3 Reasons Cultural Fit is Important in the Workplace

3 Reasons Cultural Fit is Important in the Workplace It is often said that firms want to recruit people with the right attitude and work ethic rather than just a glowing CV. While knowledge of the job is essential, key skills can be learned in-house, particularly at a junior level. But how easy is it to find someone who is the right cultural fit for your business? It comes down to building relationships. Imagine a workplace where the most experienced team members are approaching retirement age? Now imagine if at the same time a cohort of 30-somethings, have reached the point where they are leaving for pastures? As well as losing key skills, an employer will also be faced with finding replacements for those who not only upheld the company ethos, but also played a role in shaping it. 1. Invest in hiring for the long game When it comes to new appointments, employers are now going to great lengths to find someone who is a good cultural fit. Many candidates look ideal on paper, but only a handful will be capable of integrating with the team and working to achieve the business’ objectives. Get it wrong and in all likelihood, the new starter will resign after six months, leaving managers with the headache, not to mention cost, of filling the role again. This is one of the reasons why recruitment consultants should play the long game, taking time to nurture relationships with their clients and uncover what really makes their candidate tick. All too often, chasing a quick win leads to people being placed in an unsuitable position, and this one of the main reasons why talent pipe-lining using psychometric assessments is so valuable. 2. Focusing on softer skills The process is designed to highlight a person’s soft skills so that a prospective employer can make a judgement before interviewing them. Assessments can show, for example, how proactive someone is, whether they are supportive towards others and how well they respond to training. An added benefit is that it also breaks down the idea that cultural fit should be based on factors like qualifications or work experience, and focuses on values and capabilities instead. For employers, the results of psychometrics often form the basis for the interview itself and they can ask questions to gauge whether a candidate’s outlook is aligned with that of the company. The interview is an opportunity to see how someone interacts with others, and whether they can respond well under pressure â€" and it is the recruiter’s job to ensure that only those who display the desired behaviours reach the next stage. 3. Establishing the values Interviews are, of course, the time when employers can really find out whether someone is a good match for their team. Hobbies and personal interests are usually a good indicator of personality, for example, if someone talks about their voluntary work, chances are they are friendly and work well with others. Similarly, a keen sports player may demonstrate the resilience and teamwork needed to drive a department forward. Certainly within our own team at Macildowie, we embrace the values that sports foster, including delivering under pressure and being the best you can be. Finding the right cultural fit is one of the best ways of reducing staff turnover, however a long recruitment process is not always possible. Faced with a skills gap left by experienced team members, employers may need to take on a person who can simply ‘do the job’ in the short-term, even if they do not stay. In these cases, it’s also worth thinking about whether a temp or interim candidate could be a better option. Inevitably, employers need to balance the operational and financial needs of the business, and may not always have the luxury of spending many weeks conducting interviews. This is why recruitment consultants should always have a thorough grasp of what a client needs, and ensure they find a candidate who will not only fit in but also possess the tools to be a long-term success. About the Author: James Taylor is the managing director of recruitment consultancy Macildowie.

