Are Industry Conferences Useful for Job Seekers

Are Industry Conferences Useful for Job Seekers 6 TheMarker's Com.vention 2007 will be taking place March 18th and 19th at Airport City outside Tel Aviv. The first day has an international theme concentrating a very full program of local and foreign Internet celebrities such as Yair Goldfinger and Loïc Le Meur. The planned speeches and talks will cover the latest Web trends and looks to be interesting, especially if you weren't fortunate enough to have been at an event like Loïc's LeWeb3 in December 2006. In parallel, there will be workshops by people like Orli Yakuel and Eyal Shahar talking about Web2.0. The second day focuses on major Israeli business leaders and how their industries have adapted to the Internet Age. It appears that this will be the ‘enough talk, how will it help me?' day / the practical, applicable lessons day, as opposed to the food-for-thought discussions from the first day. If your company is not in hitech and you'd like to know which Internet technologies can help your operations, this second day is the day that you should put on your calendar. Day 2's workshops cover topics like SEO, blogging and creating Internet buzz cheaply. I'm a job seeker, why should I care? Network, Network, Network. Going to an industry conference is a terrific way to meet industry people â€" you strike up conversation with other people standing in line, going through security, receiving your badge, looking for electrical plugs, complaining about lack of Wifi or some other amenity taken for granted in this setting (perhaps â€" running water at a plumbing conference?), waiting for a speaker to begin, getting food, queuing for the washroom, dancing on a table, etc. The opportunities are endless, and every person you meet is another connection waiting to happen. The same goes for you â€" people will want to meet you, so you need to be prepared:eval Top 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of a Conference 10 Conference Networking Tips Networking Tips, Links Resources If you go to the Com.vention or another hitech conference, it would also be useful to know some of the secrets of successful Internet conference marketing. If I'm a job seeker, how can I afford it? What's to afford? It's true that entry to Com.vention 2007 officially costs NIS 400 +VAT for one day or NIS 650 +VAT for both days, but if you contact the editors of the.co.ils asap you may still be able to get one of the free invitations that they're giving away.eval There aren't any free passes, now what? Try contacting the conference organizer in advance to request a free pass or discount. It doesn't take much time and you may be pleasantly surprised by their reply because in the end, organizers want all their seats to be full. In that vein, I would only recommend doing this if the conference isn't already sold out. Also, be sure to explain clearly to the organizers where your interest is coming from; if it makes sense to them, they may decide to invite you. Another tactic if you have the time â€" offer to volunteer at the conference. This will get you in the door for free and although you will be limited in enjoying the full experience of being there, you would probably still be able to take advantage of your time by doing some networking. If satisfied, the organizers could decide to thank you with a pass for the following year. If all these tips weren't enough to get you into the Com.vention 2007, a last minute announcement is that the sessions are streaming over the Net. Thanks to Moshe Maeir for that tip.

Sarah Lacys Personal Branding Confessions - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Sarah Lacys Personal Branding Confessions - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Sarah Lacy has reported on startups and venture capital in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade. She writes Valley Girl, a biweekly column for BusinessWeek and co-hosts Tech Ticker on Yahoo! Finance. Sarah is an award winning journalist and author of a brand new book called Once Youre Lucky, Twice Youre Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0 (Gotham Books, May 2008). This is by far the best interview Ive ever conducted. I promise you will take away at least one piece of advice from listening to Sarahs story. With hard work, determination, a network and a little bit of luck, I see no reason any of you cant rise to the top like Sarah did. Ive shared four personal branding success stories on this blog and this one certainly is a fifth for the collection. You can view Sarahs blog here if you have deeper interest in her background or simply want to connect or leave a comment. How has journalism, more specifically your experiences with BusinessWeek and Yahoo!, helped you build your personal brand and network with those who supported your book efforts? Sarah Lacy: Well, the most obvious way is just having the platform and tacit endorsement of the largest circulation business magazine (in BW) and the largest media audience ever (in Yahoo). I’m incredibly lucky not just to have had both in my careerâ€"but to be able to do work for BusinessWeek and Yahoo simultaneously. Even so, there are no quick ways to build a brand the right way. It seems to a lot of people like I appeared out of nowhere in 2006 with the Digg cover and subsequent book deal, but really so much of building my brand had been a decade of effort. I’ve never wanted the brand to be about me, so much as the work that I do and what makes it unique. That takes an actual career, building sources, credibility and just getting better at it through great editors and mentors. Anyone can look at a business and come up with a quick, snarky blog post. Really have substantive business analysis takes reporting and sources and experience. So much of my book was steeped in a decade covering tech and finance, making contacts along the way that I had no idea would prove to be as valuable as they have. Reporting is a true relationship business, when it’s done well. That’s the most