6 Desk Must-Haves to Keep You Happy and Productive

6 Desk Must-Haves to Keep You Happy and Productive If you work in an office, chances are you spend a large amount of your time sat at a desk. Now whether you love it loathe it, there are ways and means to brighten up the area and make it much nicer place to be. So what are the top things you need on your desk to keep it productive? Read on to find out! 1. A plant Did you know that having a plant or shrub on your desk can significantly improve your happiness? If youve not already invested in a little bundle of shrubbery to take care of, what are you waiting for?  Plants can also improve air quality (you can even get specific species that are really good at this, such as an Aloe plant!) They can also brighten up the look of a typically boring work desk, so choose something colourful! I just watered my desk plant â€" likely because Im a millennial. Mikah Sargent (@mikahsargent) March 19, 2016 Best plants for offices: Spider plant Philodendron Mini cactus 2. Snacks Eating small amounts of food at regular intervals can dramatically improve concentration levels throughout the day. Make sure you keep a selection of healthy snacks on your desk to munch on throughout the day. Healthy snack ideas: Carrot sticks and hummus Cereal Bar Yogurt Almonds I ran out of desk snacks. The horror The Surly Librarian (@SurlyLibrarian) March 18, 2016 3. Water Dehydration can really stunt your energy throughout the day. Make sure you have water on-hand at your desk so that you stay hydrated and energised throughout the day. If you get the infamous 3pm slump then  drinking a large glass of water can perk you up and get you going again. https://twitter.com/LnnPtrck/status/642745891661737984 4. Headphones music Music is a great motivator. It can perk you up when youre feeling less than perky, as well as creating a feeling of privacy, rid of distractions. So if you have a task that needs all your concentration, why not grab your headphones, stick on some tunes and get going? Youll mask the distractions in the office and your mind will be focused on the task at hand. Tips: Get your favourite movie soundtrack up on YouTube and listen to that. Sometimes lyrics can be distracting. Download the Spotify app and stream your music hassle free. If you prefer more ambient sounds (and no music) give Rainy Mood a go! Bought some good headphones into work, and now I can hear all of my @sysomos colleagues gloriously rich vocal tones on Webex conferences. concannon (@concannon) March 17, 2016 5. Umbrella Theres nothing worse than making your way to an important meeting and  getting caught in the rain. Turning up looking like a drowned rat is not a good look, so making sure you keep an umbrella handy will mean youll never have this problem. Listened to forecast? Check. Took brolly to work? Check. Left for meeting without it? Check. Caught in rain? Check. Irritated? Let me check. Alex Deane (@ajcdeane) October 3, 2013 6. Lint Roller Keeping a lint roller in your drawer will keep you looking smart and fresh even if a meeting is sprung on you spontaneously at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. Took my lint roller to work and it was used up in a matter of 2days ?chelsea? (@chelsdeer) March 17, 2016 7. A work jumper Something that can really effect motivation in an office is the temperature of your surroundings. In every office theres always that one colleague who is eternally freezing if thats you its worth bringing in a jumper to leave in the office to combat the cold. This way you wont get distracted by the office surroundings and be more productive overall. Wearing all the layers and still freezing. This office is the worst. pic.twitter.com/g6Q363eoEV Dr. Amanda (@DrAmandaMay) March 16, 2016 Main image credit: Shutterstock

How Would You Handle a Difficult Customer

How Would You Handle a Difficult Customer Oh yes. Anybody who has worked directly with customers has undoubtedly dealt with some grief. Even if you haven’t worked with customers before, just imagine this situation. As you are working, you get a phone call. Guess who is on the phone?An angry, impatient, chatty, rude, or skeptical customer. What do you do? Do you put this person in line and tell them how they should be acting?Or do you behave like a good little boy or girl and say nothing?Be UnderstandingEverybody has bad days. Who knows, maybe this person is an all-around great human being that is just having a bad day. Do you know what events have occurred in their life? They could have just had a family member pass away, so commenting on their rude behavior could be extremely hurtful. Be the bigger person!Be creativeTry to do some digging. Find a solution to whatever their issue is and provide the solution. The more you work with people, the better you will become at handling difficult customers. There is almost always so mething you can do or say to change their tone.Set the ToneBy combatting their negative energy with your own positive energy, you can have the power to cheer up this customer. By being so helpful, understanding, and polite, there is a great chance that you will be the sole contributor to changing this customer's attitude. Some people are just downright grumpy, and there is nothing you can do.Don’t be rude to those people, if anything you should feel bad for them. Continue your day being the amazing person you are and don’t let those people bring you down!Check out the 50 Top Job Interview Questions and Answers to find everything you need to prepare for your next interview.Wrapping It UpRelating this back to the interview question “How would you handle a difficult customer”. Take everything that you learned above into account. Tell your interviewer specifically how you were understanding towards the customer’s behavior, creative in providing a solution, and positive.Not bei ng brought down by this customer’s negativity. If you do these things, you will not only ace this interview question, but you will be much happier in life while dealing with difficult customers.For more amazing tips on interviewing, check out Find My Profession today! Join the millions of people who are choosing to take their career to the next level.

