CATEGORY: | Career Development |
Image credited to rawpixel and Licensed under Wikimedia Commons Public Domain “You are what you eat” is a quote that means you should eat to stay fit and healthy. To live beyond middle age without a frequent visit to a hospital. In the healthcare industry, a dietician is a healthcare professional who assesses and recommends nutrition to clients, carers, and colleagues. OTHER RELATED OR SIMILAR ROLES Clinical nutritionist Gerontological nutritionist Neonatal nutritionist dietitian Nurse-dietitian Nutritional advisers Nutrition experts Nutritionist Public health nutritionist Sports and fitness nutritionist Therapeutic nutritionist dietitian JOB RESPONSIBILITIES Design menus and nutrition Write reports Advice about special diets Consult with other health professionals regarding dietary needs or restrictions Monitor food service to ensure compliance to nutrition, safety and sanitary standards Develop policies or rules on nutrition and disease control Test food products and equipment WORKPLACE - WHERE DO THEY WORK? Hospitals Clinics Schools Universities Food and beverage companies SKILLS NEEDED Soft skills Hard skills Time management Communications (oral and written) Teamwork Motivating others Empathy Compassion Solid knowledge of nutrition Effects of nutrition on health Human Anatomy Biochemistry Business skills for freelancing Medical records Patient care Interpreting lab results Understanding of medical conditions such as anaemia, diabetes Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) Weight loss Special diets EDUCATION AND TRAINING To be a professional dietitian, you must finish and pass a four-year degree of Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics (BS ND). This course will you understand how to document, implement, and monitor nutritional programs for an individual or group. In your last year of the course, you’ll be asked to undergo on-the-job training in community food manufacturing companies, food/beverage companies and health facilities. After graduation, if you want to be a registered dietitian, you must take an exam conducted by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC). PAYSCALE According to Payscale.com, the average salary of a dietitian is 245, 000 PHP every year, the lowest is 108, 000 PHP and the highest is 357, 000 PHP. JOB MARKET OUTLOOK People need the right nutrition to stay healthy and fit. You can’t just do anything you want 24/7. Getting and eating the right food for a healthy body isn’t simple and there’s always be a need for a dietitian. An increase in the aging population will raise the demand for dietitians. PROSPECTS FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT You can advance in this job by taking additional training or postgraduate degrees such as a masters degree or doctorate. You can also get promoted to administrative or managerial roles. RISKS OF BEING AUTOMATED OR REPLACED BY ROBOTS According to willrobotstakemyjob.com, there’s a 0.4% chance of dietitians being automated or replaced by robots. That chance can be lower if professionals stay in their human interaction role. PROS AND CONS Pros Help people get healthy Work in different places The pay isn’t bad. You’re less exposed to the risk of infections due to handling specimens or visiting patients who have a communicable disease. Cons You may work with patients who have shortened life expectancy. And losing them is disheartening. You have to follow and get updated on regulations. Schooling could be expensive and intense. DIETITIAN VERSUS NUTRITIONIST These two terms are often confused. Although they have similar training and education, a dietitian is often certified or licensed while a nutritionist isn’t. Registered Dietitians are qualified to design diets and diagnose eating disorders while anyone who has a nutritional background or has studied a short-term course can call themselves a nutritionist even without a valid license. In the United States, however, a nutrition professional is called a certified nutrition specialist.
