Get back on track when your career is stalled | Networking strategies to land your desired career | Unemployment continues to fall in strong job market
Get back on track when your career is stalled Common symptoms of a career stall include not feeling challenged at your job every day or you've lost an interest in learning new skills. Taking the initiative to bring your own value-add project to the table or helping a co-worker on theirs can be the catalyst necessary to relaunch your career growth and development, J.R. Duren suggests. Glassdoor (9/20)How being chronically busy hurts productivity When you're overly busy and stressed, it can become easy to focus on work tasks with deadlines while putting off higher-priority projects, which leads to more stress in the long run, Alice Boyes writes. Instead of just going through the motions day after day, Boyes explains, take a step back and look at the bigger picture to focus more on high-priority tasks first. Harvard Business Review online (tiered subscription model) (9/20)
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Making the Connection
Networking strategies to land your desired career Meet with company insiders or industry experts at companies you have an interest in by finding a common thread, such as mutual connections or alumni. These connections give you the leg up on new positions that open up at the company. U.S. News & World Report (9/20)
U.S. jobless claims are at their lowest level since 1969, while wage growth is at a nine-year high, according to the Labor Department. Economists say, however, if trade tensions escalate, the result could lead to job losses. Reuters (9/20)
Your Next Challenge
Benefits of accepting a job that isn't ideal When faced with whether or not to take a job you don't necessarily want, take the job if it's your only option, career coach Jane Lowder says. It will help you gain new skills, experience new things that can benefit career growth, and create connections that could benefit your future, Lowder explains. ABC (Australia) (9/20)Creatively include unrelated jobs on your resume Include irrelevant jobs on your resume by breaking down the skills learned and how they relate to your current job or the career you're seeking, Margaret Francis explains. "Don't waste space trying to make a minor job look significantly better than it is. Write a succinct summary of the position and what you accomplished there, and then move on to bigger and better things," she writes. Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau) (9/20)
Balancing Yourself
Solve complex problems by not focusing on them Studies show that allowing your mind to wander can have a vastly positive effect on problem solving and creativity, writes Chris Bailey. Due to the Zeigarnik effect, a brain phenomenon that keeps unsolved problems at the forefront of our subconscious, a wandering mind is effective at encountering "eureka" moments when we least expect it. Fast Company online (9/20)
In 2017, the $100 bill passed the $1 bill in circulation popularity for the first time. The reason may be that many people are choosing to save large bills, stashing them at home instead of in financial institutions, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond says. Quartz (9/19)
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
