Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom What Kind of Decision Maker Are You

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom What Kind of Decision Maker Are You I always thought of myself as a decisive person. But after reading Julia Tang Peters’ bookPivot Points: Five Decisions Every Successful Leader Must Make, I realize that there is more to decision-making than just the act itself. Rather, it’s the way we make decisions that predicts how far we go in our careers. There are, in fact, four types of decision-makers one finds in the workplace: Leaders This decision-making process places high importance on gathering information and gaining the support of other people affected by the decision.Leaders hold themselves accountablefor their decisions even in the face of catastrophic setbacks. They continuously reach for bold and ingenious solutions, which energizes them and keeps them and their supporters committed. Wanderers Wanderers offer imaginative ideas and speak with passion about them, making them attractive to teams requiring innovative thinkers. They think carefully about how an idea looks and feels, as well as its functions and benefits. The problem with wanderers is that they don’t consider the practical implications of decisions the way leaders do, and they forget that great thinkers also need to be great doers. Wanderers do not hold themselves accountable for action and progress, so theirdecisions don’t produce pivotal outcomes. For the other two types of decision makers, head over to the Intuit Fast Track blog.

Whats the Best Way to Get Noticed by Recruiters

What’s the Best Way to Get Noticed by Recruiters If theres something youve always wanted to know about getting hired, but werent sure where to look, then fear not. Our brand new panel of experts have an abundance of tips for candidates to share with you. There isnt much these lot dont know about getting your foot through the door at your future place of work and this week its all about getting yourself noticed by the people who matter i.e your future employers. Kerri-Ann Hargreaves By being honest and communicating throughout the process. By being responsive and open to discussion. It really is good to talk. Being clear on what it is you are looking for is a great way to stand out to a recruiter. As is having an up to date CV that is detailed and thorough. Make sure your CV and covering letter clearly show how your experience makes you an obvious fit. Don’t leave anything to chance. Kerri-Ann Hargreaves,  Director, H2 Consultancy. Jeff Berger Make sure your job-application materials ? your resume and cover letter ? are written with your target audience in mind. In many ways, finding a new job is a marketing exercise. As a job seeker, you’re expected to pitch your candidacy to prospective employers. Be certain to tailor your CV and cover letter based on the specific job advert and its requirements. Don’t make recruiters guess; clearly spell out your qualifications for the position ? this is, by far, the best way to attract their attention. Jeff Berger, CEO and Founder, Talent Inc. Lysha Holmes Ensure your social media presence is the best it can be- on LinkedIn, choose a suitable and happy photo (no booze or naked torsos!) and ensure your title line is appropriate for your captive audience. Get your endorsements up to date and try and aim to get them from clients, candidates and advocates as oppose to colleagues. Join relevant groups and forums- make sure your comments are factual and engaging rather than controversial! Lysha Holmes, Recruiter of Recruiters, Qui Recruitment. Paul Wolfe There are a few tactics that I recommend candidates utilize when drafting their resumes in a way that will attract recruiters and hiring managers. Numbers and data are a great way to bring your work experience to life, and they help hiring managers imagine the potential you would bring to the company. When possible, quantify your accomplishments to show your level of impact in your current and/or previous role. Keep your resume brief and to-the-point to help recruiters understand your level of experience quickly. Paul Wolfe, Indeed Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources. Rebecca Fraser Networking, both online and offline and building your brand prescence is still one of the best ways to be noticed. You are best to build a brand that resonates with the expertise you are seeking to get recognised by, and the tailored towards the needs of the industry (and the future needs of the industry) that you are interested in working with. Rebecca Fraser, Digital Experience and Learning Manager. Ben Martinez Be authentic and not overly salesy about your background. When you connect with them, connect on a personal level before going straight into a pitch about yourself and pushing them into getting you hired. Ben Martinez, Principal Founder, Ramp Talent. Jo Cresswell When initially getting in touch with a recruiter with your CV, be sure to choose your keywords deliberately. Recruiters may use computer software to scan CVs before they make their way to human eyes. Therefore, look carefully through the job description of the role you’re applying to and ensure that relevant keywords are in your CV. For this same reason, it’s important not to treat your CV as a one-size-fits-all. Make sure you tailor your CV for any job you’re applying to. Once in contact, make sure you connect with them on LinkedIn so that they can see any updates you post and keep you in mind for roles. Jo Cresswell, Corporate Communications Manager, Glassdoor. Darain Faraz Making sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date is a good place to start. Including a short summary of your background and highlighting your key skills will help recruiters to search for you on the site. Using  Open Candidates  you can also privately signal to recruiters that you are open to new opportunities. Members on LinkedIn with profile photos are over 20 times more likely to receive profile views, so a quick win could be as simple as adding a clear, up-to-date photograph of yourself. 36% of recruiters use skills information to find candidates, whilst 30% of recruiters will also look at your current company and location to match to a potential employer, so keeping these up to date will help you to land relevant opportunities. You should treat your LinkedIn profile as an online portfolio somewhere that recruiters and potential employers can access your entire back-log of work in one place. Darain Faraz, Careers Expert, LinkedIn. Allan Leung I’ve seen some creative ways such as mailing a USB with the resume inside or sending over a cake. However, many openings tend to be filled through networking and referrals. If you’re able to connect with someone who can connect you to the appropriate recruiter, that will increase your chances of getting noticed. Allan Leung, Lead Talent Acquisition Advisor, HCSS. Chris Murdock Make sure you have a detailed LinkedIn profile and ensure that it is set to public. Recruiters, tools, and AI search engines will search for keywords within your profile. Chris Murdock  is Senior Partner and Co-Founder at IQTalent Partners