lasting way to build a brand, one relationship at a time. Whether that’s a relationship with peers in the industry, sources or even readers. That way whenever there’s a silly “controversy” about you, the people who matter know you and don’t care. The whole reason I got this book deal was because I had incredibly unique access to the players. That’s something not even the best pedigreed publication can get you. It just takes building your credibility and trust over time. Put another way: your brand within your small sphere is crucial to build before you can build any sort of larger brand in the world. What influenced you to write your new book, Once Youre Lucky. Twice Youre Good? Did you know you wanted to be an author when you first started your career? Sarah Lacy: It was actually news to me that I even wanted to be a reporter, much less a business reporter! I’d never taken a journalism class or a business class in my life! I interned at a business weekly and just fell in love with it. I think people are intimidated by business and they shouldn’t be. First off, it’s important as corporations really do rule our lives in one way or another. And second, business reporting done well are just stories about people. People love stories about people. I knew I wanted to write a book back in 2001 when I read “Infinite Loop” by Michael Malone on a red-eye to New York. I couldn’t put it down. It was so obvious how much more richly you could explore the things about journalism I love in a bookâ€"like the people, relationships, conflicts, redemption. By the time the plane landed, my goal was to write a very narrative non-fiction book. But that’s also every reporter’s goal, so I thought I’d be lucky if it happened to me one day. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to do it at such a young age, and for a mass market publisher like Penguin. I actually freaked out a little once I closed the deal realizing I needed a new career goal! When it came to this book in particular, I knew after working for months on the BusinessWeek cover about Kevin Rose I had a much bigger story that needed to be told, that I was in a unique position to tell. It was all I could think about. Out of all the web moguls you interviewed, such as Max Levchin from Paypal, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook and Marc Andreesen, who was the most interesting you? Which story was most surprising? Sarah Lacy: It’s really like asking me to pick between children. I decided who was going to be in the book, not based on their businesses at the time, but purely on whom I found fascinating, whom I thought would be more relevant in 2008 when the book would be published and beyond. So the degree to which someone is in the book tells you exactly how fascinating I found them! (I’m sure Max Levchin has this graphed somewhere…) I do have to say the chapter that focuses on Marc Andreessen, “Return of the King,” has always been one of my favorites. I’ve long been fascinated by what it must have been like to be Marc Andreessen. He was made to be such a symbol for everything right and wrong with the most insane period in Silicon Valley’s economic history, but really he’s just a guy. I didn’t come to the Valley until the peak of the bubble, and have always been sad I didn’t get to cover Marc in Netscape’s early days, before he was MARC ANDREESSEN. I’ve had the opposite experience covering Mark Zuckerberg so closely during the Facebook run up, so those two are sort of bookends for my reporting experience. The chapters on Mark Zuckerberg were the hardest to write. He is the single hardest person in the book to get a handle on, and the most difficult to interview. But over the course of getting to know him I went from thinking he was a total train wreck to a very innately talented leader and visionary. I have a lot of respect for him now, and always feel bad that people misread him so badly. I’m proud of the chapters on Marc and Mark because they’ve been written about so exhaustively, but I feel you see a totally different side of each of them in my book. That was not easy though! In contrast, the chapters on Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson and Max Levchin wrote themselves at times. I spent the most time with the three of themâ€"I mean hundreds of hoursâ€" and they were each so incredibly open about their thoughts and feelings, it was really just getting it on the page and hoping they didn’t cringe too much when they read it months later! What is your opinion on the fall of the dot-com era and the awakening of the new silicon valley with web 2.0/social media? Do you think there is new hope or is this just another cycle? Sarah Lacy: Well I think the most positive and most damning thing about this wave of companies is that so far no one is going public. As I explain in detail in the book, I think there will be far fewer huge public companies to come out of this wave, but the companies themselves are far more socially transformative. So while there’s no danger of Web 2.0 wrecking the Nasdaq and our economy, it’s also in many ways not as huge of a mainstream business story. It’s really more of a people story and a culture story. After your cover story about Digg Founder Kevin Rose, how has your personal brand become more well-known? What opportunities were you given as a result and how has your life changed? Sarah Lacy: My goal when I moved to Silicon Valley to cover venture capital was simple: I would work really hard, go to work at the Wall Street Journal or BusinessWeek, write a big A-1 feature or a cover, and get a book deal. No one is more astounded than I am that it actually worked out that way! It wasn’t that easy though. The economy crashed soon after moving here and reporting jobs were impossible to find. I worked at the San Jose Business Journal for yearsâ€"through a lot of layoffs and regime changes, thinking I might never get a job at a national publication. When I was interviewing at BusinessWeek (finally!) it was a long six month process. At one point, they wanted