Dress for the job

September 13, 2009 – 9:13 pm

As Fall arrives, one subject near and dear to our hearts is that of how to dress at work. If you want to move up in your company, you should dress for the job you want, not the one you have.

What does that mean? That means, if you want to be tip top management, you shouldn’t wear jeans, flip flops, exposed thong underwear, Coco the clown make-up. Dressing cheap or trashy doesn’t get you very far. Indeed.

So what should you wear? Let’s make it easy, here is a list:

1. Pants. Black, dark brown. Second choices navy, charcoal.

2. Tops. Sweater that is big enough. Little cardigans don’ t cut it. Nice basic top underneath.

3. Good underclothes. Bras that fit properly, on over the top spillover. Underwear that is tight and holds the flab in a bit.

Wear to buy? In the U.S. if you are on a budget the absolute best place to buy is TJ Maxx. Hands down. You can buy terrific slacks for work for under $20!! And finally, make sure your shoes are great. Nothing worse than shoes in bad shape,or cheap. You can always tell.

By Thinking Women's Club | Posted in career, career advice, career women | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

We Recommend World’s Best Exfoliator

June 10, 2009 – 11:58 am

Thinking Women’s Club doesn’t recommend products very often as it’s not our stated objective. But on the other hand, thinking women give each other good advice! We recommend the World’s Best Exfoliator as the best product you’ll ever try for the face! Go to www.BoostSkincare.com and order it! You’ll thank us. It’s loaded with good things like organic Lemon Oil, Argan Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Brown Sugar from Mauritius, Green Tea Extract and other great smelling and feeling ingredients. Most of which are organic.

By Thinking Women's Club | Posted in Skincare, advice for working women, career | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

What do women really want at work?

May 14, 2009 – 1:16 pm

What do women really want at work?  This is a great question. Some want to just collect a decent paycheck, have pleasant people to work with. Others want work that benefits society, children, animals or some other exceedingly worthy cause. Then you have the group that wants power. How they get that power is the subject of my studies. Some think the way to power is through seduction, while others work really hard.

Yet neither of these is defineable in it’s success or lack there of. Meaning. Some women sleep with those they think are the right people and get nowhere, and other women work themselves to death and just get a nice “thank you”.

So what is it that really brings you to the corner office? This is the subject of my soon to be released book which you will find here, on Amazon and other distribution points. Stay tuned. And if you have some great anecdotes on this subject, please send them so we can share!

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Make sure you follow through

March 31, 2009 – 6:15 am

As a manager, one of the top things that bothers me is when someone doesn’t follow through. I’m blessed with having people who are so good at follow through that it takes a lot of stress off my plate. If I know someone is going to get things done on time for me, I always remember them when it’s important.

When you start a project, make sure you finish it, finish it well, and finish it on time. Get yourself a small daytimer if need be to track everything your doing. Plan. Every Monday, map out your work week so that it’s paced well and your not scrambling to get everything done on Friday.

Make sure you follow through. This will set your reputation in the right direction. Being reliable is a lost art.

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Talking to your Managers

March 26, 2009 – 8:32 pm

Talking to your managers. How hard can it be, right? Well, really not hard at all, but frequently not executed properly. I’ll make it easy for you here. “pay attention” .  Over the years I’ve watched this over and over. The CEO is talking, the employee is twirling their hair, spacing out, yawning…

Talking to your managers… not that hard. Take notes, pay attention, look as if you care at least a tiny bit about what they’re saying.

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Friends at work, is it a good idea?

March 16, 2009 – 9:45 am

Depends. That’s the answer. You have to figure out what you want out of the job/career. If your goal is to move up and be there for a while, then you need to carefully consider friendships at work. Friends at work are natural to have, but if your goal is to move up in your career, you’ve got to be pretty Machiavellian about it.

For starters, who are the people you are befriending? Managers or co-workers? If it’s co-workers, you have to consider what their reputation is. If you start hanging out with people viewed as immature, derelict, or irresponsible, you will be branded as such simply by association.

Friends at work can help you too. But choose wisely who you befriend. A good approach is to befriend those who are viewed as great performers, smart forward thinkers. This will help you in your career as well. Certainly don’t sit around befriending nobody which doesn’t look to great either.

