Three Tips for Effective Communication

During my time scrolling through job boards and looking at hundreds of job ads, I noticed a common trend between them all. Every job called for communication skills, either written or oral. Every job, from the highest paying CEO positions to the very bottom entry level positions, requires communication skills. This shouldn’t be surprising: we live in a world that has become increasingly connected via the internet. With people now communicating over text, email, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and a whole list of other communication apps, it’s no wonder that communication skills have become an...

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The Importance of Communicating Well

Communication. It’s a word that everyone agrees is important, yet many people have difficulty accomplishing it well. There are a lot of measures to define communication effectiveness. The one that I use is to ask myself 6 questions about my communication to ensure that I am communicating well individually and organizationally to build trust, and also ensure that I am accomplishing what I say I will accomplish. Why? When I think through the purpose of a message/conversation, I ask myself what I am trying to accomplish.  I think we’ve all seen the e-mail chains in which everyone makes a...

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Climbing in the Right Direction

Career progression as a process has changed significantly in the past few decades. It used to be that employees would stay with the same company for decades, and possibly for their entire career. When this was the case, companies had a vested interested in developing an employee, helping them to climb their career ladder with promotions and career development. Today, however, with turnover being much higher, companies won’t usually actively invest in an employee’s career progression. What this means is an employee often has to embark on career development by themselves. When you decide to...

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How to Handle a Presentation Interview

In the many interview situations I’ve been in, I think the most nerve-wracking is the presentation interview. Certainly, in my first presentation interview I was a bucket of anxiety. Not only was I trying to present myself well as an interviewee, but I was also trying to impress them as a presenter. Trying to do both of those things at once? Not exactly a walk in the park. However, it’s an interview style that everyone will probably experience, as presentation interviews are becoming more and more common. Employers will propose a topic and ask you to give a presentation (generally no more...

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Job Stress: Sources and Suggestions

Job stress is a universal equalizer. Everyone has experienced it or will experience it at some point in their lives. And it seems like stress in the workplace has only increased in recent years. A study conducted by Harris Interactive in 2001 (see link below) reported that nearly 80% of respondents reported some stress on the job, and 25% felt like screaming because of the stress. Another study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported that 40% of respondents identified their job as very or extremely stressful (see link below). From these...

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