Join the crowd.

Oh, and buck up if you have to.

One must never forget that while we are at work we are also building resumes.  What do I mean when I say that we are “building resumes?”

It simply means that when it is time to interview, it is imperative to imagine the ramification of how your resume might look in the future.  No one wants their resume to look like Swiss cheese.  Full of holes.  Leaving a job every year or two looks horrendous on a resume.

When you appear on paper (no matter the reason) as if you’ve made too many job changes then you look like a huge risk to any potential employer.

Why should someone hire you when it appears that you might be there for only a year? An employer spends a fortune when a hire is made both monetarily and emotionally.  A new hire affects an entire operation.

Why take the risk to hire you?

To be fair, sometimes quitting a job is the only or final solution to a job problem.

However quitting a job should be a well thought out decision (obviously) but imagine how it will look on your resume in relation to other job length of stays.

Are you a job hopper?

We all know that times have changed and it’s very rare to stay at one job for an entire career or most of a career.  The norm is about every 3-5 years at a job.

Think about your resume.

It is imperative when you accept a new job, that you imagine how your resume will look if you accept a new job or quit the job you have.

Your resume is an investment that can pay future dividends.  Build it and realize that no one wants to hire a “job hopper” no matter the reason.

So if you are presently going through a rough patch, depending upon your track record, perhaps you need to buck up and stick it out.

Build your resume.

A good resume allows you to interview when it counts.  Your Mom was wrong, people do judge you by your cover (in this case, it’s your resume.)

I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com.  I welcome your phone call.

How do you find the very best available talent, right now?  Certainly not by using an outside recruitment firm.   After all why would you want:

• Experts in the field of your industry that take a proactive approach in seeking out the very best “passive” candidates and not relying solely on placing ads on Linkedin, Monster, Career Builder, Yahoo Job,etc.  There is a world of difference between the best talent in-the-market and the best talent on-the-market? (Think about that for a moment.)

• A measurable reduction in recruitment ROI because of solely relying on an HR department that has very little if any training in what it truly takes to recruit the very best passive candidates.

• An industry that understands urgency- your urgency- in filling positions because as you know: for every day that a position remains open it is costing you big time. (Not only in real dollars but in downtime and company morale.)

• Professionals that can proactively call on your competitors and seek out the best ALREADY TRAINED talent.

• The relief in knowing that your job openings will be filled by action oriented and results driven “people”, not software.  Why would you want to find out about someones intangible assets that rarely show up on a resume?

In summary, because of all the reasons above and probably hundreds more, never use an outside recruitment firm to fill your critical job openings.  It’s just not worth it.

*
I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com.  I welcome your phone call.

” Bosses need cooperation, reliability, and honesty from their direct reports. Managers, for their part, rely on bosses for making connections with the rest of the company, for setting priorities, and for obtaining critical resources. If the relationship between you and your boss is rocky, then it is you who must begin to manage it. When you take the time to cultivate a productive working relationship—by understanding your boss’s strengths and weaknesses, priorities, and work style—everyone wins.”

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Managing the boss is a daily dance and knowing what effective steps to take can make for a wonderfully satisfying career.  Understanding a few critical points is crucial.

Your boss is your boss and having to report to this person means that there is a relationship that needs fostering all the time.

Recognize the fact that your boss has been given the power to direct your activities. This is true even if you are much smarter and even if you should have been given the boss’s job.

Accepting reality and working to increase your influence will produce better results.

1.  Study your boss’ management style.  Look for clues that tell you how the boss likes work done or prefers to get information.  If you’re not sure what your boss expects from you – ask!  You need to find out ASAP. Any reasonable manager will gladly answer these questions and, in fact, will be pleased and surprised by your interest.

2.  Don’t expect flawlessness. Managers are people with the same insecurities and endless varieties of quirks and eccentricities.  Be aware of your boss’ hot buttons and don’t push them!   If you have a wonderful  boss who is a pleasure to work with, celebrate!  Be grateful every day for as long as it lasts.  If not, lower your expectations.

3. Try to make your boss look good.  Produce quality results, meet deadlines, stay within your budget, and respond to people quickly.  Find problems that need solving and address them.  Contribute new ideas and suggestions.  Share useful information with your boss.  And your own political power will grow when your manager tells everybody how wonderful you are!

4.  Never, never, never complain to others about your boss – especially to people outside your department or to your employees (if you are a manager).  Strategize with trusted peers about how to handle your manager’s more challenging peculiarities is one thing but trumpeting  your unhappiness far and wide will only get you in trouble.

5.  Give your boss a sincere compliment from time to time. Managers hear lots of complaints, but few employees ever bother to give their boss a kind word. Mention it at some appropriate point.  But let’s be clear – paying a sincere compliment is not the same brown nosing.

An employee who knows how to manage a boss, will enjoy office life and will also improve performance.  An employee should always remember that the boss plays a key role in promotion and not having cordial relationship with your boss could turn out to be a career nightmare.

One should avoid the mistake of treating their boss as their friend and should aim at establishing a professional relationship with the boss.

A little respect goes a long away!

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I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com.  I welcome your phone call.

The majority of Americans are very hard workers.  With the Internet, most of us are able to work all day and night.

Though as a consequence of working hard and often, we are prone to face some type of job fatigue at various times in our working life.

Some of us won’t admit this to anyone (much less ourselves) but in fact sometimes we are desperately fatigued.

Why is it that we do not talk about our job fatigue openly?

