Tag: soft skills
4 Tips for Building Mental Toughness During Difficult Life Seasons
Difficult times are inevitable in life, testing your emotional health and mental strength. If you find yourself facing tough times and need to build and strengthen your mental toughness, there are effective ways to do so. In this blog, we’ll break down four tips for boosting your mental strength and toughness during difficult seasons of life.
What is Mental Toughness?
Mental toughness is the ability to handle difficult situations and hardships calmly. Instead of suffering anxiety and overwhelming stress, you are able to manage your emotions and thoughts. Mentally tough people don’t stress over mistakes and negative events; they find ways to learn from them and grow because of them.
Mental toughness means taking responsibility for your life and focusing on finding solutions to problems. You have strong values and do not worry about things you can’t control. Mentally strong people can face their mistakes, accept constructive criticism, and learn from their failures.
Tips for Building Mental Toughness
While some people seem naturally stronger than others, mental toughness is something you can learn. To improve your mental toughness, use these techniques:
Find Your Purpose
When hard times come to you, having a firm purpose gives you the motivation you need to persevere through. No matter what obstacles are present, knowing your purpose and pushing forward toward it despite obstacles will build your mental strength.
Be Positive
A positive mindset is an essential aspect of mental toughness. The ability to look for the good in the worst situations and focus on a positive outcome will boost your confidence in the face of temporary setbacks. An easy way to increase your positivity and have a more optimistic mindset, create a mission statement for yourself. It will inspire you to push through challenges and stay strong.
Get Uncomfortable
Mental toughness takes time to build, and you’ll find that you can’t make good progress unless you get out of your comfort zone. To build up your mental toughness, you have to make yourself uncomfortable. Push yourself that extra mile, pass on that extra helping at dinner, or take cold showers to increase your tolerance.
Visualize and Focus on Your Goals
When you have a purpose and a positive mindset, staying focused is the key to developing mental toughness. Don’t let short-term failures or negative feedback slow your pursuit of your goals. Stay focused on the future success you envision and keep moving forward toward your goal.
Mental toughness won’t prevent hardship and stress from coming into your life, but it will make it easier to get through difficult times with less stress and anxiety.
If you think a new job is in your future, start your search with Beacon Staffing!
Improve your Own Job Security in Uncertain Times
In today’s uncertain economic times, job security is undoubtedly on your mind. The good news is that improving your job security and thriving during these tough times is possible. The key is to build your own value as a worker while demonstrating your unique skills and value to management.
You can improve your job security in many ways during tough economic times, but the following represent some of the best ways to start. These tips will improve your job security and make you more appealing as a job candidate if and when you need to find a new position.
Build a Strong RAFT
There are four skills that companies consistently value above all others:
- Resilience: the ability to bounce back from difficult times.
- Adaptability: the ability to adjust to new environments and situations quickly and effectively.
- Flexibility: the ability and willingness to wear different hats.
- Thoughtfulness: the ability to be respectful, intentional and to communicate with colleagues.
These four soft skills, also known as RAFT, form a strong foundation for you as a worker to endure and thrive through even the most uncertain times. They also make you a valuable asset to your current and future employers. Resilience is considered the most critical of all of these skills.
Demonstrate Inventive and Creative Thinking
Employers are always looking for candidates who can solve their problems. Look for opportunities to demonstrate your intuition and imagination to management. Don’t be afraid to speak up and make suggestions during individual and group meetings. Even if your ideas don’t directly help, they make you a valuable asset the company will want to hold on to.
Building New Skills
Become a lifelong learner, sharpening your current skills and building new ones. Pay close attention to the growing fields and pursue knowledge and skills in those directions. Also, consider taking courses or workshops for complementary skills and soft skills that will add to your long-term value as a worker.
Keep Networking
Networking is a crucial skill to develop, especially during times of uncertainty. Connections can open doors, whether it’s a coffee date with a coworker or checking in with a former colleague. You may also find that you can offer support and help to others who have been affected by job loss and uncertainty.
We all desire stability and security in our lives. While there are no guarantees in this uncertain world, the steps above will help you strengthen your place within your current workplace and prepare you for future opportunities.
If you need help finding your next role, let the team at Beacon Staffing lend you a hand!
Transforming your Temporary Assignment into a Full-Time Offer
Temporary employment is often a stepping stone to full-time job opportunities. Many job seekers use a temp job as a way into their dream job. Temp, freelance, or contract work is considered one of the best ways to gain an advantage over external candidates when a permanent or full-time position is available.
If you’re interested in transforming your temp assignment into a full-time job, here are some tips to give you a leg up and in the door for your dream job.
1. Find out if permanent employment is possible.
Before you take a temp or contract position with the company, ask about their hiring policy and whether they take on temp employees for permanent roles.
2. Show enthusiasm and a good mindset.
Treat your temp position like a permanent one. Go the extra mile and show enthusiasm and commitment. Take a genuine interest in your job and be consistent with what you deliver every day.
3. Network.
Networking, when done right, is the best way to find a job. Keep in touch with your contacts and always look for new opportunities and connections. Build relationships with coworkers and leaders to reinforce your value and be visible. Make friends and show just how valuable an asset you would be as a permanent employee.
