Category: careers

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3 Steps to Deal With Culture Shock While Working Abroad

3 Steps to Deal With Culture Shock While Working Abroad

Working abroad looks glamorous at first which can be combined with the excitement that comes with travelling to a new place, but there are a lot of surprises that are associated with it.

These surprises or what can be better called as ‘unique experiences’ often make people to think twice about their decision. The disadvantage about it is that they are felt days after moving to a new place when the period of fun and enjoyment starts to wear off. What these people working abroad experience can be termed as “culture shock”.

Culture shock, though it may drastically change a person’s view of going for jobs abroad, should never come as a barrier in terms of career development; which was the first goal often when it comes to working abroad. It is always safe to remain prepared for it in order to tackle it effectively. Otherwise, it can lead to extreme stress, which in turn will affect your work and also your personal life.

Here are three steps that will help you to ease yourself into a new and different environment while working abroad.

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STEP ONE

There is a lot of excitement and energy at the beginning when anyone moves to a new place to work, but often it happens that all of these evaporate after reaching the place. So it is always better to be prepared for the worst and this makes it easier to get up when you feel yourself sink into the abyss of cultural shock; ending your honeymoon period in that place.

Do an extensive research about the place. Before accepting a job offer to work abroad, check out the place and do research about the living conditions and how hospitable it is towards expats. Get to know the traditions the people in that place follow. You can buy a good guide book and learn some of the basic dos and don’ts that you need to follow.

Do not make your expectations go high. If you leave with the feeling that it will be a smooth ride, that’s not true. Whenever someone enters into a culture that is different, that person will feel not at all connected with the new one. It will make everything that you come into contact with in the new place feel strange. So, you should never keep your expectations high regarding this fact that you will never suffer from culture shock.

Ask the organisation if they have any local orientation programme. If your organisation helps you to get oriented to the new place and culture, then it is a great thing. Ask the corresponding HR person if there are any programmes provided by the company that helps its expat employees to get acquainted with the new culture.

STEP TWO

 When you start working at the new workplace abroad, you will gradually get to understand more differences that separate you from the people of that place. Whether it affects you professionally, in your personal life or both, you might begin to get irritated at even the smallest of things. Here’s how you can deal with it.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Living in a place without accepting the differences can take a toll on you. So it’s better to incorporate those local traditions as long as you can and feel at home. Accept the differences and it will make you feel a lot better.

When in Rome do as the Romans do. Do not know how to act in certain situations. Take the cue of the local people there and just copy them. It will save you a lot of trouble. You can also take the help of your colleagues to understand the local cultures and traditions.

Do not offend the local culture, language and traditions. There is one thing that you should do no matter how irritating it turns out to be, never offend the local culture, language and traditions.

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STEP THREE

The third step is all about accepting the differences so that it becomes normal to you. If you do not do that, you will continue to go deeper into the pit of cultural shocks. What steps you can take in that direction:

Try to learn the local language. Nothing brings you closer to the people of a different place than their language. If you are able to even speak a few words of the local language, you will feel a sense of acceptance. You just need to put a little effort and a good local friend or colleague who can help you with your mission to learn the language.

Understand that this is not a permanent thing. You do not have to stay in that place forever. If you were transferred or have moved for a project, you should focus on the work and see this time as work vacation. Also, you can always go back home after getting the required experience that you needed.

Above all, be patient. Patience will always be the best companion when you are suffering from cultural shock. Be patient and do not get stressed.

When you are in a new place, always try to make friends if possible. Get to understand the rules and laws of the place. Culture shock, though it sounds intimidating at first, can always be dealt with. Follow the above tips and have fun working in your favourite job destination.

Author Bio

 Hasib is a career coach, blogger and a professional writer working for the job portal – Naukrigulf.com. With an interest in providing career counselling for professionals, he has contributed a number of articles related to the topic on various online platforms.

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Tips for a Career as an Accountant

Get a Career as an Accountant

Accountants are valued for being strategic and are hired as consultants and financial advisors.

The role of the accountant has gradually evolved and expanded beyond conventional functions such as auditing.

With diversity that covers aspects such as information technology and forensic investigation, accounting continues to be a highly sought after career option.

