these tools focus on resumes. How will ATSs and AIs ever evaluate passion, grit, or integrity? Lets stop focusing on finding the right keywords on resumes and start searching in better places. Lets stop posting so many jobs on our websites and hoping the high performers will submit their resumes; lets start capturing the right peoples attention on social media. High performers tend to have  healthy online presences. Start searching for and engaging with high performers on social media instead of relying on resumes. Shift to Video   Another way to get high performers interested is to prioritize video in your recruitment efforts. Instead of relying solely on text-based job posts, try selling your roles through video. Set up  a professional video studio in your office. Get in front of the camera and record a five-minute video that covers the company, the role, the requirements, and what success means in the position. Alongside your video job ad, include a clear call to action that makes it easy for high performers to apply. Dont ask for their resumes. Instead, ask them to record videos, too. Have candidates record 1-2 minute videos telling you why they are interested in the role and how they can help solve your problems. The candidates video presence will give you much more insight into  whether or not they have the intangible qualities of high performers than a paper resume would. Shifting to video also saves time: It takes less time to watch a few short videos than it does to sort through hundreds of resumes. Recruiters can invest this time saved into crafting and promoting strong employer brands to attract even more high performers. Job seekers wont have to spend hours perfectly tailoring their resumes, either. Highlighting High Performers in Interviews Of course, these videos dont replace phone screens or in-person  interviews. These still have to be part of your hiring process. To uncover a candidates high-performer qualities, you need to ask questions beyond their work histories. You need to delve into their experiences as professionals. Ask about times theyve failed and how theyve dealt with those failures. Ask them about times they took the initiative to get something done. Behavioral questions like these will expose your candidates high-performer qualities, or lack thereof. When you have a shortlist of candidates, start comparing them to your existing high performers. What does success mean to your best current employees? What attributes determined their employability? The more closely a candidate resembles your current high performers, the more likely it is that candidate will become a top employee if you hire them. Nader Mowlaee  is an engineering career coach and recruiter who is inspired by motivating confidence in engineers.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. We're SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career. Like this article? We also offer tons of free eBooks on career and recruiting topics - check out Get a Better Job the Right Way and Why It Matters Who Does Your Recruiting. document.write('[Read more '); in Resume]

5 super successful people (that you know) who were bullied

5 super successful people (that you know) who were bullied 5 super successful people (that you know) who were bullied For some, their school-aged years remain a golden age in their memory bank, as they recall old friends and treasured experiences. For others though, elementary, junior and high school were tumultuous periods, as they walking through hallways every day, fearful of the tormentors who lurked around each corner. Aside from the physical side effects of bullying, children who endure this all-too-common experience suffer from mental struggles, too.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Education define bullying as the unwanted aggressive behavior, observed or perceived imbalance and the repetition of behaviors or high likelihood of repetition.Unfortunately, far too many kids are victim to this unwanted attention, with current statistics estimating 1 in 4 students have reported being bullied, while the numbers of cyberbullying are even higher. In honor of bullying awareness month, it’s important to recognize this epidemic, and also understand there is a silver lining. When dealt with the aftermath of bullying effectively, plenty of children can go on to not only succeed, but lead their industries. These accomplished million and billionaires are shining examples to remind your kids there is always better times to come:Elon MuskWhile Elon Musk has been in notorious in the news lately, his achievements are nothing to discount. Not only is he the CEO of SpaceX, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla and Neuralink, but he’s also the co-founder of PayPal. All of these titles and his continuing brilliance bring his estimated net worth to an astounding $20.6 billion. He might not have imagined his life turning out so profitable and impactful though, if you asked him on the playground many decades ago in South Africa.His mom shared that due to being the youngest and smallest guy in school, children bullied Musk extensively. “It’s pretty rough in South Africa. If you’re getting bullied, you still have to go to school. You just have to get up in t he morning and go. He hated it so much,” she shared with Esquire.Luckily, Musk was able to overcome and press forward, ultimately becoming one of the most influential people not only in the world, but in history.Michael PhelpsEven though he officially retired at the age of 33, this swimmer is the most decorated Olympian of all time. He had an astounding 28 medals and holds several all-time records for many of his awards. During his junior year days growing up in Baltimore, Maryland though, not everything went swimmingly for Michael Phelps.He once shared that thanks to his oversized ears and his exuberant personality, his classmates teased him. Because of how difficult this was for Phelps, his mother said he would often wear hats to hide his insecurities.As the story goes, he stood up to one his aggressors and found himself suspended from school. This is when he had an AHA-moment, and realized how to best deal with bullying and rise above it. He might not have laughed about it then , but he sure does now, saying, “They’ll try to talk to me and I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, why are talking to me now? You were picking on me then.’ ”Bill ClintonSure, his time in office was smeared with scandal, but the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton made a tremendous impact on the country’s progress and national debt. Before he earned the most coveted position in America though, he had to run against bullies in middle school.Since Clinton grew up modestly and was overweight, most of their jokes and rude comments including calling him “fat” and mocking him for his style. In his book, he discussed one school dance in particular, where he was ridiculed for carpenter jeans and then hit in the face. He maintained his dignity and continued his passion of saxophone, becoming successful as a musician.When writing about how he did it, Clinton wrote, “I had learned that I could take a hit and that there’s more than one way to stand against aggression.”Serg ey BrinCo-founder of one of the most authoritative companies of all time, Google, Sergey Brin has an incredible estimated net worth of $50 billion. Not only is he the 13th richest person on the planet, but he continues to make advancements in technology, space, and other sectors. Before he started a new search engine thanks to a research paper at Stanford with Larry Page, Brin experienced bullying, thanks to his Russian accent.Though he was Jewish, like all of the others in his Hebrew school, his voice separated him from making friends, making him feel lonely and isolated. Eventually, he switched schools and gives much credit to the transition for inspiring him to tremendous success.JK RowlingBritish author JK Rowling was no stranger to rejection, considering her debut novel - Harry Potter the Sorcerer’s Stone - was initially turned down 12 times. When she finally received a lead, Rowling was essentially homeless. Perhaps part of how she earned such thick skin and resilience wa s due to the cruelty she experienced at school.In a response letter to a fan who shared her bullying experience, Rowling said writing Harry Potter was part of how she processed her difficult childhood. In fact, when describing being a teenager, she defined it as ‘completely horrible.’

