Accountants Journal

Cost Allocation

2015-05-22T20:12:00.001-07:00

Cost Allocation

Cost allocation (also called cost assignment) is the process of finding cost of different cost objects such as a project, a department, a branch, a customer, etc. It involves identifying the cost object, identifying and accumulating the costs that are incurred and assigning them to the cost object on some reasonable basis.

Cost allocation is important because it the process through which costs incurred in producing a certain product or rendering a certain service is calculated. If costs are not accurately calculated, a business might never know which products are making money and which ones are losing money. If cost are misallocated, a business may be charging wrong price to its customers and/or it might be wasting resources on products that are wrongly categorized as profitable.

Mechanism

Typical cost allocation mechanism involves:

Identifying the object to which the costs have to be assigned,

Accumulating the costs in different pools,

Identifying the most appropriate basis/method for allocating the cost

Cost object

Cost object is an item for which a business need to separately estimate cost.

Examples of cost object include a branch, a product line, a service line, a customer, a department, a brand, a project, etc.

Cost pool

Cost pool is the account head in which costs are accumulated for further assignment to cost objects.

Examples of cost pools include factory rent, insurance, machine maintenance cost, factory fuel, etc. Selection of cost pool depends on the cost allocation base used. For example if a company uses just one allocation base say direct labor hours, it might use a broad cost pool such as fixed manufacturing overheads. However, if it uses more specific cost allocation bases, for example labor hours, machine hours, etc. it might define narrower cost pools.

Cost driver

Cost driver is any variable that ‘drives’ some cost. If increase or decrease in a variable causes an increase or decrease is a cost that variable is a cost driver for that cost.

Examples of cost driver include:

Number of payments processed can be a good cost driver for salaries of Accounts Payable section of accounting department,

Number of purchase orders can be a good cost driver for cost of purchasing department,

Number of invoices sent can be a good cost driver for cost of billing department,

Number of units shipped can be a good cost driver for cost of distribution department, etc.

While direct costs are easily traced to cost objects, indirect costs are allocated using some systematic approach.

Cost allocation base

Cost allocation base is the variable that is used for allocating/assigning costs in different cost pools to different cost objects. A good cost allocation base is something which is an appropriate cost driver for a particular cost pool.

Example

T2F is a university café owned an operated by a student. While it has plans for expansion it currently offers two products: (a) tea & coffee and (b) shakes. It employs 2 people: Mr. A, who looks after tea & coffee and Mr. B who prepares and serves shakes & desserts.

Its costs for the first quarter are as follows:

Mr. A salary   16,000
Mr. B salary   12,000
Rent   10,000
Electricity 8,000
Direct materials consumed in making tea & coffee   7,000
Direct raw materials for shakes 6,000
Music rentals paid 800
Internet & wi-fi subscription 500
Magazines 400

Total tea and coffee sales and shakes sales were $50,000 & $60,000 respectively. Number of customers who ordered tea or coffee were 10,000 while those ordering shakes were 8,000.

The owner is interested in finding out which product performed better.

Solution

Salaries of Mr. A & B and direct materials consumed are direct costs which do not need any allocation. They are traced directly to the products. The rest of the costs are indirect costs and need some basis for allocation.

Cost objects in this situation are the products: hot beverages (i.e. tea & coffee) & shakes. Cost pools include rent, electricity, music, internet and wi-fi subscription and magazines.

Appropriate cost drivers for the indirect costs are as follows:

Rent 10,000 Number of customers
Electricity   8,000 United consumed by each product
Music rentals paid 800 Number of customers
Internet & wifi subscription 500 Number of customers
Magazines 400 Number of customers

Since number of customers is a good cost driver for almost all the costs, the costs can be accumulated together to form one cost pool called manufacturing overheads. This would simply the cost allocation.

Total manufacturing overheads for the first quarter are $19,700. Total number of customers who ordered either product are 18,000. This gives us a cost allocation base of $1.1 per customer ($19,700/18,000).

A detailed cost assignment is as follows:

Tea & Coffee Shakes

Revenue 50,000 60,000

Costs:

Salaries 16,000 12,000

Direct materials 7,000 6,000

Manufacturing overheads allocated 11,000 8,800

Total costs 34,000 26,800

Profit earned 16,000 33,200

Manufacturing overheads allocated to Tea & Cofee = $1.1×10,000

Manufacturing overheads allocated to Shakes = $1.1×8,000

source: accountingexplained

7 Things You Will Regret Not Doing In Your 20s

2015-05-22T03:54:00.003-07:00

7 Things You Will Regret Not Doing In Your 20s

Is it even possible to have regrets in your 20s? After all, every failure is just another lesson to be learned, right?

Turns out there are quite a few regrets you can have as a 20-something (although the list is much shorter than in your 30s).

Redditors recently voiced things that they regret not doing in their 20s. Read their answers to make sure you won't have any regrets in some of the best years of your life.

1. Not getting fit

Your 20-something metabolism can make you complacent with your health, but start working on being fit and healthy earlier, and you definitely won't regret it. After all, exercising and a healthy diet can increase your happiness and make all your experiences better.

For example, if you're fit, you'll be able to take on bucket list trips that require a lot of endurance and a certain fitness level, like climbing Machu Picchu.

2. Not taking risks

So you're heading down the traditional path to play it safe. Think of your 20s as a time for new experiences and don't let your fears hold you back. You're only young once!

3. Rushing to be a grown-up

You're eager to get started on life, but take the time to really enjoy the experience of being in your 20s. You have the rest of your life to act like a grown-up. Don't feel obligated to follow a certain timeline.

"You don't have to rush out and get a full-time career job at 21. You don't have to shack up and marry the first person you meet at 24. You don't have to buy a house or car and have babies by 27," says Reddit user shewhogoesthere. "A lot of people I know who were in a hurry all through their 20s are now ending their 20s and feeling a bit depressed because they quickly extinguished their youth and hit all the goal posts and now they're like, 'What now?' You can't go back, you can't be young again; why throw it away so quickly?"

4. Not starting a retirement fund

Every personal finance expert recommends to start putting money toward your retirement fund as early as possible. This is because the earlier you make your contributions, the greater the rewards with the magic of compounding. This means the more money you put in earlier, the faster it grows.

5. Wasting time on people who don't deserve your time

Yup, the old toxic friend syndrome. It seems as if we have this regret in every decade of our life. But in your 20s, friends seem to take up more time and effort than other decades just because many of us are still looking for our significant others and haven't had kids yet. Make sure that the time you spend on your friends is well spent and that you're cultivating friendships that will last a lifetime.

6. Not studying or moving abroad

You usually have less obligations in your 20s, so it's a good time to pack up and actually live overseas for a while. It's a completely different experience from traveling, and it's worth doing if you can make it work. You'll be out of your comfort zone culturally and in every other way possible, which is a tremendous learning experience that will open up your perspectives and world view.

7. Staying in bad relationships

This goes hand in hand with friends you shouldn't waste time on. Your 20s will pass by in a flash, so make sure you're spending it with the right people! Bad relationships — be they romantic or platonic — can really do a number on your self esteem, so don't let them drag you down.

source : businessinsider

11 Things You'll Regret Doing In Your 30s

2015-05-22T03:52:00.001-07:00

11 Things You'll Regret Doing In Your 30s

What better way to learn than from those who have been there and done that?

A Reddit thread recently had people chiming in on things they regret doing (or not doing) in their 30s.

Whether you are about to embark on the exciting journey of your 30s or nearing the tail end, learn from those in the know.

1. The shoulds

You'll feel societal pressures in your 30s more than ever before, but don't let the shoulds hold you back. You may constantly worry about how you should own a home, you should have kids, you should be married, or you should have a steady career.

Drop all those expectations, and live life the way that makes you the happiest. Don't feel like a failure just because your life happens to deviate from the norm — you've got one life to live, so live it your way.

2. Not spending time with parents

One common regret that many people in their 30s have is not spending time with their parents while they are young enough to actively participate. Simple pleasures like taking a walk, traveling, or even having a conversation may be harder to come by once your parents age.

3. Putting work first

Something to keep in your mind in your 30s: if you put work first, you're going to regret it. Spend time with people you love, because those are precious moments that money and moving up the ladder can't beat.

4. Spending time on negativity

And you thought those negative people would disappear from your life in your 30s. Nope, there may be some hanging around, so don't waste time on them. Watch out for people who don't make you feel good about yourself, and reevaluate your relationships with them.

Be careful of spending time on negative thoughts and issues that you have no control over. Just. Let. It. Go.

5. Thinking your 30s was old

"I'm too old for this!" may be a common phrase you use in your 30s. You know what? You're not. And I bet people in their 50s and 60s will agree. The world was your oyster in your 20s, and it still is. Take a chance, live, and enjoy life as the young'un you are, and never lose that child in you.

6. Not putting yourself first

Maybe you're putting everyone else first in your life but you. Snap out of it! Know that once you put yourself first, everything else can fall into place. Putting your needs first will make you a happy camper, which will result in better relationships — a win-win.

When you take care of yourself, you'll have fewer regrets in your 30s. The partner your life revolved around? You probably won't regret that as much if you had focused on your needs and chased your dreams as well.

7. Not taking better care of your body

It's quite the paradox — you say you're too old for something, and yet you still keep the junk-food-fueled and antiexercise habits of the younger you. Those habits are harder to drop, but treat your body right early, or it'll catch up with you before you know it.

8. Not taking chances

Maybe you're overly cautious at this age and perhaps it's the shoulds we mentioned earlier that are holding you back. Don't play it safe, and live a little.

9. Not saving and investing enough

This seems to be a huge, huge regret that a lot of 30-year-olds carry. If you start saving earlier, you'll be reaping bigger rewards by the time you retire. And if you don't put off saving and investing in your 30s, you'll be more likely to retire at the age you want.

10. Not traveling enough

The world is at your fingertips, so take off on a travel adventure! Don't keep procrastinating and putting this off — it'll be harder to make time for travel as you get older. Get inspired by this list of the 10 most beautiful travel adventures.

