On meeting new people, following up, and being teachable

On meeting new people, following up, and being teachableOn meeting new people, following up, and being teachableHeres a powerful networking truth everyone you ever meet matters.Let me elaborate. No matter when someone crosses your path, you never know when they might come back around.With my own projects, Ive found myself reaching out to people I met when I first started blogging (summer of 2012). Because I make a point to leave the conversation on positive terms, the door is always cracked open.Thats why, for starters, you shouldnt delete your Facebook friends. We bump back into each other in the strangest of ways often, its situations we could never predict.Build a wide network, never burn bridges and remember each person comes into your life for a distinct reason. Everyone matters.- - - Can we talk for second about a two-word phrase that so often dictates how far we go in our careers?Here it is follow up.Theres a saying in advertising that people need to see/hear your message se ven times before they will act on it. If you think of yourself as a product someone should buy or invest in (which you are), then it means you need to follow up multiple times before the person will take you seriously.Whats multiple? Whatever it takes. Five phone calls, 12 emails, three meetings, 17 texts. Whatever. It. Takes.Then one day, the person will say I cant imagine my life without whatever you had to offer. Thank goodness you stayed in pursuit.Its easy to set an idea in motion. Much harder to see it through.May all your follow-ups lead somewhere great.- - - One final thought Someone out there has the knowledge you need. Time and again, I put my faith in people who have the experience and success in the areas where I want to be.Its comforting to know that, no matter what you want to accomplish in your career, there are people with the blueprint and the answers. Someone else has gone down the road before, and the advice will save you countless hours in the wrong direction.W hich person in your field has the knowledge you need? Search around LinkedIn, Twitter or the web. Locate the person and then begin to follow what he/she has to say.Be teachable - its the quickest way to grow as a professional.This article first appeared on Dannyhrubin.com.

