Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom The Strategic Elevation of HR

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom The Strategic Elevation of HR I’ve recently had the opportunity to work more closely with DeVryWORKS, which offers organizations solutions to acquire and retain the best talent, plan for succession, and close skills gaps. One thing has become very clear in recent years: the strategies organizations used yesterday to recruit, manage, and retain top people won’t work today. Increasingly, employees are looking not just for a job they like, but an experience that’s meaningful. Thanks to analytics tools, we are in a better position than ever to measure whether our initiatives are working as intended, and it’s especially critical that we are agile in the face of a continuously evolving business climate. Moving forward, I will publish one article a week here on topics of utmost concern to leaders and talent management professionals like you. Sometimes I’ll aim to help you build a business case for strategies you already know are imperative, and other times, I will introduce a new idea you might not have considered before. Lets start with a piece on how HR is changing. If you have been in the human resources profession for a while, you might have heard the legend of how HR originally became a thing. Allegedly, around the turn of the 20th century, The National Cash Register Company had a strike to which it responded by launching a “Personnel Department.” The new division was responsible for regulating wages, ensuring a safe work environment, keeping employee records, and responding to grievances. The HR function did not change for the better part of 100 years. While other functional areas grew and expanded, HR largely remained static and administrative in nature. If a new employee was starting or one was leaving, you contacted HR staff. Otherwise, you rarely (if ever) interfaced with them. As the economy has improved and skills shortages have increased, however, the competition for top talent has intensified. Now, effective talent management across the employee lifecycle â€" from recruiting and onboarding to learning and performance, has become a c-suite imperative. By necessity, leaders are calling on HR to advise on critical matters related to the longstanding competitiveness and overall success of the organization. In other words, the HR function has been elevated strategically so that every operation supports the larger business goals. But while many HR professionals grumbled about “not having a seat at the table” for decades, now that the seat has been granted, some aren’t sure how to contribute in the most effective way. If this is your situation, here are some recommendations to get started: Know Your Business Many HR professionals only know HR â€" and at a basic level at that. HR leaders who have the ear of the CEO, on the other hand, have a solid understanding of their companies’ position in the industry, how they are run, their unique histories, their products and services, and the roles that various functions play in achieving the organizations’ goals. If they don’t have experience with a function (finance, for instance), they are proactive in learning more about it. This deeper body of knowledge allows them to provide more meaningful talent management guidance to other leaders. Know Your Customers The most strategic HR professionals have a handle on both their internal and external customers. Speaking with representatives in other departments, they’ve become well-versed in the profiles of those who purchase their company’s products and services, those who apply to work at the organization, and those who are currently employed there. Think Beyond Tactics Far too often, HR is guilty of launching initiatives without a broader context, which are developed in a vacuum. Continuous improvement is good, but make sure there is a method to your madness. For example, an HR leader shouldn’t implement a shiny new applicant tracking system without first doing research on how individuals are currently hired into the organization. Focus on the Employee Experience Employee experience design involves thoughtfully considering what employees should feel and do at each stage of the employment lifecycle to maximize engagement, productivity, and retention. The old HR way involved a series of unrelated and isolated actions (i.e. an employee’s orientation agenda did not address the goals that would later be addressed in his or her performance review), but the new way is continuous and connected. Involve Managers Everywhere It is well known that the most critical factor in retention is the manager/employee relationship. Strategic HR leaders facilitate these relationships from the get go, ensuring that managers are mentally present for new hires and are taking specific actions to ensure that employees effectively assimilate into the organization and receive appropriate guidance throughout their tenures. Pilot and Measure Innovative Projects Strategic HR professionals understand that current processes and procedures â€" especially manual ones â€" have a limited shelf life, and that today’s HR organizations must be agile in their response to constituent needs. They constantly aim to do things in a new way, often taking a promising idea and implementing it on a small scale (for example, an onboarding portal rolled out initially to the marketing department) to see how it will play. And most importantly, they know that building a business case for a new initiative requires knowing how to use Big Data and analytics tools to measure a pilot’s success. HR is most strategic when everything it touches has business implications. If you find yourself constantly being asked to collaborate, that’s a good thing. It means you are headed in the right direction.

