Careers Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-11-2024

Sooner or later in your professional life, you'll have to give an important presentation. Before the presentation, rehearse and ask someone to evaluate your performance. Discover the common project management pitfalls to avoid in the ever-growing array of huge, complex, and technically challenging projects in today's world. Finally, before you call it a day at work, take a few steps to prepare for tomorrow so you can start your day off on the right foot.

Article / Updated 11-13-2024

Change is inevitable, and the world of work is changing faster than ever. In fact, the pace of workplace change has accelerated so much that the workforce is often unable to adapt rapidly enough. The result of this imbalance can be referred to as the workforce readiness gap. To thrive in this environment, today’s employers must understand what this gap really represents and then embrace the tenets of workforce agility that close the gap and benefit employers and employees alike. Understanding the Workforce Readiness Gap The workforce readiness gap isn’t just about the here and now — it’s also about the future. Ensuring that workers have the talents and skills they need to succeed today is challenging enough, but they also must be able to continually build the skills they need for tomorrow. In other words, there’s a gap if workers aren’t thriving now, but also if they’re unable to adapt and evolve as demands of the work world change. By the way, this gap can impact both direct employees and indirect labor resources. And it’s a concern not just for employers but also for workers themselves — they want to feel certain that they’re ready for tomorrow, and they want confidence that their employers will help them be ready. One of the many tricky things about accelerated change is the fact that many jobs of the future have not yet even been invented. It’s clear enough, though, that automation is impacting millions of people and that remote work continues to change processes. All of these things feed the workforce readiness gap. Though it sounds daunting and a bit fuzzy, the workforce readiness gap really boils down to three main buckets: Employees are having trouble keeping up with changing requirements for skills. Employers aren’t living up to employee expectations for skills development. Employers don’t have good visibility into their workforce — the skills that are out there now as well as the skills that will be needed from their team down the road. Amid those uncertainties is the reality that the workforce readiness gap is costly. Skills shortages get in the way of corporate performance, and the resulting unrealized revenue adds up to trillions of dollars a year. Customers are less satisfied, productivity drops, expenses increase, and employees go job hunting. In short, employers and society as a whole can’t afford to ignore the workforce readiness gap. Aiming for Workforce Agility Two words point to the solution to the workforce readiness gap: workforce agility. Workforce agility is the ability of employers to understand both the current skills and the aspirations of their workforce, gauge where the needs are or will be, and then nurture development and growth in all the right directions. Workforce agility focuses on developing people, because organizations adapt best to change when their people can learn, grow, and contribute. Organizations must gain an in-depth understanding of the ecosystems of their people’s strengths and preferences, to help them thrive and meet business objectives. And although prudent organizations already have workforce-development infrastructure in place, it’s important to recognize that yesterday’s approaches alone won’t meet tomorrow’s need for proactivity. That doesn’t mean ditching the traditional talent development tools, such as learning and development (L&D) systems, talent mobility offerings, performance management processes, skills management programs, analytical tools, and culture surveys. These technologies still have plenty of merit, but workforce agility requires integrating them with new concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI), so the processes become personalized, customized, and tailored to the needs of the people who use them. Workforce agility is about turning the organization into a skills marketplace. Success in workforce agility means improving culture and technology, upgrading the skills strategy, turbocharging L&D, personalizing learning content, refining performance management, boosting talent mobility, and greatly enhancing talent data and analytics. An agile workforce is proactive in anticipating and solving change-related problems. It’s constantly adapting and learning, and it’s resilient in the face of ever-changing circumstances. When the workforce is truly agile, it shows up in stronger organizational results. Bringing Workforce Agility to the People As is often the case in business and in life, problems are really just opportunities waiting to be tapped into. The workforce readiness gap may be a problem today, but a workforce agility strategy transforms it into a launchpad for future success. First, all employers know that turnover is costly, so it makes sense to retain employees as much as possible, hiring or promoting from within when it’s feasible. The key to making that work is upskilling and reskilling with the help of more accessible learning experiences and smart technologies for skills management. Formal training is part of the recipe, along with on-the-job learning, observation, feedback, and coaching. Smart employers also recognize that what’s good for their people is great for the organization. Getting employees invested in their own careers and letting them know their employer has their back is powerful medicine. An AI-enhanced talent marketplace system helps chart both traditional and nonlinear job progression that matches personal skills and goals. That, in turn, helps the organization transform strategically. The end result of a workforce agility strategy is better preparation for the future. The sky is the limit when personal aspirations are aligned with the organization’s goals and future talent needs. Skills data becomes more closely linked with career and succession planning. The result of these efforts is workforce agility that builds a bridge over the workforce readiness gap. When executed properly, it’s a win-win situation. Everyone benefits, including the organization and all its people. To find out more about workforce agility, check out Workforce Agility For Dummies, Cornerstone Special Edition. Head to www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/article/Workforce-Agility-For-Dummies-Cornerstone-Special-Edition/ for your free e-book and to start planning how you can build more workforce agility and close the widening workforce readiness gap.

