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Understand Recruitment Cycles to Give Your Job Search an Edge
Understand Recruitment Cycles to Give Your Job Search an Edge
By John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer
When it comes to connecting with the right job opportunity, timing isn't everything, but it's certainly something. Tuning into industries' and employers' annual recruitment cycles just might give you a decisive edge.
That's the consensus of recruiters and employers with fingers on the pulse of seasonal variations in hiring. Here's a quarter-by-quarter summary of how these hiring dynamics play out.
First Quarter: A New Year's Wave of Hiring
Sometimes peaks of hiring correspond with workplace factors that are only loosely related, like when people take vacation. "Hiring seems to be done by consensus more than any other decision," says Scott Testa, chief operating officer of Mindbridge Software in Norristown, Pennsylvania. "So most hiring decisions have to be made when people are in the office."
Major hiring initiatives may follow close on the heels of the holidays and summer. "The big months for hiring are January and February, and late September and October," says Testa. "Job seekers who make contact right at the start of these cycles have the best chance of being hired."
Strong hiring periods like the first quarter, when demand for talent may outweigh the supply of qualified candidates, may be a good time to go for a job with more responsibility or higher pay. "If you're currently employed and looking to improve your status, you'll want to look during the peak hiring season," says Glenn Smith, president of search firm Precise Strategies in O'Fallon, Illinois.
Second Quarter: Gearing Up for Summer
For those whose livelihood depends substantially on fair weather, spring is when hiring peaks. In the construction industry, hiring in April, May and June proceeds at double the pace of December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
Tourism and hospitality hiring is also very strong in the spring. And businesses looking to hire professional workers before fall often do so now, before key decision makers start rotating out for summer vacation.
Third Quarter: Recruiters Relax a Bit, and Vacation Plays a Role
Hiring slows down in July before picking up at the end of August. For those with nontraditional but impressive employment backgrounds, there's an advantage to looking in relatively slow hiring months like July and December, says Smith.
For example, recruiters, less pressed for time than in peak months, may be willing to take a longer look at an experienced professional woman seeking to return to work after taking years off to care for children.
Fourth Quarter: A Rush, Then a Lull
The fourth quarter presents the most complex hiring dynamics of the year, with its mix of fall activity, holiday retail hiring, Thanksgiving-to-New Year's slowdown, and end-of-year financial and budget maneuvering.
"Hiring managers and bank CEOs will typically try to reduce their operating profits by incurring search fees towards the end of each year, to avoid paying taxes," says Josiah Whitman, an executive recruiter with Financial Placements of Lake Oswego, Oregon. His firm's job orders are distributed this way: first quarter, 23 percent; second quarter, 21 percent; third quarter, 20 percent; fourth quarter, 36 percent.
Although December hiring is at low levels in many industries, recruiters are determined to fill the year's remaining openings by December 31, and the supply of applicants dwindles as Christmas and the new year approach.
Major industries classified as information, financial services, and professional and business services, having hired heavily in the second quarter, see their lowest level of hiring in December, says JOLTS.
But December isn't as slow as it used to be, say some observers. And applications tend to slow down during the holiday season more than openings do -- tipping the balance in favor of those who do apply.
"It seems that business just keeps going through the holidays," says John Challenger, CEO of outplacement and search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago. "There doesn't seem to be the kind of letup that there used to be."
So playing the recruitment peaks doesn't mean waiting out the rest of the year. "You need to be out there looking for opportunities, not finding excuses to avoid looking," says Tom Johnston, CEO of SearchPath International in Cleveland.
Articles in This Feature:
Kick Start Your Career for the New Year home
A Fresh Start for Your Career
10 Career Resolutions
Improve Your Job Search
Refresh Your Resume
10 Tips to Boost Your Interview Skills
Understand Recruitment Cycles to Give Your Job Search an Edge
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Phil Wickham- Spirit of the Living God
http://www.youtube.com/v/JRgqhaqr4_E?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=3mJfCy3iKFATJbRLPRRUww&autohide=1&autoplay=1
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Five for Five
Fri, Feb 3, 2012
News & Events
Monster 5 for Friday: Cover 2 Edition
Share:
avatar Posted by Matthew Cooney
Many of us will gather ’round this weekend, taking in this year’s ultimate football game, enjoying the company of friends and loved ones as we scream in delirium and chest-bump in celebration.
