12 Excel tips to take your career to the next level

12 Excel tips to take your career to the next level by Michael Cheary Microsoft Excel skills are indispensable in a wide range of different industries… But even though more than a quarter of a billion of us use Excel on a daily basis, we might not be aware of all the functions available to us â€" let alone know how to use them.To help take your spreadsheets to the next level, the experts at Excel with Business have put together a list of their top 100 most useful Excel tips. Here are 12 of our favourites:Conditional formatting Consistently named as the most important Excel feature by users and industry experts alike, conditional formatting allows you to instantly find patterns in your data â€" just by changing a cell’s colour.Even the simplest colour changes can be hugely beneficial, helping you highlight everything from profit and loss right through to improvements in employee performance.Time to learn: 180 minsPivotTables   PivotTables help you sort, count, total or average your data â€" and display it all in a new table , customised to your needs.Not only do they allow your data to be summarised in a simple and flexible way, they also make masses of data easier to analyse. Warning: make sure your data is clean first…Time to learn: 240 minsPaste special If you use Excel a lot, chances are you’ll be pretty comfortable using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. But you don’t always want to include everything when you copy a cell over.Whether you just want the formatting, values, comments or formulas, paste special will help you choose exactly what you want to copy, and customise your spreadsheet to suit you.Time to learn: 10 minsAdd multiple rows Undoubtedly one of the most frequently carried out activities in Excel. Ctrl Shift + is the shortcut, but it’s actually much easier to simply right-click on the row numbers on the left of the Excel display.And if you want to add more than one, select as many rows or columns as youd like, and then right-click and add. Simple.Time to learn: 10 minsAbsolute references ($) Adding a $ sign in front of a letter fixes the column; adding the dollar in front of the number fixes the row. So instead of constantly having to copy and paste formulas, you can anchor your data throughout a row or column.It’s easy to change too, with F4 toggling through the different possible combinations.Time to learn: 180 minsPrint optimisation  Everyone has problems printing from Excel.But rather than simply clicking Ctrl+P and hoping for the best, getting comfortable with the print preview screen will allow you to do everything from fit your sheets on one page, through to adjusting margins and printing headers. So invest your time wisely early on.If all else fails, remember three simple words: Page. Break. PreviewTime to learn: 120 minsExtend formula across/down One of the best things about Excel is its scalability.In other words, get the formula right once, and the software will do the hard work for you. All you need is the cross hair (‘+’), and double-click â€" then y ou can extend your formulas for as long as you’ll ever need.Time to learn: 5 minsFlash fill Say you have two columns of names and you need to construct email addresses from them.Just do it for the first row and Excel will work out what you mean and do it for the rest. It actually couldn’t be easier. Just bear in mind that flash filling is a post 2013 feature.Because filling out cells manually is so 2012…Time to learn: 30 minsVLOOKUPEver wanted to search for something in the first column of a table? Meet your new best friend.Especially useful when you have a massive amount of data to go through, the only downside of VLOOKUP is that it only works with rows â€" and if your info goes to the right of the formula. That’s where index-matching comes in…Time to learn: 15 minsIndex-matchIndex-matching enables you to look up a value in a table of data â€" whether it’s left or right, in a row or in a column. You can then display the relevant data in a shiny new table.Think of it as a more flexible alternative to VLOOKUP. It may take a little longer to master, but it’ll definitely be worth it in the long run.Time to learn: 45 minsUpper, lower, properIf you’re stickler for good grammar, this is definitely the tip for you.Using ‘upper’, ‘lower’ or ‘proper’, you can change multiple words to appear in upper case, sentence case or lower case. It’s a great way to ensure names are formatted correctly. It’s also a great way to make your spreadsheet look more consistent.You know, if you like that kind of thing.Time to learn: 180 mins and CONCATENATEFinally, these two features allow you to combine cells quickly and easily.For example, if you have ‘Mr’, ‘James’ and ‘Smith’, all in separate cells, adding a few simple ‘’ symbols (e.g. ‘=A1””B1””C1’) will pull all three words together.If you have a lot of things to combine, CONCATENATE is even better. It also sounds impressive. And, let’s face it, isn’t that what being effi cient in Excel is really all about?Time to learn: 15 minsWhy study Excel?Excel is one of the most in-demand skills for employers, in almost every industry.Becoming Excel certified will help make you even more efficient when working with spreadsheets, not to mention add more value to your CV when you next look for work.Excel with Business are offering a Microsoft Excel Bundle, which includes everything you need to get certified â€" whether you’re a beginner, or you’ve used Excel for a whileAnd with excellent discounts on offer right now, there’s really no excuse not to build your skill set and become an Excel expert right now.Want to learn more? Become Excel certified now.Excel with Business is one of the UK’s leading providers of online Excel training. Theyre committed to helping their students learn Excel in the most efficient way possible, as well as ensuring their courses are always business-relevant and theyve taught nearly 1 million students in the last 5 years. Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the Features

