High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Helping Others is Your Most Valuable Offering

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!

• Helping Others is Your Most Valuable Offering: "Helping others makes us happier and consequently boosts productivity. From there we can thrive and improve our bottom line while growing our businesses."
• This is the Key to a Successful Partnership (and a Successful Life): "You can’t enter a partnership and then rely on your partner to figure out for you who you are. In effect, you have to form a strong 'partnership' with yourself before someone else can. As we like to say, 'we' always starts with 'me'.
• Your Internship Just Turned Into a Job Offer--Should You Take It?: "For better or worse, interns often have vastly different experiences than employees who work year-round. Before committing, it’s essential to research the job and company."
• The Changing Shape of the Modern Workplace: "The way our workplaces look and behave has been undergoing a great deal of flux and experimentation in recent years, urged on by a wide range of driving forces."
• How to Determine What Your Potential Boss is Like in an Interview: "You don't want to find out after you start working that your manager is extremely difficult to work for. Asking this question of the people who work for your prospective boss may yield different answers than what human resources or a recruiter tells you."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 15 Habits of Mentally Tough People

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 6 Tips for Becoming a Good Boss: "Think about the traits you want your employees to mimic, and practice them. This will build trust and respect in your ability to manage through consensus and understanding."


• 15 Habits of Mentally Tough People: "The mentally tough also know how to exert self-control by saying no to themselves. They delay gratification and avoid impulsive action that causes harm."


• 10 Words to Remove from Your LinkedIn Profile: "I would stay away from these buzzwords, though, because you sound like everyone else. These words almost lose their meaning the more that people use them."


• For Entrepreneurs Preparation Beats Passion: "New research on hundreds of founders reveals that passion has nothing to do with results a few years out. What matters is preparedness."


• 5 Reasons to Add Purpose to Your Business: "Customers will generally choose the purpose-driven product over the brand without the cause.... For startups, you can knit the cause into the fabric of your business and allow it to influence every decision you make."

4 Reasons to Avoid Taking that Promotion Now

You have an opportunity for a promotion and so, of course, you should take it, right? Well, not so fast. There might be several reasons why it's not best to take that promotion at this time.

Let's consider 4 reasons why it's best to avoid taking a promotion now.

1. Stress. That job might sound great on paper and you might like the new title and salary but are you prepared for the additional stress and demands that it will make? If not, you might consider staying out.

2. New colleagues/boss. Let's face it, some teams and areas in a company have a better reputation
than others. Some teams are social and everyone gets along and hangs out together after work. If that's you and you move to a new position with colleagues who barely speak to one another are you going to feel comfortable? Or maybe the new team or supervisor is known for negativity. That might not be a situation you want to put yourself in.

3. Travel. In many companies a move up the ladder requires more significant work travel. Now if you're someone who likes to get away than this might be ideal. But what if you have young children at home or simply prefer to stay around town? The added travel just might bring unwanted stress and anxiety that is not offset by the exciting new career possibilities.

4. New title and increased salary. If the only appeal of the promotion is the opportunity for more income or a more significant title than this might not be the promotion for you.

Before accepting a promotion consider the factors described above to help make a decision that is the best for your career now and into the future.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Stop Sabotaging Your 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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 4 Ways to Stop Sabotaging Your Success: "No matter how skilled you think you are at dividing your attention, you really are more effective when you focus. Don’t jump ahead or try to do it all at once in an effort to save time. You’ll feel more accomplished, building momentum you need to go onto the next task, if you complete just one task at a time."


• Tips for Being Super-Productive When Working from Home: "Set limits and focus on time sensitive projects first. It is also important to schedule more important tasks at the time of day when you are most productive. Tune into your body and learn when you are most alert and concentrated."


• Empathy is Key to a Great Meeting: "Empathy is a competency that allows you to read people. Who is supporting whom? Who is pissed off and who is coasting? Where is the resistance? This isn’t as easy as it seems."


• Keys to Overcome Fear and Do Better at Work: "To dare risk jumping out of your comfort zone changes the way people respond to you ... That changes the way you see yourself."


• When a Co-worker Becomes Your New Boss: "Use this as an opportunity to clean up your behavior. Ditch the jealousy, and look to your new manager as a role model. How is she delivering on what the company values?"