The Job Seekers Guide to Mindfulness

The Job Seekers Guide to MindfulnessThe Job Seekers Guide to Mindfulness2Mindfulness is a concept that has rapidly become mainstream in the past few years, with many people jumping on board and practicing it on a daily basis. By using a guide to mindfulness and making it a part of your daily living, you can learn to decrease your stress and formulate a different perspective for a range of obstacles.If you arent familiar with the term, mindfulness is the basic practice of being in the moment and doing so without judgment. By being mindful, you are able to let go of preconceived notions, stressors, and inhibitors by focusing on the things around you and the specific task at hand. For instance, stop reading and focus on where you are, what you hear, what you see, what you smell, and what you feel. Think about the tiniest of details surrounding you and being mindful of life buzzing around you, and do so without judgment- simply observe.Thats being mindful.For job seekers, this can be a g reat way to stay focused on a job search without getting overwhelmed or stressed out. Check out the guide to mindfulness for job seekers to keep yourself in the moment.Here are five ways jobs seekers can use mindfulness in their job search1. Handle RejectionJob searching can get really difficult when you get rejection after rejection. And, such responses can easily chip away at your motivation. By using mindfulness, you can let go of the internal voice trying to beat you down. Focus on the goals you have met, the positive outcomes you have seen, and the strides you have made in your job search.2. Be DecisiveFor many job seekers, making a quick decision can seem too risky. But in a job search, quick decisions are necessary- especially when its a position youve been waiting to become available. Use mindfulness to let go of the fear and make those rapid decisions, and give yourself some credit for taking a chance when your mind was telling you to back away. You never know, that job cou ld be with your future employer.3. Dont JudgeWe are all human, and our brains have the capacity to make instant judgments both about our surroundings and ourselves in those surroundings. Use mindfulness to bring this harmful practice to a halt. Dont judge employers or job postings in an instant. Take some time to learn mora about the company and how you would fit in there.When it comes to internal judgments, dont be so harsh on yourself. No, you might not have EVERY qualification needed in the job description, but if youre close, go for it. You might be exactly what the employer is looking for to fill the vacancy.4. Set IntentionsAnother great way to stay mindful in your job search is by setting intentions. Like goals, intentions are used to hold you accountable, but intentions keep you in the moment. Set intentions that challenge you, but help you to focus on your search. One example might be applying to five employers youve always admired.Looking for an employer that offers work f lexibility? Check out the top companies with remote work in 2015.5. Be AwareAbove all else, remember to take a breather and be aware of the moment. By refocusing yourself on what your senses are experiencing at the time, you are able to shed the judgments, stress, and thoughts holding you idle.Learning that you are not your job search or the results you get is important, and mindfulness can help with that. It takes time to become proficient. If you need help getting started, or pulling yourself into the present, check out the different desktop and mobile applications available. Youll likely find something that will help kick-start your mindfulness journey, while easing your job search stress.Readers, what tips would you add to a job seekers guide to mindfulness? Do you practice mindfulness, and how often? Tell us in the comments below

Many more Americans now believe sexual harassment at work is a serious problem

Many more Americans now believe sexual harassment at work is a serious problemMany more Americans now believe sexual harassment at work is a serious problemWith the Harvey Weinstein scandaland others boiling over in recent weeks - combined with the viralMeToo social media movementfollowing in the scandals wake - findings from a new Washington Post-ABC News pollshow a significant change in public attitudes about sexual harassment 64% of Americans now consider sexual harassment of women at work a serious problem in the U.S., up from 47% back in 2011.More Americans say they take sexual harassment at work seriouslyFor the Washington Post-ABC News poll, 1,260 adults in the U.S. were surveyed. Thirty percent of women said theyve gotten unwanted sexual advances from a man working at the same company, while 23% of women said a man who had influence over their job did this to them.The poll found that 42% of women on the receiving end of unwanted sexual advances from a man with the influence over their work situation told someone in a supervisory position there, while 58% did not.Not always easy to speak upIts not always easy to speak up at work once something happens - telling someone about it can pose significant challenges.A 2016 report by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that 75% of employees who spoke out against workplace mistreatment faced some form of retaliation.Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Womens Law Center, told The Washington Postabout why sexual harassment cases arent always brought to light.Theres a range of reasons why people dont report. One big one is that retaliation often accompanies harassment. People who come forward risk isolation and shaming, and they risk short or long-term damage to their careers, Graves told the Post.Thats how workplace perpetrators slip through the cracks.These feelings were echoed in the Washington Post-ABC News polls findings that 65% of respondents said they believe that a ma n who sexually harasses a female coworker usually gets away with it, versus 29% who said he suffers consequences for it.Workers look to employers to step inWorkers largely believe that its up to employers to step in.A recent survey of 508 U.S. adults found that 65% of them agreed that sexual harassment at work is the responsibility of the company to prevent or solve, while 28% thought this fell on the people involved.What this means in the context of theMeToo social media movementAlthough women like former Fox News Network host Gretchen Carlsonand others have spoken up about unwanted sexual advances at work in the past,the findingthat more Americans think sexual harassment of women at work is a serious problem than before speaks to the increased volume of people coming forward about this type of behavior in recent weeks.As the MeToo movementgained steam on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, many peoples friends and favorite celebrities related that theyve experiences sexual assault and/or harassment.Recode reported yesterday that, according to Facebook, more than 45 percent of people in the U.S. are friends with someone who has posted a Me too status.

Close those tabs Switching between applications ruins your productivity

Close those tabs Switching between applications ruins your productivityClose those tabs Switching between applications ruins your productivitySwitching from email to Chrome to Word to WordPress and back again isnt multitasking, its just torching your productivity and increasing the chance youll make a mistake, a new study finds.The study from Pegasystems, a software company, analyzed nearly 5 million hours of desktop activity of British operational support employees of 35 global companies across 11 industries, who mostly perform back office (non-client-facing) work, data entry, or customer support center (also known as contact center) tasks.Email wasnt very helpful in getting work done for unterstellung particular types of workers. While people use email to manage tasks, it doesnt really contribute to production, the study found. Nevertheless, workers checked their email 10 times an hour. While email was used during 12% of workers active work time, only 34% of that percentage contrib uted to production. Workers had a 22% error rate when working in email applications.Longer hours, more mistakesThe study found that more mistakes were made the longer someone worked. People with longer shifts averaged 9% more mistakes than people with shorter shifts. Tuesdays are the days with the most mistakes because shifts tend to run longer on Tuesdays and Fridays.More switching, more mistakesThe real enemy of workers time, stress level, and productivity was the number of applications they were expected to use, and the constant back-and-forth that using them required. The amount of toggling between applications that the average worker in this study performed was truly mind-boggling they switched applications 1,100 times in a day, going between as many as 35 different applications in one shift.Not surprisingly, workers using 30 different applications or more have a 28% high error rate than those using fewer programs.With all these applications, workers often need to transfer data between them they copy-and-paste 134 times a day.In some industries at least, it seems that the desktop has become unnecessarily complicated. Management has followed a trend of becoming entranced by every new program bearing promises and bells and whistles its hard to say what will reverse that and encourage them to scale back.