If These Signs Seem Familiar, It Might Be Time To Change Your Job

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Change Your Job|If These Signs Seem Familiar, It Might Be Time To Change Your JobIt can be difficult to accept that your dream job no longer reflects who you have become as you have got older and grown.

We fasten so much of our personas in our work, and to even consider changing that is extremely difficult.

Acknowledging that things are no longer working is difficult, but staying in a negative place that makes you feel less than great can be even worse.

Most people do not have a career path that is perfect or even linear. We all have times when it seems unfocused and unclear, with no real sense of where we will be in the next year or two.

Here, we look at some signs that you might just be ready to move on and find something else.

You are no longer engaged

If you have halted or reduced spending your discretionary work time doing things that may strengthen your work performance or other elements of your company, such as working on a shared project or a fundraiser supported by your company, you may not be as interested in your job as you once were.

Everything feels routine and boring

Routine work consists of simply going through the motions, with tasks running on cruise control. Working on a new project that once excited you but has now lost its emotional luster is an example. If you dislike routine work, a job change may be in order. You need a job that excites you – maybe teaching with Teach for America jobs, for example – no two days will ever be the same in that line of work.

Your colleagues are outperforming you

If your coworkers are getting more in terms of recognition and praise from your boss, or are standing out from you much more than they used to, it can be understandably discouraging. If you feel like you are not putting in the effort to get praised or your hard work is simply going unnoticed or unappreciated, it may be a sign that a change is in order.

You are no longer focused on your job

This essentially means that you are spending more time thinking about activities while you are at work than the work itself. This is not unusual, and while you will often have thoughts about activities at home or outside of work, if they become a fixation, you may want to consider changing careers or jobs. This usually occurs when you begin asking a lot of repetitive questions or you begin to find new things hard to understand.

Your progression has halted

When your opportunity to climb up the ranks stops or slows, or you realize that your depth of knowledge or experience is diminishing, it is reasonable to contemplate moving on. If you find yourself reporting to people who were once your colleagues, or even worse, if you hired them to work for you, it is time to move on.

Sometimes we are too near to the signs to notice them, or the signs appear little by little. We all become familiar or complacent with our jobs at some point. If this contentment causes you more discomfort than happiness then it is time to start to think about a change.

Are You Certified?: The Benefits Of Certification In Business

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Business Certification|Are You Certified?: The Benefits Of Certification In BusinessThere are many different types of certification in business. These include food hygiene certificates, environmental certificates, fair trade certificates and financial security certificates, which are often given out by professional organizations. There are also various forms of individual certification which may be obtained by taking a course.

Some of this certification is mandatory if you want to work in a certain line of business, while other certification is voluntary. A lot of business owners can be hesitant about applying for voluntary certification – it can be expensive and may require putting in a lot of work in order to meet standards. However, such certification can often be worthwhile in the long run. Below are just some of the advantages to getting certified.

Develop your skills and knowledge

Many people become certified in a certain subject so that they can pursue a career in a specific industry. When starting your own company, you don’t have to prove to an employer that you have certain credentials – you are the boss. However, such credentials can still be important for helping you to develop necessary skills and knowledge.

For example, a course in leadership could help to earn you a leadership certificate. Such a course could help you to build valuable skills and knowledge on how to lead employees if you’re thinking of recruiting your first staff. This can help you to become a better leader.

Consider what skills and knowledge you could benefit from learning and look into courses. This could include university courses or short courses.

Give your company an improvement goal

Certification forces you to meet certain standards. It can motivate you to improve your business, making it more efficient and more ethical.

Many people want to grow and improve their business, but are unable to motivate themselves to make the necessary changes. Certification gives you something to aim for. It can often become a fun challenge for hotels to earn that extra star rating, for an investment firm to achieve GIPS compliance or for a farm to achieve organic certification.

Build trust among the people you work with

One of the biggest perks of pursuing certification is that it can improve trust among the people you work with. This can lead to more productive and successful relationships. Some of the people who may become more trusting include:

  • Customers: Many customers are more trusting of a business that is certified. Certification proves that you are able to meet certain standards and that you are therefore more likely to achieve good results than an uncertified company. Some customers will deliberately look out for trust badges, qualifications and awards before choosing a company to work with. Consequently, you could notice an increase in customers after becoming certified – it can become a valuable part of your marketing.
  • Employees: Employees are likely to be more proud working for a company that has certification. Pride in a company can lead to greater productivity. You may also find that more candidates are encouraged to apply for vacancies, helping to give you more options when hiring new staff.
  • Investors: Some investors will only put their money into a company if it is reputable and ethical. Certification can make investors more trusting of your business – it shows that you are already respected and less likely to be involved in a costly scandal.
  • Suppliers: You may even find that some suppliers are hesitant about working with a company that isn’t certified. Obtaining certification could allow you to gain the trust of more suppliers and give you more choice as to which companies you work with.

