Turning Disengaged Employees into Brand Ambassadors

Turning Disengaged Employees into Brand Ambassadors For many of today’s leading companies, the employees have a big role in delivering on the brand promises and companies need properly designed and executed employee recognition programs that can encourage and reward the behaviors that reinforce the brand’s meaning. Effective internal communications and support for recognition starts with the organization’s top executives as management praise and leadership opportunities can be more effective than financial incentives. Engaged employees who successfully represent the company brand provide a competitive advantage and impact the bottom line â€" a crucial benefit in today’s competitive global business environment according to Mike Ryan of Madison Performance Group. Motivated employees are more productive and creative and recognition programs help keep them engaged and positive about their professional contributions to the organizations. See what you think of Madisons latest infographic below: Related: INFOGRAPHIC: Worldwide Employer Branding Facts and Stats. Image: Shutterstock

Managing Others You Need to Declare Yourself Marla Gottschalk

Managing Others You Need to Declare Yourself Marla Gottschalk Adjusting to any new role is a challenge. There are countless elements that must be mastered; core tasks, a new organizational culture and team commitments. Organizations may be well versed in helping newcomers complete on-boarding basics such as needed documentation, work spaces and technology. Yet, there are untapped opportunities, instrumental in helping this transition become the first steps toward a healthy, productive employee journey. The bottom of the learning curve that newcomers face is often a steep one â€" characterized by a brisk influx of both information and people-focused demands. (Ive heard the experience described as drinking from the fire hose.) Existing research focusing on newcomers, can offer managers clues as to what hey can do to support the process. Overall, these actions should serve to establish core stability, a confluence of elements that help a contributor become engaged and hopefully, successful. However, we miss key opportunities to help newcomers find their way â€" and managers can actively contribute to building this needed sense of stability early on. While we inundate newcomers with information about projects, budgets and goals â€" we under-represent information about ourselves. As a manager, providing essential information concerning who you are as a manager can be overlooked, leaving employees mired with questions. How do I connect with my manager? What is their work style? What do they value in the workplace? Sharing who you are as a manager â€" what you value, how you work best, what you are looking for performance-wise in the context of their role, even your career backstory â€" can put a newcomer at ease. So declare yourself. Share what you can share comfortably. Fill in the blanks. Here lies the rub: Managers are not encouraged to reflect on their own management brand. This may occur because: 1) we undervalue its contribution to healthy work relationships and 2) we are somewhat uncomfortable sharing it. However, as managers, there is an expectation to lay a solid foundation. Team members shouldnt be left to guess. I will go one step further to say that (as a goal) this information should be shared long before the newcomers first day. This may allow talent (and managers) to assess whether there is real fit and an opportunity to form a healthy psychological contract. However, to be honest â€" Ill settle for this discussion on any given Monday. What are your thoughts? Have you ever felt left in the dark concerning how to connect with your manager? Want to bring this methods to your management team utilize? Write Dr. Gottschalk to learn about her virtual training options here. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist. Her program: The Core Training Series for Managers â€" focuses on the importance of building core stability to a strong team. A charter member of the LinkedIn Influencer Program since 2012 â€" her thoughts on work life have appeared in various outlets including Talent Zoo, Forbes, Quartz and The Huffington Post.

