5 for Friday: Overcoming Workplace Adversity Edition
We run into a lot of stressors in our worklives — annoying co-workers, unreasonable recruiters demanding bosses. and This week’s 5 for Friday rounds up links about overcoming workplace adversity.
- 5 Ways to Overcome Workplace Stress. Toronto Star: “(Multi-tasking is) not something that should be extolled or encouraged. It’s actually a bad habit to get into, and people would be much more productive if they stopped doing it.”
- 5 Interview Red Flags for Employers. About.com: “Have you ever met a candidate who was never responsible for anything that went wrong at work? I have. They’re a sight to behold as they blame coworkers, bosses, a lack of resources, and the lack of skills in their team members for every failure they describe.”
- Surprise! A Job Search Can Build Self-Esteem. Huffington Post: “I know people typically think that engaging in a job search can beat you up and be tough on the ego. But I’m here to say not so! For those in professionally unhealthy situations, it can be an uplifting exercise that helps immensely.”
The post 5 for Friday: Overcoming Workplace Adversity Edition appeared first on MonsterWorking.
How To Write An Effective Job Ad
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to a job listing. If you want to attract the right employees, then you have to view the job ad as a marketing tool rather than merely a help wanted ad.
“A spec should be an advertisement for your company,” says Mark Jaffe, president of Wyatt & Jaffe, the executive search firm. “It should be a net in which you catch the right fish rather than a screen designed to filter out people.”
Often times when companies set out to find talent they use the help wanted ad as a way to discourage unqualified people from applying. They’ll use phrases like “must have” or “minimum requirements” and set specific years of experience. They figure by being very specific they will weed out the under-qualified and speak to the qualified. A few weeks later when the position sits unfilled they wonder what they did wrong.
“If the whole focus is on weeding out the unqualified, it prevents people from applying because they find the job boring,” says Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired. “The ad should emphasize what is in it for the candidate.”
According to recruiters and human resources experts, the person reading the advertisement has to envision doing the job rather than making sure they meet all the qualifications. Instead of focusing on a job title, Pat Sweeney, human resource manager at Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care, says the ad should include four or five active words that describe what the person will actually be doing. If you want somebody that can communicate technical terms then say that, says Sweeney. If you are looking for someone that can teach a new computer program, list the program in the ad. She also says it’s a good idea to stay away from any jargon, which can easily be misinterpreted by job seekers unfamiliar with the terminology.
Before a company can even start to craft a good job posting, it has to first figure out what goal it is trying to achieve by filling the position. According to Jaffe, the company has to ask itself what it wants the new hire to accomplish and how success will be measured. Instead of worrying if the candidate needs to have a VP title or ten years of experience it has to focus on how the objectives will be met. “You don’t want someone with a mechanical engineering background applying for a marketing role, but you also don’t want to eliminate an unlikely candidate that might bring wonderful experience to the table,” says Jaffe. He says the job posting should be like something the job seeker tries on. “‘I like the way I look,’ is what the qualified candidate should be saying,” after reading the spec, he says.
Companies also worry about going afoul of labor laws when writing job ads, and that’s why they list objective criteria like an MBA or five years of experience in their ads. But, according to Adler, if a company is looking for an accountant, stating the person will be in charge of upgrading the accounting system by year end meets the labor law requirements. “Increase sales by 10% is equally objective as five years of sales experience,” says Adler.
Long gone are the days when companies would place help wanted ads in newspapers, which had limited space. In today’s world, all of the postings are found online, which means employers don’t have any space constraints. Because length isn’t an issue, companies also have ample space to make a job posting that isn’t boring. After all, the whole idea behind the ad is to sell the company and the job to the best candidates possible. Because of that, it’s a good idea to put some flair into your ad. When Adler was tasked with finding a controller for a Los Angeles-based company, he made it creative by putting Oscar Winning Controller or Director of Accounting in the headline. In the advertisement instead of saying the candidate needs to have a degree in accounting, 15 years of experience and previous management background, he described the tasks the candidate would be in charge of during the first year. “Companies should emphasize the employee value proposition,” says Adler. “Highlight the work they will be doing and minimize the skills.”
How To Write An Effective Job Ad is a post from: Glassdoor Blog
Related posts:
- Get Noticed: Write A Cover Letter That Makes You Stand Out
- How To Write An A+ Resume
- 5 Tips For An Effective Thank You Note
Changes to Wisestep Job Posting Policies
Attention Recruiters !
