What are the Best Ways to Empower Women Working in Recruiting

What are the Best Ways to Empower Women Working in Recruiting In the last segment of our female recruitment panel, we focus on the topic of empowerment. Specifically  asking; How can we continue to allow women to flourish, develop and improve as recruiters? Read on to find out why flexibility, networking, development, support, and environment are key within this: Poonam Mawani Find out what  motivates them. Everyone is different. Give women the same opportunities as the  men and allow them to work in a way that suits their style. This will get the best out  of them and motivate them to do even better. Poonam Mawani, Director at Azuki Accounts. Ruth Penfold I would suggest that we start by empowering and celebrating one another, by building networks of amazing women working in this space and sharing ideas. By helping to bolster one another when the dreaded imposter syndrome strikes.  We can also do this by letting our own light shine, by being the most authentic versions of ourselves and by sharing some of that in the world. The way that we behave and allow others to see us, in honest representation, can go a long way to inspire other people. We often won’t even be aware of it. Ruth Penfold, Director of Talent Acquisition, Shazam. Lysha Holmes Remove the barriers over flexible working it is not a target to hit to be allowed to go home to collect your kids. Trust is earned agreed, but set strict guidelines as to what is acceptable. Encourage a mentorship scheme where the leaders (women) or those who excel in one area, become champions to others. Aspirational women should share their secrets and methods of working successfully within their recruitment companies. Lysha Holmes, Owner and Recruiter of Qui Recruitment R2R. Liz Sebag-Montefiore Ensure your culture doesn’t intimidate female candidates, especially working mothers, try to provide  strong female role models. Reassure women that their skills will be recognised, the rewards will be  equal to those of male counterparts and will have an equal chance to climb the career ladder and  aspire to leadership roles.  Promote and use creative ways of engaging women as agents of change in building a diverse and  inclusive organisational culture. Liz Sebag-Montefiore,  Director and Co-Founder 10Eighty. Libby Herrmann We can continue to further empower women working in recruitment by creating an environment that is inclusive of everyone, at all levels; an environment where people feel inspired to collaborate and ideate. Encourage a fail-forward mentality, and genuinely support learning through failure. It all starts with executive leadership. Our most senior leaders must strive to lead by example, and showcase the successes within each gender throughout the organization. Words, in the end, are only as strong as the actions we take to support them. Libby Herrmann,  Client Relationship Manager at WilsonHCG. Angela Bortolussi A large part of discussions around women in technology or women in any type of working capacity can be and is focused on challenges they face providing visibility on such topics, definitely fosters empowerment we’re able to communicate barriers we face so change can happen. But, what I love about the recruitment industry is that women are recognized for their achievements (we often hear and see this when attending recruitment conferences, and attend panel discussions). Ways to get involved in the “empowering women initiative:” be available. If women reach out, spare some time to chat. Share your successes, challenges, tips  just being a sounding board for other women can have an immense effect. Angela Bortolussi, Partner at Recruiting Social. Rebecca Fraser Provide development opportunities that support ongoing growth and to keep them motivated by wanting to develop. This needs to be done in a way that is flexible to everyone’s needs (not just the female) and supports them in being able to achieve their goals. Regardless of the role they are in, keeping female recruiters will come down to providing a supportive and inclusive work environment that supports the success of both genders! Rebecca Fraser, National Executive Committee, Career Development Association of Australia. Caroline Stokes I encourage women to find out what their ‘why’ is in recruiting and to learn as much as they can so they can continue to evolve and grow as much as the candidates and companies they work with. Caroline Stokes, Founder of FORWARD and The Emotionally Intelligent Recruiter. Amanda Bell Show them your support! Whether it’s rewarding great work, promoting them as a result, or making sure their ideas and voices are heard, be their partners and advocates. Showing means far more than telling. Amanda Bell, Director of Recruiting at Lever.

