31 Ways to Be Ambitious This August

August 1st – “Do something nice for someone.” Not only will it make them feel good, but it will make feel good too!

August 2nd – “Make someone laugh – it’s Friday!” A big stress reliever is laughing and a study shows that people will like you more if you make them laugh.

August 3rd – “Go sit in the sun and absorb some Vitamin D.” Vitamin D promotes bone growth, reduces depression, promotes weight loss, and fights diseases! Why wouldn’t you want to be lounging around in the sun with all those health benefits? But, don’t forget to wear sunscreen!

August 4th – ” Look at yourself in the mirror. Give yourself one compliment.” You can either be your own biggest fan or your own biggest enemy. By complimenting yourself, builds confidence and positivity within yourself.

August 5th – “It’s the first Monday of the month! Dress for success.” Dressing professionally demands respect and it also builds your self-confidence. It’s also fun to know you look great!

August 6th – “Excercise for 30 minutes.” This can be going for a walk during your lunch, going to yoga, and everything in between! Get up and be active – there are so many health benefits to working out.

August 7th – “Call someone close to you – someone you love. Express your gratitude towards them, tell them you love them or thank them for being there for you.”

August 8th – “Write a nice note on someone’s desk.” This brightens up people’s day and freshens up the office environment.

August 9th – “Bring in some treats for the company.” Get your ‘Martha Stewart’ on and bake some cookies, brownies, or cupcakes! Or bring in some yummy carbs and goodies for everyone to chow down on.

August 10th – “Clean up your friends’ list on social media” Still friends with those annoying, popular girls from high school? Just unfollow them – you’ll feel less anxiety logging on without seeing all their posts about “joining their pyramid scheme”.

August 11th – “Wash your car.” There’s nothing better than a squeaky clean ride! Just cross one more thing off of your list.

August 12th – “Meditate ten minutes before coming into work” Get your mind focused and relax before the worries of work sink in.

August 13th – “Schedule a lunch date.”

August 14th – “Organize your desk – sanitize too!” You should be organizing and ridding your desk of germs, at least, once a month. Not only does this help you avoid illnesses, but it also reduces stress by not having to deal with a messy desk. Messy desks make for messy minds!

August 15th – “Go into the office early or stay late.” Think of all the work you can get done by spending a little more time in the office.

August 16th – “Organize your folders on your desktop.” Get rid of folders or documents you don’t need anymore to clear space up on your computer.

August 17th – “Buy yourself something nice – you deserve it!” Everyone deserves a little splurging every now and then.

August 18th – “Make a to-do list for the week.” Reach out to this partner on Monday, clean your bathroom on Tuesday, finish that project by Wednesday… Write down everything you want to get done within the week – personal and professional.

August 19th – “Ask three coworkers about their weekend.” And actually listen.

August 20th – “Learn something new.” Knowledge is power!

August 21st – “Read a career article.”

August 22nd – “Make your bed, you lazy bones!”  Navy Seal William H. McCraven, commander of the forces that led the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, told the 2014 University of Texas graduates, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”

August 23rd – “Introduce yourself to someone new.” The more friends the merrier!

August 24th – “Clean your home.”

August 25th – “Meal prep your lunches for the week.” Start your week off right with healthy lunches!

August 26th – “Turn off your cell phone today.” Don’t let the hundreds of notifications distract you from your work.

August 27th – “Get a full nights rest.” A whole eight hours of sleep? Unheard of! Well, not tonight…

August 28th – “Compliment five coworkers.” Compliments are nice to receive but even better to give. Tell someone how much you love their hair or their outfit! You could turn around someone’s awful day to somewhat bearable.

August 29th – “Help a coworker with one of their projects or responsibilities.” Help out some of your coworkers that are stressing over certain projects, they’ll appreciate it.

August 30th – “High-five 10 coworkers.” August is over, time to celebrate the coming of a brand new month.

August 31st –End the month doing three of your favorite things you did this past month from the list above.” You’re ending the month & starting the new month as productive as ever!

How To Keep Your Workspace Organized

There are many reasons why you should be keeping your workspace organized and clean so here are some easy tips that you can do to get your desk in a way that would make Marie Kondo proud.

Graphic Attribution: 1, 5,

Writing a Resume the Right Way

It’s time. You’ve put this off for months now and it’s constantly nagging you in the back of your mind. It’s time to update your resume. Resume work is one of the most tedious tasks because there are so many wrong ways to do it and contradicting tips across the internet. There’s also the common rule that resumes should be one page long, whether you’re struggling to fill it or your experience is overflowing, don’t let this trip you up. We’re here to make resume writing a skill all can succeed at!

