Revitalize your network
The best time to strengthen your circle of contacts is when you’re not looking for a job. Call former colleagues and bosses now for a quick “catch-up” chat.
Year: 2011
Boss’s request dicey? Here’s what to do
Occasionally, your boss may ask you to do something that is against your better judgment. Admins must know how and when to push back on a boss. Scott Eblin, author of “The Next Level” blog, offers these suggestions:
Make a friend of mistakes
Resist the temptation to hide mistakes, minimize them or blame them on outside forces. Accept them, dissect them and learn from them. You grow stronger from each one.
Caught by the boss looking for a new job?
Question: “My boss recently learned that I had considered taking a new job. I admitted to checking out the job market, but told him that I’m not planning to quit. He became very upset and started to talk about replacing me. Now I’m afraid I’ll be fired. What should I do?” – Charles
Making it plural
Writers sometimes stumble over how to make words plural. Here are two tricky situations: 1. Family and brand names. 2. Decades and other numbers.
Not all stress is bad
Good stress is excitement when you’re about to tackle a challenge. Bad stress comes from fretting or blowing problems out of scale. Learn to recognize the difference.
Is the job worth a nip and a tuck?
A 64-year-old receptionist in a Chicago doctor’s office—we’ll call her Jane—recently received an ultimatum: Do something about your thinning hair or be transferred to a job with less patient contact. Jane says, “I was absolutely devastated.” How far would you go to stay competitive by improving your looks?
Make one follow-up call a day
Ask, “Were those figures what you needed?” or, “Did my boss get back to you?” You’ll build your professional image.
What’s new and cool in Office 2010?
If you’re using Office 2007 and wondering whether it’s worth the trouble to upgrade to Office 2010, take a look at a few new features for each application, then decide. OutlookUnder the heading of “new” and “cool” in Outlook has to be the new conversation cleanup feature. When several people use Reply All in a […]
How to push ideas past naysayers
Nearly every office has a person who shoots down ideas before they even get off the ground: the naysayer who always pinpoints the reason your idea won’t work. The only way to defeat a naysayer is to be ready for her. Know how to respond to every one of the blockades she puts in your way.