When Personal Branding, Social Media and Human Resources Collide - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

When Personal Branding, Social Media and Human Resources Collide - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Personal branding is all about positioning yourself as favorable to corporate recruiters, while HRs job is to hire the top talent, position the company as the best place to work (employer branding), figure out benefits packages for employees and much more.   Social media has changed the way applicants and recruiters communicate with each other and has started to dismantle corporate job boards by giving both parties direct access to each other through blogs, and social networks.   For instance, Rick Mahn, a long-time columnist for Personal Branding Magazine, was just recruited through LinkedIn to be a social media strategist for Land OLakes.   In order to figure out how personal branding, HR and social media collide, I had a great discussion with Steph K, who is an HR Director at HP.   Much like what Polly Pearson does for EMC, Steph K gives an inside look at working for HP through her blog. Below is our recent discussion: Me: Youre an HR blogger.   Why do you think HR people should blog? Steph K: I started to blog when I was managing a large staffing organization because I was finding it difficult to get information out to people quickly and easily.   You see survey after survey on best places to work, perks that companies have, and cool websites, but we were running a pretty lean organization so even though we had a lot of that to offer, it was really challenging to get the word out.   I figured by starting a blog, I could communicate easier and get the word out better. Steph K: What’s your philosophy on networking â€" are you an advocate of more-is-better when it comes to links friends, or is it better to be selective in your networking? Me: Stephanie, this is a very controversial question and Im glad you asked.   Seth Godin believes that quality is more important than quality when building followings (i.e. Twitter followers, Facebook friends), while Guy Kawasaki thinks the opposite.   I stand between both of them.   The number of subscribers or followers you has is extremely important because of social proof and the random nature of this world.   When a recruiter glances at your LinkedIn profile, and they see you only have 3 connections, theres a problem. If you go to a blog with an RSS count of below 50, you might not subscribe based upon that low number, despite the good content.   Its human nature.   When you have a lot of followers, there is a greater chance that someone will be able to help you out, even if youve never spoken them before.   You have to have a anything is possible mindset in the social media world.   Quality is also significant.   The people Im closest with will work to promote my book over those who dont know me as well. People will go out of their way for friends over acquaintances. Me: Do you think applicants respond favorable to companies in social media? Steph K: From my experience, yes. I’ve gotten some really good questions that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to address.   But I was not so sure about that at first my biggest surprise in starting the blog was that very issue before I even did my first post.   Here I was, looking for a way to get information out there without constraints, only to be told that people don’t have a high level of trust in corporate blogs! Then I thought about my own experience with feeling like any interaction with a company felt like a marketing pitch, and realized that if you’re going to do a useful blog, you need to avoid being the corporate equivalent of a ski resort’s ski report “The snow is great today, come on out!” â€" OF COURSE they’re going to tell you the snow is great.   But if I’m really going to be a useful source of information, instead of telling you that the snow is great, tell you the facts about the resort and the skiing conditions, and let you decide if that’s a good fit for you.   Same thing applies to corporate blogs. So, going back to your first question, HR people should blog if they’re able to give people useful insight, if they’re able to talk about the good and the bad, be authentic and be relevant. Good HR people have a lot of experience to share. Most of us have a lot of friends and family members who have started a conversation with “I’ve got an HR question for you….” and we deal with those kinds of questions on a daily basis, and in many cases we’ve done it for years.   The HR blog can be a great resource of information and advice, and a good way resource to add to anyone’s network. Steph K: What’s your advice for people who want to build their personal brand and network, but not risk alienating their current employer?   For example, should a happily employed person list “interested in career opportunities” on their LinkedIn profile?   And do you think there are implications to doing that? Me: Everything reverts back to your career strategy. Are you looking to climb the corporate ladder at your company or are you using it as a stepping stone to something else, such as a new business opportunity or role at a company you want to work at in the future.   I think you need to be very careful with how you position yourself on the web because people will judge you instantly and theres no rebuttal.   Companies should support your personal development and if they dont, then you might want to move somewhere else.   You could lose your job if youre making yourself out to look like a job hopper.   At the end of the day, if you do your job better than anyone else, you probably wont get laid off anyways. Me:What are the top 3 things youve learned as an HR professional while blogging that you didnt know before? Steph K: It’s really easy to get wrapped up in your own company and not pay enough attention to trends in the outside world.   Blogging and reading blogs has helped me stay informed about the world and people outside my company, more than I expected. A blog is not PR. Corporate blogs are not the company line or the company position, they’re just a place to write the blog around a common interest.   Bloggers are asked to represent their own viewpoints, they are not a spokesperson for the company.   At the same time, bloggers have a lot of responsibility.   We need to be aware of things like privacy and be able to achieve the perfect balance of discretion and transparency. I’ve been pretty amazed at the amount and quality of information that’s out in the blogosphere. In HR, recruiters seem to be the biggest group out there blogging and reading.   This should be good news for job seekers because recruiters are always looking for candidates to match the positions they’re working on, even in tough times when they have fewer positions to fill.   The world is in the midst of a changing recruitment model and companies as well as candidates are trying to figure out better ways to find each other.   I think social media has a huge role to play in that. The other thing I found about the amount and quality of information is that the web is the great equalizer, so there’s this constant correction and improvement of information.   I like blogs that allow people to post comments, because if someone gives flaky advice, there’s almost always someone there in the comments calling it out, or offering better advice than the post, or even calling out bad advice by other commenters.   I love that when it’s done effectively â€" it leads to better information for everyone. Steph K: Even before social media, networking was often touted as the best way to get a job and this can be tough for people who are early in their careers.   Personal branding seems instrumental to that.   What do you think is the best way to get a new job, and if you had to pick one piece of advice to give new grads, what would you tell them? Me: I would recommend that they start as early as possible. If I knew then what I know now, I would never had to have applied to a company upon graduation.   Instead of submitting your resume, invest in the development of content that you can use in your interviews or to attract new opportunities.   Again, this depends on your goals.   You need to be known for something and position yourself accordingly.   Social networks have truly leveled the playing field, such that you can connect directly with hiring managers and recruiters, instead of submitting your resume to job boards.   This is a significant change and if you care enough to use this route, youll see extraordinary results!

