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Self Promotion

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:01:05 +0100

How to Move up the Ladder at Work with a Personal Publicity Campaign

Using self-promotion can help you move up the ladder at work. Have you ever wondered why you can't seem to get a promotion, while a co-worker with the same level of experience, motivation and tenure has been promoted to manager? Your colleague has probably mastered the art of using a personal publicity campaign to increase her visibility. If you'd like to move up the ladder at work as well, perhaps it's time for you to put your best foot forward using self-promotion.

If you're like many people, you may be uncomfortable using self-promotion strategies to get ahead. After all, shouldn't steady, standout work be enough to yield professional rewards? In an ideal world, yes - but in today's fast-paced work environment, your manager might be too busy with his or her duties to keep tabs on your accomplishments and reward them appropriately.

The good news is that boasting is not a requirement. Instead, self-promotion includes openly sharing your ideas in meetings, volunteering for leadership roles and making a concerted effort to understand your company's business goals. Here are some tips to help your personal publicity campaign:

Understand the Big Picture :

Learn as much as you can about your company's mission and how your role fits in with these objectives. Try to understand the priorities of your boss and your boss's manager. That way you'll be better able to focus on those concerns in your own work.

Make Suggestions for Improvement :

Do you have an idea that would increase productivity or reduce the budget in your department? Sharing these ideas with management is a great way to show initiative and interest in your firm. You'll add more value by tailoring your recommendations to fit your company's overall mission.

Enhance Your Soft Skills :

Your interpersonal skills are often as important as your technical skills. Strive for diplomacy in email, phone and one-on-one communication. For instance, if you're in a technical position, simplify your explanations to non-technical workers, avoiding jargon they may not recognize. Humour is an effective way to help people feel at ease, as long as you avoid sarcastic remarks and jokes made at the expense of others.

Be a Team Player :

Display a willingness to pitch in and help the group achieve its collective goals. Recognize that people have different work styles, and that there is usually no right way to accomplish a task. Listen to and acknowledge your co-workers' ideas, and offer praise for work well done.

Discuss Your Goals :

Schedule time with your manager to talk about your career-related goals and objectives. Many employees mistakenly assume their boss is aware of their aspirations. By opening the lines of communication, you'll make your supervisor aware of your goals, allowing her to assign you projects that will help you advance in your career.

Solicit Feedback :

Don't wait for your annual performance review to ask your boss how you're doing. Request regular meetings with your manager, perhaps every 45 or 60 days, to discuss your work-related strengths as well as areas for improvement. You can also ask your manager for strategies to become a more valuable employee or to work toward a promotion.

Get More Experience :

Often a lack of experience is the only thing hindering your career development. If it's management experience you need, take on volunteer projects for local non-profit groups. If your technical skills are out of date, consider online courses or certification in a specific technology. If you are a freelancer, design your own website highlighting your skills. This will also boost your credibility.

Track Your Accomplishments :

A carefully documented list of achievements is useful during performance reviews as well as interviews - it's tangible evidence of your contributions to your employer. You may want to keep a personal personnel file and update it regularly.

You don't have to be a public relations expert to use self-promotion at work. But you should set goals to work well with co-workers, continually improve your skills and develop new ones, and diplomatically let others know of your accomplishments. Adopting these personal PR strategies will not only help you get noticed at work, it may also lead you to new opportunities. In no time, you'll be on the path to achieving your professional goals.

Source: http://www.bcjobs.ca/re/career-advice

How to Ask for a Raise

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:00:24 +0100

Provided by the career experts at Robert Half Finance & Accounting

Over the past few years, many workers have seen slim raises or none at all. But now with a strong shift to the economy and ongoing optimism, you may be considering asking your boss for a much-deserved bump in pay.

Although your company culture and personality as well as a host of other factors can impact the way you approach your manager for a raise, here are some suggestions to help increase your odds of landing the salary increase you desire:

Research what you are worth :

Many professionals begin salary negotiations without first completing a crucial step: researching the going rate for their skills and experience. A number of websites publish salary information, as do professional associations and staffing firms such as Robert Half International. When researching compensation levels, locate ranges for positions that match your experience, company size and region, as these factors can significantly affect pay.

In addition, you can check online job posting advertisements since companies sometimes list salary ranges in their job descriptions. Recruiters can also help; they often are aware of current market trends impacting compensation levels.

