Susan was well-compensated and appeared to have time to balance her career and personal life. But she was struggling.

But Susan’s life was actually a mess. Her overly aggressive boss thought nothing of shouting at her in front of her colleagues. Though Susan was a good performer, she was constantly anxious about the next time her supervisor would berate her. Though she was expected to work eight-hour days, her boss would call her at any time of the day or night.

Susan began to dread hearing her cellphone ring and was so worried all the time that she couldn’t even sleep. She fretted that her colleagues and friends would lose respect for her, and she lost so much confidence that she couldn’t handle even the simplest of social interactions. Susana began to spend less time with her friends and family, where she would have to put up a brave face, and instead devoted more hours to work, where she could worry freely, obsessing over every detail of her job to the point of compulsiveness.

By most traditional measures of work-life balance, Susan was doing quite well. She was well compensated for an eight-hour workday, and she appeared to have enough free time to balance her career and personal life. But in reality, Susana was struggling. What’s more, her frustrations would not be picked up by conventional measures of wellbeing, because those measures don’t take into account the quality of people’s experiences, nor do they incorporate people’s own evaluations of their lives. Instead, those measures rely on factors like income and number of hours worked, under the assumption that these factors determine the quality of people’s lives.

Beyond work-life balance

When the idea of work-life balance was first introduced, it was a revolutionary concept. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the Industrial Revolution and its resulting shift to manufacturing work made it possible for employers to require workers to labor longer hours than ever before in human history. In some industries, people toiled 14 to 16 hours a day, six to seven days a week.

As researchers began to study the impact that these long hours had on stress levels, health, and family life, the idea of work-life balance gained currency, and many countries began to legislate limits to the workweek. Most developed nations now mandate 40-46 working hours per week, with a minimum of two weeks per year of holiday/vacation.

The concept of work-life balance has been instrumental in influencing these changes and bringing about an improvement in the quality of life that is assumed to accompany shorter working hours. But the concept is useful only up to a point. Globalization has undermined the relevance of reducing worker hours to achieve work-life balance and has revealed limitations; the most significant is that at some point, limiting hours further is just not sustainable.

France has mandated a 35-hour workweek, for example. But what can the country do next? The workweek can’t be reduced indefinitely, as this has implications for a country’s economic viability and competitiveness. In a globalized world, if workers in one country are unwilling to work for economically viable hours, then businesses will migrate to a country where they are willing to do so. In countries such as India and Pakistan, workers are motivated to work 10- to 12-hour workdays — and this is unlikely to change soon due to the large number of workers willing to do so to move up the economic ladder.

Another problem with the concept of work-life balance is that it takes the number of working hours into account but not the quality of the working experience. A person may spend 35 hours a week at work, but if that worker, like Susan, has an abrasive manager or is in a highly stressful job or one that is not suited to her natural talents, then those manageable work hours are unlikely to enhance her quality of life. Conversely, a person may choose to work long hours because it allows her to progress in her career or to build a social system at work.

Thus, the assumption that reduced hours at work lead to an improvement in personal life is too narrow, and probably faulty. Other factors, such as social support, health, safety, and job fit, contribute greatly to the quality of a person’s life. Since the concept of work-life balance doesn’t take into account these significant factors, it does not provide direction as to how people can actually improve the quality of their lives, except for reducing the hours spent at work. As such, it is not actionable.

The assumption that reduced hours at work lead to an improvement in personal life is too narrow, and probably faulty

How we think about and experience our lives

A more comprehensive concept-one that’s more appropriate for the 21^st-century economy-is that of wellbeing, which includes factors that contribute to our experiences and our perception of our lives. Until recently, wellbeing has been seen as an esoteric concept that is difficult to define and quantify. It is most commonly understood as relating to wealth or health, perhaps because of the ease with which these things can be measured.

One reason that wellbeing has been difficult to define is that it means different things to different people depending on what they consider important. To one person, it may mean prosperity or wealth; to another, it may mean values or community involvement or the realization of one’s potential. This is why wellbeing should be measured at the individual level, though it may be aggregated for organizations, communities, and nations. And any measure of wellbeing must be broad enough to incorporate an individual’s own choices and purpose in life while being specific enough to be compared and aggregated to facilitate action that can improve it.

