10 Online Classes to Boost Your Career This Week - The Muse

10 Online Classes to Boost Your Career This Week - The Muse10 Online Classes to Boost Your Career This WeekWhether youre looking to pursue a new field, snag a big promotion, or push through the job search, online classes can be your lifesaver. They cant get you a job (I know, if only it were that easy), but they can give you cheap and easy access to the knowledge and skill set you need to land a job or excel at your current one.Dont believe me? Weve rounded up Muse readers top 10 favorite classes from our courses section and were pleasantly surprised to see such a variety of options From becoming a certified product manager or expert-level developer, to building your personal website and maximizing your social media, were sure that theres a class out there just for you. 1. Choose Must 10 Exercises to Pursue Your Passion, SkillshareStuck in a rut? Wish you could figure out just what youre meant to do? This course will inspire you to practice and cultivate your own calling so that you can then pursue it with confidence. Cost $0.99 for first 3 monthsLength 53 minutes/ 13 videos2. The Complete Job, Interview, Resume/LinkedIn, and Network Guide, UdemyAnd once you know your purpose, this class is your ultimate guide to prepping for, applying to, and landing that ideal job.Cost $50Length 12 hours/ 280 lectures3. Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification Training, LearnSmartIf youre interested in project management, youll definitely want to take this certification course. Plus, once you buy it, youll have access to it 24/7 for an entire year (who says you have to rush your career?).Cost $99Length Varies4. Building a Personal Brand by Gary Vaynerchuk, UdemyTake it from a pro and learn what it takes to turn your strengths into a shiny online brand that hiring managers wont be able to ignore.Cost $25Length 2 hours/ 50 lectures5. Excel for the Real World Gain the Basic Skills of Microsoft Excel, SkillshareHaving Excel woes? Dont worry, heres an easy way to pick u p everything you need to know about this important program in only an hour.Cost $0.99 for first 3 monthsLength 1 hour/ 10 videos6. An Entire MBA in One Course, UdemyWho knew business school could be so simple (and free of informational sessions and application essays)? Check out this in-depth series full of exercises, tutorials, and real-world examples that are just as good as an expensive degree.Cost $50Length 56.5 hours/ 82 lectures7. Business Analytics for Everbody, CourseraIf analytics and data are terrifying buzzwords youd like to ignore, youre missing out on some key career skills. Luckily, with this course, youll understand and be able to put them into practice in no time.Cost $95Length 5 courses8. Make a Personal Branding Website With Squarespace, SkillshareAn awesome job application starts with a killer personal website. If youre no designer, this is the class you need to effectively make yours (and make it beautiful).Cost FreeLength 1 hour, 15 minutes/ 15 videos9. Product Management Skill Sets to Shift Your Career, SkillwiseBefore you go into that PM interview, make sure youre thinking like an expert with this quick (and inexpensive) class on classic principles, processes, and pro tips.Not a product manager? Youd be surprised how diverse and useful these skills can be for any industry.Cost $39Length 13 hours/ 38 lessons10. The Web Developer Bootcamp, UdemyFor a crazy low price, youll be immersed in basically every important language and strategy for web development- meaning a career in engineering wont be so far out of reachCost $50Length 43 hours/ 321 lecturesDont see anything that suites your needs or interests? We have lots of other classes you might like (Wink wink, nudge nudge)

Busy Please stop bragging about how busy you are

Busy Please stop bragging about how busy you areBusy Please stop bragging about how busy you areBusy has become a brand. We moan, brag, and compete about how busy we are.Many of us are locked in a state of frantic, racing, cramming, skimming activity from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed.But instead of making us mora productive, busyness often holds us back. Not only can it make us exhausted and stressed, but it also can prevent us from moving our careers forward.Heres why we feel sobusy and what we can do about it.We were trained to be busyHumans evolved in a world of scarcity, where more was a good thing. During the Industrial Revolution, more became a battleground cry, and the role of managers was to get people to work more efficiently.When your start your careers, showing a bit more effort and staying longer are easy ways to signal your commitment, which helps you advance.But there comes a point where the people with whom youre competing are also playing the more game.We know from corporate strategy that when both parties try and squeeze more and more out of less and less, they end up stagnating.We use busyness to feel better When we talk about how busy we are, were often looking for acknowledgment.Were desperate for someone to say Wow, that sounds really awful or That sounds really tough or Where would the organization be without you?Of course, thats often not what happens. The other partie usually tries to out-busy you, which can be deeply unsatisfying.Another underlying reason we lean on busyness is that we dont want to fail. We use busyness as an excuse for why were not doing the things that matter.Were addicted to busyness Technology has made it easier to feel busy all the time.One study found that average person touches their phone more than 2,000 times a day. Another found that people preferred receiving electric shocks than being alone with their thoughts.Weve never had a generation in the history of the world thats had less time alo ne with their brains. (Thats why people often say they come up with their best ideas in the shower - its the only time theyre not with their phones.)But research has shown that as a whole, were not actually busier that we were 50 years ago. We just think we are.One reason for that is that we feel like were always on call.Studies have shown that when people are on call, their levels of cortisol are nearly as high as when theyre at work. Whether were on call for work or for friends or for Facebook, our brain doesnt distinguish that much.Its no surprise that we feel busy and exhausted all the time.We think we dont have a choiceA lot of people think theres nothing they can do about being busy. They think theyre busy because of their workload, their boss, or their organization, and therefore theres nothing they can do except cope.This feeling of learned helplessness can have negative consequences.When people feel that they are busy, they tend to make short-term decisions and not focus o n the things that really matter in the long term. They stop investing in their personal development, and they no longer try to think of new ways to approach work.Busyness also undermines our ability to achievecomplex problem solving, creativity, and empathy, skills that the World Economic Forum in Davos has identified as needed for success in the future.When youre busy, you become less creative, less imaginative, and less engaged.What can we do about it?We mustreframe how we think about technology, busyness, and work.Technology is great. I couldnt live my life living in Spain, working with clients around the world, without it.But we all must recognize that we have vulnerabilities to it and take simple steps to avoid its temptations.Put your phone somewhere out of sight, out of mind - or at least turn off the notifications. And get an alarm clock. Phones should never follow us to bedrooms.When you free your mind and take more control over your life, you can stop feeling trapped by th e endless need to do more and more.This can help you increase the degree of choice you feel in face of the demands ofyour job. You can spend more time focused on one thing, rather than always switching backwards and forwards between tasks, whichwill make you less exhausted and more successful.You also have to let go of the safety net of busyness.If you feel like you have to demonstrate to everyone how crazy busy you are, its probably a sign that the work youre doing is actually not that interesting.Instead of bragging about being busy, shift to thinking about impact.Whats your brand? What do you stand for?So the next time someone asks you how youre doing, talk about how youre genuinely contributing. Dont be a mindless drone.Tony Crabbe is the author ofBusy How to Thrive in a World of Too Much.As told to Kirsten Salyer.

