Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
I’ve written before about the differences between the generations at work. Just about every U.S. generation has blasted the subsequent one as the Generation that Ruined it All. No manners, no respect, and no work ethic. This time, the current generation may be in agreement with their parents.
Everyone knows that you have to ace the interview to get the job. Most people focus on the in-person interview, usually one of the last steps in the application process. But you may not get to the in-person interview if you don’t do well in the phone interview.
A recent study by The Ladders.com tracked recruiters’ eyes as the scanned resumes over a period of ten weeks. The study was able to track their eye movements over resumes and produce heat maps of where their eyes spent the most time. The resulting maps looked like this (the darker spots indicate where their eyes rested longest.) The entire read time averaged six seconds.
Why do so many workers (especially young ones) have a bad attitude at work? It’s in part because they’re good students, and they learned it from us.
According to Julie K. Norem, Ph.D., a professor at Wellesley College Department of Psychology, defensive pessimism is a strategy used by anxious people to help them manage their anxiety so they can work productively. Defensive pessimists lower their expectations to help prepare themselves for the worst. “Though it sounds as if it might be depressing,” reads the site, “defensive pessimism actually helps anxious people focus away from their emotions so that they can plan and act effectively.”
Your “presence” can be defined as your ability to make a strong impression on people who meet you. What’s the difference between being present and having
What are you waiting for?
Tony Alessandra, PH.D, is the author of Charisma: Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism that Leads to Success. His book discusses ways to increase your personal magnetism, or charisma. His theory is that there are several components of charisma, all of which we possess to one degree or another. We can also improve our command of all the components
Winifred Gallagher is the author of New: Understanding our Need for Novelty and Change. Her book explores why we humans are so attracted to things that are new to us. I should start by saying that not all of us are. Gallagher calls people who are not open to new experiences “neophobes,” as opposed to “neophiles,” who seek out change and new experiences.
When was the last time someone asked you that? I’m betting that it was around the sixth grade, at the dinner table. While you were in school, you should have had a good answer to that question every day. Why is it that many adults give up on learning after they graduate?
Oh, we don’t give up entirely, of course. Some of us have to keep up with our professions: healthcare regulations, the new tax code, programming languages. But when was the last time you learned something brand new to you in a field that has nothing to do with your job?
