You Wouldnt Ignore a Customer, So Why a Candidate

You Wouldnt Ignore a Customer, So Why a Candidate In 2015 marketers were due to spend $514 billion worldwide advertising their companies products and services. All this money is spent to attract more customers and to generate more sales. The engagement of customers is top priority for businesses, and if done right, it will create new and return customers. So would you ignore a customer…of course not! This brings me to my pet hate. All too often in the recruitment industry, both in-house and agency recruiters, ignore their candidates. This happens in a number of ways, the most common are: Candidate emails are not replied to. Job applications are not replied to. Phone calls and voicemails from candidates are avoided. Throughout my career in the recruitment industry, I have been passionate about the service that recruiters provide to candidates and I believe we should treat candidates like customers. After all, there is a good chance that in the future, some of todays candidates will be customers. Imagine you see an advert and decide to buy the product advertised, but the company ignores you. Would you ever consider buying from that company again? No, I didn’t think so! One of the most common complaints from recruiters is that there just isn’t enough time, so here are some time saving tips to help you communicate with candidates: Job adverts: Make sure you include a call to action on all job adverts. I know it sounds obvious, but adding “Apply now” or “Apply here” will encourage the candidate to do so, rather than spending time finding you on social media or emailing you. You could also include a sentence like: At #Company Name#  we receive many applications every day and use an applicant tracking system to help us make sure we hire the best candidates possible. By applying for a job using our careers site, you can be assured your application will be received and you will be kept up to date with its progress. Emails: I wouldn’t recommend going as far as an auto reply, but there are other ways to speed up replying to the applications you received overnight. If you use outlook you can use the auto text “Quick Parts” feature. Try using something like: Hi, Thank you for your CV. The best way to apply for jobs is to visit our careers site  here. We receive many applications every day and use an applicant tracking system to help us make sure we hire the best candidates possible. By applying for a job using our  careers  site you can be assured your application will be received and you will be kept up to date with its progress. I have added your CV to our applicant tracking system and you should receive updates from this email address ATS.email@domain.com Best Regards, Name Phone calls: If you are going to be a recruiter, you need to accept that your job is to work with people and you are going to need to speak to people on the phone. In fact, I enjoy this part of the job. Sometimes as recruiters, we are busy and the only way to complete our daily tasks is to bury our head and ignore all distractions. If you need to do this then set up your voicemail. Try using something like this: Hi, you have reached the voicemail of #Iain Hamilton#. Thank you for your call, unfortunately I am unavailable at the moment. If  you would like to apply for one of our open vacancies you can do so by visiting #www.company.com/careers_site# where all our current vacancies are listed. ATS: This is the main tool in the application process and if set up correctly can help you communicate with candidates, ensuring they know what is happening with their application throughout the process. Most ATS systems have the ability to send notifications to candidates when their status is updated on the system. Here are some ideas of how notifications could be used: Job Application: Hi #name#, Thank you for applying for the position of #job title#. We are currently reviewing all job applications and you will hear from us within 7 days on the status of your application. All our jobs are listed on www.company.com/jobs and we encourage you to search and apply for any jobs which fit your profile. Regards, Recruitment Team Company Name Rejection: Hi #name#, Thank you for applying for the position of #job title#. We regularly receive a large number of  applications for each job and unfortunately your application has not been successful on this occasion. All our jobs are listed on www.company.com/jobs and we encourage you to search and apply for any jobs which fit your profile. Regards, Recruitment Team Company Name Summary None of the advice above is ground breaking but many recruiters and companies get it wrong. Remember the next time you think about hitting the delete button without replying, the candidate may just be a customer in the future. If your systems are set up to automate some of these emails, it doesnt even need to be time consuming!