How Funding Sources Can Help Your Resume

How Funding Sources Can Help Your ResumeYou should focus on three key funding sources for your resume when writing a resume. In fact, it is even better if you use all three of these sources. That is why it is critical that you do your research in order to get the best possible funding source for your resume.There are a variety of funding sources available to you. One of these is your friends and family. This will help build a relationship with them. This can help you land jobs as long as you make sure that you do not mention anything personal about them.Another funding source is the business association that you belong to. This funding source can help you with your funding needs. You should also make sure that you list this source on your business card as well.You may also consider looking at some online services that offer you some services. These services include resume writing services as well as hiring services. They can help you with both getting the right job and building a car eer.This is one service that many people have used successfully. A lot of business people have started to use this service and the reasons for this are varied. Some of the reasons are that they are trying to grow their businesses or they are not able to get the kind of results that they would like to have.Another service that is starting to become more popular is the funding services. These services are different from your friends and family funding sources in that they are specifically for you. These services allow you to take control of how much money you need, in what type of jobs you are interested in and how to go about getting these jobs.You should find the funding sources that are best for you and use the services that they offer. The more you get out of your career the better off you will be. This is why you need to look at these services and see which ones are the best.Make sure that you check out the website for the service that you are interested in so that you can receiv e free training as well as get recommendations as to which services are best. This will help you find the best jobs for you and help you get a more rewarding career.

How Does Technology Affect Employee Productivity

How Does Technology Affect Employee Productivity Technology has had a huge impact on the way that modern day businesses run and though there are many benefits to it, a rise in apps and gadgets, has also led to more distractions in the workplace. In a recent report by Highfive, they investigated how technology can influence employee productivity. What role does mobile play? Improved technology has led to increased connectivity and more people working remotely. 72% of people have used their personal mobile for work reasons. 71% of people are likely to do something that is unrelated during a conference call. 49% of workers think that it is ok to do other things during a meeting. 47% of workers reported that the biggest issue in meetings is that their colleagues are distracted or not paying attention. How does age and gender impact workers? 36% of men are distracted by texting, compared to 25% of women. 27% of men are distracted by emails, compared to 17% of women. Millennials are 73% more likely to do something unrelated during a conference call. They are also 45% more likely to check their phone during a meeting. Why do we seek these distractions? A distracting workplace can create distracted employees. This can be caused by noise pollution, the quality of meeting content and a realistic frequency of meetings. 64% of workers prefer in-person meetings, over phone/video meetings. An average of 4.73 texts,  emails or snapchats are sent during an in-person meeting. What are businesses  doing about it? 27% of businesses block certain website access. 24% offer the option to work from home. 19% banned mobile phones. 15% have meeting-free days. 21% have quiet hours. 15% use productivity tools.   Find out more below! [Image Credit: Shutterstock]