Finding an Internship in the Fashion Industry

Finding an Internship in the Fashion Industry Finding an Internship in the Fashion Industry Internships in the fashion industry can be varied, and many are much less glamorous than they sound. As with most internships and entry-level jobs, new employees will have to initially complete menial tasks that may seem completely unrelated to the world of fashion. Lowering your expectations when it comes to a fashion internship can make the experience more tolerable. It can also enhance the learning experience once you realize that there is a lot to learn before you can experience the excitement and glamor that characterizes the fashion world. This industry is one that must be learned from the ground up. As a fashion intern, it is the experience you get in the field, and the people you meet that make the internship most valuable. For example, art majors are often interested in pursuing a career in fashion. These students use their creativity to take a vision and turn it into a tangible product. Those with a flair for clothing, footwear, and accessory design, and who also have the patience, can land visible jobs and become noticed as designers as they build their networks and portfolios. Fashion designers may choose to work for one fashion company and become an in-house designer, or they may decide to do freelance work and attract their own clientele. In addition to fashion design, students may select a career in fashion merchandising, marketing production, fashion journalism, or as a buyer for a large department store or small boutique. Characteristics of Fashion Internships There are many types of internships available in the industry, but here is a sample of some tasks and benefits found in internship listings: Create original designs and engage in the creative process by starting out with a simple sketch and coming up with a finished product.Learn the ins and outs of clothing, accessories, footwear lines, and how to keep up with the latest trends in the industry.Learn how to select and combine fabric swatches, buttons, and any add-ons to create a unique design.A fashion internship with an opportunity to visit production factories and see how they operate.Learn more about the business side of the fashion industry. A chance to assist with magazine photo shoots, fashion shows, and the new design launches.An opportunity to work in showrooms that feature designer clothing lines and accessories sold to boutiques, department stores, and online. Important Tips There are some things that you should know if you are pursuing a fashion internship. These include the following: Fashion internships are generally unpaid.Fashion industry websites offer both free and paid subscriptions for finding internships in the industry.Check designer websites or research companies to see if they are currently offering fashion internships.The majority of fashion internships are based on the east and west coast (New York City and Los Angeles).Many employers in the industry will not consider applicants if they do not currently live in New York City or Los Angeles.An internship in the field will give you an advantage over your competitors when it comes to employment. Without the experience and contacts that an internship can provide, finding a job in the business will be much more difficult or nearly impossible since there are so many people willing to accept almost any conditions for an opportunity to break into the industry. When applying for an internship in fashion, be sure to tailor your cover letter and resume to exactly meet the requirements for the job or internship to which you are applying.

