Most of us have worked with them – the pet, the golden boy or girl, the boss’s favorite, and in many cases… the tattletale. This person seems to receive the best assignments, the greatest perks, and all of the praise for a small portion of the work. You would think that this would be enough, but no! Not only do you have to endure witnessing this blatant favoritism, but also you must constantly monitor what you say and do to avoid being the name whispered into your boss’ ear. Such individuals can create a great deal of tension and negativity……
It is important when interacting with the office narcissist, that you understand what you are expecting to get out of the contact. If you are looking for equality, credit, appreciation, or respect, you might as well forget about it. You are likely to devote undue resources into something that will never be realized. However, if you are in a position where you have little choice but to interact with a narcissist, you must first attempt understand the nature of their complex personality. When things are going their way, they can often be described as enchanting, enigmatic, convincing, and influential. Complications……
Some might say that when people are around each other 40 hours a week, working toward a common goal, it is only natural for those individuals to socialize and perhaps flirt every now and then. However, your ideal career can quickly become a rather trying situation if you are made to deal with the constant, and unwelcomed, advances of a co-worker. Also, with today’s technological advancements, flirting doesn’t necessarily involve only the awkward verbal come-ons we are all use to, but can include flirtatious or inappropriate emails, instant messages, text messages, and if you happened to make the mistake of……
No matter what your profession, it pays to stand out. In fact, standing out is absolutely vital for small businesspeople and solo professionals like lawyers and doctors, because these professionals live and die by their ability to attract customers. Without a way to stand out, they would be out of a job. But even those who work for larger companies need to stand out in order to get ahead — to compete effectively for promotions, plum opportunities and new jobs. That’s why the relatively new concept of personal branding is a winning strategy for climbing the ladder in any field…….
In Part I of this series on achieving professional success through personal branding, we talked about the importance of establishing a blog as an online “home” for your personal brand. In Part II, the focus is exclusively on social media as a tool for professional branding. Social media is so popular that it’s an unavoidable part of personal branding. It can also be powerful, offering more ways to communicate your brand, connect with your professional community and build strong search engine results. But like personal branding as a whole, using social media should be approached with thought and care for……
We all know what it’s like to be the new kid on the block. It can be particularly daunting when that block is a work environment, particularly a culture that feels foreign to you. There’s a lot of advice out there, including feeling out coworkers and supervisors to learn more about the culture. But how do you know who to ask? Work environments break down into two types of groups, formal and informal. Formal groups are clearly defined, whether by team or organizational chart structure, with established levels of leadership and support. Informal groups are more elusive, yet, they can……
In the last two installments of this series, we discussed some of the basics of establishing a personal brand online: blogging, making connections in your online community and reinforcing them with strategic use of social media. Part III is about taking it the extra mile by writing articles for online and offline news sources. Busy professionals may be wondering whether this is really necessary. After all, they’re already spending time blogging, commenting and interacting on social media sites, all of which takes up precious time. But consider this: Nothing communicates authority like being published in print. The Internet is a……
Whether you are looking for a less conventional work-time schedule or just hoping for the occasional abbreviated workday to make your son’s basketball game, asking for personal time can be very stressful, particularly when you’re determined to make your way up the corporate ladder. If you’re just starting out, it can be hard to imagine negotiating a flexible schedule, particularly when you feel you need to pay your dues. The specter of student loan debt from both undergraduate and graduate programs hanging over your head like the Sword of Damocles doesn’t help either. Think, however, in terms of quality instead……