Make your own luck

Make your own luck To celebrate St. Patricks Day, acknowledge that you are not a leprechaun and that you have to create your own luck. Sure, luck can make or break a career, but those who make their own luck can make their careers shine. St. Patricks Day is a great day to assess where you stand in the lucky-person parade. 1. Being lucky is a way of looking at the world. You can look back? on your life and see the luck in it or see the failure. But all good interviewers know that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. They want to know about your successes, so why doom yourself from the start? View yourself as having lead a charmed life, and you will find yourself becoming the recipient of more lucky charms. Optimists know this intuitively. Our lives unfold the way we see them. If you expect bad things to happen, they will. But if you expect good luck, it likely will come your way. 2. Know what luck looks like The luckiest people knock on the door of opportunity and it opens. Throughout your life, though, youll knock on hundreds of these opportunity doors. Sure, this is a figurative statement, but put on your metaphorical walking shoes. One caveat: You must be clear on what you want for this rule to work. Doors will open to you constantly, and unless you know what you want, you wont know if you have been lucky enough to get it. To be a lucky person in this world you must have a vision of your life. Otherwise you will walk through any door, and whims, aimlessness and fate will direct your life. [I didnt understand this last phrase] 3. Entourages make opportunities for luck Youll find more four-leafed clovers if everyone is hunting them for you, than if youre searching alone. So invest in yourself by hiring people to help you create luck. An assistant at work, a cleaning person at home whatever you need to free up clover-hunting time. Examine every task you do that does not, in some way, allow you to knock on doors that might open to big-time luck. Delegate the luckless work so you can concentrate on your vision. Consider using the money you might spend on movies or lattes to pay an assistant. And every entourage should include trusted advisors a mentor who will steer you to the good clover patches. Dont go picking without one. 4. Surround yourself with lucky people. Successful people have successful friends. There is, of course, the chicken and egg question. For example, did Sam Waksal befriend Martha Stewart *because* she was rich and famous or because he liked her? You and I will never know, but they did hang out together along with all their other rich, successful friends (whether either is truly lucky is debatable and probably depends on your personal value system). And thats where the odds come in. Dont worry about why or when lucky people find each other. Just play the odds, and make sure you are hanging out with lucky people now. 5. Dont tell other people they were lucky We all want to believe that we have accomplished some great feat through personal skill and ability not luck. If you say it was because of luck, then it seems as though we had nothing to do with making something happen. So dont tell someone whos just achieved an important goal that they are lucky. Maybe they are, but you should focus on the skill they used to make their luck Besides, showing respect and admiration for others not to mention hanging around with a winner makes you look good.. If you hate your acquaintance for being lucky, stifle that feeling until you get home and can curse and scream until you feel better. But remember that no one seems very lucky while jealously screaming about his or her neighbor. And dont forget Rule No. 4. Stop screaming and go out hang out with this person.

Complete Guide to Pitching Traditional Journalists Using Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Complete Guide to Pitching Traditional Journalists Using Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQEGhxQB4s] Subscribe to my podcast series Personal PR is how we form relationships with our audience. Its time to put on your personal PR hat once again. Many people believe that we need to be wealthy in order to afford the big budgets that PR firms call for. All the press Ive received has been the result of my proactive and reactive media communications. The only cost of building relationships with the media is time. If you have enough time, passion and faith in your product (yourself), then its fairly easy to take time out of each day and connect with bloggers and traditional journalists. Remember that the term media has expanded since 5 or so years ago. Some blogs are designated as media sites, while others dont want to talk to PR and want nothing to do with that type of promotion. If youre looking to get on TV or the radio, then the rules are a bit different (relative to print/online). Most people who you see appear on these media outlets are using PR agencies that have built relationships. Through word-of-mouth and ranking in Google, you can claim these opportunities as well, but the chances are far less. Personal PR for blogs Ive already written a complete guide to pitching bloggers using your personal brand. Personal PR for traditional journalists Some traditional journalists are bloggers as well. Before pitching a journalist or blogger, realize that they are more inclined to support someone they 1) known 2) trust 3) respect. The right way to go about starting a relationship is to give first, without asking for anything in return. You will fail 99% of the time if you email a journalist a press release or pitch, unless you are a known brand. Today, I want to talk to you about how to form relationships with traditional media to help promote your brand at a later date. Remember that things take time. 1) Plan. Understand your topic, subscribe to traditional news websites that support that topic and research reporters/journalists who cover it. 2) Locate. Once youve locked down the article and know the authors name, locate their contact information. If it isnt at the top or bottom of the article, then Google their name. Typically journalists will have their own branded homepage with contact information, especially if theyve written a book (common practice). For instance, if you are a personal finance expert, you may read this article and then respond to one of the journalists, whose email addresses are listed at the bottom. 3) Connect. As noted above, dont pitch them. All you have to do is comment on their article, while giving your opinion on the topic. As long as you include your contact information, website and a personal brand statement, they can learn more about you if they care. 4) Repeat. Ill let you decide how many times you should respond to them. Unless the journalist is a regular columnist, I highly doubt they will produce an article a day. Follow them closely and strike conversations now and again. Remember they have busy schedules, so be smart about how many times you email them. 5) Pitch. Once you feel like you have a relationship with the journalist, and understand their audience and writing, then you can pitch to them. If you become close enough friends, the pitch wont really be much of a pitch because they will probably help you out anyways. Try and make your pitch relevant, timely and concise and if theyre interested, they will seek more information from you. Best of luck in your personal PR journey!

