What does it really mean to work full-time

What does it really mean to work full-time I am at O’Hare flying to Pittsburgh to give a speech. I try to never give speeches. Actually I try to never leave my house. Because I think I will regret any time I spend away from my kids. Well, definitely I will. Heres how I know: Because I chose to live in abject poverty in NYC because I didnt want to leave my kids to work in an office. So I started building a freelance writing business on $25 articles. We ran out of food a lot, and I thought I’d look back and be horrified that my kids did not have beds. (We all slept on the floor because we had no room for beds.) But in fact, what I regret is the four years I worked 80-hour weeks running my startup and put my kids in daycare. (I called it school, but I know there is no distinction between school for four-year-olds and daycare for four-year-olds.) I was making mid-six figures for most of that time, but those years are much more sour in my memory than the years of living in poverty where I spent my days with my kids. So I try not to leave the kids now. And I console myself that I’m homeschooling. I’m spending most of my days with the kids. My kids would say I’m spending most of my days doing work. Both might be true, but I want to wrestle with this reality at home, close enough to them to hear their constant, daily fighting. The TV in terminal G has Sheryl Sandberg telling women to Lean In. And signing autographs. And I wonder  why would she spend extra time at her speech signing autographs. I don’t think it’ll sell more books. Having been an author signing autographs myself, I can testify: those people  would have bought my book anyway. After all, they listened to the whole lecturethey are invested. So I want to know: why does she spend that extra time? She has two young kids. I understand wanting to run a company, and I understand wanting to launch an organization to (supposedly) help women, but I don’t understand the devaluing of parenting time by choosing to sign autographs instead. Did you see the Time 100? The best part of the magazine that week was Joel Stein’s essay on how hard Time works to appeal to Generation Y  by targeting the 100 toward that demographic. And how much Time  misses the mark. In that same issue Sheryl wrote the homage or essay or ass-kissing-memo or whatever we are calling the Time 100 writings, about Beyonce. Sheryl talks about how Beyonce has changed the music industry. She’s a leader in song and dance and performance. But theres exactly nothing surprising until Sheryl adds, “Beyonce does all this while being a full-time mother.” In that little sentence, Sandberg does something very big. Sandberg declares that you can have a full-time job and be a full-time mother. This is convenient. Because now Sandberg is a full-time mom who spends some days away from the kids signing autographs. And running Facebook. And Beyonce is a full-time mom who spends some days away from her daughter on  billion-dollar concert tours. So basically anyone who gave birth is a full-time mom regardless of how much of their time is spent on kids. Now we can all feel good about ourselves regardless of our choices. But does this help anyone? No.  It’s a way to deny that we make big choices in our lives. Of course you cannot choose to be a full-time mom and have a big career. Full-time mom means your kids are your career. If you redefine full-time mom then you take away the ability for people who stay home with their kids to describe their work as full-time. You invite the ignorant and antiquated question: “Oh, you are with the kids all day? What do you do with all your time?” Obviously Beyonce has time with her daughter. But she is splitting her time between two things that are important to her. This all begs the question: What does it mean to work full-time? Marissa Mayer requires full-time employees to work in the office. And she is just putting in writing what is understood at most top-flight companies, which is that facetime matters and people with serious careers don’t work from home. At Wal-Mart 24-hour weeks is full-time because the company wants to  sidestep  health insurance for low-level employees. At a startup full-time is 80-hour weeks. When I was running my last startup, Brazen Careerist, and I cut back from 80-hour weeks to 50-hour weeks, we agreed at a board meeting that I was working part-time and the salary I draw should reflect that. During that same phase of my life, I started homeschooling my kids. And I realized that most people assume you have to be a full-time parent to homeschool kids. But I don’t think of myself as a full-time parent. So you can see that what is part-time work to some people is full-time work to other people. And I guess I have to admit that what is part-time parenting to some people is full-time parenting to other people. Probably the best way to find out if someone is a full-time parent is to ask their kids. Do the kids think they are the parent’s primary concern, or do the kids feel they compete with something else on the parent’s agenda? The irony of all this full-time talk is that Pew Research  polled women with kids the majority will said  their optimum situation would be being home with the kids and a small but meaningful, part-time job on the side. The problem here is the small-but-meaningful clause. There is a direct correlation between the amount of meaning in an achievement and the amount of meaning in the things we give up to attain that achievement. It’s why people tell you that when you have kids your life will change because you will give up so much in your life that you thought was nonnegotiable. There are not limited-time-but-still-meaningful jobs. And there is not limtited-time-but-still-meaningful parenting. Because both imply that you somehow beat the system and avoid the tough tradeoffs. There is only the truth that you get what you give. If you give a lot to your kids, you get a lot from your kids. If you give a little, you get a little. And the same is true with your work. I don’t know what Beyonce has left to give her daughter. I don’t know what Sandberg has left to give her kids. But I know that redefining full-time parenting, as something you can do with a full-time job, only distorts the discussion of the choices women make now. And it is deliberately misleading to women who have to make tough choices in the coming years.

