Lessons Learned From 2019

Lessons Learned From 2019 December is traditionally the time of year when you get a chance to sit down with your umpteenth hot chocolate and mince pie to reflect then review what you have achieved in the year gone by against your new year’s resolutions perhaps and certainly against targets set out by your employer! However, I think it is also important to take stock and think about the “softer” elements of the lessons learned- certainly in terms of what behaviors you would change to improve your performance, what you will change next year in terms of your attitude towards situations and even who you will try and avoid next year….. I challenged my colleagues to also think about what they have learned most this year and this is our summary; we hope you find it useful and we would be interested to know whether you have had similar situations in your business too? Sign of the times We always get signed terms agreed upfront with any hiring client we want to partner with, which have clear clauses surrounding fees, payment terms and rebate periods. Ordinarily, our clients have been previous users and so there is rarely an issue around paying us once a candidate is placed- all part and parcel of contingency recruitment. However, you meet a client who is through a recommendation and you agree on fees on email; however, you don’t get the actual signed document assuming the email agreement is enough. A word of caution- if this client then turns into your worst nightmare and refuses to pay your full fee-splitting  hairs over this, it transpires that a signed document is the only way to protect your business. Sadly, this scenario resulted in this client being removed as a partner to our brand as for us, trust is the most important thing and we could never place someone else into a business that breaches that so viciously. We will certainly be very cautious taking on new clients going forward and always with signed terms. Has this happened to you? What was the outcome? Marmite people As you get older, you learn to appreciate what sort of people you want to surround yourself with- I have certainly found as I have passed 40 by, that there are those I want to be around and then those I have to tolerate and in business, this is no different. For example, in recruitment, you do tend to come across a lot of strong characters and just sometimes they border into narcissists- those who lack empathy or commitment to anyone but themselves. How do you predict who these people are going to be other than trusting our own intuition and life experience; even we, as seasoned recruiters, occasionally get the wool pulled where someone will test our patience and trust. However, we would recommend the 3 strikes and you are out rule as there is only so much bad luck one person can have during an interview process. What do you do when you are dealing with someone you don’t like? Crystal ball reader Sadly I am not a psychic nor can I predict the future; therefore my summation is that every recruitment situation you face will be unique and that you can never predict what an outcome is going to be. What you can do to navigate away from risk and steer towards a positive outcome is to always ask open questions, be prepared to listen and ask for the “no”, be genuine in your own approach so that you create an open and transparent engagement with your customer. It is so easy for me to say take a pragmatic view as I run my own business so don’t have shareholders or a boss to please; however the less we worry or become fixated on “making money” and more importantly focusing on outcomes getting the right people their right job- will make you a much more professional, calmer and honest operator in whatever market you operate within. Have you found this in your market? Are there nuances you can predict? USP value Understanding what your USP is should form a critical part of anyones future plan for career development or business operating. Why does someone buy from you whatever your product or service. Think about this and from this USP, build out your value proposition so each and every time you engage with a new customer you can simply position why you are the best person to assist them. We have learned this year that our QUI, sorry “key” USP is that we are highly discerning in our approach (one interview to get someone a job- placed ratio is 1:1.16) and this leads to a high quality and confidential service maintaining a candidates confidentiality and saving them time. What is your USP? We hope this gives you some tangible reflections to build your new year goals onto. We would love to hear them. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my blogs on UnderCover Recruiter in 2019, all the best for 2020.

Professional Resume Writing in Austin Texas Provides Skills to Land the Job

Professional Resume Writing in Austin Texas Provides Skills to Land the JobProfessional Resume Writing in Austin Texas provides a variety of services. Many individuals who relocate to the United States often take the advice of hiring professionals, in the hope that their skills will be translated into better jobs and wages. Professional Resume Writing in Austin TX can help.A professional resume is designed and prepared to present your qualifications for an employer. This is not an empty document that reads like a sales page. It is your opportunity to prove yourself to potential employers by demonstrating your expertise and skills.When you submit a professional resume, it is your chance to demonstrate your skills and qualifications. The person reviewing your document can see right away if you have the knowledge and training necessary to do the job. Not only do these documents save you from the anxiety of having to write a job description for yourself, they also show prospective employ ers what you can do.Professional resume writing in Austin TX helps you communicate your skills and knowledge to a potential employer. By creating professional resumes, you present your skills and abilities in a way that is clear and concise. You create a highly professional impression to help impress employers into hiring you.Achieving this goal requires more than just knowing how to write a resume. You must be able to connect your skills to the job. A successful business owner or worker is one who has the experience and knowledge necessary to carry out the job. This understanding is why professional resume writing in Austin TX is so crucial.A resume is your opportunity to communicate your skills to a potential employer. These documents are also your opportunity to present your work experiences to potential employers. These documents help your prospective employer to make an informed decision about you. If you want a promotion, your job may require aneducation or the correct trainin g.The best way to get a job is to show a potential employer that you have all the necessary skills required to successfully complete the job. For this reason, many employers conduct interviews and focus on skill and educational requirements before hiring individuals. These professionals can assist you in preparing your personal statement for your potential employer.The documents you create for your resume need to be attractive and inviting. You want them to 'wow' your prospective employer. This is how you make an impact!

