Take The Personal Out Of The Workplace: Leave Your Troubles At The Door!

Posted on November 21st, 2008

Bringing your emotional baggage into the work place is inappropriate for all the reasons you may imagine. Yet employees, managers and business owners do it all the time.

The question is, how do you handle it? How do you look at your manager and think, No one is going to tell me what to do! What if a client, peer or prospect gets you on a Bad Day?

How do you take the personal out of the workplace?

It requires discrimination and distinction. If you are having communication problems at work, look at how you view your manager, boss or employee. Does he or she represent a parent, mate or partner? Are your frustrations about what is and is not working in your life manifested on the job? Learn to leave your troubles at the door. Decide that what you do in the workplace is your contribution to yourself, your peers and the community. This is your opportunity to commit to what you are best at doing and get paid for it.

Examine your values. Values are how you live your life, about what is important to you. Choose values that help make you what you truly are. Your personal values and professional values can be the same.

Warning! Many businesses like to say they are like a family. Be cautious if you are enticed by this. Employees, managers and business owners may manifest characteristics found in your personal family.

Why is this important?

What can happen is, you may take on the role that you do in your own family. If you are passive at home and come to work as a manager, what does that look like? Confusing at best. When a passive person has to function in a different role on the job, they may revert and act like the aggressive parent. Potential can best be realized under a thoughtful and caring leader. Attempt to facilitate, to make it easy for everyone to achieve their best.

As a manager or business owner, you have to know what your values are; what the values of your company are, as well as the values of the people you manage. The basic rules of respect and acceptance apply. The Golden Rule is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, not: Do it to them before they do it to you.

People who bring emotional baggage into the workplace can be temperamental, grasping and neglectful. Even more frustrating is that they act out all their pent-up, misplaced emotions on the job without consideration for others. Employees and co-workers react to this, work efforts and results go by the wayside, and profit and productivity go down.

Leave your unexpressed feelings at the door. Take a break if you become frustrated. Know that you are at work to provide results.

Heal yourself first, determine your values, then you will be a better employee, manager or business owner.

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Publishing Guidelines: Thank you for publishing this article in its entirety, including the resource box. When possible, please notify me of publication by sending either a website link or a copy of your ezine upon publication via email to: mailto:joanne@joannevictoria.com.

About The Author

Joanne Victoria - over 25 years experience as mentor, coach, consultant, Author and Speaker. Working with executives, professionals and small business owners who want to achieve more.

Buy her book,

Lighting Your Path!

How To Create the Life You Want, here:http://www.JoanneVictoria.com/book.htm

Tel: 415-491-1344 Fax: 415-485-9295

Joanne@JoanneVictoria.com

Tags: Business, career, emotions, family, home, jobs, Self improvement, work
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Getting A Job Offer From A Company In Canada

Posted on November 15th, 2008

If you receive a job offer from a Canadian company, your visa application process will be much easier!

I strongly recommend obtaining a job offer from a Canadian company before submitting your visa application. If you can get this document, it will not only help you settle easier in Canada , but it will also increase your Pass Mark assessment.

Let me explain the way a job offer will help you increase your Pass Mark assessment:

You will receive 10 points if:

- You have a permanent job offer in Canada . However, please note that this offer has to be confirmed by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

If you are already in Canada (with a temporary work permit), and you decide to apply from within the country, you will also receive points in the following situations:

You will receive 10 points if:

- Your temporary work permit was issued after receiving a confirmation of a job offer from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada ; - Your temporary work permit was exempted from the requirement of a issued after receipt of a confirmation of your job offer from HRSDC (due to an international agreement).

Also if it represents a relevant benefit to Canada or its competitiveness (i.e. intra-company or post-graduate work respectively).

I recommend visiting the following website for further information about the specific requirements for these situations: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/skilled/qual-5-4.html

It is very important that you understand this process, in case you are interested in using a Canadian job offer in your application.

First of all, what is The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSD)?

This Department has a very specific objective: to ensure that all the Canadians have the right elements and tools to succeed in the Canadian workplace.

To achieve this objective, one of the main duties of this Department is to make sure that all the foreign workers support the Canadian economic growth. Foreign workers are very important for the Canadian economy!

For this reason, this Department is responsible of ensuring that the right Skilled Workers are hired by the Canadian companies.

Let me explain what the Canadian companies have to do to make a permanent job offer to a Skilled Worker (I hope that is your case, you will earn 10 points!).

Basically the companies have to options:

1.They can submit an application for an HRSDC labour market opinion (normally called LMO). This is one of the requirements that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) takes into consideration when they evaluate your visa application.

2.The companies can also submit an application for an HRSDC arranged employment opinion (normally called (AEO).

A positive AEO will also be extremely important when your visa is processed. However, the AEO does not allow the person to work in Canada before the Permanent Residence visa is accepted and issued.

