Want a Superior Workforce?

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Hire and Manage the Best Employees for a High Performance Workforce

If your goal is a superior, high performance workforce that is focused on continuous improvement, you need to manage people within a performance management and development framework. When you implement each of these components, you'll ensure the development of thehigh performance workforce you seek.

Use this high performance workforce checklist to make certain you have all of the necessary components in place to develop a superior, high performance workforce. I have provided the specific broad category of practice. Then, the bullets define the key success areas in each component.

Superior, High Performance Workforce Checklist

1. Create a documented, systematic hiring process.

Ensure you hire the best possible staff for your high performance workforce. See the Top Ten Recruiting Tips.

• Define the outcomes desired from the person you hire.
• Develop a job description that clearly describes the performance responsibilities of the person you hire.
• Develop the largest pool of qualified candidates possible. (Search via professional associations, social media networking sites such as LinkedIn, online job boards, personal contacts, employee referrals, university departments and career services offices, search firms, bob fairs, newspaper classifieds, and other creative sources when necessary.)
• Devise a careful candidate selection process that includes culture match, testing, behavioral interview questions, customer interviews, tours of the work area, and "what would you do" questions about your actual work place, to hire a high performance workforce.
• Perform appropriate background checks that include employment references, employment history, education, criminal records, credit history, drug testing and more.
• Make an employment offer that confirms your position as an employer of choice.

For a high performance, superior workforce, you need to provide effective communication of direction, regular performance development planning with each staff member, and regular feedback so people know how they are doing.

2. Provide the direction and management needed to align the interests of your high performance workforce with your organization's goals and desired outcomes.

• Provide effective supervisors who give clear direction and expectations, provide frequent feedback and demonstrate committment to staff success.
• Company direction, goals, values, and vision are communicated frequently and in memorable ways where possible.
• You provide a motivating work environment that helps employees feel work motivation every day.
• You provide an empowering, demanding, commitment-oriented work environment, with frequent mention of company goals to support your high performance workforce.

3. Quarterly Performance Development Planning (PDPs) meetings are held that establish aligned direction, measurements and goals.

See the Quick Guide to Performance Management to get started.

• Performance and productivity goals and measurements that support your organization's goals are developed and written.
• Personal development goals are agreed upon and written. These can range from attendance at a class to cross-training or a new job assignment.
• Most importantly, progress on the performance development goals is tracked for accomplishment. (Central tracking by Human Resources ensures the development of the entire workforce.)

4. Provide regular feedback.

• Effective supervisory feedback means that people know how they are doing daily, via a posted measurement system, verbal or written feedback and meetings.
• Develop a reward and recognition system that tells people clearly what you want from them. It must also help people feel appreciated and recognized for their efforts.
• Develop a disciplinary system to help people improve areas in which they are not performing as expected. The system is written, progressive, provides measurements and timelines and is regularly reviewed with the staff member.

For a high performance workforce, you need effective training and development and a fair, motivating recognition and reward system.

5. Provide a recognition system that rewards and recognizes people for real contributions.

• Provide equitable pay with a bias toward variable pay using such methods as bonuses and incentives. Whenever possible, pay above market. For more information, see Tips for Determining a Motivating Salary.
• Develop a bonus system that recognizes accomplishments and contributions.
• Design ways to say "thank you" and other employee recognition processes such as company periodic anniversary remembrances, spot awards, team recognition lunches and more. You are limited only by your imagination.
• Despite the rising cost of health care insurance, which you may need to share with your employees, provide a continually improving benefits package. (If you can afford the cost of the health care - do.)

6. Provide training, education and development to build a superior, high performance workforce.

• Employee retention and education begin with a positive employee orientation. The new employee orientation should give the new employee a complete understanding of the flow of the business, the nature of the work, employee benefits and the fit of his or her job within the organization.
• Provide ongoing technical, developmental, managerial, safety, lean manufacturing and/or workplace organization training and development regularly. The type of training depends on the job. Some experts recommend forty or more hours of training a year per person.
• Develop a procedure-based, cross-training matrix for each position that includes employee skill testing and periodic, scheduled, on-the-job training and demonstration of capability, for most hands on jobs.
• Provide regular management and leadership training and coaching from both internal and external sources. The impact of your front line people on the development of your high performance workforce is critical.
• Create jobs that enable a staff person to do all the components of a whole task, rather than pieces or parts of a process.
• Develop a learning organization culture through such activities as “lunch and learn,” reading books as a team (book club), attending training together and by making the concept of continuous learning an organization goal.
• Make a commitment to both providing and tracking the accomplishment of the developmental activities promised in the PDPs.

7. End the employment relationship if the staff person is not working out.

• If you have done your job well - effective orientation, training, clear expectations, coaching, feedback, support - and your new staff person is failing to perform, termination of employment should be swift.
• View every termination as an opportunity for your organization to analyze its hiring, training, integrating, support and coaching practices and policies. Can you improve any aspect of your process so the next new employee succeeds?
• Perform exit interviews with valued employees who leave. Debrief the same as you would a termination situation.
• Use an employment ending checklist to make certain you have wrapped up all loose ends.

The time and attention you pay to these seven success opportunity areas will reap your organization the performance of a superior workforce. And that's the performance that will enable your organization to achieve its dreams and goals. Best wishes for your success. Develop a high performance workforce. You'll be happy you emphasized the factors that created the high performance workforce of your dreams.

How to Improve Exit Interview Participation Rates Part III

From Beth N. Carvin

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Logistical Problems in the Exit Interview Process

Logistical problems are the second major area for review in your exit interview process. There are generally weak links in any process and exit interviews are no exception. Your examination should include the whole chain of events that begins when an employee gives notice and ends when the employee submits the exit interview.

Audit Your Exit Interview Process

You can begin to audit your exit interview process by finding out the following information.