What do The 10% do Differently - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What do The 10% do Differently - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Frightening but true: only ten percent of people who’ve undergone radical surgery to save their lives actually change their habits to benefit from the operation. From Harvard Business Review, we learn that those clotted, fat-filled arteries are pretty much refilled with more grease and cheese, rather than kept open with a better diet and exercise program by people who’ve survived heart bypass surgery. If nearly losing your life doesn’t change your behavior, what will? You probably can’t answer that question, because 90% of us wouldn’t change a thing. We’d just get back on the pork express. But say you were among the 10% who are able to look at deeply troubling issues â€" and make changes to better your chances, what would you do? Where would you start? Of course, we’re not talking about your physical health. We’re talking about reviving or restyling your personal brand, your career, your relationship skills, and other qualities like resilience, perseverance, and setting achievable goals. What would you change, if you could? One way to approach the notion of change is to imagine what a better life would really look like for you. The fastest way to get into this deep dive is to start by plucking out of the muck what is working for you. This is of course, assuming you’re human. You’ve done a lot of stupid things. You have a lot of bad habits. You lack some useful fundamental qualities like follow-up, attacking big projects by chunking them up, and prioritizing all the tasks that could make up your day, week, month, year and life. So look away from the sheer awfulness that is the common human condition, and let’s focus on what you like. I treat this exercise like a game of “pick up sticks.” If you don’t know it, it’s a game where you get a bunch of eight-inch long sticks, each about the thickness of a toothpick. Typically, there’s an equal number of each of the primary and secondary colors. So, there might be six each of red, blue, yellow, purple, green, and orange sticks. To play, you dump all the sticks into a heap on a table and then try to remove just “your” color from the mess of them, without upsetting the positions of the others. If your best traits were the red sticks, you’d just pick out those.  Your red sticks might be honesty, clarity, objectivity, thoroughness, focus, and attention to detail. You might stop right here and identify 6 of your positive traits. If you need a list, I have 555 traits you can have. See my offer at the bottom of this post. Pick up the good ones Start off your recovery by posting your 6 positive traits where you can see them. Before you get on the phone, online or into a meeting: look at them. Before you start a project, ask for help with a project, or finish a project: look at them. Take another peek before you go to sleep, when you awaken and during your lunch break. Can you see how organizing yourself with your best traits in mind will revive a faltering personal brand, a business relationship and your attitude about your work? When you focus on your best self, you’re likely to choke off the oxygen to your worst self. That may help you avoid more serious interventions at the hand of someone else: a boss, client or colleague. Eat right, exercise, sleep, breathe, relax and work hard. You’ll live longer, better and richer. Want a list of 555 traits? Email me with the words: “555 Traits” in the subject line. Send it to Nance@NanceRosen.com. Author: Nance Rosen  is the author of  Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at  NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name:  nancerosen