If you have already contacted a Canadian company, and they are interested in giving you a job offer, I suggest letting then know that the following two websites will be very useful.

- To apply for the LMO : http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/epb/lmd/fw/poWorkPerm.shtml

- To apply for the AEO: http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/epb/lmd/fw/poArrEmp.shtml

See you in Canada !

Alex Berezovsky is the creator of the Step-by-Step Immigration to Canada program, and he manages http://www.stepbystepimmigrationcanada.com

Tags: Business, canada, career, immigration, job, jobs, recruitment, travel
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10 Habits Assuring Career SelfSabotage

Posted on November 12th, 2008

Youre fired! This succinct phrase strikes more fear into the heart of the working man than any other. Why is it, then, that many well-intentioned and reasonably astute professionals hear these words chronically throughout their career despite all best efforts? Below are the top 10 self-destructive workplace habits sure to endanger ones longevity on the job.

Even with this small amount of insight, many aspiring professionals can learn how to maintain their good standing in the workplace and actually excel on the job rather than self-destruct. Employee turnover hurts not only those receiving their walking papers, but employers as well since this is a costly, through avoidable, expense.

With this in mind, serial Labor Losers can benefit by knowing these 10 key ways to get your self canned:

1.Failing to have a life plan All very successful people have a clear life plan, whether memorized or actually written down. They create it, massage it, and refer to it often.

2.Not keeping your skill set current The business landscape is ever-changing and there is more demand for jobs than supply. Not staying on par with colleagues and those vying for your job will be a deathnell.

3.Failing to deliver results Winners in business know that its all about accountability. Those who harbor a sense of entitlement for simply having put forth effort, irrespective of the results of those efforts, are guaranteed to fall by the wayside.

4.Confusing efficiency with effectiveness Those who think that communicating via e-mail replaces the need to actually talk with people around them fail to recognize the importance of personally connecting with others in todays highly automated and technological environment. Communicating in person whenever possible is imperative for success-seekers.

5.Believing that you are irreplaceable There is no room for divas in the workplace. As soon as you convince yourself that you and only you can do the job right, your star will surely start to fall.

6.Knowing all the answers The old adage remains true: knowledge is power. Professing to know it all can readily stagnate a career. Winners remain unceasingly interested in learning new ideas and approaches.

7.Surrounding your self with brown-nosers Losers like having people tell them how smart they are, whether or not its true, while successful managers and other professionals accept and encourage intelligence and creativity in others.

8.Forgetting to give credit to others Losers inappropriately take full credit for positive events despite the help or input received by others, while Winners give credit where credit is due. Losers inevitably reap what they sow.

9.Failing to self promote Bragging is one thing, but letting colleagues throughout your industry know of your success through case studies, promotion bulletins, or other such tools is quite another. Losers often fail to recognize the importance of letting others know about their successes, or go about it in entirely the wrong way.

10.Losing perspective Intuitive business people recognize that, despite their best attempts to do everything right, sometimes they approach roadblocks and seek the advice and perspective of a respected friend, colleague or even a business coach. Those who fail to recognize their shortcomings are destined for the unemployment line.

Tags: Business, career, employment, job, management, manager, success
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Canadian Immigration Alternatives

Posted on November 11th, 2008

Every year, Canada welcomes thousands of new permanent residents from all over the world to start a new life. This fact represents an excellent opportunity but it is also a great challenge that requires effort and dedication in order to achieve the objective of immigrating successfully. Canada offers a number of options to immigrate in order to apply for permanent residence status. Let me explain briefly the most important alternatives.

The different options to immigrate to Canada are:

a) Skilled Worker Class Immigration.

In order to fill employee shortages, Canada constantly needs skilled persons from diverse backgrounds. To immigrate under this scheme, the applicant should have education, work experience, knowledge of the official languages in Canada (English and/or French), and other relevant factors. Applicants with substantial work experience and academic qualifications are far more likely to immigrate under the Skilled Worker scheme.

b) Business Class Immigration

This scheme seeks to promote economic development in Canada by attracting successful business people. Business immigrants considered for this category are mainly people that are able to invest in, or start businesses in Canada . This program seeks to attract people experienced in business to Canada in order to support the development of the economy. The Canadian government encourages prospective business immigrants to invest in the country. As a result, foreign business people often find Canada to be an excellent place to invest capital. Business immigrants represent approximately 10% of total immigrants.

There are three classes under this category:

Investors - The program seeks to attract capital and persons with business experience to Canada . Investors must make a prescribed investment of CDN $400,000, which is placed with the Receiver General of Canada .

Self Employed persons - The program seeks persons that have the intention and ability to create their own employment in order to contribute to the cultural or athletic life of Canada. Self Employed persons must have relevant experience in cultural activities, athletics or farm management. They must have the intention and ability to establish a business and create their own employment.

