CENTENNIAL, Colo., December 19, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– In the wake of a global pandemic, widespread staffing shortages, and declining enrollment, educational leaders face a complex and demanding landscape. Higher Ed Change introduces a new book, From Teacher to Leader: Paving Your Path to Education Administration by Dr. Eric Goodman and Dr. Kim Nugent. It is already making waves, reaching #1 bestseller status in multiple categories on Amazon, including Business Leadership Training, Education Administration, and School Management.
From Teacher to Leader provides a practical and inspiring guide for educators, faculty members, and aspiring school leaders who want to make a difference in the face of unprecedented challenges. The book offers a clear path to leadership, with step-by-step guidance, reflective questions, and practical exercises to help readers develop their leadership skills and reach their full potential.
“Historically, there has been little emphasis on investing in leadership development for educators and unleashing the leadership potential within every educator is the key to transforming education. Having a strong pipeline of future leaders is critical to ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of not only our education system but also our economy,” says Dr. Goodman.
“From Teacher to Leader is a grand collection of what is needed in educational leadership. It clarifies the task areas and competencies needed, has an A-Z structured pathway to navigate the shift in roles, includes insights from many who have taken this path, and the great learnings of the authors in their own transitions. Most importantly, throughout societies, the education sector has become more critical and disrupted by serious types of changes. Leadership in these organizations will be paramount!” -David W. Jamieson, Ph.D., Past President of: the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD now ATD) and the NTL Institute
“The approach of this book is a game-changer for any teacher ready to step into educational leadership.” – J.W. Wilson, Executive Director, The Learning Code Institute
About the Authors:
Dr. Eric Goodman: Educational leader, speaker, consultant, and coach with decades of experience. President of Higher Ed Change. Former leader of one of the nation’s largest college of business, now empowering educators and leaders.
Dr. Kim Nugent: Talent development expert, speaker and certified leadership coach. Passionate about mentoring and guiding aspiring leaders, including those in education.
They are available for media inquiries, speaking engagements and podcasts. In addition, they offer courses, workshops and resources to develop leadership skills.
There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
I have had my fair share of boring jobs.
In fact, in one of my former jobs, I think my biggest accomplishment was researching and subsequently applying to graduate school.
Having a lot of downtime at work can be really frustrating, especially if you feel like you have a lot more to offer than you’re being asked to give. If you’re frequently bored at work, it could be a sign that you need to make a change.
But, in the meantime (or if you’re waiting for a promotion at your current company) you could harness your boredom to do something more productive than scrolling through social media—like an activity that can boost your professional standing and career.
In this article, we will look at 25 things you can do when you’re bored at work that will not only make your day more pleasant, but will also benefit you professionally.
Before we start, if you find yourself bored at home instead of at work, the video below shares five productive ways you can use your leisure time to get more fulfillment out of life.
Let’s get started.
25 Career-Boosting Things to Do When You’re Bored at Work
1. Learn a New Skill
No matter how much you already know, there will always be endless things to learn. And, the more skills you learn, the more well-rounded you will be, allowing you to relate to more people and deepen your existing knowledge.
In fact, learning new things can help fight boredom by keeping your level of interest in various topics high, which can prevent you from getting bored in the first place.
You can even learn new skills that are relevant to your job, such as new ways to analyze data or how to communicate with co-workers from other countries.
Learning a new skill can break the cycle of monotony in your life. There are a variety of platforms that can teach you any skill you’d like to learn. Here are four suggestions to get you started:
2. Ask How You Can Help
While you may have excess downtime, your colleagues may not. Asking your supervisor or those around you what you can help out with will not only earn you brownie points, it will also give you some more projects to focus on during the day.
This can help you learn about what other people do in the company and broaden your perspective of your field. Also, your team-player reputation will spread–which will benefit you as long as you’re genuine about helping people and you don’t accept more work than you can reasonably handle.
3. Create a Long-Term Plan
I dread the “Where do you see yourself in five years?” question that is often asked in interviews because I don’t know. Things change so quickly and rarely go according to plan so I live on a bit more of a short-term basis.
However, I do know that long-term career planning is important so you have something you’re ultimately working toward. And, being bored at work is an ideal time to give this some thought.
Your long-term career plan can help you make better everyday professional decisions and help you determine what steps you should be taking today to set yourself up for a better tomorrow. You can also use this time to create SMART goals to help you stay focused and on track.
