Saturday, May 30, 2020

How Advanced is Employee Advocacy Nowadays

How Advanced is Employee Advocacy Nowadays As long as  the  war on talent rages on and technology advances, employee advocacy will remain a piping  hot topic.  Its level of  maturity is growing  every day. What is its current state, and how  do you tap into the power of an engaged workforce on social media?  To find out, Ive had a chat with Ed Terpening of Altimeter Group who has recently completed  extensive research in  the employee advocacy  space. Listen to the interview on iTunes, SoundCloud or keep reading for a summary. What results  do brands expect when they invest in employee advocacy? Basically the most popular was engaging customers. So 45% of brands said, Were doing this because we want our employees to engage with customers through further reach, through answering questions perhaps, by getting more brand page followers, by getting product ideas and feedback, so that sort of thing. The other was engaging their own employees. If you look at the research on how engaged or disengaged employees are today, the numbers are pretty dismal. So theres a very small percentage of employees that report that theyre truly engaged in their work. The  third was a direct financial return. So this would include social selling for example, looking for an ROI in terms of campaigns and product offers that might go through employees, that sort of thing. Would you say social selling is part of employee advocacy? Yes, it is. Its kind of a subset of it. And Charlene Li, our principal analyst, is looking at social selling as well because, especially on the B2B side, if you think about social, its all about relationship building. And that direct connection that a salesperson can make to a possible client or a prospect is really important, and its shifting away from golf games to LinkedIn and other social and online platforms. So it is a subset of that. Its a little different obviously but it is part of the mix. How do employee posts compare to social advertising? What we found was that the click through rates for example on social posts are extremely high, compared to ads. Now the question Im concerned about as well long term is that if employee advocacy becomes very, very widespread, consumers might start to tune out these posts just as they do ads over time. So well see, were early in the process, but so far the results that consumers have told us, that they like, share, that they click into the brands website are very, very encouraging. What motivates employees to advocate on social? There are three things that we looked at. We looked at direct benefit to the employee themselves. We looked at what benefits the brand and then we look for shared benefits. And thankfully and I think good news for brands is that the shared benefits were the most popular motivators among employees. So for example the most important that came up in our research was, I believe my employers mission and want to promote what they do. So 57% of employees said that thats why they share content.  The second most popular was, I believe in our products and want to share my experience. And whats interesting though too I have to say is that when we look at the research and whos actually advocating, and 77% are manager and above. What type of networks do you see brands using for internal/external social success? The scenario that we see most often is using an internal social network like IBM Connections or Lithium or Jive. And so when I say internal social network, its almost a replacement for the intranets of the 90s. So rather than having SharePoint and Outlook and that sort of thing, brands like TD Bank, and ATT, and IBM, they really focus on the next generation of communications which is by using social tools. Where do employees share  employee advocacy updates? According to yours  studies, Facebook is in the lead. I think that reflects the fact that theres still a pretty small percentage of employees who are using formalised sharing programs, who are using a tool thats provided by their employer. So I can tell you for example, Im using a tool like that, Im using VoiceStorm, and I dont even have an option to share something on Facebook. The options I have are LinkedIn and Twitter because theyre more business focused. So I think when you look at the Facebook numbers which is 86% of employees said that they share there, I think thats more of the organic sharing. So its sharing daily posts about work and what its like, what theyre doing it work, events, that sort of thing. So I think thats probably why its so much higher. I think once more formalised tools are in place you may see a jump in LinkedIn as one of the platforms. Employees 2X more likely to share #EmployeeAdvocacy posts on @facebook over @LinkedIn https://t.co/u2cwbAKAnD pic.twitter.com/94OwtiYN76 Ed Terpening (@EdTerpening) May 11, 2016 How  do social media users respond to  employee advocacy updates turning up in their feeds? Well first of all, the one very interesting finding was that the vast majority of consumers that saw these posts didnt even think of them as employee advocacy posts. And thats why I describe in the report that this is sort of the new native advertising of social if you will, because its a very natural looking. Now again a lot of these employees are posting outside of an official capacity. So that plays into it. But we found that again, the response rate from consumers was pretty high. They find job postings useful, they find product promotions useful, they click through to these things, they find that they better understand the brand that their friend works for which is always good for brand health obviously. So the response is pretty good.  I think the one area of caution was defriending, and we did find that 20% of consumers will unfriend a connection based on posts about work. Should employee advocacy updates carry  a specific label for transparency? Yes, absolutely. In fact ATT is a good example. Even when someone in PR tweets on behalf of the brand and they share information from the brand, they use #attemp; or #attemployee depending on how much room they have. And so what theyre trying to do is obviously be transparent in identifying the fact that they are an employee. And also they want to meet the regulatory requirements at least within the U.S. that requires that if you have a relationship with an employer or the employer is paying you in some way, that you have to disclose that. More on this topic at  Employee Advocacy: The Ultimate Handbook.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

How to Write a Great Summary For Resume

How to Write a Great Summary For ResumeWriting a great summary for resume can be a chore. It is time consuming and requires commitment and effort on your part. If you are good at something, you can easily do it but if you're not an experienced writer, that takes work as well.Here are some tips to make sure you will be able to write a great summary for resume. These will make the job much easier to do by ensuring you will be able to write a great summary for resume.First, you need to make sure that you learn how to organize your writing. This is very important especially if you're going to be putting something together in a hurry. Organizing your information will help you avoid any problems you might encounter when you're writing a summary for resume. Don't put all the things that you will put on your resume at the beginning of your writing.Secondly, you need to start your summary for resume with a strong objective. This will be the point where you will tell readers what you are writi ng about. Most people will skim through your resume, but if you want them to read more, they must read your objectives. Remember that the objective should be your main reason for writing a summary for resume.Third, when you write a summary for resume, always include all the required information. Some people tend to forget that a summary is a piece of writing that can take some time to finish. By not including all the needed information, you are not giving readers enough information. By including all the information, you will be able to give them more information that you think they will want to know. Make sure that you will include all the necessary information in the summary for resume.Fourth, if you find yourself having trouble writing a summary for resume, ask yourself whether or not you need to revise your summary. Rescuing a draft is not difficult at all. All you need to do is to ask yourself if you're still confident about writing the summary for resume. If you still think tha t you still have doubts, take it back to the original draft and go over it again. You will know if you still need to revise your summary for resume once you're done with the first draft.Fifth, write your summary for resume by writing out every idea first. When you think that you have an idea in mind, write it down first. This will make you avoid confusion and make you able to take your summary for resume to the next level.These are some tips that will help you write a great summary for resume. They will make your work a lot easier and help you write a great summary for resume.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Whats the Worst Interview Question to Ask

