Interviewing Tips: When the difference really matters

Following is a list of 8 keys to a successful interview. These guidelines have been compiled by our Search Consultants.

• Arrive 10 minutes early. Do not be late. Ask for directions if there is any question about the location.
• Visual impressions are extremely important. The interviewer will make judgments about you based on your attire alone. Dress appropriately. When there is a question about casual dress versus professional dress, always dress professionally. Men should wear a dark suit, pressed shirt, clean tie that hangs to the belt and shined shoes. Women should also wear a suit, conservative blouse, hose, polished pumps and moderate makeup.
• Body language is also extremely important. Look the interviewer right in the eye. Maintain good posture while seated. Smile and laugh when appropriate. Focus on answering the questions completely and concisely and be sure to avoid rambling. Remember to pause after an important question. This "thinking pause" increases the value of your answer. Answer questions honestly. Use specific examples whenever possible.
• To the extent possible…relax. Being relaxed in an interview comes from practicing your answers to the questions you will most likely be asked. At a minimum, you should rehearse answers to the basic questions about strengths, weaknesses, reasons for leaving and qualifications for that particular position.
• Be prepared to ask 3 or 4 key questions. It's best if these questions come from research you have done about the company prior to your interview. Use the Internet for research.
• Ask for the job. Too many candidates leave interviewers wondering about their interest. If you are truly interested in the position state that clearly to the interviewer and inquire about the next step.
• Send thank you letters to each person you interview with. Keep these letters brief and be sure to send them timely. Verify names and titles prior to sending. E-mail thanks are better than no thank-you at all.

The gift of gab can be something of a curse during an interview. You could end up talking your way right out of the job.

It's important to remember that interviewers are only human, and their attention tends to wane as you speak. Fully understanding this is critical to effectively communicating during any interview. Your response should be less than a minute and a half when an interviewer asks you to “tell me about yourself.” Why? You'll have that interviewer's attention for just about 90 seconds.

The average interviewer's attention span looks something like this:

• As you begin speaking, the interviewer is listening with nearly full attention.
• After about 10 seconds, he begins listening with less intensity.
• After 60 seconds, his mind begins to wander and he's devoting less then half his attention to you. The interviewer starts asking questions about your response or begins formulating his next question.
• After you've been speaking for 90 seconds without interruption, the interviewer is barely listening at all.

It's tough to avoid typical interview traps if you're unsure what they are. Here are a half dozen to watch out for:

1. Confusing an Interview with an Interrogation.

Most candidates expect to be interrogated. An interrogation occurs when one person asks all the questions and the other gives the answers. An interview is a business conversation in which both people ask and respond to questions. Candidates who expect to be interrogated avoid asking questions, leaving the interviewer in the role of reluctant interrogator.

2. Making a So-Called Weakness Seem Positive.

Interviewers frequently ask candidates, "What are your weaknesses?" Conventional interview wisdom dictates that you highlight a weakness like "I'm a perfectionist," and turn it into a positive. Interviewers are not impressed, because they've probably heard the same answer a hundred times. If you are asked this question, highlight a skill that you wish to improve upon and describe what you are doing to enhance your skill in this area. Interviewers don't care what your weaknesses are. They want to see how you handle the question and what your answer indicates about you.

3. Failing to Ask Questions.

Every interview concludes with the interviewer asking if you have any questions. The worst thing to say is that you have no questions. Having no questions prepared indicates you are not interested and not prepared. Interviewers are more impressed by the questions you ask than the selling points you try to make. Before each interview, make a list of five questions you will ask. “I think a good question is, ‘Can you tell me about your career?'” says Kent Kirch, director of global recruiting at Deloitte. “Everybody likes to talk about themselves, so you're probably pretty safe asking that question.”

4. Researching the Company But Not Yourself.

Candidates intellectually prepare by researching the company. Most job seekers do not research themselves by taking inventory of their experience, knowledge and skills. Formulating a talent inventory prepares you to immediately respond to any question about your experience. You must be prepared to discuss any part of your background. Creating your talent inventory refreshes your memory and helps you immediately remember experiences you would otherwise have forgotten during the interview.

5. Leaving Your Cell Phone On.

We may live in a wired, always-available society, but a ringing cell phone is not appropriate for an interview. Turn it off before you enter the company.