Should You Ever Dress Down for an Interview

Should You Ever Dress Down for an Interview Job interviews can be stressful, since you always want to make a great impression. You know that your interviewer’s first impression of you is important so you want to make sure that you look great and appropriate for the interview. Naturally, because of this need to impress, it is instinctive for everyone to dress up. Guys usually wear a suit, and ladies wear blazers paired with their slacks or dresses. There isn’t anything wrong with dressing up and in fact, this is the norm and what is expected when you are asked to attend a job interview. However, there are instances where dressing down is the best option when attending a job interview. As unbelievable as it may sound, yes, there are some cases where dressing casually for an interview will clinch you that job: Check: First, make sure that you check the instructions when you got the invitation for the job interview. If it tells you to dress down, then by all means, dress down. Remember though, that dressing down does not mean that you can wear shorts and a flimsy top to the interview. It only means that you can wear jeans, or light slacks, and a more casual top. If you are male, you can do away with the suit. You can wear chinos or khaki slacks, plus a button-up shirt. For ladies, you can wear a dress that isn’t revealing. Industry: Second, it is best that you consider the industry that you are applying for. Typically, a company set in the creative agency does not require you to dress up for a job interview. If you are applying as a part of the creative team for an advertising agency, you can even get away with wearing jeans to the job interview. Just make sure that your jeans aren’t dirty, they don’t have holes, and that you look presentable. If you are applying for a position in an IT company, you will also observe that most of the employees are dressed casually. It is best to follow the status quo, and dress similarly. Even if you are instructed to dress casually for the interview, remember that the general rules for dressing for a job interview still apply. Namely, do not wear anything that is revealing. Ladies should wear skirts of appropriate length. Refrain from flashing too much skin. Avoid wearing sleeveless tops, and please keep your cleavages covered. Make sure your pants are pressed, check if your clothes have stains and are wrinkled. Brush your hair; make sure you don’t have anything on your teeth. Ladies, it is best to apply some make-up, but don’t make it too heavy. Your normal, everyday make-up will work. Avoid wearing heavy perfume. A light scent will do. You are not going on a date, always remember that. In the end, your outfit will only take you until the first impression. It is still important that you make the right impression with your conversational skills, and your qualifications for the job. Just approach the interview with confidence, and you will definitely ace it.

5 Ways to Build Candidate Engagement

5 Ways to Build Candidate Engagement Sourcing has evolved from people who wanted to find more people to  an emerging trend, which is how do you fix candidate engagement? Because that piece of sourcing is  differentiating people Johnny Campbell at SourceCon Building candidate engagement is where the battle is at.  As technology gives us more and more access to great talent in the market (whether that be through Boolean searching, LinkedIn or any other social network), the game is changing.  We  can see who has jobs that may interest us and, even when  approached about jobs, very rarely do  recruiters talk about the culture and the employer value  proposition  (EVP) of the organisations they represent. The question is:  Do they know what their EVP is and how to communicate it in an effective way? The other question is: Do recruiters start the discussion about culture fit early or is that left till the last interview? Here are 5 simple and easy ways you can engage candidates, both before they become applicants and during the recruitment process: 1) Building engaging interesting career site collateral: It is so simple to develop and share videos, images and  information  about your organisation in a place where candidates can easily access them to see exactly what its like to walk through  your office. We also  underestimate the impact that this can have on a candidates initial interest and engagement in the organisations. Your career site should ideally be  your number one  sourcing channel for any organisation its the place where potential applicants will go to check out what youre doing, what youre about and make a decision on whether they think your organisation is right for them. So the question is, have you invested anything into ensuring it reflects your organisation in the right way? Or is it just a click-through link with a list of jobs and maybe some companies values? 2) Case studies and storytelling: From  the time we are small children,  most of us love a good story we love to understand what happened along the way. Storytelling can be also be one of your companys strongest asset. Why? It proves that what you are saying is true as there are people in your organization that are living out the experiences that you say your organisation offers. Weve used stories to show a clients commitment to career progression, how they support diversity, how the CEO interacts with the business and so much more. You can see an example a Deloitte diversity video below: Using stories allows you to humanise your brand in a relatable way use them and dont ignore amazing stories you could be sharing! Ill take a great authentic story of what its been like for an individual in your company over corporate communications press releases any day. 3) Talent pool newsletters: So youve taken the time to identify candidates that you believe are right for your organisation. They have the skills, competencies and experience that youre looking for. You segment them off into a talent pool andyou leave them there for however long until you have the right job or someone remembers them. The candidate doesnt know they are in a talent pool, they dont know that you think they are great for your business and they have no idea about what your organisation is doing 6 months down the track brilliant! The purpose of CRM strategies for talent pools is to build the employer branding, share your stories and develop the engagement with candidates that you believe are right for your business. Lets imagine for a moment that youve either been approached or youve applied for a role. Something happens and the role doesnt go ahead, but the recruiter says to you: Jo, we think your skills, experience and motivations are aligned with what we are looking for in our business. Now we dont have a role right now for you but I would love to add you to our talent pool. What that means is that we will communicate  on a quarterly basis with a few select candidates that we want to continue to develop a relationship with. The information that we email out to you will be what the business is up to (it may have videos or project updates), whats happening around our corporate and social responsibility and a bit about our culture. Hopefully this ensures that were kept front of mind with high calibre candidates such as yourself and then when an opportunity comes along youll have a much clearer understanding of  who we are  and it can help inform your decision as to whether this is right place for you in the future as your career develops. Simple. Easy. Straightforward. Engaging. Who is going to say no to that? Im not spamming you. Im not sending you an update every day/week/month. Ill communicate with you and you can contact me if you see anything that takes your fancy (e.g. opportunities with us) and well do the same. If a recruiter said this to me, Id be impressed. Just that gesture alone would set them apart. 4) Talent communities: If you have the resource then talent communities are a great way to spread the net a little wider and share your employer brand and EVP to a bigger audience, plus it also means that they can actively share your content with their communities and networks. A number of 3rd party sites which have been around for the past 1-2 years (e.g.  TalentCircles  and  Ascendify)  can be used as an additional tool to your ATS and usually integrate with existing systems. One that Im loving is Google+ you have the ability to build free communities that can be restricted to the candidates and people who you want to have in there plus it has video capability as well as the usual social connect sharing capabilities. 5) Networking social and face-to-face: Nothing replaces talking to people. I could write a whole post just on this one heading, but the tip Im going to give you today is to go to the networking events your candidates are at and engage with them on social channels in a real and authentic way (i.e. dont just post links but have conversations!). If you have recruitment social channels, its important to get your recruitment team to let EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE  that they speak to KNOW about your channels and the INFORMATION they will get if they follow them. I find it amazing when people say a social channel didnt work but never actually told anyone about it. Engagement is  half the battle. You can find candidates, you can present them to your business, but if they are not interested in your business its all a bit of a waste so spend time thinking about what your message and engagement strategy in the market will be over the next 6-12 months and measure the impact as you go.