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 Information about Accounting

Regardless of what you aspire to in the profession as an advisor or helping businesses grow, the field of accounting is a worthwhile career choice. Accountants are responsible for measuring, processing and communicating financial information about companies and businesses.

When commercial trade began, it became necessary for transactions to be managed properly. This led to the development of bookkeeping and accounting became a well-recognized profession. Accounting is a popular career because there is a high demand for the service. An accountant is a professional that virtually everyone needs. The profession is regarded as prestigious and offers rewarding experience.

Accountants can expect to be well paid and can rise up the ranks in various companies and accounting firms. Accounting gives you the chance to work internationally since the standards and rules are applicable around the world.

Accountants Responsibilities

Although accounting has expanded to include more functions beyond the conventional aspects of profession, an accountant has a number of key responsibilities.

Financial accounting requires you to prepare and manage the company’s financial records and provide reports that can be accessed externally. You need to be fully aware of the accounting standards and rules that are used for this particular field of accounting.

Management accountants analyze the results and reports of businesses. Emphasis is placed on giving financial information and reports to managers in order for them to be able to make the right business decisions. Management accounting also involves budgeting and financial forecasts.

Auditing involves verifying business reports and their accuracy. This is accomplished by gathering the evidence that is required to back up the numbers provided in reports and give opinions regarding the results. An audit report is issued to showcase the viability of a business and the completion of its financial recordkeeping.

Tax accountants prepare documents that relate to tax laws. They are involved in planning and working out how businesses can be structured according to tax legislation.

Accountant Skills

The diverse nature of accounting gives you the chance to use your skills and training in both corporate and non-corporate working environments. There are different skills that every accountant needs to be successful.

The world of accounting is based on numbers. This means that you need strong numeracy skills. Even with the inclusion of computer technology, you still need to be very good and comfortable with numbers.

It is essential for any good accountant to pay attention to detail. This is because the information that you provide is used to make important business decisions by various stakeholders. As an accountant you need to ensure that any information you present is accurate.

An accountant also needs to have good communication skills. Communicating effectively is essential for presenting both written and verbal reports that can be easily understood.

Bio

Greg Jones has been providing business-based content for a variety of publications since 2005. Learn more about bookkeepers in Melbourne here.

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How to Get a Career as an Ayurvedic Therapist

Start a Career as an Ayurvedic Therapist

Recent trends have seen people revert to more traditional healing methods, as they seek relief for conditions modern medicine cannot heal.

As an Ayurvedic healer, you have added advantage because you possess ancient wisdom in ways of healing the body. This wisdom is a gem that modern medicine seems not to have. Ayurvedic medicine focuses on complete healing and restoration of body functions.

That said, you may have just completed training in this ancient healing art and you have no clue what to do next. Just like any medical career, it is best to start from the basics. Starting from the bottom will see you gain adequate expertise that will help you get to the peak of your career. Here is how you can make the most of your training and build a successful career in the ayurvedic industry.

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 Start at the bottom

Get an internship at an established ayurvedic organization. This will help you gain sufficient experience as well as working application of the training you have. Also, you may learn additional tips that other experts already have.

A period of internship will prepare you for future career steps, such as consulting or setting up your own center. Building your career from the base up helps you to learn the ropes well. You will know what works and how it does and your future practice will not have any surprises.

Put your skills to work

The other way you can have a successful career is if you use the acquired skills to develop ayurvedic products that deal with various conditions people face. You can specialize in beauty products, such as ayurvedicanti aging serums.

You can specialize in specific areas that would help many people. You can develop supplements and other health products that would help people live better. Putting your skills to use in such a way makes for a meaningful career, as you know you are helping people improve on the problem areas of their lives.

Continuously add to your knowledge

The mistake that most people make is being comfortable with the initial training they acquired. Have a desire to gain more knowledge regarding ayurveda methods.

You will be better off and at a great advantage. Constantly adding to your knowledge means that you will learn new things about your field of expertise that you may not be in a position of knowing without extra effort.

You do not even have to gain this knowledge formally. Read research articles and books by ayurveda experts to tap into unlimited wealth of knowledge.

Specialize in a particular niche

Pick a focus in ayurveda and make it central to your career.