How to Become a Better Version of Yourself in 2016

How to Become a Better Version of Yourself in 2016 It’s that time of year, and you’ve probably heard at least a few of your friends mention a New Year’s Resolution, and you’re probably dreaming up a few of your own. You might hear things like “this year, I’ll get my dream job,” or “this year, I’ll have better relationships,” or “this year, I’ll be skinny,” but these don’t sound like simple or feasible changes. Your friends sound like they want to become different people altogether. Why a “Better” You Is Better Than a “New” You You’re already an interesting, charming person capable of success. Why bother trying to become someone you’re not? Striving to become a different person is going to leave you frustrated and interfere with your efforts to improve so instead, resolve to stay the same person you’ve always been, but with a few minor modifications. This will help you set more reasonable goals, avoid overextending yourself, and give you more self-esteem throughout the entire process. Break Out of Your Routines One of the best ways to find a better version of yourself is to break out of your normal routines. Routines can get you down when they repeat endlessly or with no real purpose. Sometimes, all it takes is a small changeâ€"such as a bit of exercise in the morning, or a new commute to workâ€"to add greater productivity and more positive feelings into your life. Develop New Habits It’s better to develop a small habit that sticks than go all-out for a relatively short period of time. For example, instead of adopting a crazy low-calorie diet for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year, you can resolve to eat at least one healthy food item every day for the foreseeable future. Don’t try to become someone you aren’tâ€"focus on changes you can manage. Have Patience With Yourself It takes time to develop new habits, new routines, and new outlooks on life. You can’t change overnight, nor should you expect to. Throughout your entire process of self-improvement, it’s vital that you remain patient. Adopting an all-or-nothing mentality, or forcing yourself to change through willpower alone is only going to make you frustrated and miserable. Instead, accept that big changes only come as a result of little changes, and that great things take time to develop. Forgive yourself when you make mistakes, and don’t expect to see results immediately. Avoid Negative Talk Negative self-talk has devastating effects on your life outlook and general feelings, and it can be hard to avoid. You have to concentrate on these negative thoughts, and work hard to remove them. Instead of saying things to yourself like “I’ll never be able to do this,” or “this isn’t as good as I thought it would be,” say things like “I can do this,” or “this isn’t perfect, but it’s fine the way it is.” Positivity is hard to adopt, but will have a major impact on your resulting thoughts and feelings. Remove Negativity From Your Life Negativity exists in more than just your thoughts and internal dialogue. Look for other sources of negativity in your lifeâ€"it could be a job that always puts you down or stresses you out, a significant other that stifles your progress, or a friend who just isn’t helpful. Resolve to remove those sources of negativity from your life. Think of How You Want to Be Remembered The Feel Good Lifestyle describes an exercise for guiding yourself into the person you want to be. Imagine you’re at your own funeral, listening to your friends and family members talk about the life you led. How would you want them to remember you? Would you want them to talk about what you’ve done the past year? About what you wanted to do but never had the chance? Strive to become the person you always wanted to beâ€"the version of yourself you want to be remembered as. This year, instead of resolving to be someone else in 2016, resolve to be a better version of the “you” that already exists. With a bit of resolve, you can change your habits, add new routines, and make minor modifications that gradually improve your lifestyle. Ditch the all-or-nothing mentality, and instead focus on manageable, meaningful changes. Image Source

