Tag: career Page 2 of 3

Tips For Making Online Grad School Easier

On July 12, 2020

In Career, Education, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate, Technology

Attending grad school is a wonderful opportunity for anyone looking to further their education and become more successful in life. You’ll find that many students choose to attend grad school online because many go later in life while they have full time jobs or are starting families. In today’s day and age with issues such as COVID-19 affecting the world in many ways, even more students are beginning to attend graduate school from the comfort of their homes. Attending school in any capacity from home can be stressful but it doesn’t need to be as difficult as you might think. Here are a few tips to help make attending online grad school a little easier.

Make Sure Your Computer Is Up To Date

If you’re going to be doing online graduate school classes it’s extremely important that you not only have a computer, but that you make sure it’s up to date and functioning properly. You’ll be dead in the water without a properly working computer and making sure it’s up to date will give you far less headaches. Nobody likes turning their computer on first thing in the morning and having to deal with surprise updates when they have to submit something or attend an online seminar. It’s also important to make sure your internet connection is up to snuff as well, otherwise the whole process may be a slog.

Establish Your Work Space

One of the most difficult aspects of taking online classes is doing your work from the comfort of your home. While that may sound nice, it can actually be more difficult than you might think. It’s easy to get too comfortable when at home and get distracted from your work. You’ll want to treat your online classes as if you’re physically going into the classroom. Try to continue doing any routines you might usually do when going into a physical classroom – if you shower every morning, make sure you do that now as well. Make sure your workspace is clean and avoid distractions such as television or social media websites.

Practice Self Discipline

This goes along with establishing your workspace, but having self discipline is of the utmost importance when doing any type of work or learning from home. It’s extremely easy to get distracted, whether it be by your favorite websites, chatting with friends or watching the television. You might be inclined to try and power through your lessons and get ahead of where your class is currently at, but it’s important to take things a step at a time. You’re going to have a lot of materials to digest and if you don’t let yourself absorb the material and truly understand it, you’ll end up struggling later down the road.

7 Tips for Successfully Working from Home

By Nicholas Fainlight

On May 18, 2019

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight

Working from home, regardless of your job, can be challenging. If not managed correctly, working remotely can become a hindrance to your productivity instead of a way to enhance it. You’ll become stressed and find it more challenging to focus on important tasks. If you want to be able to successfully work from home, here are a few tips to apply to your work day.

Have your own space

One of the biggest mistakes people make when attempting to work from home is that they do not create a separate space for their work. Many people believe that they can effectively work anywhere in their home and attempt to do so from their sofa or in a bedroom. While some people may be able to work this way, it’s much more productive to have a separate area just for working. If you have a spare bedroom, set it up as an office, or have a small corner of your home with a desk and everything you need.

Plan out your schedule

At the beginning of each week, plan out your schedule for what you need to get done. Then, review this schedule each day. You’ll have an idea of all you need to accomplish that day and can plan how to tackle it. Knowing what’s next on your to-do list makes you more productive.

Communicate with others

If you work remotely for a company or have employees or clients of your own, make a point to stay in regular communication with them. Create consistent check-ins so you never lose track of what you need to be doing. If you’re working for a larger company, it’s even more important to remain part of the conversation if you’re remote.

Stay organized

If you have great organizational skills, you’ll find working from home even easier. Take advantage of planners, calendars on your technology, and any other resources at your disposal. Create to-do lists, put everything in neat places, and keep yourself on track. The more organized you are, the easier working from home will be.

Utilize technology

When you’re working from home, take advantage of the technology available to you. Whether it’s apps and extensions to keep you more organized, ways to share files and information, or simply an up-to-date computer, technology is your ally when you’re working from home.

Limit distractions

Whether you have children at home, tasks you need to get done, or friends who know you’re working from home and think that means you’re always available, you need to do your best to limit distractions. Make it clear to your family and friends that you have clear working hours. If you have tasks you need to get done around the house, schedule those into your day or make a plan to do them before or after you’re working. It can be incredibly easy to get distracted while working in your home.

Take breaks

As you’re navigating working from home, remember that it’s healthy to take breaks. Schedule your breaks into your daily calendar; it’ll help you avoid taking too many breaks, but also pushing yourself too hard. These small breaks can be the time you get some other tasks done or simply go for a quick walk to clear your mind; you’ll find you’re much more productive after doing so.

