Impressing your boss is an important part of working in the modern world because it gives you a chance to move up to higher paying positions. Most people have a goal to move up in their place of employment, especially if they have taken the time to get a college degree. There is a fine line between getting your boss’s attention and gaining your boss’s respect. You obviously want to do the second one because that is what is going to lead you to success. The tips below go over how to impress your employer without looking like a total suckup. You can use them to adjust your behavior in the future.

Do Things without Being Asked

One of the easiest ways to impress your boss is to take some initiative around the work place. If he or she can see that you are going above and beyond the call of duty, he or she will know that you care about the business. That may be the most important part of getting a promotion because employers want to work with people who want to help their business grow. Let me put this into perspective…

I worked as a marketer for FunAdvice.com for a very brief period of time, and I was there whenever the company transitioned from one editor to the next. The first editor, Dara, was good at her job, but she left to pursue other work online. She had been there for three years, so her departure left the site owners in a bit of a frenzy to find a suitable replacement. Who did they replace her with? A volunteer advisor on the site that made a good impression. This woman, Coleen, didn’t even have to apply for the job. She was offered what I believe to be a $40,000 contract with health insurance just for impressing the owners with the volunteer work that she did. It just goes to show that a little bit of extra effort can go a long way.

Don’t Ask for Praise

If you start telling your boss about every little thing you have done, you are going to look like you are fishing for compliments. To a certain extent, this makes you look like you are not confident in your work because you have to have constant gratification. I do this all the time because I love attention, even though I know I shouldn’t. Luckily I have my husband around to keep my desperate pleas for a pat on the back in check. If you do good work, your boss will eventually notice it. You don’t have to point it out to him or her. When the boss discovers what you have done on his or her own, he or she is going to be much more impressed.

Get Someone Else to Brag about You

If you don’t think that your boss is going to take notice of you on your own, you might ask one of your colleagues to put in a good word for you. This is especially true if you know his or her secretary because that person is going to be in direct contact with the boss at all times. Obviously you want that person to mention you casually and discreetly, so try to make sure that you pick the right person to throw in a little hint. All you want is enough praise to get your boss to see the work you have done. If everything works out well, you will be getting your raise or promotion in no time at all.

When you graduate from Ashworth University, you may be presented with job opportunities in other parts of the country. This is going to force you to move to a place that you may not be familiar with. I have gone through a lot of moves in my day, so I know how stressful and crappy that experience can be. Over time, I have learned how to minimize the stress that comes along with moving so I can get where I need to be in the smoothest way possible. The tips below should help you move from one place to another as quickly and effectively as possible. Use them to lift the weight off your shoulder whenever you go to make a move.

Rent a Truck, Pay for Loading

Most people will either hire movers to do the complete move for them, or they will do all of the work on their own. I have found that a compromise between those two options is usually the most ideal solution for a move. I always rent a U-Haul truck and then pay someone to load it up for me. They can do this in a couple of hours, and all I have to pay is $80-$100 to have them do this. I then drive the truck to wherever it is I’m moving and pay a second group of people to unload all of the stuff in the back for me. This saves a ton of money in the end.

If you think that you want to do this, you can start by calling local moving companies to see if they could do that for you. Some of them will charge a minimum of two hours in labor plus a whole bunch of fees to get the job done, but others will only charge for a little bit of labor. I once had a moving company send some of their guys after work because they just wanted to make some quick cash. That saved me from having to pay the fees, so I was cool with that. If you ask around enough, you can usually find someone out there who will be willing to do the manual labor for you.

My move from Oklahoma to Texas was going to cost close to $3,000 to hire professional movers for the whole process, but it ended up costing a whopping $400 by renting a truck and paying for loading and unloading. I would strongly recommend this option for any move that you make in the future. I got the loaders and unloaders from MovingHelp.com that time because no local people would do it for an affordable price. Check it out and see if there is anyone in your area that can help you out.

