Ask James What should I ask my mentor

Ask James What should I ask my mentor by James Reed Not sure how to make the most of your mentor? In his monthly column, career coach and Chairman of  reed.co.uk, James Reed, shares his expert advice to help you tackle your biggest career concerns.In this month’s column, James gives his top tips on what to ask your mentor…The Question:Hi James, I have a mentor (a senior manager in my company) and we have been meeting on a monthly basis. So far so good. He’s told me a lot about his story how he got to where he is today, and overall I’ve found having a mentor really useful. But, I’d like to make sure I’m getting the most out of the relationship and asking the right questions.Since you’ve mentioned mentoring in your blogs, I wondered if you’d be able to offer any advice on what questions to ask my mentor?  Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!  Jen  The Answer:Dear Jen,Thanks for taking the time to write to me.I am really pleased to hear that you are finding your experi ence as a mentee rewarding.I myself have experienced being both a mentor and mentee during my career and I fully support the benefits of having a mentoring system in place.In terms of receiving the most from your mentor, you’re absolutely right it’s important to ask the right questions.It sounds like you’ve heard a lot of anecdotal advice, but it’d be useful for you to get some tailored to your role and situation. The questions you ultimately focus in on will depend largely on what you’re struggling with, or areas you’d like to improve, but as a general starting point you might find it useful to ask questions about specific situations you’ve experienced at work. Maybe you’ve thought, ‘I wish I knew how to do this…’ or ‘I’d like to know how to approach that better…’Explain the situation you encountered to your mentor and he will likely be able to give you some tips and advice on how to handle it differently next time, or offer reassurance that you handl ed it well.Reflecting on specific tasks and situations will also help you to identify areas that you would like to brush up on. Once you’ve identified these areas, you can then ask specific questions on these topics. For example, you may ask your mentor for tips on public speaking, general management tips, or even how to approach a particular project.Having a mentor can be a hugely valuable experience, but it is a two-way street. Try to take on board the advice your mentor offers you, and gain as much knowledge from their experiences as you can.JamesFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Ask James Career Development

How to Prepare a Summary Statement for Your Resume

How to Prepare a Summary Statement for Your ResumeIn resume writing, you will need to present a summary statement for your future employer. Many employers will simply have you complete this section without the need to read it. A well written summary statement will get the job done with as little effort as possible. When properly prepared and presented, this part of your resume can serve as an important selling point for your next job opportunity.Before you start to prepare a summary statement, you will need to decide what your objective is in writing it. Do you want to get an interview? Do you want to land a job?To help you get started, create an outline plan for your resume. Then, organize your summary statement by dividing it into three sections. Once your outline is completed, you will be ready to start writing your summary statement.There are several types of bullet points that you can use to begin writing your summary statement. The most common style is to list your most relevan t skills on the top half of the page. Other paragraphs will describe the specific duties and responsibilities you will be responsible for in your new position. You will also describe what abilities and personality traits you possess that will make you a great fit for the position.Use bullet points to help you write your summary statement. First, list your most relevant skills or abilities on the top half of the page. Then, follow with the specific duties or responsibilities you will be responsible for in your new position.When preparing your summary statement, don't forget to provide as much information as possible. This is because employers have already reviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes. Using too many details might cause them to skip over your resume and choose another candidate. Using one or two details will allow them to quickly skim through your resume without losing focus.The best thing to do is to spend as much time as possible researching the job opening. Write down all the tasks that you have done in the past that are related to the job. In addition, ask your previous employers about any recent projects that you have completed or ideas that you have contributed to them.If you really want to impress your future employer, use as many details as possible in preparing your summary statement. Even if you don't get an interview, this section can still help you land the job. As you complete more detailed information, make sure you note where you can provide more details.

10+ Best Internship Interview Questions Answers (To Ace The Interview) - Algrim.co

10+ Best Internship Interview Questions Answers (To Ace The Interview) - Algrim.co Related Hiring Resources Best Internship Cover Letter Example Best Internship Thank You Letter (And Email) To Use How To Accept An Internship Offer (With Example Email) 5+ Best Marketing Internship Interview Questions Answers How To Reject An Internship Offer Professionally Politely (+ Examples) Accounting Internship Cover Letter Sample

Popular posts of 2009. Sort of.

