How To Write A Letter Of Introduction: 6 Simple Tips

How To Write A Letter Of Introduction: 6 Simple Tips

Figuring out how to write a letter of introduction can seem daunting. Even though this note is supposed to be brief, it’s hard to know where to begin! But fortunately, it doesn’t have to be complicated. This guide will teach you everything you need to know when sitting down to write a letter or introduction. […]

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When NOT To Negotiate A Higher Salary

When NOT To Negotiate A Higher Salary

There’s been a big push for salary transparency in the hiring process. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, salary transparency, in regard to the job search, is when a company posts exactly how much they will pay on the job description so job seekers know what to expect before they apply.


Now, that’s a good thing because a lot of people don’t want to waste their time applying for a job that can’t pay them what they want. But there is one significant drawback to salary transparency job seekers should know…

Salary Transparency = No Salary Negotiations

@j.t.odonnell Replying to @broseph86 When you CAN’T negotiate your salary. #howtotiktok #salarynegotiation #salarytransparency #salary #howto #jobtok #Edutok ♬ original sound – J.T. O’Donnell

If a company lists the salary for a role in the job description, you can’t negotiate. That’s what they said they’re willing to pay. And they had to internally, as a team, decide on that and agree to stick to it.

I’ve seen companies list the salary for a position and had a person go through the hiring process, get a job offer, and try to counter and negotiate a higher salary. Their response? They rescinded the job offer from the candidate and offered the job to someone else.

I understand you might be worth more money to yourself or you might be worth more money at a different company. But at a company that posts the salary for the position, that is what they’re willing to pay. And you have to decide whether you want to accept that or move on. It’s that simple, folks.

Things are changing right now. Economic shifts, the way that people hire—it’s all changing. And you need to stay on top of that change if you want to be successful.

In your next job search, remember to negotiate a higher salary only if a salary was never listed in the job description. Salary transparency has its benefits. But the ability to negotiate salary is not one of them.

Need more help with your job search?

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Summary Sunday: Issue #493

Summary Sunday: Issue #493

It’ s important to be able to diversify your job lookup activities. It’ s furthermore important to diversify typically the sources you use to obtain job search information. This particular week’ s summary includes resources to help a person broaden your thinking and also approach to job look for and managing your career. It includes: Resume Tendencies 2 great newsletters you need to know about Why quiet […]

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LinkedIn Hot Or Not!

LinkedIn Hot Or Not!

Are you interested within learning more about and what will get you noticed in LinkedIn? Do you would like expert advice on the best way to stand out on the particular world’s biggest networking system? If so, we are usually here to help A PERSON today!


Join us for LinkedIn Hot Or Not! each Thursday at 1 evening ET / 10 feel PT.

What to be able to expect?

  • A 30-minute RESIDE show hosted by our own CEO & founder M. T. O’Donnell
  • In this session, an individual have the ability for you to share your personal LinkedIn user profile and obtain a FULL survive review (i. e., exactly what looks good, areas to help improve, how to enhance it further, etc. )

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Executive Spotlight: How Leaders Can Motivate Employees During An Economic Downturn

Executive Spotlight: How Leaders Can Motivate Employees During An Economic Downturn

During difficult and stressful times such as an economic downturn or recession, it can be a challenge to stay motivated at work. A good leader naturally knows how to motivate employees when things are going well for the company. But when things aren’t going so well, how can executives and other leaders in the organization motivate their team members?


We recently asked our leading executives how they think leaders can motivate employees during an economic downturn.

Here are their responses…

Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist

As complex world events have unfolded more than we’ve experienced before, it’s understandable that your team’s minds are elsewhere. In uncertain and highly charged times, stress is a normal human reaction.

In addition to getting the work done, balancing compassion and empathy requires attention and skill, and care. As a leader, taking time to understand your own emotions is fundamental to getting started. If you acknowledge and manage any stress and anxiety you feel yourself, model self-care, and ask people what they need, you’re off to a great start.

Showing empathy, you want to connect with everyone in your team to truly understand what they think and feel, even if you don’t agree or feel the same thing.

Normalizing stress.

People managers can create a sense of relatedness, competence, and autonomy to help motivate their team(s) in uncertainty.

Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the “red thread.”

Jim Black, Engineering & Technical Executive

Leader talks to her team during a work meeting

Motivating employees during an economic downturn is never easy. Short-term evidence usually contradicts your optimism.