4 Ways to Budget on a Commission-Based Salary

4 Ways to Budget on a Commission-Based Salary Financial strain can creep up on anyone, especially if you work as a recruiter on a commission-based income where regular and reliable monthly pay isn’t always guaranteed. So with this in mind, how do you ensure that you plan your money sensibly with these irregular and varying pay cheques? Here, David Rankin from Creditfix, shares some top tips on how to plan and budget ahead to ensure you have convenient, affordable arrangements in place for those not so lucrative months at work. 1. Get to grips with your outgoings Firstly, if you haven’t already, list your outgoings, with the most regular and important at the top â€" all the way down to your Friday evening drinks and coffees with prospective candidates. Any outgoings you are certain about like your mortgage / rent or Council Tax, make sure these are added and accounted for. It’s probably handy to be overly cautious with these figures. For example, with your energy bills put an additional ten or twenty pounds on to the outgoing cost, this way if it is more than you expected, you have already planned for it and can accommodate for the extra expense. With this list in hand, you will have a rough estimate of how much money you need each month, if things get tough and months are slow, rethink the list. What are the absolute essentials and what can you cope without?  2.  Cover bad months with the good months Unfortunately, working on a commission-based salary means that you can’t guarantee you are going to be one hundred per cent secure every month with your finances. The fact is that some months will be lucrative and others won’t, and so when you have a particularly good month placing candidates, don’t just go and blow the extra money on luxuries you might not need. It is always advisable to save any money you have made as extra on top of your average earnings. These savings will soon build up and act as a much-needed safety net when it comes to those months where things are a struggle. 3. Be strict and save It’s so much easier said than done, but saving can be the one crucial thing you do that could make the difference between you losing control of your finances and staying on top of them. Be hard on yourself, if you’re just beginning a commission-based role, keep the worst scenario in mind don’t ignore the potential of being left short, because it might be more likely than you think. If you are just starting on a new payment structure, begin saving early on and only spending money on absolute essentials. If you can live with no luxuries for your first or second month, you can quickly get to a point where you could continue comfortably for a month without having a pay cheque. 4. Ask for help If it does get to the point where you are caught under the weight of bills and outgoings, then speak to someone for advice and support friends, family, expert professionals or even another colleague at work. The chances are that in a commission-based role, you will be working in an office full of other people in a similar position. They may have the perfect solution from previous experience of their own. It’s always better to confront money issues head on â€" the longer you leave them the worse than situation can become, especially if you are borrowing money on credit to cover monthly bills. Planning ahead and not burying your head in the sand when issues arise should keep you on the right track. About the author: David Rankin is the director of insolvency at  Creditfix.

Making the most of your year abroad University of Manchester Careers Blog

Making the most of your year abroad University of Manchester Careers Blog It’s been almost two years since I was frantically condensing my life into a 30kg suitcase ready for my year abroad in Hong Kong. As a language student you have to spend the third year of your degree in the country that speak the language you are learning. As Chinese Studies students do not have the option to work, we spend the year in a partner university studying the language intensively. Thinking about my year abroad, and all the things that I learnt and did that were not necessarily related to learning the language, I wanted to share some tips on how to make the most of your time away. Get involved If you do go to a host institution, chances are they will have some sort of orientation week where you get to meet the other international students and some local students who will be helping you settle in. It is tempting to give in to jet lag and have an early night instead of going to the welcome party, but I would fully recommend going as these can be invaluable in making contacts that may be useful later on. Also try to take part in as many trips and tours as you can in the first few weeks to get a real sense of what is around you without the worry of getting lost. Build on your extra-curricular activities Like  The University of Manchester, most host institutions will also have societies specific for different activities such as sports and specific areas of interest such as debating or writing for the student newspaper. As well as helping your language skills, you will also develop and improve other transferable skills such as communication, problem solving and being tolerant of other cultures which are all fantastic CV enhancing skills. Do some volunteering or part-time work Before looking into working whilst studying, I would strongly advise checking the country specific visa regulations as you may not be able to take on any paid work off campus. For example in the US, if you are holding an F1 visa you can work part-time on campus only. Whilst in Hong Kong, I volunteered for an English teaching company, running open days and teaching some English classes (we mostly just played lots of different games). This experience improved useful transferable skills such as time management and organisational skills as well as building a network of contacts just in case I decide to return to Hong Kong later in life. Marketing your year abroad to employers Regardless of whether you get involved at every opportunity you can or you would rather spend a year dedicated to improving your language, the act of spending a year abroad is invaluable when it comes to applying for jobs. It may be that you have improved your cultural awareness and sensitivity to customs and cultural differences, or you have increased your confidence, initiative and independence. It is important to use your time abroad to set yourself apart from others that may not have had the opportunity to spend a year abroad. To find out more about making the most of your year abroad and developing useful skills whilst there, you can visit our website and check out our skills section. By Emily Fenlon Careers Information Officer All Undergraduate Undergraduate-highlighted Applications and interviews career planning careers CV employability international jobs languages my story

Interview Series - Career Experts - Julia Erickson from My Right Fit Job CareerMetis.com