5 emails you should never write

5 emails you should never write Email is one of the most convenient ways to be impetuously stupid, so if you are writing an email you wouldnt want your boss to read or the SEC, or your grandma then dont send it. Assume that everything you write via email will appear in the business section of the newspaper. Compose your messages with care and pause before you send; ask yourself, Does this email make me look good? Obviously, if you are about to lie or cheat, do not send an email to document your lack of ethics. But there are some other, less obvious types of email which wont make you a felon, but they wont make you look good, either, so dont send them. 1. The youre-a-screw-up email If you need to tell someone they did a bad job, do it in person so you can gauge their reaction. For example, if you open with Your negligence on this project cost the department $2 million, and then the employee starts crying, you probably shouldnt continue in an extremely angry tone at least not until he composes himself. Another reason not to reprimand via email: people will leave this type of email in their in-box for weeks and weeks and reread it every time they want to resurrect their hate for you. Talking in person helps everyone to move past the conflict without sour residue. 2. The Im-a-screw-up email Do not document your weaknesses. If you must apologize for botching a project, do it in person so there is no email record of your mistake for people to forward around the office. The more documentation you leave, the more your mistake festers in peoples minds. And for Gods sake, do not send a mass email to apologize. You will invariably announce your screw-up to people who would never have heard of it otherwise. 3. The bcc email This email function is for people who are insecure, manipulative, and undermining of their co-workers. Even if you are this type of person, do not announce it to everyone by using the bcc function. Sure, only the people in the bcc line realize youre using it. But all those people will understand that you are not strong enough to let everyone know whos reading the email. If you feel compelled to use the bcc function, ask yourself why. Then get up off your chair, go deal with the problem face-to-face, and then go back to your desk to send a more honest email. 4. The joke email Even if its the funniest joke of all time (which I am sure it isnt) do not send it to your co-workers. Why make the announcement that you read spam during work hours? You should be working. You might think that telling a joke is a good way to establish rapport, but a spam joke is unoriginal, and impersonal and does nothing to make you closer to co-workers who matter. Besides, if someone thinks the joke is stupid, she will think you are stupid for sending it. 5. The Dear John email I am amazed at how many people break up via email, from the office. I realize that some people are such dirt bags that they dont deserve a nice breakup. I also realize that if you handle a breakup from your office then the pressures of work can distract you from the drama of your personal life. But I am sure that there will be a web site maybe a new section on Match.com for people to publish breakup emails received. And your name will be mud in the dating world if you are known for sending breakup emails from work. The bottom line is that sending an email is like getting dressed in the morning both are ways to manage the way people perceive you. The only difference is that if you have a terrible outfit, you can take it off and never wear it again. A terrible email propagates in cyberspace and will seem, to the original sender, to last forever.