6. Waiting for a Call.

Time is your enemy after the interview. After you send a thank-you email and note to every interviewer, follow up a couple of days later with either a question or additional information. Additional information can be details about your talents, a recent competitor's press release or industry trends. Your intention is to keep everyone's memory of you fresh.

Asking Questions Is Key

Near the end of your response, it's important to keep the interviewer engaged by asking questions.

Skilled interviewers will pose behavioral-event questions, asking you to describe specific examples of your experience. In these situations, your response can easily last much longer than 90 seconds. In such situations, interrupt yourself by asking the interviewer a question like, “Is this the level of detail you are looking for?” or “Is this the type of example you're interested in?” This strategy helps to engage your listener and promotes two-way communication.

According to Kent Kirch, the global director of recruiting at Deloitte, interviewers are more impressed with your questions than any selling points you try to make. "What's really disappointing to an interviewer is at the end of an interview and I ask the candidate, ‘Do you have any questions I can answer for you?' and he says, ‘Nope, I think you answered them all,' and that's the end of it; it's just really frustrating,” he says. “It all goes back to preparation, and [your questions] tell the interviewer you thought about this interview before you walked in the door.”

Asking questions can also give you a strategic edge. "People love to talk about themselves,” says Austin Cooke, the global recruitment director at Sapient. “So if you as a candidate can kind of get interviewers talking about themselves, you're one step up."

Your interview goals are to ensure you are understood and to make the best presentation of your talents. Engaging interviewers in two-way communication by asking questions helps you ensure they are listening while you deliver your response.

The “ONE” question you must ask each interviewer:

The last question you should ask before concluding with any interviewer is: “Do you feel I have the qualifications necessary to be successful in this position?” Listen very carefully to how the interviewer responds. If they give you a resounding “yes”, you have done a good job of covering all the issues that are important to them. If they say something like: “You appear to have all the qualifications we’re looking for, but…” Listen for that “but” and whatever comes next is an area you need to strengthen in any future interviews or discussions.

How Low Can You Go in Your Salary Negotiations?

Two conversations I’ve had with job seekers recently helped me to consider another aspect of salary negotiations.

Always Ask For More… Right?

There you will find a great deal of practical advice on how to land where you’d like to land.

However, what do you do when an offer comes in extremely low compared to expectations? What options do you have?

Here are some observations and points to consider…

What was communicated in the interview process?

When an offer comes in particularly low, it’s not unusual to see a correlation to part of the discussion that took place earlier in the process. One job seeker, when asked what he was looking for in regards to compensation, told them what he earned in his last full-time job 5 years ago and before he earned his bachelors degree. They made an offer just slightly above that amount and he felt “low-balled”, without realizing that he gave them the basis for it. They thought they were offering him more than he quoted, and he felt they were taking advantage of him.

Setting expectations properly is critical.

Often, job seekers give low numbers out of fear that they will be dropped from consideration if the salary they need is too high. That may be, however, if you give them a number that you can’t accept, it wastes both their time and yours. Giving a legitimate range that is workable for you will dramatically improve the chances of gaining an acceptable offer.

Know your numbers!

In order to give an acceptable range, it’s important to know in advance what an acceptable range would be. That seems basic. However, it’s interesting to me how often people don’t do the math until they get an offer, and then realize they can’t pay their bills on a salary they gave in their range.

Fully understand what you need as a minimum, taking into account employee benefits, quality of life, and other factors. Know what you would really like to aim for, taking into account competitive compensation in the marketplace and comparable experience to others in the organization. Then give a range that’s more educated and acceptable for you.

What’s going on?

At times, even if the right things were communicated in the process, an employer may make a very low offer. There are multiple reasons that may happen…

• The position you are pursuing is below your experience level and can’t pay what you hope
• Internal equity issues with current employees prevent them from offering what you would like
• The salary grades the organization has established are not competitive or out of date, and the hiring managers hands are tied
• They are simply trying to hire someone as cheaply as they possibly can

The last point is an outlying exception rather than the rule in these cases, however, they occasionally do exist. Generally, companies want people to come in feeling they have been treated fairly and feel good about the new role. “Low-balling” a new hire rarely accomplishes that.