In other words, “friends at work”  choose wisely!

By Thinking Women's Club | Posted in advice for working women, career, career advice, career women, clothing for career, getting ahead in your career, inspiration, jobs | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Your Yearly Review…

March 15, 2009 – 8:51 am

Most companies in the U.S. go through a “yearly review” which is estabished in order to review the employees performance, set goals for the upcoming 12 months, award bonuses for performance for the previous year and possibly a few other things. Your yearly review is very important.

What do you need to know? First that most older, bigger companies will use a form, which is carefully composed of points that the manager will review you on. Start ups or companies that are not so big will frequently use what they view as an appropriate review form, frequently composed of questions they came up with.

Be careful at your review. You have a right to disagree with what your manager has said, and you must put that in writing. Your manager should give you an opportunity to add your written comments to that review. Insist on it because this review will follow you around for a long time. It also gives you an opportunity to set the record. We’ve heard of reviews given where the manager never signed the review, didn’t give the employee a chance to respond etc.. This is an HR nightmare.

The other bit is if you are going through a review with someone who hardly ever works with you, this is a challenge. They are reviewing your performance based on what exactly? If this is the case and your reviewing manager is someone you hardly ever see, and they give you a negative review, make absolutely sure that you note in that review that you respectfully disagree because you have hardly any contact with that manager and hence, don’t feel comfortable with them assessing your performance. Make sure this is on the signed review.

By Thinking Women's Club | Posted in advice for working women, career, career advice, career women, getting ahead in your career, inspiration | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Does your clothing sabotage you at work?

March 11, 2009 – 10:03 am

Does your clothing sabotage you at work?  That’s an important question. Many women cannot figure out what exactly is appropriate at work.  Generally speaking, clean clothes are always appropriate. But the issue is, do you want to dress appropriately to move up, or just appropriately in that you create no offense? Here is some great career advice for women, that you won’t want to pass up.

This is a subject close to our hearts. I’ll tell you in this post what’s not appropriate, and in the following few posts over the next couple of days, I’ll describe what’s appropriate and how to shop on a budget for the best clothes imaginable! 

The “not appropriate” list is gleaned from watching women over many years in the office place, but also the reaction of management to their dress behind closed doors. It is not appropriate to wear:

1. Thong underwear that shows over the top of your pants.

2. Thong underwear that is clearly thong underwear showing through your pants. This is the unfortunate look where it looks like your pants are getting vacuumed in by your behind. Nobody displaying this look even knows it’s happening because most people don’t have a set of mirrors at home that allow them to look at the back view.

3. White pants. Most white pants are see through. You don’t realize it till your walking behind someone. Even worse is white pants with thong underwear because, I kid you not, you see the skin, and all those little parts and shadows you don’t want people to see.

4. Tight tops. Not appropriate. You want to get ahead with your brain not your boobs.

5. Tops where your cleavage spills over the top.

6. Heavy make-up.

7. Long garish fingernails.

8. Open toed sandals. Most people’s toes are not very attractive. Unless you work in a super casual place, avoid this look.

9. Thong sandals. Same as above. Wear these on your own time. At work this is too un-serious.

10. Smoke. Don’t smoke in your work clothes especially. Everyone can smell it.

By Thinking Women's Club | Posted in advice for working women, career, career advice, career women, clothing for career, getting ahead in your career, mentoring | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Positive Attitude at Work…

March 10, 2009 – 10:44 am

During these difficult times where most companies are experiencing falling sales, falling morale and increased lay-offs, it’s important not to lose site of yourself. Meaning, having a positive attitude at work…  It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity, and especially in cases where a colleague has lost their job. But resist the urge to fall into the trap of commiserate with your fallen colleague in speaking badly about your management or your company.

Those things have a way of spreading like a virus, and before you know it, if your attitude wasn’t already having some challenges…   Maintain a positive attitude at work. Muster it up. Reach deep inside and find validation in your day. If you don’t you’ll set yourself up to walk the plank and be laid off in the next round. Hard times don’t last. We’ll get through this as well, hopefully intact.

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