Life Skills – Impact Lab

Analysis, Employment, Life Skills, Science & Technology News, Trending

The 5 most in-demand skills at America’s top start-ups, according to LinkedIn

November 17, 2020

According to LinkedIn, start-ups seek key job skills like programming proficiency and data analysis.

Learning some new technology could go a long way in landing a new job.

As the coronavirus pandemic forces companies to shift parts of their business online, employers are searching for candidates who are proficient in tech or can learn quickly. Among the top 50 start-ups in the United States, in fact, the five most in-demand skills are all tech-related.

That’s according to new data from LinkedIn, which analyzed the skill sets of recent hires at across the country’s top start-ups, which include familiar names like food-delivery app DoorDash and bedding company Brooklinen. Overwhelmingly, the findings show, employers hired job seekers with data savvy, programming acumen, and strength in sales and marketing.

“When you receive 150 applications for one opening, employers care ever more about quality and about qualifications,” Julia Pollak, labor economist at ZipRecuiter, told Grow in October. “If you can take some time and invest in a certification or some online qualification, that can make you more competitive in the future.”

Here are the five most in-demand skills in America’s top 50 start-ups.

Continue reading… “The 5 most in-demand skills at America’s top start-ups, according to LinkedIn”

Analysis, brains, Employment, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

The most fundamental skill: Intentional learning and the career advantage

November 3, 2020

Learning itself is a skill. Unlocking the mindsets and skills to develop it can boost personal and professional lives and deliver a competitive edge.

The call for individuals and organizations alike to invest in learning and development has never been more insistent. The World Economic Forum recently declared a reskilling emergency as the world faces more than one billion jobs transformed by technology. Even before COVID-19 emerged, the world of stable lifetime employment had faded in the rearview mirror, replaced by the expectation that both executives and employees must continually refresh their skills. The pandemic has only heightened the urgency of doubling down on skill building, either to keep up with the speed of transformation now underway or to manage the particulars of working in new ways.

Despite this context—and the nearly constant refrain for people to adapt to it by becoming lifelong learners—many companies struggle to meet their reskilling goals, and many individuals struggle to learn new and unfamiliar topics effectively. We believe that an underlying cause is the fact that so few adults have been trained in the core skills and mindsets of effective learners. Learning itself is a skill, and developing it is a critical driver of long-term career success. People who have mastered the mindsets and skills of effective learning can grow faster than their peers and gain more of the benefits from all the learning opportunities that come their way.

This article, supported by research and our decades of experience working as talent and learning professionals, explores the core mindsets and skills of effective learners. People who master these mindsets and skills become what we call intentional learners: possessors of what we believe might be the most fundamental skill for professionals to cultivate in the coming decades. In the process they will unlock tremendous value both for themselves and for those they manage in the organizations where they work.

Continue reading… “The most fundamental skill: Intentional learning and the career advantage”

Business, Coronavirus, Employment, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

6 secrets to getting hired during an economic downturn

August 14, 2020

Challenging economic circumstances should not dash your hopes to landing a job. Stick to these tips to catch a hirer’s eye during widespread uncertainty.

Unemployment is at an all-time high and right now, it’s harder to get hired than years and decades past. But all hope is not lost. There are ways to get noticed and separate yourself, and to get the job, even when job openings are scarce.

First, consider these encouraging statistics: According to a recent study by SHRM (the Society for Human resource Management), among 2,278 members, 17% of employers were expanding their businesses and 13% were hiring. In addition, according to its annual global CEO survey, PwC found 74% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of skills in their respective workforces.

The bottom line: Companies need great employees with strong skills to grow their businesses. Particularly those who are unafraid to take an unconventional and bold approach.

So how can you get hired when it seems no one is hiring? Establishing a strong start to your process is key, along with finding the best ways to leverage your network, your creativity, and your distinctive skill sets.

Here are six ways to get hired during an economic downturn.

Continue reading… “6 secrets to getting hired during an economic downturn”

Analysis, Human Behavior, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

New theory of complex emotions

February 17, 2020

We updated Roger Hargreaves’s Little Miss and Mr. Men universe as a suggestion to include some of our new emotions. Illustration: Zohar Lazar

If You Can Say It, You Can Feel It Some scientists believe we have infinite emotions, so long as we can name them.

Sometime last year, I came across the word hangxiety, a neologism for hangover-induced anxiety. I cringed when I read it; it felt so phony.

The most mental distress I’d ever experienced during a hangover was some light teasing in a group chat. And then, last fall, the morning after a night of drinking, I woke up with a racing heart and a constricted feeling across my chest, as if I’d been sleeping under a dozen weighted blankets. I thought about the things I’d said and done the night before, and the physical sensations intensified.

This happened again, and then again. I haven’t had a hangover in months, largely because I’m terrified of them now. Was this always the way my brain and body responded to hangovers? Or did learning about hangxiety somehow influence the way I experience a hangover? I’d like to think I’m not that suggestible, but some emerging, somewhat controversial research on how and why we feel our feelings argues that language doesn’t just describe a feeling. It can also change it.

Continue reading… “New theory of complex emotions”

Augmented Reality, communication, Life Skills, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News, Wearables

Smart glasses, smart designer babies and the future of work

November 24, 2019

John B. Goodenough, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry last month, struggled to learn to read. “Back then,” he says, “You were just a backwards student.”

His experience is still all too common, yet he and many like him demonstrate clearly that dyslexia is not a definitive barrier to career achievement. We must ask ourselves if our entry level recruitment and education systems should always depend on literacy.

