Why a Holistic Approach Can Help You Win the Best Talent

Why a Holistic Approach Can Help You Win the Best Talent We speak to Will Staney who is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Proactive Talent, a modern talent strategy consulting company based in Austin, TX focused on recruiting optimization, employer branding, and on-demand recruiting as well as the Co-Founder of Talent Brand Alliance, a professional community for employer branding and recruitment marketing professionals. So we wanted to speak to him about why his experience and background as a talent brand practitioner is helping other companies nail their own talent brand strategy. Why should clients work with you and your firm? Our company is made up of a coalition of freelance Recruiting and Talent Brand practitioners. As former Talent Acquisition and Talent Branding leaders, every one of us has been in the position of our clients and we work with our clients as an extension of their team, in order to help them attract and hire the best talent. Our ability to scale and partner closely with clients as an extension of their team is what really sets us apart from our competitors. We have a holistic approach and we don’t want clients to become dependent on us. Our goal is to help clients build a modern recruiting strategyor “Recruiting Machine” as we call itand empower them to become self-sufficient in the long run. Why should candidates work with you? We earnestly have the candidate’s best interests in mind. We aren’t a third-party recruiting agency that is going to make money off the placement of a candidate at one of our clients and we aren’t throwing their resumes to every company we are trying to work with. Another factor that sets us apart from our competitors is that some of our recruiters also act as career coaches preparing them to put their best foot forward. We consistently receive positive feedback from candidates we’ve placed about the experience. We’re a staffing firm but also a Talent Brand consultancy and we take the candidate experience seriously it’s a core value to who we are. What are some of the biggest challenges that your clients are facing when it comes to hiring talent? The biggest challenge our clients face right now is competition. The economy is strong; unemployment is currently at a 17-year low. Companies are growing, and they are having a hard time finding talent to fill their open positions and need to build out a proactive approach. Another challenge companies face is simply having a lack of awareness of their employer brand. Companies need to change their mindset and realize that they have to put effort into hiring and retaining their talent now. On top of that, it can also be a challenge for companies to attain the necessary skills and provide the internal resources for what it takes to hire today’s talent. What are the most common mistakes you see recruiters make? The most common mistake I see recruiters make is sacrificing their company brand and their effectiveness to save (perceived) time. They take short-cuts, such as mass-emailing candidates the same template rather than sending out a customized one. Instead, if they tried selecting 20 top-tier candidates and created a personalized outreach they’d enhance their brand with 20 people at a time rather than ruin it with 100 people at a time. Another mistake I see recruiters make is resistance to learning new skills, strategies, and technology. Don’t be a one-trick pony. If LinkedIn Recruiter is your only way of finding talent, you will be left in the dust. The best source of hire? (job boards, career site, social, referrals etc)? The best source of hire depends on your talent strategy and whether you value quality over quantity. If you’re looking to maintain the culture you have and want to focus on candidate quality and culture fit, employee referrals are always your best source. However, if your goal is to shift your culture and attract more diversity in regard to the backgrounds of your candidates, referrals may not be your best source. If you’re looking for diverse people in order to change your culture (and profitability) for the better, it requires a very proactive outbound recruiter-led sourcing approach. In that case, directly sourced candidates are likely your best source. What hard lessons can you share with us? Don’t over complicate what should be simple. It’s easy for us as recruiters to get too wrapped up in the latest tech: artificial intelligence (AI), open web sourcing tools, etc. As a recruiter, sometimes a simple well thought out process and a little bit of automation can really help you be more productive. Think of it this way: the tech you use is the vehicle you’re driving, but process and best practices are the road you’re riding on. Whether you’re driving a Cadillac or a broken-down Ford, you’re moving, but if there’s no road paved before you, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. What are your top 3 tips for recruiters? Shared Learning. Join online forums, open-source communities and networking happy hours to share your knowledge and learn from peers. There is power in community. Stay humble. No one is an expert. Even people who are seemingly on top of their game are there because they are constantly building a network of people they can learn from and test out new ideas with. Always do right by the candidate. At the end of the day, this is a human business and we are helping human beings make life-changing decisions, so focus on the candidate experience. It’s an honor to help get people excited and passionate about their future. What’s your tech stack? I’m a bit of a tech junkie, but a few of my favorites are: Clinch, Smashfly, Entelo, Greenhouse, SmartRecruiters, Lever, Hootsuite, Mixmax, and VideoMyJob. My favorite tool right now is an AI gift bot: EvaBot. It’s a great way to send gifts to a referral, employee, or client to show appreciation. Who inspires you and why? Personally, my wife inspires me. She makes it possible for me to pour myself completely into my career and always has my back. As a stay-at-home mom, her job is much harder than mine and I run two companies! Professionally, I’m inspired by Bryan Chaney, Director of Global Employer Brand at Indeed. As both friends and colleagues, we’ve grown in our careers together for nearly 10 years now and we’re always pushing each other. What’s up next for recruiting? I can tell you what’s not up next: AI is not going to take your job, it’s going to enhance it. These tools are enabling recruiters and human beings to focus on the things we’re uniquely good at â€" being creative, managing candidate and client needs, the human touch our industry needs and leaving the machines to do the repetitive, monotonous things that we don’t want to do and frankly, are pretty terrible at. As a whole, the technology landscape is changing rapidly, and most companies haven’t figured out some of the things we’ve been saying will be coming next for the last 5 years or more, like how to build the right talent attraction strategies, and are still depending on the old, outdated model of “posting and praying”. Adding AI and automation to a reactive recruiting process and strategy could just amplify your problems. Connect with Will on LinkedIn.