11 Personal Factors That Determine Business Success

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Determine Business Success|11 Personal Factors That Determine Business SuccessThere’s no shortage of things that influence how successful a business will be. Much of it has to do with the strength of the idea and the execution of those ideas. However, it’s also important to remember that they’re not the only things that influence business success. It’s a complicated aspect of life that everything from politics to world events can influence. One of the biggest influences is personal. It’s about the person who’s leading the company.

In this blog, we’re going to run through a bunch of personal factors that you should keep an eye on because they might just impact the future of your business.

Your Routine

It’s not just what you do while you’re at the office that counts, but what you do outside of the office too. You’ll likely be pretty good at coming up with routines for when you’re at work. But it’s also important that you have a routine outside of work, too. If your routine isn’t well established, or it’s damaging, then you’ll be unlikely to arrive at work ready to hit the ground running. A chaotic schedule outside the office will create chaos inside the office!

Where You Work

It’s not just how you work that’ll guide the future of your company, but also where you work. There’s a big difference between working at a cramped kitchen table and working in a beautiful office. This is something that we all intuitively know, but it’s actually been backed up by research in recent years. People work better when they like their surroundings! If you’re currently uninspired by your working environment, then it could be time to upgrade your office space. You’ll find that, by doing this, you don’t just work better, but that you also raise your company’s standards.

Soft Skills

You may have a vision for where you want to take your business. But you won’t be the only person involved in that process — there’ll be plenty of others, from staff to contractors to customers and beyond. As such, it’s vitally important that any leader develops the soft skills they need to get where they want to go. Everything becomes much easier when you’re effortlessly able to talk with other people in a friendly manner, for example. Don’t worry if this isn’t something that comes naturally to you — as with most things, it’s something that you can learn.

Energy Levels

It takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to build a successful company. If you lack any of those things, then you’ll find things difficult. So let’s think about energy. Are you continually getting tired and finding it difficult to work at a high level throughout the day? Then it’s likely that something needs to change. There are plenty of tried and tested methods for boosting energy levels. For example, you can improve your sleep, begin exercising (which boosts endurance), and rethink your relationship with coffee; that caffeine hit will be beneficial at first but may cause an energy crash later in the day.

Optimism

There are times when we make our own reality. If you go into things with an optimistic, positive attitude, then you’ll be much more likely to succeed than if you went into it with a negative attitude. Your attitude might seem like a small influencer, but it’s not — especially not when you expand the timeframe over the course of a lifetime. A person with a positive attitude will see and do things that the negative person would not. Of course, you can’t be positive all the time, but if you find yourself slipping into negativity a little, then it’ll be important to rein things back in a little.

Leadership Skills

Business owners learn, at some point or another, that they won’t just be in charge of their own work. They’ll also be in charge of other people’s work. And that means that they’ll need to call upon their leadership skills if everything’s going to run smoothly! There’s a big difference between being a boss and being a leader. Anyone can be a boss. It takes work to become a leader. But it’s work that’s worthwhile conducting because of the massive impact it can have on a business — and, indeed, the impact it can have on the lives of the workforce.

Adaptability

There are some things in life that you can control and some things that you can’t. When you’re running a business, you can do a lot to ensure that your company can work well. But then, you never know what’s going to happen. Any number of external factors could play a role. And when they do, it’ll be the company’s adaptability that determines how well they’re able to continue moving forward. It’s a good idea not to get too locked into one way of doing things. If you’re open and adaptable, then you’ll be able to roll with the punches and find success in a new environment.

Ability to Spot Problems

There’s value in valuing the good things that you do. But in many cases, it’s identifying the things you’re not doing correctly that can have the biggest impact on a company. The good aspects of the organization will naturally reveal themselves. The bad ones can stay lurking in the corner until at some point they reveal themselves — and at that point, it may be much more difficult to undo the damage. It’s a good idea to perform periodic reviews of your company’s operations to check that there’s not some fundamental error that could cause major problems.

Outside of Work

It’s impossible to have a frantic personal life and run a successful business, at least on a long-term basis. They say that you should keep your public and personal lives separate, but that’s never as easy as they make out. There’s a lot of value in working to ensure that you’re physically, mentally, and spiritually well – as well as making life more enjoyable, it’ll allow you to work better. Of course, most people don’t need to radically change their overall health. But even small improvements can make a big difference. For instance, if you’re drinking alcohol a little too regularly, then a short break can do wonders.

Willingness to Learn

You’ll begin your company knowing some things about what it takes to be successful. But the majority of what you know should be learned when you’re running the business. If you make time for — and have a willingness for — learning, then you’ll be putting yourself in a good position for success. There are plenty of highly valuable business blogs, books, podcasts and more out there that can give you the inside scoop on what it takes to find success. However, while all that information is there, it’s up to you to seek out and absorb that information!

