Self doubt has been something I’ve struggled with all my life, from debating whether I could get into a top tier university to believing I could succeed as a writer. It’s a very human emotion, and it’s made worse for some people because of life experiences or temperament.

Self doubt also makes you feel alone. Sometimes you think you’re the only person in the universe who suffers from a crisis of confidence, and you wish that you could be more like
your successful, self-assured neighbor. Well, I guarantee that your neighbor doubts himself every now and then too.

You won’t ever be able to rid yourself of doubt entirely – believe me, I’ve tried. But I hope that these suggestions will lessen your pain when dark thoughts are all around you.

Go back in time: The first step to overcoming self doubt is to recognize that it’s there in the first place. Think about the circumstances that are leading you to feel insecure, and see if you notice any patterns. Are there particular situations (for example, dealing with a new boss, speaking in public) that prompt you to feel this way? Make a note of times in the past when you doubted yourself but ended up coming through with flying colors. Knowledge and recognition of your past successes will bolster your courage regarding what you can achieve in the future.

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Against a backdrop of economic volatility, the vast majority of young professional women believe they will have rewarding careers balanced with fulfilling personal lives, according to research just released by Accenture. The research also generated the Accenture Millennial Women Workplace Success Index, which identified two primary qualities as key to workplace success – the ability to balance personal and professional lives and a job where they can make a difference.

Ultimately, more than half of the respondents define success as doing meaningful work, while maintaining balance between their personal and professional lives (cited by 66 percent and 59 percent, respectively).  Other factors of workplace success include stable employment that provides financial security, a positive work environment, open and honest communication with supervisors and opportunities to grow professionally.

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In the last few months, I have spotted no fewer than three examples of one person in our social networking community slandering another person in our social networking community.   I use the word slander, although technically it’s more like libel because the articles are written by bloggers who are read by thousands.  I am not going to tell you who they are because A) I will not stoop to their level and B) that would send even more attention their way, which is exactly what some of them want.

Personal blogs and social networks make it way too easy for us to spout off malicious judgments and/or hurtful falsehoods about other people.  Did someone wrong you?  Do you hate his work or what he stands for?   Why bother to approach the person and share your views in a civilized manner when it makes you feel powerful and vindicated to rant in a public online forum where you can see just how many people agree with you?

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My friend and role model Stephen Covey and his partner Jennifer Colosimo, have just released the new book, Great Work, Great Career: How to Create Your Ultimate Job and Make an Extraordinary Contribution. Even better, though, they’ve developed a companion application for the iPhone so that you can think about your career and pursue action steps during downtime!  Features are based on the key content areas of the book and include:

• Know Your Strengths – Research-based assessments help users to discover personality, strengths and career interests
• Define Your Contribution – A contribution statement builder helps users specifically define how they can match their strengths, talents and passions to an opportunity that matters to an employer.
• Build Your Village – A unique network-building and -nurturing tool; enables users to take specific actions and track them to build and maintain their most important career relationships
• Find Resources– Helps users identify “hidden resources” that can assist them to overcome specific challenges, or take advantage of promising opportunities, in building their career
• Action Center – Tracks, prioritizes and accomplishes all the necessary tasks to build and maintain a great career
• Ask an Expert – Allows users to submit questions to Stephen Covey and Jennifer Colosimoas well as get answers to frequently asked career questions.

In addition, Great Career iPhone app users can watch a range of FranklinCovey videos to support their career growth, as well as learn about and get discounts to FranklinCovey events.
And iPhone users can receive much-needed support and advice from the Great Work, Great Career community on FranklinCovey.com.

The Great Career iPhone app is available here or at the Apple App Store for an introductory price of $9.99 for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. Check it out!
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Job hunters who rely on head hunters or executive search firms for leads may be limiting themselves. Today, many corporations are creating in-house search departments and relying less on retained search firms, and candidates may be missing out on top positions at companies that tap talent from internal databases.  Bon Secours Health System, for example, conducts 80 percent of their searches in-house.  Seth Lee, Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Bon Secours Health System, tells us why job hunters should pay attention more attention to internal recruiters than external ones:

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As I’ve talked about before, one of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on this year is with the Obama administration’s Department of Labor.  As part of the Springboard Project, I’ve participated in developing six recommendations to help American workers get the skills they and our businesses need to fill today’s and tomorrow’s jobs.  Today, we’re releasing them to the media.  They are: Read the rest of this entry »

I must get asked this question at least once a week: “how much time should I spend on social media?” I was thinking about doing a post on it, and then across my reader comes this answer from Chris Brogan, a godfather of social media engagement himself. Here are a few simple guidelines from Chris, who suggests breaking up your social media activity into four chunks and devoting a minimum of 2 hours a day to your social media presence.

