When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Career

When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Career Martin Buckland, a career professional in Canada, asks a very important question in a LinkedIn article: When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Career?   In his blog post he asks 10 questions about your career, which are mostly job search related.  I want to go a different direction. In the olden days, investing in your career meant going to college and having a degree.  Today, theres a phase Ive heard called micro-degrees.  People are saying that the good old college education is no good, and that its only going to get worse over time.  Its why sites like Pluralsight are so important because we can get current, relevant information to help us become more skilled, on our own time, for a ridiculously low price compared to a 4+ year education. We did that because there was loyalty from a company, and long-term employment with a company, and even retirement benefits.  That seems to be a thing of the 1900s, though. So we need to think like independent contractors, which means we have to stay current, which means we have to study our trade regularly, which means we have to invest in our career. Thats one reason why Im so excited to put Pluralsight in front of you. If that doesnt work, find an alternative, even if it means reading lots of books.  For now, invest in your job search and career learning through my courses on Pluralsight, at no cost, AND get a week of JibberJobber each time you watch one of my courses.  Heres a short video showing you how: When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Career Martin Buckland, a career professional in Canada, asks a very important question in a LinkedIn article: When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Career?   In his blog post he asks 10 questions about your career, which are mostly job search related.  I want to go a different direction. In the olden days, investing in your career meant going to college and having a degree.  Today, theres a phase Ive heard called micro-degrees.  People are saying that the good old college education is no good, and that its only going to get worse over time.  Its why sites like Pluralsight are so important because we can get current, relevant information to help us become more skilled, on our own time, for a ridiculously low price compared to a 4+ year education. We did that because there was loyalty from a company, and long-term employment with a company, and even retirement benefits.  That seems to be a thing of the 1900s, though. So we need to think like independent contractors, which means we have to stay current, which means we have to study our trade regularly, which means we have to invest in our career. Thats one reason why Im so excited to put Pluralsight in front of you. If that doesnt work, find an alternative, even if it means reading lots of books.  For now, invest in your job search and career learning through my courses on Pluralsight, at no cost, AND get a week of JibberJobber each time you watch one of my courses.  Heres a short video showing you how:

Writing Answers to Phone Calls on a Resume

Writing Answers to Phone Calls on a ResumeWriting answered phone calls on a resume is a great way to create a stellar impression when you are speaking with prospective employers. People will often call your company and they want to talk to someone. There are many reasons that people will call to make an appointment. You want to ensure that you have answers to the calls so that your potential employer can be sure that you can handle the calls.On your resume, you will need to include your information about answering phone calls as well as details about your job responsibilities and the positions that you are applying for. Some examples of things that you should include on your resume include answers to questions such as, 'How can I help you?' or 'Do you have an appointment?' Another example would be, 'I am here in the office now with my boss and he told me to wait for his call.' It is also good to include any information about the person who called including their name, address, and ph one number.It is also a good idea to include a description of your work schedule and the times that you handle inquiries from the public. When you are writing answers to questions, it is important to be specific so that you will be able to provide the most relevant information to the interview. It is also a good idea to include other details about answering the calls on your resume such as your salary or experience level. Some positions require additional information to be included on your resume that are not usually necessary but may be included if needed.If you have been at the same position for some time, it is a great idea to list additional information. Be sure to state your responsibility in your current position. This will include an explanation of the major job responsibilities that you have previously held. Also include details about any other responsibilities that you might have had that were outside of your position.For instance, if you answered times phone calls while yo u were a receptionist, you may have answered voicemails. This will be listed under the responsibilities section of your resume. It is also good to mention any services that you offer, such as computer answering, customer service, and technical support.You will also need to list all times phone calls that you answered by phone that came to your cell phone. It is good to include details about these calls such as who you spoke with, the time that you spoke with them, the date and time of the call, and any other details that can be listed on your resume. When you are filling out your resume, it is a good idea to list the places where you received the call and how long you spoke with the caller.You will want to include all times phone calls that you answered that were related to your job. If you handle office calls for your company, you will need to list all the times that you handled this type of call. It is also a good idea to include the dates and times of the calls if possible. If yo u are still applying for a job at your previous company, be sure to write down any information that you have related to that previous company.The more information that you include on your resume, the better. When you are writing answers to questions, you want to be sure to describe how you can help the caller and the specific information that you need to provide. Remember that you are describing how you handle the call and not a specific person. Write down the details about your work schedule and how long you talk to the caller so that you can provide the most accurate details about your answers to phone calls.

