Reel Em In Quick Tips to Help You Catch Great Candidates

Reel Em In Quick Tips to Help You Catch Great Candidates The cost of making a bad hire can be huge; itll eat into your finances, time and energy stores. For many companies, hiring and retaining talent is the source of a major ongoing headache. While recruitment isnt an exact science, there are definitely a number of methods you can adopt as a business to give yourself the best chance at catching great candidates. When the competition for top talent heats up, its important to  reflect closely on your companys hiring processes. Small  oversights,  whether it be during the advertising stage, application process or interviewing phase  might end up losing you good candidates. To help you  assess your talent attraction methods,  Rolepoint has put together the below infographic to  help keep you on track and reel in great new recruits. Follow these tips and hopefully youll never have to say, plenty more fish in the sea! ever again: Write enticing  job descriptions A job description needs to entice  candidates, not push them away. Job descriptions that are generic and full of dot-points listing idealistic candidate requirements will be overlooked quickly. A job description should bring a position to life and give candidates a good insight into what the role entails. A great job description  should be specific enough to yield applicants from the right type of candidates, but not so niche that people feel alienated by the criteria. Clearly state what the qualifications and educational requirements are (including which ones are must-haves vs. nice-to-haves) Indicate  package details (doesnt have to be exact, but providing some initial expectations will  help the applicant decide whether it matches their  monetary  needs) Include the business mission statement / core values Contextualise the role within the wider organisation List  what skills, experience and qualities the candidate needs to have Make it clear what the next step is in the application include an obvious call to action Make your application process mobile-friendly People are always on their phones maybe youre even reading this on yours now! Simplify the application process  online so it can be accessed and completed on a mobile device Look inside your existing network In many cases its fair to assume that good people know good people, so why not tap up your existing network of employees for recommendations? Create a simple and rewarding process for employees to refer other people they know Many job seekers say that employee referrals helped them find a great job, and there are also links between longevity in a role and being referred in by someone they knew Utilise an Employee Advocacy programme having your employees share work-related content on their social profiles will help you reach people in their network organically Encourage  internal talent mobility If your business has the resources to do so,  why not encourage and facilitate internal mobility? Keeping good people in the business serves to cut down on attrition costs and keeps your top talent engaged. Make sure there are career development opportunities and programmes on offer for existing employees internally Promote your companys growth opportunities to attract top performers in the industry Dont hire the wrong candidates and stop  shooting yourself in the foot by overlooking key steps in the recruiting process! What are your best tips  for securing top talent to your business?

Resume Writing Lesson 3 - How To Write A Resume

Resume Writing Lesson 3 - How To Write A ResumeWhy is it that almost everyone has a resume that they want to send out to hundreds of companies all over the world? It's probably because most people have very little knowledge about how to write a resume. If you can't write one, you should have no trouble telling your employer that.This is especially true for students who have just finished their school years or even for medical students who are preparing for their residency. The doctors who read this may find it disconcerting that I tell them to write a resume. But what they don't realize is that a doctor doesn't need a resume to get a job. In fact, they may have a better chance if they simply graduate from medical school and go on to practice in an emergency room or a surgical department.So, why is a doctor so clearly in demand? Well, the most obvious answer is that they have a medical degree. Most employers think that they already know what they are doing and so are more likely to hi re an educated candidate. Also, if a doctor already has plenty of experience with patients that usually leads to higher ratings and recognition for their job performance.A quick search of the Internet reveals a lot of websites that will help you write a resume. Many of these sites give the same advice. However, when it comes to filling in the first ten pages or even the first few pages of a resume, these sites may not be helpful.While fresh new medical graduates do not have to worry about filling out their own resume, many other professionals, like accountants, lawyers, and accountants, have a large amount of information to put into their resumes. Because these professionals only have a small number of fields they need to fill in, a resume written by a layperson is not going to be much help to them.These types of professionals need to know what type of position they are looking for in order to be more effective in their communication and long term planning. They also require extensi ve knowledge about the business and the industry. On the other hand, a layperson looking for a job doesn't have this kind of information or need for it.The reason these professionals need information and numbers as well as the medical degree that make them qualified for the job is because they are in the interview process. When they come to an interview, they already know the answers to the interview questions that they want to know. In the past, this would involve filling out the resumes of laymen, which would help them learn the necessary skills, but now, it is much easier.If you are a professional that doesn't have the time to learn about how to write a resume, take a lesson from someone that has the time. Have someone around you that does this every day and learn from their experience.