Career Stalled Have New Career Opportunities Come to YOU! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Career ‘Stalled’ Have New Career Opportunities Come to YOU! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career EDITOR’S NOTE: In this blog, Skip Freeman, veteran professional “headhunter” and author of international bestselling job hunting book “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!, provides a glimpse into the content and overall focus of his new, soon-to-be-published (fall 2012) job hunting book, Career Stalled? ______________________________________________________ Do you feel as though your career has essentially “stalled,” that it is virtually “dead in the water,” and has been for quite some time? Do you feel that there is not much realistic hope for career improvement in the foreseeable future? Well, you’re certainly not alone. Tens of millions of currently employed men and women feel exactly the same way! Why? Essentially two general reasons: Many  feel “used and abused” by their current employer, i.e., they  are doing the work of two (or more!) people because of layoffs,   downsizings, etc., are unappreciated (or at least, underappreciated) and  even sometimes treated with utter disrespect, by constantly being reminded  about how “lucky” they are to still have a job in the current job market, strongly  advised to keep their heads down and their mouths shut, ad nauseum. Employee raises (top company  officials usually being the exceptions) in recent years have been either non-existent or bordering on  being insulting, with no apparent end in sight. According to the  Society for Human Resource Management, and based upon this year’s survey  of nearly 1,500 large U. S. companies, the average pay raise for salaried employees in 2012 is 2.9%, up    slightly from 2.4% in 20 and 2.8% in 2011. Pay increases for hourly  workers  are averaging only 2.7% this year. Even raises for “high  performers”â€"yes, the “walks on water” folks!â€"this year average out to only  4%!* If you currently find yourself in this situationâ€"or even worse!â€"with regard to your job, I’ve got some GREAT news for you: It doesn’t have to be this way! You don’t have to accept your career “fate.” You can have a constant flow of current and useful information about new, genuine career opportunities actually coming directly to youâ€"discreetly and without risking your current job! But, in order to take maximum advantage of this information, you must first ensure that you have . . . Branded yourself as  a professional who has both current and relevant experience for any  positions/career opportunities  which may interest you or that a hiring professional may contact  you about. Positioned yourself as  a candidate who can clearly and unmistakably a.) make a company money;  b.) save a company money; or c.) accomplish both goals. Created (and have diligently  maintained) a powerful profile on LinkedIn,  one that has IMPACT, as well as one that is designed to make it easy for  â€œheadhunters” like me (and, of course, hiring managers and Human Resources  professionals) to contact you with career opportunities that may be  appropriate for you to consider.  Sites That Can Get Jobs, Career Opportunities News Coming to YOU! The four sites that you should immediately investigate and consider including in your repertoire of great sources of job/career opportunities news are these: www.indeed.com â€" This is one of the  easiest job sites to navigate on the Internet, as well as one of the most  widely used by job seekers. To get started searching for job/career  information, you merely provide the information for the “What” (job title,  keywords, company name, etc.) and the “Where” (City, State, ZIP). You can  post your résumé on the site and set up automatic alerts on career  opportunities you want to consider. www.googlealerts.com (offered in FREE and paid versions) â€" At this site you can have up-to-date, current  and relevant job information coming to you on a daily basis. (Currently, I  have an alert set up for “LNG Tank Engineer,” and get frequent alerts on  companies that are hiring such professionals. I use this information to  network with the hiring companies, as well as with professionals who may  be good potential job candidates for the openings. Obviously, you, as a  professional seeking new career opportunities, can use such information  for job leads in your professional niche.) www.google.com/alerts Like  googlealerts, which, by the way, is not  owned by Google, this site, which is  owned by Google, can keep a steady flow of current, relevant  job/career information coming into your email “in-box,” either on a daily  basis, or even on an “as it happens” basis. www.bizjournals.com/search  This site allows you to keep fully and completely up to date on and  informed about what is happening across the spectrum in business circles.  By knowing what companies are growing, learning about emerging new products and markets,  etc., you will be able to more efficiently and effectively prospect for  jobs and career opportunities. You will be able to find people in these  companies whom you can link in with on LinkedIn, use the information to  launch a powerful direct mail campaign, etc. Take Control of Your Career, Your Professional Destiny Most people dread change, or at least most have some degree of fear about making a change, any change, in their lives. That’s understandable, but in today’s economic climate, that can also have devastating results when it comes to your job. Make no mistake about it, a great deal of uncertainty remains in the economy in general and in the job market in particular. Not only are salary increases lagging for the currently employed, opportunities for promotion have also dried up considerably in many companies. Today, many companies areâ€"and have been for some timeâ€"running “lean and mean,” and many seem intent on maintaining that approachâ€"indefinitely. Budgets continue to be slashed, divisions, teams and offices are being reduced in size or eliminated completely in some cases. “Pink slips” are still very much a real threat in today’s anemic business climate, regardless of employee tenure or past contributions. Now is the time to take charge and FULL control of your own career destinyâ€"while you are still employed. (It definitely is true that it is almost always easier to get a new job when you already have one!) Don’t unnecessarily expose your career prospects to the fickle whims of your current employer. Don’t be caught unaware. Don’t risk being “blind-sided” by your current employer. And certainly, don’t commit to “riding it out” with your current employer out of some misplaced sense of loyaltyâ€"a loyalty, coincidentally, that probably will not be reciprocated to you if the company, at the end of the day one Friday in the not-too-distant future, without any prior notice whatsoever, decides both your job and you need to go! _________________________ *Compare this information to what my executive recruiting firm, Hire to Win, is currently experiencing: Successful job candidates we are presenting to our client companies are realizing salary increases in the 6% to % range when they move to new, better jobs! Author: Skip Freeman  is the author of “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!  and is the President and Chief Executive Officer of  The HTW Group (Hire to Win), an Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan Area Executive Search Firm. Specializing in the placement of sales, engineering, manufacturing and RD professionals, he has developed powerful techniques that help companies hire the best and help the best get hired.

