Clippy, the iconic, underappreciated Office assistant we never knew wed miss

Clippy, the iconic, underappreciated schreibstube assistant we never knew wed missClippy, the iconic, underappreciated Office assistant we never knew wed missIts 1997. Youre hooked up to a modem and are typing away on a Microsoft documentwhen an animated paperclip pops onto the screen.It looks like youre writing a letter. Would you like help? welches a familiar, annoying refrain from Clippy.Surprisingly, Clippy is hot now, undergoing a cultural renaissance that is a little bit cute and a little bit baffling.Clippy was underappreciatedClippy was the default Microsoft Office Assistant for a decade from his introduction in Windows versions in 1997 until his retirement in 2007.As an interactive user guide, his job was to keep an eye on documents and suggest improvements to users.Sounds simple enough, but thats notlage exactly how it worked out.Instead, Clippy was roundly criticized as a failure by designers and reviewers, who found him to be more annoying than helpful.In an insightful in terview with Motherboard, the creator of Clippy, Kevan Atteberry, describes how Stanford social psychologists found Clippy, googly eyes and all, to be the most trustful and engaging and endearing character of them all.Still, despite Clippys charm, he was also invasive, showing up randomly on Office documents while people were trying to focus. The results users turned on Clippy. In 2010, Time listed Clippy as one of the 50 all-time worst inventions for its inability to hold its tongue.Recognizing Clippys polarizing effect, Microsoft created a tongue-in-cheek campaign about what Clippys next move should be in 2001.The triumphant return of ClippyBut even as Clippy failed as an office assistant, he has endured as a cultural artifact. Hehas been parodied as an unhelpful guide inThe Matrix and turned into an Internet meme.Atteberry suggests that since Clippy is so easy to draw - he is after all, just a paper clip with eyebrows and eyes- this makes him easy to copy and meme.One Stanford Un iversity student even wrote his honors thesis on why users came to scorn Clippy.The problem Clippy was a robot that looked human, but wasnt human enough. By making Clippy act like a person, Luke Swartz argued that users will expect more from the interface than it is capable of, leading to inevitable disappointment, frustration, and dissatisfaction.Swartz drewupon research that found that the anthropomorphic styles are cute the first time, silly the second time, and an annoying distraction the third time.This may have been why user testing did not initially find Clippy to be a distraction if one merely tests an interface once, annoyances may not present themselves.Clippy made this mans careerAtteberry created Clippy as part of a freelance project for Microsoft, so he is not receiving royalties for his creation. Instead, hes currently writing childrens books in Seattle.Atteberry himself has moved from once being embarrassed to put Clippy in his portfolio to now recognizing the cultura l capital Clippy gives him I am not put off by people hating him. The fact that people know who he is is the important thing to me. That hes still part of ur culture.He saidhe still receives fan art to this day, including bizarre anthropomorphized pregnant versions of Clippy.Atteberry welcomes it all.Clippys never-ending afterlife isan example of howfandoms can overtake a creators intent and reclaim a corporate symbol for their own entertainment.In fact, Clippy may be an example of how a fandom can arise even around corporate logos and other business business symbols - something media theorist Henry Jenkins predicted. Some savvy businesses are even creating symbols that are fan-friendly to get ahead of the trend- so future fan versions of computational assistants may have even longer and more popular afterlives than Clippy, who may be looked upon as a pioneer.

