Baby Boomers in the Workplace

Baby Boomers in the WorkplaceBaby Boomers in the WorkplaceWhat sets the Baby Boomer generation apart in the workplace from theTraditionaliststhat preceded them and the generations that followed them? The Baby Boomers Generation Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest the 79 million Baby Boomers reached age 65 in 2011 and the youngest will get there by 2029. Following World War II, the average age of marriage dropped, and the number of children increased dramatically, making the Baby Boomer generation substantially larger than the Traditionalists. Conveniently, this population explosion corresponded with a post-war economic boom (aided by theG.I. Billand the growth of consumer suburbs). But in the early years of the boom, schools were overcrowded, colleges didnt have enough seats, and competition for starting jobs was intense. As a result, the young Baby Boomers learned to compete for resources and success. Common Characteristics of Baby Boomers Work-CentricBa by Boomers are extremely hardworking and motivated by position, perks, and prestige. Baby Boomers relish long work weeks and define themselves by their professional accomplishments. Since they sacrificed a great deal to get where they are in their career, this workaholic generation believes thatGeneration XandGeneration Yshould pay their dues and conform to a culture of overwork.Baby Boomersmay criticizeyounger generationsfor a lack of work ethic and commitment to the workplace. IndependentBaby Boomers are confident, independent and self-reliant. This generation grew up in an era of reform and believe they can change the world. They questioned established authority systems and challenged the status quo. In thelegal workplace, Baby Boomers are not afraid of confrontation and will not hesitate to challenge established practices.Goal-OrientedWith increased educational and financial opportunities thanprevious generations, Baby Boomers are achievement-oriented, dedicated and career-focus ed. They welcome exciting, challenging projects and strive to make a difference. CompetitiveSinceBaby Boomersequate work and position with self-worth, they are quite competitive in the workplace. They are clever, resourceful and strive to win. Boomers believe in hierarchal structure and rankism and may have a hard time adjusting to workplace flexibility trends. They believe in face time at the office and may fault younger generations for working remotely.Self-ActualizationBecause the Baby Boomers grew up in a time of mass middle-class affluence, they had time and energy for self-actualization, and the Traditionalists values of conformity and loyalty started to fall apart. Work for the Baby Boomers shifted from a source of stability to a means of self-actualization and self-expression, moderating the Traditionalist love of hierarchical management with an emphasis on structural fairness and equal opportunity. How Baby Boomer Values and Ethics Impacted the Legal Workplace The Baby Boomers entered the legal profession at a time of expansion and change, bringing with them their long-established competitive and workaholic ways and importing their views on social change and self-expression. In law firms, corporations, and other legal employers, Boomers insisted on a modicum of feedback and argued foryearly standardized performance reviewsto level the playing field for all employees. With the booming economy, it was relatively easy to advance up the ranks to law firm partnership, even though hard work and substantial billable hours were still required. The joke among many Boomer law partners is that theyd never be able to make partner today, and probably wouldnt have had the credentials to even be hired as an associate. Over the course of Boomer careers, firm salaries and equity payouts exploded, and theyd largely avoided student loans and other debt, due to the expansion of public education and the booming economy, leaving partners at the top of a seemingly endl essly widening pyramid. Outside of the relatively conservative firm context, Boomers used the legal workplace to fight for their deeply-held beliefs, advancing the rights of women and minorities in the courts via impact litigation. Women started to become a more frequent presence in the legal workplace (as attorneys, rather than secretaries), opening up opportunities, but also creating areas of frisson and conflict. As women flooded into the workplace, the birthrate dropped substantially, resulting in the baby-bustGeneration X- 25% smaller than the Baby Boomers. As the booming economy slowed down, Generation X entered the workplace, bringing derision and concern over their slacker values, but also a degree of tech-savvy know how that the legal profession had never before seen. This generational segment constituted a large majority of law firm leaders, corporate executives, seniorparalegals, andlegal managers. By 2010, nearly 70 percent of law firm partners were Baby Boomers. However , the oldest Boomers began reaching retirement age in 2011. This sets the stage for an unprecedented turnover of leadership in the coming years.

Answer Interview Questions About Bringing Work Home

Answer Interview Questions About Bringing Work HomeAnswer Interview Questions About Bringing Work HomeDo you take work home with you? is a tricky question you may get during your next job interview. Its a good idea to think through your answer in advance. Get insight into why this question comes up during interviews, as well as tips for how to respond. Why Employers Want to Know Your View on Working at Home Employers ask this question for a variety of reasons. They might want to know that you are organized and can do all of your work in the allotted time. They also might want to make sure you maintain a decent work-life balance (which many employers believe will ultimately make you a happier, and thus better, employee). However, some employers really are looking for people who make work the center of their lives, and want to assess just how dedicated to the job you will be. Even employers who do not expect in-depth work on projects after business hours may want employees to frequ ently check email from home. For some roles, a certain amount of after-hours work is built in. For instance, a social media manager for a late-night TV show may have monitor angeschlossen comments after business hours. Answering this question, therefore, requires you to know a bit about the particular company and job. How to Answer Before you answer, think about thecompany culture. If you know the employer values work-life balance or time management skills, you will want to emphasize your ability to complete your work during work hours so that you can focus on family or other activities after work. If the company requires employees to put in lots of extra hours and emphasizes the need for dedication and passion in the workplace, you may want to stress your willingness to bring projects home in order to ensure high-quality work. If you arent sure of what the employer is looking for, the safest way to answer is to emphasize yourorganizational skillswhile also saying that, when nec essary, you will take work home with you. Try not to be negative about bringing work home, since that may be something that is common at the company. However you respond, do be honest. This question also provides you an opportunity to think about whether or notthe job is the right fit for you. Always remember, an interview is a two-way street. Just as the employer is finding out what you would be like as a worker, youre discovering what it would like to work for the company. If the employer clearly wants to you take work home with you on a regular basis, but you value your free time, you may want to consider not taking the job. Instead, look for jobs at companies that value work-life balance. Sample Answers When I need to, bringing work home with me is not a problem. I realize the importance of meeting deadlines and getting work done on time, and sometimes that requires extra hours in the office or at home.I am extremely organized and skilled at budgeting my time. When I begin a project, I create a timeline for myself that allows me to complete the assignment in a timely manner without taking my work home. However, I understand that sometimes timelines change or issues come up, and I am always willing to take work home with me when that happens. When I begin a new project, I often choose to take work home with me in order to ensure that I complete the project for my client on time. However, maintaining regular time to spend with my family is very important to me, so I try to limit this to the early stages of projects and to urgent matters. Im very aware of how speedily communications move in this industry. One email can be the difference between landing a pitch or having it go elsewhere. To that end, I try to be very responsive to email on my phone. I do a quick scan of my inbox several times a night when Im home, and look at my email during my early morning workout, too. I always encourage my team to reach out if anythings urgent. And, for the few times a year when I totally unplug, I prep with a back-up network so that all team members know who to contact for feedback and answers.

Fact You need a personal business card (+ heres what it should have on it)

Fact You need a personal geschftsleben card (+ heres what it should have on it)Fact You need a personal business card (+ heres what it should have on it)Youve probably had a company business card at one job or another, but do you carry a personal one?Because the thing is, if youre currently job searching, hoping to start a side hustle or land some freelance, or youd just like to keep your options open, your regular company card isnt going to cut it. That tiny,unassuming personal business card just might be what stands between you and your next big career opportunity.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWhy you need a personal business cardSmart women make their own luck (and business cards). When I decided I wanted to leave my last job, I knewit was time to start putting myself out there (and networking any chance I got). I had business cards through my company. They were like most c ompany cards white, square, and bland. I didnt want to be seen with them.One night, after a motivating happy hour dialogue, I came home feeling like I needed to do something. I wanted proof that I was ready to start a new chapter. A requisite Google search for personal business card design led me toMOO, an zugreifbar service that letsyoucreate and print cards online (courtesy of plenty of well-designed templates). Im sure there are other companies out there that will do the same, but so farMOO is the best one Ive found.I spent the nexthour designing my ideal layout. It was a card on my own terms, according to my own rules based onmy career transition goals. A week later, the package arrived, andmy career hasnt looked the same since. Heres how a personal business card changes the game1. It helps you control your own storyIn a few simple words, I summarized who I wasprofessionally, but alsowho I wanted tobecome.Each cardgave all the information people needed to find meonline, includin g a link to myportfolio but also my Instagram, which I knew demonstrated my aesthetic and voice.2. It makes it easy for people to remember- and hire- youIn simple terms, those cards made it easier for people to hire me. They didnt have to just remember my last name the next day or go digging through search results to find my portfolio. And so they did hire me. Just like that, I hit a new level of legitimacy- and I started getting calls.3. It gives you confidence (seriously)Personal business cards serve a specific need they help yousummarize who you are to a potential contact. But they also make your professional lifefeelreal,even ifyoure currently faking it untilyou make it. And thats the heart of it even though I felt like my career had hit a dead end, ordering those cards made me feel like Id done something about it, and thatI was gonna be OK.What to include on a personal business card1. Your name- The one you want them to GoogleYour full name or, more specifically, the one you us e professionally. Kit isnt my given name (Ill leave you the fun of guessing what it is), but itisthe name Ive published writing under since I was 15. And its the name I want people to search for on Google when theyre looking into my experience because thats where all the good stuff is.2. What you do or want to doMaybe youre slaving away as an administrative assistant but your ultimate goal is to become a graphic designer. Your personal business card shouldnot read administrative assistant. That isnt who you are Thats just what youre doingright now. Think about what youd like to call yourself. konzeptioner? UX Design + Web Design? If youre not sure,look up people you admire on LinkedIn and do some research on the ways they describe their work and themselves.3. Your personal portfolio siteIf you dont have one and youre trying to make a career transition or start freelancing, take a break from designing your card and do that now. We have an entire downloadable guide dedicated tosetting up your personal websiteas well as various articles aboutwhy you need a personal siteandwhat to include in an online portfolio(even if youre not a creative).4. Phone number (preferably your cell phone) and/or personal email addressYou want people to be able to reach you quickly and easily, so a personal business card shouldinclude at least two options for contacting you. And make sure that whatever email address you include, youre checking it regularly and often. If yourethinking about freelancing, you need to get used to quick replies. I always answer within 24 hours. You can choose to skip the phone number, but honestly, whenever Ive seen people doing that, they wind up having to jot their phone numbers down inpen on the card anyway. My recommendation is to skip the hassle and include it.5. Social handles as applicableUnless your industry skews toward keeping these things private, youremay want to include your LinkedIn, Twitter, and/or Instagram depending on what youd like to sho w off. If youre a wordsmith, Twitter makes sense. If youre trying to show that you have a particular style and eye for design, you might include Instagram. It varies because personal business cards are just that- personal. Think about your end goal and decide what makes the most sense.6. (Optional) A personal logoIf your personal brand is on lock, you might have a logo on your personal website, that you can include on your business card as well. If so, great. A consistent brand is great. If not, dont sweat it. Simple is always best anyway.What not to include on a personal business cardJust a few pointers here because sometimes people overdo itToo much design- the goal is for them to focus on your information, not on the graphicsYour mailing address- danger zone. Do you really want that floating around in the world? It also takes up too much space so its a lose-lose.Typos- On multiple occasions, Ive encountered a personal business card that has a typo, even in the email address. That s a big problem if you want people to contact you. So ersatzdarsteller- and triple-check before hitting PurchaseA QR code- No one uses these anymore, but somehow they still crop up. Just dont. People are savvy enough to type in your personal website URL on their own.The simplest personal business card templateIf youre not sure where to start, this layout is a no-fail option. Simple, right?Kit WarcholWriting + Editing Digital + Brand Strategykitwarchol.com IGkitwarcholPhone Number25 ways to use your personal business cardJust to drive the point home, here are some other times carryingcards can actually work out for youAtany networking event ever.When youve got a side hustle going and youre your own marketing department.Or youve gotseveralside hustles going, and you dont have cards for each of them.Youre at a Girls Night Out and you meet a woman youd like to know better.Time to mail a package from your Etsy store? Drop it in the kasten with your Thank You note.You hate your current job, and youre trying to find a new one.Or maybe your current job title doesnt match what you want to do. Like, at all.You want people to visit your personal site because it looks so good.Youre at an interview, meet yet another person, and- realize youve run out of copies of your resume.Youre like This dudes cute, but youre afraid he might not be interested, or youre just afraid to ask him to coffee. Keep it pseudo-profesh.You know no one spells your last name correctlyever. Just hand it to them.At a dinner party when youre trying to explain to the person next to you WTF you actually do.Youre hesitating on when to launch your entrepreneurial venture. Youll never be completely ready. Business cards make it official.Are you a designer or branding professional? Your business card is a tangibleexample of your aesthetic and skills.If your company name or website address is hard to remember.To drop into the fishbowl at your neighborhood Thai restaurant for a free lunch entry.Theres someth ing in your teeth, but you dont have floss. Card corners work wonders.When youre somewhere loud and the person you meet cant hear what your name is.When someone else gives you theirs. Its weird to not respond in kind.When youre traveling. Slip it into your baggage tag.When youdontwant to give someone your number. A card with just an email address is a stealth cop out.When your coworker isnt at her desk and you want her to know youve stopped by. Calling card.When youre looking at a chair at a yard sale, and they wont go as low as you want. Ask them to email you if they change their mind.AtSephora, when the clerk asks for the email address on your account.When you just need something to write on.This article originally appeared on Career Contessa.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityT he worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

