Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Useless Phrases to Eliminate from Your Emails

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

The Fast Company video below provides some great tips to making your emails for efficient and to the point.

5 Reasons to Be Thankful for Your Job

Some of us (many of us?) spend a good deal of time complaining about our jobs, our bosses, our companies, our salaries, and anything else we can muster a complaint about but, in reality, we have it quite well.

What better time of year to take a few moments and be thankful for our jobs? Need some reasons? Here are five:

1. Be thankful you HAVE a job. Yes, sometimes that old adage "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" applies to your job and while we might spend some serious time daydreaming about another place to work, our current gig is actually pretty good.

2. Be thankful for your co-workers. You likely work among friends or are at least on friendly terms with those you work with. That is a great, and undervalued, perk of the job. I still miss the people from the job I worked at longest (over 16 years). It was a great group.

3. Be thankful for opportunities to learn. Those opportunities can be very different depending on the job. You might be learning a specific skill such as how to code, or you might be learning a "soft skill": how to facilitate a good working relationship with a difficult co-worker or manager. But take some time to appreciate and be grateful for those new skills you are developing.

4. Be thankful for opportunities to apply your skills. Again, like the point above, you might apply some of your strengths and skills in limited ways but if you think carefully about your work you can creatively apply your skills to anything. The skills you have in handling a demanding boss are useful when dealing with an angry customer.

5. Be thankful for the chance to do something of value. Theodore Roosevelt noted that "far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."

What are you thankful for? Do you have a flexible work schedule? A great boss or coworker? Opportunities to advance?

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: On Finding a Mentor

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

In the video below Felicia Day discusses how to go about finding a mentor.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 4 Career Mistakes You Should Make by 30

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!

• 4 Career Mistakes You Should Make by 30: "But making some missteps and mistakes early on in your career is actually a critical part of growing -- both professionally and personally."
• The Best Way to Learn: "Learning is best done by people acquiring ideas from various sources, running experiments in their context, and then sharing their insights with their peers."
• Building a Better Company Culture in 5 Steps: "While you don’t want your employees failing 100 percent of the time, taking away the fear of failure can free up employees to not just win but win bigger than they ever would have had they been afraid to fail."
• Strategies for Dual-Income Families: "Lots of parents with big jobs work what’s called a 'split shift.' They leave work at a reasonable hour, spend the evenings with family, and then do more work at night after the kids go to bed."
• Do These 4 Things to Avoid Losing Your Mind as an Entrepreneur: "But in the end, listen to your gut. Create the business you want, on your terms and in your time. You’ll reap far greater rewards than revenue."

Regaining Your Confidence After a Career Setback

Everyone has disappointments and setbacks in their career, from that promotion or raise you didn't get to getting fired or laid off.

Sometimes that setback can impact your confidence and leave you struggling to regain it.

Here are 5 steps you can take to get your confidence back after a career setback.

1. Small victories. Set some small, immediate, and attainable goals in order to restore your confidence in your abilities. Sometimes simply the process of setting a small goal and attaining it is enough to set one back on the path to larger goals.

2. Focus on strengths. You have specific skills and areas of strengths. Try to focus your energies on activities that utilize these strengths and build confidence.

3. Surround yourself with support. Find those around you--family, friends, coworkers--who believe in you and your abilities. Their belief in your skills and strengths can speed your recovery from a setback.

4. Find a mentor. Seek out another expert in your field to serve as a mentor and to guide you through this time. Your mentor can assist you in making the best decisions for your career as you move forward.

5. Learn something new. Take some time to learn a new skill or take a class. Experiencing some success in a class and adding to your skill set can provide the confidence to move ahead in other areas of your life and career.

Implement these 5 steps following a career setback and you'll be back on your feet and headed to new successes.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Stay Focused

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

The video below discusses the importance of staying focused and persistently pursuing your goals.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Make Friends Not Contacts

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!