Busy is no longer a differentiator - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Busy is no longer a differentiator - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career While at work (yes I do have another full-time job at EMC as their social media expert), I overheard an employee say busy is no longer a differentiator. Despite his emotional stress, work exhaustion, deliverable overload and the fast pace of technology, there is a parallel we can make to social media and our brands. Social media has exploded, as there are over 70 million blogs and as many as 4 people are added each minute to LinkedIn. There are actually so many social networks, media devices, RSS feeds we subscribe to and content to digest that being busy is no longer a differentiator. This media keeps us busy and for long periods of time, so complaining that we have too much work, too much to read and too much email wont go over well with fellow employees. Tip: Dont complain to your boss or co-worker that you are busy, especially one whom is active in social media. Our personal brands are always busy, soaking in new knowledge and networking with like-minded individuals virtually and physically. Either way, we are all busy and cannot differentiate our brands based on this anymore. We join countless social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube and have to keep updated with the latest blog postings through RSS feeds. This is only a small fragment of our total work, as we have either full-time or part-time jobs or are students attending colleges. By adding additional work through branding ourselves using these services, we become (inadvertently) busy. Imagine what Robert Scoble, Mike Arrington, Jeremiah Owyang, Om Malik and others go through by posting between 2 and 10 times per day, running multiple websites, podcasting, dealing with the press and then paying homage to their families. Tip: Escape the clutter and focus on valuable content that will help you build your personal brand. One issue Ive seen recently, is gen-xers explaining how they already have enough work to do. Why should we use social media, we are busy enough? Social media is obviously an advantage for a gen-yer who wants to develop a reputable brand early in his or her career to see more results later on. I run into situations, where even when presenting the value of personal branding and social media, gen-xers pass on the opportunity due to multiple obligations. This leads me to believe that personal branding isnt for everyone. Some are content with where they are in life and want to be incognito, while others already have an established brand name. Those that invest in their brands will reap the benefits and those that do not, will lose opportunities they would have had. Tip: Personal branding and social media is not for everyone. It is geared to those who want to advance and become known in their niche.

The Top 4 Resume Tips from Career Professionals

The Top 4 Resume Tips from Career Professionals What if you could talk to four hiring professionals and ask them what they REALLY wanted to see in your resume? Do you think that might give you an advantage in your job search? I spoke to recruiters and career experts from across America and convinced them to share their best advice with you. So, without further ado, here are four tips from career experts to help you write a better resume and get hired: 1) Research the company and customize your resume: In this job market, too many candidates are chasing too few openings. That means you must differentiate yourself. And a great way to do that is to customize every resume, to clearly target the positions you apply for. Felix Lin, recruiting professional at Marclin Group says: I advise all candidates to send out no generic resumes. Make sure you include keywords from the job postings online or from the newspaper this can grab employers attention and keep them reading. In addition, research target companies using Hoovers and your network of contacts. The more you know, the better you can tailor your resume to appeal to hiring managers. Lin continues:So, carefully match your resume to job postings, to make sure your resume hits all the hot buttons in every ad you respond to. You want to know what kind of management style will be a good fit at your target employer. If you have contacts there, find out what happened to the person youll be hired to replace. Were they fired, promoted, what? Use any advantage you can get you have to research companies like theres no tomorrow. 2) Showcase your achievements: When writing your resume, shoot off your big guns early. Because if you start off slow, employers may never finish reading. Ron McManmon, Executive VP of Careeradex Inc says: Top career accomplishments and awards should be at the top of page one for impact, not buried on page two. For best results, mention at least 2-3 of your top achievements within the top third of page one this is the most valuable real estate in your resume. You can include your achievements in a Profile or Qualifications Summary section, with 4 or 5 bulleted paragraphs, each one or two lines long. Bullets make for easy reading and allow you to make your best points quickly. 3) Break up long text: Avoid paragraph forms that are text heavy and hard on the eyes. Bullet points definitely make for easier reading, says Rick Fox, Branch Manager at Edina, Minn.-based Princeton Search. My own rule of thumb is to break all paragraphs longer than three lines into two or more shorter, bulleted sections. Heres just one before and after example from a recent resume that crossed my desk, with grammar and punctuation improved as well. BEFORE: Administrator of a 40-node local area network utilizing Windows NT primary domain model, integrated with a Novell Netware server for GroupWise E-mail access. Windows NT Server 4.0 provided DHCP-TCP/IP services for the intranet, as well as account validation, and management of shared resources. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 provided access to the domain. AFTER: Administered 40-node LAN running Windows NT primary domain, integrated with a Novell Netware server for GroupWise E-mail access. Managed Windows NT Server 4.0 (DHCP-TCP/IP for intranet, account validation, and shared resource management) and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (domain access). 4) Stay within two pages: Doug Binning, President of Upstart Solutions says: The initial review of a resume is very brief as little as 13 seconds. We look for several items, including companies worked for, job titles and timeline. These should all be prominently displayed. A good rule of thumb is to limit your resume to two pages at most. The attention span of resume reviewers is notoriously short, adds Binning. Anything that doesnt make the cut can be used to create supplemental documents, listing your projects and prior experience in detail. Bring these supplements to the job interview, where you can use them to expand on your resume. Related: Warning! 3 Things that Shouldnt Be on Your Resume.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Resume Letter Examples