One point to remember: don't poll coworkers to see if your pay is in line with theirs. For one thing, they probably will not want to reveal their salaries. In addition, companies try to keep compensation figures confidential, and bringing up another person's pay with your manager will likely lead to an awkward conversation, especially if your information is incorrect.

No matter who you consult or what resources you study, the key is to gather information from as many places as possible to come up with a well-rounded estimate of your worth in the job market.

Determine your contributions to the company :

Establishing what your salary should be also involves figuring out the ways in which you've benefited your employer. What contributions have you made that resulted in increased revenues or time or cost savings? Highlighting concrete results will make it easier for you to justify a pay increase.

But it can be hard for finance and accounting professionals to quantify their contributions. How do you measure the cost savings of the accurate invoices you produce, for example? As much as possible, try to track the impact your work has had on coworkers, your department and the organization as a whole. Ask colleagues, if necessary. For example, you may have helped streamline the financial reporting process by recommending new technology products. How many hours did you save others by automating the steps they perform? Or through your research into tax laws, you may have identified a previously unknown credit. How much did your company save as a result?

Choose your time wisely :

A host of factors can influence the time you select to speak to your supervisor about increased compensation. Among them is your company's policy concerning raises. Some evaluate employee pay only during performance reviews or prior to the finalization of the annual budget. Consult your employee handbook or human resources manager for clarification.

In addition, think about the health of your industry. Is it growing? What factors - energy prices, healthcare costs, outsourcing, government regulations - could affect it in the near future? Have there been major mergers, bankruptcies or closures?

And consider the timing within your department. Is your team currently focused on meeting Canadian Investor Confidence Measures or other internal control compliance requirements? Has the corporate controller recently resigned? Is your manager still catching up after a two-week absence?

Although there may never be a "perfect" moment to approach your boss, keep these considerations in mind when choosing your opportunity.

Talk to your manager :

• When you're ready to speak with your manager, bring notes on your key points. Maintain a positive tone throughout the conversation; don't be argumentative.

• Try to be flexible. Remember, this is a negotiation. If the company can't accommodate the raise you seek at this time, perhaps extra vacation days, the use of a company car or increased stock options would be a suitable compromise for you.

• Alternately, ask your manager what steps you need to take to achieve the raise you want. Do you need to assume more leadership roles? Improve your knowledge of new legislation and regulatory requirements? Make sure both you and your supervisor are clear on the targets you must reach and how your progress will be measured. Then revisit the issue at an agreed time down the road.

If none of these options are suitable to you, be prepared for the consequences of taking a firm stand. Threatening to leave your job if your demand for a raise is not met is only advisable if you actually intend to do so. Bluffing as a negotiation technique is rarely effective and can easily backfire.

Asking for a raise is never easy. But having a thorough understanding of your market value, detailing your contribution to the organization and choosing the best time to approach your manager will make the conversation easier and increase your odds of padding your paycheck.

Effective Scheduling

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:59:44 +0100

Plan Your Time. Make Time for Yourself.

So far in this section of Mind Tools, we have looked at your priorities and your goals – these define what you aspire to do with your time. Scheduling is where these aspirations meet reality.

Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time available to you, and plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you have identified. By using a schedule properly, you can:

* Understand what you can realistically achieve with your time;
* Plan to make the best use of the time available;
* Leave enough time for things you absolutely must do;
* Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected'; and
* Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to others.

A well thought-through schedule allows you to manage your commitments, while still leaving you time to do the things that are important to you. It is therefore your most important weapon for beating work overload.
How to Use the Tool:

Scheduling is best done on a regular basis, for example at the start of every week. Go through the following steps in preparing your schedule:

1.

Start by identifying the time you want to make available for your work. This will depend on the design of your job and on your personal goals in life.
2.

Next, block in the actions you absolutely must take to do a good job. These will often be the things you are assessed against.

For example, if you manage people, then you must make time available for coaching, supervision, and dealing with issues that arise. Similarly, you must allow time to communicate with your boss and key people around you. (While people may let you get away with 'neglecting them' in the short-term, your best time management efforts will surely be derailed if you do not set aside time for those who are important in your life.)
3.

Review your To Do List, and schedule in the high-priority, urgent activities, as well as the essential maintenance tasks that cannot be delegated and cannot be avoided.
4.

Next, block in appropriate contingency time. You will learn how much of this you need by experience. Normally, the more unpredictable your job, the more contingency time you need. The reality of many people's work is of constant interruption: Studies show some managers getting an average of as little as six minutes uninterrupted work done at a time.

