6 signs your boss is taking advantage of you

6 signs your boss is taking advantage of you6 signs your boss is taking advantage of youEarly in your career, your first boss might have felt like a god to you overflowing with knowledge, directly impactful on your success and the number one person you aimed to impress. While that admiration may wane as you grow in your industry - and even become a manager yourself - there is still a certain clout your higher-up carries. The only issue with idolizing your higher-ups is that not all are created equal and have the best interest of their employees at heart.In fact, personal development expert and author Christy Whitman saysthat oftentimes, employers struggle with insecurities and will attempt to control their employees in an effort to feel better. This fasson of manipulation, is, unfortunately, all too common - and a practice you should be aware of in the workplace, so it doesnt hard-stop your career progress.Here, experts give the tell-tale signs your boss is taking advantage of you - and more importantly, what to do about it1. Your boss plays the victim cardIn your friend circle, do you have a pal who is always suffering from something? Or seems to find a way to put you in the wrong, even when you know you walked the right line? While you might distance yourself from a person who makes you self-conscious about your character, it can be tougher to take space from a passive-aggressive manager who finds a way to mentally manipulate you by playing the victim card. Their behavior is passive aggressive, or unpredictable - nice one minute and then rude or distant the next, Whitman says.Instead of questioning yourself and your talents, Whitman encourages professionals to take notes on the unreasonable demands and dismissals. In a future meeting or when youre prepared to leave the company in search of a more effective manager, your examples could come in handy. Center yourself during the day. Write these incidents down and speak a friend to vent about your boss, she adds.2. You always get the grunt workReal talk even the CEO of a company has certain parts of his or her job theyd rather skip. Also true though if the vast majority of your job responsibilities is grunt work thats below your level, you might be in a tricky situation where your boss is attempting to hold you back. Whether they are intimidated by your talents or have a negative opinion of your performance, theyre taking advantage of your willingness to buckle down and complete a task, according to workplace expert Amy Cooper Hakim, Ph.D.How do you handle it? With open communication and a willingness to take on other opportunities as they arise Consider telling your boss that you would like to stay fresh with a particular skill or task, and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to tackle the next related project. Or, offer to split busy work with a colleague so that you both get the chance to work on the more interesting job-related tasks, she says.3. You always seem to get picked to stay lateEven great managers can be guilty of applying too much pressure to their hardest-working employees. As Hakim says, striving to please your boss means youre readily available, up for anything and an innate problem-solver. These qualities translate to more responsibilities since he or she knows they can trust you to deliver quality work. But before this can wreak havoc on your personal life - and leave you running on fumes - its important to set clear boundaries.While it is great to be thought of by your boss as one who can successfully tackle a last-minute task, you must also maintain a work-life balance. If you are able to stay after work, then do so, Hakim says. However, if you have other plans or just want to go home, offer to complete the project first thing the following day. Even offer to come in 30 minutes early, to get a head start before the office gets busy.4. Your boss wont take responsibility - unless its for positive outcomesWhen you miss your sales numbe r by a hair or the predicted spend is far higher what you actually shelled out for a new campaign, is your manager the first one to take the blame? If not, raise your eyebrow. While bosses arent expected to always take accountability for every misstep of their team, they also shouldnt throw their employees under the bus. Hakim explains this not only leaves staff feeling taken for granted, but it usually translates into a manager who takes credit for the positive outcomes even if it wasnt their work. This makes it more important to work up the courage to stand up for yourself.If you complete the tasks for a project, but your boss takes full credit for it in front of your team or his boss, consider a way to ensure that others know that this is your work, too. Offer to present the project update to the team. Or, casually share that youve enjoyed working on this assignment when greeting important company leaders, she suggests.5. Your boss gossipsRemember when your mother warned you if a friend gossips about another pal to you, you better believe they share a few choice words behind your back, too? Whitman says the saatkorn goes in business if your manager is consistently giving poor examples or reviews of your co-workers to you, they likely practice the same backstabbing strategy with others. Heres where you should practice those pinky-promise rituals from childhood and bite your tongue. This makes it very difficult to trust your boss. Be very mindful of what you confide in your boss. Discern what you will share with your boss so that it does not come back to bite you in the long run, because it will, she says.6. You feel defensive around themIts not only about the habits of your manager, but how they impact you, Whitman reminds. If youre normally a person who is level-headed, down-to-earth and confident, but around your boss, you find yourself putting up your dukes, its a sign youre feeling underappreciated. If you are needing to defend yourself because they are aggressive and sometimes mean, critical, or even acting like a bully you need to take some moments for yourself during the day, she says.This may mean retreating to the bathroom to gather yourself with three deep breaths or grabbing a coffee outside so you can clear your fog of frustration. And while youre away from the office, Whitman challenges professionals to dive deep into why theyre sticking around in a gig that brings them stress.Find the positive aspects about your job and list them. Ask yourself why you are in the situation and what is the payoff for sticking it out? Sometimes it is better to just walk away from a boss where the job is not an avenue for something better, she advises.