12 High-Powered Slack integrations You Need to Try CareerMetis.com

12 High-Powered Slack integrations You Need to Try Slack makes our professional life easier, and reviews about the latest Slack integrations give us tips on how to be more productive.In this article, we’re going to do an honest review and give you a list of our all-time favorite Slack integrations you need to try before this year ends.Slack integrations You Need to TryVacation TrackerObieNotifyTatsuTime DoctorWonderSalesforceStatsbotDonutGiphyAsanaAdvanced Poll1)Vacation Trackerâ€" A leave tracking Slack integration every HR will loveevalevalVacation Tracker falls under a list of most useful Slack integrations both for small to mid-sized businesses and enterprises. HR managers feel relieved about the slightest mention of this tool: the most dreaded and time-consuming task is finally off their to-do list.Vacation Tracker made leave tracking easy: requesting and approving leave takes only seconds to make. Employees need to type /vacation in their Slack account, and after filling short forms, they are good to go. On the other hand, ma nagers are instantly notified whenever the employee makes a request, and they can approve it immediately.What we especially love about this Slack integration is the ability to configure leave types through the “Settings” page. Even though default leave type is “Vacations and Days Off,” organizations can choose among plenty of others ranging from Sick day, Conference, Remote work, and PTO policy.Photo Credit2)Obieâ€" A solution for successful onboardingThe employee onboarding process is super important. Companies lose a lot of money by replacing workers â€" that’s why the best strategy is to retain them. In fact, some statistics state that companies with successful onboarding processes have the highest chance of retaining employees You shouldn’t underestimate the power of meetings. Even though most of them are pretty dull, there are times when they are crucial for a business’s survival. However, holding a meeting rarely comes without distractions.Photo CreditTatsu is am ong our most preferred Slack integrations because it helps us hold our weekly standups and meetings without leaving our desks. What’s more, all we have to do is type “start” in our Slack chat, and all members are instantly notified about the meeting.eval5)Time Doctorâ€" A software that made time tracking perfect.How you’ll know how you spend your time at work if you don’t track it? Time Doctor is one among many time tracking Slack integrations you need to try! Like Hubstaff, for instance, Time Doctor measures time employee spends on each task and takes screenshots to monitor their time-spending patterns.Even though we’re able to admit that the idea of taking screenshots is pretty scary, it might be a very insightful tool towards higher productivity. Beware what you’re doing at work! Someone might be watching you.Photo Credit6)Wonderâ€" The elephant of Slack integrations. Because it never forgets.evalWonder makes us think a lot about Neville Longbottom and the famous †œHarry Potter.” We might not be into witchcraft, however, we do have our remember all â€" Wonder.A Wonder is a reminder tool turned into the chat. You just have to open a chat and tell it what you should remember, and it will remind you.Photo Credit7)SalesforceEvery sales rep using Slack should be familiar with Salesforce. This Slack integration enables the sales team to share important information about accounts with a whole team and within a Slack chat.Photo Credit8)Statsbot â€" A software every geek will love.Geeks will love this analytics tool! This Slack integration enables teams to integrate the essential data within a Slack and track them quickly and effortlessly. What’s more, this tool allows teams to connect Statsbot with their database for more accurate insights.Photo Credit9)Donutâ€" A Slack integration every team will love!