Nigel Cumberland

"If graduates do not get relevant experience in their field of study after graduation, they will forget what they learned and, in a few years, their knowledge may be completely lost,"

"Candidates should be proactive and show passion and commitment if they wanted to secure the best positions."

"(The Facebook campaign) "is a bit of a feel-good, but it is better than nothing""

"If little kids could play more, you´d have better engineers, better managers and more inspiration in the workplace.If you deny a toddler the chance to play and then put him in a preschool where he is always competing and being measured, you get fear and that leads to an unwillingness to take risks. You end up with boring adults."

"Everything about you is part of your branding, about how you are perceived, viewed, thought and spoken about. Great branding enables you to stand out, be memorable"

"I once asked a group of young managers in a workshop: would you prefer to work with a friend who never keeps their word or an enemy who does? The entire group said they would prefer to work with enemies, those they could in some sense rely upon.Give yourself time before rushing to respond to requests from your boss, colleagues and clients. Avoid being vague in how you respond. If you are not sure you can do what is being asked of you, do not say “I’ll try and let you know" as people could assume you will be completing the work."

"Poor quality job-hunting can be the surest way of remaining without work, of being depressed and of feeling that life has no direction."

"Yes, first impressions do count but every single impression counts. You cannot fake being positive, but you can practise and teach yourself to appear and act in a positive manner."

"Employers do not wish to hire victims, rather they try to hire balanced and flexible people who do not blame others for their situation."

"Employers are not going to hire a candidate who is stressed by cashflow and family problems. With this kind of baggage around your neck, you will choke your job-hunting opportunities."

"Rather than let the rejections deter you from your objectives, simply aim to learn what the rejections teach you."

"Even if you are penniless and desperate for any type of paid employment, you must work out what are the ideal jobs for you if you want to avoid future upset."

"If you don’t know where you are heading, no employer is going to hire you to give you a lift to ‘Don’t know where land’!"

"Be able to sell ice-cubes to Eskimos – you may have to!"

"I am often asked when can you stop networking. I would say never – networking should be a lifelong activity."

"Everything matters and the little things do count in life..So often in this fast world we forget the importance of effective communication."

"Preparation and planning are everything - ask any chef."

"No one owes you a job, least of all the person across the table interviewing you!"

"Whatever you start, finish well!"

"No longer be one of the many job-hunters who are blinded by your ignorance and self-confidence, who after a lengthy period of unemployment still feel that the world owes them a living."

"Today knowledge and human capital are becoming an organisation’s key resources, and the ability to find, attract and retain talent has become an essential skill that any successful organization must embrace."

"Hire people who can deal with crisis and uncertainty"

"Very few people can succeed in their careers without having to manage, supervise and lead other people...virtually everyone is part of a team, and at some point in their working lives they must take a leadership role – if only to chair a team meeting or a project in their boss’ absence."

"Any team, consciously or unconsciously, agrees a set of understandings around which all of their thinking and activities are organized. This is your team’s culture."

"It is better to struggle at work you really enjoy than to succeed in work you find boring and which fails to excite you."

"Knowing ourselves is one of the most important skills that we must possess if we hope to improve how we work and interact with others."

"You may discover that part of your problem is that you accept too much work and do not say no enough times."

"Being a person that others can trust is one of the most sought after qualities in the workplace today. So many leaders and their staff have shown in the recent global financial crisis a lack of trust and integrity amongst themselves and with their clients and other stakeholders."

"Remember above all to be true to yourself. It is ok to act and to pretend that something is ok, but admit the truth to yourself."

"Do not become someone who regrets leaving a job or resigning from a company when with hindsight you realize you should have stayed longer and stuck it out."

"Life is too short to spend too long at work and also to waste your time while in the workplace."

"The working world needs more empathic leaders, staff and colleagues. A person’s high level of empathy will make up for a wide array of other skills and attributes."

"Help others to explore the challenges and problems facing them through what is called coaching. This is not sports coaching where a coach would simply tell others what to do, but is a work-based form of coaching, sometimes called executive coaching."

"Successful people in the workplace like to recognise and to congratulate those around them. Too often we forget to thank and to recognize when someone else has done a great job."

"Unless you work in a cave as a solitary hermit, your entire working life will involve connecting with various people...Do not wait until you have a particular issue or problem before re-connecting with someone."

"The most successful people in the workplace are those who normally really like and ‘buy-into’ their employer’s mission and vision. In other words such people like what the company wishes to achieve and where it is heading. It is akin to being on a ship and liking what the ship is doing and liking where the ship is heading. Can you imagine being on a ship and not wishing to go where it is heading?"

"The working culture in an organization is rarely spoken about and is often only discussed when someone is critical about where they are working. This is a shame as the working culture influences and affects everything around you."

"Mastering and navigating around office politics is never easy and there are times when you may simply be on the receiving end of some negative gossip or rumours."

"It is surprising how blind we can be to what we are communicating both verbally and non-verbally."

"Humans do not seem to like changing and the majority of people with whom I have worked actually hate leaving the status quo of their comfort zones."

"By trying to do what is right will often entail you having to disagree with others, and this is not easy. Once you start doing it more often, you will find it easier."

"Learn to become like Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who found that those moments of having to be humble and having to ‘eat his own words’ were invaluable."

"We live in a world in which everything seems to needed now and working quickly is normally viewed as a positive attribute in the workplace...Do not let yourself become too frazzled and stressed by doing everything at high speed."

"As I have coached hundreds of individuals in the workplace, I have discovered that we waste precious time by delaying and procrastinating. We might know that the work is very urgent and important but we still might find ourselves being slow to start the task."

"Stress can be a killer and is far too prevalent in today’s workplaces. You may not die because of stress but stress can easily kill your energy levels, motivation, relationships, health and mindset."

"Good decision-making is like playing chess and you must avoid making hasty decisions without thinking of how that particular decision will impact on different aspects of your work and organization. The worst kind of decision-making is to decide to delay a difficult decision until later or to pass it to someone else to have to make. You will never excel and be valued by your colleagues if you get into these habits of procrastination and passing responsibility to others."

"Many people find it hard working with their boss and often leave their jobs because of their boss’ working style, behaviours and attitude. I once heard someone say, “I joined the company, but I left my boss”."

"Too many teams are dysfunctional and are plagued with poor communication, lack of direction, selfishness and little sharing – they are teams only in name. To create a high performing team the key is to align all members of your team so that each member is moving in the same direction and understands their role and contribution. A good analogy is to think of a team of rowers where if the each rower is not totally aligned with all the other rowers the boat might go around in circles or even capsize."

"Diversity is a very popular business topic today while the negative side of diversity, discrimination, remains a touchy and sensitive topic. Even in organisations which follow the letter of the law in terms of not discriminating against any individuals, it is common for people to show prejudice and bias...Have the courage to stand out from your colleagues by being very open to and comfortable with all kinds of diversity amongst your colleagues and stakeholders. When you sense someone is being ignored or marginalized spend time with them and bring them into discussions encouraging them to speak up as needed."

"An effective HR professional would probably be a mature person, one who has lived and who has been "knocked about" by life. Because if you have not experienced life, how can you share that experience with people?"