How to ask for a job referral, and the template you should use

How to ask for a job referral, and the template you should useHow to ask for a job referral, and the template you should useThere are a million ways to mess up when you ask someone for a referral for a job or for someone else - especially if you dont know how well the two people know each other. Heres what to keep in mind.Be sure to hold their attentionHannah Morgan, an author, speaker and founder of Career Sherpa, writes in U.S. News World Report about reaching out cold via email.As a last-ditch effort to try and make contact with someone who works inside a company, you may resolve to sending a message to someone you dont know at all. If you are lucky enough to find their email, use that, otherwise, youll have to send a message through LinkedIn. Its important that your message hits the strangers radar so be sure to use an attention-grabbing subject line and engaging first sentence. Also make sure you reference something you both have in common such as college, LinkedIn groups or o utside interests.Do the heavy lifting for themThis could make things easier.Anum Hussain, cofounder of personal news assistantAcciyo, a former growth marketer at HubSpot and co-author of Twitter for Dummies, wrote about asking for a referral on HubSpots website.She mentions that she wanted to get in hauch with someone, and upon seeing on LinkedIn that the person went to the same school as one of her colleagues, she asked that connection for a referral.Hussain goes on to mention that the issue is peoples lack of time, but that the solution is to write the introduction yourself.As mentioned, most people dont want to waste any of their already precious time. So when I asked Andy for the referral, I was sure to write the bare bones of the introduction myself. That way, Andy could customize it without having to start from scratch, she writes, before providing an example.Give them an outAlison Doyle, a career expert, author and founder and CEO of CareerToolBelt.com, writes about this in T he Balance.The problem can be what they are going say. Rather, ask Do you feel you know my work well enough to refer me for a job at your company? or Do you feel you could give me a referral? That way, your referrer has an out if they are not comfortable providing a referral for you and you can be assured that those who say yes will be enthusiastic about your performance and will write a positive letter or give you a strong endorsement,Heres a sample script to use for your next referral requestFeel free to follow this template, which is roughly based on the tips aboveHello person youre contacting,Hope youre doing well at X company.I appreciate your time, so Ill keep it short. Im looking to get in contact with X at X company.I just saw that you have X in common with them, and was wondering if you would be interested in connecting the two of us for X reason, if you know them well enough.To make things easier for you, Ive already written out a basic sample script, just in case youre on board- but if not, I understand.Looking forward to hearing from you,Your name here

