High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Make Work Fun Again

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!

• Make Work Fun Again: "Gamification takes mundane tasks and adds play elements, like point scoring. For me, crossing off to-do list items gives me a hit of the 'doing' hormone dopamine that’s as strong as a triple shot of espresso."

• To Be Happier at Work, Invest in Relationships: "People whose work is mundane or demanding are just as likely to feel satisfied and fulfilled as those with fun or inspiring jobs if they proactively invest in relationships that nourish them and create a sense of purpose."

• How to Deal With the Pitfalls of Remote Work: "It’s one thing if a remote team member is working late because they took advantage of their job flexibility to take care of something else in the afternoon. But there might be a problem if it happens regularly."

• 36 Insanely Useful Productivity Hacks: "When it comes to getting off to a productive start each day, 57 percent of the (extremely productive) have a morning routine to make this happen."
• 5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught in School:"People’s attitudes around money can be instrumental in shaping their character, plus promotes the desire to give back."

5 Ways to Take Responsibility for Your Career Development

Career development is often talked about in companies as they seek out ways to increase employee engagement and prepare current staff for greater responsibilities and promotions. Often this is thought of as training or mentoring opportunities and is considered the responsibility of the employer.

However, employees should take responsibility for their own development and find ways to add value to their career.

Here are five alternative and creative ways to take responsibility for your own career development.

Learn as much as possible about your company. You don’t need a formal mentor relationship or job-shadowing program to seek out information about your company. Set up your own meetings with people from various departments to expand your knowledge. Read company press releases and industry magazines and news reports. Be an active participant in company-wide meetings or cross-department discussions. Take part in a task force. The more you know about your company (and industry) the better prepared you are for taking on a new role or developing your leadership skills.

Take risks and accept failure. Success requires failure and so if you want to become successful in life you must learn to become comfortable taking risks and experiencing failure and rejection. Put yourself in position to try new things, such as learning to play an instrument, expanding your foreign language skills, or planning to give a presentation to your colleagues. These opportunities will stretch you to grow.

Attend conferences and meet people. Find an industry conference or two and register. You might also seek out a conference or workshop focused on some aspect of personal growth, such as weekend meditation retreat. These experiences will not only expand your knowledge and recharge your batteries, but they will provide an opportunity for you to expand your network by meeting new people and deepening relationships with those you already know.

Travel, read widely, and be curious. Cultivate a spirit of curiosity and inquisitiveness by traveling, exploring new regions and cultures, and reading widely on subjects that may be new to you. Consider checking out a foreign film from your library or seeing one at an independent theater you’ve never been to before.

Apply for other jobs. Even if you have no intention of leaving your current job you can sharpen your interviewing skills and gain valuable industry knowledge by applying for other positions, and interviewing at other companies. These experiences can strengthen knowledge of your field and increase your awareness of future opportunities.  

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Tell if Someone is a Great Leader

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

The video below from Inc. discusses Google's technique for identifying good leaders. Check out the video to learn more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Why Are We Bad at Choosing the Right Job?

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 Are We So Bad at Choosing the Right Job?: "When it comes to jobs and careers, it is really a case of 'better the devil you know.' You can put people in meaningless roles and under bad managers, and they will still be reluctant to try something else."

• How a Classroom Mindset Can Help You Achieve Lasting Change: "If you want to experience significant, lasting change in your life, try mapping out your goal as if you were going back to school to achieve it."

• 9 Ways to Handle Job-Related Stress: "It didn't take long before people realized that simultaneously looking through their desk drawer, speaking on the phone and answering email caused their speed and accuracy (not to mention sanity) to plummet."

• 8 Tips for Developing Collaborative Leadership at Work: "This is leadership that not only gradually dissolves into something more sociable and harmonious, but also more efficient, creative and ready for whatever comes next."
• 9 Phrases to Avoid in Conversation:"While you may be indifferent to the question, your opinion is important to the person asking (or else he wouldn’t have asked you in the first place)."

How to Deal With Rejection During a Job Search

The job search process can be lonely and full of rejection. And rejection can be difficult to take on a continued basis, regardless of how far you get in the interview process.

Yet, rejection comes with the territory of looking for a new job and many times job seekers do not even get an opportunity for an interview.

So, how do we deal with all this rejection? Here are five ways to deal with rejection during the job search.

Understand what it means that you didn’t get the job and what it doesn’t mean. There are many reasons an applicant might not get a call for an interview or might not get the job after the interview. The company could have been looking for someone with a specific skill or experience managing a particular kind of team. Just because you didn’t have the desired skill set for one position does not mean you were not a good candidate for the job, despite how discouraging the rejection can be. It’s important to avoid reading too much into things when you do not get that job offer.

Build a network of support. Surround yourself with people who encourage you and believe in your skills and strengths. This is not the time to deal with negative people. Find your team of supporters and consult with them during your job search.

Use the experience to build resilience. This is primarily about your mindset. Of course, many times in life we have to face rejection and hardship and we can use difficult times to develop the skills and resources necessary to build resilience in our lives.

Focus on what you can control. Consider the aspects of your job search that you can control: the jobs you apply to, the presentation of your resume, your cover letter, and improving your interviewing skills. Let go of the things you have no control of, such as if the company chooses to interview you for the job or offers you the position.

Keep at it (and perhaps take a risk). Don’t give up. Stay after it and the right fit between your skills and what the company needs will come along. Or perhaps this is the time to take a risk and start your own company. Maybe the boss you need to offer you a job is you!

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 5 Daily Habits all Successful People Have

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

The video below from TopThink discusses five daily habits all successful people have, starting with creative record keeping. Check out the video to learn more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 14 Ways to Commit to Lifelong Learning

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!

• 14 Ways to Commit to Lifelong Learning: "There is no better way to grasp new ideas and educate yourself than to be in new places, meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. Traveling may not give you book smarts, but it will give you an education you can’t get in a classroom ."

• 10 Tips for Consistent Personal Growth: "Know that the success of the people around you is vital to the team’s success, and their success is largely dependent on you. Make it a personal goal to read at least one leadership book per quarter."

• How to Stay Focused on Your Goals: "By seeking out people who practice self-discipline, you’ll likely be surrounding yourself with people who are more successful than you."

• A System to Achieve Inbox Zero Every Day: "Clearing out my inbox at set times isn’t enough. I needed to automate a portion of the volume and know at a glance what needs my attention."
• A Guide to Taking a Gap Year or Gap Time in Midlife:"A handful of academic programs can serve as gap-year transitions, moving from one career to a new challenge."