7 Ways to Make Your Work Routine Greener

Author: Jennifer Magliano
Source: TheMuse

You dutifully divide your recyclables, carry eco-friendly grocery bags, and wash your gym socks in cold water. You’re an environmental overachiever.

But once you’re out of your five-minute morning shower, you’re in work mode. And because that means getting things done yesterday, everything you know about going green goes down the drain—along with those reusable coffee grinds. That is, if you’re even making your morning joe at home.

Rushing out and grabbing your fuel en route is one of the not-so-green workday habits you can break—just by tweaking your routine a bit. You’ll reduce your impact, and keep stress and guilt at a minimum, too. Read on for easy swaps to your usual desk routine, and you’ll be going greener in no time.

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Women Supporting Women

Author: Jessica Miller-Merrell
Source: Workology

In recognition of International Women’s Day earlier last month, I wanted to talk about how to deal with women at work who seem to want to tear each other down instead of building each other up. Personally, I had the unfortunate experience of working with a woman who was a badass. There was no question that she worked hard, however, she was so passive-aggressive with other women that it was hard to get anything done and the environment felt quite hostile.

How to Build and Maintain Your Network

Author: Kat
Source: Corporette

This is kind of an abstract post, so I’ll ask some questions up front for you to think about as you read over it — what are your best professional networking tips, particularly regarding how to build your network, and then how to maintain a network? Which networks, associations and affiliations have been the most fruitful and the most enjoyable for you? Have you seen a lot of overlap and “lucky coincidences” between your various networks, associations and affiliations? 

I’ve been thinking about different business relationships you have to cultivate over the course of your career, from people in your network to mentors to sponsors and beyond. When I was younger, if you had asked me about “how to build your network,” I might have defined it as very self-focused. You choose who you want to bring into your orbit and keep them there — people who are handpicked for knowledge or skill or experience as it relates to you.

This version of “how to network” might be represented visually like this:

What To Do If Your Job Is Killing You

Author: Stav Ziv
Source: The Muse

If Jeffrey Pfeffer had to sum up his latest book in one sentence, he’d say that “the workplace is killing us and nobody cares.” Take a minute, because that’s quite a summary.

You should care, obviously. Employees, employers, governments, and societies all suffer from the effects of toxic work environments.

“If I work you to a point where you’re so sick physically or psychologically you can no longer work…you become the public’s problem,” says Pfeffer, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business whose research has focused on organization theory and human resource management. Companies are squandering money via medical costs, lost productivity, and high turnover, and governments and societies have to deal with the long-term consequences and costs to the public health and welfare systems.

In the U.S., 120,000 deaths a year could be attributed to work environments, according to Pfeffer’s book, Dying for a Paycheck: How Modern Management Harms Employee Health and Company Performance—and What We Can Do About It, racking up about $180 billion in health-care costs. He estimates that about half the deaths and a third of the costs could be prevented.

So once you know and care, what can you do to fight back?

How to Gauge a Company’s Culture in an Interview

Author: Emily Lamia
Source: Idealist Careers

Culture. It’s a big word. But what does it really mean?

We seem to know how to identify bad organizational culture: constant stress, unreasonable workloads, and passive aggressive or mean people. But aside from unlimited snacks, casual Fridays, and a summer picnic, what goes into determining how to define positive organizational culture?

The truth is, everyone’s version of a positive culture is different. This is why it’s important to have your own definition of what a good culture looks like to you in order to truly thrive in your social-impact career.

Your Complete Guide to the Interview Process

Source: The Muse

Between the 20 or so of us, The Muse team has probably been on several hundred interviews in our day.

(We know. We cringe thinking about it, too.)

In other words, we’ve been through all of those OMG-what-should-I-wear panic attacks and bathroom-mirror rehearsals of the perfect answer to “What’s your biggest weakness?” that you’re probably dealing with as you prepare for your big day.

But all those pantsuits and practiced answers weren’t for naught. In the interest of sharing our hard-won job search expertise, we’ve put together a list of the biggest job interview questions we had going in—and answers that will help you go into yours totally prepared.

Consider it everything you ever wanted to know about interviewing—answered.

How to Learn to Love Your Job in 5 Easy Steps

Author: Liz Funk
Source: WeWork

No one wants to be Peter Gibbons. The main character in the widely-loved (and oft-quoted) movie Office Space was open about how much he hated his job at Initech Industries and how that affected his motivation (“I’d say in a given week, I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual, work”). And yet he was still drained by his job, because actively disliking your job is really draining.

If you sit at your desk fantasizing about making a career change or starting a side hustle or passion project, it’s time to move towards your more fulfilling goals—without quitting your job. Your current position can teach you what you want to learn, help you sharpen your favorite skills, and give you an arena to learn something totally new (with no reason to fear failure!). Here’s how to turn office water cooler water into lemonade.