CATEGORY: | Career Hacks |
Work-Life Balance by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images from Picpedia.org Career starters or jobseekers will likely associate good jobs with high a salary. While a good salary is ideal, other aspects of the job are overlooked. When you work 24/7, you’ve to consider these other things: Career growth Career growth refers to appraisals, promotions, and salary increases that can improve the employee’s life and career trajectory. A healthy career growth won’t you in the same position after a year or more. For example, if you can’t get promotions from the dishwasher to cook even after showing your skills and effort, it’s worth leaving that company for good and going for the next opportunity. Flexibility Flexibility means the ability of employers and employees to adapt to changes. Employers can offer a flexible working environment involving: Work from home Condensed work schedule with additional working days on top of the regular weekend day-offs. Employees can demonstrate flexibility to their companies by: Learning new software or skills that can improve work efficiency and reduce hiring expenses. Offering to help a colleague to finish a deadline. Offering to cover the colleague’s duties while he or she is ill or on holiday Postponing a planned work to respond to an urgent task Health Health is wealth. You can’t have your goals if your body is on the verge of shutting down due to serious health issues. As an employer, you can promote health through the following: If you’re running catering services for employees, give them healthy foods and drinks. If you have in-house employees and you’ve got a budget, you can offer them to use your mini-gym with a treadmill and weights. Employees can maintain their health through: Working with enough break time. Eating healthy meals. Liking what you do You can be more efficient or productive when you like what you’re doing. If it’s the opposite, you can find yourself hating waking up and rushing to go home with a Bundy clock. Reasons vary why employees may grow tired or bored by what they’re doing - reasons include - working in a toxic environment and toxic person. Safety The safety of your environment can affect your peace of mind and prospects of how you can succeed in your life. Some industries, companies, and professions have more risks than others. If you believe that you can find a better job and pay than your current work, you should start finding a new job. Employers in construction, fire safety, and smelting industries can improve safety through: Mandatory use of safety suits Weekly or monthly safety meetings Employing safety inspectors Employees can reduce the risks they face by: Reviewing safety rules and procedures. Wearing safety suits Studying safety courses Workers in the information industry (content writers, graphic designers and programmers) are also at risk of developing unhealthy habits and illnesses. Setting for 8 hours or more a day, and eating unhealthy foods can increase belly fat. Without exercise, you have no way of burning fats in your body. Excessive fat can lead to heart disease and other serious medical conditions. Recreation The saying “all work with no play makes Jack a dull boy” means that a person will become bored and eventually tired without time off. A person’s motivation plummets within seconds of exhaustion and boredom. Employers can improve work and life balance by: Allowing more time off without affecting productivity Conducting parties with special food and games Promoting extracurricular activities such as visiting nature sites and vacations Challenges and boredom Challenges refer to varying levels of stress (low and high). They also pertain to changing deadlines, methods to finish the task, learning, and rewards. Boredom points to the repetitive activities that can numb your body and mind. It’s likely that if your job has few or no challenges and all boredom, you’ve less chance to move up the career ladder. For employers, to reduce boredom and repetition, Promote and encourage learning among employees. Provide learning opportunities. Provide a safe and learning-conducive environment For employees, to reduce boredom: Collaborate with others Set new challenges and goals Get a normal sleep Take a vacation Modify your workspace
CATEGORY: | Career Hacks |
Ethical Hacker Photo credited to Sebastiaan Ter Burg. Licensed under Creative Commons Creativity refers to the ability and tendency to generate alternatives, ideas, and possibilities useful for communicating, entertaining, and problem-solving. Some jobs are already known or popular in the creative industry, such as graphic artist and web developer. But some creative jobs are less known or less frequent. Here are these jobs: Audio or Sound editor Audio editors or sound editors assemble and select sounds for motion pictures, television programs, and video games. Here, you may use software such as Adobe Audition, Ableton Live, Audacity, ACID Pro, and other audio editing software. You may work for radio and TV news, live sports games, and theatrical art studios. You’ll be expected to know audio software tools and post-production methods and meet deadlines. Also, you must know how to use audio mixer devices that are professional and sophisticated tools with a bunch of displays, switches, controls, and lights). Education/Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in communications, broadcasting, or audiovisual technology Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Sound Design or Audio Production Understanding and skills in Audio editing software such as Adobe Audition, Ableton Live, Audacity, ACID Pro, and other audio editing software. Understanding of digital recording formats, music composition, music theory, and marketing music Tasks: Create and compile soundtracks Control and edit sound through the multi-track audio editor Keep up with music trends from different genres. Edit music and sound effects according to company standards. Salary: 530, 299 PHP per year (Philippines) Salary Range: 389, 659 PHP to 657, 242 PHP per year. Source: Salary Expert Body Painter (human body painter) Body painters or body painting artists are just like canvas artists but their painting medium is the human skin. Like a tattoo artist, you’ll turn a skin or whole human body into a masterpiece depicting abstract, techno, or nature themes. You won’t be using permanent ink but water-based and non-toxic paints. Usually, you’ll work as a freelancer but at other times as a member of a creative group. The venues of your working environment include corporate events, fairs, and birthday parties. Education/Qualifications: Degree in Fine arts or graphic design Skills and knowledge in different types of paint suited for the human body Tasks: Perform body painting sessions Make sure that the host is comfortable Take care of body painting equipment and paints and ensure they are organised and stored properly. Get appropriate payments