My 12-year-old son just told me hes gay. How can I help him

My 12-year-old son just told me hes gay. How can I help him Thats the phrase I searched last December. All the time. A month earlier he said to me and my older son, I have an announcement to make to the family. [Pause for dramatic effect.] Im gay. My older son said, What the fuck! I knew it! Melissa called it! I said, Youre gay? He said, Are you surprised? I said, No. Im not. The first person we called is Melissa. She said, Oh. Didnt we already know that? When he was six he asked me if people kiss each others penises. When he was eight he asked where people put their penises if its two boys. When he was ten he started wearing makeup. I was surprised to hear he had not been sure. I figured not much would change. Outside of where we used to live, in very rural Wisconsin, I didnt think I knew anyone who would care one way or the other if someone is gay. He told his best friend, and she said, Thats fine. I dont care if you are gay or straight or whatever. Youre the same person to me. I stopped her mom the next day and relayed the conversation. I said, Her response was perfect. Thank you so much for raising a kid like that. At another friends house he announced hes gay at the dinner table. The dad said, Congratulations! I never would have known to say congratulations, but what a lovely thing to say. I texted the dad to thank him. Everyone he told was supportive except for one adult. My son said, I have something to say. Its big news. And its important: Im gay. She said, Are you sure? Are you just saying this to get attention? Its hard for me to even write this. My stomach gets tight and my eyes water. I can remember my son looking over at me, and I knew I had to say something. I said, That is not a good response. I had no idea what else to say. Even now, I dont know what to write. She said more things, to defend her comment. Which made the situation worse. But I learned something from my son after that. He knew it was a terrible response and that she was showing that something is wrong with her, not him. He made an eloquent speech to me about people expressing themselves through their discomforts. I said, Where do you learn this stuff? And it turns out hes been watching YouTube videos about coming out for months. He prepared himself so well. But then one night a few weeks later he called me into his bedroom. He was crying. He said, Im scared of being different. How did I not notice that? I hugged him. He said, I dont wanna to be an outcast. I felt so stupid for thinking everything would be fine. Of course he wants to fit in. Hes a joiner. Hes a rule follower. He always wants to make everyone feel comfortable. I started noticing more. He plays basketball on two local teams and a travel team, and he had always been the fun goofy kid. But now he was a wreck at basketball. He looked like what Id expect twelve-year-old boy to look like in a roomful of girls. Even though it makes sense, its so striking to see the opposite happen. I had never thought of that. And all his best friends are girls. So he is around lots of girls a lot of the time. But there was a party that was mostly girls and they played truth or dare and one of them dared him to kiss her he didnt want to. So  he announced to the whole party that hes  gay. And the girl still wanted to kiss him. So he did it. And when he told me this he said, It was terrible and I didnt know what to do. I started searching again, trying to figure out what to do. Almost everything online was  places for kids to go whose parents dont support them. Then I  found a place in Philadelphia that had stuff every day of the week after school for LGBTQ kids: The Attic Youth Center. I knew it was a big deal to go because my son said to his older brother, Will you come with? I dont want to go alone. He said, No! Im not going, Im not gay! I said, You are going to support your brother. The three of us walked in. I paused. The kids were SO  gay. Like, get-beaten-up-at-school  gay. I had never seen such young kids being so obviously  gay. My son did not pause at all, so I followed. One kid introduced himself immediately. Then another. Another kid said hed give  a tour. Other kids joined the tour. They offered him snacks. My son motioned to me and his brother to get lost, and then they all disappeared. Thirty minutes went by. Forty-five. He came back glowing. Self-confident like I had never seen him before. Then he asked me if we could go to a cupcake shop: To celebrate! He gushed about how great the kids were. He said he felt so comfortable, and understood. He said, They walk and talk like me, and they care about what I care about. He said they asked him what his preferred pronoun is. Really? I said, Do you have a pronoun? I didnt even know what a pronoun is. But they told me. So now I know my pronouns are he and him. While he was telling his stories he had way more affect than I had ever seen him have. The visit to The Attic freed him, and I hadnt even known he needed freeing. He wanted to go back the next day. So we did. But as soon as we got there they told us he is too young to be there. The laws in Pennsylvania say he has to be 14. That was a very bad day. I got the name of a therapist from a friend of a friend. My son said no. Just go once, I told him. From her my son learned how to tell girls he doesnt want to kiss them. But he also learned that its okay to want to kiss them. Everything is okay if it feels okay. From the therapist I learned that everything I know is outdated. For example, Im pretty sure kids dont come out anymore, because its too binary. And youll change when you get older is a disrespectful response because we can know our sexual preference for right now and thats all that matters. I learned that kids are coming out younger and younger because, as said, Being gay is not about sexuality its an outlook. What?! Thats what I said when she told me that. And she said to my son, I can understand why that doesnt make sense to your mom. Does it make sense to you? My son said, Yes. Now my son goes to the therapist alone. Once every week. He told some basketball players, and nothing changed. Just as he hoped. And this morning he said, Mom, you should write a post. I dont care who knows Im gay. And maybe itll help someone. I worried about telling his story poorly. But actually, Im telling you my story, of finding out my son is gay. And the story will change. Because thats what stories do. Other people have learned the infinite versions of one life lived from stories by Mark Twain or interviews with Susanna Kaysen. From writing resumes, I have learned that the idea of one, true story is a myth. A resume is only one snapshot of your life, and you actually have infinite ways to tell the story of your work. The best story writers realize that no matter if the story is true or not, its a real story for the writer.  That relieves an author of pressure to tell the true story or the right story. And the best resume writers realize that what you leave out may change the arc of the story but does not make it untrue. I have left so much out of this story. More will come later, when it matters, perhaps. Other characters will emerge. Some will feel not so important. But for now, this is the story of how to have a son who comes out at 12 years old. How to help him. And how to leave a story behind for another mother to add to when she is searching like I did.