11. Caring too much about what others think

It seems we're guilty of this at every age. Don't waste more time on this useless habit in your 30s. Stop investing time and energy into caring about what people who don't care about you think. The ones who do care for you will accept you as you are.

Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time Management and Take Control

2015-02-16T01:28:00.001-08:00

Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time Management and Take Control

When it comes to managing your time, many people feel like they have a crushing number of requests coming at them that make them a victim to their circumstances. "There's always too much to do. Everyone just keeps piling more work on me." Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone, but you should stop playing the victim and own the situation.

This post originally appeared on the Harvard Business Review.

They see forces outside themselves as the reason that they don't have time to exercise, can't leave work at a reasonable time, or just generally struggle to get everything done. Although there are occasionally situations that are outside of your control—that recent bout with the flu, for example—most aren't. And even though it can feel gratifying in the short term to blame others for your situation, this attitude toward your time investment will leave you truly powerless in the long run.

When you play the victim with your time, everything around you suffers. You're constantly on edge in your interactions with others because you fear that they'll pile yet one more thing on your already heavy load. Since you don't believe you can ever say, "no," your "yes" comes out of a place of obligation and resentment, not wholehearted commitment. Since your situation seems so difficult, you don't attempt to plan or work more efficiently because you believe that you will have to work all the time no matter what and are convinced that it's impossible to get everything done. You eventually stop trying because you believe no matter how hard you try—you'll fail.

In my work as a time coach, I've seen that individuals often have a much greater ability to influence their situation than they realize. But the breakthrough only happens when they start exerting their personal power instead of waiting for something around them to change. It's similar to when people who find themselves in debt blame the credit card companies, instead of accepting that they had a choice in spending more money than they had. Only by accepting that they can—and need—to change and then taking steps to do so can that balance go down.

The way to break out of this victim mind-set is to stop blaming others, and instead, take ownership of your time and take responsibility for changing yourself. Here are three practical steps to take back control of your time.

Be Mindful of How You React

Become aware of how you respond when your time investment becomes misaligned with your priorities. Do you always look for someone to blame? My boss always gives me too much to do. Do you pity yourself? Poor me, yet another stressful day. I'll get some ice cream to make myself feel better. Do you reject advice or suggestions? How dare my wife suggest I could work differently to get home earlier. That's just not possible. Do you ever say no to a new project? Do you ever set boundaries? Do you ever ask for support?

Recognize Your Role and Responsibilities

Understand that you are the decision maker when it comes to investing your time. There are certain situations where you simply need to do what it takes to get things done for a short time. That could be when you're approaching a major deadline, preparing for a new product launch, or drafting annual reports. But overload doesn't need to be the norm. It's not everyone else's fault if you have too much to do and you don't communicate that to anyone else. It's yours.

Even in top consulting firms known for their rigorous work schedules, there's room for open communication about time. For example, Boston Consulting Group established a formal global program called PTO (Predictability, Teaming, and Open Communication), which helps establish priorities and time-off goals for each team member. One component of this program is for team members to work together so that each one of them can have a period of time each week when they're completely off the project. To help make this happen, the teams have weekly check-ins that include talking about how they're feeling and the value they're delivering to clients. Each person recognizes their role to openly and honestly communicate about their needs, instead of expecting others to automatically know when they're overloaded. You must take on the same responsibility in your own organization with regards to your own time, even if you don't have a formal program encouraging you to do so.

Make a Commitment to Change and Take Ownership

Regardless of how you've behaved in the past in certain situations or with specific people, you have the opportunity to make the future different. Make a commitment to change; choose to respond your environment instead of simply accepting whatever comes your way.

Instead of becoming a victim, take ownership of the situation and your time. This could look like speaking up when you feel that someone makes an unreasonable request so that you don't end up overloaded. Have your project list on hand when you go to meetings so that if a new project is proposed, you can evaluate its importance in relation to your other commitments. If it doesn't seem like there's sufficient time for the new work, propose a discussion about priorities during the meeting or bring it up later with the appropriate parties.

Also, set clear rules and boundaries to prevent taking on too much from others. For example, if you manage staff members who tend to turn in work at the last minute with many errors, require that they turn in items earlier. That allows you to send it back to them to make corrections instead of doing them yourself because you're on a tight deadline.

Finally, if you're in a situation where setting better boundaries isn't possible (such as a job where you're on call 24/7) and you're finding your time investment troubles unmanageable, you may need to consider whether you're in the right job. There are some positions that will not create a sustainable lifestyle for you no matter what you try to do. It's okay to decide to get out.

By taking responsibility for your time investment choices, you stop wasting energy blaming others and start directing it toward a productive response toward the people and situations around you. With that focus, you can have enough time for what's most important to you.

Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time | Harvard Business Review

source Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time Management and Take Control

This Is What’s Keeping Teens from Getting Enough Sleep

2015-02-16T01:06:00.001-08:00

This Is What’s Keeping Teens from Getting Enough Sleep

Up to a third of teens in the U.S. don’t get enough sleep each night, and the loss of shut-eye negatively impacts theirgrades, mental wellbeing and physical health. Biologically, adolescents need fewer hours of slumber than kids—but there's a bigger reason for teens' sleep loss, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

MORE:The Power of Sleep

Katherine Keyes, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, looked at survey data from more than 270,000 8^th, 10^th and 12^thgrade students at 130 public and private schools across the country, gathered between 1991 and 2010. Each student was asked two questions about his or her sleep habits: how often they slept for at least seven hours a night, and how often they slept less than they should.

MORE:School Should Start Later So Teens Can Sleep, Urge Doctors

She found that over the 20-year study period, adolescents got less and less sleep. Part of that had to do with the fact that biologically, teens sleep less the older they get, but Keyes and her team also teased apart a period effect—meaning there were forces affecting all of the students, at every age, that contributed to their sleeping fewer hours. This led to a marked drop in the average number of adolescents reporting at least seven hours of sleep nightly between 1991-1995, and 1996-2000.

That surprised Keyes, who expected to find sharper declines in sleep in more recent years with the proliferation of cell phones, tablets and social media. “I thought we would see decreases in sleep in more recent years, because so much has been written about teens being at risk with technologies that adversely affect the sleep health of this population,” she says. “But that’s not what we found.”

MORE:Here’s How Much Experts Think You Should Sleep Every Night

Instead, the rises in the mid 1990s corresponded with another widespread trend affecting most teens—the growth of childhood obesity. Obesity has been tied to health disturbances including sleep changes such as sleep apnea, and “the decreases in sleep particularly in the 1990s across all ages corresponds to a time period when we also saw increases in pediatric obesity across all ages,” says Keyes. Since then, the sleep patterns haven’t worsened, but they haven’t improved either, which is concerning given the impact that long term sleep disturbances can have on overall health.

Keyes also uncovered another worrying trend. Students in lower-income families and those belonging to racial and ethnic minorities were more likely to report getting fewer than seven hours of sleep regularly than white teens in higher-income households. But they also said that they were getting enough sleep, revealing a failure of public health messages to adequately inform all adolescent groups about how much sleep they need: about nine hours a night.

“When we first started looking at that data, I kept saying it had to be wrong,” says Keyes. “We were seeing completely opposite patterns. So our results show that health literacy around sleep are not only critical but that those messages are not adapted universally, especially not among higher-risk groups.”

content and image source This Is What’s Keeping Teens from Getting Enough Sleep

If You Do These 20 Things Every Day, You’ll Become Smarter

2015-02-15T03:57:00.000-08:00

If You Do These 20 Things Every Day, You’ll Become Smarter

Although many people believe intelligence is limited to those with high I.Q.s, there are a number of potential methods to boost one’s cognitive abilities and become more effective at various professional and personal pursuits.

With enough motivation and determination, anyone can expand their mental capabilities and become smarter. Integrating new habits into your regular routine and providing proper stimulation can sharpen your intellect quickly and leave you inspired to take on new challenges each day. Brain health is an important key in complete physical health. The list below includes the best brain-engaging activities in daily life.

Inviting Novelty

To create new neural pathways and strengthen the brain, it’s critical for people to continually incorporate new experiences and information into their lives. At first, these moments might feel useless, but eventually, you will find yourself looking forward to quiet moments alone.

Visit New Places

Whether this means studying in a new coffee shop, taking a different route to work, or traveling to a different country, displacement is good for the brain. This might be difficult to recognize in the moment since it usually feels rather awkward – at least initially. At the coffee shop, you can’t order the “usual.” You have to study a new menu, pick something you have never tried before, and make a decision.

While this seems simple, people enjoy the comfort of habit. We like to know what to expect at all times. When you travel to a new country, the language is strange, the customs are unfamiliar, and the culture presents a strange new rhythm of life. Adjusting to these new elements forces the brain to tackle new, unexpected challenges. Learning how to communicate through a language barrier forces the brain to develop creative ways to express needs and emotions. Listening to new music, trying new foods, and navigating foreign streets all work to challenge your brain’s capacity to adapt to new situations.

Continue Your Education

Adult education is one of the best investments of time, money, and energy you can make. While education is valuable throughout childhood and adolescence, adults often underestimate their ability to learn new concepts and skills. Challenge yourself to take a class, academic or creative. Voluntarily choosing to continue education provides a perfect opportunity for your brain to create new connections and build higher intelligence.

Read and Watch the News

This is one activity that maintains the appearance of habit while nurturing healthy brain waves. Setting aside half an hour every morning or evening to read a newspaper or watch the news will help your brain stay active. Digesting new information is a good daily habit. The news introduces interesting topics to consider, and will leave your brain churning with new information.

Read Books

Reading is the most basic way to facilitate brain activity, but it often presents some of the most diverse opportunities for stretching brain capacity. Reading provides practical assistance by introducing new vocabulary, presenting examples of proper grammar usage, and showing the elegance of a well-written sentence. However, this is only half of the magic of reading.

