Good communication allows many life situations to run smoothly. However, there are certain relationships that deserve extra attention, such as the relationship you have with your boss. You and your boss have drastically different roles, and when each of you fulfills these roles with a hard working and understanding attitude, you'll both feel fulfilled.
Get To Know Your Boss
As in all personal and professional relationships, it's important to understand how others communicate.
Everyone has their own set of likes and dislikes, and everyone has their own unique personality types and communication styles. Once you understand their preferences, you can adjust your style and methods of communication to best suit their needs.
Understand Your Relationship
It's important to develop a good business relationship with your boss. Find out what he expects and what his goals for the business are, that way you can both be working toward the same goal.
The following tips can help you further improve your communication with your boss:
1. Avoid being too friendly. It's important to be friendly, but only to a certain extent. You're not true friends with your boss. While it may seem like a good idea at first, it can lead to some uncomfortable situations. Your boss might have trouble giving you negative feedback, or your co-workers may develop jealousy.
2. Schedule meetings with your boss. Your boss may or may not be scheduling regular meetings with you. Regardless of this, take the initiative to schedule time with your boss if you feel the need. Your boss will know that you're serious about developing your business relationship and that you really care about your job and the company.
3. Problem solving. Find out if you can help your manager with any problems that need attention. While you don't want to step on any toes, your boss will surely appreciate you taking the initiative. Doing so will really give you the chance to stand out.
4. Maintain patience. Perhaps you would've done things differently than your boss or you strongly feel that one of his decisions won't turn out right. Develop the wisdom to know if you should keep your mouth shut and go with the flow, or if you should politely speak up.
5. Shift your perspective. You can improve your communication with your boss and feel less frustrated just by putting yourself in their shoes. Imagine what everything is like for them; they likely have more burdens and pressures on their shoulders than you realized.
Be Prepared
Even if you're not quite sure what to say all the time, as long as you prepared and honest in your communication, your boss will surely notice. So if you have to reflect and write down your thoughts ahead of time, so be it. That level of preparation will benefit you in the long run.
With any relationship, good communication skills are a huge benefit. Strive to work on strengthening these skills every day and it will help your career to flourish. In the end, your positive attitude and willingness to understand others will help you forge stronger, more permanent bonds.
Dan Klatt has the unique gift of connecting people with a broad range of profound principles that resonate in the deepest part of their being. He brings awareness to concepts not typically obvious to one's daily thoughts and feelings. Follow him on twitter and Join him for the "30-Day Think And Grow Rich Video Course" now for a wealth of inspiring information!
Wednesday
Feeling Overwhelmed by Work? You Can Fix That!
Do you feel overwhelmed by too much to do in work (and life)? Many of us do-but you don't have to! There are simple ways to get overwhelm under control and to even feel good about all you have to do. Let's take a look at one way that I believe will help you greatly.
Urgency Leads to Stress
These days, it is very easy to reach an overwhelmed state. With the amount of e-mail we get, and with all the responsibilities in our dynamic lives, we are working on overload. As a result, there is no way we can do it all. In fact, I suspect that for many of us, 50 percent or more of the things that land on our plates never get done!
The good news is that most of the many things that cross our desk each day we can ignore without issue-there is no impact if we never take them on. Things like low priority e-mail requests, invites to unimportant meetings, and even seemingly brilliant ideas we may have can all wait without causing alarm.
But if items on our list become obligations, then real problems can arise when too many of those obligations pile up on us all at once. At that point we go into urgency mode-we can start missing deadlines and everything looks like a fire needing to be put out. In that frothy state, even things we would normally dismiss can look critical, and that leads to an explosion of stress and overwhelm. Not only does it feel lousy, but we become hugely nonproductive-this is definitely something to avoid!
Controlling Urgency is the Solution
When overwhelm happens, the solution is to control urgency. That might mean cutting out some unnecessary sources of urgency and reducing your load-for example, saying "no" to additional must-do-now assignments from your boss, or taking on fewer new projects in your own business.
