Author: Ashley Bayer

Personal Issues Affecting Your Work

5 Ways to Stop Personal Issues from Affecting Your Work

Ashley Bayer

Life is often messy and personal issues affect us all. The importance is being able to stop them from affecting your performance at work. Below are 5 Ways to Stop Personal Issues from Affecting Your Work:

  1. Talk to your boss

We’re all people and have our own issues that we face. If you find yourself struggling with something, have a chat with your boss or employer to let them know what you’re going through. Explain that you’re working on it and that a decline in performance is temporary while you sort it out. Communication is an imperative tool in any situation. Acknowledging that there is an issue before your performance suffers will fare much better than having a conversation after the fact. Your boss may think that you are lazy or unmotivated without communication.

  1. Set Digital Boundaries

Social Media has enabled us to unlimited connectivity with both positive and detrimental effects. Set digital boundaries to limit the amount of time you spend focusing on your personal issue while at work. This will allow yourself to check in on the issue, without letting it take over your day. This can be a challenge as we tend to become engulfed in information and updates. Be strict with yourself!

  1. Take Time Off

Depending on the personal issue that you’re experiencing, it may be beneficial to take some time off work to ensure your emotional needs are met. Much the same as airline safety, we cannot take care of others if we do not take care of ourselves first. For those tougher personal issues, have a talk with your boss to discuss taking time off for rest and recovery while you sort through and recuperate.

  1. Ensure Work Isn’t the Cause of the Problem

Is it possible that your current situation is a result of work-related stress? Check in with your manager to have open dialogue surrounding your performance, objectives and goals within your current company. Be honest. Perhaps they’ve noticed a decline in your motivation or deliverables. Have you received an increased workload? Are you satisfied with your current role and prospective future with your current company? Or, is it time for a change?

Take time to evaluate the cause of your stressors or personal issues. Don’t jump to conclusions but pay attention to the triggers that seem to cause dismay.

  1. Use Your Resources

Reach deep into your network or close circle for support. Talk to them and let them know you’re having troubles. We often don’t recognize that a great many of us tread the same waters. We experience the same issues. Though they may look different for everyone depending on circumstance, we all go through something.

Check with your health insurance provider to see if you have coverage to speak to a therapist. For some, a massage and some self-care is enough to build clarity and a new perspective. Learn to pay attention to what triggers your stressors or issues and also what disengages them. These become tools to help support us in our lives and our work.

With the right mindset and support system, we can overcome anything that comes our way and Stop Personal Issues from Affecting Your Work. To read more on the subject, click to find out how Personal Issues Sabotage Your Professional Success.

Current Trends in Recruitment Recruitment Trends Interview Candidate Experience

5 Current Trends in Recruiting

Ashley Bayer

The world of recruiting is changing almost as quickly as technology is. But what is driving the change? From a low unemployment rate coupled with an increase of competitors and business in general to rapid-changing technology. These are the leading change agents. Currently, we’re in a candidate-driven market. As recruiters, we need to be creative in our approach to attract top talent. Listed below are 5 Current Trends in Recruiting.

 

#1: Employer branding

An employer brand is what drives candidates to apply, it’s the company’s reputation. SHRM posted a great article a couple of years back, indicating that candidates look to an employer’s culture when deciding to take a job. As an employer, what are you offering that is going to attract the right talent to help achieve your objectives? It’s important to accurately represent what candidates can expect, learn or gain from accepting a position. Take a data-driven approach to find out what candidates in your market or area are looking for. Then, focus on the positives that your company has to offer. Don’t forget to sell them!

#2: Candidate Experience

What does it feel like from a candidate’s perspective to go through the application process? How long does it take? How is feedback provided – are you giving feedback? It’s important to understand that not only is the candidate a prospective employee, but also a prospective, or existing customer. Read more about this idea to see how Virgin Media tackled an annual loss of $5M due to a poor candidate experience in their recruiting process. If you haven’t already, have a quick read about the Common Mistakes Hiring Managers Make, Too Often. 

#3: Candidate Relationship Management

A well-thought out Candidate Relationship Management strategy will encourage engagement with both current and future candidates. Since before Social Media, networking has always been an important task for anyone looking to advance their career or business. Hiring managers need to prioritize building a relationship to foster two-way communication with applicants. Utilize an Applicant Tracking System to see where you’re at with each candidate. An ATS can automate communications with applicants and make it easier to build a rapport, as well as increase talent pools. Proper communication between hiring managers and candidates will lead to a reduced risk of “ghosting”.

#4: Social & Mobile Recruiting

Social Media has been a useful tool to broadcast a message – or job opportunity – to a wide audience. It has also become much more than this. Recruiters and hiring managers can proactively search for candidates and begin to build relationships with them. Social Media networks provide a more casual approach to the hiring process but allows for a better connection and more fluid communication. Social Media is one of the most popular current trends in recruiting. 