Whether you choose fiction, non-fiction, historical literature, or poetry, reading offers an opportunity for the reader to make big-picture connections between the literature and real life. In this way, reading is an alternative way to make your brain travel to a new place. As your imagination works to create tangible people, places, and experiences from the words on the page, your brain is rewiring to understand all the new information.

Approach Work in New Ways

The workplace is a canvas for new experiences. Regardless of what type of job you might hold, everyone is at one time or another presented with opportunities to think outside the box, problem solve in a creative way, and contribute fresh ideas to the team. Instead of stressing over each new problem, it’s important to relax and starting imagining alternatives for reaching an end goal.

Challenging Yourself

Like a weightlifter who develops muscles, one must exercise the brain on a daily basis, pushing it just beyond its current capabilities. As Albert Einstein once said, “One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.”

This quote encapsulates what I believe about the brain. With enough focus and stretching, the brain can truly surprise people. Underestimating yourself holds you back from success. When people begin believing in their abilities, they often go beyond what they thought was possible.

Brain Train

Organizations like Lumosity offer fantastic daily brain training. With puzzles and games designed to increase neuroplasticity, Lumosity was created to challenge the brain to make new connections. A group of neuroscientists at University of California Berkeley developed this program to provide stimuli for the brain to push it to adapt and re-train itself in uncharted territory. Success stories abound concerning the results of this public experiment.

Ask 5 Whys When Encountering Problems

One of the most standard problem solving solutions, the 5 whys still provide a solid start to uncovering the root of a problem. Asking a question gets the brain working to find an answer. Instead of worrying about the problem, always start by asking why.

Eschew Technology to Keep the Brain in Shape

Technology does wonders for the modern world, but in some ways, technological dependence stunts the brain’s capacity for problem solving, adapting to new environments, and being a reliable resource for practical things like simple mathematics and navigation. Try going on a trip without a GPS. Work a few algebra problems without a calculator. Make your brain work for you; you’ll see the results.

Fostering Creativity

Finger-painting in preschool was not only a fun activity; it helped open up the mind to new possibilities and ways of solving problems. An artistic mindset creates new opportunities to find new solutions, fresh inspiration, and peaceful confidence.

The blend of these elements in both personal and professional environments allows ordinary people to shine by becoming an innovative thinker and inventive leader. Find ways to incorporate creativity into the dull grind of daily tasks.

Draw

You don’t have to be an artist to appreciate the benefits of drawing, which cultivates brain activity in a unique way. In addition to nurturing basic hand-eye coordination, it sends synapses to neurotransmitters to help more permanently and vividly store your memories. From doodles on a piece of scrap paper to charcoal portraits, drawing is a healthy brain activity for everyone.

Paint

Painting is an extension of drawing. It feeds the same areas of the brain, but unlike drawing, painting often introduces new and unfamiliar textures and colors to stimulate the brain. Painters often have a keen sense of awareness towards their surroundings. Engaging in painting encourages people to notice minute details of the world around them. Focusing the brain in this manner brings a heightened state of alertness.

Play an Instrument

Learning to play an instrument also has outstanding benefits for the brain. Hand-eye coordination, memory, concentration, and mathematic skills all improve through playing an instrument. While some are more challenging to learn than others, any instrument facilitates increased and improved cognitive functioning.

From training your fingers to master complex musical passages on the piano to counting the beats in a musical measure, instruments force various regions of the brain to work together to create music.

Write

Like reading, writing encourages vocabulary growth, grammar skills, and use of proper syntax. Writing helps the brain store information more effectively and fosters better memory skills. Studies show that students who regularly take handwritten notes during college classes consistently score better on tests. Writing forces a person to pay attention to their memories, experiences, and internal dialogues – a combination that increases brain function altogether.

Role-Play

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and your brain starts to rewire to help you think like a different person. For those struggling to form creative ideas, role-playing can help the wheels start turning in the brain to help develop unique solutions for difficult problems.

Working with Others

Although logical intelligence is important, emotional intelligence plays an equally vital part in overall success. Interacting with others helps people expand beyond their own limited thinking, gain new ideas, and see things from a different perspective.

People are challenging. Smart people often enjoy isolation because it protects them from being critical of others. However, this discomfort is necessary for truly smart people because it pushes them outside their bubble. When you start to believe you have all the right answers, start collaborating with others to expand perspective.

Teach and Share Information with Others

Whether this is achieved virtually or face-to-face, pursue colleagues and peers to share experience and wisdom. Fresh faces and new ideas spur inspiration and create an amplified learning environment for the brain. By creating a network for sharing ideas, your brain starts developing a new network for formulating and executing innovative concepts.

Talk to Interesting People

No two people share the same life experiences. Everyone interprets information uniquely, stores memories differently, and digests daily life with their own intellectual flare. This makes collaboration a necessity for brain health. Although we are all inclined to think our method is the best approach, gaining perspective from another person helps our brain consider new solutions and new techniques for both personal and professional issues.

Whether the conversation is centered on religion, finances, politics, or diet trends, people should practice being a good listener. Silencing your own thoughts while the other person speaks is often challenging, but the brain needs discipline to stay sharp.

Work in a Team Environment

Collaborative environments are essential for enhancing brain activity. Some people who enjoy working independently dread the moment when they are forced to participate in a team-focused workplace. However, these independent individuals are highly intelligent and can benefit the most from a little teamwork.

Author Steve Johnson’s book, Where Good Ideas Come From, focuses on the benefits of collaborating with peers and coworkers to develop original ideas and effective strategies for their execution. The modern workplace continues to shift towards this team-oriented approach.

Cultivating Physical Health

The body feeds the brain, and keeping oneself in top physical condition is crucial to adequate fueling and operation of the brain. Lack of motivation, mental fatigue, and absence of inspiration are typically connected to poor exercise, diet, and focus.

Exercise

Studies constantly show people who exercise regularly have higher I.Q. scores. In addition to maintaining a strong body, people who exercise regularly actually stimulate brain cell growth. A process called neurogenesis occurs during rigorous exercise, which increases the production of neurotransmitters. With side effects like increased dopamine, active people enjoy less stress, better concentration, and more energy.

Dr. Michael Nilsson of Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden conducted extensive research on the topic. “Being fit means that you also have a good heart and lung capacity and that your brain gets plenty of oxygen,” the doctor said. His research focused on over a million Swedish military men, and Dr. Nilsson found a direct correlation between physical fitness and high scores on I.Q. tests.

Pursue Athletics

Multiple studies have shown active children typically do better in school and have a better chance of continuing their education after high school graduation. Although athletic pursuits can feel grueling at the time, the overall benefits of intense physical activity are wise for your future.

Whether it’s finding one thing you are good at, like basketball, running, or lifting weights, or trying something new every day, maintaining an athletic routine is important for optimal brain health.

Meditate

Controlling and calming the brain is as powerful as enhancing activity through instruments and puzzles. Doctors have been studying the effects of mediation on the brain for several years, and the results are impressive. In one famous study, Dr. Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study what happens to the brain during meditation.

Transcendental Meditation yields impressive results for the brain. People who struggle with fear, anxiety, depression, and other mental ailments should experiment with meditation to calm themselves and develop a stronger sense of focus.

Maintain a Nutritious Diet

Children and adults interested in boosting brain activity should begin by transforming their diet. Research from the University of Bristol in England points to a strong connection between unhealthy diet and low I.Q. scores in children. To begin reversing unhealthy tendencies, try cutting out excess fat, sugar, and fast foods, and start adding more vegetables, fruit, and lean meats.

There are also a number of unusual drinks proven to help brain function. Matcha Green Tea, Raw Cacao hot chocolate, and Gingko Biloba tea all show benefits for the brain. Some scientist claim Gingko Biloba helps pump more blood to the brain, improving circulation.

Active Learning

Start children young with interactive video games, jump roping, juggling, and other activities to feed brain stimulation. Assign a musical instrument, a physical activity, or a Sudoku puzzle to get their brains moving. Parents, remember to join in the fun!

Creating daily routines to promote healthy brain activity doesn’t require the advice of a neuroscientist. While plenty of studies provide convincing evidence, increasing brain activity can be accomplished with a few basic steps. Be intentional about your time and energy to start working towards a smarter and more fulfilling life.

Featured photo credit: davidoa via flickr.com

source If You Do These 20 Things Every Day, You’ll Become Smarter

The Only Time It's OK to Use an Objective Statement on Your Resume

2015-02-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

The Only Time It's OK to Use an Objective Statement on Your Resume

Ask three people to look over your resume, and you’ll get three different perspectives on what should and shouldn’t be on there.

Yet, somehow, pretty much everyone agrees that objective statements are out of fashion. In their place, you’ve probably heard, should be a resume summary statement. Or, since you need to keep it all to one page anyway, just save the space and dive right into your relevant experience.

And that’s true, generally. But there’s one occasion when your resume should, in fact, return to the objective statement: when you’re making a huge career change.

Think about it. If you have, say, five years of experience in business development and you’re now interested in marketing, your resume probably isn’t selling you as the best candidate for the gigs you’re applying to. In this case, you could definitely benefit from having an objective statement to clearly explain that you’re making the switch and show how your skill set aligns with this new career path. It might even be confusing if you don’t use an objective statement if your experience doesn’t line up cleanly with the position you’re applying for.

That said, it’s very easy to get objective statements wrong. That’s probably why they’ve gotten such a bad reputation—people just write them poorly. Something like “Objective: To obtain a position as a public relations specialist at an innovative and impactful company that utilizes my skills and experience” is literally just wasting space—every single company in the world likes to think of itself as “innovative and impactful,” and it’s not clear what “skills and experience” this person brings to the job. The top of your resume is prime real estate, so you don’t squander it by using vague filler material.

A better approach is to be as specific as possible about your goal and plainly state how you intend to bring your skills and strengths to a position—something like this: “Objective: To leverage my 10+ years of client-facing experience, public speaking skills, and expertise in the tech industry in a public relations role at a growing educational technology startup.” Like a summary statement, it shows off your skills, but it also explains exactly how you plan to transition them in a new role.

