The Next Generation in Neural Prosthetics

The Next Generation in Neural Prosthetics The Next Generation in Neural Prosthetics Following up on the success of cochlear and retinal prostheses for people who have lost sensory function, neuroscientists see a limitless horizon for related devices that are able to read electrical and chemical signals from the nervous system to stimulate capability and restore quality of life in persons suffering injury and disease.In the future, according to researchers, the devices known as neural prosthetics will help epileptics, persons with treatment-resistant flaute and chronic pain, victims of Alzheimers disease, wounded war veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, persons with speech disabilities, and individuals who have sustained spinal cord injury and loss of limbs, among other applications in the research pipeline.But before neural prosthetics can advance, engineers will be called on to make innovative use of materials to design and fabricate device s that allow sustained electronic functioning in the harsh environment of the menschenwrdig body, without causing tissue infection and other serious adverse conditions. Research efforts have focused on enhancing the performance of various types of materials used in neural prosthetics, in addition to developing interface technologies that enable the micro devices to be safely implanted in human tissue for long periods.Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, are making gains with thin-film flexible polymer materials. In experiments with auditory prosthetic applications, the microelectrodes comprising the neural interface are embedded in the polymer, which allows the device to move naturally and conform to live tissue in which it is implanted. These materials have mechanical properties that mimic neural tissue more closely than traditional micro wires used in current cochlear and deep brain stimulating implants.Among the engineering challenges associated w ith neural prosthetics is the biocompatibility of the implant, says Dr. Sarah Felix, a lead research engineer at Lawrence Livermore and also a member of ASME. Research suggests that polymer is more compatible with the human body than the silicon in conventional neural probes used in neuroscience studies.Livermores artificial retinal implant has an array of 240 thin-film microelectrodes inside a microelectronics package. ansehen LLNL.govToward ReliabilityConventional rigid neural devices are believed to cause micro tearing because the neural tissue is softer than the device. According to Felix, the flexibility of a thin-film polymer probe mitigates this problem. However, the flexibility also makes polymer devices difficult to implant. Felixs solution is to temporarily attach a rigid stiffener.For the polymer neural interfaces, we attach the device to a needle-like stiffener using bio-dissolvable polyethylene glycol (PEG) to enable extraction of the stiffener after surgical insertion, says Felix, who holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. An innovative bonding process enables accurate alignment of the device to the stiffener.A novel feature of the design is a shallow channel running lengthwise, which allows the even distribution of the PEG or other bio-adhesive during assembly and implantation. Felixs team used the method to implant unique dual-sided polymer electrode arrays into brain tissue, and these arrays successfully recorded neural signals.A Promising FutureLawrence Livermore believes its devices and surgical methods can be expanded for future applications in deep brain and spinal cord simulation, which will enable physicians to advance neural prosthetics to the next level of human health and rehabilitation. In fact, Lawrence Livermore is currently developing neural implants that will restore auditory, motor, and bladder function aid speech and control depression and epilepsy.Each year, the National Institutes of Health spends $6.5 million on neural prosthetics RD, and today several of the most prestigious medical research institutions in the U.S. Case Western University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology among them are engaged in promising clinical studies.Many medical scientists believe the sky is the limit for neural prosthetics, but ultimately it is the engineering community that will need to design and fabricate devices that enable the realization of the promise of neural modulation for patients and their families.Says Felix There exist many engineering considerations with neural prosthetics, particularly in the interface of the device with human tissue. Engineers must think about a complete range of issues, from electrode materials and the lifetime of the implant to electronics and signal processing. This will be an intriguing pathway of multidisciplinary scientific and engineering development for many years to come. For Further DiscussionResearch suggests that polymer is more compatible with the human body than the silicon in conventional neural probes.Dr. Sarah Felix, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

News of the tautological

News of the tautologicalNews of the tautologicalThis just in Lawyers who are paid the most are most satisfied with their pay(This of course confirmsour findings last year(subscription reqd)) -posted by brian

How to gracefully ask someone for a letter of recommendation

How to gracefully ask someone for a letter of recommendationHow to gracefully ask someone for a letter of recommendationSo, youre applying for grad school or a new job. Maybe youre even going for a volunteering gig. Most likely, those adventures require letters of recommendation. If youve never asked for one before, going about it can seem tricky.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreDo you catch up with the person first? Or do you use the more direct approach? Heres the best way to ask someone for a letter of recommendation.If You Know Someone Really WellWhether its a favorite former boss or your thesis advisor, you should casually email or give this person a call if you feel close enough.A phone call sounds more personal, and if you dont feel comfortable cold-calling, you can always email beforehand and ask for a reasonable time to chat.Catch up for a bit, and then say something lik e, Ive decided to pursue X, and I feel that we had a great working relationship and you can speak to my work ethic and achievements.Would you be willing to write me a letter of recommendation? Easy, right? Well, if theyre really that close to you, asking wont be so nerve-wracking asIf You Dont Know Someone Really WellSometimes, you gotta pull from a boss you had a few years back or a professor who worked with you on a certain project but wasnt super close to you. Its important to warm them up before asking, mainly because youll want to refresh their memory on everything you did together.First, send a cordial email with a subject line that says something like Saying hi or Checking in Start out by asking how they are and about some parte of the school or organization that theyd be able to answer.For example, Hows French class this semester? I know around this time, we were covering tensesThen, after they reply, feel them out. Its important to be honest with yourself about how you thin k this exchange is going. If they dont seem super interested in speaking, maybe youshouldnt ask them for a letter of recommendation after all, especially if youre getting the vibe that they wouldnt have much of substance to say about you.But if it feels right, respond to whatever they said, and then go into your spiel Ive decided to pursue X. I loved working under you, and I believe you can speak to the projects I accomplished with your guidance.Would you be willing to write me a letter of recommendation? Thanks so much and looking forward to hearing from you soonThe Bottom LineUltimately, its just a question. But taking the time to speak with someone genuinely before asking a favor of them is really important. Even more important If they agree to write you one, write them a great thank-you note, either in person or in an email, for helping you.The personal touch goes along way.This article first appeared on Swirled.

Powerful QA Manager Sample Resume to Get You Hired

Powerful QA Manager Sample Resume to Get You HiredPowerful QA Manager Sample Resume to Get You HiredCreate this Resume Richard Shively1008 Winding WayProvidence, RI 2904(444)sInsurance Sales ResumeInventory Management Resume It Director Resume It Project Manager Resume Logistics Manager Resume Medical Insurance Sales ResumePharmacist Resume Production Supervisor Foreman Resume Property Manager Resume Qa Manager Resume

Whos Worried About Professional Resume Templates and Why You Should Pay Attention

Whos Worried About Professional Resume Templates and Why You Should Pay Attention Try out the Resume schablone if you need a tiny versatility in your templates. Some downloadable templates will be prepared for you. The templates which you will download will have the exact formatting, but will be blank that you enter your own info. Our professionally-designed templates are simple to use and include a terrific range of alternatives. If you aim to make a new CV or maybe to refresh an existing one, have a look at the Fancy template. This template enables you to create a top-notch CV. A template is always helpful to get started as it may give you all of the critical details of what to include. It includes two resume pages as well as a cover letter template and can easily be edited and customized with your choice of fonts and colors. What Professional Resume Templates Is - and What it Is Not With so many varying templates readily available, you must choose which one is going to work the very best for assisting you to get the kind of job which you are applying for. Locating a template is as simple as getting online, but as hard as trying to pick the one which you want to utilize for getting your resume written. A few of the templates are free while others cost a couple of dollars. DO make sure that the remainder of your resume is completely machine readable. Fortunately, you may make an eye-catching CV easily since there are many alternatives to construct your resume within a couple of minutes. The bulleted Expertise section permits you to display the degree of your abilities. A lovely, minimal and user-friendly template you could edit based on your abilities and experience. Your resume needs to be specific to you. Professional Resume Templates Explained Including an expert photo of yourself is a wonderful idea for creative resumes. Writing a resume can be challenging, but there are several resources available to aid you. Make sure that your co ntact information is accurate. Make sure that your contact information near the top of each page of your resume is accurate. Professional Resume Templates Fundamentals Explained Depending on the received professional resume, itll be much simpler to adapt it to actual job openings. Share career highlights that align with the particular requirements of your intended job profile. The earlier you begin, the earlier you will have the most professional resume you can and youll be ready to find any job you apply for. The Honest to Goodness Truth on Professional Resume Templates Its fine to use bold, bright, and numerous colours. In addition to that, you receive the free resume fonts and icons you see here so youre going to be able to produce something similarly amazing. Our creative templates enable you to stick out from the crowd. Tremendous selection of design style will make sure you will get a resume template that fits with your taste. All About Professional Resume Templates With that, you should highlight important things which are possible to accomplish in the position youre applying. Theres no doubt that a resume which is both cohesive and professional will have a much better likelihood of standing from the crowd even supposing its made utilizing a template. Unfortunately, writing a resume can be rather a challenge. Some folks might think that fancy is better, but in the event of a prosperous executive resume, easy and professional is the best way to go. Professional Resume Templates - Is it a Scam? If you will produce a professional advertising and marketing resumeA for an advertising executive job position, make sure you will incorporate the items which were mentioned above for you to have higher odds of being considered for an interview, or even for filling the advertising executive job position that the geschftsleben is presently offering. Its ideal for a professional who works in social networking or internet marketing. You might know th at youre an adept executive annd that you comprehend the business. You have to assure that you are able to develop particular sales processes to produce sure that you may present the offerings of the business really well which can then influence the businesss branding and reputation. The resume sample has a strong ability to keep a readers interest over the duration of the whole document. Creating a resume can be a difficult undertaking. Writing a resume that really stands from the crowd is not a simple task, in spite of the fantastic number of sample resumes available in the web. Utilizing a resume template has turned into an acceptable and smart practice for numerous explanations.