And while many of us will watch this Sunday’s championship contest, few of us will understand the cryptic lingo of the announcers, as they dissect the nuances of the Nickel Package, 3-4 versus 4-3, and the shotgun offense.
Like all professionals, HR and recruiters speak their own specialized language. Let’s see a quarterback – any quarterback – successfully execute the ATS and earn that HRCI trophy. Blitz? Please. You don’t know pressure until you’ve dealt with the DOL and FLSA.
And that’s where MonsterThinking comes in. As we do every week, we offer selections from throughout the world of work designed to entertain, educate, and enlighten, regardless of how fluently you speak Human Resources.
So we, too, will keep you covered this week with the following quick reads:
5. Are raises and benefits important to employees? Of course! But what do they really want? Forbes compiled a list of 8 things to consider when assessing your staff’s real wants and needs.
4. Nikki Hall of OnRec.com takes a look at how HR directors can ride the surge of economic and legislative changes in “HR Trends in 2012.”
3. Does the future of recruitment favor the specialist, or the generalist? Find out in “HR Solutions, Writing a New Story on Recruitment.”
2. Is professionalism among the emerging workforce on the wane? Take a look at this study from the York Daily Record.
1. And to put it all in perspective, what are the broader technology trends that could influence the workplace – and work in general – in 2012? Find out in this article from the Huffington Post.
Thanks for checking in! We hope – if you watch – you enjoy the Big Game, have an otherwise wonderful weekend, and that we’ll see you again next week.
News & Events
Monster 5 for Friday: Cover 2 Edition
Share:
avatar Posted by Matthew Cooney
Many of us will gather ’round this weekend, taking in this year’s ultimate football game, enjoying the company of friends and loved ones as we scream in delirium and chest-bump in celebration.
And while many of us will watch this Sunday’s championship contest, few of us will understand the cryptic lingo of the announcers, as they dissect the nuances of the Nickel Package, 3-4 versus 4-3, and the shotgun offense.
Like all professionals, HR and recruiters speak their own specialized language. Let’s see a quarterback – any quarterback – successfully execute the ATS and earn that HRCI trophy. Blitz? Please. You don’t know pressure until you’ve dealt with the DOL and FLSA.
And that’s where MonsterThinking comes in. As we do every week, we offer selections from throughout the world of work designed to entertain, educate, and enlighten, regardless of how fluently you speak Human Resources.
So we, too, will keep you covered this week with the following quick reads:
5. Are raises and benefits important to employees? Of course! But what do they really want? Forbes compiled a list of 8 things to consider when assessing your staff’s real wants and needs.
4. Nikki Hall of OnRec.com takes a look at how HR directors can ride the surge of economic and legislative changes in “HR Trends in 2012.”
3. Does the future of recruitment favor the specialist, or the generalist? Find out in “HR Solutions, Writing a New Story on Recruitment.”
2. Is professionalism among the emerging workforce on the wane? Take a look at this study from the York Daily Record.
1. And to put it all in perspective, what are the broader technology trends that could influence the workplace – and work in general – in 2012? Find out in this article from the Huffington Post.
Thanks for checking in! We hope – if you watch – you enjoy the Big Game, have an otherwise wonderful weekend, and that we’ll see you again next week.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Your Career: How To Make It Happen
Your Career: How To Make It Happen, the text that builds self-confidence and workplace skills, unlocks the keys to career success. Corporate trainer and business consultant, Julie Griffin Levitt, cuts through the clutter of other career-planning texts to deliver a useful and engaging text, straight from the front lines of business.
Your Career: How To Make It Happen
Check out this "thumbs-up" endorsement of Your Career: How to Make It Happen by Margaret Riley Dikel, preeminent expert on Internet job hunting and research.
"This is a textbook for those offering classes on career planning and job search, complete with separate instructor's manual and accompanying CD with links to websites, over 300 Powerpoint slides you can use in your classes, and tests and career competency assignments you can use as-is or customize as you wish. The textbooks are colorful and full of great information and advice that is well presented. Having been a student myself, I know how hard it can be to get them to read what's on the page, but I don't see a problem with this textbook. The instructor's manual includes some model course schedules, a good syllabus, and other good help for your course."
Visit the Riley Guide web site: www.dbm.com/jobguide
"My goal is to show users how they can gain the competitive
advantage and achieve peak success in reaching their career goals."
