Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Appealing Your Long-Term Disability Claim

Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Appealing Your Long-Term Disability Claim

Long-term disability insurance is designed to provide financial assistance to individuals who are unable to work due to a prolonged illness or injury. However, navigating the claims process can be challenging, and many claimants find their initial claims denied. If you find yourself in this position, don’t panic; appealing the decision is possible.  To help […]

The post Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Appealing Your Long-Term Disability Claim appeared first on Jobacle.com.

Executive Spotlight: How To Use Online Content To Generate Sales

Executive Spotlight: How To Use Online Content To Generate Sales

Creating and sharing online content is one of the best ways to generate sales for your business, big or small. Content is king in this digital world, and those who create online content will get their brand in front of more potential customers, establish credibility, and generate more sales.

We recently asked our leading executives how they use online content to generate sales.

Here are their responses…

Percy Leon, Digital Media Content Executive

As a YouTube content creator, there are several ways to use your online content to generate sales.

You can monetize your content as a YouTube content creator, focus on providing value to your audience, and build a loyal community.

You can use this as influential marketing. According to Influential Marketing Hub, the influencer marketing industry is set to reach a value of $16.4 billion in 2022, representing an 18.8% increase from the $13.8 billion valuation in 2021.

Brands are increasingly turning to smaller creators, such as nano and micro-influencers with strong subscriber engagement and trust, as it can be more effective and cost-efficient than paying larger influencers.

Also, high-quality, informative, and engaging content can attract and retain viewers and lead to revenue streams through:

  1. Sponsorships
  2. Advertising
  3. Affiliate marketing
  4. Merchandise sales
  5. Coaching
Percy Leon is a digital media content producer specializing in educational technology and entertainment. He is interested in web3, metaverse, and the use of virtual reality for storytelling.

Lynn Holland, VP Sales & Business Development

Professional manages online content on a blog to generate sales

In March 2020, I was selling enterprise technology when a final demo to secure my last endorsements and purchase approval for a large sale was canceled. Corporate travel was banned, fear converged, and modern buyers emerged with new expectations for finding, evaluating, and making tech buying decisions.

They now resisted mercilessly being spammed and chased with a phone, email, hollow marketing materials, and time-consuming sales journeys, and were no longer accessible with in-person meetings and tradeshows to prospect and further sales.

Instead, they expected vendors to generously publish surprisingly insightful content on social networks where they natively hang out to:

  • Source information
  • Get recommendations and validation from trusted peers
  • Anonymously self-educate, evaluate, compare, and gain confidence in the credibility of vendors/solutions

THEN

Visit a strategically designed vendor website to binge on a full library of UNGATED content.

THEN

Submit a web form or make a call, WELL into their buyer journey to VOLUNTARILY self-identify where they found you, became a high-intent buyer, and were led to:

  • Recognize they had a problem
  • See you as a potential solution to their problem
  • Prepare internally to engage you in a buying initiative

So how can you use content to build high-intent buyers who WANT what you have to offer?

  • Build deep insights that serve your audience with value – non-obvious solutions to obvious problems or obvious solutions to non-obvious problems that you provide to save money, make money, or reduce risk in days or weeks vs. months or years
  • Perpetually embed them into a variety of content pieces and publish them on social networks where your ICP hangs out
  • Make networking a priority and serve them by sharing your insights and value without asking for anything
  • Offer a quality free resource with your insights and value in your content and website/landing page with no strings attached
  • Make sure your site is clear, concise, full of ungated content, and guides high-intent followers into a low-friction process to demo, try, or buy your offering

Lynn Holland is a business development executive with 18+ years of experience taking operational, IoT & retail technologies, products, & consumer engagement to market with a focus in petroleum & convenience retail.

Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist

Small business owners create online content to generate sales

From my perspective, online content is such a powerful tool that can be used to generate sales. By creating and sharing high-quality content, you can attract attention, build relationships, and drive traffic to your website or online store.

Based on my experience, these are some ideas on how to use online content to generate sales:

  1. Creating valuable content that solves problems. The best way to generate sales with online content is to create content that solves problems for your target audience. This could be in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, or infographics. When you create content that is helpful and informative, people will be more likely to trust you and buy from you.
  2. Sharing your content on social media. Social media is a great way to share your content with a large audience. Make sure to share your content on the social media platforms that your target audience is active on. You can also use social media to run contests and giveaways, which can help to generate excitement and buzz around your brand.
  3. Promoting your content through email marketing. Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your customers and promote your latest content. You can send out email newsletters, or you can send targeted emails to people who have shown an interest in your products or services.
  4. Using paid advertising to promote your content. Paid advertising can be a great way to reach a larger audience with your content. You can use paid advertising on social media, search engines, or other websites.
  5. Tracking your results and making adjustments as needed. It’s important to track the results of your online content marketing efforts so that you can see what’s working and what’s not. You can use Google Analytics to track website traffic, and you can use social media analytics tools to track social media engagement. Once you know what’s working, you can make adjustments to your strategy to improve your results.
Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the “red thread.”

