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I only got my two most successful jobs, each of which opened up a number of different opportunities because I contacted the right person at the right time. One job was in a genetics lab and the other was a science journalist, and neither was advertised beforehand; I got them both after sending many, many emails to many, many people explaining who I was and why I wanted to work for them. (On the second, they even created a new position especially for me.)

I’ve always considered both of these jobs lucky, but according to a recent one Harvard Business Review article Written by the Seattle newscaster Starla Sampaco, the approach to contacting potential supervisors you want to work for – even if they are not currently looking for a specific position – is worth your time and will likely give you an edge over other applicants.

According to Sampaco, the information is through Interviews with young professionals, these are some of the steps to follow when looking for a job this way:

Find your timing right

Both of the jobs I described came about because I was just contacting my future boss – after they considered hiring someone but before they started their search. That way, I presented myself as someone who was proactive and wanted the job, which is usually a good sign for a potential employee. I’ve also made their jobs easier by reducing the time it takes them to find a qualified candidate.

Timing is difficult, of course, so in many cases it will involve reaching out to someone who you believe will need your skills while realizing that you will be going to make a lot of misses before hitting a target. In general, I noticed that with the right timing it is more about recognizing when a company and / or a project is changing, whether a new initiative is being launched, a new group of employees has been promoted or whether someone has left another position or during the annual internship season.

As I have learned as a freelancer, it helps to ask questions at regular intervals. Just because they don’t need you now doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. You don’t want to be overly aggressive; Emailing a potential employer several times a year saying they might need your skills in the future is usually helpful, but emailing a couple of times a month is too much.

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As hard as it is to deal with a rejection, keep in mind that doing so will likely result in emailing a number of potential bosses who may appreciate your skills but just aren’t able right now are hiring someone. It’s hard to get a lot of no’s or just hear nothing until you finally contact the right person.

Identify the key players in the company

When we think of hiring decisions, we usually think of human resources. In practice, while all hiring decisions ultimately have to be made through HR, the person who actually looks at the applications and makes decisions about who to interview or hire is usually someone else – the hiring manager.

However, what you really want to do is identify the head of the hiring manager, as he often has great power in shaping the staffing and setting the hiring priorities. In small companies this is usually the founder or a manager, in larger companies it is often a director or executive.

As Sampaco Remarks,

“Your goal is to make these people your advocates and eventually refer you to the hiring managers on the teams you are interested in. Key people have the power to connect you, and if they do, the chances of getting an answer are far higher than if you stretched out coldly. ”

Key players also have a broader knowledge of a company’s organization and future plans than lower-level employees. The work a department does on paper can be very different from what it actually does, while future plans may require different skills than you might predict. The right person will have a clearer idea of ​​where your skills might fit.

Nail your briefing

A Briefing is an informal meeting between a job seeker and an employed specialist, usually so that the job seeker can learn as much as possible about topics related to career opportunities and corporate culture. This is an opportunity to find out what the culture and expectations of a company are like and what the daily reality of a particular job might look like.

Reaching out to a potential boss and asking for a briefing is an opportunity to find out about the company and the potential work there. As Sampaco advisesDuring this meeting, it is important to show interest in your area of ​​activity, ask questions about your experience in the company, ask how the position you are looking for might fit in, and ask for tips on how to apply. If the interview goes well, ask if there are any other people in the company you should speak to.

Connect to the Settings Manager

Once you have a better idea of ​​the company culture, the vacancies available, and the positions ahead, it’s a good time to finally get in touch with the hiring manager.

When you get in touch with them, you want to introduce yourself, provide a brief description of your skills and benefits to the company, and clearly describe why you want to talk to them and what you would like. I hope to get out of the conversation.

In the freelance world, we call these letters of recommendation, the purpose of which is to get in touch with a hiring manager, let them know that you exist and are good at what you do. Also make it clear why your attitude makes life easier for them – if there is one thing bosses like, it is an employee who makes sure that things run more smoothly in everyday life and that the boss looks good at the same time.

At this stage, it’s important to remember that job hunting and hiring decisions can be fluid. So instead of asking to be considered for a specific position, it is better to explain why your skills are so valuable to them and ask about any future opportunities. Sometimes the job you are actually hired for can be very different from the job you thought you would be considered for, which can be a good thing. The weird and wonderful thing about careers is that you never know what opportunities there are or what you are capable of until you ask about them. So make sure you ask.

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Studying a topic thoroughly takes more than reading about it or watching videos. It helps to discuss and apply your new knowledge, which is why it is so smart to team up with a classmate to study together. But what if you study alone? It turns out that you don’t need your fellow students to know your subject.

We love this tip from redditor u / ElboMan, who help their partner with learning:

My friend is studying for her CPA exam and we recently identified this as a very effective study method for her. She asks practice questions, we both say what we think is right, we check, and then she explains in detail why I am wrong. 90% of it goes completely over my head, and if I’m honest, most of the time I guess by chance but it helps her a lot. And as a bonus, I’m still learning a little bit about accounting.

Explaining something to another person is a great way to test how well you know. And even if you only learned a fact or concept a minute ago, putting it into words can help. Many of us did this once, for example explaining a concept to a friend the evening before a test. But making friends to do it as an ongoing practice sounds like a great way to structure your degree.

However, if you are the buddy keep in mind that the idea here is to help the student and not have a conversation until you have learned to your satisfaction. “If I just don’t understand it and she is satisfied that she understands it, we can continue without it being a problem,” ElboMan writes. And when you go to college, make sure you have set roles with your buddy. You don’t teach them, they help you.