How to Get the Most Out of Your Resume Letter ExamplesResume letter examples are available to you in many forms from hiring centers and online. Most of these are available for free, but the free ones are usually the inferior items.Free examples will vary from the kind of handwriting, use of color to spelling errors and other things. I have used many samples and I will share with you some. I've noticed that if you don't get a word or a sentence correct it will take some time for them to be corrected. This is very true for samples.So, you must get the job done well and this will mean using examples properly. This is the key to success in this industry. I have seen many times where the writer used a sample and they just wouldn't improve that portion of the letter. So, they would just go back to their samples. They do this for one reason or another.Sometimes they got lazy and they didn't get that part correct, but they just moved on and kept using that example. This was the problem I hav e seen over again in hiring centers and others.I would not suggest you move on to any samples without doing your homework first. Don't just run out and get any sample you can find. Just the opposite, if you use proper examples then you will see the positive changes they make to your resume.Another thing I have noticed is that the writers who get their letter correct the first time are the ones who know how to prepare their letters. I believe this is true. The better prepared the writer is, the better the results. You will see your percentages improve with proper preparation.The final thing to remember is that when writing your resume you need to think about the tone of your letter. It doesn't matter what examples you use, you will need to think about the tone you want to have. The choice of tone is one of the major deciding factors in how good your resume will turn out.The best practice is to write your resume as you would talk to a friend. Think about the issues and be prepared to address them. This will help make the resume easy to read and understand.

Work to Live OR Live to Work Transition - Career Pivot

Work to Live OR Live to Work Transition - Career Pivot Work to Live or Live to Work? Most baby boomers work to live. I know when I started my career, I sure did! I was raised to be an employee who was supposed to go to work for a father-like corporation that would take care of me until I retired! Do not get me wrongâ€"I often enjoyed my work. The further I progressed in my career, I found increasingly better positions that suited my talents and skills. I still went to work to get that paycheck. Oh, that regular paycheck that paid the bills, put food on the table, paid the mortgage, saved for our son’s college education, and planned for retirement. The goal was to get that paycheck. (More: Demise of the Paycheck â€" Good Riddance) Live to Work Some of you are blessed to have a talent that permits you to live to work. Many of us have a talent like that but do not recognize it. In 2002, I had a bicycle accident that shook my belief system to the core. I hit a car head on, where speeds exceeded 50 miles per hour. Listen to the most recent episode I lived! From that point on, I have been working on the live to work thing. I taught high school math at an inner city high school and was amazingly successful, but could not teach and stay healthy at the same time. The followingyear I went to work for a non-profit in fund raising, but could not tolerate the dysfunctional organizational behaviors of non-profits. Career Pivot was started in 2011, and I can truly say I live to work. It was only then that I realized I had talents that would allow me to live to work. (More: Talents Versus Skills â€" Do You Know the Difference?) The Great Recession The great recession has shaken quite a few people in our generation. Many would now even enjoy getting to a place where they could work to live. Prior to the great recession, there were organizations like Encore.org all set to leverage the urge to transition from work to live to live to work. The idea was that, when we retired, we would want to give back. With 69% of us worried that we will run out of money in retirement, giving back is not in the forefront of our thoughts! Work to Live â€" Live to Work Transition Most of us will work until we no longer can. My plan is to never retire, but work fewer hours at something I enjoy. The great recession and the fundamental shift in our economy have changed almost all of our retirement plans. Are you planning on a Work to Live â€" Live to Work transition? Are you just hoping to be able to continue to Work to Live? Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Types of Career Influencers

Types of Career Influencers Types of Career Influencers Types of Career Influencers September 10, 2010 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas Leave a Comment Forming strong strategic partnerships with career influencers in four key categories can help strengthen your credibility and elevate your personal brand. Those who can evangelize your talents and accomplishments to others. They are your personal public relations representatives who give you visibility and exposure to other career influencers. They spread the good word about your work, accomplishments and the value you provide. They are living testimonials who can recommend you to other managers or clients. Those who currently hold, or have had, a position you desire. They can be career mentors or advisors to you providing invaluable advice on the skills and personal characteristics required to be successful in that role. They can offer guidance on your career path, share their steps in reaching that position or give insight into the professional challenges they faced and specific strategies they used to overcome obstacles. Those who can teach you a new skill. They are experts in their fields and possess specialized knowledge or experience to help you reach your career goals. Those who, just by working with them or being associated with them, can strengthen and add credibility to your personal brand. Simply by sitting on a board of directors with a well-respected industry expert, or reporting directly to someone well positioned in the company, or winning a new client who is admired within the community could give your personal brand a boost.

My Examiner profile!

My Examiner profile! In How to Design Your Creative Career with Michelle Ward, my fellow Firestarter (we met at Danielle LaPortes group firestarter session in NYC a year ago!) Kira Zmuda took a 3+ hour interview (over chicken noodle soup wine at Uncle Nicks!) crafted a great profile of turning the why? into how? to get to your own creative career. She even managed to use the word port-o-potty in this journalistic article. Love it and I think you will too! ****************************************************************************************************** The Declaration of You…: ..isn’t a secret any more! It’s an e-course, and it’s open for business! Spring: Its Tiffanys choice as to what goes up today. Im not sure what she has up her sleeve, but I know itll be fantabulous!