What Childrens Rugby Can Teach Recruiters About Business Development

What Children’s Rugby Can Teach Recruiters About Business Development When we introduce children to rugby, one of the first things we teach them is how to pass a ball.  Passing is a fundamental of the game and really important to learn well early on. To help children learn to pass we teach them a technique called the Magic W. This is where they hold the ball in both hands, thumbs together and their hands form a W shape. Then when they want the ball to go to someone, they simply line up their thumbs with that person and pass the ball. Done right the ball flies straight to them â€" these are kids of course and it still takes practice, but the technique makes it easy for them to learn and master quickly. It takes something complicated and makes it simple. By teaching passing this way it’s easy for the kids to understand, easy to put into practice, and above all, it works. In business, when we want to go in the right direction we often manage to complicate things. There are lots of variables in business. Lots of things to think about, to control and decide on. Just like passing a rugby ball. However, we are not kids, we are grown up, so we often forget that making things simple usually makes them easy to learn and put into practice. Shouldn’t we just just stop and put our thumbs together, line things up and pass. The answer is yes of course, but to do this we need to stop and look at things objectively. The Magic W’s of our business To simplify our business development we first need to understand the Magic W’s of our business, we need to understand our Why, Who, What and Where: Why  Why should our potential clients use us? What is special about what we do? What is our message and when we tell people what we do, do they really understand how we help people? What is it that we can do for them that they see real benefit in? Who  Who are our ideal target clients? Do we really understand who we should be doing business with? Who within our client base are the clients we love to work with and who truly value our service? â€" these are the kind of clients we really should be focused on. What  What is our plan, our strategy, our system? What do we do now that works that we should do always and more of? What else should we be doing? What are we doing to find and be found by these perfect people? What is about effort. What is activity. What is about doing things. Where Where are we focusing our Why, Who and What? Where are we spreading our referable message â€" with what groups and what strategic partners? Where are we where we should be, and where are we really? If we line up our business thumbs and get all these things Magic W’s understood then the rest can become really simple.  Please stop over-complicating what you do. Get to understand the basic fundamentals of your business, and the winning tries will come a whole lot more naturally. About the author: James Nathan runs the James Nathan experience; the Business Development, Sales and Service Excellence Expert for Professional Recruiters.

