News & Announcements

Traits a CEO Should Posses

Being at the top means making the decisions and some of those need to be calculated risks. Admirable as it may be to maintain a business and keep it steady on an ever-similar plateau of profit the CEOs who are most successful are those who know how to grow their business. You don’t want to be a safe pair of hands steadying the ship the whole time, there has to be some dynamism to the company’s system. Direction is your department and so taking a few risks can throw up the possibility of proper profits.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/traits-a-ceo-should-posses/

How to Prioritise your Goals in Life

In your life, you are likely going to aspire to achieve numerous things. While there is no reason you cannot achieve everything you ever dreamed of with the correct work ethic, there obviously does need to be a plan in place. The difference between wanting and achieving is often these planning stages. While one size definitely does not fit all, there are some tips out there everyone can use when juggling those lofty ambitions.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-prioritise-your-goals-in-life/

The Swing of Things: How to Settle Back in After a Summer Holiday

Summer’s final embers are still there if you squint. This is what you tell yourself. We’re now in the stage (in London anyway) of: wear a coat, take coat off, put coat back on… You go out with your sunglasses on in the overcast grey, goosebumps pop up like a plague over your knobbly knuckles and knees, shivering under an anguished September sky.

It’s done. Summer is done. The first step on the road to recovery is acceptance. And this is you, reading this, accepting it.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-swing-of-things-how-to-settle-back-in-after-a-summer-holiday/

Keeping it in the Family: What makes Family Businesses Successful?

Welcome to The Job Auction family… oh you didn’t know we were a family? -We are. Family then; you don’t pick your family, do you? A set of people you are bonded to by blood, law or commitment and these are the people, out of everyone you could have picked, that you want to start a business with? A scary prospect for some but for others, it’s a business model that will spell success every time.

The separation of the personal and the professional is championed by a lot of successful business owners and yet with the right rules, that mix-up can be just the ticket.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/keeping-it-in-the-family-what-makes-family-businesses-successful/

Amazon: A Winning Formula

Back in 1994 a small start-up began selling books over the internet from their base in Seattle. Within a month they were already shipping to 40 different countries and it was clear they were going to be big. In the end, they didn’t get big, they got colossal, a behemoth of conglomerate with the richest man that has ever lived at the helm. These are some of the things that made and are still making Amazon one of the most successful companies in history...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/amazon-a-winning-formula/

Signs You’re in a Dead-End Job

What constitutes a dead-end job? Well, the truth is that you have to decide and you can see your job any way you like. No doubt there are opportunities everywhere but these are some examples of some red flags that you may be in one of those dreaded dead-end jobs.

If you feel you’re in one and want to get yourself out there and get noticed. Why not create a public profile on The Job Auction as yourself and list your skills. You don’t have to list an auction but be ‘out there’ (proactive) for others to find you.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/signs-youre-in-a-dead-end-job/

Can Ambitious People Ever Truly Retire?

Firstly, what is retirement? The withdrawal from one’s professional occupation or from their active working life, as it is categorised by the Oxford English Dictionary. It can come at any stage but is usually associated with old age, you know the score: School-Uni-Work-Retirement, a trajectory so ingrained in us that if we do not conform we find ourselves questioning why.

Retirement should stem from a level of financial stability coupled with a strong desire to enjoy one’s leisure time. It’s often presented as some kind of reward for all hard work achieved over a lifetime, a free pass to put your feet up. I’m sure many of us see work as work but a sense of purpose is required for human beings to live and whilst it is hard the satisfaction of tasks completed and obstacles overcome is what fans the flames of purpose and keeps the mind focused and strong.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/can-ambitious-people-ever-truly-retire/

How to do ‘Back To School’ on a Budget

According to an article published by heart, the average parent will spend approximately £190 sending their child back to school. This cost is mostly comprised of school uniform and stationary expenses but the truth is, out loud, one hundred and ninety pounds is a shocking figure isn’t it. It doesn’t have to be, though. Here are some pearls of wisdom.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/different-types-of-marketing-strategy/