“Happy teams are all alike; every unhappy team is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy. Or did this say that? Anyway, we’re happy to present you with the highest-powered among Slack integrations so far.Donut is designed to enable teams to create meaningful bonds, become more productive, and engaged at work. What’s more, it achieves that by making team share donuts. Well, that’s a dream of every cop.Donut enables the team to meet new team members, get reminders for meetings, create Slack pairing channels, etc. It even eases up the onboarding process by meeting new employees with the rest of the team.Photo Credit10)GiphyAll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. This is so true. So it’s time to level up your office convo with some amazing GIFs from the Giphy gold mine of exciting GIFs.Has it ever occurred to you that you want to say something to a team member of yours, but it seems that you just can’t put it into words? And an emoji is no better? You need something great. Well, that’s what GIFs are for. Whether you want to be funny and share a hilarious GIF with your team member, or feel that the entire Slack c hannel could use some humor, use the Giphy Slack integration.evalIt’s without a doubt the perfect integration for any situation. Feeling sad? Send a GIF. Feeling excited? Send a GIF. Any situation can be a GIF situation.via GIPHYSometimes you just need an integration that makes you laugh. You might not be able to schedule a meeting with it, but it will surely brighten up your day.11)AsanaAsana is by far the easiest way for teams to coordinate and manage their work. It’s every project manager’s dream as you can easily create new tasks, assign them to different team members, add due dates and so much more.evalBut, now, Asana is also available for Slack. That’s right. You can turn your conversations into action and create new tasks in Asana without even having to leave your favorite communication tool.Asana for Slack lets you take action on tasks right from notifications or Asana link, check the task details, change the assignee and/or due date, add a task to a project and more . The integration also allows you to turn Slack messages into tasks or add them to existing tasks in Asana.One of the best things is definitely notifications, as you can be notified of everything that’s happening in Asana, which is assigned to you. Simply use /asana and you’re one step closer to closing your tasks.Photo credit:12)Advanced PollAdvanced Poll is a great integration that lets you easily create polls right within Slack. Whether your team is trying to decide on what feature to work on next, or which restaurant you should go to for your New Year’s Eve celebration, Advanced Poll is here to help you out. It takes out all the stress of hour-long meetings where you discuss what you should choose, and makes it super simple.In order to create a poll, you can either use the simple one-line-syntax to instantly post a poll /poll “Question” “Option1” “Option2” “Option3” with up to 44 answers options.Or you can create a poll template with a poll create and confi gure your question and the answer options, schedule it to be posted later or post it right away.Advanced Poll has some advanced settings which will help you automate your process and customize it per your liking. You can schedule the poll to be posted at a specific time, set it up to be posted recurrently, notify everyone when a new poll is up, enable anonymous voting and so much more. And in a few clicks, you’re all set.Once you post a pool, you can have a full overview and statistics through the Advanced Poll dashboard.Photo creditThere are plenty of Slack integrations to try out…What we love about the Internet era is the massive growth of tools that make our personal and professional lives easier. Slack has become one of the most powerful and most used tools on the market, and we definitely see why.But what makes it even more special are these great integrations that make working processes a lot more comfortable than before. HR tools, sales tools, productivity tools â€" you n ame it, Slack has it.

