Category: Human Resource

Article Contributed By Mystique

The Corporate life is getting more competitive day by day with the flow of incoming candidates for jobs. If you want to get shortlisted for a job then you need to make some small changes in your resume so that it doesn’t get lost in the HR’s stack. Sometimes companies lose good candidates or rather Candidates lose a perfect job due to poor presentation of their skills, education and experience on the white paper. Here are some small tidbits which can help you build an excellent resume and stand high on the stack.

Avoid writing too much about irrelevant experiences

People who have a loads experience they like to write about all their experiences which kind of makes the resume long and boring. What the HR wants on the resume is that whether you have the particular skills and experience for the job or not. So write about the skills and experience which is needed for the applied job and just mention (don’t describe) your other job experiences. By this the HR who doesn’t want to read other stuffs will not get bored and the HR who is more inquisitive will be getting the answers easily.

Don’t look dull

Some people write formatted lines “My aim will be reaching the top position of the company …” which they usually copy from different sites or formats. Please avoid those formats as they are used when people are using resume for the first time. HRs try to find some new & exciting feature in your resume. Unless they think you resume copied from somewhere and it proves that you’ve got no talent writing your resume yourself. People also write common hobbies and interests. It makes your resume look dull and that’s when the HR starts to think of throwing it to the trash.

Avoid boring Objectives

Most of the people like to write boring objectives in their resume which they think will give it a direction which is actually wrong. It just diverts you out from the line. Rather you can replace the objective with a career summary. Because when you include objectives then it gives your resume a format and the thing is HR doesn’t want format, he wants what innovation you used to present yourself.

Don’t look Hazy on the Career Summary

Some people have got so many experiences that they get confused while writing the career summary and there is when you lost the job. When you come from various fields and applying for a new job, then first decide how to summarize your all other job as per your choice. Don’t go for any format, just write the way you enjoyed your all previous jobs. So there the HR finds that you didn’t quit your previous jobs because you get bored.

Attach a Photo

If you’re applying for a job which needs presentation skills and has a face value then you must attach a photo with your resume. Sometimes employers’ shortlist candidates from their looks as they need those faces to present the industry. As per the corporate rules face value should not get counted when you’re selecting a candidate, but most of the time its not followed. So there is no harm if you can attach a photo.

Be simple with the wordings

Don’t write complicated sentences about your job. You may have job experiences about which the HR may not know, so just make it simple to him by explaining what overall you or your previous company did. Don’t go for complicated job descriptions and use simple known words. By this the HR will read it simply will find some new thing on your resume too.

About the Author:

Mystique is a new Job Blogger and wants to share his job experience with the job bloggers. Mystique likes to write about the factors that help you get a job, surviving on the job, the job environment and how to get kicked out of it too, on his new blog The Job Factor. He is an avid gamer, computer geek, web designer and a jobber too.

Article by Skip Weisman

When approached and I ask Human Resource directors and corporate training directors, and even CEO’s about how they feel “training” is going to help their organizations, I usually learn that they have grossly over-estimated what “training” can be expected to do.

Personnel problems? Bit of training will fix it. Sales down? No problem, bit of training will fix it. Inter-office problems? Training will fix it. Productivity down? Training will fix it. Cooperation non existent? Training will fix it. Low morale? You guessed it… bit of training will fix it.

The problem is that often there are issues occurring in the work environment that training can not help and can, in fact, even make the problems worse. Training is not a panacea for all a company’s problems. Of course, training can be of immense value and benefit in addressing many problems, but if the cause of the problem comes from higher up or outside their area of influence, then it can be a waste of time. You need to address the root cause of the problem if you want to stop it and rebuild and retrain effectively with positive, long term results.

A classic example is communication. A lack of directness in communicating can be devastating to a work environment.

Throwing “training” at a work environment problem, which often means it is steeped in low trust and respect between team members, will exacerbate the problem. This plays out in almost every training I deliver where none of the managers or organizational leaders participate in the trainings. At the end of the trainings, at least 30% of the feedback forms I receive respond to the question “What could have been better about this training?” with “If all of our department team members, including our managers and other company leaders had this training.”

If the individuals most responsible for the team or organization’s culture and performance are not participating with their team members, the training to “fix” a problem is guaranteed to do more harm than good.

Another issue is that often the issues the training addresses offer solutions that require sensitive or challenging conversations between individual participants in the training. Since the open forum of the training environment is not the appropriate environment to address these issues head on, participants become frustrated and resentful of the training and it just reinforces the negative situation.

Here’s another example. In a meeting with the VP of Human Resources and VP of Operations for a large manufacturing firm, the first half of which we discussed management and leadership training for their middle managers and shop managers, I used the phrase “toxic” to describe some of the work environments I’ve helped transform.