The boss we hate the most is the one who ignores us

The boss we hate the most is the one who ignores usThe boss we hate the most is the one who ignores usUnfortunately for employees, bad bosses come in all kinds of flavors. There are the tyrannical bullies, the selfish, the sociopaths, the ones who can never admit being wrong. But out of all the toxic bosses, the ones who make us feel the worst are the ones who ignore us.Research highlighted by Harvard Business Review has found that absentee leadership is the most common incompetent leader and the most derailing to our self-esteem.Laissez-faire leadership behaviorcan be destructiveAbsentee leaders are ones that may be physically in the office, but their mind is elsewhere. They may be called leaders but they do notlage act like ones, avoiding the task of building meaningful connections with their team. They lack the self-awareness to keep track of company changes and their employees professional growth. They are not honest about your job performance, preferring to give empty praise. We are doing fine, their empty platitudes say, while everything is certainly not fine.Worst, you prompt them to take actions about serious management issues and they never do anything. Their hands are completely off the wheel and you are left to steer this skidding company on your own.In its analysis of the absentee boss, Harvard Business Review cited a 2010 studywhich found that laissez-faire leadership behavior was the most common destructive leader employees face. An absentee boss is characterized by what they do not do. It is a hands-off approach to leadership where complaints do not get addressed, and achievements do not get recognized.Being ignored feels worse than bullyingWhen our bosses give us complete free reign, it may seem freeing at first, but soon it feels alienating to have no clear direction about what you should be doing. Is anyone even listening to us? A 2015 survey found that laissez-faire leadership turned out to be the sole predictor of job satisfaction for employ ees.Employees in the survey felt worse when they were ignored than when they were bullied. In fact, the impact of an absentee boss will leave lasting marks on us long after the initial interaction. Employees with absentee bosses reported a degraded job satisfaction for at least two years.So bosses everywhere, pay attention. When you get promoted to a management position, the most important action you can take to improve job satisfaction is to make koranvers every employee feels heard.

Interview Tips for the Solo Interviewer

Interview Tips for the Solo InterviewerInterview Tips for the Solo InterviewerInterview Tips for the Solo Interviewer HerrenkohlIn many small businesses, hiring employees is solely the responsibility of the business owner.However, even a very small company can create a great process for making new hires.Here are some hiring practices that can help your one-man or one-woman shop make a great hire and avoid a hiring mistake.1.Get advice from others.Particularly if you are creating a new role, you may not know what you want in a new hire.Reach out to other employers who have similar roles in their organizations and get some advice on what you need in the part that you hire.In fact, those executives may be a source of good referrals when it comes to candidates for your position.2.Be clear about the results you want. When you create a job description, dont just create a laundry list of tasks for the new role.Think about the results you expect from the position and the value that the role will create for your business and for you.This will help you focus on the most important skills to look for in job candidates.It will also help you to sell the importance of the role to the person you decide to hire.3.Put a simple interview scorecard together.This gives you an objective set of criteria to grade every candidate. After each interview, rank the candidate using the scorecard so that you can compare him or her to others.4.Ask candidates to explain their accomplishments from past positions. Dont spend more than 20% of a first interview talking.Use open-ended questions and follow-up questions that force candidates to describe their accomplishments in detail.5.Rely on trustworthy sources. Have someone else a business colleague, your attorney or your CPA for example tag gruppe with you and interview final candidates.Ask them to join you for a morning when you interview two or three final candidates.The input of another professional will be invaluable to you in making a bet ter hiring decision.6.Conduct a personnel assessment. Personnel assessments give you insight about job candidates that you wont uncover in an interview.They help you to determine if someone has the talent to do a job, if they have an issue in their personal background that is relevant to your position and other important issues.These tools are a budget-conscious way to make better hiring decision by getting objective, professional input into the people you are hiring.7.If at all possible, try before you buy. If feasible, hire each of your final candidates to work with you on a specific project before you hire one of them full time.This gives you a chance to get a feel for what it will be like to work together.Author BioEric Herrenkohl is the founder and president of Herrenkohl Consulting, a firm that helps clients build great sales teams. He is the author of the book, How to Hire A-Players (John Wiley Sons, April 2010.) To receive his free e-letter, subscribe at herrenkohlconsultin g.

Unbiased Report Exposes the Unanswered Questions on Resume Scanner Free

Unbiased Report Exposes the Unanswered Questions on Resume Scanner Free If you would like to demonstrate how much experience youve got, be certain to use the chronological format. Additionally, you become split and merge features to receive more control over your PDFs. Keep the format as easy as you possibly can. Following that, put the opposite section based on your format. An excellent CV will use language thats positive and confident. While youre still able to download your completed resume in PDF format, the service encourages you to make a link which youll be able to share with friends and prospective employers. CakeResume is a drag-n-dropped editor where it is possible to customize the info, layout, images, social icons, colours and everything to create a perfect resume. An ATS is a part of software that may read resumes and automatically decide whether or not a candidate is relevant. A significant part your work for a Delivery Driver is going to be to interface with the recipients of the items that youre delivering. Zipjob provides a totally free ATS resume checker which contains the outcomes of a real ATS test. Best of luck with your work search So take some time to stick to these hints, and youre going to have a resume that is likely to make it on a hiring managers deskand ultimately snag you the interview. There are many free creative resume templates youll be able to use, enabling you to focus your energy on everything else you should do. Even if you are aware of how to write one, it can be a hard and time consuming endeavor. PrepTel, on the flip side, is a work seekers ally. Introducing Resume Scanner Free Therefore, if you choose to use more action words, examples an always simple to discover. The example resume uses color thats something to at all times avoid. Use bullets as opposed to paragraphs to spell out your work. Also think about using different variations of crucial words. The objective is to have all text align closel y to one another. Obviously, mistakes and typos strike the eye, but they might be fixed. The choice of words is critical. It is advisable to exclude certain words since they will offer poor impression. The effect should appear clean. While free alternatives are available, they dont always supply the identical powerful features and they are sometimes difficult to learn how to use. The full application procedure is minimized while maximizing the ideal search success. There are two simple ways to see whether your resume is ready to be correctly interpreted by means of an applicant tracking system. The Dos and Donts of Resume Scanner Free Using our software will address all your problems, since it does all the writing for you. In addition, you will want to make certain you align your resume perfectly to prevent any odd font changes, text blurring or other issues. Font types are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Its essential to note that you might get rid of some of your formatting. It actually is dependent on what you would like to highlight or what you feel a hiring manager will prefer. You are able to also perform an internet job search or earn a price of living comparison through its online offerings. As a work seeker, theres more competition for a single job than ever before largely as a result of technology which makes it so simple for businesses to deutsche post dhl their job openings to a mass audience. Optimizing for ATS is extremely critical as an outstanding amount of organizations rely on them to sort and choose applicants. Resume Scanner Free and Resume Scanner Free - The Perfect Combination So, youve chosen a clean and crisp font for your resume, youve worked out just what information youre going to include, youve even created perfectly highlighted bullet-points for your key abilities and qualifications. Simply take another look at how you describe your work experience and make certain youre emphasizing the outcomes yo uve achieved, instead of the tasks youve been assigned. Your varied experiences might not be relevant to the job which youre applying to. Ask these questions to learn.