For some people admitting that they are exhausted by their job is a sign of weakness. So they ignore the warning signs.  They push even harder and try to work right through the fatigue.

At times, though our bodies and minds are letting us know the opposite, we fool ourselves by thinking that we are working even harder because we are “driven.”

Maybe we are driven, but maybe we are driving off a cliff!

My experience has shown me time and time again that job fatigue is real and if not acknowledged or acted upon, it can sometimes lead to dreadful mistakes.

Not only “on the job” mistakes, but career mistakes such as chasing greener pastures elsewhere only to find out that the other grass is actually sand.

Quick sand.

Here is another observation.

Did you ever notice that in America people brag that they work 70-80 hours per week?   Is this really something to brag about?

Some people wear it as a badge of honor- the amount of hours they work in a week.

Obviously working hard never killed anyone.  But work exhaustion can actually make  you physically and emotionally sick, tired and depressed.

We want/need to get our work done!  RIGHT NOW!!!!  EMERGENCY!!  CODE BLUE!!!!

Are we willing to admit that much of our work is not an emergency?  It’s true. There is a world of difference between important and urgent.  If we approach our work all the time as an emergency, how do ever know when things are not?

Optimally we are at our best selves when we are working “in the flow” with buzzing creativity and excitement all around us. Our foot is on the gas.  Like driving in the
fast lane, baby.

The reality is that no one can ever keep that pace up indefinitely.

So at times we become job fatigued. It is very easy to become job fatigued and it’s
just as easy to ignore it.

The easiest way to fight against job fatigue is to recognize it in ourselves.

To become more self-aware.  All of us face days when we “just do not have
it”, when our timing is off, our personal lives need our attention and most
commonly perhaps we have been pushing ourselves too hard. We get tired.

When we are faced with job fatigue, maybe we need to take our foot off the gas pedal for a short time and take a breather.

If you have vacation days accrued, this would be a good time to take a day off, unplug yourself from your computer, ipad, ipod, TV, radio……..everything.

If you do not have vacation days accrued or if you are self-employed and simply cannot take time off, then try and take time off from pushing yourself too hard.

Here is an idea: at times of exhaustion and stress try to have some compassion for yourself for how hard you are working and how responsible you are to others.  We are so apt to offer compassion to others, but what about to ourselves?

Self compassion is not just some pop psychology or new age thinking.  Dr. Kristin Neff, Associate Professor Human Development and Culture Educational Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin has dedicated her life to this very subject.  Please click here to read her definition of self compassion.

In summary, job fatigue is serious business and vital to our well-being.  Acknowledging job fatigue could actually be a very strong wake-up call thus enabling us to work more effectively.

In the coming days, try and keep aware of your pace.  If you notice yourself feeling job fatigue, understand that you might need a small break.  If you can, try and cut yourself some slack and know that you will return to your job (shortly) with much more enthusiasm and effectiveness.

A little rest can offer powerful results.

Even President Ronald Reagan took naps at the White House.  Forget about politics, just think of the job and it’s responsibilities.  Even The President of The United States knew when to turn it off.

Do you?

I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com.  I welcome your phone call.

Most of us are working harder than we ever have and some of us are earning even less money than we once did due to the economy and factors way beyond our control.

We lead busy lives.  We are responsible for many things to many people.  Life is hard work.

But no one ever died of hard work, so this article is not about bellyaching.

This article is about finding satisfaction in lieu of hard work without exerting any undue effort.  BTW, if you think this is bogus than go turn on Oprah and eat ”bon bons” while you wallow in your self pity.

Got your interest?

Here is how you can find job satisfaction without even trying:

1.  Stop trying. Knock it off. Who ever told you or where did you learn that your job can give you some type of satisfaction?  If you do have job satisfaction then good for you.  However if you do not have job satisfaction, then so what? Learn to find satisfaction elsewhere!  Find it in a hobby, a loved one, a child, a pet, volunteer, etc.  Unless your job is a complete nightmare then do what you have to do to earn a living, and do it well. If you can, have some satisfaction in just knowing that you are doing the best that you can.

2.  Why do you think your job is called “work”? Some of us are doing our labor of love, but come on.  Those people are rare.  99 percent of us go to work every day to pay bills and support ourselves and loved ones.  We exchange our knowledge and abilities for an income and hopefully some benefits.  But it’s WORK!  We do not go to “PLAY” every day, we go to work.  We wake up earlier than we want to, we put up with incompetence and politics, and we do our very best to WORK.  Working does not imply satisfaction nor should it.  It’s a means to an end.  Period.

3.  Be grateful that you have a job. There are thousands of people unemployed right now, in fact there are thousands of people who have given up even looking.  Do you realize that having a job is a privilege?  It’s not written into the US Consititution that everyone should be able to work and earn a living. If your job is making you absolutely miserable then you have 2 choices.  You can live with it while understanding the bigger picture: you are earning a living.  Or find another job.  But remember that the grass looks greener in other pastures.  Sometimes we change jobs but in fact we are changing headaches.

In conclusion, job satisfaction is illusory and it’s a moving target shifting by the moment. The trick is to stop chasing it. Think of it like this: when you chase something, it usually runs away from you.  If someone or something was chasing you, wouldn’t you run away and hopefully run faster? Of course.

The world is filled with interesting and enlightening things to do and explore for your satisfaction.  If your job is feeding your soul then be grateful.  But if it doesn’t, still be grateful and go outside and play after work.

Just as you did when you were a kid.

I am Bernie Reifkind,CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com.  I welcome your phone call.