Overwired How It Can Hurt Your Job Search Success

Overwired How It Can Hurt Your Job Search SuccessOverwired How It Can Hurt Your Job Search SuccessAt the Working Mother Work-Life Congress last month, there was one workshop on the agenda I knew I had to attend, Rewired for ResultsNavigating in our always on, always connected, Overwired world. This was underscored by the fact that my own colleague insisted I should go. And its true. My world is an extremely overwired one and I like it, which doesnt help. You see, a big parte of my role is managing the social media channels for . Im constantly monitoring conversations, capturing and posting content, and looking for compelling discussions to share with our community.So that is why, when I sat down next to my fellow conference attendees, the workshop leader, Camille Preston, immediately had my attention. Besides the fact that Camille is apsychologist, executive coach, consultant, speaker, and internationally recognized expert on Virtual Effectiveness, shes also one of those people who asks the hard questions without making you feel judged. For example, she pointed out that there were a lot of people on their devices at the beginning of the workshop. You can imagine that the irony was leid lost on me as I was intently listening to what she had to say and also trying to capture small nuggets of her wisdom to live tweet to our Twitter followers. I learned a lot and downloaded the free preview of her e-book, The Rewired Resolution to Work Smarter, Live Better, and be Purposefully Productive in an Overwired World.Ive already put a few things I learned from Camilles workshop into practice. For example, I set a few hours a night as device-free time. For some of you that may not seem like a big deal, but for me its hard. I put my smartphone up in my bedroom and spend those few hours connecting and being fully present with my family.Being overwired can also have an especially negative impact on your job search success.Camille sharesWhen we are overwired, information is c oming in so fast and so furiously that we struggle to create the order, the structure, and the systems to process the data. As a result, we are uncertain what is most important, we dont know where to focus, we flit from one project to the next, and we exhaust our brains finite resources.With a job search, there are so many things to read, so many places to look online, and so many different strategies to employ for your search. Without structure, it can become overwhelming at best and paralyzing at worst.So whats the solution? Here it is Systems.By systems, I mean rules, fences, and structure. We need to create a structure for processing information, preferably one that we build once but use many times. Structure reduces novelty, reduces the number of decisions, and increases the certainty.This is the logic behind David Allens Getting Things Done system. If we always put our keys in the same place, we never have to spend energy thinking where to put them or remembering where they ar e. Systems can help you combat the symptoms of ADD and our overwired lives.Yes, it takes time to build systems. And, yes, it takes discipline to use them. And, overtime, this practice returns energy to us.Have you tried using a system like Getting Things Done, a to-do list, something like Evernote?Do you feel like you are overwired and its having a negative impact on your productivity and quality of life?Enter to win a copy of Camilles book, Rewired To enter, leave a comment below telling us if you have challenges when it comes to being overwired. Giveaway ends November 22, 2013, at 300 p.m. ET. We will choose a winner at random and notify them via email.

Work from Your Home in a HiltonHome Call Center

Work from Your Home in a HiltonHome Call CenterWork from Your Home in a HiltonHome Call CenterYou can earn money working from home for Hilton Hotels in a call center. The Hilton global hotel chain hires work-at-home reservation agents for its many properties, which include Hilton Hotels, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites, and Hilton Grand Vacation. It also employs work-at-home reservation agents for customer service for its HHonors members program. Hilton touts its Hilton at Home program as a work at home environment that embraces the principles of individuality, flexibility, and stimulating work. But whats it really like working there, and what does working there entail? Reservation Sales and Customer tafelgeschirr Work-at-Home Positions The customer service network provides 24-hour assistance to guests, handling more than 34 million calls annually. There are two basic types of Hiltons home-based positions reservation sales and customer service. Most of the hours available at these part-time and full-time employment positions are evening and weekends.Jobs are not seasonal, and they arent for independent contractors, as many remote call service jobs are. You need to have sales experience and a high school diploma or GED, but Hilton prefers an associates degree.The jobs, which used to bebased out of Dallas, TX, and Tampa, FL only,are now 100 percent virtual, including training. However, you have to live in one of these U.S. statesAlabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Benefits and Pay Reservation agents are paid $9.70 an hour plus incentives, which can make the pay around$11-14 per hour.HiltonHome employees receive the saatkorn benefits of all other Hilton Worldwide employees, including a 401(k) savings plan, paid time off, hotel discounts globally, medical and dental, and more. Other call center companies also offer benefits. You receive training online, and it lasts four to seven weeks. It requires 100 percent attendance, andwhen youre training, youre paid at a lower rate than the job itself. Once youre done training, you may have some opportunity for commission/bonus. In addition, Hilton Worldwidemakes an effort to be military-friendly in its hiring practices. Equipment HiltonHome provides agents with a computer, keyboard, mouse, flash drive,and ethernet cable, while agents must provide a monitor, landline phone and the phone line (no VOIP or cell phones), a wired Internet connection,headset, speakers, surge protector, and webcam. Agents must have a quiet place to work. Application Process To find a call center job, go to HiltonHome website.When you search for open positions, you can check a work from home box to fi nd just the remote jobs. Applications are taken online, and qualified applicants will be contacted.