Gallup has developed a wellbeing metric that includes the five key elements of wellbeing: Career, Social, Financial, Physical, and Community. These five distinct factors emerged from research that Gallup conducted across countries, languages, and vastly different life situations. Because these elements of wellbeing are universal, they can be measured and reported on for individuals, organizations, cities, countries, and regions around the world.

Because Gallup’s wellbeing assessment measures these elements individually in addition to yielding an overall score, it is actionable: The assessment gives individuals, organizations, cities, and countries the ability to manage wellbeing by undertaking actions to improve it. If an individual has relatively low Social Wellbeing, for example, she would do well to focus her efforts on improving interpersonal relationships with friends and family.

This can be managed over time. As her Social Wellbeing increases, she may choose to concentrate on Career Wellbeing, for instance, or choose to address both elements by spending time socializing with colleagues and making friends at work. In this way, wellbeing can be measured and managed comprehensively at the individual, as well as government, state, city, or corporate levels, by taking its various components and their interactions into account.

Conventional metrics such as employment status, income, educational level, hours worked, and women’s participation in the workforce are necessary to understand an economy, but they are insufficient when it comes to understanding and evaluating overall life satisfaction. Unless we begin to use a metric of a life well-lived — as measured by one’s own experiences and evaluation — people like Susan will continue to be under the radar, aware that something is amiss, but without an idea why or what to do about it.

The Five Essentials of Wellbeing

For many years studies have been done exploring the demands of a life well-lived. More recently, due to the evolving workforce and generational issues there has been an increasing need to understand how to help our employers achieve a well-balanced life. The elements of wellbeing that transcend the global work environment that differentiate a thriving life not a surviving life are as follows:

• Career Wellbeing: how you occupy your time — or simply liking what you      do every day
• Social Wellbeing: having strong relationships and love in your life
• Financial Wellbeing: effectively managing your economic life
• Physical Wellbeing: having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis
• Community Wellbeing: the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live

Take a moment and enjoy all the gifts you have and it will reduce your stress and only say “YES” to the activities and life experiences that you know you want to do!

These are Millennials a force of as many as 70 million, and the first wave is just now embarking on their careers — taking their place in an increasingly multigenerational workplace.

Get ready, because this generation — whose members have not yet hit 30 — is different from any that have come before them.

This age group is moving into the labor force during a time of major demographic change, as companies around the USA face an aging workforce. Sixty-year-olds are working beside 20-year-olds. Freshly minted college graduates are overseeing employees old enough to be their parents. And new job entrants are changing careers faster than college students change their majors, creating frustration for employers struggling to retain and recruit talented high-performers.

Unlike the generations that have gone before them, Millennials have been pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and high-maintenance, they also believe in their own worth.

Millennials are much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today’s workforce. They’ve grown up questioning their parents, and now they’re questioning their employers. They don’t know how to shut up, which is great, but that’s aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, ‘Do it and do it now.’

A great deal is known about Millennials:

They have financial smarts. After witnessing the financial insecurity that beset earlier generations stung by layoffs and the dot-com bust, today’s newest entrants into the workforce are generally savvy when it comes to money and savings. They care about such benefits as 401(k) retirement plans.

Thirty-seven percent of Millennials expect to start saving for retirement before hey reach 25, with 46% of those already working indicating so, according to a September survey by Purchase, N.Y.-based Diversified Investment Advisors. And 49% say retirement benefits are a very important factor in their job choices. Among those eligible, 70% of this generation contributes to their 401(k) plan.

Work-life balance isn’t just a buzz word. Unlike boomers who tend to put a high priority on career, today’s youngest workers are more interested in making their jobs accommodate their family and personal lives. They want jobs with flexibility, telecommuting options and the ability to go part time or leave the workforce temporarily when children are in the picture.

There’s a higher value on self-fulfillment. After 9/11, there is a realization that life is short. You value it more.

Change, change, change. Millennials don’t expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long — they’ve seen the scandals that imploded Enron and Arthur Andersen, and they’re skeptical when it comes to such concepts as employee loyalty.

They don’t like to stay too long on any one assignment. This is a generation of multitaskers, and they can juggle e-mail on their IPAD’s while talking on cellphones while working.

And they believe in their own self-worth and value enough that they’re not shy about trying to change the companies they work for. That compares somewhat with Gen X, a generation born from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s, known for its independent thinking, addiction to change and emphasis on family.