6 Benefits of Frequently Changing Companies Early In Your Career

By Nicholas Fainlight

On April 24, 2019

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate

The average worker in the United States holds approximately 11 jobs during their lifetime, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This number is likely to increase by several jobs for younger workers, who seem less committed to longevity with their employers. This change in how long someone stays with a company is a direct result of there being plenty of opportunities to choose from in addition to healthy competition amongst companies to offer employees the best salaries and benefits. That said, here are some of the key reasons it pays to switch jobs early in your career.

Acquire more skills

One of the greatest benefits of switching jobs is learning new skills, according to Pay Scale. These are crucial and transferrable skills, such as writing, negotiating, making decisions, and solving problems, that can help you get better jobs in the future.

Avoid career burnout

When you stay at a job too long early in your career, you’ll tend to become more mechanical in how you perform tasks. In fact, Forbes further explains that your ideas will tend to diminish the longer you stick with one job.

Helps self esteem

Face it, as a talented professional, you have various goals you want to achieve during your career. You have a better chance of reaching them by switching jobs more frequently when you’re first starting out. For one thing, you’ll become exposed to more challenging tasks as you advance into higher-level positions. You’ll also experience a greater sense of accomplishment.

Enhances industry scope

It’s a good feeling when you can perform your job efficiently and get recognized for your efforts. Unfortunately, if you stay in a job too long, you risk falling behind on new trends or happenings in your industry, according to Forbes.

Expands your network

The more jobs you have when you’re young, the greater number of contacts you’ll make. These are people who can mentor you or help you advance into executive roles in the future. These business contacts can also be a launching pad for future business endeavors if you have a predilection toward entrepreneurship.

Increases pay and benefits

Often times, people get stuck in careers because there’s no room to move up. This issue tends to stymie both career growth and income. Although you’ll have to gauge various salaries and benefits in your industry, you can often get significant bumps in salary when you make both lateral or upward progressions in new jobs.

Manage Solo Work Time Nicholas Fainlight

How to Manage Your Time When You’re Working Alone

By Nicholas Fainlight

On January 3, 2019

In Career, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

For people who create their own schedules, it can be challenging to figure out how to use your time in the most effective way possible. You may have occasional scheduled meetings or calls, but the majority of your work comes from a running list of projects with distant deadlines and it’s up to you to figure out what gets the highest priority and how much time you must allot to each task. This type of work schedule can be particularly challenging if you’re working from home or alone at a coworking space or somewhere else that can be distracting. Follow these pieces of advice to better manage your time and get more done.

Create a schedule

The first step to take to effectively manage your time is to create a schedule for the hours you’ll be working (or even your entire day, if you’re ambitious). You may already have a schedule or to-do list, but if you feel like it isn’t working well for you, scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. Plan out each hour of your workday and allot enough time for each task so you can clearly see what you need to do when. This schedule helps you stay on task and gauge where you are throughout each day.

Learn your productive times

This step takes some trial and error, but by consciously paying attention to how you work and when you get the most done, you can figure out what times of the day you’re the most productive. Once you learn these times, you can plan to get your most important and urgent tasks done then and push lesser projects to different times.

Time yourself

As you work on your different tasks, start timing how long it takes you to do every item. Knowing you’re being timed can push you to stay focused and avoid distractions. If you do get distracted, you can clearly see how much time was wasted; let it serve as a wake-up call. You might also be underestimating how long it takes you to get something done, so timing yourself allows you to create a realistic schedule.

Eliminate distractions

If you work on the computer, you can easily access an endless number of distractions. With cell phones, we have hours of distractions in our pockets. When you work at home, you might get distracted by what needs to be done around your house. In order to best manage your time, you must eliminate distractions; put your phone in a different room or turn it off, block specific sites on your computer while you’re working, or isolate yourself somewhere that people won’t talk to you and you won’t be distracted by what’s around you.

Craft a workspace

No matter where you’re working, you need to create a workspace for yourself that you find relaxing and helps you focus. At home, create a specific room or area where you work so you can keep your work and home life separate. In your office, personalize your space so you enjoy being there, but also in a way that’s conducive to your productivity. If you work in more public spaces, consider investing in good headphones to ignore outside noise and get materials that best fit your needs and make your job easier.

