Job Search Tips - How to Increase Your SuccessWritten by Steve Kaye
Finding a job can be a painful and difficult experience. Here are three things that you can do to minimize pain and increase your chances of success.1) Approach finding a job as if it were a full-time job, because it is. Consider this: if you had a job, you would report to work at same time each day (like 8 am), take an hour (or less) for lunch, and quit at same time each day (like 5 pm). You would work five days every week. And you would work hard to accomplish as much as you could because your career depended upon it. When you are searching for a job, you should follow same type of schedule because your future depends upon it. Treating your job search like a part-time hobby guarantees that it will take longer. It even sets you up for failure. In addition, lack of focused activity will create a sense of helplessness. That sends you into a downward emotional spiral that makes it increasingly difficult to find a job. So, begin tomorrow by reporting to work and spending day on tasks that lead to a job. 2) Approach finding a job as if it were a project. That means you should set goals for yourself, make plans, and monitor your progress. You should apply all of tools and skills that you used in your last job to project of finding your next job. As you must expect, this is an important project. The sooner you complete it, sooner you gain a promotion into a job. 3) Be your own boss. You must set expectations for what you need to accomplish. You must provide direction. And you must monitor your work.
| | Comparing Classic and Modern Corporate and Personal Development ProgramsWritten by Dr. Jason Armstrong
In 1990s Stephen Covey’s name became famous through publication of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. As many know “7 habits” are not a group of new concepts but age-old approaches to success represented in a way that can be clearly applied to modern day personal and corporate development. These precepts are taught in a number of ancient development, and achievement arts which have been practiced for thousands of years. Although many of these concepts have been lost and misinterpreted, they exist and can be translated in non-extreme forms, from such arts as: Zen (which is not a religion, but a path for self discovery and growth), “Art of War” by Sun Tzu (the classic text on strategy which is often regarded as most definitive text on topic), and Tao de Ching (the “book of change”).Profound lessons for leadership, change, victory and non-conflict have arisen from bodies of work such as “Art of War”, because learnings came from life and death scenarios. Obviously today’s corporate world does not induce a mechanism for change, and success, anywhere near as strong as these ancient arts as consequence of failure is far less. This is why groups such as Samurai, and post-war Corporate Japan, adopted highly refined lessons from Chinese Zen and “Art of War”. However, modern Asia is very different from its past. Today such cultures as Japan often see an environment which is one of most materialistic and rapid success oriented cultures around, quite a contrast to its approaches of past. Today many Western corporate cultures are now embracing past strategies to avoid conflict and gain success. The strategy text “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, is often incorrectly viewed as an aggressive approach to victory. However, it is essentially a master text on “Conflict Management” and “Win-Win” scenarios (“Win-Win”, habit 4 of Stephen Covey). It also discusses partnering in detail (“Synergize”, habit 6 of Stephen Covey), project planning (“begin with end in mind”, habit 2 of Stephen Covey) and has many direct relationships to goal attainment in corporate and personal development contexts.
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