#5: Automation Tools

A great example of an automation tool in the recruitment process are ‘text bots’ that will further encourage candidate engagement. These are able to answer basic questions along the recruitment process. A company can set parameters and basic responses to common questions. These systems work with an existing ATS and work to find, attract, engage and nurture candidates. Automation tools are available to answer questions after hours. Simply put, they free up time for the recruiter or hiring manger to focus on building better relationships with candidates. They reduce the amount of time it takes to find the right candidate.

These 5 Common Trends in Recruiting are the most common that we’ve seen. Our friends over at Career Edge have also discovered others. Read about hem here. 

common mistakes hiring managers make

Common Mistakes Hiring Managers Make, Too Often

Ashley Bayer

Improve Your Hiring Process by Avoiding these Common Mistakes Hiring Managers Make, Too Often

It’s become quite the challenge to find and keep great employees. Hiring the wrong person can cost your company a lot. So can losing out on a great hire. From lost productivity, production delays, damage to customer relations, impact on staff morale to costs and time to re-hire, and termination payments. We’ve previously written about 5 Hiring Mistakes Managers Make Too Often.  But it’s still as current as ever, so we wanted a revisit with common mistakes hiring managers make today. 

Read on to learn about the common mistakes hiring managers make too often. These actions negatively impact the hiring process and will cause you more headaches as you try to explain to  management why the new hire did not work out. Avoid these hiring mistakes:

Slow Hiring Process:

Certainly you’ve heard: the unemployment rate is at a 40-year low. Competition for good employees is a reality. Don’t miss out on hiring great candidates because the hiring process takes too long! Take a close look at your hiring process and figure out the average time from application to job offer.  Learn the average amount of time it takes to hire someone new in your company. If it is a long process, find out where the delays are. Are good candidates moving on because they receive no feedback or feedback occurs too late? What can you do to avoid delays and speed up decision making? Keep the candidate engaged. For the delays that can’t be avoided, communicate. Communication is essential. Provide candidates with a simple update to maintain their interest.    

Outdated (or Unrealistic) Job Descriptions: 

A frequent hiring mistake is lack of planning. Know what you are looking for. It’s always a rush to get the job advertised and get a person on board. But, it’s important for managers to take the time to really think about the problem. Decide the skills needed and the right fit to do the job well. Jobs change and evolve over time. You don’t need to hire someone exactly like the last person who held the job. Take the time to clearly describe the job responsibilities or risk the mistake of attracting the wrong talent. Identify the essential skills, knowledge and personality needed. Technology and processes change daily. You don’t want to end up with candidates who are be a perfect fit for an old job description from 2015. They might not be able to deliver on solving problems and issues today faced by the business today.

Forgetting to “sell” the Company and Role:

Recruitment is now a marketing function. Companies able to attract top talent have carefully developed their company brand and are marketing to candidates in many different ways. Hiring someone new is a partnership. You want a certain person with the skills, knowledge, experience and personal fit. But you are offering more than just a job.  You’re offering a culture, atmosphere, training, future development opportunities and more. So, ensure the recruitment process involves effort to favorably present the company and role to prospective candidates. At all levels. In the job ad, during telephone screening, at the interview stage and at the time of offer.

Candidates are actively being “wooed” by prospective employers. Miss the opportunity to present the benefits of working for your company you will lose a great candidate.  Failure to present a realistic preview of what it is like to work in your company, and you’ll hire someone who is not the right fit.

Unstructured Interview:

You need a structured interview process. What happens when you just wing it? You end up talking too much and not learning enough about the candidate. Interviews have been proven to be very poor predictors of hiring success. But since they are still so widely used and relied upon, you can at least improve the outcomes by having a structure to follow. Without a structure you end up hiring the person who is most like you or who makes the best first impression.

What is a structured interview? 

  • Draft interview questions that will give you information about the essential job requirements. Pull these from your updated job description.
  • Make a list of “nice to have skills” too. Draft questions about these points as well. But, remember when making your decision to put more weight on the “essential requirements”.
  • Read the candidates resume and draft specific questions about their skills and experience.
  • Learn to actively listen. Pause before you ask the next question and the candidate will fill the void, giving you more in-depth answers.
  • Learn about the candidate’s motivation for changing jobs and interest in the role.
  • Take notes – you can’t remember everything!
  • Know about bias and avoid making biased decisions.

Holding out hope for the “Unicorn”:

“They’re great, can I see someone else”. The goal is to find a good fit for the best chance of success. However, don’t lose sight on the big picture. You’ve put in the leg work, understand what you’re looking for and have met with some good candidates. Candidates who have great personalities, a drive to learn and do more, and most of the qualifications for the role. So, why do you need to meet someone else? Are you willing to sacrifice productivity, morale or your deliverables simply because you haven’t found the exact fit? So, if you find a great candidate, give them a chance. 

 

For more, Workopolis has a compiled a great list of 8 Interview Mistakes Hiring Managers Make. 

Doing Your Homework – Job Search Company Research

Ashley Bayer

The most important part of the job search is the interview. This is where you come face-to-face with the hiring manager. Doing your homework on company research will better prepare you for the interview.

You’ve updated your resume, sent it out, possibly had a phone screening, and (YES!) you’ve landed an interview. Now you wait, right?