Procracker Launched Along with proTV

Procracker Launched Along with proTV Procracker is the careers website for science, engineering and technology professionals. This site will be a favourite of yours when you are seeking new opportunities for progression throughout your career in SET. We brought you the news about Procracker in one of our older posts. The good news for Science, Engineering and Technology professionals is that Procracker is now LIVE! Procracker has a different look and feel, compared to Gradcracker. It does have the quality of jobs that are usually associated with the Crackergroup, though. Gradcracker is a favourite of Engineering students across many universities in the UK and I always wondered why young professionals miss out on all the fun of the job search that graduates enjoy. With Procracker, this trend might be changing! Through Procracker, we were introduced to proTV.   ProTV offers videos from different professionals across different companies. It is a nice little addition. Although hidden from the front menu of Procracker. So, if you are in the Science, Engineering or Technology field, then head over to Procracker right now! Procracker on Twitter. Procracker website. 4

Upskilling the Workforce

Upskilling the Workforce Employers are increasingly finding ways to upskill existing staff rather than recruiting new staff for their organizations. We know that good employees value development opportunities and will seek other opportunities in order to expand their knowledge and skill sets if they can’t meet their needs at work. This incentivizes employers to focus on staff retention in order to avoid increased recruiting and onboarding costs. Engaging with the process of lifelong learning is an essential part of planning for the future especially as advances in artificial intelligence and automation gather pace. It is more effective to reskill and upskill staff you know and who know you; the known quantity has a great advantage here. Upskilling is the process of teaching your employees new skills as technology affords new opportunities and new jobs which require specialized skillsets; by upskilling the organization fills vacancies from their current workforce while creating development opportunities. Invest for success It’s a win-win scenario investing in employee learning and skills training means that the organization enhances their human capital while sending the valuable message that staff are worth the investment and have a place in the future growth and prosperity of the organization, and it makes staff more valuable in the evolving job market. Upskilling has the added benefit that it can be used to address issues around succession planning by providing employees with the training, knowledge, skills, and experience to step up when they are ready. Where an organization’s culture is attractive to applicants who value development opportunities they have an edge over the competition when competing for talent. Additionally, employee brand advocates in the organization are more likely to refer their personal contacts for vacancies when they know the organization invests in the future of staff. Planning career pathways There are so many advantages to upskilling. The employer who provides workers with good opportunities for learning, development, and growth will enhance employee engagement, commitment, and enthusiasm for work. Upskilling affords employees the chance to expand their skills and potentially enhance career opportunities. Individuals can best ensure their future employability is to ensure their value as an employee by learning and growing for the future. Good employers will favor staff who demonstrate a willingness to tackle new challenges. Consider some options: Customized learning and development programmes to meet skill requirements for the organization; Developing talent across the board and encourage participation at all levels with strategies to support lifelong learning; Identify employees who will benefit from stretch assignments and development opportunities to help motivate and engage them. Upskilling works best where it has a focus on the career path and aspirations of the employee. Empowering staff to devise a personal career management plan is crucial to the success of any development initiative, enabling staff to identify the skills and competencies that resonate with them rather than being told what they need to learn. Options and opportunities Technology affords us so many new ways to offer learning and development opportunities that staff can access at need and use at their own pace. Elearning and virtual classrooms offer flexibility and informal options such as micro-learning resources or lunch and learn sessions are cost-effective and time-efficient solutions. It’s important to recognize that upskilling does not only apply to technical skills but is also relevant in terms of skills such as creative thinking, strategy planning, leadership, emotional intelligence, building and maintaining relationships, or resilience. New technology, AI and automation will change the workplace but there will be still a market for people with soft skills in the future; in fact, we need a greater emphasis on the ability to collaborate and communicate in the challenging environment we are likely to face.