The Grind

Finally, let’s talk about the grind. You could know everything about building a successful company, but if you don’t have the capacity to work for long hours and chip away at all the tasks you need to do, then you won’t be successful. The grind is something that you can’t think about or read about in books — you just have to do it. There’ll be times when your business has to be your whole life. Make it so!

Conclusion

And there we have it. The above won’t guarantee success, of course, because there are so many other elements involved. But they will be important steps along your journey towards building a successful company that make everything easier.

Six Ways to Give Your Career a Boost

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Career Boost|Six Ways to Give Your Career a BoostIt’s never too early or too late to start thinking about ways to improve your professional skill set and give your career a boost. If you’re thinking about changing jobs or trying to level up your current role by leveraging a promotion, you’ll need to consider what steps to take to improve your chances of success. With that in mind, here are six tips that could help give your career a boost.

Know What You Want

Before you can take any specific self-improvement measures, you should sit down and think about what you want to achieve in your career, both in the long term and the short term. Do you want to get a promotion? Are you looking for a new role in a similar field? Would you prefer to head into a completely new line of work?

Ask yourself these questions and figure out what your career goals are. Only from this point can you start to create a plan for how you’ll achieve them.

Get Qualified

Once you know what you want to do, consider whether it would benefit your career to go back to school or get a new qualification. If you’re planning to enter a new field, you may need to go to college to make sure you have the right skills and knowledge base. This doesn’t have to mean going to an in-person college – there are now many online-only universities that can provide you with an excellent education.

If you’re considering a career in healthcare, consider an online MBA in healthcare administration. Alternatively, think about shorter training courses that could allow you to highlight skills on your resume.

Network

An effective long-term solution for building a successful career is to network. Networking involves harnessing the power of your existing relationships to share professional knowledge and opportunities. It’s all about talking to people, building relationships, and increasing your awareness of business trends.

Expanding your network and working hard to maintain good connections with your existing network could help you find out about job opportunities, but it can also help you hone your skills and share in other people’s knowledge.

Not sure how to network? Try using online networking platforms, visiting in-person networking events, or even just maintaining contact with people after you’ve worked with them.

Read Business Books

Reading books that are relevant to your line of work is a great way to learn more about the latest developments in the field. You could also read professional self-help books that could help you develop leadership, communication, or organization skills.

Educate yourself regularly, and you’ll be developing your professional mindset every day.

Manage Your Time

It’s not always easy to balance work commitments with your personal life, so it’s important to find an effective strategy to manage your time. Time management strategies can help you make the most of your time at work and your time at home. This will help you get more out of every day, and maximizing your time could lead to greater career success.

Ask for What You Want

If you want a promotion, you need to let your boss know that you’re a good choice for the position, both with your actions and your words. If your manager doesn’t know you want to take on more responsibility, they may overlook you.

It can be tricky to talk to a manager about professional development, but having an open conversation could help them see that you’re a driven and dedicated member of staff.

The Essentials Every Student Nurse Needs

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Student Nurse|The Essentials Every Student Nurse NeedsStudent nurses are those that are partaking in an educational course. Unlike qualified nurses, they are on clinical rotations and their work is supervised by a nursing instructor. It can take a few years to be qualified and during that time, student nurses will likely work on different sites to test and enhance their skills and knowledge. To achieve the most from your education and time as a student nurse, here are some essentials you need.

On-site clothing

The role of a student nurse requires on-site work as well as educational sessions. Therefore, you must have the right clothing to ensure your and your patient’s health and safety. A few items you’ll need are scrubs, shoes, and PPE. Shopping for clothes and equipment is simple online. You can find scrub jackets at UniformAdvantage.com as well as other equipment.

After you qualify, you will require clothes anyway. Thus, getting them ahead of time will benefit you and help you transition into the role of a student nurse smoothly.

Compression stockings

As a nurse, student or not, you will be on your feet for most of the day. When you are standing for too long, you are vulnerable to varicose veins in your older age.

To prevent this, compression stockings will increase and maintain your blood flow, which will also prevent pain and swelling of the feet and ankles.

Stethoscopes

Stethoscopes are an essential tool that every student nurse needs. They are to be worn at all times so that you can check a patient’s heartbeat while on the job. You never know when a patient might require one. Or, you might be randomly chosen to perform a health check to test your skills.

If you are always well prepared, then you will be never caught out and looked down on by the staff. When you have the right tools, it shows you are ready and organized for any nursing situation.

Blood pressure cuffs

As a student nurse, you may often be asked to check a patient’s blood pressure. Most hospital environments have them attached to the monitors. However, it is ideal to have your own.

Moreover, as a student nurse, it is common for you to move around to different nursing situations, such as people’s homes. Thus, having a blood pressure cuff on you will be necessary to take the reading as the person you are caring for will likely not have one.

