Excerpt from "The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up" If people are having fun, they’re going to work harder, stay longer, maintain their composure in a crisis and take better care of the organization. Here’s one example. An excited Kirt Womack of the Thiokol factory in Utah sprinted into his manager’s office on the first day of spring and ...

Marie Schulz, an admin to an Air Force general, found herself at a crossroads several years ago when the base closed. She got a new job but hated it because the long commute and office hours drained her, leaving no time or energy to work out or see friends. "The employer expected the employees to live for the job," says the ...

Whether you’re an executive assistant juggling 10 high-level bosses, or a receptionist dealing with difficult customers, any job in the administrative field can be overwhelming and stressful. Learning how to manage stress and channel it through positive means is vital, not just for a successful career, but for your happiness and well-being too. If you don’t take time to unwind, ...

By Not Just The Kitchen for Divine Caroline The dreaded job interview. No matter your resume and talents if you mess this up you won’t get that job. In today’s tough economy you need every possible edge. It can be a simple equation: You want to be liked — not hated. Here are ten simple things to do that will dramatically ...

When Rosalind Hebert, CPS, started her first full-time administrative job in the 1980s, making coffee for her boss was her top priority every morning. Now, as an administrative assistant at the Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Department, she seldom performs such tasks -- or even many traditional clerical duties, she says. Her boss writes his own email correspondence and has empowered her ...

You sit facing the interviewer, feeling like things are moving along nicely when all of a sudden the interview takes a drastic turn for the worse. What just happened? You may have hit one of the interviewer's pet peeves, one of those things that automatically triggers a negative response. Here are seven of the most common peeves provided by experienced interviewers, ...

Q. My husband was laid off recently. This is our first experience with unemployment. Almost everything I have read says the large Internet job sites are a waste of time. What should the first step be in the job search? He was a manager in telecommunications. A. To be successful during a period of unemployment, your husband needs to balance solitary ...

When you are looking to make the Big Leap—the one that puts you closer to the power centers of a business or organization—the interview process will likely be different from what you've experienced before. The more senior the person or people you're interviewing with, the more definite their ideas are likely to be about what they're looking for. They know ...

Have you ever felt frustrated after an interview? Sure you have! I know you’ve mentally gone over your interview answers and…you remember what you DID NOT say and you realize you missed an opportunity to REINFORCE your candidacy. Well, this is why you write a strategic Thank You letter, which will position you back in the “game.” Of course, it all ...

Reading résumés is a love/hate thing for me. As an HR person, I look at so many that sometimes I feel I can't bear to see another. On the other hand, from time to time I come across a résumé so terrific that it restores my faith in humanity (or, at least, my faith in the résumé-writing population). These rare, special, ...

We all know that before bringing you on board, a potential employer will do some vetting. They'll scour the internet searching for digital dirt, or any discrepancies from your resume. They'll try to get a glimpse into your personality. They want to know as much as they can about you. After all, they’re about to let you – an unknown quantity ...

Are you interested in working in human resources but fear you lack the experience? Many Monster admin/support job seekers are concerned about making this type of move. "Don't be afraid to apply for an opening," encourages Shannon Arens, a human resources specialist with Sioux City, Iowa-based Terra Industries Inc., a manufacturing company. "There's great growth potential." If you can't talk benefits ...

Virtual Assisting has become one of the most exciting and rewarding home-based businesses. What a privilege it is to be a part of such an evolutionary industry that continually grows and offers new opportunities and rewards for those coming into the business and those veteran pros as well. Marketing your Virtual Assistant business can be a rewarding adventure, providing you with ...

Don't be demoralized when an employer turns you down. The reasons behind a rejection usually have more to do with the company than with you You've probably read plenty of job-hunting articles. And they're all the same. A so-called expert will advise you to develop a plan, broaden your skills, and network. On résumés, they will counsel you to customize, use ...

By Beverly West, Monster Contributing Writer We all hit that difficult part of the afternoon when our energy dips, our concentration flags, and it feels like we're not going to be able to stay awake until the end of the workday without crawling under the desk to take a nap. And not sleeping well the night before just compounds the problem. ...

Let me start by saying that I'm not an extrovert. Every personality assessment I've ever taken spits out results that say I'm "in my head" or a "thinker." In other words, an introvert. And I've built my career on networking. It's opened doors for me, given me critical advice and, when I became an entrepreneur, developed millions of dollars in business ...

Ah, the dreaded cover letter. You may know what you should do and shouldn’t do, but when it comes to sitting down and actually writing it — where to even begin? Should you even bother? If the job listing specifically says to submit a cover letter, then you must! You don’t want to penalize yourself immediately by not following directions. Unless ...

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 ...

Compare your salary with other admins in your state and across the country. Below are the listings for the average salaries across all 50 states according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So, are you being paid fairly? Note: The National average salary for administrative assistants is $40,700. The Top Ten 1. New Jersey Avg Salary: $51,100 2. Washington, D.C. Avg ...

Work isn’t perfect, right? But if you are lucky enough to have a job right now it pays to remember that millions and millions of Americans don’t think you have a thing to complain about. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation’s unemployment rate is hovering around 10%. Even more troubling, The New York Times reports that ...