13 Ways to Researching Your Competing Brands - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

13 Ways to Researching Your Competing Brands - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career What is one tip for doing research into brands that may be similar to yours and therefore potential competitors? The following answers are provided by members of  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the worlds most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched  BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. Become One of Their Customers The best way to test their product is to actually use it. I’m not saying buy something from them weekly, but every once in awhile, use their product. Browse their website, sign up for the newsletters, follow their blogs, and definitely download their app and monitor their updates. This will help you see what kind of content they put out, how much content they produce, and how good their product is.   Manick Bhan, Rukkus 2. Ask Industry Insiders for Help You can get a lot of information using Googles search algorithm, but talking to industry insiders can give you great insights about other companies, other products, their business models, their value propositions, and their customer demographics. Dont be afraid to ask for help. And the more people you ask, the better off youll be.   Alan Carniol, Interview Success Formula 3. Opt-In For Their Email Sequences Opt-in for their email sequences to see how offers are positioned, how their leads are nurtured, and how theyre marketing. Theres only so much you can glean from their website. Looking at how they directly communicate with leads can teach a lot about their place in the market. Hint: Most entrepreneurs who do this use a personal email account for stealth.   Kelly Azevedo, Shes Got Systems 4. Find Out Which Brands Are the Best at What Competition research starts for me by identifying who is the top dog in the market, and why. However, I have also started to understand over the last year that the top brand is not necessarily the best one â€" certainly not the most enduring ones. I have seen strong ones fail while others stay. When exploring the competition, try to see what each of them does best with thought to long-term.   Adam Steele, The Magistrate 5. Avoid Using Similar Brand Names Before using a new brand name, research to make sure a competitor is not already using a similar name that is likely to cause customer confusion. When in doubt, invest in a preliminary legal check to help avoid trademark litigation. It is wise to make sure you are not stepping on anyone’s IP toes before you spend marketing time and money developing a brand name, not afterward.   Doug Bend, Bend Law Group, PC 6. Monitor Mentions of Their Brand Listen to what others are saying about them online. If customers  have an unsatisfactory experience, they will tweet, post a Facebook comment, and even write a whole blog article about it. Thats the time to see where your company can serve them better.  Monitor the conversation using tools like Social Mention, Google Alerts and TalkWalker.   Humberto Farias, Concepta 7. Survey Bloggers and Journalists Professional writers tend to bundle companies they believe offer similar products and services. Talk to bloggers and journalists that cover your industry and ask them who they think your competitors are. You may be surprised by who they list, and sometimes they have inside knowledge about the new product developments from each of your competitors.   Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep 8. Use the Right Tools To get the most insight into your competitors, you need the right tools. With SEMrush, you can see their estimated traffic from both Google Organic and Paid, as well as keywords they are ranking for. Use Ahrefs to study their backlink data. Buzzsumo is great to determine what content on their sites has the most social shares. Spyfu is fantastic for studying competitors ads and keywords.   Marcela De Vivo, Gryffin 9. Download Their App As the founder of an iPhone app, I have our competitors’ apps on my iPhone and I regularly check out their latest versions. In addition to this, we have Google Alerts set up to monitor new developments our competition is making and the new competitors entering the space we’re in.   Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc. 10. Research Their Customers, Not the Brands You can find most of what you need to find about a competing brand just by nature of being involved in the same industry. Competitors tend to know of one another even as early as the planning stages of their respective companies. Youre going to paint a much more definitive picture of their brand by knowing their audience.   Blair Thomas, First American Merchant 11. Follow the Money Savvy customers have already done a lot of the legwork for you, so you should be constantly engaging them to stay on the cutting edge. Maintaining honest  and resilient relationships with your customers â€" even the bad ones â€" is an important practice.  Other peoples perception is your reality, so you need to find out what that is so that you can adjust accordingly.   David Mainiero, InGenius Prep 12. Form Distribution and Sales Networks Distribution and sales networks can be difficult to form and take time to develop. By looking at sales networks of brands that are potential competitors, you can compile a list of  possible points of sale that you already know are interested in products similar to your own.   Peter Bonac, Bonac Innovation Corp. 13. Reach Out and Know Your Competitors Directly We know most of our direct competitors. I speak to a CEO of a competing company once a quarter, and we talk about strategy, revenues and major challenges. Thats because we all think that were competing against the established players and believe our niche industry is not a zero-sum game.   Fan Bi, Blank Label

