How to Find a Virtual Job

How to Find a Virtual JobHow to Find a Virtual JobIf youve always worked in an office, the idea of striking out on your own and finding a virtual job can be exhilarating- and scary. The good news is that looking for a remote job is bedrngnis very different from any other type of job hunting.Here are five tips to help you find a virtual job youll love.Do what you love. Most likely, youve clocked in the majority of your career in a traditional in-office position. So take the opportunity of potentially working from home to pursue a career that you truly love. Figure out what would make you happy, even if no one were paying you for your services. That passion will help lead you towards what you should be doing at this moment in your career.Analyze your position.If youre planning to continue in your current career, its a good idea to analyze the parts of your position that can be done remotely. Then search for jobs with those same responsibilities. Of course, it might also mean that youll have to look for another position within your area of interest that will allow you to work virtually. By doing a little research, it will be easier to find something within your field that will also allow you to telecommute.Target your search. Now that youve decided to join the 1 in 5 Americans working virtually at least one day a week, its time to jump-start your job hunt. But before you start clicking and applying for any job, make sure youre selective when youre searching. Use keywords like virtual job or remote job to pull listings that specifically state you can work at home. While you might be able to negotiate a part-time, work-from-home situation later, if a job doesnt automatically state that you can work from home, you might not be able to.Connect with companies.Almost any company can benefit from virtual workers. Some of them might not realize it though, so its your job to enlighten them. You can start small with your search by visiting local businesses to find out if th ey need any work done remotely. You should also apply for both national (and international) businesses. After all, the joy of working a remote job is that you can be based in Burbank, CA, and work for a company in Bombay, India.Prepare yourself. When youre thinking of becoming a virtual worker, you should set the scene for success- literally. Stage an office within your home and make sure your computer equipment is in good working order. Your Internet should be fast (no dial up) and reliable. That way, when you finally find a virtual job you love, you- and your home office- will already be prepared for the next (and exciting) phase in your career.Finding a virtual job is the first step towards getting your work-life balance in, well, balance. Once you know the steps, working virtually will become your own professional (and profitable) reality.Readers, have you worked in a virtual job before? Let us know about your previous experiences in the comments section below

How to Work From Home With the 1-800-Flowers Company

How to Work From Home With the 1-800-Flowers CompanyHow to Work From Home With the 1-800-Flowers CompanyThe company 1-800 FLOWERS still uses home-based call center agents. However, it now hires them through Sutherland CloudSource, rather doing so directly. Being in thecall centerindustry, the company has agents who perform a variety of customer service and sales tasks. For example, they take inbound calls and complete multiple transactions using several software applications. Agents that are bilingual in Spanish are in high demand and may even be paid more. Company Description Headquartered in Long Island, NY, this online florist company hires call center agents in its work at home jobs. More specifically, they hire temporary agents during its peak seasons and holiday periods and tend to keep on some high-performing home-based agents for permanent jobs. The company has a brick-and-mortar call center in its Long Island headquarters, where its customer contact call center handles c alls for additional brands such as Cheryl Company Gourmet Cookies, The Popcorn Factory, and Fannie May Chocolates. Types of Remote Jobs At 1-800-Flowers, agents are considered employees, not independent contractors. However, most agents are hired on a seasonal and temporary basis for popular holidays and celebrations like Mothers Day, Valentines Day, Christmas, and so on. Typically, peak season agents are needed for full-time work due to the high demand for flower delivery. Pay and Benefits If you want to become a florist or create beautiful flower arrangements, working for a company like 1-800-Flowers could be beneficial to your career. Even if you dont get hands-on experience working with flowers, the customer service with the clientele will add to your skill set. This type of entry-level job pays around nine dollars an hour. Agents are paid an hourly rate for both times on and off the phone, and training is paid. While the company offers benefits to full-time employees, most of the jobs offered are seasonal and temporary gigs. Sending an Application The official jobs page keeps its job description for work-at-home agents up all year, but it typically hires seasonally. If its not hiring, you can still submit your emaille to be contacted when hiring opens back up. Most often, the company will begin the hiring process months before major holidays. To start the application process, create a login and provide basic information. At this point, you want to ensure that you live in one of the states where the company hires. After youve entered initial information, candidates are asked to perform an assessment that asks a series of 50 personality-related and personal history questions. Then, an assessment will ask 100 questions about how you feel about various workplace issues. If you pass that assessment, you will then be asked to view a 15-minute simulation of the online training. After the final simulation, youll be asked to perform a sample call for an evaluation. Disclaimer Advertisements for work at home jobs or business opportunities placed on this page in the section labeled Sponsored Links or elsewhere are not necessarily legitimate. These ads are not screened by the authorbut appear on the page due to having similar keywords to the text on the page.