4. Create Strategy Ideas and Suggestions
It’s so easy for companies to fall back on doing things a certain way because that’s how they’ve always been done. But, our world evolves quickly, and even the processes that we do that aren’t digital could use a makeover every so often.
Are there any outdated procedures or forms that your company still uses? Or do you think you have a more efficient way of creating monthly reports or keeping track of clients’ requests or complaints? If so, develop an analysis of the current process and create a proposal using your new idea.
This will show your boss that you care, you’re not just “going through the motions” at work, and you have leadership potential because you’re trying to improve the way everyone works by taking the initiative to make positive changes.
It may seem like a longshot, but sometimes you just have to go for it in life. There’s no harm in going way outside of your comfort zone and writing an email to someone telling them how much you admire their work or career and asking them for advice.
And, while if this is a famous professional (like Bill Gates or Oprah), your odds of getting a response to your fan mail are low, but it really can’t hurt to put yourself out there.
And ultimately, it’s good practice to reach out to people you admire, especially if you’re doing so with the intent to tell them that.
6. Research and Apply to a Degree Program
Whether you’re in a position where you could quit your job and return to on-campus school full time or you need to look for an online degree program that you could try to work into your current work schedule, earning another degree is never a bad idea.
There is a lot of research that goes into applying to graduate programs beyond finding a school that offers the type of program you’re looking for. There’s financial aid to research, degree requirements, and details of that nature that you need to take into account as well.
You can also use your downtime at work to think about and write your personal statement for your application because this will definitely take some time.
You will also need to reach out to people to get your recommendation letters rolling and any transcripts from your past schools, which will take some time as well.
7. Work on Your Hobby
You know those lucky people who are able to turn their passion into a career? You may be able to do this too!
Whether you’re developing an Etsy store or you’re trying your hand at blogging, there are some things you can do at your desk to develop your hobby.
Having a hobby that you enjoy doing in your free time can help enrich your life.
And, if your hobby is definitely something that you could not do at work (like gardening), you can still use the time to research it and watch videos online about how you can improve whatever you’re working on.
If you’re bored at work because you don’t feel challenged enough in your position, create your own challenges to keep yourself feeling motivated and feeling like you’re accomplishing something.
This can be something like building a larger professional network or something bigger like taking on a project that everyone has been trying to avoid.
9. Join a Company Volunteer Group
Your company probably supports some local causes, and getting involved in any volunteer work they do is a great way to bond with co-workers that you may not directly work with, build your network by working with the charity or non-profit involved, and give back to your community.
Find out how you can get involved in the next charity auction, fundraising event, or volunteer opportunity by looking for any upcoming meetings and attending any of them that fit into your schedule.
Or, volunteer within your company by committing to helping with the annual company party, recruiting event, or other scheduled affair.
Helping out with something that’s outside of your job description but has to be done by someone can help win your co-workers’ appreciation and boost your reputation for being the good corporate citizen that you are.
10. Keep an Accomplishment Journal
Spend about ten minutes per day writing down the things that you think you’re doing well at work. Research has shown that doing so will increase your confidence in your job and help you gain a better understanding of your purpose.
This increased sense of professional engagement can help combat boredom as you do some self-reflection about your working style and areas for potential improvement, which can also increase your motivation to take on new projects at work.
Keeping a journal like this will also come in handy when you feel like it’s time to ask for a raise, apply for a promotion, or even help create a self-assessment at the end of the year.
The research also found that when people work in a de-cluttered environment, their productivity increases. Alternatively, when your desk is cluttered to the point that you can’t find what you need, you may lose valuable time during the day that you should be using to focus.
13. Clean Up Digitally
To increase your productivity at work when you’re busy and reduce the chances of losing any important digital files, clean up your desktop and organize everything into folders.
Upload important documents to the cloud and make a special folder for all of your professional papers– your resume, any documents that go in your CV, copies of your degrees, certifications, licenses, etc. This way if you want to apply to a job, you will have everything you need in one place to do so.
This will also help you know where your resume is at all times so you can update it on a regular basis. Finally, make a folder online of all of the business cards that you have lying around with your contacts’ information on them. This will reduce clutter in your desk and help you stay digitally organized.
14. Read a Professionally Inspiring Book
Reading will boost your career and your personal life, and there are a lot of books out there that can help you no matter where your professional life takes you. Here are some great suggestions for books that can help you both personally and professionally:
If you don’t want to read an entire book, check out Blinkist. This app provides executive summaries of business books for busy professionals.