Ayurdeva has many branches and picking one will make you a specialist in that field. Building on this specialty will have many benefits for you. You will have a specific focus and you can acquire all the knowledge there is in that field. This will be beneficial for your clients, as they will benefit from this knowledge.

Author Bio

Peter Robinson is a well known beautician. He has worked with Ayurvedicanti aging serums for many years. 

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Life Coach Job Profile

In the UK life coaching is not regulated which means anyone with the ambition, skills and experience can become a self employed life coach.

A life coach uses questions and techniques to help clients to take control of their current situation which can vary from goals, relationships, business, confidence, anxiety, public speaking and a work-life balance

If you enjoy working with and helping people then this can be an ideal job for you. Some coaches are employed but around 95% of life coaches are self employed with many coaches working part time

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Required Skills for a Life Coach

  • Excellent listening and questioning skills
  • the ability to build rapport with clients from different backgrounds
  • Open minded and non-judgmental
  • An ability to inspire and motivate individuals
  • Able to support clients to set and achieve goals
  • Confidence
  • Able to challenge clients

Life Coach Duties

Around 50% of your time is spent marketing your coaching business through online platforms (for self employed coaches).

A coach will first set out the agenda for the coaching session explaining the rules and procedures. To support the client the coach will ask the clients session objectives and what is stopping them from moving forward.

The coach will then coach the client to find solution, to set goals and to create motivation. This may include discussing limiting beliefs, values, beliefs, passed experiences and how to stay committed.

Life Coach Pay and Conditions

Self employed coaches charge between £50-£300 per session. Employed coaches earn around £22-£25,000 per year.

A coaching session will last on average for 45 minutes and many client will attend for 6-10 coaching session (1 session per week).

Coaches work face to face, by Skype and telephone. Many coaches will create a second income through a published book, public speaking or delivering training courses.

Life coaches are responsible for their own self development.

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Travel Agent: A Lucrative and Thrilling Profession

Travel agent as a profession could be rewarding if you have the required skills and a keen interest in visiting places both known and unknown.

The job of a travel agent is not simple and demands tremendous patience and courteousness. Travelling is a love for most people and passion for some of them. A passionate traveler would love to spend his spare time in moving around, even if it is within his native place. It is a matter of great surprise that even your city of domicile could be a treasure house for tourists.

Humans by nature love travelling, and if this grows into a profession then the involvement reaches an unsurpassable level. Love for visiting new places and a keenness to know about peoples’ culture, lifestyle, and customs is the basic necessity to become a professional travel agent. However, more important than interest in people and places is a pleasing nature and easy approachability.

Travel agency is a service industry, and the basic characteristic of any such industry is that satisfaction is purely a mental state and solely dependent on human perception. To become a successful travel agent, it is essential to have a cordial character and a pleasing disposition.

Early signs of becoming a travel agent

Every child shows some early promise of a profession. It is not always that a child grows up with childhood traits, but develops newer preferences and mannerisms. However in the adolescent stage mannerisms, traits, and beliefs start taking definite shape. To make a career in travel agency you should ideally have:

  • An undivided interest fortravelling– To enjoy this profession, you must have an undivided attention for travelling.
  • A salesperson–You should be a natural sales person, if you want to become renowned as a travel agent.
  • Interpersonal relationship– For any service oriented industry, strong interpersonal relationship is of primary importance. No business or relationship could be nurtured without sufficient interpersonal skills. These skills help in gaining the confidence of others and also becoming dependable.
  • Curiosity- It is another important characteristic that underlines a sales person. Acurious mind assists in exploring hotel booking arrangements, special discount offers,tour packages, etc.
  • Thorough knowledge– Knowledge is the power to any business. Without sufficient knowledge about travel industry, travel destinations, andtravel deals it is not advisable to become a travel professional. Continuous updating offacts and knowledge of contemporary and past travel trends is an inseparable part of keeping yourself well-informed.
  • Service capability– Sales skills could help acompany or professionalin the first year of itsoperation. In subsequent years the contribution of repeat business tototal business gradually increases. Repeat businessis indicative of the sustainability factor of a business, while new businessindicates its growth capability.
  • Confidence-For becoming successful if is essential to stay self-motivated. Confidence and self- motivation are two characteristics that stay with you forever. These two traits form the success of a travel agent.