We have made a few changes to our Job posting and publishing policies in the last few days based on the feedback from our members. Our Support team has received many complaints about inaccurate and in many cases misleading job posts. Some recruiters were using our Free Job ads for publishing things that were not quite jobs or employment opportunities. We've cleaned up and removed the jobs that did not qualify with our new critieria for posting a job.
Here's a quick guide on what Jobs will not pass through
Jobs that are NOT ALLOWED :
a) Work from home / Virtual worker/ Telecommute jobs or variations of theseb) Commission only jobs
c) Adult companionship seeking jobs.
d) Jobs asking for applicants based on Religion, Age, Gender, Visa status or sponsorship
e) Business or franchisee Job Opportunities. Train and Place Jobs will also not be allowed.
f) Don't mention your email address or Phone Numbers in the Job post
Finally we reserve the right to remove your Job post at our discretion for reasons that may not be mentioned here but that we think may be offensive or unacceptable to our users.We are keen to offer our members a professional and relevant experience in their job seeking experience and we hope that all Recruiters will use as much of our Free Offerings as possible to make their search for Talent easier and faster.
Here's a quick recap of what you can do for FREE ON Wisestep.coma) Unlimited Job Posts
b) Publish your jobs on your Social Network Feeds of Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter
c) One Click Job sharing on upto 50 Linkedin Groups
d) Built in Applicant Tracking System
e) Build your own Jobs page and plug it in to your Website. Convert Passive Visitors to Job Applicants
Do write to us with your feedback on support@wisestepmail.com or share in your thoughts in the commenting section belowThanks for your support
Team Wisestep.com
Recruiter Signups touches 10,000 mark !
We are extremely happy to announce that the total number of Recruiters on Wisestep.com has crossed the 10,000 mark this week. This is a milestone our entire team is very proud of. With your continued support and Feedback we hope to hit much larger numbers in the coming days but now is also the time to take a few moments to cherish this acheivement.
Over the past many months, Wisestep.com has put together a combination of unique Recruitment tools that we hope have tremendously improved their productivity and helped them hire quicker and faster.
As more and more people spend time on Social Media, Recruiters need to use tools that help them reach people where they are most likely to be found. On Social Networks. IF you are not making your jobs visible on Social Media, you are losing out on some easy to get referrals and Job applications.
At Wisestep.com recruitment is inherently Social with Jobs being easily shared on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter (with a few more to follow soon).
We've also added the ability for you to share jobs on
Multiple Linked in Groups with a single click and flag it as a job or as a discussion depdnding on the preferences of the moderator of the group. If you haven't tried this out yet, you are still spending probably an hour doing something that should take less than a couple of minutes.
Some of the enthusiasm with which recruiters use our tools by the number of shares is also visible on our
Recruiter home page.
As we continue to add more cool features that helps you hire faster and makes you look goo, we ask all our users and supporters on supporters to do us a favor: Please don't keep us a secret. Tell all your friends and colleagues about us. Like us on
Facebook!
The Future of Social Recruitment in 2012
Those in the HR industry would agree. 2011 was pretty much the Year of Social Recruitment. Recruiters and Employers ventured into Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, beaming across their jobs, hoping to reach out to the right candidate. Aspiring candidates resorted to commenting on these links and updates trying to catch the eye of the hiring manager.
With all the hype about Social Hiring, we should probably question the sustainability of the whole process. The spatial dimension of social networks are already cluttered with information, from photo updates to endorsement requests. So let's stand back and ask a few questions.
Does job posts and career opportunities get the visibility they deserve?
Does the overabundance of jobs make it, in fact, harder for candidates to find and apply for the right jobs?
Can recruiters and hiring managers find able and qualified candidates from amongst the throng of responses they recieve online?
Does sharing email IDs and Linkedin profiles on an online forum compromise on your privacy?
Most importantly, can social media sustain itself as a viable tool in recruitment and hiring practices without stumbling on its own largesse?
Social recruitment has integrated itself into hiring practices across the world. And there's no denying its value. However, what we need, at the moment, are dedicated career networks which can exist outside of, yet not independent from, the bigger social networks. This is what Wisestep aims to be.
Before we jump into wild and exagerrated assumptions, let us quickly assess how far Wisestep will be able to override the concerns we had shared above.
