Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Millennials View Diversity and Inclusion Differently

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Millennials View Diversity and Inclusion Differently Today’s workplaces are politically correct. We are careful not to say anything that might be perceived to marginalize or offend a particular group, and when it comes to age, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation, companies want to make sure every employee is respected and equally represented. We do this not because of profit, but because it’s the moral thing to do. This goal is at the heart of what most of us think of when it comes to diversity and inclusion. But as of this year, the millennial generation (comprised of those born 1980-95) constitutes a majority of the U.S. workforce â€" and this group of younger professionals has a unique idea of what true diversity and inclusion should look like. According to a 2015 study by The Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative (BJKLI) and The Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion (which surveyed 3,726 global professionals of all levels, ages, genders, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations), while millennials value the ideals of diversity and inclusion just like professionals in other generations, they define the constructs differently. Most baby boomers and even Generation X-ers view diversity and inclusion in terms of representation and assimilation. But for millennials, walking into an office lobby and seeing all types of people should be a given. True workplace diversity and inclusion means that people can come to work and be their genuine selves without fear of negative consequences. This is known as cognitive diversity. The study’s millennials shared that cognitive diversity is the secret sauce for better engagement and empowerment along today’s fickle employees; inclusion is important not as an abstract ideal that checks a box and makes everyone feel good, but as a critical tool that enables business competitiveness and growth. For more, head on over to the SilkRoad blog.

Interview A Look Into Summer Work and Study Abroad

Interview A Look Into Summer Work and Study Abroad Comment from Editor: In this post Kelly gives us great insight into internship abroad. This is something that a lot of college students have as an option so if you are one or if you know someone who is interested in an internship abroad  this is a definite good read! Enjoy!   Details, stories, and idiosyncrasies of another culture are fascinating. I had the privilege to interview (thank you, Skype!) my sister, Molly Spencer, student and athlete (womens swimming) at Rollins College who is currently on a summer work and study abroad program in Barcelona. July 7, 2014, 6pm in Sarasota, FL and midnight Barcelona, Spain. Kelly Christiansen: Thank you for making the time to interview! Are you getting ready to go out? Molly Spencer:  Not tonight; we are going to the One Direction concert tomorrow night at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium. KC:  So fun! Alright  I know its late there so lets get startedwhat was your decision making process for this internship? MS:  You were actually very beneficial in the process because I was looking at local possibilities and then you kind of put the idea in Moms head to branch out internationally. [KC studied aboard through AFS in Argentina for a summer in High School]. So thats when we started researching and I found this program for a 10-week internship, which was the same cost as a 5-week trip to Spain with my school, Ill take 10 weeks please! I applied to get credit through my school and signed up for the corresponding internship course that consists of some assignments I have to complete and submit weekly. The rest of the process was pretty standard as far as decisions go, I just kept following the logical path of steps to get the internship by filling out all of the proper forms, reading up on companies, participating in webinars to help prepare me for interviews and resume tweaking…all of which was included in the program. Really my only important decision was: am I up for having an amazing summer by traveling alone to Europe, working there, meeting new friends, gaining independence and more confidence, and checking things off of my bucket list? YES! KC: What were any challenges in your international work and study abroad program? MS: I havent really come across any challenges that I havent been able to handle here so I would say they are more like unanticipated events or surprises that I have come across. One was the complexity of the city; I did not realize how massive Barcelona was, and I was a little bit over confident in my ability to navigate it because I spent my summer of 2012 working in Chicago which I considered an expansive city. It took me longer than Id like to admit (a full day of wandering), to realize that the street signs are on little marble-looking plaques on the sides of buildings as you round the corners. They blend in and there are a few other random signs that are more similar to the street signs we are used to in the US so I just thought they only marked important streets at first! The metro was also daunting, I took taxis when I got lost for the first few days, but I quickly realized that was going to become an expensive habit. So now that I finally have mastered the metro (which is no t as hard as people told us, there are tons of signs down there). I can be lost or wandering and find any metro stop and know how to get back; its nice and it takes any panic of feeling lost out of my day-to-day experiences. In my internship, I welcome challenges that will help me learn more, but with that and this entire trip comes the challenge of being able to adapt to whatever situation I find myself in. Molly Spencer I am usually pretty relaxed and I am confident in my street smarts so this hasnt been too challenging for me; however, Barcelona is very well-known for robbery and pit-pocketing so being aware and on guard when in the crowds (which is every day) is vital and something I have had to adapt to and keep in mind. I was prepared to make friends; I came alone on purpose (I couldve done the Rollins trip and clung to feelings of familiarity), but I wanted to branch out and have this experience on my own which I highly recommend. I didnt want to miss a season of swimming or a semester at school (we only have 4 years!) by studying abroad in the fall or spring, but during the summer I wasnt going to miss anything; Ill see everyone in a few months! The people I have met in the program and outside of it are all so diverse. It is really cool to me to see how different everyone is and how so many people who are so diverse in personality/nationality can get along just by having some similar interests and the same location coordinates. So whether it was a professional or a more fun setting, I have met people from all over because Barcelona attracts a lot of people from all parts of the world. KC: Describe your classroom experience. MS: The first two weeks of the program were the classroom study where we were learning from locals and speaking Spanish. Compared to the US, where you do a lot of listening and taking notes, here you have the opportunity to talk so much more. For example, we were given a stack of questions to ask and answer in small groups. Our professors are a lot stricter here about ONLY speaking in Spanish. When someone didn’t understand something, the teacher asked [in Spanish], “Who can explain this”? By finding a different way to explain it in Spanish, it gets you out of the zone of trying to translate everything. KC: What is the fashion like? MS: It’s mixed. They have a lot of different tourists here from all over Europe. The fashion is very causal and relaxed. For my job [event planning] there is no dress code. Lots of times my boss wears jeans and blouses. I normally wear dresses but that’s just me. Everyone thinks its hot here but there is no humidity so for me its nice. It’s high 70s to mid 80s. It hasn’t gotten to the really hot season yet. KC: How is the celebrating different there versus in the US? MS: The celebrating is definitely different! There were no fireworks for the fourth of July but our flag is a fashion statement here. People wear t-shirts and tanks with the American flag on them and jean shorts with stars and stripes. Locals were wishing my friends and I [wearing American flagged outfits] “Happy Independence Day” as we walked along the beach to a boat cruise. KC: What about the clubs? MS: We don’t go to the clubs until 1:30 or 2am and they don’t close until 6am so we get home at 7 in the morning. It’s amazing. When I get back to school and we go out at 11:30pm it’s going to feel so early! KC: What is a typical day like at your internship? MS: I do a lot of independent work, self-regulating, managing my own time. The mission of my company, Erasmus Barcelona with Shaz List, is to organize trips, events, and parties for students that are either free or affordable.   I meet with the hostel managers and negotiate deals. That’s the one thing that is really cool here is that even though I am young, the professionals I call on treat me with respect and treat young adults like adults.   Within my job I have had to visit 6 hostels in one day so that helped me  successfully conquer the metro. In that respect I am always learning â€" whether I’m learning how to navigate the city or practicing Spanish when communicating with professionals so that I get our company’s message across. KC: Favorite place you have been to so far? MS: Barcelona in itself is amazing.   We have been to clubs like Opium but for a bar, my favorite place is lOvella Negra [the black sheep] â€" it is a touristy bar and a fun atmosphere with everyone socializing. For touristy attractions, I am biased [as a swimmer at Rollins College] but the Olympic Stadium with panoramic city view and pool is stunning. Share your study abroad insights +  pics with us in the comments below, on Facebook, and on Twitter @MsCareerGirl ! Columnist Archive