Travel industry is always a buoyant economic activity and always contributes handsomely to national income generation

Job Creation in Travel Industry

Travel Industry, has great potentiality in creating job opportunities and raising revenues. There are umpteen opportunities throughout a year to lure travelers to a particular destination. Tourism had now become focused with classification of ‘medical tourism’, ‘adventure tourism’, ‘religious tourism’, and ‘heritage tourism’. Each of these is designed keeping specific destination in mind. Innovation is a prime work in creating holiday packages with a definite clientele in mind.

About the author

Jenny Richards is a tour operator with offices in major destinations in India. She is an expert on tiger resorts India and undertakes tours to tiger reserves of the country.

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Different Types of Careers in the Finance Industry

The world of finance is much financed and there are so many opportunities to work in as finance professional. Finance professionals include areas of practice such as a conveyancing24-7, financial analysts, personal financial advisors, financial examiners and financial managers among others.

Although there are different practice areas, the roles of financial professionals remain more or less similar. They need to have a current knowledge of economic developments at all time including tracking and predicting changes in the economical state of affairs. This is why the presence of finance professional is essential for personal investment plans and business operations.

The following are some of the specific tasks that finance professionals do:

Analyzing market trends

The ability of any business to succeed depends on the consumer trends with regards to the particular products or services that the business provides.

These trends are often represented in form of numbers- how many people are buying it, how many people are not and how many people buy cheaper or competitor products among others. By analyzing these figures, the finance professional can offer powerful insight on how the business can match the market trends and maximize profits.

Monitor financial and complying with legal requirements

It is essential to keep track of the financial operations of the business in order to ensure that vendors are paid on time, employees get their full salaries as well as making sure that the business pays its taxes.

Paying taxes and issuing yearly financial reports are just some of the financial obligations of every business to the government and finance professionals ensure that the business meets these requirements.

Prepare financial statements

The financial statement of a business is a summary of its profits, losses and expenditure within a period of time. These financial statements can be used to determine eligibility for loans and the loan amount. They can also be used to see whether the business is improving, stagnating or declining in progress and the finance professional determine this by coming up with these financial statements. The financial statements also determine the tax brackets in which the business falls.

Research and recommend investments

Finance professionals scope out great investments for businesses and individuals. They can recommend the best investments to make in order to get specific returns in a specific time. They also know the most lucrative industries to buy into based on analyzing trends and industry numbers. They often advise investors, companies and individuals when to invest and how much to invest. They can also determine the level of risk of some investments and therefore manage this risk financially.

Improving financial efficiencies

Is the company spending too much money and not making profits at the same rate? The finance professional can help determine which areas to cut costs and which areas to spend more in order to generate more revenue for the business. They can also come up with efficient ways for the companies to pay salaries faster, manage credit lines and pay out vendors faster for better service.

Author BIO

Jeremy Collard is an accountant who has been working in a corporate business for the past six years. You can read more about conveyancing24-7 from his blog.

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Have You Thought of a Career as an Energy Efficiency Advocate?

As our natural resources are getting fast depleted with time, there are major concerns about energy conservation and energy saving.

You should aim at energy efficiency for savings at home, city, businesses, and state as well as federal governments on a much larger scale.

You can pursue a career as an Energy Efficiency Advocate in an energy saving company as you would get tremendous job satisfaction.

Job Description of an Energy Efficiency Advocate

Energy Efficiency Advocate needs to secure federal policies for promoting energy efficiency in appliances and buildings.

Statistics reveal that the building sector is responsible for almost 40 per cent of yearly greenhouse gas emissions in the USA. So, the energy efficiency advocate is expected to play a vital role in shaping the federal policies that would cut down the emissions thereby reshaping the economy.

They are also, responsible for setting up and implementing carbon pollution standards especially in power plants.

Job Responsibilities of an Energy Efficiency Advocate

Your job responsibilities are promoting the adoption and implementation of the strongest ever cost-effective appliance energy saving methods and efficiency standards; as well as the procedures and methods of tests followed by the US Department of Energy.

This may include taking part in public hearings, and technical workshops, participate in stakeholder negotiations, drafting public comments and participating in other types of advocacy activities and efforts.