Blank Resume PDF

Blank Resume PDFA blank resume PDF is the perfect chance for you to get some of the things that you might not want to. By incorporating new and current career information, and a few applications and projects, your resume will look like the best of what you have to offer, and be much more compelling to get your first job application.When you are looking for a new job, you need to make sure that you are as well prepared as possible. You need to know exactly what you are looking for and get your recruiter to see it as well. The best way to do this is to make sure that you are able to send them a detailed resume using a template.One reason why you would want to send a blank resume PDF to a recruiter is because they are usually looking for a long list of things when they are looking for a candidate. Because they are already going over other applicants' resumes, it makes sense to get the basics right before they get started. This includes including the things that you have included on your resume.When you use online resume resources, the professionals are able to put together a lot of information, which means that you should have the advantage. They can highlight the things that are missing and focus your efforts in getting them included. They can help to eliminate the time consuming part of the process. You need to focus on a few things so that you don't look like a complete neophyte.The blank resume PDF is a great way to express yourself, without having to worry about sounding like you are using phrases that are common. It will show the potential employer that you have your mind made up, and they should take you seriously. They want to hire the best people available. These include the abilities that you have, the experience you have, and the positions that you have held. By including these elements, you will immediately get noticed, as if you are a professional in your field.The formatting is an important part of getting noticed, as well. The information that you p ut on your resume needs to look professional, and fit well within the frame. Your prospects are going to want to see these factors clearly, so that they can know that you are going to be using the resume to make a good impression.A blank resume PDF is the best way to get your information out there for the right position. You will want to be prepared for an interview, but you don't want to be completely unprepared. That doesn't mean that you need to put yourself in danger. You need to ensure that you are taking the right steps towards doing your best.As you can see, having a resume is going to be a crucial part of your future success. If you make sure that you create the best possible one, you will definitely be pleased with the results. With a blank resume PDF, you will be surprised by how far you can go.

