Veterans Have Help for Transition to Civilian Jobs

Veterans Have Help for Transition to Civilian Jobs Veterans Have Help for Transition to Civilian Jobs Veterans Have Help for Transition to Civilian Jobs Today is Veterans Day, when we stop to remember and honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces, especially the thousands who were wounded or killed. When some of today's military personnel leave the armed forces, they face a tough transition landing work in a rough economy. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a jobless rate of 11.2% for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan up 4 percentage points from the same time a year earlier. (At the time, the rate for non-veterans was 8.8%; now it's 10.2%.) Those numbers aren't encouraging, but a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com last spring uncovered some hope for military veterans: 43% of employers stated that if they were to have two equally qualified candidates, they would be more likely to hire the person with military experience. The rest did not have a preference. Last year on Veterans Day, we offered a list of tips for veterans trying to cross over into the civilian work force. Here it is again. And below are a few more resources veterans may find helpful: 10 Tips for a Successful Military to Civilian Transition in Corporate America, by Craig Griffin of Bradley-Morris, Inc., a placement firm for veterans HireVetsFirst, a Department of Labor career web site for veterans VetSuccess, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs site that links employers with job-seeking veterans And to all of our nation's veterans and their families, a heartfelt thank you for your service and sacrifices. If youre a veteran or not what advice would you have for those making the transition into the civilian workforce? Add your views below.

Nutritionist says eat this for breakfast if you want less stress

Nutritionist says eat this for breakfast if you want less stress Nutritionist says eat this for breakfast if you want less stress Peggy Kostopoulos  is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and the spokesperson for  Lenny Larry’s.  Recently, Kostopoulos imparted some unconventional dietary advice to Ladders, on behalf of professionals looking to put their best foot forward when facing a big interview. She detailed the perfect, pre-interview breakfast  â€" one that is rich in protein,  healthy fat, and high in fiber.The general goal of a morning nutrition plan is one that both keeps us energized in addition to ensuring our stress levels remain as low as possible.Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!Curious of the potential long term benefits  this nutritional advice might yield if implemented into a regular diet, I asked the stress guru if she could illuminate the perfect stress-less week, complete with the kind of foods and activities, that objective might entail.Here’s what Kostopoulos had to say.Holy basil and Passionflower teaHoly basil is a plant that hails from India, though it can be found in many regions all over the world. It’s been studied to help our bodies cope with depression, inflammation, tension, trauma, anxiety, and stress. It proffers these incredible health benefits by acting on the neurotransmitters in our brains. These healing plants belong to the classification  Adaptogen.Fresh or dried holy basil can be added to teas and even food, to maximize its pacifying effects. “Research has shown that ursolic acid and the triterpenoic acids, both found in holy basil, effectively improve the body’s response to stress and reduce the amount of cortisol released during stress,” Kostopoulos told Ladders.Similarly,  Kostopoulos occasioned the Passionflower,  a climbing vine, that is born in the Southeastern United States, and Central and South America. The vine can be taken orally to amend poor sleeping habits. Some people have actually applied Passionflower flower t o the skin to help alleviate  burns and inflammation.  The plant is commonly added to tea, as it comes with numerous benefits to mental wellbeing, in this form. It is known to calm nerves, and reduce anxiety with its mild tranquilizing properties.As  Kostopoulos explained to Ladders,  â€œA study in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics indicated that passionflower was just as effective as the prescription medication Oxazepam in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and did not have any of the side effects such as impaired job performance.  Out of the 36 subjects with GAD, half were given 45 drops of passionflower extract per day, and the other half were given 30 milligrams of Oxazepam per day. After the four-week trial, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The study also determined that passionflower increases levels of the neurotransmitter GABA that helps with calm and relaxation.”Self-care in the day to dayAccording to  Kostopou los, all it takes is 10 minutes a day to help reduce stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve greater compacity for relaxation. It has all to do with securing moments of self-care in the day-to-day. Observing the little rituals that often get buried beneath the hustle-bustle of limited  eight-hour cycles.Things as simple as taking time to have meaningful conversations with friends, engaging in low to moderate intensity exercise, keeping a journal, “get all that crap out of your head (and body) and onto paper,”  Kostopoulos wrote. Most importantly adopting the practice of mediation.  Although it’s not exactly the easiest habitual activity to employ, the benefits are well documented.  Kostopoulos suggests you start slow with one to three-minute breaks throughout your day.Lastly, make sure you get a good night’s rest.  Kostopoulos added, “Helps to heal adrenal glands and restore cortisol levels. What’s important is sleep Quality vs. Quantity. De ep uninterrupted sleep. Shut off technology 2 hours before bed, get rid of any blue light and sleep in a cool room.”You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people

