Your Success Plan

8 essential steps for your career development

2019-08-12T19:53:00.000+02:00

Many of us, feel unmotivated, down and sometimes ever anxious each Sunday, when we’re planning for the coming work week.

But it doesn’t have to be like that, you can work with the things that make you come alive.

Doing what you love and what you’re good at would not only make you satisfied and motivated, it would also raise the bar when it comes to your performance and outcome at work.

How can we manage to change our lives so profoundly? To get ourselves out of the darkness into days filled with energy and motivation?

The following steps would help you on your road to success:

Step 1: Know Yourself- In order to develop yourself, you need to know who you are and to prepare yourself for future scenarios. You should be honest with yourself and take the time you need to reflect on your strengths and over your improvable sides while predicting which positive and negative scenarios can occur in the future.

Step 2: Build your strategy for success- you have to be clear about what you want and to be able to visualize your desired future state. When your vision is clear, you should work on your strategic plan and create your own goals and sub-goals that would help you to reach your vision.

Step 3: Become an expert in your field - Once you have decided on your vision and goals, you should continually investigate and gather information about the occupations that you’re aiming for and which approaches are best for you to get you where you want. Choose courses or programs that would help you reach your goals and continue learning and broaden your knowledge during your entire working life. Dare to share your skills on social media, blogs, written media and with your peers.

Step 4: establishing a strong base- to make it easier to succeed, you should work from within to strengthen yourself and your self-confidence while making sure to create a strong equal foundation at home. Believing in yourself and a bright future will help you to reach your goals while feeling fulfilled and at peace with yourself and your development.

Having a supportive partner that shares the responsibilities at home, would make it much easier for you to advance in your career.

Step 5: work on your branding - Invest in a professional blog or website where you can actively share your knowledge and opinions in your area of expertise. Work on being seen on many social networks and career sites and to contact people who have the same interests as you and with those who can mentor you. Share your knowledge on social media and on your own blog. Share and like others’ posts and create collaborations online. Go to events and networking to meet others who share your interests.

Step 6: Choose your dream job – it’s important to find the right boss, a suitable working place and the right teams so you could thrive together and contribute effectively.

It’s extremely important to work at a company that sees your potential, where the management trusts you and you are motivated to grow and to contribute to the company’s success.

If you don’t feel comfortable at work, feel unwelcome, mistreated or feel like the management doesn’t see your true value and potential – it’s time to look for new job opportunities.

Focus on finding the right job for you instead of fleeing from your present job, even though it may take longer than “just” finding a job:

By writing a selling CV that catches the eye and a cover letter that lifts up your strengths and positive traits, you are raising the chances of being chosen for the interview stage.

With the help of your contacts and your network - show that you’re open to new career opportunities and ask for help from those you trust.

Write directly to companies that you are interested in and focus on how you can contribute to their organization, why you’re interested in working there and why they should be interested in hiring you.

Step 7: Dare to succeed - If you want to succeed in your career, you must dare - to take risks, challenges, and steps up in the career ladder.

The key to success is to first and foremost see our actions and results with a new perspective and to reflect about; “What’s the worst thing that can happen if we succeed or if we fail? ”, to set small goals for each period of time while we make sure to reach them and to give ourselves positive feedback and rewards when we have achieved each goal.

Dare to make mistakes as well and to use those opportunities to learn and to develop even further.

Step 8: Follow-up: In order to see results and achieve your vision, you need to follow up on what you have achieved, to adapt your strategy to any changes and to celebrate your successes when you have reached each goal. Taking actions and following up on your progress while adjusting your strategy will bring you much further towards achieving your vision.

You can get concrete guidance in reaching your goals and advancing in your career in my e-book:

A Concrete Guide to your Career Development- Dare to Succeed.

https://bookboon.com/en/a-concrete-guide-to-your-career-development-ebook

Good luck and keep up the faith!

Yours truly,

Moran.

Guest post - Are you ready to change?

2017-06-03T17:51:00.000+02:00

Many of us believe that changes happen in big chunks or like a big bang.

And it does sometimes.

But it also happens all the time, in an imperceptible way.

Our perception of the changes also changes. We usually associate a meaning to what is happening in accordance to our beliefs and our emotional state.

I lost my mom one and half year ago. The way it happened made me to associate a positive meaning to it, which has helped me to deal with the loss.

Change is constant and thinking about how to deal with it can proactively help us to find better ways to handle it.

I can give you example of what I mean;

Let’s say you are starting in a new job position. In a first situation we will call it

a-) If you have been actively searching for a new job or if you have been headhunted and in another situation, which we will call

b-) you have been laid off of your former job.

It is the same situation but you have the meaning associate with you’re the fact you are starting in a new job. What would be your level of confidence in the situation a-) and b-). Would that be same?

If your answer is yes, congratulations, your level of confidence is fantastic and perhaps you don’t need to read it to the end.

If your answer is no, you are probably like most of us, mortal people, that associates meanings to facts and in the example given, case b, we will let it affect our self-image and confidence level.

Everything changes all the time, our body changes, our humor changes, our environment changes, even when we don’t perceive or acknowledge it.

Thank God that this happens. Imagine living in a static world?