But an even more important way to control the impact of urgency is to learn how to approach your workload in a way that does not cause so much stress. To do that, you need a way to change your mental approach to work. A smart approach can lead to a major reduction in your feeling of overwhelm, and, ultimately, make you much happier.
Mental Models
One such solution lies in understanding our mental model of work. Mental models are subconscious beliefs we hold about things in the world that do not always hold up to scrutiny when examined. We all have many such mental models, and some of them are widely shared, even if they're wrong. For example, in the Middle Ages people thought the sun rotated about the earth-that was a mental model that was just not accurate and was later dispelled. We also have mental models about work, and being aware of those can help us work better.
In fact, there is a significant mental model nearly all of us have about our work, which once understood, can help us get a handle on our urgency. Very simply it is this: most of us believe that in one to two weeks from today, our workload will decrease. We consistently think "this week is the worst; in a week or two it will get better." And yet, it almost never comes true-we are just as busy when that week arrives as we are now. While the misunderstandings in many mental models can be harmful, this one is good, because we can use it to help solve our feeling of overwhelm. Here's how.
Three Steps to Solving Overwhelm
The point in time one to two weeks out, when most of us stop feeling worried about our workload, is what I call our Workday Now Horizon. Like a physical horizon, it is the distance (in time) beyond which we do not see work clearly, and so we do not worry about it. Remember that term as you do the next steps.
For Step 1, you need a list of all the work items that you are currently worried about. If you do not have an exhaustive to-do list like that, then create one now. I suggest you do this on a computer in a new blank word processing page or in a new spreadsheet page. On that blank page, list everything you need to do now or soon that is currently on your mind-everything that is contributing to your feeling of being overwhelmed. Include items from paper to-do lists, from sticky notes, and especially items in your head. Get them all recorded. Also, go through your e-mail in-box to find things that you have left there that you need to work on and that are contributing to your concern about work.
Once done, at the top of that list, write the label "Worry List." This is everything that you need to worry about, all in one place.
For Step 2, create another page in a new document, and label it at the top "Over the Horizon." This page represents time beyond the Workday Now Horizon that I described earlier; that is, it represents a time period about two weeks out and beyond.
Step 3 is the key one. By cutting and pasting items, start moving tasks off your Worry List and onto your Over-the-Horizon list. As you move them, tell yourself these items do not need to be started until sometime beyond two weeks or more. Make that agreement with yourself. You cannot do it all, so something has to give, and these are the items that will wait. As you move them, you are removing them from your Worry List.
Keep moving tasks until your Worry List is no longer "worrisome." Do it until that list feels fairly reasonable in size-until the items on the list appear they can be completed in the next week or two. When you reach the number of tasks that feel reasonable for that period, stop.
Now, here's the hard part of Step 3. If any of the items you just moved over the horizon represent promises to other people, and you feel it may be irresponsible to delay them without notice, make a plan to contact those people to tell them the items will be postponed about three weeks. Plan to take some heat, but do it-your mental health is at stake. This is worth it. You cannot do it all so, it is better to let people know now rather than at the last minute. As you consider this, feel free to juggle items between the lists to balance the impact if necessary, but keep the Worry List small enough to be reasonably completed within two weeks.
Now, Your Worries Are Over the Horizon!
That's it! Put the Over-the-Horizon list away, out of sight. Keep it handy in case you need to move more items there, but don't study it again for one week. You have negotiated with yourself and others not to worry about it, so don't!
You can now focus 100 percent on the relatively small list that remains on your Worry List. It is by definition a reasonable list, so it is much less stressful. I call this short list your Now Tasks list. These are the tasks you feel good about focusing on right now. In fact, go and change the name of your "Worry List" to "Now Tasks"-it's a much better name. Know that it represents the best that you can do right now, given the time you have.
While working off the Now Tasks list, most new requests may need to go on the Over-the-Horizon page to keep your work balanced, and that's okay. Plan on visiting the Over-the-Horizon list once a week; when you do, consider if anything on that list has become more urgent. If so, move it back to the Now Tasks list. However, you will be surprised how few things on that list are still important over time; very few things need urgent attention once given the test of time, and many simply fade from importance.