Research to Make the Information Stick

Research to Make the Information Stick There is a funny thing that happens when you have to research and write a reportthe information sticks. I still remember a report I had to write in 4th grade about Polar Bears. I also remember a report I worked on in 5th grade on the state of Texas. We all have had to write numerous reports over the course of our lives. Do you remember anything about the topic you reported on? Chances are you still remember some of facts. Why is that? Perhaps the topic was interesting. Perhaps your immersion in the subject was all it took. When you are seeking employment, the recommendation to select 40-50 target companies is loosely based on this same idea. As you begin to compile your data from the research of these companies, the information will most likely stick. You might feel a connection or a greater interest in some of those companies. This increased interest is visible on the outside. It is one of the most attractive qualities to future employers. It has been my experience that job seekers dont research companies completely until the interview has been scheduled. They cram to soak up all the information they can in a very short time period. Why not start today conducting your research on the companies you would like to work for. What harm can it do? Will you learn more about your industry in doing this? Will you gain insight and begin to recognize key names of people in that industry? Become a SME (subject matter expert) in your industry. This is bigger than your occupation. You will want to be a SME within your occupation as well but understanding the bigger picture will benefit you in the long run. There are many good resources for conducting research and compiling data. Do you have a favorite list of questions or areas of investigation you use to research?

Sick Days (and 3 years of organized archives!)

Sick Days (and 3 years of organized archives!) Sick Day by Doodle and Hoob Ive been sick since last Sunday night (yes over a week ago!), when my throat started hurting and I hoped it was just because I was yelling my face off for the marathoners. But it got worse, and while I worked through it on Monday and Tuesday, by Wednesday I was sleeping til noon and just doing The Bare Minimum (aka client sessions). Thankfully my posts from last week were written and scheduled the week prior, but this week I got nada con nada. So, instead of pushing myself to post on my usual schedule, Im gonna take a blogging break this week to make sure I rest and, when (not if!) I feel better, catch up on everything else Ive missed. But I wont leave you high and dry! Thankfully I have over three years of archives in this bad boy, and thanks to my amazeballs assistant, I categorized the crapballs out of them and even added Top Posts to my sidebar based on what youre looking for. So, if youre in a Reader, click on over and explore the sidebar and all the new tags/categories, or just follow these links: Not sure what you want to be when you grow up?  Start here! Top 5 Posts 5 Reasons I Got Off My Ass Discovered a New Passion Ask The When I Grow Up Coach: Why do you think you never made it “big” in musical theater? Living in the Questions 5 Ways to Stop Passion From Scaring the Bejeezus Outta Ya Safe is a 4 Letter Word Know what you wanna be but not sure how to get there?  This section will help! Top 5 Posts The Dreaded Question An Open Video to Those Who Don’t Like Hearing That We’re Quitting Our Jobs ( Following Our Bliss) 8 Ways to Get Through Your Day Job Without Shooting Yourself in the Face I Quit My Day Job. Are You Next? Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are…. Already doing what you want to do but it isnt quite working?  Try this! Top 5 Posts Your Win Book: What It Is, Why It Rocks, and How to Make Your Own The Benefits of Being a Beginner (or, Why It’s Awesome to Not Know What The Heck You’re Doing) The Uh-Oh Feeling An Exciting Afternoon / An Announcement / The Kindness of Strangers / When It’s Not Hard (that’s what she said) The Secret (OK, MY Secret) You can also go through all of my Series posts, learning about some never-heard-of/never-thought-you-can-do-as-a-living careers in Grown-Up Gigs, get 19-ish months worth of Woman of the World updates through I Quit My Day Job: The Updates, and over 150 Tough Questions for your Tuesday. Theres also my advice series, Ask the When I Grow Up Coach as well as  my thoughts on lots of products/books over on Rousing Reviews. I promise to be back next week, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (much like what that cute squirrel above would look like once (s)hes all better, too!) with all new posts!

