Don't Accept That New Job Until You Ask These Important Questions
In this economy, if you're good, you've got options. Recruiters are working hard to convince you that their company is the perfect place for you to learn and grow. They've shared glossy brochures full of smiling people looking fulfilled and energized by their work. How can you tell whether a prospective employer is truly offering a great place to work or is just a shiny veneer with a...
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How to Build a Dream Team of Original Thinkers
In the business world, much of our work is organized around teams. Whether you're developing a new product, managing a production line, or driving a sales effort, teamwork is key to getting things done. And expectations for teams have never been higher. In today's hyper-competitive environment, innovation, speed, and agility are required to win in the marketplace. To succeed under these...
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3 Ways to Shift Your Mindset and Reduce Work Stress
Between endless emails, out-of-reach promotions, and overloaded to-do lists, work stress is unavoidable. More often than not, we can't even leave that stress behind at the office. When we head out for the day, it follows us home. It is impossible to eliminate work stress from your life — but you can learn to manage it. Exercise, meditation, and a good nutrition plan are all key for...
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Don't Get Angry — or You'll Blow Your Job Search
Last night, while watching my son's basketball team lose a close playoff game, I noticed something curious. Some of the players, including my son, played hard until the final whistle blew. Others, however, gave up the game when the other team began to dominate. Some even demonstrated a downright negative attitude, fouling out of frustration. It was interesting to see this mixture of...
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How to Use Prehire Assessments to Land the Best Recruits
A single bad hire can cost a company upwards of 150 percent of the employee's starting salary. For mid-level employees, the price tag can easily exceed $100,000. And yet, even with such staggering costs, nearly 75 percent of employers admit to hiring the wrong candidate for a job. Bad hiring decisions can damage companies' bottom lines, employee morale, and workplace cultures. They can...
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How to Harness Data Science to Boost Your HR and Benefits Strategy
While the infancy of the HR analytics market has thus far prevented HR from taking the sophisticated approach to data analytics seen in other departments, such as finance, we're due to see an explosion in people analytics in the coming years. Analyst Josh Bersin recently described people analytics as "the lynchpin of success for HR," and for good reason. People analytics can measure...
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5 Strategies for Enjoying Your Workday
Article by Lydia Sweatt "Self-care" seems like a sacred thing, a word reserved for activities you do in the privacy of your home. Yoga, long baths, and quiet, meditative evenings come to mind. In our personal lives, we are often very deliberate about our self-care and the forms it takes. At the office — not so much. When it comes to the workplace, we often feel our employers should...
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3 Signs You Should You Go Back to School to Advance Your Career
Long gone are the days of staying with one company for life. Today, young professionals expect to work for five or more different employers throughout the course of their careers, and they may have as many as 11 different jobs by the time they retire. What's the reason for all this professional movement? There are a variety of factors at work, but one driving force is the increasing...
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The Future of HR Software: Where Are Applicant Tracking Systems Headed?
To many people, applicant tracking systems (ATSs) may seem hopelessly out of date. As with any piece of technology, however, the truth is that ATSs are open to further innovation. In fact, many existing ATSs are designed to work in an integrated manner with new advances in technology to create a faster, better, and stronger recruiting machine. Here are three ways that new recruiting tech...
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Employee Retention Isn't Dead. Just Ask the San Antonio Spurs.
A good deal of the work I've done with my clients has involved helping senior-level managers and C-suite executives transition out of long-term positions with companies that are "no longer working out" for them. While helping my clients with these transitions, I almost always have to introduce them to the new reality that average employee tenure is nowhere near as long as it used to...
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6 Ways AI Is Already Changing Hiring Process
While critical to business success, the recruiting process as a whole is both time-consuming and incredibly costly. It is estimated the average company spends roughly 8-12 percent of a candidate's salary in recruiting costs, although the number should be closer to 6 percent. By introducing the right technology, recruiting teams can streamline the process and significantly reduce...
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10 Songs to Feel Empowered While Searching for a Job
Being on the job hunt for any length of time can be demoralizing, but it doesn't have to be. We tie so much of our self-worth to our careers. When the search lasts longer than we expected, motivation can melt away before our eyes. Take a good look in the mirror once in a while. Remember all you have achieved and all you are still capable of offering the world. If the pep talk just...
