Landed Out Of Work? Ten Ways To Reset Your Mindset
Landed Out Of Work? Ten Ways To Reset Your Mindset
If you’ve been furloughed or laid off in recent months, you’re in the company of millions. That can be reassuring in one way. But even so, being out of work is hard. Hard on the pocket, hard on the pride, hard on your mental outlook.
Yet, like all setbacks in life, it’s not the event itself that determines your future but how you respond to it.
One of the biggest challenges the recently unemployed face is managing the emotions that job loss can trigger. Humiliation, vulnerability, anxiety, anger, self-pity, hopelessness… even shame. The blow to the back pocket often pales in comparison to the blow to our sense of identity.
Confucius said that while our natures are alike (i.e. few people get a kick from losing their job, even one they didn’t enjoy), it’s our habits are that separate us. Being able to keep a positive mindset can not only differentiate you from the masses, helping you get back to work sooner, but it expands your ability to use this time in a way that will set you up to one day look back on it with a measure of gratitude for what you gained from it.
So if you’ve been feeling demoralized or struggling to ‘get your head in the game’, here’s a few things you can do to make the most of this time, using it to eventually land in a better position, with a richer experience of life, than had you not gone through it.
1 – Don’t let your job status be your identity
“Everyone says not to take it personally,” Marcus told me, “but that’s easier said than done.” Marcus (name changed) is a neighbor who was laid off from a small consulting firm he joined in February.
Sure, he knew he was the ‘last one, first to go’ but even so, he found it hard not to take it as a personal slight. As I reminded Marcus, just because you got the ‘pink slip’ and someone else didn’t does not mean you don’t have enormous value to add. So don’t make it mean any more than it does. You were let go. Someone else wasn’t. These decisions are often made very arbitrarily by stressed out, overwhelmed people.
So repeat this to yourself:
My value as a human being is not determined by my job status or salary. It never was. It never will be.
Failure is an event not a person. So is job loss. Those who interpret losing their job as a sign of personal inadequacy or failure are less likely to ‘get back on the horse’ in their job hunt than those who interpret it as an unwanted circumstance that provided a valuable opportunity to grow in self-awareness, re-evaluate priorities and build resilience.
You define who you are. Not your job or someone in a position to hire and fire who (particularly right now) is likely concerned for their own job and struggling to keep their own head above water.
So don’t take your job loss as a personal rejection against you. It’s very likely got very little to do with you! Potential employers will be more attracted to people who have proven their ability to stay positive and confident despite a setback/job loss.
2 – Extract every bit of learning you can from this experience
It’s easy to get stuck ruminating over what ‘shoulda-woulda-coulda’ happened… but didn’t. That said, it’s also really important to make sure you dont miss any valuable lessons from this situation. This isn’t about whipping yourself over what you did or failed to do. Beating up on yourself for what you did or failed to do just digs you into a hole of shame or self-pity that serves nothing and no one. However, make sure you also respect the maxim that ‘those who’ve not learnt from the past are doomed to repeat it.’ This may be totally irrelevant, but it might be. For instance:
- Did you fail to invest in diversifying your skill set and keeping up with new technologies and market changes?
- Did you fail to manage expectations as well as you could have?
- Did you not get the wrong people off-side or fail to get the right people on-side and in your corner?
Like I said, it’s possible you did absolutely nothing to land in your predicament. But maybe there are things you could have done that might have helped avoid it. If so, don’t squander that lesson, but take it with you.
3 – Focus on setting yourself up for your ideal future
Research shows that people who focus only on the negative aspects of a situation have a constricted peripheral vision compared to those who are focused on the positive aspects. This psychosomatic connection is testament to the importance of being very intentional about where you’re placing your attention.
So once you’ve done your self-audit, be deliberate about putting your attention and energy on your optimal desired future.
Does your resume need upgrading to position you for a role you’d love? Do you need to contact a recruiter? Do you need invest in knowledge or skills to make you as competitive as possible?
And if you’re not sure what your ideal ‘dream job’ would be, consider engaging a career coach or spending time figuring out what that is, I mean how can you land your dream job if you have no clue what it would be? This is the perfect time to reset your ‘life compass’ if you didn’t enjoy the path you were on.
