Adventures in learning

Posted: June 12, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Fairfax Media | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Straight from his teaching degree, adventurer Andrew Hughes jumped into a kayak instead of a classroom. Hughes then embarked on a 5000-kilometre voyage from Hobart to Cape York, learning as he went.

“I was a really inexperienced sea kayaker,” the University of Tasmania graduate says. Read at the Sydney Morning Herald..

Tactics to bowl over the boss

Posted: April 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Sydney Morning Herald, The Age | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The line between worthily striving to impress the boss and just being a smarm can be fine. In fact, just chatting with colleagues about how to wow the chief executive could make you look like a bumptious yuppie, or worse. The English language abounds in adjectives that skewer servility.

Still, nobody would claim that you are judged purely on the calibre and quantity of your work. The personal impression you make is vital and not just dependent on genetics, experts say. How much you charm the chief executive apparently hinges on behavioural areas that you can tweak: your attitude and habits.

So here is some expert intel on how to shine. Become an irresistible candidate for that promotion or pay rise without looking smarmy; although, it seems, flattery works. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald..

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/career/bowl-over-the-boss.aspx

Simplicity the core element: Business experts explain why Apple is at the top of the game

Posted: February 28, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brisbane Times, Career, My Career, Sydney Morning Herald, WA Today | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple’s success story looks set to be studied in business schools for decades – likely by students reading from iPads, not textbooks. The tech giant rose from the brink of extinction in 1997 to become the world’s most valuable company.

Now, according to CNNMoney, Apple is worth more than Greece is – more than $400 billion. Despite criticism of working conditions at its Chinese Foxconn plant, Apple is widely seen as the world’s most impressive company.

So what is Apple’s secret? Find out at the Sydney Morning Herald..

 

 

Workers on the front lines: why lousy pay is not why people quit jobs

Posted: February 14, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brisbane Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

If you thought lousy pay was the main reason people left their jobs, think again. With Australia’s unemployment rate hovering at historic lows, “lack of challenge” is now the top reason for seeking new work, according to the Victoria-based Macro Recruitment. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald..

Climbing the ladder

Posted: February 1, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brisbane Times, Career, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Still not chief executive? If you are giving your all but are stuck in middle management, you may feel resentful because success can seem like a lottery.

You probably know a clown chief executive scarcely capable of running a pub quiz. Likewise, you may know a clerk who deserves to be a captain of industry.

Doubt surrounds whether reaching the top rests on working smarter, for instance, or just showing up – which accounts for 80 per cent of success, according to the film director Woody Allen. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

 

Stress envy

Posted: January 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brisbane Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Frantically busy? Stress has been called “today’s essential badge of status and success”. In fact, stress sparks such awe that analysts talk of “stress envy”.

Stress envy means the office workaholic verging on burnout could be treated as a role model. Apparently, it is impressive to be wedded to 24-hour connectivity. Apparently, it is cool to multitask like a maniac, yapping into a mobile phone while grappling with social media updates and directing the intern.

Such intense displays of commitment can be seen as bragging because they show the showoff is in demand – a winner. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald..

 

 

The great Aussie mining boom

Posted: November 15, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: My Career, Sydney Morning Herald | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Australia’s mines are at the heart of its robust economy. The provide a wealth of job opportunity. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

Difficult client? How to get paid on time every time

Posted: September 14, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Brisbane Times, Business, The Age, WA Today | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are you assertive at invoicing or a pathetic wimp who lets clients walk all over you?
More than ever, you want to pocket every promised dollar smartly.
After all, some 10,000 small businesses are expected to fold this year as consumers stop spending amid growing fears of widespread job losses, according to credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Beware the job to die for

Posted: July 27, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Business, Career, My Career, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who wants to work in Japan? The Japanese have a reputation for being the world’s hardest workers.

Under sustained stress often involving unpaid overtime, some citizens of the land of the surging yen work themselves to death. Hence the word “karoshi”, which means “death by overwork”. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/workplace/job-to-die-for.aspx

Positively awful: the cult of demotivation

Posted: June 22, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Career, Sydney Morning Herald | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Are you “passionate” about your job? The steamy adjective popular in job ads and press releases suggests workplaces should be filled with people who drip fervour. Does that sound like your office?

If you and your colleagues loathe the work you do, you are far from alone, according to actor Drew Carey, who said: “Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody – and they meet at the bar.”