One of the Most Neglected Systems for Curriculum Vitae Plural

One of the Most Neglected Systems for studienordnung Vitae Plural Ms. Boggs is a suitable noun. My very first name is Laurie, which is also employed as a suitable noun. Muddling up your tenses isnt only grammatically incorrect, in addition, it makes writing confusing and hard to follow along with. Irregular nouns are the ones that dont use the normal plural ending. Present easy and imperative tenses. If youre one of these, you should become aware an equal number of individuals are driven wildbret by its misuse. Whether there are over two choices, they are options. 1 means is to blend arbitration and mediation so the participants possess the benefits of both arbitration and mediation. Dont use periods unless its an organizations preference. Resume guidelines can change from industry to industry, therefore its wise to get familiar with specific industry examples. In order to shield you, all of the info submitted in the engineering is going to be kept secure and in strict con fidentiality. Obviously theres some overlap between searches, but additionally, there are relevant differences. The Meaning of Curriculum Vitae Plural Punctuation note There are various conventions about the punctuation of abbreviations. Make certain there arent any spelling or grammatical errors. This chart indicates a tiny part of such words that are employed in English. Add the abbreviation in brackets after you initially mention this, and utilize it thereafter. Capitalize department once it refers to a specific entity. In addition, there are certain sections fruchtwein folks include in their CVs. For instance, if you place the name of a single organization in italics, every organization name has to be in italics. This word is often seen in combination with vitae. For instance, a fourth grade class teaches the region of the school curriculum which has been designed as developmentally suitable for students that are approximately nine years old. Listed here are examples of information that may be included in your curriculum vitae. Lets start with a fehlte nicht viel overview of resumes, as they are more familiar to the majority of American writers than CVs. The computer makes it less difficult to correct errors, but in addition can help introintrointroduce some. Discover more info on our Developing Vocabulary page to help your son or daughter develop a strong vocabulary that has a good grasp of the words. However many children you have you just need to purchase a single curriculum for them all. Understanding blueprints together with engineering hand books. A Startling Fact about Curriculum Vitae Plural Uncovered Needless to say, nobody claims that. No topic in the past half of your paper ought to be an entire surprise to the reader. Its important to not forget that theres a true person reading this. Make an educated guess if you are not certain of the answer. The Foolproof Curriculum Vitae Plural Strategy CVs are often tailored to modify the emphasis of the information according to the specific position for which the work seeker is applying. Tailor your resume to concentrate on the work and extracurricular experiences which are most relevant to the job or industry youre targeting. When youve found twenty words which require work these can form your work for the week. The reality is that the rules are rather easy, so getting it wrong on your CV wont send a fantastic message to employers. The results do change tremendously but whats important to mention is that Google understand thats a French school you are looking for and supplies you with results accordingly to your intent. Write like the ink and paper youre using is too valuable that you use any more than is needed. Unless youre applying to a job outside the usa, you dont will need to incorporate this excess info. Not only that, they are employed for almost all job applications outside the United States of america. Therefore, even though spell checkers ar e terrific tools, do not give them of the sole responsibility of creating sure your spelling is accurate. For instance, the word site means location, like the location of a structure. If youre going for breadth of audience, youll want to include diacritic versions of crucial words in your content. There ought to be a purpose for every single word.

How to Translate HR Jargon and Improve Candidate Experience

How to Translate HR Jargon and Improve Candidate ExperienceCandidate experience, employer branding, internal mobility every year, a new HR buzzword hits the industry. Naturally, it takes your team a minute to get used to the phrase and what it means for your processes. Imagine what its like when a candidate comes in for a job interview and you casually drop in a bunch of HR jargon. While HR jargon is part of your daily HR life, its unfamiliar and disorienting to candidates. The problem is these words have much richer definitions than it seems at first. Just think about all the components of the phrase company culture. Theyre complicated topics and can be tough to comprehend at first. Candidates are left trying to make their best guess at what youre talking about. This leads to false assumptions and misunderstandings. HR professionals, internal recruiters, and others involved in the hiring process need to consider HR vocabulary from candidates perspectives. Heres a glossary of common words and phrases that cause confusion during the hiring processCandidate ExperienceWhen you talk about the candidate experience with job seekers, especially when asking them for feedback about your hiring process, they tend to think only of the in-person interview. They assume you want to know how they were treated when they came into the office. But as you know, the candidate experience begins long before that meeting and continues after it.If you want more insightful feedback about candidate experience, dont ask vague, open-ended questions. Instead, breakdown each part of the hiring process. Try formatting your questions in this wayDo you feel communication was sufficient during the hiring process?What specific information did you learn during the interview process you wish had been in the job description?Did you have any trouble submitting your resume and application?Company CultureOutside of the HR world, culture generally defines a nation and its citizens. The idea of an organ ization having a culture is strange to candidates since they think of culture as something youre born into. It makes them feel like they have to prove theyll fit in with your company by changing who they are.However, the point of talking about company culture isnt to make them feel like outsiders. Youre trying to show what unites employees, guides how they act and make decisions, and what they believe in. If that excites candidates, great But if it doesnt, they learn the organization isnt the right fit for them before accepting an offer. When youre talking about company culture, be aya to focus on the candidates happiness. Explain you want them to see how the company could meet a variety of their needs, not just provide a paycheck.CompanyCulture plays a big part in employees happiness. Show candidates while theyll love your organization.Click To TweetDiversity, Inclusion, and BelongingOften, candidates assume these are interchangeable terms, however, each is distinct in how it impac ts the work environment. Chances are, you provide examples of your companys diversity in your employer branding material. Do the same with how you approach inclusion and belonging.A good option is creating employee testimonial videos where each team member talks about how diversity, inclusion, or belonging applies to them at work. Then title the videos using the appropriate term. This will show candidates the differences of each and what they mean to the organization.Internal MobilityThe first time a candidate hears this phrase, it likely brings to mind ways employees move around the office. But companies with strong internal mobility programs show candidates they could have a future with the organization.Dont just mention internal mobility in passing. Go into the details of how your organization promotes from within and why you believe its essential. It also helps to talk with each candidate about the potential paths specific to them.How do you show candidates they have a future at your organization. HRClick To TweetOnboardingMany companies do not adequately approach onboarding. For those organizations and their new hires, onboarding is filling out paperwork and providing a week or two of training. Because of this, your candidates might only be expecting this level of support if hired.Discuss what true onboarding means. Explain how it would extend throughout the candidates first year of employment. Be sure to mentionExpectations and milestones for the candidate after one, three, six, nine, and 12 months.What skills theyll be learning and when.Ways the rest of the team will make them feel welcome.People AnalyticsBecause people analytics is relatively new, most people have unfair biases against it. Candidates hear analytics or data and think youre reducing employees to numbers. They worry your organization doesnt see or value team members as whole people.When talking about how your company uses people analytics, give real examples of how the information led to positive changes. Show that tracking metrics isnt only about productivity, but also about making the workplace better for employees.Show candidates that peopleanalytics arent about dehumanizing employees. They lead to positive change.Click To Tweet