Create Strong Client Relationships Nicholas Fainlight

6 Tips for Creating Strong Relationships with Your Clients

By Nicholas Fainlight

On December 5, 2018

In Career, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

No matter how much experience you have in your industry and working with clients, you should constantly be improving how you interact with your clients. There are always ways to strengthen the relationship you have with your clients, especially if you’re a financial advisor or in some similar position where you’re closely working with clients to meet personal goals and make plans that affect their daily lives. If you’re some kind of a consultant with clients, you want to have as strong relationships as possible with them in order to best meet their needs and keep them happy. Here are some great tips on how to create strong relationships with your clients, regardless of your career.

Discuss their specific goals

When you first start working with a client, you need to clearly establish what their goals are and how you’ll work together to meet those. Your entire role revolves around how well you can help clients work toward their goals, so you need to understand what those goals are before you can make a plan to achieve them.

Keep your promises

If you tell a client you’ll get back to them by a certain date or that you’ll send them useful information or a draft of something you’re working on, stick to these promises. While sometimes situations arise where you may not be able to keep this schedule, be sure to communicate as quickly and clearly as possible. Clients appreciate this treatment and will trust you to do the best for them.

Be honest and authentic

In your dealings with clients, be honest with them. If they’re asking for a service or focusing on a goal you aren’t sure is realistic or you don’t have much experience with, tell them that. Never try to sell a client something they do not actually need. Whoever you work with will appreciate this type of integrity and you’ll create a close bond with your client.

Stay consistent

When you tell a client how your business operates or what you’re going to do for them, stay consistent with what you say. Do not change your tune from conversation to conversation; clients notice that. Remain consistent in how quickly you respond to their emails or calls and make sure all your communication is on a regular basis.

Remain thoughtful

Throughout your time working with your client, find small ways to be thoughtful in your interactions. These gestures could include checking in with them even if you do not have a specific reason to see if they have any questions or sending a card around the holidays. Letting clients know you’re available and think of them personally can help build a stronger relationship.

Regularly touch base

Finally, make sure you regularly touch base with your clients to discuss their goals and whatever you’re working on for them. Keeping them in the loop gives them agency over the project and creates a great relationship with lots of easy communication.

Address Workplace Conflict Nicholas Fainlight

5 Tips for Successfully Addressing Conflict in the Workplace

By Nicholas Fainlight

On November 21, 2018

In Career, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate

Unfortunately, you can try your hardest to stay out of conflicts at work and remain a neutral party, but sometimes, no matter what you do, you could find yourself caught in the middle of work drama. This issue is particularly prevalent if you’re in some kind of management position and have to address disputes between employees or work with difficult people. Use these tips to find ways to successfully address conflict without losing your cool; with this advice, you’ll be able to resolve the conflict to the best of your ability and avoid exacerbating it.

Evaluate the situation

Whether the conflict is between you and someone else or between two other people and was reported to you, the first step you take should be to sit back and take time to reflect on and evaluate the situation. You’re going to have your view of the situation, but it’s important to think about whether you missed an important aspect of the issue or if there’s something valid in someone else’s interpretation of what’s happening. In order to successfully resolve, you need to carefully evaluate what’s happening and think about how to move forward.

Get all sides

You can wait to evaluate the situation until you get all sides of the story or you can take the time to think through it before talking to people if you feel the need to calm down about whatever is happening. You’ll eventually need to speak to the person or persons involved in the conflict and get everyone’s side of the story in order to effectively resolve it.

Remain calm

Whenever you talk to the people involved in the conflict or think through it on your own, you need to work on remaining as calm as possible. If you become too heated, it’ll exasperate the situation and make it much more difficult to reach a solution. Learn techniques to remain calm, even in the face of stressful conflict.

Find a neutral party

While you absolutely should not go around your workplace spreading news about the conflict, you should find a neutral party who can be involved in the resolution of said conflict. Human resources is often great for this issue, but if you’re in a management position, you might be the person someone else came to for the neutral party. You need to find someone who can listen to all sides of the conflict and help everyone communicate effectively.

Have a conversation

Finally, in order to actually resolve the conflict, you need to have a conversation about it. Gather everyone involved together and calmly talk out the issues. In some situations, it may be better to first talk to people individually and make sure it’s safe to have a group conversation. The key to effective conflict resolution in the workplace is to remain calm and communicate openly in order to reach a solution as a team.