4 – Tap your network, weak ties matter
Many jobs are never advertised but are filled through personal recommendations and referrals. In which case, the more people who know what you want, the more who can help you get it. Research shows that it’s our ‘weak ties’ that can open the most doors of opportunity. Yet often we focus most of our time on the ‘strong ties.’ So be sure you reach out to a broad network of people, including those whom you might ordinarily not be in touch with.
Write down a long list. Then start methodically moving through it. And if reaching out to people triggers a fear of rejection, make the conscious decision to rise above that fear and reach out anyway. Sometimes you’ve got to be braver than you want to be. Besides, most people are very happy to help and will be pleased you asked.
5 – Establish a work day routine, with a strong start
When your world’s been knocked off its axis, it’s good to give yourself some time to mentally reset and regain your emotional footing. As I wrote recently,it’s okay not to feel on top the world right now. However, assuming you can’t afford a year off work, it’s important to get back to work at finding work.
Set your alarm, prioritizing morning rituals that start your day strong. Then create a routine to help you make the most of your day (it’s easy to squander hours doing not-very-much if you’re not being intentional). Create a job search plan with goals, actions and accountability deadlines. Then prioritize, structure your day and treat finding a job as a job.
6 – Get up, get out, and get active
When life has kicked you down, it’s tempting to stay there, curled on the couch, binging on Netflix. But psychological resilience requires physical resilience. Resist the temptation to lay about and get moving instead. This is the perfect time to get in the best shape of your life!
Physical activity helps to process stress, ward off depression and improve both cognitive and immune function. Studies have found that exercising just three times a week can have the equivalent effect as an anti-depressant. So head outside, even if it’s just to walk the dog to start with. Even a happy dog can produce positive ‘emotional contagion’ on a flagging human spirit!
7 – Stand guard on your energy
Speaking of emotional contagion, surround yourself people who lift you up, and avoid those who don’t. You know the ones. The ones who just fuel pessimism and pity. And while you might ordinarily have capacity for their dire predictions for the future, right now you need to stand guard on your energy.
8 – Find ways to make someone’s day
You can also harness ‘emotional contagion’ but being a source of it for others. There’s no more powerful way to do that that proactively looking for ways to lift up people around you. It’s well researched that acts of kindness produce ‘feel good’ endorphins. Combine that with opportunities to better appreciate the challenges others are dealing with (perhaps far bigger than your own), and it’s a no brainer to proactively seek out ways to be of service in some way, shape or form. A helping hand not only lifts the recipient, it lifts the helper.
9 – Consume media selectively
Research shows that when we’re already feeling flat, social media can just make us feel worse. So if scrolling on your social media feeds only serves to waste your time and not lift your spirits, then consider deleting them off your phone. At least for now. Same for any media or sources that aren’t making you feel more positive, purposeful or positive about yourself and your future. (I promise you, you won’t miss anything earth shattering if you stop watching cable news).
Consider picking up a great book. Or if you don’t want to read, download a ‘feel good’ podcast or audio book. If it’s not lifting you up, it’s pulling you down.
10 – Look for seeds… then keep faith and press on
Napoleon Hill wrote that, “Every adversity holds the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” What he didn’t mention (but should be added) is that you must actively look for those seeds, water them often, and be patient as they grow… on their timeline, not yours.
So each morning, recommit to making the best of the time you have and show up with the mindset of the kind of person you’d want to work with.
Most of all, keep faith. The most valuable chapters of our lives often don’t get a title until much later.
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3 Ways To Promote Yourself And Advance Your Career For Free In today’s digital world, if you don’t have a stellar social media presence, you..
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Jan 24, 2020Hire Without A Resume
Hire Without Looking At A Resume We’re all more than what’s on our resume. But while a lot of leaders pay lip service to that..
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Jan 17, 2020Meeting Don’ts
8 Things You Should Not Do In Meetings Meetings are perhaps the most powerful personal branding tool there is—when you master them. They also make..
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Jan 10, 2020Soft Skills
What Are The Top 10 Soft Skills For The Future Of Work? The future of work is likely to herald a wide range of new..
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Jan 3, 20202020 Resolution Hacks
Resolution Hacks That Actually Work It’s that time of year again, when we all make New Year's resolutions. But will this year be any different..