You have to perform legislative; advocacy and policy development work on building efficiency policies, incentives for highly efficient buildings, building energy codes and come up with policies for promoting appliance and building efficiency.

You may require promoting grants and tax incentives for supporting high-efficiency appliances, buildings and equipment.

Job Prerequisites

This job entails a lot of innovative thinking and creativity as the job is multi-disciplinary. However, an energy efficiency advocate needs to possess the following skills and qualifications:

  • A professional degree or graduate in any of these streams namely engineering, science, business, economics, law, environmental policy or other related discipline.
  • Sound knowledge, experience and expertise on energy policy and energy systems.
  • Strong analytic and quantitative capabilities.
  • Brilliant team-building, leadership and project management qualities.
  • Superb and convincing oral and written advocacy skills.
  • Ability and willingness to create and work with coalition. Must be able to participate in complex negotiations involving a number of stakeholders.
  • Capability for interpreting complex economic and technical analysis and conveying its meaning to media and other non-technical audiences and even experts.
  • Prowess to manage several assignments, work diligently and meet deadlines.
  • Energy Efficiency Advocate enjoys excellent benefits, competitive salary and a wonderful working ambiance. Usually salary is according to a non-profit scale and as per experience.

Author Bio:

Matteo Burke is a retired engineer who has worked for a top company for several years in the past. In his free time, he peruses several sites online ranging from Wikipedia to TexasElectricRates.com.

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The Practical Experience You Should Expect to Gain as Intern in a Hosting Company

The Experience An Intern Should Receive in a Hosting Company

If you are a computer science or computer engineering student, a web hosting company is one of the places to do your internship. Internship is about getting practical experience that will prepare you for the work place.   Before you start your internship, you should at least have a basic understanding of the web as well as how it runs. You should for instance have technical level knowledge of:

  • What a website is and how it operates
  • Different types of websites
  • Where a website ‘exists’
  • What is a hosting company and why is it so important

Have an open mind as an intern

Though you might know a lot about how hosting services work, you need to go into your work place with an open mind, because every company is different. One company will be drastically different from another in terms of:

  • Choice of hosting software
  • Hosting Hardware specifications
  • Types of hosting services provided
  • Service delivery methodology
  • Customer interaction processes
  • Sales and marketing processes

Companies also have different policies of what an intern can and cannot do. This will greatly affect your learning process. However, a frank discussion with your internship supervisor should get you exposed to most of the company’s operations, which include the following:

Technical work (in the field or in office)

Different hosting providers offer different hosting services. The most popular service offered by the company is determined by customer demand and demand is dependent on the amount of effort the company invests in marketing its services.   You will learn how to host different customer accounts on some or all of the following services:

Shared hosting: This is the most commonly preferred service by individuals and small business owners for the simple fact that it’s inexpensive.

Dedicated hosting: A customer who pays for a dedicated hosting service will have control of an entire server. This option is expensive and is usually preferred by large companies who not only want privacy and, but also quality performance.

VPS hosting: This is a form of dedicated hosting, only that the servers are virtual and not physical. Though the physical servers that host these ‘virtual machines’ are shared, customer gets more bandwidth and space than with shared hosting.

Cloud hosting: you will finally get to understand how the world of cloud hosting works in reality.

Customer support

An important service that keeps a hosting provider in business is customer support. If the hosting service has a 24/7 customer support line, you will be required to spend some time answering customer calls and responding to their queries and resolving their problems.   You will learn how to interact with the different systems and software that the customer service department uses to deliver great service.

Sales and marketing

Even though your interest is in the more technical aspect of the company, you should spend some time with the sales and marketing team to understand how it generates demand for the company’s products.   You will also learn how the sales team:

  • Explain to customers the differences between each hosting service
  • Helps customers decide the hosting plan that is right for them

The amount of exposure you will get during your internship will help you on your first job after graduation. You can check reviews of hosting companies to see which ones have a great internship program.

Author Bio:

Jayson Bryune is a freelance content writer. He has written many articles on different categories like Technology, health, travel, career, education, jobs, interview etc. He has experienced firsthand the need for a good hosting service and advises others to read reviews on Inexpensive Web Hosting before deciding on a hosting service.

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How to Succeed in a Software Tools Industry Career

There are many careers in the software tools industry today, among them software development, software testing, and sales.