So, what should be put on it and what should not?

A resume is composed of four main sections:

  1. Contact Information

  2. Skills/Professional Summary

  3. Experience

  4. Education

The way it is organized should be based on how you want to format your resume and how you want to prioritize your information.

  1. Contact Information

The important contact information you must include on your resume:

  • Your name
  • Current email address
  • Current phone number

Adding your mailing address to your resume is optional, but certainly makes it easier for recruiters to make sure they are contacting you only for positions that are near you. Remember that if any of your contact information changes you should update your LinkedIn and any other locations your resume is housed.

  1. Skills/Professional Summary

Consider this a snapshot of your experience and the part that will capture the reader’s attention and determine whether or not they’ll continue reading your resume. The ‘Skills’ or ‘Professional Summary’ section is a list compiled of your best skills and is most commonly shown using bullet points.

You might list something like:

  • 5+ years medical front office experience
  • Sufficient in Microsoft Suite, specific scheduling software, etc.
  • Ability to answer multi-line phone with 100 inbound calls per day while operating check-in window
  1. Experience

This section will take up a good chunk of the space, but keep in mind that not every job will go on it. You only want the jobs you’ve had in the past 10 years or the most relevant ones. Also, make sure there are no gaps in your job history.

You want to have your most recent job at the top of your ‘Experience’ list and then have your jobs listed in reverse-chronological order. When labeling your experiences, you should have a maximum of five bullet points under each job.

Here’s a tip! If you are applying for a job, go off the advertised job description and elaborate your experience for that skill on your resume. When you get the chance, use numbers to quantify your experience.

  1. Education

The ‘Education’ section should list the schools you attended and the degrees you’ve earned. Just like in your ‘Experience’ section, this should be in reverse-chronological order. If you’ve graduated from schools higher than high school, leave your high school off.

Add your major and what you studied or concentrated in. Along with your studies, fill in any awards or honors you received whether it’s Valedictorian or Honor’s Society. If you don’t think your GPA is good enough, don’t put it. And, if you’re not a student, don’t put it at all. Also, make sure to put the month and year you graduated.

Now that we know what to put in your resume, let’s go over some things that absolutely shouldn’t be on your resume.

  1. Anything personal such as your height, weight, social security number, marital status, your religious beliefs, or your sex.
  2. Don’t be that person who has the word “Resume” written at the top of it. The employer will know 100% that it is, indeed, a resume.
  3. Leave your photographs out of it. Selfies cropped to remove friends from the picture and even some professional head shots can be a laughing stock. And due to Equal Employment Opportunity legislation, an employer would never ask for this.
  4. Grammar and Spelling Errors!!! Make sure you double, triple check that you have no errors on your resume.

At HealthCare Support, our recruiters are resume writing experts. In fact, one of our recruiters average at least 20 resumes a week. If you feel stuck and need a hand, we are here to help you display your skills to the best of your ability and land your dream job!

Are you Dreaming of a White (and Worry-Free) Christmas?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! People’s cubicles and offices are decorated in all things merry, seasonal candles are being burned, and holiday music is flowing out of speakers. Everyone’s getting antsy and they know it’s almost time to get out of town to be reunited with their families. Some people may have mentally checked out already, these people are part of the Great Christmas “Click Off”. December 16th is the day of the Great Christmas “Click Off”, meaning this day is the point when productivity plummets in the office. Don’t be a part of the “Click Off”, push until the holiday. We even made it easy for you by brainstorming some ways to make sure all your responsibilities are done, and you are worry-free before heading home for holidays!

  • When you know the dates of your vacation, let your manager and coworkers know. Put your hours in early and make sure it’s not around any important deadlines or meetings.
  • There is nothing worse than coming back into the office from a long weekend and having your desk be a mess. Before heading out for the holidays, go through your drawers and organize them. Get some Windex and give your desk a wipe down. If someone needs to find a file in one of your drawers, it will be easy for them to find. Plus, you’ll be all set to grind in the new year!
  • Have two separate to-do lists. One needs to be time-sensitive. These involve things that absolutely must be done before you leave. The other list includes things that aren’t as time sensitive but still need to be done before you go. Also, check your calendar and see if there is anything coming up when you get back from the holidays.
  • Clear your schedule for the last two hours before you leave for the holidays and the first two hours you get back from the holidays. A coworker may have an important, last minute task that you need to attend to or someone might need your undivided attention as soon as you return.
  • Find a coworker to cover for you. Make sure they have everything they need during your time off. Meet with them before you leave and answer any questions they may have. Tell your coworkers and boss this person will be filling in for you while you’re gone. Lastly, bring them back a little something for all they’ve done!
  • People who are out of the office might want to put an automatic email responder. You should include how long you are going to be away from your email for, when and if you’ll ever be checking into your email, and who to contact in case of an emergency. Even add a touch of holiday to them, if you’d like.