I know, sometimes we pray for it, mainly when we are facing an unexpected (perceived as negative) change. We deny it and we wish that all could be as it was before. Because the old and comfortable “known” gives us this notion of safety and predictability.

New situations can make us feel insecure of our roles and doubtful, wondering if we have the capability to deal with what is coming.

It is safe and stable with routines and suddenly we get tired of it… and secretly we go around hoping for a change.

What we really want? This ambiguity is our eternal dilemma…

My answer to this dilemma would be starting the habit of actively taking time to reflect.

From time to time you should take time to reflect on the current situation.

Are we happy with our life as is? Or are we just comfortable?

What we would like to have differently from what we have?

What is bothering you now?

How can we consciously make things happening to become good and positive change?

An example could be to change jobs, if you are not really happy with your current one.

What you could do to change the situation?

To search a new one, would be probably the most common answer: but to make it you need to have it clear for you what you are really searching:

Are you seeking a more challenging job?

What are possible jobs that you could think to take?

What are the types of branches you would like to work with?

What are the companies that that would suit your personality?

What are the skills necessary to have this type of work?

Is there any type of training that you could take to develop those skills?

Is there another type of job that you could use as a step to learn or to develop some of the skills you need?

Have you considered all the possibilities in your current job?

If you have started in current job today, what would do differently? Could you play a small game and try to do it today?

If you don’t want to get surprised by a change, you need start reflecting about the current situation and make some assumptions of a probable future and explore possibilities.

You can’t avoid changes and you can’t do anything against it, willing or not, that is the nature of life.

Think about the following: some of the changes are just consequences of what we have not done.

This post was written by my dear friend Katia Kristersson.

Katia has been working with people management processes for almost twenty years, in this field she has developed a technical certification program, worked with career model, competence profiles, training, competence ramp up, induction programs and acquisitions, she has executed change management programs and lead a global individual professional assessments, targeting around 40,000 employees. She has been working in a Global Services organization towards several branches of business like consulting, System Integration and Professional Services in the Telco industry.

On the personal side she is a mom that likes Yoga, reading and traveling but most of all she loves people and is interested in self-development.

“I believe that people are more similar than different- but we all have our own special gift and uniqueness and it is our job on to find it and use it in the best way.”

I hope that you were inspired at the same way that I am and are ready to make the needed changes to succeed!

Believing in you!

Katia and Moran.

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Dare to Dream big!

2017-05-12T14:46:00.000+02:00

Everyone who knows me for a long time knows that I’m a realist! Or at least I used to be until recently.

I was the most cautious person I have ever known, taking only calculated risks, living through Murphy’s Law – always anticipating that something can go wrong and having a plan B and C to use in case of them actually going wrong.

I was so addicted to security and my own routines – I wouldn’t leave a working place that was not good for me and stayed there for years just because I was afraid to be unemployed and not be able to provide for my family. Fortunately, some organisational changes forced me to leave that company and to face my fears.

Seeing that this wasn’t the end of the world and that it was a blessing in disguised made me a stronger and more positive person. After being unemployed for 10 months I really faced my fears and started my own company QHR.

Even if there could be some economical struggle when you start a new company and take risks I have never felt richer – I feel free, I love helping customers with HR advice, I feel that I’m making a difference and I’m very positive about the future.

I know many people who are still stuck in stressful working lives, who can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and live with fear and insecurity – this might even be you!

Now I’m not saying that everyone should start their own business but I urge everyone I know to make sure that they do what they love at a working place that they enjoy and feeling appreciated and that they have the courage to make changes and take the step needed to be happy and fulfilled.

So, for you who feel stuck and afraid, for those of you who need motivation and some friendly kick in the butt –

Please take some time to look inside yourself and to discover who you really are, take the time and effort needed to see your true beauty – your strong sides and uniqueness.

Start loving and appreciating yourself – believe in yourself and your value.

Be courageous to dream big and to believe in your future!

Use your courage to face your fears and insecurities and to challenge your comfort zone.

I promise you that you would be much happier and stronger once you dare to dream big, to face your fears and to make an impact in the world.

Once you do that, it’s a matter of time until everything falls into place and you will become much richer in any possible way!

Wishing you courage and strength!

Love,

Moran.

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Know yourself and get your dream job!

2016-12-02T22:29:00.000+01:00

It is quite logical – if you want to find the right job for you – you need to know who you are and what your destination is!

I know that it’s easy to say – knowing who you are and how to present that when you are applying for a job or reaching out to your dream employer is a real challenge.

I usually advise job seekers to take some time alone and consider who they are and where they are heading, but for many of us doing that doesn’t come naturally so we need some help on the way.

One of the methods available to learn about your personality is by doing a DISC analysis; many companies use this tool to evaluate the personalities of their candidates’ and their current employees. It is quite an expensive test for private persons who are looking for a job and may already be unemployed.

That is why I was very happy when I heard about the CVGeneratorn – it is a short personality test that helps you to find out about your strengths, highlight yourself and your motivations and to put them into words. Using this tool can help you to formulate a selling description about yourself and to formulate a winning cover letter in just 10 minutes.

And the best part is – it costs only 199 SEK (less than 25 USD) to do the test and you get your own personal description directly to your e-mail.

I took the test and it was a real help to get a clearance about my personality, in what environment I should work and what I should think about and should avoid. It also gave me the words needed to formulate cover letters and writing to potential employers and customers. So I can honestly recommend testing the CVGeneratorn.