Entrepreneurs - The program seeks to attract persons with business experience that will own and actively manage a business or businesses in Canada. Entrepreneurs must demonstrate a minimum net worth of CDN $300,000 and business experience. They are subject to conditions upon arrival.

In my next article, I will discuss the other immigration options.

Alex Berezovsky enjoys helping potential immigrants from several countries achieve their dream: moving to Canada! He is founder and owner of the website http://www.stepbystepimmigrationcanada.com

Tags: Business, canada, canadian, career, immigrate, immigration, investment, jobs, law, travel
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A Successful Job Interview

Posted on November 10th, 2008

As you may know, when you apply for the Canadian visa, you must attend to an interview with a Visa officer.

Ive helped people from all over the world get ready for their interviews, and based on my experiences with them, Ive prepared hundreds of useful tips that people looking for a job can use to succeed in any job interview!

Here are some of them…

It’s the moment you’ve been anticipating. You’ve been steadily sending off resumes for the last two weeks and now the phone is ringing. On the other end is the disembodied voice of a business professional saying, We’ve received your resume, and we’d like to have you come in for an interview. What do you do?

Getting responses to our resumes can be exciting because it means that the employer is interested. Very few employers call in every single applicant since they don’t have that kind of time. So, in most cases, being called for an interview means that we’ve successfully passed the first round of screening. There was something on our resume that attracted their attention.

Now what?

All of us go through this when we are searching for a job. The problem is that most of us don’t realize that the job interview actually began the moment we pick up the phone and greet that caller. How you handle yourself on the phone gives the interviewer some idea of what you’re like in person. Any one can look good on paper, but the majority of people have more difficulty faking it during an impromptu phone conversation.

Of course, not all of these calls will be made by the actual interviewers. In some cases, these individuals will ask their secretaries or assistants to arrange the interviews for them. However, you’ll still want to make a good impression on these individuals. For one, you may not know until it’s too late whether you are talking to the interview or his/her representative. Plus, these representatives may pass along their opinion of your performance to their boss anyway. Therefore, you should always treat the caller as if they are someone important from the company; someone who will have a hand in determining whether or not you get the job.

Preparing for Calls

As soon as you begin sending out resumes, you should also begin to prepare to receive phone calls from employers. Remember that your contact information should be clearly marked on your resume and on your cover letter so that potential employers can get in touch with you. That contact information should include several possibilities, including your home number, your work number (if you have a private number that isn’t screened by your current employer), your cellular number, and your e-mail address. You can also list specific times for each contact method. For example, You can reach me at 555-5555 any time after 5 pm. Before 5 pm, please call XXX-XXXX. That will make it easier for potential interviewers to reach you. With that in mind, you need to prepare all of your contact channels for these potential calls.

Alex Berez is an expert in Canadian immigration and founder of http://www.stepbystepimmigrationcanada.com

Tags: career, careers, finding a job, job interview, jobs
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Using Job Fairs To Decide On A Career Path

Posted on November 9th, 2008

Making up your mind as to what you want to do in life is so difficult. Especially today, given the myriad options, with each profession looking better than the other. And you’re not too sure what exactly it is you want to pursue. Enter the wonderful world of job fairs. Walk in and you’ll see a vista of opportunities light up before your eyes, options even within professions. You can talk to people from various companies, find recruiters who will tell you what they are looking for, compare different salary structures and perquisites and have the opportunity to see what’s on offer. For someone just out of college looking for a job, job fairs hold immense potential. They are eye-openers to the big world of career opportunities outside the campus. It could be your first reality check as to what awaits you.

Job fairs help you to assess different companies away from the terrifying environs of their offices. It also helps you to be exposed to the different kinds of interviews that different companies conduct. It is easier to ask a prospective employer questions about his company in a more objective setting. Most of all, it gives you the opportunity of choice. It is probably this that makes you know what you want or don’t. And this makes it easier to be clearer in your final decision.

Job fairs are held for various professions. The burgeoning healthcare industry, for example has many such fairs all over the country. This could be a great opportunity for professionals wanting to enter the industry as well as professionals who are looking for new opportunities. Whether the posts are for physicians, assistants, the nursing cadre or other supporting areas, here is a place where people can not just compare opportunities and benefits but also look at specific programs that the employer is associated with to see if it could be a perfect fit with what they are looking for.

Always remember to pick up all the available printed material from job fairs so you can read it at your leisure when you get back home. It’s always good to look at the fine print. Also remember to pick up the free tote that most give to carry them so you’re not distracted with a vast amount of brochures and material to manage. Go to as many job fairs as you can - you’ll find the world of work unfolding its wonderful opportunities before you.

To learn more about school and education choices visit http://www.school-answers.com

Tags: , career, job, job fair
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10 Habits Assuring Career SelfSabotage

Posted on November 6th, 2008