How Verizon Executives Are Rated By Female Employees

How Verizon Executives Are Rated By Female Employees Our friends at Comparably have pulled together data sets showing how female employees are rating their executives at Verizon.As you can see, across the board, women are rating upper management highly at Verizon. Positive ratings from women mean a lot, especially when we often feel unsupported and undervalued in the workplace.Its no secret that a diverse workplace benefits us all, so its great to see Verizon making steps in the right direction.If youre as excited about these stats as we are, apply for a job with Verizon on PowerToFly todayFor more info like this, head on over to Comparably. One of the biggest challenges in almost all industries today is achieving gender parity. Gender diversity provides huge benefits in the workplace. pWhile some industries have made significant advancements in gender diversity, some industries lag further behind... and the construction industry is well-k nown for being in the latter category. If someone says, construction workers, youll likely picture a group of men in yellow hard hats analyzing an architects plans or laying bricks on top of a scaffold. And men at work signs only help to reinforce this image.pThis stereotype is rooted in reality. When was the last time you actually spotted a woman on a construction site? Or hired a female plumber or carpenter? Your answer is most likely never. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statisticsreports that only 3.4% of the total of 8.3 1000000 construction employees are women.pBut the construction industry has a lot more to offer than steel-toed boots and hard hats, and it needs women to help advance the industry in this era of rapid change. Here are 5 reasons why women joining the workforce or looking to make a pivot should consider a career in construction.h21. Fuel neuerung/h2pNot only is diversity the socially and morally right thing to do, but it is also actually an excellent business stra tegy. pResearch presented in the Harvard Business Reviewshows that diverse teams develop more innovative ideas. This is further supported by a study conducted by Gallupon the performance of gender-diverse teams versus single-gender teams, which found that the difference in backgrounds and perspectives led to better business performance and problem-solving. h22. Capitalize on Demand/h2pThe construction industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. The industry itself is booming and projected to be one of the fastest-growing industries, with total spending projected to exceed $1.45 trillion in 2023/a. However, most construction companies are unable to meet the rising demand. pAccording to the Associated General Contractors of America/a, more than 80% of contractors are experiencing difficulties filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce.pAnd demand isnt limited to individual contributor roles. Given the industry boom, there are a number of open stable and high-paying roles (any project managers out there?) waiting for the right candidateh23. Leadership Opportunities/h2pAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics/a, women compose only 7.7% of the total 1 million managerial positions in construction.br/pBut given the highly collaborative nature of construction work, more women in leadership roles would help drive innovation and enhance productivity.Furthermore, as a woman in construction in a leadership position, youd have the unique opportunity to drive change for the industry and make it a more attractive option for other women.h24. High-Income Potential/h2pSalaries for many skilled positions in construction are on the rise, making a construction career a prime choice for women looking for a high-paying job,pThe 2018 Construction Craft Salary Surveyconducted by the National Center for Construction Education and Research revealed that salaries for many skilled craft areas are increasing. Project managers and projec t supervisors topped the list at $92,523 and $88,355, respectively. The next set of highest-paying jobs include those of combo welders ($71,067), instrumentierung technicians ($70,080), pipe welders ($69,222), power line workers ($68,262) and industrial electricians ($67,269). Of the 32 categories of workers in the survey, 19 positions earned an average salary of $60,000 or higher.h25. Sense of accomplishment/h2p The construction industry can give employees a unique sense of achievement. Yes, the job is stressful and the work can be demanding, but nothing beats the feeling of being able to build something from the ground up. pHow many professionals in other industries can point at a school, a hospital, or a skyscraper and say I helped build that?pThe construction industry has a long way to go in combating gender bias and supporting women in the workforce, but given the current demand for workers, theres no better time to pick up a sledgehammer (figurative or literal) and smash the gender stereotypes plaguing the construction industry.

How a Criminal History Can Affect U.S. Military Enlistment

How a Criminal History Can Affect U.S. Military EnlistmentHow a Criminal History Can Affect U.S. Military EnlistmentThe United States military services make every attempt to assess the moral quality of potential recruits, and several categories of moral offenses may preclude enlistment. This is primarily accomplished based on criminal record. Its important to note thatthere is no such thing as a sealed record, or an expunged record as far as the military is concerned. The recruiting services have access to law enforcement and FBI investigative records, which quite often will list arrests in ansicht categories. Disclosing Criminal History Even if an offense is not found during the recruiter criminal background check, it is likely to come up during a possible (probable) security clearance criminal records check. If an applicant fails to disclose criminal history and it is later discovered, the individual may be charged under federal law, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice for False Statement, and/or Fraudulent Enlistment. Any offense which resulted in a conviction or adverse adjudication counts. Usually, if the charges were dismissed (without conditions), or resulted in an acquittal (finding of not guilty), they dont. However, sometimes the military will count an offense which resulted in a dismissal. For example, if you were caught shoplifting, and the charges were dismissed because the store owner didnt want to press charges, the military might count it. On the other hand, if the charges were dismissed because the DA determined there wasnt enough evidence to prove you committed the crime, the military probably wouldnt count it. When determining whether or not an offense counts for enlistment purposes, the services are primarily interested in whether or not the applicant actually committed the offense, not whether or not a legal conviction resulted. Criminal offenses that fall into one of the below categories counts when it comes to enlistment purposes Conviction. The act of finding a partie guilty of a crime, offense or other violation of law by a court or competent jurisdiction or other authorized adjudicative authority. This includes fines and forfeiture of bond in lieu of trial.Adverse Adjudication. Any conviction, finding, decision, sentence, judgment, or disposition other than unconditionally dropped, unconditionally dismissed, or acquitted. Participation in a pretrial intervention program as defined below must be processed in the same manner as an adverse adjudication.Pretrial Intervention/Deferment. Every state has a program by which offenses are diverted out of the regular criminal process for a probationary period. While the programs vary from state to state, they all require the defendant to meet some requirement (e.g., reporting or non-reporting probation, restitution, or community service), after successful completion of which the charge is disposed of in a way that does not result in a final adjudication of guilt. Ch arges disposed in this manner are processed as an adverse adjudication. Enlistment Standards Each of the services has their own standards when it comes to criminal offenses, and whether or not the offense(s) are disqualifying ArmyAir ForceNavyMarine Corps Criminal History (Moral) Waivers The waiver process is a very subjective one.

Job Search Tips for Older Workers

Job Search Tips for Older WorkersJob Search Tips for Older WorkersIn todays job market, finding a job is not easy. If youre over 40, age can present an additional hurdle to job-hunting. Today, older workers in the legal profession and other industries are competing with younger job-seekers and Generation Y for a shrinking number of open positions. To help you in your job search, we asked recruiters, career coaches and workplace experts from around the country for job search tips for those age 40 or older. Read on to learn their tips and advice. Job Search Tips for Older Workers Confront Age DiscriminationI always advise older job applicants to be extremely sensitive to the possibility of age discrimination. If theres even a gunst der stunde it might be a problem, always assume it is. Confront it head-on by bringing it up yourself and dealing with it. If youve picked up on age discrimination euphemisms (We need people who are vigorous and energetic), couch your response in terms o f those euphemisms. For example You know, I pride myself on my vigor and energy. If you talk to anyone at my last job, theyll tell you that I out-hustle anyone there. The younger guys, in particular, cant keep up with me because, not only dont they have my energy, they havent yet learned to work smart. Or, I pride myself on always being on the cutting edge of all the latest trends. And the wide-ranging experience I have in the industry allows me to apply the very latest practices in the most effective ways, to put them in the appropriate perspective. - Barry Maher, consultant, author, speaker Invest in a MakeoverMaybe its makeover time. A job change is a great time to invest in updating your look. This is especially true if you havent done so in awhile or if youve been in the saatkorn job (or even the same relationship) for a long time. Its so easy to get stuck in a look that is stagnant, outdated, and maybe even less-than-flattering. Companies like to hire people who exude a polis hed, on-trend appearance. Put the odds in your favor here. Plus, when you know you look great, youll feel mora confident. That is always attractive - Patti DeNucci, business networking expert and author of The Intentional Networker Attracting Powerful Relationships, Referrals Results in Business (Rosewall Press, 2011) Start a Blog, Enhance Your Web Presence?The best way to find a job when youre over 40 is to have the job or jobs find you. The easiest way to do that is with a blog. And the secret to leveraging your blog for job-hunting purposes is to blog on the area you want to become designated as the expert in, and then get people to connect to and read your blog. Cant start a blog? Have no time? Contribute thoughtful and meaningful comments to others blogs - blogs that people who would be in a position to hire you would be reading. nachschlag do reviews of business books on Amazon - the books that the people or recruiters who would be in a position to hire you because of your expertise will be reading. A best-selling book on marketing might have 200 reviews, three of which are well written and substantive. Be one of that three. The web is your billboard. Now is the time to start building the right kind of presence on the web, one that will last throughout your career. - David Perry, co-author, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0 head headhunter, Managing Partner of Perry-Martel International Inc. Consider Telecommuting JobsTake advantage of your experience by focusing your job search on telecommuting jobs. More employers are embracing this way of working (weve seen a 400% increase in telecommuting job postings since 2007), and 40 workers have an advantage because a majority of telecommuting jobs posted require experience, which eliminates competition from younger job seekers. In addition, much of the application process for telecommuting jobs is done online and over the phone, so fears that ageism might be taking a toll on your job search can be put to rest when an employer sees only your excellent application and qualifications, rather than your age. Because telecommuting jobs exist for almost any profession, most 40 job seekers will find excellent leads in this niche. - Sara Sutton Fell, CEO/Founder of FlexJobs (www.flexjobs.com) Emphasize Experience, Stay Positive. ?Older applicants need to deal with the negative perceptions of age and to stress the positives theyve picked up because of experience. Ideally, they should show that age and experience make them stronger, even in those very qualities the employer associated with youth. But they should never do it defensively, always do it positively, if at all possible raising the issue themselves rather than letting it lie there as an unspoken problem. - Barry Maher, consultant, author, speaker Stay CurrentThe key is to not appear over 40 - stay current in your technology, training, and skills. Be sure your resume and other career documents are formatted according to todays sta ndards. Utilize social media to network professionally, including LinkedIn (first and foremost), Twitter and/or Facebook. The general concern with being over 40 is that youre no longer competitive. Take the concern off the table. - Laurie Berenson, President of Sterling Career Concepts, LLC Highlight the Benefits of Older Workers?Unless you are seeking a job in a hyper-young environment (think Internet start-up or the music industry), dont try to hide your age. They will find out at some point and it will backfire on you either in the interview or when checking references. Highlight the benefit of hiring someone your age. The 28-year-old is likelier to bolt for another opportunity sooner than the 48-year-old who knows how hard it is to get another job. The 40 seeker represents stability and is more committed to succeeding because theres more riding on it (a mortgage, tuition, etc.). The 25-year-old is just focused on getting out of his parents basement. Hiring a 40 seeker saves mon ey because it reduces turnover and HR only has to fill the job once. - Ronald M. Katz, HR consultant, career coach and the author of Someones Gonna Get Hired...It Might As Well Be You Leverage Your ExperienceAt 40, you have almost two decades of experience that will benefit potential companies. Remain flexible, as your new job may not exactly be like your old job. Possibly go back to something you did 10 years ago and use that experience to open doors for you. - Joe Belko, Partner with NJ-based Watson Barron Re-invent YourselfI am 47. I landed my current position by re-inventing myself through changing my career and re-educating myself. Knowledge is power. Additionally, projecting positive energy and confidence in yourself is critical. You must truly believe in yourself. Always be professional. Never act like you know it all because of your age. Be prepared to work for someone younger than you. - Debra Neser Be Honest About Your AgeClearly and proactively emphasize your age and then umber of years of experience rather than avoid, minimize, or downplay. More high-level executives responsible for hiring decisions have very specific and defined needs. If they are going to pass you over for someone younger that they can pay less at the cost of experience, they will do so whatever you say or dont say during the interview process. Focus instead on being clear, honest and very upfront in all realms. Though this may result in some schwefelyperit opportunities because of mismatched needs, you are much more likely to find the best fit for you quicker. - Dr. Joseph Cilona, Manhattan-based licensed clinical psychologist, business and personal coach, author and nationally recognized psychology expert.

