THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?

More and more of us find ourselves unable to juggle overwhelming demands and maintain a seemingly unsustainable pace. Paradoxically, the best way to get more done may be to spend more time doing less. A new and growing body of multidisciplinary research shows that strategic renewal — including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent vacations — boosts productivity, job performance and, of course, health.

Read the rest on nytimes.com!

What are the ingredients for a successful career? Most people would say something like hard work, personal sacrifices, determination, and a dose of luck. But even after giving your all for the benefit of your career, can you still say it was all worth it? Though many people are content once they reach the pinnacle of their professions, many others answer this question with a resounding “no.” These people find that the careers they have been shedding blood, sweat, and tears for are, in the end, not making them happy.

It is these very people who often feel trapped by their jobs rather than set free. They feel bound to their jobs thanks to the paycheck which works to fund the “successful” live they’ve cultivated over many years. So they suffer silently and resentfully as they burn-out, remain constantly irritable, and lose patience with those around them. Often, people in this situation consider quitting their job as the best solution to their unhappiness, but that may not be true, and not just for financial reasons.

Read the full article on recruiter.com!

Marissa Mayer left Google to tackle what ailed Yahoo. And this week she took on … telecommuting.

Yahoos were pleased with the new iPhones and free food from the new boss – a Google-icious touch. But, depending on the speaker, this “bold,” “outrageous,” or “1950s” decree eliminating work from home has stirred up comment, incredulity and outrage from coast to coast.

Beneath the visceral reactions, I see three important issues:

• Telecommuting is progressing from a questionable practice toward an unquestioned entitlement.
• Its supply or denial seems increasingly based on personal need rather than business imperative.
• Many successful organizations reject telecommuting as a productivity tool – and Ms. Mayer thrived in one at Google.

Read the rest on tlnt.com!

Searching for jobs is a daunting task for many, so it’s imperative your resume is in tip-top shape.

With 25% of human-resources managers receiving 50 resumes per job listing, competition is fierce, according to an infographic developed by NowSourcing, an Internet-marketing services firm.

Called “The Anatomy of a Great Resume,” it dissects the components of a first-class CV. The infographic encourages job-seekers to concisely summarize work experience, emphasize accomplishments and include key words such as “problem solving,” “leadership” and team building.” On the other hand, the infographic counsels against making spelling and grammatical errors.

Indeed, it says 77% of HR managers search for candidates with relevant experience, while 48% want information on specific accomplishments, and 41% look to see whether a resume is customized to an available position.

See the rest on http://mashable.com!

Over the holidays, I looked around the living room and saw eight adults over 55 sending text messages, having video conversations with loved ones in other cities, and showing each other the new apps they use.

In our living rooms, at the office, in our classrooms, in our cars, and in our pockets, innovation in software has radically changed the world we know. With this has come a shift in what society celebrates and what we value in the technology world. “Geek” is definitely the new cool.

Do you know what is cool?

Consider that across the world, founders like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Kevin Systrom grace magazine covers and television programs as we celebrate their meteoric wealth creation and unique command of the PR machine.

At the employee level, a growing percentage of Silicon Valley engineers are exploiting a red-hot labor market by jumping startup to startup or cashing in on comfortable jobs in large companies that are overpaying to retain workers. Far too many of them are happy to be peddled by recruiters who exacerbate their god-state with terms like “rock stars”, “unicorns,” and “ninjas”. Just as astounding, some are even willing to be auctioned off.

It might be tempting to listen to those who insist that resumes are dead. But here’s the thing—they’re not. Rather, expectations for them have changed. Instead of burying your resume, you need to revive it.

Resumes are not dead. Not even close. And any job seeker who treats them as such is making a big mistake.

Looking through our stats at ZipRecruiter, I can tell you that recruiters and employers are viewing hundreds of thousands of resumes per month. That’s on our site alone. Some of the resume views come via submitted applications, while others are from recruiters actively seeking out candidates in our resume database.

Read the rest on recruiter.com!

(via inc.com) My company, Metal Mafia, has an excellent candidate screening process, a super training program, and a very successful team of employees to show for it.

But hiring has always been a difficult task for me because each time I get ready to hire, it takes me forever to find the right type of candidates to even get the screening process started.

Despite the fact that I carefully consider where to advertise for candidates–I try to maximize the search dollars and get a good mix of potential applicants–it always takes me a long time to find people suited well to the company, and therefore, even worth interviewing.

I’ve tried everything from placing ads on large job boards like Monster.com, to smaller specialized job boards that cater to sales hires or fashion jobs, to local university boards where I can post for free (or close to it). Each time, I experience the same slow crawl toward finally finding the right person. It has taken me up to five months to find the right kind of hire in the past. So in November when I decided I needed to think about hiring for the new year, I was not optimistic.

Read the rest here!

For many people, especially those working at desk jobs, the workplace is very different than it was 20 years ago: there’s a computer at every desk, telecommuting is fairly common, and the traditional cubicle is giving way to more collaborative spaces. We’ve seen predictions about where we’ll go from here before; now PSFK, a popular blog that also happens to be a thriving consultancy, has come up with its own version of the future of work, described in a new 138-page report. It’s not as fantastical as many future-forward reports–it’s planted firmly in ideas that are already gaining a lot of traction. Perhaps that makes it more accurate. We’ll find out.

Here are our takeaways.

Startup Training and Skills Marketplaces

PSFK imagines that learning initiatives for young entrepreneurs, such as Enstitute, will become the norm. In this model, college students are matched up with startups, where they learn all the programs used by the company, take relevant Skillshare classes, and work on projects, and sit in on panels. Virtual learning libraries, where entrepreneurial experts can leave advice in written and video form, will also proliferate (we’re seeing hints of this now with the growing online education industry). At the same time, skills marketplaces–social tools that allow employers to quickly get a handle on applicants’ skills will become popular. Mozilla’s Open Badges project, for example, lets people display their skills via badges on social media profiles.

