Expert Advice
Today, at my daughter’s college, the President ordered everyone to stop studying, cut classes, and have a collective day of rest.
We work hard in the US (as students AND professionals), and I think we forget the importance of taking breaks and messing around. It’s not only good for mental health, it’s good for the bottom line, if that’s your priority…
TRANSCRIPT:
Yay, it’s Mountain Day today at Smith College, which means the president calls all classes off.
00:10
This is spur of the moment.
00:12
No classes.
00:14
Everybody out on the quad, get on a blanket, throw a Frisbee, eat some quiche.
00:20
It’s just time to relax and unwind and take a break.
00:25
And sometimes you need somebody to really.
00:28
Force you into that for you to realize how important it was and how much you needed a break.
00:32
So hats off to the president of Smith College and any other leadership that realizes the importance of play.
00:41
This kind of was a personal experience for me yesterday.
00:45
So I’m I’m coaching my daughter’s soccer team and we had practice, but it was super hot.
00:52
So I said, you know what?
00:54
No practice.
00:55
You’re all coming over my house.
00:57
And we’re going on a giant water slide.
01:00
And we did.
01:01
And the bonding was through the roof.
01:04
It was really cute.
01:04
They were like chanting for each other.
01:07
Give me an A, give me an L, you know, all that stuff.
01:11
So it ended up being super productive.
01:14
And I bring this up because we work a lot.
01:16
We’re a working society and there’s a lot of benefits with that.
01:22
But I think we forget the importance of stopping.
01:25
And taking a break.
01:27
And that’s not just for mental health.
01:29
It actually helps the work.
01:32
You become more creative, you become more relaxed, you become more collaborative.
01:36
Happenstance can happen.
01:39
There’s a lot of good things that happen outside of the traditional idea of what we call work that influences our work.
01:47
So remember, take a break.
Most interviews start with the same question (which, actually, isn’t even a question):
“Tell me about yourself.”
Why?
Because open-ended questions are the best way to get to know someone. And, they’re the easiest way to allow someone to reveal themselves.
The question is simple enough, yet most people answer it incorrectly. Continue reading this entry »
Here’s an interview I did for a blogger, asking me some popular resume questions on behalf of her fellow graduates-to-be.
===
Let’s start with the most common Resume question: Continue reading this entry »
1 or 2 pages?
This concern is valid, especially since lengthy resumes can make an applicant appear arrogant, unfocused, anxious, old, or overqualified.
So how do you know when to stop writing? Continue reading this entry »
There’s a widespread frustration held by people that their resumes’ cannot adequately describe “the real me”. I’ve challenged this notion with the following comments and suggestions: Continue reading this entry »
In my experience as a recruiter, career counselor, and professional resume writer, there’s no such thing as “no experience” — even for recent graduates and current students.
There’s plenty of other ways to fill space on a resume aside from listing paid work experience. Continue reading this entry »
An aggrieved job seeker, sick of hearing that functional resumes are the scourge of an HR person’s day, asked why this type of format is unfavorable. Here’s my response: Continue reading this entry »