How To Send an InMail That Actually Gets a Response

How To Send an InMail That Actually Gets a Response How To Send an InMail That Actually Gets a Response You are probably reading this because like most people on LinkedIn you want to know how to send an InMail message that gets a response. We have all struggled with knowing the best way to get someone to respond. The suggestions you’ll see below will make getting a response much more likely. Be relatable When sending an InMail, you want to find something relatable you can talk about and make the message personal. Take time to visit the person’s profile and look through it to find something you can mention in your message to them. This will make the recipient more likely to respond to you because your message stands out from all the other messages they’re receiving. It also shows you took the time to get to know them before sending a message. Be engaging Use words that suggest you want to engage with this person. They are more likely to respond when you say things that suggest continuing a conversation, like “let’s connect.” You want to sound like a human took the time to craft a thoughtful message, not a robot that sent a mass message to 100 different people. Give them something to talk about, and respond to. The other person is not as likely to respond if you don’t ask them a question, or provide them with a topic to conversate about. Be straightforward You want to be straightforward with your message, but don’t ask for too much right away. You also want to make sure to keep it natural, explain why you’re trying to connect, and don’t make it all about what they can do for you. LinkedIn allows up to 2,000 characters when sending an InMail. In order to have the highest response rate, we recommend sending anywhere from 500-1000 characters to avoid being too wordy. If there is too much content, there is a better chance they won’t read through everything. So be careful to get to your point, while also remembering that you are trying to create a conversation. Be free People tend to think of sending messages like a science when in reality, you should feel free to send a message when you have one to send. There is no need to waste time or energy figuring out when it’s best to send messages. Studies have been done and found that there is no right time to send messages. We worry about avoiding Mondays and Fridays, thinking people won’t respond. Time of day seems to be important too. It turns out, people will respond on their own time, regardless of when you sent them the message. Be vague It can be tempting to get too specific, but you want to wait to provide all the details after your first response. Avoid discussing things like a time they might be available for a call, or mentioning salary details. You don’t want to provide so many details that you overwhelm the reader. You also want to make sure you allow them time to warm up to you before you give them too much information. If they don’t feel that initial bond, they won’t feel any desire to help you. But if you take the time to find a commonality, they will be more inclined to continue the conversation. Provide introduction Your recipient is not going to take time to visit your profile to figure out who you are or what you do. When sending a message, always be sure to give a brief description of yourself as a form of introduction. Providing this not only lets them know who you are, but it shows you’re serious about connecting with them. This also another way for you to be relatable. Without an introduction, the person reading your message will have a difficult time trying to relate to you. They want to know who you are, and why you are messaging them. Remember the subject line Be sure to remember the subject line, this is important. Keep it interesting, personal, and simple. Keep it to no more than five words. This may be the most important step. If the person doesn’t even take the time to open your message, you will never have the chance to connect with them. Many people don’t take the time to go through every message they receive. If you take the time to create a thoughtful subject line, you are much more likely to get them to open your message and continue reading. Conclusion In conclusion, there are a lot of ways to send an effective InMail on LinkedIn. Make sure to follow these do’s and don’ts before sending your next InMail.

Employee Mileage Reimbursement

Employee Mileage Reimbursement Employee Mileage Reimbursement Employee reimbursement for using your own automobile will vary somewhat by employer and sector, but most organizations compensate employees at approximately the  Standard Mileage Rate  set by the IRS  or the  Privately Owned Vehicle Reimbursement Rate.  The rate is  set each year  by the General Services Administration (GSA) based on research conducted by an independent consulting firm regarding current costs for utilizing a vehicle. For 2019, the  Standard Mileage Rate  is rate is set at 58 cents  per mile traveled, up from 54.5 cents for 2018. This fixed, standard rate incorporates the cost of insurance, registration, gas, oil, and maintenance. For someone who  drives a lot for work, this can result in a significant deduction. Company Mileage Reimbursement Rates Most employers will reimburse at the IRS or GSA rate since they can deduct up to that amount as an expense when they file their corporate income tax return, though there are other complex tax formulas that employers can use. When qualified workers are difficult to find during economic expansions, employers are more likely to provide competitive rates of reimbursement. The Internal Revenue Service requires reimbursement payments to be made separately from salary, with no taxes withheld. Some employers will, therefore, process expense payments through the accounts payable system to keep them separate from payroll and to maintain compliance with IRS laws. If your employer is reimbursing at or near the GSA or IRS rate, then you can feel assured that you are getting a fair deal. Government Employee Reimbursement Government employees will always be reimbursed at exactly the GSA rate if the use of a privately owned car is authorized or when no government vehicle is available. Automobile Expense Reimbursement Requirements Youll need to provide a  mileage log, gas receipts, and documentation of any other allowable expense receipt related to your car. Without detailed records, your expense report may get rejected. Or worse, your employer could potentially take disciplinary action if he thinks your claim might be fraudulent. Many employers require contemporaneous record keeping, just like the IRS. Dont attempt to estimate your mileage as that might violate your employer’s policies. Keeping pen and paper in your car is one method, albeit a tedious one; a better choice is a mileage tracking app that automatically tracks your trips in a contemporaneous log that you can print or download. Its an efficient way to keep track of mileage, start and end-points and the business purpose for the drive to include with your  expense report. Other Ways Employers Compensate Employees for Automobile Expenses According to the Society for Human Resource Management, these are common alternatives to mileage reimbursement as ways for employers to compensate employees for business-driving expenses are: Flat car allowance.  Employers provide employees a flat car allowance, such as $400 per month, to cover the cost of fuel, wear and tear, tires, and more. FAVR programs.  Employers reimburse employees under a  fixed and variable rate (FAVR) reimbursement program, in which employees are reimbursed for fixed costs (such as insurance, taxes, and registration fees) and variable vehicle expenses (such as fuel and maintenance). The reimbursements are tax-free to employees if certain expense-accounting requirements are met. Tax Consequences for Mileage Reimbursements Mileage  reimbursements are considered tax-free disbursements by employers as long as they are documented and don’t exceed your actual expenses. However, your employer cannot directly pay for operating costs like repairs or maintenance for your car without tax consequences. Other expenses like tolls directly related to business transportation can be reimbursed without taxation provided you have receipts. Some employers provide a monthly allowance for automobile expenses. If employees are required to furnish records of expenses, they will be taxed only for any amount received in excess of recorded expenses. If employers don’t require documentation, then the allowance may be subject to taxation. Unreimbursed Automobile Expenses Starting in the tax year of 2018, with the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, workers will no longer be able to deduct unreimbursed automobile expenses.  In 2017 and earlier years these expenses were deductible to the extent that they were in excess of 2% of adjusted gross income. So, workers who will drive extensively as part of carrying out their job responsibilities should carefully evaluate company reimbursement policies as they review job offers. If an employer does not typically reimburse car expenses, then you might offer to reduce salary in exchange for reimbursement since the reimbursement will be sheltered from taxation if expenses are documented appropriately. Alternatively, you might negotiate a higher salary to account for the added tax burden under the new tax law. According to the IRS, despite the suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions, deductions for expenses that are deductible in determining adjusted gross income are not suspended. For example, members of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States (Armed Forces), state or local government officials paid on a fee basis, and certain performing artists are entitled to deduct unreimbursed employee travel expenses as an adjustment to total income on line 24 of Schedule 1 of Form 1040 - 3 - (2018), not as an itemized deduction on Schedule A of Form 1040 (2018), and therefore may continue to use the business standard mileage rate. The information contained in this article is not tax or legal advice and is not a substitute for such advice. State and federal laws change frequently, and the information in this article may not reflect your own state’s laws or the most recent changes to the law.

