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Summer Starts Tomorrow

Summer Starts Tomorrow

Summer officially starts tomorrow, and the second half of 2019 starts in just a few days!

True, at least in Chicago, summer hasn’t quite completely taken hold yet as it is 55 degrees out today. But the end of the quarter is a great time to take stock of where your year is going and to consider the balance between your vocation and avocation and personal and professional lives.

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The Un-Video Video of the Week | VOTW 061819

The Un-Video Video of the Week | VOTW 061819

This week the Video of the Week is . . .not a video!  Instead, we’re featuring a recent episode of the Becker Group Women’s Leadership 15 Minute Podcast. Amy M. Gardner is the guest, and they covered Amy’s path from Luther College to the University of Chicago Law School, and from law firm partner to dean of students to coaching and consulting for lawyers and their employers; goal setting; staying motivated; starting your own business; and more. Please check it out, and be sure to subscribe.

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Imagine Your Future Self

Imagine Your Future Self

Have you ever wondered why it can be so difficult to stop procrastinating?  We’ve offered tips before on how to stop procrastinating, and you could procrastinate all day by reading the science behind it.  (Ask me how I know – from the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience to a fascinating working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research on college students’ procrastination and present bias, I may have read it all.)

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Making the summer associate experience a win-win

Making the summer associate experience a win-win

The summer experience has big stakes for both the law firm and the summer associate.

Most firms hire summer associates as a talent pipeline for their full-time associate ranks. The summer is an important evaluation period and recruiting period. The firm wants summers to be excited about full-time employment. This process, done annually, fosters a firm’s growth and evolution.

The summer program is equally important to the summer associate. The summer wants a full-time job; it’s harder to find a permanent spot as a rising 3L without an offer in hand. The summer also wants to create a positive reputation at the firm, because that reputation lays the foundation for long-term success at the firm.

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5 Tips for Summer Success: What Every Law Student Needs To Know

5 Tips for Summer Success: What Every Law Student Needs To Know

—Julie Schrager

For some students, summer is a break from school.  But for many law students, particularly after their 2L year, summer is an important step on the path to a permanent position.  You manage multiple writing assignments (and social events too!) and adapt what you’ve learned to new types of work and interactions.  And even if you are working at a law firm or other setting that either always gives offers or never gives offers, your second summer is an opportunity to develop some of the professional skills that you will need to be successful in whatever position you obtain after you graduate.  

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Northwestern Alumni Networking Webinar Follow-up Post

Thank you all for logging on for the Northwestern University Alumni Career Webinar, “3.5 Tips to Turbocharge Your Networking Skills.”

We have listed several resources below to assist you in your networking plan.

Amy Cuddy’s book, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges is a great place to start in an effort to make networking opportunities more comfortable.

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11 Rules for Supervising Remote Employees

11 Rules for Supervising Remote Employees

Last week we shared 11 Rules You Need to Know for Working Remotely [add link], whether occasionally or full-time.  As we noted, 70% of workers around the world are remote at least one day per week, and more than 50% work remotely at least half of the time.  That means that more and more managers now supervise people working remotely. Whether you supervise employees who work remotely once in a while or people who are hired specifically to work remotely every day, the task requires different considerations – and often being more intentional – than supervising people you see every day.  As I shared last week, I’ve worked remotely full-time for about four years in various environments, remotely 10-30% of the time for about eight years, and have been location-independent for the last year. Having been supervised by staff both in a physical office and who were also remote, and having supervised employees who were always or partially remote, I’ve seen it all in terms of what to do . . . and what not to do.  Here are 11 rules to make managing remote employees better for everyone.

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11 Rules You Need to Know for Working Remotely

11 Rules You Need to Know for Working Remotely

With summer approaching, the ability to work remotely can loom as the Holy Grail of benefits, making possible shorter days (minus the commute), focused attention on long-delayed projects, longer vacations thanks to the ability to work while the family relaxes, and lower childcare costs.  As we work with our career transition clients, the ability to work remotely – whether occasionally or regularly – is one of the items must often on their wish lists, whether as a proxy for a flexible workplace, or as a critical component to make their lives work.  This isn’t a unique desire; 70% of workers around the world are remote at least one day per week, and more than 50% work remotely at least half of the time.

