Job Resume Skills Reviews & Tips

Job Resume Skills Reviews & Tips As an example, say youre applying for the place of dump truck driver. If youre interested in turning in an application for a particular job, review the post carefully and pay attention to the list of skill requirements. You may find below a list of the greatest skills you may put on your resume based on the kind of job that you are applying for. Speak to professionals in the area If youre having a hard time determining what skills an employer might want to see, think about contacting a professional already working in the business or position very similar to the one that youre applying for. The competitive climate of the work market has gotten to a fever pitch in the past few years. A great deal of jobs require that you manage projects, and tech isnt any different. Virtually every field of tech focuses on finding solutions to problems. High stress ought to be paid on the section that includes the academic qualification of the candidate. Cu stomer service is the care a customer receives prior to, during and following a buy. Key skills are work-related skills that you will need to do a job. Soft skills are the skills that are pertinent to every job. Skills Skills are most important portion of consumer service resumes. Things You Should Know About Job Resume Skills Most jobs require that you have a fundamental comprehension of computer programs including Excel and Microsoft Office, in addition to skills in internet navigation, social networking sites and email systems. Retail workers should really understand the company they work for, the products they sell, and the kinds of consumers who purchase their merchandise. Businesses want to find marketers that are masters of industry tools. Resume creators make it possible for jobseekers to make and download their finished resumes right from the world wide web to begin applying straight away. The skill section may be the most important section on your resume if you p lace it together correctly. Take extreme attention of the formatting, and content which you use. There are lots of certain elements needed to compose an effective resume. Thus when writing down your job skills take some time to strategize and find out the very best approach to organize them in your resume. Technical skills are either something youve got or you dont, but theyre always something which you are able to learn. Things that can be bedrngnis strongly related the work really shouldnt be mentioned. Jobs are constantly changing and evolving, and you need to demonstrate an openness to raise and learn with that shift. You are going to have rough time locating a work description that doesnt consist of communication as an essential skill. The very best approach would be to learn the essence of the job. Soft skills are a little bit more vague and open to interpretation. Exceptional people skills are a critical portion of what makes you such a standout employee whod be an asset to any company that offers you an opportunity to shine. Rumors, Deception and Job Resume Skills Listing your skills provides a chance to showcase your abilities and experiences to prime employers for the remainder of your resume. Resumes are made to capture a prospective employers interest, so they may want to interview you. In many instances, it is going to be effortless to learn what skills you want to be thought about for the job. You might not be in a position to work all the skills youve got into your resume but keep a list of your top five skills linked to the job for which youre applying in mind once you interview. Your skills are an overview of what you could do for the possible employer if you were offered the work at the moment. When you know which in-demand skills you currently have, you can find out what to learn next to get ready for the work market.

