Thursday, May 28, 2020

Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom When Designing an Employee Experience, Are You Factoring in Culture

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom When Designing an Employee Experience, Are You Factoring in Culture I recentlypresented a webinar, Employee as Consumer: Building a Differentiated Experience Through the Lifecycle, with SilkRoad and HR Daily Advisor. We talked about the consumerization of HR, the creation of a meaningful employee experience throughout the lifecycle, and how design thinking, talent activation, and employer branding play into it. At the end of the session, Jennifer asked: How do you create an experience that’s meaningful and impactful for different cultures? This is an excellent question, and both global and non-global organizations are becoming more interconnected with every passing year. But according to recent McKinsey research, only half of executives in global companies think they are effective at tailoring candidate and employee communications for different geographies. The first step, of course, is to recognize that you can’t offer a one-size-fits-all experience to candidates and employees across the globe, even ones who are in the same demographic or perform the same role. You should seek to understand even the most subtle factors that drive engagement and motivation in other cultures. For instance, consulting firm Seven Step used Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory to tease out country-specific essentials. These include: China: This culture views titles within the workplace as extremely important. Given this focus on status, companies should integrate distinctions such as awards and competitive rankings in their experiences. In China, individualism is low and language is viewed as a unifying agent. Flexibility with language translation enhances the experience while positioning the organization as a true member of the community. Central Europe: This culture is more risk-averse and ambiguity is viewed negatively. Job seekers and employees prefer to weigh the facts of an opportunity rather than taking a chance. Experiences in Central Europe should be content heavy, focusing on the explicit details of roles and responsibilities. For more on Jennifers question, head over to the SilkRoad blog.

Monday, May 25, 2020

What do our archaeology graduates do after they leave the University of Manchester #5 Steph Irenes stories University of Manchester Careers Blog