Pack Boxes of Similar Sizes

When you start putting all of your stuff into boxes, try to get a lot of boxes that are the same size and shape. Those are going to be easier to stack in the moving truck. If you have a ton of boxes that don’t match up, you may end up with empty places for boxes to fall into. It is in your best interest to have consistency all the way around.

Keep the Boxes Light and Labeled

You may be tempted to shove everything you can into every box, but that is not a good idea. It would be in your best interest to keep the boxes fairly light so that they can easily move onto and off of your truck. Label every box on multiple sides so you can put it in the right room in your new place. Then you can start unpacking one room at a time.

Moving is going to be stressful no matter what, but proper preparation can minimize the stress you experience along the way. Take the time to plan out your move properly, and you will be able to transition as smoothly as possible.

If you are planning to enter the nursing profession when you get out of college, there are several careers you could potentially look into. Most people do whatever it takes to become a registered nurse because this is a popular entry level position. For some men and women though, that isn’t enough. One of the positions higher than the RN level is a nurse practitioner, which is a nurse that covers many of the tasks that a physician would. You would have to go through a master’s degree to get to that level of nursing, but you only need an associate’s or bachelor’s to become an RN. Is the extra education worth the money you may make out of school, or would you be better off sticking with a BSN? Let’s do a quick comparison to find out…

RN Salary Levels

Here is a list of some common pay scales for registered nurses:

Salary by Experience

• 1-4 years: $19.21 – $31.80 per hour
• 5-9 years: $21.16 – $36.82 per hour
• 10-19 years: $22.49 – $40.05 per hour
• 20+ years: $23.12 – $43.13 per hour

Salary by State

• California: $23.86 – $50.92 per hour
• Florida: $19.62 – $34.07 per hour
• Illinois: $19.62 – $34.95 per hour
• New York: $20.14 – $39.54 per hour
• Ohio: $19.36 – $31.98 per hour
• Pennsylvania: $20.09 – $36.03 per hour
• Texas: $20.46 – $35.77 per hour

Salary by Certification

• Advanced Cardiac Life Support: $20.37 – $37.87 per hour
• Basic Life Support: $19.61 – $35.68 per hour
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: $19.79 – $36.48 per hour
• Critical Care: $20.22 – $39.62 per hour
• Neonatal Resuscitation Program: $20.65 – $38.15 per hour
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support: $20.51 – $37.70 per hour
• Registered Nurse: $19.12 – $36.42 per hour

NP Salary Levels

Here is a list of some common pay scales for nurse practitioners:

Salary by Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year: $23.43 – $50.25 per hour
• 1-4 years: $26.42 – $53.94 per hour
• 5-9 years: $32.76 – $55.63 per hour
• 10-19 years: $29.74 – $56.67 per hour
• 20 years or more: $34.42 – $60.27 per hour

Salary by State

• California: $34.52 – $71.82 per hour
• Massachusetts: $29.80 – $62.02 per hour
• Missouri: $31.30 – $55.75 per hour
• New Jersey: $29.09 – $58.76 per hour
• New York: $30.47 – $56.08 per hour
• Pennsylvania: $27.15 – $50.78 per hour
• Tennessee: $17.62 – $49.66 per hour

Salary by Certification

• Advanced Cardiac Life Support: $28.28 – $58.28 per hour
• American Nurses Credentialing Center: $32.21 – $57.14 per hour
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: $28.97 – $58.16 per hour
• Critical Care: $22.15 – $60.59 per hour
• Family Practice: $27.32 – $60.40 per hour
• Nurse Practitioner: $19.57 – $65.36 per hour
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support: $24.16 – $60.82 per hour

As you can see, nurse practitioners make significantly more than registered nurses during the course of their career. That is why it may be in your best interest to choose to get the additional education it takes to work as an NP. You can always work as an RN while going to school to get your master’s degree. Just take a degree program online, and you will be able to balance our budding career and your education at the same time. In just two short years, you could get the training you need to substantially improve your pay options. The time will be well worth the sacrifice in the end.