How to Use LinkedIn to Build an Effective Employer Brand

How to Use LinkedIn to Build an Effective Employer Brand How can your organisation harness the worlds largest professional network to attract talent? The answer lies in employer branding, or talent branding as the folks at LinkedIn prefer to call it. Chris Brown,  Director of UK Talent Solutions at the worlds largest professional network  explains how to use LinkedIn to boost your employer branding. Listen to the episode below or read the summary and dont forget to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast. What are the top 5 factors that contribute to a positive employer brand? Theres lots of research out there already externally and from us explaining the power of a positive employer brand and how that can affect positively the way organisations attract talent and retain talent. But this research we did to highlight how a negative brand might impact, so what we did, we researched loads of people in the UK and asked them what convinces them to work at a company when theyre looking for a job. And the five things which came up as positive factors were about job security, around development opportunities, the way they can work with new teams and also companies sharing their own values. That much is there, that kind of purpose, and also just positive perceptions about the company which theyve heard in other places. Increased job security Increased professional development opportunities The opportunity to work with a better team A company sharing their own personal values Positive impressions of the company from past and present employees What are the top 5  factors that are most likely to put professionals off taking jobs? Ive seen so many of the exact opposite, so concerns about job security is one. Poor leadership, bad teams or dysfunctional teams, and then negative impressions that they have or perceptions theyve heard elsewhere, and a bad reputation among that industry. So theyre the five things that put us off those types of employers. Concerns about job security Dysfunctional teams Poor leadership Negative impressions of the company from past and present employees A company having a poor reputation among its industry peers How can you calculate the cost of a bad reputation for a company? We tried to put a figure on it, and we worked out that the cost of attrition, if you like, or the percentage additional that companies would have to pay is 10% to find and attract talent to replace those people that were leaving. And we worked out, for a company of 10,000 employees, that can add up to more than £4 million a year. So weve actually put a figure on the cost of a bad reputation. What are your best  tips for  companies that want to boost their reputation online? This is a question were asked a lot, so this is based on my experience and based on all the companies we are working with in the UK. First one Id say is having a strong presence. What I mean there is having your company and your brand presence built. Having a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, any other social media, building out that content so its interesting, sharing updates through social and through LinkedIn that arent just about talent but about all sorts of things that your company might be doing. The second piece is about involving everybody. The companies were working with that seemed to be doing this the best or seemed to be having the most progress with their employer brand are getting their employees thats right from CEOs right down to every single employee in their organisation engaged as well. And what I mean by engaged is companies writing about their experiences, sharing news about their own company. And by doing that, that helps companies amplify the brand and in some respects, accelerates the network effect. And then the third thing is to be authentic. Over the years at LinkedIn, talking about employer brand, weve seen lots of organisations start to build their brand that presence I talked about.  And its very easy for all of us to spot authentic content, so you can tell its been written by an employee rather than by, for example, a marketing or commerce team. That authenticity, I think, gives those potential candidates real insight into what you can offer. How exactly does a company get LinkedIn followers? Theres lots of different ways. Harrods for example just engage their employees. So Harrods, and what we see this quite often, in recruitment teams, for example, would have the internal communications around the fact that were now using social media to recruit. This is a big part of our hiring efforts this year, for example, and we value your input as employees and we invite you to share the news that were posting. And thats right up by CEOs. If senior executives are starting to share, build profiles, write blog posts, they start to encourage all their employees to do the same. So at that volume of engagement, this is where the effects really start to show. There are other ways too. You can put ads around the network. You can direct people to the LinkedIn company page whatever the source is. What is  LinkedIns  Talent Brand Index and how is it calculated? Talent Brand Index is a really good tool. Weve talked about the power of employer brand or talent brand for years and weve been talking about it for the last 10, 15 minutes or so. The question were often asked in the past is, Its all very well, but its very intangible. How can I measure it? and the Talent Brand Index is one of the first ways that weve developed, but more broadly could be that anyones developed, which actually allows companies to measure it to measure the impact of their talent brand, and see how it progresses every time. So how it works is we can measure the reach that a company has on social media or LinkedIn by looking at certain activity, in aggregate, in the background. And that activity would be, how big a reach a company has is essentially based on how many employees they have and how many people are connected to those employees. X thousand people are aware of that company is an employer, so we have this number, and then we also look at engagement within that reach. Of that pool of people that are aware of the company as an employer, how many are engaging with them? And the engagement means are they looking at jobs, are they looking at the assets, the company pages, and so forth, or are they connecting with their employees or viewing their profiles? And then from those two numbers, we divide one by the other and we create an index which essentially is that brand index. Follow Chris on Twitter @Chris_Brown_UK and dont forget to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast.

