Most of us don’t like asking for help at work, even when we’re overwhelmed. We fear it makes us look weak. In fact, it can bring huge benefits.

Last year I was interviewing a successful small business owner when she mentioned one thing that had initially held her back: feeling she had to do everything herself and do it perfectly.

But she soon realized her male counterparts were asking other entrepreneurs for help and advice all the time, and that this actually played a significant part in their success. She let her guard down and began following in their footsteps. She now advises all the women she mentors to do the same.

I spoke to leadership coach Henna Inam recently about a few of the reasons why women in particular are so squeamish about asking for help.

Fear of rejection. We tend to take “no” very personally. We need to take a step back and realize it’s not always about us. “If we decide not to take it personally, the way we ask becomes different,” Inam says.

I hate bothering people. To turn this perception around, think instead about how you’d feel if someone asked you for help or advice. Most of us, Inam points out, would feel flattered in that situation: “The ego feels good. You’re able to give someone something they need and want.” So don’t hold back.

It makes me look like I can’t do it myself. There are two sides to this one. First, there’s you grappling with your own ego, the stubborn inner child that insists you don’t need help to achieve this thing. That’s easily dealt with – just tell the child to pipe down. Less easy, as I put it to Inam, is dealing with the fact that surely some colleagues or managers actually will see you as weak if you ask for help. She admits there is no good answer to this question. Yes, maybe they will. But she is against the idea of women living their lives in fear of what someone else may think about them. “If [never asking for help] becomes an unconscious habit, that’s when it becomes dangerous,” she says.

In other words, by all means be judicious about who and when you ask, but if you need help, ask.

Ashley Milne-Tyte is a radio producer and reporter based in New York City. She hosts a bimonthly podcast called “The Broad Experience” about women in the workplace. 

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Job fairs are being held in all five boroughs on Thursday and June 13 through a partnership between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and 188 employers in the city.

“Creating jobs for New Yorkers remains our top priority, and these job fairs are a great platform for us to connect job seekers with employers in the New York City area,” said Cuomo.

The career fairs will offer more than 5,000 jobs to local residents; attendees will also be able to find out about employment workshops.

More information about the job fair can be found on the Department of Labor’s website.

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New York City public school teachers are the kind of people who aren’t afraid of a problem. Case in point: Natasha and Adam McCabe — a husband and wife pair of teachers — recently founded edPeople, a site geared toward helping teachers network and build their professional communities.

On the surface, the site allows teachers to create profiles, upload their portfolios and make professional groups that can link teachers across the city. Principals can also post jobs, free of cost — different from other networking sites like LinkedIn. More important than that, they say, is improving the quality of education by allowing teachers to find the kinds of schools they most want to work in.

“Teacher quality really matters at a school, but paradoxically, teachers don’t have the same professional networks as people do in other fields,” says Natasha, who struggled to find information about teaching jobs when switching careers from fundraising. “It can be an isolating field. Your ability to find jobs that suit you and to network is fairly limited.”

Adam, who has taught high school math in the Bronx for seven years, said he faced a similar challenge when searching for the right teachers to hire at his school. “I took part in some interview processes, and it was hard to find the best candidates for certain positions.”

It is possible for teachers to find jobs through the Department of Education, teachers unions and other online resources, but the McCabes hope that edPeople will help get those in their field to take initiative. “Teachers are active, goal-oriented, assertive people. We want them to have the ability to make choices for themselves and not be passive in their careers,” Natasha said.

Another problem the website seeks to address is the high rate of teacher attrition, which is climbing according to 2013 data from the United Federation of Teachers. Nearly 10 percent of new teachers in New York City quit before their first year was finished in the 2011-2012 school year, and nearly one-third of teachers hired in 2008 are no longer in the city’s schools.

“Teacher turnover is a huge problem,” Adam said. “I’ve witnessed teachers who may have been happy at one school, but because of what seems like a lack of options they either leave NYC schools or leave teaching all together.”

EdPeople is a labor of love for the pair, and also one of hope. The site was recently launched in beta, but their ultimate mission is to have more of their colleagues end up as they are — happily teaching in schools where they feel supported and in step with their schools’ teaching philosophy and administration.

“If we could create a thriving, supportive professional community among city teachers, it’s a great thing for everyone — especially students,” said Natasha.

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As a member of a generation maligned as self-centered, lazy, and perpetually adolescent, David Burstein wrote his new book “Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping Our World” to try and set the record straight about today’s young adults. Through research and interviews with several of the eighty million American Millennials, Burstein paints a nuanced and optimistic portrait of America’s emerging movers and shakers.

You write with more optimism about Millennials than most other people. What drove you to write this book?

For the 2008 election cycle I helped produce a documentary, and have been traveling all over the country showing it at college campuses and registering new voters. A lot of people talked to me about wanting to start an energy company or a business, about doing something about education, or about other problems around them. This is a story that needs to be told. At the same time I was reading all these stories by people from other generations about how our generation is a generation of narcissists, that we’re disengaged, and that’s just not what I’m seeing. So I set out to try and tell the story of our generation from the perspective of the people framing it.

I’m curious as to how the millennial generation is shaped by the Recession.

While this generation is on track to make less money than our parents, the cost of living actually decreasing. We have the lowest levels of car ownership, home ownership and childbirth. Young people today don’t need as much money as they have needed in the past. I think for the first time, you have a group of people not motivated by money as their #1 goal. There is a sense that happiness, fulfillment and community are more important. That is something that is consistently impossible for people of other generations to understand.