3 Ways to Avoid Job Search Scams - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

3 Ways to Avoid Job Search Scams - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Sometimes the promise of easy money can make us do crazy things. Liz is a (hypothetical) long-term job seeker. One day, she comes across an email from a man claiming to be a recruiter for one of the biggest companies in her industry. He explains he saw her LinkedIn profile and thinks her qualifications would make her a shoo-in for their latest opening. The man provides a link to a convincing landing page with an application, and tells her to fill it out quickly since the deadline is fast approaching. Liz, overjoyed about the opportunity she just received, fills it out with haste. The application seems pretty standard, and Liz didn’t even hesitate to fill out the section that required her social security number, thinking it was just standard protocol. She submits the application but never hears back from the recruiter. A few days later, she finds out her bank account has been wiped out thanks to the plethora of information she provided the scammer in her faux application. While this job search scam was made up, scenarios exactly like this happen incredibly often. Many scammers set up elaborate ploys designed to take advantage of job seekers’ vulnerable state, and some even use psychological tactics to reel you in. To help you become a more savvy job seeker, here are four tips to help you be aware of/avoid job search scams: 1. Watch where you’re searching Did you know many of the big online job boards don’t screen job listings before they publish? This means they rely on other people to flag the posts they think are scams before they take anything down. In the above example, Liz filled out an application she received over email. Obviously, this poses a problem. Many job seekers believe, if a job is posted on a well-known job board or comes from a seemingly-legitimate company, it’s automatically credible. This just isn’t the case and it might take someone falling for the scam before it’s taken off the site or reported. If you think a listing is a clear scam or too good to be true, do a little research on the company in order to confirm its legitimacy. If their website is amateur-looking and includes vague information as to how they operate, it probably doesn’t have the best reputation. If you Google their name, you may even find other peoples’ stories of how they got conned by the same company. Doing this critical step can save you an enormous amount of time, money, and mental problems in the future. 2. ABS (Always Be Skeptical) If a job posting or email opportunity looks too good to be true, it probably is! “Opportunities” that extend what seems to be large sums of money for little work such as data entry, forms processing, envelope stuffing, pyramid sales, etc.. are likely scams that seek to gather personal information or money from you. In the example above, Liz was so hell-bent on finding a job that, when a chance presented itself, she didn’t even stop to consider if it was a scam or not. Many scammers aren’t dumb and know how to make you believe they represent well-known, credible companies. Chances are, your dream company won’t be contacting you first they don’t need to! So any email or LinkedIn message you get from someone claiming to be a part of them needs to be reported or carefully researched. 3. Trust your instincts Scammers go after job seekers because they feel they can manipulate them the easiest. Don’t be one of those victims! Even if you’re itching to get hired, it’s important to always be on your guard so you don’t leave yourself vulnerable to job search scams. If you get an offer that includes obvious signs of a scam misspelled words, bad punctuation, unnecessary capitalization, $$$ and !!!!, etc. listen to your gut feeling and delete/ignore it, no matter how convincing they make it sound. If you come at a scam with a knowledgeable and skeptical attitude, you’re letting the scammer know you’re not going to let them toy with your emotions. Research companies, call them if they have a number, and trust your instincts so you can determine if the company is legitimate or not. And if you do find yourself caught up in a scam, report it immediately so others don’t fall victim. Have you ever encountered a job search scam? How did you handle the situation?

