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My Top 5 Blogs of 2023: Insights & Reflections for Professional Growth

Welcoming a new year brings an opportunity to reflect on our professional growth. My 2023 was filled with thought-provoking discussions, new challenges, and interesting topics – especially around ongoing post-pandemic changes in the workplace (and personally), plus continuing to prioritize our mental well-being.

Perfectionism and the Model Minority Myth: How they Damage POC

Perfectionism is characterized by the drive to appear, feel, and be perfect. It’s often driven by a fear of failure, feelings of unworthiness, low self-esteem, and adverse childhood experiences. In 2022, I was one of five co-founders of the Canadian Psychological...

Destigmatizing Perimenopause and Menopause at Work

Although the symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause are private – these are issues that women can’t “leave at home.” These are symptoms that follow employees to work. Ignoring the impact of perimenopause and menopause symptoms won’t lessen their impact and won’t contribute to psychological safety or productivity.

The Insidious Impact of Workplace Jealousy

What happens when we see others succeeding at work?  Does it trigger inspiration, or does it trigger workplace jealousy?

I am grateful that I have seen countless examples in life and at work when the presence of excellence is so inspirational that others realize what may be possible for them, and they act accordingly. This may play out as extra effort, extra training, more research, and other healthy and appropriate behaviours to “level up” and live one’s best life. Most of us have seen this in action, and it is glorious. Everybody feels wonderful. But it doesn’t always play out this way …

Scapegoats and the Glass Cliff: When Careers Get Derailed

Scapegoating and the glass cliff may sound like something made up or exaggerated. In this article, I’ll break down what these terms mean, who they affect and why.

Less Lonely at the Top: the Rewards of Leadership & Executive Coaching

It’s lonely at the top. Modern leadership includes responsibility for staff in work environments that have grown much more complex – while also maintaining productivity and profitability. It’s no wonder that there’s growing acceptance for and use of executive and leadership coaching.

It’s Impolite to Discuss Politics at Work – But What About Values?

We’re all entitled to our political and religious beliefs, and we’re entitled to keep those private. With that said, when it comes to values, our silence speaks volumes.

Read or Hear the Latest Blog Posts

I’m Graduating Soon, How Can I Apply for Jobs that Require 2 Yrs Experience?

This is a great question since it probably applies to many students who are in their final 5 – 6 months on campus. For all those students out there who have worked part time while taking classes, you may soon be perceived as “lucky.” You’ll be seen as lucky because over the past 3 or 4 years, you’ve probably worked enough hours during the summers and othRecent-Grad-for-Hireer breaks from school, and during the regular term that you probably have sufficient experience. No doubt it’s been tough to work during most of your “free time”, but you’ve probably reduced the amount of student loans that you needed, and now your resume may have more depth than it would have if you hadn’t kept working. For everyone else who only worked during the summers, you should have about one year of work experience if you add up all of your summers. That’s not a bad place to start either.

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Something Isn’t Right at Work … Is it the Venue or the Vocation?

A good starting point is to identify what exactly is contributing to your sense of unhappiness or dissatisfaction at work. Are you experiencing too much friction and conflict with your co-workers and or boss? Do you believe that there’s no real chance for a meaningful promotion? Bored by tasks and responsibilities that fall below your abilities? Underpaid? These types of complaints don’t really reflect your actual career choice or vocation. If these are the types of things that are bothering you at work – over the longer term (i.e., months and months) – then it’s probably worth considering a change in venue … in other words, you might be better off working somewhere else.

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Should I Start a Part-Time Consulting Job?

She has recently learnt that the company where she works is being reorganized and as a result, she’ll soon have fewer responsibilities. This is where the part-time consulting comes in. Since she’s been thinking about starting something on the side, I told her that now is probably a great time to start. I suggested that she review the policies of her current employer to make sure that doing consulting work on the side will not create a real or perceived conflict of interest. I also suggested that she confirm that her contract does not prevent her from doing consulting work outside of her normal work hours.

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Employment After an Extended Absence From the Workforce

Once your friends, family, neighbours, and other contacts who you may know through your gym, church, hobbies, etc. have been advised that you’re looking for work, another thing to consider is volunteering. You might consider volunteering for strategic experience – that is volunteering in roles that will help you build your resume while also building your network. Another option is volunteering for personal reasons whereby you work on something you’re passionate about and good at. When you are contributing to something that you have a genuine interest in, you’ll be motivated and engaged. When you’re excited about what you’re doing, you’re more likely to give your best effort. Ideally, this will mean that you’ll be seen while performing well and you may gain the attention of people in positions of influence.

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Unusual CV and Foreign Experience

As someone who has helped hiring managers and HR professionals with their recruitment, I have noticed that sometimes the people who are responsible for the initial screening do not always appreciate the subtleties or details in a CV (for those who have never seen one, a CV is a longer, more detailed version of a resume; the CV normally includes publications, conference presentations, patents, etc.).

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Welcome to my Career Development, Career Management, and HR Blog

My graduate degrees are in Industrial / Organizational Psychology so I am knowledgeable about work-related situations/problems, careers, and business. Since I have many years of experience working with hiring managers / hiring organizations, I can offer advice that will be useful to small business owners who could use some temporary human resources (HR) help.

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