Friday, May 29, 2020

When The Layoff Is Not A Curse

When The Layoff Is Not A Curse When people tell me or my wife they got laid off we usually congratulate them. Getting laid off was the push we needed to move on.  We were stuck, and it was unhealthy both physically and mentally.  I wanted to make a change but I was trapped into a steady salary, health insurance, vacation time, etc.  I still had a vision of where the company would go, even though the management and board was hard to work with and didnt support our efforts. I got laid off.  And Ive been able to thrive outside of that job. Heres a story that you should read, ponder and discuss: Lay-off a dream come true. (just go through the simple one question online survey and you can read the whole thing) This is the story about John Bruch. I love how he laughed uncontrollably when he got laid off.  I also love how he totally landed on his feet. Read the story. Could you make lemonade out of lemons, like John did? It helped that he had the tools (and knowledge) and the recipe for creating income.  I bet you can do something similar. When The Layoff Is Not A Curse When people tell me or my wife they got laid off we usually congratulate them. Getting laid off was the push we needed to move on.  We were stuck, and it was unhealthy both physically and mentally.  I wanted to make a change but I was trapped into a steady salary, health insurance, vacation time, etc.  I still had a vision of where the company would go, even though the management and board was hard to work with and didnt support our efforts. I got laid off.  And Ive been able to thrive outside of that job. Heres a story that you should read, ponder and discuss: Lay-off a dream come true. (just go through the simple one question online survey and you can read the whole thing) This is the story about John Bruch. I love how he laughed uncontrollably when he got laid off.  I also love how he totally landed on his feet. Read the story. Could you make lemonade out of lemons, like John did? It helped that he had the tools (and knowledge) and the recipe for creating income.  I bet you can do something similar.

Monday, May 25, 2020

How You Could Be Sabotaging Your Job Search With CV Mistakes

How You Could Be Sabotaging Your Job Search With CV Mistakes So, your CV is ready to send out to recruiters or hiring managers, and you’re poised to take those all-important interview invites. But what happens if you don’t grab their attention? Whilst you shouldn’t beat yourself up about lost opportunities, you should make sure you haven’t accidentally sabotaged your job search with the following CV mistakes. You haven’t proof-read You may have a packed CV, but if it’s littered with spelling mistakes and bad formatting, it won’t perform well overall. Typos are easily made, but easily fixed. To make things easier, consider printing your CV and reading it aloud, rather than staring at a computer screen. Of course, you can enlist friends and family to check it, too â€" a fresh pair of eyes can make a huge difference, plus other people will pick up on the most interesting parts of your CV and the parts that don’t work so well. Preferably, find someone who works in your industry and can tell you if you’ve picked a format that isn’t popular, or you haven’t included enough industry buzzwords. As Lifehacker suggests, ask your friend when they started to skim-read and lose interest in your CV, because it’s likely a recruiter would do the same. You can’t sell your skills and experience This is not the time to generalise; a CV is the opportunity to drill down into specific parts of your career experience and really highlight the achievements and progress you made. Wherever possible, you need to give clear examples and include data to back up your claims, otherwise there’s no proof you’re ‘a hard worker’ or ‘an experienced team leader’. How many big projects did you typically work on? How big was the team you led? Did you win any internal or external awards? The Muse has a useful guide to quantifying your CV statements, even if your job hasn’t involved working with numbers. You don’t add keywords from a job description Replicating keywords from the job description is a no-brainer: you’re subconsciously telling the recruiter you already have the skills and background to fit the role. If you can’t naturally fit the keywords into your CV, you have an early indication you may not be the right candidate. As the Guardian notes, some hiring managers use computer technology called applicant tracking systems (ATS) to sift through CVs, and the computers will search for matching keywords. These could be anything from relevant responsibilities (‘social media manager’, ‘personal assistant’, ‘administrative tasks’ and ‘project management’) to the areas you’ve worked in (‘academic research’, ‘charity fundraising’, or ‘six years’ experience in finance’). It’s not enough to imply you match the requirements â€" spell it out in black and white! You’re not prepared to create a video CV if required Video CVs are becoming more popular, especially for media and marketing-related jobs, so you may be asked to create one as part of your application. It pays to have a rough plan of what you’d do in this situation: which room would you film in (with decent lighting, and nothing distracting in the background)? What would you wear? How could you summarise your skills and experience without reading from a script? Take a look at these real-life video CVs to see what you should be doing. Notice the candidates are well lit and looking straight at the camera â€" it is at the right height for the video. Each candidate has worn smart clothing, they talk at a sensible pace, and they are smiling. A video CV shouldn’t look like a police interview! You must look as approachable as you would in a normal job interview situation. If you’re worried about appearing on camera, set aside time to practice, and ask more confident friends for tips. Now you’ve un-sabotaged your CV, you stand a much better chance of getting a face-to-face interview for your dream job. Polly writes for Inspiring Interns, your source for graduate careers advice, with a  graduate recruitment  agency to help find your next  internship or job. Check out the latest graduate jobs  listings on their website. . Image credit.