How to Give Feedback at Work - Classy Career Girl

How to Give Feedback at Work I received a great question last night that I missed answering on our live QA call so I wanted to address it on the blog this morning instead. I decided to give you an excerpt of my book, The Professional Womans Guide to Managing Men,  for the answer. Dear Classy Career Girl: Have you ever had to discipline or correct an employee?  How do you approach this in a professional manner and do you notice a difference when the employee is male?   It can be intimidating for a woman to provide feedback to a man. Men may not be as quick to solicit feedback from a woman and they definitely dont enjoy being criticized, especially by a woman. This can make giving feedback to a man a little tricky. Men are also less likely to ask for validation and positive reinforcement than women. I spoke with a man who rarely asks for feedback from his manager. He said: I rarely ask for feedback because I always assume I am doing it right unless feedback is given to me. I also dont usually want to hear the feedback if I am doing it wrong, which is why I sometimes avoid asking for it. Because of mens confidence in themselves, constructive feedback should be an ongoing process, not a once a year event. You need to make sure that you are vocal about what you expect so that your male employees can meet or exceed your expectations. Next time you need to give feedback to anyone on your team, use this 7-step model: 1. Prepare in advance. Make sure you have thought of an example and action step that you can provide him or her with. 2. Ask the person  if he or she has a minute for you to provide some quick feedback. They will be less likely to get defensive if you ask for permission ahead of time. 3. State specific examples that you observed without being judgmental. For example, I noticed the report you submitted to our client had some grammar mistakes. 4. Explain why this impacts you or your teams performance. Be as specific as you can and include measurable impacts as evidence if possible. For example, One of the errors I found was that the word their was incorrectly spelled. This poorly reflects the professionalism that our company desires. 5. Pause and ask for their  thoughts on what you said and what they can do to fix it. 6. Suggest action steps. For example, Next time, I would recommend having someone else on the team review the work before you submit it to the  client, or use the spellcheck function. 7. Pause and ask for  their  thoughts about the action steps. Make sure you both agree on how you will proceed. Document the action steps in an email so you are both on the same page. Be respectful by never providing feedback in a group setting. When giving this feedback to women, the only addition you would wan to make  would be including more small talk in the beginning. You don’t have to get the main point as quick as you would with a man. Have you given feedback before? Tell us how it went!

Cant Write a Resume and Cover Letter Free? - Learn How to Write a Resume and Cover Letter Free

Can't Write a Resume and Cover Letter Free? - Learn How to Write a Resume and Cover Letter FreeIf you've been unemployed for some time or if you are just out of college, there is a possibility that it might be difficult to find help writing a resume and cover letter. In fact, one may think that they just have to get a job and get on with life.Before thinking about what is to come, it's a good idea to clear your mind of the job hunt. You will be less likely to be discouraged if you see that others have gone through the same problems that you are facing. By doing this, you will be prepared to face the problem, knowing that it is not as hard as you thought.One thing that might help is to give yourself a break from the thought of looking for a free job. While it's a good idea to start looking for a job as soon as possible, it can be difficult if you are constantly thinking about it.Your resume and cover letter should be made at least three months before you're due to start work. This is because it takes time to prepare. If you can start when you have just started work, you will be less likely to be in the position of being nervous if you begin working in the middle of your search.If you are too busy to spend a lot of time preparing for your resume and cover letter, or if you are too busy to write them yourself, you can always hire a professional. It might be a bit of a sacrifice, but it will be well worth it in the end.Professional writers can usually provide a better service than you could, so it's worth looking into this option. They will offer more attention to detail and will have experience and qualifications to know how to write a better resume and cover letter.You can also use this service if you don't want to spend money on a complete curriculum vitae. If you just need to get some information together to use in the cover letter, you might not be able to get any better than this.So, if you're thinking about taking advantage of free resume and cover letter te mplates, you will probably be able to use one of these services as well. It may take a little longer to get things done, but it will also be easier to be taken seriously if you've prepared properly.