Whats the Worst Interview Question to Ask Youve probably experienced plenty of job interviews in your time, and whilst you may have prepped yourself as much as possible, there is always that one question you hated being asked. In fact, you hated it that much that now that the shoe is on the other foot you probably avoid asking that question yourself when you are recruiting. Our panel of 10 recruiting experts share their thoughts on what they think is the worst interview question to ask Leela Srinivasan Any question that begins with, “How would you…?” is subjective and not based in reality. If you ask a candidate a hypothetical question, their answer is necessarily made up, and you risk hiring the person who knows what the answer should be rather than the person with the experience to do the job. Much better is starting with ‘Tell me about a time when…’, then probing deeper to understand how the candidate handled the situation and their role in driving impact. In other words, behavioural interviewing for the win :). Leela Srinivasan, Chief Marketing Officer at Lever. Amy Volas Do you have kids? Are you pregnant? Are you in a relationship?   What do you think about todays political climate?   If you were on an island and had to escape and you didnt have tools, food or water, what would you do and how long would it take you? Amy Volas is  Chieftain of Avenue Talent Partners. Lars Schmidt Where do you want to be in 5 years? Its irrelevant to the current interview, and an obvious stock question. Cmon, youre better than that. Show some creativity! Lars Schmidt  is the Founder of Amplify. Chad MacRae What’s your biggest weakness? People just make things up. It’s important to be self-aware, there are other ways to ask that question. Otherwise, you’ll get canned responses. Instead, you might ask: What skill do you feel like you’re still missing? Chad MacRae is the Founder of Recruiting Social. Stacy Zapar I think everyones tired of your greatest weakness by now. Most answers are pretty canned and uninformative anyway. There are different ways to ask that question and get more meaningful responses. Perhaps ask about an area of opportunity in a past review and what steps they took to improve and how it all turned out. ?Much better than hearing Im a perfectionist again and again. Stacy is the Founder of Tenfold The Talent Agency. John Feldmann Interview questions are like a stock investment portfolio â€" diversification is key. Asking too many of any one type of question most likely will not provide the adequate information required to identify a successful employee. Generic “tell me about yourself” questions, behavioral “tell me about a time when…” questions, Google-type brain-teaser questions â€" which are the worst? Limiting the interview process to only one type of question instead of incorporating them all â€" that would be the worst. John Feldmann  is a writer for Insperity Recruiting Services. Erin Wilson Rather than pick specific questions I would say the worst interview questions come from ad hoc interviewing practices. It’s amazing how many companies just wing it. The go through the trouble of lining up 5-6 people or in other words $500-600 of time spent interviewing one person on site. Would you ever spend that kind of money without putting one second of thought into it? I expect to see hiring teams partner with their talent teams to co-design thoughtful processes down to the question showcased by models and an overall interview architecture. Erin Wilson  is Founder and Talent Engineer at Hirepool.io Maren Hogan “Tell me about yourself.” Not only is this an awkwardly, broad question, many people ask this question. You want to ask those curveball questions that generate interesting responses. Especially with our ability to source social media, asking candidates to describe themselves during the interview is an empty question. Ask impactful questions like: what do you do best? Who inspires you and why? What are your expectations? What motivates you to come to work every day? These speak volumes. Maren Hogan is CEO and Founder of Red Branch Media. Craig Fisher What is your current or most recent salary?.   Why?   In the U.S. women earn, on average, 79% of what their male counterparts earn.   One of the few ways to break that cycle is to stop requiring salary history to dictate what a job will pay an applicant.   Ask salary expectations if you must.   But a job should pay an equitable wage, period. Craig Fisher is  Head of Employer Brand, CA Technologies, and Allegis Global Solutions. Will Staney The worst question to ask someone is “What is your biggest weakness?” You’re never going to get an honest answer during an interview. It’s almost setting the interviewee up to lie on your first meeting, setting a precedence that you very well don’t want to set early on. Let the candidate reveal their character early on or by asking other questions and not with silly questions like this one. Will is the  Founder Principal Consultant at Proactive Talent Strategies.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Designing Your Workday

Designing Your Workday Embed from Getty Images This post was inspired by a Fast Company article authored by Thomas Davies. Thomas Davies is a director of  Google for Work  and a smart guy when it comes to time management. In his Fast Company article, in fact, he disdains the idea of time management. “..because managing time starts from the premise that your workload is going to be what its going to be, and the best you can do is keep it manageable  he writes. Davies proposes that you take charge of your schedule by transforming the way you think about the work you do. His designer theory of time takes the tasks you do during a typical work week and sorts them into four quadrants. They can be named and comprise anything you want, but you only get four. He believes that this approach gets you into a strategic mindset, up a notch from your tactical thinking. “Planning helps you think critically about which projects will have the greatest positive impact, instead of just coping with everything that comes your way.” Davies’ quadrants include: People development (managing my teams, coaching, mentoring) Business operations (data analysis, running sales meetings) Transactional tasks (one-off things like responding to an email or reviewing a budget) Representative tasks (serving as a face for the business, like having drinks with customers or speaking at conferences) Following his lead, my four quadrants are: Connecting with people (mentoring and training at work, representing my company to the public, staying connected to my network) Administrative tasks (reports, purchasing, billing and other tasks that keep my operation running) Creative input (reading, learning, skill building and deep thinking) Creative output (planning, brainstorming, writing, and producing other kinds of content) Davies writes that once you take a look at your recent to-do lists and categorize them, you’ll get a high level view of what your work days and weeks really consist of.   You’ll automatically assign value to each quadrant, and some will be ranked higher value than others. I get paid for producing content, so Quadrant 4 activities are what pay the bills and are therefore my highest priority. That makes creative input also critical to my success, since it keeps the pipeline full. You’ll also realize that some tasks energize you and others, no matter how important they are, bring your energy down. For me, that’s the administrative work. It’s important, but it doesn’t stimulate me at all. I try to do these tasks in a weekly block when I’m feeling organized but not very creative. Spending too much time in a day on this quadrant will impair my energy for creative tasks, so I keep this quadrant tightly fenced. On the other hand, connecting with people energizes me, so I make sure to set several meetings a week in between the difficult (and rewarding) creative work. In my conversations with other people, I try out new ideas, gain insight on what people think, and get closer to the issues that matter to my readers and stakeholders. Designing your work week allows you to balance your activities and be deliberate about where you invest your time. You will find that you spend more time on things that matter and can say no to lower value activities with a clean conscience. Try out this system and let me know how it goes. Block out your calendar for performing these tasks and color code your activities for a month. See if the results surprise you. Sometimes, simply bringing attention to what you do can help you make positive changes and prevent burnout.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Resume Examples For Writing Proposals and Bid