How have Millennials adapted the idea of community?

People today are part of so many communities, and they’re consistently and constantly connected to all of them. They take old communities with them, and join new ones along the way. Because of the internet, people can be part of communities across state or international lines, so the ability of young people to spread the work they’re doing is greater than ever before.

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No matter how much applause you get at curtain call, it’s never been easy to “make it rain” as a performer. Adam Huttler, the founder and executive director of the arts nonprofit Fractured Atlas, says it can be challenge for performers and artists to see the business for what it is: a business.

“That is what they are — even if they don’t always think of themselves in those terms,” he says. At talks and events, the company helps guide arts organizations toward the financial and nuts-and-bolts incentives that can keep them afloat. This evening, Huttler will lead a panel for Internet Week New York, titled “Revenge of the Art Geeks: How Tech Can Help you Build Audiences and Raise Funds.”

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  VIDEO: “Made Here,” Reggie Watts, Cherry Jones and others share their stories

From the other side of the curtain, actress Cherry Jones is clear about the struggles of getting paid and making art. “It’s intoxicating working downtown — then you have to pay your bills.” she says of the artsy lifestyle in the online documentary series “Made Here.” The relationship between making money and making art in the scrappy downtown performance scene is just one of many topics covered in the series’ three seasons, including health and wellness, raising a family and more.

For Jones, who is most known for her recurring role on the television show “24,” she says television made it possible for her to continue doing the work in the theater that sustains her artistically. “I don’t know anyone left who’s done just theater for the last 30 years. But I have overwhelming respect for them if they have,” she says, with a laugh.” ”I did those two seasons and I made more money than I ever thought I would in my life, and now I can work in the theater any time I want to,” Jones says of her time in TV.

The issues raised in “Made Here” dovetail with the things Huttler encourages arts organizations to address. He says artists need to learn how to “speak business.” “The word ‘customer’ tends to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths,” he says. “People think ‘McDonald’s has customers, we don’t have customers,’ but they do.” Huttler believes that arts organizations that get real about the bottom line have the biggest shot at seeing their art — and their business — succeed.

Huttler has good news for the scrappy artists in “Made Here” and beyond, though:  “For the little guy, I think things are looking brighter than they ever have,” he says. “They have more opportunities to engage with their audiences directly and they can use technology and powerful new ways.”

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According to a study published by Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy, teens who spend some time bagging groceries or syphoning fries into happy meals have a larger shot at success throughout their career.

Paul Harrington, a Drexel University labor economist and lead author of the study, says that work experience in a formal job during high school (from ages 16 to 19) correspond to a 20 to 25 percent increase in salary for teens almost a decade later. In this case, a “formal” job means a gig in food service or retail for a larger company, as opposed to work like babysitting or cutting the neighbor’s grass. High school students who work, he says, are also more likely to have a job a decade after high school than their peers. The numbers are even stronger for teen boys, Harrington says.

“I think there’s a dignity in work,” Harrington says. “It’s really important for people to understand how they contribute to making an organization function. The way you understand how that works is by doing it.”

The study did reveal some bad news, however. As the economy has suffered, jobs for teens have become more difficult to come by. In the Metro Philadelphia area, the study revealed that in 2000, about 44 percent of teens between the ages of 16 and 19 had jobs. Today, that number has fallen to 25 percent, mostly due to the lack of employment opportunities and to the fact that older workers are holding onto jobs longer than they have in previous decades.

The other piece of data that the study revealed is that attendance in high school is a very strong indicator of good things to come. Harrington says that having high daily attendance in high school means that students have a much higher chance of graduating from college.

“Woody allen said 90% of life is showing up,” Harrington says. “Turns out he was right.”

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Construction is slowly increasing in the city, according to a new report.

The New York Building Congress reported Monday that private sector construction employment increased 2.4 percent in 2012.

And new construction is continuing to gain momentum in 2012, the report found, already up 1.3 percent from a year ago.

Wages remain unchanged, according to the report.

Construction employed 114,875 people in 2012, an increase from 112,192 in 2011.

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The job application process is shifting due to applicant tracking systems, which are online résumé aggregators that most midsize to large nonprofit and corporate entities use to weed through candidates. Trudy Steinfeld, assistant vice president and executive director of the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development, helps you navigate the new system.

Talk to the robots (mostly)

Do: Maximize keyword searching
“Say they’re looking for a candidate who’s detailed, can communicate and is a good editor,” Steinfeld says. “When they get résumés, they’ll search the system for those keywords. If you don’t have those words on your résumé, even if those skills are displayed differently, your résumé is likely not to be identified.”
Don’t: Go overboard
“I recently heard an interesting story: There were 10 openings in this company and one person’s résumé was identified with every keyword search, though the jobs were completely different. The candidate included keywords for every job, made the text white [so it was disguised] and put the résumé over [that text]. They tossed the résumé when they learned of the stunt.

Numbers game: quantify your results
“If you’ve worked on a project and there are quantifiable results, provide the numbers,” she says. “Employers are into analytics; having an actual measure of your success can really help. Say you want to be a fundraiser. If the organization that currently employs you was taking in $1 million a year when you arrived, and now brings in $1.5 million a year, say that. People are results-oriented.

