Email Management - Inbox Zero - The Muse If you were to ask careerists what they think of their inbox, most would say that it’s a soul-sucking black hole of follow-up messages, annoying staff correspondences, and newsletters or press releases up the wazoo. And if you were to also ask those people if they could ever see themselves getting through their entire inbox every single day, most would scoff at the idea of such an impossible feat. This past week though, I decided to take on a challenge that would make most professionals cringe: I made a pact to get to inbox zero every single night before I went to bed. So, did I do it? The answer is yes. Was it easy? While I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get down to inbox zero every day of my life, I did learn some important lessons along the way that’ll help me better manage my inbox moving forward. The biggest one? On that note, let me share a few things you actually need to do to make your inbox less horrible. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Photo of inbox courtesy of Shutterstock.
www.themuse “So, do you have any questions for me?” The interview is almost over, and you’ve nailed every question the hiring manager has asked. But don’t brush off this last one as a formality. “If an applicant doesn’t have any questions for me, that’s a red flag,” explains Angela Smith, a recruiter. “I’m thinking that they either don’t care or can’t be bothered to do research about my company.” Almost as bad as not asking a question is asking one that could be answered by looking at the job description or company website. So what should you ask to impress the hiring manager and end the interview on a high note? We’re glad you asked. Photo of speech bubbles courtesy of Shutterstock. When You Miss a Deadline - Next Steps - The Muse It happens to the best of us. Maybe accounting didn’t get you the numbers on time. Maybe the design work you thought would take you four hours is taking more like 14. Maybe Taco Tuesday turned into Food Poisoning Tuesday, and there’s just no way you can drag yourself to the office to finish Wednesday’s client report. In any case, you’re going to miss a deadline, and you know your boss, your customer, or whoever else you owe your work to is not going to be excited. As a writer and an editor, I’ve unfortunately been on both sides of the missed deadline dilemma. Give as Much Advance Notice as Possible There’s nothing more infuriating (not to mention unprofessional) than, “Oops, I missed today’s deadline. Obviously, there are exceptions (see: food poisoning), but for the most part, you should try to give as much notice as possible if you think you’re going to be delivering something late. Explain Yourself—Briefly Give an Option or a Bonus Show Professionalism and Appreciation Make Sure It’s Rare
10 Best Questions To Ask At The End Of An Interview You made it! You have survived the rigorous questions from the employer, tell me about yourself, what is your greatest weakness, tell me about a time… Now comes the dreaded, “what questions to you have for me?” You start to panic because what if you ask something that they’ve already told you or maybe something that is inappropriate. In order to ease your nerves, remember these 10 best questions to ask, because now it is your time to put the employer in the hot seat. Who would I report to on a daily basis?What is the training like? Good luck and happy interviewing!
8 Genius Ways to Hide the Fact That You're Nervous It is hard to escape those moments in life when you are feeling incredibly nervous. Even if we plan ahead and rehearse, our body’s reaction to being nervous can flare up in very uncomfortable physiological ways. We get that rush of adrenaline and our stomach feels like it’s turning upside down. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to calm yourself down enough making it possible for you to get through any situation no matter how nervous you become? Here are some great ways to hide your nervous behavior so you can tackle any nerve-racking event in your life. 1. Being nervous can disrupt normal breathing. 2. One of the worst things you can do is admit you are nervous. 3. When we are nervous, we often speak much too quickly. 4. Do a quick body check and purposefully try to relax and calm your body’s nervous reactions—relax your panicked, tightened muscles. 5. You are screaming, “I’m nervous” when you don’t maintain consistent eye contact nervously glancing around the room instead. 6. 7. 8.
10 Additional Free Tools to Create a More Advanced Resume Creating a resume for your job search can be a daunting task. Luckily, there are helpful tools online that can assist you in writing a more advanced resume. We’ve already shown you ten free online tools that can help write, edit, and develop your resume. However, there are additional tools (that are also free!) out there that can support you in this task. Take a look at the following ten tools that will not only help you create a fantastic resume, but will also improve your chances of moving forward in the hiring process. 1. Canva is a graphic-design tool where you can create a variety of images to use in social media, presentations, print material, websites, and more. 2. One overlooked resource for creating your resume is Microsoft Office Online. 3. VisualCV is an online tool that allows you to generate a standout resume whether you are a recent graduate, experienced employee, or work in freelance. 4. If you’re looking to make a modern, professional resume, this is the tool for you. 5.
How to Write a Cover Letter: 31 Tips You Need to Know OK, you’re sold on how important cover letters are. Here are eight steps to writing one that screams, “I’m a great hire!” Step 1: Write a fresh cover letter for each job (but yes, you can use a template). Yes, it’s way faster and easier to take the cover letter you wrote for your last application, change the name of the company, and send it off. While it’s OK to recycle a few strong sentences and phrases from one cover letter to the next, don’t even think about sending out a 100% generic letter. At the same time, there’s nothing that says you can’t get a little help: Try out one of our free cover letter templates to make the process a bit easier. Step 2: Add your contact info. At the top of your cover letter, you should list out your basic info. Your nameYour pronouns (optional)Your location (optional)Your email addressYour phone number (optional)Your Linkedin, portfolio, or personal website URL (optional) So your header might look like this: So your sign off could look like this: Sincerely,
So You Don't Want to be a Programmer After All I get a surprising number of emails from career programmers who have spent some time in the profession and eventually decided it just isn't for them. Most recently this: I finished a computer science degree last year, worked about a year in the Java EE stack. And this: Since the first year of studying programming at university I have known in my heart that computer programming is not meant for me, but I was afraid to do anything about it and here I am now 12 years later programming with no passion. It was always our hope that concrete, substantive programming career questions could be asked on Stack Overflow, and some early ad-hoc polling indicated that career questions might be accepted by the community, but if you look at later poll results, it's clear that the career questions came out juuuust under the cutoff point as determined by the Stack Overflow community. Well, what about the rest of the Stack Exchange network? Nope. The colored part in this target that says "All Programmers"?
Worst Resumes to Submit - Mistakes in Resumes - The Muse I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing some pretty fascinating and, dare I say it, beautiful resumes. That said, I’ve also seen my fair share of resumes that end up with more red ink than resume content after I’m through with them. As my own little PSA, I’m going to share with you four of them that would make any career counselor or recruiter visibly cringe and what to do instead. 1. The Extremely Exaggerated Resume Calling yourself a “founder” on your resume can either look very impressive or be a huge red flag, depending on the context. Flat out lying—or even exaggerating—on your resume won’t get you very far. tl;dr: Seriously, don’t lie on your resume. 2. Remember when I said I’ve seen some beautiful resumes? The most confusing resume I’ve ever seen was a resume where the text was centered. tl;dr: Make your resume skimmable. 3. tl;dr: Skip the personal details—keep it professional. 4. Surprisingly, it’s actually very frequently the people with less experience who break this rule.