"Internships provide an invaluable way to gain real-world experience and apply the skills you've learned in the classroom to a work environment. As important, internships can kick-start your climb up the career ladder. A recent survey by Experience, Inc. found that 54% of employers view their internship program as a pipeline for new hires. Do you have an internship success story? Tell us about it.
Q: Dear Seymour, I recently became a manager for the first time, and now find myself facing my first big presentation! Any advice on how to prepare?
- Submitted by Lyla Sulian, Oakbrook, IL
A: Dear Lyla,
For some, preparing for a presentation is a process that is easy and painless, while for others, it's just painful torture. Most of us fall somewhere in between. It's inevitable that one day you would have to make a presentation at work. There are certain tools, tips and techniques you can use to deliver a memorable and effective presentation - the key is learning how to use them to your maximum advantage. Here are a few tips to ensure you deliver a stellar first presentation:
- Effective visuals. Whatever your visuals are - posters, charts, PowerPoint, slides - keep them simple and don't put too many words on them. The audience is there to listen to you present, not to read your visuals.
- Good eye contact. Look at your audience. Don't single out one person, but instead try to make eye contact with numerous people. This allows you to engage the audience.
- Delivery. Pace yourself - try not to speed up when you speak. Keep your points as short and simple as possible. Speak to the audience, not at them and not at your visual aids. Speak clearly and loudly enough for all to hear. Use inflection, not a monotone voice. Do not use "uhms or ahs." Show some gestures when speaking. People are more engaged with an animated speaker.
- Practice, practice, practice. After you've gotten your written materials and visuals ready, practice in front of a willing audience (friends, family), a mirror, or video yourself. However, don't over prepare. If you rehearse your presentation too much, it will sound like it. You want to sound natural, not as if it's memorized.
- Just breathe. The simple act of breathing properly before you start and during your presentation can give you a better sense of clarity and focus. Get a good night's rest, drink enough water, and stretching beforehand may help ensure you're feeling your best when you present.
Allow for extra time at the end of your presentation for questions and discussion. Prepare in advance answers to some possible questions. Most importantly, don't be too hard on yourself if you didn't meet every expectation. If you believe you gave it your best shot, pat yourself on the back. Look for ways you can improve for the next time you make a presentation. With each one you do, you will improve and the easier presentations will become.
Companies have been battling the Internet for worker productivity for years. But now, there's a new distraction that's taking workers' attention away from their job during the workday. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter...all are great tools for social networking and keeping in touch, but they can be a distraction.
A recent article highlights how some companies are combating the social networking beast by employing filtering software to block social networking sites.
The key to remember is that too much personal time spent on social networking can be a distraction and cuts into company time unless you are in the sales, marketing or recruiting functions, which finds social networking sites useful tools.
Whether it's social networking or online shopping, if it's not job related, you shouldn't be spending time, outside of your lunch break, on the Internet with personal business. It's unprofessional, and your managers and co-workers probably wouldn't appreciate it.
Self-esteem and confidence are very important for your career. For some workers, this can be a detriment because too much self confidence can lead to arrogance, and arrogance can lead to conflict with co-workers and managers or even poor judgment.
However, a healthy amount of confidence helps workers succeed. Confident employees are not afraid to express their ideas, or engage in debate about strategy. Most company leaders are in their positions because they had the self-esteem and confidence throughout their career to make the critical decisions that led to advancement.
Yet, some workers have a difficult time having the self-assurance that they can make the decisions and take the chances required to propel them to the next level.
One column offers ideas about how managers can help boost workers' confidence, but what can workers do themselves?
For starters, make a list of your accomplishments and post them in your office or cubicle. This will remind you daily about your strengths and successes at the office.
When a manager or co-worker compliments your work or achievements, take it to heart. You know you work hard, and when someone recognizes it, enjoy it!
Furthermore, if you make a mistake or are reprimanded, keep in mind that no one is perfect, especially at work. So don't look at this situation as a way to crush your ego. Instead, take it as a learning experience that will help you to not make the same mistake twice.
Lastly, the best way to get a compliment and have your work recognized is to give a compliment and recognize others.
I am interested in hearing from our readers. What do you do to boost your confidence at work?
