If you are a recent college graduate, you no doubt know that now is an exceptionally tough time to enter the job market. The unemployment rate is remaining stubbornly high at more than nine percent. That means there are a lot of unemployed people looking for work. So, even experienced workers are taking entry-level positions, making it all the more difficult for those just entering the job market.

So, what can you do to increase your chances of landing an interview, to make yourself stick out from the crowd?

One thing is to make sure that you are networking. Networking is something that everyone should be doing if they are looking for work. You need to make sure you are using LinkedIn and Twitter, which are the best social media sites for professional networking.

You also should check your college’s alumni office to tap into alumni organizations to see if you can make any contacts that way. In addition, check around for any professional organizations in your field or any other business groups, such as the local chamber of commerce, that you may be able to join. Volunteering also is a good way to make connections.

Make sure your e-mail and voicemail have look and sound professional. The funny music, jokey voices or other sounds on voicemail were fun in college, but they won’t go over well with possible employers. The same is true for e-mail. Anything that is humorous or off color will not look good to possible employers. For your e-mail, your name or initials will do.

Finally, keep your expectations realistic. The job search is probably going to take a while, and it will demand just as much effort as the job itself. The salary, the job’s duties – or both! — may not be quite what you expect. But you will get to where you want to be in time.

Aim to avoid the emotional roller coaster, the highs and lows that come with good news and bad, and keep steadily working toward your goals in spite of setbacks you’ll inevitably face.

Winston Resources can help recent Manhattan-area college grads get that all-important first “post-college” job. Contact us today so that you may learn more about how our staffing service can help!

Sounds like the kind of “problem”  we all wish we have in this economy – feeling that we should decline a job offer.

Yet declining a job offer the wrong way can have an adverse impact on your career. Here’s how to decline an offer the right way.

1. Thank the hiring manager for the offer. After all, you were selected from dozens, if not hundreds, of applicants for the position. The company obviously thought very highly of you and you should be grateful and respectful Be apologetic as you decline the offer.
2. Tell the hiring manager about your decision as soon as you possibly can. Calling at 8:55 on the morning you were supposed to begin at the new company is just…well, there really are no words for how rude, immature and disrespectful calling at the last minute is. In fact, the only worse way to decline an offer would be to never tell your new boss that you’re not coming onboard (see number 3, below).
3. Actually decline the offer. Just don’t disappear. Contact the hiring manager via phone (e-mail is too impersonal) and tell him or her you’re not accepting the job. Trying to “hide” from giving this bad news by not responding to calls or e-mails shows a huge lack of professionalism. And don’t think the hiring manager won’t remember – and mention to others –  how immature, unprofessional and thoughtless you were.
4. Explain honestly your reasons for declining. If you feel you’re not really up to the position, say so. If something critical has come up (a family emergency, financial constraints, a counter offer by your current employer), let the hiring manager know.
5. Say no to the waffle. That is, be firm in your decision. Don’t be wishy-washy. Don’t decline an offer in the hopes that you’ll get a better salary and/or benefits package. Be honest and forthright. Show that you have backbone in your decisions.
6. Depending on how your conversation goes, it may be wise to write a letter explaining further about your decision. Be very complimentary to the hiring manager in this letter yet professional in your tone. You want to be seen as a competent individual with a good but considerate head on your shoulders. After all, you could very well find a position that’s perfect for you at this company at a future date and if you’ve declined the current offer well you still could take the company up on a future opportunity.

Speaking of opportunity, Winston Resources has dozens of terrific professional positions with some of New York City’s top companies. Contact us today to learn more!

Do you start projects with great gusto, work consistently for a few hours or days and then peter out as the project continues, losing interest and steam?

Many people are just like you, paying attention to the beginning of a task but ignoring its ending. We lose focus. We procrastinate, missing deadlines.

So how can we maintain our drive from the start of a project to its completion?

Researchers at the University of Chicago studied people who were working toward a goal. The researchers wanted to know if people were looking back at what they’d accomplished so far or looking forward to what they had to do. People tend to use both to motivate themselves. The researchers wanted to find out if one or the other was better.

They found that, while both ways can work, focusing too much on what we’ve completed can actually lessen our motivation because doing so can give us a feeling of a job well done too soon and so our motivation declines.

Researchers studied college students and found that the students were more apt to focus on their work if told that they still had more than half of the information to still study. Students who started slacking off had been told they had covered about half of the material.