Overwhelm Under Control
Guess what? You have gotten control of your overwhelm! You have created a system that allows the urgency of tasks to be tested by time. And you now have a plan for the next week or so that allows you to focus and to complete quality work without killing yourself. Feel good about it! Celebrate your new freedom-and, of course...now get to work!
Urgency Leads to Stress
These days, it is very easy to reach an overwhelmed state. With the amount of e-mail we get, and with all the responsibilities in our dynamic lives, we are working on overload. As a result, there is no way we can do it all. In fact, I suspect that for many of us, 50 percent or more of the things that land on our plates never get done!
The good news is that most of the many things that cross our desk each day we can ignore without issue-there is no impact if we never take them on. Things like low priority e-mail requests, invites to unimportant meetings, and even seemingly brilliant ideas we may have can all wait without causing alarm.
But if items on our list become obligations, then real problems can arise when too many of those obligations pile up on us all at once. At that point we go into urgency mode-we can start missing deadlines and everything looks like a fire needing to be put out. In that frothy state, even things we would normally dismiss can look critical, and that leads to an explosion of stress and overwhelm. Not only does it feel lousy, but we become hugely nonproductive-this is definitely something to avoid!
Controlling Urgency is the Solution
When overwhelm happens, the solution is to control urgency. That might mean cutting out some unnecessary sources of urgency and reducing your load-for example, saying "no" to additional must-do-now assignments from your boss, or taking on fewer new projects in your own business.
But an even more important way to control the impact of urgency is to learn how to approach your workload in a way that does not cause so much stress. To do that, you need a way to change your mental approach to work. A smart approach can lead to a major reduction in your feeling of overwhelm, and, ultimately, make you much happier.
Mental Models
One such solution lies in understanding our mental model of work. Mental models are subconscious beliefs we hold about things in the world that do not always hold up to scrutiny when examined. We all have many such mental models, and some of them are widely shared, even if they're wrong. For example, in the Middle Ages people thought the sun rotated about the earth-that was a mental model that was just not accurate and was later dispelled. We also have mental models about work, and being aware of those can help us work better.
In fact, there is a significant mental model nearly all of us have about our work, which once understood, can help us get a handle on our urgency. Very simply it is this: most of us believe that in one to two weeks from today, our workload will decrease. We consistently think "this week is the worst; in a week or two it will get better." And yet, it almost never comes true-we are just as busy when that week arrives as we are now. While the misunderstandings in many mental models can be harmful, this one is good, because we can use it to help solve our feeling of overwhelm. Here's how.
Three Steps to Solving Overwhelm
The point in time one to two weeks out, when most of us stop feeling worried about our workload, is what I call our Workday Now Horizon. Like a physical horizon, it is the distance (in time) beyond which we do not see work clearly, and so we do not worry about it. Remember that term as you do the next steps.
For Step 1, you need a list of all the work items that you are currently worried about. If you do not have an exhaustive to-do list like that, then create one now. I suggest you do this on a computer in a new blank word processing page or in a new spreadsheet page. On that blank page, list everything you need to do now or soon that is currently on your mind-everything that is contributing to your feeling of being overwhelmed. Include items from paper to-do lists, from sticky notes, and especially items in your head. Get them all recorded. Also, go through your e-mail in-box to find things that you have left there that you need to work on and that are contributing to your concern about work.
Once done, at the top of that list, write the label "Worry List." This is everything that you need to worry about, all in one place.
For Step 2, create another page in a new document, and label it at the top "Over the Horizon." This page represents time beyond the Workday Now Horizon that I described earlier; that is, it represents a time period about two weeks out and beyond.
Step 3 is the key one. By cutting and pasting items, start moving tasks off your Worry List and onto your Over-the-Horizon list. As you move them, tell yourself these items do not need to be started until sometime beyond two weeks or more. Make that agreement with yourself. You cannot do it all, so something has to give, and these are the items that will wait. As you move them, you are removing them from your Worry List.