While you’ll often hear that the objective statement is dead, it’s important to note that, really, there just aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to resume writing. (In fact, the only resume advice that really matters is to do what it takes to get the interview.) Focus on what works for your experience, not what works for the masses. And if that means including an objective statement, go for it.

source The Only Time It's OK to Use an Objective Statement on Your Resume

How to Avoid Coming on Too Strong in Your Job Search

2015-02-08T09:44:00.002-08:00

How to Avoid Coming on Too Strong in Your Job Search

During the job search, it’s all too easy to feel emotionally involved. After all, this is your livelihood on the line, and everybody’s telling you that a typo on your cover letter could be the difference between you going on to the interview stage or getting passed over entirely.

However, this same desire to get a job so badly could be the thing standing in the way of you actually getting hired.

The problem comes when you want something so bad that you go from being passionate and ambitious to seeming, to be honest, kind of needy.

In an article for Science magazine, career expert David Jensen explains:

Very few can achieve something difficult without desire. Desire, though, is like gasoline; it can burn too hot. It’s also like a lubricant; it can grease the gears, but if you have too much, things get slippery and hard to hold on to. It also doesn’t show very well, or not always.

For example, maybe you try so hard when networking with your professional contacts that you come on too strong and turn them off to helping you. Or maybe you’ve practiced your over-enthusiastic interview answers so much that you end up kind of scaring interviewers (they have a sixth sense for this sort of needy desire, Jensen says).

The question is, how do you show off your enthusiasm—without going overboard? Here are a couple of suggestions.

When Networking

When it comes to any sort of networking (in-person events, email, LinkedIn), the name of the game is being straightforward but casual. Let people know that you’re on the job hunt, but don’t shove it down their throats.

For example, if you’re at a networking event, you don’t want to spend every second of a 10-minute conversation talking about yourself and what you’re looking for in a job. Instead, use your job search as a jumping off point for someone else to talk about what they do. Saying, “Oh, you work in finance? I’ve actually been looking at different positions in the sector for a while. What is it that you do?” is a lot less aggressive but also opens up the door to more possibilities of where the conversation can go.

Another important tip for networking during the job search? Always offer your contacts some sort of out. For instance, if you’re asking a friend to put a good word in for you at her company, end with something like, “If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, I completely understand. There’s absolutely no pressure.” Regardless of how badly you want that job, it’s not worth making a contact feel awkward (and potentially having the opposite effect).

In Your Job Application Materials

When you’re the one doing all of the work to get a job, it’s easy for your materials to come off as being all about you. What’s wrong with this approach? You’re missing a critical part of the equation: The company that’s doing the hiring.

Remember that from hiring managers’ perspectives, your job application is actually all about them, since they’re the ones in need of someone and therefore opening up the opportunity for you to apply.

So, don’t let your resume, cover letter, or application turn into a giant “me”-fest. Much like the principles of networking, it’s all about making the other person the center of attention. Take extra care in your cover letter to explain what you’d do for the company (not just the fact that the job would be great for you), and make sure your resume actually illustrates your qualifications for that particular job.

During the Interview

Over-preparation can actually be a bad thing when it comes to job interviews! For example, have you ever had someone look you straight in the eye for extended periods of time? Trust me on this one: It’s ridiculously uncomfortable!

While it’s important to go over interview questions and think about how you want to come across when you’re meeting with a hiring manager, it’s also important to think about how you may be coming across to the other person. For instance, a firm handshake it good; a bone-crushing grip is not. Practicing your answers tocommon interview questions can totally help you; memorizing answers word-for-word will come across as rehearsed and awkward.

Be prepared for anything in an interview, including having to go with the flow at some point or another.

The best way to keep your desire for an opportunity in check? Jensen suggests reminding yourself that there are bigger and more important things out there: “…focus less on whether or not you win in the end. You still have to be sharp; that’s why you prepare well. But once you’ve prepared, you need to calm down. And you can. You know why? Because it really doesn’t matter that much.”

In other words, if this opportunity doesn’t pan out, know that there will be another great one around the corner.

source How to Avoid Coming on Too Strong in Your Job Search

How to Clean Up Your Social Media During the Job Search

2015-02-08T09:42:00.002-08:00

How to Clean Up Your Social Media During the Job Search

Think the whole “future employers checking your social media accounts” thing is just an annoying urban legend? Think again.

It turns out that one in three employers have rejected candidates based on something they found out about them online. So, here’s a guide to what you need to know before you start sending your resume out there. The bottom line: Don’t lose a job offer just because you forgot to delete those photos from your friend’s bachelorette party.

source How to Clean Up Your Social Media During the Job Search

How to Make Sure You Sound Like a Person (Not a Robot) in an Interview

2015-02-08T09:36:00.002-08:00

How to Make Sure You Sound Like a Person (Not a Robot) in an Interview

I once worked with a senior marketing executive. He was among the top candidates for a chief marketing officer role with one of my recruiting clients. On paper, he was impressive. In real life? Really great. Organized, focused, and one heck of a nice guy. I thought he would kill it throughout the interview process.

He made it one round.

One. Uno. I was shocked. I seriously thought this guy was going the distance.

I called the head of HR, and she told me exactly what had gone wrong.

In his fervor to be prepared to say just the right things, at just the right moment, every step of the way, something not-so-great happened to that senior marketing executive. He turned himself into an over-rehearsed, inauthentic robot. And the members of the executive team noticed, quickly.

(And not in a good way.)

So how do you avoid this moment? How do you make sure you walk into your next job interview ready to demonstrate that you’re professional, genuine, and likeable, without coming across as C3PO or, worse, some freewheeling cheeseball?

Here are four strategies to consider:

1. Prepare, But Don’t Memorize

Oh, heck yes you need to walk in to the interview prepared. This is not news. But “prepared” does not mean “I just memorized every last stinking question that could possibly be asked.” It’s far better to consider how your career story wraps around the questions you hear are always asked in interviews (ahem, Google “most common interview questions”) than to over-rehearse rote responses to all of them. It’s near impossible to come across as relaxed and authentic when you’re in hyper-vigilant mode waiting for the next question to come up.

2. Think P-I-E

Mmmmm, pie. No, seriously: P-I-E. It stands for passionate, interested, and engaged.

It’s the perfect acronym (and yes, it’s OK to memorize this one) to help ensure that you are a genuine, normal human being in your next interview. Correct answers don’t mean a thing (just ask that marketing exec) if you don’t look inspired to be there, totally dialed in to the conversation, and crazy about that thing that you do. Nail all three of these and you’re golden.

3. Choose Pause Over Babble

Quantity is most assuredly not always quality. If you don’t know quite how to answer a question, don’t try and cover it up with a tidal wave of words and sentences. You’re not going to overwhelm anyone into hiring you, for crying out loud. Instead, realize that it’s perfectly OK to pause and think for a second or two. It’s also OK to ask for clarification if you don’t quite understand what’s being asked.

Now, don’t sit there and stare down the poor person across the table for 2.5 minutes, but short, thoughtful pauses don’t make you weak; they make you real.

4. Take a Run-Through

You know that silly little saying, “Practice makes perfect?” Right, we’ve established by now that we’re not going for “perfect” here, but you can bet your bottom dollar you’ll be more at ease in that interview if you take a run-through or two prior to the big day. Ask a friend or family member whose opinion you value to spend 30 minutes with you. Give them a list of questions that you suspect might be asked. And then hit it.

After the mock interview, ask that person for honest feedback: How did you come across? How was your body language, your eye contact? Better yet, film the whole session and watch it for yourself a time or two in advance of the interview. Fine tune accordingly.

Arriving prepared for an interview is everything. But, you know what’s more likely to clinch it for you?

Arriving authentic.

source How to Make Sure You Sound Like a Person (Not a Robot) in an Interview

Your Game Plan for Getting Noticed by Your Dream Company

2015-02-08T09:31:00.001-08:00

Your Game Plan for Getting Noticed by Your Dream Company

With the growing trend in companies creating a unique company culture with perks like unlimited vacations or nap pods, it’s not so uncommon to have a dream company before you even have a dream job.

But once you know what your dream company is, what’s next? How do you begin the process of getting noticed and showing the team that you’re the next great addition?

Here’s your four-step game plan. Hint: It’s not about submitting your resume to every open job on the website.

1. Do Your Research

Even though you’ve likely combed through dozens of photos of your dream company’s gorgeous office and know all about its catered lunch policy, you should still take some time to do more research. Whether you do more digging into the company’s core values or core product, there’s always more to learn. For some ideas for where to look for this information beyond the company website, check out this article on researching companies.

Why is this so critical? The more you know about the company, the more you’ll be able to stand out in your networking conversations and application materials—plus you’ll even sound more enthusiastic in the interview. Of course, your research shouldn’t stop at the company level. Pull up LinkedIn and see what you can learn about who works at and runs the company to see what themes come up.

2. Craft Your Career Narrative

Once you have a really good sense of what you’re signing up for, see how you fit into the picture. What is your career narrative, and why does it lead you to this particular company? Perhaps you’re a programming whiz with a passion for understanding the financial market, or maybe you’re a marketing pro with a keen interest in the field of health and wellness. Regardless, career expert Jenny Foss offers some excellent tips here on how to tell your career story, no matter how complicated it is.

With your story strung together, practice, practice, and practice some more. You’re going to need to nail your elevator pitch when it comes time for you to meet those people you’ve been stalking on LinkedIn and, with any luck, the interviewers at this company.

3. Get Your Foot in the Door

This is where things get a bit trickier. Armed with your perfected elevator pitch and in-depth company knowledge, your next step is connecting with people who work at your dream company. If you already have a friend or acquaintance who you feel comfortable contacting to learn more about the company, great! If not, here’s how to find an “in” at the company fast.

With one or two people lined up, politely ask to set up an informational interview. This will give you an opportunity to get an insider’s perspective and let someone within the company know of your enthusiasm and interest. Whether you end up having a quick networking call or a longer sit-down conversation, plan ahead what questions you need to ask in order to get the information you’re looking for. Maybe it’s what the company seeks in a new hire or what your friend’s own interview experience was—the key here is to know what you want to find out.

