Can Working Vacations Really Work

Can Working Vacations Really Work The American workforce has long operated under an unofficial motto: Work hard, play hard. But lets be honest, the work half of that equation always seems to have the upper hand. Compared to workers in other countries, American employees receive a paltry number of paid vacation days each year. For example, employees in Germany and Canada average 29 days of PTO per year, while workers in the United Kingdom, Japan and China average 28, 18 and 16 days, respectively. Meanwhile, the average U.S. employee gets just 10 days of PTO every year. This is likely tied to the fact that, unlike most other industrialized countries, the U.S. has no federally-mandated minimum for vacation days, leaving employers to decide how many days they will allow employees to take off. However, this isnt just a problem of law, its also a problem of culture. In 2017, only 53 percent of employees emptied their PTO bank, meaning that 47 percent shunned part or all of their vacation time to stay on the job. The reasons people cited for doing this included feeling overwhelmed with deadlines, not wanting to fall behind on assignments, feeling pressured by management not to take time off, and feeling they couldnt financially afford to travel. In short, American workers feel stressed and overworked, and they continue to feel this way despite conclusive research showing that vacations improve all aspects of health and boost productivity in the workplace. Will Work For Vacation But what if U.S. employees could truly begin to embody the mantra of working hard and playing hard? In recent years, workcations and bleisure travel have been rising in popularity, both with employers and employees. This concept blends work with travel, adventure, and flexible schedules, and it can be embraced as an occasional job perk or as a totally immersive lifestyle. On one end of the workcation spectrum, there are companies that offer flexible and unlimited PTO, meaning employees can work remotely as much as they want so long as they continue to meet all of their job responsibilities. This could mean jet-setting as much as you like, as long as you’re willing to phone in for important conference calls and tend to any ongoing assignments while you’re away. Meanwhile, team building workcations are still very much a thing in the corporate world. But employers are getting more creative in their approach. Instead of just heading to the local Hilton for a weekend of seminars and awkwardly performed trust falls, many companies now encourage employee bonding by sending workers to faraway lands to enjoy theatre and museum tours, safaris and extreme sports. Some companies also try to help teams meet their performance goals by sending them to luxury resorts when an important deadline is looming. That way, they can problem solve while getting a hot stone massage. Workcation: All I Ever Wanted? This is not to suggest that everyone thinks workcations are a good idea. One company that pays its employees to go on vacation, Denver-based tech company FullContact, insists that they dont do any work while away, and opponents of the bleisure travel concept have called it the saddest sign of our times. But is it really? The idea of work/life balance has been around since the 1970s, and its very existence suggests that there has always been encroachment between the professional and personal spheres of a persons life. This encroachment is most often framed as a critical imbalance, something that must be corrected before someone can truly enjoy his or her life. For instance, how many movies feature workaholic lead characters who are accused of neglecting their families? While there is nothing wrong with hopping on a plane and completely disconnecting from work and responsibilities, in reality, 66 percent of Americans regularly work during their vacations. Maybe the answer isnt to staunchly defend the lines between work and play, but to blend them in ways that allow both to flourish. This could mean creating workplace cultures where taking care of the personal responsibilities of an employees life, such as attending a childs soccer game or taking a mental health day, are encouraged, facilitated and celebrated. This could, in turn, foster a culture where employees take vacations and crack open their laptops without feeling resentment or opening themselves up to accusations of familial neglect. This infographic about working vacations explains how some modern companies are rethinking work/life balance: About the Author: Reservations.com is an award-winning travel search engine on a mission to bring the human touch back into the world of online travel. With a robust database of more than 500,000 hotels worldwide, Reservations.com offers unparalleled visibility into hotels through easy-to-navigate descriptions, pricing information, and reviews.