Keep moving tasks until your Worry List is no longer "worrisome." Do it until that list feels fairly reasonable in size-until the items on the list appear they can be completed in the next week or two. When you reach the number of tasks that feel reasonable for that period, stop.
Now, here's the hard part of Step 3. If any of the items you just moved over the horizon represent promises to other people, and you feel it may be irresponsible to delay them without notice, make a plan to contact those people to tell them the items will be postponed about three weeks. Plan to take some heat, but do it-your mental health is at stake. This is worth it. You cannot do it all so, it is better to let people know now rather than at the last minute. As you consider this, feel free to juggle items between the lists to balance the impact if necessary, but keep the Worry List small enough to be reasonably completed within two weeks.
Now, Your Worries Are Over the Horizon!
That's it! Put the Over-the-Horizon list away, out of sight. Keep it handy in case you need to move more items there, but don't study it again for one week. You have negotiated with yourself and others not to worry about it, so don't!
You can now focus 100 percent on the relatively small list that remains on your Worry List. It is by definition a reasonable list, so it is much less stressful. I call this short list your Now Tasks list. These are the tasks you feel good about focusing on right now. In fact, go and change the name of your "Worry List" to "Now Tasks"-it's a much better name. Know that it represents the best that you can do right now, given the time you have.
While working off the Now Tasks list, most new requests may need to go on the Over-the-Horizon page to keep your work balanced, and that's okay. Plan on visiting the Over-the-Horizon list once a week; when you do, consider if anything on that list has become more urgent. If so, move it back to the Now Tasks list. However, you will be surprised how few things on that list are still important over time; very few things need urgent attention once given the test of time, and many simply fade from importance.
Overwhelm Under Control
Guess what? You have gotten control of your overwhelm! You have created a system that allows the urgency of tasks to be tested by time. And you now have a plan for the next week or so that allows you to focus and to complete quality work without killing yourself. Feel good about it! Celebrate your new freedom-and, of course...now get to work!
The above article is based on Michael Linenberger's newly released book, Master Your Workday Now! -a book that presents powerful new approaches to managing tasks, e-mails, your goals, and your career. Michael is also the author of the #1 best-selling Microsoft Outlook book called Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook; in that book Michael shows how to use Outlook to get tasks and e-mail under control. Formerly a VP at the management consultancy firm Accenture, Michael now travels the US and the world giving lectures and teaching seminars showing others how to get back control of their out-of-control workdays. http://www.michaellinenberger.com.
Tuesday
Half of U.S. Workers are Disgruntled: How to Increase Morale?
Every company has employees who can’t stand their jobs. Unfortunately, for many companies this trend is increasing which leaves employers at a loss as to how to handle low morale. Dissatisfaction creates all types of problems in the work place ranging from poor productivity to plenty of drama.
Employees are not that happy with their jobs today. According to a survey of 5,000 households conducted by the Conference Board more than 50% of employees disliked their jobs. When the study was conduced in 1986 only 40% of workers hated their jobs. Thus, the amount of people disgruntled with their work life is rising.
Not all is lost simply because some employees are not happy. There is a good chance these employees won’t be happy anywhere else either. Companies do have some control over their employee “happiness level” if they make some simple adjustment. Move from the most cost effective and economical to those that require much more investment. Judge how the changes have affected your work climate before moving on.
Simple Happiness Adjustment:
1.) Cross-functional Training: Some employees get bored with their work due to the repetitive nature of their job. Allowing for cross-training not only helps employees to have more variety but also is beneficial to the company. When businesses can use their employees in a variety of places they have more options in terms of staffing needs and in-house opportunities.
2.) Flexible Schedules: Dissatisfaction may come from other family
obligations that may conflict with normal work schedules. As single mothers and father become the norm these conflicts are likely to continue. Adjusting work schedules to fit the needs of employees may be beneficial in increasing contentment and lowering turnover.
3.) Employee Appreciation: Just like you employees like it when their boss pats them on the back and says “way to go”. Appreciating your employees and their contribution to the organization can go a long way. It has been said that employees are more concerned about work environment than about pay.