Being a Smooth Operator - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Being a Smooth Operator - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Happy Valentines Day, and I hope everybody is having a great 2009! What better day than today to discuss what it means to be a smooth operator. What is a smooth operator? To be a smooth operator means youre able to handle situations with ease, no matter how complex the situation is.   It doesnt matter whether youre talking about dating, navigating a difficult situation in the office, or getting off the hook when youve gotten in some sort of trouble. I remember working for my first manager out of college at Dell, where he prided himself on being able to negotiate free car washes and great deals on his car.   He was also a great salesman.   He was confident, made people feel good, and wasnt the least bit arrogant. He was a smooth operator.   He was able to get what he wanted, but he did it by also helping people get what they want. Being a smooth operator requires you to develop your empathy skills.   You need to have an understanding of what peoples goals and motives are and understand how to play to those needs. Do they need to be heard?   Do they need to feel wanted or important? Be brutally honest to build trust and confidence Its one of the lessons that has been the most beneficial for me in my lifetime.   Being brutally honest builds trust and confidence.     Its also the right way to start being a smooth operator.   By being remarkably honest about your intentions and goals, it becomes incredibly easy to get other people to do the same, and once you can align your goals with someone, you can start to share a story.   This is incredibly powerful and something that comes in handy as youre trying to get your goals accomplished, but it starts with honesty and selfless actions. Its my honest opinion that by being honest, you bring out the best side of yourself. You bring out a more confident and more charismatic self that is able to navigate social straits in ways you might not have thought possible. Remember to keep an eye on other peoples goals.     What are they trying to accomplish? What is the output they are trying to achieve, and what emotion makes them most satisfied?   A smooth operator makes people feel good, confident, and balances that without being arrogant. Author: Adam Salamon is Partnerships Director at Bazaarvoice, Inc., blogs about social media, entrepreneurship, and pop culture. Follow him on Twitter for daily updates.