The Blinkist team reads non-fictions books that can help you improve both personally and professionally, then they take out the key points, and explain them to the reader/listener in an easy-to-understand, 15-minute book summary.
If you’re interested in the summary and want to learn more, you can go on to read the whole book. But, if you just wanted to know the main points, Blinkist is a great way to get that information in a succinct and convenient way.
15. Watch TED Talks
TED talks can be motivating, inspirational, educational, and entertaining. These bite-sized videos offer something for everyone, whether you want to improve an area of your life, learn about something, or get an inspirational boost, you can start with a TED talk (and subsequently watch many more back to back).
This means that you’ll be more likely to remember the information that you learn on TED talks because it isn’t dry or boring, as the speaker is able to pull you in with an engaging lecture.
Whether you’re trying to learn a new skill in anticipation of a career change, or you’re just starting out in a new career, watching TED talks can help improve your confidence, interviewing techniques, and professional conduct, helping you continue to advance in your career.
And who knows, you might come across a TED talk that pushes you in a whole new professional direction.
16. Find a Mentor
If you have some extra time at work, research some potential mentors in your area or think about people from your past whom you consider to be successful and could potentially be your mentor.
Great professionals are born from those who have come before them, so you can benefit from spending time finding someone who could be your mentor.
An effective mentor is willing to teach everything that they know, and meet the mentee at their current level of experience in their professional development.
Think about the people you look up to in your company or profession and send out some “feeler” emails to get things going. Or, try to book an informational interview with someone who has your dream job.
Whatever you can do to learn from those who have already been where you are will help you advance in your career.
Or, you can be the mentor. See if your company offers a program for this, and if not, find a younger or less experienced co-worker and offer to help guide them during the early stages of their career.
17. Update Your LinkedIn Account
You can always update and optimize your LinkedIn profile by adding skills, updating your resume, and making new contacts. Update your profile picture if it’s outdated and your cover photo as well to reflect your current professional status.
Also, spend some time working on your headline. According to Forbes, this 120-character snippet should use the keywords that your target industry is most interested in. You could use your job title if it best relates to your ambitions for the future, or you could list some of your critical skills.
Your headline is often the first, and sometimes the only thing people read on your profile–and it’s used to judge whether or not a reader wants to move on to read your summary.
Your summary should also be maintained, as this is your chance to show that you’re well-versed in your industry. Your summary should be a narrative–not a clip from your resume–and should show your personality and your skills in about 40 words.
Finally, add as many skills as you can to your skills list to get more views on your profile and request recommendations and testimonials from former employers, clients, and colleagues to add to your credibility and offer a more comprehensive look at who you are as a professional.
18. Build a Professional Website
According to Workfolio, a marketing application development company, only 7% of jobseekers have a website, yet 56% of hiring managers value this personal branding tool over any other documents offered by prospective employees.
It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, having your own website that displays your work, skills, mission, and a bit about your personality is a great idea.
A well-designed website can work as a marketing tool for your personal brand, and provides you with the creative freedom to show your personality in a way that can’t be sensed through your resume.
Everything from your personal bio to your website’s design paints the viewer a picture of you, and offers recruiters a better opportunity than they can get from a resume and cover letter to determine if they want to offer you an interview.
You will want to develop your branding strategy, which means thinking about your site’s purpose, your intended audience, and tone of voice.
Take a look at some other people’s professional websites to get an idea of how they’re frequently laid out and look for ideas about how you may be able to create your own niche in your field.
Creating a website is easy and you don’t have to make it extremely intricate or extensive. And, once you’ve completed it, you will have a place people can easily go to see all of your best work, get your contact information and links to your social media pages, and learn more about what you do.
This video will help walk you through creating your own personal resume/portfolio website.
19. Make Sure You’re Getting All of Your Benefits
Your employer (especially if you work for a big company) may offer some benefits that you’re not aware of and are therefore not taking advantage of.
For example, many employers offer discount memberships to gyms or tuition reimbursement in addition to flexible spending accounts for your medical needs and even legal services.
In particular, look for the benefits that your employer offers that are related to continuous education. While you’re in a job, you want to get all of the education/certificates/licenses that you can, especially if you’re doing so on the company’s dime.
And, if you can find a class that is directly related to your job, your company may even pay for your tuition to enroll.
If you’re not sure about all of the benefits that are available to you, take the time to review your benefits handbook to see if anything new has been added since you started your job. Take advantage of any and everything you’re entitled to as an employee!