Article / Updated 10-04-2024

Some real estate sales approaches involve a shorter contact-to-contract cycle than others, therefore delivering a greater return on your time investment and a higher value for your business. In order, here are the factors that most influence the value of your prospecting approaches. Past clients:The highest-value form of prospecting is calling past clients and those in your direct sphere of influence. These people have either used your services in the past or know you and your character. Asking them to do business with you again is described as canvassing. Asking them to refer their friends is described as prospecting for referrals.These calls are the easiest to make because they reach those with whom you have established relationships. Typically, real estate agents experience less resistance when placing calls to this group than to any other. They also make the calls with high expectations that their efforts will generate leads. How long it takes to acquire leads with this approach varies greatly. You can secure a lead on your very first call or on your 100th call, so the ratio of leads generated to time invested is difficult to anticipate. Expired listings:This may be the number-one highest-value prospecting approach, because of the ease of locating expired listings and the relatively quick contact-to-contract cycle. Expired listings come up in the MLS daily, along with all the information you need to make the contact. Many go back on the market with another agent within a week, so the sales cycle is short, which is a key reason that expired listings offer such a high rate of return for the effort.Few agents engage in calling expired listings, largely because the sellers, who haven't experienced success with their last agents, can be hostile toward new agents, as well. Many agents feel it's "beneath them" to contact these prospects — which further contributes to the opportunity for the ones who do. FSBOs:Converting sale-by-owner contracts requires more work than securing expired listings. You have to seek out these sellers through newspaper ads or FSBO subscription services like The RedX. After you target a FSBO property, figuring out whom to call takes another round of effort, which is why FSBOs are farther down the value hierarchy.The sales cycle for FSBOs is four to five weeks on average. FSBO sellers generally try to sell by themselves for that timeframe before engaging a real estate agent. During that period, you must follow up weekly to secure an appointment four to five weeks away. Open houses and door knocking:These face-to-face techniques require more time investment than phone contacts because you can't see as many people face to face as you can speak with on the phone — but it's harder for people to reject you face to face. Cold calling:This technique, tried and true since the advent of the phone, has lost effectiveness over the years because of the preponderance of busy two-income families and the onset of do-not-call registries. If you are calling around about homes that have recently been listed or sold, it will generate business. Other people put their homes on the market after a neighbor lists or sells. Using a service like Cole Directory to secure phone numbers in neighborhoods is effective. They also provide cell phone numbers, which is highly effective.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-14-2024

Whether you’re exploring a new career path, are a language enthusiast seeking to turn your passion into a profession, or an experienced translator looking to refine your skills, you need a few essential tools to confidently navigate the world of translation. This Cheat Sheet covers key steps for successfully launching or advancing your career as a translator.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 07-28-2024

The real estate business is a dynamic market. And to be a successful real estate agent, it helps to have a few key skills at the ready. Being prepared to use your time wisely, creating an online presence, converting online lookers into clients, and prospecting for business are important tools that every successful agent should possess.