If youve been unemployed for a while, consider a career change

If youve been unemployed for a while, consider a career change I know this isnt what you want to hear, but the people who are incredibly good at what they do are not unemployed. So if you are unemployed, you probably are not outstanding in your chosen profession. Sorry. But dont feel too bad, because everyone is great at something you just need to find that thing. And theres no better time to soul-search than when you arent making money anyway: No lost opportunity cost. People who have incredible achievements in their career or show amazing promise have resumes that get snapped up quickly. Hiring managers receive hundreds of resumes for each job opening, and invariably, three or four of these resumes are outstanding. If your resume is not outstanding, you will not rise to the top of one of these piles. Sure, there are exceptions: your idiot college roommate who is making six figures or the incompetent co-worker who survived the layoff that you did not. But I bet you cannot think of someone who has rocked the world of every boss shes had yet hunts hopelessly for a job. Still wondering if youre one of the best? Well, if you havent received some sort of offer in five or six months, that is not a good sign. Doors open when someone incredible knocks even companies with hiring freezes make exceptions for outstanding candidates. Mike Russiello, CEO of Brainbench, says, Companies are getting very good at identifying top performers looking at things like, past roles in projects, certifications, and how someone interviews. You are not going to fake anyone out with inflated Internet titles or achievements you cannot quantify. If youre not top youre not top. And do not try to console yourself by saying that you are a rare find who suffers from bad networking. Sure, good networking helps. But the truth is that if you really are a rare find, the network comes to you. If you are amazing at your chosen profession, people call you, people check in with you, people want to be near you. You dont need good networking skills to answer your phone when it rings. You only need good networking skills to compensate for the fact that no one calls. But instead of banking on good networking skills, how about changing careers to do something at which you are, indeed, outstanding? Unemployment is a great point in life to make use of excess time to figure out where your gifts really lie and what you really love to do. Most people who are not outstanding in their job are not doing what they really love. The good news is that if you do what you love, youre more likely to end up rich. One survey of 1500 undergraduate business students found that 87% of the students said they wanted to make money quickly and figure out self-fulfillment later. The remaining 13% of the students said gratification was more important than money. Twenty years later 101 of those students were millionaires and all but one of those students were from the group who said gratification was more important than money. Theres nothing like a bad economy to make you more honest with yourself. Less money to go out to dinner, less money to go shopping: Try sitting at home and doing some soul-searching. At least entertain the possibility that you are not that great at your work and your talents lie somewhere else. You can spend another six months sending out mediocre resumes to scarce job leads, or you can recreate yourself as a person who is in love with your career choice and more passionate and competent than any of your competitors. Change is difficult. And career change is especially scary. But in this economy, some people will find that not changing is more risky than changing.

Are You an Effective Job Search Networker - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Are You an Effective Job Search Networker - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Loads of people network during their job search, but very few are effective at such networking. Certainly, some are better at it than others, but in general, the majority of people not only dislike networking but also are simply not good at it. Based on a survey they conducted, Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D., and Don Morgan discovered several keys for successful job search networking. First, survey respondents said the most important part of being effective is to be timely with follow-up on referrals. Not following up kills momentumâ€"along with your personal credibility. Next, one must exhibit a positive attitude. A positive attitude attracts others like a magnet, which in turn fuels more energy into the process. One also has to exhibit passion, enthusiasm, and motivation. In fact, this one correlates with what employers say they want to see in applicants. The next trait that makes an effective networker is being viewed as having People want to feel sure that when you refer someone to them, they can trust your judgment of the person. Effective listening skills are a must, because the faster you and your networking partner learn what you need to know about each other, the faster you’ll establish a worthwhile mutual relationship. Here’s something else: Be aware that job search networking can’t be approached like a hobby. It must be a full commitment to networking around the clock. Among great networkers, networking comes so naturally to them that they network in stores, on checkout lines, at professional offices, and everywhere else. They are continuously taking advantage of every opportunity presented to them. To markedly improve one’s networking effectiveness, one must exhibit g Unfortunately in today’s business world, the expression of gratitude is being neglected. Thanking others for their assistance is a great opportunity to immediately stand out from the crowd. Helping others should be an integral part of networking. We’ve all heard the saying “What goes around comes around,” and it’s true. A networker’s mind-set is focused on giving, because every time one gives, one gets in return. This is what makes natural networkers feel good. Effective networkers keep their eyes and ears open for opportunities to advance other people’s interests, and they do so with Lack of authentic sincerity will show instantly. Displaying sincerity is easy: one need only give undivided attention to the person with whom one is developing a referral relationship. For instance, making eye contact shows sincere caring, and great networkers take this seriously. Some people devote a lot of effort and energy to the networking task; they are totally dedicated to working their network. They meticulously manage their contacts by using specialized software. They organize their e-mail address files and carry their referral list, ready to use it via, say, a smartphone. They are continuously looking to meet new people, they’re arranging appointments for getting better acquainted, and they’re learning as much about others as they can in order to become a genuine part of others’ networks. If you take these recommendations to heart and follow them, your chances of landing the right job could be much greater than you think. Your comments are welcome.

