by Solange Lopes | Oct 9, 2014 | Career |
Is it ok to take selfies at work – Photo credit: uptown magazine.com
In the era of selfies, and posting one’s entire life on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, if you haven’t snapped a photo or two of you smiling (or purposely frowning) into the camera, you may be living under a rock (which in this case is OK).
Other than the fact that selfies have been linked to narcissism, or that selfies are apparently crossing all decency barrier into all occasions including funerals, is it OK to snap a pic of you at work? Does all the confidential stuff serving you as professional background have a place in your smartphone, or on social media for that matter? And if your fellow cube dweller happens to snap his own selfies all day long, should you just shrug and replicate?
My $0.05: I don’t have anything against the whole selfie culture, although it should definitely be done in moderation. Yet of all the places to take a selfie, I would recommend not doing it at work. Not only would it seriously put your professionalism in question, but really, how self-obsessed do you want to look to your co-workers?
What do you think? Are selfies at work ok?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Oct 9, 2014 | Career
Alfani Ruffle Collar Wool Blazer – $84.99 – Photo credit: www.macys.com
I’m in fashion lust with this Alfani ruffle collar blazer with faux-leather details! This is really a stunner, especially in this teal color (it’s also available in grey).
Loving the flattering ruffles at the collar and the streamlined silhouette of this blazer. It would look perfect with elegant slacks or a sleek pencil skirt.
I’d pair this stunning blazer with a no-less elegant work bag like this quilted faux-leather tote from Forever 21, or this Reiss version.
This blazer is $84.99 at Macy’s!
Psst….Look out for Columbus Day sales and discounts at Macy’s!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Oct 9, 2014 | Working Mom & Woman Tips |
On parental pressure and choosing the wrong career – Photo credit: madamenoire.com
If you watched The Middle on ABC last night, you couldn’t have missed Axl struggling with major anxiety the entire episode, before being admonished by his father to pick Business.While in Axl’s case, he needed the admonition, in many other cases, most of us could have done without…
Your mom told you so. Heck, everyone else did too…The immense pressure of career choice was upon you as you graduated from high school, you just had to make the best decision, for yourself and everyone else…but mostly for everyone else. My mother raised all four of us as a single mom, and wanted us to pick lucrative, well-regarded careers. Her dream was for at least one of us to be a doctor, which didn’t exactly work out as planned.
Overcoming parental pressure to pick the careers we really want is no small feat. It goes even further than that, as parents often play a big role in determining their children’s success, and happiness. And most often, the reality is most of us did not exactly resist the parental pressure. Instead, we caved in, got the degree and ended up in some office with all the apparent signs of success, yet feeling like we failed ourselves.
So what should you do if your parents pressured you to pick the wrong career, and you actually did? Do you just chuck it up to bad luck, keep pursuing your dreams even if on the side, or just resign yourself to your fate?
1. There’s a reason for everything! As lame as it may sound, it’s true. There was a reason I got this Accounting degree, paid my dues and learnt what I now know. If anything, I can write about it…
2. Make your dream a part of your life! Dreaming of a writing career? Well, start writing right where you are, at work, in your side hustle, everywhere you can get your pen through. Use your talents in your current career, moonlight when you can, and have faith it will all come together…
3. Stop blaming your parents! Let go of the resentment and blame, accept that your career was also your choice. As soon as you start letting go of the “what if’s” and the anger, your path becomes clearer, even in the midst of uncertainty and confusion…
Did your parents pressure you to pick the wrong career? How did you cope?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Oct 8, 2014 | Career |
Weave app – Photo credi: geekwire.com
If you’d rather meet professional contacts than hang around at happy hour, then there’s an app for you! Weave allows you to locate other professionals you’d actually want to meet with, and it connects with your Linked in profile.
So long dreadful networking events where you didn’t know a soul, and had to the walk of shame across the room to introduce yourself to perfect strangers! Much like the Tinder app, Weave uses your location to match you up with prospective professional contacts you can meet up with for coffee, at a networking event or…at your next job interview.
My $0.05: I like this idea of pre-networking. It’s like baking a cake with the pre-made mix, you have more choice, more time and you can still take the credit for it!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Oct 8, 2014 | Career
Simplify the most complex tasks at work – Photo: http://1.bp.blogspot.com
I had just gotten the job and on my first week, I got assigned a new project. When the Director said during my interview that I was expected to be drinking from the firehose, he wasn’t joking…It was a new, complex process I knew nothing about, and somehow I had to make it simple enough to make it past my new job nerves, and past my new Manager…
As with time management, performing any task at work requires understanding it first. And in the era of automating and delegating everything for productivity’s sake, it requires understanding it FAST!
1. Get a “can-do” attitude! Attitude is everything, especially at work. When confronted with a challenging task, or a new project you know absolutely nothing about, fix your mind first, as my grand-mother would say! Remember, if you think you can, you’re right!
2. If you can draw it, you got it! As an auditor working with different processes at different companies, it would be easy to get confused by the complexity of businesses everywhere. So I took a cue from my toddler: anything, anything is so much simpler if you can draw it. Whether you scribble on a piece of paper, or build an elaborate flowchart on Visio, get to drawing and visualizing the task at hand!
3. Now it’s puzzle time! Once you’ve garnered your can-do attitude and drawn your task, process or project, it’s puzzle time! Now that you can visualize all the pieces, it’s easier to mentally assemble and disassemble them to pinpoint the areas you need to focus on.
After all, it’s NOT rocket science!
How do you simplify complex tasks at work?
The Corporate Sis.