Article 77 - Principals - Punitive Articles of the UCMJ

Article 77 - Principals - Punitive Articles of the UCMJArticle 77 - Principals - Punitive Articles of the UCMJText. Any person punishable under this chapter who- (1) commits an offense punishable by this chapter, or aids, abets, counsels, commands, or procures its commission or (2) causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him would be punishableby this chapter is a principal. Explanation (1) Purpose. Article 77 does notlagelage define an offense. Its purpose is to make clear that a person need not personally perform the acts necessary to constitute an offense to be guilty of it. A person who aids, abets, counsels, commands, or procures the commission of an offense, or who causes an act to be done which, if done by that person directly, would be an offense is equally guilty of the offense as one who commits it directly, and may be punished to the saatkorn extent. Article 77 eliminates the common law distinctions between principal in the first degree (perpetrator), principal in the second degree (one who aids, counsels, commands, or encourages the commission of an offense and who is present at the scene of the crime- commonly known as an aider and abettor), and accessory before the fact (one who aids, counsels, commands, or encourages the commission of an offense and who is not present at the scene of the crime). All of these are now principals. (2) Who may be liable for an offense? (a) Perpetrator. A perpetrator is one who actually commits the offense, either by the perpetrators own hand or by causing an offense to be committed by knowingly or intentionally inducing or setting in motion acts by an animate or inanimate agency or instrumentality which result in the commission of an offense. For example, a person who knowingly conceals contraband drugs in an automobile, and then induces another person, who is unaware and has no reason to know of the presence of drugs, to drive the automobile onto a military installation, is, although not presen t in the automobile, guilty of wrongful introduction of drugs onto a military installation. (On these facts, the driver would be guilty of no crime.) Similarly, if, upon orders of a superior, a soldier shot a person who appeared to the soldier to be an enemy, but was known to the superior as a friend, the superior would be guilty of murder (but the soldier would be guilty of no offense). (b) Other Parties. If one is not a perpetrator, to be guilty of an offense committed by the perpetrator, the person must One who, without knowledge of the criminal venture or plan, unwittingly encourages or renders assistance to another in the commission of an offense is not guilty of a crime. See the parentheticals in the examples in paragraph 1b(2)(a) above. In some circumstances, inaction may make one liable to a anlass, where there is a duty to act. If a person (for example, a security guard) has a duty to interfere in the commission of an offensebut does not interfere, that person is a party t o the crime if such a noninterference is intended to and does operate as an aid or encouragement to the actual perpetrator. (ii) Share in the criminal purpose of design. (i) Assist, encourage, advise, instigate, counsel, command, or procure another to commit, or assist, encourage, advise, counsel, or command another in the commission of the offense and (3) Presence. (a) Not necessary. Presence at the scene of the crime is not necessary to make one a party to the crime and liable as a principal. For example, one who, knowing that person intends to shoot another person and intending that such an assault be carried out, provides the person with a pistol, is guilty of assault when the offense is committed, even though not present at the scene. (b)Not sufficient. Mere presence at the scene of a crime does not make one a principal unless the requirements of paragraph 1b(2)(a) or (b) have been met. (4)Parties whose intent differs from the perpetrators. When an offense charged requires pro of of a specific intent or particular state of mind as an element, the evidence must prove that the accused had that intent or state of mind, whether the accused is charged as a perpetrator or an other party to crime. It is possible for a party to have a state of mind more or less culpable than the perpetrator of the offense. In such a case, the party may be guilty of a more or less serious offense than that committed by the perpetrator. For example, when a homicide is committed, the perpetrator may act in the heat of sudden passion caused by adequate provocation and be guilty of manslaughter, while the party who, without such passion, hands the perpetrator a weapon and encourages the perpetrator to kill the victim, would be guilty of murder. On the other hand, if a party assists a perpetrator in an assault on a person who, known only to the perpetrator, is an officer, the party would be guilty only of assault, while the perpetrator would be guilty of assault on an officer. (5)Resp onsibility for other crimes. A principalmay be convicted of crimes committed by another principal if such crimes are likely to result as a natural and probable consequence of the criminal venture or design. For example, the accused who is a party to a burglary is guilty as a principal not only of the offense of burglary but also, if the perpetrator kills an occupant in the course of the burglary, of murder. (?see alsoparagraph 5 concerning liability for offenses committed by co-conspirators.) (6)Principalsindependently liable. One may be a principal, even if the perpetrator is not identified or prosecuted,or is acquitted. (7)Withdrawal. A person may withdraw from a common venture or design and avoid liability for any offenses committed after the withdrawal. To be effective, the withdrawal must meet the following requirements (a) It must occur before the offense is committed (b) The assistance, encouragement, advice, instigation, counsel, command, or procurement given by the person m ust be effectively countermanded or negated and (c) The withdrawal must be clearly communicated to the would-be perpetrators or to appropriate law enforcement authorities in time for the perpetrators to abandon the plan or for law enforcement authorities to prevent the offense. Above Information from Manual for Court Martial, 2002, Chapter 4, Paragraph 1

Banish the Boring Sales Meeting!