The Impact of the Minimum Wage Increase

The Impact of the extremum Wage IncreaseThe Impact of the Minimum Wage IncreaseThe federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for nonexempt employees went into effect on July 24, 2009, and has not been increased as of February 2019. However, 29 states have a minimum wage higher than the federal rate, and employees always must be paid the highest of conflicting rates, whether they are based on federal, state, or local laws. The federal minimum wage always requires nonexempt employees to be paid 150 percent of the regular pay rate for any hours beyond 40 worked during the same week. Exempt employees include salaried employees who typically are in management roles. As of 2019, an exempt employees salary must be at least $455 per week, and the employee must meet other standards under the Fair Labor Standards Act, such as exercising discretion and judgment in a management role or supervising other employees. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 per hour, but such employees sti ll must earn at least $7.25 per hour (or the applicable state or local rate) in total wages once tips have been included. Some states also have a minimum rate higher than $2.13. Fight for $15 About 200 fast-food workers walked off the job in New York in November of 2012 in an attempt to boost wages to $15 per hour, among other demands. The following year, more walkouts took place in other cities, and a national walk-out welches held less than a year after the initial protest in New York. These protests led to the beginning of Fight for $15, a worldwide organization representing retail employees, home health aides, child care professionals, airport employees, adjunct professors, and more. Since the movement began, California and New York have enacted minimum wage laws that will raise their respective minimum wages to $15 incrementally, and several other cities have enacted similar laws. California will be at $15 for all nonexempt employees by January 1, 2023. New Yorks law is mor e complex, increasing the minimum wage at different paces depending on where in the state employers are located. Momentum Perhaps the greatest impact of minimum wage increases at state and local levels and in the aftermath of the Fight for $15 movement is the momentum they have created for the issue. In plus-rechnen to increases mandated by laws or ordinances, many businesses have taken it upon themselves to boost their wages. A prominent example in 2018 was Amazons decision to raise its minimum rate of pay for U.S. workers to $15 per hour. Amazons move was controversial because it also involved reducing stock options available to some employees, but its still one of the most prominent examples of a company boosting its minimum pay. Target similarly announced in 2018 that it would be raising its minimum rate of pay to $15 by 2020. Pros and Cons of Minimum Wage Increases Research can be found both supporting the economic impact of minimum wage increases and citing it as a cau se for higher prices and lower employment. Some standard arguments in favor of a higher minimum wage include A better standard of living for entry-level employees. Lower wages require entry-level employees to work more than one job, leaving them with little free time and higher levels of stress.Reducing reliance on public assistance. Walmart, in particular, is a common target for critics who argue that its low-paid workers cost the public money because of their reliance on public assistance to subsidize their low incomes. This claim comes from a 2013 study by a group called Americans for Tax Fairness that claimed Walmart costs taxpayers $6.2 billion annually in food stamps, Medicaid, and subsidized housing. Other studies have refuted this claim. Putting money back into the economy. The more money entry-level employees have, the more they will spend, which is good for the economy. Some standard arguments against a higher minimum wage include Higher prices. In order to support higher labor costs, businesses will need to raise prices, thus raising the cost of living, negating some of the effects of the wage hikes.Lower employment. Some businesses that cannot afford the higher wages may lay off some employees or reduce hours for those they retain, negating the benefits of a higher hourly wage.Forcing small businesses to close. Many small businesses have narrow profit margins, especially when they are just starting out. Mandated wage increases could be the final straw that forces some of them to close their doors.