~ Julie Griffin Levitt
Author, Corporate Trainer,
and Business Consultant
Your Career: How To Make It Happen
Check out this "thumbs-up" endorsement of Your Career: How to Make It Happen by Margaret Riley Dikel, preeminent expert on Internet job hunting and research.
"This is a textbook for those offering classes on career planning and job search, complete with separate instructor's manual and accompanying CD with links to websites, over 300 Powerpoint slides you can use in your classes, and tests and career competency assignments you can use as-is or customize as you wish. The textbooks are colorful and full of great information and advice that is well presented. Having been a student myself, I know how hard it can be to get them to read what's on the page, but I don't see a problem with this textbook. The instructor's manual includes some model course schedules, a good syllabus, and other good help for your course."
Visit the Riley Guide web site: www.dbm.com/jobguide
"My goal is to show users how they can gain the competitive
advantage and achieve peak success in reaching their career goals."
~ Julie Griffin Levitt
Author, Corporate Trainer,
and Business Consultant
Monday, September 19, 2011
Ways to Reinvent Yourself
Seth Godin says now is the right time to reinvent yourself.
Ways to Reinvent Yourself
Seth Godin says now--right now--is the best time to transform your life. Here's how.
Seth Godin
Are you serious about transformation? I’m not talking about polishing yourself, improving yourself, making things a bit better. I’m talking about the reset button—a reinvention that changes the game. That means an overhaul in what you believe and how you do your job. If you’re up for that, then right here, right now, you can start. How?
Do work that matters.
Those four words are available to anyone; they’re available to you if you want them. The economy just gave you leverage—the leverage to make a difference, the leverage to spread your ideas and the leverage to have impact. More people have more leverage (more chances and more power) to change the world than at any other time in history. What are you going to do about it? When?
Here are seven levers available for anyone (like you) in search of reinvention.
1. CONNECT
Social media is either a time-wasting, woolgathering, yak-shaving waste of effort, or perhaps, just maybe, it’s a crack in the wall between you and the rest of the world. It’s a choice that’s up to you.
If you’re keeping score of how many followers you have, how many comments you get or how big your online footprint is, then you’re measuring the wrong thing, and you’re probably distracting yourself from what matters.
On the other hand, digital media can offer you a chance to make real connections, earn permission and gain insights from people you’d never have a chance to interact with any other way.
If you can reach and (far more important) touch or change people, you gain in influence, authority and power. We were isolated; now we’re connected. The typical individual didn’t have the time or the money or the connections to be heard just a few years ago. Today, the door is wide open but only for people who can touch others.
Shepard Fairey made a poster of Barack Obama. The Internet helped it spread. The poster connected one supporter to another, became an icon, a freely shared ID badge and ultimately a parody. And in the center of the spread was the artist. While Fairey didn’t make a penny selling the image, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that he connected, and that connection gave his art leverage. He’ll never need to look for work or revenue again. It will find him.
We grew up isolated. The future is connected. We grew up unable to have substantial interactions with anyone except a small circle of family and co-workers. Now we can earn the right to interact with just about anyone. I think this changes everything—if we let it.
2. BE GENEROUS
The new economy often involves trading in things that don’t cost money. There’s no incremental cost in writing an essay, composing a song or making an introduction. Since it doesn’t cost money to play, we have the ability to give before we get.
The generosity economy rewards people who create and participate in circles of gifts. Not the direct I-gave-you-this- you-give-me-that, give-and-get of a traditional economy, but instead the tribal economy of individuals supporting one another.
Tribes of talented individuals who are connected, mutually trustful and supported by one another are in a position to create a movement, to deliver items of value, to move ideas forward faster than any individual ever could.
Derek Sivers built CDBaby.com from a bedroom start-up to a multimillion-dollar seller of independent music. Under his watch, he was selling more music from more artists than anyone in history. The secret? He spent virtually all of his time supporting the artists. The software he developed, the posts he wrote, the systems he instituted—they were gifts, generous contributions from Derek to the artists he worked with. In return, the artists built a thriving community, one that couldn’t help but turn a profit.
3. MAKE ART
Art is an original gift, a connection that changes the recipient, a human ability to make a difference. Art isn’t a painting or even a poem; it’s something that any of us can do. If you interact with others, you have the platform to create something new, something that changes everything. I call that art.