Entry Level Accounting Resume Writing

Entry Level Accounting Resume WritingEntry level accounting job opportunities can be found all over the United States. This article will give you some of the basics of entry level accounting job opportunities and then advice on how to get them.To start with, what exactly is entry level accounting? There are different levels of accountants depending on where you do your job. In the United States, for example, some accountants do quite a bit of clerical work such as filing, filling out reports, and so on. These accountants have little or no analytical skills and so cannot easily be classified as accountants.You may even wonder why it's not more common for people to be hired on as entry level accountants. The answer is that most people believe that if they have some analytical skills, it is much easier to find a job in this field. While analytical skills are important, you don't have to have any sort of quantitative and/or qualitative skills to be a good accountant.One of the first thin gs you want to do is find out how many accounts each of the accountants you're considering has. It's true that you may not be able to readily tell someone's education level just by looking at them, but you can more easily tell how capable an individual is by checking their working experience. If you know what it's like to work for the person, you'll have a better idea of what to expect from them.If you're interested in starting a career in accounting, you may want to consider accounting as a really interesting field to enter. If you don't know anyone who works in the field, there are some great free resources available for finding out more about entry level accounting jobs. Here's a tip: try going online and doing some research for yourself.Another thing to remember is that to be accepted into entry level accounting jobs, you need to have a college degree. So if you don't have one yet, do something about it. Especially if you plan on going into finance, you might have to go back to school to get your degree. Otherwise, you can always continue learning by taking classes at a community college or online.Finally, if you're going to be an entry level accountant, you should write your resume about what you do best. This will make you stand out in the crowd of other applicants and you'll also be able to talk about your unique abilities that differentiate you from the rest of the crowd. That said, don't limit yourself to just describing your education and your work history.