Researchers found that the reason looking ahead helps keep us motivated is due to the fact that our brain sees the difference between the ways things are currently and how we want them to be, so it focuses on how to close the gap between them. This results in focusing our attention more on the task before us and giving it more effort.

In short, to stay motivated, think more about what the goal and now about what you’ve already accomplished.

Looking for a new job in the New York City area and needing a bit more motivation? Contact Winston Resources! We can help you get the proverbial “foot in the door” with some of Manhattan’s best employers. We look forward to hearing from you!

In business and elsewhere, we sometimes get into a situation where we find that the methods or strategy we are using aren’t working. When this happens, it is often difficult to admit failure and try something different. This has been evident with the military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, where inappropriate strategy led to cries of six more months, give it six more months!

Even when it’s clear that a plan isn’t working, we have strong inclinations against changing. Research conducted back in the 1970s helped to show why. In the study, people were asked to pick a research and development strategy for a business. They were then informed that the strategy was not working well at all. They were then asked what course of action they wanted to take – should they continue with the original plan, or try something new. The decision that was made depended mostly on who made it. If the same person who chose the original strategy made the decision, he or she usually decided to continue with the original plan. When a different person made the decision, the subject  usually decided to try something else. This showed that people were predisposed against changing course because to do so would be to admit they made a mistake.

No one likes to admit to a mistake or a bad decision, and this is even more true of an executive, someone who supposedly holds his or her job because of superior judgment about these matters, as well as the pressure executives often feel to be right. It’s also not easy because admitting to things you cannot do, or admitting that something isn’t working, is admitting to limitations, and may even be seen by some as a lack of ambition or even skill.

But good leaders know their job is to make strategy and to also make sure that the strategy is working. Part of that is determining what things they should not be doing. They know the importance of comparative advantage — that businesses, and even countries, need to look at what they do well and stick with that.

In reality, knowing what not to do or when to pull the plug on something, is not a failure of leadership – it is the exact opposite. It is effective leadership, according to business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. When people fail to see what they cannot or should not be doing, resources get wasted, false hopes continue, and the mess persists. But to make a hardheaded evaluation of what a company’s strengths and weaknesses are, and what it can and cannot do, is something that can only help a company.

Are you a New York City area employer looking to bring in some high-level talent into your organization? Winston Resources can help. We provide top-notch workers for you within temporary, temp-to-hire or direct-hire assignments. Contact us today!

A lot of self-help books and motivational speakers have a simple message when it comes to optimism – if you believe in yourself, then you will achieve success.  But there is one problem with this little mantra, according to psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson – it’s not true.

The focus on achieving success almost effortlessly, if only you have the proper mindset, is more than false, it can be downright harmful.  It can itself lead to failure.

Halvorson is not arguing against optimism.  It is true, she says, that those who are successful are precisely the people who believe they will be successful.  Many experiments have proven so.

What Halvorson takes issue with is the idea that success, if only we believe, will come easily, that it won’t require much effort.  It’s the difference between being realistic and being naive.

Those who are optimists, but also know the reality of life, know that they are responsible for making success happen. (As basketball coach John Wooden put it, “If you don’t work, nothing else will.”)  They know that success only will come with careful planning, sustained effort, tenacity, and overcoming obstacles.  Realistic optimists know they have to prepare and work, and this work is self-reinforcing – it only gives them more confidence in their ultimate success.

But people who are unrealistic believe that all it takes is the right attitude – if you believe, it will happen, somehow magically.  They don’t believe it must be self-generated, but that optimism is enough to bring it from some external source.

Those who are realistic know that achieving success won’t be any walk in the park.  It will be tough, it will require overcoming obstacles, it will require sacrifice and effort.  Realistic optimists put in more effort, plan for how they will deal with obstacles before they come up, and persist longer in the face of adversity.

Those who are unrealistic see thoughts about difficulty and problems merely as negative thinking, something to be avoided, rather than something to embrace and contend with.  They focus only on what they want, and do not consider anything else.

Yes, you need to have a positive attitude, but you also need to have a realistic perspective on adversity.  As Halvorson says, don’t just visualize success, visualize the steps you are going to take to be successful.

Let Winston Resources help you find that next good opportunity. We have terrific temporary, temp-to-hire and direct placement assignments at New York City’s best employers. Contact us today.

When you are facing a really big, complex challenge, it may look impossible to achieve. But before becoming too discouraged, the best course to take may be to break the project down into a series of small tasks, to make it more manageable. Each task then has a specific, achievable goal.

By doing this, you can reduce anxiety, make your course of action easier to figure out, and increase your chances of some quick successes along the way to your final goal, which will motivate you to keep going.