What do our archaeology graduates do after they leave the University of Manchester #5 Steph Irenes stories University of Manchester Careers Blog By John Piprani Continuing my quest to find out what my Archaeology friends and colleagues are doing after graduating from Manchester I tracked down two of them working in the commercial unit: Archaeology Wales. I first met Irene Garcia Rovira within a research context as we were both working on our PhDs at the same time. In contrast, I met Stephanie-Adele McCulloch in the pub! Irene has been key for a number of Manchester students getting their first role within commercial archaeology and so it is no coincidence that Steph now works at the same unit as Irene: Steph’s story first. Stephanie-Adele McCulloch What are you doing now? I graduated in 2016 with a BA (hons) Archaeology and was awarded a 2.1. I am currently a Field Archaeologist at Archaeology Wales. What is the best bit about your job? I have had the good fortune to work on a few different projects, ranging from watching briefs and evaluations, to large scale excavations. The joy of seeing a job from beginning to end and piecing together its story is something I find fascinating. Something I really enjoy is the connection you feel with the past when you uncover an archaeological find. You are literally the first person to touch something which another person discarded, dropped or even created hundreds or thousands of years before you…pretty surreal when you think about it. What is the worst aspect! It’s a bit of a double edged sword for me this. It can be one of the best but also one of the worst aspects, not knowing where in the country you will be from one month to the next. This makes it a little bit harder to see your loved ones. How well did UoM prepare you for your current role? I feel that our archaeology department is one of the better ones for preparing you for a career in fieldwork, but only so much can be taught in the classroom. Most units are pretty well equipped with training and ensuring new trainees find their feet in the field. The theoretical aspects certainly helped during my interpretive process, but again this is something that is always developing as you come across more archaeology. What was the most valuable aspect of your education to you? This is impossible for me to answer with one thing. All the aspects of my education fitted together pretty well for me, in relation to where I wanted to go with my degree. However, I did develop a particular interest in conservation and material culture studies and this is something that I would love to pursue in the future. What is the most important advice you would give to a younger you wanting to work in archaeology? Probably the first piece of advice would be to drink less ale during your undergrad…but then again that is part of the training to be an archaeologist. Secondly, make the most of any extra-curricular activities that are on offer to you within the department. This is invaluable whatever path you choose to take! You meet new people and gain new friendships, and it opens up more doors within archaeology which is really important within this career. My last piece of advice would be to pick something you are really keen on for your dissertation; this will help tremendously during the writing process. Archaeology is not for the faint hearted so make sure you find your passion, and overall, enjoy it. A piece of advice I lived by was “It’s only a short while for a long while so keep at it”. Irene Garcia Rovira What are you doing now? I spent the last undergraduate year as an exchange student at UoM and then did my MA and PHD in Archaeology graduating in 2012. I am currently a Project Manager at Archaeology Wales. What is the best bit about your job? PMs are responsible for projects from the moment they are assigned to its archival. Therefore, the job involves carrying out many different tasks such as working out the project design, liaising with clients, curators and the onsite team, reporting and overseeing post-excavation programmes. While it can get a little stressful at times, I do enjoy seeing the trajectory of projects from the first time that they are formulated. At times, I am responsible for the definition of a project design. I love this side of my role as it gives me the opportunity to do some research into the area to be developed and to figure out the best approach (e.g. field evaluation, geophysics, watching brief) to assess its archaeological resource. What is the worst aspect! The work load that PMs have can fluctuate quite rapidly. At times, everything flows at the right time, but some other times, the work load gets intensified by deadlines. This can trigger high levels of stress. This is not necessarily a bad thing as deadlines often give you an incentive to complete tasks, but I would not recommend it for people who find it difficult to handle changing situations. How well did UoM prepare you for your current role? When I was at the University, my career goal didn’t include becoming a PM. At the time I wanted to become a lecturer as I really enjoy seeing how students gradually become professionals. Changing life circumstances made me pursue a different goal within a commercial unit. Interestingly, I first found it difficult think about how my skillset could be applied commercially, but gradually I grasped how several things learnt at the university were of great value. My interest in teaching was translated into developing a trainee programme at the company; my written skills allowed me to produce reports of different size and nature, and explain complex sites and situations; my experience in the field was obviously of great value to (we are all archaeologists after all… I have never truly understood this obsession of creating a bridge between research and commercial archaeology). What was the most valuable aspect of your education to you? When I came to England for the first time I was not necessarily the most competent student. At Manchester I found a real challenge (bear in mind I couldn’t understand much English back them) which helped me focus. The staff at Manchester always had a lot of time to help me overcome all the obstacles I encountered. They truly inspired me. What is the most important advice you would give to a younger you wanting to work in archaeology? When I told my grandmother that I wanted to be an archaeologist she told me that I would find it almost impossible to find work. This was the case right from the outset with a terrible financial crisis in Spain and more generally in Europe. Although the situation is different now, being where one wants to be can still be an arduous task. I would advise my younger self to persevere and to take every opportunity offered to learn more about the profession. All Careers advice Postgraduate alumni archaeology careers fieldwork Graduates jobs

Thursday, May 21, 2020

What is commercial awareness and why is it relevant University of Manchester Careers Blog