How Can You Consolidate Your Payday Loans

How Can You Consolidate Your Payday Loans It has already been discussed that payday loans can be tricky if not dealt with care and perspicacity. One payday loan can quickly lead to another and very soon, you can become addicted with the idea of taking small loans to take care of your everyday needs. However, if you are not careful, you may have to end up double the amount you had borrowed in a span of just about a year maybe because it is one of the most expensive ways of borrowing money and has a very high annual percentage rate (APR). The problem is that not enough precautions are taken before issuing a payday loan. There are very few credit checks unlike what you see for auto or home loan or even student loan for that matter. The borrowers also don’t exercise caution always because the amount seems small to begin with. But if late payment or rollover fees get added on every payday, then the debt keeps growing and soon a stage comes where you just want to run away from your life and take a break. Even if you had an impeccable credit history before you took a payday and then added more and more, the shape of it can get distorted in a matter of mere months! It becomes almost impossible to recover. The problems look bigger than they probably are because payday loans are not the only things to worry about for most people. Most people have to pay taxes, rent or a heavy mortgage fee every month, apart from paying the EMI of the auto loan that they had taken. They also take care of utilities like energy bills, medical bills, school fees, etc, things which one can’t do without. These fast loans give you the name of a bad credit. Payday loans are often misused  Payday installment loans are short-term loans and should be used as such. It is meant to help you ward off an immediate financial crisis and when the next paycheck arrives, you should be able to pay off the entire amount including the fee. Say, if you need to make a car repair suddenly, you may not have been prepared for it. So, you take a loan, say in the middle of the month, but you are confident that on the payday of next month, the amount can easily be debited from your bank account and you can still have enough left to take care of all your other priorities. But, sometimes people make useless purchases even when they know their financial condition is not great and then take a payday loan to pay that. So, on the next payday, they realize either they don’t have enough to pay off the entire amount or if they do, they won’t be in a position to take care of other priorities. So, they rollover the loan and this soon becomes a trap. People who exercise good fiscal prudence won’t require a payday loan under normal circumstances. You should also try to avoid taking one as much as possible.   Payday loan consolidation  Not all payday loans or lenders allow payday loan consolidation. Some do. You will have to find out from your lender or consult a free debt management counselor. In case, your lenders allow payday consolidation, see if you can club all your credit card bills, medical bills also into one consolidated account. You can then ask for a favorable debt management or repayment program which increases the loan repayment tenure and/or reduces the interest rate or provides a debt settlement deal.  You may need to consider guarantor loans if you cannot qualify for a consolidation on your own.  In any case, consolidation reduces headache as you have to deal with one account and also reduces the value of financing it. Cashco Financial, for instance provides an installment loan product they call a Flex Loan.   You can use a flex loan to quickly consolidate any debts you have and then easily repay the flex loan over time with affordable installments. According to Cashco, each on-time payment on a flex loan will improve your credit score as well. Conclusion?  Even if payday loan consolidation is not possible, you should look for a debt management program if things go out of hand. Keep the lender in the loop and try to fix the problem by reducing expenses and paying off the bills on time. Image Credit: Debt Help

Choose A Style For Your Resume To Showcase Your Skills

Choose A Style For Your Resume To Showcase Your SkillsIf you want to impress your interviewer, the key to doing so is to use a resume format that showcases your best qualifications and experiences. There are many resume formats out there that include this information. We have found some templates that can help you create a great resume for each position.A very common resume style reflects the person's career path. It includes information about their previous employment, education, and education references. They should have previous work experience in a field relevant to the job they are applying for. A good way to ensure this is to look at the listed employment position of the company that hires you and get the relevant experience listed under the desired field.An old school style of resume includes many sections. In this style, one section per position is used to contain everything about the person's previous employment. This section includes details about their work experience and where they worked in the past. The other sections help them put all of their previous work experience into a chronological order. Some of the more popular sections that are included in a traditional resume are:Critical Skills: What skills are they confident you will bring to the position? This is a common question and often relates to whether they plan on bringing the type of skilled labor that is required. They can also take the skills from previous positions and put them into an excel file for use later in the application process.Past Skills: Describe your skills as they relate to the position they are applying for. This is a good way to illustrate your ability to apply what you have learned to new situations. The format of the section can be anything from an outline of your work experiences to a list of skills and capabilities. It is important to think about how the skills you describe match with the job description of the company you are applying for.Educational Experience: This is one of the most important information that should be included in a resume. It can serve as an investment in the future of the applicant. It can show them that they are someone who will add something unique to the job.References: Don't forget to include any personal references that are not in your employment history. You can also list any volunteer work or civic or church activities that relate to the position that you are applying for. If the position requires that you have prior work experience in the field, be sure to include that. It is important to ensure that these personal references are up to date on current employment opportunities.You may have seen multiple resume formats in your search. You can choose a single resume format or mix and match different ones to highlight the skills and qualifications that you wish to emphasize. Here are some tips for making a great resume for each position that you are applying for.