Continue reading… “Smart glasses, smart designer babies and the future of work”

brains, Breakthrough Thinking, Human Behavior, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

Why you should try micro mastery

August 23, 2019

The wellness case for learning new skills

In the summer of 2016 I was very unhappy. I was coming up on my year anniversary of living in London, where we had moved from Brooklyn for my husband’s job, but I still felt pitifully lonely and poorly adjusted to the culture. I reentered therapy, tried to socialize often, started volunteering, and focused on doing things for pleasure rather than out of obligation.

But there was one thing that alleviated my sadness more than others: I learned to drive a stick shift.

In Europe, automatics were more expensive to rent, so it was in my best interest to try to overcome any manual driving anxiety head-on. My husband and I decided to spend two weeks in France, and I spent much of that vacation stalling out on country roads, navigating dreaded traffic circles, and ultimately speeding down the highways. When I returned to London I told people about the beaches and baguettes in France, but I mostly wanted to talk about how I could now officially drive stick.

I had discovered the beauty of “micromastery”: working to develop competence in a single, concrete skill. The term was coined by the writers Tahir Shah and Robert Twigger; Twigger later published his 2017 book, Micromastery: Learn Small, Learn Fast, and Unlock Your Potential to Achieve Anything, which contains instructions for laying a brick wall, making sushi, and brewing beer. In the introduction, Twigger writes that he was stymied by the idea that he had to work for years to acquire any truly valuable skill, but that he still wanted to learn and create, so he decided to focus on making the perfect omelet: his first micromastery.

Continue reading… “Why you should try micro mastery”

Employment, Human Behavior, Intelligence, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

Why the generalist has a bright future in an increasingly automated world

June 13, 2019

The age of the specialist is giving way to the age of the Renaissance person.

It was only a matter of time before a precocious set of tweens came along and broke the damn spelling bee. And lo, after a 14-hour contest, the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee was forced to crown eight co-winners after running out of hard words.

“We’ll soon run out of words that will challenge you,” Jacques Bailly told the contestants, according to the New York Times account. “We’re throwing the dictionary at you. And so far, you are showing this dictionary who is boss.”

Continue reading… “Why the generalist has a bright future in an increasingly automated world”

Life Skills, Money Talk, Report, Science & Technology News

There’s a retirement crisis in America where most will be unable to afford a ‘solid life’

April 10, 2019

The three “legs” of the retirement “stool” (private savings, pensions, and Social Security) are all in dire shape.

At Vanguard, the median 401(k) account value for an investor age 65 and older is a measly $58,035.

After looking at the data, the Saint Louis Fed concluded: “It could be worrisome that, for many American households, the total balances of their retirement accounts may not be sufficient to ensure a solid life in retirement.”

Continue reading… “There’s a retirement crisis in America where most will be unable to afford a ‘solid life’”

Food, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

Confused by expiration dates? You’re not Alone. Here’s what they really mean

March 10, 2019

Most Americans are needlessly tossing out packaged food—not because it’s gone bad, but because they take the date stamped on it far too literally. That’s according to a recent study published in the journal Waste Management, which surveyed more than 1,000 people about the phrases and dates on food packages.

Many Americans wrongly believed that food product dates—often prefaced by “best by” or “sell by”—are federally regulated and indicate the point after which the food is no longer safe to eat. (Neither is true: labeling decisions are made voluntarily by food companies and are meant to help consumers determine how fresh a food is, according to the USDA.) As a result, 84% of people throw out food when it’s close to the package date at least occasionally, the researchers found.

Continue reading… “Confused by expiration dates? You’re not Alone. Here’s what they really mean”

Future, Human Behavior, Life Skills, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Should we retire ‘Retirement’?

February 21, 2019

As our lives have been getting longer and healthier – compared to prior generations – some people advocate doing away with the concept of retirement altogether. In support of that idea, increasing numbers of workers report in surveys that they expect never to retire, and not just because they can’t afford to but often because they like the idea of continuing to work.

While I celebrate people who are trying to break stereotypes, I respectfully disagree with those who advocate eliminating the concept of retirement altogether. Let’s take a look at recent trends that might have inspired the “no retirement” point-of-view and consider an alternative perspective.

Continue reading… “Should we retire ‘Retirement’?”

Children, Human Behavior, Life Skills, Parenting, Science & Technology News

Your kids hate your smartphone addiction

October 12, 2018

From CNET Magazine: It isn’t easy balancing “me time” and parenting. I talked to experts to find out how.

I can’t stay off my phone. And I’m afraid it’s hurting my 2-year-old son.

Sometimes it’s a breaking news story that draws me in, other times it’s boredom. Whatever it is, this device in my hands — which gives me access to nearly all human knowledge plus all the cat videos I could ever want — is constantly calling for my attention.

Continue reading… “Your kids hate your smartphone addiction”

Employment, Human Behavior, Life Skills

‘Following your passion’ is dead- Here’s what to replace it with

July 9, 2018

Following your passion presupposes that you have one. But many people don’t.

Develop a passion, don’t follow it.

It’s what kids do.

When someone in your life is asking the important “What should I do with my life?” question – have you ever told them “Just follow your passion”?

If so, please stop doing that. Yes, completely, and forever. Because it’s garbage advice. Among the worst out there, right next to the original food pyramid and playing hard to get after a date.

Continue reading… “‘Following your passion’ is dead- Here’s what to replace it with”