Category Archives: Career

Career Advice: How to Manage Personal Drama at Work

AMBIANCE DE TRAVAIL DANS LE FUTUR

Hi everyone! Emma is extremely busy after the grand opening of Boxx Restaurant, so I’ll be covering her blog posts for a little while.

Today I thought I’d write about how to stay focused in the office when the people around you are dealing with personal issues. As much as we try to stay professional, we’re all human, and sooner or later a situation like relationship troubles or family tragedy will get in the way of someone’s ability to work. Even though it’s not intentional, it can be hard on the people who have to cover for them. Here are a few tips I’ve learned on how to be a supportive coworker and still take care of yourself.

Continue reading →

Career Advice: How to Keep Work and Personal Separate

work life balance

“It’s not personal, it’s business” is a memorable quote from the classic Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Mail”. A film that captures the very real problem of when, and how, to separate your personal feelings from your business decisions. How do you stay true to your relationships but still be practical and ambitious in your career? If you want to succeed in your chosen field, you can’t always allow emotions to get in your way. It’s a business, with goals, and everything else falls into two categories. Things that help you achieve those goals and things that don’t. Separating your career and your personal life can be extremely sticky, and unfortunately there will be times when you have to preference one of the other. Which you choose in each instance is entirely up to you, but you can’t, and shouldn’t, feel guilty in those times. Here’s a list containing some of the most common situations where personal life and career intersect, and how to handle them.

Continue reading →

Life and Career Advice: How to Negotiate and Compromise

COLOURBOX5100766

Regardless of how much we plan and organize, sometimes life throws things our way that we have no control over. And when those things are in direct opposition to the goals we are trying to accomplish, the ability to negotiate a compromise is a valuable skill. Here are a few thoughts on finding common ground that can be applied to both your professional and personal life.

Continue reading →

Career Advice: How to Delegate Effectively

Woman with lots of reminder notes

Perfectionists like me want to think that we can handle it all. Trusting others with our work can be difficult, as we pride ourselves on our ability to get it done the way it should be done. After all, multi-tasking is the mark of genius, right? But part of being effective is learning when and how to pass along work that others can do just as well as, if not even better, than we can do ourselves. This applies to both the workplace and school projects. If the word “delegate” causes a cold, hard knot in the pit of your stomach, here are a few thoughts on how you can warm up to the process.

Continue reading →

Open Communication

With all the excitement and intrigue swirling around the office lately, I thought open communication in the workplace would be the perfect subject for this week’s blog post. I was all ready to get started, but then my dear friend Mr. Knightley insisted on taking over. Way to show initiative, Alex!

- Emma

Continue reading →

Career Advice: Dealing with Changing Office Dynamics

You’ve found the perfect job. You adore your co-workers. You’ve finally navigated the journey from Student to Professional. And then someone new joins the team, and it all changes.

Transitions in the workplace are inevitable, but that doesn’t mean they are easy. Whether you work in a large or small office, new staff usually involves some sort of adjustment in company dynamics. While these changes can feel threatening, if possible, use them as an opportunity to make new allies or explore a new role. Make the change a change for the better! Here are a few thoughts on how to accomplish that. Continue reading →

Business Advice: Style vs Substance

COLOURBOX3996536_2

In business everyone’s first priority should be making sure their ideas are solid. The long hours spent brainstorming, researching, and reworking a pitch or presentation have only one goal: to make sure the work is as thorough and fresh as possible. But the simple fact is that it won’t matter how good your pitch is if nobody is listening. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it.

We all know that dressing right for a job interview or meeting is important, but clothes are just the beginning. Whether you are selling yourself or your ideas, the right presentation can mean the difference between success and failure, between signing a new client and walking away empty-handed. One way to approach it is to think of it as putting on a show. Take a few hints from Hollywood on how to set the tone and achieve your goals!

Continue reading →

Career Advice: How to Be Comfortable in Front of the Camera

COLOURBOX9339043 Being comfortable in front of the camera only used to matter to those who were planning on pursuing careers in television and film. The proliferation of online video as a marketing tool has changed this, making camera skills a requirement for practically everyone in the business world today. Even if you’re not vlogging or turning out videos touting your own company’s services, you may be attending an event or conference where you have an opportunity to be interviewed. Don’t let those butterflies cause you to pass up the opportunity to highlight your expertise to a wider audience! Here are a few tips on how to shine when the record button is on.
Continue reading →

Making Your Office Eco-Friendly

As Emma Approved enters a new era of bettering the world, I invited Jane Fairfax, our newest employee and social activist extraordinaire, to write a blog post on how we can get started right in our own offices. And as we’re all finding out around here, Jane has plenty of bright ideas. Enjoy!

- Emma

Continue reading →

Career Advice: A Conversation with Mr. Woodhouse

Little-Emma

As you know, Emma Approved’s business is growing and changing. In order to ensure that I keep my business on track with all the recent restructuring, there is one person I knew I had to talk to. He has over forty years of experience running a profitable business, and can offer insight on every aspect of being an entrepreneur. In addition, there’s another role he handles successfully as well. He is none other than my dear old dad, Mr. Henry Woodhouse! I invited him out to lunch a few days ago so I could pick his brain about his business expertise. I recorded the conversation and asked Harriet to transcribe the key pieces of the interview below. Enjoy!

Continue reading →