How to Get a Social Security Number

How to Get a Social Security Number How to Get a Social Security Number A social security number is issued by the United States Social Security Administration (SSA). This government-issued credential is a unique identifying number (SSN) that U.S. citizens, and some non-U.S. citizens, need for several significant purposes. To begin with, you must have a social security number in order to obtain a job. A social security number is also used to identify employees for tax purposes and eventually is required for receipt of social security retirement money. Your social security number is also used by some other government services and by banks and credit issuers as a form of identification. Historically, before  identity theft  became so prevalent, your social security number was used by everyone from universities to be used as your student ID number to energy companies, telephone service companies, and even libraries. How to Apply for a Social Security Number In order to successfully apply for a social security number and card, you will need to bring certain documents with you to your local SSA office. These documents show proof of your age and your identity. To prove your age, you will need your birth certificate. You must also establish your identity. The SSA accepts identification documents that are current, that contains your name, other identifying information, and a recent photo. Identification documents youll need to bring with you include: U.S. driver’s licenseState-issued, non-driver identification cardU.S. passport If these identification documents are not available, the Social Security Administration will ask to see: Employee ID cardHealth insurance  card (not a Medicare card)Employee ID cardU.S. military ID cardSchool ID cardAdoption decree  Life insurance policyMarriage document (only in name change situations) The documents that you use to prove your age and identity must be originals or copies that  are certified by the agency that issued the document. You will receive your social security number and card as soon as the SSA has verified your documents at an issuing office. What Does My Employer Do With My SSN? Your social security number is supposed to be unique, and as long as no one has stolen it, it is. So, if you change your name, your social security number still stays the same. Your employer will run your number through their  database to see if you worked there previously. You may think is a silly step, but a lot of companies merge or break off into different companies that then go by other names. You may be applying for a job at a large corporate entity youve never worked for, but youll still be in their system if you previously worked for a small business purchased by this big company. Legally,  your employer has to withhold taxes and any court-mandated deductions. For instance, child support, back taxes, or other judgments against those. Your social security number is what ties all of them together. When they withhold taxes from your paycheck, the taxes are attached to your social security number. Your number needs to be accurate for you to receive credit for the work you do. When you retire, your social security payments will come from the money you paid into  social security during your working days.   Credit Checks and Identity Theft If your job involves finances or other sensitive information, your potential employer may use your social security number to run a credit check. Legally, you have to sign a release form in order for them to perform the credit check. If youve had problems with identity theft, speak up before they run the report. That way, they arent surprised when it comes back looking a bit haywire. If youre upfront with them, most likely theyll be willing to work with you to determine your actual risk level. If youre job hunting and have any doubts about your social security number, its worth looking into the various circumstances that might necessitate youll have to  provide your social security number.

If you want to get hired, talk about how much you love your work

If you want to get hired, talk about how much you love your work If you want to get hired, talk about how much you love your work If you want to impress an interviewer, talk about how much you love what you do. A new study in Science Direct  finds that job seekers underestimate the effect of talking about this internal motivator in job interviews to their disadvantage.To get the job, be enthusiastic about your workTo find out what we actually value in hiring decisions, Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach surveyed more than a 1,000 full-time employees and MBA students across five studies.In one of the studies, the researchers had participants pick between two pitches. One pitch emphasized what internally motivates us - “I love doing my work”- while the other pitch emphasized extrinsic motivation - ”The position would be a great place for me to advance my career.” The majority of job candidates incorrectly guessed that the recruiters preferred to hear about the extrinsic motivation pitch.But they were not alone in thinking like this. In a separate study, recruiters underestimated how much candidates want ed to hear about a company culture that emphasized intrinsic motivation with statements like “Employees here value doing work that they love.”The researchers suggest this discrepancy could be because we think about these passions more in our heads and not enough out loud. Because we do not talk about it, we think it does not matter to others. “Because pursuit of intrinsic rewards is often private, people fail to realize that others care about these rewards,” the study states.We may think that listing out our accomplishments and talking about our career arc is impressive to an interviewer. But when we talk about how we are motivated to work for the work alone, we are demonstrating that we are going to be driven candidates, even without the pressures of deadlines and the promises of big paychecks.We know that we need to talk about our skills and ambitions in an interview but if we want to land the job of our dreams, we need to talk more about how we value interesting, meaningf ul work.