What is commercial awareness and why is it relevant University of Manchester Careers Blog If I asked you ‘what is commercial awareness’ would you understand what this is? Perhaps you have heard this phrase at careers talks, or on a job description for a role you want to apply to? Maybe you are not entirely sure? If this is the case or even if you think you may know already, here are a few pointers at what could be understood as commercial awareness, why it is important to build up these skills and some practical ideas of how you build your commercial awareness. So what does it mean to be commercially aware? Although definitions can vary, broadly speaking, being commercially aware can include having an understanding of how the business world functions as a whole; how this relates to the industry sector and company you are interested in. Why is commercial awareness relevant and helpful to you as a student? It helps you build your knowledge about a sector to demonstrate your interest in working in an industry or company when asked interview questions like: ‘What do you know about our company?’ ‘Why are you interested in working in this sector?’ ‘Why did you apply to this position?’ and so on… Building an awareness over time helps you have a more rounded understanding and knowledge of the industry, rather than cramming information to absorb before an interview Gaining commercial awareness will help you decide if the industry sector you have interest in meets your hopes and expectations and if the job is right for you.  Do you understand clearly what is involved in the role, company and industry? Why is it important for employers to check your knowledge of commercial awareness? It is important for the employer to see that you understand the business world at large, as well as how their company fits into the business world, communicates with its customers, compares to other competitors, as well as the employer’s key purpose and functions of their company services or products. It will help them to know that you can quickly fit into the role, the team and their business culture and environment. Consider the following to get you thinking about commercial awareness and to help you think around the range of possible questions that could come up at interview for a job: What products and services does the industry or individual company provide? Who are the customers for the company? What are the expectations and industry needs of the customer? What industries work closely within the area that interests you? Who are the competitors of the company you are applying to? What are key expectations of the business culture to the industry you are applying? Does the company have key concepts or a mission that are important to the individual company? How will current news and government developments in business and the world as a whole affect the industry and companies that interest you? Try and build your commercial awareness knowledge and understanding over time and build in tasks into your normal routine to fit around your studies to keep up-to-date. This will make it easier especially when you are preparing for an interview and you have already done the ground work research in the sector that you are applying to.   How and where can I find out information to improve my commercial awareness? Career sector pages â€" key source on the Careers Website as a starting point for industry sector information and organisations links to research further. The Media   both broadsheet newspapers including Financial Times,  The Economist and related TV channels and programmes â€" read through the current economist and business news regularly both in the UK and globally. It is important to think worldwide as this may affect some of the companies or sector you want to apply to depending on who and where their customers and services are based. Thinking globally is essential. Find out about networking and training events within the industry sector â€" finding out more about your industry sector, relevant news and company both from events with employers on CareersLink,  professional bodies for the sector,  and industry journals Create an account and good profile on LinkedIN to network and join your sector or career related groups and keep up with news, discussion, current trends and developments. Engage with social media groups, online forums and webinars from key industry organisations and companies of interest. Find out more about what are their latest developments, what is most important to them as a company, how do they promote themselves and their services, any news about top companies in the sector. Attend career fairs and find out more about what products and services companies provide from company representatives on the stand. Network with other colleagues who are interested or work in your industry area and attending the fair. Check out CareersLink advertised careers fairs Apply to the Manchester Gold mentoring scheme. Having a mentor within the industry can be helpful to keep up-to-date with developments, industry expectations and news etc. Gain some work experience or volunteering. Finding opportunities to be gaining experience within the industry environment helps you be in a good place to pick up information develop your awareness and how business works. Research and compare what other organisations and companies say about the sector or   company that interests you. Compare it with what the company says about itself on their own website. Are they similar or are there any differences to be aware of? Ask contacts that you know that work in the industry or company? Can they point you in the right direction about information company networking events or key company expectations and the business culture they work in. All Undergraduate Undergraduate-highlighted Applications and interviews commercial awareness employability networking

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Top 4 Tips on Gathering Candidate Feedback