Different Types of Marketing Strategy

Community Marketing

No man is an island and any marketer knows this. However, instead of blanket marketing strategies that are meant to target people all over the socio-economic spectrum, these are more specifically designed to operate within certain groups that are defined very clearly, specifically those who advertisers already trust to be on board with their brand. This means they target existing customers and make sure that they don’t leave by reminding them they remember who they are. Rewards for company loyalty are good examples of this type of marketing strategy...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-do-back-to-school-on-a-budget/

Not Getting What You Want? This Could Be Why…

Do you feel as though your life is not going in the direction you want it to? Do you look at others and think: ‘s/he’s got it all’? Does it all seem to be drawing a negative for you, well if it does then this could be why…

Negative talk and negative thought are more powerful than you think. (Keep reading) -We’ll be walking through this idea in this article to better help you determine if you’ve fallen victim to such circumstance without even realising it. Yes, it requires a little work but not much! To grasp the concept, ask yourself: are you already thinking, having read only these few lines: rubbish! Or: This article is not for me or: that’s not why I can’t get what I want > ? … Well if you are, then those are negative thoughts themselves! Here’s a helping hand on spotting the neg’ and how to banish it for a better life…

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/not-getting-what-you-want-this-could-be-why/

Do All of Our Careers Have a Shelf Life?

There is a difference between changing your job and changing your career. An article by The Telegraph in 2015 stated that an average Britons will have around six different jobs with six different employers in his/her lifetime. It, however, does not specify whether these jobs will differ altogether too greatly. Careers, on the other hand, are the trajectory of your jobs, the path you forge using employment and learned skills. Careers can include jobs but not the other way around. Still with me?

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/do-all-of-our-careers-have-a-shelf-life/

The Office is Dead, Long Live the Office!

I have knicked that title from a seminar I attended on 14th August. Herman Miller, a company whose primary function is the manufacture of office furniture was selling a vision of a future without the need for offices. A seminar that seemed to take perverse glee at the concept of the speaker’s own redundancy is actually an interesting way to spend lunchtime.

Except no, offices would still exist just as a member of the wider genre of legitimised meeting spaces. It’s easy to get carried away with the idea that offices are a thing of the past. There seems to be the assumption that doing away with offices means to reduce everyone to islands. It’s simply the case that office spaces are in the embryonic stages and no one can really see how they are going to progress beyond the decade.

In the 1980s you had a rolodex and a dictionary as part of the primary office equipment. The standard issue today is a monitor and a printer, so technological developments will be the main thrust of change within the working environment.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-office-is-dead-long-live-the-office/

Is Investing in Cryptocurrency Worth It?

How to invest

Most first time investors choose Bitcoin, a digital currency created by hacker Satoshi Nakamoto. Its clandestine origin as a method of paying for goods and services on the dark web has since been overshadowed by its near ubiquitous popularity among bedroom businessman and other millennials caught up in the fever dream of what they perceive to be the first steps in a post-hard currency world.

As a mineable coin you could say that Bitcoin depends upon its miners (users). By mining the blocks within the Bitcoin ecosystem, miners are actually validating transactions, that way also earning profit along the way, as miners will deduct fees for verifying and processing your transaction.

Just like investing in stocks and shares with your capital as traders do at Canary Wharf or Wall Street although most people consider Bitcoin as more comparable to gold and those that invest in it. It’s volatile, costly to use and deflationatory and according to most experts the scenario in which we start buying groceries or paying our rent in Bitcoin is not only a long way off but unlikely to ever happen. So what’s the point?

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/is-investing-in-cryptocurrency-worth-it/

The 7 Different Learning Styles

Learning is institutionalised when we’re young. We are introduced to the notion of learning as something that happens within the confines of a classroom and so our understanding of the word is limited and associative.

The truth is that we all learn differently using our own unique combination of the seven main learning styles. Not everyone has one style they use exclusively but a number and in a range of circumstances. To decide which style is your dominant, here are some summaries.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-7-different-learning-styles/

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (Or None of the Above)

In 2011 a study was carried out by The Guardian working in tandem with The Office for National Statistics. The aim was to find out just how Britain gets to work. What are our preferred methods of transport for the daily commute?