There are tons of changes in life that come after graduating from college. You may decide to start a family, jump into a high paying career, move across the country, and do whatever else you want to start your life off right. Have you thought about getting a new car to sort of seal the deal on your new adventure? A new car is a great tool to set the tone for your future, and it can really transform the way you experience your new life. Here are some tips to help you find the car of your dreams so you can launch your success the right way.

How to Pick the Right Car for You

There are tons of different factors that will go into determining which car is right for your life. Some people want Corvettes and others want Priuses. You need to weigh out your needs and wants to hopefully find a happy medium for everything. Some factors to keep in mind include:

• Price
• Age
• Safety features
• Fuel economy
• Horsepower
• Storage room
• Comfort
• Insurance costs

When you start thinking about all of those different factors, you should be able to narrow down a list of qualities you want in a car. Then you can go about finding the perfect car to fit those qualities. Use a site like AutoTrader to narrow down your search, and hopefully you will be able to find a great car right in your reach.

How to Get a Loan for Your New Car

Getting a loan in the modern world can be a little tricky because a lot of lenders are cracking down on their acceptance requirements. Even if you have a great credit score, you could still be at risk for getting declined for a loan. Lenders are going to look at all of the following information:

• Job history
• Income levels
• Credit history
• Residence history
• Revolving debt
• Payment history
• Down payment
• Credit inquiries

You may make a great income now that you have a degree, but that won’t mean anything if you have only been on the job for two months. In the same light, a fantastic credit history won’t mean anything if you don’t have the income to support it. You never really know what a bank is going to look for whenever they give you a loan for a car, so all you can do is ask questions and hope for the best. Check out my car finance blog for more tips on how to get a loan for a car.

How to Take Care of Your New Car

If you happen to get a loan for a vehicle, you need to make sure that you take care of it. This car is going to be a reflection of your life and your executive assistant salary, so you want it to be a good one. Have it checked over for mechanical problems as soon as you buy it, and wash it regularly to protect the paint. Keep it waxed as often as you can, and avoid putting trash in the interior. Vacuum the inside once a month, and use car wipes to make the interior nice and shiny. As long as you do this along with the general maintenance work for the car, you should be able to use it to create a great life for yourself in the future.

A lot of times people will base their career decisions on the amount of money they can make in the future. Your salary after graduation is going to have a big impact on your lifestyle later on, so you may certainly want to take a look at the money you could potentially be making. There are tons of different factors that could go into determining your salary, including your employer, location, work experience, position, and much more. Thus it may be a little hard for you to calculate exactly what you are going to make in the future. Here are some tips to help you calculate this figure in the best way possible so you can plan for the money to come.

Assess the Factors

As I mentioned before, there are many different factors that will influence the salary you make in the future. Each of these factors needs to be considered when you try to calculate your salary. Possible considerations include:

• Employer Type: Think about the kind of employer you plan to have in the future, like a corporation or private practice. That will influence the cash flow in your work place, which may determine how much money your employer can pay you.
• Location: Some areas of the country have higher standards of living than others. You need to figure out what employers are paying in your area, as that may be different than the national average.
• Years of Experience: Some companies do not pay much for a starting salary, but then they pay a lot after you have been with the company for several years. You need to figure out what you will be making after graduation and what your long term salary expectations can be.
• Certification/Degree: you may be able to get a different salary based on the degree or certification you hold. Theoretically, higher education will lead to a better salary, but that is not always the case.
• Gender Dominance: If you work in a field that is dominated by people of the opposite gender, you may be able to make more money than other people. For instance, women working in engineering firms tend to get paid more money because they represent a minority. Thus they are in higher demand because they diversify the work place. If you can work in a field like that, you will have the best chance at getting a high salary.

