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 10 Tips for Returning To Work As A New Mom

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From easing back in with a trial run to adhering to a smart plan, here are 10 answers to the question, “What are some tips you have for mothers returning to work after having a baby?”

  • Prepare a Trial Run of the Morning Routine
  • Do a Stepped Return
  • Prioritize Your Mental Health First
  • Lean into the Discomfort
  • Get Yourself Ready to Spend Time Apart
  • Always Have a Backup Caregiver
  • Feel Ok Enjoying Your Time Away from Your Baby
  • Make a Plan Before You Head Back to Work
  • Check Company Policy for Benefits and Facilities
  • Find a Way to Pump During the Workday

Prepare a Trial Run of the Morning Routine

As a mother returning to the office, you probably recall how it looked before your maternity leave. But now, many things are different, including your morning routine. 

With a child on a board, you will have less time than before to get down to work, and your morning schedule will be different. Do not let it surprise you. 

Make a trial run of your “business morning” before and wake up earlier in the first week of returning. It will save you from at least some of the stress.

Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing & Outreach Manager, US Visa Photo

Do a Stepped Return

When I returned to work after having my baby, I was nervous about how I would balance everything. I talked to other moms and did some research, and the best advice I found was to do a stepped return. 

This means gradually increasing the days and hours you’re away from your baby until you’re back to working full time. For me, this meant starting with two days a week, then adding an extra day every couple of weeks. It was a slow process, but it gave me time to adjust and transitioned back to work much easier. 

If you’re thinking of returning to work after having a baby, I would definitely recommend doing a stepped return. It’s a great way to ease into things and make sure you’re still able to spend quality time with your little one.

Lorien Strydom, Executive Country Manager, Financer.com

Prioritize Your Mental Health First

One of the most important things for mothers returning to work after having a baby is to prioritize their mental health. It’s difficult to manage the demands of a full-time job and motherhood, and it’s important to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself both physically and emotionally. 

One way to do this is to set aside time each day for yourself, even if it’s just a few minutes. Whether you use this time to read, take a walk, or simply sit in silence, making time for yourself will help you recharge and feel more capable of managing the demands of work and motherhood. 

Additionally, it’s important to be honest with your employer about your needs and boundaries. If you need flexible hours or the occasional work-from-home day, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. By prioritizing your mental health, you’ll be setting yourself up for success both at work and at home.

Jim Campbell, Founder, Wizve Digital Marketing

Lean into the Discomfort

I went back to work eight weeks after my second child was born. I knew sending her to daycare would mean lots of interruptions to my schedule—taking extra sick days since she would be exposed to lots of other babies, forgetting important things like blankets, extra clothes, or extra diapers, etc.

I was such a perfectionist and drove myself mad trying to remember and balance all the things. But once I started leaning into the chaos and expecting interruptions to my schedule, life magically felt easier. It no longer felt like an interruption or challenge when I had to step outside my normal workflow.

Leaving your baby to go back to work is hard enough; don’t make it harder on yourself by fighting against uncomfortable feelings. Accept life’s different now and you can’t be the same employee you were before the baby.

Alli Hill, Founder & Director, Fleurish Freelance

Get Yourself Ready to Spend Time Apart

One challenge for a mother returning to work after maternity leave is getting herself, and the baby used to spend time apart. After weeks or months together, you may consciously or subconsciously worry about the baby, and this is understandable. 

However, instead of focusing on your work, you daydream about your child and get distracted. Your mental unpreparedness to leave your child with somebody else makes it difficult to find yourself at work and to adapt to changes that may have occurred in the company. 

So before you return to work, get used to being away from your child. Start by leaving your baby with a nanny or family member every day for a few hours. Consider dropping off your child at daycare a few days early before you return to work. This way, you gradually get used to not being around, and you can finally focus on your professional duties while you work.

Nina Paczka, Community Manager, Live Career

Always Have a Backup Caregiver

Arrange for child care as soon as possible, possibly even before or after your baby is born. Most centers and services have waiting lists, particularly for children under the age of two. Other people who care for your child may require time to organize their other obligations.

Have a backup caregiver for your child in case their regular caregivers become ill or become unavailable. This will relieve you of some stress and worry. The key is to find someone who can assist you on short notice and who you can trust. Friends, playgroup parents, grandparents, other relatives, and partners are all possibilities.

Jennie Miller, Co-Founder, MIDSS

Feel Ok Enjoying Your Time Away from Your Baby

Earlier this year, I returned to work after taking a year off after my daughter’s birth. Leading up to it, I was worried about how much we would miss each other. She was born during the pandemic, so we spent a lot of time just the two of us.