And afterward, I really recommend that you print out the report and take your time to learn your personality and decide about your path! In that way -you can find the best possible working place for you and focus on what you love doing and are good at.

Know yourself and find your road to success!

Take care while learning to know yourself,

Yours,

Moran.

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My article on Classy Career Girl

2016-11-15T21:01:00.000+01:00

I’m so proud today!

Just saw this morning that my article about empowering each other was published on my favourite site and blog – Classy Career Girl!

I have been inspired by Anna Runyan since 2011 when I also started this blog; she has really managed to make a difference and to help many women to succeed in their careers and businesses.

So if you want to be inspired and to learn how you can make the world better in your own way – take a look at my guest post: Empower Each Other and Make The World a Better Place:

http://www.classycareergirl.com/2016/11/empower-women/

Please share the article with your friends and make a pact to empower each other!

Looking forward to make the world better together,

Moran.

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It's time to Do What You Love

2016-10-24T16:55:00.000+02:00

I finally did it!

I decided to dare, to make a difference while doing what I love! And I know that you can do it too!

As I promised on my blog a while ago I decided that if I don’t get a new job until the end of September I will start my own business and that’s what I did. I’m now the owner and CEO of a new company called QHR Quality HR and I’m planning to give the Q to HR. I love making a difference and my mission is to help organisations to find great talents and make sure that they thrive and develop with the organisation.

For a while now, I’ve seen many companies fail since they focus on the short-term and quick gains. It is time to focus on Quality, long-term strategies and the most important resource we have – people.

Daring to take the step towards doing what you love and focusing on your mission and values will make you a much stronger and happier person! So, when you are ready – take a big breath and take that step. I promise that you will feel much better doing what you love and what you are good at.

So, my challenge for you today is to take a small step towards your mission and step outside your comfort-zone.

Please share in a comment below what you are planning to do to make your life better and contribute to the world in your own special way.

Wishing you to Do What You Love,

Moran.

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A hero lies in you!

2016-09-16T18:38:00.000+02:00

Life is not a bed of roses…

There are ups and downs and sometimes we doubt ourselves and need some inspiration. I know that I do need that sometimes.

When I feel a bit down or when I stop believing in myself for a while I have a trick that I would like to share with you so you can also feel better quickly and start to trust and believe in yourself –

There are a few inspiring songs that I listen to and even sing along and that make me feel much better at once. One of them is Hero by Mariah Carey.

This song really talks to my heart and I hope that the following cover will help you feel better as well. Listen to the song and read the words at the same time – take in that feeling and start believing in you!

I really hope that you liked my performance and the Slog (my own word for a song blog) and that you got a good feeling and inspiration. Please share this with others so they would feel better too.

Now, I really stepped outside of my comfort zone while sharing my singing online so -

I challenge you to do the same and to do something that you love but never dared sharing!

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Believe in yourself as there is a hero inside you,

Love,

Moran.

P.S. I’m an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant – do you need help within HR-processes, Due Diligence, Labour law or recruitment in Stockholm? Please take a look at my LinkedIn profile and contact me: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Dare to fail!

2016-08-31T14:23:00.000+02:00

I know how it feels,

You are so afraid to fail that you never dare to take a chance and instead you only stay where you are.

I’ve been there too, I was so afraid to be unemployed that I took jobs even if my guts told me that this was not the place for me. I also stayed too long at working places where my values did not match the culture.

I know that I’m not alone in doing so.

You might be like me – a loyal person that always delivers quality at the same time as you don’t like taking your own chances and prefer the devil you know.

But, if we don’t take some risks we won’t grow and we risk not reaching our full potential!

Now, when I’m unemployed, I noticed that it’s not the end of the world to be here!

Nothing wrong happened to me – I feel good about myself, I read a lot, I think and plan my future and I meet many interesting and inspiring people. In other words – I can only succeed from here - and you can do it too!

Knowing that, I discovered my worth and I became stronger – I’m not going to make bad decisions just because I’m afraid to fail. This experience had made me stronger as I saw that I have nothing to be afraid of.

So, I challenge you to take a calculated risk without being afraid of the outcome – if failure or success!

I made a decision as well – If I don’t find a job or a contract until the end of September – I’m going to start my own Business.

Now it’s your time to take a chance – to dare to succeed as you are no longer afraid to fail!

What is the one thing you would like to do but are too afraid of failing? Please share in a comment below.

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Wishing you lots of luck and Success,

Moran.

One golden rule that will make your LinkedIn profile even better

2016-07-20T16:25:00.000+02:00

I know how it feels – you made all the possible changes and improvements with your LinkedIn profile but still you don’t get approached by others.

I know your frustration because I’ve been there; I made everything I could to make my profile searchable and focused so it will be kind of a selling ad to the product called Me (read my action plan). I could see that there are many people looking at my profile (more than 200 in the last 90 days) but still very few approached me.

I heard before that you should have a professional photo and I knew that mine looked really serious. Lately I was hearing a new opinion – that your photo should be in colour and that you should show your personality with a smile. I didn’t believe it – I mean, why should you look less serious and even childish? (if you have a baby-face like me).