When I have needed to inspire my team during slow periods of work, I focus on what we can prepare for the return. What can we do now that will make us better?

Consider this analogy…

You are running a fine-tuned race car, and it has logged dozens of laps. The car is running well, and you are making great lap times. The race stops, and you can work on your car during the stoppage. Do you simply sit back and start again when the green flag drops? No—you change the oil, fine-tune the timing, replace broken parts, and make the car even stronger than before.

Economic downturns are similar. Take the time to refine the process, improve workflow, and make yourself stronger for the return. Provided the company is fiscally responsible and does not need to lay off employees, motivate them with the opportunity to improve for the next phase.

Jim Black is an engineering professional focused on the development of technical professionals. He is also a professional bass player.

Carla Biasi, Personal Stylist

Executive talks to his team during a work meeting

Motivating employees should be a continual process in any organization.

Certainly, in a down economy, it’s even more important to keep employees pushing forward and staying positive.

I believe one of the most important ways to do it is through communication. When the economy takes a hit, people are concerned about their jobs. They wonder how the company will handle these rough times. Leaders should talk to their employees about the measures the company is taking to weather through it. It means so much, and employees will feel more secure and appreciated when this happens. Therefore, they’ll be motivated to stay with the team.

Recent studies show that the younger generation ranks transparency as one of the highest traits they look for in management. It fosters inclusivity and employees feel respected which counts for a lot.

Carla Biasi is a personal stylist living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She currently has her own business and works part-time at an upscale women’s boutique and as a virtual and kit stylist for a women’s specialty brand.

Andrea Markowski, Marketing Executive

Leader gives an employee a high five

Let’s get one thing straight. You cannot motivate anyone to do anything.

Ok, I lied. Usually, if the job is undesirable, boring, or made up of low-skilled repetitive tasks, the best motivator is—you guessed it—money.

However, for higher-skilled jobs that require smart decision making and a degree of autonomy, as a manager, you simply are never going to be the source of an employee’s motivation. It has to come from within the employee themselves.

An excellent resource is Drive by Daniel Pink. This book looks at the science behind motivation. After reading it, one bit that stuck with me is how any type of progress made can motivate someone to keep on keepin’ on.

With this reasoning, you might celebrate both big and small wins of the organization as a whole, right down to an individual’s contribution. An employee must feel that they added to the progress in some way to generate their own intrinsic motivation.

Andrea Markowski is a marketing director with specializations in strategy development, digital tactics, design thinking, and creative direction. She has superpowers in presentations and public speaking.

Lisa Perry, Global Marketing Executive

Employees celebrate, high five, and motivate each other at work

When organizations are in the midst of an economic downturn, keeping employees motivated becomes more challenging. The focus is to tighten budgets, implement hiring freezes, reduce salaries and workforces, and even layoffs, furloughs, to selling assets.

Here are eight strategies to keep your employees inspired and engaged:

  1. Stop Gossip: Rumors can run rampant about layoffs, pay cuts, and more if you don’t stop it as quickly as possible.
  2. Listen: Practice active listening skills: understanding, enjoyment, learning, and giving advice, or solace.
  3. Be Consistent: There should be a consistent approach to decision making. The organization should have confidence that decisions made and changed are for the right reasons.
  4. Provide a Sense of Certainty: In times of uncertainty, be transparent, keep people informed, and be as truthful as you can.
  5. Have Integrity: Many things become possible throughout an organization when people trust each other to do what they say they’re going to do.
  6. Understand What Motivates Your Staff: Once you understand what drives and motivates your staff, it’s easier to give them the opportunities to thrive.
  7. Give Staff a Voice: Create an environment in which employees feel safe to express their ideas and feedback as well as give them opportunities to have an impact.
  8. Power of a Thank You: Don’t underestimate the power of saying thank you for a job well done. A note, a personal outreach, or a public affirmation can make a huge impact on the person receiving it.

How do you think executives can motivate their employees during an economic downturn? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily’s Executive Program.

15 Questions To Ask Before Making A Career Change

15 Questions To Ask Before Making A Career Change

In case you are contemplating a major career modify, you may find the particular process a little mind-boggling at first. To assist organize your opinions and thoughts on the topic, inquire yourself the following 12-15 questions.


