Tag Archives: UK Blogger

Kick-Starting Your Career

March 12, 2018 By in Lifestyle Tags: , , , , , , 29 Comments

Is your career stuck in a rut? Have you stopped enjoying your job or are you struggling to gain a promotion and move forward? This happens to most of us from time to time, and many people lose hope and give up. They stop pushing themselves and start going through the motions, knowing that they’ll never get promoted. Or, they give up completely and spend their whole working life moving from job to job every time things get tough. Never really getting anywhere and never settling down into a role they love. Don’t make these mistakes, instead, try giving your career a kick-start.

 

Career Image

Photo Credit

 

Take a Look at Yourself

Presentation is everything. One reason that you’re being overlooked might be that you don’t look the part. If your managers don’t see you taking pride in your appearance and looking after yourself, how can they trust you to do a good job? Looking scruffy, or poorly presenting your work can make a poor first impression, and it can also knock your self-confidence.

So, take a good look at yourself. When we first start a new job, we wear our smartest suits, spend time grooming and stand tall. All of our work is perfectly neat and well presented. But over time, things can slide. Get back to basics and brush up your appearance.

 

Learn More

Another thing we do when we start a new job is rush in and learn as much as we can. Over time, this stops. We know what we need to, so we stop seeking extra knowledge. But, things change all over the time. Your industry will have developed, and your knowledge needs to as well. Apply for a training course and read as much as you can. An alternative can be taking a course like masters in mental health counseling. Even if it’s not directly related to your industry, a course like this can give you more options and help you develop skills like organisation, time management and communication.

 

Make Your Intentions Clear

One reason we get overlooked when it comes to promotions is that our superiors don’t know what we want. If they think you just see your job as a short-term role that’s going nowhere, they won’t think of you or put their time and effort into training you. So, sit down with your direct superior and make your intentions clear. Tell them where you want to be and where you see yourself in five years. Then, ask for their help and advice. Make a plan together that will get you to where you want to be.

Then, apply for things. If a job comes up in your company, even if it’s a few steps ahead of where you are now, apply for it. You might not have much chance of getting it, but it will highlight your intentions, give you interview experience and help you gain some insight of what they are looking for.

 

Go Back to Basics

Read your job description. Are you going it? Take it back to basics and strip everything down. Before trying to move forward, make sure you are doing your core job as well as you can.

 

How are you kick-starting your career this year?

 

*Collaborative post.

Top Tips for a Clean Kitchen

March 10, 2018 By in Lifestyle Tags: , , , , , , , 17 Comments

Spring is here and it is finally time for a proper spring cleaning. Most people start with the upstairs floors and work their way down. They leave the kitchen for last. Although this approach is the proper thing to do, it is likely that you would have lost the energy and desire to clean the kitchen by the time you have finished cleaning all other rooms.

 

clean kitchen image

 

Here are a few top tips for a clean kitchen that could save you time and achieve optimum result.

Ask any cleaner who use the Helpling platform and they will tell you that the kitchen should be the cleanest spot in the house. Follow these tips and you will always have a spotless kitchen.

 

Kitchen Cleaning Tips
  1. Exclude the kitchen from your spring cleaning routine but make sure you will clean it every week.
  2. Draft a list with what it is that needs to be cleaned and write next to it how often it is supposed to be cleaned. The oven, fridge and freezer are typical examples that do not have to be cleaned every week.
  3. Place cleaning material and clothes in a prominent place and encourage everybody in the house to clean up any dirt they see, immediately.
  4. Do you have small children? Reward them for participating in cleaning. Kids are the biggest culprits to leave dirty spots. Encourage them to clean it up immediately or even to participate in your cleaning routine. While you focus on the overhead cupboards, they can do the ones below the sink.
  5. Reward yourself once you are done cleaning. The thought itself should stimulate doing the job properly and quickly.
  6. Revisit your cupboard and establish what you can do to improve packing your groceries away in such way that it won’t dirt your cupboards.
  7. Remove or replaced any damaged parts in the kitchen. Broken tiles or hinges are frustrating but they also contribute to the built up of germs and dirt in the area.
  8. Reconsider the rules for the kitchen. Write it down how you expect people to behave in the kitchen and place those rules somewhere where everybody can see them. The door of the fridge would be a perfect spot.
  9. Make a point that any dirt or dishes should be cleaned immediately. The moment you ignore this rule, people will no longer respect the need for a clean kitchen and won’t bother anymore to contribute.
  10. Re-consider your cooking habits. Is your kitchen always dirty? Have you ever thought about changing the way you cook?

A clean kitchen is important in many ways. These hacks will hopefully help you achieving that.

Do you have any tips for maintaining a clean kitchen? Please share them.

 

*Collaborative post.

Why I Left My Customer Service Job

March 9, 2018 By in Lifestyle, True Stories Tags: , , , , , , , 37 Comments

Before I became self-employed, I did various customer service jobs. It was over the phone, so it was ok for me at that time, as I prefer dealing with customer over the phone than  face to face confrontation customer service. I was a customer service agent for well over 4 years, and it was hard. But it paid my bills and kept me busy, so it was all good.

Back then, I always knew I wanted more. The customer service job  was not mentally stimulating enough. It became a chore. The pay wasn’t great and the hours were very long. I even hard to work on some weekends, which I didn’t like much. Plus, I hated it when I had difficult customers or cases to deal with, and that was on a daily basis, making my life even harder.

I have been on both sides of the fence; as a customer service agent and customer. So I know the frustrations of working in a noisy call centre, with complicated systems and absent supervisors. Which is why I try to be extra patient and tolerant when dealing with customer service agents.

I recently came across an infographic done by the guys at CCSN which I found quite interesting. Here is the infographic below.

 

Customer service image

 

I agree with all the information on this infographic. For me, excellent customer service means –

 

I am not kept waiting

I called my phone company the other day and I was on the queue waiting to be answered for almost an hour. That to me is just madness. I like it when my call is answered immediately or within a few minutes. That is my definition of excellent customer service. Keeping customers waiting for hours is totally unacceptable.

 

There are other contact options

I like handling my business online so calling a call centre is usually my last resort. I rather send an email or do what I have to do online. Good customer service would provide other contact options for their customers to make use of. As a full-time blogger, I spend majority of my waking hours online, so I rather so out my utilities and anything else that needs sorting online too.

 

My query is dealt with quickly

The whole small talk thingy confuses me. Why would I want to talk about the weather when dealing with a dodgy broadband service?

I hated small talk as a customer service agent and I hate it as a customer too. It makes no sense to me. I just don’t have the time or the desire to engaged in meaningless chitchat when I call a company. Excellent customer service to me means my query is dealt with quickly and properly.

 

I am not passed around

Being passed from department to department pisses me off. Most times I end up ending the call in frustration. This usually happens when I am unlucky enough to speak with clueless customer service agents.

 

To be frank, good customer service isn’t rocket service. It simply means putting the customer first in all decisions. If companies put their customers first, they will have happy customers and employees.

 

What is your definition of excellent customer service? Please sound off in the comments section.

 

*Collaborative post

 

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