• How do employees generally give notice of their intent to terminate?
• Who is the first person notified and how much notice is usually given?
• Who tells the Human Resource division and how? How soon after notice is given is HR notified? Who in HR is notified first?
• Who is responsible for initiating the exit interview? When is this person(s) notified of employee terminations?
• How is the employee notified of the exit interview? By whom? What method? When?
• Is there clear ownership in Human Resources of the exit interview process? Do those involved in the process understand the importance and urgency of the exit interviews?
• What is the employee told about the exit interview? In what ways are they encouraged to complete the exit interview? Are employees told more than one time and in more than one way?
• Is the exit interview easy to complete?
When and where will the employee complete the exit interview? Is there easy access to necessary resources?
• Does the employee have privacy with which to complete the exit interview if they are completing it at work?
• Are supervisors and managers supportive of the exit interview process? Are they fearful about receiving negative feedback from employees? Are you relying on fearful supervisors to relay information about the exit interview to employees?
• Is it easy for employees to submit their exit interviews?

Review each of the above audit questions and take a hard look at your exit interview process. Determine what you can do to improve each of these areas. After you finish your review, you can start to make improvements immediately.

Re-Measure Your Exit Interview Process

Some of the changes that you make will provide a noticeable improvement in participation rates very quickly. Others will require more time to effectively pervade the company culture.

Re-measure your participation rates at three months, six months, nine months and twelve months. By the twelve month mark, you should expect to see a dramatic improvement in your exit interview participation rates. This means you will have more data that can be used to limit turnover and increase employee retention.

Conclusion

You can increase the value of your exit interviews significantly by increasing the number of terminating employees who participate in the exit interview process. By reviewing and improving both the content and structure of the exit interview, along with your own internal processes, you can deliver a substantial increase in your participation rates.

How to Improve Exit Interview Participation Rates Part II

From Beth N. Carvin

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs


Analyzing Your Exit Interviews Process

If you decide that your participation rate in exit interviews could stand improvement, the next step is to analyze your current exit interview process. The two most important areas for review are:

1. Why are employees choosing not to complete the exit interview?
2. Are there logistical problems preventing human resources from getting the information to employees in a timely and effective manner?

Employees Not Completing Their Exit Interview

Some of the reasons that employees choose not to complete exit interviews are:

• The exit interview is too long.
• The exit interview questions are confusing or personally invasive.
• The employee doesn’t believe that the exit interview will be read or make a difference.
• The employee is afraid of repercussions.
• The employee is angry at the company.
• The employee procrastinates or forgets.
• The process is difficult or uncomfortable.

If you are using an exit interview survey with rated questions, 35-60 questions is about the right survey length. More than 60 questions begins to feel long and uncomfortable for the employee. If you surpass 70 questions, you should be prepared for higher numbers of uncompleted exit interviews.

Review your exit interview questions for simplicity. Put yourself in the employee’s shoes and ask yourself how you would feel answering the questions. Avoid a lot of exit interview questions that ask for feelings and emotions. Many employees are not in tune with their feelings (or if they are they may not want to share them with you). It is a lot easier for an employee to rate the effectiveness of a process rather than how they feel about the process.

Exit Interview Feedback Ignored

Employees will not complete their exit interviews if they believe that the feedback they provide will not be read or will be promptly ignored. It is important to let employees know that you value their feedback. When you do make improvements based on suggestions from exit interviews, don’t be afraid to tell employees where the idea came from. Over time, employees will learn that you do listen. Once this becomes a part of the corporate culture, you can be assured of lots of open and honest ideas, suggestions and critiques.

Repercussions From Honest Feedback

Also be clear with employees that honest feedback will not result in repercussions. Statements made on an exit interview should never be used to prevent future eligibility for re-hire. There are many supposed experts that tell employees not to be honest on their exit interview form or not to complete one at all. They claim that companies use this information against the employees. Human Resource professionals know that this is nonsense, however, they still must battle this unfounded perception.

Angry Employee Feedback

Employees that are angry with the company may feel they don’t want to help by participating in the exit interview. These employees can be encouraged to vent their anger in the exit interview. Many of these angry employees are thrilled with the chance to have their voice heard – particularly if they know that it will be heard by senior management.

A clean and simplified process is also important. Whether it is web-based or paper and pencil, the exit interview form should be laid out nicely with an intuitive and easy to understand survey form.

How to Improve Exit Interview Participation Rates

From Beth N. Carvin

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Exit interviews are one of the best ways to get true and honest feedback from employees. The downside is that it takes time to build up a significant amount of data from exit interviews. Increasing your participation rate, however, can help you get greater amounts of actionable information faster from your exit interviews.

What is a Good Participation Rate for Exit Interviews?

Research shows that the average response rate for paper and pencil exit interviews is approximately 30-35 percent. This means that a company with 2000 employees and a 15 percent turnover rate would expect to receive about 100 completed exit interviews per year. At this participation level, the organization is getting exit feedback from just five percent of the total employee population.

With just a little extra effort, you should be able to double that response rate. Sixty-five percent or better is a good goal for exit interview participation. This can be accomplished with paper and pencil exit interviews, web based online exit interviews and telephone exit interviews.

Measuring Your Participation in the Exit Interview

To measure your response rate, divide the number of completed exit interviews by the number of employees from whom you requested an exit interview. Ideally the second number should equal the total number of terminations but for practical reasons this is generally not the case. As an example, if you have 125 completed exit interviews from 300 people whom you asked to complete an exit interview, your participation rate is 125 / 300 which equals .416 or 41.6 percent.

It is important to make sure you have a good method in place to track this kind of participation. At a minimum, you want to track participation rate at the start of an improvement project and then periodically thereafter. A more ideal scenario is to keep a running average that you can refer to regularly. This real-time number immediately alerts you to a fall off (or increase) in participation in exit interviews. An online exit interview management system should do this for you automatically.

Large companies might want to track participation rates separately for subsidiaries, large divisions or geographic regions. Small- to mid-size companies can generally benefit from a total participation rate for the organization.

Top Five Ways to Destroy Trust These Top Five Trust Busters Will Destroy Trust in Your Organization

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Trust is the foundation of all positive relationships you seek to create in your organization. Trust is one of the strongest bonds that can exist between people and customers; trust is also one of the most fragile. Once you destroy trust, break the bond of trust, trust is the most difficult facet of your culture to rebuild. You can build a culture of trust in your organization if you steer clear of actions that destroy trust. Avoid these trust busters to build a trust culture.

What Is Trust?

In an earlier article, I reviewed the three components of trust as defined by Dr. Duane C. Tway, Jr. He says that trust is the “state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something.” Thinking about trust as made up of the interaction and existence of these three components makes “trust” easier to understand.

