Not Using Company Medical Benefits? Negotiate Other Perks Instead When it comes to the topic of negotiation, most people's main focus is on salary. As David Lee Roth reportedly once said, "Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it." However, an increasingly important factor in an overall compensation package is health benefits. According to a 2007 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, since 2001 premiums for family coverage have increased 78%, while wages have risen 19% and inflation has risen 17%. In 2010 the OECD ranked the US #1 in t... view article details

Improving Businesses All of us practice project management in our lives, whether we know it or not. We are all involved in planning and organizing our everyday tasks, career, and work responsibilities. In the business world, project management is a high level skill, and a demanding career choice. Project managers are key employees in every industry and all types of companies, all over the world. Project Management itself is rapidly becoming one of the most important processes within a company. The number of PMs has risen considerably as companies have begun to realize the valuable benefits the... view article details

Do you care about making a difference as much as you care about your career? "Green" jobs -- defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as jobs that produce goods or services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources, or jobs that use more environmentally friendly processes or fewer natural resources -- have outpaced jobs in other categories by almost 250 percent over the last decade, and growth doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. The 12 in-demand jobs profiled in this article show how you can make some green -- while going green. Organic farmer As consumers bec... view article details

Are You Showing Your Best Side Online? Pop quiz: What's the scariest thing you can do?A. Handle a barrel filled with angry rattlesnakes.B. Make hairpin turns in a tractor-trailer around a twisty mountain pass.C. Give an online video presentation.If you answered C, this story is for you. (I can't help with snakes or big rigs). Whether it’s your video debut on YouTube, a job interview on Skype, a meeting on WebEx, or a class online, how can you look and sound engaging while being authentic?Online presentations take many forms: sitting or standing; one person presenting to one, two, or a... view article details

You Can Be Introverted & Excel at Public Speaking Recently, after I gave a presentation, a few audience members came up to me and insisted that I couldn’t possibly be an introvert (could, too!). Why? They said I was “on fire”—fully engaged with my audience. I was giving a workshop on public speaking, and had a ball helping make such a universally feared activity accessible, and even fun.Like many introverts, even though I need my quiet time to get fueled before and after a presentation, I enjoy being in front of the room, engaging with audiences. How can you do that? The trick is to t... view article details

What Not to Do One Google search will turn up a plethora of articles out there discussing what to do if you want to be a great salary negotiator. But even though it's vital to know which traits you need to emulate for success, it's equally important to know which behaviors to avoid.There is perhaps no other endeavor so fraught with anxiety as a salary negotiation. You're dealing with your own feelings of inadequacy, wondering if you're good enough, if your employer likes you enough, and worrying about feeling rejected should you ask and get denied. But at the same time, you're also wo... view article details

Dear Heather,I read one of your articles on what to do about hating your job and it moved me to write you a message myself.Like the woman in the story I too have come to absolutely loathe coming into work. I've been in my current line of work for close to five years, and to be honest I really enjoy what I do. In case you were wondering I'm an Ophthalmic Technician for an Ophthalmology office. At first my advice and actions were very respected and the rest of the office seemed to care about them. But as time slipped past the luster started to fade and the true beast began to rear its ugly head.... view article details

When my wife and I began to gather receipts and other scraps of paper for our taxes this year, I called our long-time accountant with a routine request for an organizer to help us make sense of all the numbers. 'I already sent it to you,' the accountant hissed. But no matter how disorganized my wife and I may be, we knew we had not received that vital piece of mail.I called her back a few weeks later with a follow-up query. 'I don't really have time to handle individual tax returns this year. I've got all the business I need,' she snarled. 'I can't find any trained people to help me.'And so, w... view article details

The Basics The definition of paid time off is any time not worked by an employee for which the regular rate, a fixed or a prorated amount of pay, is accrued and paid to the employee. Companies grant time off to give employees down time and a chance to deal with non-work related issues. Despite the high costs of paid time off, companies offer this employee-friendly benefit primarily to be competitive in attracting and retaining talented employees.State and Local Holidays In addition to federal holidays, some employers also ... view article details

Develop & Maintain a Communication Strategy to Keep Your Workers Fully Engaged Effective communication in the workplace is arguably the most important factor in the success of a company. Even so, many companies don’t take necessary steps to make sure their communication strategy is well-thought-out and flexible. Here are eight suggestions to improve communication by taking down barriers that tend to exist in many businesses: 1. Create an environment of open communication where opinions are valued and not judged or punished. In many cases, employees don't communicate honest information t... view article details