The software tools industry is highly competitive, but there are several tips that will give you an edge

Software engineering is a technical subject and you will not succeed without the relevant skills. You can get these skills from training. Other than formal training, you will also get the skills from professional courses, from attachments/internships, from in-house training, and from a mentor. You need desire to learn as this is the only thing that will separate you from the crowd.

Keep track of the latest trends in the software tools industry. This is a very dynamic industry that has new tools out every day and regular updates to existing tools. You could get tips on the latest trends from blogs, discussion forums, and industry publications.

You need to be persistent because the fact is that end users will never understand exactly how computers work. The IT landscape is always changing and you should grow a thick skin to weather the storms that will most definitely come. Persistence also means offering solutions that the customer wants, even if the solutions are not what you would have recommended.

A lot of patience is required to succeed in the software tools industry. As an example, if you are a software developer, it may take several months before you complete coding and even longer before you make a profit. You also require patience to wait for your turn to rise up the ladder in the industry.

You should do proper research before bringing a software tool into the market. Proper research will help you meet pressing needs of your target audience. As an example, a tool like Docs.Zone helps businesses convert Word, Excel, Images, and web pages to PDF and PDF to Word, Excel, and Images. Businesses need this service because PDF format offers convenience, cost benefits, security, and other benefits.

It is a common misconception that IT professionals only need to be in the background. The truth is that you need a good sense of PR and other soft skills since your primary aim will be selling software tools. You may be required to use social media, flyers, TV, and other advertising avenues to reach as many potential customers as possible.

Connections are necessary if you are to succeed in a career in the software tools industry. You need connections not only in IT, but also in non related industries such as the media. Take every meeting as a networking opportunity.

Career plan is a list of positions and actions you should perform in time to reach your short- and long-term career goals. Keep track of your progress. If you are not very sure of what you want, don’t shy away from taking to a professional career counselor.

Other important factors for success are:

  • Writing skills
  • Presentation skills
  • Team work
  • Coming up with the right name for your products and/or your business

Author Bio

Jenny Richards is a freelance content writer. She has written many good and informative articles on career, jobs, education and interviews

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3 Unsuspecting Ways To Find Career Success

3 Unsuspecting Ways To Find Career Success

We all want to find career success. Being successful in your career doesn’t mean you will rise to the highest position in your organization. Career success is about finding the perfect role, in the perfect sector, in the perfect company.

Being successful in your career impacts on your life, your relationships, your motivation and stress levels, your finance, your future and your work-life balance.

These 3 unsuspecting ways to find career success will help make that move from a job you dislike to a career you will be passionate about.

Find Career Success Inside Yourself

There is no set criterion for reaching the career success platform.

The people that feel successful in their career are the professionals who wake up excited to being going to work, the employees who work in a company with values that match their own and those people who feel motivated as they walk through the office doors on a Monday morning.

Your salary doesn’t equal success. Happiness and health equal success

First you need to understand your personality traits, what motivates you, your values, if you excel in a creative environment or if you preference is following processes and procedures.

Think about what makes you your best, know your natural talents and abilities, the type of people you work well with and your own uniqueness.

Once you match this to a career choice you find career success.

Focus On You Not Others

We have a natural ability to make comparisons. This skill can become a career barrier when we compare our abilities and skills to that of others.

When choosing a new career our internal critic questions if we have the abilities to achieve success in this sector – you need to turn this voice off!

Our motivation drops when we second guess what others think about our career ideas and abilities, stress increases when you make comparisons about your experience to others.

If you focus on you and your career plan, your motivation will increase. Your perspective needs to be on the outcome of achieving your career choice, and how this will positively affect your work-life balance.

When your mind strays of focus, think about the reasons you are making a career change.

Positive People Create Positively In You

The world is full of negative people. You know these people, there the people who walk into a room and suck the fun, the positively out of every situation.

Be aware of negative people in your social groups and stay away from them. When you hear the moans coming, leave the room.

Surround yourself with positive, happy and joyful people.

Moods are catching, if you socialise with glass half full peers, there positively, love for life and happiness will spread to you. Once full of life, your self-esteem will increase, goals will seem easier to achieve and you will enjoy your career even more.