Learn the Employee Life Cycle of HIAR

Learn the Employee Life Cycle of HIARLearn the Employee Life Cycle of HIARAn employee life cycle consists of the four stages employees go through from the time of hire until they retire. Often, menschlich resources professionals focus their attention on the steps in this process in order to make an impact on the companys bottom lineand reduce the companys cost per employee hired. Unfortunately, these professionals arent the ones who make a difference the managers are. On a day-to-day basis, people dont work for companies they work for a boss. If you learn to be a good boss, you can keep employees happy and reduce the costs associated with employee turnover. In the process, youll make your own job easier and increase your value to the company. Employees are one of a companys biggest expenses and, unlike major capital costs (like buildings, machinery, technology, etc.), human capital is highly volatile. As a manager, you are in a position to reduce that volatility using the employee l ife cycle of HIAR (pronounced hire), which stands for Hire, Inspire, Admire, Retire. Hire This first step is probably the most important because you have to hire the best people for the job. This is not a time to be frugal because the cost of replacing a bad hire far exceeds the cost of hiring the appropriate person in the first place. Hire talent, not just trainable skills. While skills can be taught to a talented employee, a skilled employee cannot be taught to be talented.Improve your interviewing skills. Often this can be as simple as knowing what questions to ask during the hiring process.Make your company a place people want to come to every day.Company culture can be a powerful recruiting tool, so make sure your culture supports people, not just things. Inspire Once youve recruited the best employees, the hard part begins. You have to inspire employees to perform to their capabilities and motivate them in the process. Make them welcomeand make them feel like theyre a part of the team.Set challenging goals that can be achieved, such as SMART goals. Be a leader, not just a manager. Admire Once youve hired the best employees (and have challenged and motivated them), dont ignore them. The same attention you paid to work assignments, employee satisfaction, and being a part of a team needs to continue. As soon as you slack off, employee satisfaction and motivation decreases, employees become disenchanted and quit. Youve only succeeded in contributing to the employee turnover statistic you were trying to avoid. You want TGIM (thank goodness its Monday) employees, not TGIF (thank goodness its Friday) employees.Give them positive feedback as often as possible.Provide appropriate rewards and recognition for jobs done well.Create referral programs and reward your employees for referring other candidates. Retire When employees see your company as the employer of choice that they want to join and stay with, youve succeeded. Whether an employee retire s at age 60 or 70, as long as you continue to inspire, motivate, and challenge them, they will contribute at the high level you need to beat the competition. Additionally, a life-long satisfied employee will refer other quality employees to your company. This enables you to attract and retain second and even third generation high-quality employees who ultimatelysave the company money that can be used for bonuses and raises.

Tips for Editing and Proofreading Your Resume

Tips for Editing and Proofreading Your ResumeTips for Editing and Proofreading Your ResumeBefore you send or upload a resume to apply for a job, its important to proofread it so its perfect. Your resume and its accompanying cover letter both represent the professionalism that you would bring to the position youre applying for. Thus, even simple mistakes like a typo or grammatical error can cost you a job interview. How to Proofread Effectively There are a few effective strategies you can use while proofreading. Your first step should be to read your resume slowly from the beginning to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Then, run spell check on your computer and repeat this step (note that spell check is not always 100% accurate and wont identify words like homonyms which are spelled correctly but misused in your text (such as there / there / theyre). Finally, read the resume backwards, sentence by sentence. This is a very useful proofreading technique since it forces you to slow down and pay close attention to each phrase and sentence. Resume Proofreading Checklist Review this list of common resume mistakes to make sure that your resume is well-written and error free. Spelling Mistakes Dont use words with which you arent familiar.Use a dictionary as you write.Perform a spell check on your finished resume.Carefully read every word in your resume. If you write from instead of form, your spell check will be unable to detect your mistake.Have a friend or two proofread your resume for you. Punctuation Mistakes Check for periods at the end of all full sentences.If you are an older job applicant who learned to type on a typewriter, make sure that there is only a single space (not two spaces) between the period ending a sentence and the new sentence.Be consistent in your use of punctuation.Always put periods and commas within quotation marks (i.e., Won awards including the John H. Malcom Memorial Service Award.).Avoid using exclamation points.Tr y to avoid using comma splices (where two complete sentences are connected with a comma). Grammatical Mistakes Do not switch tenses within thesections of your resume- be sure they are consistent for each job you list. Theduties you perform in your current jobshould be in present tense (i.e., write reports), but the ones you may have performed at all previous jobs should be presented in the past tense (i.e., wrote reports).Capitalize all proper nouns.When expressing numbers, write out all numbers between one and nine (i.e., one, five, seven), but use numerals for all numbers 10 and above (i.e., 10, 25, 108). If you begin a sentence with a numeral, spell out that numeral (i.e., Eleven service awards won while employed.).Make sure your date formats are consistent (i.e., 11/22/17 or November 22, 2017, or 11.22.17. Choose one and stick with it.). Check for Word Usage Be on the lookout for the following easily confused wordsaccept(to receive)except(to exclude)all right(correct)al right(this is not a word)affect(a verb to bring about change)effect(a noun result)personal(private)personnel(staff members)role(a character assigned or a function)roll(to revolve).Useaction words(i.e., wrote reports, increased revenues, directed staff). Check Dates, Contact Information, Abbreviations, and Spacing Checkdates of all prior employment.Check your address and phone number - are they still current and correct?Check the number of spaces separating your categories are they consistent?Check abbreviation of state names. All state abbreviations are two letters - no periods. For example, New York is abbreviated NY, California is CA, and Florida is FL. Look up other state abbreviations. Resume Design Is Important Dont overcrowd your resume allow for plenty of white space.Keep the number of fonts you use to a minimum two at the most.Use a conservative font that is easy to read, like Times New Roman or Verdana. Do not justify the lines of type on your resume. Allow the rig ht side of the page to rag.Do not overuse capitalization, italics, underlines, or other emphasizing features.Make sure your name, address, phone number, and schmelzglas address appear on your resume and all correspondence, preferably at the top of the page. For a paper resume, print your resume on white or cream paper using a good-quality printer. Print on one side of the paper only. What to Omit from a Resume Omit salary history.Omit sex, age, race, marital status, or other similar personal information (unless you are writing an international CV). The smallest typo on your resume, cover letter, or other application materials can prevent you from getting a job interview, since employers may conclude that you lack attention to detail and are content to present sloppy work. These additionalproofreading tipswill help you make sure your documents are perfect.