Career Confession A Bad Job is Like a Bad Relationship

Career Confession A Bad Job is Like a Bad Relationship Are you a professional martyr? Are you a professional martyr? Recently, my former boss turned good friend and I went out for coffee. I think of him as a mentor, someone I truly looked up to and whose opinions I took to heart. Having last worked three years ago, we started nostalgically talking about the company that we both used to work for.  The company, unfortunately, met its demise when some internal problems among the investors brought the company to a complete halt, after months of stressful issues. It was a tough time. The two of us were among the last ones standing. It was with this topic that he brought up a shocking opinion of me: You know, loyalty is one of your strongest traits, but it was also really dumb of you to stay for as long as you did. He was right. I stayed on for much longer than I should have. I loved the people in it, but the company really went downhill and it caused me a lot of unhappiness and missed opportunities at the latter part of my employment. A lot of people tend to stay in a job that they are unhappy with for many reasons. The security of a job is something that can convince you that every day of struggling through work is worth powering through. Sometimes, people dont even realize that it may be time to quit  because it is hard to leave the comfort of a steady paying job  or to let go of the chance at advancing within a company. A job is a job. It may not be enjoyable, but it is something that must be done. While loyalty is an admirable trait, staying in a job that makes you unhappy can really do some damage to your professional goals and personal life. Sometimes, it is good to ask yourself Is this job worth my loyalty and hard work?  You need to really look out for signs that you need to quit your job.  The truth that we must face as career girls is that being in a bad job is like being in a bad relationship. You need to really evaluate where you stand, and if it is doing you more harm than good. Here are three ways that staying in an unhealthy job can do some real damage to your life: Stunting Your Professional Growth  When you dont feel challenged at the workplace, you tend to acquire a day-in-day-out mentality.  This does not help you hone your skills for better opportunities that may come in the future. It also tends to make you resent work because of the boredom and stress that each workday brings. Emotional Stress Unless you are a trust fund baby, the truth is that your workday takes up a great deal of your lifetime. How  you spend your hours doing your job, whether it is in an office or at home, will affect all the other aspects of your life. Constantly coming in and out of work with a heavy heart will affect your physical and psychological state, and will affect your relationships as well. Missed Opportunities The fear of leaving the safety net of your employment may be causing you to unknowingly miss out on better opportunities. Sometimes, optimism can get the best of you. If you have been trying to convince yourself with the words Tomorrow will be a better day for some time now, maybe it is time to let go. People can be blinded by faith sometimes. Make sure that you are staying in the job for practical reasons. Im not encouraging you to jump ship at the first sign of trouble. All Im saying is that you have to constantly assess your professional situation  and to not be scared to move on when it is obviously time to. While it is hard to go back to square one and try to find another company to work with, you also need to really weigh the pros and cons of the situation and see if you are still in a job that is right for you. Nothing is wasted when you put your all into something. You do somehow learn and grow, but learn when to quit. When your job is starting to feel like an abusive boyfriend, it is time to face the music and put your love, dedication, and commitment into something that would appreciate and value it better. Image Credit

