Love Your Job? Stay on the Job Hunt

You might think that the only time  you should be hunting for a job is if you’re unhappy in your current position or you’re out of work. I mean, it doesn’t make much sense to be looking for a job if everything is swell does it? Not so fast. Even if you’re planning on staying in your current role for the foreseeable future, there are a number of reasons to keep tabs on the job market. 

Salary Expectations

When you first get a job, you want to know what others in the same position are making so you can ask for the right amount. You don’t want to come in too low or too high when negotiating salary. Once you’re in your new job, this shouldn’t stop. Keeping up to date with your industry and what salaries are for your job might suggest that you should be asking for a raise, and it will give you leverage when you start eyeing that promotion. 

Keeping Up with Your Network

Do you have that one friend, the one you only ever hear from if they need something? No one wants to be that person, and no one is really thrilled to have that person as a friend. No one wants that person in their network either. If you only reach out to your professional contacts when you’re looking for work, you’ll find those contacts less and less likely to help you out. Stay in touch, pass along interesting news and advice. Ask for help and see what’s out there. That way, when it comes time to look for work, your network will only be too pleased to help you out.

The Changing Job Search

Where should you look for a job? Online job boards? Company websites? Facebook? Twitter? The job hunt is constantly changing, and how people look for, and get jobs is as well. You don’t want to be stuck with an Objective Statement on your resume rather than a Summary. You might not need a resume or the job search right now, but you’ll save yourself time and maybe even embarrassment by keeping up to date. 

Keeping up with your connections and checking what jobs are out there isn’t only for when you need a new job. Know what’s out there. Know how the industry is changing so that when it comes time to move on, you’ll be ready.

Learn The Rules First Then You Can Think About Breaking Them

Understand first, subvert later

Rules, who needs them? You don’t want to spend all your time thinking inside the box right? Rules are for followers who don’t intend to break new ground… aren’t they? The truth is, if you want to break the rules you need to know what they are first. Listen to Pablo Picasso. He knew that you first have to understand why a thing is the way it is, before you can subvert it.

Bending and re-shaping rules

Pablo Picasso is best known as an abstract artist. It would be easy to point at his work and say, “Look, he doesn’t follow the rules of what art should look like. He must not care at all about the rules.” In fact, the opposite is true. Picasso understood the rules of composition, color and emotion thoroughly. That’s why he was able to bend and shape those rules to make what he wanted from them.

If you want to change the rules, if you want to think outside the box and if you want to break the status quo, you have to understand how the rules got there. Then you can take the time to look for holes, to try things out and to change the way things have always been done. 

Have a Great Day

Take it one day at a time. You know the old saying. When we’re struggling and finding things tough, people love to break out this little saying. It’s good advice. Don’t get bogged down by looking at everything looming in the distance. Focus on the here and now. 

Beyond that, remember that every single day is full of potential and possibility. Who knows what could happen? If you’re trying to take things a day at a time, here are a couple ways you can focus on one day, and make it the best you can.

Start with Encouragement

When you’re starting your day, play some music that you like, that makes you feel good and give yourself some compliments in the mirror. At first you might feel silly, but you shouldn’t. You’ll feel a bit better, your steps will be a little bit easier. Compliment the people you run into on your way to work. Maybe your barista, post officer and secretary at work. Giving out compliments can feel as good as getting them. 

Laugh

Whether it’s a funny clip on Youtube, a great Vine, reading jokes on reddit or just talking with your friends, try to find time to laugh during your day. Laughter has a number of surprising benefits. A good chuckle can set you up for your whole day. It can relieve you of stress and it can get you into a better mindset. After all, it’s the best medicine. 

Seek Challenges

For whatever reason, humans generally don’t like change. We assume it’s bad and that it’ll all end in misery. That’s why some people are so adverse to new challenges. There’s always the possibility of failure. It’s less safe and less comfortable. Rather than hoping no new challenges come your way, see them for the opportunities they are. Opportunities to prove yourself and to learn new skills. If you welcome change, you’ll be excited and ready when it comes.

Take it one day at a time. Focus on today, and making it a great day. 

Entry-Level Resume Mistakes

If you’re writing your resume for an entry-level position, you might not have that much work experience to add. You’ve done well in school and you want to highlight that as much as possible. You know you should use a professional email and all those other things, but there are a couple mistakes you want to avoid, especially on your entry-level resume.

All of the Things

When you don’t have a lot of work experience it can be temping to just put everything you’ve ever achieved on your resume. This clutters the stuff that really matters and will confuse employers. Even if it leaves your resume feeling a little thinner than you’d like it to, only keep the relevant information on your resume. 

This also means when you’re putting your education history on your resume, don’t include every award you’ve ever won. If you graduated with distinction, that’s important to know, if you won the Ugly Sweater contest in your junior year, not so much.

One Resume Fits All

If you’ve only had one or two jobs and you’re just getting out of school, how can you tailor your resume to each job you apply to? It’s not like you have a ton of different things you can put on your resume to tailor it in every single application. That may be true, but throughout school and at any of your previous jobs, you did a variety of things and grew a host of skills. Each of those skills could be promoted and highlighted if they match the job you’re applying for.

