How Your Clients Benefits Really Make a Difference When Hiring

How Your Client’s Benefits Really Make a Difference When Hiring As recruiters, we’re in the unique position of being able to really get under the skin of what our candidates are looking for, and how our clients can best turn those demands into reality. In 2020, our candidates continue to value soft benefits as a top priority when looking for a new role. For good reason, as a recent Vitality survey found that 35.1% of surveyed employees have reported feeling unwell as a consequence of work-related stress. This is usually the result of a poor working environment or work-life blend, both of which can be improved by wellness benefits or flexible working options. Our recent 2020 Salary and Benefits Review, collated from a survey of over 2,000 UK employees, found that the range of ‘soft benefits’ is becoming wider. Essentially, employers are becoming more creative when putting together benefits packages. Why is this important now? The beginning of a new year marks a time when many more job seekers are on the market. This may be especially true in 2020, as our salary survey also found that 25% of respondents are dissatisfied in their current role, and over half are planning to leave their current position before the year is up. If your client isn’t fully optimizing their soft benefits as part of the hiring process, they could be missing out on high-quality talent. In addition, the low unemployment rate means that it’s an increasingly competitive market and clients need to now differentiate themselves from their competitors to find fantastic staff. Benefits that attract Our survey found that respondents under 45 place the most importance on a great work environment when looking for a new job, whereas the younger generations also favor career development, challenging roles and a good benefits package. There are differences in terms of genders as well, as women appear to prefer job security while men are seeking a positive work environment. The only generation that would prefer a higher salary over and above soft benefits are those over the age of 55. Some more of our favorite soft benefits include supplied breakfast/lunch, training opportunities, unlimited paid time off, cycle-to-work scheme, personal wellbeing days and annual leave on an employee’s birthday. As recruiters, it’s important to share this information with your clients so that they can develop benefits packages to attract the staff they want, while also holding onto their existing high-quality talent. How to incorporate benefits into the hiring process Once your client is happy with the benefits they are willing to offer a new starter, make sure all consultants are briefed with a summary so you can field any questions from candidates. Ask your client how they would prefer these to be advertised â€" should they be listed on the job advert, or should they only be disclosed to shortlisted candidates? Additionally, it might be worth prepping the hiring manager on how best to communicate the benefits in the interview there’s no point doing all the work, only to realize that the hiring team hasn’t communicated the different benefits on offer!

10 Things You Should Never Wear to a Job Interview

10 Things You Should Never Wear to a Job Interview Going to work as well as showing up forjob interviews used to require wearing a suit all of the time.You had your work clothes and casual clothes, and the difference between the two was obvious.Today’s workforce faces the interesting challenge of having to wear different outfits depending on the business culture’s dress code, which can be confusing to understand.Instead of explaining every dress code around the world, then leaving you to guess when a dress code applies, see this list of 10 things you should never wear to a job interview.10. Visible UnderwearThe root of the word “underwear” is “under” ... meaning “under your clothes” (i.e. meant not to be seen).There are casual dress styles in which male and female underwear can be seen.In case you're still unsure about this, these styles are not appropriate for any job interview.You are going to a business to convince them why you should be a valuable (and paid) employee.You want the focus of attention to be on your r esume and why they should hire you for the job, not your undergarments.9. Flip-Flops and SneakersNothing says, “I am running an errand and I do not care” more than wearing flip-flopsto a job interview.The same goes for putting on a pair of sneakers.First, no one wants to see your toes or smell your feet.Next, wearing sneakersor flip-flops makes youlooklike you just threw something on without preparing to look your best.Why would you not want to look your best to get a job?Yes, some work cultures do permit this attire once you are hired. However, for the initial job interview, you should present yourself professionallyso they know what you believe is “looking your very best.”8. Shorts or Cut-Off PantsYou probably noticed by now that the clothes mentioned above are things you wear during downtime.They are what you would put on at a beach, park, or relaxing after work.At a job interview, you should be showing the company what you think are the right professional clothes to wear during work!If the clothing is either too revealing or gives the impression you have no idea what the word “professional” means, you will most likely never hear from that company again.7. An Old Pair of Jeans With Rips and TearsThere is such a thing as “designer jeans” used with a business-casual look.Before you claim that all your old jeans are designer jeans, remember you will only be kidding yourself.If a hiring manager sees you walk into a job interview in beat up, old jeans, the first impression he/she will get is that you neither care about the job nor have any business sense.You only get away with wearing designer jeansif your look was business casual.If you want to dressin any way you want, start your own company. (Do not expect others to understand you dress a certain way to look like Mark Zuckerberg.)6. Really Short SkirtsThese types of clothes are too revealing of your body shape, which will make others uncomfortable.At the same time, you also may appear uncomfor table, as if your clothes are choking you.It may seem appropriate to you, but in general, this is not a safe, professional look for a job interview.5. Really Tight PantsAlong the same lines, tight pants reveal too much of a person’s shape.They can make an interviewer uncomfortable for the same reasons in #6.4. Clothes Revealing Too Much InformationWhether you are a man or woman, clothes that reveal certain body parts (or tattoos) should never be worn to a professional job interview.You may see some service industry establishments give a free pass on these types of outfits, but the foodservice industry is a different demon.What you wear to sell drinks to patrons is not the type of outfit you should wear to a job interview.3. SweatpantsYou are not going to the gym, back to sleep, or getting ready to hop on the exercise bike.You are going to a job interview.Even if you are interviewing to work at a company that sells exercise equipment, you will never work in your sweatpants. 2. Crop -TopsShowing your navel (aka. belly-button) has both cultural and suggestive implications, some of which may be offensive to the people you are speaking with.You may see that type of outfit on the performance side of the entertainment industry.However, it does not belong in a job interview.1. Too Much Cologne or PerfumeMost interviews take place in closed rooms and in close proximity to the hiring manager.When there is little air to breathe and both of you are talking, the last thing you should do is gas a hiring manager with too much cologne or perfume.The less they can breathe, the more they will remember you for that scent you wore to their job interview. In ClosingChoosing to wear inappropriate clothing for a job interview can indicate if a job candidate has:Social awareness Professional awarenessIf what you wear seems to match with what the company finds appropriate, then you may be a culture fit.But if you come across a company and misinterpret how you should have dressed, you may need to reconsider what you believe is appropriate for the industry you want to work in.Need more help in your search for a job?Here at Find My Profession, we would love to help you land the perfect career.We offer professionalresume writing services.Find My Profession is also home to the legendarycareer coaching servicewith a focus on senior and executive-level job seekers.Simply tell us about your previous experience.We will do the research on where your skills could be best applied.Get in touch today and let us help you navigate every step of your job search.Our goal is to help you find vocational success.