Art is the opposite of trigonometry. Art never follows instructions or a manual or a boss’s orders. Instead, art is the very human act of creating the uncreated, of connecting with another person at a human level. What we’ve seen is that more and more markets will reward art, while putting out compliant work to the lowest bidder.
Kathy Sierra does art when she teaches us about user interfaces, and Mary Anne Davis does art when she pushes the edges of what pottery can become. Art feels risky because it is. The risk the artist takes is that you might not like it, might not be touched, that you might actually laugh at the effort. And it’s these risks that lead to reward.
4. ACKNOWLEDGE THE LIZARD
That cringe you just felt when I wrote “laugh” is the sign of the lizard. The lizard brain, that prehistoric brain stem that all of us must contend with, doesn’t like being laughed at. It’s the part of our brain that worries about safety and dishes out anger. Being laughed at is the lizard brain’s worst nightmare. And so it shuts down our art.
Author Steven Pressfield calls this shutdown “the Resistance.” The Resistance is the little voice in your head that keeps your head down and encourages you to follow instructions. The Resistance lives in fear and doesn’t hesitate to shut us down at the first sign of possible derision or the first hint that we might be ostracized. The Resistance is the voice complicit in brainwashing, because The Resistance is easy to arouse. When your teacher threatens you with (insert social punishment here) if you don’t do your work in school, you do the work. The Resistance wins.
What artists over time have figured out is that the Resistance is the sole barrier between today and their art, that the act of genius required to produce original and important work is crippled by the Resistance. Ignoring the voice of skepticism is critical if you want to create art.
And so, we acknowledge the Resistance. We hear the voice of the lizard brain, and we recognize that it’s there. Then we stand up, walk to the podium and do the work anyway. We acknowledge the lizard, and we ignore it.
5. SHIP
Scarcity creates value. People pay extra for things that are hard to get, while things that have a surplus go cheaply. That’s basic economics.
So, what’s scarce?
The ability to ship.
If you can get something out the door while your competitors cringe in fear, you win. If you’re the team member who makes things happen, you become indispensable. If you and your organization are the ones (the only ones) that can get things done, close the sale, ship the product and make a difference, you’re the linchpins, the ones society can’t live without.
Shipping is difficult because of the lizard brain. The Resistance doesn’t want you to ship, because if you ship, you might fail. If you ship, people might laugh at you. If you ship, you might be held accountable for the decisions you made. The key to the reinvention of who you are, then, is to become someone who ships. The goal is to have the rare skill of actually getting things done, making them happen and creating outcomes that people seek out.
Michael Dell ships. So do Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy. Quieting the lizard, acknowledging it and then ignoring it—it’s the only way.
6. FAIL
And a key part of shipping is the ability to fail. The reinvention the marketplace is demanding is one that includes the ability to fail, often and with grace.
The old economy was based on factories and institutions, things that took a long time to build. No one at Buick or the Metropolitan Opera was interested in failure. It took too long to create these institutions for them to relish the idea of growth through failure.
Today, though, the only way for organizations to grow is to ship—to ship risky things, to create change, to make art, to change people. And yet, shipping risks failure.
You must be willing to fail. I hope you’re up for that.
For generations, artists tried to feign nonchalance. There’s even a word for it: sprezzatura. It’s an Italian word, defined as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.”
We need a new word now, one that means the opposite. It’s the obvious and supreme effort that goes into creating art, challenging the lizard and fighting the Resistance—and opening yourself to failure.
7. LEARN
And yes, here’s the seventh pillar, the key to the other six.
School used to exist so you could learn a trade. You apprenticed then you worked the rest of your life in the same job, in the same town, in the same factory, doing the same work.
Ha.
Dream on. Only lighthouse operators have that luxury today, and when was the last time you met a lighthouse operator?
To bring the school-as-event mindset to work today is to court certain failure. School isn’t over; school is now. School consists of blogs and experiments and experiences and the constant failure of shipping and of learning.
You already took a first step. You read something that challenged you to think differently. The path to reinvention, though, is just that—a path. The opportunity of our time is to discard what you think you know and instead learn what you need to learn. Every single day.
Darren Hardy interviews Seth Godin
SUCCESS Publisher Darren Hardy interviews Seth Godin on women in leadership and the role we all play in creating an efficient workplace. Godin says some of the measures we take to create our office environment are contrary to real productivity.