Bad bosses usually think theyre awesome

Bad bosses usually think theyre awesomeBad bosses usually think theyre awesomeWhen you enter the meeting, your palms are sweaty. Your nerves have really got the best of you this time- what if you give your presentation, and as soon as he hears about your vision for this project, everything goes up in flames as he rips your confidence into shreds?You almost feel like theres no point in bringing up the fact that his treatment isnt fair, because as everyone knows, his word is law. You think,Who am I to communicate to the person who hired me that theyve crossed the line.Take comfort yes, you do have a terrible boss. But your boss doesnt know hes terrible. He (or she) thinks he is absolutely awesome.Dont believe it? Well, its science.Terrible leaders get that way by being paid too muchIts all about self-perception. Overconfident leaders tend to think highly of their own leadership, which is why they demand large pay packages and have trouble believing that things may not be working out.A highly-paid CEO may actually hurt a business, according to 2013 researchby researchers from the University of Cambridge and Purdue University.High pay, in other words, does not guarantee that a leader will turn in strong performance, as measured by a companys stock price. In fact, its quite the opposite the higher paid a leader, the mora likely the company will suffer under his leadership.Firms that pay their CEOs in the top ten percent of excess pay earn negative widernatrlich returns over the next three years, the researchers found.Why? Because higher pay tends to make people believe theyre right. If they were always wrong, the thinking goes, they wouldnt be paid so much, right? So the leaders tend to splash out on big, expensive plans that eventually lose money.The findings seemed to be driven by high-pay induced CEO overconfidence that leads to shareholder wealth losses from activities such as overinvestment and value-destroying mergers and acquisitions, the article said.Overcon fidence hurts leaders and the companies they runTheStanford Graduate School of Businessand the Wharton School looked at overconfidence in leaders, as measured by their investment decisions.Overconfident leaders invariably think that companies will 100% improve under their leadership. How do we know that? Because as soon as they take over a company, they gather more and more stock and have trouble letting it go.CEOs who are overly convinced about their own leadership capabilities are not actively trying to get rich at shareholders expense theyre just misperceiving the situation, saidUlrike Malmendier, an assistant professor of finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a co-author on the study.Using data on the CEOs of 477 Fortune 500 companies from 1980-1994, the researchers tracked CEO overconfidence by studying the tendency of a CEO to overly invest in his or her own company by habitually buying its stock or by holding on to stock options long beyond the point when they s hould be exercised, according to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.The study found that a typical CEO will invest 19% of available marginal cash flow in investment projectsbut an overconfident one will invest 36%, according to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.Malmendiertold the institutionthat overconfidence can sometimes be good for leaders to have.The role of narcissismStill, arrogance in management is rarely benign. It couldput a company in danger.A 2012 study on CEO narcissism and fraud found that narcissistic CEOs behave unethically to obtain their goals and satisfy their constant need for praise and admiration. Highly narcissistic CEOs may achieve greatness for their companies. However if left uncontrolled, too much narcissism may result in unethical behavior and jeopardize the interests of their companies.The bottom line you may think its obvious that your boss is terrible, but he or she has no idea thats the case.How to handle a badeanstalt bossThere are some good ways to handle bad bosses, whatever their failings. Daily Worth has a nice roundup.Heres some advice we like, too.Dont handle a really bad boss at all. If your boss is bad enough - abusive, disrespectful, disparaging - then get a transfer or a new job. The more time you spend in an abusive work situation, the more likely you will burn out and hurt your career progression for years. Abusive bosses are bad for your physical health.Learn how to manage up. Its rare to have a perfect boss, so everyone needs strategies for managing bosses. We like this grouping of advice, which includes everything from talking it out to learning how to rise above the drama.Try to figure out whether the terrible behavior is temporary or a personality feature. Bosses are humans too and go through rough times. If you feel your boss isnt being effective, try to figure out whether its a brief blip that will pass or something that seems more permanent. If its the latter, its worth flagging it to the boss himself.Learn how to get information in a non-confrontational way. No one likes hearing that theyre screwing up. Instead of freaking out and demanding answers, or lobbing accusations, think more diplomatically. There may be factors you dont know in your bosss decisions. Questions are effective ways to present ideas while getting more information and context I saw the latest initiative and I have a question about it. Do you have five minutes to clarify the impact on future operations?Collect lessons for the future. Many excellent managers became that way by learning what not to do from their own bad bosses. Observe what is ineffective about the leaders around you and think about how you can improve on that style in the future.

