workplace – Pivotal

Think strategically for your career

If you feel isolated at work, that your ideas aren't being listened to, or that you might get laid off at any minute, then you need Workplace Survival Skills.

Do you have all the talent in the world, but are being shut down at work?

How are you going to get a promotion if you aren't able to get anything done? How are you supposed to be an effective leader when you have no power?

You can blame your ineffectiveness on the organization you work for. You can blame your co-workers. Or, you can do something about it.

Learn to Think Strategically

workplace

Recruitment using Avatar

The Courier Mail reports..

JOB applicants are being tested with immersive virtual simulations created with the same technology as used in the epic science fiction film Avatar.

"In 15 minutes, we can assess a candidate's problem-solving skills, personality and situational judgment," says Kim Macdonald, managing director of PreVisor which creates pre-employment tests for companies.

How are your Communication skills?

From the NACE Press room...

Employers look for their job candidates to exhibit strong communication skills, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Employers taking part in NACE’s Job Outlook 2010 survey, ranked communication skills at the top of the skills they seek in potential employees. Rounding out the top five were analytical skills, the ability to work in a team, technical skills, and a strong work ethic

“In a poor economy, companies should take care of the people who survive layoffs and end up staying in stressful jobs,” says epidemiologist Diana Fernandez. “It is important to focus on strengthening wellness programs to provide good nutrition, ways to deal with job demands, and more opportunities for physical activity that are built into the regular workday without penalty.”

Finding meaningful work when what has meaning for you is changing

Dave Pollard has produced a wonderful diagram .....

It's essentially about finding or creating work that is at the 'sweet spot' where your Gift (what you do uniquely well), your Passion (what you love doing) and your Purpose (what is needed) intersect

and if you don't read any further it's a great tool for deciding on your career future.

But Dave has gone further and factored change into the situation.

Dave's blog - How to Save the World

Success, workplace

Working Well with Others

A 20-year study at Stanford University examined the career paths of thousands of executives to determine the qualities they had developed that enabled them to move ahead rapidly. Researchers concluded that there were two primary skills that were indispensable for men and women who were promoted to positions of great responsibility.

... more

workplace

Working paper: Gender in Job Negotiations—A Two-Level Game

Download the PDF. The traditional division of labor between the sexes—women managing the private realm and men the public—continues to have an indirect influence on job negotiation outcomes through links between private realm and public realm negotiations. Women's negotiations at work are often constrained by agreements in negotiations at home. For insights, Hannah Riley Bowles and HBS professor Kathleen McGinn review two bodies of literature on gender in negotiation—one from psychology and organizational behavior on candidate-employer negotiations, and another from economics and sociology on household bargaining over chores and child care

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5935.html

workplace

When Your Boss Won't Share the Spotlight

Everyone has dealt with a credit-stealing coworker. And while wrestling recognition for your hard work and bright ideas from a glory-grabbing colleague can be tricky, you can usually resolve the situation by tactfully confronting the individual or, if that fails, bringing the issue to the attention of your manager.
But what do you do when your boss -- the person who has significant control over your career -- is the one taking credit for your ideas? After all, being too direct or going over his or her head can get you into trouble. Following are a few strategies that might help.
Read on ...

management, workplace

When Your Boss Won't Share the Spotlight

Everyone has dealt with a credit-stealing coworker. And while wrestling recognition for your hard work and bright ideas from a glory-grabbing colleague can be tricky, you can usually resolve the situation by tactfully confronting the individual or, if that fails, bringing the issue to the attention of your manager.

Read on ...

gender gap, workplace

Exploiting the Gender Gap

By WARREN FARRELL

Carlsbad, Calif. — Nothing disturbs working women more than the statistics often mentioned on Labor Day showing that they are paid only 76 cents to men's dollar for the same work. If that were the whole story, it should disturb all of us; like many men, I have two daughters and a wife in the work force.
Read the whole article