Debate is the secret behind top teams best ideas

Debate is the secret behind top teams' best ideas Debate is the secret behind top teams' best ideas Debate - not lockstep agreement - is the secret recipe for a high-performing team, a new six-year study has found.When the researchers at RHR International first started testing group dynamics in 55 teams made up of more than 700 senior executives, they thought that the senior-level teams who sought cohesion would be the most successful. They were wrong.“It is the ability to manage conflicting tensions - as opposed to seeking cohesion - that is the most predictive of top-team performance,” they concluded in their writeup of their results for Harvard Business Review. Teams who debated their ideas regularly and encouraged a healthy sparring over ideas emerged as the highest-performing groups - with a 22% better performance of developing new products than teams that always agreed.Just talking isn’t going to cut it. It’s critical debate that works, not non-judgmental talking where everyone gets a medal for participating. In a separate study, UC Berkeley researchers put brain storming and constructive criticism to the test. They split up teams into a control group, a brainstorming group where participants were told to talk about ideas without judgment and criticism, and the debating group that was told to debate and criticize each others’ ideas as they came up. The debate group ended up producing 25% more ideas than the other teams in the same period of time.The best teams debate their ideasSo for teams to succeed, you need a safe place to honestly debate your ideas, not just formally present them. “The encouragement to debate and even criticize, not only does not inhibit idea generation, it appears to enhance it even more than the traditional brainstorming instructions,” the study concluded.That’s the kind of debate Pixar Animation Studios, a studio known for producing some of highest-grossing films of all time, does each morning. Each day at Pixar begins with junior and senior staffers analyzing and critiquing the few seconds of film they have animated the day before, in a process known as “shredding.”“We know screwups are an essential part of making something good. That’s why our goal is to screw up as fast as possible,”    Lee Unkrich, director of Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” told Wired about why Pixar subjects its employees to this intense debate daily. When employees can give critical feedback to ideas and works in progress, major revisions and failures can be avoided.How to debate instead of fightIf you want to copy the high-performing teams’ success, you first need to reframe your idea of conflict. It’s not a battleground to be won, but one where you see winning as an outcome where the best idea gets implemented - even if it’s not yours. Ultimately, you and your teammates should be debating each other for a common goal - satisfying your customer or intended audience, usually. When you focus your argument on the idea itself, you separate the person from the merit of the idea.Pixar does this through a process known as “plussing“: to keep the morning shreddings from wearing down on employees’ psyches, animators can  only criticize an idea if they also add, or “plus,” a constructive suggestion on how to make the idea better.Good debate means embracing tension. That means talking openly and transparently about what debate should be: a clear dialogue about the conflicts, tradeoffs and concerns being addressed. Without that established framework, an argument descends into a personal fight of allegiances.

How to manage your boss and yes, its a thing

How to manage your boss â€" and yes, it’s a thing How to manage your boss â€" and yes, it’s a thing If you’re a working adult (of any age!), you’re probably used to managing your own schedule, priorities, and workload. But have you ever thought about the need to manage your boss/manager? Because believe it or not, it’s a real thing and it’s referred to in business management as managing up.I know what you might be thinking … isn’t it my boss’ job to manage me? Why do I, then, have to think at all about managing them?Well, to put it simply, it’s because if you don’t at least try, you’re setting yourself up to fail slowly over time. Your boss is this other human being who is arguably one of the most important relationships you’ll ever have at work â€" so the way you “manage” that relationship can drive your career and personal development forward fast OR lead to your demise.The best way to go about managing your boss is by taking ownership over your end of working relationship, specifically when it comes down to communication, expectations, and problem-solvi ng. Here are some tips on how to go about doing that:Be clear about your career goalsA good manager strives to advance his or her employees into roles that are well-suited for their personalities, skill sets, and career goals. The more your manager knows about where you see yourself in five or ten years, or even in the next 6 months, the easier it is for them to empower you to achieve those goals and set you on the right path within the organization.When problems arise, think about solutionsA common mistake people make when interacting with their boss or manager is bringing up complaints and problems without any thought about how to solve them. Worse yet is giving your manager the impression that you expect them to fix everything for you. The better way to approach problems is to still bring them up to your manager, but when you do, also come prepared with ideas on how to solve them. This accomplished a few things: 1) it demonstrates your own willingness and ability to solve tough p roblems 2) it increases your manager’s chances of successfully helping you resolve the issue, and 3) it builds trust and rapport between the two of you and decreases the likelihood of angst and frustration at the outcome.Give your manager honest feedbackAlthough you may not consider it often, your manager needs constructive feedback about his or her performance and leadership just as much as you need feedback about how you’re doing. Sharing what you think is going well is one thing, but you should also remember to go straight to your manager when you don’t agree with something they’ve said or done. Nobody’s perfect and they need your input to know what they could be improving on too!Be clear about what’s missingAlthough almost every yearly performance evaluation (if you even have those!) allows an opportunity for you to answer questions about what you need to perform your job successfully, a lot of people tend to just mumble a quick, “I guess so” rather than share th eir honest feedback. Let your manager know what you need to perform your best at yearly evaluations AND on a regular basis: a clearer job description, retraining on certain skills, or support in a certain challenging area are a few examples. Your manager’s goal is to provide you with everything you need to be successful, but they can’t possibly know what you need unless you share that information with them.Ask questionsAny time your manager has delivered news you don’t like, requested you complete a task you don’t feel qualified to perform, or otherwise frustrated or confused you, ask questions rather than casting judgment and getting frustrated. Questions that might help you work through your concerns will vary based on the circumstances, but here are few great examples of respectful, fact-finding questions: I’m feeling confused. Can you help me understand how completing this task first would help us meet our goal faster? I don’t feel qualified, but I would love to. Can you help me get the training I need? I’m sure that was a complex decision. Can you explain what led you to decide that so I can understand too? Asking questions can be a non-challenging way to get on the same page before allowing your emotions to take over.Managing your manager isn’t a total cake-walk, but it doesn’t have to be super hard either; it just requires focused effort and an open mind on your part. The reward for doing it is high; you may be able to stay with the same company for many years in a fulfilling career that you actually enjoy and want, rather than have to start all over at a new job and company where the same issues arise or your boss is even worse!This post was originally published on Kununu.com.

Project vs. People Management

Project vs. People Management Project vs. People Management Managing projects and managing/supervising require many of the same skills and abilities; however, the jobs are dissimilar in their authority and technical expertise.  Both present interesting and challenging career paths for those who have leadership, communication, and organizational skills.   Skills Required for Effective Management Both disciplines require strong leadership skills. Project managers and supervisors lead teams to achieve common goals and, to be a leader, people have to follow. Work does not get done when team members dont fill their roles, and everyone gets frustrated, and while individuals may face disciplinary action, leaders are the ones whose jobs are most in jeopardy when targets are missed. A common adage about project managers is they spend 90% of their time communicating. Checking on the status of a task that a member is committed to completing, writing status reports, and holding meetings are just a few of the responsibilities managers have. Supervisors also set expectations with their staff, gather information, and report on the team’s work Organizational skills are important for project managers and supervisors. Project managers tend to be planners by nature who thrive on establishing a plan and executing it. They even have plans within plans like a communication plan within a project’s work breakdown structure. Supervisors need to keep track of what their staff members are doing. Supervisors ensure everyone is working on the right things at the right time. They corral the work of individual contributors to help their efforts be most useful to their employing business, nonprofit or government agency. Using Appropriate Leverage to Complete Tasks Authority - Project managers do not hold management authority over their project team members whereas supervisors can hire, fire, discipline and compel their staff to follow orders. Without the threat of personnel action in their back pockets, This dynamic requires project leaders to have excellent management skills. Granted, supervisors should rarely threaten personnel action, but they have the ability, and many times, that is enough of a threat. While project managers cannot fire their project team members for poor performance, they have ways of holding team members accountable. On the front end of a project, a project manager works with supervisors to gain commitment from them on how much time and effort will be expected of their staff who will participate in the project. When project managers and supervisors are on the same page in this respect, it is easier for project managers to outline how a project team member is not contributing appropriately. A project manager’s first instinct is not to go to a team member’s supervisor when a problem occurs. Project managers set up mechanisms for team members to hold one another accountable. Regular status meetings where team members commit to executing tasks within specified timeframes help the team members hold one another accountable. A project manager does not want to be the only one calling out people on missed deadlines and poor deliverable quality. When all else fails, a project manager gets help from a project sponsor. This person has the organizational clout to do things neither a project manager nor an ordinary supervisor can do. A project sponsor can go above a supervisor to have a project team member removed or coached to better performance. Expertise - Something that makes project managers approach their work differently than supervisors is that a project manager is not necessarily an expert in a project’s subject matter while supervisors are experts in staff business. A project manager is an expert in project management processes who brings together differently qualified experts to achieve a project’s goals. The project team solves a project’s problems and issues. The project manager provides structure for the team to do so. A supervisor is more participatory in devising business solutions because he or she often has a similar degree of expertise on the matter as his or her staff.

Freelance Media Jobs and What to Expect

Freelance Media Jobs and What to Expect Freelance Media Jobs and What to Expect The term freelancer has different connotations in different industries. Interestingly, in the media, there are a number of different freelance jobs you can get. You can work a part-time position as a freelancer, working a reduced schedule, or you can be a full-time freelancer, working either as a freelance writer, photographer, or illustrator. You can also work a full-time job and freelance on the side, doing projects here and there. The Advantages of Freelancing The biggest advantages of working as a freelancer are mostly lifestyle related, beginning with the freedom it affords you. A freelancer isn’t bound to keeping a certain schedule. In fact, most freelancers are able to work the hours that suit them, provided they meet the deadlines expected by their clients. Generally, freelancers also work remotely, which saves both time and money on commuting and alleviates the stress of sitting in traffic. Depending upon where the freelancer lives, that can make the prospect of freelancing enticing enough on its own. Freelancers are also free to find the right situation for themselves. Whether its picking which clients to work with or managing their workload, they dont have to answer to anybody else. Many people gravitate toward having that sort of autonomy. The Disadvantages of Freelancing At the same time, however, being on your own can also be seen as a downside. Working by yourself means you are doing everything from finding new clients and overseeing billing to collecting payments and handling the accounting. And all of that administrative work is essentially being done without immediate compensation, on top of actual paid freelance duties. Another disadvantage of working as a freelancer is the lack of financial stability. Your ability to generate income is directly tied to your ability to attract clients. If youre not necessarily outgoing, you might have difficulty gaining clients, and that, in itself, can be stressful. Even if youre good at interacting with people, it can be equally daunting to bring in that new business consistently. Then there is the process of billing when the job is finished and making sure youre getting paid on time. Sometimes it can take a month or two before you receive payment. A freelancer doesn’t have the luxury of a steady paycheck. That can be tough when youve got bills to pay yourself and other obligations to meet such as income taxes and self-employment taxes, which need to be paid quarterly. Freelancing can also be tough because most freelancers don’t receive health coverage (unless they have a specific contract with a company and then have a unique full-time freelance position), a benefit that is typically afforded to full-time employees. Working for an employer also offers additional benefits that arent available to freelancers, including having paid time off. When a freelancer is ill or otherwise needs to take time off, they do so without pay. How to Transition From Full-Time to Freelance To become a full-time freelancer, you need to assess where you are in your career and what your needs are. Do you have the contacts you need to get a steady stream of assignments? How much money can you reasonably expect to make? Do you need health insurance? These are all questions someone needs to address before they can start freelancing full-time. Many freelancers, in various sections of the media, will work full-time for years, making contacts within their industry and picking up freelance jobs on the side, before they take the plunge and become a full-time freelancer. One thing a successful freelancer needs is strong ties to people who assign the work they do. Successful freelance magazine writers, for example, often have strong relationships with certain editors who they rely on for multiple assignments. Once you have certain people who you can rely on to give you work, then you can comfortably get to a point where you can search out other jobs and bring in even more potential assignments and more money. Because of the risky nature of freelance work, it’s very hard to develop a successful freelance career unless you’ve been working in the media for some time. There are exceptions to every rule: If you’re a famous novelist, for example, you can often wrangle a plush freelance writing job because of your stature. But the key to successful freelancing is leveraging the experience and reputation you build by working in that field.

