High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 10 Tips to Change Your Life for the Better

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 10 Tips to Change Your Life for the Better: "
  If your day-to-day doesn’t revolve around projects you’re truly passionate about, take a step back and outline activities that do align with your strongest feelings."

• 15 Traits of Unstoppable People: "Without a healthy dose of self-confidence, you’ll be tempted to accept defeat when you should be finding a way to bounce back from failure."

• Want to Win? Write Stuff Down: "good documentation fuels your company with fluid communication and prevents it from being dragged down by cloistered knowledge."

• When is it Acceptable to Say No to Your Boss?: "Whether you have a great boss or an overly demanding one, you’ll most likely land in a scenario where you’re asked to do something you don’t want to do."
• 9 Hacks to Help You Save More Money: "The higher your net worth, the more passive income potential you have. The more passive income you have, the less you need from your next paycheck."

5 Ways to Deal with an Unreliable Manager

Managers are not perfect and the best managers can recognize their strengths and weaknesses and manage around them, while also learning from their employees and putting them into position to utilize their strengths.

Unfortunately, sometimes you encounter a manger who is unreliable or incompetent and should not have been hired for the position they're in.

How do you navigate a situation where your manager is not effective? Take the following steps until your current reporting situation works itself out.

Document your communication. An unreliable or ineffective manager might be disorganized and have difficulty remembering agreements or understandings you've come to. Be sure to clearly and accurately document your conversations and clarify email exchanges if there is some uncertainty. You want to be able to follow-up with clear documentation about what's been discussed and agreed to.

Find other experts/mentors in the company. Your manager might not be the best person to train you or offer you opportunities to develop in your career. Be proactive and seek out additional mentors within your organization. You can likely do this with your current supervisors approval if you present this in a way that shows your initiative and interest in developing your career.

Take initiative (and don't wait for a plan). Speaking of initiative, show some. An unreliable manager may keep you waiting for feedback on a proposal or avoid giving you counsel on how to proceed on a new project. Go forward and learn from your mistakes. Failure and mistakes are inevitable in life and in your career so go ahead and make them on your own terms.

Take ownership over meetings. Don't wait for your manager to schedule meetings with you. An unreliable manager might schedule infrequent meetings or they might be unfocused. Take charge of the meetings with your supervisor by scheduling them and developing a brief and clear agenda that provides you with the information and resources you need to do your job well.

Be realistic about expectations. If it takes two follow-up emails to your manager in order to get a reply on something important then recognize this and build this into your expectations. Avoid becoming frustrated when you don't get a response after the first message. Managing your expectations can go a long way toward improving your experience with an unreliable manager but a part of those expectation should include the recognition that it's unlikely your supervisor will change. Understanding this will put you in a better position to manage the situation. 

Do These 3 Things Before Abruptly Quitting Your Job

Many of us have a moment in our career when we'd love to head into our boss's office and shout, "take this job and shove it."

Fortunately, we usually avoid making a scene when this urge hits us. But just because we're tactful doesn't mean we make the right decision about our career. There are times, of course, when leaving a job is the best thing for us. However, it's good to exercise some caution before abruptly firing that email off to your boss or the HR department announcing that you're quitting.

When you have the urge to get up and leave do these three things first.

Wait 24 hours. In most situations things will look a little different the next morning and we might be more appreciative of our job or the people we work with once we've had a chance to get away from the office. Everyone experiences times of struggle and these are usually the times in our lives and careers when we learn the most. Sometimes a desire to quit is a desire to avoid doing something difficult but necessary for our career.

Discuss with your family, a mentor, or a trusted friend. Sit down with those closest to you and ask for advice. Often, those who love you and know you best will see some part of the situation that you haven't considered yet. Use this time to listen well.

Meet with your boss. You likely won't feel good about leaving your job without laying all your cards on the table with your supervisor. Well, almost all your cards. Avoid anything that seems to blame others or appears to avoid taking responsibility. But if you don't feel like your work is recognized, think you're overdue for a promotion, or want more responsibility, a clear and honest conversation with your boss might just bring you what you want.

If not, you'll probably have earned your supervisor's respect, will feel good that you addressed the issues head-on, and can leave knowing that you didn't run from a tough situation.





 

How to Have a Difficult Conversation with Your Boss

Throughout your career there are times when you need to have a frank conversation with your supervisor. Perhaps you feel you’ve been disrespected in front of your peers, or you’ve been overlooked for a promotion or for an important assignment.

However, confronting your manager about this can be intimidating and so you might put the matter off, increasing your frustration and making it less likely you’ll find resolution on the issue.