This is especially true in the business environment.  Research has shown that it is important for workers who are tackling complex problems to be able to experience success along the path to their final goal. With big, complicated projects, problems are going to arise often, and so if workers cannot experience some small achievements along the way, their morale and motivation will suffer.  So, it is important that workers be able to realize some small achievement, no matter how minor.  In fact, some business experts have argued that big, overarching goals are generally so obvious and so broad that they really don’t offer much to go on that relates to the day-to-day work to accomplish the goal.  They advise setting goals incrementally.

Even in our personal lives, setting up small goals and achieving them can be important.  We need to think about the small victories we have, not just the major ones.  An example of this involves people who are suffering from depression.  Often, their condition prevents them from following an exercise program, even though exercise has been proven to combat depression.  As a result, a goal such as working out for an hour a day can be out of reach for someone in this situation.  So, instead of trying to do everything at once, which in this case would be going to the gym, the person could break it down into more workable parts, such as taking a short walk.  Then by keeping track of the walks, and recognizing this small achievement in this way, the depressed person can build up to a workout at the gym.

These small successes are important for all of us to keep our well being on the positive side.  Studies have shown that big changes in life do not usually have effects that are lasting. But  routine boosts from our little achievements each day can have lasting effects.

Call Winston Resources when you’ve set a staffing goal of finding terrific temporary employees. We can provide your Manhattan-area company with top marketing, administrative, healthcare, IT, accounting, legal, human resources, publishing, and real estate professionals. Contact us today to learn more about how strategic staffing can help your business succeed.

Enron. Worldcom. The Wall Street meltdown. These are all some of the more noteworthy examples of corporate skullduggery, a lack of regard of and concern for ethical behavior.

But some business experts see these examples as the exception more than the rule.  There are thousands of companies with millions of employees who do the right thing, according to the experts.

Many people work their entire careers without ever encountering anything like the problems that led to the downfall of companies such as Enron.  If you play by the rules, you develop a reputation as someone who is ethical, and you generally don’t have problems.  But if you are willing to do things that are not exactly above board, other people can see what you are doing, and you may attract people of the same temperament.

It’s important, these experts say, that those at the top of an organization clearly spell out the culture and values of the company and make clear that unethical behavior won’t be tolerated.

Others say that the unethical behavior of businesses often reflects the larger attitudes of society in general.  It’s the idea of, “Well, everybody is doing it, so why should we be any different?”  These experts say that behaviors that are tacitly condoned by society won’t be rooted out by government regulation alone.  There already is a large number of government regulations covering many different areas.  But even all of these rules will miss some of the behaviors that are less than ethical.

To solve the problem, it will take the efforts of each individual to stand up and call out anyone involved in unethical behavior and to make clear that such behavior won’t be tolerated.

But if people leave such behavior to the government to find, it often becomes a cat and mouse game as people see what they can get away with.  Here, as in most instances, silence implies consent, and so those who see such unethical behavior cannot remain silent if such behavior is to be stopped.

Government has its role, but in the end, it is society itself that needs to send the signal that unethical behavior is wrong and to express its disapproval.

When we hear about unethical behavior by a business, it’s easy to assume the worst about the people who work in the corporate world.  But the people who work in business are just like ourselves, these experts say, people who are our neighbors and friends.  And what happens in business is the result of the actions of these people.

Whether you’re looking for a new position or a new employee, Winston Resources is the recruiting resource for individuals and companies in the NYC area. Contact us today!

Sooner or later it’s something we all must deal with – failure.  How we respond to it and how we learn from it can make a significant difference on the path our career takes.

How should we approach failure?  How should we think about it?  Here are a few thoughts on thinking about something we’d rather not think about.

One thing to consider after a failure was your passion for the task.  How enthusiastic were you about it?  How deep was your interest and motivation to the task?  Often our desire to succeed is driven by forces outside of us – approval from others, the desire for money or recognition.  There may be little intrinsic motivation involved, and that may have something to do with the fact that the effort failed.  You simply may not have cared enough about what you were doing.  And without that intrinsic drive, it is harder to make a success out of what you are doing.  So you need to ask yourself, was what you were doing a calling that came from within, or from something external?

Another thing to look at is your expectations about the project or task at hand.  Have you raised them too high in relation to your skills and experience?  No one expects a neophyte to perform like a seasoned pro.  So you need to consider whether you have asked too much of yourself.  Did you achieve all that you could given the circumstances and your capabilities?  And should you be more satisfied with your performance?  In other words, are you being too hard on yourself?

