Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Appearance Is Everything - But It Doesnt Have to Cost a Fortune!

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Appearance Is Everything - But It Doesn't Have to Cost a Fortune! A few years ago, I blogged about the appearance tax and the startling statistic that a negative physical impression can cost you a whopping $230K over the course of your working life. Since Im always talking about the necessity of dressing appropriately in a business setting, you might find it surprising that I never hired a stylist myself. Even after I was told by a gender researcher that my short stature was counting against me appearance-wise, I maintained that I knew what I was doing with my clothing choices. After all, nothing was too tight or too worn, and everything matched! Then, a few months ago, the folks from Share Some Style got in touch with me. Share Some Style is an online company that pairs customers with stylists and guides them through a process of identifying personal preferences, auditing their closets, and putting together outfits that play up customers strenghs and personalities. When SSS offered me the chance to get styled in exchange for telling you about my experience, I was totally game. I realized that an affordable resource like this could be exactly what some of you need to take your careers to the next level. So after I selected several business-appropriate outfits I liked from an online catalogue, SSS paired me with Jenny Applegate, a Chicago stylist who has worked with Stacy London of What Not to Wear fame. On Jennys first visit to my house, she had me try on several items from my closet. One pattern quickly emerged. Much of my business wear was a size too big! All my life Id been harboring a complex that I looked fat, and so I routinely bought 8-10 sizes rather than 6-8 sizes, which is where Jenny said I belonged. Also, despite the fact that many of my shirts had lost their shape, I was holding on to them anyway. With a tone that was honest without being offensive, Jenny quickly dispatched a third of my clothes into a Goodwill pile. Jenny returned to my house a few weeks later with a bag of clothing and accessories from Banana Republic. She paired items from my closet with the new items to create outfits I never would have imagined on my own. In particular, I was not accustomed to mixing colors and patterns, but Jenny showed me that this is how you make an outfit pop. During a speaking engagement or an important client meeting, for example, I can overcome my height challenge with a vibrant, eye-catching ensemble that accentuates my small waist and lengthens my legline. The final stage of this process is personal shopping! Although my current wardrobe has many of the basic components, Jenny and I will spend a few hours this spring selecting a few versatile pieces that can fill in the holes. Meanwhile, Ive already worn Jenny-inspired outfits twice and gotten some great compliments. Maybe Ill become a fashionista after all. Jenny going through my closet during the audit. The bags that are going to Goodwill and Dress for Success after the closet audit. New ensembles: Speaking engagement outfit and Summer conference outfit New ensembles: Regular office day outfit and Evening networking outift.

Customer Service Manager Job Description Sample - Algrim.co

Customer Service Manager Job Description Sample - Algrim.co Customer Service Manager Job Description Template Download our job description template in Word or PDF format. Instant download. No email required. Download Template Using Your Template Follow these instructions to use your new job description template Step one: Fill out all details in your job description template using the provided sample on this page. Step two: Customize your requirements or duties to anything special to your workplace. Be sure to speak with team members and managers to gauge what's required of the position. Step three: When the census of the team has agreed on the description of the work, add in a Equal Employment Opportunity statement to the bottom of your job description. Step four: Check with your legal department, management team, and other team members to ensure the job description looks correct before creating a job advertisement. Choose a job board that's specific to your needs. Related Hiring Resources Customer Service Manager Cover Letter Sample

Starting work How to be a star!