Here are several tips for having a difficult, but productive, discussion with your supervisor.

Schedule a meeting. Do not just pop in on your manager and attempt to have a serious conversation unannounced, even if he or she has an open-door policy. You want a good result from the meeting and you’re more likely to get that if you’ve both been able to prepare for the discussion. Therefore, you want to set up a meeting time with your boss, providing a brief purpose for it.

Prepare for the meeting. Be clear about what you want to say and what your desired outcome is for the meeting. If you want a raise you need to be able to succinctly state your case for it, ask for a specific dollar amount or percentage increase, and request a deadline for hearing back about your request. These three steps can serve as a simple outline, regardless of your question or concern.

Be specific. When meeting with your boss, state clearly what the issue or concern is without judging or criticizing your supervisor. Take ownership of the issue and seek to bring about a win-win. For example, if you felt disrespected in front of your co-workers, assume the best of your boss and let him or her know that you experienced the situation as disrespectful rather than stating that your supervisor disrespected you. You are more likely to have a good outcome when you avoid attributing negative intentions and assume the best in your supervisor.

Follow up. Be sure to again thank your manager for taking the time to address a difficult subject and for their willingness to hear your point of view. Also remind your boss of any follow-up necessary and then be sure to follow-through on getting back to him or her at the appointed time.

Learning to address conflicts and concerns with your manager will improve your work experience, make you more effective at your job, and help you develop leadership skills necessary to advance in your career.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Incredibly Successful and Happy People Consistently Do These 6 Things

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Incredibly Successful and Happy People Consistently Do These 6 Things: "Most people are scared to attach their identity to their performance. High performers are willing to put themselves out there and place their identities on the line."

• 6 Mistakes Job Hunters Make While Employed: "Tell your friends about your job hunt one-on-one or over the phone, and emphasize the confidential nature of your search."

• 5 Tips for Building an Online Presence that Employers Love: "It also helps to build a website with your name in the domain. This way, when they search your name, they will find your optimized website where you can include your current resume and a portfolio of your work."

• Go to the Gym and Become a Better Boss: "It may sound obvious that effective managers need to cultivate that one-on-one mind-set, but it’s easy to lose sight of as your team grows and your responsibilities threaten to divide your attention. A little bit of individualized focus goes a long way."
• 9 Phrases Smart People Never Use In Conversation: "there are some phrases that emotionally intelligent people are careful to avoid in casual conversation. The following phrases are nine of the worst offenders. Avoid them at all costs."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Never Say These Things During a Job Interview

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Never Say These 11 Things During a Job Interview: "Don’t try to beat around the bush. Ask specific questions about company culture and team morale, and be direct."

• 7 Simple Habits to Make You a Remarkably Likable Boss: "If you maintain a positive attitude, however, you'll help your own employees realize a new world of perspectives--ones that will be much more productive than chronic pessimism."

• 30 Little Acts of Necessary Self-Care: "Being kind to yourself is one of those things that sounds easy in conversation but difficult in practice."

• 3 Ways to Practice True Leadership: "True leaders are the pinnacle of what they expect from the people around them. And by setting an example, true leaders encourage their people to aim for that."
• The No. 1 Reason Employers Want Older Workers: "Skills retention. It's something that many companies are now looking at with renewed vigor."

To Advance in Your Career Get to Know These Four People in Your Company

So, you got that new job and you're trying to better navigate the landscape and culture in order to set yourself up for success and a future promotion. There are a few people you'll want to get to know ... in addition to your boss and close colleagues and co-workers.

Take some time and set up meetings with the following people in your place of business. Go in with humility and curiosity to learn as much as you can and to be of service.

Your boss's boss. You want to understand how your company works, what the new initiatives are, who are your biggest competitors, and what are some of the biggest challenges to success, and developing a relationship with your boss's boss is a great way to gain some of this knowledge, while also demonstrating your knowledge, skills, and commitment to an important decision-maker and influencer.

Your Human Resources representative. Get to know how your Human Resources department works, how promotions are handled, and how and when they post new jobs by meeting your representative in the department. When you have a good relationship with your with HR you can be on the inside track for new job postings, and get detailed information about what skills a hiring manager is looking for. You also place yourself in a position to be first in mind when a position opens that you might be qualified for.

Your intern. Be sure to become a helpful resource to interns in your company. As they leave and take on jobs elsewhere they help to expand your network and can be an excellent source of information and resource about your industry. In addition, interns often have exit interviews with managers and HR and if they comment on your assistance during their time at the company this reflects positively on you to the leadership in your company.