You need to challenge yourself, but you also need to set realistic expectations about what can be accomplished.

Another question to ask yourself is whether you did everything you could to make your efforts successful.  It’s a question only you can answer – did you give it everything you had?  Did you try all avenues possible to reach your goal?  If not, why not?  Did you have the right attitude, or were you not completely confident of success from the start?

Finally, you need to be willing to learn from your failure. If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently or the same?  Would you just change a few things or do a major overhaul?  The idea here is to learn from failure, and not repeat it.

If your career hasn’t taken the turns you would have liked and you’ve decided that needs to change today, contact Winston Resources. We can help you find a new position and/or career with one of Manhattan’s top companies. Contact us today!

While wisdom teaches us not to judge a book by its cover, practicality in the workplace says otherwise. Employers are at odds over the issue of appearance on the job. Today there seems to be an ever broadening palette of choices when it comes to things such as clothing, hairstyle, weight, and yes, body piercing.

According to one report, in which 1,000 people were surveyed, 40 percent of them agreed that companies have the right not to hire someone because of his or her appearance as it relates to weight, hair style, body piercing, and tattoos. In fact, one-third of those in the survey said “better looking” individuals are more likely to be hired as well as be promoted.

Conversely, “less attractive” individuals, those who might be overweight or who wear less traditional clothing on the job, should be protected by federal law, the survey said.

Nearly one-fifth of respondents said they have been discriminated against because of their appearance. A little less than half of those respondents said it was for their general appearance. One-third of those surveyed cited weight as the reason for the discrimination, while hair style was the culprit for 15 percent of respondents.

Individuals in management positions, rather than subordinates, are more likely to be the ones having something to say about a company policy regarding personal appearance.

One interesting fact in the survey stated that nearly half of the employers in the country have no policy addressing employee appearance.

There was a time when most legal suits brought against a company came from employees having close contact with the public such as waiters, waitresses, drivers, and salesmen.

That has changed.

Now complaints are coming from  more quarters of  the workplace. The pressure is on employers to be very specific about job requirements when interviewing potential job candidates.

When you’re looking for exceptional and reliable workers for your Manhattan company’s temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments, contact Winston Resources. We’ll be able to source, vet and place workers who possess the skills and qualities you need. We look forward to hearing from you.

Having trouble reaching your goals?  Here are few suggestions for getting where you want to go from Heidi Grant Halvorson, a motivational psychologist.

First, be as precise as possible.  When you set a goal to find a new job that you enjoy, for example, you need to specify the exact type of job you want, not just simply set as your goal to “find new job.”

Do it now.  Take advantage of an opportunity to make steps toward your goal.  When you have the time, make the effort to move toward your goal.  Revamp your resume, if getting a new job is a goal.  But to do this, you need to decide beforehand exactly when and where you are going to take the step toward your goal.  Tell yourself, “Monday and 2 o’clock, I will start reworking my resume,” for example.

Keep tabs on your progress.  How much have you accomplished so far, and how much farther do you have left to go?  If you don’t know how your progress is going, you can’t make adjustments if you need to.

Be prepared to work.  When you start out, be confident about achieving your goal, but realize that it is going to take hard work, and prepare yourself for that.

Think about getting better.  You need to focus on taking small steps at improvement, because improvement will come.  You can improve.  Abilities can be acquired with practice.  You can change.

Be tough.  You need to keep at it even when you encounter obstacles.  You need to make a commitment to your long-term goals and stick with it.  Not sure you have the toughness?  Again, persistence, planning and effort will go a long way to help you develop that toughness.

Build willpower by doing something every day that you would rather not do.  Like anything else, you can build willpower through practice.  Start with something small, and plan how you will tackle the difficulties when they occur.  It will be hard at first, but as you work at it, it will become easier.  Discipline in just one area begets discipline in other areas, if you keep with it. Just do one thing that requires discipline every day. Soon enough, you’ll find that you discipline “muscle” has grown exponentially.

By the same token, don’t take on more than you can handle.  Don’t try and do too much at once.

Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do.  You’re not going to break a bad habit by just stopping it.  It will be much easier to break by replacing it with a good habit instead.  So focus on what you are going to do to establish that good habit.

If you’re looking for a new position in the Manhattan area, the one thing you can do today is contact a recruiter at Winston Resources. We can help you find a new direction within one of the many temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire positions we have with some of New York’s top firms. Contact us today!