Sprint your way to greater confidence and self-esteem

Sprint your way to greater confidence and self-esteem Sprint  is a personal development programme for female undergraduates. University of Warwick Chemistry undergraduate and guest blogger Manpreet Kaur, shares her experience and highlights what she has gained from the process. I participated in Sprint recently and indeed, it is very personal. You’ll find exploring yourself and your values and beliefs from day one. While this can sometimes put you outside of your comfort zone Sprint helped me to realise how important it is to talk to the inner you to make sure you understand yourself. Speaking from a personal perspective â€" Sprint is not about learning or being told the answers to the big questions. It is more about learning to ask questions, learning to reflect and learning to experiment and trying to discover the answers for yourself. You get Sprint trainers / coaches to give you the ingredients of human disposition but it is then your task to use the knowledge and apply it to your life and see where it fits and how to best use the tools to help yourself, and of course seek help when you need to. You don’t have to be the most unconfident person in the world to do Sprint Many women doing Sprint were already very powerful and confident, in my opinion. Nevertheless, they all shared how they all got something out of it. It is more about working on your goals that you set yourself during the programme and hopefully understanding yourself better. I walked into Sprint with a clear goal of developing confidence. I was very clear that I have a great deal of self-awareness, I am very assertive and I am certainly very good at time management. But I walked home after my third day saying to myself “we need to talk”. It was an eye-opening experience and I learnt so much about myself. Sprint does not fundamentally transform you into the woman you want to be but it certainly, for me, has served as the beginning of a change. It has pushed me to work on my strengths and weaknesses but more importantly, to confront my weaknesses that I didn’t quite have the confidence to address and accept therefore had buried away inside. With regards to assertiveness, ‘no’ is indeed a word very common in my dictionary. I do find it difficult to commit to things I don’t want to do therefore plainly and honestly refuse. However, Sprint touched upon aspects of assertiveness that were quite interesting. For example, if I don’t want to go out with my friends, I’d say no but then I’d probably write ‘sorry’ ten times in the message. Now I find that I use the words ‘sorry’ and ‘luck’ very carefully after Sprint. It taught me that the former has been made redundant due to its overuse, and the latter is often used to undermine achievements. Sprint is a very personal journey You tailor Sprint to suit your needs. You achieve the goals you set for yourself and Sprint will support you in realising and reflecting upon your goals. The folder you are given is very useful to read as well. Where unhappy, you have a network of support around you for help and a room full of female students to develop and network is just the environment you need to open up, share, discuss and grow. Through the programme, I have developed a much stronger bond with my flatmate and find that I am better able to empathise with others after learning about the concepts of personal power, triggers and darts, role models, confidence, assertiveness and personality types, amongst many others. To elaborate on the concept of triggers and darts, this is when something happens but then your mind takes the something ten steps ahead and comes up with the most unreal reason behind why it might have happened. For me, this means panicking when my friend sees my message but doesnt respond. I can literally spend a whole afternoon flashbacking my entire friendship history only to find out that she forgot to reply. This is such a real concept and resonated strongly with me and made me feel so much better that I am not the only weird one who can be overly pessimistic sometimes and after learning about it, I feel better in control of my feelings now. Does it work? All this sounds very exciting but then you askis this just sweet talk or does it actually work? Well, of course, it does. Another thing Sprint offers is female speakers from industry in senior positions who share their experiences and build on many of the concepts that we learn during Sprint sharing how they overcame the barriers in their lives and achieved their goals and are continuing to do so. Better self-awareness can also improve your authenticity because then you know the why behind your character. As deep as I can be with myself and when writing in my newly bought journal, I only like banter and jokes with people. But this is exactly why I needed Sprint â€" to help me to think about the definition of the woman that I want to become. Where most of the time spent with family and friends involves banter (and politics), Sprint offered me the one place to step outside of the cheerful world of jokes and really explore myself on the inside as a woman from a mature perspective. Especially since I consider myself as a ‘developing feminist’, it has helped me to become a better version of myself