Health and Human Services Professional Development

The Art of Self-Disclosure by   Jill Bowers   on   June 30, 2013   How much information will  you  disclose in an interview or professional setting? It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” This does not mean you should have to feel insecure that everything you say might be stupid or offend someone. What it does mean, however, is that you should think before you speak. In doing this, you can avoid disclosing  too much  information about yourself. In fact,  what  or  how much  you disclose can influence how others’ perceive you and how much they trust you as a potential employee or colleague. For example, “too much disclosure” may cause an interviewer to think you have “issues” or cause them to question your ability to keep information about their company or clients confidential. Not enough disclosure, on the other hand, can make you appear “c...

Cut Down on Stress in the Workplace by Being a Cool Coworker by   Elizabeth Shuff, Guest Author   on   May 21, 2014   Stress has long been a part of the workplace, but is it our everyday activities or the roles we have at work that cause the most stress? Researchers have found that stress is individualized, meaning each person experiences stress in his or her unique manner. This may seem obvious to most, of course everyone deals with things in their own way. However, when looking more closely at workplace stress, a study reveals some commonalities among people. It has been shown that politics in the work setting are one of the main causes of stress, and having good relationships with coworkers tends to lead to lower overall stress levels ( Swaminathan & Rajkumar, 2013 ). This makes perfect sense, the better your relationships with co-workers, the better you can work out issues that cause conflict and avoid the dishonesty of “playing politics.” A posit...