After a lot of hard work from everyone, group 2 is proud to announce we have launched our project website!
Visit https://sites.google.com/site/bootcampmyworkplace/ to check it out!
On that note I am exhausted, time for some serious sleep before a looooooong day at work tomorrow!!
Wednesday 17 April 2013
Sunday 7 April 2013
Precious Time....
Until the start of last year I worked stupid hours. Weekends, late nights, 6 sometimes 7 day weeks, week in week out. 'Annual Leave' - A term I was familiar with but rarely used, being unwell was just not 'convenient' to the business operation - in the beauty industry having a sick staff member means either clients get cancelled (and god forbid someone can not have their waxing or facial done because their therapist had fallen ill) or another staff member would be called in on their day off to cover the shift, so being sick was simply not an option. So I worked and worked until one day I didn't anymore.
Burnt out. Confused. Unemployed.
I spent the first 3 weeks on vacation, time meant nothing except for how long till happy hour at the swim up bar? I was floating on cloud 9, not a worry in the world! However, as soon as the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac upon my return it was like the entire sky had fallen on my shoulders. Faced with job hunting, something I really had not even thought about for almost 8 years!
Did I even have a copy of my CV anymore? Nope. When I upgraded from my old clunky PC to my spiffy MacBook I didn't have 'office for mac' and therefore I didn't even bother to save my old CV because at the time I thought, not going to need that again! I'm not leaving where I am, I love it.
But as Murphy's law will have it, things change, we change, other people change and we grow and change directions which sometimes means we have no choice other than to move on and we need these things we thought we would never use again!
I started from scratch, re did my CV and started my new job as a job seeker. It was draining, exciting and humiliating! Over qualified for most 'beauty' jobs I was lucky to even get an interview with most places that interested me to work at. When I did I found that managers reacted negatively to me due to my extensive experience in running multi-site salons. I couldn't get a foot in the door outside my industry because I didn't have the 'piece of paper' to back up my skills (hence why I am doing this course).
After 4 long exhausting weeks I finally secured some employment. Time was no longer on my side. I wondered 'why didn't I enjoy being unemployed more?'
When I decided I was going to study my employer kindly agreed to my proposal of working a 4 day week, it meant long days so I could still do my 38hour full time week and with the business operating extended hours this was easily done. Then just as Uni started for the year my role at the salon changed and I was now promoted into the Manager position, a compliment to my abilities yes but it also came with going back to a 5 day week. We were understaffed so there I was, back to 44+ hour weeks and uni on top of that!
I truly believe that if every single full time working person worked a 4 day week there would be less animosity and negativity in the world. (Generalization yes but seriously, how much happier is everyone when they work a 4 day week!) You might not have 3 days off in a row, I didn't, but that extra little day, mid week, was all mine - to do with as I pleased.
Reading this article prompted me to relay my personal experience of the 4 day working week. Yes it would mean 4 long days but trust me, loosing just 1 little day each week not spending time getting ready for work, traveling to work, thinking about work, winding down from work is priceless.
http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/time-most-precious-commodity-of-all/story-e6frfm9r-1226613972894?from=public_rss
My aim, to get back to being able to work that 4 day week, ASAP!
My motto - work smarter, not harder - now I just need to convince my bosses that I can manage this role without needing to be there, 5 days a week!
Burnt out. Confused. Unemployed.
I spent the first 3 weeks on vacation, time meant nothing except for how long till happy hour at the swim up bar? I was floating on cloud 9, not a worry in the world! However, as soon as the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac upon my return it was like the entire sky had fallen on my shoulders. Faced with job hunting, something I really had not even thought about for almost 8 years!
Did I even have a copy of my CV anymore? Nope. When I upgraded from my old clunky PC to my spiffy MacBook I didn't have 'office for mac' and therefore I didn't even bother to save my old CV because at the time I thought, not going to need that again! I'm not leaving where I am, I love it.
But as Murphy's law will have it, things change, we change, other people change and we grow and change directions which sometimes means we have no choice other than to move on and we need these things we thought we would never use again!
I started from scratch, re did my CV and started my new job as a job seeker. It was draining, exciting and humiliating! Over qualified for most 'beauty' jobs I was lucky to even get an interview with most places that interested me to work at. When I did I found that managers reacted negatively to me due to my extensive experience in running multi-site salons. I couldn't get a foot in the door outside my industry because I didn't have the 'piece of paper' to back up my skills (hence why I am doing this course).
After 4 long exhausting weeks I finally secured some employment. Time was no longer on my side. I wondered 'why didn't I enjoy being unemployed more?'
When I decided I was going to study my employer kindly agreed to my proposal of working a 4 day week, it meant long days so I could still do my 38hour full time week and with the business operating extended hours this was easily done. Then just as Uni started for the year my role at the salon changed and I was now promoted into the Manager position, a compliment to my abilities yes but it also came with going back to a 5 day week. We were understaffed so there I was, back to 44+ hour weeks and uni on top of that!
I truly believe that if every single full time working person worked a 4 day week there would be less animosity and negativity in the world. (Generalization yes but seriously, how much happier is everyone when they work a 4 day week!) You might not have 3 days off in a row, I didn't, but that extra little day, mid week, was all mine - to do with as I pleased.