The VP of Operations shot back in his next breath, “Toxic, hmm, that’s what we’ve got.” To which I informed him that training was not going to fix it.

They both nodded their heads in agreement and the conversation took a turn in a new direction.

We began focusing on inviting the President/CEO and other senior leadership team members to discuss addressing issues at the very top of the organization. And training will not be on the agenda, at least not initially. It is going to take some significant team development and trust building activities and consistent accountability to a new approach to leading and communicating in this company.

So, the next time you think you need “training” for your organization ask this question –

“Why and what ‘problem’ are we trying to solve?”

About the author:

Skip Weisman is The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert. He’s the author of the white paper report titled, “The 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership & Workplace Communication: How Leaders and Their Employees Unknowingly Undermine Morale, Motivation and Trust in Work Environments.” The white paper is available as a free download for a limited time at www.HowToImproveLeadershipCommunication.com . If you’d like to learn how you can improve your work environment by improving communication contact him directly with any questions, or for a complimentary Strategy Session at 845-463-3838 or e-mail to Skip@WeismanSuccessResources.com

Article Contributed by Skip Weisman

What I’m about to say, will shock most organizational leaders….It’s time to retire the mission statement.

-They don’t motivate anyone.

-They are a waste of time and energy to develop.

-They quickly become part of the corporate wallpaper.

During a recent leadership workshop a participant proclaimed, “When I hear the word mission, I think of a military mission.”  Not exactly the image that is going to get most employees excited about their jobs.

Lookup the word “mission” on dictionary.com and 15 references are cited. Only these three even come close to filling the definition organizations use the concept for and none are very inspirational:

-an assigned or self-imposed duty or task; calling; vocation.

-a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose.

-the business with which a group is charged

Is it any wonder why few employees are motivated by their organization mission statements? Yet, most every organization in the world spends countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars trying to create the perfect mission in strategy sessions.

How Successful Organizational Leaders Motivate Employees Without Having a Mission

If organizational leaders want to inspire and motivate employees, connect at a deep level with customers and build a brand around something that shows the organization makes a difference, they should burn their organization’s mission. Then, they should dig deeper to identify the organization’s “Purpose.”

Dictionary.com’s definition of “purpose” includes:

-the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used,
-an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.
-determination; resoluteness.

Those three definitions provide a much greater foundation that will help you inspire a group of employees to work toward your organization’s goals. The inspiration will become more real, however, by experiencing actual organizational purpose statements.

My Favorite Purpose Statements…

I believe Yellowstone National Park has one of the best organizational purpose statements.   Sitting across the archway leading into the park, their purpose statement reads “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.” It’s simple. It’s easy to remember. And it’s something that focuses park employees on serving the millions of visitors to Yellowstone every year.

Here’s another example:

A regional not-for-profit organization recently completed a strategic planning process decided to take my advice and created this as its purpose statement: “Our Purpose Is To Instill Hope, Empowerment and Self-Determination in People with Mental Illness to Foster Recovery and a Transition to Mental Wellness!”

Again, this is a one-sentence statement that is memorable and motivational whereas most mission statements are many sentences in length, are cumbersome for employees to memorize and are rarely associated to or referenced after they are created.

To create a powerful purpose statement for your organization you might think that all you have to do is ask “why does our organization exist?” That question can be tricky, especially in a for-profit organization that needs to meet shareholder expectations, turn a profit and dividends or attain a certain share price. Instead, the focus should be on the thing the organization must to in order for it to position itself to be able to achieve those things.

Two Questions You Should Be Asking to Create Your Purpose Statement…

“What is the one thing that our organization must do for our customers and our community, at a very high level, that will absolutely ensure our financial success for the long-term?”

“What is it that we do consistently that makes a difference in our customers lives/businesses every day?”

Even with these questions leadership teams have a challenge answering them by themselves.  Often, internal facilitators fail to push the issue deep enough to get to the core essence of the organization’s existence.  What is created is a statement lacking power and emotion.

For organizations serious about creating a memorable and motivational purpose statement that actually inspires team members to perform and achieve high level results there also needs to be an implementation and integration strategy to infiltrate the purpose throughout the organization’s culture. Often times the best results are attained by having an outside facilitator and consultant assist the organization’s leadership with this process.

