How a Career Information Center Can Help You Find Your Career

How a Career Information Center Can Help You Find Your Career How a Career Information Center Can Help You Find Your Career A career center can be a great tool for people who might just need a nudge in the right direction when it comes to determining their ideal career path, but a career center can also help those who have absolutely no idea what the next best move is for their future. Youll be able to find information on the necessary educational requirements for certain careers. A career center could possibly put you in direct contact with schools or educational centers that will help you take the next step in pursuing your ideal career.A career information center will also give you access to a wealth of information from qualified career counselors. A career counselor can delve into your background and identify certain skills, interests, hobbies or attributes that may make you mora prone to success in certain career environments. A counselor may also have you take a career aptitu de test in order to identify specific personality traits that could lead to a strong performance or a certain level of success in specific fields.Its also very likely that youll be able to find individual career profiles at a career information center. A career profile can give you a bit more in depth information on exactly what a specific career in a particular field may entail. You should also be able to find job descriptions of specific positions and information on salaries for specific careers in the area that you live or plan on living.Choosing the right career is a decision that should not be taken lightly. In order to end up in a field that you enjoy and that is rewarding to you both financially and emotionally, youll need to do plenty of research and listen to a wealth of advice. Thankfully, a visit to a career services center can provide you one stop access to a great deal of the information that youll need to choose the right career. A career information center can also pu t you in contact with the most qualified professionals to help you make the most informed choice when it comes to your career.

Merchandising Manager Moves His Grocery Skills Online

Merchandising Manager Moves His Grocery Skills OnlineMerchandising Manager Moves His Grocery Skills OnlineAfter years running merchandising and display at a brick-and-mortar chain, OpsLadder member Jason Kunick found fresh opportunity on the Internet.Jason Kunick is the guy who puts the food on the shelves at the grocery store and the clothes on the racks at the department store. As an operations manager who has worked in supermarkets and retail stores for more than a decade, his specialty is merchandising and display. In simple terms, he manages what goes where on the floor at the store.People might think that stores just put things anywhere it fits, but theres a lot that goes into making those decisions, Kunick said of his work behind the scenes to manage product -placement decisions that can determine whether a product sells or piles up and how it affects the supply chain behind it.He created systems to determine how to select and feature products that would increase sales and ens ured it synchronized with the supply chain behind it. At his last job, as director of strategy and geschftliches miteinander development at Family Dollar chain, based in Matthews, N.C., Kunick implemented merchandising programs that increased sales on the floor and helped the company save money.But after three years, he was looking for a new challenge - and a change of scenery. He also wanted to move his family (which includes three children with a fourth on the way) back to the Northeast, closer to extended families in New York and Pennsylvania.In June, he joined OpsLadder and began searching for merchandising jobs where he could leverage his experience designing systems to optimize floor sales.He didnt expect the change of scenery would ultimately take the floor out of the equation al together.Numbers gameIn July, Kunick began his search in earnest. He set up a schedule that would allow him to dedicate some of his free time to a job search while also working full time and having some time to spend with his family. I spent two hours a night applying for jobs, following up on applications and networking, he said. After his children went to bed at 7 p.m., he would sift through jobs on OpsLadder and other job sites, update his LinkedIn profile, and post his resume on various job boards. He estimates that he applied for close to 300 jobs during his four-month search.It was a numbers game, Kunick said. I applied for any position that applied to my skill set, and I looked outside of retailing, to see where else my skills might be used. But in the end, I found a job that was a perfect fit I couldnt have asked for much better.For the first month of his search, he said, he was mostly sending resumes. By early September, he started hearing from potenzial employers and began interviewing simultaneously with several companies. But there was one employer that especially interested him FreshDirect.FreshDirect is an online food retailer. Customers place delivery orders onl ine. It is a grocery store without a store, and the floor space, Kunicks specialty, was a virtual one. But the internet grocer appealed to him on several levels. I saw what they were doing and thought, this is what I want. The company is going through tremendous growth, and the position lined up well with my skill set. And, it met my goal of being near family.Kunick had a phone interview with FreshDirect executives in early September and flew to New York in early October for in-person interviews at the companys headquarters. A week later, FreshDirect offered Kunick the job as director of category management.Fresh Direct offers new challenges for Kunick, since all the shopping is done online. In other ways, though, it is the same job to which hes accustomed. A lot of what I am doing is finding ways to make it easier for people to buy things, he explained. With this job, there is a lot of analysis to figure out where the growth is, and help people better understand how to shop on the site. Basically, Im looking for ways to make peoples lives easier.Since mid-November, he has been living with his wifes cousin while he waits for his family to join him in New York in late January. And once they do, his growing family will be able to take advantage of FreshDirects services. After all, taking children grocery shopping is not one of lifes easiest tasks. Its a business I can relate to, Kunick said.

