Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Bridge the Soft Skills Gap in Your Young Professionals

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Bridge the Soft Skills Gap in Your Young Professionals Why don’t young professionals today hold themselves to a higher standard when it comes to their attitude, work habits, and people skills? In his new book, Bridging the Soft Skills Gap, my friend and colleague Bruce Tulgan explores these five reasons: Pretend Adulthood Most entry-level professionals are coming to you straight from school. If they have the most in-demand technical skills, then they are probably coming from college or university; maybe graduate school. That means they’ve probably become quite accustomed to a very luxurious form of pretend adulthood. Of course, there is substantial coursework. Still, they have very little supervision and a great deal of latitude in all manner of their personal habits and conduct. They are accustomed to staying out late hanging with their friends and skipping morning meetings. Helicopter Parents Even after they arrive in the workplace, new college grads are still only a phone call or text away from their parents. Even worse, maybe they are on their own now, for the first time, after being reared by parents who did all the work for them of closely scheduling, managing, and supporting their every move. With their parents doing so much of the work, many young professionals never mastered the basics of taking care of themselves. High Expectations The customization of everything has entrenched in young professionals a fundamental expectation that individual accommodation is the norm. And surely too many people told them each and all, way too often, “You are a special case.” Their basic assumption is that they should be able to just “be themselves” and “express” their true identity at work, even if that might include stuff like failing to follow through on a day when they are “just not feeling it.” Unpracticed Interpersonal Skills Communication practices are habits, and most young professionals are in the habit of remote informal staccato and relatively low-stakes interpersonal communication because of their constant use of hand-held devices and social media and instant messaging. They stare at their devices too much, send too many texts, and are becoming increasingly less articulate because they have so little practice having real conversations. Professionalism Vs Individualism Much of what older, more experienced people might see as matters of professionalismâ€"attitude, self-presentation, schedule, and interpersonal communicationâ€"new college grads are likely to consider highly personal matters of individual style or preference and really none of their employer’s business. Want to learn how to cope with these young professional characteristics more effectively? Check out Bruce’s book for practical answers and advice for better preparing your young professionals for success.

What to do When You Miss a Recruiters Call

What to do When You Miss a Recruiter's Call You messed up. You had a scheduled phone call with a recruiter to talk about a job or interview. And then something happened that caused you to miss it. Here is what to do when you miss a recruiter’s call.1. Keep Calm and Do Not PanicPanicking and fear always lead to irrational actions. And these actions usually make you look like an undesirable job candidate. Every company likes a person who stays calm under pressure.2. Give Your Recruiter His or Her Own RingtoneYou will receive calls on your cell phone from friends, family, and telemarketers. However,recruiters are professional connections, so you need to know when it is “the recruiter” who calls.The last thing you want to do is answer a call thinking it is a friend by saying, “Wassup?”, or worse, take your frustrations out on a recruiter who you mistakenly thought was a telemarketer.Now, when you hear that special ringtone you know it is time to talk business!3. If Possible Call Back Right AwayWhen you missed the call an d immediately catch your mistake, call back right away. Use one of these excuses:“Sorry the call dropped” “I dropped my phone” “I stepped away to answer the door”You can only use these if you can immediately call back right after noticing you missed the call.4. Send an Email to Reschedule With ApologiesIf you completely miss the time frame scheduled for the call and now it is too late to call back, send an email to reschedule.Be sure to apologize, but this time simply say that you had unintentionally missed the call. Politely ask to reschedule by offering a time and date and hope for the best. The purpose of doing this is to avoid any future back-and-forth emails for setting up a new call. You missed the call. Make it simple for the recruiter to call you again.5. Look for Other Job OpeningsWrite this one off as a mistake you will never make again. Things happen and from time to time you have recruiters and hiring managers who will not reschedule. Some take the approach, “How reliable are you, if you cannot make appointments?” or “They must not want the job badly enough.”Whatever others think is out of your control. If you lose recruiter connections or job interviews due to a missed phone call, then it wasn't meant to be. You can only try to fix your mistakes and hope the recruiter will schedule a new call.6. Create a Discipline for How You Handle Phone CallsYou missed a call and there was a reason for it. Take inventory, find out why you missed the calland then create an interview discipline for phone calls. For example:Do not plan to be right on time. Prepare to be ready one hour before the call. Create a designated place for you to take calls where you cannot be disturbed. Avoid taking calls from anyone other than the recruiter for 30 minutes prior to the call.The reasons for this excessive planning: You are reducing stress before the call so that you sound relaxed and confident when it is time to speak.Getting stuck somewhere, background noise or distractions, and your overall mood can affect the way you sound on a call. Even worse it can cause you to miss the call completely.