me to accept a job in Chicago. I went there to check it out and met Brian Growâ€"and ace reporter for BusinessWeek, who’d also had a bit of a bumpy journey getting to a staff position. He told me my first cover would change my life but I didn’t really believe him. I didn’t see why it’d be that much different from having a story in the magazine. It’s not always, but ours (I co-wrote it with Jessi Hempel, who’s now at Fortune) was not an average cover. That made it pretty brutal to push through BusinessWeek and pretty controversial once it came out. But it also made it a cover no one forgot, which is pretty special to be a part of. And that was it. Penguin called us both. Jessi didn’t want to write a book, and I did. I got an amazing deal and quit my job about a month later and my life has never been the same since. Because I was covering such a high profile scene, I basically lost all my privacy. I had to get used to being photographed, written about, and regularly trashed by anonymous commenters. It’s not fun and very hard on my husband and our families. But other than that, my life is better than I could have dreamed. I have so many opportunities and get to tell stories over so many media, whether it’s as old-school as a book or my video show on Yahoo Finance. I get to travel all over the world, meeting with entrepreneurs. That’s a big reason I write a column for BusinessWeek stillâ€"I’m very grateful for the opportunities editors there gave me. If I had my wish, I’d probably still be an obscure byline on a story. But that’s not an option if you want to be an author in this day and age, You have to promote yourself constantly. It’s definitely worth it, but I hope to stop reading mean comments about myself one of these days! I can’t take my mother-in-law crying anymore!

How to be Yourself on Social Media While Staying Professional - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to be Yourself on Social Media While Staying Professional - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career It’s almost necessary to be social media savvy these days, so much so that there seems a frenzy to be seen as the coolest, most down-to-earth, real, caring and/or opinionated person on the Internet. Because social networking has been lauded as a key to career momentum and growth, individuals are running in droves to the social media forums and rapidly erecting profiles and conversation passages. Oftentimes, those profiles and successive conversations are rushed, loosely constructed and not very well thought out. As well, in an effort to be ‘authentic,’ social media enthusiasts often weave in personal diatribes and passionate assertions that leave their followers, friends and contacts reeling. People try so hard to blend social with professional personas that they create chinks in their personal reputation. Pitfalls and Benefits Arise When Being Authentic on Social Media Networks Portraying one’s authentic self without a filter is all well and good for you if you are willing to accept the risk that you will offend some and more so, are willing to live with the consequences. For example, are you willing to thwart opportunities to get an interview with or land business from certain connections based on asserting your personal values, religious beliefs, political ideas or even personality quirks? Perhaps, for you, such divisiveness may be desirable, as you seek to attract like-minded people with similar values and cultures with whom to work, do business and simply, with whom to network. More Conservative Persona May Reel in Wider Audience Or, perhaps you are more risk averse and want everyone to like you and wish to be able to open doors at virtually any opportunity. You simply want to venture online to present your best, most non-controversial self and cast the widest, most appealing net. In those situations, your profiles and posts should be more conservative and professional and focus on a display of your subject matter expertise. Perhaps, if your personality lends itself to it, you may even sprinkle in lighthearted posts with the aim of making others happy or to spark a giggle. Some might consider this a benign way of navigating social media, but for you, the return on being safe is having a reputation for being laid back and approachable. Further, to really be a team player, you will add a meaningful comment or two at other folks’ posts or share others’ wisdom to show reciprocity and support. Bottom-line Key to Achieving Career Momentum Through Social Media The bottom line key to achieve career momentum through social mediaâ€"whether you wish to be full on authentic or take a more conformist approachâ€"is thoughtfulness laced with a bit of strategy. So, even if you are going to splay your personality in its full color for all to see, don’t confuse that with being unfiltered and free for all. Think before you post. If you are creating a new profile for a popular social media site like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest or even for your blog or personal career marketing website, consider your audience’s needs and pain points. Don’t just paint a me-centric picture of yourself and focus in only on what interests you. For example, you may be tempted to broadcast that you “love heavy metal music despite it being at odds with your southern country roots;” that is okay as long as you can weave it into the context of a bigger story that relates to your target audience’s needs. While not every single thing you post to a social network has to have deep and resounding meaning and connection to your target audience, it would be wise to consider the following as a rule of thumb for a majority of your posts: Will the story and conversation threads around that story endear you to a potential hiring manager or someone who can network you into their company? Will your story strengthen a connection and lift your career goals? If so, keep it; if not, strike it. Author Bio Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, MRW  is an author for Glassdoor.com.