Old is new: Send a fax
“Especially when applying to small organizations, fax your résumé. Most offices still have a machine and — guess what? — it never rings,” Steinfeld says. “I’ve noticed that in my own office, when the fax machine rings, people wonder, ‘What could that be?’ It could be your résumé. It sounds crazy, but the reality is, I test this out all the time with employers and they say, ‘Yeah, if I get a résumé over the fax machine, I’m curious.’ Say, ‘I also sent this online, but I wanted to make sure it got into your hands.’”

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Mobile job search apps, which enable you to apply for a position from your phone, are popping up all over. Major search sites like Monster and Career Builder offer an app that lets you to browse postings, update your status and apply right from your phone. But is all this technology making the search for a new job easier, or is it just one more thing to keep track of?

According to Luis Salazar, more mobile application programs would mean a greater chance at job placement for many hourly workers. Salazar is co-founder and CEO of Jobaline, a mobile platform that connects job-seekers with companies. “The hourly workers, which are 59 percent of our economy, are especially left behind,” says Salazar.

“These important workers often either lack Internet access or only access the Web using mobile phones. When we bridge the gap by providing mobile recruitment tools that address job search needs, workers and employers alike will have the ability to find a better fit.”

Companies that create an app need to focus on keeping it concise and user-friendly. “A well-designed mobile recruitment system can reduce the amount of time and effort necessary for a candidate to apply, leading to higher application rates and fewer orphaned applications,” explains Mahe Bayireddy, CEO of iMomentous, a mobile talent recruiter.

“By integrating with DropBox, Google Drive, and social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, applying for a job through mobile can be simple. Forms that once took upward of 20 minutes to complete can be automatically pulled from existing profiles,” Bayireddy says. Like so many other technological advances, if you’re not keeping up with the times, you’re falling behind.

“Five years from now, it’s impossible for us to imagine a world where most job searches and applications will not happen through a mobile device,” says Proven’s CEO, Pablo Fuentes. Proven is a job search app that lets users send résumés to job sites. “Today, people are doing banking, travel, and taxes on their phone. Tomorrow, mobile will be the standard for job searches.” Julia west

The post Put the ‘app’ in job application appeared first on Metro.us.

Take it seriously
Treat your online profile as a professional asset and determine if it positions you the way you want it to. Google yourself often and see what the world sees when they look for you.

Commit to a professional online persona
You will be judged by what you post and what others do, too. Select a professional voice and spell-check your postings. Don’t post or say anything online that you wouldn’t want your grandmother or boss to see.

Monitor
Sign up for free, no-obligation alerts on a site that manages online reputations. Enter your name or other keywords and be alerted when potentially damaging materials are posted about you. At Reputation Changer, the technology crawls the “deep Web” going beyond what search engines look at to see what dangers may exist.

Take proactive control
Commit to ensuring that the entire first page of Google’s search results for your name or your company bring up websites or pages that you control.

1. Even a site like Yelp or Wikipedia portrays you in a particular way, so make sure you control the message.
2. Set your Facebook privacy settings so that nobody can tag you in a picture without your approval. Review the privacy settings of all the social media sites you use.
3.  Create online assets using your exact personal and/or company name as the title (such as .com or .net). Use social media profiles and free blogs. Update and post to these pages consistently. The volume of activity required depends on how prominent you are. The more prominent you are, the more active you must be.

Prepare for the worst and react fast
Proactively build up some messages that you can release if a negative news story breaks. If you believe that people may post negative or embarrassing things about you, try to head it off, but expect that you cannot. Once it is out there you can only react to it. If you need to apologize, do that, but don’t debate online because it drags out the conversation. Shift the conversation to the things that you want people to focus on.

By the numbers
70 percent of U.S. companies say that they have disqualified candidates based on what they find online about them. By 2014, 53 percent of all retail sales (online and offline) will be influenced by the more than 1.6 trillion searches conducted per year.

— These tips were compiled by Michael Zammuto, president of Reputation Changer, a company that helps people manage their online personas.

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Working from home sounds like a dream, but the reality is that it requires a lot of skills. To work from home you must be self-disciplined and able to manage time, but there are many other characteristics that come with being a successful at-home worker.

Distinguish work time and play time: It’s easy to fall into the trap of constant connection when working remotely, but that doesn’t help your stamina. You lock yourself in a home office during work, so why not turn off your phone during personal time?

“You must make personal time off-limits for work as much as possible,” says Sabina Ptacin, co-founder of the online business community Tin Shingle. “This could mean no laptops in the bedroom or no calls during dinner. Try to be a realistic business and know when to turn off and on.”

Prepare for social isolation: Working outside of the office means no water cooler chatter.

“Because remote workers are isolated from their co-workers, supervisors and customers, they must be comfortable fulfilling their social needs outside of work or via electronic channels like instant messaging, phone and email,” says Jeff Facteau, vice president of professional services at SHL, a talent measurement company. When you find yourself longing for actual human interaction, schedule a lunch meeting.

Don’t forget, it’s still work: When you work according to your own schedule, deadlines can be tighter and resources may be harder to find. You have to treat work like work, regardless of what else is going on.

“Remember that bosses want employees who get things done. Deliver on what they want and they won’t care if you are in that cubicle or working out of a Starbucks,” suggests Jane Miller, founder of Janeknows.com and author of the upcoming book “Sleep your Way to the Top (and Other Myths About Business Success).”

“If you can get results and wear your bunny slippers, you’ll have the best of all worlds,” adds Miller.

The post Working from home still means work appeared first on Metro.us.

More New York City residents are working in low-wage jobs, according to a new study by the Center for an Urban Future.