They’re like Generation X on steroids. They walk in with high expectations for themselves, their employer, and their boss. If you thought you saw a clash when Generation X came into the workplace that was a fake punch. The workplace changer is due to Millennials.

Conflicts over casual dress

In the workplace, conflict and resentment can arise over a host of issues, even seemingly innocuous subjects such as appearance, as a generation used to casual fare such as flip-flops, tattoos and capri pants finds more traditional attire is required at the office.

But some conflict is inevitable. More than 60% of employers say they are experiencing tension between employees from different generations, according to a survey by Lee Hecht Harrison.

The survey found more than 70% of older employees are dismissive of younger workers’ abilities. And nearly half of employers say that younger employees are dismissive of the abilities of their older co-workers.

Who Are Making the Necessary Changes in today’s Workplace?

Xerox is using the slogan “Express Yourself” as a way to describe its culture to recruits. The hope is that the slogan will appeal to Gen Y’s desire to develop solutions and change. Recruiters also point out the importance of diversity at the company; Millennials are one of the most diverse demographic groups — one out of three is a minority.

“(Gen Y) is very important,” says Joe Hammill, director of talent acquisition. “Xerox and other Fortune-type companies view this emerging workforce as the future of our organization.”

Millennials born between 1981-2000, depending on the source are vastly different from previous generations – especially Boomers. Members of the millennial generation cut their teeth on computer keyboards, and to them, computer technology and the Internet are as natural as breathing. This generation’s members know more about digital technology than their parents or teachers, and this is a promise of change not only the way families interact and communicate, but also how young people relate to school and learning.

Millennials combine the can-do attitude of Traditionalists, the teamwork ethic of Boomers and the technological savvy of Generation X. For this group, the preferred learning environment combines teamwork and technology. In a classroom with lots of Millennials, give everyone a task. When a few have completed it, encourage them to walk around the room and help others. They’re used to working this way in school.

Millennials are the most diverse generation in history. Members are born to the most diverse mix of parents in history as well – from teenagers to middle-aged moms who postponed childbearing to establish a career – from Boomers to Xers. One third of this generation was born to single, unwed mothers. This generation is less white and more culturally diverse than any generation in our history to date.

Many of the parents of Millennials are mid-life Boomers, used to winning and achieving. Millennial members have come to age in a very child-focused world. Many of them had Boomers as parents, and Boomers are as competitive for their children as they are for themselves. Boomers are used to getting their own way, and they have been strong advocates for their children. Because Boomers have worked long hours, because of many single parent families, because of an increasing violent world and because of the desire for their children to “get ahead,” Boomers have made sure their children participated in all forms of lessons and activities. Thus, Millennials have grown up in a very structured, busy and over planned world. Also, Millennials are made up of confident, optimistic young people who feel valued and wanted.

Here are some of the characteristics identified for Generation Millennial:
1. Closer relationship with parents.
2. Admiration for their parents (33% names one or both parents as their hero, rather than a pop culture celebrity).
3. A closer sphere of influence – a more dangerous world has created an environment which is more sheltered and structured, and where young people have been protected.
4. The small sphere of influence has contributed to the creation of a generation that is, in general, more polite and considerate than their predecessors. They are less likely to call adults by their first names, but rather use the more formal Mr. or Mrs.
5. Attentive and respectful. This generation has been brought up to show respect for others. In a crowded world where there are larger numbers of people in classroom and activities, civility becomes essential to getting along.
6. Programmed and team oriented. Some college administrators believe that many Millennials have “lost the sense of pure play.” They expect everything to be planned for them and do not expect to have as much freedom – or responsibility for structuring their educational lives.
7. Having spent a large percentage of time in structured activities, they are accustomed to having a lot of adult supervision. Thus, they may have poor conflict resolution skills.
8. Pressured to succeed. The Boomers, parents of the millennial generation feel pressured themselves to succeed and also transferred that pressure to their children. In addition, just as Boomers have lived in a world where there is increasing competition for resources, Millennials have done the same.
9. Involved. This is a generation of activists – young people who believe they can make a difference.
10. Egalitarian. This cohort often prefers to work in teams or groups. They definitely do not prefer hierarchy. Sometimes faculty finds the lack of authoritarian hierarchy in their groups creates ambiguity when it comes to having a point of contact for information.
11. Open and eager. Members of this generation are very open and eager. Students are responsive and “very smart” according to some faculty.
12. Demanding of themselves and others. Members of this cohort set the bar high for themselves and they, like their Boomer parents, expect success. They sometimes “expect” to get good grades and are upset when this does not happen.
13. Stressed. Compared with five years ago, 81% of college mental health service directors reported an increase in students with serious psychological problems. Pressure to succeed is one reason identified by some counselors.
14. Multi-taskers. This generation can easily manage to listen to music, work on the computer and watch television at the same time. This means they need a lot of stimulation in their learning environments and may be more focused than it seems to their teachers.