How to be happier at work - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

How to be happier at work The saying goes: if you have a job you love, youll never work a day in your life. With that in mind, we may not all work the job we grew up dreaming of, but everyone can learn these techniques to be happier at our current occupations. The latest infographic from Expocart delves into what we can do to be happy at work. Understand what contributes to job satisfaction People have a lot of different ideas about what makes them content at work, and it turns out that very few factors are directly related to their pay (although fair pay is a contributing factor). Trust and respect in the workplace, especially among peers and management are top considerations when determining the satisfaction we feel in our work, as is feeling secure in our positions. Organizing to increase happiness and productivity A lot of happiness at work comes from eliminating sources of stress that crop up from lowered productivity, an unorganized workspace, and a jumbled priority list. The first step to creating a happier workplace is to organize and remove clutter. Then, changing work habits needs to take priority. That means going against some things we feel deeply ingrained in our work ethos. First, multitasking isnt the gem we perceive it to be and actually results in markedly unhappy feelings. Instead, focus on ‘getting into the Zone to achieve joy and results in your tasks. Prioritizing the work thats important, and will lead to results, helps workers reduce stress throughout the day. Likewise, important, high performance tasks should take precedence in the morning while your peak productivity is high. Allow low priority tasks and communications to wait for the afternoon to make the most of your time. Add in happiness promoters to your work Communicating with coworkers allows you to establish mood boosting social friendships that have a big impact on your daily happiness. On the same track is a tip that we may hear often, but dont implement nearly enough: smile. This tip isnt just for the benefit of your coworkers either, the physical act of smiling causes a release of dopamine, a happy’ hormone. You can also include an audio aid to increase your happiness at work: listening to music works to create good feelings much like smiling, and results in a release of dopamine. Creating a space for yourself to be happy can be easy, inexpensive, and very effective, even if you only have a small personal space of your own. Putting photos of happy memories, mementos from friends and family, an inspiring or humorous poster, or even a small (easy to care for) plant, in your space can provide a major mood boost to your day. Banish stress to improve your mood While we all want to add factors that increase happiness, it can be just as important to remove things that take away our overall happiness: namely, stress. Taking care of your health will help to decrease stress, and promote a feeling of well-being. That means youll want to get plenty of sleep, regular exercise, and be conscious of taking deep, fulfilling breaths. When youre cooped up in the office all day, it can be difficult to get outdoors, but its worth making time for. Taking a walk on your lunch break gives you light exercise that gives you an energy boost, while the sunshine is an instant mood lifter and stress reducer. Keeping a journal can also help fit a lid on your stress. This allows you an emotional release of the stress you carry through the day, as well as an opportunity for contemplative reflection and meditation on the events going on in your work and life.

5 skills that help businesswomen climb the leadership ladder

5 skills that help businesswomen climb the leadership ladder Despite the many gains women have made over the years, a gender gap in leadership still remains. While women make up about half of the American workforce, they hold fewer than 20 percent of leadership jobs. As a result of the scarcity of role models, women are often hesitant to pursue leadership positions due to fear of failure. According to Tina Bacon-DeFrece, who worked as a successful research director for a multi-million-dollar scientific instrument company before co-founding theBig Frog Custom T-Shirts and More franchise and stepping into the role of president, it is important to begin with self-reflection before laying out a strategic plan for personal growth. For women serious about climbing the leadership ladder and developing invaluable skills to gain a seat at the decision-making table, she offers a few best practices to guide the way: 1. Knowledge is power Employers want educated people working for them. It would be wise to consider learning a new technology, taking a class, or getting an additional degree. Bringing new skills and knowledge to your employer will keep you on track for a higher-level position. Many aspiring business leaders struggle with finding the time to invest in expanding their knowledge. One simple way to continue your educational journey and gather insights to get ahead is through networking â€" acquiring knowledge through connections. 2. Conquer communication Communication failures are the source of most problems at work that, in turn, affect the bottom line. According to the Clear Company, 86 percent of employees and executives cite “lack of collaboration or ineffective communication” as the reason for many work problems. Communication is said to be among a woman’s strongest skills â€" use it! Whether communicating with employers, co-workers or partners, an open communication stream allows for clarity in executing roles and responsibilities. Over-communication may have a bad reputation, but don’t confuse it with micro-management. The best business leaders are those who communicate regularly, clearly, and openly. Break the stereotype of being less assertive and less likely to speak up and voice an opinion compared to men. Expressing your thoughts will show your employer you are serious about the success of the business and want to take an active role in being a part of its success. 3. Seek change by leaving your comfort zone We are creatures of habit, but for those looking to climb the leadership ladder, playing it safe could be limiting your business success. Seek out new roles, new assignments, and new partnerships. These will create avenues for personal development and growth. For example, Bacon-DeFrece came from the world of chemical engineering but had a desire to be an entrepreneur. Taking on the challenge of developing a business from the ground up was surely outside of her comfort zone. Not only did it lead to a thriving 65-unit plus franchise system but it led to the presidency of a multi-million dollar company. 4. Stare failure right in the eye Sometimes women are their own worst enemy. Women have the tendency to be self-critical and we begin to question, “Am I really the right person to lead this project? I can’t speak in front of all these people, can I? What happens if I fail to launch this business?” Being afraid to fail creates a hurdle that will stunt your growth. All great business leaders have failed in some regard before they’ve succeeded. It is what you do after failure that determines your fate as a successful business leader. 5. Promotions come from positive influencers Build positive relationships with colleagues to create a unified workplace where you and your co-workers are more productive. Executives in leadership roles are more likely to promote those who bring out the best work in others. When employees are performing well, the business is operating well, and profitability will follow. These best practices will set you on the path of becoming an outstanding employee and help you climb the leadership ladder. By taking the time to expand your knowledge, take risks, and hone in on critical business skills, you can win recognition in the work place, rise to the top, become a key decision maker, and be part of the movement to close the gender leadership gap.