Why You Should Ask What Do You Do in Your Spare Time

Why You Should Ask What Do You Do in Your Spare Time As the interviewer or recruiter during a job interview, it’s your job to use all the questions at your disposal in order to determine whether the candidate is right for the job or not. As we all know, a person’s skills and abilities, no matter how impressive (or unimpressive) they may be, are just part of what makes a person tick. And when you hire someone, you’re not just acquiring whatever that person can bring to the table, you’re hiring a real person with strengths and weaknesses that will inevitably affect how they perform. Don’t be afraid to get personal According to Peter Bregman of Bregman Partners, getting a bit personal with the candidate is a great way to gain valuable insight. As Bregman explains, candidates who engage in non-work related activities that are somehow aligned with what they do at work are probably really good at what they do. For instance, a manager or supervisor who’s also highly active in their local community’s programs is more likely to be great at dealing with people. An art director who also takes on commissions for personalized artworks already has some idea of how to interpret and direct client wants and needs. A salesperson who also regularly wins and loses in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments is most likely not afraid of adverse competition. Of course, just because a person has hobbies somewhat related to the job they’re applying for, doesn’t automatically mean that they’re perfect for the job. However, it is an indicator of what the candidate can be capable of both on a regular basis and in case they need to go above and beyond the call of duty. Getting personal is mutually beneficial Asking the candidate what they do in their free time isn’t just for the company, it’s for the prospect as well. Getting at least a little bit personal is a good way to see whether or not the candidate fits well with the company and vice versa. By looking beyond the person’s resume, you’re not just gaining insight on how the candidate applies their skills outside of work, you’re also asking for a peek at the candidate’s personal drive and motivation. While this may seem too personal for a job interview, it’s actually essential if you want to create an open and empowered office culture. What motivates the candidate? Will these motivations and non-work hobbies affect how the candidate views and executes their job? Try to find the answers to these questions as well when you’re getting personal with an interviewee. Just don’t forget: Beware of the legalities possibly attached to personal questions In certain parts of the world, asking personal questions is not something that’s advised by HR during interviews. This is because anything personal revealed by the interviewer might open the door to legal action should you decide not to hire them. What if you didn’t hire them because they had revealed that they were religious, transgendered, or involved with a particular political organization or belief? Unfortunately, this is a very real risk that comes with asking to peek into a candidate’s personal life. A good way around this is to just ask personal questions that are relevant to the job and the company. For instance, if it’s a sales position, inquire about what other products or services the candidate sells on their free time. Only delve into religious and/or political territory if your company is itself religious and/or political, otherwise, such personal inquiries might be unnecessary and can only open the doors to litigious action. If your company offers free services like gym access or yoga classes during non-working hours, it would of course be safe to ask them if they’re interested. A good barometer of whether your questions are still appropriate is to never veer too far from the nature of the job being applied for. Instead of asking open-ended questions after the candidate’s initial answer, ask questions that reveal more about personal skills and abilities. Be prepared for any answer You asked the question so be ready to get your answers. We often worry about the candidate’s mindset during job interviews, but what about the interviewer? As the face of the company, it’s your job to remain composed and professional no matter how good or bad the interview goes. Make sure you’re ready for anything. Get a good night’s sleep, stay hydrated, don’t drink too much coffee, and do your best to keep your inquiries relevant. About the author:  If Peter Mutuc isn’t sculpting, writing, editing, drawing, skating, cycling, wrestling with his Labrador, or actively regulating his sleeping patterns through at least 150 minutes of weekly exercise, he’s usually just online, creating and developing web content for www.onebed.com.au.

Great Ways to Improve Your Chances of Getting Hired With a Great Resume

Great Ways to Improve Your Chances of Getting Hired With a Great ResumeIf you are looking for ways to improve your chances of getting hired, writing a good resume is vital. You must first understand that a resume is not as simple as putting your name, your contact information and a few college degrees together in order to sell yourself. This is where the resume basics come into play. By learning the fundamentals, you will be well on your way to writing a resume that looks professional.Your resume must include your skills, knowledge, education, and most importantly, your current employment history. Once you have these, you will then be able to put them together into a resume that can stand out. The potential employer is going to want to see the real you, not just an employer of some person with one degree.In today's world, many people are going to need to find a job. One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to know the types of jobs that are available to you. There are c ertain fields that require more education than others. Knowing this will help you give you the edge you need in order to get hired.Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to employment background is your current situation. Is your current position secure? Are you at a point where you know your current job is the only one you can expect to have? Knowing these things will allow you to customize your resume accordingly.Knowing your education background is very important when it comes to creating a good resume. There are many qualifications that will be required of you in order to get hired. This is why knowing your education background is so important. Not only will this allow you to customize your resume for different positions, but it will also help you land those jobs!Writing a good resume is not something that you can do in a day. It will take you some time to learn how to make your resume look professional. However, after you have mastered this, there is no reason for you to g o back and try to learn anything else.As you become more successful in your career, you may even be able to learn new skills and abilities that will make your resume look even better. It is always nice to be able to build your resume up from nothing. So, if you are looking for ways to improve your chances of getting hired, look no further than learning the basics of resume writing. There is no better way to reach the top of your career.If you think about it, you should already know a lot about resume basics. So, what are you waiting for?