Interview Series - Career Experts - Julia Erickson from My Right Fit Job In this interview series, we caught up with Julia Erickson from My Right Fit Jobwho shares her expertise and insights about job search, career change, etc. in today’s marketplace.Tell us a little bit about your companyevalI help people find and do their “right fit” work â€" work they love doing and where they provide the most value to an employer.I craft marketing materials for them to find their next gig, coach them to be most effective, and help them get promoted.How did you get started in this path?I decided coaching was something I could do because I’d always coached my staff, had had a coach for years, and had an MBA in leadership.I started by posting one ad offering free coaching, and built the company from a single client who referred me to a few other people.I began by offering free or low-cost coaching to help me develop my system, gain confidence in my ability, and gather material for blog posts that eventually became a book.Is this something you decided early on in your career?The bulk of my career was in non-profit management and leadership.After some health issues emerged, I could no longer manage a full-time position nor a long commute.I needed to find something that used my brain and could be done from home.Career coaching turned out to be the one path that emerged from several that fulfilled me and really helped other people.What is the Best Career Advice You’ve ever received?I’ve received a lot of great career advice.First is to do every job with excellence, and doing more than is asked of me. That way, I would be noticed by those in positions to promote me. It did work, when I asked for the promotions.Second, I was told to keep my resume updated, and always be looking for my next job. I did this, and it kept me aware of my marketability as well as helping me appreciate my current job â€" and I was ready when someone recommended me for a job.Third, it was suggested that I keep up relationships with people I’d worked with or for, j ust because I liked them. Those were the people who ended up recommending me for great jobs.And finally, my father always said to hire people smarter than me in their areas of expertise, which I did. It resulted in my building a fabulous team who in turn built a great organization. I was confident in my own abilities so wasn’t threatened by them, and we had lots of fun doing excellent work together.evalWhat is the most exciting part of working in thisindustry?I love seeing people start to feel really confident in their abilities and their capacity to have an impact on a company or field.That confidence always makes a great impression on potential employers, and means they will land a job they want in fairly short order.How do to stay abreast of the industry as an expert?I have a community of people on Twitter and LinkedIn with whom I engage and share information and tips with, plus I read a LOT.I find great information about the work world and hiring everywhere, including Harvard Business Review, SHRM, Fast Company, Twitter, LinkedIn, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, O Magazine...also podcasts and television shows.Plus my clients teach me a lot, especially those who hire.What are some of the things that you see job seekers struggle with the most?Most job seekers struggle with knowing what employers are really looking for. They may think only of their own needs, when the truth is that employers don’t care about them.Employers only care about their own needs and how the prospective employee can help solve the employer’s problem.I also find that very few job seekers know how job search actually works. We’re not taught how to find a job, so most people have a very unrealistic idea of what they have to do to find a job. It takes a lot more time and effort than many people think they have to put in.What are the common mistakes that you see them do?Common mistakes include:Writing a resume that lists only what you did or do at jobs instead of what diff erence you made.Sending a generic cover letter or no cover letter at all.Trying to give the “right” answer in an interview instead of YOUR answer â€" because employers want a real person, not a fake.Applying to every job you can instead of focusing on jobs that will use YOUR talents and skills and for which you can make the case that you are a good fit.How should job seekers approach job search today?The smartest job seekers will find and work with a career coach, someone who knows how job search works today.If they don’t want to do that, then they need to go to the best blogs and read them to get the best advice about what to do.They need to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort.Job search is at least a part-time job. It requires research, writing, personalizing cover letters, writing a resume focused on accomplishments and impact, and above all networking.Approach job search as a marketing campaign, where you are marketing your “features and benefits” to employer s who need exactly what you can produce in terms of impact.What is the biggest trendJulia Erickson and My Right Fit Job have also been featured in our recent compilation of the most resourceful career experts and career blogs â€" Top Career Advice Websites.