Resume Examples For Writing Proposals and BidWriting and editing are common tasks in resumes for writing examples for writing proposals and bids are also very important. Most employers prefer resumes that are ready to be filed. However, they have an option to let the applicant fill out a proposal and bid and then wait for a response. This is sometimes necessary when you want to apply for the job position, but you do not have the time to send in all the information.References should be included if you are unable to find them yourself. A resume and a cover letter are the first two documents that you should include on your application. Be sure to indicate where you obtained the references. The goal of the information on your resume and the details about the reference should be to highlight your skills and experience. The information that you put on your cover letter and in your resume will determine whether or not you are being called for an interview.You should always get references fo r all aspects of your job. Your references will let you know if the employer wants to contact you for an interview, so make sure that you have enough references on your resume and in your covering letter.When writing and editing your resume and cover letters, resume examples for writing proposals and bid are very helpful. You can read examples of resumes from different sources and then use these examples to create your own resume. The samples will show you how to format your cover letter and how to highlight the most relevant information on your resume. There are some ways in which you can format your letter to make it stand out.One example of writing and editing resumes is to format the introduction as the first part of the letter. This gives your reader a reason to continue reading your resume. If you start your letter with a bold statement, a subject line and a summary of your objective, your reader will be encouraged to continue.Another way to format your resume examples for wri ting proposals and bid is to use bullet points to separate information. All information that is required to be included on your resume should be placed within bullet points. If information is required on your resume that is not required on your application, be sure to list it in a separate section. When looking for examples of resumes for writing proposals and bid, you will find that the examples that you have are the same resumes but edited in different ways.When you have chosen your information, you should be able to read it from left to right. To make this easier, you should take the time to review the information and compare it to your resume. If you find errors, do not hesitate to remove them. The key is to organize your information and be sure that you explain your qualifications clearly.By using the examples of writing samples for writing proposals and bid, you will be able to rewrite your own resume for writing proposals and bid. It is important to ensure that the cover lett er, which you will send along with your resume, contains all the necessary information that is needed for a successful interview. It is also important to check the grammar and punctuation on your resume before you submit it to your prospective employer.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

7 things youd better do if you want to get promoted - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