Things to master before you turn 50 years old

Things to master before you turn 50 years old Things to master before you turn 50 years old Approaching midlife can be scary.One thing that makes it scarier is feeling like you haven’t accomplished all the life stuff you set out to in your teens or 20s. We’re not talking about climbing Kilimanjaro (though that certainly would be cool) - we’re talking about becoming the happiest, healthiest, all-around best person you can be.To that end, we’ve put together a list of some the skills you’ll want to master by the time your 50th birthday rolls around - as well as the ones you should have already learned by age 40. Read on and see which ones you’ve yet to tackle.Mentoring someoneBy this point in your life, you’ve probably amassed a ton of knowledge about your career. Take the opportunity to share that wisdom with someone else - whether they’re younger or whether they work in another field.It can be a formal mentorship, but doesn’t necessarily have to be. Leadership experts recommend finding a peer mentor or a “leadership buddy” with whom you regularly exc hange feedback and advice. That way, you both benefit from the relationship.ApologizingTo err is human. But to apologize is not something that comes naturally to everyone.According to marketing communications professional Kerry O’Malley, the steps to a successful apology at work include acting quickly, showing up in person, explaining what happened and how you’re going to avoid the problem in the future, saying “I’m sorry,” and making restitution.Not only will apologizing help the person who was offended forgive you; it may also help soothe your guilty conscience, Real Simple reports.Spending time aloneClose relationships are important for health and happiness. So is solitude. You don’t always want to be in the company of other people, real or virtual.As Cal Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, wrote for Business Insider, alone time allows you to “process and regulate complex emotions.” Plus, it affords you the opportunity to do what Newport calls “deep work,” the kind that requires deep concentration and focus.Detecting a lieOn Reddit, Mr_Mouthbreather cites “being able to detect bullsâ€"t” as a life skill everyone should know.Business Insider’s ine Cain and Rachel Gillett put together a list of ways to know if someone is lying to you, including: the person may share too much information, or the person covers vulnerable body parts.These signs don’t mean the person is definitely lying, but they should put you on the alert.Tempering your relationship expectationsMaybe you’ve been in a relationship for years, or maybe you’re just starting out with someone new. Either way, it helps to know that your romantic (and sex) life won’t always be peachy keen.According to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, better known simply as Dr. Ruth, the most common relationship problem she sees is people having unrealistic expectations.“Hollywood and the movies tell us that the stars have to be twinkling every night,” Westheimer told Business Insider. “That’s not reality of life.”To be sure, Westheimer isn’t advocating low expectations for relationships or sex lives. Her philosophy? It’s important “to be realistic, but to still have hope.”Managing stressLife is stressful - that’s a given. Stress management is less about getting rid of things to worry about than it is about learning to handle those worries well.The world’s most successful people have figured this out already. For example, Bill Gates reads before bed; Warren Buffett plays the ukulele; Sheryl Sandberg simply turns off her phone at night.Other effective ways to manage stress include focusing on what you can control and staying aware of what typically stresses you out.Speaking up for yourselfThis is an essential skill for any adult, AuroraLux writes on Reddit.According to Adam Galinsky, a professor of business at the Columbia Business School, one way to get what you want is to see things from another person’s pers pective. “When you think about what the other person wants, they’re more likely to give you what you want,” Galinsky said in a TED Talk.Another tool is asking people for advice, so they become your allies. A third tool is tapping into your passion, so you seem like an expert when you speak and so other people are more inclined to listen to you.Listening without talking“You don’t have to talk as soon as the other person’s finished,” weareallnone writes on Reddit.It might be tempting to gush about your own experiences - and you probably have many interesting ones. But a solid life skill is learning how to be patient and let your conversation partner take the stage. In fact, that’s a good trick to make people like you.Working with someone you don’t likeAn anonymous Redditor says this is an essential skill that everyone should know.Researchers say there are different personality types in the workplace, and some are more likely to clash than others. Having an entire of fice take a personality test and discuss the results is one path to understanding, but there are other strategies to avoid conflict in the office.As Business Insider’s Ashley Lutz reported, you can deal with a bossy coworker by telling the person that you’re busy working on something the boss assigned you and then ignoring the person if they pop up again. And you can deal with a loud coworker simply by asking politely for the person to keep it down.Then, there are the skills you’ve hopefully mastered well before now, starting with: negotiatingIf the thought of getting into a debate with your boss over how much money you deserve makes you nauseated, you’re not alone. It helps to both research and practice, as much as you can stand.If you’re negotiating your salary, the best strategy both for getting what you want and still coming off as friendly is to ask for a range including and above your target number. For example, if you’re aiming for a $100,000 salary, you’d sugge st a $100,000 to $120,000 salary.Another trick is to frame your proposal in terms of what you’re giving the other person as opposed to what they’re losing. So instead of saying, “I want $10,000 for my car,” you’d say, “I’ll give you my car for $10,000.”Establishing