According to their report published Thursday, more than a third of New York adults work in low-wage jobs.

In 2007, about 31 percent of New Yorkers were in a low-wage job, but now, that number is 35 percent.

This number has steadily risen throughout the last few years, and the percentage of New Yorkers working in low-wage jobs jumps to nearly half in the Bronx, the report states.

In that borough, 47 percent of working adults are in low-wage jobs.

In every borough but Queens, where 34 percent of people are making a low wage, the percentage has increased throughout the last five years, the center reported.

The group speculated that the increase might be due to more jobs requiring at least a college degree. At the same time, jobs usually available to people with a high school degree, like manufacturing and car repair, also go to those with higher degrees.

This trickle-down effect means that people with a high school degree are moving toward low-wage jobs like food service and retail.

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Ashley Milne-Tyte says women need to stick to their guns while being polite when negotiating a raise.

How often do you negotiate a raise? If you’re female, the answer is quite likely to be not often, or even never. My first time came about 12 years ago. I was in my 20s and about to switch roles within a company. My co-worker told me I should shoot for a number that constituted a 25 percent raise. It seemed like a huge amount and I found it horribly awkward to discuss money — let alone think I was actually worth something. I squirmed at the thought. But during the interview, I summoned up the courage to make the ask. My supervisor acted surprised, which made me uncomfortable, but I managed to resist backing down.

He muttered that it was a very large raise and I was unlikely to receive that much. Still, he said he’d see what he could do.

I got it.

That was my first lesson in negotiating. Just ask — they can always say no. In almost every study done on negotiating, women simply don’t ask for raises as frequently as men do. It’s one of the many reasons for the gender pay gap. Of course, I know men who hate negotiating as much as I do (I never said it was fun) and women who consider it a point of pride to fight fiercely for what they’re worth. But in general, women face particular challenges when it comes to asking for what we want.

Society still views women as nice and accommodating. Asking for more money doesn’t fit that picture. So we have to be careful how we do it to avoid turning people off. But if you don’t ask, you have no idea what you could get. You could be turned down, but isn’t it better to find out by asking in the first place?

Do’s and Don’ts:

DO your research first. There’s a ton of it out there. I recommend Shenegotiates.com and the book “Ask for It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Want” by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever.

DON’T immediately back down if your boss balks at your request. This is all part of the game.

DO remain pleasant and polite throughout. Research shows women can get more from negotiating if they keep playing nice while sticking firmly to their guns.

DON’T say things like “because I deserve it.” It gets interviewers and managers all hot under the collar because it goes against gender norms for women.

Ashley Milne-Tyte is a radio producer and reporter based in New York City. She hosts a bi-monthly podcast called “The Broad Experience” about women in the workplace.

The post The Broad Experience: Negotiating While Female appeared first on Metro.us.

Pierre Khawand says that optimizing productivity depends on working in bursts.

Some days, you feel like you got nothing done at work. It’s not uncommon: The email inbox grows, an instant messages pop up and colleagues interrupt your workflow. Productivity consultant and author of “The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook” Pierre Khawand says: “When we are working a few minutes here and a few minutes there, we are staying at the superficial level and not getting deep into anything.” Here are his strategies for digging in deeper to get more work done.

How can people reach their level of optimal productivity?

The first element has to do with how results change with time when we are working on a task. When we start to work on the task, we get results. But at some point, the results level off and then diminish, because either we get mentally tired and are no longer productive, or we need someone else to do their part before we can continue. This is all good in theory, but what happens in reality is that a few minutes after we start to work on a task, we get interrupted. When we get interrupted, our results go down to zero — this happens again and again, and again. It’s part of life in today’s work environment.

So how do we stay on task?

A key element is starting the day by identifying what we intend to accomplish that day and ending the day with a reconciliation process. That ensures that we close the loops on open issues. Instead of starting the day with e-mail, we should stop for a minute or two to reflect on what is important and what we want to accomplish. Then, put it in writing.

The idea is that we need to stay focused long enough so that we can achieve in-depth thinking, creative problem solving and get meaningful things done. Depending on the task, it can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes or several hours. Once we have accomplished something meaningful, it is time to stop our “focused” session, and switch to being collaborative — handle email, phone calls, have live discussions. This is the collaborative work where we get the most of our team productivity and equally important results. After the collaborative session, it is time to take a break — do something that gets us re-energized and ready for the next focused session. No significant productivity gains, and therefore no significant accomplishments, can be achieved if we don’t optimize our workflow by recognizing the concepts described above: focus, collaborate, then play!

Burst out:

Working in bursts manages tasks, interruptions and energy. It makes you feel invigorated and accomplished as a result.

• Alternate between focus, collaboration and play.
• Be intensely and wholeheartedly in each burst. That’s what the “burst” label is for — to maximize output.
• Each burst should build toward and enhance the next burst.

For more tips and information, see here.

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For the second time in two years, Kevin Kirwan, a logistics specialist for the Navy for 14 years in places like North Africa, can’t find a job.

Kirwan, 37, is one of an estimated 210,000 veterans in the city, many struggling to find employment after years of service.

The City Council met Monday to discuss ways to help them get hired.

According to the Council, the unemployment rate for recent veterans rose from 9.1 percent to 11.7 percent from 2012 to 2013. Meanwhile, the general unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 7.9, percent.

“People who go out to fight for us, that protect our country, deserve the best, and we need to continue to give them the tools that are going to make them viable when they return,” Brooklyn Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez said.