The secret to understanding income inequality

The secret to understanding income inequalityThe secret to understanding income inequalityAmy Goldstein has been a staff writer for thirty years at The Washington Post, where she shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Her first book, Janesville, explores what happens to people and to the texture of a proud community when good work goes away. Walter Scheidel is Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University. His latest book, The Great Leveler, dives into how cataclysm and violence have reduced inequality throughout history. Both shortlisted finalists for the 2017 Financial Times McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, Amy and Walter recently sat down to discuss the catastrophic events, both local and global, that drive and diminish income inequality.Amy It strikes me that you and I have both written books about changes in peoples economic standing, which boils down to writi ng about income inequality. But we did this in very different ways. I told this story through a microcosm, taking a close-up of a single community - Janesville, Wisconsin - that went through an economic trauma during a terrible recent time in our nations economy. The Great Recession ended an auto plant that had, for nearly a century, provided the best working class jobs in town.You do this over the very long run, looking at the persistent effect of violence on haves and have-elends in many places across history. What gave you the instinct that there might be some relationship between violence and wealth and income concentration?Walter A couple years ago, Thomas Piketty made a strong case that inequality in the middle of the 20th century did not go down just because of economic development and democracy, but welches really driven by the violent dislocations of the World Wars and the rise of Communism.When I read this, I wondered whether there might be a pattern all throughout histo ry. So, since I am a pre-modern historian, my plan welches to survey history across hundreds and thousands of years. And I found that the argument he had developed for the 19th and 20th centuries held true for all of recorded human history - that whenever we observe a massive compression of inequality in income and wealth, there are major shocks of violent disruption behind it.I was focused on the factors that reduce inequality, but for the last 40 years or so, especially in the U.S., we have been witnessing a steady rise in income and wealth inequality. Do you have a sense of what has driven those developments in the mora recent past?Amy Yes. I became interested in this work towards the end of the Great Recession, when there was a lot of job loss going on in this country. There was a great deal of focus on how badeanstalt the unemployment numbers were, and there wasnt much focus on what it was actually like to lose work, for yourself, your family, or the community in which you liv ed. I wanted to understand what really happens when work goes away, and I thought that focusing on one place that had lost a lot of jobs would be a good way to illustrate this.Whenever we observe a massive compression of inequality in income and wealth, there are major shocks of violent disruption behind it.I picked the community of Janesville, which had lost what was the oldest operating General Motors plant in the country. It closed down two days before Christmas of 2008, right smack in the middle of this very bad recession. My story spans five years, exploring what happened to a number of people during that span.You talk about high inequality having an extremely long pedigree. What do you mean by that?Walter Thats a really good question, because I think people often confuse inequality and poverty. If you have the same degree of inequality thousands of years ago and today, being at the bottom of the distribution back then would be a much worse fate than it is now. So it is possibl e to apply the same measures of inequality across time, but they mean very different things.Amy You make an interesting point about relative versus absolute income, wealth, and inequality. The people about whom Im writing, the auto workers who lost their jobs, had had very stable, middle-class lives. They werent wealthy, but they were making $28 an hour, which were good working-class wages in this Midwestern community. They didnt all fall into absolute poverty, but they tumbled downhill, and that was quite a shock.One of the things I learned is that falling out of the middle-class is very different from having been poor all along. When they fall into economic trouble, people who were accustomed to middle-class lives were, for the most part, reluctant to seek or accept outside help from non-profits and government programs. They really just wanted good jobs again.Walter Thats right. I think thats actually a very unusual situation in world history. Because for hundreds and thousands of years, people would take the established order, the established distribution of resources, pretty much as a given. If you were poor, your parents had been poor, so that was your outlook on life. But the situation we face now is rather unusual in that people look back at their parents generation and grandparents generation, and they observe correctly that something has been going wrong for some time. They cant hope to aspire to the same standard of living as previous generations did.Amy Thats right, at least in my microcosm. The Janesville Assembly Plant started turning out tractors in 1919, and it started making Chevys in 1923. So if you think about the number of generations of local people for whom these were the best working-class jobs, people had reason to have quite strong expectations that this work would persist, except it turned out that it vanished.You talk about what you call the four horsemen of violence. What are those horsemen, and why are they so powerful in diminishin g inequality?Falling out of the middle-class is very different from having been poor all along.Walter Ive identified four major driving forces behind great reductions in economic inequality - the mass mobilization of warfare, transformative revolution, state collapse, and severe epidemics.Those factors have been mora or less common over time, depending on what period youre looking at. The last two, state collapse and epidemics, were primarily phenomena of the more distant past, affecting the distribution of wealth in agrarian societies. Whereas the other two, like WWI, WWII, and the big Communist revolutions in Russia and China, are very much a manifestation of modernity that only occur in the 20th century.If a great plague strikes an agrarian society, there are fewer workers, the poor are less poor because they can command higher wages, and the rich are less rich. When states collapse, the entrenched elites lose power. Everybody loses in that scenario, but the rich have more to lo se, which compresses disparities in income and wealth.Whereas, in order to fight the enormous, industrial-scale World Wars, governments had to raise taxes to extremely high levels and intervene in the private sector. Capital lost value. There was inflation, physical destruction, any number of things that made the rich less rich and the poor less poor. And once you look at the Communist revolutions, its very straightforward. If you have Bolsheviks or Maoists who expropriate or kill the rich and impose a planned economy, inequality can drop to very low levels.So the mechanisms are very different, the environments are very different, but what all those historic occasions have in common is that they involve massive, violent shocks. Often millions, tens of millions of people lost their lives. These are very grim episodes of human history. But the ultimate outcome was that inequality was reduced.Amy In some way, thats the inverse of what Im looking at - one shock to a community, the clos ing of an auto plant that people thought would last forever. Over several years, I came to think of it as two Janesvilles emerging. There were people who were affected by this, and people who were not affected by this. And those who were not affected didnt always have a clear sense of what was going on among their neighbors.For instance, one person the story follows is a social worker who was the school systems liaison for homeless kids in the community. She and a social worker one town over began to notice a growing crop of homeless, unaccompanied teenagers. They started raising money to create housing for these kids, and when they first started to go out into the community to talk about this, they were met with disbelief. There were people in town who just had no sense that this was happening right in their midst.Walter Actually, one of the lessons that I took away from your book was the role of labor unions. It seems to me that what happened in Janesville was also connected to a decline in the power and the density of membership in labor unions. And that also came to the fore in my own work, when I looked at why inequality had gone down so far in the wake of WWI and WWII. It wasnt just taxation, physical destruction, inflation, or other war-related effects. It was also an explosive increase in membership in labor unions in industrialized countries, which empowered people to take charge of their lives. To gain concessions from employers, organizing themselves to make sure that lower-skilled workers would not be left behind.Those who were not affected didnt always have a clear sense of what was going on among their neighbors.That development seems to have abated, especially over the last few decades. In the United States, union membership peaked in the late 1940s, and has been sliding ever since. Thats something that I think also mattered in Janesville. Do you agree?Amy I do. In Janesville, the workers had been part of the United Auto Workers for a very long time. In fact, in what was called the General Motors Sit Down Strike of the late 1930s, which was the strike that cemented the UAW as the bargaining force for auto workers around the country, Janesville was one of the sites of that strike.So that union history is embedded in the GM workforce. It was what meant that people were earning $28 an hour, and that, for a long time, allowed people to retire after 30 years seniority with very good pensions and health benefits. The union is what propped up that middle-class life.Walter I think this takes us to one of the most pressing issues that we face right now, which is to identify policy measures that could actually make a difference. In the U.S. a wide range of policy measures are being proposed - fiscal measures, targeted taxation - to siphon off wealth from the famous one percent, hunting down wealth concealed in off-shore accounts, investing in education to make it possible for people who are hurt by globalization to improve their s ituation. Even reaching all the way to campaign finance reform, in order overcome the polarization in Congress thats also related to inequality. So there is no shortage of measures being proposed. I just wonder which, if any, would actually make a difference in a place like Janesville?Amy Well I tried to take a look at job re-training, because its one of the few economic policies that both Democrats and Republicans tend to support. They have slightly different visions of how to do it, but both conservatives and progressives think that if people lose a job, they should try to acquire skills to do a different kind of job. A lot of federal money goes into job re-training efforts for what are called dislocated workers.One of the reasons I picked Janesville was that it has a technical college in town, a small school that specializes in vocational training. I was interested in trying to figure out whether this training was doing any good, because the countys Job Center, where people were referred when they lost their work, was encouraging people to go back to school and learn to do something else. And this college really knocked itself out trying to figure out how to help these traumatized, dislocated workers.I did an analysis looking at what happened to a cohort of people who had gone back to school, versus a cohort of laid-off people who had not gone back to school. And contrary to the common wisdom, people who went back to school were not better off in terms of their pay or their likelihood of full-time work a few years afterwards. Thats not to say that job re-training has no efficacy anywhere, but I think it really depends on the climate and whether new jobs are becoming available.The union is what propped up that middle-class life.Walter I was often accused of pessimism when I brought out my book because I emphasized the forces that push inequality even higher. Those forces are mucksmuschenstill out there. Globalization is still ongoing. Theres still heavy pres sure on the kind of jobs that people lost in Janesville, theres a great deal of competition. Theres tax competition among different countries. There is ongoing progress in automation, which is going to affect jobs that have previously been protected. Theres a secular aging of the population in rich countries that is going to put pressure on the welfare state. There are very powerful forces out there that will make it rather difficult for policy measures at the national, or even regional, level to make a real difference. Do you share my pessimism, or do you think there is some hope that we can find ways of making a difference?Amy Let me answer that with two contradictory thoughts. Theres a notion that, if jobs disappear in certain places, people should simply move their lives to where there are better opportunities for work. But I found in this community that people, for the most part, dont want to leave. Its a place where people have lots of family support, and multi-generational ti es. Nearly a decade after the Janesville Assembly Plant closed down, there are people still commuting long distances to General Motors plants in other states to keep up their standard of living, and coming home every weekend or every month. Thats a lot of commitment to staying where you live. So thats one economic truism that I dont see playing out in this community.On the other hand, and this is a slightly more optimistic view, I discovered that the people of this community have a lot of resilience. When 9,000 jobs disappeared in that area in 2008 and 2009, all kinds of non-profits came together and formed coalitions to figure out how best to help people.And Ive come to think that this is partly a function of this communitys identity. Janesville is also the home of the Parker Pen Company, which was founded by a local man named George Parker in the late 19th century. And there was another local industrialist who persuaded General Motors to come to town. So I think these economic fou ndations gave the community a real sense of self-determination that has prevented it from becoming a very angry or despondent kind of place, which easily could have happened with this many jobs that have gone away.The local unemployment rate had shot up to over 13 percent in early 2009. Its now down to around four percent, but the pay is nothing like people used to earn. Its going to take years to find out whether this community can fully rebound or not.The other thing that Ive learned is that losing work is a very personal experience. About a third of the people in this one county said that they or someone in their home had lost a job during the Great Recession, or shortly afterwards. And in a survey that was part of my research, we asked them, Are you embarrassed or ashamed to have lost this job? Over half said yes.And I found that so heartbreaking, because even when people are losing their work because of broad economic forces, in a place where thousands around them are losing th e same kind of work, it still feels like a personal event.Walter There are many reasons to believe the future holds a great number of challenges - globalization, automation, aging. But at the same time, as you said, we should never underestimate human resilience peoples ability to make the best of a bad situation, to find new ways of improving their condition. And we can only hope that this is going to play a major role in the future.This conversation has been edited and condensed. To learn more, visit ft.com/bookaward and follow the conversation at BBYA17.