Anyway, I decided to test this theory for 2-3 weeks. It couldn’t harm and if it doesn’t work I could always change my photo back to my serious black and white one. At the same time, I uploaded a background photo that represents me – blue skies since the sky is the limit with my vision and ambitions.

A funny thing happened – suddenly, I got lots of messages from recruiters and consulting firms and got many interviews in the middle of the summer. (Even though it’s normally very quiet in the Swedish work front during July). Now I got a short-term contract in August and other possible challenges later on.

So what that I learned from this experience is that you need to look approachable and show your personality in your LinkedIn photo – this is much easier to show who you really are when you smile.

Being too serious and only professional while not showing the real you can intimidate recruiters and employers as they are looking for someone who has skills, education and personality to work with/for them.

What do you think? could a profile picture do such a difference?

* If you want to read my action plan to get a selling LinkedIn profile that would help you find your dream job please read my previous post, here.

Did you like this post? Please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Thanks J

Show the real you with a smile – even on LinkedIn

Yours as always,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Do you hate your job? 6 ways to make a change!

2016-07-13T11:30:00.000+02:00

We’ve all been there!

Sometimes, we make bad choices and pick a working-place where we are not a perfect match or where the company’s values don’t match our own.

I know how it feels as I’ve been there before. I was working in a place that didn’t value the same things as I did, I stayed there a few years and was “saved by the bell” when they had some organisational changes. I’ve always been a serious person who is doing everything I can to deliver quality in time and I never give up, and that is why I stayed too long there.

Even if it was hard – I learned so many things during my employment – gained both professional experience and knowledge and personal insight that I will share with you today.

The most important thing that I learned was that I should make a change if I see that I’m not thriving instead of staying no matter what! Doing what you love while being appreciated and living according to your own values are much more important than being the last man standing.

So, what could you do if you hate your job? Here are my 6 steps for making a change-

Work on your professional reputation – learn and read a lot about your own expertise and then write and share your knowledge – on your own blog and/or your website, LinkedIn and other platforms.
Broaden your network – both online and in real life. Work on you social skills and practice in mingling, starting conversations with others and helping others in your network.
Work on your appearance online – make sure that you have a selling LinkedIn profile and that your footprint online is professional.
Lower your costs and save as much money you can for a rainy day. It will help you to be more independent if you decide to make bold decisions.
Find new opportunities in a proactive way – begin in evaluating who you are and where you’d like to be, spread the word that you are looking for new challenges and apply for the jobs that match you and your goals at companies that share the same values as you. Remember that a recruiting process should be a win-win process where you need to do everything you can to figure out if that is the best position and place for you.
If you didn’t succeed in finding a new job after a year and you really feel bad there – try making a change inside the organisation, look at other departments or try to improve your current working place. If nothing helps – quit – it is more important that you are taking care of yourself than risking becoming ill.

Now it’s your time to make a change for the better.

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Yours always,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Live today! Don't fast forward

2016-07-05T17:03:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody,

I’m one of the people that always look forward into the future; I always wait for better times – when I reach my goals and vision.

In some strange way I think that I will be much happier when those days come, but actually when the time comes the happiness is fading quickly and I find myself looking forward for the next achievement. I’m sure that I’m not the only one! I’m sure that you also been through this – waiting for the future.

When I heard my son telling me a few times that he is waiting for things in the future – I understood that both of us should do something about this since in the end it is much more important to enjoy the journey and be happy along the way.

So, I asked his to watch the movie Click with me – this movie make you really understand how life could go all too quickly if we just rush from goal to goal and never take time to appreciate the moment.

Now, when it is Summer it is a great time just to relax, taking moments to live today, to appreciate what we have and evaluate our accomplishments.

So my challenge for you today is to take a moment, an hour or a day for doing nothing – just reflecting on who you are, what you did the last months and what you would like to do next.

Take some time to be with your friends and family, some time without your phone, tablet or computer – make some quality time and a time to remember.

I’m sure that if we all just take time to live the moment and appreciate who we are, what we have and what we already accomplished – we are going to see the road to success much clearer.

So stop fast forwarding – live the moment!

Yours always,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

The biggest mistake (some) popular experts make on social media

2016-06-26T21:59:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,

For the last month I tried to dig into what some people with many followers are doing online. Both experts who have hundreds of thousands of followers and those who are starting to be popular and have a few thousand of followers.

And what I noticed is quite worrying or upsetting – I noticed that many of those who have many followers (in a smaller or bigger scale) are making a huge mistake that could cost them a decrease of serious and quality followers –

Their mistake is that they are becoming too self-absorbed and stop interacting with their readers, contacts and followers. Many of them write and speak about how important it is to be genuine, to help others and to interact but they do the opposite when it comes to doing so themselves.

I can understand that if you have a million followers you can’t interact with each and every one of them. However, from my small research I noticed that even those who have huge amount of followers don’t get normally more than 100-200 comments when they share their posts online. Many of them just post their own materials over and over again, never like others posts or share their contacts good advices or inputs. It is a completely one-way communication.

As I see it, making a difference should come from the right intentions – to truly help others and to lift people up. It is not about showing off or stepping on other people’s heads. I get upset when I meet people who are working in professions where they should help people grow and they do the opposite and focus entirely on themselves while making sure that others feel worse about themselves.

