Top 10 Steps To Catapult Your Career Up The Corporate Ladder
Every career success story is unique. While there isn’t a magic answer for taking your career to the top, following these ten steps will get you headed up the corporate ladder.
1. Reassess your career. Is your career path well aligned with your priorities and interest? Do you posses, or can you acquire, the experience and education to be successful? If not, consider a lateral move and work your way up from there.
2. Clearly define your career goals. Only when you know exactly where it is you want to go, will you be able to map out your plan to get there.
3. Create a development plan. Determine the steps you need to take for your next promotion. Include resources and due dates. Schedule these activities in your planner and follow through.
4. Communicate your career goals with management. If you work in an organization that promotes employee development, communicate your goals with your manager and ask for his or her support. If you are concerned about resistance, find a mentor within the organization that you can trust.
5. Volunteer to spearhead a new project. This shows initiative, puts you in a visible position, and builds new skills. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your leadership skills.
6. Stay current in your field. Read industry publications and reports. Be aware of changing trends and position yourself accordingly.
7. Take classes or obtain a certification. Use your industry knowledge to your advantage. Take a course in an up and coming area or a specialty that will benefit your organization and give you an edge over the competition.
8. Assume a leadership role. Offer to mentor a junior associate in your organization, apply for a position on a local board, or chair a committee for a nonprofit organization.
9. Network, Network, Network. Within your organization and within the community. Increasing your visibility and gaining contacts are vital to your success when climbing the corporate ladder. No one ever got to the top alone.
10. Excel in your current position. Exceptional performance speaks for itself. You won’t get ahead with mediocre performance, regardless of how many other steps you implement.
Test taking stratagies
These twelve tips will help you get through any test and as long as you prepared adequately for it, you will certainly get an A.
Come to the test prepared and feeling confident that you know the material. Make sure that you are not very hungry or very full and that you are well-rested. Avoid eating sugary or processed foods before the test. Avoid items such as candy, carbonated soft drinks, junk foods, and fried foods. Snack on fresh fruit or veggies immediately before to get your mind off the test and give you some sustenance.
Breathe. Relax. Imagine yourself acing the test. It is amazing what a little positive imagery can do for you.
Read ALL of the directions carefully. Reread them again once you have finished. Look through the test to see what types of questions are asked, how many questions, if there are any major essays, if you have choices about questions that you can answer, etc. Make sure you know how much each section is worth so you can budget your time.
If the test involves specific equations, conversions, dates or anything else that you must memorize, write it on the top or margin of the test paper as soon as the test is handed out. Remembering complicated equations and dates before you have answered any questions is a lot easier than trying to remember them after you have answered half of the test questions and you brain is starting to get tired.
Answer all easy questions first. This will help you get into the test taking mood and build confidence. Circle the numbers of the questions that you really have no idea about. You can come back to these later. Often times questions you answer later in the test might trigger something and help you answer a question that you were previously stuck on.
Narrow multiple choice answers down to the two you believe might be correct by crossing off the ones you positively know are not correct. This will improve your chances of guessing the right one.
True-False questions are often a favorite of some teachers and can be quite complicated at times. Keep in mind that every part of a true-false statement must be true in order to answer it as true. If any part is false, mark the entire statement false. You may want to underline the portion of the statement that you believe is false. If there are negatives in the statement such as “no or not”, and you are still not sure whether to mark it true or false, try re-reading the question without the “no or not”. Decide if this statement is true or false then answer the opposite on your test. Words indicating absoluteness (never, always, entirely, every, only, none) often tend to be used in false statements.
Try to construct concise answers that target the question and prove to the teacher that you know the material. Get right to the point in the first sentence or two of your answer. The rest of the answer should contain proof that you know what you are talking about. Give enough evidence to support your thoughts but don’t over-answer the question. Writing a lot of fluff will usually leave the teacher thinking that you are writing for the sake of filling the space and that you really don’t have a good handle on the correct answer.