The Importance Of A Mentor

The Importance Of A Mentor You may well be wondering how you can progress to the next level in your career, whether it be exploring options at a different company, or taking on more responsibilities along with a promotion. While you may be able to strategize your way towards your goals, the importance of having a mentor cannot be overstated. Some have too much of an ego to recognize that a mentor can add value; a shortsighted perspective, considering that even the most successful people in the world have had a mentor of some kind to guide and inspire them. You may only realize down the line how important your mentor was to your business and possibly even your life as a whole. Warren Buffett is considered to be one of the most legendary investors that have ever lived and has made billions in his lifetime. Despite his legacy, Buffet is open about the fact that Benjamin Graham was a mentor to him that provided him with valuable information about how to live his life. For those who are unaware, Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor, actually taught Buffett at Columbia Business School. Buffet has even named one of his children after Graham. No one is too successful for a mentor. Here are some reasons   that demonstrate the importance of a mentor to your career and your life. Experience  The most apparent reason for a mentor: they are already accomplished with respect to your field. They have gone through many struggles on the way to success and can show you how to maneuver and avoid similar pitfalls. This perspective and foresight is enlightening and can help you understand your career, as well as your strengths and weaknesses in a whole new way. The value in a mentor is that, along with their success, they’ve made tons of mistakes. They can explain how those mistakes happened so that you can avoid making the same ones. Similarly, they can also offer some of the creative solutions that they came up with in response to these problems, so that you might be able to apply it to your own situation, as well. Mentors can not only emphasize certain ideas and principles to help you forge your own path but can also inform you about career advice that you should ignore, as well.  Encouragement  There are situations in an individual’s life where they might think that it’s time to give up. This isn’t limited to a particular sector or industry at all. For example, Eminem is one of the most successful rap artists of all time, but he was considering quitting rap before he made it. For those that are unaware, during the 1990s, many people considered the peak of rappers’ careers to be in their mid-20s. Eminem was already 27 by the time he released his first album, but the fact that hip-hop legend Dr. Dre was involved with his career is one of the reasons why he knew that there was potential. In fact, some of Dr. Dre’s closest advisers even cautioned against signing Eminem, who was Caucasian and attempting to penetrate an industry that was predominantly African-American. Of course, we all now know that Dr. Dre was smart to encourage Eminem, as he proceeded to have one of the most successful hip-hop careers of all time. Eminem has also acknowledged Dr. Dre’s mentorship on many occasions. True mentors understand the need to encourage their mentee in order for them to reach their full potential. While there is nothing wrong with self-reliance, a mentor truly inspiring you to strive to the next level might be exactly what you need to develop your career. A New Perspective Your friends and family can offer some great advice, but the truth is that they are biased. These are people that have a close connection to you, and who probably want to see you succeed. It may be tough for them to see another perspective, or to understand why co-workers are associates are frustrated with you. It’s common for those close to you to be biased about your life, and mentors can help you cut through the noise in that respect. A mentor is a valuable, unbiased third party that is willing to explain to you the hard truth about a situation. Your friends might be scared to reveal their true opinion about an issue because they feel like it might affect your friendship. Similarly, your family might feel as though they should be “on your side” at all times. A true mentor will understand that honesty is more important than your feelings, and should have no problem explaining why you might be wrong in your attitude, approach, ideas, or strategy. It might not be comfortable to hear, but a mentor will understand that you will thank him or her later for the unbiased perspective. This perspective might also help you spot opportunities that you didn’t see before, as well. Their Network There is a good chance that you have heard the saying “your network determines your net worth”. You can invest a significant amount of money into a business, but the friendships that you cultivate might mean more opportunities in the future. There are all sorts of ways you can develop your network whether it’s through your own quality work, doing favors for other people, or socializing at certain events and conferences. Of course, technology has also made it easier than ever before to network with people, and made it so that networking doesn’t even require a face-to-face meeting. A mentor with decades of experience has probably built up an incredible network of contacts thanks to their work. If you lose a job or a client, they might be able to introduce you to people who can provide you with a new opportunity. They might even be able to help you find better, “out of reach” opportunities than your peers, which can give you your own chance to develop your own unique network. You might be surprised at the kind of power that comes from a mentor contacting someone for you, and a mentor might even help you create career opportunities that never existed before. More Success  It’s apparent how important a mentor is, but what exactly do the numbers say? Well, you might be surprised to find out that 70% of mentored businesses survive more than five years, which is over double the rate of non-mentored businesses. It’s hard to deny the fact that mentors clearly help mentees maneuver through their respective fields quite efficiently. More Knowledge  When you have a mentor, one of the advantages that you have is that you have access to someone that understands which information is crucial to know. Consequently, they can help you understand your industry and think about it in a new way. While no one can “learn” information for you mentors can point you into the right direction, and tell you what areas you might want to look into. Mentors also understand that learning is a lifelong journey, and can encourage you to continually learn more so that you can become more successful.