4. Tailor Your Application

Now that you’ve laid all the groundwork, it’s finally time to apply. (If you get an internal referral from all the networking you’ve been doing, that’s even better.) This being your dream company and all, you’ll obviously not send your standard resume. Tailor that resume like you mean it, so there can be no doubt you’re ideal for the company.

Next, write an unforgettable introduction for your cover letter (here are dozens of great examples), and wrap up by following some of these tips on writing cover letters that make hiring managers smile, then call you. Tailoring your application documents is an important part of any job search process, but let’s not forget which company this is for. Go all out.

Enthusiasm alone will only get you so far. To really get noticed, you’re going to need to put in the work. The good thing is, in the end, those nap pods (or whatever it is about your dream company that you love) will have been worth the effort.

source Your Game Plan for Getting Noticed by Your Dream Company

7 Killer Questions to Ask at Your Next Interview

2015-02-08T09:27:00.001-08:00

7 Killer Questions to Ask at Your Next Interview

“So, do you have any questions for me?”

The interview is almost over, and you’ve nailed every question the hiring manager has asked. But don’t brush off this last one as a formality.

“If an applicant doesn’t have any questions for me, that’s a red flag,” explains Angela Smith, a recruiter. “I’m thinking that they either don’t care or can’t be bothered to do research about my company.”

Almost as bad as not asking a question is asking one that could be answered by looking at the job description or company website.

So what should you ask to impress the hiring manager and end the interview on a high note?

We’re glad you asked.

source 7 Killer Questions to Ask at Your Next Interview

5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers

2015-02-08T09:22:00.001-08:00

5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers

Career changes can feel incredibly daunting. And networking for that change? Even more so. All your contacts know you for your current role and responsibilities, so how do you even begin networking effectively for your new desired role?

Like the career change itself, this particular step probably won’t be as dramatic as you might imagine (no, really). In fact, much of the networking you’ll be doing will be the same, with just a couple of exceptions—and these sometimes make things easier, not harder!

1. Let People Know

Even though many of the people in your immediate network won’t be in your target industry, you never know who might be in their networks. So let people know you’re thinking about making a change, and see if they know anyone you can connect with. (This “Help Me Find a Job” template can be easily adapted to a career-changing situation.)

Likewise with your social media network, especially if your career change is actually a fairly well worn path (think leaving your corporate job for a startup). You might just attract the attention of a recruiter and cut down on the networking you need to do.

2. Do Your Research

Even beyond your immediate network, you likely have more resources at your disposal than you realize. Before you start reaching out to people who are a little further removed from you, do your research. Does your university give you access to an alumni database? Have you searched on LinkedIn for people in your target role to check out their career paths? What are the professional organizations that are active in your area? This might not feel like networking to you, but it’s important to lay the foundation for your future efforts.

3. Find Others Who Have Done It

Once you get a sense of the different ways you’ll be able to meet more people, know that the most useful people for you to connect with are those who have already made the career change you’d like to make. LinkedIn can be particularly useful here, since you can see people’s career paths right there on their profiles. While reaching out to people who have an extensive tenure in the industry can be helpful to learn more about the trade, other recent career changers are often able to offer more strategic advice about breaking into your new field.

4. Seek Advice

Networking is hard work—especially the meeting people and talking to them bit—but magically, it’s actually easier when you’re new to an industry. Think about it this way: Networking is all about telling your story, asking questions, and getting advice. As a career changer, your story is going to be more interesting than most and, being new and all, you’ll naturally have questions and require advice. Use this to your advantage! Once you’ve looked up people to talk to, set up a bunch of informational interviews and go to town.

5. Go to Industry Events

Finally, put yourself out there. Go to local events related to your industry. Professional organizations frequently have both social and professional development events—and you could benefit from both. Learn something new and create some luck for yourself. You might just end up in the right place at the right time and meet the person who ends up giving you your big break into the field.

It feels really big right now, but if you take it step by step and remind yourself to be patient, before long, you’ll be the one people reach out to wanting to learn about changing careers. Of course, you’ll still remember how intimidating it all felt and offer some words of wisdom or open a door or two. Right?

source 5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers

A 3-Step Plan for Turning a Job Rejection Into an Opportunity

2015-02-08T09:18:00.001-08:00

A 3-Step Plan for Turning a Job Rejection Into an Opportunity

After acing multiple rounds of interviews, daydreaming about how you’re going to decorate your office, and basking in the warm feeling of having finally found “your people,” you’ve just opened an email that says, “Thank you for applying, but...”

Bummer.

But before you send a strongly worded email, order a glitter bomb, or dissolve into a puddle of self-pity, take a deep breath and try to read the situation for what it is: You got really close. Final round interviews typically mean you’re competing with only one or two other people. The hiring manager likely remains very impressed with your skills, but for some reason—which may or may not even be related to you—gave the role to someone else.

Don’t throw away all the effort you’ve put into this company by moving on without responding. This might not be exactly the opportunity you were envisioning, but it’s an opportunity nonetheless. Make the most of it by sending a thoughtful thank you note. Here’s how.

1. Say Thank You

First things first: Say thank you. Hosting a candidate for an interview takes time, effort, and a surprising amount of coordination from many people. You may not have landed the job, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try to be courteous hosts throughout the interview process.

The key here to not sounding generic or even passively annoyed is to be specific. Thank the hiring manager or recruiter for the chance to learn more about the company and meet the team and for the overall experience of interviewing for the role. Did anything from the day stand out to you in particular as a positive memory? Write about that. Just a sentence or two will do.

2. Ask for Feedback

Maybe you not getting the job ultimately had little to do with you, but maybe not. And the only way for you to find out is to ask what you could have done better.

In general, it seems interviewers are typically pretty hesitant to do this, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, especially if you made it to the final round. If they don’t respond, there’s no harm done, and you get bonus points for being the type of person who seeks feedback. If you do get feedback, you’ll have something to work on for your next interview. Win-win.

Make it easier by asking something less broad than, “Do you have any feedback you can offer me?” Try something like, “Are there particular skills that you think I could bolster for future opportunities?” or “Pointers on how I could better approach the technical portion of the interview would be greatly appreciated.”

3. Keep the Door Open

At this point, you’re already going to successfully make the impression that you’re a gracious and introspective person. Good job. Wrap up by keeping the door open and maximizing this chance to expand your network. Reiterate your interest in the type of work you interviewed for, and ask that the team keep in you in mind for future similar opportunities.

You never know what this simple request could lead to. As Sara McCord explains, she was able to turn a rejection from one company into a job offer at another after the CEO she interviewed with vouched for her. Treat this note as a way to open more doors, rather than just the closing of one.

As with all thank you notes, you’ll want to follow the standard etiquette and send it quickly. It’s okay to be bummed out about not getting the job, but don’t let it hold you back for long. Who knows? This could actually lead to your next big break.

source A 3-Step Plan for Turning a Job Rejection Into an Opportunity

5 Questions Hiring Managers Think During Interviews (But Might Not Ask)

2015-02-08T09:12:00.001-08:00

5 Questions Hiring Managers Think During Interviews (But Might Not Ask)

Interviews are fairly anxiety inducing, especially when your interviewer has what can only be described as a professional poker face. You could drive yourself insane trying to figure out what exactly is going on behind that diplomatic smile.

To save you from the agony and to help you better prepare, here is an insider look at what goes through a hiring manager’s mind during an interview. In general, employers are looking for the best technical and cultural fit that their budgets will allow for. While these questions will all go through their minds, the questions they end up asking usually aren’t as direct. So, know that no matter how wacky or irrelevant the question might seem, they all come back to these five core concerns.

1. Have You Successfully Done Similar Work in the Past?

Really, the question should be more along the lines of, “Can you do the job?” but that’s not always the easiest thing to evaluate. That’s why such weight is given to your ability to show relevant work that you have done, whether it was for another company, for school, or just independently.

Any chance you get, you should be talking about your relevant experience and transferable skills. Of course, it’s not always just about results. Being able to talk about why you were successful is also important. Tell stories about your previous experience, and be introspective. The interviewer will be attempting to draw insights from your answers, so you might as well spell them out to make sure you’re sending the message you want to send.

2. Will You Work Well With My Current Team?

There is always some context that you’re being hired into, and it’s in the hiring manager’s best interest to make sure you will be a good fit and can hit the ground running.

How exactly can a hiring manager discern whether or not you’ll work out? In the end, it’s still a bit of a gamble, but a few things you should definitely try to get across are your communication style and effectiveness, your work ethic, your career values, and how you approach problems. Think broadly about these things, and then come up with a concrete supporting example as you’re preparing for the interview.

And remember: There’s no right or wrong answer here. After all, you don’t want to end up in a situation where you’re a bad fit either.

3. What Do You Know About My Company?

You’re applying for a specific role that probably exists in many other companies as well, so why this one? Hiring managers want you to show not only that you know what makes their particular company special, but that you’re really excited about it. Doing your homework on the company and considering why you’d be a good fit shows that you’re invested.

Naturally, it doesn’t stop there. Asking thoughtful and informed questions about the company is a great way to show continued enthusiasm as the interview progresses . Do the company research beforehand, and show off what you know in both your answers and your questions.

4. Does the Job You’re Expecting Align With What the Job Actually Is?

In other words, do you know what you’re signing up for, and is it what you’re really looking for? No one wants to hire someone who just wants the job to tide him or her over until a new, more desirable job turns up. And, while we’re on the topic of expectations, are your salary expectations in line with the company’s? To get to the point, can the company afford to hire you?

To get to this, the interviewer might ask anything from your motivation for leaving your previous position to what you’re most excited about in the new role. The current salary question will likely come up at some point as well. In the end, there are a hundred different questions that could get at this concern. To prepare in a realistic amount of time, figure out what your career narrative is. Where did you come from, where are you going, and why? How does this job fit in with your goals? Oh, and read up on negotiation.