Only Used Spell Check

You should be used to spell checking your papers and essays. Make sure you use it on your resume. Don’t stop there. Get a friend to read over your resume for you; the whole thing. Is it easy to read? Does it make sense? Did you spell the word right, but use the wrong word altogether? These are the things that an employer will see quickly and spell check won’t. 

Preparing for Your First Day at a New Job

Congratulations, you got the job! Now comes the nervous excitement about your first day. Will you mess up? Will you like the people? What will you wear? There’s a lot going through your brain before your first day at a new job, even if this isn’t your first job. How do you calm those nerves and get yourself settled before walking into the new office for the first time? We’ve got a couple ideas. 

The Interview

One of the best times to do a little research about the new company is during your interview. Now we understand you’ve got a lot on your mind during the interview, but if you think of it, look around the office. How are people dressed, how are they speaking to one another? If you don’t remember how everyone was dressed, come to work on your first day in something close to business formal, even if everyone is casual, you’ll only have to be over-dressed for one day. It’s better than being underdressed for the first day.

The Night Before

You don’t want the added stress of having to pick something to wear the morning of. Have what your going to wear all picked out and ready to go. Plan your route to work and make sure you’ve set your alarm to give you a lot of time to get ready. You want to have as many decisions about your first day of work made before you go to bed. Hopefully this will also allow you to have a solid night’s rest.

The Morning Of

Pack a lunch! Having a lunch makes you flexible. If your coworkers take you out for lunch on your first day great! If they don’t and they’ve all brought their own lunches, you won’t have to feel left out. Lunch will be a great time to get to know people. Make sure you don’t miss out.

Your first day is going to be a whirlwind. There’s going to be a lot to take in and get used to. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and make mistakes. Help yourself out on your first day by being prepared and you’ll be great!

The Stronger The Wind The Stronger The Trees

You may not know who J. Willard Marriott is, but that last name probably sounds familiar. He was an entrepreneur and the founder of the Marriott Corporation, which is the parent company of one of the largest hotel chains in the world. When Marriott was 35 years old, he was told he had cancer and that he had less that a year to live. He survived his battle with cancer and lived for another half century. It is likely with this battle in mind that he gave the quote above. 

The benefits of struggle

If we’ve never known struggle or hardship, it will make it all the more difficult to face when it invariably strikes. Struggles make us creative in our problem solving. Dealing with problems causes us to grow our roots down further into the ground, giving us more stability and making it easier to face the next problem. 

When adversity strikes, don’t wallow in worry and complain about fairness. Persevere and know that you are being strengthened for the challenges that lie ahead. Become the sought after “good timber” people are always looking for. Listen to J. Willard Marriott, and brave those strong winds.

Making a Great Portfolio

If you work in a visual industry like web design, graphic design or branding, having a portfolio is essential. Even if you work in a non-visual industry, having a portfolio can help show off the work you’ve done. Just because you don’t make pictures for a living, don’t be too quick to give a portfolio the brush off.

Whether having a portfolio is a given for your profession, or you’re just out to try it to give yourself an edge in the job search, we’ve got a couple tips on how to make sure your portfolio is the best it can be.

Theme is Important

Most people think of their portfolio as whatever work they’ve done before. They throw all their previous projects together and figure they’re ready to go. This is like throwing all your previous jobs on a resume no matter how relevant they are for the job you’re applying for. Consider what you want to say with your portfolio. Is it important to show your understanding of composition? Is the company looking for someone who can handle out of the box ideas? Focus what you put into your portfolio around they key thing you’re trying to show off.

Make it Make Sense

Make sure that when someone looks through your portfolio, it makes sense. Remember that you might not be there when they look through it, or look through it a second time. You want your portfolio to be clear; it should flow. A table of contents, different categories and clear marking can help inform the reader what they’re looking at.

Keep It Simple

Your work should be center stage. The easiest way to lose your reader is if it’s hard to tell what’s your work and what’s decoration. You may think cool designs throughout your portfolio will only show off more of your skills, but what it’ll actually do is distract from your work. Let your work do the talking. 

Whether you have a host of visual work to display, or you’re looking for a new and interesting way to present your past experience, a portfolio is great way to get recognized. 

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”

Stop scheduling and start doing

Do you work in one of those great offices that has meetings about meetings about scheduling meetings. Does it make you want to scratch your eyes out and yell at the top of your lungs? Then this Amelia Earhart quote is for you, and it should probably be posted in conference rooms throughout the nation. Yes, planning is important and getting everyone on the same page will be helpful… but the most effective way to get something done, according to Earhart, is to do it.

Most people have probably heard of Amelia Earhart and know her as the aviator who went missing while flying over the Pacific Ocean. Some might remember that she was the first female pilot to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean. Fewer will know that she wrote best-selling books and was an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. 

There’s no doubt that a lot of people told Amelia Earhart to hold on a minute, plan a little more and make sure she knew what she was doing. In the end though, she just had to do it. She set multiple records for flight and continued to promote women in aviation until her disappearance. If you follow Earhart’s advice, who knows what you’ll be able to accomplish.