Happy Friday one and all!

When we read this piece on Forbes, we got inspired. After all, as the weekend approaches with a nice break from the daily grind, we have recreation and errands on our minds. Well, apparently there’s a connection between successful people at work and how they spend their weekends. Let’s become part of that group, okay? Read more

Time to let it shine! And by “it,” we mean you.

That’s right, it’s time to let others see your true potential. According to a Harvard Business Review post by Dorie Clark, strategy consultant and author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, there are a few ways to ensure people take notice.

1. Create content. Sure, it’s important to showcase your expertise to your boss but there are other people, too in the vast world of ours. As in the internet.

In the piece she writes, ”Just as a graphic designer has a portfolio she can display of her best logos and brochures, you should be creating intellectual property (blog posts, podcasts, videocasts — even a savvy and professional Twitter feed can count) that demonstrates your expertise.” In fact, creating content gives people the opportunity to see your new skills and knowledge especially if you’re in the midst of a career change. Read more

As you read this post, if you’re not running to an appointment or standing, how are you sitting? Really take notice of how you are sitting and poised. Are you legs crossed? Is your back hunched over as you read this? Or are you sitting up straight?

Mladen Golubic, medical director for the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute, talked to The Wall Street Journal about posture tips.

1. Practice relaxed, straight sitting. Although he alluded to technical studies on Sedentary Death Syndrome which highlighted hours worth of sitting which resulted in lower back pain, diabetes and obesity, sitting for a long time is simply not healthy regardless of the position.

Realizing it’s a fact of life, in particular for cubicle dwellers, he emphasized “relaxed, straight sitting.” Here’s how to do it: Sit away from the chair back so you’re not slumped over and keep both feet placed on the ground. Read more

Sure, there are surveys about the best companies to work for but how about the best workplace on the planet? This month’s issue of Harvard Business Review revealed research conducted by Rob Goffee of London Business School and Gareth Jones of IE Business School.

They asked executives if they could design the best company on earth to work for, what would it be like? Results showed six virtues of dream companies:

• You can be yourself.
• You’re told what’s really going on.
• Your strengths are magnified.
• The company stands for something meaningful.
• Your daily work is rewarding.
• Stupid rules don’t exist. Read more

If you’re a fan of author John Gray, Ph.D., you’re schooled by now on his countless relationship books such as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

Well, after years of conducting research and workshops along with consulting, he and co-author Barbara Annis, have a new book dropping tomorrow called Work With Me. The book tackles eight gender blind spots in the workplace and how to deal with them.

The New York Post interviewed Gray who mentioned women feel like they’re being excluded from situations that may lead to career advancement such as not being invited to get drinks with the guys.

One solution, said Gray, is to actually involve the guy. Instead of blaming him (that could lead to becoming defensive and antagonistic), he suggested focusing on results and possible solutions. “He becomes the solution, not the problem.” Read more

If you’ve ever been asked to be a reference for a top notch colleague, that’s a no brainer. Well, how about a mediocre one or perhaps a lackluster one who needs improvement? It creates hesitation, right?

One delicate reader question in The Wall Street Journal mailbag caught our attention. A family friend asked a reader to give advice to his son. The young man’s gearing up to graduate from college and also has Asperger’s syndrome. The reader tried to be helpful on the phone and gave him advice in an email as well but the reader seeking advice on how to handle the situation ultimately referenced the phone call as “vague…and lacking in social skills.” Read more

According to our friends at ERE.net, LinkedIn made two announcements at its conference this week in Sydney, Australia.

First up? CheckIn. Here’s how it works: At an event, let’s say you stop by an employer booth and give your name and email address to a recruiter. Although this is technically from a recruiter’s vantage point, the talent acquisition professional can send follow up messages to you through the site. As of July, we hear this will be fully up and running.

As for the other new enhancement, LinkedIn is changing their social campaign. Again, this is from a recruiters standpoint but it’s still good to know the inside scoop. Previously, recruiters could send updates to company followers via their company page. Well, they’ll be able to do it from “Recruiter” going forward and will be able to track responses.

It’s been a busy week for the professional networking site. Earlier this week, they announced an enhancement to LinkedIn Today by introducing multiple channels. Associate product manager Kevin Gu wrote in his blog post on the site, “Through channels you can follow broader topic areas that cross multiple industries and professional sectors. By following channels you will have access to timely and relevant professional news and insights that can help you stay one step ahead and be in the know on what’s trending in your professional network.”

He added, “Channels represent a more comprehensive way to discover, share, and engage with high-quality Influencer posts, top news sources, and SlideShare content — all in one place.”

Let’s say your name is Robert. Maybe you should go by Bobby at work? Check that — why not Bob instead? According to a recent report released by TheLadders, the shorter the name, the better (when it comes to your wallet, that is).

Upon analyzing the first names of the site’s six million members against factors such as industry, salary level and location, their experts concluded a correlation between the number of letters in a name and actual salary ranges.

So, if you want to go by Bobby instead of Bob, it’ll cost you about $7,200. Here’s why: Every letter added to a name decreases a salary by $3,600. This could equate to almost $288,000 over a 40-year career for dear ol’ Bobmeister! Read more

Ever have one of those days? You know the type: All of the sudden it’s time for lunch but you never would have known because your breakfast is still sitting idle at your desk. Meanwhile, you’re wearing your coffee (yeah, spilled again), and the deadline at 1 p.m. is quickly approaching…

Well, our friends at Brazen Careerist outlined a few ways to manage chaos on the job.

1. Prioritize. Yes, this entails planning ahead even during the most chaotic of times. Vishnu Subramaniam writes in the piece, “Not all tasks are created the same. You must determine what your ultimate goal and objective is for the day. Is your job to advocate for a policy, improve turnout for a community event or sell a product or service?”

Once an objective has been identified, it should be crystal clear as to what you should work on first. Looming deadline? Time to work on it first. Read more

As the job market picks up, here’s more good news: Nearly half of the employers in a recent survey said they would pay recent graduates between $30,000 and 49,999 this year.

According to the CareerBuilder poll, 25 percent reported they would pay a recent grad $50,000 or more! Although three out of four said they aren’t flexible with salary, the remaining 25 percent said yes, they would consider bumping up a starting salary during negotiations. Read more