Hacks For Successfully Increasing Website Ranking

Hacks For Successfully Increasing Website Ranking If you want to give your business the very best chance of success, then you need to guarantee that your business website is doing the job it was designed for pulling in new leads. Now, to do that, it’s crucial that your site ranks highly in Google and other search engines, as otherwise your chances of success will be impacted. The question is, of course, what steps can you take to ensure that your website ranks as highly as possible? Below is a guide to ways that you can give your website’s search engine rank a boost. Publish relevant content When it comes to website ranking success, one of the most important factors to consider is your content. If you want your website to rank highly in Google and other search engines, the content that you are posting needs to be relevant to the industry that you run your business within. Quality content is one of the very best things that your website can have. You want to only showcase content that has been created specifically for your site and has been written to a high-quality. Low-quality content, even if relevant, can do more harm than good, which is why it’s so vital that if you don’t have the skill or experience to write website content, you outsource the task to someone who does. Update old posts Having a good search engine rank isn’t just about creating new content, it’s also about taking the time to update old posts. Did you know that by updating old posts, you can help to boost your website’s search engine rank? Keep your content fresh, and your site will rank higher in search engines like Google. Get help with SEO SEO is a vital part of creating a website that ranks highly. All your content must have relevant SEO incorporated into it to rank in search engines. The issue is, however, that when you don’t know how to create quality content, you can end up keyword stuffing, which can mean that Google will blacklist your site. For instance, say your keywords were ‘cannabis’ and ‘medical marijuana,’ in a well-written piece of content they would appear five to seven times. In a piece that is stuffed with keywords, they would appear 20 times or more. If you’re not an experienced writer, it’s not easy to create quality content, which is why so many businesses now outsource this task to specialists. Create a ‘link-worthy’ site A big part of how your website ranks is linked to how many other websites link back to it and its content. This is partly why having a blog on your website is seen as being so beneficial for your website’s search engine rank, as it gives people more content to link back to. What it’s vital to understand is that not all content is link worthy. If you want your website to rank highly in search engines, its content needs to be highly linkable. To create content that is link worthy, you need to ensure that what your website discusses is interesting and relevant and that the content itself is perfectly written. There you have it, a guide to all of the best hacks for creating a higher ranking website.

5 Uncommon Careers in Law - CareerAlley

5 Uncommon Careers in Law - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. When one thinks about a law career, typical jobs that come to mind are police officers, lawyers, judges, or politicians. There are many new careers opening up, however, as the market becomes over-saturated with law degrees and there are fewer traditional career trajectories. If you are interested in pursuing a career that deals in law or politics but are not thrilled with the poor prospects of a job after law school, there are a few alternatives to consider. Legal Journalism Many people are willing to pay good money in order to find out about high-profile law cases or political decisions, making the journalism career track an advantageous one for anyone capable of communicating clearly and effectively. While having a law degree can be an advantage, it is not a de facto necessity for being hired as a legal journalist. You can be employed as a courtroom reporter for a newspaper or magazine, as a legal analyst for a television show, or as a correspondent. The pay range for journalists can be all over the scale: the low end of the spectrum may pay only around twenty thousand dollars per year, while an experienced courtroom reporter can command as much as seventy thousand dollars for their expertise and skills. Larger cities with higher crime rates and more notorious court cases will pay more than smaller towns. Non-Profit and NGO Management Some of the people who get into law want to change peoples lives through their career. Those who are unable to practice it can still act as employees and even executives of non-profit organizations such as the Red Cross or cancer societies. These organizations hire attorneys and legal experts as managers in order to maneuver through the red tape of their non-profit status, to recruit new employees and donors, and to set up new offices. The pay scale is modest, with an entry level position paying around thirty thousand dollars per year while a management position can pay around seventy thousand dollars per year. Real Estate For those who have studied real estate law, it is possible to make a significant amount of money in the buying and selling of property. Even if you have not gone to law school or studied much real estate law, a background in legal education can be beneficial for a realtor, a contract developer, or a land speculator. The background in negotiating contracts, reducing risk, and tax structures make law-focused students capable of going into a career in real estate. The pay can be beneficial: the average realtor earns forty-three thousand dollars a year, while those who are skilled or lucky enough to land a large sale will quickly rack up a sizable commission. Entertainment Since attorneys deal with some of the most sordid and colorful people in society, their profession is often glamorized and dramatized. Best-selling authors like John Grisham make their living from legal fiction, while television shows like NCIS and Law and Order draw from real-life cases to create their content. If you have a bit of creativity, you can weave your experiences into books, television, films, theater, and any other artistic endeavor that people would care to see. Entrepreneurs Being able to own your own business can seem like a welcome challenge to some with a legal background. Knowing the legal ins and outs of buying a facility, hiring employees, and keeping supply constant will go a long way in generating profit. Many famous entrepreneurs started as law students who wanted a more productive outlet for their critical thinking skills than a legal career. The salary for entrepreneurs is all over the map, with an average wage between forty and ninety thousand dollars per year. Author Bio Daniel Adler is a writer and blogger who produces law related articles. In this article he explains how a law degree can be used in a variety of areas, such as working with the California Innocence Project and their exoneration stories. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Visit me on Facebook