What to do when drama overwhelms you at work and home

What to do when drama overwhelms you at work and home What to do when drama overwhelms you at work and home You’ve seen it at work and at home. Someone is anxious about something and suddenly you are feeling anxious too. You know this isn’t healthy and that you shouldn’t feel this way which only makes it worse. Now you’re self-judging for not distancing yourself from the drama and begin to doubt your own effectiveness. You start losing sleep and wake up in the middle of the night, running the day’s conversations over in your mind.      Lately, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and sucked in by another person’s angst. Drama is created when a person can’t accept the way they feel so they try to externalize it or put that feeling off on others, usually in a highly demonstrative or desperate way. This behavior provides them a temporary yet unsustainable relief from their discomfort. Thus, they continue the drama dance to try to unload their despair.  I notice I have been feeling anxious and assuming the anxiety of this person. I’ve begun thinking that I won’t be able to accompl ish what I need to get done when I know I’m capable. These feelings  are a sign for me to pause and get curious.      What’s going on with me? I guess I’m feeling that I have some responsibilities that I don’t want but need to take care of. That makes me a little resentful which I know is unproductive to my happiness and effectiveness. I also know that the feeling of resentment is based in judgment and that when we judge others we are really judging ourselves more. I don’t want to create my own drama by externalizing it or putting the discomfort on the people I care about most. So. I’ll turn toward the discomfort, not away like the other person is, and get more curious about it instead.  So, what am I judging myself about? Hmm. Probably that I won’t get done what needs to be done to a perfect standard and that I will be judged by myself and others as less than who I want to be. Ah-ha!      Perfection kills happiness and is the fuel for drama. May I be gentle with mysel f in this moment. May I release the expectation of perfection. May I break down tasks to an actionable list and celebrate accomplishing them one at a time as opposed to a focus on their completion. May I accept others as they are and not internalize their judgments. May I accept my best as enough. For I am enough.    And may I laugh at myself along the way and have fun with what I am learning about myself because this whole process of life is pretty entertaining.For a tip sheet on how to distance yourself from drama click here. Mary  Lee  Gannon, ACC, CAE  is an executive coach and corporate CEO who helps busy leaders get off the treadmill to nowhere to be more effective, earn more, be  more calm and enjoy  connected relationships with the people who matter while it still matters.  Watch her FREE Master Class training on Three Things to Transform Your Life and Career Right Now at  www.MaryLeeGannon.com.

Tips on How to Build the Life You Want, from a Time Management Expert

Tips on How to Build the Life You Want, from a Time Management Expert Tips on How to Build the Life You Want, from a Time Management Expert If you ask someone how they’re doing, chances are they’ll say that they’ve been busy. But being busy (or more to the point, thinking that you’re busy) can prevent you from prioritizing what you really need in order to build the life that you want. In a TED Talk, “How to Gain Control of Your Free Time,” time management expert Laura Vanderkam offers tips on how to better manage your time, and why you really have a whole lot more time than you might think. Prioritize your priorities. Vanderkam advises making a three-category priority list comprised of career, relationships, and self. Your goal should be to ensure that you’re properly taking care of all three categories in order to live a well-balanced life. Knowing that you need to tend to your career, your relationships, and yourself “reminds us that there should be something in all three categories,” says Vanderkam. Otherwise, it’s easy to allow one area (such as career) to take over other equally important aspects of your life, like your relationships or self-care. Stop wasting time. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re scrolling through your social media channels. Thing is, what started off as a quick Facebook check-in could quickly elapse into an hour- or more. Those precious moments can be better spent on things that might be more important to you, though, such as working on that novel that you’ve always wanted to write or taking the time to work on your resume and cover letter. If you think that you’re not online all that much, try timing yourself- most likely you’ll be shocked at how much time you’re actually wasting. Plan ahead. In order to figure out what you’d like to accomplish, Vanderkam suggests pretending that it’s the end of next year. Reflect on three to five things you did during the year that made it wonderful. This exercise should include both professional and personal goals. Maybe you see yourself in a remote job that you love, spending more time with your children, losing weight, or going back to school to finish that degree. Whatever it is, think about what would make you happy and feel accomplished. Those answers will become your goals and help you shape your priorities for next year. Break it down. It’s all fine and good to have big, lofty dreams, but dreams without goals are just dreams. And since big-picture priorities can be overwhelming (and perhaps cause you to quit before you’ve actually begun), you’ll need to break down your priorities into easy-to-digest, actionable steps. Youll be more likely to achieve your goals since you’ll see results faster, which can motivate you to conquer the next challenge. Optimize your Friday afternoons. The best time to schedule in your priorities, claims Vanderkam, is Friday afternoons. It’s a time when you can assess what you did (and didn’t) get done during the week. Then you create your calendar for the following week accordingly, adding in the things that can help you attain your goals. Thinking through your week- before you’re already in it- can help you keep perspective and get it all done. Appreciate time. So often, all we’re doing is running, and not really enjoying our time. But as Vanderkam points out, “We don’t build the times we want by saving time. We build the lives we want, and then time saves itself.” She claims that time is “highly elastic” and that while we cannot manufacture more time, it “will stretch to accommodate what we choose to put into it.” That means being mindful of how you spend your time and eliminating anything that doesn’t align with what you really want to accomplish with your life. Maximize the moments. There are 168 hours in a week. If you work 40 hours weekly, and sleep roughly eight hours a night, that still leaves you with about 72 hours in the week to build the life you want. “In that time, you can find time for what matters to you,” says Vanderkam. And even if you are working more than a full-time job and have a side hustle, too, you still have extra time to make things happen, even if it might take you a little longer to get there. As Vanderkam points out: “We don’t need that much time to do amazing things,” says Vanderkam. “Small moments can have great power.” As Vanderkam points out at the end of her TED Talk: “There is time. Even if we are busy, we have time for what matters. When we focus on what matters, we can build the lives we want, in the time we’ve got.”

