Put your Company Culture Front and Center in the Interview

Put your Company Culture Front and Center in the InterviewPut your Company Culture Front and Center in the InterviewPut your Company Culture Front and Center in the Interview MatusonYour company brand may not be as strong as Google, but that doesnt mean you cant compete with the big guys for talent.Put your company culture and brand front and center when you conduct an bewerbungsinterview with top talent and youll have a better chance of hiring them.Weave your Brand into the InterviewAs I talk about in thisemployment brand webinar, your company brand is your companys personality. Its what differentiates you from everyone else. To best leverage it, you must recognize what makes your organization unique the key is to then incorporate it into your hiring process and weave it into interview questions.For example, suppose you own a small catering company. Food is ingrained in the culture of this type of geschftlicher umgang fruchtwein likely you are seeking to hire people who are creativ e and passionate about food.Instead of posing stale interviewing questions such as How would you describe your former boss, engage the candidate with interview questions that allow your company brand to shine.Ask candidates interview questions such as Think of a dish that best describes your most recent boss. Framing your question this way will allow you to ascertain how creative the candidate can be. Youll quickly get a sense of how this person will fit into your organizational culture. At the saatkorn time, candidates will realize your company is anything but ordinary.Interviewing for ConsistencyConsistency is also an important job skill for geschftslebenes that heavily rely on accuracy. To test for this in the interview, ask candidates how they would respond to specific work scenarios that relate to your business and pay close attention to their response.For example, if you run an auto shop, ask the applicant to walk you through the steps he would take when changing car brakes. T hose that rush through the process and leave out important details are clearly not the right people for your business. Applicants that provide the correct steps and take pride in their answers are the ones that should be given further consideration.To determine how well candidates takes direction, ask applicants to describe a time when they thought they were right, yet were required to follow company protocol even though they didnt agree with it. How did they handle this situation?If your company culture is one that encourages people to speak up, then share this with candidates. If not, then explain why closely following directions is vital in your business.Put Company Perks Up FrontIn todays competitive hiring environment, candidates are expecting to hear about company perks that come with the job. Your small business may not have room for a large foosball table, but that doesnt mean your team doesnt like to have fun.Make a list of the many benefits of working for your small compan y, such as free tickets to local sporting events include intangible items such as working side by side with the boss and having autonomy to do your job. When conducting an interview, be sure to highlight those items on your list.During the job interview, ask candidates what type of perks matter most to them. Then pull from your list and talk about those programs that would be most appealing to the candidate.Perhaps the candidate is interested in fitness. Respond by discussing your philosophy on wellness at work and how that ties into your perks. If socializing is tops on this candidates list, then discuss group activities that are part of the social scene at work.Highlight your Workplace FlexibilityWorking 9-5 used to be appealing to the masses not so much anymore. How work gets done and how its scheduled can distinguish your companys culture from competitors.If your small business culture offers workplace flexibility, then highlight this when interviewing candidates. You can do so by asking candidates when they are most productive. This will allow you to promote your flexible work hours. Youll also be able to determine if their internal clock matches your companys time clock.For instance, I know one small business owner who hires workers to pull long shifts during his busy season. When conducting interviews, he always mentions the hours that everyone is required to work. He also weaves in stories regarding his employees who are able to pursue their passion during off-peak times.One such employee goes on tour with his band during the slow months and returns to resume his duties during this business owners peak business cycle. This savvy business owner is able to recruit large company employees because hes using his companys size and small business culture as an advantage.Tout a Great WorkplaceThe office environment certainly matters when it comes to attracting candidates. This is usually where large businesses have the advantage given their large budget. This is not usually the case for small business owners. Dont be discouraged, however. Astute candidates will recognize that beauty is only skin deep.Work with what youve got. One small business owner gave his team a small budget to design their common workspace. The results were a direct reflection of the company brand. The business owner conducts job interviews in this space he always mentions to candidates that this type of collaboration is part of the companys culture.This is a smart business move. If a candidate is drawn to an environment that is keen on collaboration, theyll be attracted to this business. If not, then this business owner has saved himself from all the ramifications that occur when you hire someone who is not the right fit for your business.Leveraging the many benefits of being a small business employer will enable you to capture the hearts and minds of candidates in a job market where big isnt necessarily better.Heres to your hiring successAuthor BioRoberta Chinsky Matuson, president of Matuson Consulting is author of the best-selling books Talent Magnetism How to Build a Workplace That Attracts and Keep the Best and Suddenly in Charge. Her company helps leaders in the Fortune 500 as well as small and medium-size businesses achieve dramatic growth and market leadership through the maximization of talent. She is frequently quoted in business publications and is a top-ranking blogger for Fast Company and Forbes.