Guest Post How to Write the Ultimate Resume

Guest Post How to Write the Ultimate  Resume This guest post courtesy of London-based Inspiring Interns.com Your resume is the crucial first step to getting your desired graduate job. As a graduate in a competitive job market, you need to be thinking about how you can make your job applications stand out. Here are our five tips: Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ym4mPf9-TLtXBJxVTdQgUg',sig:'_RNyd6YjyZ29ryHI86ie0QIK0lBPruRb4qfGcbhLnIk=',w:'380px',h:'253px',items:'187512765',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Make sure your resume is relevant to the roles you’re applying for. Essential information like your degree, university and work experience should be instantly accessible to the reader. A recruiter could look at your resume for a matter of seconds, so the information needs to be clear and easy to locate. There is no specific rule determining which should come first on your resume: experience or education. Consider which facts are most relevant. As a recent graduate, it’s likely that you will want to draw attention to your degree over your experience. However, if you do have relevant work experience, this needs to be brought to the reader’s attention. For example, if you did a humanities degree but are looking to get into marketing and have previous experience in CMS or social media management; your experience is more relevant so should feature above your degree. If you have done an internship as part of your degree, you should highlight this also. Don’t just write a list, expl ain the skills you have learnt and developed as a result. Personality In order to stand out from the crowd it’s important to express personality in your applications. Use your resume as a platform to showcase your skills â€" whether that’s creating an infographic rather than a traditional RESUME as a graphic design graduate, or adding links to articles you’ve had published as an aspiring content creator. Avoid generic statements about being a “team player” with “good communication skills” and focus on facts you can support. For example if you were a volunteer or member of a university society, you can demonstrate how you honed these skills. Also emphasise successes you’ve had, using numbers where possible to describe your achievements. By how much did you exceed your targets? How many hits did your blog accumulate? Avoid errors It seems simple enough to avoid basic errors in your resume, from spelling mistakes to poor grammar, but it can be easy to overlook. Triple check yourself and then send it to a parent or a friend to have them check it for you. One mistake could mean you don’t reach the interview stage, if your lack of attention to detail fails to back up those claims of “excellent written and spoken English”. Keep paragraphs short and text succinct. Beginning paragraphs with action words like “Presented to” rather than “I presented” gets straight to the point and avoids overuse of “I”. Bullet points can help break down information and make it easy for the reader to digest. Clean up your layout and format A clean, simple layout with each section clearly labelled is ideal. The use of links to websites, online portfolios, blogs or previous projects is welcomed by employers and increasingly popular as graduates look to build up a strong online presence. A resume longer than two pages is unnecessary, particularly if you are a recent graduate with limited experience. Save your document as a Word or PDF file, and remember to change the title each time you edit your resume. Avoid saving it as anything generic like ‘RESUME for internship applications’. Start with your name and contact details, followed by a short personal statement. Keep your experience and qualifications towards the beginning of the document and interests and achievements towards the end. Although less significant, your interests and achievements shouldn’t be overlooked. Highlight your passions and personal attributes, whether they set you apart from other candidates or offer a conversation starter in an interview. A company is looking to find a match for their culture and values, as much as they are keen to find the right skills. Consider a video resume Finally, consider going digital. Check out Inspiring Interns â€" the pioneers of video resumesâ€" to find out more about filming a video resume  and how it can boost your employability. For further information please contact Catherine Moolenschot at catherine@inspiringinterns.com