Resume Writing Services in Las Vegas NV

Resume Writing Services in Las Vegas NVResume writing services in Las Vegas NV can be a boon for people who are looking to get their resume or CV written by an expert. Most of the companies that provide resume writing services do not charge you too much to do it. So you do not have to worry about paying an exorbitant amount just to get your resume written.A professional resume writer will take care of everything, including the structure, content and presentation of your resume. After that they will add some personal touches that will make your resume look great. Also, once the resume is finished, you do not have to do anything else except send it to the company that you have hired.One of the great benefits of hiring a resume writing service is that they can make your resume look even better than it actually is. Most people prefer to use their own signature on their resumes. They only know how to write and so they tend to leave everything in the hands of an expert. Your resume is more likely to look professional if you hire a professional resume writer who can make the job look easier than it really is.Another important thing that professionals do is include all the necessary information. In most cases the information is already there in your resume. You should use this information to make your resume more professional.Resumes are not meant to look like a document you just cut and pasted from one job to another. Use your own handwriting and formatting style. This is very important.Finally, make sure that your resume has a professional layout. Some people make the mistake of using word processor features such as color, font and borders. In reality youcannot change a resume by using these tools.Hire a professional writer who knows how to use all the tools at their disposal. When you hire a professional, they do not use them. Therefore, you should be careful when making a decision.The resume or CV is a professional document that people use to find a job. Because of the formal nature of the document, it is wise to hire a resume writing service. In fact, you should consider this as the very first step in looking for a job.

How to Fix Four Common Resume Mistakes

How to Fix Four Common Resume Mistakes I review a lot of resumes. And most of them have at least one of four major problems related to content, style, and form. Does your resume fall into one or more of these categories? If so, it may be time to perform a checkup on your resume to improve the overall health of your job-search campaign.The job description. These resumes list job responsibilities galore and often look like the writer literally cut and pasted their job description into the resume. What makes a strong resume is not simply the description of your job tasks; its how successfully you execute on those job tasks that makes you unique and makes you interesting to a hiring manager.Tip:  For each position you have held, create a brief paragraph that describes your job responsibilities and job scope including the size of your budget and staff. Use bullets to express your accomplishments and how you perform your job smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Showcase examples of how you help the companies you support make money, save money, save time, improve processes, acquire new business, or keep existing business.Before: Implemented new CRM system.After:  Implemented new CRM system that improved lead generation by 20% and cut data redundancies in half.Before:  Responsible for revamping new hire payroll processes.After:  Shaved weeks off time required to add new hires to the payroll system and eliminated longstanding payroll redundancies and recurring errors by revamping new hire payroll processes and streamlining data collection.The statistics dump. These resumes show metric after metric .a 50% increase in sales, a $2M decrease in operating costs yet they never explain how these stellar results were achieved. The hiring manager needs to understand the story behind your accomplishments what obstacles you faced and what these statistics mean within a given context in order to be wowed by you.Tip:  Create accomplishments that prove a quantifiable impact and an explanation of the achievement.Befor e:  Conceived and implemented the Finance First program, achieving $700M in incremental assets.After:  Conceived and implemented the Finance First program, the companys first-ever and most successful integrated marketing program for financial advisory services. Inaugural campaign achieved incremental $700M in assets and earned reputation as the gold standard for all company marketing campaigns.Before:  Attained a 50% increase in funding budget for clinical trials.After:  Attained a 50% increase in funding budget and a renegotiated contract for clinical studies by benchmarking research costs, linking research costs to the unique attributes of the study group, and guaranteeing sponsors an expedited review process and on-time trial start date.The touchy-feely. Most resumes I see start out with an overview paragraph describing the persons personal attributes. Everyone seems to be a dedicated, loyal, hard-worker, not to mention a great communicator and a team player. Yet there is no actu al proof that the candidate possesses any of these personal attributes on the resume. And without the proof these are just words and a waste of space.Tip:  Create a profile section that focuses on your proven success and the big picture value you can offer an employer. Your profile is like a movie trailer. If the trailer is good people will want to see the movie. If your profile is compelling, people will want to read the rest of your resume.Before:  Results-producing Marketing professional with a proven record in developing, executing and analyzing comprehensive marketing strategies in support of company goals and objectives. Directed the creation of marketing tools and steered the execution of marketing programs. Demonstrated successful growth in targeted markets through implementation of key projects. Excellent leadership skills; built and guided top-performing marketing teams. Adept at communicating with all levels of management, vendors, and internal departments or partners to coordinate overall marketing efforts. Proven to be reliable, dependable and professional. After:Marketing Operations Professionalconsumer goods ? retail environments ? multi-site locations ? corporate in-store experience ? Fortune 500Marketing Program Management  Experience launching new products and services and reversing struggling campaigns into strong performing programs with annualized ROI.Operational Transformations  Continuous success tightening operational infrastructures to streamline processes, eliminate redundancies, scale resources, optimize staff, and enhance measurement and reporting capabilities.Leadership  Reputation for creating programs that motivate staff to collaborate and embrace company mission and values. Demonstrated success retaining employees, spotting talent, and mentoring high potentials.The cookie cutter. These are the resumes that were crafted using a template and look like thousands of other resumes. They make you look lazy and just not that into the whole job search gig.They scream I dont have an original thought in my head and I like it that way. You dont need to be Picasso to create a resume with a few interesting design elements. The goal is not to use design elements to make the resume look pretty; it is to use design features to make important information stand out.Tip:  Think outside of the box. Create your own resume style to best showcase your information. Dont be afraid to use tables, charts, or graphs if they help get your point across. Step away from the Times New Roman font. There are other good choices for resumes including Arial, Arial Narrow, Calibri, Veranda, and Tahoma.Before:  Improved revenue growth, client growth, loan commitments, and deposit growth significantly during tenure.After:YearRevenue GrowthClient GrowthLoan CommitmentsDeposit Growth20045%5%$100M5%200510%7%$200M10%200625%12%$300M15%200730%22%$400M20%200835%28%$500M25%200940%35%$600M30%

