How Can Sleep Affect Your Career

How Can Sleep Affect Your Career A lot of us live extremely busy lives and for this reason our jam packed schedules often mean that we dont get as many hours sleep as we could really do with. But did you know that by staying up late and sacrificing our precious Zs, you could be hindering your work performance? So its important that you get enough shut eye before a busy day at work! Heres how sleep deprivation can affect you at work and what you can do to avoid it, courtesy of Sleepy People. How much sleep do you really need? An adult needs between 7-9 hours of sleep each night, those who get less than 6 hours of sleep are generally less productive at work. By going without sleep for just one night  it  can cause differences in your brain, similar to those caused by a knock to the head! And by sleeping for less than 5 hours, several nights in a row, you will exhibit similar levels of impairment to somebody who is over the drink drive limit. So going to work tired is much like turning up drunk when your productivity is concerned! How can a lack of sleep affect your work performance? Sleep deprivation can also have a negative affect on your level of creativity and innovation. Not getting enough sleep  can also contribute to increased stress levels, which can hinder your work performance and motivation. What are the signs of sleep deprivation? Feeling irritable and moody. Forgetting things that you need to do and taking a long time to complete tasks. Falling into micro-sleeps, where you experience and lapse in attention. In extreme cases it can even cause hallucinations and anxiety. How can you avoid sleep deprivation? It may not be possible to do this at work, however taking a short nap when you feel productivity levels drop could help to give you the boost you need. This is probably more achievable if you work from home, or your office has some of those snazzy nap pods introduced by Google! Ensure that you get a good nights sleep by getting into a routine and sticking to it. Research has found that checking your phone, laptop, etc. right before bed can hinder your sleep, as the bright light of the screen delays the release of melatonin to your brain, making it harder for you to fall asleep. Avoid caffeine before bed and get regular exercise. Make sure that you sleep with the right kind of bedding that you sleep comfortably on. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]

How Your Resume and LinkedIn Should Differ - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How Your Resume and LinkedIn Should Differ - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If you’ve applied to a new job recently, you’ve probably noticed the option to input your LinkedIn profile instead of uploading a traditional resume. While this may look like a sign that the hiring world is taking a step away from the traditional resume, you may want to think again before you delete your resume file. LinkedIn can be a great way to share your expertise, expand your network and improve your career â€" but that doesn’t mean it’s an adequate resume replacement. There are many things your LinkedIn profile can do that your traditional resume can’t, and vice versa. Instead of looking at LinkedIn as a replacement for your resume, you should look at them as supplemental to one another. But what is the best way to write your resume and LinkedIn profile so they complement each other? Let’s take a look at some of the major differences and similarities between your LinkedIn profile and your resume. Including an Image Some people choose to include a professional image on their resume as a way for hiring managers to put a face to the information on the page. While you don’t need to add your headshot to your resume, you’ll definitely want to have a professional image on your LinkedIn profile. Because LinkedIn has a specific space for an image, not including one leaves a gray stock image that can look unprofessional. Not only does it make your profile look incomplete and sloppy, it can make it difficult for a hiring manager to really understand the person behind the page. Use a high-quality, professional image on your LinkedIn profile. Professional Summaries A professional summary is a small paragraph that explains your career accomplishments and goals. While many people choose to put a professional summary on their resume, others do not. But just like images, your professional summary needs to be featured on your LinkedIn profile. On your LinkedIn profile, your professional summary does not change depending on who is visiting your profile. This means it needs to be thorough and descriptive, but not so specific that it pushes away certain visitors. If you choose to feature a professional summary on your resume, it should change depending on the job you’re applying for. Keywords Keywords are important to both resumes and LinkedIn profiles, but in different ways. On your resume, using the right keywords can help your application get through screening software that may be filtering applicants. On your LinkedIn profile, you want to think about keywords in terms of how you’d expect to be found by a search engine. When selecting the right keywords for your resume or LinkedIn, you need to consider the situation. With your resume, you should use keywords that are featured throughout the job application. On your LinkedIn profile, you’ll want to do research to see which kinds of keywords recruiters, hiring managers or other connections are looking for. Content and Tone While LinkedIn is frequently used as a networking tool, it’s still a social media site. You should certainly be more professional on LinkedIn than you may be on your personal Twitter or Facebook, but view your LinkedIn profile as a networking tool. This means you can be more conversational in your LinkedIn profile than your resume, which is more bullet-driven and serves as an actionable summary of your skills. You want your resume and LinkedIn profile to feel as they were written by the same person, but these materials have different purposes. The tone of your resume should be formal and action-driven. You’ve submitted your resume for the purpose of receiving employment, so you want to be as professional as possible and summarize your hard/soft skills. On LinkedIn, you can do the same â€" but your voice can be more present and personable when describing what you’ve accomplished. Descriptions and Details Unless you’re applying to an upper-level or extremely detailed position, your resume should only be one page. This means you need to keep information about your work experience short and to the point. Readers should be able to skim your resume and get a clear idea of what value you can bring to the position. On the other hand, your LinkedIn profile allows for more room. You don’t need to limit your profile to a few bullet points or short sentences. You’re able to elaborate on the duties of past positions and include more detail about your skills and experience. References On LinkedIn, your references can endorse you for specific skills and even write a recommendation about their time working with you. This allows any visitor to your profile â€" including recruiters and hiring managers â€" to see these references, which are constant no matter who is visiting your profile. You might be asked for the contact information of these folks so a hiring manager can confirm the reference, but either way, these look nice and give a strong, favorable impression. References typically aren’t a part of your traditional resume. A hiring manager is likely to ask for them if you get to a certain point in the interview, but they will typically contact the references you provide on their own. Your references might be stellar here too, they’re just not as visible. Your resume and your LinkedIn profiles shouldn’t compete with one another. Instead, they should work together to provide the strongest professional image of you possible. When you understand the differences and similarities between your LinkedIn and your resume, you can develop stronger versions of each to help you land the job of your dreams.

