It turns out great bosses have a fundamentally different outlook when it comes to managing people, the workplace, and dealing with the competition than the average ones. In fact, according to Inc.com’s Geoffrey James, they have eight core beliefs that separate them from the pack.

Coexistence is crucial.
Most bosses see business in terms of a zero-sum game, where conflict is inevitable. Great bosses realize the delicate ecosystem they inhabit and are more likely to adapt as necessary.

A company is the sum of its part.
While average bosses see a company as a machine and its employees as dispensable, great bosses believe in their people and inspire them on an individual level.

Continue Reading

Recently, a Forbes article discussed “The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)” and labelled them as the principal factors that can erode even the grandest and most well-meaning of plans. They’re intended as a warning to those who only dream big, rather than do.

Conversely, and perhaps more interestingly, it also implicitly helps to identify the key steps on the path to success. For instance, what factors influence greatness and happiness? What elements consistently place you in a position to succeed?

Rather than focus on what we shouldn’t, the following compares the original list of “enemies” (found in brackets), with their polar opposites in order to generate a useful guide to achieving success and happiness.

Continue Reading

We spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what it is we should be doing. Whether trying to define a specific career path early on or looking to make a switch in emphasis part-way through, it’s a consideration that never seems far from our mind. All the more reason then to make sure we’re getting exactly what we need from our work, aside from simple monetary considerations.

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review by Bill Barnett entitled “Make Your Job More Meaningful” pointed to three distinct attitudes about work – jobs, careers, and callings. According to the article, identifying your own perspective can help you better define what it is you want from your own professional life.

Those that see their work as a “job” are working more for the money and derive less satisfaction and meaning from it.

Continue Reading

Let’s be honest, how much downtime do you actually enjoy on any given day? If you feel the constant pull of everything from emails and phone calls to social network notifications and meeting requests, it’s likely you suffer from some form of acute downtime deficiency.

In his article “What Happened to Downtime”, Scott Belsky discusses the value of a concept in psychology known as the creative pause. It’s defined as the ‘shift from being fully engaged in a creative activity to being passively engaged, or the shift being disengaged altogether’.

More commonly, we know it as that point in time when the minute we stop thinking about a particular problem and focus on something else, the solution often presents itself. The trouble is that these crucial moments of downtime and disengagement are increasingly difficult to come across.

Continue Reading

Week In Review:

Toronto - Inside Sales Representative (Internet) Details / Apply
Toronto - Data Visualization Specialist (Market Research) Details / Apply
Toronto - Training Manager (Internet) Details / Apply
Toronto - Small Business Writer (Information Technology & Services) Details / Apply
Toronto - Account Supervisor – Publishing Services (Marketing & Advertising) Details / Apply
Ottawa - New Business Development Manager (Computer Hardware) Details / Apply
Montreal - Mobile Media Buyer (Marketing and Advertising) Details / Apply
Vancouver - Marketing Manager, Demand Generation (Market Research) Details / Apply
Vancouver - UI Designer (Internet) Details / Apply
Ottawa - Sales Support Role (Internet) Details / Apply

For the full rundown, log-in to Vestiigo.com

Some weekend reading
Career Savvy: What Do Jeremy Lin and Angry Birds Have in Common?
Career Savvy: Interviewing - Like a BOSS
TED Talk: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Continue Reading

As a meritocratic society, it’s little surprise we place such a high value on “success”. It also goes a long way to explaining our obsession with dissecting said success and trying to replicate it. However, we frequently come to the wrong conclusions and the myth of the overnight sensation is probably the best example of it.

The Myth

You’ve seen the headline somewhere or read the article that describes the meteoric ascent of someone to the very top of their discipline, seemingly at random. Whether it’s the story of Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks point guard that led the team to a string of unlikely victories earlier in the year, or the run-away success of the game Angry Birds, the timelines are presented in terms of days and weeks.

Continue Reading

Whether it’s because we like the sound of it, or the sense of accomplishment we feel when make one, for better or worse we like to make big decisions. These are the kinds of decisions that we belabour, discuss, agonize over, and review constantly. Yet, there’s much to suggest we should be making smaller, not bigger decisions when it comes to our work and careers.

The Problem with Big Decisions
The reality is big decisions are complex, take a long time to assess, and often have a decidedly uncertain outcome. This means they’re risky. After you’ve taken all that time and effort you’re banking on it paying off, but if it doesn’t you’ll have a costly mistake on your hands.

