Josie’s Weekly Favorites

In this weekly article, Josie scours the deepest parts of the web in search of the most interesting career-related news, so you don’t have to. Every week we create a selection of three news articles about career development and present you with an excerpt of the article that we think is worth sharing. Click on the heading to read the whole article.

1. The surprising, science-backed value of boredom at work – Dominic Price, The Ladders

“Our best, most creative ideas often come when we’re doing basically nothing and our brains are relaxed. In this state, your frontal cortex – which is involved in attention, memory, and planning – goes on auto-pilot, which means you’re filtering your thoughts less. Not unlike being a bit tipsy, actually. Fortunately for our livers (and livelihoods), we can get our brains into that same state during the workday by embracing boredom. To be clear, I’m not talking about the soul-crushing ennui that stems from feeling like your job is meaningless. That’s a genuinely bad thing and, if left unchecked, can start to feel a lot like burnout. But what the Italians call il dolce far niente, or “the sweetness of doing nothing”… now that’s the stuff.” 

2. 9 Skills You Already Learned in College That Employers Love to See -Lily Zhang, The Muse

“Transitioning between college and your first “real” job can be daunting. After so many years in an academic environment, you might even feel like you don’t have any valuable skills employers will actually care about. Having worked with college students as a career counselor for years, I can tell you that many students feel this way—regardless of what they’ve accomplished in their undergraduate studies. I’ve even worked with patent holders who need convincing that they’re qualified for a related internship. That’s on the extreme end, of course, but really everyone needs a bit of a pep talk. This is all to say that no matter what you majored in, you have plenty of transferable skills that are incredibly appealing to employers.”

3. The Great Rehiring Is Here If Poor Processes Don’t Ruin It– Mark Murphy, Forbes Magazine

“A new survey from hiring software company Greenhouse finds that 78% of organizations plan to increase hiring in the second half of 2021. More than half of companies say their hiring is focused on growing new roles and teams, while only a third are aiming to return their staffing to pre-pandemic levels. But while the focus on hiring for growth is wonderful, poor hiring processes could hamstring those gains. In the Hiring For Attitude research, my team at Leadership IQ discovered that 46% of new hires will fail within 18 months. It’s great to hire lots of people, but it’s less great if a significant number of them quit or fail.”


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