6 Ways to Spice Up Your Corporate Event

6 Ways to Spice Up Your Corporate Event Whether you’re planning a staff retreat, an awards ceremony or mandatory employee training, there is a plethora of ways that you can make your corporate function more enjoyable. Although the phrase ‘corporate event’ may cause some to roll their eyes, you can make the process exciting by utilizing some handy tricks. So your next function isn’t a drag, we’ve put together 6 ways that you can spice up your next corporate event. Theme A great way to get everyone on the same page at a corporate function is to incorporate a theme. This can either be relating to the formal proceedings, such as ‘teamwork’, or it can be a fun theme not relevant to the activities, such as a Hawaiian theme. With the former, you could center the activities specifically around the theme ‘teamwork’, getting attendees to do group exercises and games that involve working in a group, as well as having presentations centered around the importance of teamwork. For the latter, this could be as simple and as fun as requiring everyone to wear a Hawaiian shirt. This can add an air of fun and help people to let their guards down. Interesting canapes People love food, especially free food! If you have some sustenance in the form of delicious and interesting canapes floating around your corporate event, not only will this satiate your attendees, it will give them something to talk about! Try to serve canapes that can be easily eaten and handled, and that won’t cause too much wastage and hence clean up afterwards. Photo booth There’s no better way for people to simultaneously bond and let their hair down, than to have a photo booth available. People love the chance to pose for a photo, and this experience is emphasized as they can take a tangible memory of the function home with them! A photo booth, like the ones available from Life’s A Flash, also promotes awareness about the corporate event, as people will share their photos long after the event has finished. Exciting speaker A great way to pep up everyone’s spirits is to hire an engaging and entertaining speaker. Think about enlisting someone with an interesting background, who can provide both a knowledgeable and humorous presentation, engaging the audience and keeping the function’s momentum strong. Freebies As aforementioned, it’s a well known fact that people love free things. What’s more, if these free things come in the form of a clever promotional product, not only are you pleasing your attendees, but you’re spreading the word of your business! Think about a cost-effective free gift, such as a small gift bag, that involves useful items that guests are definitely going to use. Games A great way to break up the monotony of speeches and other formal proceedings at a corporate event is to incorporate games. These can be in the form of getting-to-know-you games, or simple exercises to consolidate knowledge that has been communicated throughout the function. Slot games in periodically throughout the event, to regularly rejuvenate and revitalize your audience. So next time you’re thinking about hosting a corporate event, don’t bore your attendees! If the people at your function aren’t stimulated and entertained, there isn’t much point holding a function in the first place. Stick to these 6 helpful tips to spice up your next corporate event! Image Source; Image Source; Image Source

Job Search Success Starts With Resume Build Up

Job Search Success Starts With Resume Build UpResume build up is one of the most important parts of your job search. Building a great resume that will attract employers will be easier if you take the time to learn how to write a good resume. When you get it all together, you can be certain that you have a very strong resume that you can show off to recruiters.There are several techniques that you can use to make your resume stand out. You can try to write your resume from scratch or use an existing sample. In both cases, you have to know what kind of resume to send out. This way, you can select the best format to go with.One of the best ways to give your resume a boost is to make it the best it can be. You need to practice on different samples before you submit your resume to job hunters. You can use examples that you have taken and made your own resume on paper. Write down all the information that you want to include in your resume. When you have everything in your head, write it do wn on paper or in your head to avoid errors.By doing this, you will get some samples to work with, which will help you learn how to write a better resume. Once you find a format that works well for you, then start writing it. The more samples you have, the better chance you have to write your own resume. Another thing that will help you make your resume even better is to learn from others' mistakes so that you don't repeat them yourself.Using a resume builder will help you with your resume. It is a free service that will give you sample resumes for free. This can be helpful for you to practice and improve on your resume. You will also be able to see what you might want to include on your resume.Remember that your resume will be the first thing that recruiters see when they see your resume. It is your first contact with a company. This is why it is imperative that you make it impressive. If you do not have anything good to say about your job skills, don't say anything at all. Just le ave the recruiter with a rough idea of your abilities.One of the most important pieces of writing a resume is the introduction. Here, you will show off your strengths and weaknesses. You need to convince the recruiter that you will be the right person for the job. You also need to show them that you have the qualities that will help them in their business.You need to realize that you have bad habits when it comes to your writing style. Recruiters are used to being contacted by candidates that don't have anything positive to say about themselves. You can't afford to break this habit. Before you send out your resume, you need to think carefully about how it looks. Then, you will know how to write a good resume.