How to Avoid the Post-Vacation Blues - The Muse

How to Avoid the Post-Vacation Blues - The MuseHow to Avoid the Post-Vacation BluesYoure away for the week, soaking up some sun in Florida. Or, hiking in the Rockies. Or, exploring the streets of Rome. Everythings going great, until the last day of vacation rolls around and you remember what awaits you.Work. Everyone, at some point or anotlageher, has felt that pit in their stomach as they realized their vacation fun was coming to an end- and that theyd have to return to the office. Most of the time this feeling is normal. But when is it not? When is this anxiety a sign that somethings wrong or needs to change in your career?I spoke with Dr. David Ballard, Director of the American Psychological Associations Center for Organizational Excellence, whos studied this exact phenomenon. In the organizations 2018 Work and Well-Being Survey, Ballard and his team tapped into how US workers approach vacation We wanted to look at the psychological aspects of it- how it relates to job stress, and what differences we see when people come back from vacation and how long they last.What he found, as you may know from reading other Muse articles, is that a majority of people do benefit from time off. When they return theyre less stressed, they feel more motivated, and their work quality and productivity is better.But on the downside, for almost two-thirds of US workers, those positive effects went away within a few days of coming back to work, he adds.The survey highlights even more 21% said they feel tense or stressed out while on vacationand 42% reported that they dread returning to work.This is obviously a problem. Whats the point of a vacation when, despite the upsides, were still likely to be stressed during it and even more likely to lose all that weve gained once its over? And, how can we use this information to improve how we take time off?Ballard says Research shows that when people come back to work and theres a mountain of work waiting for themthen those gains they ma de dissipate even fasterif you abflug worrying about that as your vacation wraps up, its eating into the recovery experienceits pulling you back into work when youre supposed to be still destressing and recovering.So, what can you do with this knowledge? Ballard says it comes down to these three crucial stepsPlanning aheadGetting stress recovery experiences while on vacationEasing back into workLets dive into what each one of those steps means. Planning AheadYou need to really have a concrete plan for what needs to be covered while youre out- whos going to pick up the extra work, what tasks need to be covered versus what can wait, making sure your team has clear expectations about your availability, he says. (This checklist can be helpful in tracking all you have to get done before you go.)This preparation alone immediately gets rid of the vacation guilt you might have. The more prep you give your team, the easier you can relax knowing nothing will go to hell while youre out. It als o ensures you come back with a to-do list that feels more manageable (and less stressful to think about on vacation). Getting Stress Recovery Experiences While On VacationThen, when youre actually away, unplugWe know from the research that to recover from stress, to really rechargeyou need time periods when youre not working, but also when youre not thinking about work, states Ballard. Engage in some form of relaxation (reading a good book or meditating, for example) as well as something stimulating but not work-related (like hiking or exploring a new city) - both are key for stress recovery.Many of us have the experience in which you come back from a really busy vacation where you planned lots of activities and you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. So make sure youre sleeping enough and taking care of yourself, all of the things we know we need to do but most of us are not great at, he adds.Easing Back Into WorkWhen you return, dont just leap back into the grind. Th e reality is that youre not going to be your most productive self right away- and trying to will only decrease the effects of your relaxing trip. Start off with small tasks, like checking email or completing easy wins, and take plenty of breaks, including lunch (and read this article and this one).One more thing worth mentioning is that vacations can only do so much for us. Sure, theyre great, but if you expect them to solve all your work-related problems- If I just go away for a week Ill come back and everything will be fine- youre going to be disappointed.Its also important to find times during your normal work week or normal work day to engage in stress recovery behaviorsits unrealistic to expect that if youre taking a vacation every six months that can tide you over very well, states Ballard. So, its up to you to find ways to rest and recharge on a regular basis so that you dont rely on vacations alone.