Popular posts of 2009. Sort of. Its the time of year when I list my top posts of 2009. When I first started doing this top-posts-of-the-year thing, I felt obligated to actually give you the real version of what was most popular. Now I dont feel so obligated. If youre wondering, some of the posts that brought in more than 400 comments are: Five time management tricks I learned from Tim Ferriss I hate David Dellifield. The one from Ada, Ohio. Whats the connection between abortion and careers? Miscarriage is a workplace event. But whatever. I feel like Ive been talking about those posts all year. What about some other posts? Ones that are so well researched and I love what I learned from writing them: Will taking drugs help your career? And maybe you need Adderall. High-income women get more oral sex. Maybe. Do you belong in NYC? Take the test. Here are some firsts for me during the past year: First (mis)use of alcohol as a career tool: Try to give more hugs to more people at work. First fake tan: Consistently successful careers stem from consistent personal decisions. Here are two topics that have been in my head for years. And I finally figured out how to address them in my blog. How to decide how much to tell about yourself on your blog. Aspergers at work: Why I need a sick day to register my car. A big deal for me this year is that I started a few story lines that pop up repeatedly, and I sort of like it. If nothing else, it makes career advice more interesting. A good story line is that I brought my company from almost bankrupt, to funded, stable, and growing, and while I was doing that, my kids were basically okay, and I was able to keep giving career advice, even if I got a little impatient at times. A not-as-chirpy story line is the one about the farmer: Back from a breakup, engaged, ensuing mess, and breakup. All in one year. I want to say something upbeat about 2010. You know, start on a good note. But it seems so artificial. I dont think we need to magically be in a great place at the end of a year. Or magically know our goals to start off a new year. I think, sometimes, that its already magical that every day we wake up with the strong belief that we can make things better.

Hire the Best Professional Resume Writing Services

Hire the Best Professional Resume Writing ServicesMany people who are not well versed in this area prefer to hire the best professional resume writing services VA to do the job for them. While hiring a professional writing service, be very clear about what you want done and for how long, so that it will be very easy for them to come up with a good resume for you.Some of the best resume writing services VA employ can turn your resume into a creative masterpiece. The resume is the most important document and must be written keeping in mind several factors. They can write a unique resume for you that tells your past, present and future employer that you are a good employee.There are a number of resume writing services VA and most of them are found online. It is important to find out which resume writing service VA is the best one for you. This is important as hiring a low quality service VA can get you in trouble with your current employer. When choosing resume writing service VA, look for a company that can offer you competitive rates and does not send you unsolicited materials in your mailbox.One thing that can be a challenge in using the best resume writing services VA is that they are often asked to produce a set of documents for you. This can become troublesome especially if you are in a hurry and have a limited amount of time for writing your resume. In such cases, you may want to look for a company that offers professional resume writing services.You need to check out resume writing service VA and find out their credentials. It is better to get your resume professionally written by someone who has experience in this field. Remember that the CV and other documents presented to the employer should be written in such a way that it will impress them and draw them towards you.There are many things that will make your resume speciallike the photos, the content, the cover letter and the sections that you can add or delete as per your preferences. These are all the contents and important parts of your resume that will help your employer in understanding your abilities. So, this is one area where you must ensure that you hire the best professional resume writing services VA and get professional resume writing done for you.The pictures of your resume and the explanations on why you should be hired will prove to be very effective. If your employer sees your resume then he/she will understand that you are the best candidate for the job. This will definitely increase your chances of getting hired and thus you must avoid wasting your time and money on a poor quality resume. A resume is one of the most important documents that you will present to the employers.When you get professional resume writing service VA for the job, your chances of getting hired will go up by leaps and bounds. This is because you will be offered a high quality resume at an affordable price. It is advisable to hire the best service VA because they will give you a resume that is not only attractive but also well written and you will also get a chance to put in a little effort to improve your resume.

Smart Job Interviewing Tips from the Experts - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Smart Job Interviewing Tips from the Experts

Are you a happy boss Take this test and find out. - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Are you a happy boss Take this test and find out. - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog What?kind of manager?are you? Are you a happy boss or do you spread?fear and misery all around you? Weve created an online test that you can use to find out. Being the boss used to be about making tough, ruthless decisions. This is changing. More and more wildly successful leaders today devote themselves to creating happiness ? for employees, customers, shareholders and themselves. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, committed his company to ?Delivering Happiness? to both clients and employees. Richard Branson ?has?said?that ?more than anything else, fun is the secret behind Virgins success.? Take our test and learn if you are a happy boss. Related posts Kill the suggestion box heres a much better way Should bosses focus on results or on people? The answer is yes! 10 great ways to make your company happier Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Tough (Question) Tuesday What do you wanna tell to Suck It

Tough (Question) Tuesday What do you wanna tell to Suck It Suck Less by est1986 Last week, I woke up Angry At The World (which you would think would happen fairly often because of this whole boob cancer thing and whatnot, but honestly, its a rarity). But ya know what? This annoyingly optimistic life coach embraced it, and said Suck It to everything that day.  Im cold because the windows open? Suck It, Window! I have to walk behind 4 kids taking up the entire sidewalk?  Suck It, stupid high school kids! Luke and I texted back and forth about everything that made us mad that day boring meetings, Fed Ex, not wanting to get up when you have to pee, ineffective people, being taught things you already knowand it actually brightened my day. What do you wanna tell to Suck It? I know, I know, this is supposed to be a question tied into Valentines Day and romance and love and yada yada yada, but my schmemo (not a typo its what Im calling chemo) today and Im just more in a Suck It mood. Apologies for the anger, but honestly, telling the schmemo to Suck It helps! ************