These days the average recruiter gets over 100 responses per day, per ad. The majority of us utilize software, that provides a keyword match percentage  for every respondent. By increasing the number of keywords on your resume that match keywords in the ad, you can dramatically increase your keyword match. If the ad lists a mandatory qualification for a specific certificate, degree or area of expertise, you want to be certain that your resume reflects that. Paying attention to keyword matches is critical to success in applying to online job ads.

Also, make sure to customize your Objective based on the job you are applying to. When we receive an application from someone that says in their stated Objective that they desire to join a stable, well-established company and they are applying to a start-up, it does not bode well. Either they did not do their research on the company, or even worse, what they are looking for does not match the job we are looking to fill.

• Take the time to tweak your Objective for every ad you respond to.
• Add keywords from the job posting.
• Pay close attention to mandatory qualifications and be sure you show how you meet them.

Women are less aggressive than men when they apply for jobs — applying for fewer positions and asking for help less frequently — according to a new LinkedIn survey.

The study builds on a benchmark internal report from Hewlett Packard that found women tend to apply for a new job only when they meet 100 percent of the listed criteria, compared to men who usually apply when they meet about 60 percent. The HP findings are often quoted in workplace diversity conversations, including in Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In," and "The Confidence Code" by journalists Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.

"LinkedIn behavioral data backs this up — women tend to screen themselves out of the conversation and end up applying to fewer jobs than men," the report authors Deanne Tockey and Maria Ignatova wrote. Even though both genders were similarly interested in new jobs, compared to men, women applied to 20 percent fewer jobs and were 16 percent less likely to apply after viewing a job, the results said.

Women were also 26 percent less likely to ask for a referral even when they had a connection to someone at the company that was hiring, the results said.

The data was gathered from over 610 million users around the world over the course of 2018.

7 questions for rookie managers:

#1. What is the definition of success?

Imagine a year has passed and you’re a raving success. Write a short paragraph.

What happened?
What results did you achieve?
How were others involved?
What did you start doing?
What did you stop doing?
Write another paragraph explaining failure. Imagine a year has passed and you’re a colossal failure. Answer the above questions with failure in mind.

#2. What traits and strengths do you possess that enable success?

An alternative question is, “What lights your fire?”

#3. What behaviors might derail your success? Make a list of three things you must never do.

#4. What behaviors will enhance your success? Make a list of three things you must do every day.

#5. What are the top three strengths of each team member? How do team member strengths contribute to success?

#6. Who will you go to – outside your organization – for mentoring, coaching, or advice? Make a list of three people.

Touch base with at least one outsider every month.

#7. How will you put gas in your own tank? In the tanks of others?

Go to your boss: 

#1. Discuss your answers to the above questions.

#2. Ask, “What did you see in me that caused you to give me this management opportunity?”

Learn what makes you desirable and do more of that.

#3. Ask, “Based on my strengths and our mission, what is the #1 factor for my success?”

Your boss’s answer will be broad and general. Ask two or three questions that create clarity. If your boss says, “The number one factor for your success is learning,” ask, “What might you see me doing that demonstrates learning?”

Listen for behaviors, not generalities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly changing just about every aspect of how we live our lives, and our working lives certainly aren’t exempt from this.

Soon, even those of us who don’t happen to work for technology companies (although as every company moves towards becoming a tech company, that will be increasingly few of us) will find AI-enabled machines increasingly present as we go about our day-to-day activities.

From how we are recruited and on-boarded to how we go about on-the-job training, personal development and eventually passing on our skills and experience to those who follow in our footsteps, AI technology will play an increasingly prominent role.

Here’s an overview of some of the recent advances made in businesses that are currently on the cutting-edge of the AI revolution, and are likely to be increasingly adopted by others seeking to capitalize on the arrival of smart machines.

Video interviews are increasingly popular among employers. According to a survey by the Institute of Student Employers, 49% of graduate employers now use them, up from just 6% in 2012.

BT is looking into new technology that can allow grad scheme applicants to do the entire interview process from their phones. “We have significantly high volumes of applicants, so we had to think of better, easier and faster ways to communicate,” says a spokesperson.