Ways to Reinvent Yourself
Seth Godin says now--right now--is the best time to transform your life. Here's how.
Seth Godin
Are you serious about transformation? I’m not talking about polishing yourself, improving yourself, making things a bit better. I’m talking about the reset button—a reinvention that changes the game. That means an overhaul in what you believe and how you do your job. If you’re up for that, then right here, right now, you can start. How?
Do work that matters.
Those four words are available to anyone; they’re available to you if you want them. The economy just gave you leverage—the leverage to make a difference, the leverage to spread your ideas and the leverage to have impact. More people have more leverage (more chances and more power) to change the world than at any other time in history. What are you going to do about it? When?
Here are seven levers available for anyone (like you) in search of reinvention.
1. CONNECT
Social media is either a time-wasting, woolgathering, yak-shaving waste of effort, or perhaps, just maybe, it’s a crack in the wall between you and the rest of the world. It’s a choice that’s up to you.
If you’re keeping score of how many followers you have, how many comments you get or how big your online footprint is, then you’re measuring the wrong thing, and you’re probably distracting yourself from what matters.
On the other hand, digital media can offer you a chance to make real connections, earn permission and gain insights from people you’d never have a chance to interact with any other way.
If you can reach and (far more important) touch or change people, you gain in influence, authority and power. We were isolated; now we’re connected. The typical individual didn’t have the time or the money or the connections to be heard just a few years ago. Today, the door is wide open but only for people who can touch others.
Shepard Fairey made a poster of Barack Obama. The Internet helped it spread. The poster connected one supporter to another, became an icon, a freely shared ID badge and ultimately a parody. And in the center of the spread was the artist. While Fairey didn’t make a penny selling the image, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that he connected, and that connection gave his art leverage. He’ll never need to look for work or revenue again. It will find him.
We grew up isolated. The future is connected. We grew up unable to have substantial interactions with anyone except a small circle of family and co-workers. Now we can earn the right to interact with just about anyone. I think this changes everything—if we let it.
2. BE GENEROUS
The new economy often involves trading in things that don’t cost money. There’s no incremental cost in writing an essay, composing a song or making an introduction. Since it doesn’t cost money to play, we have the ability to give before we get.
The generosity economy rewards people who create and participate in circles of gifts. Not the direct I-gave-you-this- you-give-me-that, give-and-get of a traditional economy, but instead the tribal economy of individuals supporting one another.
Tribes of talented individuals who are connected, mutually trustful and supported by one another are in a position to create a movement, to deliver items of value, to move ideas forward faster than any individual ever could.
Derek Sivers built CDBaby.com from a bedroom start-up to a multimillion-dollar seller of independent music. Under his watch, he was selling more music from more artists than anyone in history. The secret? He spent virtually all of his time supporting the artists. The software he developed, the posts he wrote, the systems he instituted—they were gifts, generous contributions from Derek to the artists he worked with. In return, the artists built a thriving community, one that couldn’t help but turn a profit.
3. MAKE ART
Art is an original gift, a connection that changes the recipient, a human ability to make a difference. Art isn’t a painting or even a poem; it’s something that any of us can do. If you interact with others, you have the platform to create something new, something that changes everything. I call that art.
Art is the opposite of trigonometry. Art never follows instructions or a manual or a boss’s orders. Instead, art is the very human act of creating the uncreated, of connecting with another person at a human level. What we’ve seen is that more and more markets will reward art, while putting out compliant work to the lowest bidder.
Kathy Sierra does art when she teaches us about user interfaces, and Mary Anne Davis does art when she pushes the edges of what pottery can become. Art feels risky because it is. The risk the artist takes is that you might not like it, might not be touched, that you might actually laugh at the effort. And it’s these risks that lead to reward.
4. ACKNOWLEDGE THE LIZARD
That cringe you just felt when I wrote “laugh” is the sign of the lizard. The lizard brain, that prehistoric brain stem that all of us must contend with, doesn’t like being laughed at. It’s the part of our brain that worries about safety and dishes out anger. Being laughed at is the lizard brain’s worst nightmare. And so it shuts down our art.