7 Essential Skillsets You Need to Master in the Digital World CareerMetis.com

7 Essential Skillsets You Need to Master in the Digital World Technology is advancing so rapidly that automated machineswill replace roughly 5 million jobs in the next year. Artificial intelligence will make some of our decisions, and self-driving cars will one day change the way we travel.Some of this is maybe in the distant future, but other changes are right on our doorstep, so it’s important to stay relevant. This is particularly the case if you are a business owner that wants to advance a brand or a worker that needs to remain employed.evalWith just a laptop or smartphone and an internet connection, there isn’t much of a limit to what you can accomplish if you have the right knowledge and skills.Here are 7 essential skill sets that you’ll need to master if you want to find success in today’s digital world.1) SEO SEMevalIt shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that SEO and SEM are at the top of this list. Despite some statements to the contrary, SEO and SEM are far from dead. It’s just as important today as it ever was.If you’ re not sure, consider these statistics:93% of every online experience begins with a search engine.39% of all customers come from search.Instead of trying to game the system, which worked in the past and will only hurt your efforts now, it’s more important than ever to understand Google’s search algorithm.While this isn’t disclosed, you can separate yourself from the pack by keeping up with the rapidly changing landscape of SEO/SEM, which continues to evolve.Here are a few places where you can learn the fundamentals of SEO/SEMMozAhrefsSEMRush academy2) Email MarketingevalEmail marketing is still incredibly important to online success.Sure, “email blindness” has become a thing, but the specialists that have learned how to get consumers to open emails and take action will be invaluable.Writing emails that convert isn’t easy, but a company that has the list is missing a golden opportunity if it doesn’t take advantage of it by communicating with those customers. You’ll ne ed to develop the skills to define your campaign, test it, execute it, and measure its effectiveness.How can you be more effective with email marketing?evalYou can master one of the popular email marketing toolsavailable to help increase the effectiveness of your email campaign. Or, you can include the social sharing button in your email.One statistic shows that emails with social sharing buttons increase click-through rates by as much as 158%. So, this skill can not only boost conversions but also help a company grow its social media following.3) Building an Online PresenceAnother valuable skill that you can use to advance your business or career is building an online presence. Earlier, we just outlined some jarring statistics showing that people are overwhelming searching for goods and services online. If a company isn’t listed online, it is throwing away a golden opportunity for additional revenue.An online presence generally begins with a business website. Getting a website up and running might sound overwhelming, but it has become easier with content management systems Not sure where to go for this type of training? Fortunately, there are several online sources for just about any type of training you might need.These include:UdemyTeachableTutorvistaeval5) Photo Video EditingBasic photo and video editing skills are a must in this day and age. If you need digital media edited for your business, you can save a bundle by doing this yourself instead of having to hire out the task.Maybe your boss asks you to edit a photo or video as part of your job, and it would be a good idea if you didn’t have to spend hours learning it first.Beyond this, visual marketing has taken the internet by storm in recent years. Consumers are now more likely to stop and read an infographic or watch a video than they are to spend time reading your blog post. The right type of video can help boost your website’s search engine rankings. Further, over 80% of consumersare more like ly to buy a product after seeing it detailed in a video.evalA mixture of content is the way to go, so it’s vital that you know how to create and edit engaging photos and videos. Check out those tutorial websites mentioned above for courses on any of these topics.6) Social MediaIn addition to knowing about content and websites, you’ll come out on top if you build skills handling the most powerful marketing medium in the world â€" social media. These platforms have been growing faster than the internet itself over the past several years, and this growth is expected to continue.Roughly one-third of the planet’s population is on some type of social media platform. While many companies want to use social media for marketing, some aren’t aware of its power, and most have no idea where to start.Consider this â€" 78% of small businessesnow get at least a quarter of their new customers from social media, and 35% of Americanscheck brand pages regularly on social media.The key to reach ing people on social media is not only learning how to post the right content but also when to post it and how to “listen” for valuable feedback from customers that can help you improve your business. You can learn this digital marketing skillthrough training or hands-on experience.7) Data/AnalyticsIf you’re going to do anything in the digital world, particularly things that you expect people to respond to, you’ll need to learn how to measure your results. A useful skill to have is knowing how to set up and read analytics.All of the other skills we’ve listed are valuable, but you’ll be working with one hand tied behind your back without analytics. This is a powerful skill that allows you to track your campaigns, see what is working and what isn’t, and make adjustments.Those online learning resources we listed earlier can be tapped to learn how to use analytics and make the most of them on social media, Google, an email marketing campaign, and a website.ConclusionWhethe r your goal is to market your business or make a living by marketing someone else’s, these are all essential skills in a digital world. The bar hasn’t necessarily been raised; it’s just in a different place than it was a few years ago.Fortunately, there are plenty of online resourcesthat can help get and keep you up to speed on these different skill sets.