Visibility of Job Posts
Wisestep is a community of Professionals who share the common goal of furthering their careers. Hence, jobs and business opportunity will get precedence before much else within our network. Jobs posted on Wisestep are listed in a comprehensive Job Search Page, where candidates can look up opportunities that suit their qualifications. They are also published on over 35+ other websites and job aggregators, enhancing their online visibility. Recruiters can further improve their reach by sharing these jobs over their online networks. An easy job share feature allows you to send Job Alerts to individual Contacts, or post them directly on your own Profile. You can even set up a Publisher Settings to manage and track your online publishing.
Job Seekers' Ease of Access
Wisestep is dedicated to connecting Job Seekers and Passive Professionals to job opportunities that suit their professional profile. A faceted Job Search option allows you to narrow down the options and find just the right jobs you were looking for. Wisestep also has an intuitive algoritmh which can automatically suggest the best jobs to suitable candidates. By analysing your career goals and your professional profile, Wisestep will be able to recommend Jobs which match with your career ambitions. We can even recommend Jobs and Career Opportunities your friends will be looking for, allowing you to refer them to the right positions. Finally, even if you're not actively seeking a new job, you can always subscribe to our Job Feeds, or set up Job Alerts, so that you will get great opportunities delivered right in your inbox.
Finding Relevant Candidates
Recruiters unanimously agree that referrals are the best source for high-quality candidates. Wisestep is based on a social referral system, that can take referrals beyond your workplace, into cyberspace. Employers and recruiters can now share their Job Posts with the online Contacts on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. These Contacts can now Refer their friends, who are qualified to take up the job, with a single mouse click. Being part of your professional network, you can be sure that your referrers will just suggest the right candidates to take up jobs with your clientile. The referral scheme runs much deeper. Whenever someone opens a friend's profile on Wisestep, they will find a list of current jobs the person will be qualified for. While this process leads to more referrals, it also helps in pre-screening the candidates even before they are referred. Once you recieve an application, you can now search for the Candidate's profile on Wisestep to get the lowdown on his/her professional history.
The Matter of Privacy
Wisestep exists as a community of professionals outside of other social networks. So, you can always control who views your Profile and what information you share. Recruiters have a separate log in to secure their identity and post jobs for their corporate entity. With Wisestep, you needn't post your phone numbers or email addresses on a public forum – an act fraught with the danger of identity theft. Instead, Job seekers can apply directly to posted Jobs, and submit their CV's through a secure social channel. Recruiters, on the other hand, will be intimated personally of all responses they recieve via their corporate Email Address.
Social recruitment can, and will, sustain itself by transcending its boundaries while building on its specificity of providing hard-wired hiring solutions. That's what we hope to do as well.
For another great year of transformation,
The Wisestep.com Team
A Brand New Wisestep for a Brand New Year
2012 seems like a great year for your career, and we, at Wisestep, are out to do our best to help you out with it.
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new and enhanced version of our User Section for professionals and job seekers. The revamped User Section will help professionals build their career network, search and share job opportunities with greater ease and efficiency.
Over the past year, the Wisestep team had been relentlessly collecting feedback from users and professionals, the world over, on how we can improve performance and user experience. The new User Section reflects our commitment to your professional cause.
The redesign gives the User Section a smoother Web 2.0 look and feel. Bolder headers, crisper content, and a sleek design, makes it easier to navigate and a pleasure to use.
Users can now log into their Wisestep Account directly, or from Facebook or Linkedin. They can also expand their professional clout by bringing in friends and contacts from their social networks, through an easy one-step process.
The new User Section comes with a comprehensive User Profile. You can now add all your career-related information on a single, easy-to-view page. Update your Profile with relevant information to make yourself more attractive to potential contacts, and prospective employers.
Job sharing had always been the cornerstone of the Wisestep experience, and it will remain so. Go through our dedicated Job Search page to get a exhaustive rundown on the latest jobs in the network. Use the Faceted Search option to search for jobs, in a specific industry, company, locality, and lots more. Find just the right jobs you were looking for all along.
Found a career opportunity your friends would love? Referring them is easy, and gets done in a minute. Inform them by Email, or through your online networks. Also, keep an eye on jobs offering Referral Rewards. These jobs, marked out with a yellow tab, will fetch you a cash reward if a friend you suggested does get hired! Wisestep can even suggest the best Job Deals, offering the highest Referral Rewards in your locality on any specific day.
What makes Wisestep better than ever is how it can now search for and suggest just the right jobs for you. Fill in your Career Goals, and get notified whenever we find an opportunity that will help you move ahead in your career. Get recommendations for jobs your friends would love. Or subscribe to job titles you are looking forward to take. It's a lot more simpler with Wisestep.