20. Create a New Role for Yourself
If things at work are a bit stagnant, do some creating and innovating. Is there something that you can do that will have a lasting effect on yourself and your company?
If you’re working in a dead-end position, create a new role and go ahead and hire yourself into it. Find a gap that needs to be filled somewhere–something that should be done or something that no one has thought about before that would benefit the company and take ownership of the task.
You might need to check with your supervisor first, but sometimes it’s ok to just start something if it’s constructive and let your superiors know later. If whatever you’re doing is good for the business, and the people in leadership positions are smart, they’ll be glad you took the initiative.
Go through all of your emails (and unsubscribe from any that you can) until it’s empty. There may be some that you need to flag if they’re important or part of an ongoing project that you’ll need to come back to later, but get your inbox down to as few emails as possible.
Create folders for emails that you want to save for CYA purposes and make a temporary folder for tasks that need to be addressed later. Once your inbox is clean, try to keep it empty moving forward.
22. Create Training Documents for New Employees
What material do you wish you had when you were first starting out at your job? I have frequently created “how-to” guides in past jobs with step-by-step instructions and screenshots so I only had to be shown how to do something once, which has always come in handy.
If you’re bored at work, create some guides or documents like this to help train people who come on board in the future.
Or, look for some areas in your department that could use a manual of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for repetitive tasks so new employees can be given this document to help save time on training.
This is a good way to show that you can take initiative and you have good leadership skills, which could potentially set you up for a promotion.
23. Create Systems
You may be bored right now, but I’m willing to bet that there are times that you wish you were bored because you have so much on your plate. If so, take your downtime to create systems to make your life easier when work is chaotic.
For example, do you respond to the same kind of email requests on a regular basis? Write a template to use so you can cut and paste and fill in any variable blanks (name, account number, etc.) moving forward.
You can systematize or streamline any task that you have to do frequently at work, and these things are certainly worth spending a bit of time on now to save you time in the future.
24. Research Upcoming Conferences
A great way to increase your knowledge of your industry and grow your network is to attend a relevant conference. Plus, if you find a professional conference that could help you in your current position, your company will likely even foot the bill.
While you’re at a conference, you’ll learn about innovations in your field, whether that’s new equipment, new ideas, or new techniques you can use.
You will get the chance to learn directly from trailblazers in your industry and become familiar with some of the most influential thought-leaders. You may even get to talk to these experienced professionals about how you could improve your own work.
Upon returning from a conference, you’ll be eager to put your new knowledge to work and teach your co-workers about what you’ve learned.
25. Grab Lunch with a Colleague
And if not a colleague, ask your boss out to lunch or someone you know who works at a different company who does something you may want to do in the future. Use this common break to network with other professionals so you can pave the way for better opportunities for your future.
Staying at your desk for lunch is a waste of a very powerful hour–and it can even make you feel tired and disconnected from other professionals. Studies have found that eating with co-workers can increase your sense of belongingness on your team and improve overall team performance.
Leaving your workspace during your lunch hour will also give you a boost of energy to help you get through the afternoon and combat decreased motivation that can result from feeling fatigued.
Final Thoughts on What to Do When Bored at Work
As you can see, there are a lot of constructive things that you can do with your time while you’re bored at work. Engaging in these activities will help prevent you from feeling like you have no purpose or you’re wasting your time in your career.
You shouldn’t overlook feelings of boredom at work because letting your boredom continue could put your happiness and mental health on the line.
Make a change to gain enthusiasm again about your job and your life.
And if you’re still looking for other stuff to when boredom strikes you, be sure to check out these articles:
Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.
This month, TeachAI, an initiative led by Code.org, ETS, the International Society of Technology in Education, Khan Academy, and the World Economic Forum, launched an AI Guidance for Schools toolkit to help education systems globally address gaps in AI guidance and policy. This resource was co-authored by Code.org, CoSN, Digital Promise, European EdTech Alliance, and PACE with input and review from policymakers, school leaders, teachers and leading tech organizations.
A recent global survey by UNESCO found that only seven percent of schools worldwide provided guidance on the proper use of AI in classrooms. The toolkit provides a framework for incorporating AI in education, real-world policy examples, sample guidance language, and resources aimed at staff, parents, and students.
Create your Free Account to Continue Reading
eSchool News is Free for qualified educators. Sign up or login to access all our K-12 news and resources.