Appeal to their sense of fairness.

When an offer is very low, rather than taking on an aggressive negotiating stance, better results more often come from an open-handed appeal.

Thank them for their offer… let them know you are definitely interested in the position and the prospect of coming on board… express disappointment that the offer is quite a bit lower than was expected… give them a range you are hoping for… and ask if there is any additional information they may need from you that would help them raise the offer to a level that would work for both of you.

There may be some explanation necessary on your part to help them understand the basis of your request. It should never be about your personal financial situation, rather it should involve career and/or business considerations. It may be…

• The compensation is too far less than you’ve earned in the past
• The compensation doesn’t take into account new education or skills that you’ve acquired
• You have a higher competing offer (Don’t bluff on this! If they decline to offer more, it becomes very awkward to then still accept)
• The common salary ranges in the marketplace for the same kind of role is quite a bit higher
• …or other considerations as well

Often, with a reasoned and non-threatening negotiation, an employer will reconsider and make a more suitable offer.

Then what?

At times, however, they may still not move. Then you have a decision to make… are you prepared to walk away? If they have not come up to a level you can accept, you can certainly let them know flatly that you cannot accept an offer below your minimum amount, but still hope an agreement can be reached.

If they then come up… terrific! If not, you know this wasn’t the right position for you and you can continue your job search with other organizations. Decline politely, and let them know that if things should change, you would like to hear from them again (they may change their minds later if they can’t find an acceptable substitute).

Nothing works every time, and at times you may have to be willing to walk away. However, following these guidelines your chances of a workable agreement improve dramatically!

Congratulations on Your Military Service… Now Here Are 9 Reasons Why I Won’t Hire You

So, you’ve decided to hang up the uniform after years of distinguished service to our great nation. You’ve attended a few transition classes and have your interview suit and shiny new resume as youmake the leap into the civilian world.

You feel confident, because you’ve seen your colleagues leave the uniform on Friday and come to work the following Monday in a suit and tie making twice as much salary. You storm the job boards and job fairs. Never mind that although you’ve drafted a plan of action and milestones (POA&M) for every significant evolution of your military career, some of you have invested the least amount of time and effort into your own transition POA&M.

Those of us in the hiring and recruiting business know firsthand that not all veterans are created equal, and, sometimes, it’s a great business decision to hire a military professional into our companies. Often, though, many don’t. Why? Because you’re just not the right fit. A more impressive candidate captured our attention, or maybe, through no fault of your own, we found someone internally or received a referral from one of our own employees.

The irony is that many veterans and servicemembers have the skills and experience to make the cut, or even get the second interview, but blow it. As amilitary candidate recruiter, I see consistent themes in why military professionals don’t get the job. Many may blame the new Transition GPS, their branch of service’s career center or even the employers themselves, but here are the top real reasons why you’ll never get hired:

1. You Can’t (or Won’t) Accept That You’re Starting Over

Let’s suppose that immediately after graduating from college or high school, I went to work for one of the well-known defense contractors. During the course of my 20+ year career at that company, I was very successful and promoted to the position of Program Manager, frequently working with the military. However, I’m now at that point in my career where there isn’t any opportunity for further advancement, or I’m simply weary of the industry.

I’m now in my late 30s or early 40s and decide it’s time to leave the company to pursue a different career. I’ve worked with the military my entire adult life, so I decide I want to join its ranks. Because of my previous experience with managing multimillion dollar budgets and hundreds of personnel, I feel I’m the equivalent of a Commanding Officer or Senior Enlisted Leader. When I talk to a recruiter about my level of entry, what would they tell me?

The cold dose of reality is that despite all of my experience, I’d have no idea what the organizational culture is like in the military. I’d be set up for failure if someone allowed me to don the collar devices and step into a command position. On day one, something as basic as sending an email to a flag officer could go very sour very quickly. This is because even though I may have transferable skill sets, I lack the knowledge of industry norms and protocol experience to succeed.

A senior military professional transitioning into the private sector faces the same dynamic. The transition is a bit easier within the Department of Defense and Federal arenas, but you’re starting anew. It’s imperative that you understand this. As a result, you should seek ways to learn the organizational structures of potential employers many months before you’ll be entering the job market.