Inquiries to Ask Just before Making A Career Modify

Woman thinks about making a fabulous career change

Be sure you answer considerately and honestly. This will be for your eyes just. Also, be sure for you to write your answers straight down. Putting abstract thoughts and even feelings into words can assist you identify what’s really taking place and it adds some sort of tangible element to typically the reflection process.

1. The facts about our current career that is not working?

two. What does this fresh career offer that my personal current career doesn’t?

3. What will this new career fire up in my soul?

4. How really does the brand new career align together with my core values ?

5. What exactly are the long-term possibilities associated with this brand-new career?

six. What skills or sources will I actually need to take good thing about these long-term opportunities?

7. Who must i know who is currently within this career and could give me a respectable “insider’s” perspective?

eight. Will my friends together with family support this completely new career endeavor?

9. How long will certainly it take to produce a comfortable living in this kind of new career?

10. Will i have this financial resources to create the new career work? In case not, how could i get exactly what I need to really feel secure?

eleven. What struggles can My partner and i predict in my changeover to this new career?

12. Just what exactly can I do right now to minimize these possible struggles?

13. What particular experience do you hope to help gain in this career move?

fourteen. How will my earlier experience help me inside this new role?

15. Are these claims career move one step up a good larger plan? If therefore, how much does this new career need to provide throughout order to help me personally move forward?

Now that you possess all your answers towards these questions, you can easily better position yourself regarding a successful career alter! It’s exactly about being truthful with yourself and achieving obvious on your goals. As soon as you do that, the entire process becomes so a lot easier.

Need more help using your career change?

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This particular article was originally released at an earlier day.

How To Answer Exit Interview Questions: Examples & Tips

How To Answer Exit Interview Questions: Examples & Tips

While it may seem unimportant, it’s still a good idea to be prepared for common exit interview questions before beginning the conversations. Remember, what you say in these interviews can still have an impact on your career! This guide will teach you how to answer exit interview questions in a way that’s helpful and still […]

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Looking For A Job? Attend Work It Daily’s Job Search Accelerator Workshop!

Looking For A Job? Attend Work It Daily’s Job Search Accelerator Workshop!

Finding a job will be ten-times harder these times, and it’s not only since competition for jobs is usually at an all-time higher. If you’re wondering exactly how to get the interest regarding hiring managers and employers AND beat the competitors, subscribe to our next Work Search Accelerator workshop!


Join our CEO, M. T. O’Donnell, and Overseer to train Development as well as Coaching, Christina Burgio, with regard to this live event about Tuesday, November 15th coming from 2-4 pm ET.

SIGN UP RIGHT HERE

Knowing and embracing the most recent professional job search styles is exactly what you need to be able to do to land the job.

Ask yourself often the following:

  • Is your resume producing you look overqualified, narcissistic, desperate, or old college?
  • Is your current LinkedIn profile set upward correctly to ensure interviewers will find you AND EVEN want to get in touch with you?
  • Do you understand how you can write a “connection story” and employ this to get a job interview?
  • Are usually you conducting a “proactive” job search so employers and hiring managers can be found?

This particular high-impact workshop will assist you with all the above—and offer you so much more.

Why Should An individual Attend?

Work It Daily testimony

Above 100 professionals have used this class within the last 4 months, and the accounts above is from one of those attendees. They experienced job search success right after attending one of our own workshops. We guarantee everyone will too!

Save Your Place!

Work The actual Daily Job Search Manifold workshop

Following live event date: Tuesday, November fifteenth | 2-4 pm OU

Where: Zoom (We’ll provide the link)

Why: Due to the fact you do not have to job look for alone! (BONUS: Get $250+ of programs & coaching – incorporated with purchase)

Just how much: $199 per ticketed

Each *live* work shop includes:

  • A 2-hour affair taught by the originator and CEO of Job It Daily, J. Capital t. O’Donnell, and her Representative to train & Instruction, Christina Burgio. Together, they will host the session in Zoom to help you ask the questions and get comments in real time.
  • Each and every participant will even get entry to (6) premium job search courses (A $200+ value) :

    – Career Search Plan
    : Resume Plan
    instructions LinkedIn Plan
    rapid Cover Letter Plan
    – Interview Prep Strategy
    – Mastering Social networking

  • Also contains (1) month involving private one-on-one online training so you can have got your materials reviewed simply by one of our qualified experts (a $59+ value) .
  • In addition a workbook and accessibility to the event documenting will be sent for you to you post-session so one can go back not to mention replay it as required.
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How To Properly Quit Your Job

How To Properly Quit Your Job

You’re ready to make a change in your career and have secured a new job (hopefully!). Now, it’s time to quit your current job.