How to Increase Your Network

By Nicholas Fainlight

On November 8, 2018

In Career, Education, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate

Throughout your career, you’ll come to realize that people heavily rely upon their professional networks. Even if you’re only at the beginning of your career, you likely already have a fairly extensive network, from high school, college, and any jobs or internships you held during that time. In the professional world, your network is how you can find out about new opportunities, ask questions about an industry, city, or company you’re interested in, or even find a place to live. It’s beneficial to continuously work on strengthening and increasing your network of connections, so here are some tips on how to do so.

Create an online presence

As you start to increase your network, it’s time to create an online presence for yourself. Think of how you’d like to portray yourself online and what you want your personal brand to say about you. Create profiles like LinkedIn and Twitter and then make sure they’re professional; you don’t want a possible future boss or coworker to see the uninformed tweets you sent in high school. An online presence also provides you with a way to keep track of the people you meet as you enhance your network.

Attend lots of events

If you live in a city, there are going to be plenty of networking and professional development events around you. Many local governments organize events for professionals in the area in order to encourage them to connect. There are also plenty of groups that meetup that share a common interest or hobby. Find some of these groups online and then attend meetups to get to know new people. You can also try tapping into your alumni network in the area; colleges are usually more than happy to help with this step.

Learn to talk to strangers

As you attend networking events, you’ll need to learn how to talk to people that you don’t know very well. Make sure you do not spend too much time talking about yourself; learn to ask other people questions. While you are looking to enhance your professional network, do not write someone off simply because you don’t see a way they can help you. It’s important to be polite to people; you could strike up a friendship or you might be able to help them out in some way.

Follow up afterwards

Finally, once you start meeting new people, follow up in some form. Whether it’s simply sending a request on LinkedIn or you decide you want to get coffee or lunch with someone, follow up within a few days. Networking events are great for the initial meeting, but you’ll need to take the initiative afterwards to further the connection.

Develop Professional Skills Nicholas Fainlight

7 Professional Skills You Should Develop

By Nicholas Fainlight

On October 13, 2018

In Career, Education, health, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate

No matter what industry you work in or where your career ends up going, it’s important to work on developing your professional skills. Far too many people avoid developing professional skills until after they start working, which can negatively impact their career and the way coworkers and supervisors view them. Without developed professional skills, it can even be challenging to get a job in the first place. Here are some of the most useful professional skills you can develop that’ll help your career.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that takes time to develop and many people do not have. In any environment, being able to approach an issue critically is vitally important. There are some situations where you need to set your personal emotions aside and look impartially at the task at hand. Critical thinking is how you solve issues in business, whether with your product, services, or within the office.

Negotiation

Negotiation is an important professional skill, especially when it comes to positioning yourself to get what you deserve. When you’re up for a raise, negotiation is the skill that helps you get a great salary. You can also negotiate benefits, promotions, business deals, and plenty of other details throughout your career.

Time management

Any job requires a significant amount of time management; most people feel as though they’re overworked. However, the reason many people feel overworked is simply because they do not know how to properly manage their time. You need to become skilled at prioritizing tasks and getting them done in a timely manner in order to move on to other projects. Without time management, you’ll find it’s difficult to successfully work in many environments.

Responsibility

No one wants an irresponsible employee. You need to learn how to be responsible and display that to your supervisor. Be willing to take on additional projects or work that needs to get done. Own up to mistakes you make and stay focused on what you’re doing. Being responsible at work shows you’re a reliable employee; that opens up many more career opportunities.

Work ethic

You can have stellar professional traits, but if you lack a work ethic, you won’t thrive in your career. You’re going to come up against periods in your professional career where you don’t feel like working or feel burned out. It’s at these times that you need to tap into your work ethic and get done what needs to get done. Push through the difficult times and work hard; it’ll pay off later.

Hunger to learn

A desire to continuously learn helps you immensely throughout life. Even once you’re finished with your formal education, you need to keep finding new topics to nurture your brain. Whether it’s formal degrees or taking classes online or simply teaching yourself a new skill, any kind of continual learning helps you out.

Creativity

You might not be able to clearly teach yourself creativity, but it’s something you can practice. Surround yourself with people, experiences, and objects that inspire you. Take time to understand art and the creative aspects of your job. If you take time to try to be creative, you’ll improve your skill.