With close to 100,000 professionals, experts and industry leaders on board, you can be sure you will meet the right people on Wisestep. We, in our small way, will just try to make your career networking an easier task. Log into your Wisestep Account, or Sign Up today, and give it a try.
Hoping to help you build a better career in 2012.
The Wisestep.com Team
How Wisestep Enhances your Employee Referral Program
In recent years, social recruitment has been touted as the most rewarding strategy in hiring circles. This might every well be true. However, over 80 percent of all recruiters still agree that they cover most external hires through candidate referrals. Companies which have an efficient in-house recruitment program regularly report to meet 50 to 75 percent of their hiring requirements through referrals from their employees.
Four-fifths of all HR managers prioritize candidate quality above most other hiring criteria. This makes employee referrals even more significant in the present scenario. Employee Referral Programs (ERP) generate considerable number of high-quality candidates, with greater job awareness and lower turnover rates. In this context, replacing your company's ERP with a full-fledged social recruitment effort is ill-advised and short-sighted. HR managers should, rather, utilize the interconnectivity of social media to complement their Employee Referral Programs.
Even the best-run organizations find it difficult to establish a cohesive Referral Program. Noticably, only a small fraction of the employee base regularly engage in such schemes. The main reasons cited by employees for low participation include:
Low Awareness: Employees are either not aware of job openings in the company, or the presence of a rewarding referral program.
Difficulty in Participation: The referral process is long and time-consuming.
Lack of Transparency: Employees are not informed of the status of their referred candidate during the hiring process.
The concept appears simple enough; but, it's anything but simple to execute a world-class Referral Program. Most corporate referral programs struggle to meet 30 percent of their organizational hires. Any failure to optimize the performance of a tool as efficient and effective as an ERP is a failure nonetheless, even if it generates hires inline with industry averages.
Here's where Wisestep can step into a fray.
Wisestep integrates the userability and permeability of online networks into your company's Employee Referral Program – allowing greater internal participation, and higher number of referrals.
The first step towards a successful corporate Referral Program is through improving awareness among the employees. All job openings in the organization should be displayed in a space easily accessible and visible to all employees. With Wisestep, recruiters can update all their latest job posts to their coworkers by sending over individual emails.
Similarly, all jobs posted on Wisestep will also be displayed on over 30 other job sites and search engines. Recruiters and hiring managers can also share these posts on their online profiles or send them over to individual friends and contacts. Moreover, by adding the Wisestep App on Facebook, all new job opportunities will get displayed on the Jobs Section of the Company's Facebook Page.
Add the Wisestep Careers Page to update the company's website with the newest job openings. The customized Careers Page will automatically reflect all changes you make on Wisestep, helping keep your website up-to-date with the latest job information.
Now, employees can easily find and access all job openings at your organization, even while browsing through Facebook. And with an integrated Social Referral System, referring jobs through Wisestep gets done in a single click.
Social media integration allows job posts on Wisestep to be shared, posted, emailed and retweeted by employees. Each job posts comes with a Share option, and easy Refer and Help link. Employees can now share these jobs on their profiles, or send them over to interested candidates. With a single click, they can also select suitable candidates from their friends list within the online network. The ease of access will help giving your job posts a greater reach, by engaging the interest of a larger fraction of employees.
Wisestep also ensures that the hiring process stays transparent to referrers. Recruiters need not follow up individually to each referrer or candidate throughout the process. Instead, they can select from a list of email templates to be send over to the referrer, for each stage in their candidate's progress. This makes sure that the employee feels important and respected - not ignored and lost - within the hiring process. Greater transparency will lead to higher retention of participation in Referral Programs.
Around four-fifths of employers with a sound ERP offer employees referral bonuses/rewards for successful hires. These cash incentives, usually paid out after the selected candidate completes a pre-defined probation period at the company, helps in improving participation and a healthy competition amongst employees.
Jobs on Wisestep can also be labelled with referral rewards. These jobs can again be shared over social media, leading to a greater number of applications. Any click-backs leading to a hired candidate can later be rewarded as advertised. Wisestep intuitive Applicant Tracking System will keep track of all referrals, referred links and ensuing applications.
It is important to realize that while referral programs are probably the best in talent acquisition, most efforts end up in mediocrity. A few simple steps, and Recruiter's Account on Wisestep, can transform yours to a potent world-class corporate referral program.
