10 Tips to Reduce Stress at Work

Too much stress can have a negative impact on your well-being. Stress can not only cause anxiety and depression, but can also have a negative impact on your health. Most people have filled days with little time to spare. Bad and unforeseeable things come up here and there, and the To-Do list keeps on getting longer and longer with no perspective of seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Learning how to cope with all this will be the deciding factor on your stress level.

Whether it is your boss that causes you stress or you simply have too much to do, keeping a positive outlook on things is the number one key to manage your stress effectively. Below are 10 simple tricks that will help you create a positive environment. It will help reduce stress, make you more efficient, and overall a happier person at work and in your personal time.

1. Be Well-rested

Getting enough sleep is crucial. Many people watch TV until late at night and then are surprised that they have difficulty falling asleep. As relaxing it may seem to you, watching TV causes your mind to keep running. Instead get some rest not just physically but also emotionally. Listening to calm music and drinking bed time tea are two great alternatives to watching TV and eating popcorn. If this still doesn't help you get a better night of sleep, pay closer attention to what you are eating at what time. It is advisable not to eat any later than 4 hours before you plan on going to bed. Having too much food in your stomach close before bed-time will make it much more difficult for your body to find rest.

2. Get up With Enough Time

Start the day on a positive note! Avoid cutting your time too short in the morning. Starting your day off stressed on time will leave a negative impression in your head that will carry on throughout the day. Instead get up with enough time to shower, to get dressed, and to eat a little bit of breakfast.

3. Eat Breakfast

Eating a balanced breakfast will fuel your body with viable nutrients and sustainable energy. Avoid eating on the run, but instead take a few minutes to sit down. Stay away from breakfasts with too much simple sugars and simple carbs as they will cause a quick spike in energy at first with a crash shortly after that leaves you off more lethargic than before you ate. A few slices of whole-wheat toast with some lean ham and an egg or two are a great way to start the day.

4. Dress Right

Make sure that you keep your wardrobe somewhat organized. Finding your work clothes easily will make it much easier to get ready in the morning. Pay attention to the colors you are wearing. If a suit and tie is part of your business attire, use "positive colors" such as blue and green. Especially blue is said to have a calming effect on people including yourself. A blue suit and/or dress shirt are great. If you like to wear more color, then do this in your smaller pieces of clothing such as your neckties. A light green necktie will give your outfit a fresh and positive look that will carry over to your attitude.

5. Beat Traffic

Know what time to leave and what route to take to work to beat rush hour. Spending an hour in stop and go traffic will cause your unnecessary stress. Also consider other forms of transportation or car-polling with close by living co-workers.

6. Organize Your Work-space

When you leave work, make sure to clean up your desk. You will be glad the next day! Starting your day on a clean and well organized desk is an important part on reducing stress at the office. In addition, having a clean desk will have a positive projection on co-workers and superiors. It shows that you are a well-organized person that pays attention to detail.

7. Plants

Bring more life into your workspace with plants. Weather you prefer the look of cut bamboo on your desk, or a larger plant in the corner is personal preference. Research has shown that plants will help in creating a positive and friendly environment that has a more soothing effect on people.

8. Pictures Give your workspace a familiar face by bringing in a few pictures of people or things that are important to you. Having a picture of your wife and kids on your desk will help reduce stress.

9. Be Productive Make a To-Do list at the beginning of each day. Prioritize each item based on importance and timeliness. Also estimate how long it will take to complete each task. Not only will this help you create an achievable goal for the day, but is will also help to track progress using time as a measure.

10. Communicate

Is your boss causing you stress? Keeping good communication will help! If your boss is not doing his/her part, take the initiative and open up the communication. Communication will help you know what is expected of you, as well as it is important for your boss to know what he/she can expect.

If you follow the tips above you will have done a great step in managing your stress. No matter what you do, keep a positive attitude and have confidence in your abilities.

About the Author

H Pohl regularly writes and distributes articles to online publications and magazines. He is the founder of http://www.ties-necktie.com/ home of quality mens neck ties, silk ties, and bow ties.

What Can I Achieve With an IT Career?

With a worldwide financial meltdown in progress, and major league players like Yahoo! announcing that they suffered a 64% downturn in profits in the last fiscal quarter of 2008, is this really the time to think about a career move into IT?

The marketplace – is IT really that important?