There was an adjustment period, but especially once I knew my daughter was happy with her childcare, I started to love my time away from her. Going back to work helped me to reconnect with parts of my identity that I love but had lost while at home.

I’ve also realized that having time apart makes our time together that much better. I rarely get overwhelmed or lose my cool with her, and she rarely seems frustrated or sick of me. I love my daughter so much and appreciate every minute I have with her. I also appreciate my time without her.

Lindsey Fontana-Dreszer, Founder, Dogby

Make a Plan Before You Head Back to Work

As someone that struggled after having my own child, I’d suggest you make a plan before you head back to work. Know what hours you’ll be working, whether you’ll need child care, and how much money you’ll need to make each month to cover your expenses.

It’s also vital to have a strong support network in place comprising friends or family members who can help with things like watching them for an evening so you can get some time for yourself. Finally, remember that it’s ok to ask for help—no one can do it all on their own!

Sarah Holmes, Homesteader, WhatYurt

Check Company Policy for Benefits and Facilities

While every HR team and hiring manager makes it a point to offer every assistance possible to a new mother returning to work, it is always possible that they might have missed mentioning a few details. 

Therefore, diving deep into the company’s policy will help you check on crucial information. Arrangements offered by companies could range from extra remuneration for daycare or even partnerships with in-house daycare facilities to easy working hours or a shift to a less-stressful job position to enable a new mother to handle her new responsibilities as a mom with relative freedom.

Learning about these and more potential benefits and facilities is possible only when you check in with the employee handbook or company policy for specific information related to mothers returning to work.

Riley Beam, Managing Attorney, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.

Find a Way to Pump During the Workday

Studies show that breastfeeding mothers are more likely to experience higher levels of stress and exhaustion, which can negatively affect their ability to function at their best. 

One way to combat this is to find a way to pump during the workday. This can be challenging, but a combination of creativity and determination can help you find a way to successfully accomplish this.

Some employers are required to provide a private space to pump, so ask your HR department if this is available to you. If not, perhaps you can use a conference room or find a coworker who would let you use their office. 

If you can find a way to pump during the workday, you’ll be that much more likely to balance your responsibilities as a mother and a professional.Matthew Ramirez, CEO, Rephrasely

How Personal Brand Applies In The Job Search Process

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What is one way a “personal brand” is relevant when applying and interviewing for a job role?

To help you make the best of your online presence, we asked C-suite executives and other career experts this question for why they think branding is critical. From showing off your core values to proving your initiative, there are several reasons below why you should take building a strong personal brand seriously when entering the job market.

Here are 11 reasons your personal brand is essential to becoming an attractive candidate for any role:

  • Shows Employers Your Core Values
  • Aligns Your Interview Answers With Your Online Persona
  • Gives Potential Employers Insight 
  • Battles the Recruiters’ Paradox of Choice
  • Creates Your Real First Impression
  • Makes You Strategically Attractive For Higher Positions
  • Proves to Be the Best Candidate Differentiator
  • Lets Your Personality Shine Through
  • Helps Make Common Connections With the Interviewer
  • Attracts the Right Opportunities
  • Demonstrates You Have Initiative

Shows Employers Your Core Values

Businesses are not only looking for skills but the core values of a candidate, and this is one reason having a personal brand can play an important role in applying for and interviewing for a job.

Just as businesses use marketing to convey their brand’s values to their customers, personal brands work much the same way.

By using your LinkedIn and other professional accounts to tell your story, demonstrate your values, display your growth, and talk about your skills and passions, you will showcase who you are in a manner that is not common to most job-search formats.

In using your professional social media accounts to highlight personal attributes and core values, you will effectively market your personal brand and better your chances in the application and interview process.

Greg Gillman, Chief Revenue Officer, MuteSix

Aligns Your Interview Answers With Your Online Persona

Interviewers are savvy and often check online profiles on various social media platforms. They’ll look at your posts, opinions, pictures, and other content that you’ve shared. All of this contributes to your personal brand. 

Many people will tell you to take an inventory of your online persona and edit out those things that can harm your job prospects. But what many people ignore is the lack of alignment that can arise when your social media content doesn’t match the answers you give in an interview. 

The best way to solve this is by being honest. You don’t have to share everything in an interview. But, you also shouldn’t pretend to be someone you’re not. An interviewer will see straight through it if they’ve spent a little time studying your personal brand online. 

Instead, focus on how the different dimensions of your personality—and brand can be seen as a positive for the company. Then, when those aspects show through in your online posts, they’ll feel aligned with your interview answers.

Dennis Consorte, Digital Marketing & Leadership Consultant, Snackable Solutions

Gives Potential Employers Insight 

An online personal brand affects the preconceived notions the interviewer may have of your skill set. 