How to Secure Exclusive Roles From Clients

How to Secure Exclusive Roles From Clients Securing exclusive work from clients is the dream for any third party recruiter. As soon as you know the role is yours to fill, you can  justify channeling  extreme amounts of effort and giving the client the stellar service youre capable of and they deserve. Unfortunately,  locking down exclusive roles to work on is easier said than done. Whats your best bet when it comes to getting exclusive with clients? We put it to our expert panel of recruiters. Here are their top tips: Lysha Holmes Approach recruitment as a partner and work with them as their brand ambassador. Do the right thing by them. Dont push them to hire the wrong person. Give free advice when they ask for your opinion. Meet them regularly. Be honest. Lysha Holmes  is Founder of Qui Recruitment Gill Buchanan Make sure you can show strong evidence of a successful track record in their sector. Provide written testimonials and access to previous clients who would be happy to provide verbal references. Take the time to meet and discuss the role and to really understand their requirements. Explain your recruitment plan thoroughly and make sure you follow through with it. Demonstrate that your approach is not one of a ‘C.V. race’ against other recruiters but of a focus on achieving a quality outcome   a candidate who is the right fit for the role and for the organisation’s overall culture. Gill Buchanan  is Director at Pure Resourcing Solutions Billy Smith The main aim of securing exclusive work is to find out what the client’s biggest need/want is. 90% of the time, we find if we can offer clear timelines on when a client will receive a shortlist, have interviews arranged and offers made, this takes the full process away from them allowing them to concentrate on what they do best. It’s also important to know your sector enabling recruiters to build relationships and give clients the confidence that the right person will be found. Billy Smith  is Managing Director at FGS Recruitment Iain Hamilton I am bored of the exclusivity pitch, and so are clients. If you are going to offer traditional agency services then deliver candidates so great that your client doesnt want to use anyone else. If you want to step ahead of the curve, then consider a completely different service model that disrupts all the clichés of the recruitment industry. Flip those clichés on their head and provide a service your client cannot live without. It will take a while to catch on but the question is; do you want to lead, or be led? Iain Hamilton is Founder of People Traction Adam Glassman Track and use your performance data. What does it say about you? Are you better at driving a volume of applicants? Are you fantastic at finding C-suite placements? What do your time to fill, offer to hire ratios and quality of hire metrics look like? Track all of these elements and use them as your differentiators. Adam Glassman is Recruitment Strategies Manager at Alorica Chad MacRae Honestly? Just do a good job. Don’t be a jerk. Treat people well. It’s about relationships. And relationships aren’t transactions. They’re connections with people. Chad MacRae is Founder of Recruiting Social David Morel Honesty. Clients in this day and age want to deal with honest Consultants who are up front about their knowledge limitations, turnaround times and whether they are going to be able to hit the mark with the candidates they send through. They are more likely to offer you exclusivity if you are straight down the line with them. They might only give you a period of exclusivity for a certain timeframe, but this is better than multi any day! David Morel  is CEO Founder of Tiger Recruitment Lisa Jones Not a tip as such, as a tip denotes something quick Having a really clean and viable talent pool on your database. Having one which you have nurtured and kept warm one that needs you, is massively valuable to your clients. Lisa Jones  is Director at Barclay Jones Bronwen Hann For us, what’s old is new again. There are always new ATS and ways of aggregating social media during your searches, but what works long-term is the ability to build relationships. For us the phone is still the best tool to further that goal, so we’re refocusing on that venerable technology and trying to make it newly relevant in our business. It’s valuable to source through social media, but the best way to source is by having conversations with your network â€" finding out what’s driving their careers, who they know who is active on the market, etc. Recruiters who can harness this will always have an advantage. Bronwen Hann is  President   Senior Partner at Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting James Nathan If you want clients to work with you exclusively, you need to get in first, be extremely easy to work with, be extremely credible and build a high level of trust, and most of all deliver at an amazing level. If you do this the first time you work with someone, then they will be so blown away that you will differentiate yourself so far above your competitors that they won’t even think about doing else where. Then all you need to do is maintain that service. Easy.   James Nathan  is  Founder of The James Nathan Experience Dualta Doherty Show them a track record of what you can do and examples of the types of candidates you work with. Demonstrate your ability to make this your number one priority, walk them through the process and agree timelines, and invite them to the office to interview the short list with you.   Once you have their buy ask them to give you this assignment for an initial 2 weeks. Dualta Doherty  is Founder of Pro Recruitment Solutions Caroline Stokes We only work on retained searches that are exclusive. Best tip? I’ll turn it into a question instead: What do you need to change in your company to attract a different type of business? Caroline Stokes  is Founder of FORWARD