Banish the Boring ausverkauf MeetingBanish the Boring schlussverkauf MeetingBanish the Boring Sales Meeting Earle McLeod, author of Selling with Noble Purpose (Wiley, 2013)Sales meetings are a chance to inspire your gruppe and reinforce why your noble ausverkauf purpose (NSP) matters. Ive attended thousands of schlussverkauf meetings and have witnessed countless mistakes.Following are among the fruchtwein common mistakes organizations makeSales numbers are emphasized without sharing customer stories. This is the biggest and most common error. Numbers without customer stories erode your NSP. A big rah-rah about sales numbers does not improve sales skills, nor does it build a tribe of true believers. It tells salespeople, All we care about is cash.Too many presentations are given by home office staff. Everyone wants to get in front of the sales force. As the sales meeting draws closer, more groups demand time on the agenda. The result is an endless information dump that doesnt improve sales performance one bit. Save these for Web-based presentations before or after the meeting.Speakers dont understand the sales reality. If your speaker doesnt know what type of customers your sales force calls on or how you differentiate yourself, that person shouldnt be speaking at your meeting. Every presenter internal or external should know your NSP and market conditions.The successes of only a few are celebrated. Watching the same people pick up bonus checks year after year does not motivate the masses. Sales awards are great, but dont neglect people who made a difference to customers, even if theyre not the top producers this year.Products are introduced without customer context. A lengthy presentation about product features that neglects to describe how the product or products impact customers does more harm than good. Present new products to the sales force the way you want them to present them to customers, with clear links to the customers critical goals and challenges .Team-building exercises that alienate people are used. Imagine trying to hoist yourself over a rock-climbing wall if youre overweight. Now imagine having to do it in front of your boss. Unless youre the Navy Seals, team-building exercises that spotlight peoples physical inadequacies have a chilling effect on employee morale. Stick to team building that emphasizes NSP skills such as communicating and connecting.There is no opportunity for skills practice. If, by the time your salespeople leave the meeting, they are expected to sell a new product or initiative, then they should practice doing it while theyre in the meeting.There is no opportunity for salespeople to interact with one another. Sitting in a darkened room watching PowerPoint slides is like standing on a street corner watching a parade next to stranger you might ooh and ahh over a fancy float, but youre not going to call each other up afterward to discuss float-building tips. Meaningful interaction builds shared commitmen t, trust, and confidence.If the preceding list describes your last sales conference, here are five things you can do that will make your next meeting more effective1.Tell NSP customer stories. Imagine kicking off your national sales meeting with a dramatic story about how you made a difference to a customer. What does that tell your sales force? If its a big meeting, its worth bringing in an actual customer. If its a small meeting, have a salesperson or senior leader do it. When a senior leader describes how you made a difference to a customer, it tells your sales force, Our work matters.2.Celebrate the success of your sales force and your customers. When you announce your sales figures, include how many customers you helped. Instead of saying, We closed this many deals, say, We helped this many customers. Instead of saying, We generated this much revenue, say, We drove this much revenue for our company, and we helped our customers drive this much revenue for their organizations.3.E mphasize NSP in sales awards. When you give out sales awards, describe how the big sales affected the customers. Also, consider giving out NSP awards to the people who assisted, the home office staff, and those salespeople who missed the big prize but still delivered solid results.4.Introduce products in the context of customer goals. Use the NSP model customer goals first, then product features. Before you describe the product features, describe the customer goals and challenges that the product addresses.5.Give your sales force the chance to interact. A structured activity like sharing your best win with your peers builds teamwork and morale. Golf is nice, but youll improve shared commitment with an exercise that pulls NSP front and center.Sales meetings are your chance to celebrate, teach, and reinforce what matters to your organization. When you focus on your NSP, you improve morale, camaraderie, and sales performance.Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, from Selli ng with Noble Purpose How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud by Lisa Earle McLeod. Copyright (c) 2013 by Lisa Earle McLeod. This book is available at all bookstores and online booksellers.Author BioLisa Earle McLeod, author of Selling with Noble Purpose How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud is a sales leadership consultant who has worked with clients like Apple, Kimberly-Clark and Pfizer to create passionate, purpose-driven sales organizations. A sought-after keynote speaker, McLeod has spent over 10,000 hours coaching salespeople and leaders and has conducted over 500 workshops and keynotes. McLeod writes leadership commentary for Forbes.com andhas been quoted in major news outlets such as Fortune, the New York Times and others. Go to NobleSalesPurpose.com for free videos and training.Read more from Lisa McLeod Sales Put Noble Sales Purpose Before ProfitsRead more about sales in the Resource CenterSales Recruiters How toHire Top Sales PeopleHow High-P erforming Staffing Companies Drive Sales MotivationBeyond Sales Recruitment Help Managers Get More from the Sales Team

