Having class…it’s so not about being rich!

By: Lori McMullin, APR

Director of Business Operations & Communications

Center for Business Excellence

Grace Kelly.  Need I say more?  She truly exuded grace, style and class and still serves as an icon today.

Well, most of us are not blessed with even a fraction of the monetary and material riches she possessed, but we can be as classy as the princess was in her lifetime.  It’s all in our attitudes and behaviors. Sometimes, it seems to be a lost.

Here are some cool tips on how to lead a classy life:

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Classy

Buried Treasure

Posted by:    Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
                   Training Coordinator

In today’s job market finding a job is like searching for buried treasure. Here are some non-traditional ideas you can use for your search:

  1.    If you’re interested in a specific employer; Friend them on   Facebook, seek them out on LinkedIn and Twitter.

2.    Be more than a voyeur on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Get involved in discussions, especially if the discussions are relevant to the type of work for which you are looking.

3.    Connect with people on LinkedIn that work for the company for which you would like to work. Get to know them.

4.    Visit the websites of companies for which you would like to work. This will help keep you abreast of what’s going on in those organizations.

5.    Set up Google Alerts on companies for which you would like to work. This way whenever they’re mentioned in the news, you’ll be notified of the issue.

6.    Volunteer somewhere doing the kind of work for which you’re trying to get hired. There are multiple benefits to this. One, you’re keeping your skills sharp. Two, you might pick up some new skills. Three, you’re out there in the world meeting people, people who might have job leads for you. Four, the place you’re volunteering for may decide to hire you. Five, you can put your volunteer work on your résumé. This lets employers see that you’re not sitting at home waiting for something to happen. You’re out there trying to make something positive happen for yourself.

7.    If you belong to a specific profession, find associations and other websites related to that profession.

Remember, people like to help people who have helped them. When you go to these social media sites, don’t just be there as a taker. You need to give of yourself. Offer helpful suggestions. This applies to face-to-face situations as well as social media sites.

Maybe you’ve connected with a person who works at the company you really want to hire you. They have posted a request for help with a work related problem. If you know of a solution or have an idea to offer them, do so.

 

One final note today, don’t whine. Be positive. Negativity is a huge turn off.

 
This is a repost from January 2012.

Office communication among various generations

By: Lori McMullin, APR

Director of Business Operations & Communications
Center for Business Excellence

This topic seems to be evergreen around my workplace and I’m sure it is in many other companies. 

Technology is phenomenal, however, it can often leave us even more out of touch, frustrated and confused.

In my role, I receive a ton of emails that need to be shared with a large amount of staff members.  While I have embraced texting and the like, it is currently much more efficient for me to email time-sensitive, action-required information to the masses.

I do not have time to text or call staff to alert them there is an email they need to look at, nor should I have to, in my opinion.  Does any of this sound familiar?

What I can promise is to continue to learn and embrace new technology as well as try to understand where our staff members are coming from in terms of their personalities and generational characteristics.

Here’s a link that explores the latter.  Hope you find it useful, or as my generation would say, “Happen’en.”

http://completeofficeca.com/communicating-across-workplace-generation-gaps/

Nine Résumé Writing Tips

Posted by:    Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC

                   Training Coordinator
 

Some people think they have a résumé to get a job. Your résumés job isn’t to get you a job. Your résumés job is to get you an interview. If your résumé is getting you interviews, it’s doing its job. Below are some tips on writing your résumé.

1.    Target your résumé at the job for which you’re applying. One size fits all doesn’t work in the world of résumés.

2.    Use action verbs to start each bulleted line. Make certain the action verbs you use are in the proper tense. If you’re still at the job you’re describing you will use present tense. If this is a position you no longer have then you’ll use past tense.

3.    Don’t waste white space. This doesn’t mean that you need to use every bit of white space on the page. It does mean that you should have one inch margins, use an easy to read font and make sure the font size is large enough to be easy to read. The sample résumés we use in our workshops are font size 12.

4.    Bold and italicize sparingly. Bold and italicizing are used for emphasis. If you over use them they lose their punch.

5.    List accomplishments and quantify them whenever possible. The world knows that if you waited tables for three years you provided quality customer service. What they don’t know is how much money did you average in upselling on each check? What I mean by that is this, a customer comes in and orders a burger with fries. The fries come with the burger at no extra charge. However, your restaurant offers sweet potato fries in place of the regular fries for an extra dollar. So you ask, “Would you prefer sweet potato fries?” If they go for the sweet potato fries you just brought another dollar into the business. Depending on the establishment you’re working in you could also add to the tab by promoting appetizers, before meal drinks, after meal drinks and dessert. Think about how you can quantify your accomplishments in different jobs you’ve held.