4 Critical Questions to Ensure a New Job in 2016 - Classy Career Girl

4 Critical Questions to Ensure a New Job in 2016 Did you make a New Year’s Resolution to get a new job this year? If so, bravo! Also: You aren’t alone. The one problem? The vast majority of people who make this resolution will still be stuck in the same job in 2017. Ugh. That’s a deflating thought, no? What happens to all of the sparkly brilliance and motivation, why do so many people fail? Well, it all boils down into one word: Fear. Any of this sound familiar? “What if I quit and can’t pay the rent?” “What if I try something new and I’m a giant failure?” “What if the new job is just more of the same? I might as well stay here.” Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of being on the street…we all have them, because fear is critical to our very survival. But fear is also the #1 reason why you stay stuck. So, before you dust off your resume or warm up your network, why not start by dealing with your   fear.   Fun! No really there’s a whole lot of things we can do to make you feel empowered and focused as you look to change jobs or careers this year (in fact, here’s a FREE 7-day challenge to help you get over your fear and land your dream job), but the first step IS actually fun. The vast majority of people will stay stuck in the same job next year. Here are 4 questions to help you move past your fear and into a new job this year. Take a moment and write down all of your fears.   Just list them all out, no matter how big or small. Okay, next up, take out a new sheet of paper, and write down these sentences, and fill in the blanks: If I got fired and lost all of my money today, this is the first thing I’d do: I wouldn’t end up on the street, because I’d call ___________ and do ____________. I have many skills that I can count on! Three things that I can do well are: One thing that always makes me feel better when I feel anxious or scared is: _______ Okay, now compare your lists.   Are you starting to see how you’ve got more skills and resources than you imagined?   Maybe it’s time to tear up that list of fears and throw it away, and flesh out that list of skills and resources a bit more.   You can do this! Don’t let fear hold you back from that amazing new job this year! And if you know that you need more help, sign up for this FREE 7-Day challenge to help you get over your fear and land a new job, THIS year.   It only takes seconds, what are you waiting for? Click here to sign up!  