Customize this Arborist Resume

Customize this Arborist Resume Customize this Arborist Resume Create this Resume Brendan Scoville2529 Valley View DriveCambridge, MA 2141(222)-760-5736b.scoville@tmail.comObjectiveTo secure a position as Arborist in a fast growing landscape industry whereby skills and expertise in landscape and planning can be fully utilized. Summary of QualificationsIPM and climbing experienceCDL LicenseISA certificationExperience in general planningProficient in using MS Office SuitesProfessional ExperienceArborist, January 2007 PresentVilla Son Landscaping, Pompano Beach, FL ResponsibilitiesMonitored landscapes.Managed crews and monitored their work to ensure clients satisfaction.Devised marketing campaigns to attract sales.Facilitated industry networking by presentations at various events. Arborist- Associate, May 2004- December 2006Brickman, Bethlehem, PA ResponsibilitiesAssisted the Senior Arborist in facilitating industry networking.Generated sales by presentations, referrals and networking.Ensured clients satisfaction by performing task completely an d accurately.Checked landscapes.Made quotations and estimated job cost.EducationMasters Degree in Arboriculture, 2004Yale UniversityBachelors Degree in Arboriculture, 2002Yale UniversityCustomize ResumeMore Sample Resumes:Anesthesiologist Resume Animal Trainer Resume Arabic Liguist ResumeArborist Resume