What You Need To Know About Marrying In The Military

What You Need To Know About Marrying In The MilitaryWhat You Need To Know About Marrying In The MilitaryServing in the military is a rewarding but challenging profession, but being the spouse of a military member requires an equal amount of maturity and toughness. Deployments can strain the strongest of relationships, however, having a strong spouse at home is a quality needed for military marriages to work. Here are some frequently asked questions about marriage in the military What Do I Need To Know? If you are in the United States (notlage assigned overseas), getting married as a member of the military is much the same as civilian marriages. You dont need advanced permission and there is no special military paperwork to fill out before the marriage. You simply get married according to the laws of the state where the marriage is taking place after obtaining a marriage license off-base. If you are overseas and marrying a foreign national, its a different story. There are multipl eforms to complete you must obtain counseling and your commanders permission (which is rarely withheld without very good reason) your spouse must undergo a security background check and pass a medical examination. Finally, the marriage has to be recognized by the United States Embassy. The entire process can take several months. Regardless of where or who, once married, if the spouse is non-military, the military member can bring a copy of the certified marriage certificate to the Personnel Headquarters on the base to receive a dependent ID card for the spouse, and enroll the spouse in DEERS (Defense Eligibility Enrollment Reporting System), to qualify for military benefits such as medical coverage and commissary and base exchange privileges. zeiteinteilung Is Important Timing can be important in a military marriage. If you have PCS (Permanent Change of Station) ordersand get married before you actually make the move, you can have your spouse added to your orders and the militar y will pay for the relocation of your spouse and her property (furniture and such). However, if you report to your new duty assignment first, and then get married, you will have to pay for the relocation of your spouse out of your own pocket. Getting Married on Base The point of contact is the chaplains office. Each military base has one (or more) chapels that are used for religious services. One can get married in a base chapel, just as one can get married in a church off-base. Base chaplains offer a complete variety of marriage choices, including religious (alfruchtwein any denomination), non-religious, casual, civilian-formal, and military-formal. If the wedding is conducted by amilitary chaplain, there is never a fee. By regulation, chaplains cannot directly accept donations. Military-Formal Weddings The military formal wedding would entail the following An officer or enlisted personnel in the bridal party wear uniforms in accordance with the formality of the wedding and seasonal uniform regulations. For commissioned officers, evening dress uniform is the same as civilian white tie and tails. The dinner ormess dress uniformis equivalent to civilian black tie requirements. The choice to attend the wedding in uniform as a military guest is optional. In the case of non-commissioned officers and other enlisted, dress blues or Army green uniforms may be worn at formal or informal weddings. A female military member (officer or enlisted) may wear a traditional bridal gown, or she may be married in uniform. A boutonniere is never worn with the uniform. The Arch of Sabres is usually part of a military formal wedding. The arch of swords takes place immediately following the ceremony, preferably when the couple leaves the chapel or church, on the steps or walk out of the chapel. However, these sword bearers are your responsibility to gather and can be members of the family, friends, or groomsmen in the wedding. The military does not provide these members at w eddings. What Is The Difference of Marrying Someone In the Military From a Civilian? Theres one primary difference, and thats in the area of housing benefits allowed after the marriage, rather than actual marriage procedures. There are two basic types of housing allowance (monetary allowance paid tomilitary memberswho live off base) Single allowance, and with dependent allowance. Usually, single (non-married) military members who are allowed to live off base receive the single allowance. Those who have dependents (civilian spouse and/or children) receive a larger allowance called the with dependent allowance. If two military members marry (assuming there are no children), eachreceivesthe single allowance. The total of both of these single allowances is always more than the with dependent allowance. If a military member marries another military member and they have children, one member will receive the with dependent rate, and the other member will receive the single rate. Usuall y, the member with the most rank receives the with dependent rate, because it means more money each month. Can Married Military Couples Request Postings Together? Each of the services has a program, called Join-Spouse in which the services try as hard as they can to station spouses together, or at least within 100 miles of each other. However, there is absolutely no guarantee. In order for spouses to be stationed together, there have to be slots (job positions) available to assign them to. For example, lets say that an Air Force B-1 aircraft mechanic married a Navy F-14 aircraft mechanic. Because the B-1 bomber is only stationed at certain Air Force bases, and because the F-14 Tomcat Fighter Aircraft is only stationed at certain Navy Bases, this couple is probably never going to be stationed together. The best the services could do would be to try and find a B-1 base as close as possible to an F-14 base (and, if this case, that would be at least 1,000 miles away). If a military person marries a person in their same service, the chances of getting stationed together are better. Each of the services boasts aboutan 85percent success rate with in-service Join-Spouse. That sounds pretty good until you realize that there are 15 out of 100 military couples in each service who are not stationed together. When one marries someone in a different service, it becomes more complicated and the success rate of Join-Spouse goes down dramatically to somewhere around 50 percent. Honeymooning Whether on a honeymoon or not, military members can travel space available for free on military aircraft to locations around the world. If available leave time is a factor, Space-A travel might not be viable. To travel Space-A, a military member must already be on leave. Sometimes it can take several days for a flight with space available on it to be going in your direction. Also, one wants to make sure that there are adequate funds to buy a return ticket, in case the passenger cant find a Space-A flight available going back to the originating base. Check out theArmed Forces Vacation Club. This program allows military members to rent luxury condos around the world for $249 per week. In addition, manyhotelsand resorts offermilitary discounts it always pays to ask. If youre low on cash, a military couple can stay in billeting on anymilitary base, for about $16 to $20 per night - if you dont mind spending your honeymoon on a military base.