Top 4 Tips on Gathering Candidate Feedback With competition in the recruitment industry remaining fierce it is crucial to ensure your recruiters are regularly interacting with your candidates. Analysing candidate feedback can help your company meet internal gold standards and drive service improvements to provide candidates with the best possible recruitment experience. One of the best ways your agency can develop how it engages with candidates is to ensure recruiters regularly ask them, placed or not, for feedback. In the Year of the Candidate, job seekers have numerous vacancy details at their fingertips and many recruitment agencies to choose from. With savvier job seekers agencies must be on top of their service, constantly looking for ways to improve candidate interaction and make sure their candidates are happy. So what can you do to engage your candidates in order to gain feedback on your service offering? Here is our checklist: 1)  Monthly Surveys Surveys are a great way of interacting with candidates. Surveys can be conducted based on specific workflows and stages of the process. For example, send surveys to recently placed candidates requesting feedback on the application process along with feedback on their new job. Alternatively, ask for participation in a survey from those not placed to find out how your recruiters are handling the rejection process. This is a great way to find out how you can improve next time. Are your recruiters even informing candidates if they aren’t selected for a role? It is crucial to have a consistent and respectful rejection process in order to build long-term relationships. Your recruiter may not have placed that candidate today, but in six months’ time they may have the perfect job for them. 2)  Comment Cards These are great for engaging first-time candidates. Display cards in your office and ask candidates to complete them after their first interview. Ask how they felt they were treated, how you can improve and what services they would like to see next time. 3)  LinkedIn Recommendations This is all down to the individual recruiter. It is important they have a LinkedIn profile professionally representing their role within your agency. For many candidates, LinkedIn has become the ‘go to’ site prior to any interview. Not having a profile, or having a profile with little to no content or an unprofessional photo, can give a bad first impression of the company and the recruiter. Rather than reaching out blindly to candidates, your recruiters will gain far more responses with a good LinkedIn profile backed up by recommendations from successfully placed candidates. It is important your recruiters are selective when asking for recommendations. There’s no need to ask everyone they work with for recommendations, focusing on their A-star candidates can be far more beneficial. LinkedIn will help your agency build a healthy and professional online profile. 4)  Google Plus and Facebook reviews Has your recruitment agency got a company page on these social media sites? If so, encourage and incentivise candidates to leave a review. Perhaps you can run monthly competitions to encourage candidates to provide feedback. Creating a great impression first time around will ensure your candidates come back to you time and time again, trusting your brand and every individual recruiter. While you may not get positive feedback every time, all feedback is good for building a better candidate experience.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Returnships for Caregivers Going Back to Work [Podcast] - Career Pivot

