Water Cooler Wisdom
Up-to-the-minute career advice from one who has survived the trenches.
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How to Neutralize an Angry Customer
What do you do if you’re sitting at your desk, minding your own business, and an irate customer disturbs your peaceful day? People who work at call centers for a living are experts at neutralizing angry people, and they suggest acknowledging the customer’s frustration and listening without interrupting. If you get defensive or sound annoyed, you'll fuel her fire, but if you let her vent for a few minutes and don’t allow her to engage you, she’ll eventually cool off. ... |
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Book Review: The Twitter Job Search Guide
One of the most common questions I get asked during speaking engagements is 'Tell me why I should be on Twitter.' Well, if you're a job seeker, this book answers that question and many more. The eminently readable Twitter Job Search Guide: Find a Job and Advance Your Career in Just 15 Minutes a Day will have you excited to leverage Twitter's potential for your own professional gain before you finish the last page. The book was packed with so much valuable... |
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Reinventing Yourself in a Recession
I recently did an interview with Jessica Stillman at BNET on strategies for reinventing yourself during a recession. Here are some snippets from the interview: Statistics show that the average young American will change jobs nine times by the time they’re 32, which is many more times than in the past. Do you think younger workers have a different attitude towards career change compared to older workers? Yes — on the whole, younger workers are looking to adapt their work to the lifestyle... |
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Traits of Successful Salespeople
When I worked in the agency world, there were certain individuals who could always be counted on to bring in the big clients. My boss used to say that these guys had “the magic touch,” but that wasn’t necessarily true. They actually possessed very concrete traits, including the following: Good Listening: Top salespeople don’t go into a client meeting and dominate the conversation. Instead, they get the customer talking about what pains him and what he needs. ... |
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10 Industries on the Decline
At nearly every speaking engagement I do, someone asks a question about declining job sectors. Margaret Steen wrote this excellent article on the topic for Yahoo! Hot Jobs in which I contributed my thoughts: Is your industry on the decline? The federal government projects that a number of industries will lose jobs from 2008 to 2018. "You can't sit around and wait for news to come out about what's going to happen to your industry," said Alexandra Levit, author of... |
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20 Questions for Would-Be Entrepreneurs
If I was an entrepreneur and Guy Kawasaki told me that a book should be required reading in any business school, I’d want to pick up a copy. So is the case with serial entrepreneur GL Hoffman’s incredibly useful new book: Start Up: 100 Tips to Get Your Business Going. Here are some of the questions GL answers for us: 1. Should you jump in and save every sales situation? Number 59. This answer makes you a leader. 2. Do you have to know everything that's... |
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What Do I Tell Them About My Layoff?
One of the most common job seeker dilemmas I hear about these days is how to position a layoff with prospective employers. My advice – pure and simple – is to mention it directly. Since the subject of how you left your last job will inevitably come up in the context of discussing your recent work experience, I don’t think you can really hide the true story without coming across as insincere or even dishonest. Nor should you. Consider how many people have been laid off... |
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30/20 Vision: Your Social Responsibility
Join me and my wonderful co-hosts, Christine Hassler (author of The 20-Something Manifesto) and Lindsey Pollak (author of Getting from College to Career), for our next 30/20 Vision podcast tomorrow (February 15) 5:00pm EST. Our topic this month is incorporating social responsibility into your life and using volunteering to further your personal and professional goals. Click here to join us live or download the episode anytime. |
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Why Office Popularity Matters
In high school, didn’t a part of you always wonder how the cool kids did it? Popularity remained an enigmatic aspect of human existence that ceased to be relevant once we threw our caps in the air…right? There are scores of research studies on popularity in schools, and most have indicated that popular children are viewed as better students and make and maintain friendships more easily. In 2009, however, organizational psychologists Timothy Judge and B.A. Scott at the University of Florida... |
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Practice Good Karma at Work
According to the Buddhist tradition, karma is the total effect of a person's actions during successive phases of existence. It assumes that your conduct in this lifetime will influence events and relationships in future lifetimes. Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, practicing good karma at work can only help you, for most people see the consequences of their behavior play out in this life. How do you do it? The main strategy is to consciously manage your... |