How to Explain Resume Gaps

How to Explain Resume Gaps When or if you are laid off from a job or need to take time off for family and health reasons, many of the same concerns come up. You start to wonder how bills will be paid and how long it will take to find a new job. You simply do not know at first.There is also the concern that employers might think one is simply taking breaks for the sake of not wanting to work. Worse, the fear that skills and experience may become outdated.So with all these concerns in mind, what do you do during an interview to downplay the possible negative perceptions and make the interviewer see the positive side of your skills and experience?Be HonestHonesty is always the best policy. Just remember that your version of honesty must sound positive. Your version of brutal honesty may leave the hiring manager thinking you have emotional issues or that you still have conflicts to deal with before accepting a job.You do not have to hide the truth. You can explain it with a positive attitude, showing how what you dealt with is in the past and how it has made you wiser and stronger. Being known for having integrity and being able to demonstrate it are character traits that will serve your career in the long run. You may be tempted throughout your career to be deceitful and in the short term, it may seem like a good idea. But in the long term, lies always lead to problems in a career.Honesty exampleA job candidate interviews knowing that the employment gap is quite large. The candidate took time off after a layoff to deal with family health issues. When the job candidate was asked about the employment gap, he explains that he was laid off around the time his mom was diagnosed with cancer.He then explains that time has passed, it was an education in lifeand it has made him a better leader and more emotionally mature. The interviewers were not sure how to reply and finally, one person spoke up to say, “I understand what you went through and thank you for your honesty.”The candidate gave a po lished, positive answer and it led to more interviews in the company. Although he was not hired, the employer stayed in touch with the job candidate for future job openings. The reasonfor doing so: “We need employees with integrity, character, and honesty.”Be PreparedWhen you are uncomfortable with the topic, the wrong way to answer is by stuttering and blushing your way through an interview. The lack of preparation will make you appear as if you are still grappling with the reasons for the employment gap or you are not being truthful.Lots of people will practice rehearsed answers, but the overall problem with doing that is the answer is not prepared with the intention of being honest. Therefore, if your hiring manager starts asking more questions than you expected, you will start to have problems answering. Your story to explain your resume gap will look like one big effort to deceive.The best way to prepareto be honestis to practice explaining your resume gaps until you are si ck of talking about them. The minute you get over your fears, the better you will be able to explain the gaps.Be ConfidentConfidence is a byproduct of preparation and being honest. You get over your fears of discussing how you became unemployed the more you commit to preparing and being honest.If you were let go or fired, do not panic. Resume gaps are pretty common, especially given the length of time it takes to find work and the unstable economy that has been in place since 2008. If you interview at a company that does not understand why you were laid off or fired, be confident that you should not be working there.Explaining resume gaps is an uncomfortable situation, so be prepared for whatever comes your way and have confidence in your skills.(For further help with resume gaps, see our articles5 Ways to Explain Away Common Resume Gapsand Why Do You Have Gaps In Your Job History?)