Friday, May 22, 2020

How to Spend Your First and Last Moments at Work

How to Spend Your First and Last Moments at Work How important is the first 20 minutes of your work day? How you begin and end each work day actually has a lot of leverage on your productivity levels and performance in the office. Entrepreneurs and business professionals can benefit from starting and ending their work day in a certain way to increase their productivity. Simple tasks such as outlining your daily goals and accomplishing your biggest projects first will allow you to accomplish more than you thought possible. Making subtle changes to your office arrival can also have a positive impact on your work day. For example, did you know that simply staying hydrated has been shown to increase productivity by 14%, but most professionals are not drinking enough water? Taking the initiative to set yourself up for success in the office will not only make you a better employee but also increase your work satisfaction. When you start your work day, take a few minutes to settle in and focus on the tasks at hand. Meditate for a few moments to allow your brain to shift into work mode. Instead of downing a latte or cup of coffee, make an effort to drink more water so you’re hydrated and focused. Create a checklist of all the things you need to accomplish and tackle your biggest projects first. Write encouraging notes on your checklist so you stay motivated throughout the day. How you leave the office is just as important as how you enter it. Save administrative tasks for the end of the day, such as checking emails and sending memos. This will allow you to get your top priorities accomplished before accepting requests from others. Avoid diving into large projects at the end of the day so you leave work with a list full of to-dos in your head. Disable alerts and notifications once you step outside of the office. Allow yourself to disconnect and either pursue passions outside of work or focus on the people you care about most. Fundera has created this helpful infographic detailing 10 ways to spend the first and last minutes of your work day in order to increase your overall performance and satisfaction in the workplace. First 15 Minutes: Prioritize with a list of tasks for the day in order of importance Take a step back to think about the big picture Drink a glass of water in order to stay hydrated Check in with your team with some encouraging words Start attacking your biggest challenges first while your mind is still fresh Last 15 Minutes: Wrap up small projects like sending emails and other administrative tasks Organize your supplies for a fresh start so you can arrive at a clean desk tomorrow Do a brain dump by making notes of things you wish to accomplish the next day Check in with yourself by assessing your high and low moment of the day Disconnect for the evening by muting work-related chats and emails Check out the full infographic here and kickstart your workplace productivity: About the author: Meredith is Editor-in-Chief at Fundera. Specializing in financial advice for small business owners, Meredith is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, AllBusiness and more.

Monday, May 18, 2020

Community Manager Job Description Sample - Algrim.co

Community Manager Job Description Sample - Algrim.co Community Manager Job Description Template Download our job description template in Word or PDF format. Instant download. No email required. Download Template Using Your Template Follow these instructions to use your new job description template Step one: Fill out all details in your job description template using the provided sample on this page. Step two: Customize your requirements or duties to anything special to your workplace. Be sure to speak with team members and managers to gauge what's required of the position. Step three: When the census of the team has agreed on the description of the work, add in a Equal Employment Opportunity statement to the bottom of your job description. Step four: Check with your legal department, management team, and other team members to ensure the job description looks correct before creating a job advertisement. Choose a job board that's specific to your needs.

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Role of Adaptive Learning in Training Employees CareerMetis.com