Common university interview mistakes – and how to avoid them
Read more

Without having to hold physical interviews, which are expensive to run, recruiters are able to widen the pool and give candidates that may not otherwise be pulled in for interview the chance to impress.

But this also makes it one of the most competitive stages. “They are becoming increasingly popular and used as a way to help filter the potentially vast number of applicants,” says James Catchpole, director of the legal practice course at City University.

The format can vary. Some are live conversations via Skype or FaceTime. Most have a question pop up on screen with a minute to prepare an answer and another 60 seconds to respond before it’s on to the next one.

So how should you approach it? We spoke to recruiters, careers advisors and people who have made it through the process to get some handy tips.

Many executives don’t appreciate the importance of having a positive online presence. And some don’t understand their online presence should always be kept up-to-date. If you’re actively looking for a job, you’re putting yourself in a big hole if recruiters can’t find you online. Having a clean and updated executive LinkedIn profile is a necessity today rather than a luxury. It’s worth hiring a professional LinkedIn profile writer if you’ve never developed one before, and there are plenty of other ways to develop and maintain a positive online presence. Here are some reasons why it’s so important.

Recruiters Always Look For An Online Presence

One of the first things a recruiter will do when they receive a resume is conduct an online search for the person’s name. If you have a negative online presence, or no online presence at all, then your chances of moving to the next step in the hiring process are slim. At the very least, develop your executive LinkedIn profile to the point where it shows up at the top of the search results. That way, you’ll know exactly what recruiters are seeing when they search for your name.

Tips For Enhancing Your Online Presence

With the high-level of importance of personal branding for senior level managers, there is always room to improve your online presence. Being active on LinkedIn and other social media platforms will increase your visibility.

You want your employees to be engaged in what they're doing, so the first step is making sure they're not overwhelmed with outside commitments. Silicon Valley CEO Raj Narajanaswamy makes a strong case for how fostering a healthy work-life balance throughout your company will contribute to better financial outcomes. He points out that work-related stress routinely costs American businesses $200 to $300 billion annually -- and that doesn't even begin to address the less quantifiable ways in which anxious workers erode your company culture. To foster mental and physical health, here are twelve ways to improve your workforce's work-life balance.

Not all recruiters are created equal. That's why you need to know what questions to ask and what to watch for. There are different types, levels of experience and competence. A good, seasoned recruiter can help you in your job search, but a bad one can derail your efforts. Be prepared when they call you.

What I learned From 30-Plus Years As A Recruiter

Before calling you, a recruiter needs to be well-informed about the job opportunity and their client’s industry.  They should also be able to assess if a candidate is a good fit for their client. Also essential is thorough knowledge about their client’s screening process.

My years as a recruiter taught me how to be productive with my client and candidates, so take advantage of my experience, and be prepared when a recruiter calls you.

Here are the most important questions you should ask in that initial phone call:


1. Are you searching on a contingency basis, or are you retained?

There are two types of recruiters. The first is a contingency recruiter. They receive their fee after successfully filling a position. They primarily meet people over the phone, and they submit multiple candidates.

Between the feeling of being thrust into the spotlight, the one-on-one setting with your manager and the gravity of what’s at stake, performance reviews can feel pretty uncomfortable. And when you’re made to feel uncomfortable, sometimes you aren’t always the most conscious of (or careful with) your words. But if there’s one time that you want to communicate effectively, it’s then. After all, your performance review is often the one chance you get to push for a raise, secure a promotion or even save your job.

To make sure that you don’t unintentionally sabotage yourself, we’ve put together a list of things that you’ll want to avoid saying. Steer clear of these words, and you’ll be that much closer to passing your performance review with flying colors.

Employers often can’t seem to find enough qualified talent to fill their vacancies. Positions remain unfilled in an apparent paradox whereby companies are willing to hire and job applicants are willing to work. Why is that so?

The Problem

In today’s job market, identifying quality talent has become a challenge for many organizations, including nonprofits. A talent acquisition study by IBM Smarter Workforce Institute and HR.com, titled “How Organizations Identify and Hire Great Talent,” revealed that some of the biggest hurdles include a lack of good assessment tools to identify top talent and the need to improve the candidate experience.