4 Times Self-Doubt Can Help You in Your Career - The Muse

4 Times Self-Doubt Can Help You in Your Career - The Muse 4 Times Self-Doubt Can Help You in Your Career Here’s a fact about self-doubt: Everyone has it. Even some of the most famous people have suffered from self-doubt. Lady Gaga revealed in her documentary that she “sometimes feels like a loser kid in high school.” Arianna Huffington calls the negative self-talk in her head her obnoxious roommate. And like the supreme athlete she is, Serena Williams manages to pull through physically to overcome a negative mental state. There’s plenty of great advice on ways to conquer it. But- bear with me here- it actually has some benefits if you learn how to think about it the right way. So before you swat that “negative” feeling away and let it cripple your confidence, remind yourself of these four things: 1. Self-Doubt Motivates You to Keep Learning and Growing Doubting yourself every once in a while makes you want to continue to better yourself- for example, questioning a skill you have and deciding to take a class on it or being unsure about a strategy and asking your co-worker for advice. Without it, your skills and knowledge would stagnate. There’s nothing like a little self-doubt to spur you to put in more effort, try harder, or pick up some extra training to stay fresh. This ultimately makes you feel confident, sets you up to move forward in your career, and, better yet, opens doors that can lead to the discovery of a new field you might enjoy. Want to Keep Learning and Growing? Read This: 45 Free Online Classes You Can Take (and Finish) by the End of This Year 2. Self-Doubt Keeps You Humble You’re human, which means that you’re aware that you’re going to make mistakes and not know certain things. And that self-awareness and honesty makes you someone people can trust, count on, and feel comfortable working with. After all, no one wants to hire a narcissist- imagine the poor team skills! Self-doubt also encourages you to see all sides of a situation- you’re willing to consider options outside your expertise and thus able to make smarter decisions. Think about it: When’s the last time you ran an idea by your boss or colleague just to be sure it was a good one? Did that conversation help you to refine and perfect your idea? Chances are it did- or at least forced you to ask yourself more questions and try different paths. Want a Few Tips on Staying Humble? Read This: 3 Questions to Ask After Your Boss Shuts Your Idea Down (Again) 3. Self-Doubt Can Highlight Red Flags That Spur Action to Something Better If you find yourself feeling really insecure about something, it’s possible that you’re working on something you’re not qualified to do or you’re in the wrong role or at the wrong company. Knowing this encourages you to take actions to actually fix it. You might decide to move on to work that brings you more satisfaction. Or, you might decide to talk to your boss about your concerns. Either way, you wouldn’t improve your situation without a little self-doubt. Want a Push in the Right Direction? Read This: How to Tell Your Boss You’re Not Happy at Work 4. Self-Doubt Can Create More Honest and Transparent Conversations If you’re doubting yourself, this can spur a much-needed conversation with your boss about your career trajectory, your workload, or your current assignment. Perhaps she’s given you a stretch assignment that’s caused you to feel anxious or said something in a meeting that put you off. An open and honest discussion might prompt her faith in your ability to overcome your fear and be the insight and boost you need to move forward. Want Help Starting Those Conversations? Read This: How to Tell Your Boss You’re Lost Without Feeling Stupid (Email Template Included!) Count the number of times you pursued something, anything- a course, a new hobby, a new job. Did you go into it with 100% certainty that you could do it? Of course you didn’t. But that bit of self-doubt made the experience that much more enlightening and challenging. It’s OK to have self-doubt sometimes, and accepting that will put you in a healthier position to assess your career goals and refresh how they align with your strengths. Remember that everyone and everything is a work in progress, so the next time you feel a bit of self-doubt creep in, don’t let it overwhelm you- use it to your advantage.