5 Ways to Boost Your Productivity in the Workplace

5 Ways to Boost Your Productivity in the Workplace For companies, employee productivity should be a priority all year round. We usually hear about one-time strategies that employers implement during the holiday season to keep employees motivated but in reality, the idea is not good enough to prevent long-term seasonal distractions.Be it customer satisfaction, handling large business endowments or driving key company metrics, an investment in employee productivity is a long-term investment in people that are at the core of business’ success.evalStrong camaraderie between employees and the higher-ups increases recognition, makes communication easier and forms a strong company culture that inspires employees to work with genuine interest each day of the year. Doing nothing is Risky.Nowadays, jobs are much more transient. Company owners have genuine interest in wanting to keep their employees happy since the chances of their workers quitting to join a better, more progressive organization are extremely high.Keeping your workers satisfi ed is essential for maximising profits and minimizing costs; running the business smoothly as a result. Fortunately for you, it doesn’t require much to keep most employees happy and productive â€" and of course, your company profitable.Here are the 5 basic ideas aiming to increase work productivity no matter what the case or season.1. Get Rid of Demoralizers and Motivation-KillersSource â€" bls.govAccording to a recent survey published by the Bureau of Labour Statistics , Americans, on average, spend 9 hours a day in the workplace. The number even surpasses the hours spent sleeping. Because the individuals spend so much time with their co-workers rather than with their families, they are likely to get affected by bad moods on a daily basis.A highly motivated, sparked-up employee tends to create a positive environment in the workplace while an unmotivated employee is destructive and demoralizing. As a business owner, it is important for you to identify mood-busters, motivation kill ers in the workplace.evalBy carefully observing the work environment, you can easily detect problem areas that adversely affect employee motivation.Typical examples of motivation killers are the absence of opportunity for professional development, lack of organization goals, abrasive co-workers, poor communication systems and most of all, the feeling of lack of appreciation/recognition. Addressing each of these problems individually is important in order to keep the workplace free of toxicity.2. Creating a familial atmosphereBy asking you to create a family atmosphere at the workplace, we are not talking about treating your employees like you would treat your own brother or father. Think more along the lines of a nephew or distant cousin. We all have the kind of extended family members that we can’t tolerate but we will never stand for outsiders talking negatively about them.We have the best in mind and heart for them always. The same concept should be applied to employees. Make s ure your workers are comfortable and you are aware if someone is struggling with problems at work. Let them know that regardless of how you feel about them or the sternness of your behaviour, you will always have their backs and are even willing to go to war for them.3. Employee happiness should matterevalEmployee burnout can be detrimental to worker well-being and productivity. Without a healthy work-life balance, employees can become frustrated and, as a result, lose motivation. Shawn Achor, a newly announced keynote speaker for WorkHuman 2016 and happiness expert, has spent most of his life studying the link between happiness and life success.According to his research, it is important to prioritize employee happiness because the brain of a positive person is 31 percent more productive than the brain of someone that is feeling negative.Employees are humans, and have lives outside of the workplace. The lives outside work should always take precedence over the latter. The college st udent you recently hired may have a final year to complete in order to graduate.The single mother may not always have a babysitter lined up. As a leader, you must be respectful and understanding when life happens to your employees. Refreshed and happy employees will ultimately be more productive for your company and its profit margins. 4. Environment, breaks and workout timeOffice furniture, décor, surrounding noise and temperature can all affect productivity levels of your workplace. Unorganized, dirty offices make it difficult for individuals to stay motivated. Bored or sick workers can never be productive, therefore, make sure the work environment is comfortable. Try creating a stylish décor with practical furniture in opposition with dull, boring surroundings.On the other hand, health risks associated with sitting in one place for more than 8 hours is immense. Enforcing regular breaks with few hours of in-office work out time will not only get blood running but will improve em ployee focus.Regular exercise does more than just keeping the heart healthy. Exercise, when combined with herbal teas and essential protein supplements, can also give your brain a boost of endorphins and sharpen memory.Offer your employees free gym memberships as an incentive; encouraging them to get moving and work out. It could be before work, at lunch or at the end of the day but an everyday gym session will help employees feel like they are doing more than just sitting behind their desks all day.5. Employees are equals“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person â€" not just an employee â€" are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability,” says Anne M. Mulcahy, Former CEO of Xerox Corporation.evalWe all have been through the discouraging experience of having a peer who was viewed as the ‘favourite’ amongst teachers. We also remember how resentful that made us. Even at work place, there is nothing worse than seeing employees being taken as unequally competent.If you’re a boss having favourites, you run the risk of having a dangerously divided workforce. During times when competition for work is the highest, remember that you are being watched by your managers and supervisors. You were put in charge for a reason. Utilize your employees properly and your company will do better than you ever imagined.Maintaining worker productivity and motivation in the workplace is not always an accomplishable task for an employer. The key things to remember for employee motivation are mentioned in this article and once thoughtfully executed, will bring you on the right track with any office workforce.