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CEOs Need to Get Their Hands Dirty With Recruiting
Executives worry about talent. According to Harvard Business Review, it's one of the top three concerns of CEOs today. Thanks to advances in technology and a shifting business landscape, company leaders around the world are challenged with finding new ways to connect with and engage top-tier candidates in the job market. In response, executives consistently turn outward for solutions. They...
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Getting a Job Is a Job
We have less than 60 days to go until Thanksgiving, and although you shouldn't stop your job search when the turkey has been served, hiring will certainly slow down as the holidays approach. If you've been wanting a new job, it is time to get moving. Finding a job isn't just about wanting one. You can't wait until one falls in your lap. If you really want a new job, you're going to...
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3 Tips on Closing the STEM Skills Gap
Across industries and around the world, companies are facing dramatic talent shortages, with the STEM fields being particularly short-staffed. In 2016, 13 STEM jobs were posted for each unemployed STEM candidate in the US. Similarly, employers in the UK are looking at 173,000 STEM vacancies, costing them roughly $2 billion per year. The STEM talent shortage is exacerbated by the fact...
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5 Strategies for Mastering the Psychological Game: Dealing With Unconscious Bias
As a diverse professional, you must never forget that you are a value-added player no matter what the situation is. You bring to the table a unique set of qualities that no one else can offer. Too often, women, people of color, and other diverse professionals are taught to dim their own light in order not to make others feel bad. By remaining in the box that others put you in, however, you...
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3 Ways to Rediscover Your Passion for Sales
A salesperson who has lost their passion is like a writer who has lost their pen. In both cases, someone lacks the tool they need most, making it had to stay motivated and accomplish goals. Passion matters in sales. Passionate sales people believe in their products and strive to help customers reach their goals. Unfortunately, many aspects of a sales career can quickly turn passion into...
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5 Ways HR Leaders and CEOs Can Make the Most of AI
The rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace is having a dramatic impact on the way we work, the job market, and employee expectations. Already, 72 percent of Americans worry that AI will take over their job and could make them obsolete. Their concerns aren't entirely unfounded, as AI is predicted to eliminate about 1.8 million jobs in 2020. That said, it is...
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Why You Need a Personal Development Plan and How to Create It
Companies recognize the need to develop their internal talent, but the personal development plans managers create for employees don't always align with employees' own goals for themselves. This lack of alignment can only lead to unmotivated employees and disappointed managers. If you're an employee whose talents aren't being developed the way you'd like them to be, it's time to take your...
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5 Ways Marketers Can Hire Data-Savvy Talent
The field of marketing and advertising has historically attracted a wide range of people with a wide range of skill sets and interests. Communication, psychology, art, writing, and business are all part of the marketing stew — and increasingly, so is data science. While the Mad Men days of collaborative brainstorming and flashes of inspiration are not completely gone, data has transformed...
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How to Find Meaning in Your Job
Article by Shawn Achor According to Yale professor and researcher Amy Wrzesniewski, Ph.D., people have one of three orientations toward their work: People with a job see work as a chore and the paycheck as their reward. They work because they have to. People with a career like the concept of advancing and succeeding. People with a calling find their work fulfilling...
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Make Sure Your Resume Does These 3 Things Before Applying for a Job
Your resume is one of the most important documents you will ever write in your life. It could land you a big raise or decide where you work for the next ten years. You should invest plenty of time and effort into writing a resume, and you should proofread it thoroughly before taking it to the job market. We all know that we need to check for spelling mistakes and typos, but what about the...
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How to Stand Out When Meeting New People
Meeting and befriending new people isn't easy. Even the extraverts among us can have a hard time standing out. At the same time, though, meeting new people is unavoidable in our modern work environment. We need to meet — and impress — new people whenever we go to an interview, join a new team, contact a new client, and so on. When you meet someone for the first time, you have a...
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In the Age of Automation, Recruiting Recruiters Takes on New Urgency
Automation is drastically changing workplaces across industries, and employers are finding many of their current employees lack the necessary skills to operate today's high-tech tools and equipment. Combine these hard-to-find but in-demand skills with an already low unemployment rate, and it's no surprise that many companies are putting great pressure on their staffing partners to find...