For example, if you position yourself as an expert on LinkedIn, the preconceived beliefs about your professional value will be in your favor. Your personal brand relieves some of the heavy lifting in the interview; with readily available anecdotes online, it makes it easier for potential employers to get an idea of your values.

Patricio Paucar, Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer, Navi

Battles the Recruiters’ Paradox of Choice

A personal brand makes you go from a number or name in the sea of applications to a person—as odd as it sounds—it humanizes you. 

The dark reality of today’s society and recruitment processes is that there are so many options to choose from that it all becomes a digit that often obscures the individuals’ complexity and the qualities they offer. 

Having a personal brand pushes you above the pile and makes you a recognizable and desired player. The paradox of choice is a real thing, and it concerns recruiters as well. A personal brand boosts your image and lets you control to a much greater extent how you are perceived when applying for jobs, making you a bold, unique, and high-value contender. Thanks to this, you will surpass the recruitment challenge of the paradox of choice.

Nicole Ostrowska, Career Expert, Zety

Creates Your Real First Impression

I’m a BIG believer in personal branding and have worked very hard to build mine on both LinkedIn & our company page.  

When someone applies for jobs the FIRST thing recruiters/employers do is check the resume against their LinkedIn account for consistency & to get acquainted in a non-committal “safe space.” That’s your first impression and you can control the narrative. 

It can either be an asset or a liability depending on several factors like a professional headshot, consistency with resume, and personal branding like recommendations/published work. This is how I differentiate myself.

I ask for branding content from my candidates via success story feedback for our website and recommendations for my LinkedIn. These endorsements can be the difference between whether top talent works with me versus the many other recruiters that approach them. 

The best part is this branding is FREE! Does your LinkedIn make a 10/10 impression? If not, it’s like using your worst photo on a dating app, very limiting.

Matthew Jones, Senior IT Recruiter, VIP Staffing

Makes You Strategically Attractive For Higher Positions

Personal branding applies only to strategic positions, not every job. These positions require credible candidates who take responsibility for their actions and decisions—and care about their reputation as experts in the field.

Companies don’t want anyone with an unprofessional image representing their brand. They want people who are passionate about what they do and can communicate that passion to all the employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

In fact, sometimes personal branding helps candidates appointed to a significant position in the company without having to go through the typical recruitment process of interviews, tests, and assessment rounds. 

It gives an advantage over those candidates who don’t have a strong personal brand and makes themselves more visible to recruiters.

Arkadiusz Terpilowski, Head of Growth & Co-Founder, Primetric

Proves to Be the Best Candidate Differentiator

Establishing a personal brand, or the image and characteristics thought of when you are considered professionally for a new role, can be the calling card that helps you to stand out from the rest regarding an interview process or candidate selection process. 

Being known in your industry or amongst peers as a subject matter expert relative to a certain function or skill set, coupled with a personal brand that embodies work ethic, connections, and a measurable ROI to a company associated with your work,  will help you stand out more than the candidate that just has a “good resume.” 

Establishing a professional brand can start with a LinkedIn profile, but what makes it tangible and real is support from those in your network through recommendations and endorsements. A presence at industry events as a speaker, panelist, or expo presenter will also bolster your brand.

Tiffani Murray, Director, HR Tech Partners, LinkedIn

Lets Your Personality Shine Through

A major part of the interview process revolves around striking a good rapport with your interviewer. Having a solid personal brand can be a great way to achieve this because it lets your personality take the spotlight. 

Your resume, for instance, only talks about your achievements and experience—it does little to paint a clear picture of your personality. A personal brand, on the other hand, lets you express yourself a lot more and interviewers can actually connect with who you are and fill in the missing gaps.

Guy Sharp, Relocation Advisor, Andorra Guides

Helps Make Common Connections With the Interviewer

Experience and skills are important in leaving a great impression on the interviewer, but communication also plays an essential role in setting you apart from your competitors. 

Engaging in small talk not only leaves a lasting impression, but also establishes a connection between the job seeker and the interviewer. Thus, it helps to showcase your personal brand as well. 

Before appearing for an interview, try going through the background of the interviewer to find the most common topic of interest. Some topics may help in promoting your personal brand. For example, passion, hobbies, and professional interests. Keep in mind, you might offend the interviewer by discussing political or religious topics.

Zephyr Chan, Founder & Growth Marketer, Living The Good Life

Attracts the Right Opportunities

One of the biggest advantages of having a personal brand is that it allows you to evaluate what is truly important in your professional life. 

When you can do this and present it confidently amongst your peers, your network, and potential employers, you’re more likely to land opportunities that align with your long-term goals and true interests. 

This benefits both yourself and your employer as it serves to move you both in the right direction.