Podcast #3 Standing Out Online, Coworking and Chris Brogan - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Podcast #3 Standing Out Online, Coworking and Chris Brogan - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Welcome to the third episode of the  Promote Yourself Podcast  (Subscribe on iTunes). It is a weekly show airing every Monday, giving you the best career advice, the latest workplace trends and access to todays brightest stars in business. Sponsor:  Moo.com is an online printer offering premium business cards, MiniCards. stickers and more. For listeners of this podcast, if you go to  Moo.com/podcast  you will save 10% on your next order! Now its time for the show. This weeks show Segment #1: My top 3 workplace trends of the week The end of cubicles and the beginning of coworking. The internet is bigger than you think (how to stand out). Employment in 2013 what you need to know. Segment #2: QA This weeks question comes from Chloe Reznikov on LinkedIn. She  asks: How do I break into a competitive industry? Segment #3: Guest interview This week I speak to Chris Brogan, who is the CEO of Human Business Workers, a business design company using publishing and media to provide tools and smarts to help professionals work better. He is the New York Times bestselling co-author of The Impact Equation and Trust Agents, both co-written with Julien Smith. Hes appeared in several magazine and news articles from Forbes, The Boston Globe, Success, USA Today, and has appeared on TV shows like The Dr Phil Show. In the interview, Chris talks about how to stand out online, what social networks will become obsolete in the future, how to share a post that will get a reaction, and more. Author: Dan Schawbel  is the Founder of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He recently made the  Forbes Magazine  30 Under 30 list and his second book called Promote Yourself: The New Art of  Getting Ahead  is due out in the Fall of 2013 by St. Martin’s Press. He is offering an online course called “Build Your Personal Brand in 4 Easy Steps.”