How to Establish Sales Quotas for Your Team

How to Establish Sales Quotas for Your TeamHow to Establish Sales Quotas for Your TeamA quota or sales goal is a platzdeckchen number of sales or an overall value of sales that a salesperson is expected to meet over a given period of time. Nearly all companies set quotas for their salespeople because the practice both ensures that a salesperson knows what is expected of him and because its an easy way to determine what commissions are due to that salesperson. Quotas Can Vary Greatly From Company to Company Although quotas are widespread in the sales industry, they take various forms and can vary quite a bit from company to company. A small business with just a handful of salespeople and one or two products will often set a very simple quota system. The goal might be for each salesperson to sell $100,000 worth of products per calendar quarter. A large company with thousands of sales reps and many different products or services to offer might set a very complex quota made up of dif ferent targets for different products. A salesperson might be expected to move 100 units of product A, 50 units of service B, and $1,000 worth of add-on services such as warranties. Goals Can Differ Based on Perceived Potential In the case of a large company with offices spread out over a wide geographic area, the goals for each office or location will probably differ based on its perceived potential. In other words, an office that traditionally makes a lot of sales and has lots of market potential will have higher goals for its salespeople than one in an area with fewer potential customers. Time Periods Can Vary Quotas can be set for time periods ranging from a week to a year, but quarterly quotas are the most common. A quarterly period gives salespeople plenty of time to align their sales strategies to their goals and set a sales plan into motion. Quarterly quotas can also allow companies to take product seasonality into consideration. If a particular product sells much be tter in summer months than in the winter, then the company might have a higher quota in Q3 than in Q4 and make mora revenue without putting too much strain on its sales gruppe. Quotas Can Be Set Based on Historical Data Sales executives will usually set quotas based on historical data combined with projections of what they expect their industry will do in the near future. Unfortunately, even the best forecasting models can turn out to be far off from reality, especially when the marketplace undergoes sudden and unexpected changes. For example, a specific industry might berocked by a scandal, or new technology might make an existing product obsolete. In either case, the salespeople wouldnt have much of a chance of meeting their quotas because they were set without taking these factors into consideration. Sales managers might want to adjust their commissionpayouts to relieve some of the sales teams pain, always assuming that they clearly put in their best efforts and failed due to circumstances beyond their control. Commissions Are Usually Tied to Quotas Commissions are usually tied to quotas in some fashion. Sometimes its a simple correlation, such as 5 percent for every unit sold under quota and 10 percent after that quota is surpassed. In other cases, companies might set up commissions based on complicated mathematical calculations that factor in the salespersons performance in selling many different products. Generally speaking, tying sales commissions to the amount of revenue that a salesperson brings in is a good way to fairly compensatehimwhile keeping that compensation in line with how much money the company made from his efforts. How to Set a Quota Free calculators abound on the Internet, but if youd rather create a more personalized quota system or adjust the one youve been using, begin with your goals and existing performance. As a general rule of thumb, many sales experts say a quota is fair if about 80 percent of the salespeople can meet it during most quota periods. If less than 80 percent of the sales team is meeting quota most of the time, this indicates that it might not be realistic and the numbers should be adjusted downward. But if the entire team always meets or exceeds its quota, they might not be challenged enough and you might want to consider increasing the numbers upward. Just keep in mind that doing so without warning or explanation can be demoralizing for your sales force and might not achieve the result youre looking for, particularly if the change is significant. Consider meeting with your sales staff. What aretheirgoals? Timing Can Be Critical Consider seasonal lulls that arentrelated to sales when youre setting time frames. You can take other things into consideration if your business is on the small side. Do most of your employees take their vacations in the summer months because of the weather, not necessarily because your business experiences a lull at that time? You might want to adjust y our quota downward at these times rather than have your salespeople enter the time period already knowing- or at least believing- that they cant possibly meet a quota. Its all about psychology. How likely are they to put forth their best efforts if they go in already feeling doomed? Remember, your quota system does not have to be exactly the same every quarter or every month. You can raise goals or lower them from quota period to the next- just make sure you announce the temporary change loud and clear and explain why youre doing it so no one is surprised by a skimpier-than-expected paycheck. That wont help good will. Another idea is to set specific performance goals with rewards that match their achievement once or twice a year when you know your staff is probably scrambling for cash, such as at the holiday season. Now sit back and monitor your results, making adjustments as necessary.