One Surefire Way to Stand Out in Your Job Search

One Surefire Way to Stand Out in Your Job Search One Surefire Way to Stand Out in Your Job Search Imagine if employers saw you as not just another job applicant, but as an expert in your field. Think how it would feel to point recruiters to the speech you gave at a prestigious conference or your Masters thesis on your industry.If youre not a well-know entrepreneur or senior executive, you might think thats just a pipe dream. But its not No matter what you do for a living, the Internet makes it possible for you to establish yourself as an expert. There are lots of ways you can do this, and many of them take time. For example, you could start a blog and build up an audience. You could tweet about your profession and attract attention that way. You could build up a strong verbunden presence by writing articles for trade publications. All of these are excellent strategies for building awareness.But what if you dont have the time or inclination to write regularly?Thats where my solution c omes in. Meet Squidoo.Squidoo is a free web publishing site that allows anyone to sign up and create web pages (called lenses).Here are a couple of lenses so you can see what Im talking aboutThe Best and Most Effective Way to Promote Your Business50 Ways to use Twitter These pages are quick and easy to create the interface is very intuitive and they offer lots of help. Best of all, the service is completely free. in fact, if you attract a lot of traffic to your page, you can actually earn money, but thats another story. For now, I want to focus on how Squidoo can help you further your career goals.How Can You Use Squidoo to Stand Out?Heres all you need to do.Create a Squidoo page that demonstrates your professional knowledgeWe all carry around enormous stores of knowledge about what we do for a living knowledge that cant be communicated in a two-page resume or short cover letter. Squidoo allows you to share that knowledge with other people while also positioning yourself as an aut hority.A sales person could create a page called How to Grow Revenues Through Solution SellingAn world wide web marketer could create a page called The Top 10 Web Analytics Tools and How to Use Them.An executive assistant could write An Executive Assistants Guide to Organization.A benefits administrator could write Understanding Your Health care Plan A Quick Guide.A plumber could write several pages on simple household problems such as How to Unblock a Sink. Include your page (or pages) in all job search correspondenceAdd a link to your page into your resume. Either at the end of your resume profile, or at the end of the actual resume, say something like Learn more about my approach to sales in my article How to Grow Revenues Through Solution Selling and include a link to your page.Include the same statement in cover letters or emails to eignung employers/recruiters. Add a link in your email signature. Link to the page on your LinkedIn page or Google profile. Now Youre an ExpertJus t like that, you have positioned yourself as a knowledgeable candidate. Marketers know that establishing a sense of authority is one of the keys to selling a product or service. The same applies to marketing yourself to potential employers. Show them that you know your stuff and they will instantly think more highly of you.You have also shown that you are serious about your work. Employers are looking for dedicated, hard-working employees who care about what they do. Its hard to tell that from a resume. But someone who took the time to write an article about his profession? Thats someone I want to meet.Photo by suvodeb

Surprising results about wearing headphones and productivity

Surprising results about wearing headphones and productivitySurprising results about wearing headphones and productivityYou see it in practically every company environment, especially those with open plan officespeople wearing headphones. Headphone usage at work was much more controversial a decade ago, when most employers would likely have equated this behavior with elend focusing on the job. But today, its a given at many organizations that a contingent of employees will opt to createpersonal focus and gruppierung out distractions by donning some form of earbuds.Does this strategy help or hinder productivity, and why are people really using headphones while working?A new study by Cloud Cover Music of over 1,000 employees and employers on music at workfound that wellover half (56%) of employees regularly use headphones in the office. The research also revealed some truths about this behavior that you might not expect- and which might provide you with the fuel you need to request mor e workplace flexibility from your employer. Here are some of the top findings.Tuning out colleagues.Nearly half of people surveyed (46%) said they have used headphones toavoid talking to their coworkers, and just under a third (30%) use headphones primarily tocancel outside noise. Certain industries saw even higher percentages of people choosing to wear headphones as conversation blockers, including government and public administration employees (around two-thirds of unterstellung groups) transportation and warehousing employees (nearly 60%) and technology, scientific, and marketing/advertising employees (at least half of the workers in each of these groups).Its an interesting revelation, particularly when you think about the ramifications of working in open-office spaces. Proponents of open-office cultures often feel such barrier-free work zones will create greater collaboration and an ongoing opportunity for valuable information exchange among team members. The fact is, though, th at if youre responsible for specific workplace deliverables, at some point, the chatter must cease in order to actually produce anything. This studys results suggest thatmany employeesarent able to focus in their work environmentwithout creating a barrier between themselves and others via headphones.Getting work done.The finding about using headphones to tune out colleagues also may be of interest concerning theproductivity benefits of workplace flexibility. The study found that the vast majority of employees (nearly 80%) feel that listening to music increases their productivity at work, and around two-thirds of workers feel this way about wearing headphones in general.People who are forced to engage in face time at the office have to choose between being able to zero-in on their work, or chatting with colleagues- and when the former is needed, it often leads people to try to block out the noise (and those around them) with noise-cancelling headphones or music. When you work from ho me or remotely, however,you have much more control over creating therightsituations, at the right time, to connect with colleagues without having to worry that it means not getting the job done.If youve been looking for an angle torequest a work-from-home arrangement, consider sharing these findings with your employer. While theideaof constant collaboration and access may appeal to certain people in certain positions, the reality is that those who are charged with focusing and producing things during their workdayneed a zone thats free from distractions to achieve this. If the only way you can get your work done in the office is to screen others out by wearing headphones, perhaps its time for a change.This article was originally posted on FlexJobs.