Professional CV Writing Is Vital If You Want To Get A Job

Professional CV Writing Is Vital If You Want To Get A JobProfessional CV writing is vital if you want to get a job. There are more people applying for jobs every day, but the fact is that only a handful of them will get a job interview. If you want to be in this handful, then you need to apply yourself by making your CV an effective and professional document.One of the best ways to get a job is to get a professional CV written. The reason why is because employers usually base their decisions on a candidate's CV and they also like to see that a candidate has shown leadership and experience. You will probably think that this sounds difficult but it's actually quite easy. I'll tell you about some techniques that you can use so that you can impress the employer and get that great job.The first thing that you need to do when you apply for a job is to prepare your CV in advance. This way you will know exactly what needs to be included in your document and you can easily compare it with wha t you have. It's a good idea to write your CV first before you start looking for a job. You don't want to take your chances by sending out your document to a dozen companies that you don't even want to work for!Ensure that you include the right information. You should include your name, address, phone number, the position you're applying for, and a link to your LinkedIn profile. Don't forget to include your skills, educational qualifications, previous employment and awards you may have won. Also include the job titles that you have worked in and any additional details that may interest the employer.It's always a good idea to submit your CV online to as many search engines as you can find. Some of the top search engines will look at your CV and rank it according to its relevance and relevancy to the job. This will increase your chances of getting a job quickly.Another thing that you can do is to email your resume to potential employers and see if they are interested in reviewing it. Don't forget to send it in the post or by regular courier as well. This is a great way to build up your reputation and help you get to know the person or organisation that is hiring you.One of the best ways to get a professional CV written is to post it on various job sites. This way you will be able to capture a lot of attention when it comes to the CV that you send out. If you post it online in the correct format, then you should have no problem in landing a job.You should always make sure that you include a professional CV when you apply for a job. As long as you follow the above tips and advice then you should be fine. Hopefully you now understand why it's important to get a professional CV written in when you are applying for a job.

Clean and Classy A Free and Elegant Resume Design

Clean and Classy â€" A Free and Elegant Resume Design Clean and Classy â€" A Free and Elegant Resume Design Sometimes, you want something clean and classy that exudes simplicity and sophistication. We have created that for you with our Clean and Classy resume and CV template.It’s got an elegantly simple structure, gold ton headings, and just a subtle swatch of color across the bottom of the page. The final look is trendy and upscale. Are you a designer, creative type, marketer, or just someone on the way up in their career? This is a great template for the upwardly mobile professional. Because we’ve chosen elegant yet muted colors, your work history and experience will stand out that much more. If you want, it’s quite easy to add a professional headshot to this template and stand out even more.We are confident that you will love this template, and that hiring managers will as well. Take a second look by downloading it today, absolutely free!Or care to check other modern resume templates? File size: 60 KB Format: .doc Downloaded 3,917 times License: Free, personal use only. Please read the license terms for resources. Download previous article Best Famous Career Quotes to Help Keep You Inspired next article New Job? Top Tips for Building a Good Relationship with your Manager you might also likeFine Balance â€" A Creative and Professional Resume Template