How to Negotiate Salary for a First Job After College

How to Negotiate Salary for a First Job After CollegeHow to Negotiate Salary for a First Job After CollegeWhen thinking aboutsalary negotiations, its important to know what it takes to strike the best deal you can with an employer prior to accepting a job. As a student just graduating from college, you may be thinking that youre just happy you got the job and that you know the company will offer you the best salary they can. Wrong Why You Should Negotiate Negotiating salary can seem scary, and you may not feel you have any negotiating power as a new graduate just out of college. The truth is that even in the salary negotiation phase the employer is still evaluating you and your ability to communicate and compromise in a business situation. You will want to communicate the value of your college education along with any relevant experience you have acquired over the belastung four years. Be sure to consider your leadership positions while in college along with any research, interns hips, or community service projects youve completed as well. The First Step First, evaluate the going rate for similar jobs in the same location. Resources such as The Occupational Outlook Handbook can provide you with information on the median salary for each type of job as well as information about what the job entails and the type of training required. Next, evaluate yourself and what you bring to the table. Have you done any internships? How well did you do in college? Do you have strong leadership skills developed through coursework, clubs or sports participation? All of unterstellung things can count when an employer evaluates the totality of your previous experience. Health, Dental and Other Benefits When negotiating salary, its also important to take into consideration the benefits package. Benefits can be costly and if the employer picks up a good percentage of health and dental benefits, provides a retirement match, tuition assistance to assist in your professional development, plus ample sick and vacation time, you must consider these when evaluating the base salary. Ongoing Negotiations Salary negotiations are not a one-time deal. You will also want to establish what the companys expectations are from the very beginning and have an open discussion on how you will be able to grow over time within the organization. Will you be evaluated on an annual basis and are there salary increases or bonuses if you do a good job? How to Name Your Price When negotiating a salary, you probably will not get everything you want, so its important to increase the amount youd like to get by 10 percent 15 percent in hopes of coming out even. When you do receive an offer from the employer, be sure to ask the employer if the offer is negotiable. Never give your acceptance of a job offer on the spot let the employer know that you want to think about it and ask how quickly do they want to hear back. Several days is usually a fair amount of time to think over any job offer. Also, make sure you get the offer in writing before making a final decision. Once you accept a job offer, you are technically off the market. If you are in negotiations with any other employers, be sure to let them know that you have accepted another offer and thank them for their time. Getting the Best Deal At the end of negotiations, both parties should feel that negotiations resulted in a win-win situation. You want to feel good about what you have negotiated, but you also want the employer to feel that he was able to get an excellent employee for a fair wage and that the negotiations were beneficial to both parties.

