Home Business Center – Learn to Work at Home

“Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.”
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Sometimes it’s an easy choice to leave a company. However, one of the most important choices that you can make in your career is to leave your current employer in the right way. Like any other relationship, there are faults and virtues with every company. At the end of a relationship, people tend to focus on the faults.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
When you leave a company, it is like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Regardless of how you do it, there will still be emotions. The longer the relationship, the deeper the feelings. Keep this in mind during the separation. People express their emotions in different ways so be prepared to respond with compassion.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD
I’ve learned first hand not to burn bridges. In fact, I was hired by my former boss within two years of leaving the company. He had moved onto a bigger job with another company and thought of me when a position came open in his department. Since we already had a great relationship, the interview process was both short and painless. Also, the job was a significant step up for me both professionally and financially.

TO DO OR NOT TO DO?
Here are a few do’s and don’ts that may help make the transition a little easier for everyone.

DO write and give a simple resignation letter to your immediate boss and, perhaps, your Human Resources Director, if appropriate. By putting a few key items in writing, it memorializes your intention to leave the company. It also gives you a chance to pre-play the discussion with your boss. The letter should include the following: your last day on the job, open items that you need to complete prior to leaving, and any work that you will need to pass off to someone else.

DON’T say anything negative about the company or anyone working for the company. While this is a good policy to employ at all times, it is even more critical when you are leaving. Disgruntled employees may seek you out during this time to air their negative feelings about the company or people working for the company. Resist the temptation to entertain these conversations. It is likely that your comments will be shared with others.

DO give as much advance notice as possible to allow for a smooth transition. Typically, this is two to four weeks. Use your best judgment to decide how long you will need to give keeping in mind what’s best for the company. Be aware that is also possible that the company will ask you to leave immediately, especially if you’re going to work for a competitor. This is nothing personal and should not be considered an insult.

DO work hard until you leave. It’s perfectly natural to get “short-timer’s disease” as you have already mentally moved onto the new position. Whether discussing movies, books, or relationships; people generally remember the beginning and end more than the middle.

DON’T take anything that is not yours. Whether it’s a stapler, a book that belongs to the company, copy paper, or paper clips; leave them behind. While you’re at it, tidy up a bit.

DO make yourself available for your replacement. If the company hires your replacement before you leave, offer to train them. Even after you have departed, it’s a good idea to leave a phone number where you can be reach with times that it is acceptable to call.

DON’T abuse e-mail, the telephone, or the internet during your last days. Be sure to keep your communication as professional as you have during your tenure.

There’s no reason that you still can’t be friends when it’s over. If you are careful to maintain a good reputation with the company, their suppliers, their customers, and employees; it will pay off considerably. It may not happen right away, but your paths will cross again.

Business ideas for home based businesses really depend on your area of interest. If you like selling door to door or organizing home parties, then you will find that there are many opportunities for you to operate your own business out of your home. This still means getting dressed and going out in all types of weather. However, there are also business ideas for home businesses where you can do everything online taking advantage of what the Internet has to offer and the options are many.

Most people think that in order to have an Internet business, they need to take a computer course, which only adds to the expense of setting up a business. All you need to operate a work from home Internet business is your own personal computer and an Internet connection. Once you have that then the world is at your feet when it comes to business ideas for home based businesses.

You don’t necessarily need a website of your own to do business on the Internet. It all depends on what you are interested in doing as part of your work at home Internet business. If you have a flair for writing, then you will find a wealth of business ideas for home based businesses by searching the Internet. Those who do set up websites are always looking for writers for their articles and you can register with either elance or Guru, or both. These companies allow you to bid on writing once you pay the subscription fee, which is very reasonable – from $75 to $90 every three months.

If you do not want to pay anything at all to set up a work from home Internet business, then this possible as well. There are many sites that advertise work that you can do from your own home, using your computer and the Internet for your research. Write articles for magazines and if you have an education background, you can develop lesson plans for various publishers. As long as you can send and receive email and have a word processing program on your computer, then you can avail of many different business ideas for home based businesses.

When you want to work from home, the Internet is the best place to start searching for business ideas for home. Here you will find opportunities that require small or no investment to get started. When you take advantage of business ideas for home business, then the sky is the limit. How much money you make depends on how much time you want to devote to the Internet business you create.

There are plenty of business ideas for home based businesses, and some of the best are on the net.

Recruitment of top notch young talent who can enter your work force and provide that kind of long term growth potential and can only come from a smart and productive staff is always a challenge.  One of the big reasons any business works to keep its public image high and to project the concept that they are an employer of choice is to recruit the best and the brightest from the youth ranks.

Young employees bring a lot to a business that can compliment an older work force and make the business much more vital.  Younger employees are savvy to the wants and needs of their peers.  So instead of trying to guess how to market to the current generation of 18-28 year olds who are the age segment with disposable income, by keeping such employees on staff, you have the inside track to the priorities of the current generation.  Further youthful employees are often optimistic and out to change the world.  Their sense of mission and belief in the system as a means to make the world a better place results not only in a better morale internally but in business philosophy that shares those values.

The tendency to name the upcoming generations can be a bit trite but it helps in knowing who the target group for recruitment are.  And that group of youthful future employees that will be hitting the job market in the next few years has been dubbed “the millennials”.  And despite the traumatizing events of world terrorism, war and the decay of the environment, the millennials come to you with that youthful enthusiasm and desire to make a big difference in the world that sets them apart from previous generations.

To lure the brightest minds coming from the nation’s colleges, some rethinking of what we put in front of these young people is in order.  They are not leaving academia strictly with the objective of making a lot of money.  So to turn the head of youth workers who can make a change for the better in your business…

§    Don’t just make the potential job about money or your recognizable business name.  The reputation of the company can be as much a negative as it can be a positive.  The millennial recruitee will look past the sign on the building at what the company is really all about.

§    The millennial is more internet savvy and wants to use modern technology to accomplish business goals.  It’s in our best interest to facilitate that goal because it will keep us in touch with the marketplace.

§    Corporate culture is an important factor for both recruiting and retaining good employees from this generation.  Millenials are looking for a business climate that is creative, able to change when new things become available, highly accessible upper management and responsive.

§    Corporate values mean a lot to the millennial crowd.   That means that those high minded values printed on posters and plastered all over the Human Resource department have to actually mean something.  By demonstrating that the business lives up to its ethics and values, that will appeal the idealistic side of youthful workers.

§    The values that the business supports must reflect a modern attitude toward diversity and “going green”.  If you walk a millennial around the office during his or her interview, they will notice the recycling bins scattered about.  They will notice the diversity of culture and race in the employee mix.

§    Be prepared to recruit from various disciplines.  Even if you are recruiting for a financial services function or some other specialization, keep your mind open to recruiting students with a focus on liberal arts or teaching.  These millennials can be trained to the specific job and they bring a fresh approach to the job description that comes from their college area of focus.

These are things that might take time to change if the corporate culture is behind the times.  But it’s worth the effort to start now to attract the kinds of workers that mean long term growth for the company.  By doing some serious analysis on how up to the date the business is, you can begin to affect change now so by this time next year, you will be in better shape to court the millennials.