Some Hard Truths about Searching for a Job

Some Hard Truths about Searching for a Job Some Hard Truths about Searching for a Job “Could you take a quick look at my resume and tell me what you think?” If we had a dollar for every time we’ve been asked this question, we’d be rich! Let’s go a little deeper into this question and gain a little insight. One of the primary reasons people spend so much time and effort in writing a resume is that it’s the one activity within the whole job search process they think they can control. So, instead of just picking up the phone and calling a prospective employer to ask for a face-to-face interview (which risks potential rejection), they sit and obsess over their resume. Here’s the hard truth: It’s very rare to get hired by simply submitting a resume. The real purpose of a resume is to help you get an interview. At the interview, remember that 40 percent of the hiring decision is based on your personality, so you actually have to make it to the interview, then sell yourself! How does your resume play into that? It’s really very simple make it a good one: Preferably no more than one page, but two is ok for people with more experience Even in technical roles, most of your experience should be comprehensible by a recruiter (avoid talking over their heads if you actually want to get in the door to impress the hiring manager) Don’t get too creative with your design, layout, and other visuals. A classic style is classic for a reason. Stick to a PC/Windows or universal font, 10-12 point size and black or charcoal color on white paper Go easy on boldface type, italics, and underlining. If you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing! Prepare it in a simple Word format that can easily be viewed on most computers, or a PDF if you want the format to stay locked and clean Use reverse chronological order. List your present, or most recent job first, and then work backwards State the complete name of the company you work for, or have worked for, and what they do, how long you were there â€" You can often list your employment time using only the years, omitting the specific months List the position you held and your accomplishments Begin with verbs, i.e. “Managed company tax reporting, finance, invoicing, purchasing.” A well-written summary is a powerful introduction to a resume. It primes the reader on a few key tenets before diving into your positions. It’s not an objective statement, just a 3-4-line narrative summary (written in third person, with no personal pronouns) of who you are and what you bring to the table. Skip personal information, i.e. married with three kids. It might sound stable to you but to a hiring manager looking for someone who can travel, it might keep you from gaining an interview. And since it’s often illegal for employers to consider that kind of information in a candidate, your resume could be thrown out for simply introducing potentially biased information. Recruiters and hiring managers love numbers. Give them any sort of quantitative data statistics, percentages, or dollar amounts to grab their attention. Avoid vague or over-used keywords, jargon and phrases. These include “customer-oriented,” “excellent communication skills,” and “creative.” All of these words lack substantial or concrete meaning and do absolutely nothing to help you obtain an interview. Use industry-standard titles. If your employer has a strange title like ‘Senior Marketing Advisor II” and that’s not clear to recruiters, you have the creative license to change this to the most appropriate and widely understood title, for example “Sr. Marketing Manager, Lead Generation”. Photos shouldnt be included in any resume in the United States (some other countries have a different policy). Including your photo on a resume actually opens a company up to potentially discriminating your application based on appearance. Because of this, most companies will specifically toss out your resume if it includes a picture, since nobody wants to be accused of hiring (or not hiring) you based on your appearance. Here’s another hard truth. People misunderstand who is reading their resume and over-estimate how much time is spent reviewing it. Most organized companies have an HR department with at least one recruiter whose job is to identify potential talent and fill an interview pool of 5-10 candidates to present to the hiring manager. And since those 5-10 people come from hundreds of resumes (thousands if your name is Google!), that means they’re skimming resumes for roughly 6 seconds each until something interesting catches their eye.   The hiring manager is actually much less concerned with the resume than you might think. He’ll look it over, but his job is to trust the recruiter’s selection of the applicant pool, then make decisions about those applicants in the interview. Let’s make it clear:   The resume must impress the recruiter first and foremost.   That is your target.   The interview is where you impress the hiring manager.   Approaching your resume from this perspective w ith this information might drastically change the way your resume looks. One final hard truth. Don’t be bashful. You have to have some guts and be willing to take the risk of picking up the phone and having someone say no. Getting interviews is hard work. It requires tenacity, persistence, determination, and courage to push yourself upon people â€" even if it doesn’t come naturally to you. No one likes being rejected, but applying for jobs is a numbers game.   You prepare the right documents, adopt the best behaviors, then you apply and apply until your options start surfacing.   Plenty of people will offer you the easy way out: Posting your resume on a job board in hopes that awesome jobs start contacting you daily with great salaries. We both know that’s a little too good to be true. Third party recruiters/headhunters often mean well, but they may only help you until they lose confidence in you.   And while all avenues are worth exploring, finding a job will usually require effort, and there’s a reason people still do it “the hard way.” It w orks.