11 Steps to Writing the Perfect Resume

11 Steps to Writing the Perfect Resume11 Steps to Writing the Perfect Resume11 Steps to Writing the Perfect ResumeYour resume is only as good as the information you provide. Make koranvers youre prepared with this list.Are you struggling with writing the perfect resume? If the answer is yes, youre not alone. According to a recent TopResume study, only 24 percent of professionals described themselves asconfident in their resume-writing ability. This means that 76 percent of professionals are insecure about their resume and resume-writing skills as a whole.With that said, whether youre planning to use a professional resume-writing service or give it a go on your own, its important to take some time to prepare for your resume rewrite. Your resume will only be as good as the information you or your writer has towork with. Gather the following details ahead of time to craft a powerful document that effectively tells your story and markets your qualifications to help you land your dream jo b.Contact informationWhile this section may seem obvious, there are a few factors to consider. For instance, how will you display your name? Are you planning to use a nickname, such as Bob, or will you use your full name for the job search? Whichever you choose, make sure you consistently represent your name on all your personal branding materials such as your business cards, LinkedIn profile, and online portfolio or blog.Select one emaille address and one phone number to include on your resume. I recommend setting up an email address thats dedicated to your job-search activities and using your cell phone number on your resume, as this gives you the ability to control the voicemail message, who answers the phone, and when.Online presenceA Jobvite social recruiting survey found that 93 percent of recruiters will search for your online profiles before they decide to interview you. Save them some time by including the URL to your LinkedIn profile.Related10 Ways to Make Your LinkedIn Pr ofile Stand OutIn addition to your LinkedIn account, the perfect resume should include any links that are relevant to your work, such as a personal website, portfolio, or blog. If your work involves social media, you may include the links to other social media accounts such as Twitter, Instagram, and so forth.Sample job descriptionsWhen youre writing the perfect resume, it should be tailored to support a specific job goal. One of the best ways to ensure your resume is properly positioned is to identify sample job descriptions that youre interested in and qualified to perform.Search online and gather a few job postings that represent the type of position youre targeting. It doesnt matter if the location is ideal for this purpose, you should only be concerned with the job description and its requirements.Copy and paste the text of the description itself into a Word or Google document and then highlight or bold any requirements or desirable skills from the posting you possess. This wil l help you or your writer identify which of your qualifications should be showcased throughout the resume.Technical skills and proficienciesWhat technical platforms and tools are you proficient? List all that apply to your work. Be specific and as comprehensive as possible. This list can include anything from social media platforms to project management systems and computer languages. If youve worked with proprietary platforms, list those as well.Need to brush up on a skill or tool thats routinely popping up in the job descriptions youre targeting?Check out edX, Coursera, and SkillShare for free or low-cost online courses.Your professional experienceStart with your most recent job and work your way backward. The perfect resume should detail out all your professional positions within the past 15 years. If you served in the military or held a board position, list this experience as you would any other role in your work history. If you recently graduated from college, include your inte rnships and any work experience that took place since you entered college.For each role, list the following informationCompany Name and URLJob Title If your title is very specific to your organization, you can include a translation of sorts in parentheses next to your official job title.Start and End Dates Include the month and year for each of these dates.Job Description Think about your roles and responsibilities as they relate to your target role. This is especially important if youd like to change careers. Include details such as how many people you managed or supervised, the territories you covered, etc.Achievements Brainstorm a list of your accomplishments and major contributions that benefited the organization during your tenure. The number of achievements you provide will depend upon how long you remained in that role and how relevant it is to your current job goals. Quantify your accomplishments whenever possible for instance, how did you help save the company money, genera te revenue, improve customer satisfaction, increase productivity, and so forth?If you have an existing resume, only include new details in this section. Theres no reason to repeat anything that already appears in your current resume.Early career historyIf youve been in the workforce for over 15 years, chances are you have a few positions that got left out of the previous section. Before you get started writing the perfect resume, make a list of the job titles you held, the names of each employer, the locations where you worked, and your dates of employment for these roles. While the dates will likely not get used in your resume, its good to have a clear record of your earlier experiences for the writer.Volunteer workHave you been actively volunteering with a non-profit organization? Skills-based volunteering (SBV) is a great way to fill an employment gap or supplement your work history when youre trying to change careers. Please list any volunteer work youve done thats relevant to y our current job goals in chronological order, beginning with your most recent work.If youre new to the workforce, include any campus activities or clubs in which you were active.A perfect resume should include the name of the organization and its website URL, the positions you held, your years of involvement, and your responsibilities and contributions to the non-profit. Looking for new volunteer opportunities?Visit sites such as Catchafire and VolunteerMatch.Professional affiliationsList any relevant professional organizations or affiliations youre a member of that arent listed on your resume. For each group, please list its name and URL, when you became a member, and what positions you held. If you took an active role in the organization, describe your responsibilities and any notable achievements.Interested in joining a new membership group? Check out this directory of professional associations for suggestions or research which groups your peers and managers belong to. You can of ten find this information on their LinkedIn profiles.Language skillsLanguage skills can be a great selling point on your resume. If youre multilingual, be sure to list each language you speak and your proficiency level.Education and professional developmentCreate a record of all your education, beginning with your most recent degree. List the institution, its location, the name of your degree, your major and minor, your graduation year, and any honors associated with the degree, such as summa or magna cum laude. Do the same for any relevant certifications youve obtained or additional training opportunities or workshops youve attended.Third-party feedbackHave you received positive customer testimonials or a great performance review? Include this information in your preparation materials. You or your professional resume writer may be able to work some of this information into your resume to demonstrate your hard and soft skills in the workplace.While this may feel like a lot of work, by taking the time to examine your career now, youll see the benefits on your future resume. A perfect resume is within reachClick on the following link for more resume-writing advice.Need help with your resume? Our TopResume professional resume writers can assist youRecommended ReadingHow to Use Sample Job Descriptions to Enhance Your ResumeWhy Soft and Hard Skills Are So Important for Your Resume5 Signs Its Time to Hire a Professional Resume Writer

