A Work Performance Predicter

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Last summer, Gallup released the results of a survey that asked employees whether they had a "best friend" at work. In short, only 2 out of 10 employees said they "strongly agree" with the idea that they do in fact have one.

The idea is "controversial," according to Gallup. "But one stubborn fact about this element of engagement cannot be denied: It predicts performance." 

Specifically, Gallup says answering yes to the "best friend at work" question" can help with other specific areas of employee and engagement, including whether employees reported liking their coworkers in general, being recognized for success, and even just whether they "had a lot of enjoyment" at work on a given day.

Bill Murphy writing in his newsletter Understandably

Switching Strategies

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Parents need a veritable smorgasbord of strategies to raise their children, everything from tough discipline and strict boundaries to treating kids to ice cream and a day off. Knowing when to use which one is a sign of healthy flexibility. The same goes for leaders at work, who might want to change the way they manage their employees when the company is going through a season of stress.   

Kira M. Newman writing for Greater Good Magazine

The best predictor of toxic work culture

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To find evidence-based insights on culture change, we began with the large body of existing research on unhealthy corporate culture. Leadership consistently emerged as the best predictor of toxic culture. The importance of leadership will surprise no one, but it does underscore a fundamental reality: Leaders cannot improve corporate culture unless they are willing to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable for toxic behavior.  Toxic social norms can take on a life of their own in a team or an organization and persist through multiple changes in leadership. Without a commitment from the top team, any organization wide culture change — including a cultural detox — is destined to fail. 

Donald Sull and Charles Sull writing for the MIT Sloan Management Review

Don’t take the job you want to talk about at parties

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Work is not a series of words on a LinkedIn profile. It’s a series of moments in the world. And if you don’t enjoy those moments, no sequence of honorifics will dispel your misery.

Some people take jobs with long commutes not fully considering what it will do to their health. Or they take jobs that require lots of travel not fully intuiting what it will mean for their family life. Or they’ll take horribly difficult jobs for money they don’t need, or take high-status jobs for a dopamine rush with a half-life of about three days. Don’t take the job you want to talk about at parties for a couple of minutes a month. Take the job you want to do for hundreds of hours a year.

If you outsource your sense of worth to the feedback of crowds and the approval of peers and professional counterparties, your working identity will feel like a sailboat in a hurricane. You have to moor yourself to something that doesn’t change direction every few moments, whether it’s the confidence that you’re helping people or the joy of pure discovery.

Derek Thompson writing in The Atlantic

Formatting your Resume

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Formats for Resumes:

1. Chronological
Possible Headings: Experience, Education, Activities and Skills (computer, language),

2. Functional or Skills
Possible Headings: Experience, Education, Skills (computer, language),

Professionnal experience

  • A resume should begin with the job candidate’s experience in the field in which they are applying, especially jobs, internships or work for student media or the college rather than the candidate’s education.

  • All experience that reflects the career goals, whether paid or unpaid.

  • Internships and assigned responsibilities.

  • Paid volunteer positions that reflect interests and skills, especially when it included a title.

Education

  • GPA if 3.5 or above

  • Coursework and papers can be highlighted as a special subsection under “Education.” For instance, one candidate was helped getting a position at CNN by taking Media Ethics and Media Law. For formal academic papers related to the field, include a one-sentence description of the length, focus, and scope of the paper or project. For instance, “Analyzed and compared journalistic styles in the Washington Post, Washingtonian magazine and Washington Business Journal.”

  • Awards and scholarships including the Dean’s List, etc.

  • If your education was self-financed or you paid a large percentage of your college expenses.

  • Conferences or special meetings you've attended having to do with the area of the job for which you are applying.

  • If you worked while attending college.

International Experience

International experience, including semesters abroad and other significant travel. Living in another country or having spent time overseas, shows a broad range of life history, the ability to adapt and experience with diverse groups.

Skills

A list of computer programs you are proficient using that are not assumed. For instance, an ability to use Microsoft Word or Google Docs would be assumed but not experience with Adobe Premiere Pro.

Activities (or interests)

If you have any odd skills or abilities, you might consider adding them under "interests" or a similar title. For instance, winning a chess tournament. While it might not directly relate to the job, including it suggests the candidate is smart, has diverse interests and self-displiined.

References

The cliché "references available upon request" is not worth including. If they want references, they will ask. Just be ready to present them. Including a list of references will take up vital real estate on resume, especially when it's just one page. Besides, when you are asked for references, it's an alert that you are truly being considered in the final batch for hire. Otherwise, you might not know that you are under serious consideration or a finalist.

If you decide to include references, make a courtesy call and ask each person for permission to use them as a reference. Tell them who might be calling and which of your skills you’d like them to emphasize. Include their relationship to you, such as “former supervisor.” It’s good to have a letter of recommendation on file in case you are asked by prospective employers to provide them on short notice.

More Job Tips

13 Articles about What to do on the Job

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