Well, it’s not all bad news on the job front in the UK. Research published by the Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre at the University of Nottingham(2) has said that although one in seven private sector jobs are lost in the UK each year, more are being created in their place. The indications are that the private sector work market is extremely fluid.

Dr Peter Wright, associate professor at Nottingham University confirms this notion of a constantly evolving marketplace: “This shows how dynamic the UK employment market is. This also has important implications in terms of training provision, as many workers are likely to need to regularly change or update their skills.”

The growing and transient job market has shifted position in the UK over the past 30 years, away from manufacturing and towards IT based industries – ranging from the financial sector, multi-media applications, even the much-maligned call centre. The opportunity for careers in IT has never been broader, or more accessible.

The widespread adoption of the Internet as a tool for business has seen a surge in ‘over the ‘net’ sales. In 2005, 93% of business in the UK with ten or more employees reported that personal computers were being used in day-to-day business (2).

Amongst the largest businesses (those with 1,000 or more employees), the figure was nearly 100%. This demonstrates quite clearly how essential information and communication technology (ICT) has become to the UK and indeed the global economic model.

The same survey by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that in 2005 the value of sales over the Internet was £103 billion, accounting for 34% of sales across all kinds of ICT by non-financial sector businesses. If you include the financial sector into that equation, the numbers increase dramatically.

Even industries that you would not normally expect to be heavily influenced by the use of IT, such as wholesale, retail, catering and travel, reported the highest value of sales over the Internet at £49 million, representing £47 out of every £100 of goods sold.

The clear indication amongst all these statistics is that jobs in IT have never been more important to the global economy. Without a solid foundation in the application of ICT technology, a business will be hard pressed to compete on equal terms with its rivals. Which is why IT careers will continue to offer both opportunities for employment in almost any marketplace and a decent salary to boot. The stale, hackneyed vision of ‘speccy techs’ in the IT department of any company is now passé. Geek is the new chic.

IT career development

Over one million people are currently employed in the IT sector, and over 150,000 new entrants are needed by a whole range of industries in the UK every year. However, your horizons are not just restricted to the UK. With internationally recognised qualifications crossing borders and country boundaries, the chance to work anywhere in the world has opened up the movement of IT professionals across the globe. The international oil industry, for example, is prepared to pay well for IT professionals who can incorporate their IT training into oil exploration and research into alternative fuels.

If heavy industry is not your particular field, then the more creative industries now rely on those with good IT qualifications and experience to supply them with ever more exciting visual images – on their websites, their advertising and their marketing. Without the benefit of IT, the Internet would be a far less visually stimulating place. Starting salaries in the industry average around £23,000. With higher level qualifications and a willingness to continually update and compliment your training, that figure can rise considerably.

Working life has changed dramatically in the past few years, with more people starting to realise that the possibility of working from home gives them a greater control over their work/home life ratio. Christopher Pissarides, in his keynote address to the Austrian Presidency conference on Innovations in Labour Market Policies(3) concludes that, “…essential labour market reforms include an increase in the flexibility of employment.”

Although he highlights the UK and the Netherlands as being the most pro-active countries in developing a more flexible working environment, the advent of a new age in which IT careers play a dominant role can only help to improve that situation. IT is a multi-faceted career choice that enables people to be particularly selective about how they work and how their career develops. It gives them the opportunity to take back control of their careers.

With the right IT training, which can be incorporated into career development or run parallel to an existing job, the potential marketplace opens up for a candidate. Networking (a particular growth industry as the national boundaries break down between businesses), database administration, web design and programming are all real-time opportunities, once the appropriate training has been applied. A senior web designer can earn as much as £40,000 and, if you cast your net further afield and look to working abroad, can be much higher.

So what can you achieve with an IT career? Take your pick - of locations, of job descriptions, of future career development – whatever you like. The limits are only ones that you impose yourself. The IT industry is far from fully grown, and with the rate of technology development growing rapidly, there is little chance that a newly qualified IT specialist will be entering a shrinking marketplace anytime soon, despite the poor figures from Yahoo!.

In the 18th Century, the Industrial Revolution propelled the world forward into a new age. In the 21st Century, it is safe to assume that the second revolution, the Technological Revolution, has only just started.