How to negotiate and evaluate more than one job offer

How to negotiate and evaluate more than one job offerHow to negotiate and evaluate more than one job offerYoure interviewed at several companies and now you have two offers. Its a position that 59% of job seekers have found themselves in, according to a new survey from Robert Half.Its a great position to be in, but it creates its own set of problems. How long do you have to make up your mind? A majority of people (58%) said they made their decision in two days but theres wiggle room if youre open with your communication. After all, there may be a few options you want to pursue whats the etiquette for effectively negotiating the two offers between each other? And how do you compare job offers in a way that takes the whole package into account, not just salary?Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreLadders spoke to Steve Saah, executive director of Robert Half Finance and Accounting, ab out how to handle competing job offers and how to decide which one is right for you.If you have two offers and are trying to figure out how long you have to decide to pick one or the other, how much time you have comes down to open communication and dialogue, said Saah. From a general common courtesy standpoint, three to four days is probably typical. But its not unheard of to want to extend that for a variety of reasons.Up-front communication with both sides is key, and you, while theres wiggle room if you play your cards right, you dont want to overplay your hand.I would advise people to use language around, If this is acceptable, Id like to get back to you around and then fill in the blank around what that time frame is, said Saah.Its possible to leverage one salary against the other, Saah said, if one company is offering more than the other. Theres nothing wrong with educating the other company about the other salary and letting them know about what it would take for you to come on board, Saah said. But he encourages candidates to look beyond simply compensation.While everybody would like to make more money, the ultimate thing is, what are the fruchtwein important things that are most critical to them?What type of advancement opportunities are there within the organization? Work-life balance, flexibility, the ability to telecommute are all very important to people in todays market. What are the long-term prospects at Organization A versus Organization B?Not all compensation packages are created equalPeople tend to compare base salary to base salary. While cash flow is extremely important, there are so many other components of a salary package that you should be taking into consideration so that youre making a true apples-to-apples comparison.Consider, for example, the quality and the cost of healthcare between the two organizations.Said Saah, While compensation is always important, I think its better for people from a long-term career perspective to take a little bit of a step back and think about whats most important to them and allow those things to drive their decisions.Its really important for people to step back and look at the total package when evaluating multiple offers.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

What You Dont Know About What to Put under Skills on Resume Could Be Costing to More Than You Think

What You Dont Know About What to Put under Skills on Resume Could Be Costing to More Than You Think Along with highlighting the general skills you will need for most jobs, its important to show employers that youve got the job-specific skills necessary for success at work. Hard skills have a tendency to be more technical, and each business or kind of job will often have its personal essential set. In addition to the practical demand for developers in virtually every organization, programming skills demonstrate advanced problem solving skills that could promote a well-rounded professional. Teamwork skills in the workplace are critical for the overwhelming majority of jobs. Since many job seekers may list skills in another section of their resume, in addition, it is important to weave them into descriptions under every one of your prior positions. So, having the capability to drive is most likely the top rated hard skill you must have to do the job. If youre mucksmuschenstill no t positive if any one of these skills are appropriate for your situation, one quick method to check which skills the employer is seeking is to confirm the work description. When you would like to land that ideal job then you must have a stellar resume. Our resume builder provides you with tips and examples on the best way to compose your resume summary. From small to big-box retailers, youre discover employers which are hiring. A salesperson sells new and pre-owned merchandise like clothing. Additionally, a little repetition might actually be good thinking about the limited quantity of time recruiters typically offer a resume. The competitive climate of the work market has gotten to a fever pitch in the past several years. Even if your skills only fill one or two lines, you may still format it the exact way. Part of creating an effective resume is selecting the most appropriate format to inform your private story. Most employers are really picky when it concerns the choi ce of employees for a work opening. Though some basic requirements are necessary to make it through the door, it is normally expected that workers will continue to enhance the longer they stay in a particular position. Organizations are often ready to work around school schedules for students together with parents. Volunteer work gives you many opportunities to display leadership abilities. If you are in possession of a wide variety of technical abilities, however, your abilities might wind up being precisely what gets you hired. To begin with, if youre seeing a great deal of hard skills that you just dont have, it can be better to move on to the next position. If you wish to display your organization skills, obtaining a tightly structured resume certainly helps. Many essential at-work skills are transferable, meaning that they are easily able to be applied to a wide variety of unique circumstances. Bearing that in mind, obtaining a section that basically spells out your har d skills makes a good deal of senseeven if it comes at the price of a small redundancy. Dont say youve advanced Excel skills as that will mean various things to various individuals. These difficult language skills have to do the job. By way of example, first list all of your computer related abilities and list your language related skills. Looking for employment at this time is pretty challenging. Most jobs require that you have a fundamental comprehension of computer programs including Excel and Microsoft Office, together with skills in www navigation, social networking sites and email systems. Search temp construction jobs on the internet or ask around with friends or family members. Simply take this Senior Digital advertising Manager job ad, for example. Without such a section, the possible hiring manager may be left wondering why he or shes reading your resume in any way. You ought to find more in construction job features online. Download the internet Casino software today and you may play our totally free casino online, and be on your way to the fun and excitement of Vegas style internet casino gaming Use high school bullet points to find the job. Maybe you took an on-line course on the best way to use InDesign or independently studied web design and HTML for your own personal site. On occasion, you may have to list related and unrelated experience below the exact same heading to prevent confusion. Read through it a couple of occasions and youll probably spot three or four vital skills mentioned many times throughout the document. You will also need to hope it is set up using the right format.