Debut turns two ?? 10 of our favourite stats from the last two years - Debut

Debut turns two ?? 10 of our favourite stats from the last two years - Debut Mazel tov! Everyone reading this wherever you are pretend to raise a glass. This glorious October day marks the 2nd birthday of your favourite rambunctious recruitment company, Debut. For two years now, weve been changing the ways students and employers reach out to each other and making it easier than ever to find that elusive internship or graduate job. On this day in 2015, Debut went live at long last, nabbing the same birthday as Hillary Clinton, Seth MacFarlane, LA rapper ScHoolboy Q, pro-wrestler CM Punk and narrowly missing Drakes by two days. But nevertheless, Octobers very own careers app has amassed some interesting statistics in the time since it breathed its first. Because data tastes quite nice when you have it with cake, we thought wed dive in and check some of the numbers that make us who we are. 1,055,400 Total number of talent spots sent ever Who can believe this?! Weve sent over one million Talent Spots out since we launched. Thats over a million opportunities seized upon, a million chances for career enrichment, a million good feelings when you realise a company wants you over everyone else. Excuse us, were getting emotional over here. 50 Top companies using Debut Since launch weve had 50 of the biggest and best multinational firms use Debut to reach out to new tale;nt. That includes Debut frequent flyers like EY, LOréal and Arcadia and newcomers like Virgin Media and Deloitte. Thanks to all of them for working with us tirelessly to bring you the best opportunities possible. 957 Number of questions asked on DebutLive Hey, who thought wed all be film directors this time last year? Since the launch of DebutLive a few months ago, you guys have really been seizing your opportunities to ask employers your burning questions and rightly so. Weve nearly broken the 1,000 mark on this so stay curious and keep those questions coming. 2,191 Total number of roles displayed on the app ever Cor blimey, thats  a lot of job cards. Theres been more exciting and varied roles on Debut than you can shake a stick at over the past two years. This one goes out to our Account Managers who toil away over a hot dashboard for hours on end to make sure theyre live ASAP. 6 Number of Debut events held Since we started doing Debuts own events in October 2016, weve done 6 of them, each to huge success. Who can forget the lines around the block at Debuts Women In Tech? Or the straw statues at Future You? Or the rousing speech from EYs Gulenn Tambe on International Womens Day? Most importantly, we cant forget any of you that attended. Getting to meet you all at events is the best part of it and we love to hear your feedback. 470 Articles in the Insight section Its crazy to think that Debuts Insight section was but a wee child a year ago, boasting little more than 50 articles. In the year since then, weve written a whopping 420 articles and with the addition of the new Guides section, its become the most complete careers resource out there. Shout out to all the Content Managers, Content Creators, interns and members of our amazing contributor network that helped make it happen! £2.2 million Amount raised in funding so far Just before Christmas last year, we secured a £2 million investment to take Debut to the next level. Since then, weve grown considerably (more on that later) and added a truck load of new features to the app, from live streaming to cognitive ability tests. Thus far, they all seem to have gone down a treat. 21 Staff members at Debut HQ So anyway, back to growing. Weve nearly doubled up on the number of people working in the office since last year. Weve had to move office (twice) and even split our desks up by team; marketing, sales, product and tech. Thats before we even get to the number of designers, developers, PR and contributors who work for us around the world. They may work remotely but they bust their butts to make Debut happen. 3 Official dog mascots Its a fact universally acknowledged that we have the cutest and cuddliest office dogs on the block. We love when they come in for visits and over the past two years weve had plenty. From left to right, we have Onix, FeFe and of course, the legendary Sancho. 70,000 Debutants across the UK Debut started from CEO Charlie Taylors frustration with the process of getting a graduate job. Years later, weve got 70,000 registered users making a job application every four minutes. We cant believe how far weve come since Debut began, and its all because of you. We do all this so you and people that come after you can get the best start possible in their careers. So from each and every one of us at Debut, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope well be around to provide the happy ending your degree deserves for many years to come. Cheers! Connect with Debut on  Facebook,  Twitter,  and  LinkedIn  for more careers insights.