Larissa Pickens, Owner, Repeat Replay

Demonstrates You Have Initiative

You want recruiters and hiring managers to take comfort in knowing that you’re able to take the initiative. If you can successfully promote yourself with just a social media platform (or two) and some well-honed instincts, just think how well you can promote an established brand. 

If you’re interviewing for a marketing role at a company, it will serve you well to show the hiring managers you know how to sell a brand, that includes your personal brand. 

You may even come with a robust, built-in following, which is something that is sure to appeal to any company looking for more exposure.

Emily Saunders, Chief Revenue Officer, eLuxury

How Leaders Run Successful Meetings: 10 Tips and Tricks

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As a business leader, what is one tip/trick for running a successful meeting?

To help you adopt the best approach in running meetings successfully, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their best insights. From allowing your team to contribute in advance to using friendly communication during meetings, there are several tips that are useful for any business leader seeking to conduct successful meetings.

Here are 10 tips these leaders follow to run successful meetings:

  • Allow Your Team to Contribute in Advance
  • Pep Things Up With a Brainstorming Session
  • Create and Share a Clear Agenda for the Meeting
  • Pay Attention to Who You Ask to Attend
  • Engage Everyone
  • Kick-Off With Dialogue that Supports Team Trust
  • Leave Smartphones at the Door
  • Send Out a Meeting Announcement Early
  • Leave Room in Your Schedule for Questions
  • Use Friendly Communication During the Meeting

Allow Your Team to Contribute in Advance

To have a successful, collaborative meeting, offer your entire team the opportunity to suggest topics or ask questions beforehand. This can be done simply on a project-management task or even on a Google sheet. Start by stating the main purpose of the meeting, and then encourage your employees to add sub-topics and put forth any questions or comments they may have. This will keep everyone engaged by feeling they’ve actually contributed to the meeting, rather than just be an “attendee.”

Shaun Price, MitoQ

Pep Things Up With a Brainstorming Session

A successful meeting requires every participant to contribute to the outcome, and one way to get the adrenaline flowing is to have a brainstorming session where everyone in the meeting can share their viewpoints. In addition to adding to the energy in the room, this move will also give team members the chance to present their ideas without feeling conscious about how they’ll play out in the long run. After all, brainstorming is all about coming up with ideas, no matter how vague, so that every thought and notion can be explored.

Riley Beam, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.

Create and Share a Clear Agenda for the Meeting

Prepare and send out a clear agenda before the meeting starts. This will help the meeting stay on track and ensure that all of the topics that need to be discussed are covered. It is also helpful to provide a brief overview of each topic before the meeting starts so everyone is on the same page. Having discipline around creating an agenda for each meeting may sound like a lot of work, but that’s actually a very good thing, since it leads to fewer, but much higher quality meetings. One thing that employees commonly complain a lot about is too many unnecessary meetings and too much time wasted. So by having a laser focus on the topics that are truly relevant for the meeting, you’ll be able to get to the core of the matter much faster, and everyone will appreciate that.

Matthew Ramirez, Paraphrase Tool

Pay Attention to Who You Ask to Attend

Many business leaders spend a lot of time on setting up their meeting agenda, but give little thought to who should be in attendance, yet by making it exclusive you will have a greater likelihood of it being successful. The people in attendance can have a dramatic impact on a meeting in everything from its focus to meaningful engagement, and making it a catch-all in terms of who is requested to be there can water down the presentation’s effectiveness. Making sure those who are asked to attend have relevant knowledge, have responsibilities related to the topic, will be involved in agenda implementation, and can contribute points that add to the presentation, is as critical to the meeting’s effectiveness as any material or discussion points. By spending as much time evaluating who you want to be at the meeting as you do setting up your presentation, you will better ensure the engagement of those in attendance and its overall success.

Adelle Archer, Eterneva

Engage Everyone

Find a way to engage everybody at the meeting. No one wants to spend time at a meeting just to keep a chair warm, and if they sit there the whole time without saying a word, you haven’t done your job in leading the meeting. Everyone should have something to offer, or they shouldn’t be there. Make sure to touch base with each participant and see what they have to contribute. They’ll feel engaged and appreciated, and you won’t be leaving any valuable input on the table.

Marcus Hutsen, Patriot Coolers

Kick-Off With Dialogue that Supports Team Trust

Kick it off with an opportunity for people to share what is going well and areas they wish to take the initiative to improve to support team trust. This is the most critical element for teams to achieve their goals, so it’s important to cultivate trust in each interaction and meeting. Behaviors that erode trust include micromanaging, failure to share information, gossip, comparison of colleagues, and toxic productivity. Instead, allow your team to thrive by embodying a culture of learning, growth, and collaboration so people feel it’s okay to fail, share progress with others, and cheer on teammates’ success. When trust-building is a priority in meetings, all stakeholders can raise issues and ideas without fear of retaliation.