5. Are You Confident in Your Abilities?

This might not be something hiring managers are thinking about consciously, but you can bet that their perception of your confidence will make a difference in how they remember you. Now, confidence can mean different things to different people, but in general if you can show that you’re passionate about the work and you look the part, half the battle is won. If you want to boost your confidence even more, set some time aside to do a few power poses before the big interview.

Of course, looking confident is just a matter of practice, but being confident requires a whole new mindset. If you’re short on time, get a pep talk from your support network of friends and mentors. Having the right people in your life can make a world of difference when it comes to self-confidence—not to mention it’s easier (and more effective) to say, “My manager would describe me as hardworking,” rather than “I’d say I’m a pretty hard worker.”

If you can get across a clear message that addresses all of these concerns, you’re well prepared to meet the mysterious hiring manager. So, before you go into your next interview, make a point to check off everything on this list. You still might not be able to read the person across the table, but this time you won’t need to.

source 5 Questions Hiring Managers Think During Interviews (But Might Not Ask)

10 Networking Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Professional Relationships

2015-02-07T22:09:00.002-08:00

10 Networking Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Professional Relationships

Job hunting experts constantly give advice on networking. Connecting with people you’ve worked with in the past and meeting new people can be the best way to find a new job, find new people to hire, and build your client base. It’s a critical skill, and many of us need to be better at it. But sometimes, we’re not just bad at networking, we’re destructive. We offend the very people we want to build relationships with. Here’s what you might be doing wrong.

1. It’s All About Me
If your relationships in the business world tend to focus on me, me, me, then people won’t want to talk to you. While it’s good for people to know about you and your skills, you also need to find out about them. People love to talk about themselves, and if you don’t let them, it’s bad news.

2. Informational Interviews Under False Pretenses
If you want to talk to someone about a job, don’t ask for an informational interview. An informational interview is one in which you learn about the other person’s company or job. It’s not a trick where you just get your foot in the door and then spend the time telling the person why she should hire you. Do this, and you’re almost guaranteed to be deleted from her LinkedIn connections.

3. Not Interested in Helping Others
Networking is a two-way street. If I’ve helped you land a job, but you have no time for me when I’m looking, then forget that. You need to focus on helping others as often as possible.

4. Undermining Instead of Building Up
You don’t network by talking about how awful other people are (with the idea that you’ll get the job instead). If you’re fabulous, you don’t need to worry about your competition. Talking trash about other people will make you look bad.

5. Silence, Silence, Silence—“Help Me Right Now!”—Silence
You haven’t said a word to any of the 500 people on your LinkedIn account in five years, but now you need a job and you email blast all of them. You pump them for information, ask for introductions, references, and favor after favor, and then land a new job and go back into hibernation. These people aren’t going to feel warm and fuzzy about helping you again in the future.

6. TMI
While you need to maintain relationships with people, it’s also bad to overshare. Don’t discuss your marital difficulties with your former boss. Don’t talk about your credit rating with your co-workers. Don’t post on the internet about how you’re looking for a new job because your current boss is a jerk. Don’t call someone and cry on the phone about how your house will be in foreclosure if you can’t find a job right away. Instead, talk about how you add value to a company.

7. Not Doing Your Research
“Tell me about your company” is not a statement that should come out of your mouth at any time other than during a social activity. Whether you’re cold calling someone or have had a mutual contact set up a meeting, you need to learn what you can about the company and the person. Walking into a meeting—even at a coffee shop—without any knowledge is a waste of the other person’s time.

8. Old-fashioned Rudeness
Demanding time and information and acting put out if someone doesn’t jump when you snap your fingers can destroy your opportunity to learn something new. Additionally, approaching someone at a funeral or bothering the person at an amusement park may ruin the relationship. And remember to always say thank you.

9. Lying
While we all expect a bit of hyperbole when people are attempting to sell themselves, outright lying will offend your network. For instance, let’s say you’re chatting with your neighbor about your career aspirations, and your neighbor says, “Oh, I know the company I work for is looking for a business analyst,” and you say, “I have gobs of experience.” The neighbor then, graciously, sets up a meeting with the marketing director at his company. If you don’t have the experience you told your neighbor you had, the meeting will be under false pretenses, and your neighbor will be ticked. You’ve just made him look bad in the eyes of a senior colleague.

10. Demanding Results
Monday: “Hi, Jane. It’s been a long time since we talked, but I was hoping you could help me out.” Tuesday: “Jane, did you get my message yesterday?” Wednesday: “Jane, I hope you’re not on vacation. I really want...” Thursday: “Jane, I left you three voice mails and...” etc. Following up is important in networking, but so is taking a hint and leaving someone alone. Especially if Jane already responded to you, but it wasn’t to your satisfaction. Remember no one is obligated to help you.

Content Source : Themuse.com

12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim

2015-02-07T19:31:00.001-08:00

12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim

There’s some debate about how many seconds a recruiter spends looking over a resume, but we can all agree that it’s not a lot. With such limited time to get important information across, anything you can do to make your resume easier to skim could mean the difference between the forward or toss piles.
So, after you’ve spent some time perfecting the content of those sections and bullet points, it’s time to make sure they’re as easy (and appealing!) to read as possible. Here are 12 little formatting tricks you can use to help recruiters and hiring managers get the most from your resume during their six to 18 second scan.

1. Don’t Center Any of Your Text
Even your section headings should be aligned to the left. This improves readability because the eye naturally returns to the left margin once it’s ready to move on to the next line of text.

2. Align Your Dates and Locations to the Right
You can only fit so much different information (company name, job title, location, dates of employment) on one line of text before it gets unwieldy. To help separate out your information, make a separate column for dates and locations that is right adjusted. On most word processors, you should be able to just create a right-tab.

3. Don’t Justify Your Resume
Overall, using a justified setting for your bullets may make your resume look tidier, but it does nothing for readability. This setting leaves uneven gaps between words that ultimately make text harder to read, so for your bullets and resume overall, stick with regular ol’ left alignment.

4. Keep Everything the Same Size Font
Aside from your name, which should be a little bigger, the font size throughout your resume should be the same size to ensure readability. Rather than using font size for emphasis throughout your resume, use bolding, italics, and all-caps—sparingly, of course.

5. Pick Either Your Roles or Your Companies to Bold
Bolding of select words and phrases helps with scanning, but you don’t want to go overboard. So choose what to bold wisely, depending on the message you want to send. If your job titles effectively illustrate your path to management-level roles, bolding those might make the most sense. On the other hand, if you’re a new grad and most of your experiences are internships, you might benefit more from emphasizing the companies on your resume.

6. Use ALL-CAPS Very Sparingly
While it is an option for creating emphasis, all-caps is a lot harder to read and therefore harder to skim than text that isn’t capitalized. Save your all-caps option for section headings or your name.

7. Maximize the First 5 Words of Your Bullets
When skimming a resume, a recruiter is very likely going to be reading the first few words of a bullet, then moving on to the next line unless his or her interest is piqued. This means those first few words of your bullets are much more important than the rest. Make sure the first five words of each line make the reader want to keep reading. (Need help? These power verbs will make your resume awesome.)

8. Keep Bullets Under 2 Lines
Even if your first few words are the most interesting thing your recruiter has ever read, going over two lines per bullet is pushing it a bit. Try to keep your bullets short and sweet. (And yes, you should always use bullets, not paragraphs, to describe your experiences.)

9. Use Digits When Writing About Numbers
Using numbers in your bullet points quantifies results and helps recruiters better understand the scope of your work. (Here’s how to do it well.) Make these numbers easy to read by using digits (i.e., 30% versus thirty percent). It improves readability and—bonus—saves space.

10. Have a Separate “Skills” Section
Just to really drive the point home, piling up all your relevant skills into one section helps ensure that the recruiter sees them. You should still highlight your skills in the context of your work, but pulling them out into their own section doesn’t hurt.

11. Keep Your Formatting Consistent
People can get pretty creative when they’re trying to fit all their relevant work experience into one page. That’s fine, but make sure that however you decide to do it, you keep your formatting the same throughout the document. Consistency helps with skimming, and if the recruiter wants to refer back to something, he or she will know where to look.

12. Try to Have Some White Space Left Over
Lastly, having some breathing room on your resume also helps with skimming. Different amounts of white space can signal to the reader that this is a different section or help emphasize the importance of something, such as your name or skills. And overall, it just makes the whole document less overwhelming.

Having your resume skimmed is a fact of life as you apply for jobs. So, make sure you maximize the experience and make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the right information—and send you along to the next step of the process.

This post originally appeared on The Muse.

What the People Reading Your Resume Wish You Knew

2015-02-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

What the People Reading Your Resume Wish You Knew

Resumes are very personal documents. In fact, whenever I’m reviewing a resume, I always ask permission before I mark it up. Who am I to edit your life’s work?

That said, I can almost guarantee you that the way your career counselor handles your resume is not the way it will be handled once you submit your job applications. After speaking with many, many recruiters, here are some hard truths I’ve learned.

If your relevant experience, education, or skills are hard to find at a glance, your resume might as well be blank.

It’s understandable to want to make your resume stand out a bit from the typical resume, but getting creative in InDesign isn’t the way to do it. As the head of Google’s HR states, “Unless you’re applying for a job such as a designer or artist, your focus should be on making your resume clean and legible.”

In other words, no funky formats. You’re far better off spending your time trying to maximize the top half of your resume. This could mean writing a resume summary with your most relevant qualifications or maybe pulling all your most relevant experiences into a separate section at the top of your resume and relegating the rest into an “Additional Experiences” section. As long as you’re trying to maximize traditional resume formatting rather than do something entirely different, you should be safe.

If it’s not immediately clear from your experience why you’re applying, no one will connect the dots for you.

Whether you’re a career changer or just applying for a reach position, if a recruiter’s initial reaction to your resume is confusion, you’re not going to get very far.