Just as I would have been far better informed had I spoken to a military recruiter before I left my civilian job, so should you be similarly informed before entering your last year of service. Use recruiters, headhunters, employment counselors, hiring managers, etc. to gain intelligence and information so you can be pragmatic in your expectations and planning. Also, getting a mentor who has successfully navigated into the private or government sector and is also a veteran will provide invaluable insight from a perspective you’ll be able to relate to.

2. You Believe You’re Unique (Just Like Every Other Transitioning Person That Day)

Each and every day, 200 to 300 servicemembers exit the military. This number will only increase as the nation’s wars come to an end and forces continue to draw down. In 2012, an average of 470,000 resumes were posted on Monster each week. Essentially, for every job opening in the U.S., there are roughly 187 qualified and unqualified job applicants.

This is the challenge you face in relying on job boards as your sole method of getting a job. I suggest you think of hitting the “apply” button as being similar to walking down to the local convenience store and buying a lottery ticket, then deciding to not do anything else (or continue buying lottery tickets) until they call your number.

Are job boards still relevant? Yes. However, it’s best to post your resume to a niche job board that aligns with your background or industry — and make sure your resume is targeted specifically for the jobs you apply to.

3. Your Resume Is Longer Than the CEO of Our Company’s (or Shorter Than a Recent College Graduate’s)

A long resume doesn’t impress me at all. Even worse, a resume that has neither definition nor clarity is guaranteed to be placed in the trash. I’m probably going to look at it for six seconds, tops.

Your resume should be a windshield document. That is, it should reflect the positions you’re going towards. (Click here to tweet this thought.) It shouldn’t be a rearview mirror which simply lists all of the duties you performed. It should contain keywords, which websites such as wordle and tagcrowd can help you identify in both job announcements and your resume. This is because your resume will most likely be filtered by Applicant Tracking Software before it even gets to a human resources screener.

And, while I appreciate that you volunteered to clean up a highway or had some collateral duties in addition to your main assignments, I’m looking for candidates who have years of matching relevant experience, the right job titles and are in the same industry. Most importantly, I’m not looking for a “jack of all trades”; if I were, the job posting would have said so.

How do you craft a resume that’s forward-looking? Find about 15 to 20 job announcements that match up with your ideal target job title. Incorporate their language into your resume and make it contextual by inserting your metrics. Review each bullet point you’ve chosen to use by asking yourself if it demonstrates a problem you solved or action you took and the results that were accomplished. The actual length of your resume? It depends on your audience. Seek out current or former employees at the companies you’ve identified in your target list and ask them what their company’s preference is.

4. You Didn’t Proofread Your Resume

I would be a millionaire if I got 10 bucks for every time I come across a candidate who’s an “experienced manger.” There isn’t any substitute for attention to detail here. Don’t trust spellcheck, and don’t rely solely on your own review. Have your resume reviewed and critiqued free of charge by as many eyes as possible. The trained professionals at your Fleet and Family Support Centers, Army ACAP, and Airman & Family Readiness Centers are the best resource to catch those mistakes before I do.

After getting your resume reviewed for spelling and substance, take it to the local university’s English department and have it critiqued for proper grammar. Seem a bit excessive? Well, if I see misspellings and poor grammar on your resume, what will I expect from you if I need you to communicate with my clients?

5. You Don’t Have a LinkedIn Profile (Or, Even Worse, It’s Not Complete)

In a 2012 JobVite survey, 89% of hiring decision-makers and recruiters reported using social media sites such as LinkedIn to find their candidates. If this is the case, shouldn’t you have a profile already?

Your knowledge of managing your online presence lets me know how proficient you are in using technology to communicate. It also allows me to see your skills, even if they’re nascent. If you have an incomplete profile, it may communicate that you might also expect me to complete your work for you.

Take the time and get your LinkedIn profile set up right. There are lots of placesand resources available online to get help at no cost, so there isn’t any excuse for not having one. Additionally, a complete LinkedIn profile allows you to take advantage of LinkedIn Labs’ Resume Builder to automatically generate 11 different resume styles based on your LinkedIn profile. Talk about a time saver!