Kathryn Marshburn, Music Program Manager

Musician creates online content to generate sales

The data is undeniable that large amounts of quality social media posting and increased posting frequency is the key to successful sales. Some of those strategies are free and some are not. Here are three top thoughts to increase online sales with content:

1. Awareness campaigns

Most online sales strategies can be distributed for free through social media, where you can create content for awareness campaigns without having to pay for it. Having music artists post on their Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook accounts would be a great place to start advertising your music product with consistency and frequency for new music drops as well as merchandise.

My advice is a very practical approach.

Nobody here today, in 2023, is confused that people’s attention sits on social media…at scale. It just does and will continue to do so in the future. Sometimes, businesses confuse a business strategy on social media with a human perspective and opinion of social media.

The consumer you are trying to reach is not super concerned with your personal take on how you feel about what 13-year-old is trending on TikTok. Consumers don’t care how much you like or dislike Facebook. Your consumers are surfing around on socials, living their life, seeing things, and spending their money. Most successful online sales stories do have a connection to social media and embracing the concept is important for music teams so that the messaging aligns with specific awareness posts for future music initiatives as a baseline.

2. Placing social media ads

Let’s strategize against what the consumer is actually seeing and the reality of the sales process. Sales today does connect to social media in every way and ads that come across your feed allow you to reach more eyes. Yes, placing ads, within a reasonable budget, will be effective in increasing sales. Research should prevail before ads are placed to make sure the target audience is receiving the ads and the correct buyer is being targeted. The reality is that the consumer is online, therefore leveraging ads in front of those customers is essential.

For music artists, aiming for Gen Z and millennials has proven successful as research supports that a large percentage of time spent by this demo is searching for new music artists. Where are they searching? Blogs, articles, banners, and festivals. Placing ads in these specific verticals will be effective in driving music sales.

3. Increasing the frequency of your social media posts

The data is undeniable: more frequent posting is guaranteed to increase sales. Recommended volume for posting should circulate around 12 creative posts per day, per platform. Posting on LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Those companies that do not enjoy the grind of posting at a large volume may not survive. Hire a social media team if you must…but posting now is the baseline for successful sales. People that are outflanking in posting cadence are winning exponentially. People that are out-posting others are picking up market share by the simple fact that there is just too much attention on these 5-7 platforms.

Find your cadence and post quality, and aim for 8-12 posts per day.

Kathryn Marshburn has spent 12+ years in the music and gaming industries guiding teams on identifying targeted goals with an agile approach resulting in driving revenue and reducing risk.

How do you use online content to generate sales? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily’s Executive Program.

The Power Of Digital Transformation For Modern Enterprises

The Power Of Digital Transformation For Modern Enterprises

Digital transformation is a term that has become increasingly popular in the business world in recent years. With the latest technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), companies are adopting digital solutions to enhance customer experience, streamline operations, and drive growth. However, it is not just about adopting new tools or platforms but changing how a business operates and delivers value to those it serves.

Let’s explore digital transformation’s benefits, opportunities, and challenges in modern enterprises.

First, what is digital transformation? I like the definition that Salesforce uses: The process of using digital technologies to create new – or modify existing – business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. This reimagining of business in the digital age is digital transformation.

Transforming Businesses Into Digital Powerhouses

Digital transformation can bring many benefits to modern businesses, such as:

  • Increased efficiency and productivity: By automating tasks, streamlining workflows, and optimizing resources, digital transformation can help businesses save time and money, improve quality and accuracy, and enhance performance and output.
  • Improved customer experience and loyalty: By leveraging data analytics, artificial intelligence, and personalization, digital transformation helps companies understand their customers better, proactively identify their needs and preferences, and offer tailored solutions and experiences that meet or exceed their expectations.
  • Enhanced innovation and competitiveness: By fostering a culture of experimentation, collaboration, and learning, digital transformation can help businesses generate new ideas, test new concepts, and launch new products and services faster and more effectively than their competitors.
  • Greater agility and resilience: By embracing cloud computing, mobile devices, and remote work, digital transformation can help businesses adapt to changing market conditions, customer demands, and external shocks more quickly and easily.