• Networking 101: Make Friends Not Contacts: "Check your circle of friends. Surround yourself with people who aspire to do better."
• The Rainn Wilson Guide to Success: "For me, meditation is a great tool that I use in my daily life to ground me, to get me more connected to my soul. To the part of myself that’s beyond my thoughts. To God and to a higher purpose."
• 21 Ways to Unlock Creative Genius: "Consider this list of tricks and strategies your roadmap, all planned out with the benefit of the latest research and expert advice."
• Start Looking for an Internship!: "Interns that show professionalism and demonstrate their creativity gain a network of people who can mentor them, give recommendations, and collaborate on future projects."
• 4 Interview Tips for Veterans: "One of your greatest resources may be other veterans who have landed a job through mastering the interview process."

4 Steps to Your Job Search Plan

So, you're out of work, expect to be unemployed soon, or want to change jobs. What is your plan? In order to effectively move forward and find the right position for your interests and set of skills you need to have a job search plan.

Below are four steps to an effective job search plan:

1. Be specific. What position are you interested in pursuing, and in what industry? One key to your job search is to be as specific as possible about the job you want so you don't waste time, energy, and resources pursuing jobs that don't fit your skill set.

2. Clarify your offer. What is it, exactly, that you bring to the table? What are the range of skills you have that can make you successful in this job? Having a clear understanding of what you can bring to a job will enable you to clearly communicate this in your resume and when speaking with potential employers.

3. Find the right place(s). Where do you want to work? What are you looking for a place of employment? Decide if a startup works for you, or if you prefer a large established corporation. Maybe you'd like to work for a smaller, more intimate family-run business? Being clear about this will again help you be more specific in your search. And also think about location. Are you interested in leaving your city or state?

4. Find the right people. You likely know some people who can aid you in your job search. Or you know someone who knows someone who can assist you. Be sure to reach out to your network. But be choosy. Not everyone can help you. Select those individuals with a connection to the specific job and industry you are pursuing.

Searching for a new job can be stressful but implement these four steps to be more effective in your job search.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Career and Life Success with Less Stress

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

In the video below Darren Hardy, publisher of Success, shares 10 secrets to success with less stress.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 3 Ways to Be More Likeable at Work

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!

• 3 Ways to Be More Likeable at Work: "Listening is like a superpower, and people who are likeable tend to intuitively understand this. They make time to listen to what others have to say."
• Why You Should Stop Going to Networking Events: "Networking events almost never lead to business. And I have been to hundreds of them. It was a way for me to think I was being productive, but it wasn’t. It was a distraction."
• How Serving Others Can Help Make You a Great Leader: "The more I help people, the more it comes back to me in some way—we get ahead by helping others get ahead. Don’t lose sight of that, ever."
• How to Manage Distractions: "While you probably can't disconnect for the entire day, as little as 20 to 30 minutes of focused time can take you much further than two hours spent on the same task filled with constant interruptions."
• 4 Tweaks to Rev Up a Stalled Job Search: "While you might view flexibility as a virtue, it may at the same time be self-defeating. Remember that employers hire people who answer their needs."

4 Tips to Get a Job Online

Finding a job can be a difficult process and requires patience, a plan, and persistence. Fortunately, the internet has made it easier to identify potential opportunities.... if you're using the internet correctly.

Below are 4 tips to use the internet during your next job search.

1. Identify the top five companies you'd like to work for and check their web sites regularly for job postings. Many companies require you to create a profile in order to apply for a job so go ahead and get some of the initial work out of the way. Then when you see a posting you're interested in you can get that application done early.

2. Search for jobs on twitter. You can do this is several ways but here are two to keep in mind: a) follow the companies you're interested in (again, many companies will post their new openings on twitter, or even Facebook), and b) search twitter for jobs by searching on #job and #titleofjob. For example, if you're interested in human resources you can search on #job and #humanresources to find jobs posted on twitter.

3. If you're a college graduate be sure to check your alumni association web site. Many alumni sites include job postings from businesses and individuals looking to hire someone just like you: someone who graduated from the same college or university.

4. Are you a member of a professional organization? If so, these organization web sites are great places to identify job openings. And you just might have the extra advantage of knowing the person doing the hiring.

Implement these four tips during your next job search and you'll be on your way to securing that new job.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Morning Visualization

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

In the video below from Entrepreneur, Franco Lofranco discusses the importance of daily visualization for career success.