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Dec 13, 2019Work-Life Integration
Move Over, Work-Life Balance. Hello, Work-Life ‘Integration’ As a busy executive, Margaret Keane has had to find creative ways to fit time with her family..
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Dec 6, 2019December Job Search
3 Things You Need To Know About A December Job Search It’s impossible to predict what the 2020 job market will have in store for..
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Nov 29, 2019Job Offer Management
How To Turn Down A Job Offer Without Burning Bridges Sometimes you have to make the difficult decision to turn down a job offer. It’s..
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Nov 22, 2019Spend your day wisely
How To Spend Your Working Day Wisely And Actually Get Things Done Time doesn’t discriminate. The CEO of a Fortune 500 company with an overloaded..
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Nov 15, 2019Transferable Skills
How To Prove You Can Do The Job, Even Without Direct Experience "Tell me about a time you...." As a career switcher, you may be..
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Nov 8, 2019Career Challenges
7 Unexpected Career Detours That Can Benefit You When most professionals introduce themselves or create a LinkedIn profile, they appear to have a smooth, well-planned..
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Nov 1, 2019Advance Your Career!
Four Myths You Should Ignore If You Want To Advance Your Career In today’s competitive corporate landscape, standing still is equivalent to moving backward. No..
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Oct 11, 2019Personal Branding
Six Sacred Rules For Personal Branding In The Digital World Everything has gone digital – including you. The move to all things digital may have..
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Oct 4, 2019October Job Search
3 Things You Need To Know About An October Job Search Seasonal timing has a large impact on a job search. It can work in..
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Sep 27, 2019The Interview Question
The Interview Question You Need To Answer Right: ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ “I bombed the interview.” This was a message I got from a brand..
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Sep 20, 2019Belonging At Work
Belonging At Work Is Essential—Here Are 4 Ways To Foster It In the complex study of human psychology, one finding is remarkably consistent: our well-being..
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Sep 13, 2019Job Search Pitfalls
How To Avoid The Five Emotional Pitfalls Of A Job Search Spoiler alert: your job search will be anxiety-inducing, frustrating, and at times, painful. It..
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Sep 6, 2019Back to Work
Summer's Over: Here's Why It's The Best Time For Job Seekers And Hiring Managers To Act Now Labor Day has come and gone, which means..
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Aug 30, 2019Effective Time Management
11 Signs You're Not Managing Your Calendar Effectively Time to admit there's a better way to stay on top of your appointments. If you’re like..
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Aug 23, 2019Great First Impression
How To Make A Great First Impression At Your New Job You only get one chance to make a first impression, so make it count...
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Aug 16, 2019Purpose And Values
How To Connect With Your Company's Purpose And Values Some employees feel fully inspired by their company's mission, vision and values. But they don’t just mindlessly glug the Kool-Aid—they connect on a deep,..
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Aug 9, 2019Holiday Season Job Search
4 Reasons You Should Keep Up Your Job Search During the Holidays Now that the holidays are upon us, you may be considering taking a..
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Aug 2, 2019After the Interview
What Not To Do After A Job Interview The waiting period after a job interview can be one of the most stressful times. You’ve done..
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Jul 26, 2019Job Search Difficulties
3 Surprising Reasons Your Job Search Still Isn't Working It’s been months into your job search and you’re just about ready to pull your hair..
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Jul 19, 2019Attitude vs IQ
Why Attitude Is More Important Than IQ When it comes to success, it’s easy to think that people blessed with brains are inevitably going to..
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Jul 12, 2019Video Interviewing Tips
Video Interviewing: Lights, Camera -- But No Connection Nothing screams “personal” more than you on a 20-inch video monitor, beaming in from a remote location..
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Jul 5, 2019Overloaded And Overwhelmed?
Overloaded And Overwhelmed? Four Things You Can Control When Your Workload Is Out Of Control Our research indicates a terrifying 43% of knowledge workers do..
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Jun 28, 2019Successful People
13 Difficult Things Highly Successful People Learn To Do Young To invent a product, turn a profit or start a business is to be accomplished. To..
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Jun 14, 2019Career Summer Checkup
A Career Summer Checkup For Professional Growth Whether you’re graduating college or gearing up for your first fiscal year-end performance conversation, the summer months represent..