The Pitfalls Of Digital Transformation And How To Avoid Them

However, digital transformation also poses many challenges, such as:

  • Resistance to change and cultural barriers: Many employees may be reluctant or fearful of adopting new ways of working, learning new skills, or collaborating with different teams. To conquer this challenge, you need to communicate the vision and benefits of digital transformation clearly and frequently, involve employees in the decision-making process, provide training and support, and reward positive behaviors.
  • Lack of skills and resources: Digital transformation requires a diverse set of skills and capabilities, such as data analytics, cloud computing, cybersecurity, design thinking, and agile methodologies. You may lack the talent or budget to acquire or develop these skills internally. To overcome this challenge, you must assess your current and future skill gaps, invest in upskilling and reskilling your workforce, partner with external experts or vendors, and leverage online platforms and tools.
  • Security and privacy issues: Digital transformation increases the amount and complexity of data you collect, store, process, and share. This also increases the risk of data breaches, cyberattacks, identity theft, and regulatory fines. To overcome this challenge, you must implement robust security policies and practices, use encryption and authentication technologies, comply with data protection laws and standards, and educate your employees and customers on protecting their data.
  • Integration and interoperability problems: Digital transformation involves integrating various systems, applications, devices, and data sources across your organization and beyond. This can create technical difficulties, compatibility issues, and data silos. To overcome this challenge, you must adopt a common data model and architecture, use open standards and APIs, leverage cloud-based solutions and platforms, and establish governance and quality controls.
  • Regulatory and ethical compliance: Digital transformation can have significant social, environmental, and ethical implications for business and society. You may face new or changing regulations, customer expectations, stakeholder pressures, and ethical dilemmas. To overcome this challenge, you must monitor the legal and ethical landscape, align your digital strategy with your values and purpose, proactively engage with your stakeholders, and adopt responsible digital practices.

To overcome these challenges and leverage the opportunities of digital transformation, businesses need to adopt a strategic and holistic approach that involves:

  • Aligning the vision and goals of digital transformation with the business strategy and customer needs.
  • Engaging and empowering the employees and stakeholders in the digital transformation journey.
  • Investing in emerging technologies that can enable and accelerate digital transformation, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing.
  • Implementing agile and iterative methods to test, learn, and improve digital solutions.
  • Measuring and monitoring the outcomes and impacts of digital transformation.

How Emerging Technologies Can Drive Digital Transformation

Using technologies like AI, IoT, and cloud computing can drive digital transformation in many ways, such as:

  • AI can help businesses automate tasks, analyze data, generate insights, personalize experiences, and augment human capabilities.
  • IoT can help businesses connect devices, sensors, machines, and people to collect, process, and exchange data in real time.
  • Cloud computing can help businesses access scalable, flexible, and cost-effective computing resources and services on demand.

By combining these technologies, businesses can create smart, connected, and intelligent systems that can transform their operations and offerings. For example:

  • A retailer can use AI to analyze customer behavior and preferences, IoT to track inventory and supply chain, and cloud computing to store and process data. This can help the retailer optimize pricing, merchandising, marketing, and delivery.
  • A manufacturer can use IoT to monitor the performance and condition of its machines and equipment, AI to detect anomalies and predict failures, and cloud computing to manage maintenance schedules. This can help the manufacturer improve quality, efficiency, and safety.
  • A healthcare provider can use IoT to collect patient data from wearable devices or sensors, AI to diagnose diseases or recommend treatments, and cloud computing to store and share medical records. This can help the healthcare provider enhance patient care, outcomes, and satisfaction.

Digital Transformation: A Never-Ending Story

​​Digital transformation is not a one-and-done event, an on/off switch, or even a destination. It is an ongoing journey that requires constant adaptation and innovation. By embracing digital technologies, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and create new opportunities for growth and innovation. Companies willing to take risks, experiment with new approaches, and invest in the right tools and systems are more likely to succeed in digital transformation. With the right mindset and strategy, digital transformation can be a powerful catalyst for success in today’s business landscape.

If you like this content, I suggest reading the Harvard Business Review article about how AI will transform project management.

The Best Jobs For Teachers Leaving Education

The Best Jobs For Teachers Leaving Education

This is for all the teachers who are thinking about making a career change and aren’t sure what to do with their transferable skills.