Latin America, for instance, has one of the biggest skills gaps in the world. Living and working in Guatemala, I’ve seen firsthand how hard it is for Latin American countries to overcome hiring challenges. Unfortunately, factors including daily economic challenges, lack of quality education, unprepared workers, little foreign investment, limited resources, poor income, etc., make it more difficult for these countries to get out of this deep hole. This is why more nonprofits and social entrepreneurs are getting involved in finding solutions to the current recruiting paradox.

A fast and simple way to improve both your speed and quality of hire is to use LinkedIn profiles for your initial candidate screening. They are superior at this first assessment stage because they are more likely to be updated, accurate, and their uniform format makes side-by-side comparisons easier. By relying on LinkedIn profiles, you can begin your prospect screening faster and you are much less likely to make a screening error. Many firms are making the shift, but if you haven’t yet. Here are the top five reasons why these profiles are superior to resumes for your initial screening pass.

You Don’t Have To Wait For An Updated Resume — if part of your current recruiting focus is to recruit already employed people (some call them passives). One of the major delay points in the hiring process is waiting for prospects to update and submit their resume. Fortunately for the average employed prospect, their LinkedIn profile is significantly more likely to be updated than their resume (in part because of LinkedIn’s often irritating but directed update reminder process). A prospect’s profile is also more likely to be updated because LinkedIn profiles are used in many other professional contexts outside of job search. Employed individuals may be more reluctant to update their resume because they may personally view it as an “act of disloyalty,” and if their boss were to find out, formally submitting their resume may put their current job unnecessarily at risk.

It’s not about what you want to express from your LinkedIn profile, it’s about what the Recruiter is looking for in your LinkedIn profile.

Recruiters come in many forms. One thing they all have in common, they all want to fill their vacancies with the most suitable candidate. Everyone does this more or less in their own way. The ultimate goal of the true Recruiter is a happy candidate and a happy customer/client.

A brief overview of just a few types of Recruiters;

1.) The Recruiter as a networker, someone who can get in touch with the most suitable candidates, some even do this entirely online. Actually the ‘old-fashioned’ form of recruitment, at least praiseworthy considering the effort and dedication that is required for this.

2.) The Recruiter who puts the vacancy online on the career page and then quietly waits until you take the step to apply. With all the risks this entails that you gradually drop out of the application process and do not apply at all.

3.) There are also Recruiters who are more active, they search all the famous job boards on a daily basis for newly registered candidates on the relevant sites.

4.) You also have the Recruiter as a social media poster. Almost all Recruiters are generally reasonably good in ‘posting’ their vacancies with the intention that jobseekers notice these vacancies in large numbers and proceed to apply.

5.) Then there are also Recruiters who actively search for all of you jobseekers on social media. One is more skilled in this than the other, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so on are pointed by some.

Businesses which introduce strategies to dismantle structural workplace gender inequalities often have higher levels of employee productivity and satisfaction, according to the Diversity Council Australia.

Its CEO, Lise Annese, explained that gender equality should be seen as a business tool to increase business and individual performance as well as customer diversification and market penetration.

However, equality is eluding women when it comes to pay.

Australia’s full-time gender pay gap is currently 14.1 per cent, and has remained between 14 per cent and 19 per cent for the past 20 years.

This slow rate of improvement shows that executive teams need to be encouraged by HR to embrace workplace gender equality, said Annese.

“Employers who implement equality policies will experience benefits when it comes to productivity as well as attraction and retention of talent,” she said.

“Benefits apply to all staff (not just women) as well as the organisation’s bottom line.

“Women in flexible roles (part-time, contract or casual) appear to be the most productive members of our workforce.”

Diversity Council Australia’s Inclusion@Work Index found that inclusion improves performance and benefits everyone in the workplace.

“They are also ten times more likely to be effective.”

There is typically going to be a list of mandatory requirements, and a “Dream List” of preferred but not mandatory requirements. Depending on how current the search is, the hiring manager may be open to considering candidates outside of his initial list. If a search is brand new, chances are the company is going to want to keep the parameters of the search pretty tight, until they see what is available. If after a month they have not seen their ideal candidate, they are much more likely to consider candidates with less than they initially required in terms of experience.

A good rule of thumb is if you have within 20% of the mandatory requirements, go ahead and apply.