The quickest way to rebound from failure according to science

The quickest way to rebound from failure according to scienceThe quickest way to rebound from failure according to scienceYou dont need a scientific study to tell you that messing up at work is a zero-fun hell spiral. But science can help us understand how to respond to our mistakes so we can learn from what happened and kick ass the next time around. And, it turns out, popular advice like sucking it up may not be the best route to go.A recent study published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making found that people who allowed themselves a brief wallowing period - even to the point of self-pity - after failing at a task were more successful in the future compared to those who tried to rationalize and move on immediately from what happened.In the first experiment, people were asked to search online for the cheapest blender they could find, with the possibility of winning a $50 cash prize. Unbeknownst to those involved, the experiment was designed for everyone to fail.After est ablishing baseline failure, researchers asked participants to write down how they felt about losing. Some were instructed to focus on their emotions - and experienced thoughts like, Ugh, I cant believe I did that, I dont want to feel like this ever again, and I didnt do my best. Others were asked to think cognitively (logically) about their failure, for example, This wasnt important and I wouldnt have won anyway.Process your emotionsFor the second experiment, participants were given a budget and asked to search online for a book to buy a friend while scientists measured how many minutes they spent looking.We found that the people whod focused on their emotional responses spent nearly 25 percent more time searching for a low-priced book than those who only reflected cognitively on their failure, says co-author Selin A. Malkoc, associate professor of marketing at Ohio State University.Why would acknowledging feelings about failure and even throwing a pity party motivate someone to tr y harder in the future? Its true that we should rationalize mistakes to a degree - otherwise wed go crazy beating ourselves up - but when we stop to process our emotions, our innate ability to be resourceful and change kicks in.Neuroscience studies show that when we feel strongly enough about something, the brain tags it and when a similar situation arises in the future, we draw from that emotion to find solutions, says Malkoc. For example, if a part was bit by a dog in the past, fear and pain would surface every time they saw a similar dog. And, more importantly, the person might alter her behavior based on the emotional thoughts stored in their brain.Learn from your mistakesPerhaps blenders and online shopping dont seem precisely relevant to office life, but Malkoc and her team view their findings as closely related to the workplace, a space where performance is constantly being assessed by supervisors. Its especially applicable to employees who want to learn from their mistakes , says Malkoc. In that case, its best to pause and let your mistake sink in.So next text time you screw up at work, give yourself permission to acknowledge how bad it feels, sit quietly with those emotions for a bit - but not too long Malkoc advises ruminating for five minutes, max. Thats long enough before the defense mechanisms kick in.This post originally appeared on Shondaland.com.

Achieving Life Balance in an Overwhelming World

Achieving Life Balance in an Overwhelming WorldAchieving Life Balance in an Overwhelming WorldAdapted fromFind Your Balance Point Clarify Your Priorities, Simplify Your Life, and Achieve Moreby Brian Tracy and Christina SteinWhen you ask someone about their day, or even their life in general, the most common answers include Im so busy, Im so tired, or Im overwhelmed. In this day and age, doing anything and everything you possibly can is promoted as the only way to achieve success. Unfortunately, there isnt enough time in the day to do anything and everything these attempts to do so more often produce unsuccessful results, rather than fulfilling ones.Authors ofKiss That Frog, Brian Tracy and Christina Stein, have given us a solution to this problem in their new titleFinding Your Balance Point Clarify Your Priorities, Simply Your Life, and Achieve More. They provide a list of steps and goals to achieve in bestellung to attain our own personal balance points. Doing so will simplify, eng age, harmonize, and enrich our lives to their fullest extents. One of the key concepts behind this idea is finding clarity in four main areas of life. Developing clarity will provide the tools to create a strong vision, which is essential in finding your balance point.The four areas of life in which we need to achieve clarityYour Professional Identity Developing Your BusinessAsk yourself clarifying questions. Ideally, what do you want your business to look like? What is your product? Who are your customers? Where do you want to be in five years with this business? How much do you want to make per year? Now more personal What skills do you enjoy? What skills are you good at? What kind of business/product would combine your talents, passions, and experience?Your Family and Personal RelationshipsAgain, look at yourself 3 to 5 years from now. Know that 85% of your happiness depends on having the right people in your life, and 85% of your unhappiness depends on having the wrong people i n your life. So, in 3-5 years, who do you want in your life? What new relationships would you have? Which do you see ending? What kind of lifestyle do you want to engage in? What kind of family values would you have? What kind of house will you live in?Your HealthWhat is your ideal physical condition? In 3 to 5 years, what kind of physical condition do you want to be in? What type of exercise do you want to engage in to maintain a healthy lifestyle? What types of food would you eat? What would you have to make happen now in order to achieve that ideal condition in the future?Money and InvestmentsWe all want to be free of financial worry, have the ability to make choices without thinking about monetary concerns. However, money (or lack of) is the root of most evils in the world, so we must be very careful in the way you clarify your vision in this category. In 3-5 years, how much money do you want invested and working for you? How much money do you want saved? How much do you want to be earning? Now, what do you have to do presently to make those visions a reality?Balancing your life is not an easy task, and it can often be harder to find your own balance point. The balance point is where all things start, and where all things must return to, in order to find peace. Starting with clarity, and creating your vision as a result, is one of the balancing steps that Brian Tracy and Christina Stein believe to be life-changing, and life-enriching.Brian Tracy, co-author ofFind Your Balance Point Clarify Your Priorities, Simplify Your Life, and Achieve More,is chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International. As a keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. He is the bestselling author of more than fifty books that have been translated into dozens of languages.For more information please visitbkconnection.com/andbriantracy.comand follow the author onFacebookandTwitterChristina Stein,co-author ofFind Your Balance Point Clarify Your Pr iorities, Simplify Your Life, and Achieve More,is a speaker, author, and psychotherapist who focuses on work-life balance and female empowerment. She works with individuals and couples and conducts workshops to help attendees align their priorities and goals with their skills and passions. She combines her training as a marriage and family therapist with her experience as a life coach to work empathically and dynamically with her clients.