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8 Signs LinkedIn Probably Isn't for You
For a long time, I've considered it my mission to recruit job seekers to join LinkedIn, the same way a college recruiter goes after blue chip basketball players. However, after having a discussion a few days ago with someone in one of my workshops, it dawned on me that my style of getting people excited to join LinkedIn might be too strong for some. After the workshop — where I spoke...
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5 Tips on How to Prepare for the Next Recession
Many Americans still shudder when they think back to the last recession. All told, 8.7 million people lost their jobs, and it took years for many families to dig out from the financial destruction. Since the recession officially ended in 2009, a question has lingered in the backs of American workers' minds: Could it happen again? Yes, it can. Historical data shows that the US averages...
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How to Build a Network That Will Get You Hired
A networking event is your chance to impress the movers and shakers in your industry with your skills. It's the perfect opportunity to tell everyone just how great you are at what you do. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work like this. You see, nobody likes a gloater. Being successful at networking isn't about being hyper-confident. No, it's all about being vulnerable and making real...
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3 Ways to Stay Focused on Your Goals
Many of us find it difficult to stay focused on our goals. Perhaps our disposition toward people-pleasing gets in the way of what we want, or our inability to say no crowds our personal goals out of the picture. Here are three things you can start doing right now that will help you stay focused, no matter what else is going on: 1. Say No More Often On your way to an event but not...
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How Machine Learning Is Transforming Hiring Practices
Today, organizations across the globe are looking for ways to digitize their businesses through innovative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. According to a recent study, 31 percent of enterprises expect to add AI and machine learning capabilities to their core operational functions in the next 12 months. This year alone, organizations will...
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What to Do If You Don't Have the Budget to Build Your App
Creating a mobile app can set you back anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000+. If you're short on cash or just starting out, that price tag can seem prohibitive. You may be tempted to cut corners — but when you develop your app on the cheap, you can run into all sorts of problems, including low-quality performance and security issues. Don't let the high price of development keep you from...
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Why Job Offers Are Just Like Buses
Years ago, when I was finishing graduate school in California, I spent a significant amount of time searching for the right job opportunity. I would go to job fairs and networking events as if it were my full-time job. I would interview for anything and everything. Occasionally, a job would pop up that seemed almost perfect — but not quite. The description would be great, the company...
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You Don't Need to Go to an Ivy League School to Be a CEO
In order to become a CEO, you have to at least get an undergraduate degree, right? And your chances are even better with a master's or doctorate degree, right? In a society where we place heavy importance on secondary education, these are pretty common assumptions. As it turns out, however, the road to success is not so clear-cut. Some CEOs of great renown, such as Bill Gates and...
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5 Reasons Why You're Not Applying for Jobs
It's called "paralysis by analysis." I'm sure you've heard of it or even suffered from it. I certainly have. Paralysis by analysis occurs when you're so caught up in the process that you can't take meaningful steps to achieve your end goal. It is different from procrastination in that it is not just a matter of waiting until the last minute — it's losing the ability to act...
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Redefining Human Capital Management: Employees Are People, Too
Human capital management (HCM) is evolving with the times. As defined by Gartner, HCM is "a set of practices ... focused on the organizational need to provide specific competencies in three categories: workforce acquisition, workforce management, and workforce optimization." The discipline has changed significantly over the course of the last decade, driven in large part by advances in...
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The Recruiting Reel: How to Bring Your Entire Company Into the Recruiting Process
Some of the best recruiters at your company aren't recruiters at all. As the lifeblood of your business, your employees know which skill sets, personalities, and traits make for successful, high-impact teammates. When you're adding a new member to a team, you should listen to the people who will work alongside the new hire. They'll be able to identify the best fits while pointing out...
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How Honest Should You Be in an Exit Interview?
The decision to give your notice is a difficult one to make. While no job is perfect, there are surely things you will be sad to leave behind. Your exit interview serves as an opportunity to share feedback and help the company find ways to improve. But beware: The questions asked during an exit interview may stir some negative feelings you've been keeping inside. It's important to offer...
