“Although I’m viewed positively at work, I believe my reserved demeanor is holding me back. I’m not shy, but I have trouble making small talk … Can you suggest some communication strategies for meetings and social situations?” — Not a Talker
Every résumé should contain strong action verbs that kick off most bullet points and accomplishment-based statements, says Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, CEO of Great Resumes Fast. Could your résumé use sprucing up? Take a look at Hernandez’s favorite action words—and give your résumé a makeover:
It’s easy to have your good mood shattered by a nasty customer, an out-of-the-blue criticism or a computer system that refuses to cooperate. Think of angry customers as a creativity test. Satisfy them without letting their discontent bring you down. Four tips:
It’s become a reality-show catchphrase: “I’m not here to make friends.” The implication is that to win, you can’t afford to treat people generously. Will you go further by being cutthroat or collaborative? Let’s look at the data:
A reader recently wrote: What gives with everybody using the words “to myself” instead of “to me”? The administrative people around me always write things like: “Please send your response to my secretary or myself.” That makes no sense … Did someone make this grammatically correct and forget to tell me?
These seven phrases won’t get an admin noticed—at least, not in a good way, says Dave Willmer, the executive director of OfficeTeam. He recently compiled a list of the words your manager doesn’t want to hear:
Proofreading alert! According to search engines Google and Yahoo, the most common misspellings in searches are not due to the difficulty of the word, but rather to sloppiness … Make restaurant reservations in a fraction of the time, now that Yelp.com and OpenTable.com have integrated their web sites … Reduce ink use and save money by changing your default e-mail font to Century Gothic.
You’ve either seen it or done it: You disagree with something during a meeting, but instead of speaking up, you sit there and stew. Maybe that’s because whenever an alternative point of view is raised, it gets batted down. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing. Here are tips on managing your allies strategically, arguing professionally and making sure you have a safety net in place:
Say you’re an office manager, and you’ve heard from several employees about a problem with the way people use the break rooms. You need to write an e-mail that helps resolve the problem. What’s the most effective way to write it? A few decades ago, a formal tone was proper for memos. Today that same tone sounds cold to most ears.
A reader recently wrote asking about the usage of “per.” It’s common to see sentences such as: “I’ve attached a copy of the contract, per your request.” Some reference books point out that “per” is correctly used to mean “by the,” as in “per hour.” And other guides recommend using more familiar English words.
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