7 things youd better do if you want to get promoted Henry Ford ‘Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.’ Promotions are earned because you have demonstrated that you are able to perform at the next level and not JUST because its your turn. Find out seven steps to power your way to that promotion: 1. Know where you’re going. If you want promotion you need a clear goal of where you want to be promoted to in some companies you could be promoted to a job where you are doing the same work for more money. Here I am talking about a promotion into a higher position with new responsibilities, therefore you need to set out a targeted plan in getting there. 2. Research the new position. When you have targeted the job you are looking to do, the next stage is to understand what the role involves, the skill sets you already own which are suitable for the role and which skills you need to develop. 3. Create a development plan. If you have a supportive manager, their agreement and support of your objectives is invaluable. Develop a plan based on step 2 and allow them to review it. More often than not your line manager will have an outside perspective of your skills and make suggestions on the areas of improvement. You will then be able to go forward with your plan in greater detail. Before you go to your boss make sure that you have thought through your actions, your reasoning behind your objectives and why your skills are suitable for the job. 4. Be proactive and develop opportunities. Make sure your superior knows that you are available and interested in any promotions that come up. If the opportunity presents itself, demonstrate that you can take on more responsibilities by volunteering to fill in or share the workload for a person in your targeted position. This will help you to learn new skills and show your line management your potential. 5. Dont drop the ball with your current position. Remember you still have a job that is important to your company, taking on new duties and not performing in your day to day job does not help your position. Be aware that without performing in a way that meets or exceeds expectations, you should not expect to gain a promotion for your work. That means that you may need to put in some additional hours to prove your worth. 6. Review your plan with feedback A plan is only of value if you measure your development against your goals. Review this along with line management feedback to see how you are progressing. Your performance review should show that you have mastered the work that you are currently responsible for and that you are ready to take on more responsibility.If you are not moving forward look for what is blocking your development and how can you overcome this. 7. Allow your plan to develop Life rarely stands still, sometimes you will need to change your plan when circumstances change. Your boss may leave or the company may go through restructuring. If you are aware of this when you start, it will be easier to make the necessary adjustment. Keep your eye on the goal and when the business changes, look at that event as an opportunity. Every change gives you a chance to solve problems and let management know just how indispensable you are. If there is one message I would want to leave you with it’s this: Ultimately the path to success is in your hands! GOOD LUCK!

Friday, May 8, 2020

An Introduction To The Blue Ocean Strategy - CareerAlley

An Introduction To The Blue Ocean Strategy - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. The importance of business strategy simply cannot be underestimated. Without strategic direction, you are essentially operating without vision. Strategy is the basis for everything your company does as it generates a context for all operating decisions. It offers guidance in everything from company structure and priority of initiatives, to the position of marketing and the skills needed by your employees. Strategy is the basis for everything your company does as it generates a context for all operating decisions. Tweet This Blue Ocean Strategy Blue ocean strategy is one that is being embraced by many organisations and strategy consultants. Other strategies are heavily focused on contending with your competition in the industry, whilst those who implement blue ocean thinking compete against no one but themselves. https://pixabay.com/photos/entrepreneur-startup-start-up-man-593358/ Before delving into the mechanics of this strategy, its important to acknowledge where it derives from. Blue ocean strategy is a theory offered by Renee Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim. This book was published in 2005. Red Ocean Strategy It presents businesses with an alternative strategy for red ocean thinking. Red ocean strategy involves basing your decisions on your competition, i.e. looking for ways to fight against them for a share of the marketplace. However, W. Chan Kim and Renee Maulborgne believe that organisations will not succeed by battling against one and other. Professionals like James Arthur Ray have carved success by focusing on themselves and not others. Instead, they state that the key to success is by systematically creating blue oceans of uncontested market space ripe for growth. By operating in this manner, competition becomes irrelevant. Implementing To implement a blue ocean strategic direction, one of the most important things you need to do is create a new value curve for your business. How do you achieve this? The authors recommended using a Four Actions Framework to break the trade-off between low cost and differentiation. To paraphrase the 7 Ps, an old British military adage: Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Pretty Poor Performance (you can probably guess which word has been changed). It isnt just a useful philosophy for military planning. It works with everything you can imagine: work, planning a holiday, poker and a job interview. Firstly, you must deal with raise and reduction. You need to determine what factors you should raise high above the standard in your industry, yet you must also decide what factors you are going to lower well below the standard in your industry. Secondly, you need to deal with creation and elimination. Decipher what factors to eliminate that the industry has long competed with. Moreover, determine what factors to create that the industry has never offered. This gives you the framework you need to find uncontested market space. source Nonetheless, answering these questions is no easy task. You need to assess each and every facet of what the industry competes on. This is why seeking the help of expert strategy consultants comes highly recommended. You need consultants who can guide your leadership team through blue ocean thinking and can effectively implement this type of strategy. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search