If you have everything that is listed on mandatory qualifications except the 10 years of industry specific experience required yet have a solid eight years under your belt, it absolutely makes sense to throw your hat in the ring. However, if you are lacking any industry specific experience whatsoever,  or an essential component for being able to effectively work in the role such as a degree or certificate, than you are not qualified for the role. With that said, it never hurts to send in your resume, with a note acknowledging the deficient, emphasizing your areas of strength, and inquiring if there may be other opportunities within the organization that you may be a match for.

When it comes to working conditions, we’ve come a long way in the past 100 years — and not just in the wealthiest countries. Global unemployment rates have been down since the 2008 financial crisis, and the number of new jobs created by technological disruption exceeds the number of old jobs that are automated. Yes, there are still ghastly sweatshops, windowless call centers, and asbestos-ridden factories. But, for the most part, there has arguably never been a better time in history to be employed, and it has also never been easier.

In this industrialized world, most employees desire consumer-like experiences. Stable jobs that pay well and give recognition are no longer enough. People want meaning and purpose, a sense of calling, and jobs that are crafted to their unique personalities. They want flexibility, fair compensation, tasks that stimulate, and perhaps most of all, they want to feel safe showing their “authentic selves.” Top employers know that they must cater to these significant expectations to be a serious competitor in the war for talent.

LinkedIn has become an invaluable career tool, with over 610 million users worldwide and thousands of recruiters searching user profiles every day. According to the Recruiter Nation Study, around 87% of recruiters find LinkedIn the most effective way to evaluate prospective candidates, compared to 43% who use Facebook and 22% who use Twitter.

As competition ramps up and hiring becomes far more competitive, recruiters are increasingly looking for new ways to acquire talent. Lucinda Pullinger, Global Head of HR at Instant Offices, explains why learning how to use LinkedIn to your advantage could lead to valuable new opportunities.  

In 2018, there were more job openings in the US than people to fill them, with a study reporting 6.3 million unemployed people versus 6.9 million open jobs. It is expected that by 2020, automation and big data will shape the way recruiters will hire and according to the Global Talent Trends Report, these are the top considerations:

Soft Skills – 91%

Hard skills refer to tangible abilities relating to qualifications or experience, like accounting or copywriting. Soft skills are more about general disposition and character, like how someone creatively solves a problem, deals with stress or works in a team. 91% of recruiters say soft skills matter as much or even more than hard skills.

Your exams are finally over (congratulations!) and you’re probably already planning your summer? Use your time wisely and think about getting ready for the next academic year. There is no better way to do that than setting up a LinkedIn profile (for those of you who don’t have one) or polishing an existing one. Of course everyone deserves a good summer break, we all know that you have been working hard over the past year, but who said that building your online portfolio has to be a chore? Take your laptop, go to your favourite spot in a park or sit outside in a nice cafe and invest in your future!

Why should you worry about LinkedIn profile? According to LinkedIn itself, it is your professional brand in the world and a huge number of graduate recruiters and employers across all sectors will check your social media before hiring you or they will search candidates for positions using social media platforms and key words. LinkedIn is a place to find but also to be found, with 90% of recruiters using the platform.

Here are 5 top tips for your LinkedIn account:

Your photo matters

Upload a professional photo of yourself, try to avoid any holiday or party pictures. Having a very unprofessional photo can negatively influence the perception of you and impact a potential recruiter’s decision to contact you or not. On the other hand, no having a photo at all also puts you in a negative light as the majority of recruiters don’t even look at profiles without pictures.

Write a short but informative headline

The first leadership gap issue that companies face these days is the need for wide-ranging knowledge. There was a time when company leaders operated in silos.

This means that they were experts in only what they were supposed to take care of. They never really got involved in the work of the other departments. These days, however, leaders have to take a broader view of the organization as such.

For example, there are many CFOs (chief financial officers) that are now taking care of more than their financial work. They are looking into areas such as the following:

Human resources
Information technology
Operations

If as a business leader you can create strong working relations with people outside your immediate department you would be able to address the question of leadership gap.

This way you can learn about other aspects of the firm. If you wish to be a successful leader you would have to take part in the likes of interdepartmental projects and committees.

When you hold high-level management positions in companies it would help you get a broader view of the typical processes and structures of your organization.

 

Few things in organizational life are more dangerous than speaking truth to power. But isolated leaders become arrogant, indulgent, and authoritarian.

Incompetent leaders count on reluctance to maintain their position and power.

As long as you don’t bring up inconsistencies, advocate for contrarian ideas, or provide tough feedback, positional leaders thrive.

“Going through channels,” creates protective cocoons that shield leaders from the real world. What happens when your boss sees you talking to her boss, for example?

In a presentation to a group of executive job seekers in transition, a recruiter made the point that after years of reviewing C-level résumés, she had noticed a commonality: None of these top professionals had escaped having some setbacks, rejections, or 

missed opportunities. This information surprised the audience of recent layoff victims, who realized that they were in good company when it came to career misfortune. The recruiter was right: Failures and regrets need not derail your career, and, in fact, can propel it forward if handled wisely.

To find out how successful people dealt with situations when they didn’t get what they wanted, I interviewed a range of accomplished consultants, coaches, and other business professionals, asking them: “What rejection did you experience that turned out for the best?”

When thinking back on jobs they weren’t offered or turned down, graduate schools that didn’t admit them, or promotions that went to someone else, all respondents agreed that they were better off in the long run. Although most were initially disappointed, gaining perspective over time helped them realize that those early frustrations afforded them the chance to try something different and to gain valuable insights

Have you decided to work with an executive recruiter to enhance your job search?

A recruiter can provide insight and guidance that will help you navigate your executive job search. To optimize the outcome of working with a recruiter, it is imperative you prepare for meeting with an executive recruiter similar to the way you would for an interview with a hiring manager.

Proactively Approach the Right Executive Recruiter

Often a recruiter is hired by companies to seek out qualified candidates; therefore, once you have determined the right recruiter, you can build and maintain a relationship to showcase your experience, expertise, and professional values.

To find the right executive recruiter, do your homework. Be sure the recruiter you decide to work with is an expert within your field or industry and has relationships with the companies in which you would like to work.

Prepare for an Interview when meeting an Executive Recruiter

The recruiter’s job is to determine if there is a position that he or she wants to put you up for and to justify your fit to the client; therefore, it is essential your preparation strategy focuses all questions and responses on your accomplishments.

Many qualities make a great leader, however, if there could only be one attribute, it would be their ability to motivate productive teams and empower individuals. Leadership responsibilities are typically outward-looking and selfless, as managers work tirelessly to create working environments in which others can excel.

Nicole Gorton, Director of Robert Half, explains why leaders can fall short of their responsibilities simply because they neglect their own wellbeing in the process. This is easily done when you’ve been recruited to put your team’s interests before your own and alleviate team stresses. However, workplace wellbeing is crucial for all employees, at both staff and management level.

Workplace wellbeing is important for everyone
In any position, a lack of wellbeing at work can lead to disengagement, low morale and reduced productivity. For these reasons, poor mental health at work costs the Australian economy billions of dollars each year. A portion of this is due to workers compensation claims.

A mentally healthy workplace is one which acknowledges the risks and puts protective mechanisms in place to mitigate them. There’s no shortage of incentives for organisations to start taking workplace wellbeing more seriously. Studies have shown that happiness in the workplace makes people approximately 12% more productive. Similarly, wellness initiatives can significantly improve employee satisfaction (Proto, Sgroi, Oswald, 2019).

Happiness gives workplaces the ability to access and benefit from three key positive emotions:

You’ve checked all the boxes. You’ve graduated from the right college, held the right internship, flourished in the right graduate program, and landed the right job at the right company. You’ve followed the path that everyone else told you would be the one to lead to success — to your dream job — only to find that your dream job doesn’t feel so dreamy after all.

The good news is that you aren’t alone. Across each generation, the realization that success hasn’t brought with it the expected happiness has created a zeitgeist moment where conversations about purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction reign supreme. In fact, a 2015 study by Gallup showed that only one-third of the American workforce feels actively engaged in their work.

Each generation is experiencing its own work identity crisis, trying to determine why their work isn’t working for them. Millennials — social media natives who have never lived separate lives at work and at home  —  don’t look for work-life balance, but rather work-life alignment, where they can be the same person, with the same values, at home and in the office.