I’m writing this blog for the last 5 years with a pure intention to help others – both people in their careers and organisations; I will always continue thanking people for sharing my posts and advice, to share other people’s contributions online and to interact with my readers.

One of my inspirations is a passionate, smart and dedicated young lady who really interacts with her followers and work hard to empower other women. Her name is Anna Runyan and she has a great, inspiring and motivating career blog: http://www.classycareergirl.com/ I can truly recommend you to subscribe to her website.

Did you also experience one-way interactions and even rudeness online? Please share your story in a comment below.

Be genuine and help others!

Take care,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Improve yourself

2016-06-18T20:46:00.000+02:00

The world in changing and we need to keep the pace.

Each and every one of us should focus on learning new things and to improve our knowledge and skills each and every day – especially if we want to keep pace with new technologies and with the competition in the job-market.

I try learning new things every day. As a curious person I was always thirsty for knowledge even when it was not popular to be a bookworm (like in high school).

Now when I’m looking for new opportunities I feel that there is so much that I can learn that would help me find my next challenge and to improve my capacity in the future.

For example, I read everything I find about career development, social media and digitalization as well as articles about HR. I do my best to improve my blog posts and my job-applications and to build my social network.

People say that you need to practice at least 10,000 hours if you want to master a skill, but the act of practicing should be while increasing the challenges and constantly stepping outside of our comfort zone.

Learning new things could also improve our brain capacity and even help people recover from brain damage.

So, my challenge for you today is to pick a topic that you would like to learn or improve and to set up a plan to make small improvements every day – your goal should be to improve yourself every day!

Now, I’m curious to know more about you – what would you like to learn or improve? Please share your tips in a comment below.

Thanks and have a challenging week,

Do you like this post? Please subscribe and share the post with your friends. Thanks J

Moran.

5 ways to get a good work-life balance

2016-06-11T22:39:00.000+02:00

Nowadays with the help of technology many of us can practically work from anywhere in the world. It’s a real advantage but it’s not only a bed of roses...

Because of all these technologies and our need to be connected 24/7, the life/work boundaries are becoming less and less clear. At the same time, there are companies that want to use less manpower to do the same job so many people have difficulties to keep their lives in balance and can even get ill due to a long term overload and no rest.

If we want to keep some kind of balance we need to develop our discipline, to plan our time smarter and to control our focus. We need to get routines that would help us to distinguish between work and leisure.

Here are 5 tips that could help you to get a better life-balance-

Plan your time as much as possible, set time for work and for leisure.
Work on your discipline; learn to focus on one thing at a time.
Learn to prioritize – there are tasks that are more urgent than others and other tasks that could wait until tomorrow – don’t do everything at once.
Remember to have enough time to relax and to sleep and don’t take your work to bed with you.
Ask your employers to be clear about what they expect from you, what is the mission, tasks and weekly work hours, and don’t forget about your free time and rest when needed.

Now, I would like to hear from you – how do you keep a good balance in your life? Please share your tips in a comment below.

Thanks and have a balanced week,

Do you like this post? Please subscribe and share the post with your friends. Thanks J

Moran.

The most important thing about Hair

2016-06-03T12:13:00.000+02:00

Well, you must be shocked that I’m even mentioning the word – hair… Me too.

We women talk quite frequently about hair, looks, weight and appearance. I sometimes talk about hair too. And yes, off course that it’s important to look professional when you go to an interview, to work or to business meetings.

But we all know that it is not the most important issue there.

Like everything else, since we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – the most important thing about hair is what underneath - your head, your brain – who we are and not what we look like.

So here is a challenge – next time you talk to a girl or a woman and want to give a compliment, talk about her inner-beauty! What that makes her unique, her strengths and abilities.

And we ladies – we should also focus on our strengths and inner-beauty, we should see ourselves for everything that we could contribute and use our talents to make the world a little bit better in our own ways.

Wishing you a meaningful day!

Thanks for reading, sharing is caring,

Yours,

Moran.

4 steps that would help you to dare to say NO

2016-05-27T15:56:00.000+02:00

I think that you agree with me when I say that it is time for us to take control over our actions and our well-being.

When many people are working themselves to exhaustion it is time to learn how to say no in order to work better and more efficiently. In this post I will teach you how.

Even if I think that people should be helpful, show initiatives and work hard in order to succeed it is also important to know how to decline when needed – to say No from time to time.

It is not an easy task and it doesn’t come naturally for most of us to say No especially if we want to do a good job or to make an impression - but in many cases, we need to focus and prioritize and that is why we shouldn’t accept every task or activity that come in our way.

During my career, I have seen many employees do the same mistake – they accepted any assignment that they were asked to do even if it was not in the area of their expertise or if they already had many other more important and urgent tasks to perform.

Unfortunately, the result of them taking all those tasks was that they never finished on time prioritized projects and gave less than average outcome.

Sadly, those people who take too much on their shoulders are normally motivated employees who want to succeed and to deliver quality performance and by taking too many tasks than they can handle they fail to do so and risk showing an non-serious impression as well as burning themselves out.

The good news is that saying No is something that we could practice and improve on our own both at work and on our free time. In many cases, when we say no for the right reasons we even get more respect and give our employers time to realize in advance that we need help or that they would need to allocate their resources differently in order to address the timeline and to get professional results.