Taking Time Off From Your Career to Raise Kids

Taking Time Off From Your Career to Raise KidsTaking Time Off From Your Career to Raise KidsWhen I put my career on hold in 1996 to stay at home with my infant daughter, I had mixed feelings about my decision. I felt I welches doing what I needed to do, yet I felt a certain loss of identity. I had worked as a librarian and coordinator of a job information center for six years and had very strong ties to my career. Yet, my heart told me that I would bedrngnis be happy leaving my daughter every day. In addition, it made financial sense for me to stay at home. When I subtracted the cost of childcare from my take home salary I realized that what was left wouldnt really make much of a difference. In time I adjusted to my new life and enjoyed watching my daughter go from infant to toddler. However, I felt like something was missing. I felt as if my skills were weakening. I worried that by the time I decided to return to work there wouldnt be a place for me. Not to mention the fact that I w as bored - theres a lot of downtime with a small child. Many of my friends worked and I found it difficult to make new ones. I began looking for things to do while at home - not necessarily to earn money but to keep up my skills and learn new ones. In mid-1997 I became the Career Planning Guide at what was then The Mining Company. I was able to use my knowledge of career planning combined with my research skills to provide information others needed.? I also learned new and valuable things in the process - my knowledge of the Internet deepened and this, in turn, opened up new opportunities. As my daughter got closer to kindergarten, I continued to build my skills so that as she needed me less during the day, I had a career to turn to (and another transition to get through). What You Can Do The beginning of your childs life does not need to signal the end of your professional life. The choice is yours though. No one can tell you that you need to concentrate on anything more tha n raising your family. However, the thing that encouraged me to continue to develop my career while at home was something several women inadvertently taught me. While at the job information center I worked with several clients who, due to different circumstances, found it necessary to return to work. When asked what skills they had, they all responded that their skills were hopelessly out of date - they had not kept up with the current technology in their respective fields. I swore to myself then, that I would not let that happen to me. There are several things you can do to stay current. If possible, you can work part-time in your field. You can read professional journals. You can continue to network with former colleagues and remain involved with trade associations. If you would like to learn some new skills or stay on top of skills you already have, you can take continuing education courses or attend seminars. There are also many courses and tutorials available online. More F rom the Career Crossroads Series Part TwoWorking While Raising Your FamilyPart ThreeReturning to Work

Whats in a handshake A clue to whether or not youre hirable

What’s in a handshake A clue to whether or not you’re hirable What’s in a handshake A clue to whether or not you’re hirable What’s in a handshake? A two-second litmus test for your employer. He or she will be able to tell whether you’re hirable and whether you can be trusted. Studies show that employers make their hiring decisions in a blink. Your handshake is a crucial factor in that decision.Are you confident in your ability? Or are you ambivalent? Do you belong at the company? A popular adage claims the eyes are the “windows to the soul,” but actually your handshake conveys just as much about you to a potential employer. It is a quick diagnostic of your personality - an X-ray of your corporate soul.This is not mere hearsay. Since ancient times, handshakes have been a language in themselves. By extending their empty right hands, strangers could show they held no weapons and wanted to meet on peaceful, mutually beneficial terms. If hired, will you be the one who stabs your employer in the proverbial back? Of course not, your handshake says. You carry no knives; you have good intentions.Follow La dders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!Your handshake is also the beginning of a connection you will have with the recipient. If you’re job hunting, hopefully, that first handshake will be the start of a long-lasting, productive rapport. What about a fist bump or a friendly wave you ask? Unless the other person greets you this way, you will smooth the way for a better working relationship if you start with the traditional handshake. Why? Because a handshake communicates more.Haptic communication, from the ancient Greek word  haptikós, is a branch of non-verbal communication that centers on the sense of touch. When you use an appropriate handshake in a business setting, you’re showing that you understand and respect the unspoken rules of the workplace. In effect, you are saying to your potential employer, “I understand where you are coming from, and I belong here too.” You are als o using the sense of touch to bolster the communication imparted by what you say and what you hear during the interview.There is an etiquette to executing the ideal shake. If you are seated, be sure to rise. Make eye contact as you walk toward the hiring manager. When you are two feet away, lock eyes briefly and extend your right hand to his or her right. Clasp his or her hand for two seconds. Squeeze once. Flash a smile. And don’t forget to say something friendly, such as “Thank you for meeting with me today. I really appreciate the chance to learn more about XYZ company.”Some handshakes to avoid:1. Limp fish:  This handshake may convey you are mealy-mouthed;2. Football crusher: This handshake shows you were an athlete in college, but not necessarily the most sensitive businessperson;3. Creepy handshakes: That show your intention may be arduous rather than professional;4. Clammy palms:  Which can often happen in a high-stress interview, but can be avoided by wiping your hands with a paper towel in the restroom right before walking into the interview;5. Germ spreaders: It’s better to forego the handshake with a quick apology if you are sniffling on the day of your interview (at least you’ll get points for consideration).If you don’t know what message your handshake transmits, ask to shake a friend’s hand and give you feedback.A warm, friendly handshake will set the mood for the rest of the interview. When leaving, don’t forget to again shake your interviewer’s hand to continue the rapport.Vicky Oliver is a leading career development expert and the multi-best-selling author of five books, including Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers Other Office Idiots, and 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions, named in the Top 10 list of “Best Books for HR Interview Prep.” She is a sought-after speaker and seminar presenter and a popular media source, having made over 901 appearances in broadcast, print, and online outlets. For more information, visit vickyoliver.com.You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people

Desire to succeed should be as great as desire to help others

Desire to succeed should be as great as desire to help others Desire to succeed should be as great as desire to help others “The most accurate term for happiness … is the one Aristotle used: eudaimonia, which translates not directly to ‘happiness’ but to ‘human flourishing’.” -  Shawn AchorThe most important lesson for any new graduate, someone early on in their career or even a savvy veteran to understand is that success only works in a reciprocal manner. What that means is, our desire to succeed should truly be as great as our desire to help others reach their big goals. Once we have this purpose and vision aligned, the sky is truly the limit. The opportunities and relationships we’ve always dreamed of begin to come to light.Let’s start with the cold-hard truth: at our core, we want to succeed because we want to find happiness and satisfaction for ourselves. It’s only human to look out for our needs and focus on “our game” versus someone else’s. To a certain extent, this will take us far in life. But if you look at it on the flip-side, if we focus only on our path and our need s, we won’t get very far.For one thing, none of us make it on our own. We need the help of others to advance our careers, our personal ambitions and to find a life partner and satisfying relationships. We want to be happy. But in order for us to be both successful and happy, we have to recognize that the same people willing to help us are also looking for the exact same thing for themselves.And why wouldn’t they? Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? So how do we get people to take an interest in us - to help us achieve our big goals and purpose? We respond by taking an active interest in helping others back. We don’t just do it as an obligation or because we think it’s the right thing to do. We make an active choice to become personally invested in another individual’s success and happiness.That investment of time is always time well spent - because it has a compounding effect of interest that helps elevate us in our own pursuits.“Giving back is as good for you as i t is for those you are helping, because giving gives you purpose. When you have a purpose-driven life, you’re a happier person.” -  Goldie HawnLooking out for yourself and othersIn a constantly evolving world, we have to look out for ourselves and recognize what we need to do to preserve our self-interest. An emotionally intelligent person is interested in overall success and achievement - not just for themselves, but for their peers. Their inspired leadership and passion, combined with their optimism, drives them to want to do best for themselves AND others.Too often, we get so self-absorbed and concerned only with “WIIFM,” or - What’s in it for me? We have to be concerned about this. It’s a must, so don’t let anyone ever convince you otherwise. But in the same way that we should be focused on our self-interest, we should also maintain a spirit of desire and hope for wanting to see the people around us succeed.Not only is this a brilliant safeguard against envy and greed, it also revitalizes our passion and drives us toward achieving our next goal. It helps us gain allies and builds powerful relationships that come back to help us in a reciprocal fashion.Take a look at some of the most successful people in the world - Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffett just to name a few? What is the common thread between these three (aside from their astounding wealth!)? They’re all great philanthropists who give tremendous amounts of money (and their time) to helping causes and people that they believe in.They’re genuinely trying to leave the world a better place. Their success isn’t enough. Sure, their legacy matters to them, but their humanity enables them to want to help others succeed and find purpose in their lives.Writing in Time magazine, author Jenny Santi says,“Our passion should be the foundation for our giving. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving. It’s only natural that we will care about this and not so much about that, and that’s OK. It should not be simply a matter of choosing the right thing, but also a matter of choosing what is right for us.”Help others and help yourselfHelp the people who help you. Help strangers - give without expecting anything in return. Seek out the co-workers, community members and partners that are a part of your life. Who in the world would turn down someone who genuinely and authentically wants to help them succeed? If you have a game plan for your own success, chances are you can help someone else with theirs.If you have the ability, it’s a matter of generating the desire. And sometimes, it’s best to reverse-engineer from what actual success looks like, to help us develop our game plan, which is initially fueled by our passion and desire.Take this as observed by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley:“A recent article published in The Journal of Positive Psychology by Daryl Van Tongeren and his colleagues sought to examine (how kindness and happiness help us find purpose) this relationship. In a preliminary study, the researchers asked over 400 participants to report on how frequently they engage in different altruistic behaviors (such as volunteering) and how meaningful their life feels. Participants who were more altruistic reported a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.”Wouldn’t you want to have a greater sense of meaning and purpose in your life? Wouldn’t you agree that once you do, it’s that much easier to be successful? When you have clearly defined goals and purpose, you’re able to be successful and help others achieve the same success for themselves. You’ll also find that you’re most happy and well on your way to doing even bigger things than you may have imagined.Next step for successJoin my newsletter and check out my book, The Value of You on Amazon for only $3.99.This  article  first appeared on  Medium.