First things first: Unless we’re talking about an extreme circumstance, you should never walk into your boss’ office and say “I quit!” That’s unprofessional and could have severe professional consequences in the future.

It’s important to maintain your personal brand as a hardworking professional. The way you end this career chapter is part of that brand.

Here’s how to be professional when you quit your job:

Give A Proper Notice

Since we’re talking about being professional, we should probably say “resign” instead of “quit.” If you do things right, you won’t leave the company high and dry. Instead, you’ll give your team proper notice so they can plan accordingly.

A proper notice of resignation is typically two weeks. Sometimes people are in a position to give a longer notice and sometimes people give a shorter notice, depending on the company policy and what you’ve negotiated for as part of your new job.

If you’re in a position where you have to give a shorter notice, such as one week, make sure to clearly explain the situation to your boss, apologize for the inconvenience, and ask if there’s anything extra you can do in your last week to help ease their transition.

Be Polite And Grateful

Young professional giving resignation to boss during a meeting

Resignations should always be done in person. That said, you’ll want to have a paper trail to cover your bases if anything happens, so be sure to email your boss your resignation letter immediately following your conversation.

Once you’re face-to-face with your boss, explain that you felt the time was right to make a change and you came across a new opportunity that you ultimately thought would be a better fit. Be humble and thank your boss for the opportunity to work with the company and wish your boss and company well.

In many ways, your conversation with your boss will mirror your resignation letter: short and to the point.

If you have concerns or complaints about the company, avoid airing them out during your resignation. Unless there’s a terrible reason for your leaving that could put others in harm’s way, don’t bring up your drama.

If your boss asks for feedback, keep it constructive, short, and to the point. If you can offer some minor feedback that may improve the company, then give it a try, but there’s no need to dissect every issue the company may have.

Finish The Job Strong

Coworkers talk while they work on a project

As legendary New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick would say, “Do your job!”

Just because you’re leaving the company doesn’t mean you should slack off. Continue to work hard and be fully engaged with the job until the very end.

It’s important to leave the job on a positive note because you want to have some professional references for future job searches.

In addition, former bosses and colleagues are great people to have in your professional network. You never know when a past professional connection could help you score a new job in the future.

Be Sure To Say Goodbye

Woman packs up her desk before leaving her job

The last day on the job is a good time to sew up future professional references and discuss ways to keep in touch with former co-workers. Some jobs require exit interviews. But if that’s not the case with your job, make an effort to visit your boss one last time.

It’s a good idea to again express gratitude for the opportunity to work at the company.

Leave on good terms with as many people as possible.

Positivity and professionalism are the keys to leaving any job. Jobs are temporary but the legacy you leave behind as an employee remains.

Whenever possible, you want to enter and leave each opportunity on a positive note because each experience tells a story about yourself as a professional.

With career changes happening more frequently now, it’s more important than ever to have a strong background of positive experiences with former employers. Follow the tips above to properly quit your job and leave on a good note.

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

Project Savviness In Uncertain Times: 3 Things You Need Right Now

Project Savviness In Uncertain Times: 3 Things You Need Right Now

As you likely know, I am a big fan and practitioner of combining project and change disciplines with business acumen in daily life as a project and change advisor, teacher, and coach.

To be truly effective, especially if you are to succeed in uncertain business and professional times, you need to take as complete and wholistic a view of what you need to do in your day job to then be able to deliver it well and succeed.


If you are tasked with delivering something large, as I was, for instance, when leading a $225 million asset transfer due to Brexit in the UK, you need more than what I call a ‘purist’ project management skill set to get a big or complex or high profile job done effectively and successfully, (as perceived by all key stakeholders) especially when uncertainty abounds (and it always does), especially now.

You may also be interested to read about the one thing that can set a project up for success or failure and how to do your bit, so your company leans into setting projects up for success. You may like to read about the number one thing that breaks projects (and is likely in your control) here.