Preparing Now For Your Next Job Search

Preparing Now For Your Next Job Search Many times, after we do a great job on a project, report, or event, we turn our attention immediately to the next task at hand. Before you do that, take a moment to capture your achievements for your future career needs. In particular, remember to do these things: Document Your Job Search Achievements Create a document where you list all your accomplishments. A single file is easiest to manage and maintain. Soon after you achieve an accomplishment, write down the achievement and any of the results. At this point, you do not need to worry about the wording because you can always edit it later. However, write down enough information so you can add it to your resume or and articulate it appropriately during an interview. Writing it down while it is fresh in your mind will ensure you don’t leave anything out! Store Your Documents Create a folder where you can house electronic (or paper) copies of documents or presentations you have written, published, etc. It’s helpful to include the name and location of electronic files in your physical files. If your accomplishment is in written form (i.e. press release, pamphlet, presentation) keep a copy of the document/presentation. If you developed a training guide, wrote some newsletters or created marketing collateral, save copies of them and add them to your portfolio. You may need to submit writing samples as part of an interview for your next job. No Time Like the Present to  Prepare Your  Job Search Taking a little time now to write down your achievements and save your projects can help you in your future job search. I have heard from more than one client, ‘I wish I had that document to show the hiring manager.’ You never know when you will need to not only talk about your skills but also physically show how you have demonstrated those skills in the past so keep your portfolio and accomplishment list up to date. Even if you are happy in your current job, you never know when the next career opportunity will arise. It could be a promotion or new job so make sure you are ready! If you have any tips for saving your work accomplishments, let us know in the comments below!

Find the Best Resume Writers For Australia at Top Rated Resume Writing Services

Find the Best Resume Writers For Australia at Top Rated Resume Writing ServicesAustralia is a beautiful country and therefore, the top rated resume writing services have an advantage over other countries where people are scarce. It is not easy to find good writers in Australia because there are not as many people as in other countries. Thus, when you are in search of the best writers, the most popular writer for Australia can be found through the top rated resume writing services that are offering services in Australia.If you are looking for a person who can write a resume for Australia, then you have a big advantage over other countries. With a population of over 23 million people, there are enough people to provide you with the best resume writers for Australia. The top rated resume writing services Australia provides the best resumes and also the best cover letters for Australia.They understand that you cannot return phone calls or emails on weekends. They have the expertise of hi ring and developing professional writers who are specialized on resume writing. They have expertise in hiring online resume writers. They work with different writers at the same time so that you will have one resume writer at the same time.By having more good writers in Australia, you will save time and money as they will give the resume writing services according to your requirements. When you have more writers, they will be able to give you an expert resume writing service in a short span of time and thus, you will be able to find the best writers who can give you the resume that you want.You can find your resume in a matter of minutes by sending it to them and get the resume with the name of the person who will provide you with the free resume. There is no charge and the person who is providing you with the free resume will put you through the best resume writing service.These resumes can be sent as emails so that you can send the resume as well as other forms to be filled with t he information as required by the company. The cover letter will also be provided by the company so that you will be able to write a resume as well as other forms using the right style to suit your requirements.These resumes can be read immediately from the internet as they are available for download immediately after being written by the writer. When you are not satisfied with the resume, you can print it and send it back to the writer in order to improve it. Thus, you can find the best resume writer for Australia at the top-rated resume writing services.