Depending on who you talk to there is a vast difference of opinions on cover letters. Do you need them? Are they worth your time? Some jobs require them, and some don’t. As someone who has served on many hiring panels in the federal government, I can tell you that the cover letter still holds tremendous value.
Hustle culture is killing us, both literally and figuratively. This is a product of societal norms imposed on us by a system that values numbers over people. If we aren’t constantly raising the bar at all times then we are expendable. Companies and organizations use people until they burn out. Then they replace them with someone who has yet to burn out. Good for the numbers, terrible for the culture.
Why are we so afraid of asking for something and being told no? We worry and obsess about the possibility of rejection so much that it often freezes us from asking for something in the first place. The reality is that the consequences of asking for something and not getting it are virtually zero in most cases. Still, we worry about how people will perceive us, or maybe more importantly, how we will perceive ourselves.
Developing exercises for training sessions can be a big challenge. If we get complacent we can fall into the rut of the same old style of training. We go into a conference room, sit down around a table and stare blankly at a power point until the trainer releases us mercifully, not knowing what happened over the past couple of hours.
For training to be most effective, it needs to be interactive and memorable. One of the most memorable trainings I can remember vividly happens to be one I took online several years ago. Now what could be so vivid about an online training course you ask? This wasn’t any online class, this was Harvard University Computer Science Professor David Malan’s CS50: Introduction to Computer Science course which is open to anyone who wants to take it.
Last week, the agency that I work for, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lost over 27,000 years of experience when about 1,000 people voluntarily retired early. Among those were several of my mentors that helped me to get where I am today. Each one brought a different perspective and gave me new tools to put in my toolbox.
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Presentations can be tricky. Many of you have had this conversation before. Your co-worker comes to you with an idea. The kind of idea, they tell you, that is so good that it keeps them up at night. This is their ticket to finally get noticed and take the next step in their career.
You recognize this kind of thinking, because you have done some of it yourself. If you could get someone to just listen, you would be flying rocket emojis to the moon in no time! Now you are getting excited about the possibilities with your own ideas and….