How to Stay Hired

We have all been there. Sweaty palms. Crinkled resumes. Scuffed shoes. It’s job interview day and despite sticking those germ-infested hooves in our mouth during an intense question, we snagged ourselves an illustrious position at our dream job. 

You see, several years ago, that was me. I remember what I was wearing, the weather, a few of the interview Q&A's.

After a while I got comfortable with everyone and work life proceeds. The mantra practice makes perfect fueled me through the day. However, a nagging question snuck in, how do I keep the dream alive? How do I stay hired?

And now I’ve planted it in your head…

Be On Time: Punctuality is equivalent to reliability. Not only should you be on time to plopping your fine rear anatomy at your desk in the morning (seriously, how many traffic jams can your encounter in a week. Seriously.) but you should be on time with handing your work into your boss and to your clients.

Be Honest: Own up to your mistakes. While it is a globally known fact that America is in crisis mode for an ever-growing debt, (you didn’t really think that was was a national secret, did you?) that is not the only deficit we own. We are deficient when it comes to taking responsibility.

Be Likeable: What does that even mean? If your coworkers grimace when you talk, that’s a strong indicator you are on the wrong spectrum of likeability. If you extend a BBQ invite and 80% of the office shows, you’re on the right track. Listen to people, share your food (be respective to food allergies and try not to get people severely harmed) and respect boundaries.

Be Open: Whether it’s opening up to others, being open to ideas or critique or helping others open up, shutting down means you lose out. Allow people to explore alongside you.

Be Proactive: Don’t wait for someone to ask you to do something. If you see the water is about to run over the sink ledge, for Niagara Fall’s sake, get up and shut it off even if you didn’t leave it on. A cautious person with a good set of eyes in the future who has the team’s back (quite the visual) is always an asset.

Be Versatile: Let people know about your multi-faceted skills and your willingness to use them whenever, however, and wherever needed. This may be your dream job in an illustrious team, but it takes many moving parts to make mighty things happen. Moreover, it takes all kinds of special too.

So finally, how to stay hired is to be hired. While being on time is essential, don’t just show up because it’s your dream. Be hired. And stay hired.

Here’s to many more years at Worx…because it just Worx for me.

6 Ways We Counteract Stress With Fun

Ever watch a movie or sitcom and think, That! That apartment or office space is what I want. But it’s so unobtainable, even on our pay raise budget. However, how is that the broke roommates combined budgets they can afford this New York façade?

Sometimes when you look at all the pretties and the throw pillows and the original Pac-Man arcade in the living room accompanied with a fire pole from the top floor to the living room, it’s hard to focus on how cool it is to have a fridge that turns H20 into solid form. It’s like magic. One moment it’s liquid, the next it’s frozen solid.

But then I take inventory about the days I reply busy, upon being asked, how was your week? I think about the level of my alleged stress and think of all the sitcom worthy features that are happening here at Worx.

And it’s not a façade. It’s real. It’s how we counteract the beginnings of stress with fun:

• We Don’t Dine and Dash. (Or dine at desk.)

Food and eating are a social experience, and so it is a privilege that we have designated areas AWAY from our desks where we intentionally take 30 minutes to eat as a team.

• We Trade in Our Office Chair for Massage Chairs

Once a month we have a licensed massage therapists Ray (whom we refer to as our Ray of Sunshine) come to our office with a massage chair to help relieve some tension. It’s a great opportunity to step away from the sedentary position.

• We Take Field Trips

Remember the clips about how many people they could fit in VW bug? Well, we like to play a similar game. How many Worx Girls can we fit in Laura’s vehicle? And then it’s on the road again. Whether it’s a few miles down the road or a trip worth having a playlist, we understand the value of blowing the Popsicle joint and going kayaking.

• We Celebrate The Good News and The Good Days

Launch a new brand logo or website? We make some impromptu noise! Someone has a birthday? Bring on the celebratory cupcakes! If you haven’t followed us on social media, that's a good place to stalk our sugar addictions and live out loud lifestyle!

• We Spread the Company Culture

Whether it’s through food, hand written note cards or end-of-year appreciation gifts, we love showing our love! You know all those jokes about friends trying to alleviate the pain in one part of your body by punching or slapping another area so that becomes your focal point? It kind of works! By focusing outward, we build others up and learn that relationships are more important than our hardships.

• We Throw Things

No, we don’t emulate Greek Plate Smashing Wedding Ceremonies, but we have stress peanuts and cows, complements of our clients, which we use responsibly and tastefully to throw at 0.0005 mph at each other’s bodies, desks or office walls. Every day our target improves, and our cause for throwing these cushy, inanimate objects is more aligned with the five other stress-inhibitors. 

So whether it’s as simple as decorating our desk with accessories that express our personality – like the frame of Dwight Schrute on mine – or a day when we get to wear sweatpants, all Worx and no play is not how we roll around here. We work hard, but we know how to have fun. We counteract stress with fun.

An Inside Scoop From An Outside Perspective

What’s it like working in an industry in which I have absolutely no history? To sit at an open space tribicle (three cubicles), and have a Mac desktop dock downloaded with software dedicated solely to this industry?

While I’ve never been directly asked this verbally, the eyes say a lot. When the company for which I work for is introduced, I’m assumed to be one of them. One of my co-workers. The presumption is an honor - but once the preliminary introduction is out of the way and the perfunctory handshake is shook, they really want to know, what’s my position if I’m not in their league? A marketing administrative assistant? Wait, how can I be a Girl Friday if I only work Tuesday-Thursday?

I have one program that individuals, kids, parents, college students, teachers use worldwide, so what’s so special about that? Microsoft Word. It can be painfully slow, but in the office it’s my fourth best friend. (Looking at me sucking up to my boss and co-workers.)

You see, I’m a copywriter and somehow the graphic designers around me found a reason to carve a space out for me.

What’s it like?  

Liberating

I wake up every workday knowing that I get to dress the way my mind thinks and my co-workers design.

What’s it like? 

Stimulating

I get to live by the 4 C’s: Collaborate. Create. And receive and offer Constructive Criticism.

Yes.

We manage to live successfully by them. Relatively drama free.

How?

•    You have to have a clear and open mind and open space that allows for open dialogue.

•    You have to have a trustworthy relationship with your peers, co-workers, leaders; whomever you are interacting with during your creative collaborative and constructive criticism sessions.

•    You need to learn to listen attentively and respectively.

•    And learn to talk tactfully; criticism and insults are not synonymous.

•    You need to learn to differentiate that just because a project is a “No” doesn’t equate that you’re a “No.”

•    And learn to take a compliment.

•    And give compliments every once in awhile. For every criticism, find a compliment or word of wise encouragement. That’s what makes it constructive. The compliment may be futurist: “When you do “this,” because I know YOU are capable of it. It will rock the mismatching socks of the audience and ca-ca poo-poo is going to hit the fan. It’s going to be awesome.” Even that kind of praise is welcome. Wacky. Deserved. Memorable.

I don’t have to be a mother to appreciate a well-behaved child. I don’t have to be a painter to take notice of an Albrecht Dürer piece of work. I don’t have to be a firefighter to sound the alarm of a burning building. I don’t have to be a baker to know when my taste buds are getting a dose of delicious pastry. And I don’t have to be a graphic designer to sit amongst them and their dexterity at visual branding.

I have no history in the industry I’m working in; at the tribicle of desks I’m sitting. But I have a future here. I will not design, but I will definitely be coming back because my Microsoft Documents and their InDesign Software tend to coexist quite well.