The 3-step evening ritual that will make you happy

The 3-step evening ritual that will make you happy The 3-step evening ritual that will make you happy What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you? Something that you still think about or still affects you to this day.Hold that thought, okay? Right now we need to do storytime with Uncle Eric:More than thirty years ago there was a guy named Jamie, his marriage was in the toilet, and he was utterly depressed. Despite having big problems, he didn’t go to a therapist. (Which is ironic because Jamie was a graduate student in psychology, of all things.)Instead he started writing. A lot. He wrote about his marriage, his career, his childhood. He basically covered every serious issue in his life and how he felt about it. And then something happened…He felt better. A  lot  better. And he realized how much his wife meant to him. They resolved their issues. Then he had a thought:  maybe writing might help  anyone  feel better about their struggles in life.  And being a psychology grad student, he did a study to test the theory…Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazi nes on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!And he was right. Since that first paper was published in 1986 literally  hundreds  of other studies have shown the power of expressive writing to help people with, well, damn near everything in their life. (Yes, that sounds extreme. I know, I know. We’ll get to it. We’re just getting started here, okay?)In the thirty-plus years since that first epic writing binge many students on the University of Texas at Austin campus have come up to Professor James Pennebaker and said something like:You don’t remember me, but I was in your experiment a year ago. I just wanted to thank you. It changed my life.Suitably impressed, are ya? Good. Because we gotta get this show on the road, junior.James Pennebaker is the Regents Centennial Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.  His book is  Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pa in.So what difference can an evening ritual of writing make for you? And how might the worst thing in your life possibly lead to the best thing?Let’s get to it …The Following May Be Hard To Believe …I have procrastinated writing this section because it feels like something you might hear on an infomercial. Like quackery. Pseudoscience. But it’s real. Scout’s honor.Jamie’s research found that expressive writing had effects similar to therapy. It was like talking to a close friend or a therapist about your problems but there weren’t any judgments and it didn’t cost $200 an hour.So you probably won’t be too surprised that writing helped  people suffering from depression, anxiety or PTSD. It helped their relationships too.  But that wasn’t all…Their  physical  health improved as well.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:People who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding traumatic experiences evidenced enhanced immune function compared with those who wrote about superficial topics. Although this effect was most pronounced after the last day of writing, it tended to persist six weeks after the study. In addition, it was again observed that health center visits for illness dropped for the people who wrote about traumas compared to those who wrote on the trivial topics.Okay, so they caught fewer colds? Yeah, and …Women with breast cancer reported fewer symptoms and required fewer cancer-related doctor visits. People with asthma and arthritis  â€œreported meaningful improvements in quality of life similar to benefits that would be expected by a successful new drug treatment.” It’s helped people with HIV, cardiovascular disease and chronic pain. People slept better. Smokers were more likely to quit. Several studies even showed that after expressive writing  wounds healed faster …I’m gonna stop before I start to sound like an infomercial or somebody selling magic healing crystals. I wouldn’t blame you at all for feelin g some skepticism - I just hope you’re as patient as you are skeptical because it will take you an awfully long time to read the  17,000+ citations on Google Scholar  that demonstrate the positive effects of expressive writing.Don’t get me wrong; it’s not a panacea. It doesn’t  cure  cancer. Its benefits are modest to moderate and it doesn’t help everyone all the time. That said, it has a lot to offer. It’s stupidly easy. And it doesn’t require some app that’s gonna bill you $9.99 a month for eternity. It’s free.And as the infomercials love to say:  â€œBut wait - there’s more!”  Being happier and healthier is nice but expressive writing also demonstrated concrete effects on people’s lives. Students’ grades improved. Unemployed people who did it were far more likely to get jobs.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:Within three months, 27 percent of the experimental participants landed jobs compared with less than 5 percent of those in the time management an d no-writing comparison groups. By seven months after writing, 53 percent of those who wrote about their thoughts and feelings had jobs compared with only 18 percent of the people in the other conditions. Particularly striking about the study was that the participants in all three conditions had all gone on exactly the same number of job interviews.Some might respond by saying they don’t have depression or cancer, so they’re going to stick with their current evening ritual of chips, salsa and “To Catch A Predator” reruns. They don’t have big tragic problems so this wouldn’t be a good evening ritual for them.Wrong. We all deal with emotional struggles - whether we realize them or not, whether they make us clinically depressed or not. Expressive writing has shown positive effects in people who weren’t dealing with anything serious.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:Looking beyond studies specifically with people diagnosed with a clinical disorder, some evidence for the benefit of expressive writing for feelings of depression and general distress has also been found in people who were not clinically depressed.So what’s the biggest benefit people report after a few evenings of expressive writing? “Insight.” Most people said they understood themselves better. They felt more meaning in life. To my knowledge, nobody has ever reported effects like that from buying a ShamWow or a Foreman Grill.(To learn more about how you and your children can lead a successful life, check out my bestselling book  here.)Okay, Sherlock, we have a mystery on our hands. Shouldn’t anything this amazing involve a doctor’s prescription, insurance deductibles and nuclear fusion? And why didn’t anybody tell me about this after I lost my favorite GI Joe action figure at age 7 or after the Great Eric Depression of 2014?Simply put, how can something so ridiculously free and easy do so much good?How The Sorcery WorksWe all deal with stress, pain and assorted glitches in the source code of life. Yeah, you can ignore them, bury them or distract yourself but they’re still there. (My own personal experiments have demonstrated that bourbon only qualifies as a “solution” if you’re speaking in terms of chemistry.)Emotional upheavals you don’t get closure on cause you stress. Mental and physical. They can increase the chance of illness, stroke, heart attack, or worst of all, erectile dysfunction.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:In the short run, restraining thoughts or feelings can immediately affect our body, for example, by increasing perspiration or causing faster heart rates, as seen during lie detector tests. Over time, the work of keeping secrets serves as a cumulative stressor on the body, increasing the likelihood of illness and other stress-related physical and mental problems… Major life experiences that are withheld from others are likely to surface in the forms of anxiety, ruminations, disturbing dreams, and other thought distur bances.Oh, so when it comes to emotional stuff, you just need to “get it out”? To vent. Right?Wrong. Merely expressing feelings makes it  worse.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:The effects were not due to simple catharsis or the venting of pent-up emotions. In fact, the people who just blew off steam by venting their feelings without any thoughtful analysis tended to fare worse… Talking or writing about the source of our problems without self-reflection merely adds to our distress…If all it took was venting then complainers and those who pollute our social media feeds with angry rants would be the most emotionally well-adjusted people around.It’s not the expression of our emotions - it’s  making sense of them  that sets us right.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:The authors asked the students to write about their thoughts and feelings about their lives. Those who showed more deep-level thinking along with constructive problem solving were less depressed later and h ad fewer health care visits. Those medical students who merely expressed their emotions and described their anxiety had more health care visits… A large number of good scientific studies conclude that the mere expression of emotion is usually not beneficial on its own. Rather, people typically must learn to recognize and identify their emotional reactions to events. Talking (and other forms of expression) is beneficial when it helps people make sense of their experiences.You need meaning in your life. And in the modern world, we have tidal waves of information but meaning is about as common as three-legged ballerinas. Life’s inevitable emotional upheavals shake up our vision of the world, mess with our identity and make us question the fragile Etch-A-Sketched vision of meaning we’ve managed to cobble together over the decades.We ruminate endlessly but that just makes things worse. When you’re merely thinking about your problems, you hop, skip and jump all over the place, nev er resolving one issue before moving on to the next. Writing forces us to put a structure around life. To make sense of it.You’ve probably heard some version of the expression, “If you can’t explain it to someone else, you don’t really understand it.” That’s true of our emotional lives as well. Writing - just like talking to someone - forces you to  make some sense. And that’s what you need most when life takes your vision of reality and shakes it like a snow globe.Once you understand something, once you can find a place for it in the story of your life, that’s when you can put it behind you and move on.(To learn the 4 harsh truths that will make you a better person, click  here.)Got the gist? Good. Now that you’re sufficiently gisted, let’s clear the decks …Getting ReadyYour writing ritual can be used for many purposes: dealing with life’s big issues, finally putting some old business to rest, dealing with tough transitions or just stilling an anxious mind .The only time you really want to avoid writing about something is when it’s still a bit recent and raw or if you find approaching the topic overwhelming.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:The studies that have hinted that expressive writing could be harmful have involved pushing people to engage in emotional processing of events that are overwhelming, are ongoing, or have happened in the previous days or weeks.The only other thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to use disclosure as a substitute for action. If the problem has negative effects on your life that take place outside your skull, don’t think that you can skip actually doing something about it.Just because you’ve emotionally come to terms with debt doesn’t mean you can stop paying off your credit card.(To learn how to deal with passive-aggressive people, click  here.)So how do we get the most from our writing ritual?How To WriteDon’t wake up and immediately try to deal with big life issues. Just. Don†™t.There’s a reason this isn’t a morning ritual. And Jamie’s research confirms this:  â€œAcross multiple studies, we have had the most success with people writing at the end of their workday.”So how do you get started?  Here’s Jamie:Find a time and place where you won’t be disturbed. Ideally, pick a time at the end of your workday or in the evening when you know things will be calm and quiet. Promise yourself that you will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least three or four consecutive days, or a fixed day and time for several weeks (for example, every Thursday evening for this month). Once you begin writing, write continuously. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. If you run out of things to write about, just repeat what you have already written. You can write longhand or you can type on a computer. If you are unable to write, you can also talk into a tape recorder. You can write about the same thing on all days of writing or you can write about somet hing different each day. It is entirely up to you.Many people experience some initial paralysis around what to write about or how to begin. No need to stress. It’s pretty straightforward.  Here’s Jamie:Over the next four days, I want you to write about your deepest emotions and thoughts about the most upsetting experience in your life. Really let go and explore your feelings and thoughts about it. In your writing, you might tie this experience to your childhood, your relationship with your parents, people you have loved or love now, or even your career. How is this experience related to who you would like to become, who you have been in the past, or who you are now? Many people have not had a single traumatic experience, but all of us have had major conflicts or stressors in our lives, and you can write about them as well. You can write about the same issue every day or a series of different issues. Whatever you choose to write about, however, it is critical that you really let go and explore your very deepest emotions and thoughts.You can write about anything, but make sure to emphasize  feelings. Don’t just record a summary of the events. Look for meaning. Make sense of it. A rule I use is, “If writing about a subject feels scary, definitely write about that.”And remember that this is for you and you alone. If you think someone else might read it, you’re going to hold back or twist the story. After you’re done you can destroy it or keep it or make a macaroni picture out of it with glitter and put it on the fridge. It doesn’t matter. The exercise is what matters, not the result.Expect to feel a little sad or out of it when you’re done. Don’t let that scare you from returning to it the next day. Most people in the studies found that those feelings dissipated pretty quickly, in a matter of hours. It’s like seeing a sad movie. But weeks and months later most people felt much, much better.(To learn the 4-step morning ritual that will make yo u happy all day, click  here.)Alright, you know what to do. Let’s round it all up - and answer the big question: if writing about your problems simulates the experience of talking to a friend, then why not just talk to a friend?Sum UpHere’s the evening ritual that will make you happy and healthy: How long has it been?  If you’re still in the midst of the problem or find thinking about it overwhelming, give it time. Come back to it in a month. Commit to at least four evenings of 15 minutes:  Pick a time and place where nobody will bother you. Yes, you can hide in the bathroom if necessary. Write nonstop about the most upsetting moment of your life:  Points will not be deducted for spelling or grammar. Don’t write for anyone but you. For extra credit:  Focusing on feelings, tying in many aspects of your life, developing a narrative, and looking for cause and effect are all associated with better  results. Make sense of it. Look for meaning. We see a lot of stuff about how relationships are the key to health - heck, I’ve  posted a lot about that. But here’s the part you don’t hear often: if you don’t open up to those friends about your problems, your relationships have zero health benefits.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:In large surveys with corporate employees as well as college students, we find the same thing that other social support researchers have shown: the more friends you have, the healthier you are. However, this effect is due, almost exclusively, to the degree to which you have talked with your friends about any traumas that you have suffered. But here is the kicker. If you have had a trauma that you have not talked about with anyone, the number of friends you have is unrelated to your health.So why write? Isn’t it just easier to talk to people?Talking to friends is definitely preferable - but it’s not always safe. There are some damn good reasons not to open up to others about certain subj ects. Some people are blabbermouths who won’t respect your secrets.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:According to research by Bernard Rimé at the University of Louvain in Belgium, the average secret told in confidence is spread to at least two other people.We need to feel safe to really open up. And feeling we’re not going to be judged is critical. When you feel punished for disclosing problems, your health gets  worse.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:Several studies have found that when people are punished for disclosing their traumatic experiences, their psychological and physical health suffers… Vanessa Juth and her colleagues assessed the health of over 200 bereaved individuals several years after their loss. Those people who reported feeling the greatest pressure from others to not talk about their loss were the people who reported the most mental and physical health problems.This is why many people counterintuitively open up to bartenders or hairdressers instead of friends or family. In distance, there is safety. And there is complete safety and acceptance in writing.Writing shouldn’t preclude you from getting support from friends - but when it doesn’t feel safe, the scribbled word is always there to help.One more thing: it’s important to remember that your default is resilience. You deal pretty well with 99% of what happens to you. This is best proven by the simple fact that you don’t even  remember  most of what happens to you, let alone end up completely traumatized by it.We used to have a culture that bottled up everything and that wasn’t a great idea, and now the pendulum has swung more toward  everything  being trauma and that’s not true or helpful either.You’re tougher than you think. But every now and then things do happen that send us to the emotional ER, and maybe they’re too sensitive to share with a friend. That’s when writing can really help.Okay, I’ve typed more than enough. Now it’s your turn.You’re goi ng to feel much, much better in 2019.Join over 320,000 readers.  