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At the very beginning of your career, you may be faced with the fact that all the knowledge and the diplomas in the world will not be enough to save you if you are on your boss’s bad side. You will end up watching from your cubicle how other people are getting promoted, while you are sitting there and doing the same things you have done on your first day at work.

You see, when people graduate they are full of confidence and hope, and that is not a bad thing, but books and tests are just the basics that should be upgraded with experience and interpersonal relationships. One of the people who can affect your professional growth the most is your boss, and you should do your best to make that relationship productive and mutually beneficial.

Learning from your boss

One of the main reasons why you should have a good relationship your boss is the opportunity to learn from someone who is in a position you would love to be in the future. If you are constantly giving your maximum with work tasks and showing consistency and dedication, you will have the right to participate in some important conversations and find out many valuable things, not only about the company you are working in, but also about the road to success.

Self-improving

At first, your motivation may be just to impress your boss, but as time goes on, your dedication and efforts will grow to become habits and make your career success even more certain. Showing up to work early and taking initiative might seem like “sucking up” to your boss to other employees and to you yourself, but actually, when you think about it, there is nothing wrong with these actions. On the contrary, they showcase you as a well-educated and ambitious man/woman.

You are the image of your boss

… and vice versa. A good boss surrounds himself with competent people, and if you show to be anything other but that, you will not only make your boss look bad, but also create a negative image about yourself, which can impact your position in the firm, and even future employment opportunities. If you on the other hand, do your best to make your boss succeed, you will show that you are a great employee worthy of going up the corporate ladder.

Improving your current job

If you want to love the job you are doing, you have to make it a job you can love. The best, and possibly the only way to do so, is to make your boss fond of you. If you are consistently productive and assigning for the difficult tasks, you will have a more pleasant relationship with your boss, which will make your working hours less stressful. Beyond that, you will get better assignments and maybe become the right-hand-man/woman.

Getting promoted

The ultimate goal of every employee would never even be considered without a long process of impressing the boss. After all, your boss is the one handling the decisions about transfer of the employees to a better job. If you notice he is giving you some extra projects and work, accept it with enthusiasm, because this can be a part of grooming you for higher jobs, and eventually even his position. So, make sure you are on his radar by struggling to get new challenges and more recognition, instead of struggling to get your work done.

Some people would love to spend their days at work unnoticed to avoid conflicts and critiques, but by doing so, they are also avoiding praises and opportunities. Do not be one of those people and fight your way up to the top, in a struggle where impressing your boss is your best chance to succeed.

In search of more career advice? Come to our blog and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Nate Vickery, guest writer

Nate Vickery is a marketing manager and a blogger. He is also the editor-in-chief at BizzMarkBlog.

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Onboarding is a process that introduces new employees to their new workplace and helps them adjust to company culture. While onboarding is a normal part of the hiring process for some companies, it does not come without its challenges for hiring managers. If these challenges are not met well and properly faced, new hires won’t be in the best position to succeed. Andre Lavoie, CEO and Co-Founder of ClearCompany, discusses some of the challenges hiring managers face during the onboarding process.

“Hiring managers face several challenges during the onboarding process, all of which can be very costly if they aren’t solved. They often fail to effectively define roles of new hires, leaving them in the dark. This missing information is a major stressor in the workplace and should be addressed immediately. Ensuring job descriptions are clear and accurate, and giving new employees that vision is vital to avoiding this issue on day one.

New hires want to know specific expectations. When details are vague, they don’t know what it takes to succeed. Hiring managers need to provide training materials that clearly define what makes strong employees. This also helps employers measure the quality of hire to determine how well the talent acquisition team is recruiting.

Another major challenge is clearly communicating company values. Many employees, both new and tenured, lack a clear understanding of their company’s vision. This goes back to setting expectations and clearly defining what success looks like. New hires should know how they can thrive in their entry-level jobs, and they should also know their roles in achieving large scale organizational goals.

Introducing new talent to a company is not easy. It’s a balancing act of providing enough information without overwhelming new employees. The role of hiring managers involves finding that sweet spot and communicating information in an effective, personable way. They also need to focus on introducing new hires to the team and integrating them into the company culture to ensure a strong fit.”

Want to learn more about onboarding? Visit our blog and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Andre Lavoie, CEO and Co-Founder of ClearCompany

Andre Lavoie is the CEO of ClearCompany, the first talent alignment platform that bridges the gap between talent management and business strategy by contextualizing employees’ work around a company’s vision and goals. You can connect with him and the ClearCompany team on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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Attracting HVACR (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration) technicians and instructors has been challenging for recruiters and hiring managers. There is an opportunity to get college students and recent graduates interested in HVACR jobs if their recruitment and training efforts are strong.

The next generation of Americans, Generation Z students, are about to enter the workforce, and many Gen Z students are unaware of the opportunities available in the HVACR career field.

The oldest of Gen Z students are to complete high school. Some will enter the military or the workforce, and most will attend a one, two, or four-year college or university. The oldest of Gen Z was about 10 years old at the height of the Great Recession and spent most of their formative years witnessing and, in many cases, suffering from the financial turmoil. As compared to their Gen X parents at the same age, Gen Z’ers are far more likely to favor career paths with low student loan debt, opportunities for advancement within their organizations, work/life balance, and a good, stable, living wage.