Tommy Chang, Homelister

Leave Smartphones at the Door

Require everyone to leave their smartphones at the door. Smartphones are supposed to be a convenient productivity tool, but I’ve noticed that they ultimately get in the way of collaboration and creativity more than they help it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve referred to my phone to aid in work, but then became sidetracked by a text or voice message, or a juicy piece of news. Meetings should only last about 30 minutes anyway: People should be able to live without their phones for that long.

Asker Ahmed, iProcess

Send Out a Meeting Announcement Early

Give early notice. One important but often overlooked key to running a successful meeting takes place before it even begins. If you want to be a good host, you need to announce the meeting with plenty of advanced notice. Sending out a timely announcement and reminders about your agenda helps ensure that your attendees can be there and sets a good tone for the rest of your meeting.

Rachel Reid, Subtl Beauty

Leave Room in Your Schedule for Questions

Don’t forget to leave time for clarifications. When you’re outlining a meeting agenda, there’s internal pressure to ensure you have enough material and that you’re not leaving out anything relevant. But it’s also important to build time into that schedule for questions. Most meetings are not so clear that no one needs clarification in any area. If you fill your agenda to the brim, you risk running over and delaying people getting to their next commitment. It’s better in the long run to have that gap built in.

Vimla Black Gupta, Ourself

Use Friendly Communication During the Meeting

Meetings are typically serious affairs, especially if objectives and agendas are closely followed. To maintain a good environment and promote a sense of collaboration and relationship building, allot a few minutes at the start and end of each meeting for some small talk, questions, and other chit-chats. A serious topic can be made more entertaining and interactive by using humor. Always be kind in your communication, encourage laughter or pleasant contact, and remember that meetings are still social gatherings. Keep meetings on schedule, but provide time for personal interaction.

Shad Elia, New England Home Buyers

Career Advice For A Changing Landscape in 2023

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What is the best piece of career advice you’d give someone as we head into 2023?

Believe it or not, the next year is almost upon us. It’s good to get ahead and make a plan of attack as one year ends and the new one begins, well before the New Years’ Resolution Rush takes hold. To better establish yourself professionally and in your career, take the advice of these 15 career professionals with you into the next year and beyond.

  • Choose Your Manager, Not the Company
  • Accept Criticism
  • If You Can’t Find a Great Career, Make Your Own
  • Upskill and Reskill Yourself
  • Find a Company That Works for You
  • Follow Industry Trends
  • Live Your Life, Not Someone Else’s
  • Engage with Your Curiosity
  • Infuse Passion Into Your Career
  • Focus On Your Soft Skills
  • Build a Personal Brand
  • Never Doubt Your Abilities
  • Improve Your Emotional Intelligence
  • Stay Flexible and Prepare for Change
  • Establish a Global Network

Choose Your Manager, Not the Company

The kind of person you report to and the relationship you’re able to build with them is infinitely more important to your mental health, growth, and career goals than landing at a company with a big name or well-known reputation. The right manager can propel you forward into places you never knew possible; a popular company has the power to do the same, but without that manager connection, you may find it difficult to remain at said company and likely won’t see the same level of opportunities thrown your way.

Michael Fischer, Founder, Elite Hat

Accept Criticism

Always accept criticism regardless of how rude or mean it may be. We might think that is degrading you, but most of the time, this is to point out some flaws that we might not be aware of. Learn to handle it professionally, no matter how hard it can be. Turn deaf to comments that do nothing but bring you down and accept comments that help you build yourself. There is no need to react to everything. Instead, constantly be reminded that constructive criticism can help you improve your career growth and development.

You must understand why you give such feedback, and perhaps you can ask the question but not in the sense of being defensive. Keep in mind the benefits of getting feedback and understanding the perspective of your criticizer, whether your boss or colleagues. Always extend your gratitude for sharing feedback with us. The criticism we often hear, especially in our workplace, is always the only way we learn about our weaknesses–without it, we can’t improve and grow.

Peter Bryla, ResumeLab

If You Can’t Find a Great Career, Make Your Own

After college, I worked a wide range of jobs, from bartending to restaurant management to sales and marketing. Nothing ever felt like the perfect fit. I struggled to fit into a role that someone else had made for me. But once I started freelancing in 2016, everything in my career seemed to fall into place effortlessly. I didn’t have to struggle to make my job work.

Six years later, my career and satisfaction are stronger than ever. I can work my own schedule, choose my salary, and partner with the clients I want. My advice: if you don’t feel like you belong at your job, you probably don’t. And that’s okay—you are meant for something better. Keep trying.

