Feeling tired at work like The Apprentice contenders?

They're down to the final 6 on The Apprentice. The long hours and stress the contestants are under are starting to take their toll on some. Michael Sophocles in particular is looking particularly tired.

If you're struggling to stay awake at work The Guardian's Virginia Matthews has written an interesting story on how you can beat the tiredness, including th doze and don'ts of how to beat office fatigue
· Fresh air and caffeine will help combat tiredness, but if you really need of sleep, the benefits will only be short-term.
· Tired workers can perform monotonous tasks on "remote control", but complex jobs and decision-making may be a chore.
· Get through any demanding tasks early - you'll feel a lot worse by 2pm.
· Don't arrange difficult personal meetings on a day when you feel starved of sleep - you may be irrational and argumentative without realising it.
· Keep to the same bedtime and waking-up time regime as far as possible through the week. The latter is more important in regularising sleep.
· The average adult needs about seven hours' sleep a night; a regular eight-to-nine hours or more can be counter-productive.
· Power napping for 15 minutes can provide an energy boost, but if it's any longer, we drift into deeper sleep and may wake feeling groggy.
· When we wake briefly in the night, the time spent awake can feel endless, but this may be due to a condition called "sleep onset misperception".
· Napping on the job is perfectly acceptable in Japan and Germany, but in the UK, nap rooms are rare.

The Mole

Recruiter Speak

If you are looking for a new job, or have got a new job through a recruitment consultant then you may (as in any industry) come across a fair amount of jargon. I thought this article from ere.net would be useful if you ever wondered what a the recruiter really meant.

This list is by no means definitive, but it is a start…any suggestions or additions are greatly encouraged.

• Sourcing (v) Usage: "I sourced your resume and thought that you might be a great fit…" Definition: The entry of keywords onto a job board.
• Exciting (adj.): Usage: "We've got an exciting opportunity currently available…" Definition: An open headcount that needs to be filled as quickly as possible.
• Prescreen (n) Usage: "I'd like to set up a brief, exploratory prescreen." Definition: The conversation by which recruiters ascertain if they can afford the talent in question.
• Visibility (adj.): Usage: "This role has high visibility to all levels of management throughout the organization." Definition: The phrase most often used to describe a position with the smallest margin for error and highest turnover rate in the company.
• Growth (n): Usage: "This position is really a great growth opportunity." Definition: The naturally occurring phenomenon by which workers find fulfillment doing exactly the same job in a different company.
• Ad-hoc (adj.) Usage: "There will also be some ad-hoc projects required." Definition: A catch-all phrase used by corporations to describe the countless hours of manpower invested in activities unrelated to one's job function, generally evoked at the whim of departmental heads.
• Expectations (n) Usage: "What are your expectations for your next position?" Definition: The test commonly used during the screening process to see whether the candidate is capable of reading a job description and changing tense from third- to first-person.
• Stable (adj.) Usage: "It's a very stable business unit." Definition: When the collective tenure of a department's employees preempt any consideration of change or improvement upon the status quo.
• Reinventing (v) Usage: "We've had challenges in the past, but we're reinventing ourselves and our processes." Definition: A commonly used tactic employed by recruiters to explain recent or forthcoming layoffs (see: derecruit, reorganization, shared services, offshoring, outsourcing, et al).
• Competition (n) Usage: "You've got some pretty stiff competition for this position." Definition: A word used by recruiters to preempt disappointment for the candidate by establishing expectations upfront. Alternative definition: A tactic employed to make an extremely undesirable position appear more enticing.
• Team (n) Usage: "We're looking for a team player." Definition: The intangible qualities associated with a candidate who will not make waves and demonstrates the willingness to accept abuse by supervisors and fellow staff.
• DOE (acr.) see also depending on experience.Usage: "I am unable to provide a salary range for the position as it is DOE." Definition: Whereby a company unable to pay market rate for a position compensates by placing the blame on candidate deficiencies.
• Best practices (n): Usage: "We're a best practices organization." Phrase has not yet been defined. See meaning of life, UFOs.
• Work-life balance (phrase): Usage: "We put a real premium on work-life balance." Definition: The ratio of one's time at home to one's time at work. The smaller the ratio, the more likely the employee is paid on an hourly basis.
• Overtime (n) Usage: "There may be some slight overtime involved." Definition: An institution imposed by corporations to increase shareholder value without increasing headcount by maximizing working hours of employee population, up to and including Saturdays, holidays, and seminal life events.
• Feedback (n) Usage: "I'll provide feedback from my hiring manager as soon as I get it." Definition: Generally construed as a one- or two-word answer by which hiring managers summarily reject top candidates.
• Next steps (phrase) Usage: "We'll be in touch regarding next steps." Definition: A phrase used to put off rejecting marginal candidates for as long as possible until an offer is accepted by a more qualified party.
• References (n) Usage: "We're going to begin checking your references." Definition: The process by which a recruiter contacts previous coworkers of a potential hire from a list provided by the candidate in an attempt to bring objectivity to the hiring process.
• Background check (n) Usage: "You're our final candidate, but I can't extend an offer until your background check clears." Definition: A control imposed by corporations in order to slow recruiters' ability to extend an offer for a period of time that perfectly coincides with a candidate's extension and acceptance of other offers. Alternate definition: An industry whose practitioners continue to thrive despite the Internet's abilities to perform the same functionality at a fraction of the cost.
• Benefits (n) Usage: "We are proud to offer a comprehensive, competitive benefits package to all employees." Definition: A tactic used by corporations to attract full-time employees and entice temporary ones into menial labor.
• Offer letter (n) Usage: "Congratulations on joining our team. I'm sending over an offer letter that contains all the information you're going to need." Definition: A document or set of documents that contains all information relevant to one's employment with a company, denoting the last communication between recruiter and candidate until the candidate becomes eligible for transfer consideration.