6. You Think Social Media Is For Kids or Sharing War Stories

If you think social media is a huge waste of time and doesn’t offer real value, watch thisvideo.

The reality is that two out of three job seekers will get their next job using social media. What does that mean to you? It translates to lesser-qualified people using technology to their advantage to get hired. They know how to use each of the social networking sites to the maximum extent in their transition action plans. If you think Twitter is of little use to a job seeker or professional, your competition will be happy to land the job you want because they’re using it and you aren’t.

7. You Didn’t Prepare For The Interview

During the course of your military career, you’ve conducted countless boards and interviews. It seems to make sense that you should have no problem interviewing. After all, you did pretty well in your transition class mock interviews, didn’t you?

Wrong approach. I’ve seen instances where the most junior servicemember outperformed a much more seasoned military leader because of one simple strategy: practice, practice, practice. Practice with someone who regularly hires or who has hired people at your level recently.

Why do you need to practice? Because you need to be able to be conversational, convey energy and yet let me know you’re aware of what my business is, who my competitors are and even who I am. Did you go to the company’s website to see if we have a Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter page? Did we make the news recently? Google News is a great way to find this out.

I want you to distinguish yourself from the regular job seeker. I want to know you’re as passionate about my company and what we do as I am, not just out to get a paycheck and benefits. Make sure you have a set of questions that I haven’t heard before, and when we’re about to finish the interview, ask for the job. Don’t worry; I’m not going to be offended, because I want to see that fire in your belly. Just don’t overdo it by saying something presumptuous such as, “So… when do I start?”

8. You Wrote a Thank You Note (But Only to Say Thank You)

Sending a thank you note is something that sets you apart from the competitors also vying for this position. And while it’s appreciated and infinitely better than sending nothing at all, don’t just send the note to say thank you; use it to tell me how much passion you have for my company and the job. Remind me of those things that excited you during our interview and, if there were any areas you looked vulnerable in, ease my concerns.

9. You Don’t Know What You Want to Do

When asked what you want to do, the worst possible answer you can give is, “I don’t know” or “anything.” You have to be able say specifically what types of positions you’re interested in and how you can add value to them. If you don’t, you’re essentially saying, “Invest lots of time and money in me, and maybe it will help me figure out if I want to do something else.”

If you have no clue where to start, start by looking at colleagues with backgrounds similar to yours who have recently transitioned. Which industries are they in? What companies are they working for? Where are they living? What job titles do they have now? The LinkedIn Labs Veterans App is a great tool to help with this. Be sure to check it out. Start volunteering to gain professional experience and seek out internships long before you sign your DD214.

Employers want to feel secure in knowing that you’ll last and that they can depend on you in your new work environment. Doing an internship or volunteering will help both the employer and you determine if a position is a good fit. Additionally, due to the flood of resumes that come in for each job posting, applicants who have volunteered or performed internships will stand out well ahead of the others.

Military professionals, especially senior ones, have a lot to offer our country when they hang up the uniform. The President and American companies are working hard to ensure that servicemembers and veterans have well-paying jobs with opportunities to advance. However, no one is ever guaranteed a job, and the more senior you are, the more challenging the transition can be in terms of education, credentials, certification and relevant industry experience required. Having a powerful network is essential and can open doors for you. That said, your comrades, friends and family can generally get you tothe door, but it remains up to you to be fully prepared when the door is opened.

Congratulations Graduate! Eleven Reasons Why I Will Never Hire You.

Strategy is Dessert for Culture's Feast. Innovation is the Main Course

You have likely heard the popular phrase “Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast”.   A recent study from Booz and Company further reinforced this notion by surveying 2,219 senior executives.  Unsurprisingly, Booz found that 84% of executives believe culture is critical to their business success while 60% of executives believe culture is more important than strategy or their operating model.

Organizational culture is reflected in nearly every aspect of a company. We see culture exemplified through factors such as whether they are willing to take risks or if they prefer to play it safe?  do they focus more on driving results and achievement or on people and relationships? Is the company open to new opportunities and change? How do they generate and move ideas within the company?

Clearly, culture has a huge impact on today’s business and has become a major differentiator for progressive companies such as Zappos, Starbucks and Apple , however, in the context of the analogy, strategy is just a mere dessert for culture’s feast while innovation is its main course.  Essentially, strategy will set the direction of a company’s desired destination,  while culture is in the driver’s seat with a much greater deal of influence on the company’s ability to evolve, innovate and leapfrog the competition.

