Skills Check
Skills Check offers articles to help you boost your skill set with technology tips and shortcuts; communication strategies to improve presentations; self-assessments on work- and career-related topics; problem-solving techniques; and negotiation tactics on how best to deal with bosses, co-workers, clients and vendors.
Employers are still approaching hiring, raises and promotions with caution, so it may take special skills to get ahead in 2013, says Wall Street Journal columnist Ruth Mantell.
Avoid “death by PowerPoint” by stealing presentation tips from the charismatic Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. Carmine Gallo, communications coach and author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, points out that Jobs uses presentation software as a tool to visually complement his stories.
Virtual meetings, whether by phone or video, have become a business staple. But virtual meetings present special challenges. How to stay professional during a virtual meeting:
If you’re writing an e-newsletter or promotional e-mail for your company, remember: That “free” e-newsletter costs your readers time. And that could be the most valuable thing they possess. Persuading readers to click and read is more challenging than you might think. Heed these tips and tricks from the experts for writing more effective marketing e-mail:
Work more efficiently in 2007 Word, says PC World columnist Rick Broida, with a few useful tips: 1. Print multiple copies of select pages. 2. Remove hyperlinks from text. 3. Add filler text to your document.
The three types of photos to avoid in employee publications, according to Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications: 1. The “grip-and-grin” photograph, or two people shaking hands and smiling at the camera. 2. The “man on phone at his desk.” 3. The “execution at dawn” shot, or a row of standing employees.
“All first drafts are terrible. I don’t care if you’re Hemingway.” That comes from a writing professor who may as well have been talking about email. No email should be sent without revision. Here’s an email etiquette checklist to follow:
With the economy slowing down, now is the best time to fine-tune your LinkedIn or Facebook profile, fleshing out the blank spaces and figuring out how to take advantage of those social networking sites. Here are a few tips.
Ever receive a spreadsheet where someone entered the entire field in ALL UPPER CASE? How do you change the field to upper and lower cases?
Save time doing web research with these five powerfully helpful sites: Ask a Librarian; OWL, the Online Writing Lab; the Phrase Finder; Refdesk.com; and LibrarySpot.com.
When you need to send a message to a group of customers, board members or an entire department, you don’t want your message to become lost in the hundred other messages they receive that day.
Have you discovered all the shortcuts buried within Excel? Try zipping around Excel spreadsheets using these keyboard techniques.
Your big conference went off without a hitch. In fact, it went so smoothly, your boss might not realize how well you handled everything.