Cliff Daigle - The Balance

Cliff Daigle - The Balance Cliff Daigle - The Balance

Three Lessons I Learned from Executive Recruiters

Three Lessons I Learned from Executive Recruiters Three Lessons I Learned from Executive Recruiters The reality behind how they work and what they do.I suppose you may remember one particular scene from the 1946 debut of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Cast me as George Bailey, and cast Mr. Potter as the executive recruiter. This is how I felt when I met with executive recruiters early in my career.(Potter’s office â€" daytime) CLOSE SHOT Potter is lighting a big cigar which he has just given George. The goon is beside Potter’s chair, as usual. GEORGE Thank you, sir. Quite a cigar, Mr. Potter. POTTER You like it? I’ll send you a box. GEORGE (nervously) Well, I… I suppose I’ll find out sooner or later, but just what exactly did you want to see me about? POTTER (laughs) George, now that’s just what I like so much about you. (pleasantly and smoothly) George, I’m an old man, and most people hate me. But I don’t like them either, so that makes it all even. You know just as well as I do that I run practically everything in this town but the Bailey Building and Loan. You know, also, that for a number of years I’ve been trying to get control of it… or kill it. But I haven’t been able to do it. You have been stopping me. In fact, you have beaten me, George, and as anyone in this county can tell you, that takes some doing. Take during the Depression, for instance. You and I were the only ones that kept our heads. You saved the Building and Loan, and I saved all the rest. The lesson of the story? In a tough economy, keep your head, and keep your senses about you. Go back to the basics of how to work with executive recruiters. Executive recruiters are good coaches - not careless and callous like Mr. Potter - but they taught me tough lessons.In my early days I would sit in front of executive recruiters, in their really small ch airs, and advocate for my clients. When they would pull out the stacks of resumes and show me that not one person made their business, it made me very uncomfortable. Most job seekers feel powerless when dealing with executive recruiters. Perhaps several of my early worklife lessons will help you understand the reality behind how they work and what they do.Know your terms. If you’re working with a recruiter, you need to know if they are in-house or third-party. Are you familiar with the terms “recruiter,” “executive recruiter” and the slang term, “headhunter”?Recruiter is a general term that can refer to either an in-house recruiter or a third-party retained or contingency recruiter (headhunter). Executive recruiters are often on staff and in house at the company you want to work for next. Then there are cases where an executive recruiter may not be in house, but has a contingency relationship with that company to provide qualified candidates for potential hiring. You may also be working with retained recruiters. Retained recruiters generally get paid their fee regardless of whether or not the company makes the hire. Contingency recruiters, however, are paid based upon performance.Retained recruiters often have been partially compensated and have already been paid to do part of the search. These retained searches have been given to the re tained firm so that the recruiter can have an exclusive, with no competition from other recruiting firms. Retained searches allow third-party recruiters to “retain” exclusive rights to find the right person.Build your relationship before you need it. George Bailey ended up in Mr. Potter’s office at his hour of desperation. Hopefully, you don’t send unsolicited resumes or, worse, show up in an executive recruiter’s office in your greatest time of need â€" when you need a job. In my early experience I would send unsolicited resumes, and quickly learned a key lesson. Recruiters “place people” they don’t “find jobs.”A recruiter may dispense job search advice, but most of his or her time is spent finding the right fit for the client, the employer. Approaching an executive recruiter with the right expectations is a major factor in how successful your relationship will be. It’s wisest to step back and take the long-term view of your relationship with a recruiter.You should make your first contact with a recruiter long before you are in desperate need of a new job. Think of it as a networking relationship in which you have a relaxed give-and-take rapport and information sharing. A good recruiter will always be intereste d in good leads and information. Depending on how comfortable they are with you, they may even be able to give you advice on ways to improve your chances for job placement in the future - such as what specific accomplishments in your current job will make you more attractive to potential employers.In turn, you should be helpful to the recruiter by providing good job prospects for them. This doesn’t mean just throwing names at them, but offering up substantial information that will be helpful. Remember that the executive recruiter is essentially working for the client company - and they’re often working on multiple placements at any given time. If you’re not on their radar screen when the job you’d be qualified for comes up, then you’ll have missed your chance. The best way to stay on their radar screen is to offer assistance without expecting anything in return.Don’t be a wandering generality. I remember telling an executive recruiter how great one of my clients was and how they could help his firm drive revenue and reduce costs. He let me rattle on for about 10 minutes before he cut in, “John I don’t recruit for medical sales positions. I recruit for physicians who want to go from private practice or related work to the CROs (Contract Research Organizations).” I only thought that his firm worked with sales people.He went on to explain, “I don’t get paid until I find an exact match for one of these positions and I don’t work with, talk to or do much of anything else as it relates to recruiting.” This lesson taught me that some recruiters must specialize in very restricted niches. When working with highly focused recruiters, it’s important to quickly identify what they’re looking for and convey specific achievements. Key questions to ask specialized recruiters are: Do you or any of the recruiters at your firm specialize in placing people like me and my specific background? Who at your firm knows if I would be a good candidate to be placed? How can I study your most recent opportunities so that I know I am a good candidate for your firm to place? Prepare resumes professionally and carefully, and go into any interview, including interviews with third-party recruiters, with intelligent, cogent questions.Don’t be intimidated by executive recruiters. They don’t run the town and are not the only hiring authorities. They can, however, be an important part of your search process. Get help in identifying them, how they work, and how they can help you. Make sure you speak to them and find out their niche, and how you can help them. While they ultimately work for the client company, they also have a vested interest in helping you.