Many vets struggle to translate battlefield experience for civilian jobs. And even if they were trained for jobs that exist in civilian life, they return only to find they are qualified to fix plumbing in Iraq, but not Queens.

To apply for a license, many city jobs require experience in the city or U.S. — meaning overseas military experience does not apply.

“If your work as a plumber or an electrician was good enough for the armed forces, it should be good enough for New York City,” Veterans Committee chair Mathieu Eugene said in the Monday hearing.

Metro profiled Kirwan in a 2011 story. After the article, his experience with logistics and administration landed him a job at Chase, but his project ended in January.

After three months of job fairs, visits to veterans’ help centers and countless applications—and with a 13-month-old son – he is worried about paying the bills.

“It’s frustrating,” he told Metro.

Kirwan is also trained as a safety inspector. Despite those skills, he would likely need local experience to get a job. But the Council bill might streamline skipping that step.

“This will definitely help,” he said, adding, “There’s just not get enough jobs until you get yourself in front of the right manager.”

The post An electrician in Iraq, but not in Queens appeared first on Metro.us.

The city’s unemployment rate rose to a four-month high in January despite the fact that the city continues to add private sector jobs at a rapid pace, according to State Labor Department data released on Thursday.

The city added 19,000 jobs in January, but the unemployment rate hit 9.1 percent, according to the reports. Private sector jobs in the city grew by 85,000 in 2012, bringing the total number of jobs in the city to a record 3.94 million, The New York Times reports.

The discrepancy between the high unemployment rate and job gains in the city has stumped some economists, but the continuous growth in jobs signals a strengthening economy.

Labor Department data released on Friday showed that the national unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent with 236,000 jobs added in February.

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Running a city as large and dynamic as New York comes with a cost – sometimes that’s in the form of physical injury or in the worst cases, even death. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in December that 71 New York City workers died on the job in 2011, the highest number in . At the top of the most dangerous industries for workers were jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, followed by construction and government.

Metro examined five of the jobs where the threat of injury looms large.

In his 29 years of maintaining the third rail for MTA subway, New Jersey resident Richard Holley said that he knew one co-worker who was electrocuted and another who was struck by a train. “It happens infrequently now because of all the safety regulations put in place,” Holley, 52, said. To ensure the third rail is constantly powering subway cars, Holley and his colleagues work in shifts around the clock. But rubber mats, insulated gloves and insulated tools have not prevented the 600-volt rails from exploding and injuring workers. “You can’t put enough safety precautions there as long as we’re working on the rail live,” Holley said.

New York cab drivers are another group that often put their life at risk, from dealing with drunken passengers to regularly being robbed. Taxi driver and Queens resident Key Chun Kim was beaten into a coma on New Year’s Day after fighting with a passenger over a fare. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance is currently pushing a bill to make it a felony to attack a taxi driver.

Cab driver John McDonagh said he has several safety precautions he’s learned in his years driving the city’s streets. He never double parks behind a car so he can pull out quickly when danger strikes. “I had a guy put a gun to my head once,” McDonagh, 58, said. “He wouldn’t pay through the window.” A native of Queens, McDonagh has been driving taxis since 1977. “Most of the problems happen at night,” he said. “You try to avoid insanely drunk people.” But most challenges come from passengers who pretend to have no cash, disappear into apartments to get money or use counterfeit bills. McDonagh hopes the new taxi-hailing app “Hailo” will make his job safer as users pay fares beforehand.

The Sandhogs have been blasting through the city’s bedrock since building the Brooklyn Bridge in 1870. They are now constructing the Second Avenue tunnel, which exploded at 72nd Street last August. No one was injured, but in 2011 falling concrete killed Michael P. O’Brien, 26, a Sandhog working under Park Ave. Such deaths are rare, however. “In order to construct anything people are going to get hurt,” Sandhog business manager Richard Fitzsimmons said.

Keeping New Yorkers safe puts the lives of NYPD bomb squad workers at danger as they dismantle suspicious packages, including the Times Square car bomb from 2010. Staten Island resident Detective Michael Oldmixon, 50, has been on the bomb squad for 13 years. “We had a guy with improvised hand grenades on him. We had to hold him down and cut all the stuff off,” he said of a Bronx incident in 2002. With bomb-sensing robots and dogs, injuries are few, although the risk remains.

Being an ironworker, one of the people, who build the city’s bridges and skyscrapers is in the blood for Barry Collins.

“It’s a thrilling career,” Collins, 60, said. Since his grandfather became an ironworker in the 1920s, Collins’ father, brother and several uncles and cousins have followed suit. “It’s not an easy job. It breaks your body down,” said Collins, a long-time Yonkers resident. “Even if you don’t get seriously hurt you’re always breaking fingers.” Regularly moving steel pieces seven tons or heavier means fingers and toes are easily crushed. Trauma is another risk. “A guy falls 20 feet and he breaks his leg. It’s horrible,” Collins said. “You go to work and you pray that everybody goes home safe.”

The post Most dangerous industries in New York City appeared first on Metro.us.

Making the decision to jump careers is a tough one, especially when leaving a personal passion behind. Former performer and author of “Exit Stage Right: The Career Change Handbook for Performers,” Ciara Pressler says: “If your dreams have changed, that’s okay. It’s time to find your next career passion. The point is to keep evolving as a person and let your career reflect that.”