Female-Led Companies That Have Bridged The Funding Gap [INFOGRAPHIC] - Classy Career Girl

Female-Led Companies That Have Bridged The Funding Gap [INFOGRAPHIC] While the past year has seen increased strides toward gender equality in entrepreneurship, it’s still a work in progress, especially when it comes to venture capital. Among the 3,003 companies that secured Seed, Series A or Series B funding in 2016, only 479 (16%) had at least one female founder, and only 246 (8%) had a female CEO. These findings are echoed by a recent study by CrunchBase, which found that between 2010-2015, only 15 percent of seed dollars globally went to startups with at least one female founder. Although the lack of funding attributed to female-founded and female-led companies can be discouraging, there remain a wealth of women-led companies that have managed to bridge the funding gap. With this in mind, 99designs decided to take a closer look into who these successful companies are, focusing on companies that raised at least one round of funding (Seed, Series A or Series B) in 2016. [RELATED: Female Entrepreneurs by The Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC]] Turns out, these companies stretch coast to coast and across industries. An infographic visualizing commonalities in location, industry and funding amounts is available here, alongside the full list of companies. 99designs also analyzed the logo trends amongst the top 50 most-funded companies to determine some common visual threads and themes amongst these trailblazing brands. With such fine leadership, we look forward to seeing these companies achieve even more victories. Female-Led Companies That Have Bridged The Funding Gap [INFOGRAPHIC]

How To Maximize Idle Time And Be Productive

How To Maximize Idle Time And Be Productive After you finish your work, you might be excited to head home, kick off your shoes, eat dinner, watch TV to unwind and then go to bed. You get some hours of snooze, wake up, go to work and the process starts all over again.There is nothing wrong with relaxing and unwinding during your free time. You need it for your sanity, your health, and your balance.evalBut consider this: how many hours are there between when you get home and when you go to bed? Say you get home at 6pm and sleep at 11pm, that is 5 hours right? And what if you use one hour of your ‘free time’ per day to do something to cultivate your mind and body? That is already 30 hours in one month!Imagine what you can learn in 30 hours- and how you can change your life with that dedicated hour per day.Jack Ma, self-made billionaire, philanthropist, founder and chairman of the Alibaba Group, said, “After work is what determines your future! Spend one hour per day doing these five things and your life will change foreverâ €.Well, being one the richest man in China and with a net worth of $34.3B in 2016, wouldn’t you want to know what those five things are? We break them down in our own words:1. Learn something that will help you become who you want to beevalPerhaps you are currently in the field of IT, but you always dream of becoming a writer. Then, write and write after work and ask writers’ groups to critique your work.Do you plan to become an entrepreneur someday? There are online business classes available.evalJoining groups related to your passion, picking up independent projects that can help hone your skills, working on growing on portfolio, taking lessons and classes, researching and gathering information you need, watching YouTube tutorials, practicing your skills â€" these are just some of the ways you can productively use your time to grow as an individual.Do not rely on your working hours to gain the skills that you need and want. Especially if you are working in a company, it makes sense that they would want to utilize the strengths that you already have, instead of helping you learn a new skill. Be proactive and carve your own development plan.2. Read, read, readKnowledge is the key. And knowing more than your peers can get you ahead of them.Reading is one of the oldest, most proven ways to learn- but something that we easily miss to do. Read anything- books, articles, essays, magazines- and you instantly gain new insights.evalAmerican journalist and novelist Christopher Morley once said, “The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking”.Reading is like picking into the minds of other people- you learn how they think and what they think, and that helps you see things from a different perspective and allows you to shift your paradigm, if needed.3. Work on some side projectsYou can create so many opportunities for yourself when you engage in independent projects after your working hours.These can be small projects, such as creatin g a website or a blog, doing volunteer work, selling things online- that will allow you to gain experiences that are not readily available for you at work. You get to interact with other people and expand your exposure. They might even help you earn a little side income too.But make sure that it doesn’t deter your performance in your regular work.4. Build your networkYour success is highly dependent on the the size and depth of your network. The quality of your relationships with your connections also matter a lot.Use your idle time to actively build your connectionsâ€" whether that is having after-work drinks with your boss or colleagues, talking to entrepreneur friends and listening to their wisdom and experiences, having dinner with people who can be your business partner or clients, getting coffee with your subordinates and getting their valuable feedback, brainstorming with your mentor over desserts, etc.Be deliberate with the kind of people you spend time with and make each meeting count. Establish the right contacts and you will know who to call in every situation.5. Set aside one hour after work- every dayevalevalStart today and choose an hour when you will start doing something productive with your time. One hour per day is 30 hours in one month- at least 360 hours in one year.Reflect on how you want to use all those hours. If you use them well, one hour per day, for one whole year- is all it takes to change your life.