Starting work How to be a star! Welcome to the next fifty odd years of your life! You’re going to join the serried ranks of the workers and are probably feeling a bit of anticipation. You’ll be spending a lot of time working and you want to enjoy that time. You probably also fancy generous (or at least fair) remuneration, so you’re going to have to make a success of this. Here are my top tips on how to kickstart that career. 1. Smile! If youre to succeed you need to get along with people. When you smile people are much more likely to respond positively to you. Make an effort to exert your charm on everyone! Treat all those around you, including the office junior or the data entry clerk, to your most pleasant expression. Decent managers want to see that you can get along with all your colleagues and will not be impressed if they feel that while you are obsequious to them, you are quite prepared to be rude to more junior staff. It’s not the way to make friends. You never know when you might need to call a favour from a junior member of staff â€" if you’ve been rude to them you’re much more likely to find them very busy just when you need some help! 2. Don’t behave as if any job is beneath you. You almost certainly didn’t do a degree in order to be able to make a good cup of tea or operate the photocopier. The bad news is that someone has to make that brew, or find the paper jam, and the job might fall to you. Just get on with it, huffing and rolling your eyes isn’t going to win you any friends. You might as well do the tasks set with a good grace. This doesn’t mean that you have to put up long term with poor quality work or be subservient. If youre not being given anything meaningful to do, the time will come to have a conversation about that. That conversation shouldn’t be happening in the first day, week or month! If you’re feeling grumpy try to look at things from an employer’s point of view. Unless youve done a directly relevant vocational course you aren’t very useful in a work context when you first arrive, while you are being trained on the more exalted work take pride in making that cup of tea! 3. If you don’t know what to do â€" ASK! Don’t be afraid to ask how to do things. Any employer would much rather that you clarified what you are to do than you ploughed on doing the wrong thing. Make sure that you clarify instructions given to you before you start work and get help if you get stuck. Nobody should be expecting you to be able to do everything right first time or to act on an inadequate set of instructions. If you get something wrong then own up rather then cover up. My first boss gave me some great advice very early in my career: “If you make a mistake and come to tell me as soon as you realise, then that is my problem. If you make a mistake and try to cover up and don’t tell me about it then its your problem. When I do find out about it (as I surely will) I might be showing you the door!” 4. Don’t name drop. You’re not going to make friends and forge great relationships if you name drop. If you (or your parents) are friends with the CEO of your employer company, it really isn’t wise to tell your colleagues. It’s not good to talk about all the really prestigious companies you’ve interned at either, and don’t start suggesting that the procedures, equipment, office furniture or coffee bars are better at your employer’s competitors. 5.Try to work out how the politics in the office works. It is really useful to understand who the key people in the office are. There will probably be someone who makes sure that everything runs smoothly. You need to be friends with that person! They will probably be able to rescue you from minor crises. It’s a good idea too to keep an eye open for a mentor, this doesn’t need to be someone with whom you have a formal relationship or even to be someone senior. It’s useful to have a critical friend to whom you can take your questions and who can be relied upon to give you honest feedback. Otherwise, watch the office politics, sometimes derive amusement from it, but keep out of it! 6.Try to keep broadly the same office hours as everyone else. Have you landed in an office where nobody ever goes home? Can you just pop down to the sleeping pods for a quick nap before grabbing a shower in the office? Has your clean shirt been delivered back to your desk by the office dry cleaning service? Don’t head off home at 5.00pm every day! On the other hand if everyone you work with clears his or her desk on the dot of 5.00pm and heads to the pub you probably need to head off too. In this office there won’t be any prizes for working very long hours. 7.Enjoy yourself! Try to get in a positive mindset and be enthusiastic about the job. Nobody likes a moaner!