Creating a powerful organizational purpose that will motivate employees while building a powerful brand image is just one component of “The 3 Strategies Champion Organizations Master that Too Many Leaders Take for Granted,” a white paper and audio seminar that can be downloaded at www.SkipWeisman.com/3LeadershipStrategiesTraining

About the Author:

Skip Weisman of Weisman Success Resources, Inc. of Poughkeepsie, NY (www.WeismanSuccessResources.com) works with organizational leaders to improve personnel, productivity and profits by helping them “Create a Champion Organization,” one that communicates effectively and takes action with commitment towards a shared compelling vision. His latest White Paper Report is “The 3 Strategies Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted” and is available as a free download at www.SkipWeisman.com/3LeadershipStrategiesTraining

Article Contributed by Gregory Stebbins
As a sales leader, have you ever felt like you were at war in your business?
No surprise there because modern business is based on a military model. However, today’s business environment is rapidly changing requiring sales managers to look at new and different approaches to leading sales organizations.
Now the question is: what will replace the old business model?
You have probably heard of the idea that everything is based on either fear or love.
If today’s business model is based on fear, then the answer to what will replace it is apparent.
How the World of Business & Getting Sales Became War
In the 1500’s Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince where he answered this question: Is it best to be loved or to be feared. Machiavelli wrote, “The answer is of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved.” He related this to military models, providing examples of Hannibal and others.
As time progressed new business models arose. The master/apprentice paradigm was created as business owners looked for ways to increase productivity with a largely uneducated work force. Frederick Winslow Taylor, author of The Principles of Scientific Management, proposed what was a thinly disguised military model. From then on, fear was injected into the workplace in continually greater ways.
Why Your Sales Leadership Style Must Change
As work becomes less about muscle and more about intellect, sales leadership styles need to change. Today, we have an ever-increasing number of “knowledge workers.”
We also have a new generation entering the sales workforce –The Millennials.
These workers have loyalty to their manager and sales team, but not to the company. Managing them through fear usually results in them voting with their feet, and finding a different type of company to work for.
Now, with baby boomers increasingly leaving the sales workforce there is a rapidly growing shortage of qualified workers. So how do you recruit more members for your sales team? And, how do you turn them into high-producing sales leaders.
How Showing Love Will Help You Recruit & Retain High-Producing Sales Leaders
Do you have employees who tell you they just love their sales job or the work they do? Do you have employees who complains loudly and constantly about how screwed up their sales job is and especially they work for including you?
Which type of employees is more productive for your sales organization?
There are many reasons why people love their jobs:
– Some people love business because of the money they make.
– Others love business because of the recognition they gain.
– Some love the security it provides for their family and themselves.
– Some love their work because it allows them to contribute in making a difference.
Once you know what causes a worker to enjoy their work, you can provide that experience they want motivate them to become a high producing sales leader. And, when people love their work, they’ll tell others. This means more people will want to work for your sales organization.
However, there’s a lot more to love than that. Love is unique in that it is a choice, an attitude, and an outcome all at the same time. So, regardless of a work situation or its circumstances, a person can choose to love. The trick is to create a work environment where this form of loving is at least allowed and at best, encouraged.
Here’s a step in that direction…
How to Create a “Loving” Sales Organization
The famous cartoon sailor, Popeye, had a great statement: I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam.” If more people followed that, there would be less fear—and more room for love in the sales organization workplace. However, most people, not having been trained otherwise, choose to serve their ego. This automatically perpetuates the fear-based Machiavellian model.
When a person adds an adjective to the words, “I am,” they are declaring an ego position, which inherently has fear attached to it. It looks something like this: “I am a sales manager.” If I have an ego position in being a sales manager, which I have declared by saying I’m a sales manager, then I will either consciously or unconsciously choose to protect that position. Inherent in the protection is fear, specifically fear of loss of my identity as a sales manager.”
Is it different if you choose to declare, “I am loving?”
No.
The same thing happens: You need to convince others about how loving you are, even if you’re not feeling particularly loving today.
The challenge for most people is declaring, “I am,” and not adding anything else to the declaration. It’s too amorphous. It has nothing others can relate to.
Here’s the most interesting part. By stating “I am,” with nothing attached you have declared your freedom. You can choose to be love unconditionally. You could also choose to hate unconditionally. It’s your choice.
In today’s world of knowledge workers who will job hop in a New York minute, which choice do you think would attract more qualified sales leaders to your sales organization? This is not a trick question. Support your workers and associates in knowing they are whole people doing a job, not being the job. In that awareness, fear falls away, job enjoyment and satisfaction increases and the whole company moves into the new paradigm of enhanced excellence, productivity… and loving.
About the Author:
Sales Psychology Expert Gregory Stebbins has helped more than 20,000 sales professionals better understand their customers so they can outsell their competition. Now with his book, “People Savvy for Sales Professionals” sales managers can help their sales team understand a simple, yet groundbreaking plan to winning your customers’ trust and business forever. Get your free sneak preview at: http://www.peoplesavvy.com/book.htm