Obviously, you cannot tell when interruptions will occur. However, by leaving space in your schedule, you give yourself the flexibility to rearrange your schedule to react effectively to urgent issues.
5.

What you now have left is your "discretionary time": the time available to deliver your priorities and achieve your goals. Review your Prioritized To Do List and personal goals, evaluate the time needed to achieve these actions, and schedule them in.

By the time you reach step 5, you may find that you have little or no discretionary time available. If this is the case, then revisit the assumptions you used in the first four steps. Question whether things are absolutely necessary, whether they can be delegated, or whether they can be done in an abbreviated way.

Remember that one of the most important ways people learn to achieve success is by maximizing the 'leverage' they can achieve with their time. They increase the amount of work they can manage by delegating work to other people, spending money outsourcing key tasks, or using technology to automate as much of their work as possible. This frees them up to achieve their goals.

Also, use this as an opportunity to review your To Do List and Personal Goals. Have you set goals that just aren't achievable with the time you have available? Are you taking on too many additional duties? Or are you treating things as being more important than they really are?

If your discretionary time is still limited, then you may need to renegotiate your workload. With a well-thought through schedule as evidence, you may find this surprisingly easy.
Key points:

Scheduling is the process by which you plan your use of time. By scheduling effectively, you can reduce stress and maximize your effectiveness. This makes it one of the most important time management skills you can use.

Before you can schedule efficiently, you need an effective scheduling system. This can be a diary, calendar, paper-based organizer, PDA or a software package like MS Outlook. The best solution depends entirely on your circumstances.

Scheduling is then a five-step process:

1.

Identify the time you have available.
2.

Block in the essential tasks you must carry out to succeed in your job.
3.

Schedule in high priority urgent tasks and vital "house-keeping" activities.
4.

Block in appropriate contingency time to handle unpredictable interruptions.
5.

In the time that remains, schedule the activities that address your priorities and personal goals.

If you have little or no discretionary time left by the time you reach step five, then revisit the assumptions you have made in steps one to four.

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Effective Scheduling is just one of the tools explained in "Make Time for Success!" from Mind Tools. This downloadable e-book contains more than 100 pages of time-tested techniques that can help you work better and get the most that life has to offer. Click here to learn more.

Active Listening

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:58:19 +0100

Hear What People Are Really Saying

Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. How well you listen has a major impact on your job effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with others.

We listen to obtain information.
We listen to understand.
We listen for enjoyment.
We listen to learn.

Given all this listening we do, you would think we’d be good at it! In fact we’re not. Depending on the study being quoted, we remember a dismal 25-50% of what we hear. That means that when you talk to your boss, colleagues, customers or spouse for 10 minutes, they only really hear 2½-5 minutes of the conversation.

Turn it around and it reveals that when you are receiving directions or being presented with information, you aren’t hearing the whole message either. You hope the important parts are captured in your 25- 50%, but what if they’re not?

Clearly, listening is a skill that we can all benefit from improving. By becoming a better listener, you will improve your productivity, as well as your ability to influence, persuade negotiate. What’s more, you’ll avoid conflict and misunderstandings – all necessary for workplace success. )

Good communication skills require a high level of self-awareness. By understanding your personal style of communicating, you will go a long way towards creating good and lasting impressions with others.

The way to become a better listener is to practice “active listening”. This is where you make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, to try and understand the total message being sent.

In order to do this you must pay attention to the other person very carefully.

You cannot allow yourself to become distracted by what else may be going on around you, or by forming counter arguments that you’ll make when the other person stops speaking. Nor can you allow yourself to lose focus on what the other person is saying. All of these barriers contribute to a lack of listening and understanding.

Tip:
If you're finding it particularly difficult to concentrate on what someone is saying, try repeating their words mentally as they say it – this will reinforce their message and help you control mind drift.

To enhance your listening skills, you need to let the other person know that you are listening to what he or she is saying. To understand the importance of this, ask yourself if you’ve ever been engaged in a conversation when you wondered if the other person was listening to what you were saying. You wonder if your message is getting across, or if it’s even worthwhile to continue speaking. It feels like talking to a brick wall and it’s something you want to avoid.

Acknowledgement can be something as simple as a nod of the head or a simple “uh huh.” You aren’t necessarily agreeing with the person, you are simply indicating that you are listening. Using body language and other signs to acknowledge you are listening also reminds you to pay attention and not let your mind wander.