Spot the historical scientist! University of Manchester Careers Blog

Spot the historical scientist! University of Manchester Careers Blog For all you historians, or scientists, or just smart postgrads with a good grounding in general knowledge, what do you know about the life and careers of famous historical scientists? Chay Hawes, a freelance illustrator based in Chester, has put a gorgeous illustration of 16 scientists on his website as a Christmas quiz. I tweeted it yesterday, but for those who dont do Twitter, heres an extract from the quiz for all 16 scientists, click on the image to take you to the quiz. How many did you get? Ill admit I only got 8.5 of the 16, and only 2 of the above selection (nos. 3 and 4). Should have got 5, if Id spotted his nose (clue there), but wouldnt have got no. 6 as shes not in contemporary clothing (look at her belt though), and no, Eurocentric scientist that I am, Id never heard of no. 7, but Im glad I have now (incredible scientist and another gap in my education plugged). If all thats too easy for you, could be youre ready for the big challenge Only Connect are looking for teams of contestants for next year. All Postgrad-highlighted Postgraduate

Personal Marketing Basics 5 Tips to Get Started - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Marketing Basics 5 Tips to Get Started - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Hunting for jobs? Here are five foundational tips to get started marketing yourself electronically: 1. Start with the basics. Better understand how to break into your field by reading up on your industry at WetFeet. Search the job boards like Monster and CareerBuilder, as well as niche job search sites like Beyond.com. Use Glassdoor to read interviews and reviews of companies posted anonymously by employees. Then hone your career development skills by reading top career blogs reading about your areas of weakness (interviews, resumes, etc.) on this blog and at Quintessential Careers, and JobMob. 2. Use LinkedIns Company Search to find who works at your ideal company on LinkedIn. Then look through its employees and see if any of them are within 2 degrees of separation, i.e. if you both share a mutual contact. (You can also use the Job Search function to sort results by degrees away from you). Ask your mutual contact for a favorable introduction to bypass the usual gatekeeper at that organization and get your foot in the door with a personal reference. 3. Claim your Google profile. Google profiles show up high in Google searches for your name, so use it control what employers see when they look you up online (83% of recruiters use the web to research applicants). In your Google profile, include a short professional bio, a clean headshot, and a link to your LinkedIn account for more full professional information. 4. Create a Twitter account specifically for your job search. First, upload a clean headshot, include a short professional bio, and follow major players in your industry using (find them using Twellow). Then post interesting, helpful, useful, relevant links related to your field such as posts from industry blogs and content from newsletters. This adds value to your network, makes you a person worth following and attracts other careerists who share your interests. Once youve built a following, tap your network by periodically Tweeting about your job search (what youre looking for, where, and why you). Also follow Twitter Job Opening Feeds and organize them intro groups using TweetDeck. 5. Join relevant groups and discussions on LinkedIn. This is an excellent way to meet people in your industry and establish yourself as an active, passionate and knowledgeable player in your field. Use the search tool to find groups by industry, join the groups relevant to you, then start posting relevant articles, asking and answering thoughtful questions, and engaging others who might lead to new opportunities. Invite people to connect on LinkedIn who join in your conversation, then see if they know anybody at your ideal organization. Author: Pete Kistler is a leading Online Reputation Management expert for Generation Y, a top 5 finalist for Entrepreneur Magazine’s College Entrepreneur of 2009, one of the Top 30 Definitive Personal Branding Experts on Twitter, a widely read career development blogger, and a Judge for the 2009 Personal Brand Awards. Pete manages strategic vision for Brand-Yourself.com, the first online reputation management platform for job applicants, named one of the Top 100 Most Innovative College Startups in the U.S.

