AdminSecret

The dreaded difficult customer — you know them as soon as they walk in the door. It’s in their stance, the look on their face, their tone of voice and general body language. The arrival of a difficult customer, though, does not have to spoil your whole day. There are ways to deal with difficult customers that can not only diffuse ...

Having manners is something that we won’t be able to teach you… you know, things like: “Please” “Thank You” “Excuse Me” “I’d appreciate it…” And… “Your Welcome” Manners, if you’re lucky, were instilled in you at a very early age by your parents or another adult figure in your life. Manners are important and in the working world, especially the world ...

The resume was impressive. The formatting was impeccable, the content was excellent, and she did a great job of focusing on accomplishments instead of job duties. If I were an employer, I would have been impressed. Then I looked at her cover letter and imagined the employer tossing that perfect resume into the trash bin. Many people looking for jobs destroy ...

Time flies when you're wasting it These days, no one can afford to waste time at work. Thanks to widespread downsizing, workloads are piling up. Unfortunately, extra hours in the day are not. Maximizing your time at work can mean the difference between leaving at a reasonable hour (i.e. holding onto your sanity) and staying late unnecessarily. You’ve got a ...

Pamela LaTulippe still recalls the day 10 years ago when she walked into a client's office and got a stinging reminder that she looked much younger — and to some, less credible — than her 25 years. "The general manager looked at me, and the first thing he said was, 'How old are you?'" says LaTulippe. "I didn't answer with my ...

During the typical job interview, you'll be asked a lot of questions. But do you really understand what the interviewer needs to know? "Most students have no idea why a recruiter asks a particular question," says Brad Karsh, a former recruiting professional for advertising giant Leo Burnett and current president of career consulting firm Job Bound. "They tend to think it's ...

Gina had recently been laid off after working as a marketing manager in a high tech company for the past five years. She was distracted as she walked through the aisles of the supermarket. She was thinking about ways to market herself into a new job. She stood in front of the cereal selection, overwhelmed by the number of brands to ...

Sometimes, a person will lose their job through no fault of their own. The whims of a psychotic boss, an economy in shambles, or a simple misunderstanding can have an otherwise satisfactory employee packing up his or her cubicle. Other times, a person will lose their job because they have done something so incredibly foolish, you wonder how they ever ...

Do you find that people are passing calls and e-mails from person to person, getting the client more and more frustrated? Do you feel that you could be helping the client even if you don't know the answer to their issue right away? This happens so often within large corporations, since most of them care only about the bottom line - ...

Do you find that when you contact a vendor because of a problem with your order of some sort that you get the dreaded automated messaging system, where you get lost with dialing all of the different numbers just to be able to get to the proper department or even a live person? Then you finally do reach a live person ...

1. Not Using Standard Business-Letter Format The student's cover letter looked more like a cut-and-paste email than a business letter. It had no recipient information, no return address and no date. The letter screamed unprofessional. What's YOUR Cover Letter IQ? Be sure your cover letter uses a standard business letter format. It should include the date, the recipient's mailing address and ...

This blog post originally appeared on savetheassistants.com. The first time I had to write a professional work email and sign my boss’ name to it instead of my own, I was totally flummoxed. There was this particular art to that “corporatespeak” voice, and I couldn’t quite get it right. For those of you in similar situations, here are a couple of ...

As the introduction to our blog series “What We Can’t Teach You” explained, there are a number of traits, characteristics and attributes that will affect your job performance that we can’t, nor anyone else for that matter, teach you. The trait we’re going to take a look at today is your work ethic and having pride in the work you perform. ...

Do you believe in luck? Do you think you are a lucky or an unlucky person? Is there such a thing as a luck factor and if so where can you get it? Read on... Recently I met up with a participant from one of my training events. She told me that she had just got her doctorate and went on ...

Did you know your productivity decreases 20% to 40% when you switch tasks mid-stream? Pretty astonishing, isn't it? Although it’s hard to believe, it’s true according to a 2001 study conducted by the University of Michigan. The good news is this. You can dramatically increase your productivity simply by staying focused on a single task for longer periods of time. In ...

Job-hopping. It’s career suicide. That is, if conventional wisdom and my father are to be believed. They tell us to stay at a job for at least two years. That the longer you stay in one place, the more dependable you’ll appear. And the better your chances for success when you do look for a new job. They tell us that ...

1. Withhold Your Resume Here's what not to do: Fire off a volley of resumes to human resources departments. "Sending a resume is simply a way to oblivion," says Jeffrey Fox, author of Don't Send a Resume. HR departments must quickly eliminate nearly all of the hundreds of resumes submitted for a single opening. At the first whiff of your extra ...

You've sent out 800 resumes, done one interview, received zero offers. You find yourself looking lower and lower on the totem pole and occasionally eyeing openings for line managers at the competitor that killed your former employer. It sounds ridiculous, but we all know it's true. You can be overqualified for a job. Why some employers think this way, we'll never ...

You may look good on paper or in your suit, but if you're looking to nail your big interview, looks aren't everything. How you sound is often more important. But many job seekers let careless speech habits sink their chances of landing that plum job. The Bottom Line: You don't have to study elocution to speak well. Simply slow down, take ...

1. Non-words Filler words such as "um," "ah," "you know," "OK" or "like" tell the interviewer you're not prepared and make you sound like a Valley Girl (or Boy). A better strategy is to think before you speak, taking pauses and breaths when you lose your train of thought. Everybody utters an occasional "um," but don't let it start every sentence. ...