8 Reasons Why You Wont be Hired - CareerAlley

8 Reasons Why You Wont be Hired - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. We all know that job search can be tough and there are so many reasons why your search may take longer than you had hoped. The economy, your industry, your experience and competition are just a few of the factors that will impact your ability to land a new job. But what if its more complicated than that? What if its the unthinkable you are the reason you are not getting any job offers? Maybe youve thought about it, but if you havent you should. Think about it YOU are the single largest factor in getting a new job (or promotion or raise). Its just not enough being the best and the brightest (and it never was). Its about the entire package how you present yourself, your resume, your cover letter, your network, your interview skills, your experience and the list goes on. So now that youve given it some thought, what are the reasons you wont get hired? 1. Your Resume is All About You and Does Not Meet Hiring Managers Needs Your resume obviously needs to include what youve done as well as a list of your achievements, but you know the old saying What have you done for me lately?. Hiring managers want to know that you can do the job and the only way they will consider interviewing you is if your resume clearly demonstrates that you have what it takes to get the job done. If youre not sure what to include, take a look at some job descriptions for your function (you should be able to find lots if you do a search). Does your resume include enough job specific information to convince a reader that they should hire you (be honest with yourself)? If not, time to make some changes. You may need to have a few versions of your resume depending on the types of jobs / functions that you apply for. 2. You Didnt Bother to Proof Read Your Resume, Cover Letter, etc. My biggest pet peeve when reading a resume or cover letter is errors. All of your job search documents should be error free. Just running a spell check is not enough. You should focus on sentence structure, punctuation, word usage, etc. Once you think that it is perfect, send it to some friends, family and peers in your network to read it as well. You will be surprised to find out how many errors may have slipped by. But wait, youre not done yet. When you forward your resume to a recruiter, they (I would argue) should be reviewing your resume as well and suggesting changes as appropriate. They see more resumes than anyone else and are best placed to help adjust your resume for the best possible error-free profile. 3. Youre Not Qualified for the Job It makes absolutely no sense to submit your resume for jobs that are close or maybe not even close (for the same reasons as indicated in #1 above). You will be wasting your time, the recruiters time and the hiring managers time. Additionally, you will potentially be burning bridges which may mean that when you submit for a perfect match, your resume and application may go directly to the trash folder. That being said, consider carefully how/when you want to leverage multiple resumes. 4. You Dont Know How to Interview Just because you are great at what you do, have the perfect resume and are generally the life of the party does not mean you are good at interviewing. Its not only about qualifications and being well spoken, its also about being able to answer those soft questions. Every manager has a different interview style. Some prefer to ask technical questions while others prefer to see what makes you tick (and some like to do both). Read up on interview questions for your industry and job function. Also take a look at all of those soft questions and ensure you know how you would answer them. Dont worry about those why is a manhole cover round? questions. You cant possibly know the answer to every one and the general thought these days is that those questions dont add any value. One more important point, make sure you are prepared with the questions you want to ask as well (see below)! 5. You Didnt do Your Research If you dont know anything about the company where you are interviewing then whats the point of going on the interview. For one, you should know if its a good place to work (more on that in a bit). But more importantly, you should try to learn everything you can about the company. How big are they? Are they profitable? Where are their offices/locations? Do you like the industry? Thats just the tip of the iceberg for your research. With the right Internet search, you should be able to uncover lots of information on the company. If they are a privately held company, it may be hard to get much information, which leads us back to is it a good place to work?. This is a good example of where LinkedIn can help. Start with your network to see if anyone works at the target company. If not, look to see who has connections with someone at that company. If you are persistent, you will find some contacts that can provide background data. 6. You Dont Dress Appropriately for Interviews How to dress for an interview can be a tough question. Much depends on your industry, the company and the role you would play. There are some basics that (should) go without saying. No shorts, tee shirts, sneakers, etc. Whether or not business casual is okay or formal dress is more appropriate really depends on some of the criteria raised in the first sentence of this paragraph. The good news is that there is plenty of info available on the Internet on this topic. How to dress is also a topic that you can and should bring up with your network. 7. Your Cover Letter Reads Like a Form Letter If you are applying for lots of jobs, it can be tedious to write cover letters for each opportunity. This is another perfect example of where cutting corners does not generally work in your favor and where you need to spend the time on personalizing the cover letter to each application. In addition to mentioning the title of the job and briefly indicating why you are the perfect candidate, you should try to add something specific to the interview so that the reader will know that you were listening wrote the thank you note specifically for them (starting off with their name in the salutation is a big help dear sir or madam is not usually the best start). 8. You Did Not Follow Up After the Interview Some will say that thank you letters following an interview are a thing of the past. I disagree. Everything else being equal (between you and another candidate), a properly written thank you note will give you an edge. Again, this should not be a form letter and, to the extent that youve interviewed with two or more individuals in the organization, each thank you letter must be personalized. You should mention specific topics discussed during your interview as well as (most importantly) reminding the hiring manager why you are the best person for the job. Also take a look at Joeys Expert Interview on Careers and Job Search Repost:This was a guest post by me on JobMob and is reposted on CareerAlley. You can see the original post here == 8 Reasons Why You Wont Be Hired (And How To Get Past Them). The article wass part of the The $10000 7th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+