There are tons of other factors to keep in mind as well, which is why it is so hard to calculate salaries on a whim. Nevertheless, it is good to know what the situation is so you can get a better idea of your expectations.

Using the Web to Find National Averages

At the end of the day, the only way to truly calculate an estimation for your future salary is to look at the national averages as this time. You could look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics for information about your chosen career, or you could use a surveying site like PayScale.com. I usually Google “X pay scale” when I’m doing salary research for an article of some sort, and then I can just click on the option that pulls up the information that I need. If you look through the salary ranges available for you on the web, you should be able to get a rough idea as to where you may be headed after graduation. Then all you have to do is find a job that is going to get you the highest salary possible.

Most college students do not get enough money in random scholarships to be able to avoid student loans. Thus they are forced to pay back a decent chunk of change to lenders when they get out of college to cover their expenses from the past. If you are now overwhelmed with the burden of student loan payments, there are some things you can do to potentially pay off your loans faster than you think. You just have to have the right plan and budget from the start to be able to make it through the jungle of interest and debt. Let’s take a look at some of the easiest ways to pay off student loans when you graduate from college.

Pay More than the Minimums

When you get out of college, you will be asked to submit verification of your income so that the lender can assess how much money you could logically pay towards your loans a month. If you just pay the minimums month after month, you will not be paying much more beyond the interest on the loans. This all depends on the interest for your loans in the first place, but it could literally take decades to pay off your student debts if you go about paying on them this way. Rather than doing that, you should find away to put more money towards them every month than the minimum monthly payments. As time progresses, you will be able to chip away at the balance that you owe and hopefully save some money in the end.

Put Away Money for the Loans

If you start developing a savings plan in your life, you may want to come up with a way to put aside some money every month to go towards your student loans. If you put that money directly towards the loans, you won’t have as much money to pay in interest over time. However, that may not give you the sense of satisfaction you need to actually save the money. If you can see hundreds or even thousands of dollars sitting in your bank account, you at least know that you are in fact making a difference. You have to figure out which option is going to give you the best possible chance of paying off your student loans.

Pay with a No Interest Credit Card

You may be able to reduce the amount of money you pay on student loans over time if you pay for the loans on a no interest credit card. You will need to check the credit card terms carefully to ensure that the fees for the card are going to be less than those of the student loan, but this will give you a chance to build your credit and pay a lower amount of money over time. This is a great opportunity for debt as a whole if you happen to find a credit card with no interest to qualify for. If not, then you may just want to keep your money with the lender.

Paying off student loans is far from impossible, but it is not going to be a walk in the park. You need to assess your finances carefully so you have a clear understanding of what you can and cannot pay. Then you just need to make an effort to pay as much as you can as quickly as possible. With the right game plan from the start, you will hopefully be on your way to financial freedom in no time.

When you get out of college, you will probably have one of two plans come into play: raise a family or get a job. In some cases though, those two plans collide, creating a spiral of disarray and confusion. If you want to get the most out of your days after graduation, you need to learn how to balance work time and family time effectively. This is not easy no matter who you are, but it is entirely doable. Here are some tips that will help you balance work, the kids, and everything in between in your life.

Leave Work at Work

Most people start to get problems with their balance when they bring their work home. You cannot do that. The occasional project may be necessary to bring home, but most of your work needs to stay at work. That way you have time to focus on your family and the time you get to spend with them. You most likely won’t get a lot of work done at home anyway because of the noise and the constant pull for your attention. Thus it may just be in your best interest to give up on the idea of working at home from the start.

There is one exception to this rule, and that is for people who work at home. If you work in your house, you can’t exactly leave work at work. What you can do though is set a schedule for yourself vowing not to work past a certain point in the day. If you have a special office you do your work in, you can close it off when it’s not in use. The goal here is to do everything you can to get your mind off work when you’re with the family. This will give you more quality time together in the end.