Returnships for Caregivers Going Back to Work [Podcast] - Career Pivot Episode #128 â€" Marc Miller interviews Tami Forman of Path Forward on reentering the workforce after taking a long break to care for family members Description: Tami M. Forman is the Executive Director of Path Forward, a non-profit organization that creates mid-career returnship programs to ease the transition back to work for people who have taken a career break for caregiving. Path Forward trains HR teams and hiring managers on how to support these programs successfully and provide support to participants to make the experience successful. Tami is building this organization from the ground up, working with donors, partners, and participants to fulfill the organization’s mission. Tami spent a decade as a marketing executive with Return Path. Tami has previously held editorial positions at Simon and Schuster, Houghton Mifflin, iVillage, and News Corporation. Key Takeaways: [1:38] Marc welcomes you to Episode 128 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast. Career Pivot this podcast to you; CareerPivot.com is one of the very few websites dedicated to those of us in the second half of life and our careers. Take a moment to check out the blog and the other resources delivered to you, free of charge. [2:08] If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with other like-minded souls. Subscribe on CareerPivot.com, iTunes, or any of the other apps that supply podcasts. Share it on social media or just tell your neighbors, and colleagues. The more people Marc reaches, the more people he can help. [2:27] Next week, Marc will read a new chapter from the third edition of Repurpose Your Career.) Marc has released two chapters to the Repurpose Your Career review team. If you’d like to be part of that team, please go to CareerPivot.com/RYCTeam and you’ll receive new chapters as they become available. [2:51] Marc currently plans to release the book in mid-to-late September with both a virtual and a real book tour. He will be in Austin, NYC Metro Area, and D.C. during the months of September and October. Marc would love to meet his readers and listeners. [3:10] Reach out to Marc at Podcasts@CareerPivot.com if you’d be willing to give him some advice on setting up this tour. This includes venues if you’re from those areas. Marc would very much appreciate it. [3:27] This week, Marc is interviewing Tami Forman, the executive director of Path Forward. Marc introduces Tami with her bio. Now on to the podcast… Download Link | iTunes|Stitcher Radio|Google Podcast| Podbean | TuneIn | Overcast [4:27] Marc welcomes Tami to the Repurpose Your Career podcast. [4:44] Marc learned about returnships from Dan Corbin who was at Return Path at the same time as Tami. Marc invites Tami to talk about the origin and mission of Path Forward. [5:10] Path Forward is a nonprofit organization on a mission to help people who have taken time out of their career for caregiving to restart those careers. Most of the clients are women, but the programs are open to men and women who have taken chunks of time away from the paid workforce to care for children or elderly parents. [5:43] This concept started within Return Path, a privately-held software company based in New York City, with offices in Colorado, Austin, Texas, Indianapolis, and globally. The head of HR was working to help women in technology and doing unconscious bias training. She ran into resistance hiring women who had taken a career break. [6:43] The VP of HR realized that if she couldn’t influence the behavior of managers in her own company, there was a systemic problem. She worked with some people to put together a returnship, meaning a temporary assignment aimed at someone in mid-career. [7:09] The program was phenomenally successfully for the six people in the program and for the managers. Other companies noticed and reached out to VP of HR Cathy Hawley and CEO Matt Blumberg to learn how to run the program in their offices. [7:38] Matt decided to found a nonprofit and try to make a bigger impact by bringing it to many more companies. [7:48] Marc sees men and women taking time off to take care of elderly adult parents. Tami sees a lot of women with the “double whammy,” who took a few years off to take care of their children and then their mother or father got sick and needed care. Many women have filled both roles. She has also seen stay-at-home dads. [8:42] Childcare takes longer than elderly parent care, usually, so mothers raising children are out of the workforce longer. The longer the time out of the workforce, the longer it takes to get back into it. People taking a few years off for elder care have less difficulty getting a job. The age range of participants in the program is large. [9:57] Marc has a man in his online community who got laid off, took care of a parent, and now is being asked what he did for 18 months. “Taking care of Mom” is not very well received at the tech startups he is trying to penetrate. [10:17] How is a returnship different from an apprenticeship? The DOL has a specific definition to meet guidelines for a registered apprenticeship, but employers may use it less formally. Tami advises to anyone looking into any “ship” program is to get a strict understanding of what the program offers. [11:16] Tami considers a returnship to differ from an apprenticeship mainly in the amount of training supplied. Tami notes the Microsoft LEAP program which has a training component alongside a work project component as a “classic” apprenticeship. A returnship is about just the work. [12:03] People coming into a returnship have either directly applicable or transferrable experience they can put to work within the context of the returnship. They may need mentoring and would receive new-employee training. They have the basic skills. [12:45] Some of the companies Path Forward works with do have a training component as part of their returnship because they want to expand the types of people they are able to bring into the program. [13:01] Tami says during the interview process is the time to make sure you understand exactly what training and development the program offers and what the expectations are of you. [13:20] Marc notes that tech sector jobs would provide some training because of rapid change in the industry. Tami says that tech companies are having trouble finding people to maintain legacy tech stacks. Younger people don’t know how to do it or don’t want to. [13:50] Tami has worked with companies that have proprietary software where every engineer would have to be trained to work with it. [14:17] Understanding what the expectations are is very important. Tami is aware of organizations and programs, such as a boot camp or an online course, available to teach specific skills to people returning to the workplace. The training alone would not be enough to get you a job, so the returnship work piece makes the difference. [14:52] Kids don’t want to learn COBOL or Fortran. [15:07] Besides tech skills, returnships can work for any company hiring for any professional job. Path