Seven Surprising Ways to Fight Burnout

Beverly Flaxington

The usual prescription for employee burnout is to work less. However, that so-called remedy doesn’t take into account why we feel unhappy at work in the first place, why we are suddenly stressed out by our workload, and why we feel depleted and unable to bounce back.

In my experience, a major reason people get burned out at work is a surprising one to many of them. It’s because they’ve temporarily lost a basic driver of success: the sense of “I can do this!” In short, their self-confidence is weak. Continue Reading

How to Improve Your Interviewing Confidence

Jessica Holbrook Hernandez of Great Resumes Fast

The interview is one component of the job seeking process that most people love to hate. While it serves as a sign from the employer that you are being strongly considered for a position, it also can be a source of angst for candidates who fear they’ll make mistakes that will cut them out of the running.

A great way to overcome the anxiety interviews produce is to begin feeling good about the process. Need help getting there? Here are five ways to improve your interviewing confidence: Continue Reading

Study Says Scent Increases Confidence

On a personal level, smelling good makes people feel good about themselves.  Did you know it affects people professionally as well?

Any career guru will tell you that confidence is key when embarking on the job interview process. In order to get your foot in the door and make a good first impression, you must be confident in yourself and your abilities.

Did you know that smelling “scent-sational” helps to avoid those self-doubting moments when entering the job market? In fact, a recent study conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Gain found that: Continue Reading

Smarter than the Average Bear

“Imagine what you could achieve if you knew you could not fail” – Robert H. Schuller

When I was in my early teens, my friends and I would buy whatever fireworks we could. They were illegal where we lived, but if you “knew the right people” you could pretty much get what ever you wanted. Although not technically “fireworks”, one of our favorites were smoke bombs. They looked like small balls with a fuse sticking out of them. Anyway, we would always argue how much smoke they created and decided to settle our argument by “capturing” the smoke. So, we decided to light a smoke bomb, drop it into a jar and close the lid. About 1 second after closing the lid we realized that this was not a very good idea and the jar could explode. We ran for cover. Fortunately, only the lid blew off. We didn’t settle our argument but we did agree it was not the smartest thing we did.

My entire career (which now spans over 30 years), no matter what struggles the companies I worked for went though, I always thought that “someone smarter than me” was dealing with it. Having lived through my share of corporate “drop a smoke bomb in a jar” meltdowns, I now realize that maybe the person running the company is not smarter than me. In fact, some of the fatal corporate mistakes I’ve lived through could have been easily avoided if not for arrogance or over-confidence. So, what’s the point? Underestimating your abilities or thinking that only someone “smarter than me” could be running the company can be career limiting. Much like today’s quote, don’t let lack of confidence hold you back. Continue Reading

The Most Important Trait That You Can Bring To The Interview Is Self-Confidence

Carole Martin, The Interview Coach

How Do You Demonstrate Confidence?

As you read articles and books about interviewing you will notice that most of the information focuses on “being prepared.” When you look closely at the information provided by “experts,” you will notice that a great many of the tips given concern the external preparation. These are tips ranging from what to “wear to the interview,” to having the “correct body language,” or information on giving a “strong handshake,” and having a “script or stories” ready for the interview. There is much less emphasis or information found on internally preparing for the interview. Continue Reading