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May 31, 2019Thrive At Work
6 Steps To Unleash Your Inner Polymath And Thrive At Work In a previous article I explored some of the virtues of striving for a..
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May 24, 2019Successful and Happy
The One Daily Action That Will Make You More Successful And Happier At Work In our fast-paced world where we have more to do than..
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May 10, 2019How to Evaluate, Accept,…
Congratulations! You got the job. Now for the hard part: deciding whether to accept it or not. How should you assess the salary as well..
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May 3, 2019Great Employees
What It Takes To Be A Great Employee: The Parable Of The Oranges Being a great employee pays off with better positions, higher pay, and..
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Apr 25, 2019Your first Job
10 Essential Strategies To Succeed In Your First Job Congratulations, graduate! After the exhausting and stressful process of finishing school, searching for and landing your..
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Apr 19, 2019Starting a New Job?
When You Start a New Job, Pay Attention to These 5 Aspects of Company Culture When you join an organization, you have a short window..
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Apr 12, 2019How To Escape Procrastination
How To Escape The Procrastination Doom Loop When you imagine a highly productive person, you likely think of someone who focuses effortlessly on the job..
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Apr 5, 2019Exceptional Employees
8 Clues That a Candidate Will be an Exceptional Employee Over the past 40 years, I have reviewed at least 30,000 resumes and LinkedIn profiles..
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Mar 22, 2019Increase Employee Retention
4 Smart Ways to Increase Employee Retention Keeping your employees once you have them is a thorny problem in the staffing services industry. The difficulty..
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Mar 15, 2019Things Happen!
Here's How To Recover From A Career Setback Whether you’ve botched an interview question, cancelled an important meeting last-minute or missed a typo in an..
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Feb 27, 2019Sabotaging your job search?
8 Ways You're Sabotaging Your Job Search Following certain best practices can make or break you in your quest for the right job. Some bad..
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Feb 1, 2019Your Social Media Profile
Here’s what recruiters look for on a candidate’s social media profile Maintaining the right balance between being professional and being yourself on social media can..
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Jan 25, 2019Effective Job Interview
How to conduct an effective job interview As the employment market improves and candidates have more options, hiring the right person for the job has..
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Jan 18, 2019Things You Should Never…
14 Things You Should Never, Ever Say In A Job Interview It’s always intimidating to interview for a new job, whether you’re fresh out of..
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Jan 11, 2019Reasons for Leaving?
How To Answer Why You Left (Or Want to Leave) Your Employer If you want the job, don't reveal this. Job interviews are designed to..
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Jan 4, 2019A good LinkedIn Summary
Here's how to write a LinkedIn summary that could help you land your dream job, according to a marketing director at LinkedIn You might approach..
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Dec 14, 2018Stay Focused Through the…
14 Ways to Stay Focused at Work Through the Holidays We’re in the midst of the holiday season, and as you try to juggle parties,..
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Dec 7, 2018Great Employees Leave Great…
Why Great Employees Leave “Great Cultures” “We have a great culture.” We have all heard it. We have all said it. But what does that..
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Nov 23, 2018Help Your New Hires…
3 Ways You Can Help Your New Hires to Succeed Filling a vacant position is expensive, and unless you do these three things, it's liable..
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Nov 15, 2018A Successful Meeting
Three Ways To Prevent Someone From Stealing Your Spotlight In A Meeting We've all been there at one point or another. You're in a meeting,..
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Oct 26, 2018Recruitment in Cyprus
Recruitment in Cyprus - Thoughts and Ideas from Advance Career Team Read the detailed interview published on TopJobsCyprus website and share your comments and ideas!..
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Oct 19, 2018Find Career Clarity!
How To Find Career Clarity Using Three Top Career Theories Feeling like you need to make a career pivot because your job isn’t a good..
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Oct 12, 2018Integrators VS Segmentors
Are your employees integrators or segmentors? An organization has both integrators and segmentors. Being a segmentor is a tough ask. If you choose to be..
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Sep 21, 2018What Motivates You to…
What Motivates You to Work? That paycheck will never be big enough if it's the only reason you're going to work. Each of us respond..
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Sep 14, 2018Update Your Resume
Updating Your Résumé Might Mean Updating Yourself It seems like a total no-brainer: you should update your résumé and online profiles when you are job..