Take Frequent Vacations

You may not be able to take a vacation once a month, but you should at least try to take one once a year. A family vacation is a great way to bond with your children and get away from the stress of work. You can only multi-task for so long before you burn out completely. The goal is to take a vacation before that burnout moment happens so you can keep going strong as you work and raise a family. Look for a good vacation package on Travelocity and see what sort of options you have. You’ll be relaxing away in no time at all.

Get Different Phones

If you have one cell phone for work and one for personal use, you can leave the work on in the car when you aren’t working. That way you won’t be tempted to check your emails or talk to a client when you are with your family. You can simply focus on your alone time with the children and then respond to your phone when you get back to work. Cell phones are incredibly distracting, and you may not even know when yours is becoming a problem. If you have two different ones to begin with, you shouldn’t have to worry about that.

Conclusion

Balancing work time and family time is not easy in the slightest, but it is entirely doable. You simply need to assess the time you have and see how much of it you can devote to each part of your life. Your family shouldn’t have to suffer because you’re a workaholic. You can balance the two sides of your life in perfect harmony if you try hard enough.

When you graduate from college, you will most likely be excited about all the job opportunities your new degree may bring. You should be able to step off the campus and have job offers flooding in for you, correct? That would be an ideal situation, but that is not what always happens in the real world. In some cases, your college degree may actually make you overqualified for a lot of jobs. That’s right – you can actually be turned down for knowing too much. In order to avoid that, you need to know how to pick the right jobs for your education. Here are some tips to help you do just that.

Defining “Overqualified”

Being overqualified for a job means that you have so much education that you are actually skilled way beyond the duties of a job. Let’s say that you have a master’s degree in business administration. You would probably be overqualified to work as a cashier. That is not to say that you wouldn’t be hired for a job as a cashier, but the employer you are applying with would probably look at your application in disbelief. Employers expect a certain caliber of people to apply to their job listings, and they get thrown off when highly educated individuals turn in applications. If your degree does not match the requirements for a job, you could definitely be throwing off a future employer with your application.

Note that this theory does not apply to all jobs. In some cases, having a high degree is just expected. If you have a PhD in forensic psychology, you still may work at an entry level position at a psychology clinic. That is because all forensic psychologists are required to get a PhD, so you won’t necessarily be overqualified for a position. The only way that may happen is if you had multiple doctorates, but even then, you should be able to find work.

How to Know That You Are Overqualified for a Job

When you start looking at job postings, try to see if they mention the degree requirements for a job. Most postings will say that they prefer applicants with a bachelor’s degree in such and such or a certification in something else. If you have a degree that well exceeds the required one in the job posting, chances are you are overqualified. Employers note their expectations in their job listings because they want to get the ideal applicants coming through their doors. If you have way more education than what the employer requires, you may not be the ideal candidate for his or her job listing.

The Risk of Being Underqualified

At the end of the day, it is better to be overqualified for a job than underqualified. At least with an overqualified situation, you will meet the minimum requirements an employer has with a job. You may make that person question why you are applying to a certain position, but you will not rule out your options entirely. The only thing that will happen is that you will feel like your upper level education was a waste of time. This is not always the case though, as you may have a chance to move up in the job you get hired for. You just have to get someone to take your overqualification seriously from the start.

Don’t be afraid to get a high degree, but try to apply for jobs that relate to that level of education. If you can’t find anything that meets the level of education that you have, you may have to apply for something lower until an opportunity comes along.

When you graduate from your degree program, you may be tempted to go into self employment. A lot of people paint this line of work to be more glamorous than it really is, so you may not want to jump the gun just yet. There are some advantages to working for yourself, but there are also disadvantages to keep in mind. It may be best for you to wait a little after you get your forensic psychology degree before you launch your own business. Here are some reasons why it is usually best to wait on self employment.

Job Training

Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you are ready to work. No matter what line of work you are in, you need some kind of real world training to do well on your own. If you jump into your own business, you may not have any idea how to handle some of the problems that will come along. Rather than putting yourself in that position, you need to get the right training to work on your own. Only after a little bit of experience will you logically be able to handle self employment.