Forward has had the most success in partnering with tech companies in Northern California, New York, Denver, and LA. Technology has an acknowledged gender-balance problem alongside a talent problem. [16:08] The gender-balance issue, combined with the overall scarcity of talent, are the factors that lead to the success of returnship programs at tech firms. People out of the workforce are an untapped pool. Other industries may have gender-balance problems but no shortage of talent. They don’t feel the same pressure to bring in more people. [17:36] Tami’s advice to people looking for opportunities, in general, is to go where “the people aren’t.” Go where the jobs are plentiful and the people seem to be less so. [17:46] The ideal candidate for a returnship will have a background that matches what the job is. Someone who’s making a big career change will not typically be as successful. If you are making a career change, first get a lot of advice from people in the new career. Take a course. Take a consulting position. Accept a lower position. [19:36] If you worked in marketing, do a returnship in marketing. If you worked in engineering, do a returnship in engineering. That’s where the 16-week boost, getting you back in the seat, with a manager who can see what you can do, is really successful. [19:55] Tami sees that people who have a certain degree of resentment about the sacrifice that they’ve made and have ego issues about salary or position have a more difficult time than people who are open and have humility about them. It is better to be excited to be back and accept the opportunity after spending the time with family. [21:04] Marc recalls last week’s episode with Andrew Scott on the 100-Year Life and their conversation about mindset in CareerPivot.com/Episode-127. If you don’t have the proper mindset you will not be successful. [21:43] Tami shares a case study of Marina, in her mid-40s who made a career pivot from selling CDs by direct marketing at BMG Music. That world has gone away. However, her marketing skills were very transferable to different markets and channels. [22:58] Marina got a returnship in marketing at Return Path and ultimately landed on marketing analytics, where she still works, three years later. She also took the Hubspot digital marketing course to do her own reskilling. There are a lot of vendors in various industries who make free training available to increase their potential talent pool. [24:22] Tami shares Lisa’s story who was an engineer at IBM and had last coded using COBOL and Fortran. She had an EE degree, not a CS degree, because that wasn’t expected when she was studying. She had taken some software courses. Then she was out of the workforce for 20 years. [25:14] Lisa wanted to get her Master’s degree, but her college-age son told her that wasn’t how it’s done anymore. He recommended she take a couple of classes and go work for someone who would let her learn on the job. She got a returnship at Return Path as an engineer. She is still there and was promoted to a team lead position. [25:52] Besides her technical skills, they recognized her leadership and organizational skills she used as a stay-at-home mom for 20 years. She could inspire a team and get things done. [26:45] Marc spoke a couple of years ago at an Austin Community College coding boot camp. He explained that a lot of the plumbing has changed, but none of the concepts has. You can learn how to replumb things and use new tools. Sometimes you have to spend your own time and your own dollars to get trained. Look online. [27:30] Always be learning. You can work for 20 years in one job and get laid off when your job is not relevant. Constantly be in a mode of learning and staying relevant. [28:47] After the dotcom bust companies slowly stopped spending money on training their employees. It’s up to the individual to find their own training and stay up to date. [29:03] Managers making hiring decisions are very risk-averse. The returnship concept gives them permission to take a chance and not get in trouble. Companies working with Path Forward know the executives have sanctioned the program. [29:44] For listeners in cities without Path Forward returnships, think about ways you can do work for someone so they can see what you can do, in a way that lowers the risk for them. That might be freelancing, pro bono work, or volunteering. Build a website for a community group that’s doing something interesting. Showcase your real skills. [30:36] Networking is crucial. One way to network is to do work with someone. Another is to take classes with others. Get out from behind the computer and into the world. Find ways to work with people. That’s Tami’s last advice to listeners. [32:02] To learn more, sign up for the newsletter at PathForward.org/participant for news about every partner they sign. There is a page of other returnships at companies not working with Path Forward at pathforward.org/return-work-programs-around-us. There is also a Facebook page at Facebook.com/PathFWD and Twitter at @PathFWD. [33:21] Marc thanks Tami and hopes you enjoyed this episode. You might call this a movement of creating programs that help people reenter the workforce after a career break. Marc invites you to go back and listen to Episode 80 with Carol Fishman Cohen, the CEO of iRelaunch found at CareerPivot.com/episode-80. [33:59] Marc is working on setting up an interview with one or both of the people Tami mentioned in the interview. You will find links mentioned in this episode at CareerPivot.com/episode-128. [34:17] The Career Pivot Community website has become a valuable resource for 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project. Marc is recruiting new members for the next cohort. [34:29] If you are interested in the endeavor and would like to be put on the waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community. When you sign up you’ll receive information about the community as it evolves. Marc will be spreading out new cohorts as the community starts some new projects. [34:51] Those who are in these initial cohorts set the direction of this endeavor. This is a paid membership community with group coaching and special content. More importantly, it’s a community where you can seek help. Go to CareerPivot.com/Community to learn more. They are now starting a writers’ group. [35:35] Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you heard Marc on this podcast. You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter. [35:59] Please come back next week, when Marc will read a new chapter from the third edition of Repurpose Your Career. [36:09] Marc thanks you for listening to the Repurpose Your Career podcast. [38:51] You will find the show notes for this episode at CareerPivot.com/episode-128. [36:21] Please hop over to CareerPivot.com and subscribe to get updates on this podcast and all the other happenings at Career Pivot. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, the Google Podcasts app, Podbean, the Overcast app, or the Spotify app. 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 ...