Before you begin writing an essay, make sure you know exactly what the question is asking. Try to restate the question in your own words. If you can’t do this with confidence, make a quick visit to the teacher and have him or her clarify it for you. Once confident in what the question is asking, take a few moments to get your thoughts together and write some notes in the margin or even create an outline on scrap paper if you have time.
If you find that you are running short on time and still have some open-ended questions left to answer, write something rather than leaving the space blank. Create a brief outline to show the teacher that you do know the answer, but you didn’t have enough time to write an entire essay. You maybe able to get say more in an outline form than you can if you were only able to write a few opening sentences of your essay. Partial credit is better than no credit at all.
Once you believe you are finished with the test, reread everything again to be sure that you answered every question fully and completely. If you have time, cover up your answers with your hand or another sheet of paper and ask yourself what answer you would give if you had to answer the question again. Compare this answer with what you have already written down. Only change the original answer if you find that you made a silly mistake or originally misinterpreted the question. It is usually best to go with your original instinct when you are truly unsure of an answer.
Be neat. The last thing a teacher wants to do while correcting mounds of tests is to spend time deciphering what a student has illegibly written.
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What’s Your Excuse for Not Being Successful in Life?
Excuses! Excuses! When we fail to do something we are expected to do, we almost always have an excuse for it. However, if we analyze it closely, an excuse is a self-destructive alibi for having failed to do something, especially when it involves attaining a goal. Instead of trying to persevere in finding ways to continue achieving a goal, some of us resort to excuses.
Even a handicap cannot be used as an excuse. Many handicapped but determined people have become achievers and champions. Instead of using a handicap as an excuse, let us turn it into an asset. Let us explore this further.
A handicap need not be a reason for failure. On the contrary, a handicap can be a reason for success. People with a handicap always have an offsetting strength that allows them to overcome problems better than others.
A person with a handicap has one obsession - to lead a normal life. Depending on the handicap, a person would prefer to be as independent as possible. So he struggles and finds ways to overcome his impediment. When he is able to achieve his goal, this raises his self-esteem. In turn, he inspires others.
Everybody has handicaps in varying forms and degree. That is why; it requires effort and determination to overcome them. Handicaps can either be physical, financial, or emotional. And they can either be real or imagined.
Whenever we look at a handicap, we almost always look on the negative side only. It’s about time we take a look at the positive side of it. The positive side may be the difficult side, but it’s the one worth looking into. It’s the side that is going to lead us to excel in life.
If you think your handicap is physical, like having a weak body, you can counteract this through proper diet and training exercises. As long as the physical parts of your body are intact and mobile, there’s no reason why you cannot make it strong and useful. Why? Even those without a leg (for example) can be made to walk or run normally. With the advancement of science, artificial legs can help a handicap function with great mobility.
It your handicap is financial, then the more reason you have to rise above your present status. And if your financial status limits your educational attainment to improve your life, the school is not the only place to learn. Certainly, there are help centers to get you started even from zero level. Once you are initially warmed up with the basics of an education, the rest is up to you. Make use of libraries. Once you are educationally equipped, use your brain and come up with creative ideas to improve your life.
If you are emotionally disturbed with negative thoughts, it is like you are sitting on a chair with wobbling legs. Try sitting on a chair with sturdy legs; meaning, look at the bright, positive side of life. Put aside negativity and start thinking positively. The only one who can stop you is yourself.
If your handicap is a combination of any of the physical, financial, or emotional type, congratulations. You should strive more to overcome them, because a double layer of perseverance results to more than double the achievement. Where the odds are greater, the prize gets much bigger. After all the efforts you have exerted, the prize of success shall be a well-deserved one.
So what’s your excuse for not being successful?