What is the best way to mentally prepare for such a change?
The key is to be honest with yourself about what you want now, which may no longer be the exact same passion as when you started out. It seems daunting to navigate a career change, but there is a step-by-step process you can follow to move forward with less stress and more support.

What are common struggles people face in making the choice to leave a performing career?
Performers don’t realize the wealth of strengths and experience they bring to another role, even in a new industry. The skills and habits developed through performing can put you ahead of most job candidates, if you understand how to position yourself for your target job.

What are the best ways to keep engaged in your field not as a performer?
Engagement is a choice. Know what motivates you to stay in the game. Create short-term goals and make a decision to approach your job with the same creativity and dedication to excellence that you brought to your performing career.

What are mistakes people make in getting that first full-time job offstage?
Undervaluing themselves. Performers work for free too often or are paid far less than they deserve, and then they bring that baggage to the next career. It’s important to establish your value through negotiating confidently, working smart over hard and maintaining a loyal network.

The post How to perform successfully — offstage appeared first on Metro.us.

Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder graduated from Harvard in 1987 and was soon thrown into a sinking economy — and a job market not terribly interested in English majors. Today Snyder is a family college consultant, and she sees her clients struggling with the same obstacles she ran into post graduation — only much, much worse.
Her latest book, “The Unemployed College Graduate’s Survival Guide: How to Get Your Life Together, Deal with Debt, and Find a Job After College,” mines some of the wisdom she picked up in the ’80s and appropriates it for an even bleaker job market.
“I wanted to create a survival guide that took this job crisis seriously. This isn’t advice you’d give to just any generation. This generation is unique in history, and the same rules just don’t apply,” says Snyder, from her home in Lancaster, Pa. “They’re really caught in a double whammy. There’s obviously a recession, but there’s also a demographic crunch going on: There’s just more older people now, and they’re holding onto their jobs much longer.”
Kerrigan’s guide begins with a strong dose of emotional reassurance for post-grads feeling let down by their job status and judged by their parents.
“In my experience, the kids are more aware of the realities than the parents are. Parents are having a hard time adjusting their expectations,” says Snyder. “There is a way Americans have approached college for generations: Choose a school first, discover what you’re interested in while you’re in school and start thinking about a job in your senior year. The stakes are so much higher for these kids, and we need to start thinking about the payoff of this investment a lot sooner.”

The new realities
In her latest book, family college consultant Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder dissects the outdated wisdom of American higher education. Here is just one example:

Outdated thinking: A college degree ensures financial security.
The new reality: College can be a risky financial investment, and that risk needs to be hedged. A family only has so much money to help launch a child into the workforce. Diverting some of those resources toward a home or starting a business is a better strategy.

The post Surviving a post-grad unemployment slump appeared first on Metro.us.

The IBO predicted an increase of 50,900 jobs in 2013, nearly half of which will come from the education and health care sectors.

The number of city jobs will then go up by about 73,400 per year from 2014 to 2016, the IBO reported.

It said that over 480,000 payroll jobs are expected to be gained from 2009 to 2016.

“This would constitute the most robust city employment expansion since 1950, when these records begin,” the IBO said.

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In a casting call posted on Backstage titled “‘GIRLS’ SEASON 2, HIPSTERS,” casting directors seek people with an authentic hipster look. What exactly is a hipster look? Well, as defined by Central Casting New York, it includes super-edgy traits like “tattoos, piercings, colored hair.”

Behold:

Central Casting New York is casting background for the second season of HBO’s Girls, a comedy about the experiences of a group of girls in their early 20s. Lena Dunham and Allison Williams star. Robb Fitzgerald, extras casting. Shoots May 15-Aug. 28, 2012 in the NYC area.

Seeking—Hipster Types: male and female, 18-30s, all ethnicities, all types, specifically seeking people with tattoos, piercings, colored hair, and unique looks.

For consideration, email pix & contact info via Back Stage; indicate “Hipster” in both the cover letter and “submission question” fields. Pay provided.

Pay provided? What kind of pay? A real hipster would prefer bartering anyway. Geez. They can’t just be bought, you know.

(via Gothamist)

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“Let your career go hand-in-hand with your hobbies and interests,” says author and geriatric care manager Marion Somers. “If you love to travel, you could consider becoming a nurse for a cruise ship. There are so many nontraditional paths you can take with that nursing degree. A nurse will always find a job, but you may have to walk in and ask for the position to be created.”

For the less whimsical, here are four positions that already exist for nurses with unique skills and education.

Clinical project manager
Project manager for clinical testing
“When a [drug] trial is going on, there’s a lot of moving parts,” says Steven Raz, co-founder and managing partner of Cornerstone Search Group in New Jersey. “There needs to be the documentation, protocol must be followed and you need to stay within budget. All that information gets rolled into a project. Nurses have likely been through clinical trials. They already have the knowledge of what’s happening at testing sites.”

Transplant coordinator
Key corespondent and organizer for transplant patients
“[A] transplant coordinator is an advanced practice health care professional. It requires critical thinking, communication and organizational skills,” says Pat McDonough, RN, live donor transplant coordinator at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center. “After working in the ICU for 18 years, becoming a transplant coordinator opened a whole new world to me.”

Drug safety operations
Fielding calls and concerns about drug reactions
“When a patient calls in a bad reaction to a drug, the nurses offer a very good perspective because they can relate to the patients and understand what they’re going through better than a non-nurse,” says Raz.

