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There are so many critical skills that we're never formally taught because they are a bit abstract and considered "softer" skills. That phrase is misleading though. The real secret to career advancement and satisfaction lies in your soft skills, not your knowledge. There are five crucial skills that every professional must master in order to win job offers and promotions, but also to just be effective and satisfied in their jobs. And good news, no matter who you are or what you do for a living, even if you’re in between jobs, these skills apply to you.

What skills do we need to be successful? Probably not what you think. It’s not about what you know and ...

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It’s been shown time and time again that the #1 most critical factor in employee retention is a good relationship with your boss. More than money or length of commute, or anything else. People are willing to stay in jobs that pay less if they have a good relationship with their boss. That’s powerful.

It’s actually been said that people don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses. If you don’t have trust and communication with the people you work with, your engagement and performance will decline.

But what makes a boss bad?  A bad boss would be characterized as micro-managing, unsupportive, and aggressive even. They call you out in front of everyone ...

SPECIAL GUEST ARTICLE 

by Amanda Babineau LaRose of We Care Management

Few things zap your energy the way a stressful day can. Stress is known to reduce our levels of serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that play an important role in our mood, energy and motivation. After a difficult day, you might be tempted to lounge on the couch watching TV until it’s time to go to bed. Although it might feel good in the moment, it won’t give you the mood and energy lift you need after a rough day. Here are five simple ways you can recharge yourself.

1. Unplug

After a stress-filled day, you need to unwind—and that means turning off your phone for some much-needed “me” time. It can be tempting to sit on the ...

How many of you out there have actually negotiated more money? Many people shy away from asking for more money because of the fear of rejection.

What if they say no?

What if it makes it awkward with your boss?

Well, I’m here to tell you that you can do this. It’s actually a very normal thing to do and it may not be completely comfortable, but it doesn’t have to make things awkward. I’ve done it myself and got the raise.  If you want to learn how to confidently and successfully ask for a raise, this article is for you. I will share three practical strategies and some dialogue for your next negotiation.

Do your research. It goes without saying that you need to know ...

What is the secret to getting ahead at work?

Why do some people get promoted over others?

I’ve managed, trained and promoted dozens of people in my career. In fact, my first management position was when I was just 19. No doubt, it's frustrating and de-motivating when you don’t get picked for the job, especially when the person who did get the promotion has been with the company less time or has less experience. This happens! It’s happened to me.

First, we need to clear up a big misconception about what it takes to get promoted. A lot of people think that getting promoted is about doing really well in the current role. If you're a star performer and get a perfect score on your reviews, you'll surely get promoted. Well, maybe. ...

It used to be the standard advice that you should stay with one employer as long as you can and be happy that you have a job. I know this because I work with mid and late career job seekers, people who grew up in world where it was normal to stay somewhere for 20 or 30 years and retire. We all know that those days are long gone, but is that a bad thing?

If you want to stay current in your skills, make more money and be happier with your career, then no, it's not a bad thing. Believe it or not, there are significant benefits to changing jobs more frequently. And by frequently, I mean about every five to seven years. I don't mean every one to two years. That’s a little quick and then you are going to look ...

We spend a large portion of our lives at work often seeing our coworkers more than our own families. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying before and for many people it’s true. In fact, It’s been estimated that you will spend about 90,000 hours of your life working, or roughly 1/3 of your life. That’s assuming that you work 40 hours a week from age 20 to 65 with 2 weeks of vacation a year. So you can imagine, working long hours—as we’re known to do here in the U.S— coupled with long commutes often an hour or more each way, and feelings of unfulfillment, underappreciation, etc. is a recipe for career burnout. And worse than that, depression. And career burnout = life burnout. If you hate your job, you’ll hate your life.

When we experience chronic stress from our jobs, it bleeds into ...

It’s estimated that 70% of U.S. workers are disengaged. If I were to ask everyone reading this if you’ve ever felt disengaged at your job, I think that every hand would go up. Do a Google search and you’ll find a plethora of articles, research and experts and so on, all weighing in on this topic.

Employee engagement has become the holy grail in today’s workplace. Companies everywhere are scrambling to figure out how to gain more productivity and loyalty from their employees. They’re doing studies and hiring consultants, they’re doing employee surveys and anything else they can think of. Meanwhile, employees everywhere are trying to figure out how to not hate their jobs. As I said, I think everyone has experienced disengagement at some point. To a certain degree, it's normal. There are going to be peaks and valleys ...

When I coach clients on LinkedIn, I always make the distinction that LinkedIn serves as a networking tool first, and job board second. Its primary purpose is to help you make new connections and nurture your current ones, in order to support your long-term career growth.

Since Microsoft purchased LinkedIn, we've seen a number of new features rolled out. The latest is Career Advice. This feature helps you to identify mentors within your industry who can provide advice, and possibly other connections. You fill out a short form about what type of advice you are seeking and LinkedIn will send you notifications with people who can support you. The concept of a mentor can be useful whether you are a job seeker, business owner, or otherwise.

With or without this feature, seeking out mentors in your line of ...

Millenials today get criticized quite a bit for being “job hoppers.” Employer loyalty has eroded, they say, and no one stays anywhere for more than three years or so. It could also be argued that employers no longer have the loyalty to employees that they used to have, either. Take the elimination of retirement pensions as a prime example of that.

An alternate perspective is that changing jobs every couple of years can actually be advantageous. Here’s what we know about people who change jobs more often:

They earn more money. When employees stay with one employer, they can expect a 2%-3% increase each year in most cases. When employees accept new offers from outside their company, they average a salary increase between 10% and 20% (Forbes, 2014).

They have more current skills. After about three years at ...