Business Savvy

Unless you graduated with a business degree, chances are you don’t have a lot of skills when it comes to marketing, finance, and everything else it takes to run your own business. If you don’t have the knowledge you need to gain clients and build a positive reputation, you will never do well on your own. If you work for someone else though, you can try to get an idea of how he or she runs his or her business. Then you can pick up all the information you need to run your business successfully. You might lose a lot of money if you jump into something like this without being properly prepared.

Guaranteed Income

When you work for “the man,” your income is guaranteed. You know exactly what you will make and when you are going to make it. When you are self employed, you don’t have that luxury. You just have to hope that you are going to make money from month to month. This is a scary feeling, especially if you are in a career that does not produce money over night. I can get paid to write an article online the moment I email it to a client, but my stepfather has to wait weeks before he gets checks for his painting business. You may want to maintain that consistent income until you know for a fact that you can handle self employment.

Accessible Clients

Of you work for someone else, you will not have to worry about building your own client list. The company you work with will already have tasks lined up for you to do. In the world of self employment, you have to do all that on your own. This adds tasks to the already taxing work involved with your job. For some people, that’s just too much to handle.

Self employment may be great in theory, but it comes with a price. You might make more money, but you will also pay higher taxes. You might have your own schedule, but that will be filled with more responsibilities. Don’t rule out self employment entirely, but don’t be afraid to work for someone else either. That may be the boost you need to jump start your career. Then and only then can you take the time to plan out your career as a self employed person, when you know what it takes to run your own business.

Internships are often the starting points of people’s careers. They allow individuals to get hands on training in their field of work before they actually gain employment somewhere. It’s not a bad idea for you to intern regardless of what you plan to do, but not everyone has to do this. If you wanted to skip right into your career, you may have the possibility to do so. Here is a look at some of the situations where interning is and is not necessary. By reading this, you may be able to figure out what your future holds.

Labor Intensive Jobs

Most labor intensive jobs require internships of some sort so that you can learn about work in an actual working environment. For instance, someone learning how to become an electrician would need to work alongside an actual electrician to get a feel for what work is like in the real world. There is only so much you can learn in a text book before you put the principles to practice. If your future line of work requires a lot of manual labor, expect to go through an apprenticeship of some sort.

Theoretical Jobs

Some jobs don’t require internships because they can actually be taught through textbooks. Most careers in psychology are like this because they involve mental training, not physical training. If you are pursuing a career that is mostly described through theories, you will probably be able to jump right into work after graduation. This is especially true if you have a master’s or doctoral degree. In some cases, field experience is not quite as important as education.

Reasons to Go through an Internship

Even if you are pursuing a career where interning isn’t necessary, you still may want to think about something like that. An internship gives you a clear idea of the work you will be doing day in and day out. This is not something you will get in class. You can see how real professionals work in your field of study, and you can get a better grasp of what you need to do to be successful. Being able to see this in person will help you move up in your career faster than you would otherwise.

Internships also give you connections with people in your industry. This is important if you want to have as many job opportunities as possible. If you make a good connection now, you could have an array of opportunities waiting for you when you finally start your career. Interning essentially gives you a chance to market yourself, which you may need if you want to get a high paying job. You have to connect with people in whatever way possible.

Having an internship on a job application shows you future employers that you have already been trained for the most part. That means that all they will have to do is adjust your training to suit their company. Employers love to hire people with experience, and your internship will show them that is exactly what you have. You’ll be turning down jobs before you know it.

In today’s world, you have to do whatever it takes to set yourself apart from the competition. Having an internship under your belt could help you do just that. You can start interning while you’re in school, so do not hesitate to look for opportunities that come up. You may be surprised by how much you learn along the way. If you haven’t thought about interning yet, you may want to give it a try in the near future. It could make all the difference.