Get a free weekly update via email  here.This article first appeared on Barking Up The Wrong Tree.You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people The 3-step evening ritual that will make you happy What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you? Something that you still think about or still affects you to this day.Hold that thought, okay? Right now we need to do storytime with Uncle Eric:More than thirty years ago there was a guy named Jamie, his marriage was in the toilet, and he was utterly depressed. Despite having big problems, he didn’t go to a therapist. (Which is ironic because Jamie was a graduate student in psychology, of all things.)Instead he started writing. A lot. He wrote about his marriage, his career, his childhood. He basically covered every serious issue in his life and how he felt about it. And then something happened…He felt better. A  lot  better. And he realized how much his wife meant to him. They resolved their issues. Then he had a thought:  maybe writing might help  anyone  feel better about their struggles in life.  And being a psychology grad student, he did a study to test the theory…And he was right. Since that first paper was publish ed in 1986 literally  hundreds  of other studies have shown the power of expressive writing to help people with, well, damn near everything in their life. (Yes, that sounds extreme. I know, I know. We’ll get to it. We’re just getting started here, okay?)In the thirty-plus years since that first epic writing binge many students on the University of Texas at Austin campus have come up to Professor James Pennebaker and said something like:You don’t remember me, but I was in your experiment a year ago. I just wanted to thank you. It changed my life.Suitably impressed, are ya? Good. Because we gotta get this show on the road, junior.James Pennebaker is the Regents Centennial Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.  His book is  Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain.So what difference can an evening ritual of writing make for you? And how might the worst thing in your life possibly lead to the best thing? Let’s get to it …The Following May Be Hard To Believe …I have procrastinated writing this section because it feels like something you might hear on an infomercial. Like quackery. Pseudoscience. But it’s real. Scout’s honor.Jamie’s research found that expressive writing had effects similar to therapy. It was like talking to a close friend or a therapist about your problems but there weren’t any judgments and it didn’t cost $200 an hour.So you probably won’t be too surprised that writing helped  people suffering from depression, anxiety or PTSD. It helped their relationships too.  But that wasn’t all…Their  physical  health improved as well.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:People who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding traumatic experiences evidenced enhanced immune function compared with those who wrote about superficial topics. Although this effect was most pronounced after the last day of writing, it tended to persist six weeks after the study. In addition, it was again observed that health center visits for illness dropped for the people who wrote about traumas compared to those who wrote on the trivial topics.Okay, so they caught fewer colds? Yeah, and …Women with breast cancer reported fewer symptoms and required fewer cancer-related doctor visits. People with asthma and arthritis  â€œreported meaningful improvements in quality of life similar to benefits that would be expected by a successful new drug treatment.” It’s helped people with HIV, cardiovascular disease and chronic pain. People slept better. Smokers were more likely to quit. Several studies even showed that after expressive writing  wounds healed faster …I’m gonna stop before I start to sound like an infomercial or somebody selling magic healing crystals. I wouldn’t blame you at all for feeling some skepticism - I just hope you’re as patient as you are skeptical because it will take you an awfully long time to read the  17,000+ cit ations on Google Scholar  that demonstrate the positive effects of expressive writing.Don’t get me wrong; it’s not a panacea. It doesn’t  cure  cancer. Its benefits are modest to moderate and it doesn’t help everyone all the time. That said, it has a lot to offer. It’s stupidly easy. And it doesn’t require some app that’s gonna bill you $9.99 a month for eternity. It’s free.And as the infomercials love to say:  â€œBut wait - there’s more!”  Being happier and healthier is nice but expressive writing also demonstrated concrete effects on people’s lives. Students’ grades improved. Unemployed people who did it were far more likely to get jobs.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:Within three months, 27 percent of the experimental participants landed jobs compared with less than 5 percent of those in the time management and no-writing comparison groups. By seven months after writing, 53 percent of those who wrote about their thoughts and feelings had jobs compared with only 18 percent of the people in the other conditions. Particularly striking about the study was that the participants in all three conditions had all gone on exactly the same number of job interviews.Some might respond by saying they don’t have depression or cancer, so they’re going to stick with their current evening ritual of chips, salsa and “To Catch A Predator” reruns. They don’t have big tragic problems so this wouldn’t be a good evening ritual for them.Wrong. We all deal with emotional struggles - whether we realize them or not, whether they make us clinically depressed or not. Expressive writing has shown positive effects in people who weren’t dealing with anything serious.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:Looking beyond studies specifically with people diagnosed with a clinical disorder, some evidence for the benefit of expressive writing for feelings of depression and general distress has also been found in people who were not clinically depressed.S o what’s the biggest benefit people report after a few evenings of expressive writing? “Insight.” Most people said they understood themselves better. They felt more meaning in life. To my knowledge, nobody has ever reported effects like that from buying a ShamWow or a Foreman Grill.(To learn more about how you and your children can lead a successful life, check out my bestselling book  here.)Okay, Sherlock, we have a mystery on our hands. Shouldn’t anything this amazing involve a doctor’s prescription, insurance deductibles and nuclear fusion? And why didn’t anybody tell me about this after I lost my favorite GI Joe action figure at age 7 or after the Great Eric Depression of 2014?Simply put, how can something so ridiculously free and easy do so much good?How The Sorcery WorksWe all deal with stress, pain and assorted glitches in the source code of life. Yeah, you can ignore them, bury them or distract yourself but they’re still there. (My own personal experiments have demonstrated that bourbon only qualifies as a “solution” if you’re speaking in terms of chemistry.)Emotional upheavals you don’t get closure on cause you stress. Mental and physical. They can increase the chance of illness, stroke, heart attack, or worst of all, erectile dysfunction.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:In the short run, restraining thoughts or feelings can immediately affect our body, for example, by increasing perspiration or causing faster heart rates, as seen during lie detector tests. Over time, the work of keeping secrets serves as a cumulative stressor on the body, increasing the likelihood of illness and other stress-related physical and mental problems… Major life experiences that are withheld from others are likely to surface in the forms of anxiety, ruminations, disturbing dreams, and other thought disturbances.Oh, so when it comes to emotional stuff, you just need to “get it out”? To vent. Right?Wrong. Merely expressing feelings makes it  wo rse.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:The effects were not due to simple catharsis or the venting of pent-up emotions. In fact, the people who just blew off steam by venting their feelings without any thoughtful analysis tended to fare worse… Talking or writing about the source of our problems without self-reflection merely adds to our distress…If all it took was venting then complainers and those who pollute our social media feeds with angry rants would be the most emotionally well-adjusted people around.It’s not the expression of our emotions - it’s  making sense of them  that sets us right.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:The authors asked the students to write about their thoughts and feelings about their lives. Those who showed more deep-level thinking along with constructive problem solving were less depressed later and had fewer health care visits. Those medical students who merely expressed their emotions and described their anxiety had more health care visitsâ €¦ A large number of good scientific studies conclude that the mere expression of emotion is usually not beneficial on its own. Rather, people typically must learn to recognize and identify their emotional reactions to events. Talking (and other forms of expression) is beneficial when it helps people make sense of their experiences.You need meaning in your life. And in the modern world, we have tidal waves of information but meaning is about as common as three-legged ballerinas. Life’s inevitable emotional upheavals shake up our vision of the world, mess with our identity and make us question the fragile Etch-A-Sketched vision of meaning we’ve managed to cobble together over the decades.We ruminate endlessly but that just makes things worse. When you’re merely thinking about your problems, you hop, skip and jump all over the place, never resolving one issue before moving on to the next. Writing forces us to put a structure around life. To make sense of it.You’ve probably hea rd some version of the expression, “If you can’t explain it to someone else, you don’t really understand it.” That’s true of our emotional lives as well. Writing - just like talking to someone - forces you to  make some sense. And that’s what you need most when life takes your vision of reality and shakes it like a snow globe.Once you understand something, once you can find a place for it in the story of your life, that’s when you can put it behind you and move on.(To learn the 4 harsh truths that will make you a better person, click  here.)Got the gist? Good. Now that you’re sufficiently gisted, let’s clear the decks …Getting ReadyYour writing ritual can be used for many purposes: dealing with life’s big issues, finally putting some old business to rest, dealing with tough transitions or just stilling an anxious mind.The only time you really want to avoid writing about something is when it’s still a bit recent and raw or if you find approaching the topic o verwhelming.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:The studies that have hinted that expressive writing could be harmful have involved pushing people to engage in emotional processing of events that are overwhelming, are ongoing, or have happened in the previous days or weeks.The only other thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to use disclosure as a substitute for action. If the problem has negative effects on your life that take place outside your skull, don’t think that you can skip actually doing something about it.Just because you’ve emotionally come to terms with debt doesn’t mean you can stop paying off your credit card.(To learn how to deal with passive-aggressive people, click  here.)So how do we get the most from our writing ritual?How To WriteDon’t wake up and immediately try to deal with big life issues. Just. Don’t.There’s a reason this isn’t a morning ritual. And Jamie’s research confirms this:  â€œAcross multiple studies, we have had the most suc cess with people writing at the end of their workday.”So how do you get started?  Here’s Jamie:Find a time and place where you won’t be disturbed. Ideally, pick a time at the end of your workday or in the evening when you know things will be calm and quiet. Promise yourself that you will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least three or four consecutive days, or a fixed day and time for several weeks (for example, every Thursday evening for this month). Once you begin writing, write continuously. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. If you run out of things to write about, just repeat what you have already written. You can write longhand or you can type on a computer. If you are unable to write, you can also talk into a tape recorder. You can write about the same thing on all days of writing or you can write about something different each day. It is entirely up to you.Many people experience some initial paralysis around what to write about or how to begin. No n eed to stress. It’s pretty straightforward.  Here’s Jamie:Over the next four days, I want you to write about your deepest emotions and thoughts about the most upsetting experience in your life. Really let go and explore your feelings and thoughts about it. In your writing, you might tie this experience to your childhood, your relationship with your parents, people you have loved or love now, or even your career. How is this experience related to who you would like to become, who you have been in the past, or who you are now? Many people have not had a single traumatic experience, but all of us have had major conflicts or stressors in our lives, and you can write about them as well. You can write about the same issue every day or a series of different issues. Whatever you choose to write about, however, it is critical that you really let go and explore your very deepest emotions and thoughts.You can write about anything, but make sure to emphasize  feelings. Don’t just record a summary of the events. Look for meaning. Make sense of it. A rule I use is, “If writing about a subject feels scary, definitely write about that.”And remember that this is for you and you alone. If you think someone else might read it, you’re going to hold back or twist the story. After you’re done you can destroy it or keep it or make a macaroni picture out of it with glitter and put it on the fridge. It doesn’t matter. The exercise is what matters, not the result.Expect to feel a little sad or out of it when you’re done. Don’t let that scare you from returning to it the next day. Most people in the studies found that those feelings dissipated pretty quickly, in a matter of hours. It’s like seeing a sad movie. But weeks and months later most people felt much, much better.(To learn the 4-step morning ritual that will make you happy all day, click  here.)Alright, you know what to do. Let’s round it all up - and answer the big question: if writing about your proble ms simulates the experience of talking to a friend, then why not just talk to a friend?Sum UpHere’s the evening ritual that will make you happy and healthy: How long has it been?  If you’re still in the midst of the problem or find thinking about it overwhelming, give it time. Come back to it in a month. Commit to at least four evenings of 15 minutes:  Pick a time and place where nobody will bother you. Yes, you can hide in the bathroom if necessary. Write nonstop about the most upsetting moment of your life:  Points will not be deducted for spelling or grammar. Don’t write for anyone but you. For extra credit:  Focusing on feelings, tying in many aspects of your life, developing a narrative, and looking for cause and effect are all associated with better  results. Make sense of it. Look for meaning. We see a lot of stuff about how relationships are the key to health - heck, I’ve  posted a lot about that. But here’s the part you don’t hear often: if you don’t open up to those friends about your problems, your relationships have zero health benefits.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:In large surveys with corporate employees as well as college students, we find the same thing that other social support researchers have shown: the more friends you have, the healthier you are. However, this effect is due, almost exclusively, to the degree to which you have talked with your friends about any traumas that you have suffered. But here is the kicker. If you have had a trauma that you have not talked about with anyone, the number of friends you have is unrelated to your health.So why write? Isn’t it just easier to talk to people?Talking to friends is definitely preferable - but it’s not always safe. There are some damn good reasons not to open up to others about certain subj ects. Some people are blabbermouths who won’t respect your secrets.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:According to research by Bernard Rimé at the University of Louvain in Belgium, the average secret told in confidence is spread to at least two other people.We need to feel safe to really open up. And feeling we’re not going to be judged is critical. When you feel punished for disclosing problems, your health gets  worse.From  Opening Up by Writing It Down:Several studies have found that when people are punished for disclosing their traumatic experiences, their psychological and physical health suffers… Vanessa Juth and her colleagues assessed the health of over 200 bereaved individuals several years after their loss. Those people who reported feeling the greatest pressure from others to not talk about their loss were the people who reported the most mental and physical health problems.This is why many people counterintuitively open up to bartenders or hairdressers instead of friends or family. In distance, there is safety. And there is complete safety and acceptance in writing.Writing shouldn’t preclude you from getting support from friends - but when it doesn’t feel safe, the scribbled word is always there to help.One more thing: it’s important to remember that your default is resilience. You deal pretty well with 99% of what happens to you. This is best proven by the simple fact that you don’t even  remember  most of what happens to you, let alone end up completely traumatized by it.We used to have a culture that bottled up everything and that wasn’t a great idea, and now the pendulum has swung more toward  everything  being trauma and that’s not true or helpful either.You’re tougher than you think. But every now and then things do happen that send us to the emotional ER, and maybe they’re too sensitive to share with a friend. That’s when writing can really help.Okay, I’ve typed more than enough. Now it’s your turn.You’re goi ng to feel much, much better in 2019.Join over 320,000 readers.  Get a free weekly update via email  here.This article first appeared on Barking Up The Wrong Tree.