Tag: Job description

Seven Qualities of Great Small Business Employees

~ @philammann ~ 2 Comments

What does it take to be a great small business employee? Seven qualities that will make next your next hire a superstar!

Small Business EmployeesIn a small business, it is rare to get a second chance to make a strong first impression. The same is true for hiring a small business employee. Hiring the wrong person is a waste of time and money—resources that always seem to be in short supply.

There are lists of attributes for a successful small business employee; good attitude usually ranks near the top. Anyone can learn skills, but mindset, initiative and independence are innate. They are often hard-wired attributes of all the best employees. Determining who has these qualities—and more importantly, who does not—is the way to ensure you have the right tools for success.

The greatest small business employees are…

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Nine Ways to Eliminate Hiring Bias

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Hiring bias can negatively affect a company at every level, from senior management on down.

Hiring Bias

When recruiters use emotion in a hiring decision rather than objective facts, it could lead to accusations of hiring bias.

Using “your gut” to select a candidate is simply not the way to get the right talent.

Like cancer, hiring bias could spread through the entire corporate culture—damaging employee morale, efficiency and the company’s reputation.

In 2012, the EEOC received nearly 100,000 cases of discrimination in hiring. This leads to one question: How many more cases of hiring bias are NOT reported?

Nine Ways to Eliminate Hiring Bias: Continue reading “Nine Ways to Eliminate Hiring Bias” →

Resume Fatally Flawed? How to Make It Clear!

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resume
resumes (Photo credit: realisticresumes)

By this time, you should know that typos and grammatical errors can be fatal to a resume.

However, there is one flaw that is the most deadly of them all—the perfect resume killer!

Rambling and unclear language.

Compared language that is all over the place, the occasional typo, outdated technology references or even an unexplained employment gap are somewhat excusable.

Resume/ovation tech blog

A resume that does not concisely reveal the person you are and what you have done will be dead on arrival. It doesn’t matter how qualified you may be. A human resources staffer, hiring manager or recruiter cannot judge you on your qualifications if they are not able to FIND your qualifications.

A candidate may have the greatest technical skills in the world, but if they can’t immediately take it from reading a resume, that’s bad. What’s worse is reading your CV several times, and it still makes no sense.

How to avoid incoherence—the most fatal resume flaw:

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Is It My Job to Fire Employees?

~ @philammann ~ 4 Comments

Is it HR’s job to fire employees?

Is it HR's Job to Fire?In most companies, the role of Human Resources staff is painted with a broad brush. Often, HR is tasked with the jobs that managers are reluctant to do—things like discipline, hiring and firing.

Many of these responsibilities belong to management, and rightly so. That is not to say that HR has no business in the decision to discipline, hire or fire; HR should assist management in these tasks, not replace them.

Consider the decision to fire someone. A human resources staffer does not have the first-hand information to make the decision independently. Direct supervisors have knowledge of an act that requires termination, or are familiar with the performance pattern that led up to the decision to fire.

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4 Best Ways to Prepare for Job Interviews

~ @philammann ~ 1 Comment

Take a look at the top three most anxiety producing events in a person’s life:

  • Public Speaking
  • Death
  • Failure

It is no wonder that preparing for a job interview causes so much grief—it combines two of the three No, you are not going to die in your interview (although you may feel like it), but speaking in front of others and failure can be powerful fears.

Throw into the mix the fact that the people you are speaking to in an interview are actively judging you, and the stress levels skyrocket!

That is what makes preparation so valuable; without it, fear can get hold and damage your confidence, your presentation and the chances you get the job.

There are hundreds of details to attend to pre-interview, but these four steps will help you be ready—and increase your chances of making the right impression, and land that job:
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5 Reasons Why Your Resume Bombed

~ @philammann ~ 3 Comments

SAN MATEO, CA - JUNE 07: Resumes sit in a bas...
(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Good morning, job seekers! You know the drill.

Wake up, get some coffee, grab a bite to eat, fire up the computer and check your email.  If you are like most people, your inbox is already crammed with messages; some important, but most are junk, ads or spam.

Today, searching for a new job online entails sending out several (perhaps hundreds) of resumes. This is based on the idea that casting a wide net will reel in the “big fish”—eventually.

What usually happens is this…

Nothing.

Not the bite of the big fish. Not even a nibble by a guppy.

Now, consider the employer. HR departments and recruiters receive vast numbers of resumes every day; email inboxes are always filled with messages from hopeful applicants. And like your morning routine, most of the messages are unnecessary.

In addition, the hiring staff usually takes about 10 seconds to scan the average resume. This leaves them with little time to decide which resumes to call, and which ones to pass.  Choosing resumes that make it to the next level means matching the job to the applicant; all of this happens in an instant.

So why didn’t yours make the cut? Five reasons why your resume probably bombed: Continue reading “5 Reasons Why Your Resume Bombed” →