Step by Step / Updated 06-26-2024

Whether you’re working from home or working in an office, there comes a time when you tend to sit for way too long. Sitting too long on a regular basis can, over time, shorten your hip flexors and the muscles in your hamstrings, chest, and back, resulting in uncomfortable muscle tension. Experts recommend getting up out of your chair a couple of times an hour or, more specifically, taking 3- to 5-minute breaks every 20 to 40 minutes. Whenever you get up from your desk in your home workspace, choose from the following selections of stretching exercises to help lengthen your muscles, reduce stress and tension, and get your blood pumping again — and, in turn, sitting still will feel a lot less like hard work.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-07-2024

Running a bar isn’t for the faint of heart. Besides the daily needs of running a bar — for example, what condiments to keep behind the bar and what to put on the menu — you also have to deal with the rigors of management, such as keeping your employees honest, staying on the right side of your state alcohol control board, and dealing with patrons who've had a few too many.

Article / Updated 03-20-2024

In mechanics of materials, Hooke's law is the relationship that connects stresses to strains. Although Hooke's original law was developed for uniaxial stresses, you can use a generalized version of Hooke's law to connect stress and strain in three-dimensional objects, as well. Eventually, Hooke's law helps you relate stresses (which are based on loads) to strains (which are based on deformations). For a three-dimensional state of stress, the normal strain in a given direction (such as x) is a function of the stresses in all three orthogonal directions (usually the Cartesian x-, y-, and z-directions), as shown by this equation: where E is the modulus of elasticity and ν is Poisson's ratio for the material. For a uniaxial stress, two of the stresses in the equation are zero. For a biaxial stress condition, one of the stresses in this equation is zero. The generalized relationship for Hooke's law for shear in the XY plane can be given as

Article / Updated 03-06-2024

In finding a career, many people take career “tests,” struggle to get informational interviews, and even take career workshops. And despite all that, they end up far from sure they’ve made a wise choice of career. These steps can help you pick a career wisely: What career type are you? Which one or two of these are you: a word person, people person, Science-Technology-Engineering-Math (STEM) person, hands-on person, or entrepreneurial? Scan the options. Most people consider only a small fraction of worthy careers. A fast way to broaden your options is to scan books that profile lots of careers. Careers for Dummies provides a scoop on 340 good careers plus self-employment ideas. Also, the federal government publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which offers more detailed (if drier) introductions to 250 careers. Embrace Google Search. Because Google Search is free, it’s easy to underestimate its potency. But it’s a remarkable curator of incomprehensibly large amounts of information. So do use Google Search to find articles and video introductions to careers that pique your interest. Particularly look for those that focus on a day in the life. These articles and videos are often more valid than an informational interview or three because each article or video may distill the experiences of multiple people in the field. Use a pros-and-cons list with a twist. Make pros- and-cons lists of two or three careers you’re now considering. Pick the one that feels best. How are you feeling about that? Now imagine that you picked the other career. Feeling better or worse? Now pick. Even if your top-choice career doesn’t feel perfect, it’s usually wiser to start preparing for that career. Most people who end up happy in their career feel that way after only they’ve become competent at it and have tailored and accessorized it to fit their preferences and strengths. If you wait on the sidelines for the perfect career to hit you upside your head, you may be waiting a long time. It’s wiser to pick a career sooner than later and then tweak as you go. Of course, the devil is the details. Careers for Dummies gives you all the details you need to wisely choose your career.