Continue Reading

We tend to think of our career as a series of moments – such as when we change jobs or decide on a major career change – but the reality is it shouldn’t be such a fleeting thought.  Much of the difficulty and duress we endure when it comes to applying to a new role or deciding what it is we want to do next comes from the sporadic consideration of this question. 

It shouldn’t really be a surprise – how good can you be at something if you only try it once or twice a year [insert obvious sports analogy here].

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review by Dorie Clark entitled “It’s Not a Job Search, It’s a Permanent Campaign” raises the interesting comparison between your career and that of a political campaign. Clark points out that we need to think of our career more than just during “election time”.

Continue Reading

Recently, the Encyclopedia Britannica, which has been in continuous print since it was first published in Scotland in 1768, said it planned to end publication of its printed editions. Wow. What used to sell in a 32-volume book-shelf busting edition that cost upwards of $1200 is available for a fraction of the cost online, or as an app on your phone if you’re so inclined.

While the online options are by no means new, it represents a significant milestone in the democratization of information – opening up the world’s brightest minds in the palm of your hand for a few dollars a month – and shows just how far the digital publishing market has come.

You would think then that we would take full advantage of this and other resources to be better informed and take the time to form our own opinions. Yet, it rarely seems to be the case.

Continue Reading

“I wish there were more hours in the day” - it’s an absolute favourite expression of ours this side of the Western hemisphere. We use it regularly to let people know how busy we are – or at least to convince ourselves of it.

The reality is that we’re not busy, most of us anyway. It’s used as a convenient excuse so we don’t need to think about all the things we could be doing – pursuing a hobby, writing that book we’ve always wanted to, learning a new language. The list could go on. If only I had the time, I could do it all.

Hint: if you have the time to tell people how busy you are, via social media or otherwise, you’re not busy.

Continue Reading

When it comes to landing a new gig, most seem focused on the act of applying at the expense of where they would actually like to work. It’s all too familiar to hiring managers and involves a lot of copying and pasting, as well as submitting hundreds of applications at the same time in the hopes that one will squeak through. Applying is a means to an end, not the actual end.

While playing the numbers game is a particularly bad strategy when it comes to landing a new gig in its own right, the most egregious error is not spending this time on evaluating the kind of company, environment, and culture that’s going to be best for you.

Just think, what happens when that application squeaks through and you end up working for a company you don’t like in an industry you’re not interested in – it happens all the time.

Continue Reading

In the book Rework, by 37 Signals, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson discuss our culture of workaholism. They point out that we celebrate workaholics – those that burn the midnight oil and sacrifice their precious hours in a noble quest to getting things done. The more work they do, the more valuable they are to the company, or so the theory goes. It’s a ridiculous theory and the authors agree.

The reality is that workaholics only do one thing better than everyone else – work more.  They don’t get things done faster or to a higher standard than anyone else, nor are they more invested in the project than others.

In fact, they do quite the opposite.  Rarely is the solution to a problem a question of total hours expended and when you gravitate to longer days and later nights, creativity and precision suffers. This means your final outcome is less than ideal.

Continue Reading

Chances are you already know where this is going. We’ve all had to complete a performance review in some shape or form and then go over it with our manager. They tend to be quite lengthy affairs and often include all sorts of metrics and benchmarks we have absolutely no control over, say the results of another business unit or obscure corporate measurements (return on equity anyone?).

They often reflect a very top-down management style, where everything must “ladder-up” to the ultimate corporate objectives. It all makes sense in theory, but it just isn’t reflective of how people’s work habits and motivations are like today.

The objective of performance reviews should be to assess, but also to motivate. It seems as though the current approach does neither and at the very worst actually demotivates us.

Continue Reading

Of all the purported job skills that we emphasize, persuasion has to be one of the most underrated.  So much attention is given to your qualifications and experience, and not nearly enough on your ability to influence to make them matter.  How else will you assure someone that you can truly sell a product or that your project ideas are viable or profitable?

Consider what a job interview, a presentation, or a speech would look like without the ability to convince your respective audience? It’s not enough to be simply knowledgeable on a topic – we’ve all had teachers, professors, or even managers that know their subject inside and out, yet still left us unconvinced.

How do you become persuasive, or is it even possible to learn? Despite those who argue it remains an innate ability, it’s commonly held that there are three modes of rhetoric you can use to help structure and support your argument.

Continue Reading

Writing is becoming a lost art, particularly in the business world. The chances are you’ve received either a poorly written email, sat through an inarticulate presentation, listened to an unconvincing speech, or experienced all three. The ability to write clearly and effectively remains one of the central building blocks of our society, yet increasingly the emphasis on writing as a skill seems to be waning.