6.    Spelling is a vital part of your résumé. If you worked as a Manager and your résumé says you worked as a Manger, spell check won’t catch the mistake. Why? Because you spelled ‘manger’ correctly and all spell check does is verify the word is spelled correctly. This is why you MUST proofread your résumé. Also, if you have someone whose skill with words you trust, ask them to proofread it for you.

7.    Correct grammar. An English teacher will tell you a résumé is a grammatical nightmare because of all the sentence fragments; however, that’s the nature of the beast. Despite the fact that you’re using sentence fragments, those fragments must make sense. Not only do they have to be understandable, they have to do a good job of selling you as a potential candidate for the job.

8.    The formatting, otherwise referred to as the physical appearance of your résumé must be consistent, make good use of the available space and be pleasing to the eye. A one inch margin all the way around is sufficient white space for the sides. Your font size should never be smaller than 10. Actually, a font size of 12 is better. If you start formatting your dates using two digits for the month and two digits for the year (03/08) then all your dates should be formatted that way. Consistency is crucial to your résumés success.  

9.    A two page résumé is not a crime. As a matter of it’s preferred over a one page résumé that has no white space left on it and the font size has been reduced to 9 so everything can be put on one page. If you have sufficient accomplishments, skills and work experience to justify a second page, then go to a second page. That said, a second page should be at least half full. So if you’ve written your résumé and one or two lines go to a second page, you have to make a decision. Do you have enough relevant information to expand your résumé so that it fills at least half a page on page two? If yes, go for it. If no, then you probably need to do some editing and get back to one page. The information you edit from such a résumé can be incorporated into you cover letter.

In conclusion, remember that your résumé has one job and one job only. It’s a marketing tool that should be designed to get you an interview. If your résumé is getting you interviews, it’s a good résumé. If your résumé isn’t getting you interviews, you need to fire it because it’s not doing its job. The tips above are the basic foundation of a good résumé. It’s up to you to build on that foundation.

The people we work with…remembering Misti

By: Lori McMullin, APR

Director of Business Operations & Communications
Center for Business Excellence

Recently, I assisted one of my managers in interviewing candidates for an open position.  This process always brings me back to memories of my own experiences as the interviewee.

Bottom line, someone will land the job and other great folks will not.  However, that may not be the end of the road.

Once, I interviewed for a marketing position with Junior Achievement in Jacksonville.  This position focused primarily on fundraising and I had a couple of years of experience in the field at that time.

In spite of a great interview, I did not get the position.  I later interviewed for a program marketing position with the same organization and did get the job!  As it turned out, things really do happen for a reason – it was a great fit for me and immensely expanded my skill set.

Obviously, I worked closely with the young, professional woman who landed the marketing job.  Her name was Misti and she made me feel welcome and part of the team. 

We worked together for several years and both went in different directions – she to the Chamber of Commerce and me to a public relations position with the public school system’s food service contractor.  However, we remained in touch from time tio time – sharing tactics on how to negotiate raises and the like.

I moved back to Daytona Beach in 1997, and never saw her again.  It was years later when I inquired about her through mutual contacts that I learned she passed away.  Prior to her untimely passing, she captivated an entire city with her story of courage and resolve.  It is in the spirit of this blog posting that I invite you to read about my colleague and friend, Misti:  

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/062506/lif_3482791.shtml

Happy Birthday America!

Posted by:  Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC,   JCDC
                 Training Coordinator

Tomorrow is July 4^th, a day of celebration. Everybody is either headed for a picnic, a barbeque, or some event with fireworks. In all the hoopla we tend to forget why we celebrate this particular holiday.

 For a reminder click here.

How to get your second wind at work

By: Lori Mcmullin, APR

Director of Business Operations & Communications
Center for Business Excellence

We are always busy at the Center for Business Excellence, but it has been more chaotic than normal lately with a ton of projects in the works.

Sometimes, I find myself crashing around mid-afternoon after what feels like mental gymnastics, bouncing from one “to do” list item to the next.  Sound familiar?

I found some tips on how to get that much-needed second wind.  Check them out for yourself:

http://anwrootbeer.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Find-Your-Second-Wind-At-Work