Article / Updated 01-24-2024

You wear many hats in your role as a personal trainer. You're a salesperson, scientist, friend, coach, motivator, teacher, employer, bookkeeper, and business owner, to name just a few. To be successful wearing any of these hats, you need to be equipped properly — and that means you need to have the right tools to use at the right time. Your mindset The equipment available to help you be a successful trainer is limitless: cellphones, computers, software programs, weight-training equipment, cardiovascular equipment. . . . The list goes on. No matter what types of toys you have (or how expensive or cutting edge they are), it won't matter if you don't have the most important one: the right mindset. Important factors for having the right mindset are: Honesty: You need to be honest with yourself about what you realistically can and cannot do; this flows through to your clientele as well. Determination: Not every day is easy; you won't always have a full book, and sometimes those slow days end up being weeks. Pushing ahead and staying on track when the going gets tough takes determination and focus. Willingness: You need to be willing to change if your original course of action isn't producing the results that you want. You also need to be willing to keep an open mind when your client is complaining that she's not happy with your services. Willingness is more about what you should do as opposed to what you want to do — after all, sometimes you'll have to do things that you don't want to do. Your certification Certification is your badge of honor — it tells everyone who works with you, from employers to clients, that not only do you say you know what you're doing, but you can also prove it. Certification assures your client that you're a true fitness professional; you've undergone stringent studies and testing protocols to figure out what to do and what not to do as a personal training professional. It ensures your client that you know what they don't — which is how to help her reach her fitness goals, safely and efficiently. Being certified also gives you the credibility you need for other professionals and clients to take you seriously. Certification helps you to build a solid rapport with the people you will be doing business with, such as: Employers Clients Mentors Media contacts Doctors with whom you have a referral relationship Your business card Here are some tips for making a long-lasting impression with your business card: In the case of a chance meeting, when someone asks you, "What is it that you do?" have a brief summary (called an elevator pitch) prepared that makes you memorable as you hand her your business card. For example, you can say, "I help people look great naked" or "I build muscles." Make sure the information on your card is correct and up to date. If your area has just recently implemented ten-digit dialing, if your area code has changed, or if you've just gotten an e-mail address, make sure you invest in a new set of business cards to reflect your new contact information. The impression you leave with a potential client is the one that will bring her back to you for business. Make sure that your business card reflects everything you want your potential client to remember about you — professionalism, integrity, quality, and trustworthiness. Tape measure The tape measure can be used for many different things. You can record your client's anthropometric measurements (body circumference) with it to show change and make sure she's on track to achieving her personal goals. You can also measure degrees of flexibility as well as how far your client can reach past her toes in the sit-and-reach flexibility test. Other uses for the tape measure are: Measuring vertical jump height Measuring plyometric (explosive) movement distances Measuring length of stride Measuring stance distances Body-weight scale Going hand in hand with recording baseline biometrics (body measurements), a scale is useful and important in determining gross bodyweight. After you've recorded your client's gross body weight, you can assess body-fat percentage, BMI, and one-rep-max percentages to determine how heavy your client needs to be to train for her workouts. Heart-rate monitor Having a heart-rate monitor for your client to use while you train her has multiple benefits: It allows you to see where her heart rate is without stopping her exercise. A heart-rate monitor is a lot more accurate than the palpation method. Your client will get instant feedback from it — it is an invaluable tool when it comes to teaching clients about perceived rate of exertion and working intensity. You can use it to teach your client stress management, breathing, and biofeedback techniques. Jump rope A jump rope is a light, inexpensive, very portable, and excellent tool for challenging your client's cardiovascular system. Anyone at any fitness level can use it — and as exercises go, your client will burn more calories per minute jumping rope than doing any other activity! Skipping rope is a challenging workout that burns about 360 calories per half-hour (by comparison, moderate running or jogging burns about 330 calories per half-hour). Experts suggest rubber, leather, or beaded ropes (ropes with small plastic tubes on a cord). The grip should be foam-based to absorb sweat and give your client a firm grasp. The client should be able to stand on the rope and hold the handles slightly above waist height. Jump ropes generally come in 6- and 9-foot lengths, and many have detachable handles so you can trim the rope yourself.