Have you ever heard that you should step away from your desk at regular intervals to give yourself a break? Stretch your legs, grab a snack, catch up with a coworker, or whatever it is that most appeals to your short break time. Taking those moments away from whatever project you are working on helps your body to reset on many different levels and jump back in with greater focus and stamina. That said, let’s imagine what the lack of taking that frequent break looks like. If you sit in your office for hours at a time, then you are likely growing less excited about what you’re working on and starting to have mental drifts onto other, more enticing topics. You think you are being a responsible, hardworking employee by pushing through those temptations to stop and take a minute, but, [...]

There are many facets to management that have their perks. Generally you find yourself with a nicer paycheck and maybe a company car or a bonus vacation to offer your family. There are days when your job and your authority are a welcome friend. However, there are also those terrible days when your position as manager means delivering bad news to hardworking people. Those days when you have to sit down across from someone that you know and trust and tell them that they are being laid off. This is a circumstance in which being in management is quite painful, and you dread walking into the office. It is on those hard days that you need someone in your corner to ease the pain and provide a silver lining of hope for both you and your employees. Platinum Resumes is proud [...]

How can you take captive the few seconds that you have to sway a potential hiring manager? We all know that he or she will only briefly comb over your resume before moving along to the next one, so you have to make sure that you have done everything you can to make yours stand out. From career highlights and accolades to the most relevant skill set, where are you supposed to find the real estate on your resume to list any pertinent volunteer work? And, should you even take the time to mess with it at all? As a company that has a wealth of experience in preparing professionals for successful careers, we know what a stand out resume should look like. We can testify to the fact that volunteer work should definitely be considered as you are creating the [...]

How much is too much? Isn’t that a question we often ask ourselves? Both personally and professionally, we are constantly placed in situations where we are left to make a decision on where to draw the line. Sometimes the decision made brings only minimal impact to our lives, whereas other times the impact can be significant. Maybe it’s time for dessert and you’re debating on that second scoop of ice cream. Maybe you’ve got a new guy in the office and you’re determining just how far to take it when you badger him with questions and initiate him into the group. These are fairly low-key examples of crossing the line. Perhaps, however, you have recently been tempted by that old college friend to indulge in a little social media rant or post a few subtle yet telling photos from last weekend’s [...]

Do you have a boss who is hard to deal with? Perhaps there are days when you ignore that elephant in the room and pretend that your job is great despite the tension, and then other days when you are two seconds away from packing your things and leaving for good. Poor management choices can lead to disgruntled employees, and it’s easy to join the masses and get all worked up about the current drama. However, in the long run, you will more than likely benefit from holding your tongue and closely considering that relationship that you have with your boss. He or she can be very influential in the remainder of your career, for better or for worse. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, the challenge of a difficult boss is not something unique to your job [...]

Believe it or not, your education may be finally drawing to a close. It seems as though you’ve spent forever sitting through lectures and writing papers, but the day has finally come to leave your student role behind and step into the career world as a professional. The problem, however, may lie in the fact that you don’t feel like much of a professional yet. Or, perhaps, you feel like you are worthy of the label of professional, but you don’t think others give you the proper credit and recognition that you deserve. Finalizing one’s education and stepping into the career world full-time can be a heavy and multi-faceted process. You have to find a job and bring home a paycheck. That, of course, is the bottom line. However, in order to land a job, you have to present yourself and [...]

Being the new guy in town is never easy. Perhaps you recently moved to Kansas City and are struggling to fit in. You need people that you can trust to help you get acquainted with your community and help you find your niche. This is a process that does not happen overnight, and it often takes longer than we want to feel settled into a new place. This experience can be even more difficult if you have zero job leads to explore. You know that the friends and relationships will eventually come, but you can’t do without that paycheck for much longer! Perhaps, on the flip side of this scenario, you are not so new to KC anymore. You’ve lived here for quite some time, but you’ve either recently lost your job and have been struggling to find one at all. [...]

Are you asking all of the necessary questions when it comes to your potential job benefits? Do you have a clear understanding of what exactly the company is offering and how to take full advantage of that offer? Many of us, when entering into a different job, are bombarded with the many details involved with starting something new. There are new routines to learn, a new office to get settled into, new coworkers and managers to get acquainted with, and many new policies and procedures to read about. However, in the mix of all the data overload, we often forget to take note of all the benefits that are being given to us in addition to our new salary. These benefits have been specifically designed and chosen for the company employees, and you are now a valued part of that team. [...]

With summer vacation season upon us, it seems like the perfect time to stop and consider taking a break from your work. Do you long for a nice break from work but have zero days to take off? Or, alternatively, do you have plenty of vacation days built up but too many projects in your way? Having a solid work ethic is a very important quality that an employer looks for in his or her top employees, but there has to be a line drawn between a hard worker and one who is overworked. Where and how do you draw that line? There are several questions that you need to be asking yourself on a steady basis, ways in which you need to stay in touch with yourself and how you really feel about your everyday grind. Some punch the clock [...]

Striking the right balance is a constant chore in our lives, both personally and professionally. How much is too much? When should I finish up at the office and head home? How much salad should I eat before I go for dessert? How long should I wait before I call the girl I met earlier today? We are constantly asking ourselves where to set the appropriate boundaries and limitations. This same concept applies to the process of searching for a new job. How lengthy should your profile be? How formal should your interview attire be? How soon is too soon to follow up with your potential hiring manager? These questions should be answered intentionally and carefully. Each part of the process that goes into applying for a job is important and exists for a specific reason. The goal is to weed [...]