a regular sleep scheduleWe know it’s hard to hear, but it’s helpful to wake up at the same time every day - even on weekends. If you oversleep for even a few days, experts say you risk resetting your body clock to a different cycle, so you’ll start getting tired later in the day.On a related note: Experts also advise against hitting “snooze” and going back to sleep when your alarm goes off in the morning. Instead, hit the snooze button once and use the time until your alarm goes off again to turn on a lamp and do some light stretching.Making small talk at partiesChances are good that, if you’re feeling awkward about chatting with a bunch of impressive people you’ve never met, other people ar e feeling the same way.But as Marjorie Gubelmann, CEO of Vie Luxe, told Oprah.com: “Even if you won’t know anyone and you’re feeling intimidated, you must go. Do not stay home. So many people are afraid that no one will talk to them and they’ll leave feeling awful - but has that ever happened to you?”One solid way to improve your small-talk skills - and alleviate some of the pressure you feel - is simply to demonstrate interest in your conversation partner. Ask the person questions, let them talk about themselves, and allow them to teach you something.Finding and sticking to an exercise routine you enjoyA professor of behavioral medicine told The New York Times that research suggests people who dislike or feel inept at their workouts are unlikely to continue. So experiment and find an activity you really love, whether that’s spinning, Zumba, or weightlifting.Remember: In your 30s, you start losing muscle mass, so it’s especially important to exercise at this time.Fi nding your career ‘sweet spot’Brian Fetherstonhaugh, worldwide chief talent officer at The Ogilvy Group, writes on TIME.com: “Your career sweet spot is the intersection of three things: what you’re good at, what you love to do, and what the world values.”He says you should “use your 30s to test out hypotheses,” like whether you’re skilled enough in one area to make a career of it.Saving for retirementYour golden years are inching ever closer - and you’ll want to be prepared to enjoy them.As Business Insider’s Lauren Lyons Cole reported, by the time you’re 40, you should have saved about three times your annual salary.Investing your money can grow your savings exponentially - without you having to do much of anything. In fact, Lyons Cole, who is a CFP, reported that “missing out on stock market growth spurts is actually riskier than not investing at all.”Investing in relationshipsOn a Reddit thread about lingering regrets people have from their 30s, multip le people posted about not spending enough time with their family.For example, mustlovecash writes that they regret “not spending more time with my parents â€" walking, talking, travelling â€" while they were still young enough to actively enjoy it” and “ever, ever choosing work time or personal time over spending time with my wife and children. Children grow quickly, and leave home quickly, and the spouse who remains with you will again become the closest and most important person in your life.”Indeed, according to the Harvard Study of Adult Development, good relationships keep us not only happy, but healthy as well. Interestingly, the study found that quality of relationships is more meaningful than quantity once you hit 30.Saying ‘no’ to peopleThere’s an entire Quora thread dedicated to learning how to say “no,” where Eva Glasrud writes, “we routinely overestimate the cost of saying ‘no.'”According to Glasrud, the best way to muster up the confidence to tu rn down a request is to recognize that “[t]here are some things you can never have back. Your time, your health, your virtue, your life.“Don’t mess around with those things. It’s fine for people to ask - most likely, in their mind, they’re trying to help introduce you to a great person or opportunity or meaningful cause. And it’s just as fine for you to say ‘no.'”In some cases, you can even say “no” to your boss - sort of. According to national workplace expert Lynn Taylor, if your boss presents you with a new assignment and you’re already overloaded, you might respond with:“I would be happy to do that project, but what that could mean is that [whatever other project you’re working on] will have to be put off until tomorrow, because I was actually going to spend the next three hours finishing that proposal. Would you like me to put that off?”Keeping a clutter-free homeIf you’re looking to start de-cluttering, there’s a whole movement to support you, inspired by Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” The process starts with a tidying “marathon,” in which you keep only those items that “spark joy” - and get rid of everything else.As Business Insider’s Erin Brodwin reported, clutter can be a source of stress for some individuals and families. Then again, people tend to be more creative in messy environments - so if you aren’t feeling motivated to re-organize your entire office space this second, that’s probably okay, too.Practicing hobbiesWriting on Quora, Vishwa Sharan advises 30-somethings to develop hobbies. People “forget that there is a beautiful life outside of their work,” Sharan says, and it’s important to find non-work activities you can pursue for the rest of your life.If you’re looking for ideas, Business Insider’s Rachel Gillett put together a list of 15 hobbies successful people practice in their spare time, from bridge (Bill Gates) to playing the ukulele (Warren Buffet t).Making new friendsIn case you haven’t heard, it’s not so easy to find BFFs once you’re off a college campus. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible - in fact, there are plenty of science-backed strategies for forging friendships in adulthood.One way is simply to do activities you enjoy so that you meet a steady stream of people with similar interests. Another way is to make yourself a little bit vulnerable: Exchanging confidences as a relationship progresses can make two people feel closer.As the late psychoanalyst Hedda Bolgar told Oprah.com when she was 103 years old and still practicing: “It’s important to be part of a community!”This article first appeared on Business Insider.