The amount of trust you experience is dependent upon the degree to which you can respond affirmatively to experiencing each of these three components of trust:

• The capacity for trusting means that your total life experiences have developed your current capacity and willingness to risk trusting others. You believe in trust. You have experienced trust and believe that trust is possible.
• The perception of competence is made up of your perception of your ability and the ability of others with whom you work to perform competently at whatever is needed in your current situation.
• The perception of intentions, as defined by Tway, is your perception that the actions, words, direction, mission, or decisions are motivated by mutually-serving rather than self-serving motives.

Trust is dependent on the interaction of and your experience of these three components. Trust is tough to maintain and easy to destroy.

Five Ways to Destroy Trust

For trust to exist in an organization, a certain amount of transparency must pervade the intentions, direction, actions, communication, feedback, and problem solving of particularly, executives and managers, but also of all employees. Consequently, these are ways in which people destroy trust.

• Employees tell lies of commission: They fail to tell the truth, often with the intention to deceive or confuse. This powerfully impacts a whole organization when the lie is perceived from leaders, but even coworker relationships are destroyed by lies of commission. A lie is a lie is a lie. If it's not the whole truth, if it requires preparation and wordsmithing, if you need to remember the details to ensure you don't change your story in the retelling, you are probably telling a lie. Or, at the very least, part of your story is a lie. People who are untrustworthy derail their careers. Can you imagine the impact of lies on an organization when the liar is a senior manager?


• Employees tell lies by omission: A lie of omission is a deliberate attempt to deceive another person by omitting portions of the truth. Lies of omission are particularly egregious as they give people false impressions and attempt to influence behavior by omitting important details. Once again, the more powerful the perpetrator of the lie in the organization, the more significantly trust is affected. But, an individual can derail their career by using this deception ploy, when caught.


• Fail to walk the talk: No matter the work program, cultural expectation, management style, or change initiative, you will destroy trust if you fail to demonstrate the quality or behavioral expectation, if you fail to walk the talk. Words are easy; it is the behavior that demonstrates your expectations in action that helps employees trust you.
  
  You can’t, as an example, state that participative management and employee empowerment are the desired form of leadership in your organization, unless you demonstrate these expectations in your everyday actions. Customer service is a joke if a complaining customer is labeled “wrong” or a jerk.”


• Fail to do what you say you are going to do: Few employees expect that every statement, goal and / or projection that you make will come true. Sales will be up 10%. No layoffs are anticipated. We will hire ten new employees this quarter. Working the reception desk alone is a temporary fix until we fill the open position with a second receptionist. My assignment will be complete by the end of the first quarter.
  
  If you make a statement, commitment, or projection, employees expect what you said to happen. You destroy trust if the end result never occurs. You can avoid destroying trust by communicating honestly and frequently about:
  
  --how you set the initial goal,
  --what is interfering with the accomplishment of the initial goal,
  --how and why your projection has changed,
  --what employees can expect going forward, and
  --how you will avoid similar miscalls in the future.
  
  Honest communication is key to building employee and coworker trust.


• Make random, haphazard, unexpected changes for no apparent reason: Keeping employees off balance may sound like an effective approach to creating agility in your organization. But, random change produces the opposite effect. People get used to their comfortable way of doing things. They get used to the mood the boss characteristically exhibits when she arrives at the office. They expect no consequences when deadlines are missed – because there have never been any in the past.
  
  Any change must be communicated with the rationale behind the change made clear. A starting date for implementation and participation from employees whose jobs are affected by the change will keep you from destroying trust. A sincere and thoughtful demonstration that the change is well-thought-out and not arbitrary will help employees trust you. An explanation for a change of mood or a different approach goes a long way to prevent the destruction of trust.

More About How to Destroy Trust

These are five of the top issues that destroy trust between employees and in organizations. If you can avoid these five trust busters, you will have gone a long way toward ensuring that trust is building in your organization. Lies, lies of omission, failure to walk the talk, failure to do what you say you will do, and subjecting employees to random, haphazard, unexpected change destroy trust. Walk on the better path. Build, don’t destroy trust in your organization.

How to Raise Your Visibility at Work

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Used to flying below the radar at work? Think not being noticed will keep your job safe? Not anymore. The best strategy now is to figure out how you can raise your visibility at work - in positive ways.

Additionally, if your job is tedious or repetitive, you can request alternative activities to break up the monotony of your every day work. No matter the job, it is difficult to do the exact same work all day long, even if you love the work and the customers. Your request for skill developing assignments will make you stand out.

If you're underemployed and waiting for your next opportunity at work, request work that will help you grow into your next assignment. If you're thinking about looking for a new job, make your requests for more challenging work visible. Don't sit back and wait for your manager to give you something new or exciting to do. This is always the wrong approach.

Your manager is busy, too, and while your development as a person and employee may be important to your manager, he or she cannot read your mind. It is helpful to work in a company with a performance development planning process in place.

There, you have the opportunity to talk with your supervisor, at least quarterly, about issues such as your development and career growth. But, no matter your company's employment practices, you have the right to ask and to care about your career and personal development and visibility at work.

Six Tips to Raise Your Visibility at Work

These ideas will help you help your boss help you:

• Ask for more responsible assignments so you can exhibit that you deserve them and that your skills are underutilized. Go to your manager with specific suggestions about how you think you can contribute to improvement, departmental efficiency, or creating a new process or method. Make it easy for him or her to help you.

• Volunteer to represent your department at meetings, on planning committees, and on projects. A proactive approach to work is noticed by the bosses. Working on cross-functional teams also gives your talents exposure outside of your own work area. This is helpful when promotions or lateral opportunities become available. A "known" employee has the advantage over one who is not known.

• Build your relationship with your boss. Check in with him or her periodically whether you need to or not. The boss is a person, too. Don't make fake requests or pretend ignorance if you really have the answer. But, running the answer by the boss, telling the boss what's on your mind, and making suggestions for improvement are generally welcome interactions. You don't have to share your private life, or be friends with your boss and coworkers, but a friendly, supportive relationship matters for success and visibility.

• If you have skills that you are not using in your current position, look for opportunities to keep in practice. Use them; don't lose them. These opportunities will also bring wider company exposure and broaden your organization's thinking about what you can do. So, as an example, your creative talents, your willingness to experiment, or your ability to mediate conflicts will make you stand out as an employee.