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Sep 7, 2018Tap Into Your Motivation!
Putting Yourself In Drive: How To Tap Into Your Motivation The one common component in every great success story is motivation: an ever-elusive elixir that..
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Aug 31, 2018Enhancing your job search
How To Bounce Back When The Job Search Gets You Down With a dream job in mind, an updated résumé in hand and responses to..
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Aug 17, 2018Social media can cost…
When 'What Happens In Vegas' Ends Up In Your Job Search What happens in Vegas really doesn’t stay there. That “funny” picture about that..
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Aug 10, 2018Avoid Summer Slump
How To Improve Productivity For Yourself And Your Team This Summer July and August are historically bad months for productivity. It might be the warm..
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Aug 3, 2018Emotional Intelligence at Workplace
How To Develop More Emotionally Intelligent Employees In the quest to develop leaders who will foster a culture of equity and inclusion in the workplace,..
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Jul 27, 2018Are you ready to…
The Difference Between People Who Succeed and People Who Flop Successful people charge forward, take calculated risks, and come out on top because of it...
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Jul 6, 2018Hiring the right people?
5 Steps to Hiring the Right People for Your Business "Hire slow, fire fast" is great advice, but it's not always easy to follow. The..
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Jun 29, 2018Ready for Entrepreneurial Success?
4 Entry-Level Jobs That Will Prep You for Entrepreneurial Success Success is a journey, not a destination, so think hard about where to start. Entrepreneurship..
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Jun 22, 2018Simple Work-Life Balance
Work-Life Balance Is Simple. To Succeed at Work, Get a Life. With the right balance of health and business, entrepreneurs can maximize productivity. The Organization..
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Jun 8, 2018Back On Track
How to get back on track when you’re having an unproductive day A rocky start shouldn’t dictate your entire workday. Do these things to reverse..
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May 4, 2018Strategic Workforce Tools
Your Workforce Tools Are More Strategic Than You Might Think This is not a typical article about attracting talented job candidates or retention — while..
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Apr 20, 2018Engagement Strategy
Don’t Let ‘Meaning’ Be Missing From Your Engagement Strategy Meaning is one of the five keys in building employee engagement and it may be the..
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Apr 5, 2018Inclusion in the Workplace
Inclusion Doesn’t Mean Including Everything and Everyone Inclusiveness is not about thought policing. It’s also not about turning everyone into a liberal. It’s a normal..
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Mar 30, 2018Inspire Change In Your…
4 Ways To Inspire Change In Your Employees Have you ever listened to a speech that inspired you so much, you were ready to make..
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Mar 23, 2018Employees Feel and Act…
7 Ways to Incent Employees to Feel and Act as Owners Building accountability into your business culture is a leadership process. It can't be driven..
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Mar 16, 2018Don’t Shuffle People Into…
Don't Shuffle People Into the Wrong Job Just Because They're Already on the Payroll You grow your company by putting proven performers where you need..
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Feb 26, 2018Minimise Workplace Negativity
Tips for Minimizing Workplace Negativity To Deal with Negativity in the Workplace, Use These 9 Tips Nothing affects employee morale more insidiously than persistent workplace..
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Feb 23, 2018Leadership Role but Unprepared…
You Were Promoted To A Leadership Role But You Feel Unprepared - Don't Panic You’ve been at the job for years. As much as you..
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Feb 16, 2018Fail at Switching Jobs?
This Is the No. 1 Reason Why People Fail at Switching Jobs (and What to Do About It) There's a reason changing careers is so..
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Feb 9, 2018The future Workspace
Why a Coffee Shop Will Probably Be Your Workspace Within 10 Years As the gig economy grows, there are both social and scientific reasons why..
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Feb 2, 2018A Technique To Get…
Didn't Get Your Dream Job? This 1 Technique Could Get You a Second Chance Every job seeker experiences this at least once, if not several..
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Jan 26, 2018Prepare new employees for…
The Best Way to Set New Employees Up for Success Create an onboarding program that's both meaningful and memorable Congratulations; you've just hired a terrific..
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Jan 19, 2018First Hour, Day, Week,…
Do This In Your First Hour, Day, Week, And Month Of Your New Job Getting settled into your new job is the ultimate act of..