Tips for Happiness at Work

Following on from yesterdays post regarding leaving your job for a fresh start, I thought it would interesting to consider happiness at work.

You spend the vast majority of your life at work so you need to enjoy it. There are always times when you are going to be a little down, and a few things you would rather be doing; but there are a number of things you should do and remember to ensure you make get the most out of your day. I found this an article on the timesonline that listed things you should be doing when you find yourself a litte down. I have picked out the ones I thought were particularly relevant for me;

Keep things in perspective. “Your work experience is a very big part of your life, but it’s not your whole life,” says Michael Chambers, the managing director of Bacs, the payment processing house. Remind yourself of the positive things in other parts of your life

Do the best you can. “If you know that you have done your job as well as you can, it can give you a sense of wellbeing even if things don’t work out quite as you’d hoped,” Woods says. “Take pride in doing your job well.”

Take a break. If everything is getting too much, get away from the environment that is making you unhappy, Chambers suggests. “Take a moment on your own to go for a walk or ask a colleague to come for a coffee. It will help you to calm down and get a sense of perspective.”

Take control. If something at work is making you unhappy, don’t wait for someone else to solve the problem – fix it yourself. “Take personal responsibility for things that don’t quite work or could be done better,” Woods says. “Managers like proactive people, so you could get a promotion, but at the very least it will improve your own job and help you to be happy.”

For the full article visit here

The Grass is Always Greener?

In the last few weeks a fair few of my friends and colleagues have been thinking of moving jobs and making a fresh start. This is partly spurred on by the Credit Crunch; some of them have been worried about losing their jobs (many are working in Banking), whist others have simply been enjoying the good spring weather and would prefer to be spending more time outside than in an office. Very different reasons for thinking of a career change, however, the same principles apply when trying to find a new job.

1. Make sure you really want to find a new job. People often forget how much hard work and frustration can come in finding a new job. You need to ask yourself what your motivation for leaving is – further your career, more money, status, better working hours, better working environment or to do something passionate about. If you choose the first three then hopefully you already enjoy your current job as wherever you move is only likely to be harder work. If it’s the latter three you need to open your mind as the jobs you would be willing to do. There are always ups and downs in jobs and only to often people leave job when they are in a trough, only to regret it when they do leave and miss the good times. Make sure you aren’t leaving simply because you it not enjoyable at the moment and think of the bigger picture.

2. Have you tried to move internally? If you want to further your career or increase you status then the first point of call should be looking internally. By telling you employer that you want to look for a new role internally you are signalling how ambitious and proactive you are. If you are good at your current job, employers would always to try and move you internally and try and move towards your needs if they can. They have invested a lot of money in you, and replacing you can be a very costly business. If they can’t help you, then that is the time to look externally.

3. If you want a big change, be bold. All too often people decide they want a big change, quit their jobs, take a look around for a new one and find something they would be good at, but end up back a job not that different to what they were doing before and go through the same cycle again. If it is type of work that you don’t enjoy, then make sure when you look for a new job you are bold, think laterally and go for something truly different. But remember, if you do this and apply for different jobs you still need to show that your skills are applicable to the job you are applying. You may well get rejections. Don’t take this as a sign that you can’t do that job; you simply need to find an employer who is willing to take transferable skills. If you do get rejected, find out why and use that feedback to adapt your next application.

4.Don’t run from a job, run to a job. It’s a bit of and old saying, but it rings true. Quitting your job without having anything to go to can be very stressful, particularly if you need the income. It is likely to take longer than you think it might too, so make sure you account for that. If you can put up with your job whilst you look for new ones, make sure you do. If you really can’t stand your job and decide to leave before you have somewhere to go, make sure you don’t waste your time off. It’s all too easy to sit at home, put on the TV and watch episodes of 24 for hours. Be disciplined. Plan your day; search for jobs in the morning, amend your CV to personalise it for each employer before lunch etc. Make sure you speak to friends and family and look through your address book and see if you have names of people you have met in the past that may be able to help. It’s not easy to find a job, it takes effort on your part – if you are disciplined and put in the effort , you will reap the rewards.