Applying Personal Social Media Techniques to Corporate EMC - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Applying Personal Social Media Techniques to Corporate EMC - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Since this blog is specifically tied to the concept of personal branding, I fail to explain what my day job is. A lot of people think all I do is this blog, the magazine, the TV show, the awards, the articles and the upcoming book. I actually spent a lot of time figuring out, experimenting and executing social media programs at EMC Corporation, where Im a social media specialist. When I was first hired in November of 2007, I was one of the first Fortune 500 employees tasks with bringing social media to the enterprise. I obtained my job because of my work outside of EMC and have never been more happy. A lot of my learnings have been applied to EMC, specifically the PR and HR areas. Today, I want to showcase my work at EMC, explain why its significant and then compare/contrast it to my work with personal branding. In the beginning When I first started out, one of my main objectives was to help build social media proficiency within the company and then to evolve the PR practice. We issued 3 social media releases (SMR) for major product and thought leadership announcements, through wire services. A very special shout out to Brian Solis, Todd Defren and Chris Heur, who evangelized and inspired SMRs. Each release had a podcast, a few product pictures and sharing utilities. At the same time, we were building an internal social network, under the leadership of Len Devanna(Director) and Chuck Hollis(VP), and with help from Jamie Johnson, Chris Britt and a few others. Chuck catalogs the journey in his other blog here. The purpose of the network was to connect employees based on professional and personal interests in a single forum, while allowing anyone to create a blog, wiki or conversation (thread). Special thanks to Kevin Kempskie, Steve Todd, Gina Minks, Hadley Weinzierl, Michael Gallant, Bill Petro, Dave Donohue, Heather Milne, Barry Burke, Mark Twomey and Polly Pearson for all their hard work spreading social media throughout EMC. EMCs social media releases (Wire) CLARiiON AX4 PR Newswire Symmetrix DMX4 PR Newswire Digital Universe 2008 MarketWire EMC World 2008 and beyond Anyone who truly understands this space knows that in order to succeed its a team effort. Its now 2008 and a lot has changed with respect to social media at my company. The most exciting part is that everyone is working as a team and we can get more done in less time. Every year, thousands of EMC employees gather at EMC World, which is our largest event by far. This year, I was tasked, with forming a social media program around the event for over 9,000 people. With the combined energy and enthusiasm, we were able to launch EMC into the social media galaxy. Joe Tucci (CEO/Chairman of EMC) presenting our social media newsroom Special thanks to the web team for pulling this off. This was probably one of the highlights of my career. [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z43Dic13Iiw] Social media breakdown Social media newsroom: A compilation of content for the media and attendees, including a YouTube, Twitter and Flickr widget, as well as product information and relevant links. Social media release: Instead of using a wire service, our web team developed an SMR wrap-up of the entire event, with podcasts, pictures, and the ability to share the release using del.icio.us and digg. Twitter: We currently have two accounts, both of which Ive been supervising lately. The first is a 1-way press release distribution account (@EMCCorp) and the second was specifically designed for EMC World (@EMCWorld), as a tool to direct people to content or places on-site. YouTube Included keynote presentations, such as Joe Tuccis keynote, as well as daily wrap-ups each day and man-on-the-street customer interviews on-site. Facebook We set up a Facebook event page, where people could register and it linked directly to our EMC World website. Flickr This was used for the media specifically, so they could pull pictures and bios of executives, as well as view pictures LIVE from the event and product pictures. Communities These were for all registered participants and gave them the ability to talk amongst each other before, during and after the event. Aside from this accomplishment, we have converted many in-house bloggers to external EMC blog champions. There is a lot to look forward in the future, as we expand into the B2C realm. Other companies have used social media, such as Zappos, Cisco, Microsoft, Home Depot and Ernst Young. I can only see more companies adopting this in the future, but do feel right now is the best time. I say this because it costs very little to get involved and marketing budgets have been cut, due to the economy. Tying it back to personal branding When it comes to corporate social media programs, its not just about the grand vision or the tools used. Its about the people that execute it. The conversations employees have with customers and partners through these tools is whats important because their personal brand is on the line, as well as the companys. The more voices you have participating in conversations where they can lend expertise or interact to get feedback the better. At this stage, companies need to accept the important of social media, as a channel to communicate, get feedback, learn and build brand. Your employees cant sit back anymore or they will be left out. This is similar to being the person in the corner at a party and no one wants that. Compared to corporate branding with social media, personal branding is much easier. The more people that get involved, the harder it is to control the message and the medium. A single individual can publish-on-demand, yet a group of individuals might have to check with each other pre-post. Its easy for an A-list blogger to spread a message than a less-known blogger, unless you have many corporate bloggers as spokespeople working together to spread it. The same strategies can be used in both corporate and personal branding.

Free Resume

Free ResumeAre you getting worried that you are the only one with a question about a free resume? Don't be. The answer is simple.Free resume tools were designed by business owners to make their job easier. One way to make it easier is to offer something free and use a small piece of information from your resume. The best way to use this type of free resume is when you are short on time. It will allow you to get a quick read before making a decision on whether or not to pursue a position.Free resume software is also available. This software is similar to the free resume tools, but is more comprehensive in scope. It includes questions on the steps that the employer will take after reviewing your resume. These include but are not limited to, an in depth interview, even if it's for a clerical position.If you have a business, it is advisable to try to make contact with your prospective employer before sending a resume. Doing so will give the business owner more information about you, and how well you will fit in with their company. If you do send your resume through the mail, there may be a chance that the business owner will end up missing you.Remember that what you do to your resume does not mean a thing. There are some free resume and cover letter services that suggest that your resume may need tweaking, which is the opposite of what it is. The purpose of this form is to provide the employer with everything they need to know about you. Using this service can affect your chances of being contacted, and could possibly increase the odds of your being overlooked. This means that you should work to make your resume as unique as possible.Think of the free resume as being a tool that will be used to find the best match for your company's needs. It is not the only tool that will be used. All of the information provided should match exactly what the employer is looking for.While both the resume and cover letter are important pieces of material that will be reviewed by the hiring manager, they need to be done separately. The cover letter is just as important as the resume. When writing the cover letter, keep the focus on what you want to convey to the person hiring you, and avoid getting too personal.A free resume is a tool that will make your job a little easier. You can still keep in touch with the hiring manager through the mail. Remember to present yourself as a professional who knows what they are doing.

