Thursday, May 28, 2020

Uplifting Employee Voices with Your Employer Brand Strategy

Uplifting Employee Voices with Your Employer Brand Strategy Marie Kondo has probably shamed a lot of people into becoming more organized and is probably responsible for a lot of sales at a number of retailers like The Container Store. This retail brands employer brand strategy excels when it foregrounds employee voices, providing tools and platforms for telling their own stories. Rachel Kennedy is the Recruiting Manager at The Container Store. Have a listen to the episode below, keep reading for a summary and be sure to subscribe to the  Employer Branding Podcast. Listen onApple Podcasts,Spotify,StitcherorSoundcloud. In this episode you’ll learn: • Why they think of their employees in 3 different buckets• What their culture blog is• Why their employer brand is building on the company purpose• Why Glassdoor is helping their recruitment drive• What #uncontainablecareers means You can connect with Rachel  here.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Unemployed How To Survive and Thrive

Unemployed How To Survive and Thrive Staying positive when youre unemployed, especially where you must constantly state that yes, you are still “in transition,” can be a tall order. In order to maximize success, you must have practices to shatter the negative illusions in your mind. Be diligent in the practices that sustain you as a leader; this is the version of you that you want walking into job interviews. Being a leader requires taking risks, creating opportunities out of problems, and venturing out onto the skinny branches; your job search is the perfect opportunity to practice these skills and sustain the leader you truly are. Maintaining excellence during a period of unemployment takes discipline and persistence, so use the practices below to keep you at the top of your game during this journey. Stay Healthy When our body is functioning at its best, so will our mind, attitude and emotions. Staying positive is a huge part of the job search and keeping up with your fitness and health levels will make you feel good both inside and out. Career experts share that “An invigorating jog around the park or relaxing yoga session can be a welcome escape from the monotony of your search and will also help to revive your spirit. Your body will thank you for the break, and your mind will be recharged and ready for action upon your return.” Exercise gives you a mental and emotional release, which is critical to combat the boredom of filling out job applications or the sting that comes with rejections. A few simple health practices include staying hydrated, getting enough sleep and moving your body every day. Keeping healthy snacks close by will also stop you from emotionally eating that tub of ice cream! If these are difficult habits for you, lower the bar. That may seem counter-intuitive, but you have to feel like you are winning in order to stay motivated. Set goals that are actually attainable right now and increase them as they become easier. Even a quick walk around the block will benefit you. Plus, why not make your exercise do double duty? Invite a friend or networking contact out for a walk instead of a coffee meeting. Take a Breath If you begin telling yourself negative thoughts, take a moment to pause and ask yourself if what you’re saying is even true. Is it something grounded in fact or are you telling yourself “head trash” based on fear? Are you pushing yourself to work even harder, when in reality you’re not sure what isn’t working in the first place? “When your efforts aren’t working, the natural tendency is to run faster, harder, and more frenetically. Apply for more positions. Stay up later surfing job boards. This can be incredibly counter-productive. It’s almost always better to stop for a few and take a breather. When you’ve regrouped, try to objectively troubleshoot which parts of your strategy aren’t working,” advises Career strategist Jenny Foss. Often our external responses to challenges are based on things we’ve internalized that have no real basis in fact. Those “things” (like not being called back for an interview) can be negative and self-defeating, challenging our internal sense of peace. Keeping an internal balance will help you better deal with outside circumstances, and you can do this by taking moments to pause. Maintaining this calm will help you better handle job interviews and whatever outcome you receive from them. When you find yourself spiraling into negative thoughts, stop and breathe until you can find your internal balance, then reassess and write yourself a new, more positive story. Set Reasonable, Concrete Goals: Goal setting is especially important when life feels overwhelming or out of our