Your IT support person. Things often go wrong when it comes to technology and by getting to know your tech support team you can often bypass some of the red tape and bureaucracy that can often come with getting help through the official channels. You can also get some patient hands-on training and instruction in some of the new technology that becomes part of your new processes and the quicker you become skilled at new technology the better off your prospects for promotion.

No matter how far along you are in your career you can benefit from getting to know the individuals in the four roles described above.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers: "working many jobs makes me happier and leaves me more fulfilled. It also helps me perform better at each job. Here’s how."

• How to Attract Amazing People Into Your Life: "Talking to new people makes your life exciting because it makes it unpredictable. Every single conversation you have with a new person is potentially life-changing."

• 5 Conversations You Absolutely Need to Have With Your Boss: "You have to stop and ask yourself not just what you need to learn, but what you need to unlearn and what is really going to take you to the place you need to go in this new organization."

• 11 Habits of Mentally Strong People: "The ability to break the mold and take a bold new direction requires that extra grit, daring and spunk that only the mentally strongest people have."
• How to Gain Strength from Your Darkest Moments: "When people go through tragedy they often become determined to make some good out of it. They want to do something worthwhile with the time that they have or to honor the legacy of the person they loved and lost."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 7 Ways to Make Yourself Indispensable Without Being Overworked

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 7 Ways to Make Yourself Indispensable Without Being Overworked: "Being enthusiastic and energetic about new tasks and challenges is also empowering, and may help coworkers embrace challenges with more energy as well. Supervisors consider the employees who empower others as valuable parts of a team."

• 3 Signs You've Outgrown Your Job: "
  Acquiring new skills not only keeps your job exciting, it also allows for growth and new possibilities. 
  Ask yourself: Did I learn something new today? If not, when was the last time I learned something new?
  "

• The Only Way to Engage and Retain Millennial Workers: "
  You want to keep millennials? Don't allow them to get bored. 
  Millennials love to learn
  ."

• 10 Ways to Become a More Charismatic Person: "Make your conversations relatable to those you’re speaking with. Use stories that position you as an average person in whom others can see themselves."
• 7 Core Beliefs of Great Bosses: "Exceptional bosses see change as an opportunity for improvement. They constantly adapt their approach and embrace change to stay ahead of the curve."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Techniques to Increase Your Motivation

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 5 Techniques to Increase Your Motivation: "Without a powerful motive, no goal can withstand misfortune. You can create motive by taking time every day to visualize your goal in detail."

• The Importance of Face-to-Face Networking in a Digital World: "The value of face-to-face networking is being recognized as one of the most powerful tools available for increasing one’s personal exposure, creating meaningful relationships and providing growth opportunities at a personal and professional level."

• 7 Common Words Powerful People Avoid (That You Should Avoid, Too): "The word 'just' diminishes the content that follows this word. It is a “protector” word, a word that softens what you want to achieve."

• 4 Easy Ways to Reboot Your Relationship With Your Boss This Year: "Your manager might not be able to weigh in on every project you tackle, but every boss is on the lookout for people who can think in ways that positively impact the organization, both inside and out."
• What to Do When Your Boss Says No: "A 'no' gives you the opportunity to prove to others that you can find creative solutions to deliver quality work with less."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: The Top 5 Ways Work Changed in 2016

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• The Top 5 Ways Work Changed in 2016: "In April, New York and California both enacted legislation to progressively raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years. That proposal gained prominent support on the campaign trail."

• 9 Things to Do When You're Feeling Burned Out: "Part of the high level of stress and burnout that we currently experience is the intense connectivity and demand for attention placed on us by the supercomputer in our pockets. By checking emails, social media and text messages every few minutes, it’s easy to burn out"

• 7 Ways to Live With Job Stress That Isn't Going Away: "Recognizing the first signs of on-the-job-stress is crucial to finding ways to cope with it. Focus on your core goals, organize yourself correctly and establish a routine of calming your nerves so you can be sure to keep anxiety in check."

• 3 Ways to Increase Productivity While On a Team at Work: "recognize that what feels 100 percent correct and true to you is no more important than what feels 100 percent correct and true to someone else – even (or especially) when the truths are not the same."
• When You Want to Be #Boss (and Beyond) Reach for These 10 Books: "But the thing I wish someone had told me sooner is that you can learn a lot about being a leader today from reading books."

5 Reasons to be Grateful for Your Job

A daily practice of gratitude has been shown to improve your mood, among its many other benefits and there is no better time than the Thanksgiving holiday to begin showing a little gratitude for your job.

Not sure where to start? Try these five reasons to be grateful for your work situation.

