Emily Young is a freelance writer and editor based on the gulf coast of Florida. A proud USF alumna, she cares about connecting readers to resources and helping students find success.
Brace yourself: November 2020 is coming. You can only avoid conversations about the election for so long, and you’re bound to have at least one co-worker who’s voting for the opposite candidate. How do you navigate political discussions without jeopardizing workplace relationships? Here’s our guide to talking politics at work and tips for communication.
Human Resources, Professional Development, Leadership & Management
With the Aug. 4 release of Midnight Sun — Stephenie Meyer’s latest installment in the Twilight series — we’re ready to revisit the enchanted world of Bella and Edward. Vampires, werewolves, and rain-soaked redwoods are the perfect escape from daily life during COVID-19. But this fantasy series also offers real-world lessons for career development. Go ahead and enjoy the supernatural world of Forks, Washington, then come back here for these 7 professional development lessons from Twilight.
Professional Development
Do you find yourself bursting into song about your ambitions? Are you passionately smashin’ every expectation? Are you ready to rise up and achieve your professional goals? We thought so. Now that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton is available to stream on Disney+, we’re all feeling inspired by America’s coolest founding father. Cue up your favorite songs from the Broadway hit, and get ready for these 8 professional development lessons from Hamilton.
Professional Development
You wear so many hats in your organization, you’re starting to look like an Alice in Wonderland character. Now, a new one has been placed on your head: project manager. You may feel the urge to go mad and start hosting nonsensical tea parties. Stay calm. We’ll help you take the reins on this important task and steer it to success. With a little practice, you can harness the top four qualities of a good project manager.
Project Management
You want your team to be as productive as possible, and that means reducing waste. What do we waste a lot of? Time. Most organizations lose time to everything from inefficient meetings to outdated processes. But if you know how to wisely allocate your team’s time, you’ll be better prepared to meet deadlines, increase productivity, and attract top employees. Let’s take a closer look at how time management drives business process improvement.
Process Improvement
“We all bring our lives to the workplace,” said Kathy Barnes, the associate director and operations manager of USF’s Office of Corporate Training and Professional Education. Understanding employees as individuals – each with unique personalities, strengths, and life experiences – is an essential leadership skill. Let’s take a closer look at how leaders can take steps toward understanding personality types and communicating effectively in the workplace.
You already know that your new work-from-home life demands a new skill set: Managing Zoom meetings, staying productive even when the cat crawls onto your lap, and hiding your office snacks from your toddler. But did you know that cybersecurity skills are key to WFH success? Now that you are working remotely, your company’s data is vulnerable in new ways, and it’s crucial that you know how to protect it. Luckily, you don’t have to be tech gods like Lisbeth Salander or Mr. Robot to know how to defend against cyber threats. By changing a few simple habits, you can master these cybersecurity basics for remote workers.
Business and Technology
If you want to be a true ally to LGBTQ+ colleagues, we can help you go beyond rainbow Zoom backgrounds, Pride parade attendance, and sparkly Taylor Swift anthems. Supporting team members of all gender identities and sexual orientations means taking active steps towards a more diverse and inclusive work environment. From strategic recruitment efforts to workplace training, here are a few simple ways to ensure LGBTQ+ diversity in your workplace.
Human Resources, Leadership & Management
As a leader in your organization, you’re faced with a tough challenge. How can you maintain productivity (and profitability) when workers are chronically stressed due to COVID-19? The answer is simple: Take care of your employees’ emotional and mental well-being. Read on to learn six ways to improve employee wellness for productivity during the coronavirus crisis.
Human Resources, Professional Development, Leadership & Management, Process Improvement
Does your new work-from-home life fill you with existential dread? Are you juggling video conferences, homeschool sessions, and anxious grocery runs? You’re not alone. COVID-19 has turned all our lives upside down – including how we manage our jobs. But these lessons from the 2018 thriller A Quiet Place might help.
Professional Development, Leadership & Management
Job hunters, we know it’s tough out there. Unemployment has soared to record levels, which is scary enough. On top of that, your typical means of networking (in-person events, career fairs) are no longer an option. Social distancing is crucial to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But it’s awfully hard to impress recruiters when you’re confined to your house. Or is it?
Professional Development
What if we told you that one simple change to your organization could expand your talent pool, save you thousands of dollars, and make a positive difference for the world? You’d be interested, right? OK, here it is: Let your employees work remotely.