The Best Gift for the Holidays

The Best Gift for the Holidays This holiday season, wouldn’t it be great if you could find the perfect gift for everyone on your list? Often, we think of gifts in terms of things. The latest gadget, a new sweater, maybe even cold hard cash. Sometimes we move on to experiences that can be shared, like taking someone to dinner or on a dream vacation. But the most valuable gift you can give isn’t a thing or even a special experience. Instead, it’s a gift that helps fulfill a basic human need. The Need to Belong Human beings need to feel we belong and that others care about us. We need to feel connected, accepted and part of the “tribe”. Back in prehistoric days, to be kicked out of the tribe was essentially being left to die. Our need to belong is as basic as sunshine and water are for plants to flourish. A key part of feeling like you belong is how much attention you receive. Back in elementary school, it’s how you knew which kid was the teacher’s favorite. The same goes for the office, everyone’s aware of who the boss talks to most and what that means for their career prospects. And this is also true at home. The Best Gift This is why the best gift you can give someone is your attention. Especially your complete and undivided attention. When you give someone your attention, you build trust, connection and relationship. And it’s your network of relationships that lead to great opportunities, including ones that you haven’t even thought of or expected. The great thing is it doesn’t cost you anything to pay attention to someone. It’s completely in your control and there’s a good chance you’ll even enjoy the interaction. Like watching your team member grow in confidence during your mentoring conversation or seeing the joy in a child’s face as they tell you about their latest adventure. Who Needs Your Attention While your attention doesn’t come with a price tag, it’s also not unlimited. So when it comes to paying attention to people, you’ll want to be thoughtful. For most of us, there are two kinds of people who are most in need of attention. The first kind are the people you’re taking for granted. You’re likely to be on top of your clients (which could be internal or external), your boss and anyone else who’s part of your lifeline for producing the results that get you paid, promoted and recognized. It’s the rest of your ecosystem that’s most likely to need your attention. People like your family, your team and “behind-the-scenes” support staff who are easily taken for granted, yet crucial for your happiness and success. The second is yourself and your needs. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably a hard-working high achiever who’s dedicated to excellence. That means you’re likely to sacrifice your own needs to deliver on your responsibilities. In other words, you’re probably taking yourself and your needs for granted. Whether it’s your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual needs (or all of the above) you’ve been putting off, this lack of attention to yourself will ultimately limit your progress and even keep you from achieving your aspirations. This was a hard lesson for me to learn, and it took my own burnout experience to realize that ignoring my own needs was a terrible strategy. So pay attention to your own needs â€" that’s how you’ll build your capacity to perform in the longer term and live the wonderful life you deserve. Pay attention to your own needs to perform in the longer term and live the wonderful life you deserve. Give Without Expectation The gift of genuine attention is not one you can buy. It must be freely given without expectation of anything in return. So if you haven’t been giving people (or yourself) attention for a while, remember that it’s about building trust, connection and relationship. It’s not a “give and get” transaction. Just make a start and keep going. It will all come good in the end. Just make a start and keep going. It will all come good in the end. Now it’s over to you. Who will you give the gift of your attention to this holiday season? Leave me a comment â€" I’d love to know. And remember, you can give this gift more than once, and to more than just one person! As part of paying attention to your needs when it comes to your career, I invite you to join Career Masteryâ„¢ Kickstart Summit 2020, my free online summit that helps you get your career off to a great start in the New Year.

How to Increase Your Executive Job Search Momentum

How to Increase Your Executive Job Search Momentum Having positive momentum in anything you do is motivating. The great thing about this is people get motivated in different ways, so there’s no right or wrong way to accomplish it. When it comes to an executive job search, if you aren’t moving in a positive direction every day then you could fall behind and find yourself in a hole. But how do you keep positive momentum without experiencing burnout? Various strategies through LinkedIn profile development, networking, c-level personal branding and more can help keep you engaged and moving in the right direction. Plant Seeds And Continue Moving Forward One way to keep momentum going is to not spend too much time on any given action. For example, you may research a company you’re interested in, find out who the hiring manager is and send them your resume. Don’t sit around and wait for a response because you may not get one right away, if at all. Instead, consider that one seed being planted and then move on to the next company you’re interested in. Or better yet, focus on improving your online c-level personal branding in the meantime. The more time you spend being idle, the higher the likelihood of you losing valuable momentum in your job search. Set Short-Term Goals Along Your Journey Many people stay motivated by making short-term checklists of tasks they want to accomplish. You should still have an ultimate end goal to strive for, but the short-term goals are designed to keep you engaged and active on your journey. This could mean visiting an executive resume writing service to boost your resume, attending a networking event or working on your LinkedIn profile development. The more short-term goals you can check off your list, the more engaged you’ll be throughout the process. Never Stop Building Your Brand Every action you take online or in person is a reflection of your brand. When you’re focused on enhancing your c-level personal branding, you can get creative in the ways you do so. Consider creating original content to post to your blog or LinkedIn profile, engaging with connections, commenting on other original posts and more. You never know who will come across your name online, so making sure your brand appears how you want it to is essential. At Professional Resume Services, we understand the challenges every executive faces during a job search. Our executive resume writing service helps develop resumes and brainstorms different strategies with job seekers. Momentum is important, but you have to also be careful with burnout. Sometimes taking a day off and clearing your mind can help you refocus your efforts and move forward positively. For more tips like these, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time.