So, make sure you connect the dots for the reader. It’s likely that you have an idea of how your skills can be transferred or why you’re more skilled than your years of experience might let on. But, unless you spell it out on your resume, the recruiter probably won’t be able to put the pieces together—and you’ll never have the chance to explain in person.

One way to solve it? Using a simple objective statement. While you should definitely not use an objective statement if you’re applying for a position that makes perfect sense—or if it’s a clichéd “I’d like to use my skills at an innovative, fast-growing organization”—if your background is a little unusual for the job you’re targeting, a brief explanation might just be what gets you to the interview.

If your resume is difficult to skim, it probably won’t be read at all.

There’s some debate over how much time a recruiter will spend looking over a resume, but everyone agrees that it’s less than 20 seconds. What does that mean for job seekers? It means your resume needs to be as easy to read—really, skim—as possible.

Read: Don’t make your font so small that it’s barely legible. It doesn’t matter how much more you’re able to fit on your one-pager if no one is reading it. And don’t let your bullet points drag on to that third line. Two is all you get and, more likely than not, one is all that will get read.

If you expect to get your resume in front of a hiring manager, you need to first make sure you get through HR.

That means making sure a layperson can understand what you’re talking about in your resume. It doesn’t matter if you’re managing complicated supply chains, coding complex algorithms, or conducting cutting-edge research on nanolasers—none of your impressive feats will reach the appropriate hiring manager if you can’t at least explain it in a way that a nontechnical human resources representative can understand well enough to put you in the right pile.

This means cutting the jargon, giving proper context, and focusing on results. Use the job posting to your advantage here—find the keywords and present your work the same way they do. I know, jargon can be pretty fun to use and starts to get instinctive when you’re around it for long enough, but step outside of your industry bubble for a bit and try to approach your resume as an industry outsider. The easier you make things for HR, the more smoothly your application process will go.

If your contact info isn’t correct, nothing else matters.

Finally, don’t be that person who has everything a recruiter is looking for but is just impossible to contact. Check, double check, and test your contact information. Typos are always bad, but a typo in your contact information is probably as bad as it gets. It’s a really crummy feeling to notice an incorrect email address a couple months into your job search. Don’t let that be you.

Did I miss anything? What are some hard truths you’ve learned about resumes?

image src lifehackers
This post originally appeared on The Muse

Working From Home Is Good For You And Your Boss

2015-01-29T00:18:00.002-08:00

As a Winter Storm Juno ravages the Northeast, many employees are skipping their daily commutes and office 9-to-5, and instead getting comfortable with their living rooms and laptops.

This remote work may be something we should be doing more of, according to two new studies. Working from home can be good for your health andproductivity. Not only did people who worked from home report greater work satisfaction and less "work exhaustion," they also got better sleep. Separately, researchers found that the highest performing workers were the most likely to cultivate and excel in a "WFH" environment.

Researchers from Stanford University recently conducted a study on 255 employees of a large Chinese travel agency, all of whom had been employed with the agency for at least six months. Half of the employees worked from home for a period of nine months, while the other half of the employees acted as a control group, and continued to work out of the office. Both group worked the same shifts at the same time.

While the performance of the group that stayed in the office remained stable, the performance of the work from home group increased by 13 percent, as measured by their sales rate and interactions with customers. They were also more productive per minute. The researchers cited less noise distraction, fewer breaks and fewer sick days as some possible reasons for the boosts in productivity, Harvard Business Review reported.

But they found something else that was interesting. After the test period was over, the employees were given the choice whether to continue working from home or to return to the office. Roughly half the work-from-homers decided to return the office, and three-quarters of the group who remained in the office decided to stay there -- and typically, it was the highest-performing employees who chose to work from home, likely because they were not worried about getting distracted.

"Our advice is that firms — at the very least — ought to be open to employees working from home occasionally, to allow them to focus on individual projects and tasks," the study's authors wrote in Harvard Business Review.

Another way that working from home may improve employee productivity and satisfaction is by improving sleep quality, according to an unrelated new study. Research conducted on nearly 500 workers found that employees with a more flexible work schedule are less sleep-deficient than those with less control over their time.

The study, recently published in the journal Sleep Health, found that employees who were able to decide when and where they work enjoyed an improved quality and quantity of sleep.

"Work can be a calling and inspirational, as well as a paycheck, but work should not be detrimental to health," one of the study's authors, Orfeu M. Buxton, said in a statement. "It is possible to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of work by reducing work-family conflict and improving sleep."

Some previous research has supported these findings. A 2007 meta-analysis of 46 studies found that working remotely improved productivity by both objective measures and supervisor evaluations. Remote work was also found to reduce stress and increase job satisfaction, but on the negative side, was correlated with a lower quality of relationships with co-workers.

A 2014 University of Calgary study also found that when it comes to work-from-home productivity, personality matters. Workers who were honest, conscientious and satisfied with their jobs were productive at home, while (unsurprisingly), workers who had a tendency to procrastinate were less productive at home.

source Working From Home Is Good For You And Your Boss

Why Investing in Stocks This Year Was Not a Financial Mistake

2015-01-28T22:27:00.001-08:00

In a matter of weeks, I saw my portfolio erode at a rate that I thought was only possible in months/years instead days/weeks. The other day, I was looking at the disastrous performance of my stock investments through financial statements and asked myself one question: “Did I make a financial mistake by investing in stocks this year?”

These “after-the-fact” type questions usually does nothing but make me feel worst but I felt the need to give an honest attempt at answering because being invested this year was by far the most detrimental to my wealth.

As my thoughts race through my brain, the answer became increasing clear to me that starting to invest in stocks was not a financial mistake. The decline was definitely something I wish I avoided, but to call it a financial mistake was just not correct.

To carry on the discussion further, let me share with you some of the notes I took in my imaginary wall:

We Decide Based on Possible Outcome, Not Results.
When I chose to pour my savings into the stock market, it was based on the rational decision that:

Stocks outperformed other asset classes in any 20-year period
I was young enough to have many years of income to cover any potential losses
My time horizon was long

Due to the fact that we can’t predict the future and there’s no “undo/retry” in life, we decide the path to take based on all the facts present. My investing approach was based on past history and my circumstances. My wealth took a disastrous dive but short term performance was simply not part of my consideration. I’m looking for long term gain, and these types of short term decline was what I was willing to tolerate and should be expected.

I Actually Made the Choice
Indecision is always the worst mistake that one can make. If I did not decide to begin investing during the good times, there would be no way that I would start now when everything looks dark and gloomy. As a result, I may never start investing. It would preserve my capital this year, but earning 3% a year (and being taxed every single year) is definitely not advisable over the long run.

What I Do Consider a Financial Mistake
Let’s face it, many of us lost more money this year than any other. However, financial mistakes should be left for those decisions that we make when the facts points to the likelihood of financial disaster (Taking payday loans, splurging on credit cards without the funds to pay them off immediately, buying a new car just to keep up with your neighbors etc come to mind).

Deciding to start investing in stocks will never be a financial mistake. Ever.

source Why Investing in Stocks This Year Was Not a Financial Mistake

Avoid Credit Card Traps

2015-01-28T22:23:00.002-08:00

Laura Rowley from Yahoo Finance wrote a great article titled Five Credit Card Traps to Avoid. Here are some quotes from the article along how we need to interpret them.

…more than 9 in 10 Americans don’t know how long it would take to pay off their credit card bill if they made only the minimum payments.

I am actually one of these people and I bet most of us are on the same boat. The actual answer is 7 to 8 years which is very long. The total amount of payment after 8 years is even more frightening.

There is a need for everyone to understand that the minimum balance due does not mean “the only charge I need to worry about”. Everyone needs to practice responsible spending when they have access to a credit card. If we cannot pay it in full each month, we probably should not use it.

…credit card disclosures were “written at a level too difficult for the average consumer to understand. …

This is probably well understood, so many of us do not bother with the disclosure when we apply for the credit card. At the very least, we should attempt to read this at least once and jog down key information like interest rates.

The following are the five credit card traps people most easily fall into when they don’t read the fine print.

your card company can jack up your interest rate and change the fees whenever it wants to, for any reason.

This means that if we owe money, credit card companies can start charging us unlimited amounts of money because it can raise rates at any time. This reinforces the fact that we need to avoid credit card debt at all costs.

…94 percent of cards charged over-limit fees of $20 to $39 — and they can be assessed monthly until the balance falls below the limit.

Never go above your credit limit, and stay responsible. It’s really as simple as that.

If you typically pay on time and get hit with a late fee, ask the company to remove it.

As the saying goes, it never hurts to ask. If we do not ask, the late payment fee won’t be waived automatically.

…method of calculating credit card interest up until the day full payment is received. It’s based on two billing cycles, instead of determining interest only on the immediate billing cycle.

I never knew this, but it seems like many banks employ this practice. For example, let’s say we borrowed $5000 before the first bill and paid $4000 when the bill arrived. On your next bill, the interest calculated will be based on $5000 instead of $1000…

Imagine you have a credit card with a 3.9 percent interest rate, which you pay on time and in full. Then you pay another credit card bill late. It’s not unusual to see the card with the 3.9 percent rate skyrocket to 28.9 percent

This is not fair since they won’t automatically lower my rates if I pay every credit card in full each month. We have to think like a selfish credit card company in order to look out for ourselves. The important thing here is to check our credit cards regularly and make sure we are on top of our finances.

Just remember, avoid credit card debt at all cost.

source Avoid Credit Card Traps

5 Reasons Why People Can’t Get Out of Debt

2015-01-28T22:06:00.002-08:00

Debt-free people aren’t debt-free because they make a lot of money. They’re debt-free because they make smarter, more educated decisions.

A person who makes $250,000 per year and is undisciplined and disorganized is much more likely to run up debt than a person who makes $50,000 per year and commits to living within his or her means.

Here are five traits of people who struggle to get out of debt, and recommended changes they can make in order to become debt-free.

1) They don’t closely monitor credit card and bank statements.