Lead Positive An Interview with Dr. Kathryn Cramer - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Lead Positive An Interview with Dr. Kathryn Cramer - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with  Dr. Kathryn D. Cramer, a licensed psychologist, executive consultant, and author of the book Change the Way You See Everything, which  was a New York Times bestseller and landed her two spots on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In her latest book Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say, and Do  she shows how leaders can produce better results by shifting what they see, say, and do toward assets and possibilities. We discussed the benefit to maintaining a positive outlook as a leader, some techniques for people to become more positive, and she shares how we can maintain a healthy outlook even during moments of incredible stress. What led to your new book, Lead Positive?   My mission as an author and as founder of The Cramer Institute has been to help leaders become consummate Asset-Based Thinkers who are skilled at solving problems and capitalizing on opportunities. Asset-Based Thinking (ABT) can be defined as a focus on what is working within yourself, others, and the situation you find yourself in (i.e. the assets). Leaders today are faced with enormous external challenges in the marketplace and the internal imperative to keep people engaged and motivated. I wrote Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say, and Do to offer them an Asset-Based Thinking framework for leveraging their strengths, making the best out of any situation, and creating an inspired workforce. What are the benefits to having a positive outlook as a leader?   Once you can see the assets in yourselfyour strengthsit starts a positive chain reaction. By shifting your view of yourself toward the positive, you are better able to own your strengths and present yourself authentically in your words and actions. You receive an immediate boost in your own resilience, optimism, and confidence. This emergence of the confident, authentic self is inspiring. You will find that that those around you are more willing to jump on board and follow your lead. They become more committed to your vision, because they see and believe in your commitment. A positive outlook is contagious. When you start using the ABT strategies in Lead Positive, you will see palpable positive differences in the culture of your organization and significant gains in employee engagement and empowerment. It’s the Lead Positive ripple effect. For people who are predisposed to a negative mentality, what are some techniques to use that can shift to a more positive one? It’s so much more natural for us humans to be negative than positive. It’s the way our brains are wired. Everyone has to work at shifting to a more positive mentality. The good thing is that with practice, you can actually rewire your brain to be more apt at seeing the positive in any situation. It’s called neuroplasticity. These are a couple quick, one-minute brain exercises from Lead Positive to help anyone begin the rewiring process. See-Think-Feel Awareness Tool Stop for a moment at any point in your day. Assess how you are feeling about whatever situation is at hand using the See-Think-Feel framework. What are you seeing, thinking, and feeling? For every negative response, try to think of the positive corollary. Are you seeing a “problem” or a “possibility”? Are you thinking, “I am stressed out” or “I am being challenged so I can grow”? Are you feeling “overwhelmed” or “exhilarated”? It’s the same situation, but how you see, think and feel about it depends entirely on your mindset. If you are seeing a “problem,” then you will inevitably think “stress” and feel “overwhelmed.” But if you see “possibility,” you will naturally think “growth” and feel “exhilarated.” Think of it as a self-reinforcing processa virtuous cycle that spawns solutions or a downward spiral that only makes matters worse. The See-Think-Feel Awareness Tool helps you to spot and break the downward spiral of negativity. The ASA Shift The ASA shift is a mental process that builds on the See-Think-Feel Awareness Tool. Think of a situation you are facing right now that fits into the category of challenging or stressful, like having to give a difficult performance review to an employee. Next: Acknowledge: Use the See-Think-Feel Awareness Tool to identify your negative emotions. Acknowledge that the negative that you see, think, and feel are probably true, but they are not helpful. Scan: Look for the positive side of the ledger. Ask yourself, “How can my team or I benefit from tackling this situation head on?” Scan for onejust onepotential gain or upside. Act: Take onejust onestep toward realizing the gain you now see is possible. Notice how that small act makes the negative thoughts and feelings recede and puts you on the path to more positive and rewarding action. The ASA shift is not about denying that bad things are happening. Rather, it is a tool to interrupt the negative downward spiral before it gets out of hand (acknowledge), to reshape your awareness toward the positive (scan), and to begin a virtuous upward spiral aimed at productive action (act). How does a positive outlook as a leader translate to other areas of your life? Using the ABT strategies in Lead Positive to shift toward the positive is a fluid process. It is about being genuinely positive in what you see, say, and do in every moment to create multiple, multi-directional virtuous cycles. In that sense, Lead Positive is about how you operate in the world, not just in the office or the boardroom. The practice field is everywhere. Lead Positive is about giving you the language and the strategies you need to be confident in your own abilities. If you practice lead positive at home, your relationships with your family members will grow stronger and they will become more trusting and supportive of you in whatever you take on. They will push you farther toward your goals. If you practice lead positive on the phone with a customer service agent you will find he or she is way more willing to collaborate with you and find innovative ways to resolve your issues. When moments of incredible stress or enormous obstacles inevitably arise, how can you remain positive to make the best of your situation? The first thing I would say is to step outside of the present moment. The easiest thing to do is to take deep breaths. One of my favorite sayings is, “The only difference between fear and excitement is breathing.” The act of intentional breathing interrupts the downward spiral of negative thought and opens you up to the possibility of Asset-Based Thinking. The next step would be to “go meta.” Rise above the difficult situation to observe the dynamics at hand. From that meta perspective, you can ask yourself questions like: What am I doing? How are others behaving? What is really going on here? Remember, the wider the lens, the better the view. Then, use the See-Think-Feel Awareness Tool and the ASA shift to start taking action toward a specific positive outcome. Once you achieve even just one small success, it will be that much easier to remain positive and find more ways to make the best of your situation. Dr. Kathryn (Kathy) D. Cramer is passionate about possibilities and potential. She created and has dedicated her life to Asset-Based Thinking (ABT), a way of looking at the world that helps leaders, influencers, and their teams make small shifts in thinking to produce extraordinary impact.  For more Asset-Based Thinking tips and tools and free resources from Lead Positive, visit drkathycramer.com.