Alli Hill, Founder and Director, Fleurish Freelance

Upskill and Reskill Yourself

Upskilling and reskilling represent the search for knowledge acquisition in organizations. Technology and others are accessible to most companies, from SMBs to big corporations. Thus, individual knowledge will make a difference in 2023.

With upskilling and reskilling being the trends for companies to keep up competitive in the market, they tend to give the best opportunities for people who look to improve their knowledge base. In other words, to build your career getting the best chances, it’s crucial to bring and contribute new knowledge to the business. Upskilling and reskilling play a vital role in career growth and development.

Ricardo von Groll, Manager, Talentify

Find a Company That Works for You

Just like people, companies have their own unique personalities, and just like with people not all personalities mesh perfectly with one another. Finding the type of company culture that best fits you is critical to setting yourself up for future success. Company culture is a combination of company behaviors and company beliefs. Research is the first step to finding out more about a company’s culture, but there are areas that hold more weight than others.

Interpersonal communication, or who you will be working with most, decides aspects of work life like working on teams versus individually or working with clients more often than colleagues and vice versa. Autonomy, or how much control you have over your day-to-day tasks, is another area to consider which also includes areas of flexibility and supervisor structure. Professionals that take the time to find the companies and cultures that best fit their professional needs and wants set themselves up for success regardless of the role.

Bryor Mosley, Career Coach, Southern New Hampshire University

Follow Industry Trends

It never hurts to pay attention to trends in your industry and look out for changes. Read the news, follow market forecasts, and analyze how they can influence your industry and your job. Stay alert to layoffs as well as hiring. If you notice anything alarming that has the potential to negatively impact your position, react. Take some courses, take an interest in new technologies, and learn how to use extra tools, apps, or programs.

Do everything to stay current and not fall out of the market. If a recession hits your industry, don’t change jobs, as new hires are the first to get laid off. Do everything to show your employer that you are an indispensable employee. Remember, how your career will develop in 2023 is up to you, but following trends, constant development, and reacting will contribute to your success.

Nina Paczka, Community Manager, Resume Now

Live Your Life, Not Someone Else’s

Stay true to your values, wants, and needs. Your journey to success will not be the same as someone else’s, and that’s totally fine. It’s good to have role models to look up to and emulate, but continue to embrace what makes you unique. This will help distinguish you from your peers and make you more memorable. Stay true to your core values, perspectives, and ambitions.

Natalia Morozova, Partner, Cohen, Tucker & Ades P.C.

Engage with Your Curiosity

One of the biggest differences I think you can make in your working life is to stay curious about the sector you’re working in or focusing on. This might look like reading (fiction and non-) subjects directly related to your work, attending digital or in-person events, and generally reading up on relevant news. Pocket can be a fantastic tool for this. By staying curious, even if you aren’t actively ‘in love’ with your career or sector, you’ll still be learning and mentally engaged which can help tackle feelings of anxiety, imposter syndrome, or all round burnout.

Jessica Higham, Marketing Manager, Onoco

Infuse Passion Into Your Career

Find your passion and be persistent in pursuing it. For example, finding a career you can be passionate about is only the beginning. You need to follow that passion up by putting in the work. Expand your skill set and always look to improve even as you’re pursuing the next step in our career. Give yourself goals to pursue and grow your talent, by putting your passion into your career, you can find success.

Brianna Bitton, Co-Founder, O Positiv

Focus On Your Soft Skills

In today’s world, hard skills can be taught relatively easily and rapidly. However, it’s the soft skills that will set you apart from your peers and make you more successful in your career. Soft skills focus on who you are as a person and include abilities such as effective communication, problem-solving, and time management. To be more successful in your career, focus on developing your soft skills.

Burak Özdemir, Founder, Online Alarm Clock

Build a Personal Brand

Being known in the industry you work is a key element of your career. Invest in building relationships with coworkers and in the industry you are working. It sounds complicated, but the key element is to start sharing with other people what you’re doing, how you can help and what areas you enjoy working in. Use LinkedIn to connect with other people, invest time to take part in the podcast or write columns. These investments will help you to find your next job opportunity or start a business yourself one day. Start small and find your voice.

Irina Serdyukovskaya, SEO Consultant, Irina Kudres

Never Doubt Your Abilities

Finding and working with decent people should be a priority for everyone, but it’s especially important for women. To get ahead, it’s important to locate a mentor who can help lift you up and connect you with influential people who can help you succeed. Women have to fight harder to join these groups, so if you find yourself excluded, create your own.

Develop your self-assurance now so that you’ll be ready to sit down at those tables and in those places when the time is right. Also, while you’re doing it, try not to be too hard on yourself. You deserve the highest possible wage, benefits, justice, and esteem. You should get it.