Five signs that you have a high IQ

Five signs that you have a high IQ Five signs that you have a high IQ Intelligence, or IQ, isn’t what you know, but rather the pace at which you acquire new information. Longitudinal studies have shown that IQ is fixed at an early age, so you’re stuck with what you’ve got.While IQ is far from being the only thing that determines success in life- research shows that it isn’t even the most important factor- a high IQ still isn’t a bad thing to have. In fact, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t mind having one.“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” -Albert EinsteinMost of us move through life never knowing exactly how smart we are. IQ is a difficult thing to measure, and unless you’re willing to fork over several hundred dollars to a trained professional, you’ll never know for certain what your IQ is.New research provides some interesting clues linking early life experiences to, among other things, high intelligence. If any of the following apply to you, you just might have a high IQ.You’re anxiou s.  It’s hard to think of anxiety as a good thing, but evidence suggests that it might not be all bad. Psychiatrist Jeremy Coplan studied patients with anxiety disorders and found that the people with the worst symptoms had higher IQ scores than those with milder symptoms. Other studies have found higher verbal IQ scores in people with higher levels of anxiety. And then there was a more complex experiment conducted at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel. Researchers asked participants to evaluate artwork presented by a software program and then triggered a fake computer virus, making it look as if it was the result of something that the participant did. They then sent the participants on an urgent mission to get tech support, only to throw yet another series of obstacles in their way. They found that the most anxious participants were also the most focused and effective at executing tasks. The next time somebody tells you to stop worrying so much, just tell them it’s your oversized intellect getting in the way.You were an early reader.  A British study of 2,000 pairs of identical twins found that, despite their identical genes, the children who started reading earlier had higher IQ scores (both verbal and nonverbal) than their siblings. On the surface, this one seems easy enough to explain away: the kids who learned to read early did so  because  they were smarter. But that wasn’t the case. The researchers concluded that learning to read early actually had a developmental impact- it made the kids smarter. So, if you were an early reader, it might not be because you’re smart. It may be that you’re smart because you were an early reader.You’re left-handed.  It turns out that all of those teachers who tried to force lefties to write with their right hands may have had it backward. While there is a small and, as of yet, unexplained correlation between being left-handed and being a criminal, there are some intellectual benefits to being a so uthpaw. One large study demonstrated that left-handedness is associated with divergent thinking, all the more so in males. This unique ability to combine two unrelated objects in a meaningful way is a sign of intelligence.You took music lessons as a kid.  There are a number of studies demonstrating that musical training enhances verbal intelligence and executive function, a skill that’s critical to focus and self-control. In a study conducted by psychologist Sylvain Moreno, 48 children between the ages of four and six participated in a computerized training program that was led by a teacher. For one hour per day, five days a week for four weeks, half the students completed a musical program, and the other half completed a visual arts program. At the end of the experiment, 90% of the children who received the musical training showed improvements in verbal IQ. So, if you took music lessons when you were a kid, that’s a good sign.You’re funny.  Class clowns rejoice! Research show s a strong connection between being funny and having high scores in both verbal intelligence and abstract reasoning. It appears that your witty banter is the product of a sharp mind. Now, you just need to come up with a joke about  that.Bringing It All TogetherThis list is far from exhaustive, so if none of the items above apply to you, it doesn’t exclude you from having a high IQ. But if a lot of these items do apply to you, you just might be smarter than the average bear.Dr. Travis Bradberry  is the co-author of the #1 bestselling book,  Emotional Intelligence 2.0,  and the cofounder of  TalentSmart.This column orginally appeared on LinkedIn.