8 Ways Applicant Tracking Software Make Recruitment Easy CareerMetis.com

8 Ways Applicant Tracking Software Make Recruitment Easy Original Image Source â€" Depositphotos.comHiring the right talent for your organization is certainly a daunting task!There is tough competition in the market and potential applicants are always on the lookout for the best workplace. It is vital to have properly structured recruitment processes in place that can help your organization capture the right person for the right job.Leveraging the power of technological tools to enhance the quality of your hiring process is definitely a smart idea.evalIt is hence no wonder that most organizations now utilize automated applicant tracking systems to streamline recruitment.This powerful solution can make a world of difference in hiring processes. In fact, over 94% of HR professionalsand recruiters feel that applicant tracking software has had a positive impact on operational efficiency.Recruiting software is the best way to introduce standardized and data-driven practices for hiring.Applicant tracking software automates the recruitment proces s. It is a comprehensive solution that collects, analyses and sifts through job applicant data.Applicant tracking solutions organize job postings and track the status of candidates throughout the hiring process.It is an intelligent tool that can handle the resource-intensive task of choosing suitable candidates from thousands of resumes. A real asset for all kinds of organizations, recruitment software indeed has the power to transform the functioning of the human resource department.Online applicant tracking software is a very versatile tool. Since businesses put in an enormous amount of time and money in finding the right candidates, it is definitely a good idea to go in for automated recruitment.evalApplicant tracking tools remove all guesswork in recruitment processes, keep it streamlined and systematic. It helps organizations to identify and connect with top talent in the market. If companies want to increase the efficiency of hiring decisions and get the ideal candidates for v acant job positions, they should invest in ATS.Here are some major benefits of applicant tracking solutions that demonstrate its urgent requirement in the corporate environment:1) Effective Resume Management:Managing the resumes of potential applicants is a very important step in the recruitment process. However, since there is a huge volume of resumes for every vacant job position, it often becomes a tedious and time-consuming job for HR managers.The applicant tracking system uses vital keywords and powerful search technology to filter out resumes of wrong candidates. It enables organizations to get the right person for a particular job, and easily identifies the resumes of most ideal candidates.2) Increases the Volume of Applicants: evalAcquiring potential candidates for open job slots is a daunting task. Sourcing requires skill and time, hence it is a difficult function for recruiters. Applicant tracking software posts job vacancies in career portals, job boards, and social media sites.Higher visibility and enhanced web presence is a great way to spread awareness about open positions. This ultimately increases the volume of inbound applicants and ensures seamless talent acquisition.3) Flexible Workflow: Managing task flow management is essential for any HR department. Applicant tracking tools allow recruitment managers to customize workflows and automate administrative tasks.Jobs can be classified according to department or structure, and pre-screening questionnaires can be designed according to skill requirements.Recruitment software has many pre-built templates that can visualize key metrics and throw light on ongoing trends. This makes it easy for managers to be aware of the recruitment status of a candidate by just a glance at an intuitive dashboard!4) Saves Money:Recruitment is not cheap, in fact, most hiring processes put quite a heavy monetary burden on organizations.Research by Deloittehas thrown light on the fact that it takes nearly $4,000 to fill an open position.The applicant tracking systemis an intelligent tool that can reduce the money spent on hiring. Since recruitment tools automate many processes, they eliminate the requirement of a huge HR department.It saves on recruiter salaries, travel expenses, and repetitive job advertisement expenses. Recruitment software makes hiring efficient, fast and cost-effective.5) Better Quality of HiresevalEvery organization wants to capture the best talent available in the market. Automated applicant tracking software ensures that candidates bring high value to a company through their performance.It increases assessment accuracy by investing time and effort only in genuine candidates that would be a perfect match.High retention rates, good performance reviews, and manager satisfaction are signs that the quality of hiring is good. Hence, getting a recruitment system is a smart way to build a talent pool in the long run.6) Facilitates Collaborative Recruitment: Recruitment is not just the job of the human resource department. All departments have to come together to make sure that the organization hires the right people. Applicant tracking systems make sure that various internal parties from departments can view candidate status in the hiring process.Recruitment tools automatically rank applicants, help in scheduling tests/interviews and predict onboarding time.evalIt is great to invest in recruitment software as it facilitates a seamless data flow between vendors, external partners and other key decision-makers for hiring processes.7) Simple Application Process and Mobile Experience:Recruitment needs to be simple, not a lengthy time-consuming process that is bound to demotivate interested applicants.Candidate tracking systems make it super easy for applicants to send their resume to any organization. They can go directly to the company website or use an interactive mobile app to apply for vacant job positions.Automated recruitment platforms remove outdated compl ex hiring procedures, and make sure that applicants can get in touch with organizations through the click of a button!8) Analytics and Dashboards:Recruitment software has an impressive array of features that simplify hiring processes.It has the ability to generate customized reports that display all important parameters. This gives managers insight into real-time data so that they can make better business decisions.Minimalistic and intuitive dashboards provide all essential data in a structured form. This helps to predict any bottlenecks and drives productivity at all levels.Applicant tracking systemsare here to stay in the long run. Applicant tracking systems are moving towards artificial intelligence and machine learning. This will reduce the dependency on human staff and automate even the simplest hiring procedures.Instead of using a huge HR team to pour over resumes and applications, recruitment tools will be used to enhance operational efficiency.ATS will streamline inbound can didate marketing by proactively engaging the best talent in the ecosystem. It also makes sure that companies stay compliant with the latest regulations in the field of recruitment.Recruitment systems will also move towards robot assistants and chatbots to conduct automated two-way communication with potential job applicants. Self-service platforms will allow HR personnel to focus on more strategic tasks, rather than routine communication.ATS will leverage the power of social recruiting in the times to come. Various social media sites, networks, portals, and employment boards can be effectively utilized to increase the response to job advertisements. This will lead to a positive brand image and create a buzz around your organization in the virtual world!