(1) HRM Guide 2008 – University of Nottingham
(2) Office of National Statistics, e-Commerce survey
(3) Innovations in Labour Market Policies: Challenges in Times of Globalisation – Vienna, 16-17th February 2006

About the Author

Karl Parkinson, Chairman. Computeach - With over 40 years of experience in the IT Training Industry, Computeach provides innovative and truly blended learning solutions to a wide range of customers. For more information visit - http://www.computeach.co.uk/ For interviews, images or comments contact: Rosie Guise, Marketing, Computeach International Ltd, Phone: 01384 458515, Email: rosie.guise@computeach.co.uk

Job Hunting: 3 Tips For Successful Interviewing

It can be a nerve-wrecking prospect to think about your impending job interview. What will you say? How will you dress? What if the interviewer asks questions for which you don’t know the answers? These are all questions you may run through your mind before ever meeting the prospective employer.

But while interviews can be intimidating, they don’t have to be feared – especially if you come equipped with the right knowledge. So let’s look at three tips that can help you place the job you want in the palm of your hands.

Tip #1: Conduct Practice Q&A Sessions

Before you ever set foot on the property of your prospective employer, it is important that you mentally prepare for the challenge you’re up against. Being that you’ve never interviewed before, it may seem impossible to prepare for the unknown. But luckily for you, there are bound to be some individuals in your life who have been on job interviews. So give them a job of helping you prepare.

A good way to start your preparation is by first conducting some research on the company you are interested in working for. After you’ve learned the company’s overall mission, what they look for in employees, and most importantly, what they want in the hiring position, you can give this information to your helper. Then he or she can compose interview questions, have you show up for the mock interview in full attire, and ask the questions so that you can begin to feel comfortable with the process.

Tip #2: Dress for Success

This is probably one of the more important aspects of interviewing for any position, no matter how casual you think it might be. The prospective employer wants to confirm how serious you are about the job, something that is partially accomplished by dressing up in business attire for the interview.

While this may seem to be common sense to some, there are many newcomers to the world of interviewing who show up wearing khaki pants or low-cut tops. So if you already knew that wearing a business suit (clean with no wrinkles) is the way to go, good job. But if you were just about to walk out of the door in your T-shirt and khakis, you may want to go change your clothes.

Tip #3: Speak from the Heart

Starting off in your practice Q&A session, and eventually transitioning into your actual interview, it is important that you place personal value on your decision to apply for the job. If you go into the interview thinking that you won’t like the job, the interviewer might sense the apprehension and pass you up for the position. However, if you come in genuinely enthusiastic about the position, it will be much easier for you to find the right words to express that enthusiasm.

If you follow these three tips, you’ll be that much closer to securing the job of your dreams. So practice, practice, practice with your Q&A session, go buy a suit that makes you feel comfortable, and go to the interview with great passion. You’ll see that your budding confidence in your interviewing skills will skyrocket in time for your very first interview.

About the Author

Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and is passionate about providing working professionals with current, reliable and effective job search tools and information. If you need a resume writer, compare the top companies in the industry at http://www.resumelines.com

Captivating Careers in the Motion Picture Business

In the hearts of the billions of movie and television watchers all over the world, the movie industry is a one big magical carousel ride with gorgeous women, manly heroes, attractive sets and fashions, astounding special effects, exotic locales to visit and an perpetual flow of cash.

This is just just illusions; the truth is the hard work and dedication that goes on behind every scene to create these magical images.

If you are considering joining the television business for the fun and the cash, then you have to give that notion up and look someplace else. But if you possess ability, the dedication, the correct attitude and the power to endure hard work, then welcome.

Jobs on-camera

Famed actors and actresses didn't acquire their recognition in a single day. Most of them worked as horse stall cleaners, limousine drivers, set carpenters and department store managers. Some were employed in restaurants as waiters or parking attendants in between bit part gigs.

Most movie stars started as movie extras and bit actors. Extras are the individuals in the background in a movie scene. Starting as an extra gives you the eye-opening opportunity to acquaint yourself in the various aspects of movie production. If you stand out from among the other extras in the movie, you may just catch the director's eye.

Movie stunt people are the daredevils who make the onscreen star look good and indestructible. They are sometimes known as stunt doubles who "take the fall" instead of the real actors in very unsafe scenes. The guy you saw dangling on a fire hose down the burning Nakatomi Tower building was definitely not the star. It was a stunt double wearing the same outfit as the lead guy.