Client Case Study Dara Skolnick - When I Grow Up

Client Case Study Dara Skolnick - When I Grow Up Um, do you know that Ive coached hundreds of women since I started offering dream career guidance in 2008? And that these women are freakin rock stars, leaving soul-sucking jobs and traveling the world and launching creative, grown-up businesses and simply doing work that fits their lifestyle goals? Well ya do now and youll hear their stories firsthand in my  Client Case Studies series!  Back in 2013,  Dara Skolnick  decided to work with me to ease the transition of going from agency work to being a full-time freelancer. Im so happy to see her thriving five years later, especially when she teams up with my designer and does amazing web development for me (selfish but true ha)! I just cant wait for you to meet her. Why did you decide to work with me, a creative career coach? I decided to work with you because I was about to make the biggest change of my whole career jumping into full-time self employment! I knew what I wanted to do, but not exactly how to do it, so it felt really reassuring to work with someone who could help me break it all down and keep me accountable along the way. I’d been thinking of making the jump from full-time employment to working for myself for a long time, and I tend to get stuck in overthinking and inaction when I’m thinking about making a big change. I knew I’d move a lot faster if I had someone like you to hold me accountable and keep me moving forward! What were you doing work-wise when we started our sessions? I was working as a web developer full-time at a digital agency. So, the work I was doing was similar from what I do now, but the way I did it was very different. What was your biggest takeaway from our time together? I think my biggest takeaway was that it’s so much easier to make a big change and run a biz when you’re not doing it alone! As a pretty solitary, introverted-ish type, that’s a lesson that I have to keep reminding myself of, still. ?? It applies equally whether youre just starting out, or have been at it for a while. Was there anything else you tried to do as a career between the time we stopped our sessions and what you do for work now? If so, how did it inform your current business? Nope, I pretty much knew what I wanted to do, and did it right away! What would you tell someone now that was in your shoes when we first started working together? Whats your best tip to allow them to make a grown-up living doing what they love? Running your own biz might seem like a pipe dream/something only other people do, but you can totally do it too, even if you don’t feel like you have the right personality for it. I’ve learned that there are so many ways to run a business, and it doesn’t have to look like the way everyone else does it! Whats on the horizon for your business? Wed love to hear about any upcoming offerings or goals! On top of doing my regular 1-on-1 web development client work, I’ve been working away on creating my first e-course for web developers. Also, Im planning on taking my biz on the road next year! I have a business that allows me work from anywhere, so why not take advantage? Im planning on living + working from Berlin for a bit if David Bowie could do it, so can I ?? Want to work with me one-on-one like Dara? Ill be opening no-obligation applications to those on my waitlist next week-ish. Check out the details here and sign up to be the first to know. With super limited spots, I dont want you to miss out!