Here are some shared experiences of Generation Millennial:
1. Child focus (Sylvan Learning Centers)
2. Oklahoma City bombing
3. Busy, over-planned lives (more than 75% of time spent in structured experiences)
4. Stress
5. Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant caused a near meltdown
6. Iranian students took 66 people hostage at the US Embassy in Tehran
7. US boycotts the Olympics in Moscow
8. President Regan shot
9. The Equal Rights Amendment passed (though not ratified)
10. The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board
11. The Exxon Valdez spills more than ten million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound
12. The Berlin Wall demolished
13. Persian Gulf War
14. Four white police officers accused of beating Rodney King were acquitted; shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado left 13 students and one teacher dead; the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 10,000 for the first time
15. It took more than a month to declare a winner of the presidential election because of ballot (“hanging chad”) disputes
16. Four US planes were hijacked in attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing more than 3000 people leading the US into an ongoing fight against terrorism
17. The Space Shuttle Columbia exploded upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.
18. War is waged against Afghanistan and Iraq

Here are some additional characteristics of Generation Millennial:
1. Bigger than Baby Boomer Generation
2. 3 times the size of Generation X
3. Roughly 26% of the population
4. Diverse
5. Inclusive
6. Powerful
7. Weak on interpersonal skills
8. Cyber
9. Activists
10. Support social causes
11. Impatient
12. Active/hands-on learners
13. Use technology
14. Spending power exceeds $200 billion
15. Independent
16. Strong views
17. Close to family

And finally, Generation Millennial in the classroom:
While boomers like to be in charge of their own learning and the Generation Xers prefer to work independently with self-directed projects, Millennials prefer learning that provides interaction with their colleagues. They like a lot more structure and direction than Generation X. The want to know everything up front as far as what is expected and what criteria will be used to evaluate their performance. They are the most likely to want to ask questions like, “Will this be on the test?” or specifics such as “how is this going to affect my life in a positive way?” Certainty and security is key for this group. Tying the leaning outcomes to economic objectives is important for Millennials. This generation is as comfortable with technology as a fish is with water. In spite of their technology savvy, they are in some ways very traditional. Members of the millennial generation are motivated to learn in order to reduce stress and increase their marketability. They place high value on developing good interpersonal skills and in “getting along.” This is a generation that is polite, believes in manners, adheres to strict moral code, and believes in civic action. This is a generation that places a high value on making money – more than any previous generation – and they see education as a means to this goal. Like Generation X, this generation likes learning to be entertaining and fun, and become quickly bored in a learning environment that is not highly active and interactive. They grew up with the Learning Channel and Chuck E. Cheese – edu-tainment and eat-o-tainment. Stand-up talking is deadly for this group who, even as adults, respond to music, art, games, and other creative activities. Leaning materials for this group should have the same levels of value interest and multiple focal points as those of Generation X. However, there is an important difference in Millennials in this regard. It is a generation of readers, so written information works well with this group.