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8 Tips to Fit More Reading into Your Schedule

8 Tips to Fit More Reading into Your Schedule

There are plenty of reasons reading more is important for professionals, from improving brain functions to keeping up on trends and developments in your industry, giving you something to talk about and think about outside work and family, to just feeling like you are using your brain.  But when was the last time you sat down with a novel or any other book you didn’t have to read for work?  In fact, 31% of Americans report that they have read just 1-5 books in the last year.

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What Can Reading Do For You? | VOTW 042319

What Can Reading Do For You? | VOTW 042319

In honor of #WorldBookDay, this week on the Apochromatik blog we’re talking about why and how to squeeze more reading into your schedule.  For today’s Video of the Week  we feature a short eight minute video discussing some of the benefits of reading.

Check back for Thursday’s post where we share hacks to fit more reading into your schedule.    

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Work/Life Balance or Whole Life Synchronization?

Work/Life Balance or Whole Life Synchronization?

This week I led a webinar for the University of Chicago “Mind Your Career” series entitled, “The Work/Life Myth: 3 Ways to Feel More In Sync With Your Life.” Many of us are actively seeking a way to find work/life balance, and to determine how and when work/life balance discussions and efforts are appropriate.

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How to Improve Your Executive Presence Quickly and Easily

How to Improve Your Executive Presence Quickly and Easily

When you think of executive presence, what comes to mind?  Is it looking rested and like you just came back from a vacation?   Having just the right outfit for every event?  Having a booming voice that enables the speaker to be heard over chaos?  After decades of working with leaders throughout my career, I can tell you that you don’t need self-tanner, a personal shopper, or elocution lessons to have executive presence.  (In fact, being inauthentic can actually hurt, rather than help, the cause.)

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Are You Résumé Ready?  You should be.

Are You Résumé Ready? You should be.

Are you résumé ready?

If tomorrow you hear about a perfect board position, how long will it take you to prepare your materials to apply?  

You aren’t looking for a job right now.  But what if you stumble upon the best next step for your career and the application is due tomorrow?  Are you prepared to submit?

If you are looking for a new job, is your résumé one of those items on your procrastination list that you don’t have done?

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Highly Effective References

Highly Effective References

Many job seekers put together a thoughtful job search plan, prepare their resume and cover letter carefully, and agonize over their interview attire, but when it comes to their references, they just type up some names, phone numbers, and email addresses and call it done. The good news: because so many people just throw their reference list together, this is an area where it’s easy to stand out.  

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How to Travel for Work Without Derailing Your Life

How to Travel for Work Without Derailing Your Life

“Business travel.”  Two words that can spur thoughts of luxurious hotels, interesting cities, and free meals.  Or, for those who do a lot of business travel, those words can prompt thoughts of suspicious stains in hotel rooms with thin walls next to the ice machine, repetitive conference rooms, and surviving on Southwest pretzels and granola bars eaten while jogging through airports.  

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Taming the Procrastination Monster

Taming the Procrastination Monster

As a kid, did you ever hear a creaking floorboard in the night, and become convinced that there was a fully grown boogieman waiting to pounce out of your closet?  

Procrastinated tasks can become the adult equivalent of monsters in the closet.  You don’t want to admit it, but you see the signs every time you look at your to do list, whether it’s in an app, a spreadsheet, a paper planner, or on a post-it.  Maybe it’s scheduling your annual physical, sending a thank you email, texting your niece, or finding a contractor to finally fix the bathtub.  Or maybe it’s writing an article for a professional publication, filing an amended tax return, getting your job application materials together, reviewing resumes for a position you’re supposed to be filling, or finally cleaning up your office. 

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3 Ways to Love Your Career Again

3 Ways to Love Your Career Again

You’ve probably heard some version of the adage “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I think many of us would roll our eyes, at least internally, at that.  But it is, in some respect, true.  Even if you are planning to change employers or make a career transition, falling back in love with your current position can help you be more successful both in your career, but less obviously, with a job or career change.  This week we’re going to present three strategies to fall back in love with your career.     

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