from customers Salary: It may range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars depending on location, skill, and work needed. Feng shui consultant/Feng Shui Interior Designer Feng shui pertains to the Chinese thought system of rules and laws that govern spatial arrangements. These arrangements can affect the flow of energy and luck. If you’re familiar with Chinese culture, you might have already encountered or heard of Feng shui. Now, a feng shui consultant is an expert on this. You’ll advise and recommend the proper positions of doors, windows, beds, stairs, and anything inside and outside a house or building. For example, you may inspect an interior and recommend to your customers to remove a bedroom facing the door since this is considered a Shar (Sha chi or Negative Energy). A Shar such as a bedroom opposite the doorway can bring negative energy or bad luck since it resembles the direction of carrying the dead out of the window. Another Shar is a house near or within the cemetery. Feng Shui experts consider cemeteries as places of Yin energy (Negative and Female energy) and recommend houses should be at least 5 miles away from burial sites. Being a Feng Shui expert can enhance your career prospects when you’re already in the related fields of architecture, interior and landscape design. On the other hand, a positive feng shui brings Yang (Positive or Luck energy) or male energy. Examples of Yang include - a patterned rug on the floor, a clutter-free environment, and a naturally lighted room. Usually, you’ll work as a consultant or as a part of a consulting company. Your clients could be a real estate companies, private persons, building, or residential owners. Being a consultant, you might not have a fixed salary structure, as this may depend on your expertise. Your goal is to enhance your clients’ living space with harmonious arrangements of things in line with feng shui practices and principles. Education/Qualification: Certification in Feng Shui from an accredited trade organisation. Program for Fengshui Architecture Program for Fengshui Interior Design & Landscape Feng Shui Online Courses Note: For more feng shui training, visit these sites Digitaldefynd.com Masterhanzcua.com More sources: Easy-fengshui.com Duties: Check indoor and outdoor designs for compliance with feng shui practices. Make onsite evaluations. Recommend changes if there are Shars identified. Salary: In the Philippines, the fees depend on the size of the property and the consultant’s experience. A feng shui advisor may charge from a hundred to thousands of pesos per hour, per session or per property. In the USA, the range is from $591 to $1534 (Home Advisor) Fragrance chemist/Perfumer If you love being around a room full of essential oils, analysing devices and other fragrant chemicals, this job is for you. You research and make fragrances for cleaning products, food, manufacturing, pesticide and perfume. You may get samples and concentrates such as lavender, rose, sandalwood, agar-agar, musk and other synthetic or natural scents. These fragrances can help mask the chemical smell of a product or add just add fragrance. Education and Qualifications: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. Degree in Cosmetic Science Training in Chemicals and Aromatics Strong sense of smell Duties: Analyse chemical raw materials or additives Evaluate finished products Knowledge of gas chromatography Perform chemical and physical tests Ensure the production process conforms to quality control and safety standards Salary: 213, 048 PHP average salary per year Source: Economic Research Institute and Salaryexpert Ethical Hacker The term “Hacker” is often associated with malicious intent but, did you know you can be a hacker without landing in legal trouble? If you like to tinker ins and outs of software security or enter the IT security career, this job is for you. When you hack ethically, you test the software’s vulnerability to criminal hackers. You may work for banks, government agencies, software companies, and web development companies. Educational/Training Background: Computer engineering Software engineering Bachelor's degree in information technology Duties: Help a software development company or organisation overcome security risks and prevent malicious hacking attacks. Maintain strict confidentiality and secrecy of company credentials and accounts. Solve problems and have technical skills in networking and cybersecurity. Salary: 475, 000 PHP average salary per year Salary Range: 218, 400 PHP to 756, 000 PHP per year Source: Salaryexplorer.com Dating Consultant/Dating Coach If attracting the opposite sex is as easy as learning the ABC, then most people have already their fiancés. Unfortunately, personalities are different, and not all have the skill or confidence to approach and attract a man or woman. As a dating consultant, you’ll help singles work out their strategies and guide them to find their soon-to-be boyfriend and girlfriend. Education/Training Background: Note: There’s another term related to dating consultants called Pick Up Artist (PUA) that are associated with narcissists and sociopaths according to some dating sites and articles. Education: Experience in dating different people and possibly a background in Communication, Psychology, and Social Work. You may work as an independent consultant or a member of a dating consultancy service. Duties: Provide tips and advice person to person or in seminar venues. Guide clients on their dating Manage dating accounts Prepare dates for clients Monitor relationship status Salary: $32, 000 per year average annual salary per year (USA) Source: Work.chron.com Herbalist Numerous medicines came from natural sources such as plants, animals, fungi, and microbes. But did you know herbs are one of the major sources of plant-based drugs? Herbs are medicinal plants are procured for their healing properties. Herbalists use plants for healing ailments. You won’t be a medical doctor in this field, though; you can be referred to as a medical herbalist. Education/Qualifications: There’s no common certification program or educational degree for herbalists so you might earn your credentials by finishing: Botany or plant science Evidence-based botanical research Nutrition Pharmacy and dispensing You might join herbal trade organisations or get recognition from regulatory government agencies. Tasks: Make herbal products such as herbal tinctures, elixirs, bitters, and medicinal hone. Makes infusions, tea blends, herbal tinctures, herb-infused oils and vinegar Manages herbal shops Perform quality control on herbal-infused products If you’ve writing skills, you could write and publish herbal blogs and books. Salary: 328, 241 PHP - Average Salary per Year Salary Range: 243, 170 PHP to 404, 498 per year Source: Salaryexpert.com Disclaimer: The salary figures above constitute an estimate and may change because of the job market, and economic and technological trends.
