Career Archives - Page 4 of 12 - The Career Success Doctor

How To Succeed At Interview – Change The Way You Breathe

In previous blogs I’ve talked about How To Succeed At Interview using your body language, and using your voice. This latest video is all about building rapport and making that all-important good impression in less than 10 seconds using your breath. This is certainly the subtlest way to build a connection with another person very rapidly, and arguably the relationship you build is deeper than with any other method.

It’s all about noticing how the other person breathes, and matching where they breathe from, the speed of breath, and when they are breathing in and out. It works in interviews, work meetings with relative strangers, bank managers, mortgage brokers, and even blind dates!

Check out the video below for the why, the what and the how of improving your chances of interview success using this method.

A Job Offer You Don’t Like? 5 Things To Consider Before Accepting

Written by Natalia

When you’re searching for a new job, chances are that you won’t like every job offer you get. Maybe the salary is lower than your standards, the required working hours don’t leave you any time for your family, or the company culture doesn’t suit you.

It is completely normal not to like each and every job offer you have. We all have our preferences.

However, there are times that people choose to accept a job offer they don’t really like. Sometimes it is due to financial reasons, especially if they are searching for a job for a long time and their savings account is getting lower. Another reason would be that their job hunt has lasted more than a couple of months and they have lost their self-confidence. In difficult times it’s easy to lose hope and feel desperate.

Nevertheless, whatever the reasons are that drive us to accept a less-than-ideal job offer, we should never forget the power of negotiation. You’ll never know what you could have accomplished if you don’t at least try!

Of course, there’s also the option to turn it down. Sometimes, a greater opportunity could be just around the corner. If you can afford to wait for it and chase it, it might be the best move.

If you are in a situation like this, trying to decide what to do, Heather Huhman, in her article in Glassdoor, suggests 5 things to consider before accepting a job offer you don’t like.

“Imagine you’ve just finished interviewing with several employers. Out of all of the interviews, you received one job offer. It wasn’t exactly what you wanted. Do you accept it?

If you’ve experienced a long-term job search, you’re probably feeling like you should take what you can get. But when you encounter offers you don’t completely love, you must ask yourself if you will accept the job offer, attempt to negotiate, or wait for a better opportunity to come along.”

Read the whole article here: “5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Accepting a Job Offer You Don’t Love”

Female Leadership: The Most Undervalued Traits

Written by Natalia

It’s not such a long time ago that we wrote about a piece of research on female leadership , where we saw that people have actually started to recognise women as leaders. After our last post on Top Qualities Of Effective Leaders, I wanted to come back on the subject of female leadership. And, believe me, not without reason!

I received an email on Monday night telling me I had to read a great article published some days ago on Forbes. To be completely honest with you, even as I’m writing this, I have already read the article 4 times! And every time I see in it more people I recognise; traits of women I look up to, role models, even relatives. Glenn Llopis, the author, has written the most comprehensive article on women’s psychology and way of thinking I’ve read for a long time. And from my point of view, the most extraordinary thing is that it is written by a man.

“I was surrounded by strong-willed, hardworking and purpose-driven women. It is through their leadership that the traditions, values and legacy of our family have been upheld. My grandmother, mother, wife, and sister-in-law all possess natural leadership skills and they are masters of opportunity management – seamlessly keeping us all in check while running the family household and at the same time supporting our family businesses. They have taught me that a woman’s instincts and emotional intelligence can be off the chart. They seamlessly manage crisis and change and are turnaround experts – sensing and neutralizing any signs of danger well before it invades our path. It is because of the women in our family that we are well-organized, full of love, spiritually aligned and well-balanced. We are by no means a perfect family, but we are a modern family who embraces traditions even as we adapt to changing times.”

I could almost feel you nodding while you were reading that. And even for our male readers I bet it was difficult not to think of their mother, their sister, their wife. Throughout this article, you will see attributes of almost every woman you have ever known.

These attributes are what makes women great leaders. We are born with these characteristics. These traits are in our genes. It’s up to us to make use of these traits and become the leaders we were meant to be.

Although there has been a huge improvement over the last years on rejecting gender stereotypes that want women not to be “leader material”, we have a long road ahead of us. But we can’t expect the world to see things differently, unless we teach them how to see things from another perspective. We have to show them they are wrong. We have to show them that female leadership is not just a ‘trendy’ phrase, nor a joke. If we want to change the world, we have to show them that women can be great leaders!

Read the article here: “The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits Of Women”

I’ll close with the author’s last two sentences with the hope his wish comes true: “Rarely have I read something from a man who has been inspired and influenced by the wisdom of a woman’s leadership. Hopefully this perspective helps awaken more of us to the opportunity of learning about leadership from the women in our lives, whether in the home or at work.”

Brian Tracy – Top Qualities Of Effective Leaders

Written by The Career Success Doctor

Moodling round the internet, looking for ideas for a summit a colleague and I are creating (more of that to come), I came across an article and video by Brian Tracy on the Top Qualities Of Effective Leaders. Since my PhD thesis is on Leadership and Spirituality, I’m always curious to find out what other people have to say on the subject of Leadership.