International Womens Day 11 female leaders in the Northeast

International Women's Day 11 female leaders in the Northeast International Women's Day 11 female leaders in the Northeast In March we wear green, make brackets and count down the days until spring can officially begin. And most importantly, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate the history and the feats of women who continue to radically challenge gender biases and disparities, unapologetically and with passion.Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!One fascinating sector is female entrepreneurism, which continues to grow across all industries, ethnicities and age groups. It’s estimated 849 new businesses are started by women every single day in the United States. And over the past two decades, female-owned firms have grown by an impressive 114%. Even with this hopeful numbers, women only take home a small portion of the seed money available, regardless of the fact they’re more likely to turn a revenue than their male counterparts.To celebrate International Women’s Day and the brave and smart ladies who went out on a whim to be their own #girlboss - we’re excited to announce and present the female entrepreneurs to watch in every state (and Washington D.C.) from New York to West Virginia to Ohio to Texas to California. These powerhouses are fashion designers, master chefs, marketing leaders, philanthropic badasses - and so much more.We’ve divided our list of the 52 female leaders making moves in the United States into five geographical regions. This article will feature women from the Northeast.Get inspired - and make sure you follow-up with these women. They’re just getting started:Connecticut:  Kate Bally from Pirouette NYCFounded in 2017 in Stamford, ConnecticutWhy the company is cool: As more people become aware of the impact of their clothing that’s sourced from labor factories abroad, the quest for an ethically-made wardrobe only grows. Bally saw this opportunity when she opened her women’s apparel brand that features Italian, Japanese and Korean- fabrics created by artisans in New York City’s garment district. They are tailored to make a woman’s daily routine easier, with hidden zippers, removable tops, and other smart design features. Unlike many big-box clothing stores, the focus is on quality over quantity.Where the idea came from: Kate was an attorney and working mom when she decided she was going to create the perfect day-to-night dress. As she brainstormed, she kept coming back to her husband’s button-down shirts, which she felt were impeccably constructed, wrinkle-resistant and available in a wide range of sizes and colors. Here, the idea for Pirouette was born.How it’s growing: Though she can’t name names, Pirouette has dressed several significant TV hosts and anchors, who became ‘enamored’ with a clothing item designed to go from PTA to party or on-air to social functions.How she became successful: Going after her goal. Bally shares as the director of Labor Employment Service of Thomson Reuters Practi cal Law, she decided to follow her passion and become an entrepreneur one day. “I juggle so much with work and mom life, it felt natural for me to pace myself and find a business partner who mirrors my goals and my current career. With the right business partner, anything is possible and that’s why I am able to work in the law and fashion industries simultaneously,” she shares.What’s next: Working to create capsule collections for retailers - specifically boutiques and department stores who share their aesthetic. They also intend to launch handbags this year, too.Delaware:  Julie Kypreos from jules kFounded in 2015 in Lewes, DelawareJules KWhy the company is cool: Kypreos story is a star-studded one - quite literally. In 2016, her bags made the cut of the promotion ‘Everyone Wins’ by the marketing firm DistinctiveAssets, which creates the bags given the top 25 Academy Award nominees. This means Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, and Jimmy Kimmel all have something from jul es k. Creating a cult following of luxury, carefully printed and USA-made bags, this brand is just starting to see it’s mega growth.Where the idea came from: Part fashion-forward and part charity, jules k tells the story of her company through Kate Spade-inspired rhymes on her site: “A little girl falls in love with anteaters. That same girl grows into a woman who loves handbags. After leaving career-making polymers to stay home with her two young children, she decided to embark on a very different path.”How it’s growing: Though numbers aren’t public, she’s been able to donate more than 10% of their inventory to various charitable organizations. And 20% of her net profits support the environment and go to protect wildlife.What’s next: She’s working with a local high school’s textile program to create her “Cape Zipper Pouch” - and all profits from the sales are returned to the program. She also has a goal to have fabric woven with thread from recycled plastic, and then use it to make handbags.Maine: Jodi Breau from Dental LaceFounded in 2017 in Cape Elizabeth, MaineYouTube.comWhy the company is cool: With the environment a forever hot topic and point of debate lately, the need for more products that get smart about waste grows. That’s where Breau’s company filled a void in the market and offered a solution. By creating a reusable and recyclable container for floss refills, she’s created a way to practice gum health and protect our soils. Even the floss itself, made of 100% Mulberry Silk, is compostable.Where the idea came from: As the story goes with many entrepreneurs, the path to founding a company was paved with surprises. When Breau was working as a librarian, she was flossing her teeth when a thought crossed herself: “Someone should make a prettier container.” Fifteen years and lots of research later, she set out to not only upgrade the style- but to embark on a journey to eliminate plastic dental floss completely. As a 99% zero-waste product, every glass container sold from this line replaces seven plastic ones.How it’s growing: In 2018, the company grew by 400%.How she became successful: Teamwork. “Dental Lace became successful through the passion to eliminate plastic by selling zero waste refillable floss. Also, from neighbors helping with product assembly to the many resources my local library has made available, it truly has been a community effort,” she shared.What’s next: Dental Lace is coming out with a new, limited edition green glass container for Earth Day.Maryland: Jaime Windon from Lyon Distilling CompanyFounded in 2012 in Saint Michaels, MarylandLyon Distilling CompanyWhy the company is cool: Craft beer is trendy sure, but so is craft liquors. Noticing the need for more intimate blends, Windon started Lyon Distilling Company before it was a viral concept. Her artisanal spirits are made from scratch, by hand, in very small batches. Through tours and tastings, they’ve introduced their county of Talbot, the Eastern Shore and Maryland to small-scale distilling.Where the idea came from: Windon wanted to bring back Maryland distilling- and complete the ‘booze trifecta’ in Saint Michaels - in a former mill with an existing winery and brewery. Because of her passion for the process and the local standard, she knew her company would celebrate manufacturing as a historically important industry. In fact, it became the first distillery in more than 40 years to revive the Maryland Rye Whiskey and produce American rum.How it’s growing: What started as an unfunded two-person startup is now a team of 12, growing organically. They’ve also expanded their on-site sales to five states (and counting), and started to create partnerships with other local eastern shore businesses, which increased production 20 times in five years.How she became successful: Relentless hard work “and hyper-commitment to quality, as well as the focused desire to always exceed the expecta tions of our customers, community, and our team,” she says.What’s next: Continued growth expansion of LYON rum into more states, and continued leading and education for their team, fellow members of the guild, other state guild connections, and most importantly the consumer and legislators, as we expand the capabilities and opportunities for Maryland spirits manufacturers.Massachusetts: Poorvi Patodia from Biena SnacksFounded in 2012 in Boston, MassachusettsWhy the company is cool: If you’ve given a second thought to your health recently, you’ve likely studied up on protein. As a key component of many trendy diets, it isn’t always easy to find a snack that’s veg-friendly but gives you the energy you need to push through a workday, a workout - or both. When plant-based protein snacks were in their infancy, Patodia launched Biena Snacks, and since then, has won awards for her roasted-chickpeas that come in savory and sweet flavors. They’re currently the number-one sell ing chickpea snack brand nationally.Where the idea came from: When Patodia was expecting in 2012, she craved chips … badly. Knowing they were unhealthy, she had to come up with an alternative solution, and thus, along with her baby, Biena Snacks was born. It was one of her favorite childhood snacks, and she developed the recipe in her own kitchen.How it’s growing: Each year, they’ve been able to launch new product lines and flavors, and have been named one of INC’s Fastest Growing Companies two years in a row. She was also called out as a ‘Rising Star’ CEO on the list. Key partnerships have diversified their offering, including one with Weight Watchers and the Girl Scouts of America. To date, they’ll available in more than 15,000 retail locations nationwide, including Public, Kroger, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, CVS and online, at Amazon.How she became successful: By juggling. And by that, we mean as a mom of two young daughters and a CEO. She sets the bar high and en sures all of her products are high in nutrients, ingredients, and flavors. Though it’s not always easy, she pushes through and demands standards- no matter what she’s balancing at the time.What’s next: They just launched chickpea puffs!New Hampshire:  Kari DePhillips from The Content FactoryFounded in 2010 in Manchester, New HampshireWhy the company is cool: There are plenty of public relations agencies - but then there is The Content Factory. Last year, they brought in more than $25 million worth of earned media for their clients, representing a range of brands, including The Alternative Board and Fairtrade America. As a full-service digital marketing company, they offer social media, SEO, influencer and ambassador services, all in the effort to make their ‘clients (more) famous.’ In addition to these modern offerings, they also are hopping on - and promoting - the new trend of remote work.Where the idea came from: For too many years to count, DePhillips had the same g rind in her advertising gig: driving downtown, sitting at her desk for nine hours, fighting traffic to get home … and repeat. She felt as if she was working 12 hours a day for someone else’s dream, and wanted to create a company that gives people freedom. She decided to open her own agency, allowing people to work remotely from anywhere they want. Today, employees are all remote - including DePhillips.How it’s growing: When she first started The Content Factory, she did it with only $500. She used that money to hire a web designer and then supported herself by finding writing opportunities on Craigslist. Fast forward nine years later, and it’s a million-dollar agency.How she became successful: Hard work and a diverse talent pool. As one of her employees, Lindsay Wissman described her: “The woman gets more done before lunch than most people get done in a day. She’s an overachiever in every sense of the word and it makes her team work harder for her.” And that collectio n of talented professionals are all over, giving TCF a really wide range of talent so they can serve every type of client.What’s next: Workcationing.com. Though her primary residence is in NH, she remains a digital nomad. Along with a friend, she recently co-founded Workationing, based on the idea that you shouldn’t wait until retirement to travel. They spent 2017 traveling the world while continuing to earn a living. This year, they’ll grow their reach.New Jersey: Marilyn Grabowski from Atlantic InfraredFounded in 2002 in Wall Township, New JerseyWhy the company is cool: Even though construction is traditionally considered a male-dominated field, entrepreneurism was in Grabowski’s genetics. Her grandmother started her own construction company at the age of 40 - and Grabowski took it as inspiration to follow in her path. Her business, Atlantic Infra offers a permanent solution to potholes using InfraRed technology, bonding to existing asphalt with a thermo-bond. Today, they service the state of New Jersey.Where the idea came from: Using her grandmother as her mentor, Grabowski wasn’t afraid to jump into this heavily male-led industry and shake up the scene. When she saw a way to use technology to address issues around pothole repairs that would make the process more efficient and cost-effective- she knew it was an excellent business opportunity. And she was right.How it’s growing: To date, they’ve had 100% client retention. She was also given the Professional Women in Construction Award, as well as the ‘Women of Influence’ award sponsored by PNC Wealth Management, Tiffany Co. and Foss San Filippo Milne. For two years, she was also given the EY Entrepreneur of the Year in New Jersey, too.How she became successful: An incredible drive and passion. According to Grabowski that requires constant strategy, examining opportunities, knowing the competition and hiring the right people. “Creativity learned from the Pharma industry coupled with the discipline of a STEM degree have been the winning formula in knowing how to provide outstanding service. Additionally, an unwavering commitment to developing each member of the team has given us strength,” she shares.What’s next: Becoming a $50m company that blankets the entire state of the NJ, and is the leading woman-owned business in the utility industry.New York: Brynn Putnam from MIRRORFounded in 2018 in New York, NYTwitter: @BrynnPutnamWhy the company is cool: The fitness and wellness industry is an explosive space - and one that keeps evolving. The latest iteration of accessible workouts is MIRROR, the company that’s defining what it means to be a ‘home gym.’ It’s nearly-invisible and interactive, featuring live and on-demand fitness classes in a variety of workout genres. You not only receive options, personalization, and community, but the small screen adheres to your wall, not taking up any space, even if you’re in a tiny apartment in New York City, where t he company was founded.Where the idea came from: Growing up, Putnam was a professional dancer with the New York City Ballet, and later, the founder and CEO of Refine Method, a chain of boutique fitness studios. Even with a decade of experience and a passion for fitness, she found herself struggling to budget time to work out as an overlooked entrepreneur and new mom. So, as most parents do, they look for at-home solutions. All of her research had her disappointed though, since she felt she’d have to sacrifice quality for conveniences, or purchase clunky equipment. Seeing an opportunity - MIRROR was born.How it’s growing: To date, MIRROR has raised $38 million from a range of highly-regarded investors, including Spark Capital, Lerer Hippeau, First Round Capital, Primary Venture Partners, BoxGroup and Brainchild Holdings. Within a few months of their launch last year, they were in all 48 states within the continental U.S.How she became successful: Research. Since health and welln ess was not only the forefront of her personal interests but her professional ones, Putnam credits much of her success to an infinite amount of studying the space. When she was opening her chain of boutique studios, she traveled around the country to learn the lifestyle habits of professional athletes. This expertise has informed much of MIRROR’s strategy - and guided the way for an upgraded at-home workout that definitely goes a step beyond.What’s next: New features! This year, they’ll launch personal training sessions, multiplayer options to work out side-by-side with someone else, and exploring new partnerships.Pennsylvania: Shelly Fisher from One Tough BitchFounded in 2018 in Conshohocken, PennsylvaniaWhy the company is cool: Let’s just say it how it is: being a woman is sometimes a bitch. More than a clothing brand, Fisher founded the appropriately-named One Tough Bitch to recognize the unique emotional challenges women face in our cultural climate. No matter if you’ re facing illness, grief, divorce or another hurdle, their cheeky - yet ridiculously bold - products get it right. They also give back, since 10% of all royalty proceeds are donated to Give Her a Camp, which offers women’s empowerment weekends.Where the idea came from: One Tough Bitch was an idea Fisher developed when she was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. She was tired, frustrated and as she put it, ‘sucker-punched.’ Naturally, she had a very hard time and she knew that was normal, given her circumstances - and she tried not to give herself a hard time. “I think it is the first important step to get to ‘toughness.’ Let yourself be realistic and feel. It is important to allow yourself the opportunity to feel the pain and challenge of the situation. But then - drum beat - you dig into your soul, the depths of who you are, you gather your internal soldiers and you stand back up,” she continues. She gave herself a pep talk that included ‘You are One Tou gh Bitch and you will survive.’ She then had those three powerful words engraved on a necklace to remind herself - and something clicked.How it’s growing: In a year, they’ve experienced more than 50% growth.How she became successful: Well, by being one tough bitch. “Staying focused on the end game of helping people and not wavering when challenges came my way. I have always had a friendly competitor strategy that surprised other company CEOs, particularly in the medical bracelet space. I built several partnerships with competing companies that I believe strengthened all of our positions,” she shared.What’s next: She’s building the OTB community by adding additional layers of empowerment for young girls, live events and workshops, and more.Rhode Island: Danielle Anderson from Seacoast SweetsFounded in 2015 in Pawtucket, Rhode IslandWhy the company is cool: Though plenty of professionals are concerned with their waistline and seek alternatives to the desserts they love - there will always be a place for splurges. Knowing that - as the saying goes - life is too short and we should eat dessert first, Seacoast Sweets is a New England-based chocolate company that makes patties available in peppermint, peanut butter, coconut and s’mores. Female-owned and inspired, the packaging makes for an Instagram-worthy gift that also makes tummies happy.Where the idea came from: It’s a tale of two female entrepreneurs, since founder Kirstyn Pearl was inspired by her grandfather’s recipe and started making them out of her Newburyport kitchen and Bentley University dorm room. It quickly became a full-time business and she eventually opened a factory in Amesbury to increase output. She sold the company last year to Anderson, who moved production to the birthplace of American industry inside of a refurbished mill. “People just like them and want them, we’re making them as fast as we can! In our Pawtucket mill, we will be able to make them even faster,” she shared.How it’s growing: Wholesale has doubled to retailers, creating a more reliable income stream, and getting them to a cash-flow position.How she became successful: Sales and work. “If we don’t have patties to make, we need to be out selling and growing the business. On the flip-side, we get slammed all the time and end up spending long-days and weeks to get the orders out. It is feast or famine, which is tough to deal with, but exciting nonetheless. It’s tough not getting discouraged when the sales aren’t coming in, but to keep going, I think, is why we’ve made it this far,” she shared.What’s next: They’re working on automating some of the manufacturing and hiring workers. “When an efficient, automated process is in place, the margins will get very attractive and we will be able to double down on marketing and growth,” she adds.Vermont:  Sas Stewart from Stonecutter SpiritsFounded in 2013 in Middlebury, VermontTwitter: @SasLabsWhy the company is cool: Picture this: on the edge of a mountain, led by a team of inspiring women, carefully-crafted (and delicious) gin and whiskey is created and enjoyed. Though it sounds like the start of a killer movie, it’s the reality Stewart has created in rural Vermont, in a town that was established in the late 1700s. Because of its location on the edge of the Green Mountains, the weather comes from the Adirondacks, flies over the lake and lands in Middlebury. This creates an interesting dynamic of whether that’s fostered an engaging, complex and smooth liquor brand.Where the idea came from: To put it simply: Stewart wanted to create the type of spirits she actually wanted to drink. Alongside her all-lady leadership, they identified gaps in the current offerings and came up with a solution. Since many have agreed with their flavor profile, they’ve had the drive to keep going.How it’s growing: They started as a two-person company, and now have more than 20 employees. Their Single Barrel Gin won a double-gold and “best in category” at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.How she became successful: Self-discovery. Speaking of herself and her business partner, she shared, “We have spent years asking what we most want ourselves, and then finding ways to offer the same for others. This was the genesis of our original approach to formulating our gin and whiskey recipes, and it carried forward into everything else we do: how we structure our employee benefits, the design of our physical locations, and our singular focus on immersive and engaging events as a centerpiece to the company’s outreach.”What’s next: They’re calling 2019 the year of the ‘new’ - since they are dropping new whiskey and products that have been doing their magic in barrels for ages now. They’ll also be strengthening their Vermont love, with more community programming in their Burlington tasting room and cocktail bar.- - - Click below to read more from our series celebrating female leaders in the United States:International Women’s Day: Celebrating the female leaders making moves in the SoutheastInternational Women’s Day: Celebrating the female leaders making moves in the MidwestInternational Women’s Day: Celebrating the female leaders making moves in the SouthwestInternational Women’s Day: Celebrating the female leaders making moves in the WestYou might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people

