Skip to content

Category: Career

Leverage your intuition on the job

Your gut tells you to wait a day before sending an angry e-mail or to stay away from the rumor mill. That’s your intuitive intelligence, says best-selling author and UCLA psychiatrist Judith Orloff. By checking in with your intuitive coach, she says in her book Second Sight, you end up making better on-the-job decisions and navigating office politics masterfully.

Didn’t impress? Try again

You already know nothing is more valuable than a good first impression. What should you do if you arrived late, stuck your foot in your mouth or just weren’t feeling like your usual self during that first encounter? Should you throw in the towel and accept your fate? Absolutely not! Even though research supports the difficulty in overcoming a negative first impression, you can take action to up the odds of getting back in someone’s good graces.

Cheer up with a good read

Happiness coaching is seeping into the workplace, The Wall Street Journal noted recently. It’s considered an antidote to the recession and its effect on the workplace. Here are four books that tackle the topic of happiness:

2010 résumé: What’s in, what’s out

Make your résumé more cutting-edge with these tips for 2010: Example: Don’t put an objective statement at the top of your résumé. “Ditch it immediately,” advises Jack Williams, vice president of national sales and recruiting for Staffing Technologies. Employers don’t care what a potential hire wants to do. “They care whether they can do what the employer needs them to do,” he says. Other tips:

Read like a CEO

Put yourself on the same page as your boss, literally, by reading what he’s reading. Some of the best books on executives’ nightstands: Superfreakonomics, Outliers, Built to Last, The Upside of the Downturn, Viral Loop and Too Big to Fail.

Climbing the career ladder

Question: “After making a career change, I am six weeks into a new job at a large health care company. I hope to be promoted to a specific position in the next three years. In trying to get ahead, I understand the importance of all the basic stuff, like good attendance, proper dress, meeting deadlines and so forth. But can you suggest any other smart moves for career-minded new employees?”

9 tips for an emergency energy boost

“When your energy level is low, everything feels like a chore,” says Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, “even things that would ordinarily make you happy.” Exercise and a good night’s sleep can boost energy, of course. But what if you need more energy right now? Try one of these strategies: