What Does it Cost to Recruit a New Employee

What Does it Cost to Recruit a New Employee Hiring new employees can be tiresome and costly. This infographic from HR Tech Blog shows how NOT to make it tiresome and costly. Takeaways: On average there are 141 applicants to each job opening, and with a recruiter managing 22 openings simultaneously  at one time, this produces 3102 resumes for a recruiter to handle at one time but only 28% of recruiters have the technology to manage applicants. A job position is open, on average, for 45 days, with 10 candidates screened per position. Phone interviews have been found to be inefficient, inconsistent and ineffective. 35% of companies regularly fly in candidates for in-person interview, and with 100% of jobseekers having used video calling services before, why not use pre-recorded video interviewing? 60% of hiring managers believe that video interviewing could make their jobs easier. RELATED: The Benefits of Using Video Interviews for Recruitment [Infographic]

Living up to your potential is BS

Living up to your potential is BS The idea that we somehow have a certain amount of potential that we must live up to is a complete crock. People who say they are not living up to their potential do not understand what living means. Life is very hard. We each probably have some fundamental goals, even if we dont think of them consciously. First of all, getting up in the morning is very hard. It is fundamentally an act of optimism. Because surely you have already realized that most days are not full of happiness. They are full, but with something else. Yet we still get out of bed every day, thinking that the day is going to be good. Thats a big deal. A huge leap of faith. I spend a lot of time wondering why more of us dont kill ourselves, and I never come up with a great answer. The next big goals we have are the spiritual kind: Be good, be kind, treat people with respect. You probably dont write these on your to do list, but now that you read them, surely you are thinking to yourself, Oh yeah, I want to remember to do that. So already, life is very full. For example, I just took the red eye home from San Francisco. But if you live in a little town like Madison, Wisconsin, there is, really, no red eye. There is only half a red eye to Chicago, a traumatic awakening at 5am, and then an 8am flight to Wisconsin. By the time I get to my gate, treating people with respect takes pretty much everything that is left of my potential. Living up to your potential is not crossing off everything on your to do list on time, under budget. Or canonizing your ideas in a book deal. Really, no one cares. You are not on this earth to do that. Trust me. No one is. You are on this earth to be kind. That is your only potential. And then you have to earn a living. Its no coincidence that everyone who is walking around bitching that they are not living up to their potential is talking about how they should be more successful at work. Because living up to potential is really just code for not being recognized as the talented genius that I am. How about this? How about saying, I was so good at getting high marks in school. Why am I not catapulting up the corporate ladder? The answer, of course, is that most of getting what you want at work is about having social skills, and school doesnt measure that. So there you goif you insist on talking about living up to your amorphous potential, the reason youre not doing it, most likely, is that you are not being kind enough at your work. If you want to live up to your potential, be as nice as you can be. Be as respectful as you can be. Be as honest with yourself as you can be. Because you cant be honest with other people if you are not honest with yourself. What can you do if you think you are living below your potential? 1. Recognize that its delusional. You are who you are, and you should just be you. Have realistic, meaningful goals for your life, like: Be kind. Be engaged. Be optimistic. Be connected. Most people who say they are not living up to their potential are not talking about this most-important stuff. 2. Recognize that the world isnt a race. A race assumes that everyone has an inborn ability to reach a personal best. If you stop racing, you stop wondering what that inborn ability is. I mean, really, living up to ones potential is always relative. You are really talking about your ability to kick everyone elses butt at something. And its not a pleasant thing to say. When you stop looking at the world as a competition, then you can stop wondering why youre not coming in first place. 3. Recognize that you sound like your mother. Living up to your potential is a phrase from a grade-school report card. It is elementary-school speak. It is your parents saying you need to do more homework. It is your mother saying Joey, youre a genius. Why dont you get straight As? Look what you do to your mother! In almost every case when someone says, You are not living up to your potential, the proper answer is, So what? Because its always someone trying to tell you that the thing you should contribute to this world is something other than kindness.

Admin is Sticky

Admin is Sticky In a previous post, I wrote about how life admin causes conflict between partners, spouses, and roommates.   Nobody likes having to take on the boring, low (if any) satisfaction tasks like scheduling appointments, calling contractors, or finding a new cleaning service. Elizabeth Emens is the author of Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More. She’s written a book on the hidden labor that takes up so much of our non-work lives and has the power to create tension, resentment, and real harm when not done well or ignored. One of the challenges with admin, Emens writes, is that it’s sticky. Some couples actually sit down and work out their strengths, weaknesses and preferences about admin. But most of the time, the assignment is random. Assigning admin by strengths and preferences should work well. But there are always mitigating factors. The more organized and paperwork literate partner should do most of the important and urgent tasks: paying bills, managing finances, or organizing receipts at tax time. The partner who enjoys shopping should pick up gifts; the one who cooks should make up the shopping list. The mechanical one should schedule repairs. But often, these tasks split along gender lines. In households with a man and a woman as partners or roommates, men often take care of the outside tasks (scheduling lawn work and car maintenance) and the woman takes care of social, household and children admin. The problem with this is that most outside work is scheduled at regular and predictable intervals (think oil change) and household admin is daily and often, unpredictable (think babysitter can’t make it Saturday night, or child’s project due tomorrow â€" oops.) Emens says “This becomes a patternâ€"many people seem to assume that the topic of life admin is of interest mainly, or only, to women.” One woman quote din the book says “The Amazon Prime account is mine, so all that admin is invisible. “He was like, ‘When are we going to run out of these night diapers?’ and I was like, ‘We’ve already reordered those six times.’” She does the admin task of ordering the supplies and carries the mental load of keeping track. In many households, admin tasks are assigned not by who does them best, but by who did them first. Parents fall victim to this when they continue to pay bills, schedule appointments, and otherwise take on “adulating” for their (allegedly) adult children. But even partners and roommates get stuck with admin they’d prefer not to do because they were the ones to do it the first time. Emens writes: “Admin tends to “stick” where it lands.” She goes on to say: “… admin’s invisibility makes it easier for inequities to arise and go unnoticed or undisputed and thus to persist. Relevant here is the way admin is often literally harder to see than more physical forms of labor, and also, the fact that it is not widely viewed as labor. Admin is also flexible. In our technological age, much admin can be done almost anywhere. When the person who does dishes is away from home, someone else does the dishes or they pile up in the sink. But when the person who pays the bills or orders household supplies is away, he can often keep doing those tasks from afar.” Once you do something a few times, you develop competence that your partner won’t have, making it harder to pass off a task without losing efficiency. You also develop relationships with contractors or vendors that makes you the preferred communication channel, even if you try to pass it off to someone else. To this day, we employ two different lawn services for different kinds of tasks. I always call one, and my husband deals with the other, simply because we were the one to make the first request for a quote. Sticky tasks are hard to shake off.

3 Pitfalls to Avoid to Increase Sales - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

3 Pitfalls to Avoid to Increase Sales - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Have you ever been frustrated by trying to give business to someone who is too distracted to take your money? These types of occurrences are great reminders of what NOT to do when an interested prospect is in our presence. The whole idea of getting a sale is to make it EASY for the other person to say Yes! 1. Terms and Conditions Although most of us are not licensed as attorneys nor do we conduct business as such, we do need to carefully explain our terms and conditions for doing business. Should penalties or timelines for payment be involved, explain those too. Additionally, explain industry terminology so that it is easily understood. Otherwise, misinterpretation and extenuating circumstances may result in incorrect assumptions thereby creating complications. This destructive path will most likely kill the sale. In other words, before you can make a sale, everything must be crystal clear in your mind as well as that of the client-to-be. Your prospective client needs to know precisely what you are offering to deliver, the when, how and processes involved. A timeline might be very helpful if your sale is complex. In this case you might also wish to list the others who are to be involved each step of the way. Once you officially acknowledge your timeline, whether verbal or written, it is your responsibility to adhere to it. Should an unforeseen circumstance arise to cause delay, notify your prospective client ahead of time. In fact with your apology, ask for forgiveness and permission to proceed. Your client will greatly appreciate your attentiveness. 2. Question, Listen, Clarify Rather than quickly going over all of your terms and conditions in monologue form, explain each one by one. After each, ask if there are any questions. We each interpret concepts differently so there will be plenty of room for misinterpretation. For example when you schedule a bus for an event, is the time for arrival for pickup or is it actual departure time? The details need to be spelled out. Your job is to uncover any confusion. Listen carefully to the questions and underlying questions asked of you. In simple terms, without using jargon, clarify to the best of your ability. Once you have done this, ask one more time, “Do you have any questions?” The time you take to understand your prospect’s viewpoint and thinking will increase their loyalty toward you. 3. Verbalize Agreement(s) Once it appears you are both or all in agreement with terms and conditions, and all misunderstanding is cleared up, it becomes the time to restate what you plan to deliver and your prospect agrees to accept. Review point by point all that you intend to deliver and ask for follow-up questions. Once your prospective client agrees on all, it’s time to either ask for authorization on the contract or accept the money. Timely follow-through in delivering promises, as you move through the above steps, will make it very easy for your prospective client to say Yes! Over time, these steps will become habits. These habits build trust and will define your personal brand. The end result is you will encourage larger sales, repeat business, referrals and testimonials â€" all of which will put you on the wave of the Smooth Sale! Author: Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, (800) 704-1499; was designated as a “Top 25 Sales Influencer for 2012.” Elinor authored the International Best-Selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, Sourcebooks and best selling, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews”, Career Press.

9 Tips For Getting Your Paralegal Career Off to a Great Start CareerMetis.com

9 Tips For Getting Your Paralegal Career Off to a Great Startâ€" CareerMetis.com Licensed Image- AdobeStock.comNow that you’re a certified paralegal, you’re going to want to get a job in private practice, industry or government. You might not even need to step out of your home to line up some interviews, but pounding the pavement the old fashioned way in the legal district of your city and dropping off some resumes is admired too.Make sure that your resume and cover letter are concise and grammatically correct. You’ll want a professional looking photo on your resume too.1) Tailor that Resume evalWhether your interest is in criminal, personal injury, family, environmental, real estate or corporate law, tailor your resume for the role that you’re submitting it for. Use your studies and any experience to explain why you’re interested in a certain job.evalPotential employers are going to become interested right away if you have specific interest and skills for an open position. Place your specifically tailored information near the top of your resume.2) Gain ing Experience Employers look favorably on experience and hard work. Even working in a law firm as a clerk or a secretary separates a job candidate from the pack. They have a sense of how a law firm, business or government entity operates. They have learned a little bit about how to talk the talk and interact with lawyers.Even if it means volunteering on a part-time basis in an agency that you’re passionate about, a potential employer will sense work ethic and dedication. On your end, you can think of that as gaining some valuable experience and positioning yourself for your new career.3) Interviewing During the interview process, be prepared for focused questions, especially if they’re coming from a lawyer. Just remember that you’re not in a courtroom and under cross examination. Remain pleasant, relaxed and articulate. Make sure that your cell phone is turned off before you walk through the front door.Here are just a few sample interview questions:Have you gained any experie nce since you decided to become a paralegal?Are you thinking of ever becoming a lawyer?Do you realize that you’re going to be coming across confidential and sensitive information as a paralegal? Are you able to maintain confidentiality?Do you realize that you’re going to encounter some demanding people as a paralegal?Is there an area of the law that you have a particular interest in?Can you learn how to manage multiple tasks at the same time?How are your writing and grammar skills?4) Tech Training Tech skills are increasingly important. Get a grasp on Microsoft Office, Word, Word Perfect and Westlaw or LexisNexis. A potential employer might also inquire about your familiarity with legal billing and case management programs.Becoming familiar with technology distinguishes a candidate for a litigation paralegal position.5) Entry-Level Paralegal Jobs evalevalOnce you’re “out on the street” looking for a paralegal job, you’re going to be competing with other recently certifie d paralegals along with others who are ready to move on to advanced positions. The perfect position with a lucrative salary isn’t going to just pop up on your email during morning coffee though.That’s just not the way that the world works. Your first job will be the first rung on your career ladder. It might even be your job for the next 30 years. Make yourself indispensable, maintain a positive attitude and grow along with your law firm, company or agency.Every paralegal is going to get that first job. Whether you were a waitress at a restaurant, a receptionist at a dental clinic or sold cars, you possess transferable skills, especially people skills. Use them to the best of your ability. Always remember that an employer’s job ad is focused on the perfect candidate.That doesn’t mean that you won’t be considered for a particular position if you don’t fully satisfy every item on the employer’s wish list. You can grow on that first job and develop into exactly who your e mployer wants to work closely with.6) Develop Sound Judgment evalWe have all learned from bad decisions. Good decisions and sound judgment are essential to becoming a quality paralegal. After all, attorneys are often out of the office. You’re going to need to make some decisions on your own. Unfortunately, they don’t offer classes in sound judgment in either paralegal school or law school.A quality paralegal will develop the ability to anticipate or comprehend a developing situation and work through it independently. That requires carefully considering the situation that he or she is confronted with. It might also take time and research. Thoughtlessly completing a task in order to beat the clock can operate to adversely impact both the attorney and the client.7) Develop Quiet Assertiveness President Theodore Roosevelt said “speak softly and carry a big stick.” If you are continually on the defense, you won’t have an opportunity to develop an offense. Develop the ability to confront issues without being asked to do so by a lawyer. That’s also part of making yourself indispensable.If you can’t seem to work through a pending issue, use the totality of your skills to come up with a solution that you can present to the lawyer that you are going to be working with.8) Patience is a Virtue You will be seeing days when your own boss is demanding and difficult. Both of you will be under pressure. Then there will be difficult clients, opposing attorneys, photocopiers breaking down, computers crashing and the inability to find a case that “stands on all fours” that will support an important legal argument.Again, rely on your skills, creativity and innovation. Simply waiting breeds impatience. It’s what you do while waiting that increases the ability to be patient. Part of your job will require the patience of Job.9) Preparation and Organization Good lawyers are fully prepared. Paralegals help prepare those lawyers.On that basis, you will want to have q uality reading and communication skills. Analytical skills will be needed for legal research. Quality research results in quality preparation. Regardless of how busy you might be, your office or work area must be highly organized. Law books, research materials, pleadings, copies of supporting cases and case files must be readily at hand.Both a primary and a backup calendar should be habitually maintained. Enter those dates on both calendars as soon as you see a deadline. Timely court filings and required court appearances must be made. Preparation and organization are high on the list of qualities for becoming an effective paralegal. Consciously develop them.

Motivation Monday Taking Action

Motivation Monday Taking Action It is Monday! For many, this is the first day back after a long winters break.   There will be messages in your in box and calls to return. If you are looking for tips on how to prioritize and dig through that mess, dont look to me for help there. I am as overwhelmed as you are.   Ive read tons of self help articles on how to handle re-entry after a vacation and somehow, they seem overly simplistic. Setting a course for moving forward. As I was listening to a conversation between a college student and a recent graduate about his plans for whats next. I wanted to interject my advice.   I was eavesdropping and I was pretty sure my two cents wouldnt come across with the right intent, so Ill have to write my advice here instead. The college student was taking classes in alternative energy at a 2 year community college and I could tell from his conversation he was truly interested in the topic of renewable energy. He even knew which colleges had some of the best 4 year programs. More than once he said, But Im not sure what Ill do next. It is about taking action. From where I was sitting (the row behind him), his choices were obvious. 1) Get an internship or entry level job with any organization doing work in the renewable energy field or alternative energy area. Doing actual work in his field of interest will allow him to better understand what it is all about.   It will also help him to understand where the opportunities for growth and advancement are.   An insiders perspective offers the most advantageous view. 2) Get enrolled in one of those colleges that offer the best education on renewable energy. Before applying/enrolling, he should talk to people who have gone through the program and see what they are doing now. He wants to know if there are actually jobs available and companies looking for people with that education. So why did he keep saying he didnt know what he wanted to do next? Because that is the easier answer. Undecided? There are many job seekers who are evaluating what they want and need to do next. The advice to all of them is the same. Talk to people doing the kind of work you are interested in Get a job working in that field Make a decision based on first-hand knowledge This advice is as simplistic as those annoying articles I read that didnt help me get organized after a vacation, right? What I found helped me sift through the emails and what will help you find your next great gig is the same Just take action!

Tips For Writing Federal Job Resume

Tips For Writing Federal Job ResumeWriting federal job resume should be easy. It does not have to be. This job position is a challenge and takes skill, focus and experience.A good federal job resume will help the person to achieve his desired goal. One should be able to present the resume in such a way that it makes the resume writer to win the heart of the employer. Of course, the employer will present the resume only to one person. If he knows who to look for and to whom to present the resume, then this will reduce the chances of a missed opportunity.In today's competitive times, there are two types of federal jobs. One is government jobs, which include certain administrative positions. Other is government jobs, which include research, human resources, procurement, management and non-profit. The civil service and government jobs have come under government jobs.For people looking for government jobs, the key is to make the resume creative. But, in government jobs, the candidate will have to present the information properly. Also, a proper essay for a government job needs to be written and can be presented by the candidate to the employers.Writing for government jobs can be quite challenging because the candidate should be careful about the job he or she is applying for. It is important to understand the kind of career that is being pursued by the government. There are certain procedures involved in getting hired by the government.The applicant must go through all the rules and regulations of the government. Before doing any written task, it is very important to know the requirements of the government. Once a candidate understands these things, he or she will not encounter any problem while writing the resume.For federal government, the candidate should first search the job vacancies available in the government. Federal job resumes can be written in different ways depending on the requirement of the government. For example, one can write the resume in a way tha t the candidate is given a specific job in the government.Another advantage of writing federal job resume is that it can be used as a blueprint for future job hunting. There are a lot of online resources available which can be used for getting a resume online. All you need to do is log on to the internet and you will get a number of websites and tools to write your resume.