Long-term care planner

Planning and organizing assisted care for the elderly

“As our population ages and health care becomes more digital, there are avenues opening up for nurses who can navigate technology,” explains Patrick Coonan, dean and professor at Adelphi University School of Nursing in New York. “Health care is moving to keeping people out of the hospital — so care coordination, wellness and nutrition teaching and life counseling are areas where nurses will increasingly find new roles.”

The post Many opportunities for a nursing degree appeared first on Metro.us.

Process what went wrong
Don’t beat yourself up — just examine what happened and plan how to make a better impression in the next interview. “Monday morning quarterbacking has a place,” says relationship advisor and author April Masini. “Rejection is always an opportunity to build on who and what you are.”

Get back in the networking game
There’s no reason to be embarrassed that you need a little extra help. Reach out to the connections you already have — they might be the link between you and your next job. “Avoid cold-calling by working with your existing contacts to help introduce you to others,” suggests Michelle Coussens, dean of the School of Business at Kendall College. “So many people have lost jobs, they are often happy to help someone else in their search.”

Keep applying
Don’t waste a minute waiting for a company’s response. Instead, stop refreshing your e-mail and continue your search. “If you don’t get this one, you’ll have other irons in the fire, which, psychologically, is a much better position to be in when you get a rejection letter — rather than having to start from scratch with the weight of the [rejection] on your back,” says Masini.

Give yourself a better chance
To avoid the interview crickets, make sure your résumé is tailored to each position for which you’re applying.

“People have the wrong résumé,” says career psychologist Eileen Sharaga. “They want to be all things to all people, but they need to focus a résumé that clearly positions them in a specific job.”

The post How to handle not getting the job appeared first on Metro.us.

Talent management expert Ron Sims attributes the workplace blues primarily to feelings of confinement. With drastic reductions in staff over the last several years, “companies are doing a lot more with a lot less people, so workers can’t afford to leave,” he says.

Though most employees would gladly take their unhappy selves elsewhere, “there’s a fear that there are no options available,” says Sims.  “Folks used to have the option of walking in and walking out, whereas the lack of choice now drives disengagement.”

Despite the slump, companies can still incorporate optimism into the picture. According to Sims, the happiest workplaces are:

1. Appreciative: “People feel valued. What we have found critical is the importance of recognition and acknowledgement, even in gestures as simple as coming around and thanking people for their time and work.”

2. Honest: “Management is open and transparent. The company encourages everyone to discuss concerns.”

3. Proactive: “Though the situation is tight, there are still career management opportunities to learn and develop within the company.”

Always look on the bright side of work

It’s not as tough as it seems. “Folks who handle this the best are those that understand the context, though they’re not necessarily pleased, and try to make the best out of the situation. Instead of complaining, there may be something you can do in the job to make yourself more satisfied and, frankly, more happy.”

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What’s the first step to preparing for a job interview?
The biggest mistake people make is saying, “I’ll just be myself. I’ll wing it.” You need to research the organization: Visit its website, follow it on Twitter or Facebook, find out something about its products and services, culture, competitors and CEO.

How can you weave that information into the conversation in a natural way?
A lot of people go into interviews only thinking about themselves: “How am I going to make them think that I’m great?” But if you can think about it from their perspective, you can really help yourself. They don’t just want someone great; they want a great fit for who they are. The goal is to sound more like a peer or an industry insider, rather than someone starting from the beginning.

What are some common beginner mistakes?
I’m always surprised how many recruiters say people are late or dressed improperly. Another obvious no-no is leaving your cell phone on during the interview. Don’t tell them you’re interested in other fields. It’s OK to have other interests, but your job in the interview is to get that specific job. Don’t talk about anything salary-related in the initial interview.

Three steps to sealing the deal:

1. Call ahead
If you’re unsure what to wear to the interview, don’t be afraid to call and ask for some guidelines for appropriate dress.

2. Prepare your endgame
At the conclusion of almost any interview, the interviewer will ask if you have any questions about the job and company. Be prepared for this moment. It’s a good time to show off your research and interest.

3. Say thank you
Make sure to send a thank-you e-mail — or even a card — a day or two after the interview.

The post Interviewing tips for beginners appeared first on Metro.us.

Fortunately, just like cranky children, your co-workers can be easily controlled and placated. We checked in with Dana Brownlee, founder of national corporate training company Professionalism Matters, for how to lead a successful, succinct and drama-free meeting.

Here are her troubleshooting tips.

The problem: One employee dominates the talk time.
The fix: “Instead of just throwing the issue out there, ask people to take two or three minutes and jot down their top two suggestions. That way, even if somebody dominates, when you collect those notes, you get feedback from everybody in the room,” Brownlee advises.

The problem: You have a persistently negative employee.
The fix: Agree that there may, indeed, be an issue. This will stop a problem child right in his or her tracks. “Validate their concern, write it on the flip-chart and ask them to come up with suggestions for fixing the problem,” she says.

The problem: One co-worker always veers off-topic.
The fix: “As a facilitator, step in and ask if this is something that needs to be addressed today,” says Brownlee. “It sounds obvious, but there’s a huge difference between intervening with a statement or intervening with a question. When someone asks you as opposed to telling you, it comes across very differently.”

The problem: Everyone brought their iPhones.
The fix: First, structure the meeting thoughtfully — if some departments have to wait 45 minutes to be addressed, they’ll be tempted to space out and check their mail. After that, play teacher. “Walk around a lot and constantly call on people by name,” Brownlee suggests. “If people know they’ll be called on, it makes them perk up.”