4.) Clean Up The Work Area: No one wants to work in a nasty and dirty work area. By putting plants in the hallways, repainting rooms and remodeling areas a positive impact on the workplace will happen. It shows team members that the company isn’t all about squeezing productivity out of them but also about providing them with an excellent environment.
5.) Provide Growth Opportunity: No one wants to work for a dead end job. If you are an employee who is working hard but don’t see your job ever going everywhere the chances are you will punch in and out like a zombie. By allowing for internal promotional opportunities it gives workers a chance to go up the corporate ladder and helps them set goals.
Murad Ali, a two-time published author, writes articles and offers advertisement space for businesses. Visit http://www.thenewbusinessworld.blogspot.com
Employees are not that happy with their jobs today. According to a survey of 5,000 households conducted by the Conference Board more than 50% of employees disliked their jobs. When the study was conduced in 1986 only 40% of workers hated their jobs. Thus, the amount of people disgruntled with their work life is rising.
Not all is lost simply because some employees are not happy. There is a good chance these employees won’t be happy anywhere else either. Companies do have some control over their employee “happiness level” if they make some simple adjustment. Move from the most cost effective and economical to those that require much more investment. Judge how the changes have affected your work climate before moving on.
Simple Happiness Adjustment:
1.) Cross-functional Training: Some employees get bored with their work due to the repetitive nature of their job. Allowing for cross-training not only helps employees to have more variety but also is beneficial to the company. When businesses can use their employees in a variety of places they have more options in terms of staffing needs and in-house opportunities.
2.) Flexible Schedules: Dissatisfaction may come from other family
obligations that may conflict with normal work schedules. As single mothers and father become the norm these conflicts are likely to continue. Adjusting work schedules to fit the needs of employees may be beneficial in increasing contentment and lowering turnover.
3.) Employee Appreciation: Just like you employees like it when their boss pats them on the back and says “way to go”. Appreciating your employees and their contribution to the organization can go a long way. It has been said that employees are more concerned about work environment than about pay.
4.) Clean Up The Work Area: No one wants to work in a nasty and dirty work area. By putting plants in the hallways, repainting rooms and remodeling areas a positive impact on the workplace will happen. It shows team members that the company isn’t all about squeezing productivity out of them but also about providing them with an excellent environment.
5.) Provide Growth Opportunity: No one wants to work for a dead end job. If you are an employee who is working hard but don’t see your job ever going everywhere the chances are you will punch in and out like a zombie. By allowing for internal promotional opportunities it gives workers a chance to go up the corporate ladder and helps them set goals.
Murad Ali, a two-time published author, writes articles and offers advertisement space for businesses. Visit http://www.thenewbusinessworld.blogspot.com
Just in Case Your Co-Worker Calls Off in the Coming Months Here's Why
The following are real upcoming spring holidays whether your company chooses to acknowledge them or not; some of your co-workers just might, leaving you in the dark asking yourself, "Why did he (she) call off?"
- April 16th - National Librarian Day
- April 17th - National Cheeseball Day
- April 20th - Volunteer Recognition Day
- April 24th - Pig in a Blanket Day
- April 26th - Hug an Australian Day
- April 28th - Kiss Your Mate Day
- April 29th - National Shrimp Scampi Day
- May 1st - May Day
- May 3rd - Lumpy Rug Day
- May 4th - National Teacher's Day
- May 5th - Cinco De Mayo
- May 8th - World Red Cross Day
- May 9th - Mother's Day
- May 11th - Eat What You Want Day
- May 12th - National Receptionist Day
- May 14th - Dance Like a Chicken Day
Bored? Live a little. http://thingstodobored.blogspot.com
Monday
How to Avoid Internet Job Fraud
With unemployment at the highest rate since the early 1980's record numbers of people are desperately searching for work. The Internet is the medium most job seekers turn to today as do con artists who use the Internet for fraud by preying on the unsuspecting. In today's economy, employment scam has become one of the fastest growing categories of fraud.