• Request the opportunity to participate in seminars and training classes. Ask to belong to your relevant professional development association and for the opportunity to participate in its events. Then, visibly apply the new opportunities back in the workplace. Take the application one step further.
  
  Tell your boss and coworkers what you learned and how you plan to apply the new information at work. This has three advantages. Your improvement efforts improve your visibility and teaching others is the best way to make sure you've really learned the concepts. Finally, your coworkers benefit from the time you spent and the knowledge you gained at the session.

• If your company has book clubs or interactive brown bag lunches on topics, get involved or start them. Make sure your boss has factored the time into your schedule so you can become involved. Just like the activities mentioned earlier, this participation brings all the benefits of broader visibility and you can be observed by others in thoughtful discussion.

These tips about employee training and development will give you more thoughts on how you can pursue your personal professional development at work.

Conduct Powerful Job Interviews

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Want to hire great employees? How to conduct a safe, legal job interview that also enables you to select the best candidate for your open positions is important. The job interview is one of the significant factors in hiring because so many employers count on the job interview to help determine their best, most qualified candidates.

Certainly the job interview is a key component in determining whether the candidate fits your company culture. This is so despite the fact that at least one research study indicates that selecting a candidate who performed well in an interview only increases your chances of hiring an employee who is successful by two percent.

So, perhaps the traditional job interview is accorded too much power in employee selection. But, since it is, you have the opportunity to either enhance your current skills or learn to do job interviews well, in this free email class.

Objectives of the Conduct Powerful Job Interviews Email Class

Learn more job interview tips and job interview techniques to make your job interviews a powerful tool and process to evaluate candidates. Specifically, in this job interview email class, you will learn:

• The approaches to job interviews that are available for your use.
• How to plan effective job interviews.
• Who should conduct the job interview.
• How to conduct the job interview.
• How to conduct behavioral job interviews.
• Job interview questions that are illegal and why they are illegal.
• Excellent behavioral job interview questions.

General Information About the Conduct Powerful Job Interviews Email Class

Classes start whenever you sign up to receive the sessions. You will receive the daily study guide thereafter in the morning. You can take the class at your own pace, but you will receive the emails every day for five days. Anxious to receive the lessons? You can also have the classes sent all at the same time by using the link at the end of your first newsletter.

The Conduct Powerful Job Interviews email class is free. The only cost to you is the time you spend reading the lessons.

There are a few things you should know before you sign up for the class:

You cannot change your email address in the middle of the class, so be sure to use an address you'll have for at least five days. Due to the amount of email I receive, I cannot reply to the "anti-spam" measures for this class. So if you're using something that blocks email until a "real person" sends it, you'll need to turn it off to receive the class. If you need feedback, please post your questions and discussion in the HR Community Connection Forum.

Ten Days to a Happier, Successful Career and Life

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” said our Founding Fathers. The truths you will discover over the next ten days or lessons are self-evident, too, but they are profoundly difficult to practice. Even as I write this series, I find myself questioning whether I am practicing what I am recommending. So, consider the pursuit of happiness and success in work and life - a journey. These practices will get you started on that journey.

I wish life, family, and work were easy. Really. But, they’re not. The best of you struggle with concepts such as loving your work, balancing home and family life with work, and making the income that allows you to fulfill your dreams. You struggle with a lot more than that, too.

You have kids to put through college, homes that develop leaks in the roof, saving for retirement, and family and friends that actually want to spend time with you. Wow. You struggle with quite an armful.

And, some of you struggle with even more than that. Disabled family members, illness, and life’s unexpected and unplanned for events occur. My basement flooded with three inches of water recently. That’s minor, compared with what many of you experience, but it disrupted my plans for the week.

Recognizing all of this, I have tried to zero in on the ten most important concepts that will help you develop the tools and thinking you need to succeed at work. At the same time, work success is fleeting if you don’t also succeed at home. Life is a balancing act, so these concepts are applicable to your whole person, too.

Happiness is as important as success, so I wanted to include happiness in the equation. Consequently, ten days to a happier and more successful future is the theme for this ten lesson series. Read, enjoy, and grow, but, most of all, benefit from this time you spend thinking about you and your life.

Begin the journey with my ten day program:

Ten Days to a Happier, More Successful Career and Life.

You have two options for taking the class. You can subscribe to the email newsletter (sign-up box below) and receive a session each day, for the next ten days, at your email address. Or, you can enjoy the sessions using this web page as your launch pad.

Why You Really Ought to Want to Love Your Work Part II

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Career Exploration Steps to Find Work You Love

So often in life, people seem to fall into jobs because one was handy or available at the right moment. Maybe you started in one position with a company hoping to move into something you liked better later. Maybe you started life as a teacher and continued to teach out of inertia or because you had so many years invested in the retirement system.

No matter your current position, every once in awhile, it's time to assess whether the career you have created is the best career for you. Recognizing that there are certain economic and social realities, think about where you'd really like to spend the time of your life. These steps will help you explore and find work you really love.

Spend Some Thinking Time to Know Yourself

Take time on your vacation or on a long weekend to devote exclusively to thinking about your work and career. Ask yourself some tough questions. Do you get to do what you like to do at work every day? Does your job match your values and make a difference? Do you make the money you need to achieve your goals?

Does your career provide the work-life balance you desire? Do you love your work or is there another type of work you'd prefer? Be honest with yourself and if you answer these questions negatively, it's time to explore further.

One exercise that I have found particularly useful is to write down everything you want to do, accomplish, see, try, visit, and so on. If your current career will allow you to accomplish these goals, okay. But it's not okay, if you don't have a shot at getting what you want from life.

Read Career Books and Do the Exercises

Here are several excellent career exploration books. Take time to read several of the books and do the exercises recommended by the authors. Think of it as guided career exploration to discover work you will love.

Take Career Assessments to Find Work You Love

The Web provides an excellent opportunity to take online career assessments to identify your strengths and explore your needs. Purchasing the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, also provides an access code to an online assessment called StrengthsFinder.com, which is useful.

Several sources of career assessments you might want to explore to learn about yourself include these. You can pursue these assessments on your own or you can consider talking with a career professional.

• Career Tests from About's Alison Doyle at Job Searching.