Job Hunting: Should You Lower Your Expectations
Are you in need of a job? If you are currently unemployed you may even consider yourself to be desperate for a new job. If you are, you may end up wondering if you should lower your expectations, to make it easier to find a job right away. If so, you are definitely not alone. When it comes to determining whether or not you should lower your expectations, when hunting for a job, there are a number of important factors that need to be taken into consideration. One of those factors is your need for a job. For instance, do you have a family to support? Do you have rent, mortgage, or car payments that need to be made? If you do, your need for a job may actually be quite high, especially if you are not receiving money from your state’s unemployment fund. If your survival depends on having a job, you may need to lower your expectations, even just temporarily. Another factor that needs to be examined, when determining whether or not you should lower your expectations, when hunting for a job, is your expectations. For instance, are they reasonable? Are you interested in working as a doctor? If you are, do you have a degree in medicine? If not, you expectations are not only too high, but they are unreasonable. The first step in not being required to lower your expectations, when searching for a job, is making sure that your expectations are reasonable. For instance, if you worked as a retail cashier for a while and attended business school, you may want to think about trying to acquire a job as a retail store manager. This type of goal is one that is just right, as it isn’t too unrealistic. It is also advised that you examine the current job forecast for the industry that you would like to work in. In keeping with the above mentioned example of a retail store manager, if the retail industry isn’t doing too well, there is a good chance that not as many new retail stores will open up in or around your area. This may limit the number of retail store manger jobs that are available. In this case, you may need to lower your expectations or just change them, to include something different. Of course, what you need to remember is that if you do need to lower your expectations, when hunting for a job, especially if your survival depends on it, it doesn’t have to be permanent. For instance, if you are required to take a job as a retail store cashier, but you are actually qualified to work as a school teacher, your retail store job doesn’t have to last forever. When working and making a little bit of money, possibly enough to help your family or pay your bills, you can continue on by searching for teaching opportunities. If you keep after your goal long enough, you should be able to find an opportunity that you are more than qualified for. If and when that time comes, you could choose to give up the job that caused you to lower your expectations. Although you may not necessarily want to take a job that you may consider to be beneath you, there may come a time in life when you have to. If and when that time comes, it is important that you remember that nothing has to be permanent or forever etched in stone.
Job Hunting: The Importance of a Professional Resume
Are you currently job hunting? If you are, you will likely find a number of job listings that you want to apply for, if you haven’t already done so. No matter what type of job you are applying for, whether you want to be a contractor, a secretary, or a retail store manager, you will want to make a resume for yourself. Resumes are often used to replace or supplement a traditional job application. The only thing is that your resume needs to be professional in nature.
When it comes to resumes that are professional in nature, there are many individuals who wonder why having a professional resume is so important. In all honesty, there are a number of different reasons. Just a few of the many reasons why having a professional resume, at least a professional looking one, is important are touched on below.
Perhaps, the biggest reason as to why you need to submit a resume that is professional in nature is because the resume is often the first thing that a hiring employer will see. With many employers using the internet and newspaper employment sections to find qualified candidates, many are not meeting their prospective employees in person. Most just simply submit their resume as an email attachment or mail it in. Since your face will not be seen and your personality will not be witnessed right away, your resume will essentially end up doing all of the talking for you. That is why you want to make sure that it looks and feels professional.
What you may not realize is that there are many employers who classify all of their applicants based on their resumes. Yes, this may not necessarily be fair, especially when that classification is based solely on appearance, but it is something that does happen. That is why you will want to make sure that your resume gives a good first impression. You don’t want it to be tossed to the side, just for its appearance. For the best chance of success, print your resume out on traditional white computer paper, use standard font, and make sure that it is easy to read.
A professional resume, even just a professionally looking one, is also important because it can help give you an edge above the competition. For many, submitting a resume that is professional in nature, right to the point, and easy to read is common sense, but for others it isn’t so obvious. You may actually be surprised with how many applicants respond to a job listing with a resume that should have never left their house. Depending on the job listing you are responding to, you may end up being one of hundreds of applicants. That is why it is important that you get an edge. However, the way to do this is with a professional resume, not one that will get laughed at all the way to the trash can.
As you can see, from being outlined above, there are a number of different reasons as to why the resumes that you submit to hopeful employers should be professional in nature. The term professional in nature is used because your resume doesn’t actually have to be professionally done. If you do have some writing experience, particularly concerning resumes, you may be able to produce your own professional resume. If not, you are advised to look into using the services of a professional resume writer.