Employment behind the camera

What is seen in front of the camera is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. A scene is delineated by the change in the camera placement (or angle) in the movie. Hundreds (sometimes thousands!) of scenes are needed to finish a film. Each scene usually takes a little less than an hour to set up before it is ready to be shot. Some elaborate scenes can take weeks to prepare. Scenes of this sort often involve the building of huge sets and backgrounds, exceptional stunt set up, rehearsals of scenes involving hundreds or thousands of extras, or huge dramatic explosion scenes. Careers and positions behind the scene are just as interesting as the ones in front.

The cameraman is responsible for the recording of the movie on a movie camera. He or she is responsible for the light design that sets the mood or temperature of the scene being filmed. He or she knows how to set up his shots by capturing the perfect camera angle, using the appropriate lenses and finding the proper aperture setting.

Careers in the film industry include the team of production designers. They are responsible for the film's set and it's construction. They must set up the needed physical atmosphere whether the position is a house, a burning building, a sinking luxury liner or a ghost-ridden capitol building. Very truthfully, the set creation, decorations, background colorations, backdrops and textures all passed the eye of the production designer.

The special effects group is responsible for the construction of special sets and special devices that help make visually amazing scenes. You have seen their expertise in films: the sinking luxury ship, the great earthquake that destroyed L.A., the napalm bomb in Vietnam or the out of control bus that was set to blow up.

Post-production careers

As soon as the principal photography is finished and "in the can", the film is then processed and taken to a dust-free room where the movie editor can cut and edit it. It is the duty of the film editor and his assistants to put the scenes together, arranged in the correct sequence.

About the Author

Stimulating jobs in the film industry are far more plentiful than what was enumerated here. If you have got what it takes, then join in and be a part of the team. And if careers in the movie business are not what you are after, remember, there are always quality control careers.

New-Age Recruiting: Using Online Social Networks to Secure Employment

The world of job recruiting has changed drastically in recent years. Whereas in the past, the route to securing employment was simply getting your resume together and responding to help-wanted ads – or even getting approached by a headhunter – now much of the recruitment process is taken care of on the Internet.

Both recruiters and job seekers are finding that by mingling with one another through mediums like online social networks, they can accomplish their combined goal of getting a person employed. It is for this reason that taking the time to understand social networks is beneficial, especially if you’re actively seeking employment. So let’s take a closer look at this new and exciting aspect of job recruiting.

What are Online Social Networks?

Very similar to the idea of the traditional social network, an online social network offers a space on the Internet where individuals with similar interests or agendas can congregate to share ideas, insights, and help one another achieve goals. Before, you may have found yourself joining a national collegiate fraternity or sorority, or even a club or organization in your community, to achieve this type of networking experience. But now, organizations and groups with a similar purpose have moved onto the Internet, affording more people from around the country the opportunity to network.

Utilizing Online Social Networks to Your Benefit

So what can an online social network do for you? Along with fraternizing with your peers, they are great for helping you find employment. Job seekers are becoming increasingly aware that many recruiters spend time searching popular social networking websites like LinkedIn, Myspace, Plaxo and Facebook to interact with and often times recruit new job candidates. So to make themselves findable for recruitment, they congregate in those places.

If you are serious about finding employment, it is in your best interest to join one or more of these online social networking sites. There you can post your resume and give other useful information about yourself that will offer insight into your qualifications. Once you’ve posted your resume, you can visit field-specific blogs on these sites or in other places. Just like with social networking sites, recruiters often choose this avenue to seek out candidates and make employment invitations.

Carefully Monitor Your Social Networking Behavior

While online social networks are great places to find career opportunities, you should definitely be aware of your actions while there. Fun-filled sites like Myspace and Facebook can easily lure you into their excitement; however, if your purpose is to be seen by recruiters, you might find yourself projecting a non-professional image. To avoid this from happening, remember not to post unflattering pictures of activities you partake in with your buddies on your profile. And ask your friends to refrain from leaving risqué comments on your page. Since your main goal is to make your profile as professional as possible, you don’t want to give recruiters any reason to second-guess your qualifications.

The opportunities to secure employment with the click of a mouse are better than ever. So before you print off you next resume or think about going to a job fair, consider joining a professional online social network. You may just find that your next employment connection will be right on the other side of your computer screen.