CATEGORY: | Work Life Balance |
Photo by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free Companies, such as in information and tech sector, that still allow work from home, remote, telecommuting, or hybrid setup have started requiring their employees to return to the office. Many employers are getting blowback. While management may argue productivity and socialization as few of the factors for this decision, the real benefits highlights the following advantages of work from home setup. Save on Rent Renting (or leasing) makes the highest expenses for companies who don’t own office spaces. For example, office space on one of the towers located in the central business district might cost you tens to hundreds of thousands. Just imagine if you could just use those huge savings from rentals to the following: Advertisement to improve your market reach Buy stocks Buy your own office space Employee skill development such as education and training Healthcare insurance for your employees Invest in another business Software for business Tools for productivity Utilities Utilities comprise electricity, gas for heating, internet and water. All of these can cost you thousands of pesos if you compel or require employees to return to the office. Telecommuting means saying goodbye to monthly bills that can add to your stress. Remember you need one of your staff to process bills and that can take away precious effort, money, and time. Cleaning Services Renting an office can add a cost — cleaning services. Since your staff occupies your office, you’ll need to keep the floor, ceiling, workstations, and windows clean. And that calls for janitorial or cleaning services. Now that’s another bill. Diminished Business Travel Expenses Remote collaboration and virtual meetings can reduce the cost of business travel, including accommodation, airfare and dining expenses. Improved Employee Retention Resigning employees can hamper your production. Although you can always hire another employee, remember that retraining a new staff doesn’t mean you can always get the same quality of service. On top of that, think about the cost and time of retraining new employees. Promoting work from home can help you retain talents who require more time with their family, and take care of their babies or ailing relatives. Reduced Absenteeism Flexible schedules can give more time to your employees who have personal obligations that could demand taking days off. Returning employees from sick leave can bounce back to work easier compared to commuting employees. Reduced Tardiness Traffic jams can hamper your staff’s ability to arrive on time. Even though you can adjust your time or wake up early, it’s very taxing and tiresome for you to deal with bumper to bumper traffic. By the time you and your staff arrive on-site, you’re already wasting precious time and energy. The solution to traffic? Make work from home a permanent work setup.
CATEGORY: | Overseas Work |
Image credited to Lars_Nissen from Pixabay Reaching other lands, and countries, experiencing other climates and earning more than you could in your native country are one of the best things to happen in life. If you’re contemplating working abroad, this guide can help you decide. Why should I decide carefully before going abroad? Learning the hows of ifs working abroad helps you mitigate the risks. Maximize your earning potential Find the right opportunities Avoid illegal recruitment You can get most of the benefits of working abroad if: The salary offer is more than twice the job offered locally. For most Filipinos, a minimum of 50, 000 PHP worth of salary abroad is desirable. Your role, industry, or profession has opportunities abroad that pay well. You can’t find decent-paying work locally. You love to reach famous landmarks and other countries. You love to experience other climates (four seasons versus tropical and subtropical). You’re planning to immigrate to other countries. It might not be Ok to work abroad if: You can find a job with similar offers, approximates or greater than the salary offered abroad. You’re going to study at local colleges or universities for career improvements. Studying abroad is expensive and may conflict with your working schedule. There’s no one to take care of your children (if you’re a parent) unless you and your spouse are living abroad and can afford to sponsor your sons and daughters. There’s a travel ban due to war, pandemic and political causes in a destination country unless you can find alternative countries. No one will take care of your loved ones (spouse, children, parents, and relatives) and you can find a job locally. You can’t handle the emotional impact of leaving your loved ones.