Stories by Kirstin Mills

Getting work and life in balance

Ever woken up in the middle of the night suddenly remembering something you should have done at work that day? Or perhaps you spend so much time at work that the line between home and workplace has blurred.

How to bring new employees on board

I know a woman who arrived at work on the first day of her new job to find there was no desk or PC. In fact, technically there was no office set up at all — the company was in the middle of reorganising its premises and her new business unit was “between offices”. Her workmates took her out for a coffee and then followed that by lunch at the pub. She said that as first days go, it was rather pleasant.

The 'sickie' has many causes

You have an important deadline to meet and staff member after staff member calls in sick. However, the whole time you have this nagging feeling they might not have really been sick.

Counter-offers are counter-productive

You’ve been offered a new job with a great salary package, but before you accept you tell your employer and he surprises you by presenting a counter offer. Now what?

The money or the bag

In my first job there weren’t many perks — the best we got was homemade jam (made by our editor) at Christmas time. It’s not that I have anything against homemade jam. In fact I rather like it — feel free to send me homemade jam at Christmas time — but as perks go I would probably have preferred something else. Like lots of cold hard cash for instance.

The benefits of a tidy desk

I used to work in clutter. There were piles of paper and software everywhere and buried underneath those were more piles of paper and software, a small dog and a lost tribe.

Dealing to workplace bullying

There are initiatives galore to address bullying in schools nowadays. But what happens when the bullies are a little older? Like one of your colleagues? Or your boss? What do you do when you’re too old to turn to your parents for help?

Planning makes changing careers easier

It might sound like a dull or perhaps unnecessary thing to do, but writing on Quint Careers’ website, Randall S Hansen says most people will change career several times and how successful you are at transitioning has a great deal to do with how much you’ve planned ahead.

Don't delay dealing with procrastination

Every week it’s the same story. I tell my husband I’m sitting down to write my column. Ten minutes later, he looks over my shoulder and points out that it doesn’t look like I’m writing my column. That’s when I admit I’m just uploading photos of the snow in Dunedin, checking my email or any one of a variety of other not-writing-my-column things.

Using age to your advantage

One minute you’re worried about being too young and inexperienced to land the role you want. And then what seems like the next day you’re parking your zimmer frame and wondering if your advancing years mean you should avoid even mentioning your age on your CV.

When your aptitude is tested

If you know you’ve got to jump over psychometric test hurdles when it comes to getting a new job, don’t panic.

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