Tag: Success

Is Clutter Hurting your Job Search?

by candacemoody

I admit it; I can’t think when things around me are in disorder. And I have trouble believing people who claim that clutter doesn’t affect them at all. When things are a mess, your brain can’t make sense of the visual landscape – you literally have too much information in front of you. This visual static keeps your brain from working on problems efficiently. For some people, this produces a sort of numbness – they feel like their brain is wrapped in a thick blanket. For others, it’s an irritant- they feel constantly strung out and stressed without knowing exactly why. Either way, the clutter has got to go.

A Fresh Start

by candacemoody

There’s something about fall and back to school season that makes all of us think about fresh starts. Summer is a lull in career and school activity; the rules don’t apply. We go to the beach, bask in the pool in the back yard, or travel on vacation. We stop wearing shoes (and as many clothes as possible) and generally relax. It’s not uncommon for jobseekers to take the summer off to spend time with family and relax. If you’ve done this, it’s time to get back to work on your job search.

When to put it in Writing

by candacemoody

Volumes have been written about when not to write. If you have something difficult to say, it’s best to say it in person, or so the advisors will tell you. Email (that’s how most business writing occurs today) is certainly not an ideal medium for tough conversations; it can be cold and impersonal. If you have a good relationship with someone, you want to temper your difficult conversation with personal signals; empathy is easier to express in person. But there are times when writing is the best medium.

Dealing with Difficult People: Being Objective

by candacemoody

Arthur Bell and Dayle M. Smith wrote “Difficult People at Work; How to Cope, How to Win” to help us work and live with people who make us crazy. The authors call difficult people SOP’s: Sources of Pain. They don’t try to minimize the pain you feel from difficult people; they simply try to help you manage to get work done and keep from strangling your coworkers (which this column does NOT endorse.)

How to Answer a Question when You Don’t Know the Answer

by candacemoody

At some point during your work week, someone is going to ask you for information you don’t have. There are some people (I don’t happen to be one of them) who hate to say “I don’t know.” For some reason, it makes them feel stupid, or out of touch. I never worry about that. I know lots of things, so missing an answer at any given time doesn’t make me feel dumb. In fact, it’s why I almost never use “I don’t know” by itself; I think of it as an incomplete sentence. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out” is my idea of a complete sentence.

Asking for Help

by candacemoody

Jodi Glickman is the author of “Great on the Job: What to Say, How to Say it” and she offers readers a step by step guide to success by saying the right things. Glickman offers scripts for getting things done at work, asking for help and managing priorities. They’re good scripts; as a manager, I can vouch for her expertise in guiding workers toward more successful outcomes. Here’s her formula for success when you have to ask for help.

Getting Unstuck

by candacemoody

Once in a great while, I’ll run into someone who asks for advice, but then rejects every offering. “I tried that once; it didn’t work.” “I can’t do that; I have no (insert resource here.)” “I don’t know how to (find, do, spell; insert another verb here) that.” When I come across these people, their responses are usually immediate and firm. I get the impression that I have not been helpful, and I certainly don’t feel good. Worse, I sometimes hear that other advisors, who I know to be smart and helpful, “were no help at all to me.” I’d hate to think that someone was saying that about me.

How to Succeed at Your New Job

by candacemoody

E is for EXCEL. If you know you’re good at something, Glickman says, you should take every opportunity to offer your expertise to the team. This is especially true if you’re good at something people don’t like to do. Offering to proof a large and complex document or to organize an event is a way to make friends among your team members or develop a great reputation with people you don’t know well.

The Five Floors of a Relationship

by candacemoody

The Floor One relationship is usually transactional in nature. We encounter dozens of people a week with whom we exchange simple greetings: the barista at Starbucks, the mailman, the clerk who checks us out at the market. We ask “How are you today” without really expecting much of an answer, and others respond with “Fine, thanks” no matter what they’re really feeling or thinking.

The Law of Random Relationships

by candacemoody

Spaulding tells the story of applying for a prestigious Rotary scholarship, one that will give him a year of study abroad. By the time he applies, Spaulding is in college; he managed to find one small school that would take a chance on his academic record. He applies for the Rotary scholarship and is notified that he is one of ten finalists. Spaulding travels a very long distance back to his home town to meet with the selection committee. When he arrives at a local restaurant for the interview, he sees the group of tense and wary competitors lined up to wait their turn. The finalists’ name tags read like a Who’s Who of prestigious universities: Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. All but Spaulding’s, which read: East Carolina University. His spirits and confidence plunged as he considered the competition.