This old school productivity trick will change your 2018 - Debut

This old school productivity trick will change your 2018 - Debut All aboard the self-improvement train! At Debut, were constantly looking for new ways to work more effectively. So, when we came across this productivity trick we knew we had to share it with yall. After all, were still about that new year, new you hype, right? Anyone whos done an A Level in Business Studies may have heard of the Japanese approach to business management called Kaizen.  Whilst the word Kaizen only directly translates to the word improvement, the phrase generally refers to business practices which aim to continuously improve. (Emphasis on continuous.) The  Kaizen approach was originally designed to improve businesses. However, we reckon we can take these lessons and apply this to our day-to-day lives. The Kaizen Method So, the basics behind the Kaizen method is to focus on small, but consistent improvements. Author James Clear sums it up this way: We place unnecessary stress on ourselves to lose weight or to succeed in business or to write a best-selling novel. Instead, you can keep things simple and reduce stress by focusing on the daily process and sticking to your schedule, rather than worrying about the big, life-changing goals. When you focus on the practice instead of the performance, you can enjoy the present moment and improve at the same time. The most important thing to remember is that self-improvement never stops. Theres no such thing as perfection, after all. Having said that, the pursuit of perfection is a good thing, as long as we take one small step at a time. 1% a day How small should those steps be, you say? Well, Brett and Kate McKay from  The Art of Manliness suggests you focus on getting 1% better in the thing you want to improve. We hear you this seems pretty slow-going. Heres the justification: breaking down big, hairy, audacious goals into smaller bits makes the big goal all the more achievable. For example, aiming to read 60 books this year seems like a proper mountain to climb. Instead of making that the goal, why not aim to read for 20 minutes a day instead? Smaller goals are so much easier to digest. The smaller, more accessible the action, the more likely itll get turned into a good habit. The best part about the Kaizen method is that it allows you to work on a few things at once. Big goals tend to take up all your capacity for attention but with this method, working on a few projects at once is actually realistic. One thing to keep in mind with this approach is that once you start on a Kaizen plan of change, maintain those good habits. If youre already writing 200 words a day, keep that habit up  forever.  Heck, push yourself to do more every once in a while, increasing the limit to 300 woods, 400 and beyond. Actionable Kaizen suggestions you can apply to your life Wake up 15 minutes earlier every morning. Apply this for the first 30 days, then extend this to 30 minutes. Youll find that youll have more time for important things like breakfast, or even a quick workout. Start writing a one-line-a-day journal. Give this a go for the first three months, then give writing two lines a day a shot. Practice mindfulness at university or in the office by doing one minute of breathing exercises at lunchtime daily. Increase this to two, then five once youre ready. Drink too much caffeine? Aim to cut your intake down by one cup for 30 days. Then aim to cut it down by another cup again. (You get the idea.) If youre the kind of person whos constantly attached to your screen, try putting your laptop and phone away half an hour before bedtime. Increase this to one hour before bedtime after 30 days. Were sure there are more little Kaizen changes we can apply to our life. Come up with a good one? Tweet us @DebutCareers with your suggestion! Feature image via Death to Stock Photo, GIFs via Giphy Connect with Debut on Facebook and Twitter