Obama proposes multibillion-dollar plan to boost US community colleges

Obama proposes multibillion-dollar plan to boost US community colleges 0 Flares 0 Flares President Barack Obama makes an appearance twice in the same week on Corn on the Job, becoming the first president to do so.  Congratulations Barack. President Obama proposed a 10-year multibillion-dollar initiative to help improve community college programs in the United States.  The objective is to basically re-train Americans as a result of the volatile workplace we currently live in.  In what appears to be $12 billion in proposed spending, $500 million would go to developing new online courses and $9 billion to challenge grants in order to enable more course schedules reflecting the diverse needs of working students. Those looking to make a career change should find themselves excited reading about Obamas proposed plan.  While community colleges pose one of the more inexpensive paths to education, schedules as well as programs offered may not be all that flexible for Generation X and the older Generation Y members.  Its clear that President Obamas main initiative with this plan is to lead community colleges to a more flexible culture, catering to the needs of tens of millions of unemployed, underemployed, insecure, or bored working Americans.

Automated Resume Writing - 3 Advantages of Automated Resume Writing

Automated Resume Writing - 3 Advantages of Automated Resume WritingThere are quite a few advantages of automated resume writing. Writing a resume is not a difficult task but once you do this task manually, you will have to spend more time searching through job listings than the time that you could have used to write the resume. So, the best thing about using an automated resume writing software is that it automatically and instantly converts your documents into different formats and emails them out to various potential employers. It is a good idea to use a template so that your resume is in no way left empty and you do not waste your precious time on filling in the blanks manually.The templates that you use in an ideal human resource manager and resume writer should ideally have similar fields, links, and formats that are easy to read and understand. Your resume format should also be flexible and adaptable to future changes as well. The templates you choose will help you out in keepi ng your document in one particular format and it will keep the information consistent in your document.Firstly, you will get to know that you will have to work less if you use a template. Once you have completed your job hunting and have landed an interview, you may not have the time to finish writing a resume. You may have to give up writing and immediately head for the interview. Once you are in the office, you can be surprised to find the resume you wrote by hand.You may not have the energy for long days of typing. Even when you are using a script, you need to type the content which may be a bit tough at times. With a template, you do not have to worry about punctuation and spelling errors. It all goes through one button and at the end of it, you will have your objective information.Secondly, a template can even be customized according to the company you work for. For example, a logo or brand name can be written on the resume. This kind of customization is not possible with manua l resumes.Thirdly, the template will enable you to quickly research various employers who have available vacancies. This helps you find the most suitable positions as quickly as possible. By using a template, you save valuable time and effort.Fourthly, you will find that using a template saves you from writing all over again. You can just use the template and start. This is because you know where you will be writing the resume. After that, you will just have to copy the required information and paste it in the template that is already available.By utilizing these three advantages of automated resume writing, you can ensure that you use the template that suits your personal requirements. However, remember to check whether the template is suitable for your specific job.