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Not everyone in need of help will ask for it, and not everyone who asks for help will do it the same way. Sometimes what we know as a “cry for help” doesn’t necessarily seem to come from desperation. For this reason, it is helpful to understand the ways in which someone in a vulnerable state is asking for someone to notice them – even if their words or body language are not reflecting a personal crisis.

What is a cry for help?

It is more of a slang term than one defined by medical journals, but in the traditional sense a cry for help is a subtle expression of the need for help in dealing with serious internal unrest.

Or as Medical dictionary defines it:

A popular expression for verbalization – e.g. telephone calls to crisis intervention hotlines or actions – e.g. standing on the outside ledge of a high building, notes left in conspicuous places that indicate a state of extreme psychological stress or fear and suicide risk.

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We might associate the term as precursors to suicide, such as cuts or other non-life-threatening acts of self-harm. But when it comes to looking for help, a cry for help doesn’t necessarily have to be so violent. It can manifest in a more subtle way that is easier to miss.

What is a cry for help that is not so easily recognized?

To understand what a “cry for help” might look like, you need to recognize some of the hallmarks of depression. The Drug Abuse Management and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) lists the following behaviors as indicators of emotional stress and potential harbingers of self-harming behavior:

• Eat or sleep too much or too little
• To withdraw from people and things
• Have little or no energy
• Have unexplained pain, such as constant abdominal pain or headache
• Feeling helpless or hopeless
• Excessive smoking, drinking, or use of drugs, including prescription drugs
• To worry often; feeling guilty but not sure why
• Remember to harm or kill yourself or someone else
• Difficulty transitioning to private or work life

You will find that many of these behaviors, whether it’s overeating or taking prescription drugs, are not necessarily signs of stress. Certainly, many people who suffer from depression do not express their problems out of fear Exclusion or the stigma associated with it – especially men. It’s important to understand the more nondescript symptoms, which don’t necessarily seem like a blatant request, because they can definitely creep in if a loved one shows them.

What are some of the more glaring calls for help?

You will find that what we might classify as a cry for help rarely includes the words “I need help.” Still, some of the ways a person can express help and compassion are more outward-looking, like through the University of Wisconsin, Madison Health Department:

• Oral or written evidence of suicide or death
• Talk about being a burden on others
• Feelings of hopelessness or helplessness
• Suicide and / or death threats
• Look for things that could be used in a suicide attempt, such as guns and drugs and others

The list of behaviors is not a standard problem either; There are many ways people can express a level of helplessness, so it is important that other people are present and engaged in their lives.

How to speak to someone who may be crying out for help

Empathy is always a good start. By expressing that you feel for someone’s predicament without blaming them, even if their behavior was self-destructive, you show that you ultimately followed their call. The Cleveland Clinic recommends Put yourself in the shoes of the person “without judgment”. It’s good to keep eye contact while listening and say things like, ‘That sounds harsh. I’m sorry you’re going through this’ and ‘I’m always here for you’. “

Naturally, Therapy recommendation is always an option if that person hasn’t already considered it. Knowing what you can’t fix is ​​also an important lesson, but it’s important to have a system of support for the problems that you know you can help with.

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An increase in well-intentioned, remote “check-in meetings” during the pandemic only made work more difficult. According to surveys, most employees want fewer meetings and that those meetings make them less productive, but there are ways to contain all of the “touchpoints” that are sticking up your calendar. So you can reclaim your schedule without annoying your colleagues.

A casual “check-in meeting” is really just another formal meeting

Collaboration and socializing are much more difficult working remotely than working together in an office. To make up for this, many workers have added more “check-in” meetings to their schedule – too many, it turns out, like a current survey of remote employees shows that 70% of respondents hope to hold fewer meetings when they return to the office. And since a remote worker is literally less visible, supervisors are more likely to rely on “check-ins” to make sure the employee is fine.

The problem is, many of these meetings are simply less effective than the spontaneous hustle and bustle that once dominated office work. For all the benefits of working remotely, even coordinating a “quick call” requires text chat, sending out invitations, and claiming part of your calendar. Before, if a colleague was overwhelmed in the office, the more likely you would see them and come back later, unless it was urgent.

And even these additional virtual meetings are not always effective, especially for team calls. There are no side conversations, less clarifying heckling and in video meetings there is a panopticon effect of always being “on”, which leads to that Zoom fatigue (Compare a virtual happy hour with a real office party). During one study found that the average length of meetings 20% liked it during the pandemic it is not clear that they are more effective.

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This will avoid too many check-in meetings

• Block time in your schedule for real work. According to the muse, a middle manager typically spends 35% of their working day in meetings. While this is not entirely avoidable, plan large periods of two to three hours for work that requires sustained concentration. You should also plan time in which you are available for meetings, as you want to be flexible for the team if necessary.
• Insist on an agenda. When meetings drag on with no point or too much small talk, ask for an agenda – even if it’s something informal, like a handful of bullet points sent through Slack. It is useful to ask for an agenda so that you can prepare for the meeting. In addition, agendas have the additional advantage that you give your meeting structure, since you can always trace a degressive conversation back to the stated goals of the meeting.
• Learn to politely decline meetings. As long as you can refer to an hourly record of your work and explain your priorities, it is possible to decline a meeting because you are too busy. A blocked calendar can be helpful here, as the problem then becomes a “planning conflict”.
• Make sure your manager knows your communication style. Managers are not mind readers, and some of their direct reports require more attention than others, but that doesn’t mean you need a personal check-in call every week just because someone else is doing it. There is nothing wrong with it, for example, For example, gently suggest biweekly instead of weekly meetings, or a phone call instead of video chat.