Administrative Resume Examples Explained

Administrative Resume Examples Explained Proven academic and expert achiever who possesses unique computer skills needed to help the executives and organization to reach its mission. Focus regarding how you will benefit the organization and not on the way that it can help you. An effective career objective shouldnt be generic. Writing objectives for resumes can be challenging. Ok, I Think I Understand Administrative Resume Examples, Now Tell Me About Administrative Resume Examples Dont neglect to have a look at the next Administrative Assistant resume sample for more information about how to make yours perfect Administrative works are necessary by organizations to make certain that all documents are both well written and well kept. Each section ought to be adapted to showcase how youll fulfill a specific companys requirements. Keep the record of submitting procedures and inventories. Administrative Resume Examples - Is it a Scam? Keeping a positive attitude in the surface of unemployment may be a difficult, but necessary endeavor. There arent any minimal years of experience for a person to be promoted from a juniorchefin function to a senior one. When it has to do with satisfying hiring managers, though, that may be more of an issue. Client relations managers possess a degree of intuition thats second to none. Candidates must exemplify the highest degree of professionalism and expertise in a wide variety of office procedures. You are able to understand all of the necessary things, with the aid of anAdministrative Assistant Resume. To begin with, however, it will help to review some higher-level ideas to create your resume fantastic and focus it on jobs in administration or company. Different company and administration jobs need specific degrees and certifications, so make sure to highlight your education. The New Angle On Administrative Resume Examples Just Released Pick your very best abilities which mirror the prerequisites of the work ad. You need to reveal the proper abilities. In case the job requires you to assist in the preparation of presentations, include any wisdom and experience youve got with presentation program. The very first step in a successful job search is a superb resume. Keep in mind that nearly all of the samples provided in resume writing sites are finished by professionals, all involved in real issues in the realm of work. As you think about writing administrative assistant resumes, it is necessary to identify what the resume writing activity is all about. Naturally, the resume objective needs to be the job you would like to take. Resume writing can be challenging. Choosing Good Administrative Resume Examples Following that, it should impress the hiring manager with information which is related to them. You are going to want to inform a work seeker about your special company and that which you need to provide new hires. If you would like to be an administrative assistant, there a re only a few things you have to know. You would like to make yourself standout from various other companies that are also trying to employ an administrative assistant. Administrative assistants are employed in virtually every sort of large and established companies where the administration function is too large to control. A self motivated worker always ready to undertake additional duties. An administrator is the vital part of success for any active office or company. He overlooks all the important operations in a business or team. The qualifications of the position largely be based on what sector you desire to submit an application for. When it is not about you, its far better to look at a few other positions. Below youll find the top skills necessary to fulfill an administrative position. The more skills a candidate has, the less they will have to be trained and the faster they will have the ability to donate to the business. Our resume builder will provide you with ti ps and examples on the best way to compose your resume summary. Studying resume samples is among the absolute most productive techniques to get ready for developing your own winning document. Resume samples are available freely. Therefore, a superb sample resume need to have a double intent. The Pain of Administrative Resume Examples Employed as an administrative assistant will be able to help you make a decent amount of money and is thought of as a strong career path for everybody that has a passion of working with a number of files and secretarial work. It is simpler than you might think to compose a superb administrative resume that could let you find the job of your dreams. You have to have an administrative capacity to control your workplace. Receptionists play a huge role in keeping an office or company running smoothly. In terms of skills, you need to have a wide selection of skills for an administrative assistant. Furthermore, you can learn more on the topic of ad ministrative careers on Monster. Perhaps you were applauded for your strong customer service skills that resulted in company achievements. Resume Samples Its quite valuable to refer to resume examples to get to understand the manners in which youll be able to highlight your abilities and qualifications.