Tips for Teaching Generation Millennial:
Some experts have asserted, “there is a growing mismatch between faculty and students in terms of teaching and learning.”
1. Develop opportunities for experiential learning. Small group discussions, projects, in-class presentations and debates, peer critiques, team projects, service learning, field experiences, developing simulations and case method approaches have been found to be successful for high school and college Millennial students.
2. Encourage the development of learning and sharing communities – small groups of students that can discuss and analyze readings and assignments. This also addresses the need of many millennial students for hands-on activities in the classroom.
3. Provide lots of structure. Having grown up in a highly structured world, Millennials look for structure in their learning setting. They want to know precisely what is required of them, when work is due and very specific information about expectations.
4. Provide lots of feedback. Providing frequent feedback is essential for Generations Y’s. This allows them to know when they are headed in the right direction and when they are getting off-track. Frequent attention from teachers is welcome.
5. Use technology. This is a generation that uses technology for “everything.” A classroom that does not incorporate it will not meet students’ needs for variety, stimulation, and access to information. Some classrooms still require students to study and learn in ways that, to them, are completely different from the ways they operate in every other aspect of their daily lives.
6. Make it fun. Like their Generation X predecessors, they want to enjoy their learning. If it is not fun, it will be cast into the category of “boring” and may become less effective. Millennials learn best when they are entertained.
7. Incorporate games. For them using computers games as an instructional technique can be very effective. These incorporate many of the strategies that Millennials have already developed for learning: multi-media sensory stimulation, interactive (either with other people or with the computer), individualization (customization) of the learning experience, and control over processing time, highly visual.
8. Be relevant. Like Generation Xers, Millennials will demand relevance in what they are learning. This will also want to “skip” steps in learning if there are areas of the information that have already mastered, and will avoid repetition and rote practice once they feel they have mastered the information.
9. Utilize their talents. This is a generation that likes to be useful and helpful. If you have students who know more about a topic than you do, let them talk about what they know. If they finish an assignment early, let them help other students.
10. Present the big picture. Many in this generation are global or “big picture” learners. They learn better if they have the big picture and then learn more concrete and specific information.
11. Allow for creativity and be creative. This is a generation that thinks in many dimensions at once. Provide opportunities for them to be creative in how they approach and fulfill requirements. Music, art, and games are good teaching tools.
12. Offer multiple options for performance. Try to provide a variety of acceptable, measurable outcomes so that students can optimize their performance.
13. Be visual. This group is the most visual of all learning cohorts. In general, visual learners predominate, but among millennial learners it is even more strongly preferred than in other age groups.
14. Be organized. Because they need a lot of structure, millennial students also learn best when materials are presented in a well-organized and rational way. Millennial students are much more prolific readers than Generation Xers, so reading materials for them are not a stumbling block. However, materials should be clear, use lots of white space, and be visually accessible, just as for Generation X. Summarizing key points is very important for this group. They want to know where they are going with their learning – and why.
15. Be smart. Unlike Generation Xers, Millennials will not look at you with disdain if they feel they know more than you about a specific topic. However, they will expect you to be open to hearing their ideas and to demonstrate competence as a teacher. To this generation being “a good teacher” is more important than knowing everything.
16. Be fair. Like their Boomer parents, fairness is important to this group.
17. Recognize the need for social interaction. This is a key for millennial learners, so learning strategies that incorporate social interaction work well.
18. Remember, talk is essential. Develop activities that encourage students to exchange information verbally. When they say it, it is converted more quickly to long-term memory.
19. Structure a learning environment that demands respect and positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement, from teachers and peers improved learning and increases motivation.
20. Tie learning to actions. For some key information, students can increase their recall if there is a specific action linked to their learning of a key fact. For example, if you want students to remember the date of the Norman invasion, then you give them the information, the year 1066, have then hold up 10 fingers and then 6 fingers. The information will stay with them forever.
21. Think positively. Positive thinking stimulates the brain. It increases the likelihood of success.
22. Be clear and precise. Give students clear goals, targets and purpose. Millennials particularly want to know precisely what they need to do meet the requirements of the class. This is not a lack of intellectual curiosity, but a desire to be efficient. Keep in mind that these students have been exposed to more information in their lives than the two preceding generations combined. They know a lot. For them, school is one of the many ways to get information, and they are used to getting what they need or want in ways that are efficient for them.
23. Allow focus time. The millennial generation’s attention span declines after 15-20 minutes. You have you student’s brain for only 20 minutes at a time. Break up a training class into 20-30 minute segments with some kind of activity (outbursts, e.g.).
24. Talk is critical. Talking stimulates the brain, in particular, the frontal lobe, the area which controls higher-level thinking and decision-making. Social interaction is important to memory and learning.
25. Enhance procedural memory with movement. Procedural memory is stored in the body – it is muscle memory. Riding a bike is an example of procedural memory. Procedural memory is easy to access. Relating procedural memory to cognitive tasks can improve recall.
26. Make learning relevant. Tie learning tasks to real-world problems. If it is not seen as relevant, there will be resistance to learning.

According to an article last week in the Wall Street Journal, it takes many more than most employers think (or at least want to accept.) I repeat – a lot more. The actual numbers are mind boggling.