The Role of Adaptive Learning in Training Employees Adaptive learning is a way to allow learners to learn in the manner most effective for their particular learning type. Every learner learns differently, making it highly improbable that any single educator will be able to address the learning needs of every learner they are educating.Adaptive learning seeks to circumvent this problem through the use of artificial intelligence For example, most corporate training programs are designed to appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners using a written curriculum and applied practices. However, consider these things:What if an auditory learner is subscribed to such a program?What if a dyslexic learner is subscribed to such a program?They will undoubtedly struggle. Imagine, however, that this corporate training program had adjustments written into it for dyslexic or auditory learners.With adaptive learning, learners would begin their training through the use of an eLearning course and based on how they reacted to and performed on training assi gnments, adaptive learning AI would then give learners the visual/kinesthetic, auditory or dyslexia-based model to learn from.Essentially, adaptive learning allows each learner to receive an education specifically tailored to each one’s learning style and needs. Adaptive learning can also group learners with similar learning types together, allowing them to learn collaboratively.Benefits of Adaptive LearningevalAdaptive learning helps in providing focused attention on an individual. Current eLearning methods do fall back when it comes to providing personalized feedback.Adaptive learning technology uses algorithms to accustom itself to the learner needs to be based on the tasks and responses. This, in turn, emulates one-to-one instruction, which is necessary in today’s corporate world.Adaptive learninghelps learners to spend half the amount of time that they take in a standard course if they have a clear understanding of the concepts.evalA “personalized approach” is what help s learners to achieve the same. The important point here is that learners need not go through the content which they are already aware of. Instead, they focus on the content that helps them become more competent. Thereby, helping the employees save humongous time off the floor just for training. Thus, adaptive learning in corporate training helps organizations build better training.Adaptive learning utilizes a confidence-based assessments methodology to test the current understanding of the learners. Learners are asked to answer questions on the content they claim to be confident about. This approach is very useful in knowing what the learners are consciously or unconsciously aware of, and hence is an indirect method of providing personalized feedback and learning.The adaptive learning platform’s ability to track the performance of an employee in his or her “skill” also provides HR managers with a scale of measurement of whether the employee is ready for a promotion. Thus, ada ptive learning in corporate training helps learners advance faster in achieving their goals.Adaptive Learning in Corporate TrainingOne-on-one instruction is highly effective in corporate training, as the instructor can individualize material. Current e-learning tools often cannot provide this type of individualization.evalAdaptive learning technology uses inference algorithms to adapt content to the learning needs of students based on their responses to tasks and questions. In this way, adaptive learning emulates one-on-one instruction.Adaptive learningis the future of employee training. It collects data as employees progress through modules and use that data to personalize goals and training content and techniques, creating an optimal learning path for each employee. The data is then stored and used by training managers to determine the effectiveness of training and change future courses so they better meet the needs of employees.Imagine a world where adaptive learning in corporate training enabled employees to “major” in a specific subject, come across skills they never knew they had, sharpen those skills, and use them to take on more responsibility and earn promotions. This is adaptive learning’s true value.Here’s an example: A reporter could take a course on a specific type of investigative journalism or feature writing and then show through tailored assignments and exercises, tracked via the online learning platform, that he or she obtained at least a beginner’s knowledge in those skills and is ready for the next assignment.The adaptive learning platform’s ability to track of the performance of an employee in his or her “major” provides human resources and managers an objective measurement of whether he or she is now ready for a stretch assignment or a promotion.Just as importantly, the capability to opt for a major develops employees who are more engaged, as they are at least partially self-directing their learning and know that they aren ’t being provided a one-size-fits-all training plan.Adaptive learning also represents a step towards employers taking more responsibility for the future of their staff. Feedback and assessment loops are a significant part of adaptive learning. Becoming efficient at evaluating skills gaps can ensure that learners do not think they know more than they actually do.Adaptive learning can help organizations make sure they are getting their money’s worth in terms of employees’ learning, applicable skills, and essential knowledge. Jan Sramek, the CEO of Erudify, stated in an article for Corporate Compliance Insights that adaptive learning can enable learners to rapidly move through information they know already, cutting the time for training by almost 50 to 80 percent. This saves a lot of money for the organization.In the corporate world, a subset of courses is often required to be taken repeatedly, year after year. Unfortunately, these tend to be dry and uninteresting from a content perspective. Compliance courses are perfect examples, despite them being critical to mitigating material risk to the company.evalNonetheless, when people are forced to review dry content to simply “check the box” that they completed the course, very little learning typically happens, which undermines the original purpose of mitigating risk.“Test-out” strategies allow employees who can prove they know the material to skip the course. But tests are gross approximations of the real world. And what if someone scores say, 90 percent? Are they forced to take the training, wasting their time as they cover the material they already know â€" while hopefully still being engaged when they come to the material they don’t? Or is 90 percent “good enough?” How much risk is associated with the missing 10 percent?Because adaptive learning’s question-based approach involves the learner, even dry material becomes more engaging. It also allows people who are relatively proficient, thank s to taking repeated courses multiple times, to skip over what they’ve already mastered and focused only on what they don’t know.By combining the assessment and the learning content into the adaptive engine, duplication is avoided â€" while remediating unconscious incompetence and the risk associated with it.Adaptive learning takes a question-based approach to learning, probing what the learner already knows and where they have gaps. The result is a large volume of very granular data, which makes it possible to analyze groups’ performance as a whole, in particular areas, or even on specific questions.evalAdaptive learning also keeps track of what people learned, so if training needs to be updated, the course can be modified and made available to learners without worrying about the material being redundant. Equally important, using a question-based approach helps build confidence along with competence as learners gain mastery and become surer of what they know.Interpersonal ski lls are every bit as important as adaptive learning in the workplace. Investing time in learning these skillswill not just make you a better employee, but will also make you a more well-rounded professional. While your time is precious, it’s important that it’s spent learning the things that will help you in your career. With a little brushing up on your interpersonal skills, you may find your workplace very different.ConclusionAdaptive learning solves many e-learning challenges by modeling what each learner knows and continuously, dynamically adapting his or her individual learning path.Adaptive learning has completely transformed the way organizations train their employees. Thus, the adaptive learning approach can enhance training and development programs by enabling employees to learn more, faster.