5 Ways to Get Involved in a New City

By Nicholas Fainlight

On August 2, 2018

In Career, Education, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

Whether you’re moving to a new city for work or school, it’s important to get involved in your new home. You might think you’ll be okay and are planning on focusing on your job or academics and believe you can meet people organically, but you’ll enjoy the experience much more if you put your best foot forward as soon as you move and take steps to get involved in the city as much as possible. Connecting with other people, joining organizations, and starting new hobbies makes your transition much less stressful.

Find online communities

One of the easiest ways to get involved in a new city is finding an online community you can join. Whether it’s a forum for new people in the city, a local discussion board, or a Facebook group, there are plenty of ways to find out more about the social aspects of where you’ll be living and begin to make some friends. Even if you simply want to ask some questions about living in the new city, online communities are a great place to start.

Join a networking organization

Most cities have some kind of networking organization you can join, especially if you’re a young professional or college student. These organizations are a wonderful way to meet other people, get involved in local events, and simply learn some new skills or information. You can find these groups using Facebook or simply Google the name of your city and “young professional organization.”

Volunteer

If you’re looking for ways to give back or are passionate about a specific cause, there are plenty of opportunities in any city to volunteer. Look up local philanthropies and then contact them about volunteer opportunities and how you can get more involved. You’ll meet other passionate people who want to give back to the community.

Participate in community events

You can volunteer for community events or you can simply attend them. Just going to community events helps give you a feel for what your new home is like and it provides a wonderful opportunity to connect with locals. At most local community events, you’ll also find plenty of organizations and businesses from the area handing out information about what they do and how you can get involved. Take advantage of what’s happening in your new city and get involved as soon as possible.

Start a new hobby
Starting a new hobby can be incredibly beneficial; you’ll learn new skills and have something to focus on that’s productive. You can also search out local groups that share this hobby, which is something you can do for a hobby you’re already familiar with as well. You’ll meet people you have at least one interest in common with and you can attend meetings or events related to your hobby.

Young man in graduation robes facing auditorium, nicholas fainlight preparing for grad school

6 Tips for Getting Ready to Head to Grad School

By Nicholas Fainlight

On June 21, 2018

In Career, Education, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight

Once you’ve been accepted to graduate school, you might think it’s time to relax and that you can approach grad school like you did your undergrad college. However, grad school is vastly different from your previous college experience. You’re studying something much more specialized and are in an even more competitive program. You’ll have to work harder and produce higher level work in order to excel in your grad program. It’s important to remember that grad school is a much more professional environment than undergrad; you’re entirely focused on progressing your career and have a narrowed view of what you want to study. This focus doesn’t mean that grad school can’t be fun, it just mean you need to prepare for it differently than you did undergrad.

Network

Since grad school is all about getting ready for the future, take time to network before and during it. Attend local networking events over the summer and take advantage of any opportunities to connect with people from your school. The sooner you get to know professors and fellow students, the better.

Learn about the school

Once you’ve chosen your grad school, take the time to learn more about it. What’s the town or area around it like? How’s the campus? What are the classes and professors like there? Try to find current students to talk to or blogs to read. It’s never too early to start thinking about what classes you’d like to take or what organizations you’ll get involved with.

Choose where you’ll live

Some grad schools do not offer on-campus housing so it’s up to you to find your own place to stay while in school. Others do offer housing, but it’s often your responsibility to seek out your options and decide where to stay. The last thing you want is to show up on the first day with nowhere to stay.

Increase your knowledge

Before getting to grad school, it’s beneficial to increase your knowledge of the subject you’ll be studying and any other areas that could be useful. Take time to catch up with recent news and developments in your chosen field of study. Refresh yourself on the basics and do some research to find out if there’s any material you should know that you haven’t previously studied.

Get prepared

In addition to being prepared as far as your studies go, making sure you’re practically prepared is important too. Once you decide where you’re living, do you have all the essentials you’ll need for your new home? Do you have clothes that are appropriate for the climate? Are all of your papers in order? Make a list of everything you’ll need and tasks you to complete before starting grad school to be sure you don’t forget anything important.

Create some goals

Finally, set aside time to create a few goals for yourself. You’re entering grad school and need to have a plan for what you’ll do these years and afterwards. Are there specific internships you’d like to apply for? What do you want your career to look like once you’re done with school? Setting long-term goals helps you stay focused and organized during grad school.