Protect Your Privacy and Reputation On Social Media

Protect Your Privacy and Reputation On Social Media What are you doing to protect your privacy and reputation on social media? See where you rank in comparison to social media users and what you can do to improve your reputation and enhance your privacy. What steps or precautions do you take to ensure your social media profiles reflect the best information about you? Whether you are actively or passively job hunting, your reputation on social media is being assessed. So, in order to gain attention and stand out (for the right reasons), carefully consider what you share on social media. Lets look JDPs findings from How Job Seekers Curate Their Social Presence. By the way, JDP provides employee background screenings and their study surveyed 2,007 US workers in July 2019. As you look at the findings, I hope you will be thinking of new ways highlight your positive attributes and successes where ever you are active on social media. Social Media Is Used By Employers Recruiters The survey reports that 84% of users believe social media regularly impacts hiring decisions. They are correct. In fact, in 2018, a CareerBuilder report found that 70% of recruiters use social media to evaluate candidates. And of those recruiters, 57% found content that caused them not to hire candidates. Youre not alone if you think this is an invasion of your privacy. 50% of the JPN respondents also said they didnt think employers should be able to look at candidates social media. However, the reality is, your information is out there. So you have several choices. Clean it up Use social media to your advantage Lock it down But heres the rub. 47% of HR/recruiters say that if they cant find a job candidate online, they are less likely to call that person in for an interview, according to that CareerBuilder study. Privacy Settings ON 43% enable privacy settings to keep material hidden from current employers and future social media screenings. TIP: The majority of social media users do not adjust their privacy settings. Become familiar with settings, be very aware of what you share and know who is in your network. Google Yourself 46% searched for their names in Google, Bing or some other search engine which resulted in their hiding incriminating social media posts. TIP: Recruiters/HR will search for your name too, so take proactive steps to clean up what theyll find, especially on page 1 of search results. For more help, check out  Job Seeker: Get On Page One Actions Taken For Privacy In order to keep your private life private what do you do? Here are several steps the study points out: 50% removed old profiles or posts to protect professional reputation And 66% were more likely to do so on Facebook 1 out of 3 refuse to connect with co-workers on social media Social Media Platforms Considered Private When asked which social media platforms users thought should be off-limits to employers (aka private) this shows that Facebook is in top place. Facebook 45% Twitter 35% Reddit 33% Instagram 28% Personal website 27% YouTube 16% LinkedIn 9% And as a result, some found a work-around. 27% created an alias Facebook profile. Self Promotion Social media platforms help get the word out about you. And little self-promotion never hurt. 25% actively present themselves to attract employers by liking, posting, or following industry-relevant material And which social media platforms do they choose to self-promote/engage on? LinkedIn 32% Facebook 26% Twitter 19% Instagram 16% YouTube 6% TIP: If you havent thought about engaging with industry profiles/material or target company updates, this would be an easy way to stand out since so few users take this approach. INFOGRAPHIC How Job Seekers Curate Their Social Presence Heres the infographic recreated to summarize JPNs study. Social media hiring statistics 2019 by JDP

Proof You Need to Figure Out Social

Proof You Need to Figure Out Social For those of you who remember when job search simply required opening up the huge help wanted section in the newspaper- remember how frustrated you felt when you had to look for work on the job boards? Todays Sunday help wanted section is almost non-existent.   The transition from newspaper to online job postings was a shock and something you had to adjust to. But now, you need to learn new ways to find jobs. If youve been knocking social media or at least hesitant to figure it out, you may face a similar shock when you find out that 92% of companies either have or will be using social networks to recruit. This is according to Jobvites most recent study. Many thanks to John Zappes post on ERE.net which drew my attention to Jobvites study back in 2011!   Heres the link:   More Employers Than Ever Recruit on Social Networks If you are already on Facebook, learn how to use it and lock it down! Heres how recruiters are using Facebook for job search. But if you arent on Facebook yet, just focus on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is, by far, the best tool to connect with people professionally.   As you can see from the Jobvite survey, 87% of companies are using it to recruit new hires.   (And not always necessarily in the overt form of job postings!) Stop putting it off.   Start today building your online professional network so you wont feel left out or left behind.