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8 Reasons Why Payroll Fails
Of the numerous procedural challenges employers face, payroll has the potential to create the most painful administrative headaches. Payroll is a crucial component to business success, but also one of the hardest to calibrate, thanks to its complexity. More than just a question of paying employees on time, the payroll process involves a high level of numerical skill, administrative know-how,...
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To Find Hidden Jobs, Run a Proactive Job Search
When I explain to my clients that networking correctly is the most effective way to find a great job, about 99 percent of them say they hate networking. Even super skilled, relationship-building-is-my-middle-name salespeople! Good networking involves relationship-developing conversations, not ask-a-stranger-for-a-job transactions. Think of it this way: In an interview, the hiring manager...
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The Secret to a Successful Transition From Military to Civilian Life
Veterans sacrifice a lot of things to serve their country, but a normal life once they return from duty shouldn't be one of them. A crucial step to take after your service ends is getting a job. The good news is there are legions of employers out there that can benefit from the skills and discipline you learned in the armed forces. In fact, a great number of them actively seek veterans to...
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Liar, Liar, Applicants on Fire
Competition in the job market is fierce. While unemployment is staying low, that means those without work are competing for fewer jobs. Nearly every open roles receives a wide range of applicants of varying skill levels, and many of those applicants are so desperate for work they misrepresent themselves in an effort to land a steady paycheck. In fact, recent hiring data from HEC Paris shows...
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How to Survive When Big Tech Wants to Poach Your Talented Employees
Israel is well-known for its high-tech scene. Startup CEOs here are blessed to be able to mine exceptional talent produced by a very good higher education system and the Israeli military's investment in developing new technologies. This kind of talent helps startups get closer to market in less time and at less risk. The situation couldn't be better for most startups. However, in the past...
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Want to Attract Top Talent? Reevaluate Your Travel Policies
If you haven't looked at your travel policies recently, you might want to dust them off today. They could mean the difference between hiring a team of winners and a team of wannabes. American job seekers have caught an incredible break. With unemployment hovering around 4 percent, top talent has the upper hand during employment negotiations. Accordingly, candidates are exercising their...
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3 Ways AI Is Transforming Sourcing Today
From streamlining recruiting tasks to collecting relevant jobs data for better hiring decisions, artificial intelligence (AI) is making major waves in the talent acquisition industry. Those companies that have adopted AI are already seeing results. According to one study, these organizations experience 18 percent higher revenue and 30 percent higher profitability than companies that have not...
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Women in the Arts: Everywhere But the Pinnacle
Does gender matter in leadership roles in the arts? According to recent literature, the answer is yes. In early 2017, the New York Times published an article entitled "Gender Gap Persists at Largest Museums." The piece cites a study from the Association of Art Museum Directors, which found that while 48 percent of art museums are led by women, a major gender gap persists at the US's...
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The Illegal Question in the Room
Today, I want to talk about the elephant in the room of recruiting — something that everybody knows but nobody likes to talk about. That elephant? Illegal interview questions. I've often wondered how people could still be asking illegal questions in 2018, and my best guess is this: Hiring managers are rarely trained on how to interview people. After all, the interview process seems...
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How the Culture of Presenteeism Hurts Employees and Employers
"Presenteeism" refers to the practice of being present at work but not productive, whether due to illness, disengagement, stress, or some other factor. The culture of presenteeism is widespread. According to one global study, the average worker loses 53.5 days' worth of productivity to presenteeism every year. Surging rates of presenteeism highlight the fact that people feel under...
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Why You Should Let Your Developers Work Remotely
Remote work has become more popular over the years, but some companies are still reluctant to let their employees work from home. Even in fields where remote work is a logical option, such as computer programming, a majority of workers still show up to the office every day. However, remote work offers some key advantages that employers may want to consider before they mandate every...
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4 Things You Need to Know About Your Painfully Long Job Search
The job search can easily become all-consuming, wreaking havoc on your self-esteem. It's natural to be disappointed when you don't get an offer for a job you had your heart set on. When you find yourself in a trend of rejection that lasts for months, it's all too easy to start wondering whether something is wrong with you. Here are the four things you need to know to make it out of your...
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