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Make Allies in the Workplace to Boost your Own Employee Status A pleasant work environment can go a long way. Having allies in the workplace that work with you, opposed to against you, can create an enjoyable calm at your place of employment. While everyone is not going to be best friends in the workplace, the ability to get along is very important. This can be more challenging with some people than others. However, typically when there is a real bad apple in the mix, they tend to weed themselves out with complete alienation. With that in mind, make allies with as many of your co-workers as you can. A healthy work environment makes the actual work go much smoother. If you want to gain allies at work treat everyone with respect. Employees that are known for their fairness and respect for others are the ones that people trust. If something goes wrong on the job, the boss and other employees know that they can get the right version of the situation from the employee that is kind to everyone. You do not have to like people to be kind to them. Co-workers that you do not like personally should be the ones that you greet and discuss work issues with. Other than that, you want to steer clear of your least favorites. The same is true for bosses that are on your least liked list. Simply limit contact to business material and you will cut down on the chances of having altercations. Nothing ignites work hostility more than employees that do not do their share of the work. If you want to have allies in the workplace, be sure that you are doing your job. You will not have to force the issue if you are doing what you are supposed to do. Your co-workers will like having you around and will be pleasant if you are completing the work you need to do. Don’t gossip. This is one of the major ways to create dislike in the workplace. Spreading rumors, or even truths that were confessed behind closed doors can keep the office on edge. If you are the confidant of someone at work, do not take the information they have shared with you and share it with others. If co-workers come to you and bicker about one another, do not chime in. If they are complaining to you about someone, they are complaining about you to someone else. Politely listen and move on. Remember your manners. Sometimes things get hectic at work and we forget our manners. We find ourselves in a hurry, throwing reports at the secretary or interrupting someone’s phone conversation. Try to compose yourself and be polite. Do not forget your manners simply because you are at work. Put forth extra effort to get along with your co-workers that are not easy to get along with. Personalities are going to be in conflict occasionally. There is nothing wrong with being opposed to someone and their views of the world. However, if they are your co-worker or boss, you need to not let that get in the way of you communicating with them. Allies do not have to necessarily be friends. Instead they should be people that are aligned with you because of the job you do and the way that you treat people. Employees that are able to form alliances at work will have a much easier time getting through the day. Also, if something happens on the job and you need help, co-workers will be much more willing to help out if you are someone who is well liked. With that in mind, it is worth your effort to try to gain allies at work.

A Woman’s Appearance Do’s and Don’t for the Job Interview Proper dress and interview attire is one of the first and most important things that you have to work with when you are invited to an interview. Whether you are trying your luck on a position of CEO or as an entry-level worker, the person hiring you will make a great deal in out of the clothes you are wearing. Appropriate clothing is one of the first things that an interviewer will see of you and if you are off with it, you do not even have to talk much anymore. For a woman the dress to impress factor is way more complicated than for a man. A man can always choose to wear a business suit and tie, while there is not quite such an equivalent for the female clothing market. To give you a good idea about what women’s clothing articles you should wear when going for an job interview, here a short list: blazers, closed-toed shoes, dress pants, dress shirts, dress coats, women’s suits, skirts, hosiery and turtlenecks. All these clothing articles should be in solid colors and patterns. It is recommended to wear such colors as black, blue, navy, gray, brown and white/beige for shirts and tops. Colors and patterns need to be subtle and should not give the interviewer the wrong idea about you. Bright red attire might suggest that you are wilder or need to be the center of the room and this is not one of the traits that an employer wants to see in their employees. For women it is also very important that they do not wear to sexy cloths. No deep cut shirts that are exposing too much of the chest area, as this could suggest sexual tendencies to the future employer. Going along with this point is the skirt lengths. Should you decide to wear a skirt to your interview, keep your skirt lengths long enough to reach the knees or surpass them. Anything shorter is seen as naïve or even worse. Especially important when wearing a skirt to an interview is to wear tights and similar hosiery. Hosiery should be plain and without patterns. The colors should be complementing your business attire but not be too contrasting. When getting ready for your interview, besides the apparel you are wearing, the way you look is just as important. How about your hair? Make sure your hair is neat and do not style for a party. When putting on make-up, tread lightly. Do not use provocative colors such as way to red lips, especially in pale skin types. Make-up needs to be subtle and needs to emphasize your business attire. Most women do like their fingernails adorned with nail polish. When getting ready for an interview, it is important that your fingernails are neat and clean and when using nail polish, the color needs to complement your attire. Bright red is one of the colors that is not recommended to be used. Rather a clear, golden or darker subtle red color is more appropriate. It is also important to remember that anything that distracts from you as a person while being in an interview can take away the chance to land the job. Whenever you are going for an important interview it is recommended to have friends, family or maybe even colleagues check out your attire. Often times you might be wearing something that is not appropriate or does not fit right and in the excitement and rush of getting ready you might have not even realized it. Also, keep in mind that you need to feel comfortable in what you wear to be confident and secure when talking to the interviewer.

Important Networking Follow-Ups: How to Get Those Job Leads Calling When you leave a networking event, you may be buzzing at the prospects offered by all of those new contacts you made, but soon, the cold reality sets in. How will you be able to convert those contacts you made over a glass of wine into valuable business opportunities for you? Successful networking is all in the follow-up. If you’re looking for a job, following up is all the more crucial. Without touching base after a networking event, you become just another face in the crowd of job hunting hopefuls. The first important rule for following-up with networking contacts is to lay the foundations for the follow-up during the initial meeting. At networking events, there can be a lot of empty promises thrown around. Use that first meeting to convey the message that you haven’t gotten caught up in “networking fever” but instead that you are very serious about exploring the job opportunity that you’re discussing with your new contact. Ask the contact when would be a good time to follow-up with them, and then reiterate the information back to them at the end of your conversation: “I look forward to speaking with you Friday at 2 p.m.” If they don’t give you a specific time, then suggest one to them. This rule holds true even if your contact is giving you a lead on a job not with them but with another contact of their own. Let them know you appreciate the information by saying, “Thanks. I will plan on calling Mary on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.” Not only will this convey your seriousness about the opportunity presented to you, but it may also get you some handy inside information, as the contact may reply, “Oh, no, Mary will be out of town until Thursday – call her then.” The next important rule to networking follow-ups is to follow up with EVERY lead a contact gives you. If a contact suggests that you call someone whom you know won’t really be able to help you in your job search, call him or her anyway. Otherwise, when your contact finds out you aren’t taking their advice, they may just decide not to give you any more the future and any business person can tell you that you never know from whom the most valuable lead will come some day. Keep the lines of communication open by giving any and all suggestions a whirl. Last but not least, do the actual following-up. Follow up with your contact exactly when you said you would, and in the exact manner you said you would (phone, email, letter, etc). If for some reason you can’t make contact at the arranged time, keep trying. If you haven’t made arrangements for a follow-up with a contact, then the rule of thumb is to follow-up with them as soon as possible after meeting them. Try to at least send an email or letter the next day saying what a pleasure it was to meet and that you look forward to talking more in the future, and then say in that note when you plan to follow-up with your contact by phone. Then, of course, stick to that new follow-up obligation. Even if the promises made by a contact while networking don’t pan out for you on the job front, don’t cross them off of your contact list. Keep them in the loop about your job search and your career goals. While they may not have been able to make if happen for you this time, you never know what they might be able to do for you in the future. Your most promising business contact may be someone you already know.