Author Steven Pressfield calls this shutdown “the Resistance.” The Resistance is the little voice in your head that keeps your head down and encourages you to follow instructions. The Resistance lives in fear and doesn’t hesitate to shut us down at the first sign of possible derision or the first hint that we might be ostracized. The Resistance is the voice complicit in brainwashing, because The Resistance is easy to arouse. When your teacher threatens you with (insert social punishment here) if you don’t do your work in school, you do the work. The Resistance wins.
What artists over time have figured out is that the Resistance is the sole barrier between today and their art, that the act of genius required to produce original and important work is crippled by the Resistance. Ignoring the voice of skepticism is critical if you want to create art.
And so, we acknowledge the Resistance. We hear the voice of the lizard brain, and we recognize that it’s there. Then we stand up, walk to the podium and do the work anyway. We acknowledge the lizard, and we ignore it.
5. SHIP
Scarcity creates value. People pay extra for things that are hard to get, while things that have a surplus go cheaply. That’s basic economics.
So, what’s scarce?
The ability to ship.
If you can get something out the door while your competitors cringe in fear, you win. If you’re the team member who makes things happen, you become indispensable. If you and your organization are the ones (the only ones) that can get things done, close the sale, ship the product and make a difference, you’re the linchpins, the ones society can’t live without.
Shipping is difficult because of the lizard brain. The Resistance doesn’t want you to ship, because if you ship, you might fail. If you ship, people might laugh at you. If you ship, you might be held accountable for the decisions you made. The key to the reinvention of who you are, then, is to become someone who ships. The goal is to have the rare skill of actually getting things done, making them happen and creating outcomes that people seek out.
Michael Dell ships. So do Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy. Quieting the lizard, acknowledging it and then ignoring it—it’s the only way.
6. FAIL
And a key part of shipping is the ability to fail. The reinvention the marketplace is demanding is one that includes the ability to fail, often and with grace.
The old economy was based on factories and institutions, things that took a long time to build. No one at Buick or the Metropolitan Opera was interested in failure. It took too long to create these institutions for them to relish the idea of growth through failure.
Today, though, the only way for organizations to grow is to ship—to ship risky things, to create change, to make art, to change people. And yet, shipping risks failure.
You must be willing to fail. I hope you’re up for that.
For generations, artists tried to feign nonchalance. There’s even a word for it: sprezzatura. It’s an Italian word, defined as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.”
We need a new word now, one that means the opposite. It’s the obvious and supreme effort that goes into creating art, challenging the lizard and fighting the Resistance—and opening yourself to failure.
7. LEARN
And yes, here’s the seventh pillar, the key to the other six.
School used to exist so you could learn a trade. You apprenticed then you worked the rest of your life in the same job, in the same town, in the same factory, doing the same work.
Ha.
Dream on. Only lighthouse operators have that luxury today, and when was the last time you met a lighthouse operator?
To bring the school-as-event mindset to work today is to court certain failure. School isn’t over; school is now. School consists of blogs and experiments and experiences and the constant failure of shipping and of learning.
You already took a first step. You read something that challenged you to think differently. The path to reinvention, though, is just that—a path. The opportunity of our time is to discard what you think you know and instead learn what you need to learn. Every single day.
Darren Hardy interviews Seth Godin
SUCCESS Publisher Darren Hardy interviews Seth Godin on women in leadership and the role we all play in creating an efficient workplace. Godin says some of the measures we take to create our office environment are contrary to real productivity.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
How to Balance Work and Family
How to Balance Work and Family
By Recruiting Specialist
America’s Job Exchange
Balance Work and Family
As we celebrate Father's Day, this is a good time to bring up work-life balance. For many, as we've moved into a business culture where being available 24/7 is the norm, work-life balance can be an issue. With dual working family households at close to 50 percent, it is an issue that both working fathers and mothers face. But balancing responsibilities between the needs of your job and those of your family can actually help you maintain good career success. The recruiting experts at America's Job Exchange offer some tips that you can use to create some work-life balance today.
1. Schedule ahead and schedule in downtime. As you plan out your work week, be sure that you are including time that is solely devoted to friends and family. This could be anything from family game night to date night with your wife. Agree that you will not use your cell phone, Blackberry or go online during this time. The goal is to plan out your week and be sure to schedule time where you can regroup and recharge - work-free.