Why Empathy Matters

Why Empathy Matters (This is one of a series of posts on Give and Take by Adam Grant.) Empathy, or the ability to put yourself in another person’s place, to imagine what they feel, is one of the most important features of civilized people. Without empathy, we get bullying, violence, and “victimless” crimes. Lack of empathy is one of the definitive symptoms that separate a sociopath from the rest of us. Empathy matters. Empathy is hard-wired into our brains; scientists believe that it’s in part a function of mirror neurons, cells that help us experience something when we see another being doing it. We smile when someone smiles sat us, or tear up when we see someone cry. Dogs, monkeys, elephants and other animals have all shown what appears to be empathy in scientific experiments. More often, it seems, than many customer service representatives. In Adam Grant’s book Give and Take, he cites a study of radiologists who were asked to read CT exams on a group of 100 patients. Three months later, after forgetting the CT exams, the radiologist were asked to read the exams again. One group increased their performance by 53 percent (meaning that they found abnormalities more often and identified them more accurately.) Another group’s performance by the same measures decreased by 28 percent. The only difference: the improved group received a photograph of the patient with the CT scan report. Just seeing the patient’s face made them perform better, to work harder to get it right. When a doctor, customer service rep or caretaker can’t see the customer as a person, it’s much harder to feel empathy. It’s one of the reasons that charitable organizations show the faces of sick children or abandoned puppies; once you put a face on the problem you’ve created empathy in your potential donors. You’ve taken giving from an abstract concept to helping this child. When a service provider sees the faces of the person on the other line, they begin to understand the importance of the work they’re doing. It’s not just a failed cable connection; it’s the lifeline between a grandmother in a rural community and her grandchildren living overseas. A report issued by Strategy Company (formerly consulting firm Booz and Company), stated that 62% of Americans reported that if they had a bad service experience with a retailer or service provider, they would not purchase from them again. Lack of empathy can be costly to a company’s bottom line. Some of the policies that the Strategy Company report cited as problematic in customer service functions included: Adopting a customer-comes-first ethos at the expense of employees (which makes them feel devalued; they often take it out on customers later) Providing scripted responses for customer interactions, which diminishes responsiveness and flexible thinking on the front line Relegating customer service to cost-center status, which places the emphasis on short call times rather than satisfied customers. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Cath Burke, a UK-based trainer who offers communication workshops in London, offers these benefits of developing empathy: confidence to have difficult conversations that may otherwise be avoided; clarity about what I’d like and how to ask in a way I’m likely to be heard; creativity in finding solutions that are satisfying to everyone; giving supportive feedback; being honest without hurting or offending. Sounds like the way we wish everyone could communicate at work.

Construction Superintendent Resume - What to Include

Construction Superintendent Resume - What to IncludeWhen you are preparing a construction superintendent resumes, it is important to get your name and information right. While some people know their title at this point, others may not. In order to make sure that you get your name right, you will need to get to know what you are going to be doing. Most employers will look for you to have a degree of education in construction, trades, or even electrical and plumbing to be successful.You will want to ensure that you know all of the things that will help you be successful. When you have these things written down, they will be the foundation for your resume. This will make it easier for you to talk about, especially when you go back and reread it and rephrase it to fit what you need to say. There are several reasons for this. One reason being that you will know the specific job description, and it will not be necessary to learn something new.Another reason for knowing what is expected of you is that it will help you focus on what it is that you need to get done to be successful. It will help you know what your goal is and then look at the options that you have to accomplish that goal. This will help you know which projects are right for you and can prepare you for the fact that you may not have all of the information that you need at this point.There are different ways that you can create a construction superintendent resume. One way is by utilizing your company's websites, which will have a website designed for this. They will also have templates that you can download. The templates should include words that are basic in that information that will help you write your own. You should look through the template and see if it meets your needs, as well as what it is that you are looking for in the job description.If you are thinking of being a construction supervisor resume, then you will need to sit down and write out a master list of information. While it is true that not everyone can write, there are many who are able to write well enough to get this information out. It will help you realize that you will be writing this information down and should write as simply as possible. Look at the number of pages that are needed to write an entire construction supervisor resume.When you get to this point, you should consider starting over, but it is best that you start at the beginning. Write out everything that you can remember, and work on the information that you can't remember. This can help you to get things down, and then to find information on the net that will help you out. This will ensure that you do not miss anything that you may need to reference in order to keep your information accurate.One important thing to remember is that when you write an overview of yourself, that you will need to include what you will be doing at the firm. This should be clearly written, and should be the case even if it is a bit generalized. By doing this, you will ensure that you have a resume that gets it right every time.When you are writing a resume, this is the most important piece of it. You will want to be sure that you give the employer what they need, while being professional enough to write well. This will ensure that you get the job, and then that you have a construction superintendent resume that is the best one for you.