Somewhere deep within my subconscious mind, I think that I truly believed that my child would miraculously arrive into this world with little thought (or effort) on my part. Throughout my seemingly endless pregnancy, I dreamt of a beautiful doll-like "mini-me" that never cried or pooped. She wore gorgeous baby couture and never had the predisposition to drool like a bulldog. More importantly, she'd come complete with a "how-to" manual firmly affixed to her rear-end. No one dared to shatter my fantasy so you can imagine my surprise... and utter horror!
Flash forward: post-pregnancy... Suddenly, I was working two full time jobs! My daily struggle of trying to maintain my job and my household responsibilities felt overwhelming and seemingly impossible. It was as if I had gone from working in the mail room to becoming the CEO of a global company overnight. Worse yet, no one had bothered to inform me how I to run the company! Short of auctioning my child on eBay; I was fresh out of quick-fix solutions. It was time to call for outside help. Knowing that I wasn't the first or the last woman to be faced with the age-old dilemma, the question remained... How do you do it all? More importantly, how do you do it all successfully?
I started by joining a local working mom support group. I know what you're thinking... because I thought the same thing! However, I quickly realized that there was a reason that these women gathered together each week and it wasn't to make me feel like a bad mother. Each woman had a need or a desire to improve herself and her work/life balance. The camaraderie I found became my lifeline, granting me the permission to explore who I wanted to be in the various roles of my life. In addition to the self-exploration, I also found an abundance of helpful information like how to find the right preschool to the best approach for working a flex-schedule. I felt that I had tapped into a secret society and the information that I gathered was powerful.
My daughter turns four this year and I marvel at the learning curve that we have both endured through her years. Truthfully, there are times that I forget to ask her to brush her teeth; days that the laundry piles up and sometimes I even miss a work deadline. Yet through it all I have learned that success is only about getting what you want... happiness is found by wanting what you get.
To find an existing mommy support group, check your local bulletin boards and newspapers or contact national organizations, which may have a local chapter in your area. Your local librarian, pediatrician, or social services office may know about an existing group of moms with children in similar age ranges. There are also great online support groups that provide a broad range of communication and are accessible on your time schedule.
Mothers & More is a non-profit membership organization provides a nationwide network of local chapters for mothers who are (by choice or circumstance) altering their participation in the paid workplace over the course of their active parenting years.
Workitmom.com is another online community where working moms can share their experiences, advice, and support can make that daily juggle a bit more manageable.
Mom Junction allows members to immediately access the groups of moms in your local town or find moms outside of your area, but who are still within reach.
Q: Dear Seymour, I'm ready to take the next step in my career and therefore have been looking for a new job over the past several months. A close friend of mine thinks I may be pursuing jobs that are too far out of my league, but I want to stretch myself. Any advice?
- Submitted by Darrell Etgar, Chattanooga, TN
A: Dear Darrell,
For aggressive and confident career-minded adults like yourself, the pursuit of the next rung in the corporate ladder means landing an opportunity that stretches your abilities, and at the same time, your pocketbook. While it is possible to land a job that you can "grow into," you should be wary of the potential pitfalls of seeking a stretch job that in the end may be out of your league. Here are some things to consider:
- Is it a stretch or a breaking point?
Your first step is to evaluate whether a potential job is just enough of a stretch or way out of your league. If the position you are seeking is going to require skills you don't have, determine a realistic timeframe of your learning curve.
Will you be able to acquire the needed skills to be successful within 30 days? 60 days? Are there training classes you can take or friends willing to mentor you in order to speed up the learning curve? If the skills you'll need to turn in a stellar performance can't be mastered within 30 days, then chances are the position is out of your league.
- Stretching the truth on your resume means you're stretching too far.
Another glaring sign that indicates you're seeking a job that's out of your league is stretching the truth on your resume. If your resume is filled with little "white lies" that embellish your experience and abilities, you're likely headed for disaster.
In fact, your dreams could get squashed before you even land the job. For example, you may have listed a technical skill on your resume that in reality, you've only dabbled in, only to be surprised with an assessment test during your interview.
- Start stretching before you leap.
If you're even considering looking for a stretch opportunity, it's safe to assume you aren't growing or being challenged in your current role. But before you trade in your old job for a more stimulating one, identify any gaps between your current skill set and what will be required at more advanced-level positions.
Are there gaps you can begin to close while you are still on the job? For example, if you are seeking a management position but don't have any experience supervising others, consider volunteering to lead a committee or hire an intern. While not formal managerial functions, they will give you a chance to better prepare yourself to take on a supervisory role, and serve as examples to reference during your pursuit for the stretch role.