An Objective Look Into Working With A Startup!

An Objective Look Into Working With A Startup! Nowadays, we see many startups falling apart. However, this doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t work with a startup at all. In fact, startups could give employees some really valuable skills, experience, and tips on how to succeed in their field. Even if a startup fails, an employee can walk with some valuable knowledge and skills.In this article, we’ve taken an objective look into whether or not you should with a startup company:1. Less Job SecurityevalStartups are looking for the perfect fit for their company. Unfortunately, they don’t always have much experience in employee training, benefits, or how to retain good employees. Hence, there’s a high chance that an employee is hired quickly, but also fired just as fast.In order to somewhat alleviate this problem, one can always demand that they see the full job description before accepting a job at a startup. Knowing just what a job entails can better help potential employees decide whether a position is even suitable for them or not.2. Lower Salary, Fewer BenefitsIt’s an obvious fact that startups usually have much less money than an established firm. Plus, the benefits might not even be in place yet, other than free insurance. This, combined with the unstructured hours, may take a toll on your personal life.3. Learning To Balance Your Work With Your LifeStartup culture is different from that of an established business. Once you enter into a startup, you would see the absolute passion of the people running it. The dream of making it big or launching a unique product or service is exhilarating. The workforce, including the owners and partners, is bent on making the startup a success. This could mean odd hours, overtime, and a large amount of dedication.If you enter a startup, you would probably become well prepared for whatever it takes to get the company up and running. If you can manage your life along with working for a startup, it’s highly possible that you would have a good grasp on your work whe n things settle down.4. PerksWhile the startup’s salary and benefits might not be as attractive as larger companies, there are other perks available. Employees may end up appreciating these more than a conventional salary or a benefit package. For example, a startup may be more open to hiring remote workers, enabling their employees to work from home.Other perks may include an open leave policy, free meals, discount vouchers/coupons, or even a partial ownership of the company itself. Other than these, some individuals may even like working for a startup because of the lenient policies and enthusiasm.evalIt’s no secret that working for a startup is usually more meaningful, as you have the feeling of actually creating something. This is much better than working in a cubicle as just another cog in the wheel.5. Developing ExperienceDepending what kind of worker you are, a startup culture could throttle you or be the means through which you shine. If you are the latter kind and don†™t get turned off by a sink or swim environment, then the benefits are plentiful. When you work with a startup, you are immediately thrown into the main workings of the system. There is little or no training, yet everyone has to give their best.In some ways, working at a startup really fills out your resume. The more responsibilities you manage, the more skills you develop. So even if the startup of your choice fails, you can walk away being a better person and a better employee. This would make you ready and raving for whatever life chooses to throw at you next.Wrapping Up…Startups usually have a stressful environment, but not necessarily a negative one. While working with a startup has its risks, it may be the best decision of your professional life. However, before deciding to even applying to a startup, one should take stock of themselves. If they feel like they are the kind of person to thrive in a startup culture, they should take the plunge. If not, then it’s better to st ick to something safer.evalAt the end of the day, if you are just entering your field of interest, beginning at a startup is quite a good decision. It can help you to make your resume and yourself more well-rounded and impressive to potential future employees. Who knows, the knowledge and expertise might even come in handy when starting off your own business!