Wrong. Being well-prepared for the interview is vital before you get into the hot seat. It’s time to start doing your homework.

What kind of research should you do?

It’s best to start with the basics. These four steps will set you off on the right foot:

  1. First, check their ‘About Us’ or ‘Overview’ page. This page will take you through the history of the company, when they started, who founded the company, why they are in existence and what they are doing presently. The Mission Statement explains the company’s goals and values. This tells a story of what they’ve done and where they are headed.
  2. Next, head over to their ‘Portfolio’. Various companies may label this differently. Their portfolio shows the types of projects they have worked on, and what type of work they typically do. So, you will find who their main customers are or which industry they serve the most.
  3. Look at the company’s corporate social responsibility section. You will learn about how they participate in voluntary activities to better the society.
  4. Search Google for recent news articles that involve the company. This will give you an external perspective. Branch out to company/product reviews to get a feel for the company’s reputation.

A hiring manager gauges your knowledge about their company. For instance, what types of projects have they worked on? Who are their customers? How do they give back to their community? Be sure to explore anything outside of these points too, it is important to go through areas of the website that are relevant and learn as much as you can. Don’t limit yourself to only their website.

A skim read is good enough

NO! Envision where you can see yourself fit in. Do not be afraid to broach the topic during the interview. Your interviewers will be impressed that you took the time and effort to do your homework.

Don’t stress

Employers are not looking to see if you can memorize their website. They want to know if you’re prepared. Prepared to answer those types of questions, and to see how much research you can do with limited resources. Not all websites will give you all the information you need and that’s okay. Look externally. Google it!

Spend quality time doing your homework

It will make you seem well informed. It will show the employer the amount of interest you have and how dedicated you are to want to be working for them. These are all positive qualities to have when interviewing.

Show what you know

Most candidates do not do this step and consequentially do not stand out. But, make sure that you do not bring it up where it is not appropriate. The best time to show your research might be at the end, during the chance to ask questions.

 

Want more? Check out Indeed’s extensive list of suggestions here. 

Tech Neck – How Heavy is Your Head & What You Can Do to Lighten the Load

Ashley Bayer

Do you frequently find yourself suffering from a sore back and neck?

The causes are a very common occurrence in today’s society – a cell phone, tablet, laptop. Poor posture caused by the incorrect handling of our tech gadgets is creating the perfect environment and conditions for us to start growing hunch backs long before we’re meant to.

“Tech neck” is what happens when you crane your neck to view the screen of a device that’s below eye-level. Holding your device too low (below chest level) forces your head to crane outwards. The average human head weighs 10 to 12 pounds when at rest in neutral position. With a 15-degree tilt, your head now exerts close to 27 pounds onto your cervical spine. At 30 degrees, it’s closer to 40 pounds. With a 60-degree bend, your head now puts almost 60 pounds of force onto your cervical spine – that’s a lot of additional weight.

What can you do to prevent forward head carriage?

  • Keep your screen at a level relative to your natural gaze when seated
  • Hold your phone or tablet at or slightly below eye level
  • Take short breaks; it’s recommended to take a 5-minute break for every 20 to 30 minutes of sitting and looking at a screen
  • Yoga – stretch out those muscles!
  • Practice keeping your head in neutral position with your ears aligned over your shoulders

If left for long periods of time without treatment, tech neck or Forward Head Carriage, can disrupt many areas of your life from the associated pain. Symptoms often include headaches and migraines, numbness in hands and fingers, tension in your shoulders and general aches in your upper body. Spending extended periods of time with this improper posture can lead to rounded shoulders, shortened chest muscles and elongated back muscles which can make it very difficult to reverse the effects of tech neck. As with anything, preventative treatment is key.

 

How to Appropriately Resign from your Job

How to Appropriately Resign from your Job

Ashley Bayer

Resigning from your current role can be tough. If you have been there for one year or close to 20 years it will be a tough conversation to have. The way you resign will show a lot about you and how you want to be perceived thereafter. Below are some tips on how to appropriately resign from your job:

  1. Always keep in mind the amount of notice you are giving. Your employment contract will state how many weeks notice you need to give them. The standard is two weeks.
  2. Type up your resignation letter – keep in mind the dates of when you resign and when you are starting your new role. Keep your resignation letter professional, short, and sweet. Add in any positives into the letter, and that you would like to continue the relationship and stay in touch. It is a small world out there and the worst thing to do is to burn a bridge.
  3. Add an ‘Action Plan’ in your resignation letter. Create a plan that will ease the transition of your departure. This is not done often but is always appreciated. 
  4. Get prepared to submit your resignation. You know your boss the most – you need to mentally prepare yourself for the conversation. It can get awkward, upsetting and even sad. Just give yourself some time to prepare for that.
  5. Always resign in person. Have the resignation letter printed out and set a meeting with your boss. Preferably during a not so busy time. If you are unable to resign in person then send it via email.
  6. During the conversation be humble and polite. 

It is not easy having to resign. It may be one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. But if you take these tips and execute accordingly it will make the process a whole lot smoother.