Social Recruiting Making Sense of Connection Requests on LinkedIn

Social Recruiting Making Sense of Connection Requests on LinkedIn Networking plays a huge part in the recruiting world. Whether you’re trying to promote your own personal brand in the hopes of building your career or looking for some key talent to fill gaps in your company, solid networking is a key component of your success and should absolutely be part of your “tool kit”. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that more and more of us are using LinkedIn, Facebook, AngelList, and other social platforms as an effective way to find new connections and recruitment opportunities. When done right, this can help you get some great results. The problem? Not everyone seems to understand how to network appropriately… Can you relate? An all-too-common experience I’ve had on LinkedIn is when I receive a connection request with absolutely ZERO context. Nothing. Zip. Nada. All I get is the automatically generated message asking to connect. Now if this was someone who I already knew in real life, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. But more often than not, these personalization-free requests come from someone who I don’t know at all. We might not even have any connections or groups in common! For me, it becomes exceptionally frustrating when my LinkedIn inbox fills up with these connection requests that arrive with no context whatsoever. Who are these people? Why are they trying to reach out to me in the first place? It doesn’t help when I send a message asking why they wanted to connect and I don’t receive a response. Not the best way to get started, would you agree? I am completely perplexed by this topic and have had several discussions with others who suffer from the same issue. As a result of thinking about this “out loud”, I’ve come up with a few general guidelines to help navigate this often murky part of modern networking. The good Of the strangers who reach out to you on LinkedIn, who can you feel safe accepting? Let’s start with the good. These networkers are the ones who are more likely to have included a personalized message in their connection request in the first place. If they didn’t (and I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt because the mobile app makes it harder to customize messages â€" keep reading for the fix to this dilemma), they provide a quick response when I ask why they wanted to connect. Their reasons for connection are the most telling. They might already share a few professional connections with you, they may have referrals for the job you’re working on, they may be directly interested, or they might be looking to connect with other industry pros who they wish to learn from (yep, flattery can go a long way). They might wish to connect because they enjoyed an article you posted online, or they could be looking to build meaningful relationships that will help them as they grow their own careers. An active, polished profile is another hallmark of these people. They regularly share posts they find insightful or helpful, are dialed into their marketplace/industry, and regularly like or comment on articles that others share. In short, you might not know these people in real life, but connecting with them could ultimately result in great recruitment and growth opportunities down the road. The intriguing Of course, not everyone is merely looking to build a network for sharing knowledge. This is especially true in the recruiting worldâ€"you probably regularly receive (and occasionally send) connection requests trying to tout why a particular job opportunity or service is worthwhile. These opportunities can be quite intriguing, and it’s not always easy to decide whether or not you should accept or delete these requests. In my experience, I’ve found that any signs of true personalization usually merit a closer look (this applies both to the initial connection request or responses to any follow-up messages you might send). Then there are those people who seem like a really intriguing connection, but when I reach out to learn more about why they wanted to connect, I don’t get any sort of response. This leaves me completely in the dark as to why they made the request in the first placeâ€"did they like something I wrote? Are they looking for sales recruiting help? While looking at their profile can provide some clues, this often leaves me unsure of whether or not I should accept the request. I wish I could say there was an easy answer about what to do with these types of requests. Ultimately, though, you’ll have to dig deeper into their profiles and decide for yourself on a case-by-case basis. The downright ugly While there’s always some potential with certain recruitment connection requests, there are always those messages that come in that are just downright ugly. There are those obvious spam messages that come from accounts with incomplete profiles and almost zero connectionsâ€"yet they claim to be a bank executive with a lucrative money-making opportunity for you (all you have to do is wire them a few thousand dollars). Then there are those recruitment emails that have taken no effort to appear legitimate or worthwhile. You’re simply blasted with a canned message for a job that has little or nothing to do with your industry or career experience. These naturally merit an immediate delete. Fellow recruiting comrades, for the love of all that is right in our world, DO NOT send canned, spammy template messages with ZERO personalization to those you’re looking to engage! I’m sad I have to mention this, but it’s still the rule versus the exception I’m afraid and total nonsense. A few actionable, quick-fire takeaways So, what should you do if you’re trying to form meaningful connections on LinkedIn or use it as part of your recruiting strategy? These are a few things you should always do if you want people to pay attention to your requests: NEVER send blank connection requests to people you don’t already know. When using the mobile app, click on those three dots next to a person’s profile picture. This will let you send a personalized message with your request. When recruiting, tie your message into why you like someone for a job and explain how their profile makes them look like a good fit for important elements of the job â€" see my PSA above. Consider why you’re sending the request in the first placeâ€"make sure your message matches (and explains) your motives. If someone asks why you wanted to connect with them, ALWAYS respond! If you can’t think of a good reason to connect with someone, there’s not much point in doing it. Conclusion There’s no denying that successfully incorporating LinkedIn and other social platforms into your recruiting and networking strategy can sometimes be a frustrating, time-consuming endeavor. But when you appropriately filter the networking requests you receive and take steps so that the requests you send come off as genuine, you’ll be far more likely to get the results you need. About the author: Amy Volas is the founder and “Chieftain” of Avenue Talent Partners.