The tone of Carey’s remark is echoed by countless classic Homer Simpson lines and Dilbert comic strips where the boss talks about “redefining success as the slowing of failure”. The theme also plays out in a ragtag army of slacker-style “demotivation” websites that skewer rictus-faced corporate positivity liable to spark resentment in the face of downsizing, outsourcing and infighting. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/workplace/Positively-awful.aspx

Room to move: how to create a bigger office

Posted: May 25, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Career, Sydney Morning Herald | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does your office feel small, even poky? If so, take heart because you can easily make it feel roomier without taking a sledgehammer to the walls.

“It just takes some creative thinking about what makes spaces look lighter, brighter, and bigger,” says staging professional Amy Bly. Without much toil, Bly says, you can make the room where you work look “several times more spacious and cheerier”. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/room-to-move-how-to-create-a-bigger-office-20101116-17v7u.html#ixzz1NMl9mtV2

Beat the stress test

Posted: May 13, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Career, My Career, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Any interview has a cold-sweat side. However much the interviewer smiles, the procedure raises the spectre of interrogation – a spotlight shone into the eyes. 

Picture, then, how it feels to undergo a “stress test” interview. The variant on the standard inquisition puts the prey, sorry, candidate under acute pressure.

The interviewer goes for the jugular in a bid to find out if the candidate responds rashly and emotionally to unsettling behaviour. Stress permeates the workplace. So, the theory goes, employers must find out if potential employees can handle pressure and handle it well. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/interview/beat-stress-test.aspx

Ban the buzzwords

Posted: May 12, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Career, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

So you sent your masterpiece of a CV to that firm you wanted to impress and never heard back? What a surprise.

Studies have shown that the average employer spends just 20 seconds or less skimming through each CV received. Because of the volume of CVs received, there is no time to be nice.

The employer may just wearily hit the delete key, causing the document to evaporate – just like the applicant’s dreams.

Instead of dud credentials, the reason for an application being rejected may be insincerity. The average CV is infested with cliches that make the author sound like a used-car dealer. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald… 

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/resume/ban-buzzwords.aspx

Shock tactics: bizarre job hunt techniques

Posted: May 11, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Career, Sydney Morning Herald | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

On a job hunt, you can easily cross the line between creative and crazy.

Long-time recruiter Doug Downer has witnessed every job search stunt in the book. Some applicants, he says, send out four different or false CVs in the delusional belief that nobody will notice. Others brag about driving fancy cars. Still others come on to the hirer, using flattery, then follow up by suggesting a romantic date, or offering a gift.

When all else fails, an applicant short on discretion but big on ambition may resort to embarrassingly up-front nepotism techniques. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/interview/shock-tactics.aspx

Blundering on

Posted: May 5, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Career, Sydney Morning Herald | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Think you’re the only one to bungle a recruiter’s question? Think again, writes David Wilson.
My Career asked a crack team of recruitment professionals to share some classic fiascos and explain how each candidate should have acted.
Take a walk through the hall of shame that these stories create. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…

 

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/interview/blundering-on.aspx

Chase the big bucks

Posted: March 7, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Business, Sydney Morning Herald | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

There are plenty of jobs out there paying serious moolah – you just have to know which ones.
It’s common knowledge that, in most cases, the higher your level of education, the bigger your pay packet will be.
If you want to work in well-remunerated fields like law, medicine and engineering, you won’t get far without at least one university degree, preferably two.
But what if you want to take home big bucks without doing three to five years’ study at uni?
You’re in luck. Experts say there are scores of jobs offering salaries in excess of $100,000 a year that don’t require university study. Some require only minimal training.
“Absolutely, it is possible to score jobs earning $100k-plus without a degree,”says recruitment analyst Ross Clennett.

 

7 March 2009

http://content.mycareer.com.au/advice-research/search/chase-the-big-bucks.aspx

What It’s Like to be a Freelance Journalist

Posted: June 4, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Business | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Neerav Bhatt: What’s the best thing about being a Journalist?
David Wilson: I have a low boredom threshold. Journalism caters to this. Commissions are usually over in a month and a good laugh to write. Also, I enjoy the tricky, mend-bending crossword-solving dimension that appeals to my Asperger’s side. Plus you get to meet strange and brilliant people then dis them. Read More…

http://www.bhatt.id.au/blog/what-its-like-to-be-a-freelance-journalist/