There’s always been much discussion and debate around why companies fail to innovate.   Some argue innovation often defies and doesn’t fit existing business models or perhaps it is a matter of aligning the right talent or having the right innovation processes.  While all these arguments (and many others) are likely contributing factors to a company’s ability or inability to innovate, nothing stops ideas dead in their tracks than aspect of a company’s culture.

Venture Capitalist Ben Horowitz said it beautifully in a recent blog:

“Big companies have plenty of great ideas, but they do not innovate because they need a whole hierarchy of people to agree that a new idea is good in order to pursue it. If one smart person figures out something wrong with an idea — often to show off or to consolidate power — that’s usually enough to kill it”

Yes, you can have the best talent, best ideas, best processes, abundant resources and cash, but at the end of the day, if the key attributes and behaviors engrained in your organization’s culture do not align with the concept or idea, being successful innovation starts looking as if it’s a matter of luck.

Mandating innovation from the top also rarely delivers.  If the culture doesn’t support it, it doesn’t matter where in the organization the mandate comes from or how much executive support is behind it.   Let’s take a recent example at Nokia .  Nokia never suffered from a shortage of ideas.  It spent $40 billion on research and development over the past decade, almost four times what Apple spent over the same period.  Yet, if you read between the lines of Stephen Elop’s now infamous Burning Platform memo, Nokia’s culture grew so complacent and complex that despite having a product that resembled the iphone over 14 years ago, it shrugged off the idea and it never got to see the light of day.

There are different opinions and practices regarding what it takes to build the right culture, but what it comes down to is that culture is the outgrowth of leadership and it is the leaders, who through their shared vision, shape and foster the culture of a company.

There are many companies today that can demonstrate their success in building the right culture for innovation.  Netflix for example, which has been a disruptive force and has out-innovated many incumbents, has publicly shared their organization’s cultural handbook.  Netflix aligns all of its employees to nine behaviors and skills that are clear drivers of innovation (which include, among others, Selflessness, Curiosity, Communications and Courage).  They also clearly call-out behaviors and attributes that could inhibit innovation such as the intolerance of ‘Brilliant Jerks’ and curtailing process-adherence in exchange for creativity and self-discipline.

IDEO, one of the world’s most revered innovation and design firms, recently shared a glimpse into their culture, where attributes such as optimism, embracing ambiguity, selflessness and an orientation towards action reign supreme.  IDEO ingrains cultural guidance such as  “Deferring Judgment” and “Going For Quantity” in its culture.  Their culture is meticulously designed to create an environment that’s safe for taking risks.

As a 112 year-old company, 3M proves that fostering the right culture for innovation isn’t just possible in smaller companies or start-ups.  Though 3M has had a new CEO every five years on average over the past 40 years, the philosophy of William L. McKnight, its inspirational leader from 1929 to 1966, is passed along to every new scientist or engineer.  The company’s culture was shaped to firmly believe in tolerating fast failures, promoting networking, and allowing employees freedom by using 15% of their paid time to “chase rainbows” and hatch their own ideas.

Culture is a balance of attitudes; behaviors and actions that combined can create and foster incredible things.  The right culture does way more than guide the way a company operates or makes its profits.  It actively and passionately engages employees in the business, no matter which rank or level they are in the organization.  It strives to remove barriers such as bureaucracy, complexity and prejudice that are known for killing good ideas and instead encourages key ingredients to innovation such as creativity and risk-taking.   It empowers employees to take the necessary risks and let ideas flow through the organization.  Most importantly, it helps people deliver their best work.

Innovation is too important to be left to chance. No matter the industry, in a fast-pace and ever-changing society where the needs of the customer are constantly shifting, a company will struggle to keep up with competitors if their culture cannot foster continuous innovation. The right culture begins with the right leadership mindset. When leaders establish and foster the right organizational culture that supports innovation as a top priority, they open the door for growth.

How Successful People Stay Calm

The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.