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6 Ways Working Parents Can Spend More Time Parenting
Here are some tips I recently shared on Lifehacker and ABC News:Choose webinars over in person training: Webinar technology allows for one-way communication from an individual speaker to an audience, and it can include polling and electronic Q&A. You can now avoid two days trekking through airports on both ends of a conference, which is a major win if you're a working parent. Services like Cisco’s WebEx don't require any special software or hardware. All you have to do is... |
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How I Stay Happy
In the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Gretchen Rubin, the writer of the Happiness Project blog and the bestselling book The Happiness Project, a little better. Gretchen was kind enough to feature an interview with me on happiness, a topic I really enjoy but haven’t had the chance to discuss much on Water Cooler Wisdom. I thought you might be interested in some of my thoughts. Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier? Alexandra:... |
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Turn a Temp Job into a Permanent One
My friend and colleague Anita Bruzzese wrote a great piece for her Gannett News Service column and her blog, 45 Things. She was kind enough to feature my thoughts on turning a temp job into a permanent one, as well as terrific advice from Martha Finney, president of Engagement Journeys. Here’s what Anita had to say: “Employers, still nervous about the health of the economy, have kept their permanent staff numbers lean, but have boosted their number of temporary workers. So,... |
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Lessons Learned from New Job, New You
Sometimes success hits you when you least expect it: I worked on promotional tactics like the New Job, New You webinar and website for a good chunk of the last four months. And while these did reasonably well, none of them compared to the incredible response I received from the Chicago launch event at Rockit Wrigley Bar & Grill on January 12th. The event was planned more or less at the last minute, but nevertheless we had 250 people register and a waiting list of 50. ... |
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How to Conquer Self Doubt
Self doubt has been something I’ve struggled with all my life, from debating whether I could get into a top tier university to believing I could succeed as a writer. It’s a very human emotion, and it’s made worse for some people because of life experiences or temperament. Self doubt also makes you feel alone. Sometimes you think you’re the only person in the universe who suffers from a crisis of confidence, and you wish that you could be more like your successful, self-assured neighbor.... |
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30/20 Vision: The Future of Work
Join me and my fabulous co-hosts, Christine Hassler (author of The 20-Something Manifesto) and Lindsey Pollak (author of Getting from College to Career), for our next 30/20 Vision podcast on Wednesday, January 20th at 5:00pm EST. Our topic this month is The Future of Work: what it will look like and what that means for you.Click here to join us live or download the episode anytime. |
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Book Review: B-A-M: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World
My friend and colleague Barry Moltz has finally written the customer service book that should be required reading for anyone who interfaces with current or potential buyers. B-A-M, which stands for Bust-A-Myth, debunks the 20 common myths of customer service-from "The customer is always right" to "Customer service means the same thing to everyone," to "Companies achieve customer service by under-promising and over-delivering.” In an era where just... |
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Millennials Are Still Optimistic About the Future
Against a backdrop of economic volatility, the vast majority of young professional women believe they will have rewarding careers balanced with fulfilling personal lives, according to research just released by Accenture. The research also generated the Accenture Millennial Women Workplace Success Index, which identified two primary qualities as key to workplace success – the ability to balance personal and professional lives and a job where they can make a difference. Ultimately,... |
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Thou Shall Not Slander
In the last few months, I have spotted no fewer than three examples of one person in our social networking community slandering another person in our social networking community. I use the word slander, although technically it's more like libel because the articles are written by bloggers who are read by thousands. I am not going to tell you who they are because A) I will not stoop to their level and B) that would send even more attention their way, which is exactly what... |
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Manage Your Career Via Your iPhone
My friend and role model Stephen Covey and his partner Jennifer Colosimo, have just released the new book, Great Work, Great Career: How to Create Your Ultimate Job and Make an Extraordinary Contribution. Even better, though, they've developed a companion application for the iPhone so that you can think about your career and pursue action steps during downtime! Features are based on the key content areas of the book and include: Know Your Strengths – Research-based assessments... |