Transparent employee expectations A recent Gallup survey reports that 50% of employees don’t know what their manager expects of them. Question, what percent of managers know what their employees expect of them? Our guess less than 50% resulting in the high percentage of disengaged employees and turnover. As an employee you can influence this by being [...]
Asking for and questions during a performance discussion with your manager The facts are that managers are busy and don’t relish performance discussions. Harry Levinson past Professor, Harvard University and Director of the Levinson Institute boldly states: “Coaching and counselling is the most uncomfortable, avoided and mishandled of all managerial responsibilities.” Gallup found that only half [...]
Background checks An annual survey of human resource professionals in the U.S. found that nearly 90% of employers check applicants’ criminal records, 13% check their credit, 24% verify educations, 37% check driving records and 6% check social media. (The HR Research Institute operates as HR.com’s research arm)
What is your biggest weakness? This is a popular interview question and one interviewees are advised to be prepared to answer. Unfortunately the answer is usually given with a positive spin: “I am a perfectionist” or “I am too forgiving of others faults” or “I am a workaholic” etc., etc., etc. None of these get to [...]
Six Degree of Separation If there is any doubt about the value of your contacts in identifying and putting you in touch with the hiring person at your targeted organization, consider: Researchers analyzed 30 billion Microsoft Messenger instant messages sent among 180 million people from around the world. They concluded that any two people are, on [...]
Networking: The Other Half We’re all familiar with networking either through social networking sites like Linkedin or through people we know on a local level. Developing and managing your contacts is best when it is part of a daily routine, not when it is used all at once and must carry the burden of a hurry-up [...]
Lost your job—history holds some important lessons and solutions In these rough economic times many find themselves facing a new experience—unemployed and at a loss for what to do. Three books were written during the Great Depression of the 30’s to address this very problem*. The central solution for the unemployed is being able to articulate [...]
Don’t hide behind your computer screen With the increase in the number of people seeking re-employment the press and media have spotlighted a number of personal stories. Inevitability when asked by the reporter, “What are you doing to find a job?” The response is sending our resumes and searching on-line job sites. With our Texting, Internet [...]
Embracing Career Change Older workers and retirees are changing careers and finding less stress and greater satisfaction. AARP followed workers over-50 for more than a decade to study career changes and find out how they fared. In all, 91 percent of the study group said they enjoyed their new jobs, a significant bump up from 79 [...]
Are paper resumes passé? The NPR June 17, 2009 Morning Edition segment asserts that the paper resume is laughably passé, at least in some circles. Not having a profile on the social networking site LinkedIn is, for some employers, not only a major liability but a sign that the candidate is horribly out of touch. For [...]