Boss Treats Me Like I Am Incompetent

Boss Treats Me Like I Am Incompetent Q: I accidentally swiped right on a coworker on a dating site and it was a match. What do I do now? I was sitting at home last night and perusing one of those dating apps where you swipe right if you are interested in someone, and if they’ve swiped right on you as well you get a match. This particular app has a twist on it where if the match is a male/female pair, the woman has to speak first, and if they don’t speak within 24 hours, the match disappears forever. As I was swiping last night, I was watching TV and my mind was only half on what I was doing. As a result, I swiped right someone who is a director at my workplace. He is a director over a team that analyzes sales and I work in a department that is in charge of making sure quality products get produced, so we do not work together but we do work out of the same office. There’s not a very good chance that he would have recognized me when he was swiping, but his department is one that I’m interested in applying to (and to make this more interesting, a position for a sales analyst has opened up recently). So now I’m not sure what to do. Do I message him and acknowledge the situation and that it’s a bit awkward, or do I let the match expire without contacting him and hope that he doesn’t recognize me when I apply for his team? Read More: LinkedIn is not a dating site A: Nah, let it expire and pretend it didn’t happen. Online dating has become so ubiquitous that you might indeed see a coworker or client on a dating site or app from time to time. The best way to navigate that is with the polite fiction that you’re blind to their presence there. That allows everyone to preserve their privacy in a realm where they probably want it and keeps real-world awkwardness to a minimum. I’ve occasionally seen people argue for sending the other person a message within the app, saying something bland like, “Hey, fun to see you on here too” … but I wouldn’t do that. It puts the other person in a situation where they have to wonder if you’re hitting on them (it’s a dating app, after all) and, even if that doesn’t happen, it’s likely to increase the amount of awkwardness. A polite blindness to their presence there is the way to go. Read More: My coworker treats me like an incompetent child Q: How should I deal with a boss who constantly praises me in written performance reviews, but treats me like I am incompetent in person? My boss will praise me on paper but seems to treat me as incompetent on a daily basis. Part of what I do involves training other employees, and she will crash meetings uninvited. Even for meetings she’s invited to, she stands right next to me and repeats everything I say. She’s not paraphrasing, she’s not making sure my speech doesn’t get overly technical; she simply repeats every word I say once I’ve finished. If she overhears that someone has requested assistance or had a question, she’ll rush off after them once they’ve left my desk and question them about their problem and the solution. Again: on paper, she’s all praise. During reviews, all praise. If there have been problems leading to this behavior, she doesn’t acknowledge they exist. In the two years she’s been here, I’ve gone from loving my job to dreading it. My motivation and confidence have never been lower. Everyone else seems to get on well with her. Am I just being overly sensitive? Read More: My new boss is treating me coldly A: No, that sounds horrible. Have you ever asked her about it and asked her if she’s open to handling things differently? That’s where I’d start. Say something like this: “Jane, I’ve noticed that you’ll often attend the training meetings I do with others and go over the topics that I’m covering with people, and also that you’ll often follow up with people after I’ve answered their questions. This makes me think you might have concerns about how I’m handling these situations. If so, I’d very much want to know so that I’m able to work on whatever feedback you have for me.” If she says that she doesn’t have any concerns about your work, then say this: “That’s good to hear. In that case, would you be open to not stepping in during these things? It can feel like you’re signaling to others â€" and frankly, to me â€" that you don’t trust me to handle it.” These questions are adapted from ones that originally appeared on Ask a Manager. Some have been edited for length.

WEBINAR The Elements Of A Winning LinkedIn Photo - Work It Daily

WEBINAR The Elements Of A Winning LinkedIn Photo - Work It Daily What do people think when they see your photo on LinkedIn? Do you seem competent, likable, and influential in your industry? If you’re not certain how your professional photo is being perceived, you definitely don’t want to miss this event covering the exact characteristics that make a winning LinkedIn photo.Research Unveils The Perfect Professional Headshot Photo Co-founders Stephanie and Ben Peterson of PhotoFeeler.comâ€" a free online photo testing toolâ€" will be unveiling never-before-seen findings from their in-depth research, based on ratings of perceived competence, likability, and influence for several hundreds of professional headshot photos in the PhotoFeeler database. Why Does A Photo Matter? But why should you care so much about your professional photo, anyway? Fact is, recruiters can't help but make snap judgments based on little informationâ€" especially photos. Research shows that faces are processed deep in our subconscious, and opinions form so automatically that they're impossible to stop. The impression someone gathers from your photo in the first tenth of a second colors everything else they learn about you. And this is never truer than in an environment like LinkedIn, where browsers often see photos before anything else. Changes You Can Make Today The most exciting part about the precise tips that you’ll be learning is the focus on changes you can make immediately to improve your online impression. Whereas factors like age, gender, race, and even body type can certainly play a part in how people perceive us, this conversation has no interest in aspects of our photos that we can’t easily control. Rather, this event is all about being proactiveâ€"paying attention to photo characteristics like camera direction, facial expression, and even Photoshop edits. Watch This Webinar! Never again be forced to make a total guess as to whether your professional photo is putting you in the right light. Join us for this special presentation on professional LinkedIn photos. Presenters: Stephanie and Ben Peterson, founders of PhotoFeeler.com.   WATCH NOW ?   About The Presenters Stephanie and Ben Peterson are the founders of PhotoFeeler.com, a free profile photo testing tool. In addition to helping professionals choose their best photos to use online, PhotoFeeler is quick becoming a leader in scientific research around professional image. To make sure your LinkedIn photo is coming off as you intend, check out their site. Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!