Stop Fire Fighting A Primer On Proactive Business

Stop Fire Fighting A Primer On Proactive Business Your business needs to be proactive for many reasons, not least that it can help to minimize losses, maximum profit, and assist your company in being much more successful more quickly. To that end, we have come up with a quick guide on how to stop fighting fires and start proactively running your business. Read on to find out more. Do use SWOT analysis when planning. Planning is always an essential part of a making any business decisions and moving forward with your company. However, the right plan is necessary if you are going to be proactive rather than reactive. In particular, the SWOT analysis model can help here. The reason the SWOT model works so well is that the T stands for threats, something that you most definitely have to consider if you are going to be proactive. After all, if you have sat down to think about what the possible issue and problems could be, as well as ways to deal with them should the worst happen, you can spring right into action when you get even an inkling that things could be going that way. Something that is the essence of proactivity and that could save your business a great deal of money. Don’t be passive. Next, a genuinely proactive business will need to embrace an active search for customers and markets instead of expecting them to come to them. This is because you can have the best product in the world, but if you are too passive and dont let the world know about your brand, you wont achieve enough revenue to make your business sustainable. With that in mind, it is critical to ensure that you embrace a modern and proactive marketing strategy. Something you can read more about in the post here. Do make sure your IT systems are up to scratch. Picture here Also, do not forget that to be proactive your IT systems need to be up to scratch as well. In fact, having a reliable and specialized system that is designed for the field you are in, like this best brewery management software is crucial. This is because such as system will be capable of providing a thorough analysis of all parts of your business including the manufacturing, shipping and sale processes, all things you will need to monitor closely if you wish to achieve genuine proactivity. In fact, by using big data to pinpoint possible problems and bottlenecks before they occur, can take action to resolve them quickly and efficiently Something that means you wont lose money or customers to unexpected difficulties that take ages to fix. Don’t leave things until they become serious issues. Lastly, it is the speed of your reaction that can make all the difference in a proactive company. In fact, the quicker you can respond to a forming problem the more money, time, people hours, and effort you can save. Therefore encouraging a culture of spotting potential issues before they become massive problems is essential and for this, you will need to welcome staff input and suggestions with open arms. In fact, you would be mad not too, especially if they can eliminate issues before they occur and help you to ensure the long-term success of your business.

Is the Stack Ranking Performance System Good for Yahoo

Is the Stack Ranking Performance System Good for Yahoo Marissa Mayer of Yahoo has been taking some heat recently after implementing a stack ranking system to measure employee performance. In this system, managers must rank employee performance along a bell curve and a certain percentage of employees must be ranked as the lowest performers which could lead to termination. Several sources suggest that this is being done in an attempt to clean house and rid the company of poor performers, but its unclear if this system will solve Yahoos talent challenges. The news of the new system comes on the heels of Microsofts announcement that they are retiring the stack ranking system in an effort to deliver innovation and value to customers through more connected engagement across the company. It sounds like stack ranking was not doing wonders on the teamwork or collaboration fronts or for the Microsoft brand for that matter.Many tech companies, including Mayers previous employer, Google, have used the stack ranking system, but the jury is still out on its effectiveness for rewarding and retaining top employees and keeping them motivated.  Even if Mayer can effectively weed out the under performers, there appear to be several unanswered questions and potential landmines ahead for Yahoo. I wonder:What is Yahoos recruitment strategy for sourcing new talent? One could argue that the real problem lies in sourcing practices that brought in the weaker talent to begin with.Will new recruits be measured against their longer-tenured peers beginning on day one and if so, is Yahoo setting them up to be in the bottom quartile by the time they hit their first anniversary?Does the bottom quartile really represent poor performers or were they unfortunately placed in that category because of corporate politics or the managers need to put someone there?Does the bottom quartile at Yahoo represent the equivalent of an A player at another organization? Will other tech companies be waiting in the wings to scoop up what Yahoo let go?Will Yahoo be ab le to create an employer brand strong enough to attract top talent or will prospects be turned off by this new stack ranking system?Will employees take less risks and will innovation suffer because people are more concerned with watching their backs?How will Yahoos HR team navigate the potential employee relations issues around the new system and will they lose their ability to be strategic because they are spending all their time putting out the fires related to the uptick in poor performance reviews?Will Yahoo become more vigilant about giving employees continuous feedback throughout the performance period, so they have an opportunity to improve any performance red flags?Talent management is a complex process and Im not convinced it can be reduced to such a formulaic solutionat least not without some repercussions.