control. It can be easy to feel that nothing is going right or you aren’t being productive when in fact you really are. Creating reasonable, concrete goals with measurables will help you actively move toward the results you want while also serving as a constant reminder of how hard you’re working and what you’re accomplishing. Remember, however, to set realistic goals that won’t just add to your stress. Remember what I said about lowering the bar? That applies here as well. Try job search expert Alison Doyle’s advice to her clients: “At the start of each week, make a list of specific goals that you would like to achieve. Perhaps you’d like to write five cover letters that week or go to three job fairs. By focusing on small, achievable goals, you will feel more accomplished throughout your job search.” Once you do begin the actions, write down the wins. This list will help you see progress, even when you are feeling defeated and unmotivated. Seeing that progress piled up will help shift your attitude and remind you of the leader you are. Hang with the Right People Who you spend your time with greatly influences the kind of person you are. Many of us have heard business expert Jim Rohn’s statement that, “you’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.” Make sure these people are like who you aspire to be- engaged, active and loving their jobs (not stagnant and complacent). If you surround yourself with people who feel defeated and aren’t moving forward, you will be brought down to this level as well.   Focus instead on spending time with people who lift you up and push you to be the best version of yourself. Their traits truly will rub off! Dominic Soh, founder of Industry Bootcamp, shares “Whether you’re cruising on success or pushing through adversity, your social surroundings can have a profound influence over you. If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur [or leader], spend more time with businesspeople who are crushing it. If you want to be more effective in the marketplace, seek out the movers and shakers in your field.” This advice may even lead to job opportunities you weren’t aware of. If there are people in your life who you find difficult to be around, step back from them during your job search. You don’t need to end the relationship entirely but putting some distance between the people who don’t better you or drain your energy will help you stay at the top of your game and maintain your best self. Become Unf?kwithable Staying at your peak level of leadership during a job search can be a difficult task. There is the fear of the unknown, job rejections and the loss of identity that can come with leaving a job. Staying consistent with the practices that keep you on your game will provide stability and stop you from sliding backward. After all, you want to present your best when you are interviewing for your next opportunity. Staying healthy, pausing to reassess, setting concrete goals and spending time with those who uplift you will all help you become Unf?kwithable. I define Unf?kwithable as: “When you’re truly at peace and in touch with yourself, and nothing anyone says or does bothers you, and no negativity or drama can touch you; to be at the pinnacle of whatever you do â€" you are the ultimate; you can’t be beat whatsoever. This IS it, you’re at the top of your game, the desired space to be; you are fulfilled and also making a great big dent in this world.” Stay strong through your search and see where you fall on the Unf?kwithability scale here. This guest post was authored by Sue Hawkes More than just a bestselling author,  Sue Hawkes  is a keynote speaker, Certified EOS Implementer, Certified Business Coach, WPO Chapter Chair, award-winning and globally recognized seminar leader, and an entrepreneur. She is  CEO and Founder of  YESS! â€" Your Extraordinary Success Strategies, and brings over 25 years of experience to her clients and has designed and delivered dynamic, transformational programs for thousands of people. Hawkes has received numerous awards including the Dream Keeper award recognized by the Governor’s Council for her leadership program, the Regional U.S. Small Business Administration Women in Business Champion of the Year award, the Exemplary Woman of the Community award,  Women Venture’s Unsung Hero award, Women Who Lead from Minnesota Business Magazine, and NAWBO Minnesota’s Achieve! Vision Award, in addition to being named a 2018 Enterprising Woman of the Year. Hawkes is also a wife, mom of three, and bulldog owner. She likes to stay active in her free time and get out of her comfort zone through adventure travel. Connect with her on  Twitter,  LinkedIn,  Instagram,  YouTube, and  Facebook.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