So, I am a big advocate for you to learn beyond the purist technical project management training realm. That is beyond gaining a project certificate. Don’t get me wrong—some form of basic project management training is important but this is really only the entry level to becoming truly capable, confident, and ultimately successful at delivering complexity within the frame of ongoing business uncertainty.

I call what we should aim for to be at the top of our game as professionals project savviness. Project savviness is important regardless of having the name project in your role title or not. Project savviness is something most if not all of your organisation should possess.

Adding project experience (hands on) is an important feather in the cap toward developing project savviness, but this again, on its own, is still not enough. Not if you want to be considered capable and be able to deliver, for instance, monster project leadership and thrive successfully in uncertain times.

To demonstrate and truly be project savvy, you need to add two more pieces. These are basic behavioural science principles and business acumen.

3 Disciplines You Need To Be Confident And Project Savvy

Professionals talk and work on a project together

To confirm, the three disciplines you need to be confident and project savvy are:

Project Management Structures and Approaches – briefly discussed above. These form what I call the technical backbone of your expertise and savviness. An important skill set but only an entry ticket to play not necessarily a seat at the top table yet.

Basic Behavioural Science Principles – that is knowing how to effectively engage, motivate, influence, and negotiate with all stakeholders (many and varied). This is a true skill and requires savviness in approach and delivery.

Business Acumen – being effective at problem solving, decision making, leadership, strategic thinking, and being commercially aware of what’s going on around you (i.e., understanding how your company business and industry operate and how they make money) and then being able to apply and use these skills is an artform—but one that can be taught effectively and quickly if the teacher is informed by experience as well.

So, in total you need three disciplines rolled into one if you want to be ahead of the curve and be considered savvy enough to be able to run anything complex, large, high profile, and important particularly given the ever-increasing presence of uncertainty in our work and business environments today.

Each of these disciplines provides the level of sophistication and solid foundation to be able to truly run and lead a big, complex piece of work or project. I call these skills the savviness glue skills. Without them, you will only be 2/3 of the way to being considered (and actually being) a capable professional.

Remember learning is not enough; you need experience in each of these project savviness disciplines—project management structures and approaches, basic behavioural science principles, and business acumen—so you can recognise when each is necessary on the ground in your day job as well as knowing how to implement each effectively.

This takes some practice but guided by an experienced capable practitioner you can slash the time needed to get up to speed. This is as much about being shown what to do and how to do something as it is about capability, structures, and knowledge.

Over my 25 years as a business management consultant and senior project leader, I have been privileged to train, coach, work in, and consult with many organisations, teams, and professionals including on the topic of project savviness and how to acquire it.

The best way to learn is from someone who has real hands-on experience. Otherwise, you will continue to be stuck in theory and forced to learn the hard way which wastes so much time. Theory has its place but on its own will not serve you if you seek to be at the top of your game in uncertain times.

I encourage you to seek out colleagues and opportunities to learn the three disciplines that make up project savviness. Find someone inside or outside your organisation to learn from fast as this will accelerate not only your confidence but also your career opportunities and ultimate success.

Good luck! Let me know about your successes in pursuit of project savviness.

6 Ways To Survive The Holidays When You’re Unemployed

6 Ways To Survive The Holidays When You’re Unemployed

Are a person anxious about approaching the particular holiday season without the job? Is it difficult for you to create time to find a new new job when typically the holidays come around? In case so, we can assist!


All of us have it. Between present giving, family gatherings, touring, along with other activities during this holidays, it’s rather a stressful period for most people. In addition to that, you might have often the added stress of performing a job search.

Inevitably, you might get questions from family and friends regarding your job (or absence thereof), and it may be difficult to enter these types of conversations. You simply don’t understand what to say.

The good information is that we are usually here to help an individual work through these hurdles!

In this particular training, you’ll learn exactly how to:

  • Conduct a strategic job search through the vacation season
  • Identify the different ways whenever you can get observed by employers
  • Understand the ways anyone can make time in order to find a new job
  • Effectively talk with loved ones concerning your career

Join our own CEO, J. T. O’Donnell, and Director of Coaching Development & Coaching, Christina Burgio, for this reside event on Wednesday, Nov 2nd at 12 evening ET.

CAN’T ATTEND RESIDE? That’s alright. You’ll have access to be able to the recording as well as the workbook after the session!

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