Practice of Peace audio book - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Practice of Peace audio book - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Somebody asked on the Open Space mailing list if Harrison Owens book The Practice of Peace would appear as an audio book. Harrison replied that there were no current plans, so I suggested creating an audio book together. I was inspired by Cory Doctorows latest books (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe) as well as Lawrence Lessigs new book Free Culture, which have been released under the Creative Commons least restrictive license. This license allows people to do pretty much whatever they want with the original works, as long as its non-commercial. This allowed some people to self-organize and create audio versions of the books, by each volunteering to read a chapter. This is what were going to do with the Practice of Peace also, and I volunteered to coordinate. Heres a list of chapters: Chapter I Peace and the Practice of Peace Chapter II A Piecemeal Approach to Peace Chapter III Scope of Work for the Peacemaker Chapter IV Muddling Through Chapter V The Pathology of Control and the Power of Griefwork Chapter VI The Practice of Peace Chapter VII Many Roads to Peace Chapter VIII Preparation for Peacemaking If youd like to read a chapter, please add a comment to this post saying what chapter youd like to read. If somebodys already taken your favourite chapter you might consider another one. If all the chapters are taken add a comment anyway maybe will work something out. Harrisons publisher, Human Systems Dynamics Institute, will send each person a copy of the book, and we can then record a chapter and put them together somehow. Theres been a huge interest in participating, which is a wonderful reflection on the generosity of the OS community. So what do we do if we have more volunteers than chapters (which Im almost sure that we have). Any suggestions? Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

When I Grow Up Behind the Blog - When I Grow Up

When I Grow Up Behind the Blog - When I Grow Up I stole the name of this post from Small Notebook and her amazing post abouther! It was so great to get a behind-the-scenes look of someone whose posts I read a few times a week without the bullshit. Although she didnt classify it so crudely. So, me..behind the blog. The me who I am in this moment. If you want some bits about my background and what led me here, feel free to read About Me. But now.now Im so many things that its tough to know where to start. I feel that in my life right now, the biggest thing is that Im a wife. Ok, so this is me as a bride, not a wife. But you know what I mean. Besides, Im obsessed with my wedding photos right now there was no way I wasnt putting one up. Mom, stop crying. On Friday I will be one for two whole months, while things havent changed (we lived together before, etc) it feels like its a new beginning, a new chapter. Theres such a great calm and comfort in finding the person that completes you you know will be your partner, your springboard, your confidant, your best friend until the end of time. And to have that person be a remarkable one, an upstanding one, a sweet and kind and smart and funny and cute one is just the most peaceful, happy place to live in. My hubby before the wedding, doing his best to be cast on Entourage. His name is Luke hes from Niagara Falls (the US side). Hes a Senior Copywriter by day and a Video Dude at night (check out Project Improviser, the reality show he directed produced as well as his short films this one features the newest cast member of Saturday Night Live). He fits a lot of trivia in his head, wants a place to make furniture, and wakes up early on Saturdays to watch cartoons. We call ourselves Team Awesome. We live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in a fancy-schmany building with lots of amenities, but we get a good deal on our 500-sf (approx) apartment. We have a separate bedroom so we cant complain about the space, but we joke that its not a complete day unless something falls on our head. We hope to find a place to buy by this time next year, but we worry about the ridiculnessness that is Buying an Apartment in NYC (Even Brooklyn) And How You Gotta WorkOn Wall Street Have A Trust Fund To Do It. Randomly, my favorite musicals are Guys Dolls, Chicago, Annie, and Miss Saigon. When I was a kid my parents would call me Mona Movie Star (which is what got me into this mess). I have a younger brother my family calls Butch, and it wasnt until I was an adult that I discovered thats not a nickname for my brothers name, Brandon. I dont cook, but Im the coffee-maker and the bagel-toaster of the family (figuratively, not literally). If I was stranded on a desert island and could eat only one thing, it would have to be sweet potato fries. My college roommates admitted to spending time in my closet just to look at all the colors. I desperately need new black boots (my old ones grew legs and walked away) , a new trackball on my BlackBerry (it doesnt move to the right and I cant get to my calendar. Its like my right arm is missing), a haircut. I wish I was able to wake up each day and read a novel, and coach, and sing, take a bath and connect with a friend. Id like to someday live in walking distance to a beach, or have a sunroom so I can have my morning coffee outside even when its cold. Id like to be able to travel to far-away lands and not have it cost any money. Have I mentioned Im a dreamer? Your turn: Who are you today? What can you tell me about yourself that goes beyond the surface of agreeing (or disagreeing) with my blog post? Id love to hear the randomness that is you, too. All photos by Kate Leigh