Please confirm your email address
More News from eSchool News
A new survey of K-8 teachers and students from LEGO Education found that nearly all (98 percent) of students say purposeful play helps them learn and the majority (96 percent) of teachers believe it’s more effective than traditional methods
Teacher burnout is a real and growing challenge for US K–12 schools. Last year, school district leaders reported a 4 percent increase in teacher turnover according to a nationally representative survey from RAND.
Anthony Salcito, Chief Institution Business Officer at Nerdy, touches upon the impact of the pandemic on education, the role of teachers, the evolution and challenges of tutoring in the education landscape, and, of course, the potential of AI in education.
Tom Lamont is the painting and design technology instructor at Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School (BVT), in Upton, Massachusetts. Mr. Lamont offers his vocational high school students a unique hands-on opportunity to learn about the design industry and to prepare for jobs in the workforce.
While some of the recent efforts focused on recruiting more teachers of color have paid off, keeping those teachers in our schools and classrooms is an urgent challenge.
You’ve heard all the news about kids using ChatGPT to cheat, but there’s another side to this story. Just as the internet revolutionized education, AI will be the next game-changer.
Education is changing because the world is changing. During the pandemic, teachers and students rapidly adopted new tools to pivot to remote and hybrid learning.
Now in his 10th year of teaching, John Arthur’s students have gained national recognition as champions for children and immigrants like them through music videos and other digital content they create and share across platforms.
I believe that the low supply of STEM professionals can be attributed to significant barriers to entry originating in educational settings–this is to no fault of teachers and administrators, but how the educational system is structured.
The benefits of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education are numerous, and one would be hard-pressed to find a school district that doesn’t have a project, initiative, class, or lesson with the acronym in its title.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
No matter what industry you’re in, everyone can benefit from attending a professional conference. These large, multi-day gatherings are perfect opportunities to attend some seminars, learn a few things about where your industry is going, and perhaps most importantly, network with others in your space.
However, if you’re new to attending industry conferences, you may not know how best to employ the limited time you have at one. The truth is, not everyone walks away from a conference having seized the same opportunities as someone who walked in with a game plan. So, in this article, you’ll find five ways to make the most out of the marketing, networking and personal and professional development opportunities a professional conference affords you.
1. Make a plan
The first step you’ll want to take is to make a plan for yourself well before the conference even begins. There’s no doubt that a week-long conference held at a huge hotel can seem pretty confusing and intimidating. After all, how are you really going to know where to go, which seminars to attend, who to talk to and where to catch people during the bustle of a conference?
This is where planning is going to save you. Take some time beforehand to study the conference’s itinerary, participate in pre-conference discussions online and learn more about speakers and other attendees with whom you may want to network. Planning like this is going to save you a lot of time in the long run.
2. Attend after-hours networking events and mixers
This tip is all about the networking portion of professional conferences, arguably one of the most important parts. Conferences that run for multiple days often feature some sort of social mixers or meet-and-greets for attendees in the evening hours. These are prime opportunities to get yourself out there and network with others in your industry.
Be sure to bring your business cards to hand out or, if you’re an author, give away some free copies of your book. That book can serve as your business card at professional events such as these mixers. An autographed book — put in the hands of potential clients, collaborators or influencers you want to work with — is light years ahead of just another business card that many people would probably lose or forget about anyway. A book means people will remember you.
Even if you don’t have a book to hand out, though, these after-hours networking mixers are a perfect way to spend some time at your next conference.
The third tip to remember for making the most out of a conference is to spend time walking the hallways outside the seminar rooms. The seminars and Q&As all have their place at a conference, but there’s a structure to them that decorum demands you follow. You’ll sit respectfully and hear what the speakers are saying.
In the hallways, though, you’re going to meet people by surprise, have ad-libbed conversations, make business dealings and set up collaborations for the future. It can seem challenging to plan out something like this for yourself. After all, meeting up with other attendees in the hallways can seem like it just comes down to chance. In fact, there are things you can do to guide yourself into some existing hallways meetups, from following certain attendees’ hashtags or social posts to observing what others are doing outside of the seminar time slots.
At professional conferences, it pays to keep in mind that learning happens in the seminar rooms, but magic happens in the hallways.
You should definitely take time to attend the workshops and seminars on offer at your conference, and there’s a two-pronged strategy that you can employ here. On one hand, you should attend seminars on subjects that are unfamiliar to you but with which you’d like to become more familiar. On the other hand, make time to attend seminars on subjects that you already teach or practice yourself.