Human Resources, Professional Development, Leadership & Management
It’s been a rough month. You may be transitioning to remote work due to concerns about COVID-19. You may be juggling deadlines and home-from-school kids. You’re definitely scrolling through scary headlines. You are (hopefully) practicing social distancing, which means you can’t go to your favorite gym or local coffee shop to destress after a long day of work. How do you keep calm? We’re here to help. Dive into our wellness challenge: 30 ways to reduce stress this month.
Professional Development
Let’s get down to business to achieve your career goals. You must be swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon. You can bet before we’re through, we’ll make a pro out of you.
Professional Development, Leadership & Management
Your co-worker is coughing. Unidentified slime lurks on the office sink. One of your valued business partners spits when he talks, and you’re doing Good Will Hunting calculations to decide how far away you should stand. You have, unfortunately, just watched Contagion.
Human Resources, Professional Development
Think back to your favorite childhood book. Maybe you cavorted with wild things. Maybe you befriended a bear of very little brain. Or maybe you listened to the wise words of the Lorax. The characters in your beloved picture books helped shape who you are today. But if you’re like most of us, those stories are now gathering dust in your parents’ basement. It’s time to change that.
Leadership & Management
You’re a job seeker who needs info on a potential employer. Put on your trench coat and fedora. Got a fake mustache? Good. Now set up shop in a dingy office near Hell’s Kitchen. Whenever possible, walk down rain-slicked alleys with a camera in your hands and a sliver of hard-bitten cynicism in your heart.
Professional Development
Let’s start with two simple questions:
If you’re job searching, we’ve got good news: Employers are waging a war for talent, which means the odds are in your favor. A savvy social media strategy can help you land that dream position. From reading our other posts, you already know how to use your online presence to leverage your career and network with professionals. Now we’ll show you how to find job openings with social media.
Professional Development
If you happen to be an adorable Australian Shepherd who can bake holiday cookies and play Jenga, then you’ll have no problem expanding your network on social media. The rest of us could use some advice. Connecting to industry leaders can feel tricky, but with the right tools and a solid grasp of social media etiquette, you’ll effectively grow your professional network (without being annoying).
Professional Development
You care about saving the Earth. As a hospitality leader, you also care about making a profit for your company. What if you could advance both goals through the same strategies?
Hospitality Leadership
Here’s the deal: If you want to advance your career, you need to be on social media. Number one, it’s the only way you can see Pumpkin the Raccoon eating blueberries and Juniper the Fox breaking into the family fridge. This is, obviously, critical to your employment.
Professional Development
All organizations, no matter how different they seem, have one thing in common: risk. And if you’re a human resources professional, risk management is part of your job. Whether you work at Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. or Jurassic Park, you’ve got to tackle potential pitfalls – before Michael Scott opens his mouth or the T. rex eats the customers. Where do you start? Keep reading to learn how to evaluate and diminish HR risks for your organization.
Human Resources
You need some advice. Go ahead – say the password, “Sherbet lemon.” See how the stone gargoyle hops aside, revealing that spiral staircase? You’ll find the headmaster’s office at the top. Inside, it’s warm and comforting: Fawkes the phoenix is perched in his corner, the Sorting Hat is right where it should be, and the most powerful wizard in the world is behind his claw-footed desk. This is where Dumbledore lives. And you don’t need to be a Hogwarts student to benefit from his wisdom.
Leadership & Management
One of your co-workers grew up in a world without personal computers, let alone smartphones or tablets. The other has never known a life before screens. One of your employees is a big fan of avocado toast. The other owns a house.
Leadership & Management
The world of Game of Thrones is a lot like the workplace, except with more dragons. Just like our Westerosi heroes, you want to advance in your career — maybe not all the way to the Iron Throne, but far enough that you get one of those World’s Best Boss mugs. Which is basically the same thing, except you can enjoy drinking coffee out of your mug while whoever sits on the Iron Throne has to deal with a thousand swords poking into their back. Seriously, you think your office chair is bad?
Leadership & Management
You’d like to advance your career, and you think becoming a paralegal might be the way to do it. It’s a fast-growing field that offers challenging legal work for go-getters and problem-solvers like you — and the certification process is much faster than for a law degree. Got questions? Read on to know what you can expect as a paralegal.
Paralegal Certificate
You’re facing the existential angst of every grad school applicant: Should you choose the GRE or the GMAT? What do the exams even test? And (the ultimate question) which exam is easier? If someone painted a picture of you right now, it’d probably look a lot like this.
Test Prep