Reading this article prompted me to relay my personal experience of the 4 day working week. Yes it would mean 4 long days but trust me, loosing just 1 little day each week not spending time getting ready for work, traveling to work, thinking about work, winding down from work is priceless.
http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/time-most-precious-commodity-of-all/story-e6frfm9r-1226613972894?from=public_rss
My aim, to get back to being able to work that 4 day week, ASAP!
My motto - work smarter, not harder - now I just need to convince my bosses that I can manage this role without needing to be there, 5 days a week!
Sunday 31 March 2013
Outranked!
Social sites are used by millions of people for various reasons. Many businesses have used these platforms as a way to increase their brand awareness, communicate with customers & build sales.
I'd never really thought a blog for a business was all that useful, probably because I have not really ever embraced 'blogging'
I can see how using a blog to promote your business, its services & products can benefit in so many ways. By sharing your skills, expertise and knowledge through blogging the business is exposing itself to a wider range of people who may never have found you otherwise!
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/blogs-outrank-social-networks-for-consumer-influence-new-research/
I'd never really thought a blog for a business was all that useful, probably because I have not really ever embraced 'blogging'
I can see how using a blog to promote your business, its services & products can benefit in so many ways. By sharing your skills, expertise and knowledge through blogging the business is exposing itself to a wider range of people who may never have found you otherwise!
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/blogs-outrank-social-networks-for-consumer-influence-new-research/
Sunday 24 March 2013
Coming along!
It's a nice feeling when you finally see everything coming together! Going into week 4 feeling good about where we are at with the group project, makes the last few weeks of stress feel very worthwhile!
Looking forward to watching our website come together & learning all that we are along the way!
We had our first 'face to face' chat session last night - popped my skype cherry too! Who'd have thought that someone who is at 1 with so many media platforms had never used skype?!! Was a great way to put a 'face to the name' with my group mates & I think that we were able to move through the agenda of our meeting a lot quicker & easier than we did while using an IM based system!
Looking forward to watching our website come together & learning all that we are along the way!
We had our first 'face to face' chat session last night - popped my skype cherry too! Who'd have thought that someone who is at 1 with so many media platforms had never used skype?!! Was a great way to put a 'face to the name' with my group mates & I think that we were able to move through the agenda of our meeting a lot quicker & easier than we did while using an IM based system!
Tuesday 19 March 2013
When to step back
I'm sure I speak for most of us that the last few weeks have been as intense as they have been fun & all in all quite overwhelming!
Every time I think I've got my head around it the next task throws my head spinning around again!
So I've realised, recognising when to take a step back & walk away for a minute, an hour, a night etc is going to ultimately help in the progressive steps forward in my (and probably most of our) understanding of these new tools & platforms!
When I catch up with friends and start telling them what I have learned so far I realise how much I ave actually already absorbed & simply now putting this into practice is when I will gain further knowledge & feel more confident in these areas!
So my advise to myself & all of us, lets not freak out too much about what we think we don't know & get in there and give it a go - when we start using these sites our confidence grows & we can really see what we specifically need to seek more assistance with!
On that note I'm going to put away my computer after freaking myself out for a few hours now & go make some tuscan meatballs & enjoy a glass of red!
Every time I think I've got my head around it the next task throws my head spinning around again!
So I've realised, recognising when to take a step back & walk away for a minute, an hour, a night etc is going to ultimately help in the progressive steps forward in my (and probably most of our) understanding of these new tools & platforms!
When I catch up with friends and start telling them what I have learned so far I realise how much I ave actually already absorbed & simply now putting this into practice is when I will gain further knowledge & feel more confident in these areas!
So my advise to myself & all of us, lets not freak out too much about what we think we don't know & get in there and give it a go - when we start using these sites our confidence grows & we can really see what we specifically need to seek more assistance with!
On that note I'm going to put away my computer after freaking myself out for a few hours now & go make some tuscan meatballs & enjoy a glass of red!
Monday 18 March 2013
Preparing to introduce work to social platforms!
Doing a bit of research as I prepare to introduce my workplace to some social media idea's in the next few weeks!
http://socialmediatoday.com/mac-ocampo/1113836/4-ways-prepare-facebook-content-plan-2013
http://socialmediatoday.com/bryan-kramer/1311791/6-steps-becoming-good-social-listener?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
http://socialmediatoday.com/mac-ocampo/1113836/4-ways-prepare-facebook-content-plan-2013
http://socialmediatoday.com/bryan-kramer/1311791/6-steps-becoming-good-social-listener?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Saturday 16 March 2013
Alternatives to Google Reader
I started doing some research into what other options are out there in the big wide world of the web to replace the soon to be extinct Google Reader.
I found this article helpful to explain a few of the many options around..
The article explains the 5 best RSS newsreaders...
http://lifehacker.com/5856652/five-best-rss-newsreaders
I found this article helpful to explain a few of the many options around..
The article explains the 5 best RSS newsreaders...
http://lifehacker.com/5856652/five-best-rss-newsreaders
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