The interview is winding down. It was a good conversation. Then - “So Tim, any last questions?” You’re in a high-stakes interview, and your inclination is to be agreeable: “Nope, I’m all set!” But that could be a mistake. The opportunity to ask one last question isn’t just good etiquette; it may be a test. The interviewer wants to find out if you’ve [...]
"Calm down. Try to relax and focus going into this interview." That's pretty common advice given to many job seekers. Turns out, that may not be good advice. Anyone who has spent any time in athletics knows that the sensations experienced by anxiety and excitement are almost identical. This is why I've always coached my candidates to realize this and turn their anxiety [...]
Want to know what people hate the most about the companies they work for? Trust me, YOU DO — if you want to hang onto your talent. According to a Pew Research Center of 2,003 working Americans, workers were less satisfied with their jobs today than a little over two decades ago. In 1989, 43 percent of workers 50 & older said they [...]
Just how important is #HR in 2022 and beyond? HR used to be seen as more or less an administrative function within organizations, but a few things have conspired to change this. First, the pandemic made the job of HR departments incredibly important in order to regroup, reorient, retrain and relocate teams. Then, the talent crunch got even crunchier, and the competition to [...]
There are two types of people: full-service diehards and self-checkout enthusiasts. But if you've been to the grocery store lately, you've maybe noticed more self-checkout than ever. You've got the labor shortage to thank (or complain about, as most shoppers seem to be of the full-service mindset). Self-checkout use has doubled since the pandemic's start and made up 30% of all grocery transactions [...]
“What new worker shortage?” This is the question you might get from a typical small business owner when asked how they’re coping with the sudden lack of candidates for open jobs. For a lot of these companies, it’s ALWAYS been hard to hire. So what can bigger businesses learn from small businesses who’ve had to be scrappy in the fact of hiring shortages? [...]
So - where have all the manners gone? There used to be a certain decorum to the job hunt. It involved cover letters with respectable fonts and graciously crafted thank-you notes, or at least emails. Some hiring managers I speak with bemoan the loss of these little formalities among the candidates they see, while others don’t think they were ever important, to begin [...]
Here’s a list of the most commonly misspelled words on resumes, according to the Guardian: ✖️ Experienced ✖️ Successful ✖️ Counselled ✖️ Professional ✖️ Responsible ✖️ Behaviour ✖️ Judgement Of course, the Guardian is a British publication, which means if you spell “behavior” as “behaviour,” you’re either outing yourself as British — or you’re misspelling the word. Same thing for counselled (British) vs counseled (American). And there’s an argument to be [...]
“The office should be a magnet, not a mandate.” This is a terrific quote delivered by Pegasystems CEO Alan Trefler, whose approach to getting employees back to the office is about attraction, not compulsion. For Trefler, it all comes down to culture, which is why he works so closely with his Chief People Officer, Katherine Parente. The two talk daily to make decisions [...]
There’s yet another way a person can get scammed online these days, and that’s by applying for a job. Online recruiting scams typically lead a job seeker to believe they’re landing the job of their dreams – but with a little catch: they have to purchase their own equipment and get “reimbursed” later. Later never comes, and the equipment they purchased turns out [...]