Fraud practitioners use Internet marketing and email scams to lure unsuspecting individuals who are looking for work. Employment is advertised on legitimate job placement sites and message boards or the "supposed" job offers arrive to the individuals by email. The typical guise is an international company needs to hire U.S. citizens as "agents" to perform certain services. The Internet scam is simple: The lure of a home-based job that requires very little work and pays big dividends, drawing "applicants" who then become victims of the scam. Not only do they become the unwitting victim of fraud, they end up losing money they could ill afford and in many cases they themselves become victims of identity theft and sometimes even unwilling accomplices to crime.
The too-good-to-be-true positions include payroll clerks, customer service representatives, shipping managers, mystery shoppers, craft assemblers and many more variants-all promising hefty salaries, benefits and huge commissions. For many victims, the hook is the promise of immediate, advance payments to the applicant. The company obtains personal and banking information from the new hire and checks are sent with instructions to wire a portion of the funds to a third party to cover expenses. In some cases, packages immediately arrive with instructions on re-shipping merchandise to international destinations.
Once the checks are deposited and packages shipped, the dream job quickly becomes a nightmare. The checks the victims deposited into their personal accounts are fake. The duped "employee" is out their own money which was subsequently wired and they are now liable for the balance of the funds which can run into thousands of dollars. Usually the scam victim has lost all of their personal, scant funds previously deposited in their own bank account as well. In many cases they have also unknowingly re-packaged and shipped stolen merchandise, often purchased with stolen credit card information, and the "new hire" has unknowingly participated in money laundering crimes and other fraud.
Spam has become the advertising tool of choice for many of the con artists. AIS Media, an Atlanta-based Internet Interactive company that monitors Internet fraud, reports a dramatic increase in these scam emails. Unsolicited emails are received by individuals featuring subject lines such as "Immediate Placement", "We Received Your Resume", "Business Request", "Our Job ID 95313", "We're Pleased to Offer Your Job" "HR Department Announcement", etc. Thomas Harpointner, CEO of AIS Media, says "many of these scams are just newer twists on an old fraud. Today's scam artists have learned to streamline the fraud using the Internet. It has become the newest arena for scam artist to easily reach desperate people. The scammers appeal to the desperation of the unemployed, who in many cases have been out of work for more than six months."
The Internet scams have caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which launched a crackdown on job con artists who prey on unemployed Americans. Labeled "Operation Bottom Dollar", the FTC-in cooperation with other federal agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-has begun targeting individuals and groups marketing deceptive and illegal jobs as well as work at home and other phony Internet scams.
Along with email scam, the con artists place bogus employment ads on legitimate Internet job placement sites. The recruitment industry has stepped up its fight against the scam as well.
Job portals such as Monster.com, Craigslist, CareerBuilder and others, as well as search engines like Bing have become proactive in attempting to reduce these scams by entering into partnerships to display FTC consumer information to educate job seekers in recognizing job scams. Recruiting sites, portals, message boards and other Internet services are quick to remove the scams as they are discovered, but with the fast pace of the Internet, the ads are posted as quickly as they are taken down. Caution and prudence by job seekers is the primary defense to avoid being a victim of a job scam.
AIS Media's Harpointner warns that if the posting appears too good to be true-it probably is. "Desperation should not cloud common sense" says the AIS Media CEO. "As job seekers scour the Internet and their email inbox anxiously looking for ways to generate much-needed income, they should always maintain a wary eye for scam. Avoid responding to emails from unknown sources and take the time to go online to research the company to see if credible information is available from legitimate news agencies. It should be obvious that companies are not paying big money for someone to do basically nothing from home. Red flags for job seekers include requests for personal information like social security numbers, mother's maiden names and cash payments from the applicant during an application process."
It is a well known fact among con artists that people are more susceptible to greed during difficult financial times. Job seeks should protect themselves by recognizing the fraud by avoiding con artists who have learned to streamline their scam using the Internet to line their pockets with money from people who are already suffering.