Follow These 3 LinkedIn Tips if You Recently Changed Careers - CareerEnlightenment.com

Let’s say you were a marketer and now you want to be a project manager. Go to your LinkedIn headline and call yourself a project manager. Sure, you’ll have mixed feelings at first but if you’re always thinking about it, then why aren’t you a project manager? You enjoy the work. You’re good at it. You have skills that make you qualified.Heck, you “love” being a project manager.And, the best part is, since you now call yourself by the new title, employers looking for one of you will more likely find you when they search on LinkedIn. If you were an employer, would you search up someone using this term, “ex-marketer turned project manager,” or would you just search for project manager?3. Recruiters: Strategically Add ‘Em to Your NetworkWhen it comes to your network, size matters. More connections means more  possibilities.Have you noticed how many recruiters are on LinkedIn? I bet some have even randomly tried connecting with you and you cringed.Well, stop. Don’t b e afraid of them. They can help you a ton.Being connected to a fleet of recruiters who focus on placing folks in your industry (and in your location) matters more than almost any other factor.Most recruiting firms specialize in a job function or industry. They are paid by companies in that industry to locate and filter through talent. Therefore, guess who’s in their LinkedIn network? The professionals you also want to be connected with.It’s making more sense now, right?On top of that, recruiters want you in their network, since they might want to pitch you for a position. So, when you add a recruiter whom you don’t even know, they’re extremely likely to accept your invite.

Avoid These Mistakes When Going Solo - CareerAlley

Avoid These Mistakes When Going Solo - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Embracing a solo career is for many employees a dream that would take them out of the office routine and let them shape a workplace to their taste and interests. However, many enthusiastic entrepreneurs accidentally burn their wings by flying too close to the sun without a structured business. Everyone starts with a brilliant business idea. However, your journey to entrepreneurship needs to include many more steps before youre ready to launch a business. Tweet This Every year, more and more small businesses shut down, and their owner is forced to reintegrate the workplace as a regular employee. There is, unfortunately for ambitious independents, no secret success recipe. However, there are some costly mistakes that could stop them from building a stable venture. Pixabay CC0 License The idea isnt enough Everyone starts with a brilliant business idea. However, your journey to entrepreneurship needs to include many more steps before youre ready to launch a business. Your idea is only the first step. But your business plan is the most critical factor. Indeed, your business plan acts as a compass to guide your company growth. It is designed to use your research to define the best strategy. As this stage, you are making sure that youve got the right pieces and that you can connect them together. Additionally, your business plan also provides insights into your costs and your revenue forecast, which is the type of information money lenders will need to decide on a commercial loan. People are hanging up on you You are in a strange position where you need to become the face of your solo business. For a lot of independent experts, the hardest part of their day is not to keep their knowledge up-to-date but to be able to sell themselves to their clients. If you are uncomfortable with a direct approach, you will benefit from getting online sales training to enhance your skills. Indeed, you want to be able to talk to your prospective clients and keep them engaged with your offer naturally. Too many untrained sellers try to bypass client relationship to get to the actual pricing and negotiating part, which can affect your credibility. Pixabay CC0 License Nobody wants to read your resume How do you share your expertise without sending a complete professional history of your career? The answer is: You create a portfolio that showcases your skills and work. Indeed, producing your professional resume makes you appear amateurish. Youre not in a job-seeking position anymore. As an entrepreneur, you want clients to come to you and ask for your services. Therefore, building a portfolio that presents your best work and shows your versatility is an excellent idea. Starting your own business isnt for the faint of heart. Its stressful and pretty much demands your complete focus. On the plus side, it can also be a fulfilling experience professionally and personally. Entrepreneur.com Learn how to connect to people You have 500+ LinkedIn contacts, and you have zero contacts. How is that possible? If you havent dedicated a lot of attention to your networking activities in the past, you probably wake up to a large number of professional connections that you dont know. Too many professionals add new contacts without interacting with them. Make it a priority to send a personalized note when youre adding a new connection. Additionally, engage with the content that your contacts share and create. No solo business can become a success overnight. Success takes a long time to build. However, by ensuring that youve got solid foundations, you can encourage a rapid and decisive growth phenomenon. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search