Penlights

Penlights are essential for checking a patient’s neuro status. When you shine a penlight into a patient’s eye, you can their neuro response through eye movements.

Penlights are cheap and very easy to carry around in your scrub jacket pocket. Always have one on hand because you never know what situation you might step into.

Dressing scissors

A common task for student nurses to achieve is to dress wounds. These are great tests to assess a student’s skills, so they will likely be asked by the nursing tutor or doctor on the ward with you.

So that you are always prepared and ready, having dressing scissors will ensure that you can efficiently dress the wound and cut the dressing.

You may also require scissors for various other miscellaneous uses, so they are always handy to have.

Watch

You will often be in a nursing environment for a long time. Nurses can work around 12 hours at a time, so you will want to check up on the time.

Student nurses are often given a schedule so that they can move around a hospital to work on different wards. If so, you will need to keep an eye on the time so that you aren’t late.

Sometimes you will be required to have your hands and wrists free of jewelry for the safety of patients. Thus, a pocket watch is a handy tool to keep an eye on the time.

Study guides

Whether you are on the wards or not, a study guide will be a good item to carry around to fill your spare time with. Or, if you become unstuck in a situation and lack the skills, you can rely on your guide to give you the help you need without pestering other staff. However, never be afraid to ask questions as that is how you learn.

A study guide is an essential piece of equipment as a student nurse as it is something to refer back to as well as enhance your knowledge on the move.

Tote bags

A tote bag can come in really handy when you are a student nurse. You will be able to carry around all of your essentials and be able to grab them easily.

A soft tote bag will be safe for patients and blend in well with your uniform.

In your tote bag, you can carry your study guide, stethoscope, scissors, and any other essential pieces of equipment you need.

Drug guide

All student nurses will be learning about the different drugs and medications and what they do. You might not know every single one. Thus, having a drug guide will help you assess what a patient needs and get it right.

You can find pocket drug guides, which will be easy to carry around in your tote bag or your scrubs pocket.

Badge holder

Student nurses will require a badge just like a qualified nurse. It signifies that you are eligible to help patients and work on the ward.

You must carry your badge on you at all times for the sake of the practice and its patients. To keep your badge safe, a badge holder is handy.

Note pads and pens

As a student nurse, you will be constantly learning when you are on the wards. You may often be asked to sit and watch a procedure or doctor care for a patient. When you are observing, it is a great time to take notes.

Note-taking will enhance your learning and help you remember some tips and tricks of the industry. Having a notepad and pen at hand all of the time will ensure that you can write down and remember everything that you learn.

A diary

Speaking of stationery, having a diary will be key so that you can organize your time. You will likely move from place to place and be in and out of education throughout your qualification. Thus, writing down your schedule will ensure that you are on time and never miss a session.

If you were to miss a session, it could delay your progress and stop you from learning every trick that you need.

Hand cream

When you are a nurse, you will constantly be washing your hands to free them from bacteria. This is for the health and safety of yourself and your patients. Thus, your hands might become dry and feel irritated while working.

To prevent this, carry around a travel-size hand cream so that you can keep your hands moisturized all of the time.

Anti-bacterial gel and wipes

To keep areas clean and bacteria-free, using anti-bacterial gels and wipes will help. Although most practices will have these lying around, it can be useful to bring your own so that you know where they are located.

A benefit of having anti-bacterial is for the sake of your patients too. Wiping down equipment in front of them will help them to feel at ease.

Flesh toned underwear

Many practices require white scrubs, which can sometimes be see-through. You won’t want anyone seeing your underwear. Thus, wearing flesh-toned underwear will make your underwear invisible.

Having dedicated underwear for work can act as a part of the uniform.

Voice recorder

Although you can write down notes, you might not have time to if you are doing a task. Therefore, having a voice recorder will help you record and listen back to the information that you heard.

A voice recorder will also be a great way for you to hear back a conversation and learn from how you dealt with it.

Clipboard

When you are working in a hospital environment, you will likely need to take notes to hand back to the staff. To do so, a clipboard can make the process easier.

Instead of having to find somewhere to lean on, you can use your clipboard and attach it to your uniform or place it back in your tote bag for easy access.

Podcasts

Although you will learning from your place of education and on the wards, you can attain extra knowledge from the outside.

Nursing podcasts are a great way to learn about real-life scenarios and educate yourself further. Hosts are typically nurses or those that work in the industry, which will give you an insight into how other practices work.

Meal and drink prep

When you are working as a student nurse, you might go to and from your education campus to the practice. Or, you might work incredibly long shifts. Either way, you will need to stay energized and hydrated. Thus, meal and drink prepping will ensure that you can eat and drink on the go.

Meal containers are useful for taking meals. Then, a flask is great for any drink of choice. You might require some tea or coffee to keep you alert during long shifts.