In built-up urban areas such as Manchester, London, Glasgow etc, there was a significant spike in the number of people using metros or tubes. Any kind of light rail service which are synonymous with big cities. There have been also been showings that cities are more likely to encourage people to cycle to work. Although the figure averages at around 0.5%, there is a slight increase in cities.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/planes-trains-automobiles-or-none-of-the-above/

Why Career Women are Refusing to ‘Marry Down’

An article published on The Mail Online on 29th July of this year states that ‘A generation of high-flying women cannot find eligible men that they would consider marrying, and this is down to their lack of degrees and high incomes.’ It seems women are skewing the marriage statistics and admirably refusing to settle for less than what they want.

The date was compiled over three years by the US Census Bureau, instances where only one half of a couple works has halved in the last 40 years. With the education gap between the sexes widening, many women who naturally seek a partner to be their equal are simply staying single rather than marrying a man with less qualifications or who earns less money.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/why-career-women-are-refusing-to-marry-down/

Relax in the Workplace

Stress can be conducive to a low level of productivity. This is due in part to the fact that when we stress we tend to feel trapped in our own cognitive cycles and patterns, therefore the solutions to problems that may be simple, to us seem tangled, obscured or otherwise confounding.

Combating stress is a personal battle. You need to build a sense of calm and then maintain that throughout the day. A relaxed working environment can help. This can be anything from personal effects from home to more plants in the office.

Making sure you are relaxed can begin on your commute. Reading a book or listening to music works for some. For others grabbing a pillow and getting some shuteye works if the commute is a particularly long one on public transportation.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/relax-in-the-workplace/

At What Age Should We Have a Career By?

Finding things to do to occupy yourself during your time on earth can seem difficult at times, can’t it? If you are having trouble fitting all the little bits in you may want to try a career. A ‘career’ by definition is a dedication of at least a decade of your life to a craft. Figure out what you’re good at, what you like and run with it.

The answer to this article is simple. There isn’t one. You cannot by any means judge your life by another person’s standards. The more you compare yourself the worse you’ll feel. What is important is to decide what you’re passionate about and follow this. You will intuitively know what’s right for you.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/at-what-age-should-we-have-a-career-by/

The Moon Landing and Remembering to Dream Again

On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. It isn’t a statement that needs any embellishment; it is a soul-stirring feat that hushes humanity into a deep quiet. No adjective particularly does the event justice and remembering it, even for those of us (and there are millions) who weren’t even born seems possible. It’s such a significant occurrence in human history, its emblazoned into the brains of tots and teenagers simply because it happened.

I imagine that next year, on its fiftieth anniversary there will be memorial celebrations like we’ve never seen before but now on the 49th year after Apollo 11’s momentous landing, The JA thought it best to write this little piece.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-moon-landing-and-remembering-to-dream-again/

Set the Temp (OR the Way Heat Affects the Workplace)

Everything affects the workplace. The work environment is a volatile melting pot of emotions, motives, stress and sometimes even works, too. Employee bickering needs to end. But, before that, we need to know what causes temperatures to rise like they do. Surprise, surprise, it’s the heat.

In an article published by OpenWorkSpaceDesign.co.uk at the tail end of 2015, it was revealed that an enormous 80% of us complain about the temperature in the office. This statistic isn’t exclusive to the summer months either, it’s all year round. This costs each individual worker around half an hour a day where they don’t work due to the temperature. Not good.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/set-the-temp-or-the-way-heat-effects-the-workplace/

Is Your Career on the Rise or Decline?

Taking charge of your own destiny is what we are all about here at The JA and here we are offering you some advice that should illuminate your career trajectory. It’s good to know where you are going before you decide whether or not it’s the right direction. So, in true JA fashion here are some questions to ask yourself to get the root of your feelings of dissatisfaction.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/is-your-career-on-the-rise-or-decline/

The Eminence of Emojis- A How to Guide

On July 17th the 5th World Emoji Day happened. Not a national holiday anywhere in the world just yet but it’s proved its endurance and evolved from a fad to a language that transcends borders. They even made a film about them. Once, predominantly a tool utilised by generations Y and Z, its meteoric rise during the 2010s has since seen everyone besotted with the tiny symbols. Everything has been emojified, from fists to fax machines, eggplants to octopi; they’re even being taught in schools! There truly is no escape so here are a few tips on how to navigate this ceaseless army of electronic feelings.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-eminence-of-emojis-a-how-to-guide/

Being a Full-Time Parent and the Daily Hustle

It’s not so much a strange opinion to hold these days that being a parent is a full-time job. Babies will be one the biggest drains to your budget facing you. That said the sheer indescribable human joy of being a new Mum or Dad more than makes up for it, right?