Sunday, May 10, 2020

7 Online Tools That Can Improve Your Business - CareerAlley

7 Online Tools That Can Improve Your Business - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Continual improvement is something that every business wants to maintain. For small businesses, in particular, growth is important. However, growth can come at a cost, and many business budgets may not allow for heavy investment in different tools and opportunities. The good news is that there are many online tools that could help you to grow your business and make it easier to manage, with some free options that are particularly effective for small businesses. Take a look at seven different online tools you can start using today to improve your business. 1. Social media Social media is one of the most important tools for businesses today. Social media not only helps you to increase your business presence online, but it is also an extremely valuable, and free, marketing tool. By reading up on how to use social media for your business, you can learn how to create a successful digital marketing strategy that could grow your business significantly. Social media has many benefits, and aside from being a space to promote your products or services its also a place where you can engage with your customers and find ways of delivering better services to them. Make social media one of your marketing priorities and enjoy exploring the different possibilities it can offer your business with little or no budget. 2. Project management tools Project management tools help make it easier to assign tasks and deadlines within a team, providing a co-working space that can help to deliver results. Tools such as Slack are free to use and many top businesses like Airbnb, Ticketmaster and Harvard University are taking advantage of the different features it offers. The great thing about tools like Slack is that they allow you to upload documents and include chat functions to help your team share updates. While there are paid versions of Slack, the free version can be an effective project management tool for small teams and businesses. Project Management Absolute Beginners Guide (4th Edition) Price: $21.63 Succeed as a project manager, even if you’ve never run a project before! This book is the fastest way to master every project management task, from upfront budgeting and scheduling through execution, managing teams through closing projects. Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 Other great project management tools include Asana, Trello, Wrike, and Basecamp are other well-known tools that are helping teams to overhaul the way they work. 3. File sharing systems File sharing is an important tool that can help to improve the way your business shares files. Email attachment sizes continue to be limited, which can be difficult for businesses that deal with video, images and other large files. Cloud storage systems such as Dropbox and Box are ideal for sharing multiple documents in a secure place, allowing them to be accessed anywhere by your teams. WeTransfer is another great tool for sending single large documents from one user to another and being a secure system, it offers peace of mind to both you and the recipient. 4. Cloud office programs More and more businesses are using cloud computing to improve their business. There are many benefits to using cloud computing that make it a worthwhile investment. Office 365 is becoming more widely used by businesses as a way to keep work up to date and easily managed, while its also more affordable than buying multiple licenses for different computers. Adobe and Google offer some effective cloud software solutions that are allowing teams to deliver their projects wherever they are something thats becoming more important in the world of agile working. Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019 Download 1 Person Compatible on Windows 10 and Apple macOS Price: Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 Whether youre sat at your desk, traveling, or youre working in a different time zone cloud computing makes it possible to continue to work, interruption-free. If youre considering taking advantage of flexible working benefits for your business then adopting cloud computing could help to ensure a seamless working operation, wherever your staff is based. 5. Online scheduling applications If you own a business that relies on scheduling to run smoothly, then online scheduling applications can be a great tool. Many businesses suffer because of poor scheduling systems, with too little staff, too many staff and confusion over rotas leading to problems that could have easily been avoided. If youre interested in learning how to create the perfect work schedule for your team, then tools like Sling could help you out. Online scheduling apps provide you with the perfect portal for managing your teams schedules, as well as other functions like managing leave requests. Employees will be able to access their work schedules easily online, limiting the excuses available to them. 6. Online accounting systems Online accounting systems are a great tool for businesses looking to make it easier to manage their finances and make payments simpler. Having online systems for finance functions reduces the amount of paperwork required, and also ensures that your business has a central, secure record whenever you need it. For an online accounting system to be effective, youre going to need to improve your online security. Online accounting tools can help save your business money, while also making it easier to manage money. QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2019 with Enhanced Payroll [PC Disc] Price: $319.00 Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 7. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) VoIP communication tools are transforming the ways that businesses work. VoIP systems not only save money compared to traditional telephone systems, but they also offer a range of other features that make communication simple. Video conferencing, instant messaging and flexible working are made even simpler with VoIP tools, and they can be very beneficial to your business when used correctly. VoIP has many different providers, with companies like Skype proving particularly popular with businesses. If your business manages staff in several different locations or your clients are sourced from all over, then VoIP can be the simplest way of streamlining communications. Todays economic climate is tough, and if youre serious about expanding your business, then youre going to need to look to new ways of improving it. If youre looking for ways you can improve your business then its worth exploring some of the tools above to get inspiration and to find solutions that work for your business. Even with a limited budget, there are still plenty of great online tools that can be used to your advantage. Take charge of your business by introducing some of the many tools that are out there to help it grow. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. 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Friday, May 8, 2020