8 Expert Tips to Filter out the Best Career Choice From a Heap CareerMetis.com

8 Expert Tips to Filter out the Best Career Choice From a Heap â€" CareerMetis.com Source â€" DepositPhotos.comAs a child, I remember writing an essay on “What do you want to be when you grow up?” If my memory serves me well, I did pretty great in that essay that too without any assignment help to guide me through. Back then, my career choices went from being a firefighter to an astrophysicist, to a pianist, to a wildlife photographer, and many other options that I can’t even recall.Those were simpler times. Now, I have grown up and like most barely-functioning adults, I too feel growing up is a trap. But let’s face it, we don’t have much of a choice other than going through the grind? Unless someone actually manages to build a time machine Every career demands a different skill set. Teachers need to communicate with both students and their parents, and lawyersneed great problem-solving skills.You must take some time out to discover what you are good at. List out every talent or skill you have, even if it is unlikely to help you land a job Some people kno w what they want to do with their lives, and they are happily doing it. Case in point, Dr. Sheldon Cooper.However, for the lesser mortals If you choose a career that doesn’t align with your long-term objectives, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever feel satisfied with it. It’s also true that goals change over time and things that once held importance became less so. However, it is better to have some clarity on what you want so that you have something to strive for.5) A tête-à-tête with the experts might helpHaving a one-on-one conversation with someone who knows a great deal about the field you are considering can be extremely helpful. The more people you converse with, the better the insights you gather. It doesn’t hurt to seek a second When you have devoted a lot of time