Should You Quit a Job Without an Exit Strategy

Should You Quit a Job Without an Exit Strategy We know that most of you are disengaged in your work, (about 87% of you to be precise according to Gallup) one in four of you dont trust your employers (indicatesthis AMA study) and, most important, two-thirds of you experienced some kind of pay cut during the recession. This means that many of todays employees have had their patience tested for too long and are now operating on the edge and primed to blow at the smallest employer infraction, which could lead to a sudden or unplanned resignation in the heat of the moment. You can, of course, recover from a sudden and vexatious resignation, but it can seriously put the brakes on your career progression if you leave a company in haste without an exit strategy in place. For starters, it is likely to come across as impulsive or ill-judged if you have resigned in haste without a job offer in place. Potenti al employers could regard this as a sign of poor decision making while under pressure. You will also find yourself in a weaker negotiating position as the employer knows you have no other options and this decreases the chances of you finding a more suitable job on the right terms in a short time period. Quitting in haste and without an exit strategy will put you on the back foot from day one.So, if you are sitting with your resignation letter in your back pocket, or you feel you simply cant muster the energy to workat your employerany more and must resign today (without a plan/job), stop and devise your exit strategy.A good exit strategy should take around 3-6 months to execute, probably longer for senior candidates. This gives you time to find a job, which takes about 10 weeks on average, according to recent U.S. DOL figures. It also gives you some reflective time to binnensee if a career or at least direction change is needed and to decide which roles and/or companies will compris e the next most effective career steps. This minimizes the chance of your next move being a backward step, or a jump from the frying pan into the fire.Youll also want to do some planning around any service-related benefits you may have. For example, is it worth staying an extra few months so you qualify for any service-related benefits, such as shares or annual bonus payments? It seems a shame to throw this away unless you are sure you can get it compensated for in a new job. Additionally, is it worth staying an extra few months so you can complete a full year tenure, e.g. 1 year or 2 years. Its much better PR on your resume.Taking 3-6 months to leave also gives you time to execute an effective networking campaign, which could involve making contacts with recruiters, hiring managers and peers in other companies to inquire about upcoming opportunities and share knowledge. You may or may not know that word-of-mouth hiring is currently the most effective way to find a job, and that stu dies show you aremuch more likely to be selected for interview and be offered a job if you are referred by an employee of a prospective employer or an influentialcontact.So, use your prolonged exit period to engage influencers both inside and outside the company to help find more relevant opportunities and convert them into interviews and job offers.When you do come to leave, its vital to resign and honor your notice periods to ensure that you maintain strong relations with your current employer as youll rely on them to provide you with good references for your next job and they may be able to help you to achieve future career or geschftlicher umgang objectives. As you can see, a job exit strategy is a crucial part of the job transitioning process that will enable you to make progressive and suitable career steps over the course of your working life.