4. Get to Know the Company.
Research the company’s history, brand, culture, and goals. Understanding the organization will help you know where you potentially fit in the overall company and how your unique perspective and skills can benefit the whole and the area you specialize in.
5. Reinforce Your Soft Skills.
Though technical skills are always in demand, soft skills are more appreciated than ever. The ability to get along with others, work as a team player, and communicate well, combined with good technical skills, show your employer that you have what it takes to be an excellent permanent employee and leader.
6. Plant the Seeds Early.
If you’re interested in becoming a permanent employee, find out early on what it will take to get an offer. Showing interest early on increases the chances that you will be considered when permanent positions need filling.
Temporary work can transition into full-time employment and often does. If you want to turn your short-term role into a long-term job, be patient and confident, keep the above tips in mind and prepare to settle into your dream job.
If you’re struggling to find a full-time job that works for you, get in touch with our team today!
Searching for Your Perfect Candidate vs. Hiring on Potential
The state of today’s workforce is changing rapidly. In the past, many employers have based their hiring decisions on competence and a veritable laundry list of skills and educational achievements in their quest to find the “perfect candidate.”
There are no perfect candidates, though, and as companies struggle to recruit the candidates they need, being a “good fit” has become more critical. Managers are now asking themselves, “Which is more important: experience or potential?”
Let’s look at some of the benefits of hiring candidates for their potential rather than their experience and education.
Benefits of Hiring for Potential vs. Experience
If a candidate applies for your advertised job opening and doesn’t have the three years of experience you require, you may write them off before even looking at their resume. They may have checked every other box, though, and would be an excellent fit for your company.
Hiring for potential means being open to considering more than years of service as a measurement of what the candidate has to offer.
Sometimes hiring for experience doesn’t equal successful levels of performance. While they may have years of experience, those years may be without any significant results or growth. Knowledge is excellent, but passion is essential, too.
Fresh Perspectives
One of the significant benefits of hiring someone with more potential than experience is that they bring a fresh perspective to the table. Candidates with less experience are more likely to ask questions and challenge the status quo, both of which are necessary to stimulate higher levels of passion, motivation, and curiosity. When you’re hiring someone new, you want a candidate that is willing and able to learn new skills that will push your company to grow and provide better service and value to your customers.
Soft Skills and Attitude
The hard skills necessary to perform a job can be easily taught to anyone. Attitude, however, and the personality traits and coping abilities that are known collectively as “soft skills” cannot be so easily learned. If an employee’s personality doesn’t mesh well with the workplace culture of the current team, it can have a costly effect on the whole staff.
If you’re still looking to hire, get in touch with our team at Beacon Staffing today!
Every job seeker has their own set of quirks and perks. Opening your job search to include candidates with more potential than experience improves your chance of finding the elusive “perfect candidate” and enriching your company with fresh perspectives, bold ideas, and renewed enthusiasm for your company’s culture and goals.
6 Soft Skills to Help Any Job Seeker
As a job seeker in a highly competitive job market, you may be concentrating on your technical skills and training as you prepare to go out and capture your dream job. For many employers, though, soft skills are becoming as important and attractive for potential employees as any technical skills.
Soft skills help you work well with others and grow in your career. Soft skills, also called interpersonal skills, are challenging to teach but are vital to long-term success, professionally and personally.
Here are six soft skills that can help any job seeker get and keep a job.
1. Communication skills
From the interview process through to daily work on the job, communication skills are helpful in every aspect of your job. They are necessary, since communicating effectively with others is vital when you are working on a project.
Communication skills include:
- Active listening
- Conflict resolution
- Public speaking
- Negotiation
- Writing
2. Adaptability
The ability to adapt to change in today’s fast=paced and ever-changing work environments is critical as a soft skill. Change happens quickly, and adapting and accommodating those changes is a very valuable skill. Adaptability skills include flexibility, organization, optimism, cooperation, and patience.
3. Problem-solving
Employers highly value the ability to solve a problem quickly and effectively. Whether it requires immediate action or research and consultation with colleagues, problem-solving skills set you apart from other candidates.
Problem-solving skills include:
- Research
- Critical thinking
- Risk management
- Troubleshooting
- Resourcefulness
- Decision-making
4. Work ethic
Work ethic is the ability to follow through on duties and tasks. A strong work ethic ensures that work is completed promptly and demonstrates an eagerness to learn and succeed. Many employers would choose a candidate with less training or experience who has a strong work ethic.
Attention to detail, time management, motivation, and being results-oriented are all characteristics of a strong work ethic.
5. Teamwork
Teamwork is the ability to work well with others. Being a good team player at work means pulling your weight and working together with team members to get projects done. Giving guidance and feedback, collaborating, coordinating, and contributing are valuable teamwork soft skills that employers are looking for.
6. Creativity
Many different skill sets are included under this broad category, including some that are technical skills. Creativity as an employee means finding new ways to complete jobs and perform tasks, engineering new ways to improve systems or processes, or even exploring new business angles. Innovation, experimentation, open-mindedness, and taking calculated risks are examples of creativity at work.
If you’re currently looking for work, cultivating soft skills and including them on your resume and cover letter can help you go further no matter what type of job you’re after.
Ready to put your soft skills and experience to work? Contact Beacon Staffing for all of your job search needs.