Why Memorial Sloan Kettering Is Working Hard to Put Itself Out of Business

Why Memorial Sloan Kettering Is Working Hard to Put Itself Out of Business Why Memorial Sloan Kettering Is Working Hard to Put Itself Out of Business If it was up to Dr. Craig Thompson, he’d be unemployed by this time next year. He’s working towards it, in fact. As the President and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Thompson leads 19,000 individuals who are all hoping to eradicate cancer, thus putting MSK out of business. As they research, treat and manage patients with hundreds of variations of cancer, Memorial Sloan Kettering clings to their mission  and pushes themselves to  deliver for both patients and employees. Leading the charge is Dr. Thompson. With a 99% CEO approval rating, Dr. Thompson is the highest ranked healthcare leader  on the 2017 Highest Rated CEOs list. While he humbly says that his work is in service to others, Dr. Thompson’s employees highly regard  the culture of care that he has built. “Powerful mission and ambitious leaders, advanced clinical care, pride in research,” says one clinical research supervisor. A phlebotomist adds: “Great company culture, management is awesome, benefits and perks are great, work is rewarding, coworkers are hard working, knowledgeable and are all there for one purpose [- ] saving lives!” Glassdoor’s Amy Elisa Jackson spoke with Dr. Thompson about his role as President/CEO, how he fosters employee engagement in the face of The Big C, and what types of candidates he looks for to join MSK. Glassdoor: Congrats on earning a spot on the Highest Rated CEOs list. You must feel so appreciative to your staff and employees for recognizing your leadership in this way. Craig Thompson: I have had the privilege for the last seven years of leading an extraordinary organization and so I guess what it means to me [is] that I’m really pleased that my fellow employees believe I’m pulling my weight. Glassdoor: How would you define leadership as it pertains to heading MSK? Craig Thompson: Everybody comes here to [take part in] our mission which is to really help patients and their families face a diagnosis of cancer. Everybody comes here with a very ripe motivation. They know what we’re doing. They know why we’re doing it. My real role in leadership is to try to get the best out of everyone by aligning their talents with the organization’s mission and culture. Everybody can find a unique role for their talents within this very large organization that we have. Glassdoor: However, you aren’t just a CEO. You’re also a researcher and a physician. How does that shape and inform your leadership? Craig Thompson: When we started in 1884, 133 years ago, most people didn’t believe cancer was a separable disease. We had been focused as an organization [on] finding out what was at the root, the cause of cancer. Now we know cancer is multiple diseases. We are engaged in very fundamental research in the laboratories here to try and understand 400 different types of cancer and to develop the optimum treatment to develop strategies to both prevent and treat patients. That is our research mission. Our clinical care mission, since 1884, is to really give cancer patients and their families hope. Today two-thirds of cancer patients are doing well. They’re back with their families five years after a diagnosis. Finally, we have an educational mission which is that every year we train about 1,500 doctors and nurses in the best practices of cancer care. They leave us to go throughout the country, throughout the world actually, to engage in taking care of people in the locations where they start their practices. It’s an organization where we have to have the expertise of a physician. We have to have an expertise [in] research and we have to understand 16,000 people come work here to fulfill those three missions, and it has to have the organizational abilities to support all the structures of a large company. We’ve got to have HR. We have got to have retirement benefits. We have got to understand that people come to work. They will work very hard on our mission, but ultimately they hope to earn a salary and to get personal satisfaction in a way that they can be proud of what they have done and still put a roof over their family’s heads and be able to put food on the table. Glassdoor: Aside from the mission, how do you inspire your teams and ensure employee engagement? Cancer isn’t easy to research, treat or cope with. How do you motivate in spite of it all? Craig Thompson: I try to make sure that everyone that comes to work here has what they need to complete their job successfully every day. We have 16,000 employees and they all come to work believing that they run Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Every day they can go home knowing that they delivered on the promise that they started the day with - to help patients and their families, to engage in bringing a new therapy…. to teach interns and residents and nursing students what it is to care optimally for cancer patients. What is really great is the ownership that everyone has for the individual part of our mission that they oversee. My job is to help solve the problems when people don’t have what they need to provide optimal care. It’s really making sure that we distribute the resources so that everybody can do [optimally] at their job. Glassdoor: Tell me about a time when you felt truly rewarded by being CEO. Craig Thompson: We just had the retirement of a senior physician last night who has [been here for] 40 years of his career. When he started,  young men with testicular cancer always died of their disease. We saw one of his patients from 40 years ago at the dinner last night. He told us about it. We expect 95% of young men with testicular cancer today to be cured. That has happened in his lifetime. It’s been an incredible boost for all of us with his leadership and that part of our organization to have participated in the innovation to do that. My job is to keep us focused on that because there are still cancers that we don’t do tremendously well with. There are still cancers that we haven’t yet gotten ahead of. Brain cancer, for an example, or pancreatic cancer, where we still don’t have the optimal therapies to help every patient. Glassdoor: What do you look for in candidates you hire? What makes someone MSK material? Craig Thompson: What we look for is people that are curious. People that want to understand and improve health through understanding cancer… two real skills that are hard to balance. People that show that high level of common sense but at the same time, they have to be ambitious for what they want to achieve. The status quo in cancer care is not good enough for anybody. If they come in saying, “I just want to be able to do what we do today,” that is not enough. We want them to be pushing the boundaries. We need to get better. Right now we do about half as well as we all hoped in helping patients and their families. One thing that we say repetitively here at the organization that I say maybe too frequently but is a constant reminder for all of us: There is no organization of our size who works every day to put ourselves out of business as faithfully and as frequently as we do. Everyone in the organization will be thrilled if we put ourselves out of business. Glassdoor: I like that! Thrilled to be out of business, indeed. Now for a fun one, what was your first job? Craig Thompson: I grew up in a military family. My dad after World War II was lucky to take an exam and get into the Coast Guard Academy. He was the first in his family to go to college and he became a career Coast Guard officer. We moved around the world and he was more often than not loaned to the Navy. We lived on Navy bases. My first job was on an island in the middle of Pearl Harbor called Ford Island. My front yard was the aircraft carrier docks for the Pacific Fleet. Me and my friends sold coconuts to the new recruits who came for their first time to a tropical island. We would go around and collect the coconuts that [had] fallen off the trees on the island, then bring them in wagons and sell them for a quarter apiece to the sailors. It was a great business. Glassdoor: Ha! What a creative business. Craig Thompson: The lesson I learned from that was interesting. After about a year of doing this, my friends and I realized that the hardest thing about coconuts, if you’ve ever seen a real one, is you’ve got to get the husks off. So we had little hatchets and spent a week before the next aircraft carrier was coming in dehusking all the coconuts. It was double the work, so we could double the price because we were providing value. We were going to charge 50 cents. But when we went to the docks, we didn’t sell a single coconut because every young sailor that came off the ships had seen a dehusked coconut in their supermarket in their hometown. They had never seen one with the husk still on. The value was actually in seeing something that they have never seen before. That is what we’ve been selling them. We just didn’t realize it. Very valuable lesson.