How Global Tech Firms Can Foster Social Selling

How Global Tech Firms Can Foster Social Selling The need for businesses  to keep  up with the times and implement a bespoke social selling program internally has never been more urgent. The initiative  not only optimises the online marketplace of potential customers for sales, but also ties together nicely with  employer branding initiatives and engages future employees.  The approach to social selling needs to be tailored to be successful, and will differ from company to company, industry to industry. Our advice? Research to find out what works and what doesnt! With this in mind, weve had a chat with  Paul Lewis of Pitney Bowes,  a global technology company  powering billions of transactions across the world of commerce. Listen on  iTunes  or  SoundCloud,  or read below for a summary on how hes been driving social selling across his organisation. Tell us about Pitney Bowes and what you do there? Pitney Bowes is a global technology company. We offer a wide portfolio of products and solutions, all which enable commerce in the areas around customer information management, location intelligence, customer engagement, shipping, mailing and global eCommerce.  Ive got a dual role whereby I oversee global social media activities for the software solutions part of our business, but in addition to that, I also lead the global social selling program. How  did you  implement social selling within Pitney Bowes? This started out basically as a pilot program. Firstly, it was a case of those folks that were working in the sales or business development capacity were finding it incredibly difficult to generate new leads and new opportunities via what I would class as being your traditional methods, i.e., cold calling. And whilst obviously the marketing activities that we were running which take in various different channels were working well, we need it to become a little bit more savvy anyway, and start to think, dare I say, outside the box and become just a little bit more innovative. Tell us  about your first group of social selling pioneers? We started this off as a pilot program; so working with a small number of individuals. I think it was about five or six that were based in UK. And what it was, was basically first of all, educating them as to the role that social media can play when it comes to sales enablement. And the whole concept here was about building a sales pipeline and accelerating the sales process. And I worked with LinkedIn in previous organisations, so I had a good understanding about this. And it was a case of me then conveying that over to the individuals that were going to be a part of the program, the pilot program. There were a number of individuals that were, how can I put it dismissed the idea. Old school people that didnt quite believe that social media was a new part of the sales enablement process.  We started to look at their LinkedIn profiles, and the first thing was to optimise their profiles. From there on, we brought on board some Sales Navigator licenses. We trained up these five or six individuals on how to go ahead and use the licenses, and all the features, and the functions that the licenses had to offer.  And its now become a global initiative, global program that encompasses every single line of business within Pitney Bowes. What were some of the challenges  you came across and how did you address them? I think probably the main challenge, like any kind of project anyway, is to actually to get it off the ground. And it was a case of, first and foremost, finding an executive sponsor within Pitney Bowes that would help champion the cause, somebody that believed in social selling and the role it had to play. And thankfully, there was an individual who we were able to identify. And he really helped to not only get the project off the ground, but actually to accelerate the whole project anyway. So he was able to portion off some budget to it to bring on-board the Sales Navigator licenses.  Youve got to realise as well that the investment is not just on the licenses, but at the same time the training. What visual platforms do you use for sales support? SlideShare obviously because of the ties with LinkedIn. YouTube, I mean lets face facts today. If you want to know the question or the answer to a question, youre going to go onto Google. If you want to learn how to do something, then turn to YouTube. We do find that video so powerful. Its great to be able to get across information in a very, very short space of time, and especially if you have individuals who, in their LinkedIn profiles, have content such as SlideShare presentations or videos uploaded to their LinkedIn profile. I would say, just in addition to LinkedIn and Twitter, one of the other core channels is our employee advocacy program, whereby when you look at the social selling index which is the process by which you can measure how successful an individual is at social selling. One of the core aspects is around engaging with insights, and thats all about posting relevant content, liking and sharing content. Weve got a platform [Dynamic Signal] there whereby weve got content that has been created by Pitney Bowes. Weve got third party content as well that we upload to that platform. And those individuals that are part of the advocacy program go on-board. 90/100 #smlondon pic.twitter.com/coTvszPpUc Paul Lewis (@paul_a_lewis) May 24, 2016 What technology, tools and apps do you use for social selling? Weve got various tools and technologies that we are using which are internally developed. I think the core one, which Ive got to mention obviously, is the CRM system [Salesforce] that an individual will be working with.    So Ive had campaign ID tags for different lines of business they are in, the social selling program. And any kind of lead or opportunity that they create when they go and create that instance in Salesforce, they will tag that opportunity with the appropriate code that Ive had created. In that way, weve got full visibility across the organisation for anybody to go ahead and see exactly, okay, how much revenue is the social selling program generating? What does the sales pipeline as a result of the program look like at the moment? Do Salesforce and Sales Navigator play nicely together? Yes. So as part of the, lets say, on-boarding process when setting up and configuring your Sales Navigator license, you have the ability to sync your Sales Navigator license with Salesforce. So any contacts or accounts that are assigned in your name in Salesforce, thats going to be ported across automatically into Sales Navigator, which makes life incredibly easy for the salespeople. Instead of having to go through it manually, and find these individuals, and find the companies, its all done automatically. How do you measure success, and do you know what  business was won with social selling? I mean, again, this comes back to obviously were recording everything in Salesforce. So theres the full visibility there. I think more to the point, what has helped to actually expand the program internally is to report back to the business on the success stories. So think of it as internal case studies. Secondly, I produce, on a monthly basis, an internal email that goes out to everyone thats part of the social selling program. It also goes out to other individuals that might work in a marketing role or demand generation role or whatever, as well as senior execs. We also  bring that gamification aspect into the equation, and Ill list the top 10 individuals within Pitney Bowes and what their social selling index score is. And its quite amazing because I can send the email out, lets say, on a Monday, and by the Tuesday, Ive had half a dozen people at least that have then come back to me to say, I can see the 10 people that are on that leaderboard, and Im not there. What can you do to help me so that next time around when you produce this newsletter and send it out, I can be up there? Whats next for social selling? Its a tough question. Im going to take a real broad approach to this. I think that there could be an element of predictive analytics coming into social selling whereby you can predict based on previous activities that somebody has carried out, what they might be doing going forward. Im certain that if we look at social selling, its mainly, lets say over the past few years, been focused around your large enterprise organisations. I can see it now though within Pitney Bowes, but more and more small- to medium-sized businesses are now having a presence on LinkedIn, as well as individuals. And I think that the SMB marketplace is going to boom on LinkedIn as well. I think social selling is going to become increasingly visual. So like you were touching earlier on with SlideShare and with YouTube, I think the video element and the visual element is going to be a huge part of social selling going forward. So theres that aspect, and possibly the convergence really of lots of different social channels. Follow Paul on Twitter @paul_a_lewis. Top image: Shutterstock