Daniel Carter, Founder, SEO-AUDITS.IO

Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

With the business world comfortably settling into hybrid remote and in-person workplaces, it’s more important than ever that you are able to adequately prevent and resolve conflicts when some parties may not even be in the same room as one another.

Train your emotional intelligence and empathy as more and more of our interactions happen across screens. Without the benefit of being able to notice all of their subtle expressions and details face to face, this can be a difficult task, though not impossible. Keeping an open mind during your interactions and reminding yourself that people do not usually say things in bad faith can help avoid unnecessary conflicts within the workplace.

Jonathan Krieger, VP of Sales, Fabuwood

Stay Flexible and Prepare for Change

The best piece of career advice I’d give someone as we head into 2023 is to stay flexible and be prepared for change. The world of work is constantly evolving, so it’s important to both be open to new opportunities and willing to take on new challenges. Keep learning and keep growing—that’s the key to success in any field. Additionally, make sure you’re always putting your best foot forward by maintaining a positive attitude, actively participating in professional development opportunities, and networking with other professionals in your field.

Nuria Requena, Talent Acquisition Manager, Spacelift

Establish a Global Network

With the idea of a global workforce that works for organizations across the world sans the challenges of geographical boundaries and time zones, opportunities are now limitless. And for you to be able to open these doors, you will need to build a network that makes your own outreach infinite too. As a driven career professional, I’m sure you’ve never undermined the advantages of networking. Keep up the consistency, and remember that heading into 2023, you’ll also need to expand your network globally.Ashley DeJesus, Marketing Manager, AIS Network

13 Stories: The Best Career Advice I’ve Ever Received

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What is the best career advice you’ve been given?

To help you learn from the career advice of others to make you successful, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their best guidance. From being proactive in seizing growth opportunities to working to learn rather than to earn, there are several pieces of career advice that you could make your own to help you chart your course for a successful career.

Here are 13 pieces of career advice these leaders have received that help them the most:

  • Be Proactive in Seizing Career Growth Opportunities
  • Don’t Settle
  • Honor Your Instincts
  • Get a Mentor
  • Seek Happiness Instead of Money
  • No Job is Too Small
  • Trust Your Instincts
  • Focus on Living Your Dream and Not Someone Else’s
  • Network to Help You Advance
  • Learn How to Set Boundaries Right From the Get-Go
  • Set Aside Time for Yourself to Avoid Burnout
  • Be 15 Minutes Early for All Appointments
  • Work to Learn Rather Than to Earn

Be Proactive in Seizing Career Growth Opportunities

I entered the workforce over a decade ago with the concept that if I worked hard enough and exceeded my employer’s expectations, they would automatically reward me with raises and offer promotions. My then manager cleared this sad misconception during my very first year at that job. Upon asking why I wasn’t considered for a better-paying position at a larger branch of the organization, he responded by saying, “your career is your responsibility. Learn to advocate for yourself when you know there’s an opportunity; if there is no opportunity, create one.”

I believe his words led me to where I am now, heading my own well-established recruiting firm. So many people become successful due to stellar career management skills, even with otherwise average job skills. Offering to work on an important project or asking for a raise or promotion when you deserve one will lead to faster professional growth than waiting for an opportunity to knock at your door.

Anjela Mangrum, Mangrum Career Solutions

Don’t Settle

Don’t settle. That’s the best career advice I’ve ever been given, and it’s something that I try to live by every day. When you’re looking for a job, don’t just take the first offer that comes your way. Make sure that it’s a job that you’re passionate about and that you can see yourself doing for the long haul. Don’t settle for a position just because it pays well or because it’s easy. Challenges and obstacles are what make life interesting and worthwhile. If you can find a job that offers both of those things, then you’ve found something special. So, don’t settle – keep searching until you find the perfect fit.

Antreas Koutis, Financer

Honor Your Instincts

While advice can be helpful, you should also honor your own instincts. Be honest with yourself about what you want to do career-wise, and try not to worry too much about doing what people expect you to do or what they think you should do. This idea may sound simple, but it is a pain point for many people who feel parental or societal pressure to pursue careers in traditional fields such as law or healthcare.

Drew Sherman, RPM

Get a Mentor

Once you have been working in the field for some time and have started seeing some success, it is important to get a mentor. A mentor will help you take your career to the next level by sharing their own expertise and knowledge with you. They will also provide guidance on how you can progress further in your field and what new challenges you should take up. Having a mentor is an invaluable asset, so if you can find one, make sure to make the most of their mentorship!

Danielle Bedford, Coople

Seek Happiness Instead of Money

Entry level workers should focus on what they want to be doing. This is the start of everything, and it’s important that you enjoy the work you’re doing. We’re so driven by money, but sometimes that negatively impacts our health and we end up in a job we hate. Take your young working days to determine what you like and what you don’t like, and work on improving your skills. Your older self will be grateful you chased happiness instead of money.