You should also try to respond to the speaker in a way that will both encourage him or her to continue speaking, so that you can get the information if you need. While nodding and “uh huhing” says you’re interested, an occasional question or comment to recap what has been said communicates that you understand the message as well.
Becoming an Active Listener

There are five key elements of active listening. They all help you ensure that you hear the other person, and that the other person knows you are hearing what they are saying.

1. Pay attention.
Give the speaker your undivided attention and acknowledge the message. Recognize that what is not said also speaks loudly.
* Look at the speaker directly.
* Put aside distracting thoughts. Don’t mentally prepare a rebuttal!
* Avoid being distracted by environmental factors.
* “Listen” to the speaker’s body language.
* Refrain from side conversations when listening in a group setting.

2. Show that you are listening.
Use your own body language and gestures to convey your attention.
* Nod occasionally.
* Smile and use other facial expressions.
* Note your posture and make sure it is open and inviting.
* Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments like yes, and uh huh.

3. Provide feedback.
Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can distort what we hear. As a listener, your role is to understand what is being said. This may require you to reflect what is being said and ask questions.
* Reflect what has been said by paraphrasing. “What I’m hearing is…” and “Sounds like you are saying…” are great ways to reflect back.
* Ask questions to clarify certain points. “What do you mean when you say…” “Is this what you mean?”
* Summarize the speaker’s comments periodically.

Tip:
If you find yourself responding emotionally to what someone said, say so, and ask for more information: "I may not be understanding you correctly, and I find myself taking what you said personally. What I thought you just said is XXX; is that what you meant?"

4. Defer judgment.
Interrupting is a waste of time. It frustrates the speaker and limits full understanding of the message.
* Allow the speaker to finish.
* Don’t interrupt with counterarguments.

5. Respond Appropriately.
Active listening is a model for respect and understanding. You are gaining information and perspective. You add nothing by attacking the speaker or otherwise putting him or her down.
* Be candid, open, and honest in your response.
* Assert your opinions respectfully.
* Treat the other person as he or she would want to be treated.

Key Points:

It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be an active listener. Old habits are hard to break, and if your listening habits are as bad as many people’s are, then there’s a lot of habit-breaking to do!

Be deliberate with your listening and remind yourself constantly that your goal is to truly hear what the other person is saying. Set aside all other thoughts and behaviors and concentrate on the message. Ask question, reflect, and paraphrase to ensure you understand the message. If you don’t, then you’ll find that what someone says to you and what you hear can be amazingly different!
Start using active listening today to become a better communicator and improve your workplace productivity and relationships.

Building Self-Confidence

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:56:15 +0100

Develop the Self-Confidence You Deserve!

From the quietly confident doctor whose advice we rely on, to the star-quality confidence of an inspiring speaker, self-confident people have qualities that everyone admires.

Spacer Spacer
Build your self-confidence with James Manktelow & Amy Carlson.

Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can be a vicious circle: People who lack self-confidence can find it difficult to become successful.

After all, most people are reluctant to back a project that's being pitched by someone who was nervous, fumbling and overly apologetic.

On the other hand, you might be persuaded by someone who spoke clearly, who held his or her head high, who answered questions assuredly, and who readily admitted when he/she did not know something.

Self-confident people inspire confidence in others: Their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. Gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success.

The good news is that self-confidence really can be learned and built on. And, whether you’re working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it’s well-worth the effort! All other things being equal, self-confidence is often the single ingredient that distinguishes a successful person from someone less successful.
So how confident do you seem to others?

Your level of self-confidence can show in many ways: Your behavior, your body language, how you speak, what you say, and so on. Look at the following comparisons of common confident behavior with behavior associated with low self-confidence. Which thoughts or actions do you recognize in yourself and people around you?

Self-Confident

Low Self-Confidence

Doing what you believe to be right, even if others mock or criticize you for it.

Governing your behavior based on what other people think.

Being willing to take risks and go the extra mile to achieve better things.

Staying in your comfort zone, fearing failure and so avoid taking risks.

Admitting your mistakes and vowing to learn from them.

Working hard to cover up mistakes and praying that you can fix the problem before anyone is the wiser.

Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.

Extolling your own virtues as often as possible to as many people as possible.

Accepting compliments graciously. “Thanks, I really worked hard on that prospectus. I’m pleased you recognize my efforts.”

Dismissing compliments offhandedly. “Oh that prospectus was nothing really, anyone could have done it.”

As you can see from these examples, low self-confidence can be self-destructive, and it often manifests itself as negativity. Self-confident people are generally more positive – they believe in themselves and their abilities, and they also believe in the wonders of living life to the full.