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Innovating to Attract the Best Talent

Innovating to Attract the Best Talent Where do you get your news fix daily? Have you ever consider working for a news organization? In the world of fake news, the trusted brand of a news organization couldnt be more important than it is today. Also with the emergence of smartphones and social media, it seems that anyone and everyone can claim to be a citizen journalist as they can easily report from the scene of any incident and share with hundreds of people within seconds. Thankfully there are some news organizations, whether its a broadcaster or newspaper, which are still trusted by many as their first and often, the only source of news. This week weve been speaking with an American global leader in this space and will learn about their approach to Employer Brand and Talent Attraction. Austin Graff is the Marketing and Acquisition Manager at The Washington Post. Have a listen to the episode below, keep reading for a summary and be sure to subscribe to the  Employer Branding Podcast. Listen on  Apple Podcasts,  Spotify,  Stitcher  or  Soundcloud. In this episode you’ll learn: • Who they are when it comes to an employer what they value • What the tagline Democracy Dies in Darkness actually represents • How theyre transforming innovating their EVP with the #washpostlife hashtag • Why diversity and inclusion is high on The Washington Posts agenda • How they changed their way in creating original content, with no extra costs You can connect with Austin here.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

How Green is Your Job Search - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

How Green is Your Job Search Do you feel the need to print out every job description that interests you or every piece of job search information or every email you receive? “Think before you print.” Youre probably  seeing this notice more often at the bottom of environmentally-conscious emailers messages. I was talking with a friend the other day who said he HAS to print out every email or it isnt real to him. He needs to be able to touch it. And he cant get a handle on organizing all those communications unless theyre in a pile in front of him. When creating resumes, biograhies, and other documents, I used to print each one of the many revised versions it always takes me to get a document just right (Im a perfectionist) sometimes 20 or more copies for one client! Ive cut that down to only one or two, and reuse paper by printing on both sides. Consequently, I cant remember the last time I had to haul out and empty my office paper recycle box. And of course, Im buying fewer reams of paper. Although Im still someone who has to do my pleasure reading from an actual hard-copy book (Kindle is not for me), Ive weaned myself off of needing paper copies for most of my work. Ive gotten used to bookmarking websites and creating an organized digital filing system to keep track of information when Im researching topics to blog about, so I dont have to print dozens of pages. PlanetGreen has an article on the Top 10 Tips for Going Green at Work, some of which also applies to home work spaces. It may take a little getting used to, but if you just ponder for a moment whether you really need to print something out, you may find its actually more convenient to store it online. It may be easier to find and access an online file than a hard copy. This also translates to needing less space for paper files. The Sierra Club offers  other tips to green up your workplace and job search: 10 Ways to Go Green at Work. 00 0