Monday, May 11, 2020

Want a Marketing Job Then Market Yourself - CareerAlley

Want a Marketing Job Then Market Yourself - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Stay hungry. Stay foolish Steve Jobs Recent advances in cyberspace have facilitated the growth of marketing jobs vacancies like never before. Trying to find a job in any industry can seem like a daunting proposition, one that requires varying degrees of skill, luck and networking ability. Marketing is an area in which your ability to connect to self-promote and promulgate, to make yourself a veritable billboard is especially desirable. Forget a resum; your work history can now be contained within a barcode, along with a photograph and links to your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. Known as QR (Quick Response) codes, these nifty 2D ciphers may well be the future when it comes to marketing recruitment. Advertising yourself using QR codes could set you ahead of the competition, and highlights the sort of creativity that evinces you were made to be a marketeer. In this vein, QR codes need not be dull binary cubes: they can be personalised and varicoloured, and even contain images on the code itself. Moreover, if advertising yourself as a marketing guru, why not link your QR code to your personal blog, or a marketing campaign you had a prominent role in creating? QR codes can be created using a variety of tools such as Googles URL shortener (Goo.gl), but if youre firmly ensconced in Camp Twitter, then marketing careers are similarly just a click away. Showcase your skills by tweeting a video of your PowerPoint presentation that shows exactly why you should be hired is one alternative. Scan marketing recruiters Twitter pages to keep ahead of the creative curve, and retweet their messages to demonstrate a keen interest. Using the web to network your profile has never been easier. While the number of marketing vacancies will fluctuate, as with any industry, creativity and flair are assets that will always be in demand. Link your YouTube page in your Twitter and QR code and create a video resum addressed to the hiring manager whos in your sights. Use technology to your advantage, but dont let it define you: ultimately its you, the person, rather than you, the binary code that will convince an employer of your worth. If youre bereft of ideas and relevant experience, the niftiest gadgets in the world wont be able to hide the gaping holes in your CV. In the fickle world of marketing however, success is dependent upon staying one step ahead of the competition. Use technology to your advantage, but dont sell it to your new employer sell yourself. Brand Republic Jobs specialise in listing the latest advertising jobs, media and digital marketing jobs from direct employers and recruitment agencies. Good luck in your search.

Friday, May 8, 2020

How Many Pages a Resume Should Be?

How Many Pages a Resume Should Be?There are some questions that often arise about the question of how many pages a resume should be. There are some professionals who believe that a resume that is short but well written will work better than one that is too long. There are others who feel that a resume that is too long will be easily lost in the pile of other resumes. Other professionals recommend that it is not necessary to go overboard with how many pages a resume should be.There are many different styles that you can use in your resume and it is up to you to decide which style you want to go with. When it comes to this question, there is not a universal answer. It is really dependent on what type of career you have and whether or not you are looking for a job in the near future.The first question to ask yourself is what you want to get out of the resume. For example, if you are a doctor, then you may want to make sure that you include a photo of you with a caption explaining your s pecialty and information about what type of medical certificate you have earned. In this case, if you listed you with the title 'Cardiologist', you would want to include this in your resume along with a caption stating that you have a Master's degree in Cardiology.One of the major benefits to a resume is that it shows employers what you have done so far in your life. So, if you are an employee, you would want to include your accomplishments in your resume. If you are looking for a job, you should include your skills, education, awards, job responsibilities, and any positions you have held in your career.A resume should also reflect your work experience, education, and any awards you may have received so that you can explain to potential employers what you have done for them. This can help to motivate and persuade employers to hire you over a person who does not have as much information to offer.While there are many companies who will allow you to keep your resume, it is probably bet ter to send it out to everyone you know that you know may be interested in your job. When you send out a resume that has not been reviewed, it may appear as though you are not being truthful about your previous job experience. This can be dangerous for someone that is looking for a job. Some people may see that you are lying and believe that you do not have the qualifications to do the job and will be tempted to call you back and ask you to interview with them.Before you start writing your resume, try to compile some information from friends, relatives, and coworkers about the company that you are applying for so that you can have multiple versions of your resume to send out. You can use a resume editing service to help you compile the information. When you send out copies of your resume, give the resumes that you will be sending to employers to each candidate that you have interviewed. Your cover letter should be carefully written so that it will catch the attention of the person r eading it.When writing your resume, remember that your writing must stand out above all others. Also, you need to write it in such a way that it does not appear obvious that you are applying for a job. If you do not know how many pages a resume should be, then the best place to find out is through a resume writing service.