Tip: Balanced Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is about balance. At one extreme, we have people with low self-confidence. At the other end, we have people who may be over-confident.

If you are under-confident, you’ll avoid taking risks and stretching yourself; and you might not try at all. And if you’re over-confident, you may take on too much risk, stretch yourself beyond your capabilities, and crash badly. You may also find that you’re so optimistic that you don’t try hard enough to truly succeed.

Getting this right is a matter of having the right amount of confidence, founded in reality and on your true ability. With the right amount of self-confidence, you will take informed risks, stretch yourself (but not beyond your abilities) and try hard.
Building Self-Confidence

So how do you build this sense of balanced self-confidence, founded on a firm appreciation of reality?

The bad news is that there’s no quick fix, or 5-minute solution.

The good news is that building self-confidence is readily achievable, just as long as you have the focus and determination to carry things through. And what’s even better is that the things you’ll do will build success – after all, your confidence will come from real, solid achievement. No-one can take this away from you!

So here are our three steps to self-confidence, for which we’ll use the metaphor of a journey: Preparing for your journey; setting out; and accelerating towards success.
Step 1: Preparing for Your Journey

The first step involves getting yourself ready for your journey to self-confidence. You need to take stock of where you are, think about where you want to go, get yourself in the right mindset for your journey, and commit yourself to starting it and staying with it.

In preparing for your journey, do the following things:

Look at what you’ve already achieved:

Think about your life so far, and list the ten best things you’ve achieved in an “Achievement Log.” Perhaps you came top in an important test or exam, played a key role in an important team, produced the best sales figures in a period, did something that made a key difference in someone else’s life, or delivered a project that meant a lot for your business.

Put these into a smartly formatted document, which you can look at often. And then spend a few minutes each week enjoying the success you’ve already had!

Think about your strengths:

Next, use a technique like SWOT Analysis to take a look at who and where you are. Looking at your Achievement Log, and reflecting on your recent life, think about what your friends would consider to be your strengths and weaknesses. From these, think about the opportunities and threats you face.

Make sure that you enjoy a few minutes reflecting on your strengths!

Think about what's important to you, and where you want to go:

Next, think about the things that are really important to you, and what you want to achieve with your life.

Setting and achieving goals is a key part of this, and real self-confidence comes from this. Goal setting is the process you use to set yourself targets, and measure your successful hitting of those targets. See our article on goal setting to find out how to use this important technique, or use our Life Plan Workbook to think through your goals in detail.

Inform your goal setting with your SWOT Analysis. Set goals that exploit your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, realize your opportunities, and control the threats you face.

And having set the major goals in your life, identify the first step in each. A tip: Make sure it’s a very small step, perhaps taking no more than an hour to complete!

Start managing your mind:
At this stage, you need to start managing your mind. Learn to pick up and defeat the negative self-talk which can destroy your confidence. See our article on rational positive thinking to find out how to do this.

And learn how to use imagery to create strong mental images of what you’ll feel and experience as you achieve your major goals – there’s something about doing this that makes even major goals seem achievable!

And then commit yourself to success!

The final part of preparing for the journey is to make a clear and unequivocal promise to yourself that you are absolutely committed to your journey, and that you will do all in your power to achieve it.

If as you’re doing it, you find doubts starting to surface, write them down and challenge them calmly and rationally. If they dissolve under scrutiny, that’s great. However if they are based on genuine risks, make sure you set additional goals to manage these appropriately.

Either way, make that promise!
Step 2: Setting Out

This is where you start, ever so slowly, moving towards your goal. By doing the right things, and starting with small, easy wins, you’ll put yourself on the path to success – and build the self-confidence that comes with this.

Build the knowledge you need to succeed:

Looking at your goals, identify the skills you’ll need to achieve them. And then look at how you can acquire these skills confidently and well. Don’t just accept a sketchy, just-good-enough solution – look for a solution, a program or a course that fully equips you to achieve what you want to achieve, and ideally gives you a certificate you can be proud of.

Focus on the basics:

When you’re starting, don’t try to do anything clever or elaborate. And don’t reach for perfection – just enjoy doing simple things successfully and well.

Set small goals, and achieve them:

Starting with the very small goals you identified in step 1, get in the habit of setting them, achieving them, and celebrating that achievement. Don’t make goals particularly challenging at this stage, just get into the habit of achieving them and celebrating them. And little by little, start piling up the successes!