Sunday, May 10, 2020

When to Hire a Career Change Coach

When to Hire a Career Change Coach Career changes can seem overwhelming but they can also be exciting and fun. Let me first ask a series of questions to assess your readiness and openness to make a career change. How many times a day do you look/research/make connections for a profession you desire? How often do you tell yourself, I really need to update my resume? How often do you think, I should be further along by now. Or this oneI dont like what Im doing now, but I have no idea what else I would do or if Im really qualified given my experience. When I tell my friends and acquaintances that Im a career coach, I usually get the overwhelming response oh cool, maybe you can help me figure out what my purpose is or help me find a better fit.  Many people are looking to find that dream job. Even those who have had great careers, made decent income and generally like who they work with. Theres something about finding that perfect fit that keeps us coming back around and around even when we dont hate what we are currently doing.  When our jobs are not tied to a deeper sense of meaning, we seem to keep searching. If you answered often or very often to my questions above, Id say youre on the verge of making a change. I believe that its a process. Usually people dont wake up one morning and change everything. Its a slow process that starts with something small. For example, a minor grievance with a co-worker or being in a position too long, that doesnt offer intellectual or professional challenge and growth. Something subtle in our gut that just seems to scream is this what Im going to do for the rest of my life?! When we were kids, the world seemed to be a place where we had a lot of time and space to dream. Our answer to what are you going to be when you grow up? didnt have credentials tied to it or proof of experience. It was okay just to be an idea. Our grandparents would ooh and ahh and it was cute. We also didnt have accountability. We could say a doctor and go back to coloring rather than applying to med school. Change takes work. Its not easy. It comes with action behind the dream. I believe many people get stuck because on one hand, the little kid who dreamed doesnt want to give up and is feeling unfulfilled in their true potential. On the other hand, getting to the potential is hard, uncertain, and in many cases too much change. Id say its time to call a career coach when youre sick of looking at job boards, when you cant NOT pursue the change anymore, or need the accountability to take action. Just like a running buddy helps you lose the 10 pounds, a coach will help you take the next right action towards your goal. Now, cant promise a certain outcome. However, identifying areas of change, putting one foot in front of the other, plus having an objective expert cheering you on can help get you headed in the right direction. Everyone seeks meaning and wants to contribute, make a difference. Ive never met anyone that I coach that says please just help me get to mediocre. But sometimes we need programs, education, support and accountability to accomplish the important things in life. So, if not a career coach to help you with the daunting tasks of change, then who will you enlist?  Get someone on your team to be the voice of reason when you want to quit.  Its simple, just not easy. Like exercise and health. If you want to lose 10 pounds, youll need to change your eating and exercise habits. Not rocket science, but extra motivation from others can make all the difference. Similarly, if you want to launch a new career, youll need to update your resume and make some connections, but what you really need is support. When youre tired enough of NOT doing something, youll be ready for the change and we are here to help! Think.Inspire.Change.Grow By Dawn Shaw|2017-04-21T18:16:38+00:00November 10th, 2015|Career Change, Career Coaching|0 Comments

Friday, May 8, 2020

Professional Resume Writing Tax Deductible

Professional Resume Writing Tax DeductibleThe professional resume writing tax deductible allows for an employer to hire you, but also allows the company to pay you a decent amount. In order to get this out of the way, you need to set up a business or career that is worth hiring. Now before you begin to send in your professional resume writing tax deductible jobs information, you have to remember that you need to keep things simple, and cut out all of the fluff and 'grand' quotes.The professional resume writing tax deductible does not want to hire someone who does not have a degree, nor does it want to hire someone who is not qualified. If you fall into either of these categories, the resume writing professional will want to contact you to make sure that you do not apply for another job.A professional resume writing tax deductible writer can help you put together a professional resume so that it really stands out from the rest. You will want to use certain skills such as research, stu dy and writing to help make you stand out among the others applying for the same job. While this may seem hard to do, once you get it down, you will be glad that you did.A professional resume writing tax deductible can help you put together a professional resume so that it really stands out from the rest. You will want to use certain skills such as research, study and writing to help make you stand out among the others applying for the same job.One thing that is often overlooked when applying for a job, is having a tax deductible business. By having this tax deductible service to offer you, you can actually have a more attractive business to work for. It really is the best tax-saving way to go.The professional resume writing tax deductible allows for an employer to hire you, but also allows the company to pay you a decent amount. In order to get this out of the way, you need to set up a business or career that is worth hiring. Now before you begin to send in your professional resume writing tax deductible jobs information, you have to remember that you need to keep things simple, and cut out all of the fluff and 'grand' quotes.The professional resume writing tax deductible allows for an employer to hire you, but also allows the company to pay you a decent amount. In order to get this out of the way, you need to set up a business or career that is worth hiring.A professional resume writing tax deductible service can help you put together a professional resume so that it really stands out from the rest. You will want to use certain skills such as research, study and writing to help make you stand out among the others applying for the same job. While this may seem hard to do, once you get it down, you will be glad that you did.