Why using a Professional Resume Template is better than a DIY Resume

Why using a Professional Resume Template is better than a DIY Resume There is so much information out there regarding resume advice that it can be difficult to know what advice to follow and which to discard. There is no doubt that your resume is a vital part of your job search requirements.   You will want to make sure that it is the best that it can possibly be. But where do you start? Do you begin with a blank screen and try to build your resume by yourself from scratch?    Do you begin with a blank screen and try to build your resume by yourself from scratch or do you get a helping hand by making use of resume templates?” Your resume has the job of creating a first impression with your prospective new employer.   You will want that first impression to be a positive one. Presenting them with a badly laid out, difficult to read resume will quickly see you consigned to the rejection pile. So will handing in a generic resume that hasnt been updated for a long time and isnt specific to the role that you are applying for. Let’s take a look at some important resume pointers to make sure you dont waste your best opportunity to make a good first impression. Do You Need A New Resume? If you have been sending out the same old and tired resume to multiple job applications, then it is definitely time for a shake up. It is time to get yourself a fresh new resume. The next question you should ask yourself is whether to use a free resume template or pay for one. A quick online search for a resume template will land you with thousands of results. Pretty overwhelming, yes? Next you will need to narrow down your results.     You need to be a bit more specific about what you want. Searching for free resume templates will cut your results down a lot.     So will searching for premium resume templates if you want to pay for one. Next you will have to make sure that you are being offered fully-customizable templates. The great thing about using a customizable resume template is that once you have entered all your crucial information and all the key skills your resume needs, you can go back to your template and easily tweak it to tailor it to each new job that you apply for. This is much easier than having to create a whole new resume over again for each job application that you send out. Because you can customise the content you will avoid the trap of having to send out an identical resume for everything you apply for. Resume Format Resume examples come in all sorts of different formats and styles. This can be great because you can choose one that is attractive to the eye and suits your personality. You can also choose a more specific style of resume to fit in with the type of job that you are applying for. You will want the presentation to be clean, easy to read but also attractive. Remember that a prospective employer or HR officer will spend approximately 20 to 30 seconds on a first skim of your resume.     Having a style and layout that is more suitable for the job you are going for will have a better chance of being read and retained for interview. Monitor Your Results Keeping up with all of your job applications can be job in itself! It can be really useful to keep an eye on your results and respond to any replies you have swiftly. If you were turned down for a position, then it is worth sending a follow up message.   Thank them for their reply but also ask politely for some feedback from them. You can use the information you get back from them to help you with future applications. Also, by sending a polite thank you in response will create a further good impression.   It may even lead to an invitation for an interview should another position open up in the near future. When your resume has worked well for you and you are invited in for an interview, then it is well worth checking out the great interview tips and advice at the Freesumes.com blog to give you an added advantage of winning at your interview. It will not take long for you to land your dream job when you make good use of professionally created customizable resume templates.

Resume Writing Service Reviews

Resume Writing Service ReviewsMonster India resume writing service reviews are available online to let people know more about how good a job the company does in compiling a resume for an individual. Resumes in India are a very important part of the job interview. Even though there are several resume writing companies in India, not all of them do their jobs right. It is therefore vital to know more about these services in order to hire the best resume writing service in India.As a first step to find out more about these companies, one can simply browse through the internet and look for Monster India resume writing service reviews on a particular resume writing service website. Resume writing service reviews can help one make a wise decision when hiring the resume writing service. Resume writing service reviews may also give one some ideas about the services the company offers and the quality of the work it has done in the past. It can be helpful to read a resume writing service review and its evaluation by somebody who is already involved in using resume writing services.Resume writing service reviews are also available on the internet for free. These reviews may give some insights about the resume writing service. On the other hand, they may not be totally true since the company owners and managers may sometimes make this information available on the internet. Hence, it is necessary to look for credible resume writing service reviews on the internet before making a decision on hiring a resume writing service.A resume writing service is a company that writing a resume for the person seeking a job based on the person's requirements. It is a service that is not easy to find because the regular job vacancies in India are very few. There are many other things to consider when looking for resume writing service in India.The resume writing service should be a company that is reliable. Resume writing services usually write resumes for several different candidates so it is essential to check the experience and knowledge of the resume writing service with reference to the number of applicants it has written resumes for. This ensures that the resume writing service is able to meet the needs of the employer.One must also look for resume writing service that charges a reasonable rate. A resume writing service that charges less than a hundred dollars might not be as credible as a resume writing service that charges more than five hundred dollars.It is also necessary to make sure that the resume writing service is a popular service among a lot of clients. Such resume writing services can find new clients even if the job vacancy or requirement is very limited.This resume writing service also needs to have good customer service. It is not the resume writing service's job to solve the problem of the job seeker but rather to fill the position and get hired on the spot.

