Articles - Page 250 of 258 - The Voice of Job Seekers

When Family Hates The Career Path You Are Passionate About

People blame someone’s career path for break ups, or distancing them from love ones daily. The reality is that people separate themselves a career path. Your spouse may appear supportive about your career, but they abhor the effect it has on them.

You can have both a career passion and a strong marriage. It is the family’s burden to have one or the other. Success is contingent on comprehending the signs, and responding to them positively within the wishes of your loved ones. Listening to what family says, and communication forms the willingness to change, or see the writing on the wall:

image

Your family hates your long hours and work life more than your job duties. I thought for a while that husbands are solely guilty of this, but over time, both spouses contend for understanding from each other. Listening is the best tool ever to discern what your spouse wants. Remember it’s the both of you sojourning this career path.
Your spouse may hate what your career does to you. Listen for symptoms that your spouse says about you, even as a joke or in passing: cranky, despondent, tired, disengaged, off into his or her own world, and emotional. These are symptoms, not the root of what your spouse is saying.
It is evident that job perks are more attractive that the job. Perks are acceptable when time and salary positively benefit everyone, but when it compromises and separates the family, it is a problem. If you are holding on to a career because of a perk, it’s time to find a new one.
When work is an issue that sacrifices family time. There is a time that work will need to be put to the side. Your bottom line intention is to feed your family. Unfortunately, undisciplined intentions interfere with family time, and family cohesion.
Neither you or your spouse has discussed the issue. If your spouse is building a separate life without you, it’s a serious problem. When both spouses are conflict avoiders, the behavior breeds anger. It says something about you, and more often the point of no return. You have to be the one to engage, listen, and change if this is unacceptable to you.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

3 More Resources to Help to Correct Resume Grammar Errors

Most people want help to correct resume grammar errors. Last month, many people liked part 1 of my recommendations of resources helpful for proofreading to find, and correct grammar errors. A resume must be typo-free, and maintain perfect grammar structure. It’s hard to find someone who has a great eye for errors, so here are some more tools to help achieve (or at least closer to) an errorless document.

Read: Five Resources to Help Correct Resume Grammar Errors

Purdue Owl

Purdue Owl, run by Purdue University offers job seekers and students a versatile, but free tool. The OWL is largely self-directed, and useful as a practical and easy grammar checker. It offers the rules for formal writing, and covers an extensive range (if not complete) of grammar rules. I absolutely love that OWL provides Job Search writing advice with sections on writing for job applications, resumes, and curriculum vitae.

OWL recently launched a blog called “grammar gang, ” for anyone including job seekers can find tools, but the blog is not as useful and essential as the flagship Purdue Owl site. Note that the main site also teaches you how to fish (grammatically speaking) by including exercises to help you improve sentence creation, structure, and other common grammar disorders.

CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARIES ONLINE

Any time you are writing important documents, a dictionary and thesaurus is a necessity. If you don’t have hardback or paperback versions, then consider the online version. What I love about this helper are the choices of American English, British English, and Business English. I played around with the dictionary is spelling the British version of organized o-r-g-a-n-i-s-e-d, and the word appeared:

organize verb ( ARRANGE )

(UK usually organise) /ˈɔː.gən.aɪz//ˈɔːr-/ [T]

Definition to make arrangements for something to happen

They organized a meeting between the teachers and students.

[+ to infinitive] UK She had organized a car to meet me at the airport.

(Definition of organize verb (ARRANGE) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

I was quite happy that the checker differentiated intuitively between the British and American versions without stalling or returning an error.

Cambridge mobile app versions are predominately for iPhone and iPad users. Cambridge has separate apps for the dictionary, grammar, challenges, and other choices for “…a small price.”

The Grammar Blue Book

This is a site I stumbled on accidentally and appears competent compared to the Purdue Owl site. It’s comparable because of the way it provides quizzes to help you develop your grammar acumen, and its practical grammar applications for different types of writing such as resumes, and cover letters. The Grammar Blue Book site offers a paid subscription version, and of course, a book. It does not have a lot of interactive tools, but it provides guidance detailed enough to make a difference.

Finally, there are some traditional strategies that cannot be replaced. I try different strategies, and different eyes to accomplish this tedious task. I miss words and forget how many people I am talking to just like everyone. There are just a few of us who throw caution to the wind, and send our first draft resume. Get the best help to correct resume grammar errors!

The best man made proofread strategies are not new:

Read out loud
Read backwards
Print out what you created
Proofread small paragraphs at a time
Proofread over several days, several times each day
Two additional sets of eyes, preferably English-degreed individuals

Do you have other suggestions? Do you need help to correct resume grammar errors? Do you disagree? Please comment below.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Marriage and the Unemployed Spouse

When one job-seeking unemployed spouse is out of work, it affects everyone in the family. Enough studies substantiate that affected married people feel loads of stress, and sometimes, the solutions are not easy.

I came across this study recently that connected distress and marriages with at least one unemployed spouse. This study was good for me to read, having experienced all of these hypothesizes, and found solutions that worked.

The study: Song Z, Foo M, Uy M, Sun S. “Unraveling the daily stress crossover between unemployed individuals and their employed spouses.” Journal of Applied Psychology. January 2011;96(1):151-168.

End-of-day distress of the employed spouse will relate positively to end-of-day distress of the unemployed spouse.

Perceived daily marital support will mediate the relationship between end-of-day distress of the employed spouse and end-of-day distress of the unemployed spouse.

Daily family hassles shared by spouses will be related to end-of-day distress of both spouses.

(a) Daily financial strain, (b) daily deprivation of time structure, and (c) daily negative search experience will be positively related to distress experienced by the unemployed spouse.5. (a) Daily work stress, (b) daily work–family conflict, and (c) daily family–work conflict will be positively related to end-of-day distress of the employed spouse.6. Marital satisfaction will moderate the stress crossover between spouses. Specifically, distress crossover between spouses will be stronger in unsatisfied than in satisfied marriages.

As I know that studies can be boring and direction-less, these are my suggestions to help diminish these particular distresses in a marriage.

Couples should learn to be affectionate early in the marriage, and be accepting of each others’ “crosses to bear” early in marriage. Complaining alone does not add up to openness. Openness alone will not result in resolution. Combination of either does not get you hired, but affection offers a world where two people can meet in the middle.
Support in a marriage includes being truthful when it hurts. Yes, it is painful at the time, but it is the beginning of healing. It could also include one spouse saying, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, keep trying.”
Young children should be a part of that refuge. During my unemployment grind eight years, playing with my little boys eased much of the pain. As everyone knows, children are not the place to unload nor an emotional dumping ground.
Unemployment can be a root of many problems: Lack of money, time management, and self-control. During stressful episodes, my wife and I learned to co-exist in areas of agreement, and was diligent about creating more opportunities to encourage each other. Agreeing takes more energy than to disagree, and it is more challenging sustain.
Frequent sharing of job hunting victories will show transparency, build trust, and release stress. It is another place of refuge in your during distressful times, especially for the spouse out of work.

Are you married and unemployed? Is your spouse unemployed, and you are the one carrying the financial load? Can you relate to any of these points?

Please share in the comments below.