Realizing that we actually being more professional by declining some tasks in advance would make it easier for us to say No from time to time.

Here are my suggestions for those of us who are too shy or eager to decline:

1. Realize that in some cases, when advising your employers in advance that you won’t have enough time or knowledge to perform a task you actually help them.

2. Practice in saying NO, start with people who you feel more comfortable with and take more advanced challenges from time to time.

3. Be proud of being able to decline and prioritize, reword yourself for your accomplishment!

4. Even in your free time, realize that we all have only 24 hours a day and we can’t do everything all the time – prioritize and give yourself time to rest and to recharge your batteries from time to time.

When needed – JUST SAY NO!

Thanks for reading, sharing is caring,

Yours,

Moran.

5 steps to find the right boss

2016-05-23T20:43:00.000+02:00

If you want to succeed you need to have a manager who sees your potential, supports and motivates you and gives you the needed feedback that would help you grow and advance in your career.

It might look strange to get the advice to choose the right boss as in many cases we are getting the managers who comes with the position that we applied for but it is very important for our success that we make sure that the leadership that we get during our careers would help us to develop our knowledge, experience and self-esteem.

This is why we need to be extra observant when we are looking for new jobs and when we decide if we should stay at a current working place. As it is very important that we have the right environment for us – where we feel good, are motivated and want to nourish ourselves and our organizations. This normally happens when we have the right managers who support us, give us good feedback and advise us on our way to success.

Here are my 5 steps to how you choose the right boss:

1. From early on in your career, make sure you have the right managers – if you see that it’s the case, do your best to work on your professional growth with their help.

2. If your manager is not supportive and doesn’t help you to develop yourself – do your best to find a new job using your contact network and your contacts within the organization.

3. While you are at an interview try to concentrate and to feel if you and the boss who interviews you have chemistry between you. Try to meet other employees and look around to see how the atmosphere is, ask them about the relationship with the manager.

4. When looking for a new job – ask for references for the boss; ask questions about the employment turn-over – is it so that people are staying many years at this working place or do people tend to look for other opportunities after a short time of working there?

5. When you find the right bosses for you try to keep in touch with them – if the managers change jobs or advance inside the company be honest and tell them that you would like to continue working together and ask if there is a possibility for that to happen.

So, let’s start our quest in choosing the right boss for us!

Take care,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Stop applying for jobs - 4 reasons why you should update your job-tactics

2016-05-20T10:27:00.000+02:00

Are you also looking for new career challenges? I think that you agree with me when I say that it is not a piece of cake.

You are probably struggling with applying to too many jobs just to get another cryptic reply that you are just not a perfect match. That you are underqualified or overqualified, not exactly what the recruiters are after or in many cases you don’t even get any answer. I know how you feel and you are not alone.

There are reasons why it is much more difficult to get the job you applied for now-a-days. And this is why you should update your jobs tactics:

1. 70-80% of jobs are found using networking and referrals and most of them are never advertised.

2. Many job-ads get 200-400 applications; this means that you have between 0.25% and 0.5% chance to get that job. Well, you have a higher chance to win something buying a scratch card.

3. People are becoming much better in writing their resumes and cover-letters and some of them even get professional help. So, your chances of getting the attention of the recruiters are becoming slimmer and slimmer.

4. Many recruiters are getting very tough candidate-specifications so it is much more difficult to be a perfect match.

Here’s the deal - it is really just mathematics – the chances to find a job by only applying for advertised vacancies are way too low. That is why we should broaden the way we are looking for jobs and redefine our job-search tactics.

So there is a better way,

How should we act in order to increase our chances to find our dream jobs?

We should work on our social networking strategy to get a better reputation and broaden our network online.

We should write about our expertise online, share others’ interesting posts and interact with those who are reacting to our posts.

Following companies that share our values and getting in touch with their employees. Send your CV and cover letter directly to the companies you follow – some of them have a specific page on their webpage where you can apply.

Meet and connect with your contacts in real life, help others and others will help you.

Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help and to tell others that you are looking for new opportunities.

Work on your presence and marketing on LinkedIn.

Sometimes, when you really find a job ad online that sounds really like a perfect -match you should apply and hope for the best.

I appreciate that you are reading this blog and sharing it with your contacts so that they could also be inspired.

Good luck with your job-search!

All the best,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Make a wish! - In writing

2016-05-13T23:45:00.001+02:00

It is quite an amazing thing!

Every time I wrote down a wish– it came true!

This is the funny thing about setting goals, when you write them down they become concrete and your brain works to achieve them.

I was always amazed by people that told me that when they left notes in the western wall their wishes have come true. I’m not a believer and I always had a logical way of thinking so as a 12 year old I made an experiment:

I wrote my wish on a note and hided it in my pillow, and from time to time I took it out and read my wish.

In some way I focused my actions to make the dream come true. My wish was to live in Sweden. When I was 17 I started learning Swedish by myself, when I was 20 I started working at Ericsson (a Swedish company) and 2 years later I moved to Sweden. Now married to a great guy and we have a beautiful and cleaver son.

The same thing happened a few years ago, I wrote a comment to a blog post about the most popular occupation in Sweden at that time – Personnel Manager. In the comment I wrote that I’d really like to work as a Personnel Manager and a few months later it was a fact!