Before you find yourself in a situation where you go to work every day on pins and needles, wondering when your colleagues or boss will "find you out," make sure you've truly evaluated whether that dream job is an achievable stretch or one that will stretch you to the breaking point.
The Temp Life, Spherion's original Web-based series, recounts each of your melodramatic and all too often tragic temp stories. In this episode, Mark, an actor between gigs, is faced with the reality of his craft. Remember: the world may be your theater, but a temp job is not your stage!
Don't let your career get confused for comic relief. Let us know if you've ever been in a similar situation and how you've handled it. We might even pay you $100 for your story. Want to catch up on other Temp Life episodes? Click here to access the Temp Life channel. That's The Temp Life ... now get back to work! (Curtain call - exit stage left)
Searching for a job can be a job in of itself. And starting with career fairs can feel like you are in the thick of the rat race.
Competition can be stiff, and one article points out how important it is to stand out in the crowd. It could mean the difference between leaving with a job opportunity, or leaving empty-handed.
How do you differentiate yourself from the other candidates? Career fairs are supposed to be part of the informal interview process, a way to explore companies and opportunities in a group setting. But you should still treat it as the first impression for a potential employer.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Always bring multiple copies of your resume.
- Dress professionally, as if going to a sit down formal interview at an office.
- If possible, conduct research before hand about the companies that will be attending the fair.
- Have questions ready. This may be the best opportunity to find out if the companies are a right fit for you as an employer.
- Stay engaged. Career fairs can be exhausting, but try to keep you energy level up as much as possible to stay enthusiastic.
- Pick up business cards from those who you meet. You might not have the chance to spend a lot of time with the companies you are interested in and will have to set up a time for a follow up. Make sure you stay in contact with those you meet by collecting business cards and sending thank you/reminder notes about your expertise.
As Spring Break turns into summer vacation, many workers may find that there is a pocket of downtime at the office. One blog post talks about how the psychological aspect of downtime could affect your work day.
Springtime, summer and the holiday season, for many industries, are some of the slowest times of the year. Kids are out of school and vacation begins. These are factors that take co-workers and clients or outside contacts out of the workplace.
It can be difficult to maintain your productivity level when you could be relying on others who are out of the office for a week, to complete your work projects. But, just because there's a slowdown doesn't mean that it's time to play solitaire on the computer, or take two-hour lunches with your friends.
Downtime can be an opportunity to get organized or offer your help to other co-workers who may not be experiencing a slowdown at the same time or in the same way you are. It's also the perfect time to tackle some of those administrative tasks that may fall through the cracks during heavy workload periods.
How do you deal with downtime? Share with us some of your tips for staying active in the workplace during a slowdown.
As a working mom, I often find myself in that harmonious state of juggling. I use the word harmonious purposefully as it's become a skilled art form. On my better days, I like to mentally refer to myself as Wonder Woman of the Working World, placed on this earth to ensure that my daughter eats her broccoli and my boss's deadlines are met with a vengeance. But it wasn't always so ...
After my daughter was born, I decided to take some time off from my career to get to know this little creature that had been kicking me non-stop during the last 3 months of my pregnancy. I'll admit upfront that I was "that" overly pro-active parent who jumped at the opportunity to sign my daughter up for Mandarin language classes at the ripe age of 6 months. I was also firmly convinced that sugar and preservatives were evil incarnations placed on this earth solely to test my parenting skills. The raising of my child became my full-time career and I was determined that it would be my crowning achievement. After all, I was a career woman and if I could negotiate a multi-million dollar advertising campaign then surely I could handle this ... right? Wrong.
Each day, I struggled to maintain a self-imposed portrait of perfection. From my glistening floors that rivaled Mr. Clean commercials to my 4-course gourmet dinners co-created by Rachel Ray. My days were tightly scheduled around my endless to-do lists and my deep-seeded need for accomplishment with each dutifully checked completion mark.
What I failed to realize or even acknowledge was the joy that I getting from doing it. I didn't realize that perfection is not what made me a great career woman or even a wife or a mother. My success was not dependent on my ability to raise the next Gandhi, Einstein and Miss USA all wrapped up into one adorable size 2T. My success was in the sheer act of trying ... and every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.
The nightmarish temp job ... we've all had them. Now you can relive every awkward, cringing moment with My Temporary Life, Spherion's original Web series based upon YOUR worst temping stories.
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