If there’s a mistake or a new fee, the only person who will question it is you. People who can’t get out of debt don’t pay close enough attention to their statements, or they completely ignore their statements all together. Don’t let the mistakes or deception of other people create debt for you.

If you’ve missed a payment or incurred some type of late or interest fee, ask for forgiveness. Many lenders will waive such fees if you’re not a repeat offender. If you notice a suspicious fee, demand an explanation. If you’re not satisfied with the explanation you receive, explore other options and don’t be afraid to take your business elsewhere.

2) Their budgets are too tight.

If you’ve added up your monthly expenses and they equal your monthly take-home pay to the dollar, this is no reason to celebrate. You’ll probably struggle to break even each month.

Assume you make at least 10 percent less than you actually do, round up your expenses, and create a line in your budget for unexpected miscellaneous expenses. For example, if you make $75,000 per year, base your budget on no more than a $65,000 annual salary – minus all deductions, of course. If you spend $225 per month on gas, allow for at least $250 when you create your budget.

3) They don’t do their homework.

Every financial decision should be researched. Debt-free people know how much they should be paying for certain products and services, and they know what language to look for in their agreements. If they do incur debt, they know why and plan strategically to pay off that debt as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, people who can’t seem to shake their debt aren’t taking enough responsibility for their financial decisions. For example:

They haven’t determined where their debt lies (credit card, loans, etc.) and what purchases led to that debt.
When they buy a car, they don’t know how to calculate financing and don’t question the math of the salesperson.
If they’re not familiar with a financial agreement, they just sign it to get it done instead of having a qualified professional review it.

4) They only plan for the short-term.

Purchases and spending habits shouldn’t be based on what you have in the bank right now, and they shouldn’t be based on expenses you’ve forecasted for the next week, the next month or even the next six months.

Are you planning to move, buy a car, look for a new job or have a baby next year? Did you just get a “save the date” for a wedding in California next summer? Are you hoping your child attends college in 15 years? You better start saving now.

5) They don’t change.

You’ll never get out of debt if you don’t change your lifestyle and the spending habits that created your debt in the first place. Debt-free people are capable of cutting back, avoiding impulse buys and showing restraint.

Do you really need to spend $250 on a new smartphone as soon as you’re eligible for a “discount” when the device you have is just fine? Do you need a new car as soon as you’re done paying for the one you have? This also involves the little things, like making lunch at home, using coupons at the grocery store, and turning the heat down while you’re at work during the day.

Recognizing that you have debt is the first step. If you don’t adjust how you live and spend, your debt will only get worse.

source 5 Reasons Why People Can’t Get Out of Debt

What Should You Do If You Can’t Make Your Credit Card Payments?

2015-01-28T22:03:00.002-08:00

Being short on cash is stressful, but most of the time the solution to a dwindling bank account is cutting out a few social events and trips to the mall. This isn’t exactly fun, but the situation is temporary. But what if you’re so cash-strapped that you can’t make the minimum credit card payment? If you find yourself in this situation and aren’t sure what to do, take a look at the information below for the five steps you should take right away.

1. Get creative

If your usual paycheck isn’t enough to cover your credit card payments, try scraping together some extra cash before taking further steps. This might take a little creativity, but it’s worth it to avoid the consequences of missing a payment.

Try selling unwanted items from around your home, babysitting your neighbor’s kids, or returning some of the things you’ve recently purchased to come up with extra money. You’d be surprised how much money you can come up with when you really need to!

2. Fess up

If you’ve already tried earning extra money but there’s still no way for you to make your credit card payment this month, the next thing you should do is call your credit card company and tell them the truth. This might seem counterintuitive, but it’s important to be honest with your card issuer because there might be options out there that you’re not aware of.

For example, many credit card companies are willing to extend your due date or allow you to make modified payments if you find yourself in a bind. If there’s a particular reason that you can’t pay this month – for example, you’ve lost your job or are facing a serious medical crisis – be honest about this, too. Be sure to ask the customer service representative what they typically do for customers facing your situation, because you’re certainly not the first one.

3. Bargain

When you’re on the phone with your credit card company explaining that you can’t make your minimum payment, another strategy to try if you have at least a little bit of money to spare is bargaining. For example, if you can’t make your whole minimum payment but you can make half of it, offer them the reduced payment. This might be enough to avoid getting your missed payment reported to the credit bureaus.

Another tip, assuming you’ve been a good customer so far, is to point out that you’ve never made a late payment in the past and have always paid at least the minimum. These factors might make it easier for the credit card company to show you some leniency.

If you can’t make your payments, banks will usually prefer to work something out with you than bring in the debt collectors. If a bank sells your debts to a collection agency, it only gets pennies on the dollar. It would prefer to recoup more than that by arranging a payment plan with you directly.

4. Prioritize paying

Once you’ve worked something out with your credit card company, make it your first priority to pay the bill as soon as you have the cash. Most credit card companies don’t report late payments to the credit bureaus until you’re 30 days past the due date, so you may be able to avoid a ding to your credit score if you pay as fast as you can.

5. Don’t let it happen again

We all overcharge sometimes, but if your spending is so out-of-control that you can’t make your minimum payments, it’s time to take a look at your money habits and make some adjustments. Missing multiple credit card payments is a recipe for disaster when it comes to your credit score, so follow these tips to keep your finances in order in the future:

Track your spending carefully and make sure you don’t charge more than you can afford to pay off in one month
Make a budget so that you know where your money is going
Set an alert on your phone or calendar to remind you of your bill’s due date
If you’re not earning enough to keep up with your bills, get a second job or ask for a raise at your first job
Reduce other monthly expenses so that paying your essential bills is easier

The bottom line: not having enough cash on hand to pay your credit card bills is scary, but there are steps you can take to minimize the damage. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the problem, and make sure to make adjustments so that this doesn’t happen again!

source What Should You Do If You Can’t Make Your Credit Card Payments?

2015-01-28T21:57:00.001-08:00

This is a guest post by Linda Bustos, an editor for CreditorWeb, where you can learn about using credit cards wisely.

People who find themselves in credit card debt may take serious measures to prevent balances from creeping higher. Often this includes transferring large balances from older, high interest credit cards to a brand new credit card with a 0% or very low introductory interest rate.

To remove the possibility of ever using the original card with the big, bad interest rate, one may make the mistake of closing down the higher interest credit card(s) and just sticking with the new card.

While shifting the debt load to save interest is often a wise decision (provided you actually have a plan to pay off the majority of the balance within the introductory period), closing the original card is not. Here’s why:

Credit History
Even if it’s bad history, you don’t want to make it disappear. If you held a job for 10 years, even if you got fired, the work experience is relevant and valuable on your resume. You wouldn’t want to remove it from your resume, it could hurt your eligibility or attractiveness for future jobs.

Same goes for credit accounts – even if they have stains on the record, the record is still valuable.

Debt to Credit Ratio
Older accounts often have higher credit limits than new cards. Credit lenders will look at your debt:credit ratio (% of your total credit you are using) to assess your risk and what interest rate they should charge you. Closing an old account with a high limit can have a dramatic impact on your debt:credit ratio.

For example, if you “max out” a $15,000 limit on Credit Card A, your debt:credit (not counting other forms of credit) would be 100%. You are using 100% of your credit available.

You open Credit Card B with a low introductory rate and a limit of $15,000. You transfer $15,000 from A to B, and you have $15K:$30K debt:credit, or 50%.

Close Credit Card A and you’re back to 100% debt:credit.

Just Chop ‘Em Up
Instead of closing your credit card account, leave it open, and cut up your credit card. Don’t use the new card until it’s fully paid down, and keep reading MoneyNing to stay motivated on frugal living and debt freedom.

source Drowning in Debt? Don’t Make This Credit Card Mistake

Paying Credit Card Interest Is Like Throwing Cash Into the Fire

2015-01-28T21:52:00.001-08:00

This is a guest post from Tisha Kulak, a writer who writes about credit card offers, personal finances and credit card matters.

Credit card interest can be a financial killer if you are not handling your credit cards correctly. If you are only paying the minimum amount of money on your cards each month, you are setting yourself up for a large financial downfall. Imagine you carry a balance of $5,000 in credit card debt with an average interest rate of 16%, it would take you at least 12 years to pay off the balance. The balance would increase about $2,500 with interest fees, leaving you with a total bill of $7,500.

$2,500 could afford you many other things in life. That amount of money would pay for home repairs, a nice vacation, or an excellent deposit into a savings or retirement account. Paying that amount of money as an interest payment on credit cards is like using your cash for firewood.

There are steps you can take to help getting your credit card debt under control. Here are a few tips to keep you paying down your balances and not wasting your hard-earned money.

Stop Making New Purchases
You can never expect to pay down a balance if you keep adding new things to it. Use credit cards only for emergency purposes.

Get a Handle on What You Owe
Debt can be overwhelming and embarrassing; however, you will never be able to recover from debt without knowing how much you owe. Sit down with all of your bills and tally up your debt. Get a real picture of where you stand financially, no matter how bad the situation is.

Pay Card with the Highest Interest First
The cards you have with the highest interest rates will cost you the most over time. Start making your budget to include more than the minimum payment each month of the cards with the highest interest.

Keep Away from Penalties and Fees
Getting momentum to pay down your balances on high interest cards can be ruined if you are late. Being late or going over the limit on your card can cause your interest rate to skyrocket and therefore will thwart your plans for paying off your balance.

Consider a Transfer
If you have a low or 0% balance transfer credit card that can handle a balance transfer, it may save you a lot of money by transferring the high-interest balance to a card with a low or no interest.

Once you begin to realize the effect your effort makes on your debt, it will become easier to see the light at the end of the financial tunnel. Planning your family budget will be more realistic and you can anticipate a time period when your balance will be paid off. Once you have paid a balance in full, continue to use the amount you’ve been paying and pay towards the new balances of the other cards. If you do not have any other cards to pay off, take the payment amount you’ve been used to paying and stash the cash away in a savings account or other investment that is right for you.

source Paying Credit Card Interest Is Like Throwing Cash Into the Fire