Expenses for another human being include food, clothes, education, entertainment but most of all: time. With or without a partner at work, a job as such may be too much of a commitment because your child will always be top priority. And while it may conflict with your newfound sense of peace and love for the world, money, unfortunately, makes it go round.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/being-a-full-time-parent-and-the-daily-hustle/

The JA Profile: Advertise Yourself, Find Work, Make Money

The Job Auction’s USP (Unique Selling Point) is the auctioning of jobs and skills but this wouldn’t even be possible if the people behind those jobs and auctions didn’t exist. It isn’t simply a site to anonymously bid and succeed. The site also offers, regular jobs, Instajobs, tasks, and the opportunity for you to market yourself for Free!

So how does it work?…we wrote an overview on Marketing Your Business here and a little more about us here but let’s break down profiles today and discuss how they’re different from Auctioning a Skill…

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-jas-profile-options-advertise-yourself-find-work-make-money/

Rules of the London Underground

Human beings communicate in all kinds of ways. Verbal communication is our favourite, making vibration with our mouths usually does the trick. If that doesn’t work the next logical step is interpretive dance. A Londoner’s native dance is a kind of sighing shuffle usually done on the precipice of a platform, moving as far forward as possible before the prospect of getting crushed to death becomes a real possibility.
I’m talking about The Tube. No, not the cult Jools Holland-fronted music show from the 80s. No, of course not! LDN UNRGRD!

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/rules-of-the-london-underground/

Why Do Good Employees Leave?

Breaking up is never particularly fun in any respect. Relinquishing a bond with another human being, uprooting foundations and closing the book on a treasure trove of memories is a gigantic step and one it’s never easy to take. This is probably made all the more difficult when said person is paying you.
Yet sometimes a clean break is what’s needed. Although having your employee terminate their contract can sometimes come as a bit of a shock. It’s not always the ones that are underperforming you need to watch.
Decent employees often leave because they are not challenged enough. If they are performing consistently well it might be time to ask yourself whether or not the tasks they are accustomed to might be beneath their capabilities as a worker.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/why-do-good-employees-leave/

How to Market your Business Without Breaking the Bank

Firstly, adjusting your mindset is a good way to start. ‘Marketing’, yes, the first thing that comes to mind is usually billboards or divisions of entire companies dedicated to billboards. This way of looking at things will only hold you back.

When your company is tanking and there need to be some cutbacks, the marketing department are usually eyed-up as prime candidates for the chop. They are not the frivolous add-ons though. Every business needs it.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/how-to-market-your-business-without-breaking-the-bank/

What to Expect in the Corporate World

Much like starting school for the first time, the world of corporate employment can seem disorientating, menacing and exciting. It can leave you a little giddy, so have a sit down, a glass of water and a couple of deep breaths and have a read on some choice advice on how to soar instead of sink as one of the suited and booted elite.
Technical competency is what gets you the job. What keeps you it, however, is your ability to navigate the politics of the workplace. Your first forays into the corporate environment will involve the lay of the land. Advancement up the ladder depends on you becoming a part of the fabric of the company you work for. As a seamless component, watch as you are catapulted to the top of the heap. Be a corporate chameleon.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/what-to-expect-in-the-corporate-world/

Creating Motivation in the Workplace

Studies hark back over 30 years; all reveal the same ubiquitous outcome. Employees are not just driven by paychecks. Pizza Friday is a great motivator but beyond cheese topped tomato sauce on a bread base, lay other incentives betwixt ambition.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/creating-motivation-in-the-workplace/

The Job Auction Guide to Auctions

While we highly recommend you auction your jobs, skills and any tasks you may need doing on our main site, auctions themselves are an excellent pastime, hobby or profession. The clue is in our name and we think auctions are a brilliant example of how to heighten business acumen and make a quick buck. They are a beautifully frenetic way to make money, not just the subject matter of daytime filler television shows.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-job-auction-guide-to-auctions/

The Job Auction: Work on your Terms

Shrewdly, The Job Auction’s founders were explicit and descriptive when naming the site. Consider what you assume The Job Auction to be for a second and ten times out of ten, its chief function will be obvious. It’s a website concerned with auctioning jobs.