What To Do If Your Employer Fights Back

What To Do If Your Employer Fights Back What To Do If Your Employer Fights Back The Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, forbids your employer from lashing out at youcutting your pay, demoting or firing youbecause you file or help investigate a complaint about an unsafe workplace. However, the Act does not authorize you to enforce this restriction by going directly into court; you must ask OSHA to intercede.If you suspect illegal retaliation, you have 30 days from the time the illegal action took place to file a complaint about it with your local OSHA office. The outcome of illegal discrimination complaints filed under OSHA often turns on whether you can prove that you were fired or demoted because you contacted authorities, not because your performance slipped or economic cutbacks made it necessary. Be sure to back up your complaint with as much documentation for your employer's action as possible. Once you have filed a complaint about illegal job discrimination, OSHA has 90 days to respond. If you have shown that you were fired or otherwise punished be cause of complaining to OSHA, the compliance officer handling your complaint will attempt to convince your employer to take the proper action to remedy the situation. For example, if you were demoted in retaliation for your complaint, the OSHA compliance officer would probably ask your employer to reinstate you to your original position and give you the backpay to which you are entitled. If OSHA is unsuccessful in talking your employer into reversing the effects of the illegal discrimination, it can sue your employer in federal court on your behalf.

Learn How to Deal With a Difficult Employee

Learn How to Deal With a Difficult Employee Learn How to Deal With a Difficult Employee It is inevitable in your role as a manager that you will have to deal with employees who earn the label difficult. Instead of ignoring the situation as many managers do, it is essential for you to take action to remedy the problem. After all, you own forming and maintaining an effective working environment. Effective managers use a deliberate approach similar to planning and delivering a constructive feedback discussion, for dealing with difficult employees. Here are some tips on  how to best deal with a difficult employee. 1:46 Watch Now: 9 Tips for Handling a Problem Employee Evaluate While action is essential, it is important to momentarily hit the pause button and evaluate the situation so that you are armed with a current, clear perspective.  Observe the employee in different settings. Look for behaviors that introduce stress or toxicity into situations. Observe how others respond to the employee. Strive to isolate the one or two behaviors that others are complaining about to you. Observe Resist the temptation to respond to complaints or innuendo without checking out the situation yourself. Talk to the people involved. Collect all the facts you can before you act. And dont discount that occasionally, everyone has a bad day or week. If a normally easy-to-work-with employee is suddenly uncooperative and uncommunicative, consider that there may be extenuating circumstances. Develop a Plan Based on your observations, assess whether the situation merits coaching, counseling, training or discipline. Coaching emphasizes specific behavior modification.Counseling focuses on problem behaviors and comes with implications, including, You need to cease doing (behavior), or, you will be placed on a performance program and potentially fired. These situations often turn into coaching activities.Training supports skills development and helps fill knowledge gaps.  Discipline reflects an immediate improvement program with implications. Make certain to involve your human resources team. Your time invested in thinking through where you want the situation to go will pay dividends during the actual discussion. Many managers script out the opening sentence of their discussions with the employees just to make certain to frame the situation properly for all parties. Confront the Problem Dont put it off. It may not be pleasant, but its an important part of your job. It will not fix itself. It can only get worse. You have planned this confrontation. Now you need to execute. And remember, everyone on your team is watching and waiting.   Focus on the Behaviors, Not the Person Your goal is to develop a solution, not to win. Focus on the inappropriate behavior; dont attack the person. Dont assume the inappropriate behavior is caused by negative intent. It may be from fear, confusion, lack of motivation, personal problems, etc. Try to Draw out the Reasons Behind the Behavior As you talk with the difficult employee, actively listen to what they say. Stay calm and positive. Ask open-ended questions that cant be answered in one or two words. Dont interrupt. When you do respond to the difficult employee, remain calm. Summarize back to them what they just said, So what I understand you are saying is..., so they know you are listening to them. If you can find out from the difficult employee what the real source of the inappropriate behavior is, you have a much better chance of finding a solution. Develop the Solution Together The desired result of confronting  a difficult employees inappropriate behavior  is an agreed upon solution. You know that this inappropriate behavior will continue unless you and the employee agree on a solution. The employee needs to know what is inappropriate about their behavior and they also need to know what the appropriate behavior is so that they can adjust their approach. Plan Follow-up and Repeat as Necessary Minor problems, like being late for work, you may be able to resolve with a simple chat in your office with the employee. Others may require more than one confrontation before a solution can be reached. Be patient. Dont always expect instant results. Aim for continuous improvement rather than trying to achieve instant success. Know When You Are in Over Your Head Sometimes the underlying issue with a difficult employee will be beyond your capabilities. The employee may have psychological problems that require professional help, for example. Learn when to keep trying and when to refer the employee to others for more specialized help. Your company may have an EAP or you may need to use resources from the community. Know When You Are at the End While the goal  is  always to reach a mutually acceptable solution that resolves the difficult employees inappropriate behavior and keeps your team at full strength, sometimes that is not possible. When you reach an impasse and the employee is not willing to change his or her behavior then you need to begin terminations procedures in accordance with your companys policies. The Bottom Line Dealing with difficult employees is never fun. Nonetheless, it is part of your responsibility. A timely, deliberate approach to navigating these awkward situations will help you succeed. Updated by Art Petty