Some good examples:

For the Grinches –

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, I will be out of the office from December 21st to January 3rd for the holidays. I will be checking my email sporadically throughout the week. If this is an emergency, please contact John Doe at johndoe@company.com.

Wishing you a happy holiday.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

 

For the people with some holiday cheer –

Happy Holidays,

Thanks for your email! You caught me on my holiday vacation in Colorado! I will be out of the office, away in a cabin, with little to no service, making snowmen from December 19th to January 5th. If there is an emergency, contact Bob at bob@company.com. Until then, I’ll see you all in 2019.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

[Your Name]

 

For Buddy the Elves’ –

Ho-Ho-Hello there,

It’s my favorite time of the year! That means I’m at the north pole, helping Santa pack up the last of the gifts! I’ll be up here in the land of the holly and jolly until January 2nd. In the meantime, if you have an emergency you can contact John at john@company.com. I’ll try to check my emails every time Santa gives us a break, most likely every couple of days!

Until then, I hope your stuffing your face with Christmas cookies, making snowmen, and decorating your tree with tons of Christmas Spirit! – Oh, Santa’s looking for me, I got to go finish these dang wooden horses!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night,

Santa’s little helper [Your Name]

Make sure you’re enjoying yourself over the holidays, you deserve it. Recharge and be ready to come back fresh for the new year! And, if you want some more career advice, subscribe to our blog here !

The Impact of Body Language

Something so little as a slouched posture can decide someone’s fate of getting their dream job. But is that how it should be? Most bad body language happens when people are stressed and uncomfortable, and these feelings come out during a job interview. Is it right to base your first impression on someone’s body language during an interview? Most of the time that’s not how the candidates act all the time. So, why is body language so impactful?

Let’s break it down first: What is body language?

Body language, or nonverbal communication, is not about what you’re saying but about how you say it and what your body is doing while talking. Body language is a way to better your conversation by using your facial expressions, hand gesticulation, and posture in your favor.

Some examples of body language:

Eye Contact:

Eye contact is a very controversial thing and a matter of opinion. In some countries, constant eye contact is rude while in in others it shows politeness and good manners. Some may think that too much eye contact is intimidating and consider it staring, which we all know is a very ill-mannered thing to do. Eye contact also exhibits interest, honesty, and confidence.  So how much eye contact is enough and how much is too little? It’s a delicate subject but during an interview, keep enough eye contact and keep it consistent. If you’ve been making great eye contact the entire interview then start blinking or fidgeting with your eyes, that is a sign of nervousness.

Body Posture:

Slouching is never a good thing. Not only is it bad for your back, but it shows a lack of interest and respect for your interviewer. Remain upright and lean forward, this shows that you are engrossed in the conversation. Just like other types of body language, you can overdo it. Don’t get too close, everyone needs their own personal space.

Fidgeting:

Fidgeting is a major sign of nervousness. Whether if it’s picking at your nails, constantly touching your hair, or shaking your legs, the interviewer will get the sign that you’re uncomfortable. So, keep your hands placed on your lap and cross your legs so you don’t get the urge to twitch.

Handshakes:

Have you practiced your handshakes with a friend before your interview? You should. Do you know when a handshake is too much versus when it’s too little? The limp handshake can be just as detrimental as the cutting-off-your-circulation handshake. Have all your items in your left hand so you’re prepared to shake someone’s hand. If you have sweaty palms, go for a subtle wipe of your hand on the side of your pants before shaking so you don’t give a clammy handshake.

Facial Expressions:

Smile! Giving someone a smile puts them at ease and conveys a sense of calm, control and confidence.  Smiling also reveals enthusiasm for the position and the company.

Body language can make or break you during interviews, even if you aren’t a fidgety person in your daily life. There are many ways you can positively express yourself through nonverbal communication, which can bump you up in the position standings. So, keep eye contact, sit up straight, and give them that million-dollar smile!