Fraud practitioners use Internet marketing and email scams to lure unsuspecting individuals who are looking for work. Employment is advertised on legitimate job placement sites and message boards or the "supposed" job offers arrive to the individuals by email. The typical guise is an international company needs to hire U.S. citizens as "agents" to perform certain services. The Internet scam is simple: The lure of a home-based job that requires very little work and pays big dividends, drawing "applicants" who then become victims of the scam. Not only do they become the unwitting victim of fraud, they end up losing money they could ill afford and in many cases they themselves become victims of identity theft and sometimes even unwilling accomplices to crime.
The too-good-to-be-true positions include payroll clerks, customer service representatives, shipping managers, mystery shoppers, craft assemblers and many more variants-all promising hefty salaries, benefits and huge commissions. For many victims, the hook is the promise of immediate, advance payments to the applicant. The company obtains personal and banking information from the new hire and checks are sent with instructions to wire a portion of the funds to a third party to cover expenses. In some cases, packages immediately arrive with instructions on re-shipping merchandise to international destinations.
Once the checks are deposited and packages shipped, the dream job quickly becomes a nightmare. The checks the victims deposited into their personal accounts are fake. The duped "employee" is out their own money which was subsequently wired and they are now liable for the balance of the funds which can run into thousands of dollars. Usually the scam victim has lost all of their personal, scant funds previously deposited in their own bank account as well. In many cases they have also unknowingly re-packaged and shipped stolen merchandise, often purchased with stolen credit card information, and the "new hire" has unknowingly participated in money laundering crimes and other fraud.
Spam has become the advertising tool of choice for many of the con artists. AIS Media, an Atlanta-based Internet Interactive company that monitors Internet fraud, reports a dramatic increase in these scam emails. Unsolicited emails are received by individuals featuring subject lines such as "Immediate Placement", "We Received Your Resume", "Business Request", "Our Job ID 95313", "We're Pleased to Offer Your Job" "HR Department Announcement", etc. Thomas Harpointner, CEO of AIS Media, says "many of these scams are just newer twists on an old fraud. Today's scam artists have learned to streamline the fraud using the Internet. It has become the newest arena for scam artist to easily reach desperate people. The scammers appeal to the desperation of the unemployed, who in many cases have been out of work for more than six months."
The Internet scams have caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which launched a crackdown on job con artists who prey on unemployed Americans. Labeled "Operation Bottom Dollar", the FTC-in cooperation with other federal agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-has begun targeting individuals and groups marketing deceptive and illegal jobs as well as work at home and other phony Internet scams.
Along with email scam, the con artists place bogus employment ads on legitimate Internet job placement sites. The recruitment industry has stepped up its fight against the scam as well.
Job portals such as Monster.com, Craigslist, CareerBuilder and others, as well as search engines like Bing have become proactive in attempting to reduce these scams by entering into partnerships to display FTC consumer information to educate job seekers in recognizing job scams. Recruiting sites, portals, message boards and other Internet services are quick to remove the scams as they are discovered, but with the fast pace of the Internet, the ads are posted as quickly as they are taken down. Caution and prudence by job seekers is the primary defense to avoid being a victim of a job scam.
AIS Media's Harpointner warns that if the posting appears too good to be true-it probably is. "Desperation should not cloud common sense" says the AIS Media CEO. "As job seekers scour the Internet and their email inbox anxiously looking for ways to generate much-needed income, they should always maintain a wary eye for scam. Avoid responding to emails from unknown sources and take the time to go online to research the company to see if credible information is available from legitimate news agencies. It should be obvious that companies are not paying big money for someone to do basically nothing from home. Red flags for job seekers include requests for personal information like social security numbers, mother's maiden names and cash payments from the applicant during an application process."
It is a well known fact among con artists that people are more susceptible to greed during difficult financial times. Job seeks should protect themselves by recognizing the fraud by avoiding con artists who have learned to streamline their scam using the Internet to line their pockets with money from people who are already suffering.
D Rick Ellis has an MBA in eCommerce and is director of Channel Partner Development with AIS Media; an Atlanta based Internet Interactive Company. AIS Media is dedicated to stamping out Internet scam and fraud.
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