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!

Everyone has a story to tell, and by digging deep, you can unearth gems that sparkle and gleam, attracting even the weariest hiring manager’s attention.

Sadly, however, most people don’t know how to excavate their precious-stone stories, and the result is lackluster content. A marketing-driven resume must be color-rich, clear, and strong enough to bear the heavy—often unforgiving—weight of the resume-vetting process.

The following are five tips to polish your story to ensure it outshines your competition and commands the hiring manager’s attention.

Read the rest on http://money.usnews.com!

This set of inspirational thoughts for the new year will galvanize you into action.

At the start of every year, I create a list of quotes to guide and inspire me for the next 12 months. Here are the quotes I’ve selected for 2013:

1. “Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”
   Napoleon Hill
   
2. The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”
   Brian Tracy
3. “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. Dale Carnegie
   

Read the rest on inc.com!

Predictions can be fascinating, but let’s face it. No one I know is in possession of a working crystal ball, and digital marketing and technology move way too quickly and too erratically to do much more than keep us guessing (not that that isn’t half the fun).

I’m an analyst, not a psychic. So rather than play the “what’s next?” guessing game, let’s instead focus on “what’s important?”

These are the areas I plan to keep a close eye on in 2013. What would you add — or subtract — from this list?

Read the rest on imediaconnection.com!

In the few minutes it takes to read this article, chances are you’ll pause to check your phone, answer a text, switch to your desktop to read an email from the boss’s assistant, or glance at the Facebook or Twitter messages popping up in the corner of your screen. Off-screen, in your open-plan office, crosstalk about a colleague’s preschooler might lure you away, or a co-worker may stop by your desk for a quick question.

And bosses wonder why it is tough to get any work done.

Distraction at the office is hardly new, but as screens multiply and managers push frazzled workers to do more with less, companies say the problem is worsening and is affecting business.

Read the rest on wsj.com!

The Employees’ Choice Award winners are determined using feedback employees voluntarily and anonymously shared about their work experiences throughout the past year.  Employees provide feedback using Glassdoor’s online company review survey – they are asked to rate their satisfaction with their jobs and company as well as important workplace factors like work-life balance, compensation and benefits and career advancement opportunities. Employees are also asked to provide details into what they feel are some of the best reasons, as well as some of the downsides, of working at their company. At a minimum, a company must have had at least 25 reviews during the past year from U.S.-based employees to be considered for the award.

See the list on glassdoor.com!

Digital marketing has already had its share of watershed moments. 2013 is not going to be “the year of the [fill in the blank].” Instead, 2013 is going to build on the digital accomplishments of the past. Our industry is going to continue its refinement based on consumer needs — and not a marketer’s desire to make something big happen.

Something big has already happened.

According to comScore, there are more than 1 trillion digital interactions monthly. For too long, our industry has relied on technological accomplishments to drive our business. Each new technology has generated opportunity, but all too often we focus on the coolness of the technology instead of focusing on the consumer benefit and how marketing fits in.

Read the rest on imediaconnection.com!

There have been plenty of articles written on this but a post “Why Counter Offers Are Good (except for headhunters)” on recruitingblogs.com by Amos spurred me to write about this for my audience. I was incredulous to read his article whole heartedly encouraging his candidates to elicit a counter-offer to get the promotion they want. Sure, it was a brave post to a hostile audience and sure you might think, ‘of course you’ll disagree Rob’, but for those that know me well, trust me when I say, whilst in my benefit it is not for my benefit, but yours. This is wrong advice on so many fronts 9 times out of 10.

I am not going to write anything revolutionary here but it is worth pointing out the facts so that if anyone does encourage (outside your current boss who obviously will) you* to take the counter-offer, you have a reference point. Read them carefully and keep them at hand.

I am not going to write anything revolutionary here but it is worth pointing out the facts so that if anyone does encourage (outside your current boss who obviously will) you* to take the counter-offer, you have a reference point. Read them carefully and keep them at hand.

Read the rest on recruitingblogs.com!

It’s a situation pretty much everyone finds themselves in at some point during their careers: sending your resume out to scores of recruiters and/or hiring agents…and not hearing anything back. Before you consider giving up on your ideal job, here are three powerful tweaks you can execute that will immediately increase the amount of attention your resume receives.

Develop a Clear Job Target

Specificity is one of the keys to a successful search in today’s job market. Instead of going the “one size fits all” route with regards to your resume, research open jobs using sites like Monster and Indeed and start developing a database of positions that interest you. While you should ideally end up with a single job target, it’s perfectly fine to conduct a job search across multiple targets. Just be sure to develop a separate resume version for each.

Read the full article on lifehacker.com!