8 dissertation tips you need to know about for writing success

8 dissertation tips you need to know about for writing success This post was written by an external contributor. Christian Lynn shares his top-tips for dissertation success. It’s that time dissertation drafts are going to have to be written sooner or later, and it’s our job to get it absolutely right. The style you write in and the topic you choose is all up to you, but I’d like to offer a little guidance, with some helpful dissertation tips that I have picked up whilst writing assignments and articles throughout my degree. These may seem like the smallest of changes to the way you work, but in the long run, I guarantee they’ll help you out. Books, journals, articles The first issue we all come across on our journey into assignment purgatory is finding the appropriate sources on our chosen subject. Many resort to Google Books, or their university library. But there are other options that provide a vast array of material for you to use. The British Library is easily the strongest offering. If you’re in London and stuck on options for sources, take a trip to the Library on Euston Road and sign up for a readers’ membership on the ground floor. Be sure to bring proof of address and proof of study. Once completed, you can order almost any book to a reading room from their website, and study inside the library to your heart’s content. An ideal fall-back when you can’t quite find the right text in your university library. Referencing-to-go A mistake I’ve made on countless occasions is to read a great quote that fits right in with my argument, and then forget to make a note of it. Rather than spending countless minutes searching through the book again, whenever you read an interesting sentence, underline it. If it’s a library book, note down the page number and the exact reference of the book you’re using, in case it’s a specific edition. Trust me, it’s a minor hack that could save you a lot of time. Read more and then some more I thought, just recently, that I had developed an original analysis of a film that I was planning on using for my dissertation. I then realised, after further reading, that it had already been discussed. It’s so important that we all keep an eye out for texts surrounding our topic, so we’re not re-treading familiar waters. So when you’re finding articles and books to study with, always search for key words, either in the index or in the search bar. We all need to find that specific avenue which is going to enable us to produce a unique piece of work. Leave your introduction to last Our ideas change as we write. You might discover a new theory, or the writer you were planning on referring to isnt fitting in with your argument as well as youd planned. Therefore, it’s best to leave the introduction until last, as its purpose is to summarise exactly what your essay is about and what topics it will cover. Once you’ve written the dissertation, you’ll have all the answers you need: the introduction will become clearer as you write it, rather than appearing as an ominous guideline to messily refer back to. Eureka! Get it down on paper! When you’re brainstorming and you suddenly come up with a fantastic idea, or even start to write a passage in internal monologue as your excitement takes over, it’s vital that you take note of it. It can be so frustrating, and such a step back in terms of your mental processing, if you had something creative and it slipped from your cranium’s fingers. Bring a notebook with you at all times, or keep your phone ready to take a reminder. Even when typing, if you get a little flustered, write the idea down in bold as it comes to you in your head. When you come back to it, you’ll rightfully want to pat yourself on the back. Synonyms, a writers best friend Everyone has a favourite set of words to use, again and again. Furthermore, consider, emphasise, create All terms I myself have been guilty of overusing. The best solution to this problem is to go over the last section of your dissertation and find any words that repeat themselves. Right click that pesky verb, noun or adjective, drop down the synonyms box and browse away. It can go a long way in improving the fluidity and inventiveness of your writing, and is a useful writing resource. Apostrophes, a writer’s worst enemy Not so much a hack, but an easy way of saving a few marks; avoid using apostrophised words in academic writing. No matter the writer, everyone gets an ‘its’ mixed up with an ‘it’s’, or a ‘they’re’ with a ‘their’. Plus, software such as Word rarely picks up on these errors. So it is important to stick with the distinguished form of ‘they are’ or ‘it is’. Not only will it save you some agro when editing, but it will also add a little boost on the word count for those struggling to make the exact mark. Phone a friend When it comes to the most important part of the dissertation, the editing, we can often go quite easy on ourselves. We wrote it, we’re naturally proud of the result, so we sometimes dont notice its flaws. If you give it to a friend, preferably the brutally honest one that we all have, then they’re likely to spot grammatical errors or sentences that don’t quite flow the way you’d want them to. You’re writing for an audience: the examiner. So pre-empt that by having your own audience prior to submission. It’ll help discipline your structure and style as a result. There you have it, eight simple tips that will make a big change to your work. Put them into practice and youll be well on your way to writing a cracking dissertation. Good luck! Connect with Debut on  Facebook,  Twitter,  and  LinkedIn  for more careers insights.