Stay competitive with employment benefits

Stay competitive with employment benefits Stay competitive with employment benefits Not too long ago, when employees talked about benefits, they meant two things: healthcare coverage and retirement packages. But as the business landscape has changed, so has the concept of employment benefits. Many workers continue to rank healthcare as the most valuable asset an employer can provide. But the modern workforce is seeking more than just medical coverage and a 401(k) match. These days, employees - especially younger candidates - are looking for perks that contribute to job satisfaction and work/life balance. Companies like Google have popularized the concept of beyond-the-basics benefits. But you don’t have to build game rooms and nap pods to stay competitive. You simply have to determine what your employees want most and figure out how to deliver those things. Some companies already appear to be doing a good job at offering improved benefits. Here are some tips for bolstering your employment benefits: Consider your retirement plan and scheduling options Your company probably already provides employment benefits such as a 401(k) savings account or stock grants. But it’s worthwhile to take a close look at what’s being provided; at many U.S. companies, these offerings could be better. By bolstering these programs, firms can build loyalty and keep top talent or even lure star workers away from other companies. Organizations are also scoring points with workers by providing generous paid time off and flexible scheduling. When firms allow a reasonable amount of vacation, holiday and sick leave, employees are less likely to experience the burnout that might cause them to search for another job. Moreover, options like telecommuting, half-days and flextime can make a job worth taking - and keeping. Offer the chance to make an impact Most people want to make a positive difference in their communities. When employees work for a company that gives back and provides them opportunities to volunteer with organizations they believe in, they’re able to achieve that goal. In a 2013 study by the Society for Human Resource Management, 20 percent of the employers surveyed allowed staff to engage in charitable work while on the clock. More said they plan to offer this option in the coming year. It’s an excellent way to contribute to community development and employee satisfaction simultaneously. Pay attention to specific needs Many businesses are starting to offer unorthodox job perks in an attempt to meet employee desires. It’s a good idea to explore this new area of employment benefits; the key is to determine the specific ones that attract the employees your company needs. For instance, nap pods, free snacks and lunches, and an Ultimate Frisbee team may attract youthful techies, but more experienced, higher-level professionals may prefer concierge services that help them take care of chores such as housekeeping or shopping. Conduct an internal survey or solicit informal feedback about the types of incentives that appeal most to your workers. Then, pinpoint the most sought-after employment benefits and implement those that make the most sense for your company. Ultimately, the ideal employment benefits package will be unique to your business. Don’t be afraid to think creatively. And remember, perks aren’t always costly. Something as small as letting your employees wear jeans to the office can go a long way toward improving morale and loyalty. Need some ideas when it comes to employment benefits? Check out Business Insider’s list of the best employee perks at leading companies, or comment below to tell us about the best workplace perks at your office. More on employment benefits: The Benefits of Employee Recognition and 12 Low-Cost Ways to Recognize Your TeamThe Single Most Important Element of Job Satisfaction (Hint: It's Not Money)

What to Say Instead of Sorry

What to Say Instead of “Sorry” What to Say Instead of “Sorry” About two weeks ago, Pantene launched a second video in its #ShineStrong campaign titled “Not Sorry,” encouraging women to stop apologizing all the time, especially in the workplace. While the video was met with mixed reviews (oh, the irony of a beauty company telling women to be confident- while subversively telling them they need to be well-styled, too), the message is one that we can all take back to the office: We need to stop apologizing for tiny things like moving to share an armrest or being 30 seconds late to a meeting. Think about it: How many times do you apologize for something small in the workplace? For example, when giving a presentation, do you say “sorry” when someone asks for you to clarify your last statement or when a co-worker makes a request for something as simple as going back one slide? Science backs up that women do in fact apologize more than men: A 2010 study found that women have a higher offense threshold than men, meaning that they find the same situations much more severe and worthy of apology. But a lot of times the word “sorry” gets used in place of another word; we just apologize out of habit more than out of necessity. Doing so, though, can really put your professional life at risk. Over-apologizing can lead others to doubt you or not have as much confidence in your abilities. And frankly, it doesn’t help solve a problem as much as taking action can. (For more on this, check out Jennifer Barrett’s great article, “Why Apologizing Hurts Us More Than We Know.”) So, next time you’re thinking of apologizing, pause and consider if it’s really what you need to say. If not? Try one of these alternatives to break the cycle of “sorry.” “Thank You” If someone points out a small typo in the rough draft of a presentation you put together or helps you wipe up some coffee you spilled on the conference table, a “thanks” is more in order than a “sorry.” Neither situation is dire, and showing someone you appreciate the help is better than having his or her confidence in you diminished. “Whoops” Typically, adding in a “whoops” or something similar is a nice way to take responsibility for something going wrong without needing a full-blown apology. Most little mistakes in the office are not job-threatening, so no need to apologize for every tiny error you make. “Okay” Going back to the earlier example of giving a presentation, did someone just ask you to go back a slide in a PowerPoint? There’s no reason to say, “Oh, sorry!” when he or she is simply making a request, not accusing you of anything. Remember: You did nothing wrong. So say “okay” (or say nothing at all!) and just do it. “Sorry” Sometimes an apology really is in order, like when you’ve offended a co-worker or dropped the ball on a large project. For those situations, try Jessica Taylor’s sound advice for doing it right- and moving on from the mistake. Overall, there’s typically not as much to apologize for as you think. Sorry, not sorry. Photo of sorry note courtesy of Shutterstock.

The simple resume writing hack that will transform your job search

The simple resume writing hack that will transform your job search The simple resume writing hack that will transform your job search Have you noticed how often product marketers use testimonials? It’s very rare to find a website that doesn’t include rave reviews from clients. And remember those toothpaste ads that used to claim “9 out of 10 dentists recommend this toothpaste?” Marketers do this because they know how effective testimonials can be. After all, if they tell you how great their product or service is, you might ignore them (they would say that wouldn’t they?!) The real proof comes from what other people say. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to buy something new, I go online to read reviews. I don’t want to know what the company says â€" I want to know what customers think about it. Reference quotes on your resume do the same thing If you add positive quotes about your work to your resume, you are showing recruiters that someone else thinks highly of you. Quotes can also convey your personality and work ethic in a compelling and convincing way. Think about it: if you describe yourself as “a hardworking professional with an in-depth understanding of internet marketing,” your resume will sound like lots of others. Plus the recruiter has no way of figuring out how truthful you’re being. But look at the difference if you include this quote from your manager: Brian is always the first in the office and the last to leave. And what he doesn’t know about Internet marketing isn’t worth knowing. I have no idea how he keeps on top of so many new trends â€" I’m just glad that he does. All of a sudden, your work ethic and knowledge are brought to life. The reader can actually imagine you at work when she reads this quote. And thats the power of adding quotes to your resume. There are a few ways to find quotes to use. LinkedIn is my very favorite source because recruiters know they can trust LinkedIn testimonials. That’s because they can’t be faked and you can’t edit them yourself. If you use a quote from LinkedIn, include a link to your profile so that recruiters can check (and also hopefully see other great endorsements while they are there). You can also look for quotes on your old performance reviews. While these are not checkable, you can improve the sense of authenticity by including the name of the person who wrote the comment. I also like to look at thank you letters â€" either from co-workers or from clients. Again, stating who wrote the comment will strengthen the impact of these quotes. And finally, of course reference letters can also provide good fodder as there is often a bite-sized quote you can use. Choosing the right quotes for your resume Look for quotes that have some personality. They should sound like they were written by a real person. And keep them brief (3 sentences at most). One of my favorites was one a client provided to me. It was a quote from a reference letter and it simply said: If Sharlene Jones walks into your office looking for a job, hire her immediately. You will never regret it. How powerful is that?! Other good quotes are ones that speak directly to a specific skill or character trait that is important in your target roles. And finally, a quote from a well-known or influential person is always worth including as that person’s name will carry a weight all of its own. (One client of mine had worked as an intern for Tom Brokaw and had a reference letter from the man himself. Needless to say, we used a quote from that letter!) Where to place the quotes? This is really dependent on the resume design you choose, but ideally the quotes will be formatted slightly differently from the body text of the resume, so that they stand out and are noticeable. Here’s one example, where the quote is used in the header. Here’s another where quotes are set apart in their own separate section. Quotes on a resume really do pay off It’s important to note that not everyone will love the quotes on your resume. Some people are traditionalists and this kind of stuff doesn’t go over well with them. Don’t let their critiques bother you. Your resume will never please all of the people all of the time. Your goal is to attract the attention of some of them, and in my experience, well-chosen quotes are one of the very best ways to do this. [Would you like to save 15% on our resume writing services? Since, you’re a reader of this blog (and therefore clearly a person of impeccable taste!), just ask for a quote here and include the code BLOG123 in the ‘referral’ box.] More articles you might like: Should You Use a Resume Template Use This Simple Trick to Add Punch to Your Resume 3 Easy Ways to Disguise Resume Gaps