It’s a notion so straightforward it mystifies the mind when you consider that it’s the first site of its kind. That isn’t to say, however, that The Job Auction shies away from its honest categorisation as a jobs board. Users can post jobs with frozen salaries and working hours and sift through applicants in a similar manner to most garden variety jobsites, thus removing the need for negotiation.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/the-job-auction-work-on-your-terms/

Commuting: Comfort or Carnage?

Woody Allen once said that ‘80% of success is just turning up’. Whether Woody’s maths is entirely accurate aside, this clearly irrefutable statistic is likely to be of some consolation to the thousands of commuters shunted through London’s tubes and along its tracks for hours just to sit at a desk.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/commuting-comfort-or-carnage/

Dreams of a Creative Career: The Big List (UK)

1 in 11 UK jobs occupy the creative industries, 1 in 6 of these are held by graduates according to Gov stats. Creative industries contributed £76.9bn to the UK economy last year. So what are the options if you’ve freshly stepped out of Central Saint Martins with a prestigious qualification under thine own belt?

Here’s a helpful list, courtesy of The National Careers Service, each with links to entry requirement...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/dreams-of-a-creative-career-the-big-list-uk/

Your List of Work Options: Royal Palaces & Castles

We recently raced you through a whistle-stop tour of London in an article about working in tourism on our blog, this would have appealed to those interested in the city itself and tourism generally. If like many, you’d like to work for the royals themselves then perhaps consider a Royal Historic Palace as a place of work. It won’t get more austere than that...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/your-list-of-work-options-royal-palaces-castles/

Events: Get Out There

Whether you’re looking for a job, have a job or own your own business, if you want to get out more this summer and go to some events relating to work, then we’ve got suggestions for you. Perhaps you just want to get out there and meet like-minded people, if they’re in your industry and have the same background you’ll likely have something in common from the get-go. Here’s a roundup of typical business events open to you...

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/events-get-out-there/

Soft Skills

We know we need skills to work, and the right skills for the right job but we also need soft skills. To better understand what these are, consider all other aspects of yourself, your character, attitude, responses, social skills and many more…

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/soft-skills/

Tour London: Work in Tourism

If you want to work in tourism in the UK then London is a great place to start. You’ll be able to share your passion for the location you’re in, meet new people regularly and likely gain a multitude of skills while on the job. Then there’s the fun. Let’s say you love the outdoors and your hobby is windsurfing, if you can qualify and get paid to take people out on the water, it’s the dream job for you. Beyond rural locations, let’s take a look at what London as a city has to offer for those wanting to work in tourism.

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/tour-london-work-in-tourism/

Tattoos in the Workplace

#Tattoo has 91.4 million posts on Instagram. People it seems, like tattoos. What then of ink at work? Are tattoos a form of self-expression and irrelevant to our industry or are they ‘unprofessional’ full stop? Is this the part where tattoo becomes taboo?

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/tattoos-in-the-workplace/

Avoid Discussing these Topics at Work

Some chat should be left out of the office. No matter how relaxed your work-space is, even among bean bags and rollerskates (a la Larry Page/Sergey Brin), there are no-no’s and for good reason. To avoid landing yourself in trouble, avoid these topics…

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/avoid-discussing-these-topics-at-work/

Tea Please

The fuel of Britain and the way to solve any problem in the UK: tea. We’re big fans of the stuff. They say Richard Branson can drink up to 20 cups of chai per day. Whatever he’s doing: follow it. It seems to be working for him. Tea is a big part of most offices but how healthy is it and what’s it got to do with work?

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https://blog.thejobauction.com/tea-please/