So, now I’m making a new wish – I would like to help organisations to develop their HR, to make studies about current situations and to help them to make their processes better. At the same time, I would like to reach out to more people and inspire them to succeed.

Now you also have a chance to make your wish come true. Write your wish down and save it somewhere safe. If you’d like - you can also share it in a comment below.

So make a wish – and write it down!

Thanks for reading my blog,

Good luck!

Moran.

P.S. I’m you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

The road taken - that has made all the difference

2016-05-08T13:11:00.000+02:00

Many of you are celebrating Mother’s day this month – so, Happy Mother’s day!

I want to tell you about a significant week that I had in July 2003 – so significant that it really made who I am today.

In mid-July 2003 I got two very important notifications:

One of them was that I was admitted to two courses at two different universities – International relations, an evening course at The University of Stockholm and a distance course in Business Administration and Economics at the University of Örebro.

The second “notification” was that I found out that I was pregnant. That was a really big deal for the almost 25 year old me, who was finally finished with the Swedish studies, had a steady job and decided to educate myself and follow my career dreams.

What was I to do? I had 3 options and none of them was easy-

To wait with my studies until someday in the future. Maybe never.
To wait with being a parent until I’m finished with my studies in 4-5 years.
To do both – not sure if I could handle it.

I just focused and thought, considered my options and their results. I knew that it was one of the biggest dilemmas I would ever have.

Finally, I made a choice, I looked inside and saw the strength I have – I knew that with the help of my husband I am strong enough to do both!

I took a big breath and registered myself to the two part-time courses so I studied 100% while being pregnant and working full time- and I managed to do them all.

At this time in life, when I have time to look at the past and to plan the future I can honestly say that this week was the one that has made all the difference.

Now I have a Master’s degree in Business administration and economics that kick-started my career, I have a great 12 year old son who inspires me to make a difference and I know that I can do everything that If I just believe in myself and focus.

To all of the women out there who are afraid to combine studies, family-life and career –

I know that you can do it all - if you just put your mind into it! Dare to take the road less taken since that could make all the difference.

Wishing you a happy Mother’s day!

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an emphatic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

9 simple steps to get motivated right now

2016-05-04T19:38:00.000+02:00

Do you want to reach high? To get your dream-job or to achieve your life goals?

If so, start believing in yourself and your abilities and get motivated to continue fulfilling your own strategy for success.

Some people feel threatened of those who are trying to stand tall and those who are special. Many of us have their own insecurities and we need to work on our self-esteem in order to feel good with ourselves, to dare taking further steps and to achieve our visions.

It is important to learn to know ourselves, to focus on our own advantages and strong sides and to appreciate ourselves for our qualities.

Even if we are all equal we are very different in our own way and can contribute to society and others in different ways - and that is what is so special and unique about us humans.

Remember - if you want to succeed you should help others and dare to ask for help don’t try to climb on the career ladder by stepping on others – we all can reach much further if we help each other!

Here are my simple steps to get motivated quickly:

1. Remember that you are special – each and every one of us is special.

2. Every one of us is equal although we each have our own strong sides

3. You are better than others in some aspects

4. You know more than others in some subjects

5. You have your own talent - you just need to discover and develop it.

6. Remember that there is always someone who cares about you and your well-being and don’t forget to support them as well.

7. Share your knowledge with others and they will share their knowledge with you.

8. Be inspired by others, learn from other people’s success stories – this can only show you that you could also succeed.

9. Avoid envy and jealousy as they would only slow yourself and others down and would make you feel bad.

Believe in yourself and others will start believing in you!

Wishing you a shiny day,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

12 ways to get your dream-job using LinkedIn

2016-04-30T20:27:00.001+02:00

It is quite common that people get jobs with the help of their network. In fact, about 70-80% of the jobs are appointed with the help of relatives, friends and their contacts and now-a-days a big share of those interactions is made using social media – and you shouldn’t be left behind!

If you want to get your dream job where you can thrive and contribute with your talent it is much better to get a job that is custom-made for you and your skills rather than applying for random ads where the employer and the recruiting team already made their mind on how their preferred candidate should be at the same time as you are competing with way too many other candidates.

One of the best tools to be discovered, to keep in touch with your contacts and to meet new people who share the same interest and professional background is by using LinkedIn in an efficient way.

The bad news are that way too many competitors are already there – so you need to be able to show yourself and do your marketing in a much smarter way!

How should you use LinkedIn effectively and find your dream job?

Open an account if you still don’t have any…

Search LinkedIn in order to find selling profiles and use good examples to make your own profile.

Write a selling profile that describes your work experience, education and your skills in a structural and attractive way. Think SEO – use the right keywords in your profile to help others to find you much easier.

Update your profile regularly – as it is a living document.

Put a good and professional looking photo of yourself on your profile – your LinkedIn page is a marketing document that would help you to attract future employers.

Write in your headline how you can contribute and that you are looking for job opportunities – but don’t be too pushy when getting in touch with your contacts or groups.

Be active in groups that have to do with your profession, a field, a branch where you would like to work or manning companies where you can get in contact with recruiters. Show your knowledge by interacting and giving your advice when needed.

Follow companies that you are interested in, and get involved in their discussions.