The Comma and Your Career

The Comma and Your Career The Comma and Your Career Written communication is one of the most important ways that job seekers can remain competitive. A resume without typos can mean the difference between getting an interview or not. Although this may seem obvious to many job seekers, Grammarly recently found that the average candidate makes up to six spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes in his or her resume. With that many errors in a document meant to showcase one’s talents, imagine how many mistakes might end up in an email or report on the job! Fortunately, there are ways to ensure that your writing will not scare off potential employers or existing colleagues. A good place to start is triple-checking your use of common punctuation, like commas. In light of the recent Thanksgiving holiday, the Grammarly team polled more than 1,700 Facebook fans â€" including job seekers and professionals â€" on what punctuation they are most “thankful” for in their writing. The semi-colon (13 percent), em-dash (10 percent), and period (8 percent) were top contenders; yet, overwhelmingly we learned that English writers are most thankful for the comma (45 percent). Although writers enjoy the comma, many do not know how to use it â€" to their disadvantage in the job search and on the job. According to a recent review of English writers conducted by the Grammarly, comma misuse is a prevalent error. Moreover, there are many ways to misuse a comma: Not including a comma before a coordinating conjunction (43 percent of all comma mistakes among Grammarly users) Comma misuse in an introductory phrase (8 percent of comma mistakes) Comma misuse inside a compound subject (7 percent of comma mistakes) Comma misuse around interrupters (6 percent of comma mistakes) There are around 28 different types of mistakes that English writers make related to the comma alone. However, not including a comma before a coordinating conjunction â€" and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet â€" is six times more common than any other. If you are among the writers who misuse the comma or make any number of common grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes on a regular basis, there are steps that you can take to improve. Read your writing aloud. A great way to find mistakes in your cover letter or other professional communication is to read the text aloud. Hearing the words you have written will help to highlight any mistakes that you may be skipping over during a silent reading. It will also provide you with a good representation of how the text sounds to others. Use an automated proofreader to check your text. Automated proofreaders are powerful tools that enable professionals and job seekers to check their own work and learn from mistakes, anytime and anywhere. These tools concentrate on the grammar, spelling, and punctuation of your text so that you can work more diligently on the content and style. Ask a colleague to edit your work. Maybe you have checked and double-checked that pesky email for your boss; and, maybe it is free of grammar mistakes. However, does it make sense contextually and stylistically? Asking a colleague to review it over before pressing “send” is a great way to get feedback on both what you are saying and how you are saying it. High quality on-the-job, written communication provides credibility and opportunities. Strong writing skills are a foundational element of professional success, and the steps that you take to improve your writing today will benefit your career for years to come.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. We're SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career. Like this article? We also offer tons of free eBooks on career and recruiting topics - check out Get a Better Job the Right Way and Why It Matters Who Does Your Recruiting. document.write('[Read more '); in Resume Format]

Gender Neutral Interview and Business Clothing

Gender Neutral Interview and Business Clothing Gender Neutral Interview and Business Clothing If your day-to-day attire doesn’t conform to a traditional gender norm, your interview clothing doesn’t have to, either. In this day and age, there should be no position that requires you to dress in a way that makes you uncomfortable. Gender Neutral Attire Whether you’re a woman who steers clear of overtly feminine apparel, a man who prefers a more gender-neutral look, or a non-gender-conforming or transgender person, you’ll be able to dress for success without a problem. The key is to find clothing that fits you properly and looks polished and professional. Thats true regardless of what you opt to wear. Ideally, all you have to worry about is fulfilling those three categories. Heres what that means: Clothes should not be too large or small, tight or baggy. (Suggestions for androgynous business clothing sources are below, but also consider visiting a tailor if necessary.)As well as fitting properly, clothing should be clean and wrinkle-free.When in doubt, neutral colors- such as black, taupe, beige, brown, blue, and gray- are good options.   Tips for Deciding What to Wear If you’ve never felt comfortable in a dress, you shouldn’t force yourself to wear one to an interview. Confidence is key during an interview, and it’s hard to be confident when you’re feeling uncomfortable in your clothing. Ultimately, you shouldn’t feel pressured to present yourself in a way that doesn’t align with your identity. If youre worried about being discriminated against, you should consult the  Human Rights Campaign  website to learn more about discrimination laws in your state, including whether or not you are protected by law and what to do if you feel you have been a victim of discrimination. Also, if you find yourself stressing out about how to present yourself in an interview,  you should keep in mind that your well being at work is a huge factor in your professional success. You probably wouldn’t want to work at a company that would pressure you to dress in a way that’s at odds with your identity, so in the long-run, it’s best to wear clothing that reflects you as an individual. So, if you’re a woman who rocks a blazer or a bow-tie way better than you’ve ever worn a dressâ€"so be it! Employer Dress Codes What you wear to a job interview is your choice. However, the employer may have a dress code in place that impacts what you wear to work. The  Human Rights Campaign  recommends  that If an employer has a dress code, it should modify it to avoid gender stereotypes and enforce it consistently. Requiring men to wear suits and women to wear skirts or dresses, while legal, is based on gender stereotypes. Alternatively, codes that require attire professionally appropriate to the office or unit in which an employee works are gender-neutral. Employers can legally implement gender-specific dress codes  as long as they are not arbitrarily enforced and do not favor or affect one gender over another. Once you secure a job offer, you can consult with the companys human resources department or the hiring manager to inquire about the company dress code and how it might impact you.   Androgynous Clothes for Interviews and Work If you’re looking for style advice, check out  Qwear, an excellent resource for people with gender-non-conforming styles. And, if you’re ready to do some online shopping, check out these stores that sell androgynous business clothing, as well as formal menswear for women, that will work well for an interview outfit: Haute Butch  has an extensive clothing collection for women who prefer a masculine style of dress.VEEA  is a popular source of androgynous fashion, selling dress shirts, jackets, cardigans, vests, and accessories.GFW Clothing  (that stands for gender-free world) sells shirts that are designed to fit body types, rather than genders.  Although technically a store for menswear,  Topman  is known to provide masculine clothing in fits and sizes that cater to women.