As well as being a personal development expert, Tracy is also a super salesman, so this recent article on leadership is very much geared up to selling his book. However, he does know a thing or two whereof he speaks, and he does have good ideas, so I took a few moments just to absorb what he has to say on the subject.

Change The Way You Think Of Yourself As A Leader

As Tracy points out, Leadership is essential in all walks of life. It’s easy to say ‘Oh, I’m not a leader’ but if you want real career or business success, then you’d better step up and become one! I remember going on a leadership course over 15 years ago. It was a personal development course, and I thought I wanted to be seen as a leader at work. What I discovered was that, if you’re going lead others, whether it’s in the workplace, at home, in your social life, in your helping the community life, you first have to learn how to lead yourself.

Pity I hadn’t studied with Tracy (although I’m not sure effective leadership was his thing back in 1996), because he talks about the importance of personal/self development for leaders. I love the following comment: ‘You are what you think you are. Your self-concept determines your performance. You can become a much more effective leader by changing your self-concept, by changing the way you think about yourself as a leader.’

‘Your self-concept determines your performance’. Have you noticed that in your life and career?

What ARE The Qualities Of Effective Leaders?

In the video on The Qualities Of Effective Leaders which is linked to the article – and which, presentationally, is a bit clunky, but never mind – Tracy highlights the following points which we need to take on board to become good or great leaders.

Top leaders focus on their strengths and developing their strengths and the strengths of those around them.
Good leaders know how to be role models in and outside work
Integrity – people follow people they trust
Choose your boss with care.

I particularly like the last one!

Meantime here is the link to the rest of the article on 2 Leadership Traits Needed to Become a Great Leader.

What do you think? I’d love to see your comments.

Working Women And Health Issues: Sitting Is Deadly!

Written by Natalia

Most of us already know sitting is bad for our health, but how many of us actually know that sitting is deadly? No, I’m not exaggerating; this is what four experts say in the report presented below.

We all know that prolonged sitting causes obesity and disrupts metabolic function -anyone trying to lose weight is aware of this-, and that’s why more people every day are adopting a healthier lifestyle, including exercise in their daily schedule.

Nonetheless, research shows that even if we engage in regular exercise, it’s not enough to neutralise the consequences of too much sitting during the rest of the day.

According to a study by Dr. Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, sitting for 11 or more hours per day increased risk of death by 40 percent, regardless of other activity levels (Van Der Ploeg, Hidde P. (2012). “Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality Risk in 222 497 Australian Adults”. Archives of Internal Medicine, 172(6), 494-500. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.2174).

Considering that most of us work in an office, we spend 8-10 hours on a chair in front of our desk. If you add the time we spend sitting in non-working hours, such as in our car stuck in traffic, having lunch or dinner -especially in a restaurant with clients or friends and family where we tend to spend more time due to discussions and socialisation-, and of course, when we’re back home after a long day sitting on the couch watching TV seems such a nice and relaxing idea! OK, did I just counted at least 12 hours sitting daily? According to the experts, we are slowly killing ourselves.

In the infographic below, published in The Washington Post Health & Science, you’ll find a report about all the health issues researchers have linked with sitting for long periods of time and why they claim that sitting is deadly.

Therefore, apart from exercising we need to cut down the hours we spend sitting. We should spend less time in front of the TV, go for a walk instead of sitting on the couch, go on foot to the closest convenient store instead of taking the car; there are plenty of ideas! But what about work?

Considering the nature of our jobs, that’s easier said than done. We have to change our working habits and incorporate more activity.

It is important to note here that standing is not panacea. Prolonged standing has its own risks as it can lead to “the development of musculoskeletal disorders, especially in the legs, knees and lower back. While you can stand for as long as it feels comfortable, most experts recommend a 50:50 sit-stand ratio” (as stated in Men’s Health, “Best Stand-up Desks“).

In the report below the interviewed experts suggest a few things we can do to eliminate the dangerous effects of sitting in our health and change our working practices. Apart from that, here are some other things you could try:

Stand up while you are on the phone.

That way you can walk around your office every time you are taking calls.

Implement active meetings.

Have you seen how Hugh Laurie as Dr House in the famous TV series ‘House MD’ conducts meetings with his team? Walking on the corridors of the hospital, or in the elevator while going to see a patient. Although we are not all famous doctors that everyone needs urgently, using his way and implementing walking meetings will be truly beneficial for our health. Not to mention that by moving small meetings from the conference room to the concourse will boost creativity.

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“The health hazards of sitting”
Reporting by Bonnie Berkowitz, Graphic by: Patterson Clark

The experts | Scientists interviewed for this report:
James A. Levine, inventor of the treadmill desk and director of Obesity Solutions at Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University.
Charles E. Matthews, National Cancer Institute investigator and author of several studies on sedentary behaviour.
Jay Dicharry, director of the REP Biomechanics Lab in Bend, Ore., and author of “Anatomy for Runners.”
Tal Amasay, biomechanist at Barry University’s Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences

Read the The health hazards of sitting report on Washington Post Health & Science.

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