If you’ve followed my work, you’ve read some startling research summaries that explore the havoc stress can wreak on one’s physical and mental health (such as the Yale study, which found that prolonged stress causes degeneration in the area of the brain responsible for self-control). The tricky thing about stress (and the anxiety that comes with it) is that it’s an absolutely necessary emotion. Our brains are wired such that it’s difficult to take action until we feel at least some level of this emotional state. In fact, performance peaks under the heightened activation that comes with moderate levels of stress. As long as the stress isn’t prolonged, it’s harmless.

“I think intermittent stressful events are probably what keeps the brain more alert, and you perform better when you are alert,” Kirby says. For animals, intermittent stress is the bulk of what they experience, in the form of physical threats in their immediate environment. Long ago, this was also the case for humans. As the human brain evolved and increased in complexity, we’ve developed the ability to worry and perseverate on events, which creates frequent experiences of prolonged stress.New research from the University of California, Berkeley, reveals an upside to experiencing moderate levels of stress. But it also reinforces how important it is to keep stress under control. The study, led by post-doctoral fellow Elizabeth Kirby, found that the onset of stress entices the brain into growing new cells responsible for improved memory. However, this effect is only seen when stress is intermittent. As soon as the stress continues beyond a few moments into a prolonged state, it suppresses the brain’s ability to develop new cells.

Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression, and obesity, stress decreases your cognitive performance. Fortunately, though, unless a lion is chasing you, the bulk of your stress is subjective and under your control. Top performers have well-honed coping strategies that they employ under stressful circumstances. This lowers their stress levels regardless of what’s happening in their environment, ensuring that the stress they experience is intermittent and not prolonged.

While I’ve run across numerous effective strategies that successful people employ when faced with stress, what follows are ten of the best. Some of these strategies may seem obvious, but the real challenge lies in recognizing when you need to use them and having the wherewithal to actually do so in spite of your stress.

They Appreciate What They Have

Taking time to contemplate what you’re grateful for isn’t merely the “right” thing to do. It also improves your mood, because it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23%. Research conducted at the University of California, Davis found that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy, and physical well-being. It’s likely that lower levels of cortisol played a major role in this.

They Avoid Asking “What If?”

“What if?” statements throw fuel on the fire of stress and worry. Things can go in a million different directions, and the more time you spend worrying about the possibilities, the less time you’ll spend focusing on taking action that will calm you down and keep your stress under control. Calm people know that asking “what if? will only take them to a place they don’t want—or need—to go.

They Stay Positive

Positive thoughts help make stress intermittent by focusing your brain’s attention onto something that is completely stress-free. You have to give your wandering brain a little help by consciously selecting something positive to think about. Any positive thought will do to refocus your attention. When things are going well, and your mood is good, this is relatively easy. When things are going poorly, and your mind is flooded with negative thoughts, this can be a challenge. In these moments, think about your day and identify one positive thing that happened, no matter how small. If you can’t think of something from the current day, reflect on the previous day or even the previous week. Or perhaps you’re looking forward to an exciting event that you can focus your attention on. The point here is that you must have something positive that you’re ready to shift your attention to when your thoughts turn negative.

They Disconnect

Given the importance of keeping stress intermittent, it’s easy to see how taking regular time off the grid can help keep your stress under control. When you make yourself available to your work 24/7, you expose yourself to a constant barrage of stressors. Forcing yourself offline and even—gulp!—turning off your phone gives your body a break from a constant source of stress. Studies have shown that something as simple as an email break can lower stress levels.

Technology enables constant communication and the expectation that you should be available 24/7. It is extremely difficult to enjoy a stress-free moment outside of work when an email that will change your train of thought and get you thinking (read: stressing) about work can drop onto your phone at any moment. If detaching yourself from work-related communication on weekday evenings is too big a challenge, then how about the weekend? Choose blocks of time where you cut the cord and go offline. You’ll be amazed at how refreshing these breaks are and how they reduce stress by putting a mental recharge into your weekly schedule. If you’re worried about the negative repercussions of taking this step, first try doing it at times when you’re unlikely to be contacted—maybe Sunday morning. As you grow more comfortable with it, and as your coworkers begin to accept the time you spend offline, gradually expand the amount of time you spend away from technology.