Try to get in touch with people you know both professionally and non-professionally – many of the people who get jobs via LinkedIn get it through contacts of their own contacts.

Meet new contacts who share the same profession or interests as you – IRL (In Real Life).

Write articles, posts and updates sharing your knowledge and passion in the fields of your expertise – so that recruiters and organisations would understand how you could contribute to their organisation and make it better in your own way.

Be active and be real, help others, interact with your contacts, share their posts and thank for those of are sharing your posts.

Now I would like to hear from you – what do you find easy and difficult with LinkedIn? What advice are you taking with you today? Is it something that you need help with when writing your LinkedIn profile or interacting there? Please leave a comment below!

Did you like this post? Please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Thanks J

Good luck in finding your dream-job,

Yours as always,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Dare to make a difference!

2016-04-26T10:29:00.000+02:00

I’m still in between jobs,

I feel with all of you who are struggling to find a new job out there – either you are unemployed or feeling bad at the jobs you have.

There are so many articles with suggestions and tips on how you could find a new job, and the truth is that I also wrote many articles in this subject. I’m sure that much of that I already wrote is a good start for finding a job and advancing in your career.

However, I feel myself that it became much more difficult to find a job that is a good fit. There are not enough ads and many recruiters look at a specification as a holy script. Instead of seeing potential and character – they see what you are lacking (if they even read your CV since it might have a keyword missing and went directly to the No please box).

That is why we need to create our own dream-jobs, to be seen in social media, share our knowledge and advice and try to make a difference.

Every one of us has a special passion for something – a subject that we know more of than anyone else. Because of our interest we read everything about this matter and we would like to share this knowledge with everyone we know. But many times we don’t dare.

We think that if we share our knowledge people will see us in a different way, maybe even judge us – It might be a small risk that you are taking. But think about the possibilities –

Think if companies and organisations would see your passion, knowledge and character and understand that it is what that they are missing in their organisation. In that way, you could work with the things that you are passionate about! Really enjoying going to work – it is worth any risk of embarrassment.

I really love making a difference and I would like to help more people with their careers and companies in making their organisations better. This is my passion in life – to try making the world a bit better in my own way.

So, I challenge you to start making an impact in your own way – please name below the one passion that you have that you would like share with the world. Don’t be shy – remember to step outside of your comfort-zone!

Dare to be seen!

Thanks for reading my blog,

Take care,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Schedule your success

2016-04-19T18:00:00.000+02:00

I used to think that multitasking is efficient – I could do everything at the same time as I have a great simultaneous capacity.
But it is now known that people become less efficient and even ill from doing many things at the same time.

At our modern world, there are so many things that need to be done- many tasks that we need to complete both at work and on our free-time.
Making everything at once feels like the most efficient way out there when we have tons of e-mails, projects and social media to take care of.

But if you want to harm your short-time memory and your ability to focus and be efficient in the long-run than you should choose to do it all at once.

For the rest of us who want develop ourselves and our organisations and stay sharp during our entire careers – the best way to be effective and efficient is to focus on one thing at a time.

How can we succeed and be efficient if we only focus on one thing at a time?

We should schedule our tasks and our goals and then focus on them and ignore other tasks and interruptions.

This can be done by organisations and managers, as well as business-owners and even job-seekers. Employers and HR should also support this way if they want employees to feel better and perform well.

How to schedule your success?

Focus on your goals – what would you like to achieve.

Write a to do list with tasks that would help you reach your goals

Schedule tasks and events in your calendar according to their priority and timing – this could be to answer e-mail 2 hours a day, to contact customers or employers an hour a day, make sales calls in a specific time, schedule interactions in social media, etc.

Do the tasks that you scheduled and ignore the rest of the things

Evaluate if there are others things that you need to do and schedule them

And off course – don’t forget to mark things that are done and to celebrate when you achieved goals.

I just installed a new mobile application that can make my life much easier and help me to schedule my job-search, it is called 24me and it’s an integrated calendar, to do list, notes and personal assistance and I highly recommend it.

When you are in between jobs it is even more important to get some kind of a routine and to schedule your tasks so that you get more motivation to send your applications, contact employers and network.

So start planning your success by scheduling your tasks and goals.

Thanks for reading and sharing my blog-post,

Take care.

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Step out of your comfort zone!

2016-04-12T15:59:00.000+02:00

Hi and welcome again to your success plan.

I have been writing this blog for the last 5 years as I love helping others to succeed.

I was challenged by a great person to step outside of my comfort zone and to do something that I never dared doing before!

I don’t like making speeches nor being filmed – but you can see that I’m doing it right now.

I don’t like to ask for help either but I’m working on it too –

I’m in between jobs and would like to find an opportunity where I can help people and organizations to succeed. I’m passionate about HR, career development and strategy and would like to be an adviser or consultant within this field (In Stockholm, Sweden).

Now, when I stepped out of my comfort zone – It’s your turn!

Please share a challenge or something that you never dared doing in a comment below and Go for it!

Maybe you could help me to succeed and you would certainly be on your way to succeed now when you challenge yourself.

Dare to be a success!

Have a great day,

Moran.

P.S. If you are interested in an empathic, analytical and driven HR-consultant please take a look at my LinkedIn profile: https://se.linkedin.com/in/winsteenalbin

Copyright © 2016 Moran Winsteen Albin