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SmartBrief on Workforce, an advisory board I am a part of, asked me to provide some predictions on workforce developments in 2010.  I’ll share a few here and would love to hear yours too:

As the economy recovers, people will flock to employment opportunities that allow them to do work that’s personally meaningful to them: Once the job market stabilizes, all of the people who have been biding their time in unsatisfying jobs will look for ways to leave them, and employees will once again have the upper hand.

The workplace model of “same time, same place” will continue to disappear: Now that we can be connected regardless of our physical location, work activities will be distributed across central offices, remote locations, and community locations.  The typical eight-hour workday will be spread across a 14 plus hour window to allow us to attend to needs at home and work with colleagues abroad.

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The New Year is rapidly approaching, and with it questions of whether the uncertain workplace environment of 2009 will continue into 2010 or whether employers will be faced with the new challenge of rebuilding their workforce as the economy turns around. The one thing that’s clear is that 2010 will bring a fresh set of challenges from employee engagement to retaining top talent to attracting passive and active candidates who are poised to take advantage of
new employment opportunities.

Spherion, a recruitment and staffing company, recently released 2009 Emerging Workforce Study: Forging Ahead: New Workplace Strategies for a New Time directly addresses the question of what employers will need to do to ensure that their top talent is engaged and will remain in place for the coming economic turnaround.

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I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has landed an offer as a result of attending a job fair. You know the kind I mean. You show up with a few dozen copies of your resume and are herded down lines of look-alike booths hosted by companies you’ve never heard of, collecting handouts and brochures in a plastic bag.

I remember to going to one job fair in New York City just after I graduated from college.  At the time, I thought it was a good opportunity to network with corporate executives, except I didn’t realize that the people who typically work job fairs are low-level human resources or recruitment staffers who are just looking to get through the day and add a few hundred names to the database.

Perhaps job fairs are good sources of company information, but today, couldn’t you just get that online, without having to waste time getting all dressed up and commuting out to some
convention hall?  And in terms of meeting people who work at the organization and are in a position to hire you, wouldn’t you be better off going to a relevant conference or setting up an informational interview?

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From my colleagues at the Wall Street Journal and John Crant, a career coach and founder of selfrecruiter.com, here’s some terrific advice if you’re seeking work at a small company:

What approach should a job seeker take when beginning to look for work at a small business?

Start by finding just one individual with a similar background or skill set as yourself. Do a People search on LinkedIn to find this starter profile. Now search their current employer’s name to find other individuals with similar functions. Look at where all of these individuals worked before. Some places will be larger companies that you have heard about, but many will be these smaller companies that you have never heard of before.

What are some qualities to highlight during the interview?

Highlight your abilities to work independently, without the need for too much support. Illustrate through example where you have taken the reigns and have worn several hats at once.
Show them that you can bring significant industry expertise to their team. Of course, be sure to convey that you are a team player too.

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When employers talk about desirable skills they look for in new hires, they usually mean things like marketing, IT, budgeting, and project management. But what about the ability to
learn?

I’m not kidding. Let’s say a 20-something employee, we’ll call her Amy, starts a new job as a sales representative at a Fortune 500 software company. She graduated from college
fairly recently and has never done sales before, so her boss expects her to have lots of questions as she proceeds to develop her first client relationships. He guides her through the process patiently, explaining in detail how to communicate the product’s value proposition, and how she should go about getting a meeting with a decision maker.

After all the time he spends, the boss hopes that Amy can take what he told her and apply it to her next sales situation.  But the boss is taking for granted the fact that Amy has the ability to assimilate new information, and that she instinctively knows how to harness it in a variety of circumstances. However, this is actually a pretty rare skill.  Most people will need to hear similar instructions repeated time and time again, just because the scenario is slightly different than last time.

Employers frequently test for this skill during the hiring process, often in the form of behavioral interview. This type of interview demonstrates how a candidate acted in past job situations. How should you prepare for it? First, think of a project with which you were tasked in a prior job.