• The Kingdomality Personal Preference Profile (This one's just for fun, although it was certainly on target for me. I'm a "Discoverer.")

• Job HuntersBible.com, the site of Richard Bolles who writes What Color Is Your Parachute.

• Career Self Assessment from About's Dawn Rosenberg McKay at Career Planning.

• Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (Costs $17.95 and provides detailed results from a 320-item questionnaire.)

Additionally, Quint Careers provides an Online Career Assessment Tools Review that will help you select the best career assessment tools.

Talk to a Career Professional to Find Work You Love

As you begin to zero in on anything from a potential new career to a slight change in your current one, you may want to talk with a person who is skilled and knowledgeable about careers. About's Career Planning site provides help in finding and choosing a career professional.

A career professional can help you organize the data you have gathered about yourself and potential careers. He or she can help you identify careers that require the strengths you have identified and the needs you have articulated. He or she can also recommend other assessments and help you make your plan to identify work you love.

Select Your Goals and Make Your Plan to Find Work You Love

I am a big believer in plans. Plans help you move from having a dream to really accomplishing the changes you desire. The more specifically you can detail the steps that will move you from where you are to where you want to be, the better your chances are for success. My article, The Awesome Power of Goal Setting — Ten Tips for Triumph, will also help you with this process.

Get Started on Finding Work You Love

Now is the time to get started. If you want to love your work, you need to select the career you've dreamed of having. Or, you need to make adjustments in your current work so you get more out of your current work.

At the very least, you need to get started on the plan that will eventually result in the life and work choices you want. First, you have to figure out what they are. Then, if you really want to love your work, you need to take the first steps and just get started. I know you'll be happy you did.

Finding work you love will make all the difference in the quality of your overall life. When you consider the time you invest in work, the importance of your happiness with your work choice cannot be overestimated. Find work you love.

Why You Really Ought to Want to Love Your Work

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Are You Working Long Hours on Work You Love?

Are you working more, enjoying it less, and dreading the time you spend most days at your work place? If you answered "yes" to this question, take some time to explore your current career choice and consider all of the other options life has to offer.

You spend a substantial portion of your life at work. Why not make that time as professionally and personally rewarding and fulfilling as possible? You have nothing to lose, and potentially a great deal to gain, by spending time exploring your interests, values, and options. I believe you really, ought to want to love what you do at work.

You Work Long Hours: Invest Them in Work You Love

The average American manager works 42 hours per week, but a substantial number of managers and professionals - three in 10, or 10.8 million people - work 49 or more hours per week. Of male managers and professionals, four in 10 work 49 hours.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2000 report, this number of working hours is substantially unchanged since 1989. More managers and professionals are working over 49 hours, but more are also working less which keeps the number steady.

Comparatively, the hours that people work in non-supervisory or production jobs have steadily declined since the early 1960s in all categories except manufacturing, construction, and mining. In these jobs, hours have increased, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, July 2000.

While the overall trend in working hours is down, with the average non-supervisory or production employee working 34.5 hours in 1999 as compared to 38.7 in 1964, this figure is skewed by workers in services and especially retail, who are working substantially fewer hours.

Remember, too, that these hours do not include time spent dressing for work or commuting. Getting to and from work can add an additional five to 20 hours to your work week. So, when you consider all of the time you spend related to work, you are working long hours.

You Feel as if You Are Working Harder

Managers and professionals perceive that they are working harder. Combine the extra hours relating to work with the actual hours worked, and a substantial portion of your week is filled. The pace of the modern work place is stressful. With most spouses and partners working and two schedules to balance with the needs of the family, life, in general, is stressful.

Technology inventions allow you to communicate with work twenty-four hours a day if needed. With email, cell phones, laptops, and PDAs, is it any wonder that you feel as if you are working all the time? Even if you're not, you have the constant potential to fill every waking hour with work.

A Gallup Management Journal Survey summary reports that nearly one-fifth of workers are actively disengaged, or disconnected from their work. These workers have high absenteeism and are less happy with their personal and professional lives.

According to the report, "Gallup has calculated that they are penalizing U.S. economic performance by about $300 billion, or about the size of the nation’s defense budget." These attendance and dissatisfaction issues make work longer, harder, and more stressful for the remaining workers.

Additionally, in many work places fewer people are doing more work as workers are not replaced when they leave or retire. In other organizations, finding qualified staff remains problematic, especially in areas relating to engineering and other technical careers.

Solutions to Ensure That You Love Your Work

Now that I've convinced you that you're working long hours and working hard, why not follow this prescription for making sure you love your work. If you're going to work this hard, your work must be something you love. You need to take some career exploration steps to find work that you really love.

How To Write The Best Teacher Resume You Can

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Employee recognition is worth the time and the money you spend on it. You have no other tool at your disposal that so predictably makes employees feel good about your company and goals. From employee recognition letters to bonuses and gifts, employee recognition is good for workplace motivation and creates positive employee morale. Your options for employee recognition are numerous.

Annually, some companies give bonuses to employees who contributed during the year. Depending on your circumstances including company profitability, your line of work, the expectations in your industry, and your past practices, consider giving employees a bonus.

If you can't afford a cash bonus, buy the employees a reasonably priced gift (company merchandise can work well as gifts). If a gift is not on the horizon - and it may not be for public sector employees, as an example - at the very least, adopt the habit of writing letters to employees for recognition and to thank them for their contributions.

A simple thank you letter, that recognizes specific employee contributions, goes a long way in helping employees feel recognized and rewarded. In fact, an employee recognition letter that accompanies a bonus check or a gift magnifies the recognition an employee experiences. Some employees experience such gratification that they post the thank you and recognition letter in their cubicle, office, or workstation for years.

An employee recognition letter does not need to be elaborate but it is most effective when the employee recognition letter:

• Specifically describes the behavior you'd like to encourage,
• Says thank you and that the employee contribution is appreciated,
• Is written and given close in timing to the event you are praising, and
• Is handwritten, or even an email, if the email is customized and avoids sounding like a form letter.

Don't ever underestimate the joy an employee experiences when he or she receives an employee recognition letter from someone who is important to them at work. Might that important someone be you?