1. The job itself. You might simply start by feeling thankful that you even have a job. There are many people out there looking for work, or are soon-to-be graduates anxiously anticipating the job search. You don't have to live with this daily anxiety and have a reason for getting up every morning.

2. Your boss. Yep, your supervisor, whether you like him or her or not, provides you with support in your job or offers you opportunities to grow by being difficult to work with. Either way, your boss provides you with a reason to be grateful.

3. Your co-workers. You likely have some friends and supportive colleagues at work and they are often the reason we enjoy going in each day. Take a moment to appreciate them and even to let them know how grateful you are for their support.

4. Opportunities to learn. Your job provides you with opportunities to learn something new. Sometimes you learn a new skill, sometimes you learn patience, sometimes you learn how to deal with a difficult co-worker, or sometimes you learn how to use new technology or a new program.

5. Opportunities to use your strengths. It's likely you were hired for your job because you have the skills and abilities required. This provides an opportunity to be grateful for the opportunity to apply your strengths to accomplish something worthwhile.

You might also find yourself grateful for a short commute, or a long commute (affording you the time to get something else done), or you are grateful for opportunities to make a difference in the world and in the lives of others.

If you really think about it you'll likely find many reasons to be grateful for your job.

Happy Thanksgiving!

4 Steps to Prepare for a Difficult Conversation with Your Boss

To be successful in your life and career requires vulnerability and courage. Sometimes you'll put yourself out there and be rejected for a promotion or be looked over for that new project.

There are times in our careers when we need to have a difficult conversation with our supervisor and unless we're able to muster up the courage to confront the situation head-on we'll be unable to move forward.



Here, then, are four steps to prepare for a difficult conversation with your boss.

1. Understand exactly what you want and and what you hope to accomplish. Are you looking for a raise? Perhaps you think you were wrongly denied a promotion or an opportunity on a new project. Or maybe you feel stuck with little opportunity to move up or learn new skills. Whatever the situation is, be sure you're clear about what it is you want and what outcome you are looking for.

2. Acknowledge your feelings about the situation. It is okay to be angry, sad, disappointed, frustrated, discouraged, or any number of other feelings you might experience but in order to have an effective conversation with your manager you need to fully own and understand how you're feeling about the circumstances.

3. Write out your ideas and imagine the response of your boss. By writing down what you want to say it will help you better formulate your thoughts, and help you anticipate and prepare for your supervisor's reaction. Be sure to focus on your feelings and thoughts about the situation without blaming your boss and people him or her on the defensive, making it less likely they'll be receptive to you comments.

4. Practice the conversation with a friend or family member. Role-playing the discussion will provide you with confidence before you meet with your boss, along with an opportunity to gain valuable feedback from your role-playing partner.

Now you're ready to schedule that difficult conversation.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: What to Do When You and Your Boss Aren't Getting Along

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• What to Do When You and Your Boss Aren't Getting Along: "Am I working on the issues that my boss wants me to be working on, in the way they want me to be working on them? Have I been disregarding their feedback?"
• 10 Powerful Ways to Empower Your Employees: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, boundaries don't restrict team members; they empower them.
• The 4 Attributes You Must Develop to Achieve Everything You Want in Life: "If you finally want to live with more intention and purpose in your life or become an entrepreneur now and not later, then your extraordinary life is on the other side of your life-planning design process."
• Want Your Resume to Stand Out? Try This One Tactic: "Try getting back to basics. Work on a carefully crafted resume that highlights your results as well as your authenticity."
• How to Become the Leader You Need to Be: "Millennials are turning up ready to take their positions in management, but leadership doesn’t come easy and organizations could suffer as a result."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to (Positively) Think Your Way to Success

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to (Positively) Think Your Way to Success: "They’re always there and they always have an effect on you. But thoughts can be appraised in a very simple way: Do they strengthen you or weaken you?"
• 6 Ways to Stay Productive After 3:00 PM: "Go for a walk, either outside or just around your office. You’ll be in a better mood when you return to the task at hand, and you'll be better equipped to actually tackle it."
• 9 Questions to Ask Yourself in Order to Move Past Challenges With Grace: "Deciding what I’m committed to and how I plan to make that commitment happen is my top focus as I enter a challenging situation."
• How to Succeed at Work When Your Boss Doesn't Respect You: "Work closely with a mentor. In my interviews, I have also found that a close relationship with a mentor is closely correlated with thriving."
• 5 Lessons from Angelina Jolie on How to Make a Career Change: "Follow her playbook and be confident in your potential to reinvent your career. Yes, it's possible! Here's how."