Read the rest on fastcoexist.com!

Advertisers shell out big money each year to get it front of millions of eyeballs on Super Bowl Sunday, but some brands banked on social media to create buzz. In many cases, it paid off — companies that were quick on their feet during opportune moments such as the stadium blackout became a huge topic of conversation on the web, seemingly cost free.

The strongest example of this is Oreo, whose quick-witted ad hit just minutes after the power went out at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The ad — which said, “No power? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark” — was retweeted nearly 15,000 times and won respect for making the most of the situation. It created even more buzz than its TV ad.

Read the rest on mashable.com!

Successful people don’t mess around when it comes to their working space.

A desk has to be a place where you can be productive, healthy, and comfortable for many hours, day in day out.

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark prefers a sparse desk, while Peter Guber, co-owner of the L.A. Dodgers, keeps his desk “crowded” with memorabilia “to create an un-intimidating environment for business associates.”

Michael Moritz, Chairman at Sequoia Capital, keeps a bottle of emergency whiskey “for the bad surprise.”

And some professionals don’t work at a desk at all.

Read the rest on businessinsider.com!

Flu season has come early this year, and it doesn’t look like it will be over any time soon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Jan. 18, 48 states reported widespread geographic flu activity. So even if you’re not sick, someone around you may be under the weather.

This is especially true in the workplace. Chances are someone in your office isn’t feeling well but decided to come to work anyway. A 2011 CareerBuilder survey found that 72 percent of workers typically go to work when they’re sick. One reason? The guilt factor. More than half of workers said they feel guilty if they call in sick.

Read the rest on theworkbuzz.com!

Flexibility is about control and everyone wants flex. According to the Center for Talent Innovation’s research, if there’s one work perk that rises above the rest, it’s flexible work arrangements. The CTI study showed that 87% of Boomers, 79% of Gen X’ers, and 89% of Millennials cite flex as important. (Source: CTI)

Why be flexible? The bottom line benefit for companies is increased productivity and job satisfaction. According to Sylvia Ann Hewlett,

Companies that treat time as currency — through remote work options, staggered hours, and reduced-hour arrangements — are also more likely to attract and retain high-caliber employees. Work/life balance has always been prized by working women juggling the demands of family and high-powered jobs, and now these moms are being seconded by incoming Millennials, who consider it a basic entitlement to play as hard as they work.”  (Source: hbr.org)

Read the rest on 9inchmarketing.com!

Social media really matters in your job search! Check out this infographic, via onlinecolleges.com.

In 2010, when Matthew Shoup first started at LinkedIn’s Mountain View office, he had a simple enough title: “Technical Marketer.” He had expertise in online advertising. Today, though, Shoup is known by a range of different monikers. Officially, there’s his current title, the stark and enigmatic “Hacker-in-Residence.” And then there are his nicknames: “Mr. 10X” (for the internal tools he built that have helped LinkedIn scale) and “The Swiss Army Knife” (for his general jack-of-all-tradesiness), among them.

Within months, Shoup was building a reputation as a creative employee at LinkedIn, and he has since moved from a fairly circumscribed job to a very free one. He wears a lot of hats, works on a lot of projects, and acts as a hub connecting a lot of people–and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He has essentially transformed his job from work into something more closely resembling play. “The common thread between all of the hats I wear is that I get to traverse multiple disciplines to solve business problems with creativity, and bring innovative ideas to life,” he tells Fast Company. “And I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do with my time.”

Read the rest on fastcompany.com!

Do you consider yourself a hard-working, self-starting, problem-solving people person?

If so, that’s fine — just don’t put it on your resume.

A new survey released by staffing service OfficeTeam details the most overused or meaningless phrases included on resumes, as told by business executives.

Included on the list of phrases to leave out were the following terms: “highly qualified,” “team player,” “flexible” and “self-starter.”

Read the rest on bizjournals.com!

My client Cathy was in a job search, and decided at the outset that she would not settle for “don’t call us; we’ll call you” method. She remembered the line from the Woody Allen movie, “Ninety percent of life is just showing up,” and applied it to the search. She got an early edge by blending charisma with engagement:

• She stayed informed of in-person events and online networking activities. She got out there. Though scared to death (her words), she became “a great actor” faking confidence but not enthusiasm; and she practiced until the confidence was also real.

Charisma, an often undescribed magnetism that consistently draws people closer, was for many years, touted as something innate since birth. Something you had or didn’t have. I was reading a recent paper on the subject by scholars who disagree and believe that charisma is a set of practiced skills. I think there’s a lot to this. I believe that we have natural charisma styles that fuel our power when blended with practiced job search or career management skills like storytelling, listening well, asking open-ended questions, smiling and using direct eye contact with other positive body language.

Read the rest on http://hireimaging.com!

Finding a job is tough enough as it is without having to go through harrowing interviews. Here’s everything you need to know about nailing your interview so you can get through it stress-free.

Via lifehacker.com!

Most career counselors and recruiting experts will tell you that following up after an interview is a must, especially if you really want the job and want the hiring manager to know it. Plus, following up after the interview gives you the chance to continue the conversation after the interview is over, or get a little closure to the interview process. The question though, is what’s the best way to follow up? The folks at HR Bartender have some suggestions.

In most cases, they say, an email is the best way to follow up after an interview—it’s fast, friendly, and unobtrusive, and doesn’t put pressure on the hiring manager to stop everything they’re doing and take your phone call, listen to your voicemail and call you back, or return a paper letter. The HR Bartender folks do note however that a paper note can often really stand out—you just have to use your judgment as to whether that would be in a good or bad way.

Read the rest on http://lifehacker.com!