May 2016 – Accelerated, Collaborative Technology Training Services

Start by taking a deep breath and reading these pointers.

So you managed to graduate college and land a job. The hard part’s over, right? Not quite. For recent college graduates, starting that first “adult” job can be a daunting prospect.

We get it, and we’re here to help. First, stop and take a deep breath. Next, check out the following pointers, which will help you prepare for the start of your post-graduate career.

Here are 10 things you need to know:

Your boss is a valuable resource. While the very idea of having a boss may scare you, it’s important to understand that he or she is there to help. Because your success is a reflection on your manager’s performance, the smart ones will take the time to explain the job to you, provide training and monitor your progress as you gain some experience. Never hesitate to ask your boss questions if you don’t understand something. It’s okay to take up some of his or her time so your expectations are clear. You want to succeed at work, your boss wants you to succeed, and by working together you have a better chance at making that happen.

May 31, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 8:57 am
Comments Off on 10 Things New Grads Need to Know Before They Start Their First Job – Russell J. Bunio
Career Success, Social Skills

The best tool you bring into a job interview is comfort with yourself, not a set of practiced responses.

Experienced interviewers can tell within a few minutes of knowing you if you are delivering, verbatim, pre-prepared answers to their questions. It’s not just that memorization often results in a monotone, rushed answer. It’s that thinking about your fit ahead of time, instead of rehearsing answers, allows a more genuine, passionate answer in the moment.

The equation for getting your career of choice is simple: your interests, skills and values, plus the alignment of an employer’s desired skill set and cultural values and interests, equals fit. Communicating this fit begins early in the cover letter and CV/résumé portion of the job search process. Early on, employers want to know if you can do the job — that is, are your skills and experiences close enough to those they seek. The interview, then, may delve more deeply into your skills, but it primarily assesses whether or not they want you to use said skills at their organization. In short, do they want to work with you?

The best way to get to know your future supervisor and colleagues is to have an honest conversation with them to assess fit on both sides. Yes, you are assessing fit, too. Most people do not approach interviews with such openness. As interviewees, we are constantly trying to guess which questions will be asked, aiming to come up with the “correct” answer. But, as with any new connection, there is no correct answer, only fit.

May 23, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 10:17 am
Comments Off on No Correct Answers – Stephanie K. Eberle
Career Success, Interviewing, Social Skills

I love reading relationship advice on Reddit. Users on there ask some pretty interesting questions, and are very honest in their answers. They’re also mostly delusional. Check out this really interesting post I came across a little while ago:

Tons of guys say things like “I’m smart, nice, I make good money, etc. but I still can’t get dates!!” Notice the subtext here.

In other words, they’re saying that all the FACTS are on their side! On paper, these guys are awesome. They did everything they were “supposed” to do. They’ve got everything going for them. How could anyone turn them down?

When we apply for jobs, most of us obsess over our resume, cover letter or online portfolio. We think that if we just use the right words, if we just emphasize the right skills in the right way, then we’ll get noticed.

We focus on the facts. We try to highlight our skills and positive qualities about ourselves. This is why so many of us end up not knowing where we went wrong if we get rejected. We thought we did everything we were “supposed” to do. We had all the skills.

We knew we could do a good job. Maybe we even hired a “resume writer” to format the whole thing perfectly. We had all the facts on our side.

But if that’s the game you’re playing, you’ve already lost.

May 16, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 4:07 pm
Comments Off on How To Get Your Application Noticed Every Time – Raghav Haran
Career Success, Interviewing, Resume Tips, Social Skills

For all the jobs that machines can now do — whether performing surgery, driving cars or serving food — they still lack one distinctly human trait. They have no social skills.

Yet skills like cooperation, empathy and flexibility have become increasingly vital in modern-day work. Occupations that require strong social skills have grown much more than others since 1980, according to new research. And the only occupations that have shown consistent wage growth since 2000 require both cognitive and social skills.

The findings help explain a mystery that has been puzzling economists: the slowdown in the growth even of high-skill jobs. The jobs hit hardest seem to be those that don’t require social skills, throughout the wage spectrum.

“As I’m speaking with you, I need to think about what’s going on in your head — ‘Is she bored? Am I giving her too much information?’ — and I have to adjust my behavior all the time,” said David Deming, associate professor of education and economics at Harvard University and author of a new study. “That’s a really hard thing to program, so it’s growing as a share of jobs.”

Some economists and technologists see this trend as cause for optimism: Even as technology eliminates some jobs, it generally creates others. Yet to prepare students for the change in the way we work, the skills that schools teach may need to change. Social skills are rarely emphasized in traditional education.

“Machines are automating a whole bunch of these things, so having the softer skills, knowing the human touch and how to complement technology, is critical, and our education system is not set up for that,” said Michael Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, where he studies education.

Preschool classrooms, Mr. Deming said, look a lot like the modern work world. Children move from art projects to science experiments to the playground in small groups, and their most important skills are sharing and negotiating with others. But that soon ends, replaced by lecture-style teaching of hard skills, with less peer interaction.

Work, meanwhile, has become more like preschool.

Five Ways to Grow While Staying at the Same Company

It used to be that jumping around to different companies was a telltale sign of a bad candidate. Training can be expensive and employers weren’t interested in risking short-term talent. Many still don’t. But an influx of younger generations into the workforce has brought about a change of opinion. Short tenures are suddenly in vogue.

There are a lot of people who now believe that changing jobs more frequently can actually help your career. The thinking goes: 1. Switching things up shows employers that you’re not complacent or lazy; you’re willing to take risks and learn new skills. 2. You’ll have a much better shot at a higher salary when you apply for a new job, rather than waiting on a raise.

The math behind that latter point is hard to argue against. A 2014 Forbes article reports that “staying employed at the same company for over two years on average is going to make you earn less over your lifetime by about 50% or more.” That’s an alarming stat, especially for people just beginning their careers, and one that FastCo recently referenced again.

But do we really need to switch it up all the time to succeed? And is it really a new quandary?

To me, career advancement is about so much more than the number on your paycheck or the title on your business card. And deciding to leave or keep a job is a dilemma that’s always existed, for all generations — an age-old question — should I stay or should I go?

No two scenarios are the same, and each person must decide for themselves.

But as someone who just celebrated 17 years with the same company, I wanted to offer a counter opinion to the job-hopping frenzy.

May 2, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 2:01 pm
Comments Off on The Company I Keep: Why Job-Hopping Isn’t Necessary to Succeed – Martha Hiefield
Career Success, Social Skills