About the Author

Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and is passionate about providing working professionals with current, reliable and effective job search tools and information. Check out reviews of the top resume services in the industry at http://www.resumelines.com

Wedding Videography - How to Become a Videographer

Videography is an art of capturing moments in time. Vision and inspiration are usually the foundation of a good video. A good videographer will spend many hours of documenting your special day. Then will spend another countless hours of editing your videos, from cutting out scenes to putting the right music, until everything flows smoothly.

This art requires extensive technical knowledge and high tech equipment. There are two ways to become a professional. Some people arrive at this career by regularly videotaping events for family and friends and deciding to go professional while others attend film school. There are formal schools that offer courses to teach control camera movements and correct lighting effects for various situations. A skilled cameraman will usually know how to use natural lighting effects to his advantage.

To become a videographer, you must first decide the kind of services you will offer. The choices range from wedding videography to taping corporate meetings and conferences. You can also videotape milestones like anniversaries, birthdays, memorials and reunions. Or you can also opt for theatre, dance and music performances.

The next step is to find and enroll in a film school that offers classes on the basics. Once you are equipped with the basic knowledge of technical skills and strategies, you need a lot of practice. This is the most important ingredient of achieving your goal of becoming a professional.

The next essential factor is to have the right equipment. If you do not have money to buy a good camera, just borrow one. Then practice what you’ve learned in class and shoot lots and lots of videos. The more you shoot and apply those techniques you learned in class the better you’ll get at it. Remember to analyze your videos so you will be able to know the mistakes you made and correct them.

If you are confident enough then it’s time to apply for a job. Look for local studios that are in need of a neophyte. Working for a studio like this will help you acquire the experience you need if you are ever planning to set up your own business in the future.
Once you are hired, you need all the proper equipment especially the digital camera and other camera accessories like the tripod, batteries and lighting equipment. For editing purposes, it is also essential to have a computer.

Be visible in local events. In this way, you will be able to offer your services and meet the right people for possible future engagements. Also be active in videotaping events for your family and friends. You can attract a lot of referrals from them and this will be a good way of promoting your business.

In the long run, it does not really matter if you choose to be shooting a wedding videography or a sports competition. It will be your skill, experience, style, dedication, shooting and editing techniques that will help you achieve your goal of becoming a successful videographer.

About the Author

Get prices on wedding videography for your wedding at http://www.memoriesputtomusic.com

Wedding Videography - A Career As an Event Planner

Special events often pop in and out of our everyday lives. We are so busy working that it is often difficult to plan them ourselves. The solution to this problem is an event planner. When you think of an “event”, we have a perception of something extravagant like Mardi Gras, Academy Awards and other big occasions we see on television. However, an event planner works on smaller events as well like weddings and business conferences.

An event planner’s main job is to guarantee that all details of an event are taken cared of and the program will flow as smoothly as possible. If you are planning to have a career in event planning, you must have the ability of juggling many things at once without forgetting even the smallest details. You must also be goal oriented, time conscious and patient. In this kind of business not everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to so you have to be creative enough to provide alternatives to your client.

Special events occur for different purposes. It may be celebrations like reunions and weddings. An event planner can act as a wedding planner in charge of booking the ceremony and reception locations, and hiring a good studio for the wedding videography among others. She can also be the one to facilitate educational conferences and meetings.

Event planning can also be business related. Big companies hire event planners for their promotions. Some of these companies include hotels or resorts, non profit organizations, country clubs, theme parks and convention centers. They usually hold charity events, fashion shows, product and service launching.

There are a number of good schools and online universities that offer event planner certification. A good program will usually include technical instruction on the planning process of events and the business end instruction on how to run the business. Opportunities for internships under experienced event planners may also be offered. In some event planner certification programs, students are also required to have hands on experience by planning their own event and this will eventually help them develop their portfolio for future clientele.

When starting your career as an event planner, consider first the type of event you want to pursue. If you are more into weddings like handling flower arrangements, bridesmaid dresses and wedding videography then consider tackling celebration events. If you prefer planning corporate affairs, then you may choose to plan board meetings, conventions and product launches.

Once you get a head start as an event planner, you will begin to like it and eventually love your job. You will have this drive in you to learn more about the business. And this is where passion and determination for the job sets in. Every event you attend will be a time for learning and growth. You will find yourself searching for professional improvement and striving to be better in everything you do. Once you acquire all these qualities, you are definitely on your way to becoming a successful event planner.

About the Author

Get prices on wedding videography for your wedding at http://www.memoriesputtomusic.com