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."

Five Qualities to Demonstrate at Your Next Job Interview

Making the right hire is a tricky business and some managers are better at it than others. It can seem that too often hiring becomes a popularity contest or is all about who you know, rather than about what you, the candidate, have to offer.

Here are five qualities that are irresistible to employers and will have you in demand if you can effectively demonstrate that you possess them. And if you're a hiring manager keep this qualities front of mind when making hiring decisions and you'll find more success at making the right hires.

Initiative. Be prepared to provide examples of situations in your career when you identified a problem and went about devising a solution without being told to do this by someone else. Great employees identify needs in companies and find ways to meet those needs. They don't wait for someone to assign a task to them. If you can demonstrate a track record of taking initiative you'll have one foot in the door.

Curiosity. Every good business owner or manager wants employees and staff who take an interest in the company and its processes. Are you someone who gets to know colleagues in other areas of the company and regularly seeks out opportunities to learn more about the business? In addition, show how your curiosity about the field you're in leads you to stay on top of news in your industry, related industries, and with competitors.

Communication skills. In your interview you want to demonstrate how to effectively communicate with everyone you meet. This starts with the first person who greets you at the door and continues after your interview with effective follow-up, including a gracious "thank you" note to your interviewer. Your communication skills should be on display in every interaction, whether verbally or in writing with your resume, cover letter, or follow-up emails.

Project management. Your next manger or supervisor will want to know that when you are assigned a simple task or a complex project that you can effectively manage it and complete it on time and according to any specifications you've been provided. Be prepared with clear examples of how you successfully manage projects of varying complexity, and utilize some of the skills and qualities mentioned above.

Stress management. You might be great at completing tasks and projects but you drive everyone crazy with the amount of stress and anxiety you place on yourself and others. Provide some examples of how you manage self-care, work-life balance, and deal with the everyday stresses and anxieties that come with work in a fast-paced environment.

Be prepared to show how you demonstrate these five qualities at your next job interview and you'll be closer to landing that new job.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Find 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 and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below from Forbes, company founders talk about the best ways to go about finding and approaching a potential mentor.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Nine Strategies to Find Your Next Role

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!

• 9 Strategies to Find Your Next Role: "Hunting and applying for jobs online is frequently frustrating and fruitless. The best way to search for jobs online is to become "the hunted" by developing a strong online personal brand."

• 11 Ways to Stay Productive When You're Tired: "consider switching up your environment at work to keep you energized and inspired. Try doing a couple of hours with your laptop in a nearby café or library, or at least moving closer to a window where the fresh air and daylight can improve your performance."

• 4 Little-Known Secrets to Better Networking: "One of the most fascinating things about the business world is that valuable connections can form just about anywhere. It’s only a matter of getting out there."

• What Sets Successful CEOs Apart?: "High-performing CEOs understand that a wrong decision is often better than no decision at all."
• 10 Habits of the Most Confident People: "The only person you need to compare yourself with is the version of yourself that you want to become. That's it."

Five Tips for Building Mental Strength in Your Career and in Life

It is inevitable that we experience setbacks in our lives and our careers. Success requires failure, and it necessitates failing many times and trying again after each disappointment or difficulty.

A Japanese proverb encourages us to "fall seven times, stand up eight."

We must develop mental strength in order deal with the failures and setbacks we experience in our personal and professional lives if we want to see those failures lead to success and positive outcomes. Too many of us retreat from failure, allowing it to define us, or allow difficulties to make us feel trapped, unworthy, and unable to move forward and reach our goals.

Instead we need to continually work to develop our mental strength and the following five practices will help do just that.

Let go. Put the past behind you and move on from your previous failures and disappointments. Learn what you need from them but don't be held back or defined by setbacks. This might require you to focus on changing your thoughts when you are troubled by the failures of the past. Telling yourself something simple like "that is behind me and today is a new and successful day" can be a effective technique to change your focus from the past to the present.

Practice meditation. Take some time each day, preferably just after you wake up, to set your day with some mindful meditation. Focus on breathing deeply and use this time for prayer or to repeat a short mantra that inspires you. This practice will help calm you, give you greater clarity of purpose, and will put your thoughts in a positive place to start the day.

Surround yourself with like-minded people. It's very important to have friends and colleagues around who encourage and inspire you. Be around people who understand the importance of taking risks and failing, who applaud you for taking action and trying something new. It is equally important to avoid time with people who frequently complain, are negative, discourage you from going after your dreams, or seem to take some pleasure in pointing out your weaknesses and failings.

Watch what you take in. We are what we eat and we are what we consume through the books we read, the movies we watch, the podcasts or radio programs we listen to, or the music we enjoy. Eating healthy food and surrounding ourselves with positive and encouraging media can be a tremendous source of strength, similar to being around a wise mentor or a great friend.

Act and fail and act and succeed, and be grateful for it all. The process of taking some action, of failing and getting back up, and trying again, and achieving some success builds our mental strength and enables us to continue to act, fail, and succeed. Pay attention to the process, and work at enjoying all of it, while expressing gratitude for what you're building and the strong and resilient person you're becoming.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Accomplish More by Doing Less

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.

In the video below from Inc., David Pham, CTO/CPO at Mogul, a publishing platform for women, explains his counter-intuitive technique for boosting productivity.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Career Tips Every New Graduate Should Know But May Never Be Told

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 Career Tips Every New Graduate Should Know But May Never Be Told: "I think advocates are more valuable than mentors. With respect to your career, advocates have skin in the game. They will go out of their way to help you advance."

• 6 Tips to Rule the Art of Conversation: "With a little practice and more confidence, you should have no problem starting a conversation with anybody, anywhere."

• Improve Your Productivity With Inbox Zero: "The goal is to condition yourself to stop worrying about emails all day long. You should be controlling your inbox, not the other way around."

• When You're Leaving Your Job Because of Your Kids: "Here are seven tactics any working parent should use when transitioning out of a job."
• Steps to Take Right Now to Avoid Answering Work Emails Tonight: "take a minute to review your team’s email policy. If it doesn’t require you to set up your work account on your phone, be bold and remove it yourself."