Keep managing your mind:
Stay on top of that positive thinking, keep celebrating and enjoying success, and keep those mental images strong. You can also use a technique like Treasure Mapping to make the visualization even stronger!

And on the other side, learn to handle failure. Accept that mistakes happen when you’re trying something new. In fact, if you get into the habit of treating mistakes as learning experiences, you can (almost) start to see them in a positive light. After all, there’s a lot to be said for the saying “if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger!”
Step 3: Accelerating Towards Success

By this stage, you’ll feel your self-confidence building. You’ll have completed some of the courses you started in step 2, and you’ll have plenty of success to celebrate!

Now’s the time to start stretching yourself. Make the goals a bit bigger, and the challenges a bit tougher. Increase the size of your commitment. And extend the skills you’ve proven into new, but closely related arenas.

Tip:
Keep yourself grounded – this is where people tend to get over-confident and over-stretch themselves. And make sure you don’t start enjoying cleverness for its own sake…

The following resources and services can help you increase your self-confidence more effectively:

*

Design Your Life: Mind Tools life design and goal setting system. Click here to find out more.

*

Make Time for Success: This Mind Tools course contains more than 140 pages of tips, techniques and skills that can help you work better and get the most that life has to offer, increasing your self-confidence every step of the way. Click here to learn more.

* Mind Tools Career Coaches: Our coaches specialize in helping you think about what you want to achieve, set clear and appropriate goals, and then help you make success and the achievement of these goals, a habit. This helps you build your self-confidence on sure foundations. Click here to find out more.

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As long as you keep on stretching yourself enough, but not too much, you’ll find your self-confidence building apace. What’s more, you’ll have earned your self-confidence - because you’ll have put in the hard graft necessary to be successful!

Assessing a Job Offer

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:53:31 +0100

By Robert Half International

No matter what your reason for seeking employment, searching for a job is hard work. It means scanning help-wanted listings, researching companies, sending out resumes and attending multiple interviews can be a lengthy process. So, if you're like most job seekers, you're elated - or at least relieved - when your efforts result in an offer. But before you rush to accept a position, take the time to consider it fully. Here are some guidelines to help you determine whether a job is a good fit for you:

Consider the job description:

This may be the single most important factor in assessing an offer from a potential employer. Ask yourself these questions: Will you enjoy the day-to-day duties of the position? Will you be challenged? Is the level of responsibility appropriate considering your experience? Will you be able to work well with your boss and coworkers? Are you willing to make any required lifestyle changes (travel, longer hours, longer commute) that may affect your quality of life? If the answer to any of these questions is no, accepting the position might make you miserable.

Take career goals into account:

Consider whether the position fits into your long-term career plan. Are you interested in the field or the company's product? Will this job provide the potential for advancement in the area you are pursuing? You don't want to sidetrack your future aspirations.

Evaluate the company:

Is your prospective employer positioned to survive long-term? Two key issues to consider are the firm's financial health and stability. You can do your own research by reviewing the organization's annual report, reading analyst ratings and gathering any other relevant fiscal information available online or through the company's corporate communication department. When addressing the stability of the firm, do your homework to find out if the company is going through any sort of financial or legal turmoil, which might make it a poor choice for employment.

Consider company culture:

How well do the firm's corporate values fit with your own? A business that expects 12-hour days when you only want to work eight is probably not a good fit for you. Although, if you're pursuing a management role - or just beginning your career - you may need to put in extra hours to earn your stripes. Also consider the work style of your future boss and coworkers. If you enjoy operating independently but your potential manager will require you to constantly check in with him, there could be personality conflicts down the road.

Review the compensation package:

How does the salary they're offering compare to what you made in your last position? Next, take a look at the benefits package. How attractive or generous are the perks (stock options, tuition reimbursement, vacation, etc.)? If you're considering two offers, these additional benefits could be the deciding factor. If an offer meets most of your requirements but doesn't include a benefit that's important to you - child or elder care assistance, for instance - it doesn't hurt to ask if that perk could be included in your agreement.

Careful consideration of the issues discussed above will help you reach an informed decision to accept, negotiate or reject the offer. If, after evaluating each of these points, you are still unsure, listen to your gut. Maybe there is something about the corporate culture that makes you uncomfortable - if so, it's probably wise to trust your instincts and decline. Accepting a new position is a big step - and you want to go into the arrangement knowing all the facts. With a thoughtful analysis of the pros and cons you'll be prepared to make the best decision for your career.