Salary and Salary Requirements of Your Job Candidates

Salary and Salary Requirements of Your Job CandidatesSalary and Salary Requirements of Your Job CandidatesSalary is a fixed amount of money or compensation paid to an employee by an employer in return for work performed. Salary is paid, most frequently, in a bi-weekly paycheck to an exempt or professional employee. In most years, an employees salary is paid in 26 even paychecks over the course of the year. An employee who is paid a salary is expected to complete a whole job in return for the salary. A whole job that an employee is accountable for accomplishing is understood by the employee from the job description, the title of the position, and the goals set by or negotiated with the employees manager. This is different from a non-exempt employee who is paid an hourly rate or by the piece produced. A non-exempt employee is notlage responsible for a whole job and may produce only a part of an overall product, for example, on an assembly line. This employee is also generally eligible to collect overtime pay when he or she works more than the requisite number of hours in the day. The salaried employee or employee who is paid by salary does not track hours worked and is not paid for overtime pay. (Some public sector, often union represented, employees expect to account for hours and collect compensatory time off. This is not the norm in the private sector.) Because of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) rules about overtime payment, employers are required to closely track the hours and partial hours worked by non-exempt or hourly employees. Salary is determined by market pay rates for people doing similar work in similar industries in the same region. Salary is also determined by the pay rates and salary ranges established by an individual employer. Salary is also affected by the number of people available to perform the specific job in the employers employment locale. Salary Requirements Salary requirements are the amount of money that a job searcher has decided that you need to offer for him to accept yourjob offer. The fixed expenses that the candidate has incurred by his lifestyle choices drive this required amount of money. Unfortunately, some candidates have unrealistic expectations of what font of salary their skills will bring. These fixed expenses, including items such as mortgage, car payments, childrens school, taxes, and utilities, are what an employee bases her requirements around. The requirement may have no relationship to what the market rate is. Unless a job searcher is desperate for any employment, he will not accept a position that doesnt cover his expenses. If he does accept your position for less than his realistic salary requirements, you can count on the fact that he will continue job searching- secretly. If his salary requirements were unrealistic, hell keep searching as well, but he wont find anything. If your pay is at the market rate, hell learn that is the case. Asking Applicants to Disclose Salary Requirements This is why employers ask applicants to provide their salary requirements at the time of theirjob application. If salary requirements are too far apart, its a waste of time to conduct interviews with a candidate who will never accept the job. If a candidate is currently employed, they have little reason to take a cut in pay. If the candidate is unemployed, the employer may have more wiggle room in getting the person to accept a lower salary. The employer knows that pursuing a candidate whose salary requirements are higher than the salary range he plans to pay the employee is a waste of time and energy. Nevertheless, many companiesrefuse to disclose their salary rangesto job candidates. Many job candidates dont wish to state an expected salary for fear that they will inadvertently low-ball themselves. However, an applicant who fails to answer the prospective employers question about his salary requirements risks having his application not considered. While job candidates believe th at the first festivitt to talk numbers is at a disadvantage in asalary negotiation, the employer has legitimate reasons for not wanting to consider candidates they cant afford. Many employers feel that if they disclose their ranges, candidates will assume they deserve the top of the range. Additionally, they dont want to pay more than they have to and can base their offer on the candidates stated desire, rather than the true market rate. Create Market-Driven, Realistic Salary Ranges Good employers go to great lengths to understand and create salary ranges that are competitive in the employment market.They want to attractandretain superior employees, and they know that the prospective employees salary requirements drive employment decisions. They wont give a candidate a low offer, even if the candidate has made it clear that they are willing to accept an offer that is below market rate. If the employee finds out that they are worth more than the employer is paying, morale will dr op and the employee will look to leave as soon as possible. Turnover is expensive, so saving a few dollars by paying below market rate can backfire. Participating in salary market surveys to create a trustworthy resource for salaryresearch has become critical to understand the salary requirements of qualified applicants for jobs. Currently, salary research is escalating with online resources such as salary calculators making salaries easier to pinpoint and understand. It also makes it easier for candidates to find out market values, decreasing the information asymmetry that often plagues salary negotiations. When an employer makes a salary offer to a prospective employee, many candidates will attempt to negotiate a higher salary. Whether or not you negotiate at this point is up to you, but negotiation is a common aspect of reaching an agreeable salary, so the employer needs to negotiate. Otherwise, your best candidate may just walk away.