Top Ten Ways to Show Appreciation to Employees From Food to Favors for Employee and Coworker Appreciation

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

You can tell your colleagues, coworkers and employees how much you value them and their contribution any day of the year. Trust me. No occasion is necessary. In fact, small surprises and tokens of your appreciation spread throughout the year help the people in your work life feel valued all year long.

Looking for ideas about how to praise and thank coworkers and employees? Here are ten ways to show your appreciation to employees and coworkers.

• Praise something your coworker has done well. Identify the specific actions that you found admirable.

• Say "thank you." Show your appreciation for their hard work and contributions. And, don't forget to say "please" often as well. Social niceties do belong at work. A more gracious, polite workplace is appreciated by all.

• Ask your coworkers about their family, their hobby, their weekend or a special event they attended. Your genuine interest - as opposed to being nosey – causes people to feel valued and cared about.

• Offer staff members flexible scheduling for the holidays, if feasible. If work coverage is critical, post a calendar so people can balance their time off with that of their coworkers.



• Know your coworker’s interests well enough to present a small gift occasionally. An appreciated gift, and the gesture of providing it, will light up your coworker’s day.

• If you can afford to, give staff money. End of the year bonuses, attendance bonuses, quarterly bonuses and gift certificates say "thank you" quite nicely. TechSmith staff receive a percentage of their annual salary for their end of year bonus.

• Almost everyone appreciates food. Take coworkers or staff to lunch for a birthday, a special occasion or for no reason at all. Let your guest pick the restaurant.

• Create a fun tradition for a seasonal holiday. ReCellular employees draw names for their Secret Santa gift exchange. Alison Doyle, About's Guide to Job Searching, also works in Career Services at Skidmore College where they do a "gift grab" at their holiday party.
  
  LuAnn Johnson who works in Human Resources at the Schaller Anderson Mercy Care Plan says, "We celebrate Treat Tuesday, every Tuesday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We match up departments or people who don't normally work together as a unit and assign a day to provide gooey, healthy or scrumptious treats for the other groups. It's a great mixer, an opportunity to show off our culinary skills and a morale builder - to say nothing of the sugar high!"

• Bring in bagels, doughnuts or another treat for staff and coworkers. Offerings such as cookies or cupcakes, that you've baked personally, are a huge hit. (Have you tried baking cupcakes in ice cream cones? People love them.) Another hit? Bring chocolate - chocolate anything.

• Last, but not least, provide opportunity. People want chances for training and cross-training. They want to participate on a special committee where their talents are noticed. They like to attend professional association meetings and represent your organization at civic and philanthropic events.

These are my top ten ways to show appreciation to employees and coworkers. Stretch your imagination. There are hundreds of other employee and coworker appreciation ideas just waiting to be found. They'll bring you success in employee motivation, employee recognition and in building a positive, productive workplace.

How to Gift the Boss or a Special Coworker

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

It’s an age-old dilemma and it comes up several times each year. What do you do for that special boss or coworker on their birthday, their company anniversary, their engagement, the birth of their child, or to celebrate the holiday season. Gift-giving occasions are endless – and endlessly challenging.

You want to gift the boss with something special, but you don’t want to be too personal or exorbitant. You don’t want to embarrass the receiver with your largesse, but you don’t want to appear tight fisted in the eyes of someone you like – or your office peers.

You know the person from work. You may have some ideas and knowledge about his personal tastes and interests. But, you are totally unfamiliar with what he already has. You don’t want your dozen golf balls joining another hundred in his garage, the victims of other gift givers who didn’t have a clue.

If you are the designated purchaser for a group of people, the above problems multiply, as you have more people to please. Especially for a group gift, spend time soliciting ideas from others in the group. Some may know the person better and good ideas multiply when people brainstorm together. Another approach is to talk with a friend or family member of the person you want to gift. Sworn to secrecy, she might have several ideas sure to please. These are my favorite gifts for your valued work associate.

Memory Books and Scrapbooks

People appreciate gifts that commemorate good times and successes at work. A memory book in which all staff write comments and share high points of the year is an often appreciated gift. Depending on the individual, scrap books with pictures of staff activities, actual company product advertisements from magazines, positive notes from customers, and memory notes from staff make successful gifts. I have even seen an artistic group create a striking collage.

• Anything Blank Book
• Snowy Path Blank Book
• Paper Blanks Foiled Mini
• Egrets on a Snowy Bank Blank Book
• Everything Notebook: Business Memory Journal
• A Woman's Journal: Quotes by Women
• Paper Blanks Fanfare

Picture Frames and Photo Albums

Consider a group photograph in an attractive frame for your boss or coworker. You can make the photograph formal or informal, or consider a collage of different staff pictures. (Some of these are group gifts.) A photo album that includes pictures of staff events, product highlights, office happenings, trade show booths, and staff and customer interaction is a particularly winning choice.

Picture Frames

• Royce Leather 5x7 Double Frame
• Allegro Silver Wall Frame
• Forest Leaf Silver Picture Frames
• Waterford Lismore 5x7 Frame

Uncommon Photo Albums

Collage Frames

Here are more ideas about gifts for your boss or your special coworker. Here are additional ideas including photo albums.

Gift Baskets

No matter how close you are to your coworker, chances are you are familiar with some items, hobbies, or food choices that bring her pleasure. A ready-made gift basket filled with selections of her favorite things makes a popular and appreciated gift.

Baskets I have seen include an assortment of teas, biscuits, and a tea pot for the tea lover and a selection of coffee, jams, and scones for the coffee lover. Ready-made baskets for people who enjoy a particular food such as chocolate or popcorn are also available. Baskets of foods or fruits and other items that celebrate a particular heritage such as Italian or Greek or a particular region such as California or Michigan make popular choices, too.

The fun part with baskets is that you can also make one yourself by selecting a theme, then the basket, and filling it with items from various stores. If you have the time, making up your own basket will likely save money. You also have the whole world of stores from which to select the items that fill your basket. You can customize the gift to your coworker's taste.

When my uncle worked at Ford, he once received a basket of grapefruit with a grapefruit knife and a set of serrated spoons from his coworkers. As a grapefruit-lover, it was a perfect gift for him, a gift that kept on giving; he used the knife and spoons for years.

