Why job seekers and employees should SPEAK!

Why job seekers and employees should SPEAKWhy job seekers and employees should SPEAKOne of the questions people often ask me about public speaking and delivering presentations is, Why?Why get up in front of an audience, sometimes filled with important people you dont know, or perhaps and maybe worse, friends and family, and possibly make a fool of yourself?Why volunteer to deliver a presentation to bosses and coworkers? That activity usually puts an extreme amount of pressure, and a huge spotlight, on youWhy accept an invitation to be on a discussion panel where you will be sitting with people where your experience and expertise may be less than theirs and risk having what you said challenged in front of an audience?Why offer to be the master of ceremonies for an event you know will be well attended and possibly have media coverage?Why walk to a public microphone, and ask a question, in front of the entire audience, to someone who just delivered a presentation?Why go to networking ev ents, social functions, and seminars where you know someone will ask everyone to, Please stand up and tell us who you are and what you do? Give us your elevator speech.Heres whyWe perceive really good speakers as experts. We like to work with experts. Experts command more money for their products, services, and expertise.The research shows speaking opportunities are business, career, and leadership opportunitiesPeople who take and make speaking opportunitiesGrow their businesses.Advance their careers.Increase their leadership roles.Lets take a closer look at that statement. Entrepreneurs who speak to civic groups, at association meetings, and other events, present themselves as experts and leaders in their industry.Being on the program and at the lectern, impresses people.Delivering great presentations increases the credibility of the presenter and their company.Not only does this lead to new business, but it reinforces in clients minds, they made a good decision to work with that c ompany.Businesses, associations, and organizations like to hire and promote people who communicate well becauseThose individuals, when speaking on behalf of their company, give audiences a favorable impression of themselves and the firm they work for.Favorable impressions lead to sales and grow revenues.Presentations are delivered internally, also.Management knows information will be presented to personnel in a professional manner thats easily understood by all.Those coworkers will be inspired and, in many cases, emulate the skills of the person who presents well.Leaders should be excellent communicators. Individuals with this skill are called upon more often than others toRepresent their employer at outside events.Speak at other meetings they attend.Lead internal gatherings.Take the platform to promote their platform.I present this hypothesis whenever I speak, and its never been challenged. Most of you are thinking, Of course not, whats to challenge?Why then, do so many avoid speak ing opportunities?If you are one who doesnt raise your hand when asked to take speaking opportunities, you have an answer. That response is probably, The fear of public speaking.This fear, often listed as one of the greatest people have, holds many back from reaching their potential.My research found it is an equal opportunity fear that doesnt care about a persons age, education, or occupation. I have coached people ranging from doctors to CEOs to a father of the bride-to-be. The thought of toasting the newlyweds started him having anxiety attacks the day his daughter got engagedPresentations are delivered all the timeInternally and externally.In front of large audiences, small ones, and one-on-one.Formal and informal. Most of them are underwhelmingThe ability to present confidently in front of an audience, even if one never does will improve their one-on-one communication. Everyone does thatThe fear of public speaking is worth facing and lessening because the rewards will outweigh the pain.Many conversations with coaching prospects begin with them saying something like I am sick and tired of people who dont work as hard as I do, who dont contribute as much to the company as I do getting recognition, bonuses, and sometimes promotions because they are Speaking Theyre usually not very good, but they are doing it and Im not. Can you help me?I vividly recall a client sitting in my office and saying, I have lost promotional opportunities because I didt take or make speaking opportunities.People having a fear of public speaking are not alone. Seventy-five percent of the population, to one degree or another, has it. There is even a word for it Glossophobia. It derives from the Greek glossa meaning tongue, phobos fear. The important thing to note is it is a Word, not a disease, and it can be managedThe first step is to acknowledge you have the fear. Find out why you have it. Then take steps to control it. Getting rid of the fear of public speaking is not the goal. The objective is to take that nervous energy and put it into your presentation A presentation without fear is b-o-r-i-n-gTake this information to heart and develop a signature presentation. Then, take and make all the speaking opportunities you canFred E. Miller is a speaker, a best selling author, and an international presentation coach. His books, NO SWEAT Public Speaking and NO SWEAT Elevator Speechare availableon Amazon.com. His website,NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com, has hundreds of articles and videos to help you be a better public speaker.