The reason is that other people in your industry could have different life experiences that cause them to have a perspective on your topic that you’ve never considered before. Maybe these speakers say something more clearly or succinctly than you ever have. Their unique insights could unlock something in you and inspire you to teach your subject in their way from now on.
This isn’t about stealing someone’s style. It’s about seeing whether another member of your own industry can say something that raises a nugget of wisdom out of your unconscious knowledge bank and into your conscious mind. That way, you can actively start to use it and become more competitive.
Finally, you’re going to want to be flexible with your schedule at these conferences. As mentioned, you should make a plan for attending your conference, but at the same time, you want to keep an open mind to the fact that schedules can change at any time. You may not make it to a seminar that you planned to attend, be it for some mundane snafu or the fact that you had such a long and engaging conversation with someone you met in the hallway that you missed the time slot.
That’s okay! It’s better to go with the flow anyway because that’s often how the best personal connections form.
Conferences can spur your personal and professional growth
Whether you’re an industry veteran or just getting into your game, conferences in your market niche can be a huge boon to your personal and professional development. From expert seminars to impromptu hallway networking, conferences can be the key to unlocking a new level of growth for you. Make sure you make the most out of your next one.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., December 22, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Generation USA, a national workforce development nonprofit, honored graduates on Nov. 2, 2022, its first in-person ceremony since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Jacksonville, FL. The event celebrated 17 virtual and in-person graduates of the Credit Union Members Service Specialist and Assistant Medical Administrative Generation training programs while commemorating the organization’s new offices and classroom space in the Beaver Street Enterprise Center.
“It takes confidence and a belief in yourself to get you to this moment, but to the next moment, it takes everyone else’s belief in you,” said Samantha Beeler, President of the League of Southeastern Credit Union and Affiliates, during her address as Keynote Speaker for the event. “The secret sauce is how today came together, in that a lot of people believed in you.”
Other attendees of the graduation ceremony included Career Source Northeast Florida and local business and community partners. After the ceremony, Generation provided a tour of its new Administrative wing, Student Center, conference room, and classrooms for in-person learning and meetings. Designers tailored the space to meet Generation’s unique specifications thanks to financing provided by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a strong promoter of economic development throughout Jacksonville’s Rail Yard District, where the offices are situated.
The Beaver Street Enterprise Center opened in 2003 as an initiative of the nonprofit FreshMinistries, Inc., which focuses on worldwide job training, health, and entrepreneurship. It offers space and resources to more than 50 entrepreneurs in two buildings, as well as technical support to hundreds of offsite small business owners. Generation’s 4,000 square feet of office space occupies the last unfinished portion of the Beaver Street Enterprise Center’s 15,000-square-foot building at 728 Blanche Street.
“We are very pleased to welcome Generation USA to Beaver Street,” said Beaver Street Enterprise Center Executive Director Terrance Brisbane. “Its focus on workforce development across a broad range of fields contributes in powerful ways to companies large and small throughout Florida. Our organizations work to help individuals and businesses thrive, and we will do all we can to support Generation’s efforts in Jacksonville.”
Generation USA is a national workforce development nonprofit offering free online job training to help individuals thrive in what can be inaccessible careers for some. Its training and free technical education programs provide students with the skills and knowledge necessary to earn jobs in medical administration, digital marketing, web development, and credit services. To learn more about the organization’s mission and how it is helping to build a qualified Generation Now Network for the up-and-coming youth demographic, visit https://usa.generation.org/.
About Generation
Generation is a nonprofit that transforms education into employment systems to prepare, place and support people into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible. The global pandemic has led to an unprecedented surge in unemployment. Even before the pandemic, more than 75 million young adults were out of work globally and three times as many were underemployed — and 375 million workers of all ages needed to learn new skills by 2030. At the same time, certain jobs remain in high demand, and 40 percent of employers say a skills shortage leaves them with entry-level vacancies. To date, more than 38,000 people have graduated from Generation programs, which prepare them for meaningful careers in 14 countries. Generation works with more than 3,900 employer partners and many implementation partners and funders. For more, visit usa.generation.org.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As more companies push for the physical return of employees in the office, many of us still work remotely, at least part-time. Working in isolation can make it difficult to fit into a company and move up the ranks. It’s more difficult to stay top of mind, and this can result in proximity bias when it comes to career advancement and securing that promotion. This means you must be proactive in order to ensure your professional development is not stalled due to the work-from-home or hybrid arrangement. Here are five strategies for staying visible.