Reasons Why You Didnt Get the Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Reasons Why You Didn’t Get the Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Sometimes things don’t go according to the plan. You may feel that you have nailed the interview but in the end, learn that you didn’t get the job. There may be a lot of reasons why you didn’t get the job and got passed up for someone else. It is always recommended to ask the recruiter why you have been rejected so that you can better prepare for your next interviews. However, you may not always get a helpful feedback and instead, can only end up with a generic answer. There may be things which are beyond your control and have absolutely nothing to do with your qualifications or interviewing skills but often there are things you might do differently to get the job you have been dreaming of. Below are some of the reasons why you didn’t get the job. 1.  They hired a previous employee or someone who is working in another department: Hiring someone they already knew or already working in the organization is less risky for the hiring manager because that person knows the company culture and how the business is going internally. Therefore, he can learn the responsibilities of the job quicker compared to someone else who is totally new to the company. 2.  You are not a good fit for the company or the team: There is nothing you can do about this. Some click better with others and some don’t. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have a good personality or you are not friendly towards new people. It only means that the chemistry didn’t work between you and the hiring manager. Since the hiring manager will be working with the new employee, he will prefer someone else whose connection click better with his. 3.  You were not prepared well enough: You were just not that prepared and someone else was! Maybe you didn’t look at the company website enough or didn’t google the interviewer or simply didn’t study for the answers of the most asked interview questions. In this case, for your next interview, definitely make some practice with a friend and be prepared to discuss your accomplishments and why you are interested in this position plus working for this company. 4.  Budgeting issues: If you ask for a salary that is out of their budget, they cannot hire you even if they want to. It is always good to ask their salary range first and then tell the salary you wish to receive only if they mention salaries during the interview. Otherwise, don’t mention anything related to salaries until you are extended an offer. Moreover, sometimes the budget for the job may get cancelled due to unexpected events such as a sales drop or a company acquisition, etc. In this case, there is nothing you can do to change the situation.

Motivate Your Employees With These Tempting Incentives

Motivate Your Employees With These Tempting Incentives Employees are the cogs that keep your company going. Hard-working employees will help your business be extremely productive. And you will find that they can help you achieve more than you had ever imagined. But what happens if the cogs aren’t working quite as efficiently as they should be? If you notice a dip in the productivity of your employees, you may just need to offer them a bit of extra motivation. Hopefully, the following incentives will encourage them to step up their game! Tokens Of Gratitude Small tokens that show your employees how much they mean to you will go a long way. You will be surprised at just how motivated they are once they know that all their work is being noticed! If one employee has worked particularly hard on a project, personalized thank you cards are a nice way of showing how grateful you are. You might also like to buy any teams who have done really well some boxes of chocolates. It doesn’t matter how small the token is. After all, it is the thought that counts! Always Give Feedback All employees will want to know exactly how their work and actions are affecting your company. The best way to let them know if by offering them continual feedback. One easy way to keep track of how your staff is working is to set goals. Then you can give employees feedback on where they are in relation to each goal. This gives them supportive feedback and shows them their progress. This can greatly increase their motivation and spur them on to do even better. Monetary Incentives Some employers like to reward their hard working staff with monetary incentives. These can include bonuses and extra paid time off for vacations. If you reward your employees with these monetary incentives when they reach a certain goal, it will motivate them to get better and work harder. You can offer bonuses whenever you like, though most companies prefer to give them at Christmas. There are different ways for you to decide how much to give. Some business owners look at how well their company has performed and give their employees a bonus relative to that. Others give employees a different bonus each depending on how well the individual has performed throughout the year. Non-Monetary Incentives Of course, not all incentives need to be driven by money. There are plenty of other things that will motivate your staff! Some companies like to keep production high by offering flexible working. Some employees may work better if they can work from home some days each week. This could be extremely motivational for employees who have children, for example. Some of your younger employees could be motivated if you offer extra training. Learning opportunities can help employees do perform much better at work. This can prevent them from getting too frustrated in their job, which can be very demotivating. Once you try these incentives, you may be very surprised at how much your company’s productivity increases! Image credits. Main.  Thanks.   Wow.  Money.