What Is Missing In Your Life Today That You Deeply Desire - Kathy Caprino

What Is Missing In Your Life Today That You Deeply Desire In my life, I spend most of my waking hours either thinking about how we can live happier lives and do more fulfilling work, or talking to people about it. Sometimes, we can get so caught up with the challenges and struggles in front of us, and how to navigate through them effectively, that we fail to ask ourselves the most important questions that would have the power to unlock so much more fulfillment, joy and peace in our lives, if we only stopped to answer them. Today, lets take a break from the our challenges and all our striving, working and committing, and answer this simple (but not easy) question: In ONE word, what do you long for most in your life today? Think about the one thing that you believe would generate the biggest breakthrough in your life today. And be specific â€" don’t leave it at the world “fun,” for example, but share in one word the deeper expression of what fun represents to you. What would fun make possible in your life, work, and family? I’m asking this question for two key reasons. One is that it’s vitally important to me to offer information and insights (and programs) that get at the heart of what we need and want as human beings. But more importantly, I’m interested in learning what is missing from the lives of thousands of people around the world that they can’t seem to find, connect with, or generate more of. And I’d love to understand why we seem to be missing these important elements in our lives. I’m not at all concerned in how to help people make a quick buck, or follow some get-rich-quick scheme and rise overnight to the top of the heap in their fields. I am interested, however, in the long haul â€" how we create and build lives that matter, and livelihoods that make a positive difference and impact in the world. And I’m keenly focused on how we can do that with as much joy, ease, love, and soulfulness as possible. I’m looking for clues as to what keeps us centered, secure, and serene in the process, so we can thrive through change and stay true to exactly who we wish to be. For me, the one word that describes what I want more of today is “soulfulness.” Why that? Because I find, unfortunately, that it’s been missing lately in a lot of what Im confronting and experiencing every day. It’s missing in some of my relationships, some of my colleagues, some of my friends and clients, and some of the ways I behave, think and communicate. Its been missing in my projects and in my goals. And when I operate without soulfulness, it usually goes very badly for me. I get sick, sad and exhausted because I push hard and strive towards things that in some cases I don’t even really want (because Ive been blindly following some role model in the world whom I later realize I don’t even want to emulate). And when I do identify important, authentic goals for myself, if soulfulness isn’t involved in how I pursue them, I find I’m left holding the bag, without the real power, juice and excitement necessary to sustain me to reach my goals. So its soulfulness for m e that I want more of this year. What do you long for most in your life today? I hope youll share it below. Ive seen that when we write down what we long for, and openly and courageously acknowledge and admit it, we are more able to purposefully and intentionally push open the door thats been blocked, and allow this desired experience to come rushing to us, finally. Thank you for sharing your one-word longing. I cant wait to hear, and I hope 2016 will be the year you experience it.

Dance Resume Writing - Tips for Writing A Strong Dance Resume

Dance Resume Writing - Tips for Writing A Strong Dance ResumeA resume is not just a piece of paper that tells a potential employer who you are and what you have done for the business. It is also an opportunity to showcase your own accomplishments and abilities as a professional dancer. It should present you as a valued employee.Your resume is one of the first things that employers see when they approach you for an interview. You want to make it easy for them to get the most out of their time with you. If you're already on their radar, this can only help your chances. However, there are several things you can do to create a powerful resume without sacrificing quality.Before you begin, make sure you have all of your work related documents organized. Write your cover letter on a separate sheet so you can format it easily and it won't be thrown in the trash. At the end of your resume, you want to include your work history and education as well as any extracurricular activities you may ha ve participated in.After that, it's time to add your hobbies and total number of performances in each category. Include information regarding your job duties in order to show what kind of worker you are.Fit yourself into the picture of a dancer. List all of your dance classes, high school or college, and programs and experiences that provide a basis for you to lead a professional career as a dancer. Ask questions about your experiences in your resume as well as your passions and interests. Your resume should give the interviewer and employer a chance to get to know you better.The interview process is much different than being a student at a dance studio. A dancer usually will need to prepare to perform and dress properly for the performance. It can be hard to get back into shape after a short time off from dancing. Include any injuries or sports injuries you've sustained as well as any injury rehabilitation efforts you may have made.Your next step in dance resume writing is to choos e a color palette for your resume. This will help you understand the style of music you'll need to work with when it comes to your resume.Lastly, before you start doing any of the above, make sure you have enough space on your resume to properly list your dance credits. Even if you have tons of work experience, there is no way you can accurately present all of the dancing you've done. So choose just the dance work that you believe will be most beneficial to the job interview.