5 Tricks to Dominating a Job Interview

5 Tricks to Dominating a Job Interview 5 Tricks to Dominating a Job Interview Many people misunderstand what job interviews really are. The interviewer is not just listening to your answers. They are examining behaviors and comparing them to their vision of the “ideal candidate.” From your handshake to your closing comments to your follow-up â€" all of it matters. They are watching to see if the skills you exhibit in the interview are close to what they need in the day-to-day job. If you are not prepared for the interview, then you might not be prepared for a critical meeting. If you are late with some excuse like, “There was an accident on the highway,” then you might be late for work. If you dont make eye contact, then you probably wont make eye contact with peers and customers. So it’s important to know what to do every step of the way. The following 5 tricks are important because they will prevent you from making the Top 5 errors in interviews. Be super early for everything. This includes phone meetings, informational meetings, or the first interview of the day. Rule: if you are not ready by the phone or in the waiting room 30 minutes prior to the start time, then you are late. When you are late, the interviewer perceives that you are not committed, do not have good time-management skills, and you would be late to meetings once hired. Be amazingly over-prepared. Two areas are key: First, prepare for the questions youll get and bring good questions to ask, and second, bring the right things to the meeting. Rule: Always bring printed copies of your résumé and cover letter, plus the job description. Bring paper and two pens (back-up). When you are unprepared, the perception created is that you did not take the time to research the company or the job, that you have no insightful questions, and that you might be unprepared for key events once hired. Bring your upbeat attitude. Job searching is frustrating, hard, and downright depressing. Leave any negative thoughts you have about your prior company, a bad boss, or how unconfident you feel at home. Rule: Hiring managers and interviewers want to hire happy people. Remember, they are watching to see if you would be a fit for their existing team and culture. Never go “off the record” or “between you and me,” as those comments are often controversial or negative. Smile, talk positively about everything and everybody, and tell them how excited you are to work for them. Be concise and pause. You’re nervous, unsure if you are saying the “right” answer, and, well, desperate. Under these circumstances, virtually all candidates blabber on and on. Be different. Use my “Interview Law of 3s: say three short answers then stop. Repeat: three things then shut up! Smile, pause and know that the interviewer will ask for more if they want more. This trick accomplishes two things. First, it will make you calmer and appear more confident. Even if you are making up the answer on the fly, you know you only have to think of two or three points â€" then stop. Inhale, exhale. Second, it helps the interviewer take notes, digest your thoughts, and ask the next question. Phone interviewers particularly appreciate your brevity. Take phone interviews very seriously! I often hear, “Oh, it’s just a phone screen,” or “Once I get through the phone interview, I’ll do more research.” The global hiring process is moving very quickly toward phone interviews as the primary interview mechanism. You wont get the face-to-face interview if you dont do well on the phone. And it’s not easy! Regardless, whether it is a recruiter or HR person on the other end of the line, you need to perform just as strongly as you would in a face-to-face interview.

Writing a Resume Summary Labor

Writing a Resume Summary LaborWriting a resume summary labor may seem like a pretty straightforward process, but for the person who writes it, it can be an absolute nightmare. People may assume that doing the job correctly is easy. However, there are certain things that must be taken into consideration to ensure that the written document is as accurate as possible.Writing a resume summary labor is not rocket science, but there are some tricks that must be employed to make the process go smoothly. Because it is filled with job-related information, it requires the utmost care in order to avoid errors. It is important to take into account the following tips so that you are able to write the most concise and accurate summaries.The first thing to remember when writing a resume summary labor is to keep it short and concise. Any information that needs to be included must be written clearly and as simply as possible. When the summary labor is condensed into one page, the person writing it wi ll be more comfortable knowing what they are writing and less likely to be distracted by too much information.The second tip to keeping your resume summary labor concise is to do not leave out anything that would be of use to the employer. Employers do not need to know the last name of a person who has recently quit, how many kids they have, or what their religious affiliation is. All of these types of details should be left out of the summary labor.The third tip to keep in mind when writing a resume summary labor is to stick to the facts. Since this is a job-related document, a person should not embellish on any of the details. If there is something that is not clear, it is important to keep it brief and to simply state the facts that are pertinent to the job opening.The fourth tip to remember when writing a resume summary labor is to be creative. In most cases, the person will want to use specific phrases or words that will help them to separate themselves from the competition. Th is is especially true if they are trying to make a strong impression on the employer.Finally, a person can further their chances of being successful when they take a little time and practice when writing a resume summary labor. The best advice is to get used to the process and try to write it as often as necessary. This way, the person will be able to start applying for a position without getting too anxious about having to write one.By following the tips that have been given, it is not too difficult to write a resume summary labor. It takes time and effort to write a good resume, but by taking the time and putting the effort into it, it will pay off in the end. Anyone who is successful in their efforts will surely give them right back to the person who wrote it.