Jodi Neuhauser, Ovaterra

No Job is Too Small

Right after college, I wanted to go to New York to start my career in television. But Barbara Walters told me I should ‘go local’ by working at smaller market television stations nearer my hometown and work my way up. So, I started as an assistant, getting coffee, logging tapes, and running audio. Then I worked my way up to writer, producer, and anchor. I’m so glad I took Barbara’s advice because it allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them without worrying that my career would be over before it even began. Starting small also helped me figure out what I like doing regarding news broadcasting and what I don’t like–which, I always tell my kids, is just as important because figuring out precisely what you want to do takes time.

Maria Shriver, MOSH

Trust Your Instincts

Although intuition and gut feeling are mostly subjective and hard to describe, each person knows what it’s like to trust their instincts. Having all the information and facts is undoubtedly a crucial part of decision-making, but it’s the indescribable quality of your instincts that will ultimately take you to the right place. If you start feeling into your intuition early in your career, you’re more likely to be able to count on it for the bigger decisions later on.

Igal Rubinshtein, Home Essentials Direct

Focus on Living Your Dream and Not Someone Else’s

Focus on living your dream and not someone else’s. That is the most profound piece of advice someone has ever handed down to me as a business leader in my community. It’s so common to be consumed by someone else’s success on social media or within your friendship circle or family. Instead, the principal objective is to focus on your business’s ups and downs, be present with the teachings of the hardships and celebrate your wins. You must halt all comparisons and enjoy the voyage and the place it’s taking you because someone else’s highlights are not your reality.

Anamika Goyal, Cottage

Network to Help You Advance

The best piece of advice I’ve ever received regarding my professional life was to always place a strong emphasis on networking in order to remain relevant (both technically and relationship-wise). Through our networks, we will be able to learn about new advances in our sectors and environments, new ways of thinking, and new opportunities that will help us advance in our careers. Our networks, which can include coaches, mentors, sponsors, stakeholders, and peers, are an essential component of our reputation and skill-building, as well as our overall well-being, and they serve as a foundation for each stage of our professional path.

Josh Tyler, Tell Me Best

Learn How to Set Boundaries Right From the Get-Go

There was a time when hustle and grind were in the spotlight and having little to no boundaries was encouraged. But given how unsustainable this practice is, it didn’t last long and most leaders picked up on this shift. However, traces of this culture still remain and that is why it’s crucial to have healthy boundaries and maintain a work-life balance. Although it can feel uncomfortable at first, you will soon realize the importance of boundaries for your mental well-being and the longevity of your career.

Benoit Lacroix, Portmoni

Set Aside Time for Yourself to Avoid Burnout

Make sure to take breaks. A mentor once told me about the importance of setting aside time for relaxation. As an entrepreneur, my work can feel deeply personal and all-consuming. But never putting aside time for yourself can cause major burnout, which can be detrimental to your career. Putting aside my job for a little while each day to do something I enjoy helps me stay sharp and focused when it’s time to get back to work.

Rachel Reid, Subtl Beauty

Be 15 Minutes Early for All Appointments

The best career advice I have ever gotten is to be 15 minutes early. In other words, you should make it a habit to be 15 minutes early for all your appointments in a professional setting. Keeping in mind the slogan “15 minutes early or you’re late” helps me leave the house more quickly since I have, how should we put it, an unjustifiably optimistic perception of the amount of time it takes to get from point A to point B. That slogan has helped me be on time for meetings and activities at work. You will undoubtedly come into contact with several pieces of career advice as your career progresses. Consider career guidance like you would feedback. You can read some suggestions and find out what you already do well and what you should work on improving.

Akber Zaidi, WeLoans

Work to Learn Rather Than to Earn

The best advice I’ve been given was by Robert Kiyosaki in Rich Dad Poor Dad. The advice is to ask – “are you working to earn, or working to learn?” Society teaches us to chase the big paycheque. Everyone’s rushing to earn the biggest number they can, mostly so they can feel better when comparing their salary or net worth to others their age. Chasing a bigger salary can often lead to working stressful jobs, with bad management and a poor path upwards. 

Instead, working to learn is much more fun, and often leads to a higher level of financial success further down the line. By pursuing opportunities to expand your skillset you’ll naturally become much more valuable. Instead of going down one path, you can end up combining several different skill sets and be uniquely valuable in a specific niche. This can lead to some incredibly unique and exciting opportunities. Which are far more fulfilling than rushing down a traditional route, not to mention often more lucrative in the end too.

Craig Galloway, Tech Detective