• Gift Baskets: Chocolate and Candy
• Gift Baskets: Cheese and Crackers
• Gift Baskets: Fruit
• Baskets to Fill With Your Selections

Books or Book Store Gift Certificates

When you are familiar with a person's reading interests, books are an attractive gift choice. The main dilemma I have experienced is identifying a book she doesn't have already. Some people talk about what they are reading or their reading interests; others don't.

You face the same dilemma with magazine subscriptions, another possible gift choice. For a reader, select a recent business or people-management best-seller. Or, play it safe, and give your colleague a gift certificate to a local or online bookstore. You never go wrong when she can make her own choice. Not as personal as some of the earlier gifts I recommend, a book store gift certificate is still a valuable choice.

• Award Winning Books
• Five of My Favorite Business Reads
• Little Books With Big Impact
• Best Audio Books About Management for Road Warriors
• Must-Do Reading - Book Reviews for Business and Management
• Management Books for the Human Resources Book Shelf

Gift Certificates

You can always purchase a gift certificate to a popular online or local store. Assuming you select a store your colleague frequents, this is a no-fail gift. Think about your coworker's hobbies and recreational activities as well as her goals and dreams. I'm sure you'll select the right store.

Engraved Items

Look around your coworker's office. What does she keep on her desk or display in her cubicle? Often you'll find framed certificates of classes taken, awards won, and honors bestowed. Consider purchasing articles engraved with staff signatures, sentiments for the recipient, or an honorary mention of the day or occasion. These may be paperweights or framed prints, plaques or book ends. When you select quality items, these are valued for years.

• Ideas About the Types of Items That Can Be Engraved

Beyond these ideas for gifts for your boss or coworker, use your imagination. I'm a big fan of desk toys and searched long and hard one year to purchase a variety for a coworker. Take a look at: The Office Playground for fun desk toys. Dream on about gift-giving, but remember that a card and a thoughtful verbal exchange are often all that is needed for your boss or coworker to feel recognized and rewarded.

Employee Recognition Rocks Kick Employee Recognition Up a Notch

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Employee recognition is limited in most organizations. Employees complain about the lack of recognition regularly. Managers ask, “Why should I recognize or thank him? He’s just doing his job.” And, life at work is busy, busy, busy. These factors combine to create work places that fail to provide recognition for employees.

Managers who prioritize employee recognition understand the power of recognition. They know that employee recognition is not just a nice thing to do for people. Employee recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create for your business.

When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat. An effective employee recognition system is simple, immediate, and powerfully reinforcing. Employees feel cared about and appreciated. It may seem simplistic, but people who feel recognized and cared about produce more and better work.

Employee Survey Pinpoints Recognition

In a client employee satisfaction survey, the question about whether the company cared about the welfare and happiness of its employees drew divergent views. Some people agreed; others disagreed.

So, the Culture and Communications team put out a second survey asking what would make the employees feel as if the company cared about them. We developed several answers employees could check and supplied room for their comments and additional thoughts.

Fifty-five percent of the respondents said that praise and attention from their supervisor would make them feel as if the company cared about them and their well-being. As you might also expect, money, benefits, and events such as company lunches ranked high, too. But recognition from the supervisor ranked above all other choices.

I have sponsored similar surveys in different organizations. The findings are always similar. Employees want to know that they have done a good job – and that you noticed. Employees want to be thanked and appreciated.

A leader of employees makes other people feel important and appreciated. The leader excels at creating opportunities to provide rewards, recognition and thanks to his or her staff. A leader creates a work environment in which people feel important and appreciated.

Want to Kick Employee Recognition Up a Notch?

You can reinforce powerfully the recognition you provide in these ways.

• Write out the recognition, what the employee did, why it was important, and how the actions served your organization. Give a copy of the letter to the employee and to the department head or CEO, depending on the size of your company. Place a copy in the employee’s file.



• Write a personal note to the employee. Perhaps have your supervisor sign it, too. Photocopy the note and place the recognition in the employee’s file.



• Accompany the verbal recognition with a gift. Engraved plaques, merchandise that carries the company logo, even certificates of appreciation reinforce the employee recognition.



• Everyone likes cash or the equivalent in gift cards, gift certificates, and checks. If you use a consumable form of employee recognition, accompany the cash with a note or letter. When the money has been spent, you want the employee to remember the recognition.



• Present the recognition publicly, at an employee meeting, for example. Even if the employee is uncomfortable with publicity, it is important for the other employees to know that employees are receiving recognition.

Conclusion and More Information About Employee Recognition

A simple “thank you” counts as employee recognition. But, you can also make employee recognition as elaborate as your imagination can conceive. Recognition is not a scarce resource. You can’t use it up or run out of it. No budget is too small to afford employee recognition. For increased employee satisfaction, bring on lots of employee recognition.

Provide Motivational Employee Recognition

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Have you ever been the employee of the month? Do you have the best website according to a peer vote? Did you get that great parking spot next to the company door for a week or more? Did you win the teamwork award for the quarter, but you're not quite sure why? Chances are, you're a victim of employee recognition that was not motivational and most likely done wrong.

Maybe you felt good about the recognition, but coworkers are unlikely to share your joy. Those employees who are not nominated for recognition, and who don't understand the criteria for the bestowal of the reward, are generally negatively impacted by the employee recognition.

This is especially frustrating when the employee believes their contribution was equivalent or even better. Or, the employee recognition becomes a joke (must be your turn to be employee of the month) or a demotivator (I didn't get nominated so forget it when you need help again some time).

Voted honors are generally a popularity contest, especially when solid criteria for assessment have not been established. Or, if the time necessary to provide an educated vote is unavailable or uncompensated, few will bother to participate.

Motivational Employee Recognition Traps

You can avoid the employee recognition traps that:

• single out one or a few employees who are mysteriously selected for the recognition;

• sap the morale of the many who failed to win, place, or even show;

• confuse people who meet the criteria for employee recognition yet were not selected; and

• sought votes or other personalized, subjective criteria to determine winners.

Employee Recognition That Is Motivational and Rewarding

Employee recognition is one of the keys to successful employee motivation. Employee recognition follows trust as a factor in employee satisfaction with their supervisor and their work place.

Informal recognition, as simple sometimes as saying thank you and please, should be on every employee's mind every day. Supervisors and coworkers, especially, have the opportunity to praise and encourage best efforts daily. These tips will help you successfully provide more formal recognition that is valued, valuable, and motivational.