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Jan 12, 2018Make 2018 a Productive…
11 Expert Tips To Make 2018 Your Most Productive Year Ever Could eating cake for breakfast and never listening to your voicemail help you get..
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Jan 5, 20187 Ways Modest Leadership…
7 Ways Modest Leadership Increases Team Success When we imagine the traits of successful leaders, whether they are managers, high level executives, CEO's or owners..
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Dec 22, 2017Career Goals for 2018
How to Set Your Career Goals for 2018 and Achieve Them Each New Year offers the opportunity for a fresh start—and that includes your career...
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Dec 15, 2017Employee stress during Christmas
Managing employee stress during the festive period More than half of employees feel stressed in the weeks leading up to Christmas, with most calling for..
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Dec 1, 2017Appreciating your employees
How to Avoid the No. 1 Reason People Leave Their Jobs William James, the father of psychology, stated that the most fundamental psychological need is..
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Nov 24, 2017HR Function in 2024
Will You Be Leading an HR Function in 2024? Here are five things to look at to examine and determine if you’ve got what it..
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Nov 10, 2017Your Impact at Work!
What Is Your Impact? We keep throwing this word around called "impact." Do you know what your impact is and how would you define, discover,..
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Oct 27, 2017Inspiring Career Advice
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner's 3 Best Pieces of Career Advice Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn's CEO, has had nothing short of a successful career. After graduating from..
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Oct 13, 2017Working for small companies
Why You Should Consider Working For A Small Company Eighty-four percent of small-business employees are happy in their current job, according to the 2017 Aflac..
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Sep 15, 2017Lost your Job?
Nine Things You Should and Shouldn't Do If You Lose Your Job Most of us wouldn’t think to associate the words "joblessness" and "fun," but..
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Sep 8, 2017Why Risk Is A…
Why Risk Is A Necessary Component To A Successful Career - And How To Balance Risk With Reward Taking at least some risk is necessary..
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Aug 25, 2017Top 10 Benefits Of…
Top 10 Benefits Of A Workplace Wellness Program When Google opened up in the 90s it took a unique approach to employee satisfaction. In an..
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Aug 16, 2017Write your first CV
It's all about potential: how to write a CV with no work experience Follow these tips to stand out among competing candidates – from research..
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Aug 10, 2017Friends and Career
Being Too Busy for Friends Won’t Help Your Career Friendship matters. Everything we do to succeed in our careers is improved when we’re supported by..
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Aug 4, 2017Is it time to…
The Best Ways to Reward Employees. Having an effective reward program in place can help solve many of your HR issues. Every company needs a..
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Jul 28, 2017Burnout: exhausted or lonely?
Burnout at Work Isn’t Just About Exhaustion. It’s Also About Loneliness More and more people are feeling tired and lonely at work. In analyzing the..
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Jul 21, 2017People don’t take HR…
People Don’t Take HR Seriously; Here’s Why That’s Dangerous Legacy beliefs like being the bad guy and a lack of strategic vision isolates HR, and..
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Jun 30, 2017Career Development
Think Strategically About Your Career Development In a world where the average employee sends and receives 122 emails per day and attends an average of..
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Jun 16, 2017Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity Doesn’t Stick Without Inclusion Leaders have long recognized that a diverse workforce of women, people of color, and LGBT individuals confers a competitive edge..
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Jun 2, 2017Advance Your Career
How To Advance Your Career In A Crappy Entry-Level Job Yes, you can still bring yourself one step closer to snagging that dream job even..
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May 8, 2017Interview Preparation
Interviews are generally regarded as the primary decision-making event in any recruitment process. Regardless of your academic credentials or career thus far, it is crucial..
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May 2, 2017Employee Burnout
What causes burnout and how it can affect both the employees and the organisation How HR Can Help Prevent Employee Burnout An engaged workforce. It's..
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Apr 3, 2017Interview questions you have…
Studies have shown that structured interviewing is more than twice as reliable a predictor of future employee performance than unstructured interviewing. That is why most..
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Mar 19, 2012Job Search Tips That…
Cyprus unemployment has been steadily increasing monthly since 2008 and is getting closer to double digits (January 2012 Eurostat figure – 9.6%). However there are..