Consider the details, including the type of assignment and the expected result. Next, create a list of the steps you took to complete the task and solve any problems that came up
during the course of the task. Finally, practice explaining your results and what you learned from the initiative. This last part is the most important because employers want to know that you can put all your terrific experience to use for them and dive right in on your start date.
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For the first time since September 2007, the majority (55%) of small business owners have a positive view of the economic environment and its impact on their ability to grow, according to the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor.  Concurrently, more firms are at risk of going out of business (17%) than six months ago (11%), due in part to personal funds being tapped out: one-third (32%) say they are using personal or private funds to manage cash flow challenges.

While there appears to be a widening divide between healthy and struggling businesses, even the healthy businesses are proceeding with caution. Fewer firms have hiring plans than at any point in the eight-year history of the Monitor and plans for capital investments equal the record-setting low from Spring 2009 (42%). Other findings include:

• Nearly seven-in-ten entrepreneurs (68%) are “stressed out” by the economy and three-in-ten (31%) say that the current economy has caused them to question their decision to become an entrepreneur.
• Gen Y is least concerned about the economy: 48% expect their business to grow regardless of the economy vs. 27% of Baby Boomers, 22% of Gen Xers and 28% of SBOs overall.
• Manufacturers are the most positive: 33% see the economy improving and expanding opportunities for their business vs. 26% of SBOs, 28% of business services companies and 22% of retailers.

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UnitedWeWork.org, a new job site, says that it’s seeking to connect job seekers with employers in a more personalized and humane way that’s free for everyone.  The model has been compared to that of the popular dating site eHarmony; instead of listing available jobs and applying to each one, job seekers create one profile which includes their skills, experience, education and desires and the job-matching network connects them with recruiters who are filling appropriate positions.

Similar to the idea of eHarmony’s matching technology, United We Work utilizes QuietAgent’s smart matching technology, which isn’t just based on job titles or keywords.  Intuitive yet complex, the site is perfect for anyone open to a career transition and/or relocation because the job seekers are matched with positions based on compatibility of skills and strengths – not just on past experience in that exact position.

UnitedWeWork sends members real-time status updates for each job seeker; allowing them to feel empowered by understanding what the process is; if the job has been filled, or if the employer needs more time to decide.

While anonymity is still a critical concern for some job seekers, every user is entirely anonymous until they choose to reveal their identity.  Additionally, each user’s profile can be set up to exclude any employers by domain names.

If you’re job hunting, it’s definitely worth checking out!

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I love this post from the
brilliant Leo Babauta, who writes the Zen
Habits blog.  Leo describes how to be happier and more creative by
returning your mindset to a simpler time, when you weren’t constrained by how
things should be.  He says: “As children, we are naturally
imaginative, curious, able to play without a worry in our minds. Some qualities
of young children that happen naturally:

• they live in the present
• they have no concerns about money, productivity, or
  being cool
• there are no limits to their imagination, except what
  they’ve been exposed to
• they play and lose themselves in play
• they create with abandon
• they are endlessly curious, and ask questions … without
  end
• they love showing off to their parents

We lose this childlike
nature, the nature we’re born with, because of society — it has certain
institutions and systems in place that beat childishness out of us, so we can
be more productive citizens and consumers. I think it’s unfortunate.  We
shouldn’t abandon all responsibilities, but we can learn a lot from children
and be more like them in some ways.Start by deciding to abandon caution and to
give this a try. Start by identifying the qualities of children you’d like to
emulate: curiosity, play, living in the moment, abandoning worries,
imagination, creativity, pure joy.

Observe children: Watch how they play, how they live,
how they create, how they ask questions. Sure, sometimes they do dumb things
like throw tantrums, but even in that you can see their pure abandonment of
everything but what is happening to them right now. Watch and learn.

Play with children: If you have some of your own, great.
If not, play with children of friends and family. Lose yourself in the play. Be
a dinosaur, or a gorilla, or a villain. Have a joyous time. Make them squeal in
delight, and feel free to do the same yourself.

Create like a child: Don’t be constrained with what
people expect, what you’re used to. Be wild and have fun. Imagine that things
can be different, that there are no limitations, and see what happens. Most of
your childlike drawings will be tossed in the trash, but some might be put up
on the fridge.

Be curious like a child:
Look at things with
a child’s eye, and ask questions you’ve never asked before, explore with a
beginner’s mind. Don’t be afraid to ask why, and what if, and why not?

Live in
the moment: Forget
about all you have to do. Forget about what happened yesterday, or that
conversation you had. Forget about that meeting that’s coming up, or those
deadlines. Just do, and be.”

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