Your Flaky Job History Doesnt Necessarily Determine Your Future Job Loyalty - CareerEnlightenment.com

In the following chart, notice how each color category of employee follows the same curve. This curve shows there is almost no difference in employment outcome among employees who have held short-term jobs in the past. In fact, the study found that there is just eleven days’ difference between those who have never left a job before six months and those who have.So recruiters who see a steady resume and assume the candidate will stay for a predictable length of time are statistically incorrect. Likewise, if you have had to leave a job before six months, or have held many jobs in the last five years, don’t feel too bad. Your future jobs may fare much better for you.The challenge for you, if you’ve been a job hopper, is convincing your interviewer that hiring you involves little risk. Perhaps you can impress them with your cleverness by referencing this study when asked, “So tell me, why have you changed jobs so frequently?”

Finding a Job that Jives with your Creative Practice

Finding a Job that Jives with your Creative Practice Im so psyched to give you guys a guest post from Nicole Docimo, an artist, illustrator and writer. Ive been reading her blog for a while now (I love her art, her honesty, her viewpoint, her journey), and am loving the recent turn its been taking while Nicole tries to balance a day job with getting her creative business off the ground. The article first appeared on her blog, and when I read it I thought, Now why didnt I write that?! So Im doing the next best thing bringing it to you here as a guest post (with Nicoles permission, of course). Enjoy! One of the biggest concerns I see in my own life and in the creative community in general, is that little nagging question: how do you support yourself financially and be creative at the same time? As I was writing about last week, I’ve been working on figuring this out in my own life. Whether or not you dream of becoming a full-time artist/maker/musician/dancer/actor/writer/etc, there may come a time when you will need or want a side job to make some cash, or to take the pressure off making money with your art and just do what inspires you creatively. I’ve had my fair share of random jobs {more than I can count on two hands}, both full and part-time. After my post last week {where I mentioned that I have hit upon a winning combination with my current job as a courier for the city}, I started thinking that maybe there were some basic characteristics of my job that would apply to what a creative person might be looking for in general in a side-job or day-job. The fo llowing guide is what I came up with. I hope this will give you some ideas on where to start looking for a job that can coexist with your creative life. 1. The fewer hours, the better. This may sound completely obvious, but the fewer hours you work at this outside job, the better. The purpose of this job is to help support your art habit, not cramp it. Take a serious look at exactly how much money you need to support yourselfâ€"I mean, reallyâ€"whip out the calculator on this one and plug in some actual numbers. Of course, different jobs pay differently, but go into the job search knowing exactly how much money you need   to survive. Also, take a minute to figure out if there’s anything you can trim from your expenditures. It may be difficult to think about this, but what is art-making-time worth to you? 2. Pay attention to scheduling. There is a difference between working from 9 am to 2 pm vs. working from 1 pm to 6 pm. Both of these shifts are five hours long, but the first shift starts in the morning and ends in the afternoon, which can make it feel like you’ve been working all day. The second shift leaves you the entire morning for doing your creative work. This may sound like a tiny difference, but trust meâ€"that first schedule is stealing more than 5 hoursâ€"-unless you’re a seriously early bird, you won’t get any work done before 9 am. Get really honest with yourself and seek out a schedule that leaves you maximum creative time and the optimal situation for youâ€"your best time to work could be morning, noon, or nightâ€"you decide. 3. Put your art first. As I started to mentioned in that last point, but I can’t stress enoughâ€"reserve your prime waking hours for your art. I prefer to put my art first, literally, so that I wake up and go immediately to my creative work. Then, by the time I get to my odd job at 1:30 p.m. I have already worked 4+ hours on art, and I can sit pretty knowing that I’ve let my creative spirit run wild. If you get most creative after dark, find a job that will give you nights free (don’t forget to leave time for other things like errands, etc). You could also look for a job that has you working every other day, leaving you full creative work days in between. 4. Find a job that lets your mind wander. Creativity loves space and time to run free in your mind. Artists need actual time to do their work, but they also need ample time to let their minds work on their next creation. If you can find a job that keeps your body busy but lets your mind wander, you’ll be able to do double-duty and feel like you’re playing even when you’re working at your day job. Working as a courier I can easily let my mind wander while I’m driving around dropping off mail. Many days I come home with a pocket-full of small pieces of paper jotted with creative ideas. This makes me feel like my day-job work is not only financially productive, but creatively productive, and it gets me ahead of the game on my next creative project. 