• Determine what behaviors your work place wants to recognize. In a client company, a team decided to recognize team work, going the extra mile, and years of service.



• Identify and communicate the criteria by which the proposed recipients will be judged or assessed, so people are clear about what they need to do to qualify for recognition.



• Announce and communicate the recognition and the criteria that you have established for the awards.



• Design and communicate the process by which employees will be selected for recognition so that all employees clearly understand the selection process.



• Allow time for people to qualify for the recognition.



• Every entry that qualifies for the recognition should receive the recognition.



• If financial constraints are an issue, either present recognition amounts you can afford. Or, announce all eligible employees, publicly praise them for their contribution, and then, place all names in a drawing to select the lucky winner.



• Magnify the value of the recognition by these methods: name the employees publicly, place employee names in the newsletter, send out a company-wide email announcement, and so on.

Is it ever okay to nominate people or projects and just vote? In my book, only for trivial, fun events and prizes. Nothing of significance should ever be treated as a popularity contest. An example? One client company, in a clean room setting, has groups of employees who decorate external windows surrounding the manufacturing area each holiday season. All employees vote for their favorite window and a nominal gift goes to the teams that decorated the top three windows.

Effective, fair, employee recognition is motivational for both the employees receiving recognition and their coworkers - done correctly.

Psychology Study Tips Study Tips for Psychology Students

By Kendra Cherry

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Students of psychology soon realize that the subject covers a huge range of material. The diverse topics students might study include social behavior, personality, research methods, therapeutic techniques, and much more. Because psychology consists of such a broad range of topics, it is important to develop ways of effectively studying and mastering new theories and concepts.

1. Study Regularly

• The Two Hour Rule: The general rule is that for every hour of time you spend in class, you should spend two hours of your own time studying the material.


• Plan Your Study Time: The amount of time you need may vary, but you should set aside time each week for reviewing study materials. At the beginning of week, consider the material you need to cover and estimate how long you will need to complete your assignments, readings, and reviews.


• Schedule Study Time: Ideally, you should schedule a specific block of time to devote to each subject. Even when you are busy, set aside short periods of time each day to concentrate on your class work.

2. Study Actively

• Think Critically About the Material: Effective studying involves more than just reading the assigned text and skimming through your notes. You need to analyze and understand the material.


• Take Notes: Read through your materials slowly and write down key points. Write down any questions you have about the materials that you can later discuss with your classmates or course instructor.


• Test Your Understanding: Quiz yourself on the material you have just read. If you struggle with certain questions, make not of these areas for additional study.


• Summarize the Main Points: Once you have studied the material, see if you can answer these questions: Can you identify the main concepts covered by the material? Can you think of your own examples of each theory, problem or concept?

3. Be Active in Class

• Take Effective Class Notes: Your psychology class notes should be a summary of what you learned in class, not a transcription of everything your instructor or classmates discussed. Practice taking brief, effective notes that summarize the key points of what was said.


• Go to Class Prepared: Read the assigned chapters before class. If you approach each class discussion with a good understanding of the material, you will be better able to participate in class discussions.

4. Study Alone Initially, Then In Groups

• Individual Study: Your initial study sessions should take place alone. By doing this, you are better able to concentrate on the material.


• Group Study: Once you have a good grasp on the material, utilize review sessions with classmates or study groups. These sessions are good way to refresh your knowledge of the material before a quiz or exam.

10 Tips for the SAT Essay

By Grace Fleming

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

1. Follow the rules.
Don’t score a zero for failing to follow instructions. Use the essay paper that is provided. Do not write in your booklet. Do not change the question. Do not use a pen.

2. Divide your time.
You will have twenty-five minutes to write your essay. As soon as you begin, make a note of the time and give yourself benchmarks and limits. For example, give yourself five minutes to brainstorm for main points (which will become topic sentences), one minute to come up with a great introduction, two minutes to organize your examples into paragraphs, etc.

3. Take a stance.
You will be writing about an issue. Readers judge essays on the depth and complexity of the argument you make (and you will be taking a side), so be sure to show that you understand both sides of the issue you’re writing about. However, you can’t be wishy washy!

You will pick one side and explain why it is right. Demonstrate that you understand both sides, but pick one and explain why it is correct.

4. Don’t get hung up if you don’t actually have strong feelings one way or the other on a subject.
You don’t have to feel guilty about saying things you don’t really believe. Your task is to show that you can craft a complex argument essay. That means you will have to make specific statements about your position and expound upon your individual points. Just take a side and argue it!

5. Don’t try to change the subject.
It may be tempting to change the question to something that is more to your liking. Don’t do that! Readers are instructed to assign a zero score to an essay that doesn’t answer the question provided. If you try to change your question, even slightly, you are taking a risk that the reader will not like your answer.

6. Work with an outline!
Use the first few minutes to brainstorm as many thoughts as possible; organize those thoughts into a logical pattern or outline; then write as quickly and neatly as you can.

7. Talk to your reader.
Remember that the person scoring your essay is a person and not a machine. As a matter of fact, the reader is a trained educator—and most likely a high school teacher. As you write your essay, imagine that you are talking to your favorite high school teacher.

We all have one special teacher who always talks with us and treats us like adults and actually listens to what we have to say. Imagine that you are talking to this teacher as you write your essay.

8. Start with a fabulous or surprising introductory sentence to make a great first impression.
Examples:
Issue: Should cell phones be banned from school property?
First sentence: Ring, ring!
Note: You would follow up on this with well-crafted, fact-filled statements. Don’t try too much cute stuff!
Issue: Should the school day be extended?
First sentence: No matter where you live, the longest period of any school day is the last one.

9. Vary your sentences to show that you have a command of sentence structure.
Use complex sentences sometimes, mid-sized sentences sometimes, and two-word sentences a few times to make your writing more interesting. Also--don’t keep repeating the same point by rewording it several ways. Readers will see right through that.

10. Write neatly.
Neatness counts to some degree, in that the reader must be able to read what you’ve written. If your writing is notoriously difficult to read, you should print your essay. Don’t get too hung up on neatness, though. You can still cross out mistakes that you catch as you proofread your work.

The essay represents a first draft. Readers will like to see that you did, in fact, proof your work and that you recognized your mistakes.