2. Try to negotiate flex time with your employer . Today it is not considered unacceptable to work from home or ask for flex time. In fact, many employers are willing to be flexible with schedules for productive employees. If you have a long daily commute, approach your boss to determine if you may be able to telecommute one day each week. If you are on long conference calls with overseas clients, consider conducting these calls in the comfort of your home. You will need to determine your company's policies before you bring up your request. In fact, there may be some flexibility in your work schedule that you may not be aware of that can help you achieve more balance.
3. Control the time you do spend at work. While you may not be able to control the need to be in the office 9 to 5 (with no flex time built in), you can control how you spend that time. For instance, instead of spending excess time in long meetings that may mean staying at work later than planned, suggest that meetings be cut down or as efficient as possible. Limit time spent for personal errands or discussions during working hours - which may also prolong your day. These activities may be causing you to be late for after-work appointments or add undue stress towards the end of the day. Managing your time at work can help minimize stress and the time you spend at the office.
4. Exercise relieves stress. Studies show that people who exercise frequently reduce stress, not to mention improve their overall health. Exercise is also linked to helping improve your energy level and focus. This can help you be more productive at work. When stressed, take a few minutes to stretch your legs and recharge. Also try to schedule in a regular exercise routine into your daily schedule, if possible.
5. Get creative and reduce errand time. What errands can you conduct online? What errand can be split between each family member? Can you have someone else cut your lawn so that you are not spending your weekends working at home? When you spend all your time "doing," you create more stress in your life. Simplify and see which of these activities can be outsourced or eliminated completely.
6. Take time to smell the roses! It may sound cliched, but sometimes it's best to just keep it simple. Being over scheduled, over planned and having your weekends maxed out with errands and other activities can add to the daily stress of life - all of which can manifest into poor work performance. Be sure to take time to just relax.
By Recruiting Specialist
America’s Job Exchange
Balance Work and Family
As we celebrate Father's Day, this is a good time to bring up work-life balance. For many, as we've moved into a business culture where being available 24/7 is the norm, work-life balance can be an issue. With dual working family households at close to 50 percent, it is an issue that both working fathers and mothers face. But balancing responsibilities between the needs of your job and those of your family can actually help you maintain good career success. The recruiting experts at America's Job Exchange offer some tips that you can use to create some work-life balance today.
1. Schedule ahead and schedule in downtime. As you plan out your work week, be sure that you are including time that is solely devoted to friends and family. This could be anything from family game night to date night with your wife. Agree that you will not use your cell phone, Blackberry or go online during this time. The goal is to plan out your week and be sure to schedule time where you can regroup and recharge - work-free.
2. Try to negotiate flex time with your employer . Today it is not considered unacceptable to work from home or ask for flex time. In fact, many employers are willing to be flexible with schedules for productive employees. If you have a long daily commute, approach your boss to determine if you may be able to telecommute one day each week. If you are on long conference calls with overseas clients, consider conducting these calls in the comfort of your home. You will need to determine your company's policies before you bring up your request. In fact, there may be some flexibility in your work schedule that you may not be aware of that can help you achieve more balance.
3. Control the time you do spend at work. While you may not be able to control the need to be in the office 9 to 5 (with no flex time built in), you can control how you spend that time. For instance, instead of spending excess time in long meetings that may mean staying at work later than planned, suggest that meetings be cut down or as efficient as possible. Limit time spent for personal errands or discussions during working hours - which may also prolong your day. These activities may be causing you to be late for after-work appointments or add undue stress towards the end of the day. Managing your time at work can help minimize stress and the time you spend at the office.
4. Exercise relieves stress. Studies show that people who exercise frequently reduce stress, not to mention improve their overall health. Exercise is also linked to helping improve your energy level and focus. This can help you be more productive at work. When stressed, take a few minutes to stretch your legs and recharge. Also try to schedule in a regular exercise routine into your daily schedule, if possible.
5. Get creative and reduce errand time. What errands can you conduct online? What errand can be split between each family member? Can you have someone else cut your lawn so that you are not spending your weekends working at home? When you spend all your time "doing," you create more stress in your life. Simplify and see which of these activities can be outsourced or eliminated completely.
6. Take time to smell the roses! It may sound cliched, but sometimes it's best to just keep it simple. Being over scheduled, over planned and having your weekends maxed out with errands and other activities can add to the daily stress of life - all of which can manifest into poor work performance. Be sure to take time to just relax.
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