1. Do not ever give up the office entirely
Your company may not require you to come into the office, but that does not mean you should not come in at all. Find reasons for your superiors and colleagues to see your face. Schedule a standing monthly meeting in person with your boss or a lunch date with co-workers. You can also just pick a day once or twice a month to simply go into the office and work there instead of in your home office. This will prevent people from forgetting about you and keep you in the loop on any goings on with your department and company that may not be relayed by way of a formal announcement. It will keep you current with office news.
Post Covid-19, some companies have given up their physical offices altogether. If you don’t have an office, be proactive and set up a meet-up with coworkers who live nearby. The meet-up could be over a meal, or perhaps an activity together such as a morning volunteering with a local organization.
It is crucial that you have regular remote status meetings with your superiors. If this is not something your boss sets up on their own with you as a remote employee, you should take the initiative to set this up on your own. It does not have to be long or involved, but you must have virtual facetime to share your progress on your projects, inquire about any plum assignments or projects that you may want to advocate for and remind your boss of your accomplishments. Additionally, make sure you are documenting your achievements for that end-of-the-year review. Do not assume your boss will remember all your successes regarding raises and promotions.
3. Take advantage of opportunities in virtual meetings
If you are remote, you no longer have those happenstance “water cooler” conversations. Make sure you are signing on to virtual team meetings early so that as people log on, you can have a bit of small talk with your colleagues about non-work-related topics. If possible, ask if anyone can stay on at the end of the meeting to chat with you. Ask for advice or input on a project you are working on at the time. This can help you with innovative ideas and solutions and has the additional benefit of making others feel needed and included by asking for their advice.
4. Create your own connection opportunities
If you are local but still a remote employee, ask one of your colleagues to have lunch or breakfast in person. Think about having a group event at your home to help you stay connected to your co-workers. If you are geographically far from the physical office in another part of the country, schedule a virtual one-on-one once a week with someone in your department or a different department to continue to grow your intracompany network. Additionally, if you are traveling and will be close to a physical office of your company, use it as an opportunity to schedule an in-person meeting.
5. Advocate for in-person professional development
It is crucial to your professional development to stay abreast of innovations in your industry. While there are still opportunities for webinars and conferences online, you should negotiate one or two in-person conferences to attend each year to stay current and stay connected. Negotiating one or two industry-related organizations to join is a great idea as well. Even if you work from home, it is helpful to have a monthly in-person event where you see industry colleagues. These types of professional development gatherings are likely where your next opportunity will stem from a new client, vendor, speaking gig or even a new job altogether.
With the changing professional climate post-pandemic, you will have to be more creative and deliberate about advancing your own career. Make sure you use these strategies to stay top of mind and ask for opportunities to grow and connect, rather than waiting for those opportunities to come to you.
Comparably.com Ranks Periscope Data Among Best Companies for Professional Development, Leadership Team, Diversity and Women
SAN FRANCISCO, June 8, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Periscope Data, the world’s first software platform built to address the complete analytics lifecycle, has been recognized by Comparably.com as one of the top companies in the U.S. in several categories in its latest rankings. As a reflection of its dedication to building a collaborative, dynamic and inclusive culture, Periscope Data was recognized as one of the top companies for professional development and its leadership team, while CEO Harry Glaser was voted one of the Best CEOs for female employees and for diversity.
Comparably’s ratings reflect employee perspectives on the CEO’s leadership style and effectiveness across several categories. Periscope Data was one of only four small-to-mid-sized companies to appear on all four of these lists.
These rankings are an excellent reflection of the priorities we’ve set when building a positive culture at Periscope Data. Developing a business of people who are kind, positive, inclusive, helpful and transparent doesn’t just impact our day-to-day work environment, it absolutely makes an impact in improving our business and building a better product for our clients. I’m very excited about the path ahead for Periscope Data and proud of the team we’ve built.
Harry Glaser, Co-Founder and CEO of Periscope Data
“2018 is the year in which women across the country stood up and spoke out against gender discrimination, pay inequality and harassment in the workplace,” said Jason Nazar, Comparably CEO. “Comparably’s Best CEOs for Women awards recognizes the leaders that female employees ranked as the best of the best. These CEOs create cultures that support and encourage women, and we hope it will motivate other leaders to do the same.”
“These rankings are an excellent reflection of the priorities we’ve set when building a positive culture at Periscope Data,” said Harry Glaser, CEO and co-founder of Periscope Data. “Developing a business of people who are kind, positive, inclusive, helpful and transparent doesn’t just impact our day-to-day work environment, it absolutely makes an impact in improving our business and building a better product for our clients. I’m very excited about the path ahead for Periscope Data and proud of the team we’ve built.”