5 Ways To Make Time For Everything

5 Ways To Make Time For Everything Have you ever wished you had at least 5 more hours to fit in the day? Or maybe you were wondering how everybody else seems to accomplish so much, while you are stuck spinning the wheel, losing precious time and without any adequate results. Well search no more â€" here are you top 5 tips using simple priorities that would kick your productivity into overdrive. 1. Own Your Time Sure we all have miles long to-do list, or our boss tossing around new assignment as if they were candies on 5 YO birthday party, or maybe you are an aspiring entrepreneur who feels she has to work about 17 hours a day to make it work… point is: you are busy. I get this. Now breath deep and reclaim back you own time!  In the book  â€œThe Big Leap”, Gay Hendricks   writes that you are in charge of your time. You are where time comes from. You can make as much of it as you want.  So say to yourself right now, “I acknowledge that I am the source of my time”; and your stress will disappear the moment you accept that  and you really claim ownership of it. 2. Declutter Your Priorities If you take a moment to study world-class experts in nearly any field â€" athletes, artists, scientists, teachers, CEOs â€" you’ll see this is true. One characteristic that runs through all of them is focus. As the first step, write down everything that has to be done, and then highlight only those tasks that are both important and urgent.  Set priorities.  Avoid the “last in first out” trap that many career girls experience.  If you want to actually achieve your career goals instead of adding it to the list of diets to do, hobbies to pick up, languages and instruments to learn, and the like that you never actually finish, then practicing focus is the key 3. Think small The big project is freaking you out? Overwhelmed by the mere idea of starting your own side gig? Stop! What? No, don’t drop the entire idea, just stop obsessing about it â€" think small instead. Everyone is on the lookout for tactics and hacks that can make success easier, but here’s the best one: start small. A life makeover is something massive and ambitious, but there’s no need to eat the entire elephant at once. Whether it’s with your habits or with the actual goals being accomplished, the bigger the project, the harder it is to do. So you don’t have to apply for four job positions a day, or jump right into med-school, or finish nineteen tasks every day. Instead, tone it down a bit and do something like: reach out to the social network of your dream career twice a week. Eventually, with small steps you’re sure to commit to, it becomes super manageable, attainable, and even fun!  4. Outsource you tasks Stop wasting time on things you are not good at and on tasks that  dont  give a concrete edge into realizing your dreams. If somebody else is more suitable for doing the job; why are you doing it? Delegation and outsourcing allow you to hand the job off to someone who can complete it successfully, allowing you to focus on more important activities. Sure not everyone can afford a private assistant, a chauffeur and your in-house cook (would life be awesome if we could?), but there are definitely small things you can drop from your own to-do list to make a bit more room for fun. Maybe a cleaning lady once every two weeks? Maybe more responsibility to you kids (if they are old enough)? How about asking your boss to allocate another person to partially help you with this particular project? Or maybe just deciding that not everything has to be prefect all the time… and letting go of some annoying little assignments,.. well just because. 5. Batch everything up Batching  is when you group similar tasks into blocks of time.   During this time you have no distractions.  Did you know that every time you are distracted, it takes 15 minutes to regain complete focus again? Examples are only looking at emails or social media at certain times of the day.  Setting a timer, shutting off distractions and only working on your dream business/ jon research/ updating you CV for a given time. I also recommend batching errands, meal planning, meetings, laundry or personal appointments â€" really I don’t write about cooking (trust me, you wouldn’t want to read that â€" but batching my meal preparation and freezing them has changed my life!) Setting priorities, batching, outsourcing, and the other ideas mentioned are just the beginning, but as you make them part of your daily habits, the road to your goals will get a lot smoother! Main Photo Credit: CEA +

The Use of Resume Writing Services by Employers

The Use of Resume Writing Services by EmployersIf you're planning on applying for a job in Washington DC, it's a good idea to have an actual resume, and it's even better if you can write one. Resume writing services can help you make yours as effective as possible, and your prospects will be more likely to hire you the next time you turn up for an interview. There are several good resume writing services available to you, but one of the best is the one you should use.While many professional resume writing services will offer a variety of services, you'll find that a reputable service will focus solely on Washington DC jobs. They will be able to send you an original, professional resume that shows you have the skills needed to succeed in the Washington DC job market. A good service will be able to assess your specific needs and suggest a resume that will help you land the job you're seeking.Another reason to get a resume writing service is