The Exact Features Employers Look For In A Resume - CareerAlley

The Exact Features Employers Look For In A Resume - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Creating the perfect resume isnt an easy task, not least because it is so daunting. Employers place an enormous amount of value on a resume, so yours has to be on point. The sad thing is that far too many CVs arent up to standard when they reach the hiring table. Ninety-nine percent of the time that is the end of the job hunt as they wont hire a person who cant produce a simple piece of A4 paper. However, the hunt doesnt have to fall at the first hurdle. Anyone that understands what an employer wants to see when they look at a resume can use the information to their advantage. And guess what? You can find said info underneath. These are the features that you must promote if you want to land the job of your dreams. Job Specifics Using the same CV is the biggest mistake candidates can make. The reason its a major error is down to the fact that the employer is looking for specifics. They want to know how you will tackle the individual criterion that the job presents and they want vivid details. If they start to read a generic resume and covering letter combo, they will throw it straight in the garbage. A general resume is a sign that you havent read the job specification correctly, or didnt bother to address it. Either way, they dont have the time or inclination to call and ask you to explain. The morale of the story is always to tailor the resume to the job role. That way, you have a better chance of hitting the essential targets. Photo Higher Learning An online master in organizational leadership qualification isnt something to hold back. In fact, its something to promote as much as possible. The fact is that plenty of candidates have degrees nowadays due to bridge between education and the classes. Although thats good for you, it isnt healthy for the employers. They need to pick the people that stand out, yet they cant because everyone seems so similar. An additional qualification, then, will help you stand out from the crowd. Its a tick in the right box because it instantly puts you on a pedestal above the rest of the applicants. And, it doesnt matter how insignificant it seems as any extra qualification is beneficial in the workplace. Photo Keywords Oh no not search engine optimization! Yep, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but SEO is imperative even when youre looking for a job. The reason for the importance of SEO is down to the evolution of searching for jobs. Today, the hunt for a position takes place online, like everything else on the planet. As a result, your resume has to implement the same strategies as everyone else, including SEO. Employers that search for particular skills wont find your CV if the keywords arent on the page. Instead, they will find a multitude of others, which means you wont get the call. Now is the time to add buzzwords and phrases like teamwork or ability to work alone, especially if you use online job sites. If you arent sure which words are key, take a look online for help. Quantity And Quality Sure, employers want quality employees with top class skills and experience. Still, that doesnt mean they dont want to see lots of quantity either. Society seems to say that quality trumps quantity, yet that isnt always the case with employers. They want specifics, so they want to know the numbers as they give them more perspective regarding your achievements. For instance, a resume says something like I doubled the amount of traffic to the site. Thats awesome because its a success any time a person increases the sites traffic. But, its less impressive if the amount was small. Indeed, 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 is more notable than 100 to 200. Why? Its because it takes a lot of hard work and understanding of the industry to achieve such a goal. Photo Quick Summary The fact is that recruiters or managers dont have the time to read everything on a resume. Instead, they skim through it looking for the best features. A savvy candidate will notice that, if you make it easier for them, youre more likely to get a callback. Its human nature to reward those for that help you, which is why a summary is so useful. All the person has to do is read the summary at the top of the page, and they will know all they need to know. If it ticks all the boxes, the resume will go on the hiring pile instead of the firing pile. The secret is to keep it short and sweet. With that in mind, one line, snappy sentences are always the best option, as are bullet points. Motivational Speak Does your resume say you are motivated to do the job? In this current climate, lots of people come across as motivated, but only to secure a job. There is a difference between wanting a particular job and wanting any job, and employers will always go for the former. The candidates that just want a job also seem desperate, which isnt a good look. To make sure you dont seem desperate, you should explain your motivation behind the application. Have you always wanted to work in the industry? Is it a life long dream? Whatever the reason, makes sure the company understands that you arent a chancer looking for a steady paycheck. If they get the slightest whiff, they will discard you like yesterdays newspaper. Some good examples of poor motivational language are responsible for or ability to These phrases show youre listing your duties and not your accomplishments. And there you have it. As you can see, there is nothing special about any of the above. There are all easy to implement, and they are all very effective, which is why you should add them asap. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+

The 4th. sector - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

The 4th. sector - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I was at a conference monday on the fourth sector. In case you havent heard about this term, the fourth sector is a way of organizing that combines the best of the three existing sectors, ie. private industry, governments and volunteer organizations. Fourth sector organizations compete in the market like private companies, they work for a good cause and they often rely on a high degree of volunteerism. And this is precisely true of the happy at work project. We make our money just like any other consulting company out there (we havent recieved a dime of public money, and we dont want any). We strive to make people happy at work. Thats why were here. And were a volunteer organization, where everyone interested can join and contribute towards the cause. The conference was arranged by my good friends over at grasshoppers.dk and was refreshingly different, with nice little touches like a clown welcoming guests and yoga-breaks throughout. My main learning from the conference was, that the term fourth sector is flawed. There is no new sector and the organizations exhibiting fourth sector traits are found in the traditional three sectors. A fine example would be Kjaer Group, a danish company comitted to making a difference. Theyre definitely a private company making money in the market, but they also work to make a difference in the world, individually and together. So rather than being a matter of sector its a matter of intent or approach. Heres my definition of a fourth sector organization: A fourth sector organization, is one that does not see a contradiction between making a profit, improving the world and working voluntarily. So all we need now is a better term than fourth sector. Any ideas? Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related