For example, infographic presented in the Wall Street article revealed that it takes approximately 1,000 online views by candidates to get 100 candidates to complete the application. Out of that, 25 applications are selected for review, and then 4 to 6 candidates are recommended for an interview. When all is said and done, companies may find their one diamond in the rough only after 1,000 candidates view the job posting. If those numbers hold up, it is clear that the impending war for talent is no longer imminent or pending. It’s here today.

Not one to rely only exclusively on hearsay, I was prompted by the article to review 25 jobs posted on our applicant processing system by clients during the last 3 months. The results don’t only confirm the findings presented in the Wall Street Journal but throw up an even bigger gauntlet to challenge employers. The best views-to-applicant scenario was 10 percent. But a more common scenario was as low as 1 percent.

Unfortunately for many companies, as good or bad as those results are, the job search does not always end when the one lonely qualified candidate is identified and offered the job. According to research presented by Talent Function Group, LLC, “the chosen applicant accepts the offer only 80% of the time.” That situation leads to two options – offer the job to your second choice (if there is one) or go back to the drawing board. Neither choice is desirable when a company’s productivity and competitive advantage are on the line and dependent on a minimum time to hire and high quality of hire.

To win the war for talent moving forward, nearly every employer will need to cast the widest possible sourcing net to attract, identify, and hire qualified candidates. In addition, operations and sales managers don’t have the time to waste interviewing candidates who can’t do the job.
The competition for recruiting qualified skilled workers poses a formidable challenge for most organizations. Management has a choice: deal with a “resu-mess” which will inundate recruiting and human resource staffs, which are already running lean; or insist on applicant processing automation to build a talent pool of qualified candidates, reduce the time-to-hire, and ultimately improve the quality of employees.

Mobile recruiting involves any action or conversation regarding the job search using a mobile device. This could include an app that aids in candidate sourcing or pushes notifications when a candidate applies or schedules an interview, or even reads QR Codes for use at job fairs. According to Mashable, mobile recruiting is on rise in the job seekers mind: 19% of job seekers use mobile devices to search for jobs, but 57% of job seekers would like to use mobile devices to search for jobs. Technology will catch up to the job seeker. While best practice of mobile recruiting is still evolving to candidate behavior, it is clear that companies should have a mobile recruiting strategy going forward.

“For employers, mobile is the new paradigm shift,” states mobile recruiting expert Michael Marlatt.

Tools exist to make the hiring and interview process easy and mobile-ready for the job seeker as well. These include mobile ready web sites, audio job listings, and text message alerts for job seekers who are mobile, active, and on the go. Mobile is especially appealing for this reason. Recruiters and companies can engage job seekers anywhere and at any time. A quick text message for a recruiter to alert a job seeker offers a real-time opportunity to engage. Job seekers don’t have to wait to be in front of a computer to apply, or receive email about a job. Job seekers want to be able to easily research and apply for your position without being tied to a computer.

Creating and executing a mobile recruiting campaign doesn’t have to be expensive. It can be as simple, complicated, inexpensive, or expensive as you wish it to be. Let’s start with easy, here are three budget friendly ways to leverage mobile recruiting:

• Schedule Candidate Interviews via Text. Enterprise text message systems serve as a form of CRM. Make it easy for your Millennial candidate pool by scheduling and communicating the details regarding their interview via text. Offer to send interview location and directions via their cell phone linking to a simple Google Map. Candidates can easily create a route using their Maps app while also having the option to receive directions via emails.

• Make Applying & Research Easy. Your company must be easily accessible on mobile devices. As candidates have more choices – even in this current economic market – it’s important to make it easy for job seekers to learn more about your company, the company culture, and where they could fit in. This includes open jobs and details of what those jobs actually entail. Mobile formatted career sites make it easier for candidates to quickly view information. Also bear in mind that the traditional employee applications take an average of 45 minutes to complete. Using mobile technologies, and a professional profile, the application process can be snap, sometimes even 60 seconds or less. Consider not only the context of employee applications, but also in the context of building a talent community.

• Leverage Video. One of my most popular online activities via mobile is viewing video. As more people own smartphones and as smartphones get bigger and better, more and more video viewing will be on phones. Whether live streaming or a 5 minute day in the life video or employee testimonial, companies can leverage opportunities to engage their candidate base using the power of mobile video. Video provides insights into the environment and company culture that we can see and hear creating a lasting impact that goes beyond any job fair brochure.