The irony, of course, is that it’s never been easier (or cheaper) in the history of civilization to disseminate content to the masses. Between blogs, e-publishers, and social media you have a triumvirate of tools to professionally present and share your message – without the need of any third parties.

There’s any number of reasons to explain its decline. Some argue it’s the influence of social media, which facilitates speed rather than thought, while others suggest schools no longer place the same emphasis on effective writing that they once did.

Continue Reading

In his eponymous blog, Seth Godin frequently questions the usefulness of the traditional resume. He argues they provide an easy way for employers to reject you because it makes it so easy to point out what’s missing as opposed to directing attention on what you’ve accomplished.

He’s on to something.

When we should be putting together a marketing portfolio worthy of a Super Bowl spot on prime time television, we instead send out stock, run-of-the-mill word documents that look and sound like everyone else. It doesn’t market and it doesn’t sell.

In reality, we should have a living, breathing portfolio that includes tangible items, like stellar projects you’ve delivered or flattering recommendations.

Continue Reading

Let’s face it – we’re obsessed with risk. It permeates everyday life in any number of ways; we employ “Risk Managers”, we look to minimize risks in our investments, apply risk management techniques to the projects we run, and even try and avoid making seemingly risky career moves. The “riskier” the choice, the greater we’re supposed to discount it.

When we’re evaluating a choice, risk has a very well-established place in this process. We use it to avoid making mistakes others have made, to heed the warnings of friends, family and colleagues, and to make ourselves feel better about the choice we ultimately end up making.

However, somewhere along the line risk has taken on a far more prominent place in our everyday decision making than it deserves. That isn’t to say you should ignore risk, but when we’re so focused on mitigating them, we can lose sight of and undervalue the importance of opportunity. This has a lot of implications for your career and the decisions you make.

Continue Reading

If you’ve made the decision to move on from your current job, the second most important decision you’re going to make it is how you do it. It’s critical to handle this process as smoothly as possible because it can have a direct effect on your next career, even if you’ve already accepted a position elsewhere or you’re moving industry entirely.

The majority of people will cite the importance of ‘references’ or ‘future employment opportunities’ at a company as reasons to leave on good terms, but there’s other less obvious ones.

For instance, a member recently shared a story with us about how they had quit their job at a big infrastructure company to start up their own promotional design company. They had not been happy in the corporate world, but made sure they left on good terms and stayed in touch with their former colleagues. Several years later that big infrastructure company became their biggest client and they maintain that had they not left on good terms “there’s no way I could have approached them”.

Continue Reading

Week In Review:

Toronto - Marketing Manager (Apparel & Fashion) Details / Apply
Toronto - Global Marketing Coordinator (Consulting) Details / Apply
Toronto - Sales Manager (Apparel & Fashion) Details / Apply
Toronto - Support Rockstar (Internet) Details / Apply
Toronto - Market Research Analyst (Market Research) Details / Apply
Toronto - Admissions Advisor (Education) Details / Apply
Montreal - Community Game Representative (Computer Games) Details / Apply
Victoria - Mobile Media Buyer (Marketing & Advertising) Details / Apply
Vancouver - Client Services Manager (Market Research) Details / Apply
Ottawa - Product Sales Specia (Computer Software) Details / Apply

For the full rundown, log-in to Vestiigo.com

Some weekend reading
Career Savvy: Avoiding the Pitfalls: Crafting a Great Resume
Career Savvy: 4 Destructive Work Myths We Can Do Without
TED Talk: Amy Purdy: Living beyond limits

Continue Reading

It’s clear that feedback is essential to keeping your team motivated and engaged – all the best companies make this a practice. Yet, it tends to become part of the process only after an employee is “on-boarded”. However, there’s an opportunity for these same companies to make it part of the hiring process in order to help distinguish themselves and effectively showcase their employer brand.

Why it’s important

Authenticity: How do potential hires know your culture focuses strongly on employee engagement and feedback, because you told them? Make it clear to them from the first step of the hiring process.

Perfect Information: Today, future hires have almost perfect information when it comes to background research on companies. Certainly, the very best ones will have done extensive research, including starting salaries, how many people work there, as well general impressions of your company and its products or services. If the hiring process doesn’t provide very good feedback or clarity, chances are someone’s going to write about it, post it and you might just miss out on your next great hire because of it. The converse is also true – think Zappos and all the people who apply because they’ve read about their unique approach to hiring.

Continue Reading