because they can provide you with tips and su ggestions that will make your resume stand out among the others you've seen. Whether you're applying for a position in the transportation department or a position in sales, having a great resume will help you land the job you want. Having a compelling resume helps candidates sell themselves, and a good service will be able to identify areas where you may be lacking. These include things like a weak ability to multi-task and a strong interest in using technology.Also, having a quality resume will give you a leg up when you attend the interview that you've prepared for. Even if you've never had a job interview before, you should be able to do very well at your first job interview if you're using a resume. Many resume services focus on helping their clients land their first jobs, and this is something they know. Also, they understand that a quality resume is essential to getting the job you're seeking.Inorder to get a quality resume, it's important to get a quality service. You want to be able to trust the work of a company that's been in business for many years, has excellent references from current and past clients, and has a reputation for delivering excellent work. Also, you want to find a company that offers you extensive resources such as an extensive database of employers in Washington DC.A resume service can take the time to go through your resume and recommend changes and also provide you with a template. By using the template, you can tweak the wording to reflect the skills and qualifications you want to put on your resume. They will also offer you tips on making the most of your career opportunities and on selling yourself. If you use a resume service, this is all you need to do in order to turn up a great resume that you can use to land a great job.If you're planning on applying for a job in Washington DC, you'll be glad to know that there are several resume writing services that can help you make yours as effective as possible. While some of them wil l only do part-time jobs, you can still make your resume as professional as possible. This way, you can show the employer you have the skills and capabilities they're looking for, without having to put in all the time and energy to do it.If you want to be prepared for the first interview that you have, you'll be glad to know that resume writing services are there to help. They can customize your resume for you and help you focus on the skills and experiences you need to show the employer. In turn, you'll be ready to answer the call when the employer calls you back.

The IELTS Listening Exam Question Types and More

The IELTS Listening Exam Question Types and More If you are studying for your IELTS exam, then you’ll need to practice for the all-important listening assessment. Whether you are taking IELTS General Training or IELTS Academic, both assessments involve taking the same listening exam. In this blog, we’re going to give you a breakdown on what the IELTS Listening test involves, and the types of questions that you’ll face.IMPORTANT: Included in this blog is a complete online IELTS listening practice test. Please read the full article before downloading the  IELTS listening practice test audio files at the end of the blog.Let’s start by looking at what IELTS actually is.What is IELTS?IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. This is a testing system which assesses the language and writing skill of people who want to work or study in countries where English is the most-used/primary means of communication. Candidates are scored on a scale of 9-1, with 9 being the highest and 1 being the lowest.There are two t ypes of IELTS, Academic and General Training. Both versions will assess your reading skills, your writing skills, your listening skills, and your speaking skills.The IELTS Listening AssessmentThe IELTS Listening assessment is the same for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. It is designed to assess your ability to understand spoken English. There are four sections to the listening assessment, consisting of 10 questions each. The test-taker will listen to each section, then answer 10 questions based on that section. The test lasts for 30 minutes, with 10 minutes to answer each section. After each recording, you will have 10 minutes to answer, before moving onto the next recording.The sections are as follows:Recording 1. The first recording will be of two people, and will be set in an everyday setting. For example, you might hear two people discussing the weather, or an upcoming party.Recording 2. The second recording will be a monologue, again set in an everyday environme nt/subject. For example, you might hear somebody discussing what they do for their job.Recording 3. The third recording will be of up to four people, and will be set in an educational or work-based/training environment. For example, you might hear students discussing their essay topic, or employees talking with their boss.Recording 4. The final recording will be of a monologue, set in an educational environment. So, you might somebody discussing an academic subject.The main thing that the assessors are looking for in this test, is your ability to understand ideas and information, plus opinions and viewpoints of speakers. Your ability to take in information and understand this, through what you have heard, is fundamental to this exercise.IELTS Listening Question TypesTask 1. Task 1 consists of multiple-choice type questions. You’ll have to choose between three possible answers to a question, or