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Book review: Start with why

By / August 17, 2020

‘Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action‘, written by Simon Sinek, carefully illustrates examples of leaders such as Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King and Sam Walton, who stand out from everyone else for one simple reason… They always start with WHY. As a whole, I enjoyed reading ‘start with why’ finding it a quick, easy yet catchy read. I did, however, have a few reservations and criticism, which are outlined below. But first, I will introduce you to Sinek’s main ideas/the idea’s that most inspired me. There are only two ways to influence behavior I don’t …

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How to write a CV: 10 steps to success

By / August 18, 2020

According to Glassdoor, a job posting will get over 250 applications, each with good CVs (short for curriculum vitae) attached. Generally speaking, around four to six of the applicants will get an interview. But, of course, only one of those 250 applicants will be lucky enough to get the job. So, how do you make your CV, which is normally the first thing employers will read about you, stand out from the 249 others? 1. Tailor your CV It is so important to tailor your CV specifically to the job that you are applying for. You should not be just …

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A productive lunch hour: 5 tips on what to do

By / August 17, 2020

How productive is your lunch hour and how do you spend it? ?  Do you quickly gobble down your sandwich whilst still typing away at your desk? Or, do you spend the hour aimlessly scrolling through social media, stuck in the dark and dingy staff room? Do you fuel up on a strong black coffee and a bar chocolate? Now, how do you feel after this lunch hour? Drained? Tired? Uninspired?  The chances are, after this unproductive hour during the working day, you will not return to your desk feeling energized, motivated or inspired for the afternoon ahead. So, how …

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Why writing a cover letter will be the best decision you’ll ever make

By / August 18, 2020

We all know that writing a CV is so important in your job search. However, 53% of employers think a resume is simply just not enough to grab their attention. Therefore, you should be attaching a cover letter to your job application to ensure that you stand out from the crowd. Yet, incredibly surprisingly, only a tiny 47% of job seekers attach cover letters to their application. And all this means is that over half of you are missing out on the opportunity to really WOW employers. Tips for writing a cover letter I can speak from experience that knowing …

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Managing COVID-19 anxiety while at work

By / August 6, 2020

It is undoubtable that coronavirus anxiety has impacted the lives of every single one of us in ways that we could never have imagined.  But with all of the obvious negatives, a worldwide lockdown (with some countries introducing strict curfews and quarantines) has had some positives. We had more time to relax. More time do the things we love. We spent time with our families. And we have increased our skill set, with many of us taking up new hobbies. However, unfortunately this worldwide lockdown has also increased our anxiety levels. In the US, 3 out of 5 Americans are …

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Personality Assessments for the Workplace: a Scientific Review of 13 Top Models

By / August 18, 2020

In this blog post we’ll go through a comprehensive review of 13 of the most popular personality assessments that are being used in the workplace setting. We compare the different models and assess their validity, reliability, cost and overall applicability to both employers and job seekers. Ready? Let’s get into it! “Trait vs. State” Workplace Personality Assessments First a primer on personality assessments in general…  You may recall from my other posts that personality has two key components: trait-based and state-based. Generally speaking (and please don’t take offense to this), state-based personality is far too complex to measure for the …

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five factor model

The “Big Five” model of Personality: an introduction and review

By / July 21, 2020

The Big Five is a trait-based model of personality that proposes that human personality can be measured across five broad personality traits. The trait theory, which is different to the type theory of personality, proposes that traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time and situations differ across individuals and influence human behavior. There are different trait perspectives to personality and there has always been, and most likely always will be, a disagreement on exactly how many personality traits should be measured to explain human behavior. Some psychologists argue that using three traits is enough to describe …

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Trait Theory vs. State Theory: Why we shouldn’t confuse our personality with our response to situations

By / July 21, 2020

Personality is becoming increasingly more popular, with many corporations looking at personality when it comes to hiring and building culture.  Indeed personality is a hot topic, and individual interest in personality assessment has created an explosion in the volume of both discussion and personality testing online. In recent years, both practitioners and researchers have become obsessed with incorporating our personality and behavior into many elements of the workplace. But before we get much further, let’s first understand what exactly “personality” is in the first place. In his book “The Personality Puzzle”, Dr. David Funder  defined personality as “an individual’s characteristic …

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The Tiny Correlation between Income and Happiness: Money CAN buy you happiness, but only up to a certain amount

By / July 21, 2020

‘Money makes the world go around’, a phrase most of us have believed since we were children. We are all spurred on by the simple fact that we believe that money can buy us happiness… but is the link between how much money we earn and our happiness really just an illusion? Well, it is undeniable that money will make you happier, hence the popular and generations-long belief. In fact, a huge survey in 2010 in the United states found that household income was indeed related to our life satisfaction. However, despite our ingrained belief that we can only be …

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A Review of ‘Choosing Your Career: Proven Strategies for a Satisfying Life’

By / July 21, 2020

Today’s career book review looks at “Choose Your Career: Strategies for a Satisfying Life” by Janet Scarborough Civitelli, PhD.  In this book, Civitelli draws on the experience and advice of fifteen different career experts. A quick bit about the author…  Janet Scarborough Civitelli, who has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas, has over 19 years experience in providing career coaching and counseling services.  She has recently completed the humungous task of writing the book ‘Choosing your career: strategies for a satisfying life’, and I have been lucky enough to spend some time reading and reviewing it. Before …

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