How to talk about grief in the workplace, according to a therapist

How to talk about grief in the workplace, according to a therapistHow to talk about grief in the workplace, according to a therapistWhen grief therapist Dr. Patrick OMalley lost his infant son, he said it completely changed how he thought about the stages of grief training he had been taught. As he wrote in an essay inThe New York Times in 2015,instead of thinking of grief as stages to overcome, he realized that when loss is a story, there is no right or wrong way to grieve.OMalley discusses how we can grieve more compassionately in his recently released book,Getting Grief Right.Ladders talked with OMalley about how to apply these lessons in the workplace and his advice for those grieving, their coworkers, and their managers.What to do if youre experiencing griefThe U.S. does not mandate paid bereavement leave, so those who experience a loss may have to go back to work abruptly after the news. The personexperiencing grief may feel heartbroken, exhausted, disoriented - and may be pre ssured to push those emotions away at work.Thats normal, OMalley said. People sometimes engage in social splitting, acting differently than how they feel, at work after a loss, he said.They have to keep this energy up where they dont have it, he said. It just increases the stress because of this tension.His advice? Dont punish yourself for feeling sad, and dont criticize yourself for not being at the top of your game.If the grieving person works in an open, trusting work environment, OMalley advises them to keep open lines of communications with their managers and be honest about what they can or cant do.But OMalley recognizes that not all of us have this luxury at the workplace.There are some folks who are smart not to talk about it because their work culture views grief as weakness and not as strength, he said.If you cant be open at work, make sure to find time where you can show your authentic self outside of the office, he said.What to say to a grieving coworkerPeople often feel anxious about how to act when a grieving coworker returns to work. How do we talk to them?Instead of thinking about what to say, OMalley says we should reframe the question as How can I be available? How can I be present? How can I listen?People often worry that acknowledging a loss will make the grieving person feel sadder, but multiple surveys and studies show that it actually makes people feel better. Not having their grief recognized can increase grieving peoples feeling of isolation in the office.Youre rarely going to be wrong if you offer some acknowledgment, OMalley said.It doesnt need to be long or complex, but it needs to be said. It can be as short as Im sorry you are going through this. It will make a difference.Once you acknowledge it, move from talking to listening, he said. Take your cue from the grieving person about what theyre willing to talk about. If they want to open up, ask them about the person or pet they lost. Ask them what they miss most. But dont push. The goal is to be half a step behind and not to lead them anywhere, OMalley said.You can also acknowledge your coworkers grief more than once. Peoples needs change. Emails on the anniversaries of loss a year later can be just as meaningful as words said right after the loss.Instead of offering a vague How are you? try being more specific. The question How are you doing today? acknowledges that levels of grief change from day to day.What not to say to a coworkerAvoid the temptation of cliches. We sometimes revert to platitudes because we want to have a ready-made script in a fraught situation. But cliches minimize lossand arent helpful to the bereaving person. Cliches like Time heals all wounds or I hope you find closure put unfair pressure on the bereaved person because they imply that theres a deadline to grief. Grief is circular and disorienting it doesnt follow a timeline. And statements like Sorry for your loss have been said so much that theyre a little worn out, OMalley said.The number one rule is to not make assumptions or compare your experience with loss to theirs. Everyones loss is unique. In other words, if your co-worker just lost their mom, dont talk about losing your own mom.This is their story, not yours, OMalley said. If you keep making comparisons, its not focusing on the acknowledgment.And if you do say a bereavement faux pas, know that you can self-correct and try again. You could say something like,Im hearing myself make these canned answers, but I just want you to know how sorry I am that youre going through this, he said.Its better to try and fail than to assume that the bereaving person doesnt want to talk, OMalley said.What management should doThe grieving person often doesnt know what they need when they return to work. They may be fine one week and not another. A good manager recognizes thisand makes checking in with the grieving person a priority.OMalley said a good script for managers to follow is Tell me how its been in the last week. What can we do differently? What are we not providing?Even if a manager cannot give the grieving person everything they need, by asking the questions, they acknowledge that their grief matters.On a structural level, OMalley said more companies should follow Facebook COO Sheryl Sandbergs lead and extend grief leave beyond the standard few days for close family members.I would love to see the management side grow in understanding that grief is not an illness, its not a diagnosis, its not something to rush through, its not something to get over or to get beyond, that it is the most universal experience we have, OMalley said. We have grief because we had attachment. Grief is about love grief is not an illness. The power that management folks have to help that transition for somebody working would make community and society better.