you’ll be asked to complete a sentence, again choosing between three possible answers. Task 2. In task 2, candidates are required to match a list of numbered items from the text, with a set of options. For example, if one of the speakers is trying to book a hotel, but they need the hotel to match certain criteria. You’ll be given a list of criteria, and then asked to decide which one best fits with requirements of the speaker.Task 3. In task 3 candidates are asked to complete labels on a diagram, based on what they’ve heard on the recording. For example, you might be asked to name the places on a map, based on what the speakers have said, or fill in their individual locations. The aim of this task is to ensure that the candidate understands verbal descriptions, and can mentally relay this in the form of visual recreation, or following instructions.Task 4. In task 4, candidates will be asked to fill in gaps in a diagram or written information, using what they’ve heard in the text. You will be given a word limit for each gap, or you may be given a set of answers from which to choose.Task 5. In task 5, candidates are asked to complete a series of sentences, containing missing words. The candidate then has to fill in the missing word, using information from the text. Again, you will be given a word limit for this, which will be specified in the question.Task 6. In task 6, candidates are asked to read a question based on the text, and then write a short answer using what they’ve heard. Again, you will be given a word limit.IELTS LISTENING TEST FREE DOWNLOADYou can download a full IELTS listening practice test audio files below for free.  Please note, for the accompanying questions, you will need to use these audio files in conjunction with our IELTS General Training Academic Study Practice Guide which provides a complete  IELTS academic listening practice test with answers and IELTS listening tips. First Name * Email * Agree to privacy and terms * By downloading this resource, you are agreeing to How2Become’s Privacy Policy and for How2Become Ltd to contact you with marketing information relating to IELTS tests and How2Become’s resources and offers.   Download Now » #section_1465213188{padding-top:60px;padding-bottom:60px;min-height:300px;background-color:rgb(245,245,245)} This entry was posted in Assessment Centres. Bookmark the permalink. Jordan Cooke Train Driver Managers Interview QuestionsGCSE Results Day 2018 â€" Everything You Need to Know

Helping and happiness - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Helping and happiness - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Theres an excellent article in HBR about The Culture of Helping at US innovation agency IDEO by Teresa Amabile (whose work we already love around here)??Colin M. Fisher, and Julianna Pillemer. The authors raises some issues around helping behavior and point out that helping co-workers may not come naturally: Helpfulness must be actively nurtured in organizations, however, because it does not arise automatically among colleagues. Individuals in social groups experience conflicting impulses: As potential helpers, they may also be inclined to compete. As potential help seekers, they may also take pride in going it alone, or be distrustful of those whose assistance they could use. On both sides, help requires a commitment of time for uncertain returns and can seem like more trouble than it?s worth. Through their structures and incentives, organizations may, however unwittingly, compound the reluctance to provide or seek help. In their study, they looked at what mattered most: In our survey of the entire office population, people were asked to click on the names of all those who helped them in their work and to rank their top five helpers from first to fifth. (See the exhibit ?What Makes an IDEO Colleague Most Helpful??) Then they were asked to rate their number one helper, their number five helper, and a randomly suggested ?nonhelper? (someone whose name they hadn?t selected) on several items. Those items assessed three characteristics: competence (how well the person did his or her job); trust (how comfortable the respondent was sharing thoughts and feelings with the person); and accessibility (how easily the respondent could obtain help from the person). The kicker: Trust and accessibility mattered much more than competence. When looking for help, people dont necessarily go to the smartest colleague but to the one they trust the most and have easy access to. All in all, the article is a fascinating look into an organization that has succeeded in creating a culture where asking for and offering help is?a natural part of the culture. Go read the whole thing its excellent (free to read, registration required). I believe that a culture of helping is essential for creating a happy workplace because everything is easier, if you know youre not alone and you can get help when youre stuck. Also, I believe that the desire to help others?is much more common in happy workplaces. We know from several studies, that happy people are less selfish and more helpful towards others. Another excellent example is New York-based?Next Jump who make software for employee engagement programs. They transitioned their internal employee awards, so they no longer go to the best or?most skilled employees, but to the ones who help others succeed the most: In short, I believe that a culture of helping is both a tool to create a happier workplace and an indicator of workplace happiness. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related