Should you take Fridays off Pros and cons of summer hours

Should you take Fridays off Pros and cons of summer hours Should you take Fridays off Pros and cons of summer hours A couple of years back I made a major professional decision to stop working on Fridays. It followed a lot of soul-searching and some extremely tough years during which I’d worked so much I missed some important moments. Actually, at that point, I was working so many hours each day that I missed on pretty much anything that wasn’t work-related. I was incredibly successful â€" but also completely drained and emotionally depleted.Over the years my dedication to freeing my Fridays has ebbed and flowed. Depending on client work and personal issues, my Fridays might include a few hours of professional catch up - or none at all. I no longer work full Fridays, and for me at least that’s a start to reclaiming my work-life balance and the slightest bit of my sanity. It’s also inspired some close friends and colleagues to follow my lead.An industry thing? Some industries have an unofficial summer Friday policy in which they just aren’t around at all on Fridays from Memorial Day throu gh Labor Day. I remember being surprised when I first started noticing that many of my colleagues in the publishing industry stopped answering emails on Friday â€" then I adapted.Before you start your own personal Friday-free policy, consider this first:Do you keep regular hours the rest of the time?How flexible is your job to begin with? If you’re known as the person who always opens and closes the proverbial shop, you might not want to shake things up. For some people, it’s the complete opposite - their hours are so flexible or unusual, to begin with, that adding a day off makes sense.“As a crisis communications manager and media trainer for executives, I always have to be “on” and ready for anything,” said Crisis Manager Renu Bakshi. “Because I don’t keep banker’s hours â€" working early, late and weekends if required â€" I generally take Fridays off,” she continued. Since Bakshi is already working extra hours, none of her clients will think she’s slacking off if she’s not around on some Fridays.Can it wait until Monday?When strict deadlines are involved, it can be tough to pick up momentum from the previous Thursday. We live in a lightning-fast news cycle and with many industries that can take a major hit from a thoughtless tweet. Before disappearing for an extended weekend consider the pros and cons of leaving things up in the air for an extra day â€" while your detractors or competitors might be working overtime.Can you handle the stress?If you plan on taking Fridays off, you should realize that you’ll have an extra load to finish up on Thursday evening and some heavy lifting on Monday morning. For some people, the pleasure of a shorter week makes up for it, but others can’t handle the stress.“We used to offer Summer Fridays but stopped offering them for psychological reasons,” said Elizabeth Edwards, Founder President of Volume PR. They stopped though since the extra day seemed to stress people out and on some level, le d to burnout. Edwards explained that needing to work longer hours other days was “cutting down the room for “brain breaks” and therefore increasing overall/net stress.”How reliable are you to begin with?If you’re already reliable and always there when needed, taking a day for yourself won’t add stress to your client’s workflow. Bakshi said, “I respond to my clients quickly on a regular basis, so a slower response on Fridays doesn’t bother them.”Tell them about it … or not:Only you can know if you want your co-workers, team members or clients to know about your new policy. If everything is running smoothly and well organized, you might be able to take Fridays off without anyone even noticing. Bakshi has an autoresponder set up “that tells clients I will be slow to respond if it isn’t a crisis. I don’t blatantly state that I am taking the day off because, in my business, there’s no such thing.”Decide what to do with your FridaysSome people use their bon us day for passion projects. Others take care of personal maintenance or even doctor’s appointments. Bakshi said, “I have found taking Fridays off helps me get ahead for the following week, be it running errands or buying groceries ahead of the weekend rush.”