Career Corner Career Advice for College Grads - How to Network With Family and Friends Tip #6 - Hallie Crawford

Career Corner Career Advice for College Grads - How to Network With Family and Friends Tip #6 Career Advice for College Grads Tip #6 Be clear about what youre looking for or wanting from them. It may feel awkward to just come right out and say why you’re contacting someone or networking with them. But it’s ok to be direct while being polite. Let people know that youre seeking information or ideas and be specific so they know what to give you. That way, you won’t be wasting their time and they’ll appreciate it because they’ll know exactly what advice or help they can provide to you. If you want to find out about a certain opportunity or maybe even land an informational interview with them or a fellow company member, just come right out and make this known. Sometimes it can be a challenge to get family members or friends to see you in this new and professional light. This is why you have to be even more up-front about what youd like to happen in your ideal career and how they might be able to help get you started toward that goal. Career Coaching

Top Tips and Techniques When Hiring a Resume Writing Service

Top Tips and Techniques When Hiring a Resume Writing ServiceThe biggest plus of hiring a resume writing service is that they can give you some professional-looking and professional-sounding resume that will work well for your company. This can save you from some hard times in hiring new employees. Therefore, if you are looking for a good resume writer, you should consider these tips and techniques.The most important aspect of a resume is how it looks. An easy way to impress an employer is to make sure that you have composed the resume according to the job requirements of the company you're applying to. For example, if you are applying for a job as a secretary, you need to put in an appearance for this type of position. However, if you're applying for a job as a business manager, you should be very careful when designing your resume.You should think about your career objectives. Make sure that you have prepared a resume that is informative, clear, concise and realistic.While a resume writer can help you generate a job description that is compatible with your personality, you should also think about writing what you would like to say. This can be an advantage since you will have an idea on what you want to say during the interview process.A resume writing service can help you eliminate any errors that may be on the resume. However, you should still have the honesty to tell the truth about your skills, experience and job preferences.A resume writer can help you compile a few topics that should be included in your resume. This can help you make it more interesting, and it will not affect the integrity of your resume because it's just an outline of what you are able to do.Hiring a resume writing service is an excellent option for people who are trying to promote their services. However, you should also remember that most of the resume writers are there to help you achieve your goals, not to screw you over!

Whispered Writing Singing as Extracurricular Activity on Resume Secrets

Whispered Writing Singing as Extracurricular Activity on Resume Secrets The Bizarre Secret of Writing Singing as Extracurricular Activity on Resume There are lots of approaches to create a difference in your neighborhood community. Thus, if you're a slow individual, choosing an activity, which demands a great deal of energy and hours, it may create troubles for you. Remember that there can be plenty of distinct outlets for each interest you've got. The quantity of variety provides options which are more diverse. An interesting collection of extracurricular pursuits and interests might be excellent icebreaker in an interview, so you ought to be ready to take about them in detail. There are myriad choices available to pick from, as an extracurricular activity. For instance, you can work on your extracurricular activity one or two times per week. You may rather not write about any of your activities in your own personal statement, but a lot of schools will request that you su bmit a supplemental essay about an activity of your pick. The Good, the Bad and Writing Singing as Extracurricular Activity on Resume Academic grades aren't the close of the world. Extracurricular activities are a crucial element of your college application, and you must impress colleges with your interests. Extracurricular Activity Definition The extracurricular activities for students are those that aren't included as a component of academics. The Downside Risk of Writing Singing as Extracurricular Activity on Resume Regardless of the kind of your resume opening, it is a fantastic idea to place some numbers there to demonstrate your real effect. You may wind up choosing something which requires attention a couple of times per week. One of the greatest things you can do in order to make your resume stand out is to include things like an internship especially if you're able to land one which is in your favorite field. Please be aware that everything on your resume should hi ghlight how well you're ready for a job which you're applying for. Involvement in extracurricular activities can be a terrific method to acquire the needed experience for the present job industry. Volunteering is an additional activity that offers you marketable employment abilities and permits you to demonstrate areas of work you're passionate about. Extracurricular activities come together with their own expenses too. They require commitments, as these tasks are in addition to the regular schooling days. What Is So Fascinating About Writing Singing as Extracurricular Activity on Resume? Extracurricular activities aren't only a terrific method to demonstrate your interests and individuality, they also prove to recruiters that you've got an array of valuable skills you might apply to their vacancy. If you get a distinctive interest in something which you can't locate a neighborhood group for, think about creating one or join a national group. Instead, adding an achievements ' section stipulates the perfect chance to outline just what you gained from getting involved in extracurricular pursuits. If you've got strong knowledge in a specific area, consider sharing with the on-line community.