6 Simple Steps for Finding Your Next Executive Position

6 Simple Steps for Finding Your Next Executive Position The time has come to bid farewell to your current executive position.You did all you could, the company is in a great position, and it is best to go out on top.But you have a problem. You are not sure what executive role you want next.You are also in need of a position you find rewarding and fulfilling.We offer this advice for finding your next executive position.1. Make a List of Your Most Attractive Skills and AccomplishmentsIt is great that you know how to do 100 tasks at a time while at work.Now, stop and make a list of the skills you have that companies will find the most attractive.Keep this list with you while at work! For the next 30 days, keep a record of your achievements at work and note which skill was used to make it happen.Take the time to start reviewing your accomplishments from the previous year(s).Again, note what skills were used for each accomplishment.The end result is you discovering your best skills and accomplishments for your executive resume!2. It’s Time t o Start BrainstormingUse Google and LinkedIn to look up ideas for your next company and position.On LinkedIn, start turning those 2nd and 3rd-degree connections into 1st-degree connections.Look up people at the companies you want to work with and start researching both the people and the company’s background.An executive has to be concerned about his/her career reputation!It is best not to join a company that will not be around in a year.3. Make a List of All Your Favorite Company’s CompetitionOne of the most overlooked opportunities in business is working with your competition or even your enemy.Is this risky? Not necessarily. Chances are if you are an executive doing a great job at “Insurance Company A”, more than likely, you will be very valuable to “Insurance Company B”.There are laws and non-compete clauses you must contend with before working with the competition.However, knowing your competition gives you an advantage over new executives in an industry.The smarter executive knows it is just business. Get to know your competition.4. Start Contacting All of Your Favorite Companies and Their CompetitorsUp until this point, you have several things going for you:List of your skills and accomplishments Brainstormed list of favorite companies and the people who work there List of competitors to your favorite companies and people who work thereNow, it is time to start contacting people. Go to LinkedIn and start messaging your connections.Target the proper people with your messages and let them know why you are writing.Avoid making these simple LinkedIn message mistakes. Be positive and engaging in comments always maintaining your executive presence.Clean up your LinkedIn profile to give it a digital executive presence, as well.5. Start Making a Record of the People and Companies Who Engage With YouIf you are spending all this time writing messages, do you really want to work with companies that never reply?When people are being responsive to your Li nkedIn messages, it is a sign that they are interested in you in some way.Why chase people or companies that show no interest in you?Make a record of who engages most and stop engaging those who stay quiet on LinkedIn.6. Decide What Company Will Eventually Meet All of Your NeedsFinally, decide what companies of interest will be able to provide what you need.Whether it be financial stability or work-life balance, make a decision based on the company that looks more willing to fight to keep you around.Once you have found the company that fulfills your needs, you are ready to make the next career move as an executive!

How to Encourage and Promote Employee Relations at Your Workplace CareerMetis.com