In Praise of Thinkers (Not Doers)

In Praise of Thinkers (Not Doers) It starts with a really terrible picture spreading like a bad cold around LinkedIn. This picture, in particular.Like most viral content, its oversimplified, didactic, and supposedly funny. Ittaps into the zeitgeist, gainingstrength (and shares) by simply confirming the things people already believe to be true. It, more than any other viral picture in recent memory, bothers me to no end.The katechese of this little cartoon is clearthe thinker is a lazy intellectualwho sits around all day the doer why, hes outdoingthings, accomplishing goals, changing the world, selling his startup for gobs of money, dating supermodels, etc., etc.Be the doer, not the thinker.The doer embodies what The New Statesman calls the modern cult of spontaneity,thepervasive school of thought that fetishizes fast action, instinct, and reflex and shunsthose who take the time to think things th rough. The cult of spontaneity takes some of its cues from the anti-intellectual movements which have long plagued the American population(Isaac Asimov once said, The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge). The cultis also obsessed withauthenticity, a vaguely defined buzzword that gets thrown around in everyday life as often as big data and disrupt get thrown around by well-meaning tech companies. Per Steven Pooles aforementioned article in the New Statesman we have a ordnungsprinzip 1 brain that delivers snap, intuitive judgements through unconscious processing, and a System 2 brain that does the slow, cold reasoning.Now, which of those brains is the spontaneous one? Why, System 1, of course, the blinking, unthinking brain, the site of hot cognition. The weirdly anti-rational weather of our age, indeed, in sists that this intuitive System 1 is who we really are. Because our rationality can be infected with errors by System 1 biases, or so this story goes, we should give up all hope of being reliably rational.Doers Are Just OlderChildrenWeve established why this cartoon is so virally successful it oversimplifies the world (youre either a thinker or a doer) it carries an easily digestedmessage(be the doer, not the thinker) it taps into the zeitgeist (spontaneous actiongood Thinking bad) and its supposed to be funny (I think?).Now, lets establish why this drawingbothers me so much. Its not the oversimplification (though, I do dislikethat). Its not thecondescending didactic manner of the cartoon (but, yes, I do dislikethat, too). Its not even the reinforcement of puerile pop culture myths or the total lack of humor (as you probably guessed already, I dislike those things as well).No, what really bothers me is how patently wrong this cartoon is. You dont want to be a doer. You want to be a thinker. You want to takethe time to plan, reason, and investigate before you do anything at all. This leads to better results when youdofinally act.You know who thinks before they act? Michael Phelps. As Danielle Schlanger explains at Business Insider, Olympic swimmer and14-time gold medalistMichael Phelps reviewsevery possible scenariothat could occur during a race before he even gets in the water. Schlanger also mentions Captain Sully Sullenberger, famous for landing his disabled tuch in the Hudson River, saving the lives of everyone on board. Its a good thing Capt. Sullenberger decided to think things through, rather thaninstinctively heading for the nearest airport.Heck, even fruit flies think before they act.You know who doesnt think before they act? Children. Do you know why children dont think before they act? Because they cannot comprehend the consequences of their actions, think about future events, or realistically gauge how other people view their actions.Children liter ally lack thehardware to do this. The neural network responsible for these behaviors is not fully developed until 13 years of age.But, sure, lets throw away the complex and powerful capacities our brains develop over time. Lets revert to the childish way of behaving.Dont think Just doUnless, of course, youd like to be successful. Ill take the example of Michael Phelps over that of the neighbor kids any day.