5. Find a job that lets you be yourself, at least most of the time. The single most soul-killing thing about many day-jobs is that we creatives often feel like we have to pretend to be someone we’re not while we’re working. We have to pretend to care about selling random objects or providing excellent customer service, or about the policies of this or that company. We have to fake it. This makes the time we spend at said jobs feel completely contrary to who we really are, and therefore that much more painful. Look for a job that allows you to be yourself most of the timeâ€"you can look for an environment you would feel comfortable in, a creative company that interests you, or in my case, a job that lets you work independently most of the timeâ€"when I’m just driving from office to office delivering mail, I can listen to the radio, think creative thoughts, and just be myself. This makes the whole thing a lot less painful. 6. Remember what you hated most about previous jobs and find one without those qualities. Again, this sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes it just seems easier to keep getting the same kinds of jobsâ€"you have experience in customer service, so shouldn’t you continue on that path? Well, if you enjoy chit-chatting with customers, then go right ahead. But if constant interruptions and having to smile all day drive you up the wall (like me), then you’re just leading yourself into your own personal hell each time you get another job like that. For me, the top two most stressful and annoying things are: one: being constantly interrupted and having to put on my “fake face” all day long and, two: sitting for hours in front of a computer screen inputting boring data with absolutely no room for a creative thought. And yet, before my current job, I had a whole string of jobs that relied on these thingsâ€"in fact, the last job I had before courier incorporated both of these things. I felt physically ill every time I approached the office. I would sit in my co rner, staring at the ceiling, dreaming about the building burning down. Yes, it was that bad. Finding a job that will jive with what you really love (read: will not steal every ounce of positive creative energy in your body) is more about what the job is not, than what it is. Figure out the top two or three things that kill you and use that criteria every time you look at a prospective job. And then, JUST SAY NO. 7. Use your creative powers on your resume. You’re creative right? You like telling a good storyâ€"whether it be through words, images, music, or dance? Well, how about using those powers on your resume? You can be a veritable chameleon in the workplace {hopping from one field to the next} if you can put your creative powers to work on representing yourself. Let me be clear here: I am not telling you to lieâ€"but what you can do is reframe your skills in the light of the job you’re applying for. Study the job announcement you want to apply for, underline the skills they’re looking for, and try to find as many applicable skills from your work history. Look at all tasks you have done both large and small. Say you have been a customer service assistant, but you would like to become a baker. You may not have followed detailed instructions for making brioche in your previous job, but what about all the detailed instructions you followed to input customer orders? See it as a creative exercise: use your imaginative brain to translate your past work into the basic skills your future employer is looking for. 8. Recast your job as what it really is: an opportunity to support your creative work financially. So many of us define ourselves by our jobs. People ask us at a party, “what do you do?” and we automatically blurt out whatever way we earn our income. The one big key that will turn having a day-job from drudgery to opportunity is the way you think about it. Think of it as slave drudgery and you will continue to let it run your life. But if you can recast it as an opportunity to work for yourselfâ€"to put one set of skills to work for the general benefit of your whole, then you can let the job just be a job and not your identity. All of the ideas above will help you with this pointâ€"the less painful the job is to your person, the easier it will be to see your job as not a death sentence, but a workable side-experience that can not only enrich you financially, but: enrich your creative life, give you a break from yourself, get you out of the house, and help you pay your bills. 9. Don’t let people make you feel bad for not having a “real” job. Many people hassle creatives about “growing up” “getting serious” “getting a real job” {meaning: a job that’s on the career track that they can understand}. It’s hard not to let these comments get to youâ€"you want to be a useful, law-abiding, contributing citizen. But the truth is, you already areâ€"if you’re making time to do what you love {your art}, then you’re giving your ultimate contribution to this worldâ€"much more of a contribution than you could ever make climbing a corporate ladder that makes you want to jump out a windowâ€"even if you never make one single cent at art! Your contribution to this world is about love, it’s about passion, it’s about sharing your best, most expansive thoughts. To do that, you only need to make timeâ€"make time for your art, and then no matter what, you are a success.