Stricter Resume Writing Tips For A Stronger Job Market

Stricter Resume Writing Tips For A Stronger Job MarketAs a resume writer, I've noticed many resumes that have much more tension than the rest of the paper. Often, when I read through the resumes I see just a few sentences that has tense to it. The big question that I always ask myself is why do you use such a tense on your resume?My common way of answering this question is that some types of resumes are more important than others. The person who wrote the resume probably came up with it as soon as possible and wanted it to be effective. In order to create the most effective resume you need to eliminate any or all tension in your resume. It is the truth that most resumes don't even get an interview if the tense was present.Even if you were successful in getting one interview with the boss (for the job), you still need to pay a high amount of attention on the resume. The problem is you must get rid of it if you want to be successful in the long run.You can try a lot of techniques to av oid the tense if you're not too sure if the potential employer will see your resume. For example, you can try to create an interview where you ask the boss if you can have a second reading. This will be a time where the boss can see what kind of quality your resume have and will let you know if he thinks that you can handle the job.Your resume needs to be made easy to read. If the formatting of your resume is all over the place, it will be hard for the boss to read it and therefore you may not get the chance to have a second reading. The best way to improve the speed of your resume is to use only a few lines of text with only a few sentences.Another thing that you can do is take your time to edit your resume. Start byreplacing some sentences that are hard to read. Most of the time, they're paragraphs with too much tension and that has to be cut out. With this, you'll avoid any tough words that can leave the impression that you're not ready for the job.When you've finished editing, y ou can also turn your resume into a two page document so you won't be rushed. This will make your resume look professional and still have the needed information. Before you know it, you can be the boss of your own resume.As a resume writer, you can't let your resume go unnoticed. You need to be the best recruiter that you can be. Make sure that you use these tips when you're preparing your resume.