Who should blurb me - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Who should blurb me - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog My first book is being republished early next year and as you may know its a time-honored tradition to have a quote from someone famous on the cover endorsing it. Who do you think I should get to blurb my book? Let me know what you think in a comment! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

How To Prevent and Handle A Crisis

How To Prevent and Handle A Crisis It’s easy to lead when times are good and a rising tide is lifting all boats. It’s far trickier to lead in a crisis. Just last week, we had an example at the University of Missouri of how a series of events, poorly handled, led to a crisis point and the resignation of the university’s president and its chancellor. Since people generally don’t go to work in the morning with the objective of mishandling a situation or causing a crisis to occur, the likelihood is that being thrust into a crisis could happen to any of us if we’re not careful. That’s why it’s worth stepping back to examine what we can do when we’re in charge. Prevention Is The Best Cure In an ideal world, leading in a crisis is about dealing with issues before they become huge and take on a life of their own. In the University of Missouri situation, there were at least four prior incidents leading up to recent events that, if properly handled, could have addressed the racial unrest and prevented the blowup. It’s like gas leaking in a building â€" if there are no safety valves, escape valves, or other mechanisms for letting fresh air in, there ultimately will be an explosion. All of which leads to three conclusions that are just as true of leading a team as it is of the events that occurred at University of Missouri. Accepting bad behavior will ultimately sink you As Jack Welch reminds us, the people who are “bad apples” are poison to the organization, even if they are strong performers. If you allow them to continue unscathed, the damage they do to the culture and overall competitiveness will outweigh the near term benefits of their commercial results. Problems ignored just become bigger Even if things look like a molehill at the moment, you’ve got to look ahead and figure out it will grow to become a mountain, at which point it becomes too hard to surmount. It’s like finding a lump on your body and not getting it checked out right away. Perhaps it’s a good time to ask ourselves what we’re overlooking and hoping will go away? Certain kinds of issues have the capacity to become really big That’s where it’s crucial to recognize what the “hot spot” issues are â€" the ones that could escalate dramatically without provocation. What constitutes a “hot spot” issue depends on the context, and can change over time, so it pays to be aware of what’s going on beyond the specifics of the incident at hand. Using a hurricane analogy, it’s useful to determine when an issue is a “Category One”, which is relatively mild, versus when it’s a “Category 5”, which can cause catastrophic damage. What Leaders Can Do To Prevent A Crisis On the prevention front, leaders can: Look at situations through multiple lenses This will help you recognize issues as they are brewing, and calibrate how severe they are. You never know how something will land with other people, but you’ll have a better chance if you look at it from their point of view and not just your own. Even taking my book club as an example, the six of us read the same book and have very different reactions to and interpretations of it. Take care of the “small stuff” Recognize that a series of smaller events can cumulate to a flash point, and reward your team for addressing issues while they are still small. Create a regular dialogue with key stakeholders Developing the relationship and lines of communication beforehand gives you “cash” in the relationship “bank”. This not only helps you gain insights that may prevent future conflict, but also allows you to message your true intent on an ongoing basis. Surround yourself with wise counsel Form a coalition of people who understand the range of issues you are likely to deal with, possess good instincts about what is “the right thing to do,” and do not have vested interests that keep them from giving you that advice. What Leaders Can Do When A Crisis Hits When crisis hits â€" and it can happen to any leader â€" then: Convene your wise counsel Listen with an open mind and ask good questions. However, remember that you are the ultimate decision-maker and the one who must live by the consequences. Engage robustly with the issue Focus your mind and energies on the crucial actions, and the sequencing of those actions. As one of the University of Missouri donors said, “(In a crisis, a leader must) be abundantly honest, work quickly, and control the message.” The way you kick into high gear (or not) also gives you an opportunity to show what you and your team are made of. The classic example of doing this well is the J&J Tylenol recall. Don’t light a match at the wrong time In a crisis situation, you’re in the equivalent of a tinderbox, and things that would be fine to say normally can cause the situation to ignite and explode. You and your team need to stay conscious of what’s effective in the crisis context. What’s too loud in a library can be not loud enough in a football stadium. Use it to build stronger relationships How you handle the situation matters. A lot. The way people behave when the chips are down shows their true character. As with all relationships, they can become stronger when you work together to resolve conflict on a basis of mutual respect. And a word to the opposition If you’re on the other side, facing leaders who aren’t paying attention and frustrated that nothing is changing, then look for the “leverage point.” That is, find out what they care about and will take notice of. That gives you negotiating leverage. As the saying goes, sometimes you have to hit them where it hurts in order to get taken seriously. What finally got the administration’s attention at University of Missouri was the football team threatening to boycott the weekend game, which would have cost the university over $1mm as well as a host of other problems. That was a brilliant way to bring the administration to the table to finally focus and have the necessary conversations. Ultimately, the President resigned 36 hours later and the Chancellor shortly after that. Whether you’re leading the offense or the defense, there are important lessons to be learned from the recent situation at University of Missouri. More than anything, my takeaway is that when someone is in a seat of responsibility, they must take a stand over unacceptable behavior and be willing to deal with issues head on. And if they don’t, it’s fair game for others to hit ‘em where they’ll pay attention. What’s your experience of leading in a crisis, and what strategies have you used to successfully prevent it altogether? Share your experience in the comments below.