Do Not Make a Career Decision Without This List

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Career advice | Mentoring |Employment

by Shana Montesol Johnson

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Are you trying to figure out what your next career move should be? Do not make a career decision without a list of your core values.

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What Are Core Values?

Core values are the interests and qualities that you’ve always found yourself drawn to. Core values make us who we are.  When our work and life are aligned with them, we feel most fully ourselves and fully energized. We are naturally inclined toward our core values, and are eager to do them without making a lot of effort or setting a bunch of goals.

For example, some people love to repair or fix stuff – as kids, they took apart their toys only to put them back together, and as adults they still love tinkering in the garage.  “Repairing” is a value for them – they don’t have to force themselves to fix stuff, they just do it. Read more…

New ACRL Report Highlights Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success

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Academic libraries | Higher education | Information literacy

May 10, 2017

Through a new report issued by ACRL, “Academic Library Impact on Student Learning report-cover-april2017and Success: Findings from Assessment in Action Team Projects,” the higher education community now has compelling assessment findings that tell a strong story about the multiple ways that academic libraries are contributing to student learning and success. The report focuses on projects completed during the third and final year as part of the program Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success (AiA) from April 2015 to June 2016. Teams from more than 50 campuses completed assessment projects and reported on them individually (fully searchable online),  and this synthesis builds on past findings from an additional 150 projects completed during the first and second years of the AiA program as context.

Positive connections between the library and aspects of student learning and success in five areas are particularly noteworthy:

1. Students benefit from library instruction in their initial coursework. Information literacy instruction provided to students during their initial coursework helps them perform better in their courses than students who do not. Read more…

15 Ways To Get The Confidence Boost You Need At Work

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Career advice | Mentoring | Coaching |Workplace

May 10, 2017 Forbes coaches Council

Competence, professionalism and interpersonal relationship skills are some of the crucial ingredients for workplace success, but they can only take you so far without self-confidence. If you’ve been feeling unsure of yourself at work lately or if you feel your skill set is no longer a match for your job requirements, you are in dire need of a confidence boost.

While self-assurance is not typically something we are born with, it can be built successfully by taking the right steps.

Below, 15 members of Forbes Coaches Council share their best advice to help you get the boost of confidence you need to fulfill your workplace potential.

1. Review Your Past Wins

Think of a past win or accomplishment and remember how good it felt to succeed, how effortlessly you were able to accomplish your goals, and how you have everything within you necessary to do it all over again. Confidence can build heavily on memory – if you lack confidence in a new opportunity or a new environment, remember what got you there in the first place. – Amanda Miller Littlejohn, Package Your Genius Academy 

2. Start By Noticing Your Inner Critic

Read more…

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All images courtesy of Forbes Council members.

Members of Forbes Coaches Council share advice on how to be more confident in the workplace.
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People who read books tend to be nicer than those who don’t – [Study]

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Culture | Books | Reading

By Adam Boult 8 May 2017

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Reading: pretty good, apparently Credit: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Does reading books make you a nicer person? Or are nicer people more likely to be drawn to reading?

A recent study by researchers at Kingston University found that people who read works of fiction tend to be kinder and more empathetic.

“Exposure to fiction relates to a range of empathetic abilities,” said researchers, who addressed the British Psychological Society conference in Brighton last week. Read more…

Professional Development: Doing it on your own

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Career advice | Professional development | Continuing education

by Erica Calvert

April 26, 2017

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Whether you are a novice into a degreed-field job hunt or are a veteran of the discipline, securing a job can be a daunting feat. Luckily there is a plethora of resources, organizations and websites that are dedicated to helping jobseekers. With this support system we find ourselves on a path to cultivate an environment conducive to securing our dream job.

We find and are ready to apply to a professional job for which we feel well qualified. We have scoured the internet for tips on interview questions, protocol and etiquette. We can find online help for formatting, editing and polishing resumes and cover letters. But sometimes those resumes may be a bit deflated, when in a paraprofessional position or entry level job it can be hard keeping your resume up to snuff for a larger position, as funding and opportunities for professional development are not usually in place. And day to day duties and interactions may not be giving you specific experience that a professional position calls for.

But what’s next?

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