Trades such as HVACR provide all of those benefits, but few young adults are aware of that fact. More than anything else, the industry needs better marketing of its career opportunities. It should make a concerted effort to deliver presentations in the nation’s high schools, just as the military and some other professions do.

“One option for HVACR industry leaders is to live stream informational presentations on YouTube to build a massive and therefore search engine friendly repository of these presentations and have the presentations delivered by recent graduates of those schools. Graduates can share their stories including their challenges. Authenticity and peer-to-peer communication matters greatly to young adults. A message that everything is great or a great message delivered by a Baby Boomer will not resonate,” notes College Recruiter’s President and Founder, Steven Rothberg.

Another way to recruit HVACR technicians and instructors is to have the employers work with educators on developing strategies to qualified students. They can also collaborate on encouraging these students to enroll in training programs, which will create a workforce in waiting. In order to train more technicians and instructors, one option is establishing financial support through local and regional employers in the career field to create training programs.

College students and recent grads can be potential candidates for jobs as HVACR technicians and instructors. However, there must be a more proactive approach when it comes to recruiting and training.

At College Recruiter, we believe every student and recent graduate deserves a great career, and we are committed to creating a quality candidate and recruiter experience. Our interactive media solutions connect students and graduates to great careers. Let College Recruiter assist you in the recruiting process. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook for more information about the best practices in college recruiting.

The workforce is filled with people from all walks of life. Employers hear about diversity and inclusion, and choose to either embrace it or ignore it. Perhaps employers who choose the latter need more information about diversity and inclusion. For example, how can they differentiate each idea?

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter is hosting a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29th at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco. Join us.

Prior to that event, we’ll publish the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. In today’s article, Anne Fishman differentiates between diversity and inclusion. Continue Reading

In the workplace, employers want to get the most out of their employees. Establishing a diverse and inclusive workforce helps achieve this goal. Workers with innovative ideas and perspectives help companies obtain new clients and customers.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter is hosting a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29th at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco. Join us.

Prior to that event, we’ll publish the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. In today’s article, Patricia Rossman of BASF Corporation discusses the importance of building a diverse and inclusive workforce. Continue Reading

Finance clerk in office calculating financing with calculator and files. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

It is one thing to have a job and another totally different thing to have a career. There are people with jobs, but they are not in the career that they wished to have. At the same time, it is possible to have a job in your chosen career, but something different to be successful in your work. This is especially the case in professions such as finance and banking. Many people get jobs in the industry but then they have no idea what path to take after that. The end result is stagnation and frustration which of course is not healthy in any way.

For people in the in the field of finance, there are so many career options to consider. The goal is to ensure that you get to the topmost rank that you can attain and become the best in your career. The first thing that you must have in order to take these career paths in finance is the interest. Are you interested in handling the tasks that usually come with this career? Continue Reading

Group of university students outdoors looking happy. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

If you remember your last few school days or months, you would realize how college excited you and also developed a sense and anxiety within you. The fear of changing your life, having to become more responsible, learning more advanced courses and preparing for professional life all contribute to your growing anxiety before you go to college.

However, the moment you step on to the journey of your college as a freshman, you would realize that there is much beyond the general fear and anxiety levels. College is a journey which is like a transition period from the school and university. It acts as a bridge at an age where students are the most vulnerable and are during their teenage part of life. College teaches much more than mere education, it helps students find their feet in this world and learn to fight or combat various challenges and prepares themselves for even tougher life to come. Every student has their own perceptions and reasons to love college and enjoy the college days. However, in general, there are some common elements that can be taken into account when it comes to determining why you should love your college and enjoy the college days. Today’s guest post is exactly going to talk about those four reasons in the next sections of this article. Continue Reading

The phrase Let Your Results Do The Talking on a cork notice board. A concept for using your successes to move forward in your career or business. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

To set yourself apart from the pile of resumes that crowd a hiring manager’s desk, it’s important to show what you have been able to accomplish in previous roles. A resume needs to answer the question of “what are you going to do for my company?”. How you answer that is by showing what your successes and accomplishments have been in your previous roles and responsibilities.

Creating an achievements section on the first page of your resume or under each of your previous jobs is a great way to do this. Continue Reading

Young female bachelor kneeling on a start line with a hand give a guide to start her new journey. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

You’ve just thrown your graduation cap into the air and you’re thinking finally, freedom! You ascend one end of the stage knowing you’re leaving school behind, and descend the other end having officially entered ‘The Real World.’

Then it hits you.

Soon you’ll have to:

1. Apply for jobs.

2. Figure out how you’ll be using the degree you’ve spent years of sleepless nights and thousands of dollars to earn.

Don’t panic. These two tips will get you started in your job hunt. Continue Reading

Every organization relies on good teams. Effective teamwork in the workplace helps drive the organization toward success. Here are a ten qualities that can make a team player outstanding in the workplace: Continue Reading