Scores and meanings:

10-24 You are on track! Keep it up. Notice which questions you scored higher on and think about applying yourself more to balance. You are aware of your needs. You are making yourself strong and able to continue and give your best.

25-40 You are moving in the right direction. Examine your priorities a little more closely and notice where you are getting results and what needs attention. Maybe give yourself a little break or time and space to rejuvenate and get perspective. Review your answers with higher scores and consider what you might do to move your scores down.

41-50 Congratulations! You have taken a big step. You have become aware that you have an opportunity to gain the skills to work smart. Imbalances are not irreversible. Review your goals to keep them BRIEF, applying the five factors of working smart, and use the SMART techniques to help you plan. Give yourself some rest and relaxation, and re-approach with a new, refreshed point of view, and keep abreast of your activity to build new hands to work smart.

Is it a mysterious quality that some of us are born with, and the rest without? Or is it a skill set that can be learned and mastered? Most business and relationship experts support that “working smart” is a skill set that enables one to achieve balance in life and be fruitful.

Many women have intuitively been using these skills to successfully juggle their many responsibilities. When done effectively, the result is a general contentment and satisfaction both personally and professionally. When reflected on and analyzed, five key traits of “working smart” emerge. They may be remembered best using the acronym BRIEF for: Balanced, Results achieving, Independent minded, Energized and Fit in.

5 Traits of Women Who Work Smarter

1. Balanced: Balancing one’s personal and professional life.
2. Results achieving: Reaching a satisfactory level of results.
3. Independent minded: Considers information and opinions of others as appropriate, and ultimately makes her own mind up on her position.
4. Energized: Achieving and maintaining an effective distribution of one’s energy including reasonable breaks and vacations.
5. Fit In: Being accepted in the culture of one’s chosen environment.

Balanced: Personal and professional life balance is a key part of working smart. Whole life aspects such as exercise, proper nutrition, and constructive support from family, friends, community and more provide a strong basis from which to draw strength. Feeling capable in one’s work approach is built from many sources, not only success at work.

Results achieving: Reaching a satisfactory level of results is a subjective call, and is important because it is a reality check. If the results do not show and goals are not met, it is hard to say one is working smart. A widely used technique to help achieve results is the SMART approach to goal setting. Ask yourself, “Are my goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, and Timely?”

Independent minded: Although she considers the information and opinions of others as appropriate, she makes up her own mind. She chooses with her own free will to associate with people, places and things or not. She takes responsibility for her decisions.

Energized: Achieving an effective energy distribution depends on one’s ability to monitor their body and their feelings and have the self-discipline to get enough sleep, and take enough breaks and vacations to allow themselves to restore and replenish. The kinds of activities that refresh a person are as individual as their finger prints. Do you work smart, or do you need to improve?

Fit In: Fitting into one’s chosen environment is a sign of working smart. Drawing healthy limits that others respect and appreciate so that there is a harmony is important. It helps one to perform better and it indicates effectiveness.

As you prepare for the day ahead, consider are you working smarter?

When we become more aware of all our senses, we begin to realize how wonderful our life truly is. We touch the soft skin of a baby and our heart is warmed. We hear soft mellow voice of a stranger say ‘good morning’. We taste the creamy chocolate morsel and a sense of pleasure washes over us. We see a stranger hold the door open as we walk out, our hands filled with packages and we feel gratitude.

Awaken our senses and life takes on a new meaning. We can stop the hustle and bustle of life and simply enjoy the moment when we become aware of our senses. For this moment will not come again as it is right now and if we don’t stop and ‘smell the roses’ they will be withered and gone.

Enjoy life today and allow your senses to bring new joy.

Let’s take a step back and give an honest look at what happened. Did we have any part in the event? Could we have changed the outcome if we took some action? Don’t blame others without honestly looking at our role and in many cases, we will see that we are just as much to blame. Our hand should never point fingers at others and blame them, without pointing the same fingers back at ourselves first. We should look to see how we could have changed the outcome and learn from the lesson.

It’s too easy to blame someone else for what has gone wrong today. It’s time we step up and take some of the responsibility. Remember, we are quick to take the credit when things go well, it’s time we take the same approach when they don’t.