Glassdoor Announces Criteria for the Top CEOs in 2019

Glassdoor Announces Criteria for the Top CEOs in 2019 Glassdoor Announces Criteria for the Top CEOs in 2019 Is your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) an extraordinary leader for whom employees love to work? If so, you can help your company and CEO win a 2019 Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award for the Top CEOs . Today, Glassdoor is excited to share the 2019 awards criteria to help employees and employers better understand what it takes to be considered. Unlike other workplace awards, there is no self-nomination process or cost involved. To win a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, winners are determined based on feedback provided by those who really know a CEO best - her or his employees. If employees don’t share reviews on Glassdoor during the year-long eligibility timeframe, a CEO cannot be considered. That’s why we encourage all employees to share a review today. When providing a company review, employees are asked to share their opinion on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons) and are encouraged to provide advice to management. Employees are also asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO’s job performance, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are able to choose from one of three options: approve, disapprove or no opinion of the CEO. For the 2019 Employees’ Choice Awards recognizing the Top CEOs, Glassdoor will feature six distinct categories in five countries. For each category, company reviews and ratings from current and former employees will be considered between May 2, 2018 and May 1, 2019. Reviews submitted after May 1, 2019 will not be considered for the 2019 awards. While Glassdoor accepts reviews from former employees within five years of leaving a company, only reviews from former employees who have left the company in 2018 or 2019 will be considered for the Employees’ Choice Awards for Top CEOs. In addition, each list of winners is based on local-employee feedback shared on Glassdoor. For example, reviews from U.S.-based employees will be used to determine if a CEO is eligible for a U.S. list , while reviews from UK-based employees will be used to determine if a CEO is eligible for the UK list . A CEO can win a Top CEO award in multiple countries. To determine the 2019 winners, quantity, quality and consistency of reviews and ratings will be taken into account during the eligibility timeframe. The following information sheds more light on these three areas: 1. For quantity of reviews , a minimum number of ratings are required across two leadership attributes that employees can rate when submitting a company review . They include CEO job performance and senior management. If there are not enough ratings across both or either of the two leadership attributes, a CEO will not be considered. As part of the algorithm developed by the Glassdoor Economic Research team , a CEO’s job performance is mostly taken into account, along with other factors including an employer’s senior management rating. To be considered for a specific category, a CEO and employer must meet the following requirements during the eligibility timeframe: 100 Top CEOs â€" U.S. large companies : At least 100 ratings across the two leadership attributes from U.S.-based employees; At least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility timeframe. 50 Top CEOs â€" U.S. small & medium companies : At least 35 ratings across the two leadership attributes from U.S.-based employees; Fewer than 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility timeframe. 50 Top CEOs â€" UK : At least 35 ratings across the two leadership attributes from UK-based employees; At least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility timeframe. 25 Top CEOs â€" Canada : At least 25 ratings across the two leadership attributes from Canada-based employees; At least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility timeframe. 10 Top CEOs â€" France : At least 20 ratings across the two leadership attributes from France-based employees; At least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility timeframe. 10 Top CEOs â€" Germany : At least 20 ratings across the two leadership attributes from Germany-based employees; At least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility timeframe. For all categories, a CEO’s employer must have at least a 3.0 overall company rating and at least a 2.5 senior management rating during the eligibility period. A CEO must also be currently in the role and featured on their employer’s profile on Glassdoor as of May 1, 2019. In cases in which there are multiple CEOs for one company, Glassdoor recognizes the CEO(s) on the employer’s Glassdoor profile as of May 1, 2019. Employee count displayed on Glassdoor as of May 1, 2019 is used to help determine category eligibility. Employers have until May 1, 2019 to update their current CEO and/or global employee count, or “size” as listed in the Overview section, on their Glassdoor profile with a Free Employer Account . In addition, the awards take into account various types of employment status including full-time, part-time, contract and freelance, however, intern company reviews are not considered. Reviews from employees at universities, multi-level marketing agencies and in the ar med forces are not considered. 2. For quality of reviews , Glassdoor’s proprietary awards algorithm takes into account what employees have to say that shows winning CEOs truly outshine the rest in the eyes of their employees. Quality reviews are those that help job seekers by offering insights and feedback into what it’s really like to work under the CEO and her/his leadership team as well as at the company itself, including what’s working well, what needs improvement and advice to senior management, which employees are asked to share when completing a company review on Glassdoor. 3. For consistency of reviews, Glassdoor’s proprietary awards algorithm also accounts for trends over time as it relates to both the quantitative and qualitative insights shared by employees. In some cases, if a CEO and/or employer’s reviews lack quality and/or consistency, it can impact results and/or eligibility. Tip: We encourage employers to check out free resources on what Top CEOs have in common to learn more. Commitment to integrity for all employers: Glassdoor is committed to the highest level of data integrity and reviews quality in determining award winners. This includes treating all CEOs and employers equally regardless of whether or not they are a customer of Glassdoor. If the Glassdoor eligibility panel suspects and/or determines official company representatives have attempted to influence employee reviews or have tampered with the process of collecting authentic, unbiased reviews, including intentional or unintentional acts that violate the Glassdoor Community Guidelines and/or Terms of Use , a CEO and/or employer may be excluded from awards consideration. Exclusion from eligibility can be triggered by such acts as, but not limited to, management attempting to leave false reviews, management coercion of employees to submit positive reviews or other activities and/or events that could damage employees’ faith in the CEO, the employer, its senior leadership and/or adversely a ffect its overall rating on Glassdoor. A best practice is to encourage employees to leave an unbiased review every 12 months.   2019 winners will be announced in June 2019.

The best tactic to negotiate salary might be too awkward for most

The best tactic to negotiate salary might be too awkward for most The best tactic to negotiate salary might be too awkward for most Psychologists often talk about the supposed benefits of  embracing discomfort. The idea is that, by leaning into feelings like anxiety and anger instead of resisting them, you’ll take away their power to consume you whole.This idea has always  held a lot of appeal for me, but I haven’t always been sure how to put it into practice.So I had a lightbulb moment towards the end of Melissa Dahl’s book “Cringeworthy,” in which she describes a very practical strategy for acknowledging your discomfort and giving it a big ol’ hug.Dahl writes specifically about embracing the inherent awkwardness during a salary negotiation. She quotes Katie Donovan, founder of the consultancy firm Equal Pay Negotiations, saying that the first step in a negotiation “is to be silent, hush up, or SHUT UP!”Donovan said that if you’re offered a starting salary that’s lower than what you know is the median salary for this position, you can say something like: “Thank you for the offer. I’m a li ttle surprised about the salary, though. Based on my research I would have expected it to be in the [X] range.”Even if the hiring manager raises her eyebrows; even if he gasps in horror, don’t backpedal, and don’t run your mouth out of nervousness.As Dahl writes, the hiring manager “might not be able to reach the number you’re asking for, but let  them  tell you that; don’t undercut yourself by saying that for them.”A top executive says she uses the awkward-silence strategy to win negotiationsAlison Green, the woman behind the popular “Ask a Manager” advice column, has said something similar. On an episode of the  Ask a Manager podcast, Green tells a confused caller to ask, “Any chance you can go up to X?” and then stop talking.Green said: “Wait for an answer. It might take them a minute, there might be a pause there. That’s totally okay. Sometimes people get really nervous when there’s a pause there and they start talking again to fill in the silence, an d then they end up undercutting themselves and kind of backtracking. Say the words and then wait.”Note that this strategy isn’t used exclusively by knock-kneed entry-level employees. It’s also used by the likes of Joanna Coles, who is the chief content officer at Hearst Magazines, and has served as editor-in-chief of both Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan magazines.On an episode of Business Insider’s podcast, “This is Success,” Coles shared with Business Insider US editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell her best strategy for  winning a negotiation: silence.“In any kind of negotiation, silence is often your best friend because you don’t want to give too much away,” Coles told Shontell. “I’m always amazed when I’m negotiating with people from the other side of the desk, how people will rattle on and not stop talking. People talk a lot when they’re nervous.”Dahl quotes Green, the Ask a Manager columnist, in “Cringeworthy,” too. “My advice is that you should embra ce it,” Green said of awkwardness at work, “and find the humor in it.”This article first appeared on Business Insider. The best tactic to negotiate salary might be too awkward for most Psychologists often talk about the supposed benefits of  embracing discomfort. The idea is that, by leaning into feelings like anxiety and anger instead of resisting them, you’ll take away their power to consume you whole.This idea has always  held a lot of appeal for me, but I haven’t always been sure how to put it into practice.So I had a lightbulb moment towards the end of Melissa Dahl’s book “Cringeworthy,” in which she describes a very practical strategy for acknowledging your discomfort and giving it a big ol’ hug.Dahl writes specifically about embracing the inherent awkwardness during a salary negotiation. She quotes Katie Donovan, founder of the consultancy firm Equal Pay Negotiations, saying that the first step in a negotiation “is to be silent, hush up, or SHUT UP!”Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!Donovan said that if you’re offered a starting sal ary that’s lower than what you know is the median salary for this position, you can say something like: “Thank you for the offer. I’m a little surprised about the salary, though. Based on my research I would have expected it to be in the [X] range.”Even if the hiring manager raises her eyebrows; even if he gasps in horror, don’t backpedal, and don’t run your mouth out of nervousness.As Dahl writes, the hiring manager “might not be able to reach the number you’re asking for, but let  them  tell you that; don’t undercut yourself by saying that for them.”A top executive says she uses the awkward-silence strategy to win negotiationsAlison Green, the woman behind the popular “Ask a Manager” advice column, has said something similar. On an episode of the  Ask a Manager podcast, Green tells a confused caller to ask, “Any chance you can go up to X?” and then stop talking.Green said: “Wait for an answer. It might take them a minute, there might be a pause there. That’s totally okay. Sometimes people get really nervous when there’s a pause there and they start talking again to fill in the silence, and then they end up undercutting themselves and kind of backtracking. Say the words and then wait.”Note that this strategy isn’t used exclusively by knock-kneed entry-level employees. It’s also used by the likes of Joanna Coles, who is the chief content officer at Hearst Magazines, and has served as editor-in-chief of both Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan magazines.On an episode of Business Insider’s podcast, “This is Success,” Coles shared with Business Insider US editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell her best strategy for  winning a negotiation: silence.“In any kind of negotiation, silence is often your best friend because you don’t want to give too much away,” Coles told Shontell. “I’m always amazed when I’m negotiating with people from the other side of the desk, how people will rattle on and not stop talking. People talk a lot when they’re nervous.”Dahl quotes Green, the Ask a Manager columnist, in “Cringeworthy,” too. “My advice is that you should embrace it,” Green said of awkwardness at work, “and find the humor in it.”This article first appeared on Business Insider.