They Limit Their Caffeine Intake

Drinking caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the source of the “fight-or-flight” response, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favor of a faster response. This is great when a bear is chasing you, but not so great when you’re responding to a curt email. When caffeine puts your brain and body into this hyperaroused state of stress, your emotions overrun your behavior. The stress that caffeine creates is far from intermittent, as its long half-life ensures that it takes its sweet time working its way out of your body.

They Sleep

I’ve beaten this one to death over the years and can’t say enough about the importance of sleep to increasing your emotional intelligence and managing your stress levels. When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, shuffling through the day’s memories and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams), so that you wake up alert and clear-headed. Your self-control, attention, and memory are all reduced when you don’t get enough—or the right kind—of sleep. Sleep deprivation raises stress hormone levels on its own, even without a stressor present. Stressful projects often make you feel as if you have no time to sleep, but taking the time to get a decent night’s sleep is often the one thing keeping you from getting things under control.

They Squash Negative Self-Talk

A big step in managing stress involves stopping negative self-talk in its tracks. The more you ruminate on negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that—thoughts, not facts. When you find yourself believing the negative and pessimistic things, your inner voice says, “It’s time to stop and write them down.” Literally stop what you’re doing and write down what you’re thinking. Once you’ve taken a moment to slow down the negative momentum of your thoughts, you will be more rational and clear-headed in evaluating their veracity.

You can bet that your statements aren’t true any time you use words like “never,” “worst,” “ever,” etc. If your statements still look like facts once they’re on paper, take them to a friend or colleague you trust and see if he or she agrees with you. Then the truth will surely come out. When it feels like something always or never happens, this is just your brain’s natural threat tendency inflating the perceived frequency or severity of an event. Identifying and labeling your thoughts as thoughts by separating them from the facts will help you escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive new outlook.

They Reframe Their Perspective

Stress and worry are fueled by our own skewed perception of events. It’s easy to think that unrealistic deadlines, unforgiving bosses, and out-of-control traffic are the reasons we’re so stressed all the time. You can’t control your circumstances, but you can control how you respond to them. So before you spend too much time dwelling on something, take a minute to put the situation in perspective. If you aren’t sure when you need to do this, try looking for clues that your anxiety may not be proportional to the stressor. If you’re thinking in broad, sweeping statements such as “Everything is going wrong” or “Nothing will work out,” then you need to reframe the situation. A great way to correct this unproductive thought pattern is to list the specific things that actually are going wrong or not working out. Most likely you will come up with just some things—not everything—and the scope of these stressors will look much more limited than it initially appeared.

They Breathe

The easiest way to make stress intermittent lies in something that you have to do everyday anyway: breathing. The practice of being in the moment with your breathing will begin to train your brain to focus solely on the task at hand and get the stress monkey off your back. When you’re feeling stressed, take a couple of minutes to focus on your breathing. Close the door, put away all other distractions, and just sit in a chair and breathe. The goal is to spend the entire time focused only on your breathing, which will prevent your mind from wandering. Think about how it feels to breathe in and out. This sounds simple, but it’s hard to do for more than a minute or two. It’s all right if you get sidetracked by another thought; this is sure to happen at the beginning, and you just need to bring your focus back to your breathing. If staying focused on your breathing proves to be a real struggle, try counting each breath in and out until you get to 20, and then start again from 1. Don’t worry if you lose count; you can always just start over.

This task may seem too easy or even a little silly, but you’ll be surprised by how calm you feel afterward and how much easier it is to let go of distracting thoughts that otherwise seem to have lodged permanently inside your brain.

They Use Their Support System

It’s tempting, yet entirely ineffective, to attempt tackling everything by yourself. To be calm and productive, you need to recognize your weaknesses and ask for help when you need it. This means tapping into your support system when a situation is challenging enough for you to feel overwhelmed. Everyone has someone at work and/or outside work who is on their team, rooting for them, and ready to help them get the best from a difficult situation. Identify these individuals in your life and make an effort to seek their insight and assistance when you need it. Something as simple as talking about your worries will provide an outlet for your anxiety and stress and supply you with a new perspective on the situation. Most of the time, other people can see a solution that you can’t because they are not as emotionally invested in the situation. Asking for help will mitigate your stress and strengthen your relationships with those you rely upon.