How to Encourage and Promote Employee Relations at Your Workplace The core factors that significantly impact employee satisfaction and employee engagement are how you manage the relationship with your employees. Taking this into account, a large number of companies today are actively investing in resources and adopting effective practices to boost employee relations and better the workplace environment.Every employee relation strategy strives to boost collaboration and relationships in the workplace. Good leadership is the key to attract prospect employees and retain existing ones. Keeping that in mind, employee relations focus on assisting line managers to connect with the staff in the best way possible.The Need for Healthy Employee RelationsevalTo ensure the organizational success of a business, sustaining healthy employee relations is inevitable. For high productivity and human satisfaction, there is a need for a strong employee relationship. These relationships involve resolving and avoiding any issues that may stem out of the work scenario or impacts it in some way or the other.A healthy and safe work environment, complete commitment and involvement in the tasks assigned, incentives for employee motivation, and effective communication lay a sound foundation of strong employee relations. Healthy employee relations are a leading cause of an increased number of motivated, efficient, and productive employees that increase sales level.Healthy employee relations indicated that employees of the organization should think positive of themselves, their job, as well as about being a part of the organization.Developing and Achieving Strong Employment RelationsHow do you develop such employee relations? The first thing is good management. Surveys and research have found that employees are likely to over-achieve and do their job with more commitment who respect their employer. They are efficient in doing their designated duties. And this creates a goal-oriented environment with high productivity levels.Here are the four main pillars u pon which managers can build and sustain positive employee relations:1) Invest in Your EmployeesevalEmployees are the asset to your business. You need to show that you care about them as real people with lives, not as mere workers who you have hired to do tasks from morning till evening. When you express care through your actions and gestures, it is quite the statement on a personal and professional level that is going to prompt their respect towards you.evalWhen you invest in their lives in general and not just work, it will work out the best for you. As employees tend to be more productive at work when they arehappy in personal lives.You could offer them:A gym membershipHealth and old-age benefitsWorkshops and professional development initiativesThe permission to purse side projectsPaid holidays2) Acknowledge and Recognize Their EffortsThisgoes without saying that kindness goes a long way. Appreciation and gratitude and showing your appreciation towards a job well done could mean a lot to your employees. When you take out time to highlight and praise their good efforts, it inspires them to do better. Praising publically rather than behind closed doors is one of the best ways to show recognition.When youreward your teamaccordingly, it fosters a culture of appreciation between the manager and employee while encouraging others to follow suit and work hard.3) Effective and Transparent CommunicationCommunication is the key to any relationship. Be it personal or professional. Since employees spend a major part of their day at work, they should feel comfortable with their manager and fulfilled with their job.evalSo, the best way to ascertain this is via ABC: Always Be Communicative. Your team should know that they can come up to you for anything. Be clear and transparent with them about business needs and your expectations.Carry out work surveys to be in the know of how employees feel about certain matters and working at your company in general in the form of anony mous feedback. You have to keep the communication flowing. Be transparent regarding any company policies and procedures such as telling them that the company-owned phones come with anemployee monitoring tool.4) Constant FeedbackEmployees want feedback so they can learn, grow, and improve themselves in their job. When you give them the needed guidance and worthy tips through constant feedback Playing favorites is never going to help you or others. When employers choose favorites, it is quite obvious. Favoritism can negatively impact the morale of the team and even ruin employee relationships.It leads to tension and bitterness between the colleagues that can ruin teamwork and cause disengagement.2) Maintain TransparencyThis links to having effective communication with your employees. They should be very clear in terms of their job roles and responsibilities. Be clear in what you expect of them and guide them on how to meet those expectations.3) Avoid MicromanagingevalWith micromanagin g your employees, your employees become uninterested and disengaged. This way, the quality of work suffers. And as a result, more micromanagement takes place that worsens the situation further.Micromanaging is controlling behavior. You not only risk employees getting irritated but also prevent them from exhibiting their skills and expertise. As a manager, you should know the difference between guidance and micromanage. Giving feedback and valuable advice keeps the employee relation positive. But hovering over their shoulders and watching their move every step of the way would make the employees doubt themselves, annoyed, and lead to various other problems.4) Tell Them About the Company Goals and VisionEmployees should feel important. You have to make them feel valued and that they are part of something bigger than them. Talk to them about the company’s vision and goals, and how, with the employees’ efforts, you plan to achieve them. See that you talk about the company’s goals frequently.5) Listen to Their Ideas and Insights and Use ThemTwo brains are better than one. And when it comes to business decisions, having a meeting before the decision-making can be quite beneficial sometimes. As stated earlier, you have to make the employees feel an important part of the team. Take their advice; listen to their ideas. Give them a chance to share their thoughts and insights about business matters. You never know they might be of help to you and the business.evalLet them know that their ideas are welcome. Always. Don’t just collect ideas, try to put some action into them if they are good enough.But it’s not just the responsibility of the employer to take care of the employee relations; employees have some responsibilities, too.All the burden of maintaining employee relations does not and should not fall upon the shoulders of the manager only. Employees should be able to take responsibility for their actions and work-related problems. Sometimes, restricting soc ial media sites on office computers doesn’t work because employees can use them on their smartphones.Social media sites and apps are one of the biggest distractions at work. Employees check their phones after small intervals and end up wasting a lot of work hours. Nowadays, many companies provide their employees with smartphones and install employee monitoring apps on them. As companies own these devices, they can also legally monitor them through consent.Xnspy employee monitoring tool is a popular monitoring tool that tracks the digital activities of the employees. The app monitors social media and web browsing activities and also helps in determining if your employee is sticking to the company policies and procedures. Xnspy could also help managers discover is their team members are not involved in any unethical activities. If social media use during work hours starts getting out of hand, employers can also ban select social media sites and apps on employee phones. And if not, t hey can at least calculate how many times an employee checks the phone for notifications and then establish appropriate rules and short breaks to browse through social media or the internet. Xnspy plays a key role in providing employers with this information.Employee relations deal with employer-employee as well as the relationships among co-workers. Apart from having trustworthy and respectful relations with your employers, pay attention to forming bonds with your workmates for a better company environment, and improvements in productivity.