Today’s recognition is only the latest in a string of recognitions for Periscope Data: the company was recently named among the 2018 Best Places to Work by the San Francisco Business Times and its customer solutions team was recognized by the Stevie Awards as one of the top support teams in the country. In 2017, Periscope Data ranked in Comparably’s top five percent of companies for employee happiness, leadership, retention, executive team, women, compensation, work culture and diversity.
Periscope Data has seen dramatic growth in the first few months of 2018 – its Unified Data Platform handles more than 20 million queries per day, by data teams at more than 1,000 companies, with more customers joining every day. Periscope Data introduced two major enhancements to its platform in the past several months – data discovery for business, its new way for business users to discover insights faster without the need for proprietary data modeling languages, and integration with Python and R directly within Periscope Data’s platform to enable more powerful data analysis.
About Periscope Data
Periscope Data builds software that turns data teams into superheroes. Its Unified Data Platform is the industry’s first to address the complete analytics lifecycle, allowing data teams to ingest, store, analyze, visualize and report on data all from one connected platform. This empowers them to collaborate and drive faster insight while allowing businesses to foster a data-driven culture around a single source of truth. Periscope Data serves more than 1,000 customers globally, including Adobe, Crunchbase, EY, Flexport, New Relic, Supercell, Tinder and ZipRecruiter.
DENVER, COLORADO, October 19, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– In conjunction with the launch of its online soft skills curriculum, PAIRIN announced that the company is partnering with Credly to offer digital badges for its online courses. As part of a mutual agreement, Credly will feature PAIRIN’s soft skills assessment and training programs as a complement to the digital credentials issued by associations, education institutions and employers on the Credly platform.
PAIRIN’s online curriculum, which personalizes content based on individual skills gaps and career goals, includes 300 micro-lessons to develop 54 soft skills. The company’s partnership with Credly will allow learners to receive digital badges that can be embedded in resumes, e-portfolios, emails, and websites, and shared on professional and social networks, like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to demonstrate their completion of the training and competency in a skill.
We are excited that through this partnership, Credly’s and PAIRIN’s customers can now benefit from both the most comprehensive soft skills curriculum and the leading digital badging platform.
Michael Simpson, PAIRIN CEO
Unlike paper-based certifications, digital badges are embedded with relevant “metadata” such as the badge title, description, date earned, issuer and recipient name. PAIRIN’s partnership with Credly allows the company to issue portable and secure credentials that empower earners and make learned skills more transparent. In a world where paper diplomas and certificates are often tucked in a file or hung on an office wall with no visibility to potential employers or partners, digital badges create a visible and valuable offering for job seekers and hiring managers alike.
“Credly’s leadership and expertise in digital badging make them the perfect partner to extend this offering to all individuals who complete our online soft skills courses,” said Michael Simpson, CEO of PAIRIN. “We are excited that through this partnership, Credly’s and PAIRIN’s customers can now benefit from both the most comprehensive soft skills curriculum and the leading digital badging platform,” Michael added.
“Employers consistently tell us that soft skills are essential to hiring decisions but that they are hard to discern from a traditional resume,” said Jonathan Finkelstein, founder and CEO of Credly. “PAIRIN’s integration of verified credentials for soft skills attainment helps address this issue by delivering a trusted and validated signal of proficiency to employers and managers.”
About PAIRIN
PAIRIN is a social enterprise software company whose mission is to make education relevant and hiring equitable. The PAIRIN Readiness Management SystemTM is the world’s first industry independent cloud-based solution for integrating soft skills development and matching into any program or company. Recognized as one of “The Top 50 Coolest New Companies in America” by Business Insider in 2015, winner of the 2017 Denver Chamber of Commerce Start-Up of the Year award and the 2017 Colorado Companies to Watch, PAIRIN continues to lead the skills-based talent pipeline evolution for education and industry. Find out more at www.PAIRIN.com.
About Credly
Credly is a leading digital credential service provider, helping the world recognize lifelong achievement with the most popular platforms for verifying, sharing and managing digital credentials and badges. The enterprise-class system allows organizations to officially verify skills and competencies; distribute portable and secure digital credentials and open badges; and gain actionable data and insights. Thousands of education institutions, industry associations, employers and workforce development programs use Credly to make achievements visible. For more information about Credly, visit credly.com.