5 ways your interview thank you email could cost you the job

5 ways your bewerbungsinterview thank you email could cost you the job5 ways your interview thank you email could cost you the jobDont let a shoddy follow-up ruin your chances of landing the job. Make koranvers you nail it with an interview thank you email.However, not every thank you katechese will help your candidacy. In fact, when done incorrectly, your interview thank you email can cause more harm than good. Below are five ways your interview follow-up could lose you the job offer.1) Its riddled with mistakes.When youre competing with a vast candidate pool for a position, the smallest error can be used to eliminate you from the pile. These days, weve grown accustomed to using short-hand for texts and tweets, and have become all too reliant on spell-check. Its very easy to overlook the little mistakes, such as using higher when you really meant to say hire. Dont let these little details derail your candidacy.Carefully proofread your interview thank you email. Then read it again. T hen have a friend proofread it. Make koranvers everything is spelled properly (including the interviewers name and title), and correct all typos before hitting send.2) The message is generic.Sending a general thank you notenzeichen to all of your interviewers is just as bad as not sending any thank-you message at all. Remember, the goal of a thank-you note is to help differentiate yourself from the other candidates by demonstrating your genuine passion for the position and reminding the interviewer of your unique qualifications. Its really difficult to do that if youre not personalizing your messages.Take notes during each interview so that you can tailor every follow-up you send afterwards. Make sure your message is different for each interviewer. According to The Muses Lily Zhang, many companies request that thank-you notes get forwarded to HR so they can be attached to a candidates file. Imagine how theyd react when they realize that all of your interviewers received the exact sa me messageDont be afraid to jot down little details you learned about the interviewer, such as a shared passion or an upcoming trip you can use this information in your follow-up to demonstrate your attention to detail and make your message more memorable.3) It gets too personal.Theres a fine line between personalizing your message and coming off as inappropriate. No matter how comfortable you felt during the interview, its important that your note remains professional. Steer clear of using sarcasm and profanity in your note. Remember, you havent received a job offer yet. Play it safe.4) You didnt send it right away.In the job search, timing is everything. The last thing you want to do is send your note out late and damage the professional image you so carefully presented during the interview.Send your thank you messages to each interviewer within 24 hours of the meeting.Make sure to collect business cards or write down the proper spelling of interviewers names and email addresses during the interview process to ensure a timely and accurate follow-up.5) The note is two pages long.Keep your interview thank you email succinct. If youre second-guessing the length of your message, ask yourself, Would this message fit in a standard thank-you card Id buy at a stationery store? If the answer is no, reevaluate your note.The goal of your note is to highlight main points from your conversation, address any concerns the interviewer expressed about your candidacy, and reiterate your interest in the role. If you forgot to mention an important detail during the interview, by all means, include it in your follow-up just dont waste precious space rehashing your entire resume again.A carefully crafted interview thank you email creates an opportunity to reconnect with employers, build a relationship with interviewers, and keep your candidacy top of mind. Avoid these mistakes when writing your next interview thank you email and youll be one step closer to the coveted job offer.

COBRA Regulations for Human Resources and Employee

COBRA Regulations for Human Resources and EmployeeCOBRA Regulations for Human Resources and EmployeeCongress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) in 1986. It adds amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code, and the Public Health Service Act to provide continuation of group health coverage. COBRA set forth regulations that give employees who lose their health benefits because of unemployment, the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan. These extended health care benefits are also extended to the families of those who lost their jobs. These health care benefits may be extended for limited periods of time under certain circumstances, according to the COBRA regulations. The COBRA regulations state that circumstances such asvoluntary or involuntary or job loss reduction in the number of hours an employee works, transition and life events such as death, divorce, and unemplo yment may make individuals eligible for continuing their healthcare benefits after termination. Qualified individuals may be required by the employer to pay the entire health insurance premium for health care coverage up to 102 percent of the cost to the plan. COBRA Regulations COBRA regulations state that the health insurance plan used by an employer, with 20 or more employees in the prior year, must provide for continuing coverage through the COBRA option.? Employers must notify health plan administrators within 30 days after an employee becomes eligible. Plan participants and beneficiaries generally are sent a COBRA election notice within 14 days of the plans notification. If it has been more than two weeks since your termination and you haventheard anything, please call your HR department. An individual has 60 days to decide whether to elect COBRA continuation health coverage and 45 days after electing coverage to pay the initial premium. Deciding If You Should Use Cobra When you leave a job (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) and dont have a new job that provides health insurance, you may questions if you should you sign up for COBRA. Of course, you need some kind of health insurance, but COBRA may or may not be your best option. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you can apply for health insurance through the Federal or state health insurance exchanges within 60 days of your health care coverage ending. You also have 60 days to decide about accepting COBRA coverage. Its important to note that 2017 was a turbulent year for the Affordable Care Act. Legislative battles in Congress, fluctuating support from healthcare stakeholders, and threats of repeal have left many payers facing an uncertain future. Even though Congress has not yet succeeded in scrapping the law, the ACAs opponents will likely continue to use all of their available powers to weaken the bill throughout 2018 and beyond. Payers should expect the changes in the ACA to impact prem ium rates and add challenges to the individual health plan market, so you need to keep an eye on this. Meanwhile, you can compare the costs and benefits of each plan. If you are currently undergoing treatments, it may be in your best interest to go with COBRA so you dont have to change doctors or treatment plans. Although, if youre unhappy, now is the time to change. Regardless of which choice you make, youre pretty muchstuck with that until the next open enrollment period, or COBRA comes to an end. Of course, if you have a qualifying life event, like marrying someone with health care coverage who can add you to their plan, you can change at that time. Whatever you decide, its something youll have to deal with until you get a new job with health coverage. Make a careful comparison of the costs. You might balk at the monthly cost of COBRA versus the ACA plan, but check things like deductibles and figure out what is best for you and your family. If youve just been laid off or fired,yo u might be so panicked about your job loss that you cant take the time to think about your health insurance. Dont make that mistake. The last thing you want to happen is to end up without any health coverage at all, which can happen if you dont make up your mind within the 60 day time period. Dont panic if you get the flu or break a leg. COBRA is retroactive back to the last day of company coverage, as long as you sign up and pay your premiums within the allowed 60 day period.