Use your brain more Thinking, shallow and deep

Use your brain more Thinking, shallow and deep Use your brain more Thinking, shallow and deep Information is not the same thing as understanding.What is the quality of your thinking?How deep a thinker are you?Thinking is the core of our being.Deeper thinking leads to deeper living.Superficial, shallow thinking produces a superficial life.We are generally not taught how to think. It is a skill we are expected to know, without specific instruction.Are you skilled at analyzing problems?Here is a challenge for your mind for the rest of the year: commit to dig deeper into subjects of thought or knowledge you deeply care about.In his book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman says, we use two primary modes of thinking to process information and make decisions.Mode 1 is intuitive, instant, unconscious, automatic, and emotional.Mode 2 is slow, rational, conscious, reflective, reasoning, and deliberate.At any point in time, your active thoughts and actions varies depending on what mode is running.Slow, deliberate, focused and logical thinking is often applied to complex problems.De liberate thought is more reliable but we rarely stop, reflect, and make slow decisions, because in many situations our responses are automatic hence the need to hone your thinking skills.Shallow thinkers rarely think beyond the obvious. They take information on the face value. A shallow thinker just looks at first-order consequences.A deep thinker, on the other hand, looks at the whole chain of effects, impacts, and outcomes.Shallow thinkers are incapable, and sometimes too lazy, to look at all sides of an issue or to explore the issues deeply before making judgment or decision.Shallow thinkers usually strongly believe they are right.They also believe they have depth behind their opinion, because they believe their opinion is also based on the truth and indisputable facts.When you dig deeper, you understand better.You compare different outcomes. You analyse, dissect and make informed judgement based on different mental models.Read a book once and you will probably have a shallow und erstanding.Read a book multiple times, take notes, summarize concepts, and guess what, you understand the ideas deeply.A shallow thinker solves one problem with one known solution.A deep thinker approaches multiple problems from different angles.Think beyond the first levelIn The Most Important Thing Illuminated, Howard Marks explains: First-level thinking is simplistic and superficial, and just about everyone can do it (a bad sign for anything involving an attempt at superiority). All the first-level thinker needs is an opinion about the future, as in “The outlook for the company is favorable, meaning the stock will go up.” Second-level thinking is deep, complex and convoluted.Many people refuse to engage their minds.They take in facts, statistics and information, but never question the reasoning behind them or make the effort analyse what they have seen, read or been taught.They obsessively seek out truth that confirms their wordviews and cling to it with little room for metac ognition (thinking about their thinking).The biggest barrier to deeper understanding is confirmation bias (seeking opinions, knowledge, and views that confirms your existing worldview).Cognitive psychologist, Albert Bandura, argues “People are highly driven to do things that build self-worth; you can’t transgress and think of yourself as bad. So people transform harmful practices into worthy ones, coming up with social justification, distancing themselves with euphemisms and numbers, ignoring the long-term consequences of their actions.”Contradictory information creates imbalance in the human body. Information that supports our current belief is conversely rewarded via dopamine release.Aristotle once said,“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”If you consistently look for opinions that support your views, you may feel better about yourself in the short-term, but your actions will have long-term negative effects that coul d impact a lof of people close to you.Shallow thinkers cling desperately to their own way of thinking.They refuse to better themselves, or consider other thinking models, opinions, arguements, principles, frameworks, and patterns that question their perceptions about life and living it.They heavily rely on their limited heuristics (mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision) with little or no room to improve their decision making processes.Heuristics help us make snap judgments. But sometimes, what you save in time, you lose in accuracy. And if your heuristics are flawed, your snap judgments will cost you.In psychology, heuristics are efficient rules, learned or hard-coded by evolutionary processes, that have been proposed to explain how people make decisions, come to judgments, and solve problems typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information.While heuristics can speed up our problem and decision-making process, they can introduce errors. W hich is why is pays to dig deeper in every decision making process.Relying on limited existing heuristics (cognitive biases) can make it difficult to see alternative solutions or come up with new ideas.In her book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, Margaret Heffernan, examines the cognitive mechanisms by which we choose, sometimes consciously but mostly not, to remain unseeing in situations where “we could know, and should know, but don’t know because it makes us feel better not to know.”Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don’t see - not because they’re secret or invisible, but because we’re willfully blind.Deep thinking in the age of distractionHere’s the problem: in our rapidly changing, high-pressured, distracting world, our working memory gets taxed.Your brain’s capacity is constantly overburdened and thus diminished in function over time.Deep thinking requires effort and patience.On one hand, e ffort is necessary to learn the fine art of thinking deeply.Effort is required to maintain one’s focus on one particular train of thought.In just 5 minutes a day, you can focus on improving how you think.It’s a life-long process that can enrich your knowledge every day. And the good news is that you access free online resources anywhere to help you grow.Charlie Munger said, “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you”Use the Feynman Technique to make sure you understand things. This is perhaps the single most effective studying tool that you can use to focus.Learning is best when you connect it to things that you’ve already learned.The more you know the more you can connect.Don’t stop looking for answers. If something doesn’t make sen se to you, look for ways to expand your knowledge so that you do understand it.If you want to be a deep thinker, you have to get in the habit of asking deep questions. Ask them about everything.To be a more insightful thinker, ask why repeatedly!Force yourself to use your brain more.The more regularly you pick up a new skill, study a new subject, or dig deeper into any topic, the stronger your mind becomes. Try to pick up one new thing every week, then continue working on it as you learn new things.Focus, strategy, logic and creativity are just a few of the mental muscles you should be exercising more regularly.The more you exercise and challenge your mind, the deeper your understanding can be.Your career, and personal life will never be the same if you can commit to understanding topics, issues, and subjects deeper.Dig deeperJoin my Thinking in Models community and upgrade your thinking habits. Join smart and curious people on a mission to think clearly, work better, solve problems at multiple levels of depths, and make complex decisions with confidence! Click here for details.You can also subscribe to Postanly Weekly (my free weekly digest of the best posts about behaviour change that affect health, wealth, and productivity). Join over 46,000 people on a mission to build a better life.This  article  first appeared on Medium.

Social Media Housekeeping Tips for 2012

Social Media Housekeeping Tips for 2012 Social Media Housekeeping Tips for 2012 For a few short days, you will wear what you should wear, and not what you should not wear. You’ll swear off cable TV and hit the treadmill instead. You’ll pick up heavy books and ruminate on weighty thoughts. You’ll catch yourself before speaking ill of your spouse’s sweater selection. And then, in a pattern too predictable for a Medium episode, we will all fail. We will become TV watching, non gym going, non reading, judgmental and over-eating people again. We will become ourselves once more. However, we have a saving grace that we did not have before. We have our alternate digital lives that can continue January First’s bold plans for the future and grasp what we too often drop. Our social media selves may be our only hope to make our resolutions live on and forever suspend our temporarily thin faces in thoughtful and intellectual expression. So this New Year, show your digital identity some respect and it may return the favor. Here are a few housekeeping tips to tidy up your online identity. After all, your digital self may be the only one living up to its promises. Take a new picture. It matters. Are you using one from 2006? Do you have one of your kids half framed in the picture? Are you wearing a tuxedo? Tidy it up and make sure your image is current and engaging. Pare back. Run through your LinkedIn connections and take the time to de-connect with everyone that you don’t know. It’s a waste of time that you don’t need in the new year. Prune back â€" think about Swedish design principles while you’re clicking away. Go old school. Did you use a “set it and forget it” approach to your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts? Are you auto DMing your new followers or pushing out RSS feeds through your social accounts? It might be time to just bag all of that stuff. Manually update the networks you care about. If you find yourself not updating certain networks, don’t feel guilty about it. There’s a reason you don’t care about them â€" they don’t matter to you. Trust your gut. Drop out. That’s right. In the US, there are 3 social networks that matter: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (maybe 4 with Google Plus). If you’re getting emails from other ones, it’s time to quit. Ask yourself if there is true value and if you have the time to use it for some business purpose. If not, don’t sign up. You’re probably not missing much. Clean it up. Run through your profiles and make sure that you look like you want to look to the world. Use this time to take out personal info that you’re not comfortable sharing. Delete irrelevant positions, use concrete language that sells, and make your profile useful. What does that mean? If you sell widgets, give people a reason to buy widgets from you. Divide conquer. Use networks for clear and specific purposes. Separate business and recreation and your family and friends from your casual business acquaintances. Take some time to set up Google Plus circles, Facebook lists, LinkedIn tags â€" but whatever you do, do something. Don’t attempt to portray your whole self to everyone, because all of this social media stuff will never add up to all that you are. We’re all trying to make 2012 the best year ever â€" the year that we live up to our best selves. So while we try to keep our promises, let’s be sure our social media selves aren’t weighing us down and even, perhaps, pulling us along.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. We're SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career.