Summary Sunday The Job Search News You Need

Summary Sunday The Job Search News You Need The Job Search News You Need The articles featured  here contain the job search news you need to know about!  Youll find helpful information to improve how you conduct your job search, brand yourself, perform in interviews and more! The Job Search News You Need Get tips on how to master LinkedIn, news about what Microsofts pending purchase of LinkedIn will mean, what you need to know before you show up at an interview and vital steps you MUST take during your job search! So grab a cup of coffee and digest these articles. Hope you  have a super week! LINKEDIN How Job Recruiters Screen You on LinkedIn  by Quentin Fottrell | Market Watch In order to create an effective LinkedIn profile, you have to understand how recruiters use the tool and what they are looking for. Heres help featuring some of my favorite resources like Jenny Foss, of JobJenny and  Jeremy Roberts of HiringSolved. Little-Known LinkedIn Features That Deliver Big Rewards by William Arruda | Forbes Arruda lists 4 features you should take advantage of on LinkedIn. I bet you arent using them all! JOB SEARCH TRENDS Making Sense of 2016- 4.7% Unemployment Rate, LinkedIn, Candidate Shortages by Will Thomson | Bullseye Recruiting This article helps you understand whats happening in the labor market right now. Job Search Roundtable Podcast Part 2  by Chris Russell | CareerCloud Chris Russell, Chris Fields and I chatted about the current trends were seeing in job search. We talk about LinkedIn being bought by Microsoft and what that might mean to job seekers. We talked about how many questions to ask during an interview and lots more! Hope you have a listen to this podcast! INTERVIEWING 7 Questions You Can  (and Should) Ask Before An Interview by Sarah Landrum | Punched Clocks Before youre next interview, be sure you take a look at this list of questions to make sure youll be prepared for your big day! These are questions you would ask BEFORE the interview, as in , when it is being set up! JOB SEARCH 10 Steps to a Shorter Job Search by Susan P. Joyce on LinkedIn If you are embarking on a job search, read this first! Or, if your job search is stalled, start doing ALL these 10 things! 8 Tech Tools to Help You With Your Mobile Job Search  by Mark Anthony Dyson | Recruiter.com We all rely on our mobile devices. These 8 tools will help you make your job search more mobile-friendly!

Tips For Developing a High Quality Customer Service Resume

Tips For Developing a High Quality Customer Service ResumeWriting a high quality customer service resume can be challenging, but the right applicant resource can make it easier to develop good skills to look for in applicants. These include elements such as understanding customer needs, communication skills, and personality traits.To begin with, make sure you have properly developed your customer service resume before you begin this process. If you do not, you are likely to become confused with a variety of different job choices that you may not have considered.Your first step is to consider the skills you wish to include in your customer service resume. First off, you should consider your requirements. This includes such items as experience, education, and skills.Next, come up with a list of skills that you think would benefit your potential employer. You may want to develop a skills list by researching the company you are interested in. Once you have identified your skills, sit dow n and write out how you will utilize these skills for the job. Remember, this may take some time, so ensure you are well organized.Next, put all of the skills on your customer service resume into one place, such as on the first page of your resume. This is important, as it allows the reader to quickly skim over this part of your resume and quickly identify what skill you wish to emphasize. If you are well organized, this should not be an issue.Lastly, make sure you list the necessary key benefits that you wish to highlight on your customer service resume. This can include benefits related to job security, salary and benefits, management, and so on.Now that you have covered all of the bases, you will want to follow up with proper planning and organizing before you begin writing your customer service resume. Researching the company you are interested in is the first step. The next step is to formulate a list of essential skills that you wish to include.With the information that you ha ve developed on your customer service resume, you will be well prepared to make an excellent first impression. Keep these tips in mind if you are seeking employment.