Set your rules

Chances are, everyone can agree that staying positive and turning off phones is productive. If you meet frequently with a group, set some ground rules and ask for everyone’s input. “The key is to let the group come up with them,” Brownlee says. “Then it’s so much easier for you to enforce it.”

The post Keeping meetings on track appeared first on Metro.us.

Don’t get hung up on being 30 and not in a career you love. Think about it: It takes us about three decades to get our act together. For the first 18 years we’re growing up and going to mandatory school, then for the next few years we’re either in college or trying to figure out what to do, then we’re trying to establish ourselves in a career. So here you are at 30, serious, and with many years of a fulfilling career ahead of you. You’re in a good place! Be fearless as you forge ahead toward your dream job.

Here’s advice taken from my new book, “Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days.”  

Define your dream job

Be specific. What it would entail? Do you prefer working independently or as part of a team? Would it involve travel? Do you want to do something creative or more analytical? You get the idea: Really define all aspects of this dream job and the qualities you seek in it.  

Surround yourself with people who you think can help you.

What mentors can you tap for advice? How can you network and meet people who can help?

Ask other people how they got to be where they are.

Although your paths won’t be entirely the same, you’ll gain valuable advice knowing how others have done it.

Interview someone who has this dream job. 

Ask questions that will yield valuable information.  Find out what the person did to land it. What do they love about their job? What’s most challenging? What they’d most like to change about it?

Expert tip

Do an internship or shadow someone at a company you admire

For example, if you always wanted to be a journalist, reach out to your favorite commuter newspaper and make yourself available. 

– Jonathan Alpert is a licensed psychotherapist. His new book, “Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days,” is out April 24. It will be sold at all major booksellers and Amazon. Check in with him online at www.jonathanalpert.com, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jonathanalpert) and Twitter @jonathanalpert. 

Metro does not endorse the opinions of the author, or any opinions expressed on its pages. 

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“Find yourself a job while you’re going to school, and work in the environment. Or, before you go to
school, get a job in the food industry — even if you have to be a runner — and see what it’s all
about. It’s expensive to go to school, and it’s a commitment.”
— Sarabeth Levine, Sarabeth’s

“Continue to learn and continue to look at those who are next to you and around you for any new and different ways to do things. There is always more than one way to crack an egg. Never think that what you know is the end-all, be-all of anything.”
— Clifford Crooks, BLT Steak

“Pick a good restaurant, pick a mentor, work really hard. Start at the bottom. That’s just my opinion — and it worked for me and most of the people I know.”
— Matt Hoyle, Nobu Fifty Seven

“Learn your fundamentals. That’s why an organization like C-CAP is so important — because these kids are given the fundamentals. From there, you could expand. Your expertise gives you the ability to really blossom.”
— Michael McCarty, Michael’s

“Three words: quality, quality, quality. After that, you have to have a lot of strength and love for your friends in the kitchen. You can have the best recipe, but if you don’t have this recipe, you cannot succeed.”
— Maria Loi, Loi

“Work hard and be really passionate. I think you should always aspire high and try to do your best. And if you’re passionate and you work with a chef or sous chef that really cares about you, it can never be wrong. Today we have such a diverse restaurant scene — it’s absolutely an amazing time to be a young, up-and-coming cook. This is the one field that you’re always gonna be employed [in].”
— Marcus Samuelsson, Red Rooster Harlem

The post So you wanna be a chef? Here’s some advice appeared first on Metro.us.

Consider the up-front money
“Always remember that continued education is an investment,” explains Steve Herzog, assistant dean at The American College in Bryn Mawr. “Carefully consider the amount of money you’ll spend and the likelihood you can reap the financial rewards in a reasonable amount of time.”

But before running the numbers, check in with the boss. If your company is able to provide tuition reimbursement, nothing’s stopping you from moving forward.

Make sure the program is accredited
For many employers, an accredited school can make all the difference. “Some employers simply don’t recognize degrees from non-accredited schools, and credits from non-accredited courses are often non-transferable to other institutions,” says Cheri Varnadoe, director of corporate relations at MBA@UNC, an online program from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Know your style
If you’re employed full-time, online courses may help with time management. “Online options can keep you be productive at work while also giving you the education you need,” says Dr. Sally Mounts, president of Auctus Consulting Group. That said, it’s important to consider how you learn. Steve Herzog recommends asking yourself:?“Do you do well in classroom settings, or does reading and listening to pre-recorded lectures best suit you?”

The post Learning more to move ahead in your job appeared first on Metro.us.

If you’re attempting to reignite the flame at work, remember why you initially fell in love with your position. Heather Huhman, author and founder of recruitment consultants Come Recommended, suggests you stay positive. “Think about all of the great things you’ve done,” she says. “Write down these successes in a spot where you can see them each day to keep your motivation high and attitude positive.”

It can also help to form real relationships with co-workers. “Participate in the work community,” says Huhman. “It’s important to interact with the folks you spend eight or more hours with each day. From time to time, engage in the water cooler chat, take your lunch in the cafeteria or ask a co-worker how their day is going.”

Have you ever fallen out of love?

As for the everyday bad romances, it’s your responsibility to keep negativity out of your cubicle. “No one is in charge of your happiness but you,” says Lynne Sarikas, executive director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern University in Boston. “If you have colleagues who like to moan and complain, don’t listen.”

The post Staying in love with your job appeared first on Metro.us.