What Makes a Good Boss

What Makes a Good Boss What Makes a Good Boss While the perfect boss â€" like the perfect person â€" may not exist, “good” bosses do! For those managers who haven’t yet grasped the behaviors exhibited by their more venerated leadership colleagues, read on. The following seven tips provide insights on how you can become a good boss, too: 1. A good boss makes their employees feel valued. It is not enough to smile or use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’; although, both of those behaviors are commendable and courteous. In addition to reflexive appreciation, a good boss will take additional measures to prove they believ e in the employee’s value. For example, a good boss will take a few moments after a particular grueling project and handwrite a thank you or personalize an email to reflect on how the employee shined. This could include denoting specific areas of team leadership, crediting them with performance improvements or could pinpoint a specific skill the individual employed without which the project would have likely failed. 2. A good boss can take the commendation a step further and link an employee’s efforts to something bigger and better that has arisen from their work. For example, if they helped spearhead a new technology initiative that saved the front-line customer service reps time in responding to repetitive inquiries, then a good boss can delve into the metrics and provide proof of productivity improvement. This is especially valuable if the employee doesn’t have access to the data and can leverage the information for self-marketing. 3. A good boss will be interested in employees’ development, even if that means developing employees in ways that seemingly compete with their own job. For example, if the boss is generally accountable for spearheading a particular customer event, but they know the employee has an interest in meeting planning, they can delegate this initiative to the employee. The value-add to the boss is freeing up time for their own career-stretch initiatives. 4. A good boss is sensitive to those individuals on the team who struggle. While in some instances, a struggling employee may simply need to be reassigned to a right-fit role, in other instances, it is a lack of training and development . A good boss knows when it is the latter and initiates help. For example, perhaps new technology has an employee stumped; offering to send them to a training seminar may be the answer. Or, if several employees are clamoring for assistance, then bringing a trainer onsite may be the solution. Taking the time to ferret out the right course of action to defray employee frustration will empower staff while also showing, through action, that the boss values them enough to invest this way. 5. A good boss gives an employee credit in front of their boss. While it may be easy to slip into a “We delivered this” manner of speaking, a boss who specifically exudes an employee’s praises in front of their boss (i.e., the boss’ boss) elevates attitudes.   By sharing that “Amy Leonard” took the lead on this profitable product development project that led to XX% revenue growth in ABC Division, and shining a spotlight on the employee’s individual value, a good manager gains points, securing the employee’s faith that what they do matters to both their boss and to the company. In other words, when a boss delegates a task or project to their employee, they let go of the reins. While this does not mean abandoning the employee should they need resources, tools or other support, it does mean the boss will not presume weakness and begin interjecting themselves into the day-to-day project execution. In other words, when a boss delegates a task or project to their employee, they let go of the reins. While this does not mean abandoning the employee should they need resources, tools or other support, it does mean the boss will not presume weakness and begin interjecting themselves into the day-to-day project execution. Micromanagement is a palpable way to devalue employees. By dispensing of the over-the-shoulder watching and replacing it with a regularly scheduled ‘update’ session, the employee is both empowered and liberated to do what they do well â€" what they were hired to do. 7. A good boss encourages risk-taking. While this can be easier said than done, especially when it involves investing real money into an initiative that hasn’t been proven to perform, encouraging risk-taking can be one of the most effective ways to demonstrate an employee is valued. While this can be easier said than done, especially when it involves investing real money into an initiative that hasn’t been proven to perform, encouraging risk-taking can be one of the most effective ways to demonstrate an employee is valued. Whether the risk initiative is one suggested by the employee or is an idea spawned by the boss, being open to shedding the safety net from time to time is imperative. For example, perhaps an employee is inspired to launch a new marketing channel that involves time and resources to build a new website and other media. After determining that their reasoning is legitimate, and calculating that it is affordable, perhaps a stamp of approval is in order. Regardless if the project is a success or not, the employee will feel their boss valued their ideas and capabilities. As well, they will realize that the boss is behind them, no matter what the outcome. Finally, to be a great boss, you have to be at the forefront of thought leadership and timely topics around building employee engagement, and s ubscribing to the Glassdoor for Employers blog is a great way to do it. Are you an employer? Check out our Talent Solutions Blog . Thanks for finding us! We cover everything from career advice to the latest company headlines. We're always looking for experts, executives and trends to feature on the Glassdoor blog. Interested? Contact us. And if you’re looking for the latest in employer solutions and advice, we recommend our Talent Solutions Blog . It only takes a second â€" see who’s viewing your profile and monitor your reputation.