In my experience working with teachers inside the Work It Daily community, these are the best jobs for teachers leaving education:

Strategic Or Conceptual Selling Jobs

@j.t.odonnell Replying to @patsrimbau Job For Teachers Leaving Education #teachersoftiktok #teacher #education #job #jobtok #career #careertok ♬ original sound – J.T. O’Donnell

Not every teacher, but many teachers are really good at what we call strategic or conceptual selling. This isn’t the sales where you’re cold-calling or knocking on doors. This is complex selling where you listen to the customer’s needs and then help them envision and understand how your software, product, service—whatever you’re selling—will work for them.

Strategic or conceptual selling jobs require somebody to be great at educating and they need to have the right personality. Teachers have usually dealt with kids their whole life, so dealing with adult learners seems easier to them and they end up excelling in these roles. I can’t tell you how many teachers I’ve seen leave teaching and make big money doing this. Strategic or conceptual selling might not be right for every teacher making a career change, but it might be right for you.

If you want to know if you’re a fit for strategic or conceptual selling, I built a FREE 20-question quiz that you can take that helps you determine your top workplace personas. Your workplace personas are how you like to create value on the job and how you’ll feel satisfied doing work. Those will dictate the kinds of careers that you’re fit for. And if you get educator and then other things like visionary or super connector in your quiz results, those kinds of combinations make you ideal for strategic or conceptual selling.

You are never too old to switch careers, but you need to know how you like to create value to get out there and sell those transferable skills to employers. Because again, they’re going to have to understand that value and they’re not going to just see it on a piece of paper like a resume. You’re going to have to explain it to them. And this kind of quiz can help.

Need more help with your career change?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

Why CEOs Need To Give Employees Purpose Through Their Passion

Why CEOs Need To Give Employees Purpose Through Their Passion

During a seven-year run as a president, I learned a lot along the way and got my MBA and Ph.D. by listening to learn and hear versus telling and explaining. Why?

Our HR team had an individual who led the learning and development team and she came to see me one day and asked if I had a minute. And when I did, she said she had good and bad news for me and which did I want to hear first? I said the good news, so she said, “Mike, you have been here a few short months and your leadership team respects your business sense and loves your passion for people and being here.”

I said, “Great, that is good to hear,” yet I was bracing for the bad news.

So she continued. The bad news was, “You are getting compliant leaders on your team but not committed ones because your standards are too high.”

Those last five words stung. “How can standards be too high?” I asked.

She said, “You have not taken time to understand how to MASTER your ability to lead with purpose, have you? People will only trust you as far as you have built trust with them and you don’t spend quality time getting to know and understand your people but when you do you will create followership like you have never experienced. Give people purpose with your passion and then watch what happens.”

I took all this in and began to understand that just because I was clear, was everyone else? This is when I started to focus deeply on using purposeful passion as a leader.

What Is “Purposeful Passion” And How Do Leaders Use It?

CEO/leader talks about purpose during a team meeting

It involves the idea that when individuals pursue work that aligns with their personal values and passions, they are likely to be more engaged, productive, and fulfilled in their roles. Studies show that people’s number one goal at the end of the day is to know they did meaningful work. Yes, the boss matters, as does the pay, but when you dig deep, PURPOSE is key. As a leader, you have to invest time to really understand people at a deeper level and it takes work and commitment and a level of humility but it’s well worth it.

3 Ways To Utilize Purposeful Passion As A Leader

CEO/leader talks to an employee at work

As you get more skilled at incorporating purposeful passion into your leadership style, you’ll see lots of opportunities to leverage it. But, if you’re just getting started, here are a few ways to incorporate it into your existing leadership best practices:

1. Find examples of what you want: Share examples of individuals who have pursued work that aligns with their purposeful passion and the positive outcomes they achieved as a result. This could include individuals who started their own businesses, pursued social impact projects, or made career changes to align their work with their personal values.

2. Encourage exploration: Encourage individuals within the organization to explore their own purposeful passions and find ways to align their work with those passions. This could involve offering opportunities for personal and professional development or creating a more flexible work environment that allows individuals to pursue projects that align with their passions.

3. Lead by example: Finally, lead by example. Show your own commitment to purposeful passion by pursuing work that aligns with your values and encouraging others to do the same.

Mastering leadership requires discipline and patience and it isn’t for everyone. To build a business beyond you, I would argue requires it. Let me know if you want to discuss this further or debate the thinking above by connecting with me on LinkedIn or by email at [email protected]. As a Vistage Chair, I love connecting with high-integrity, growth-oriented business owners/CEOs who also care deeply about the environment and humanity.

17 Common Financial Analyst Interview Questions & Answers

17 Common Financial Analyst Interview Questions & Answers

Being prepared for common financial analyst interview questions is important if you want to get hired. But interestingly enough, many candidates go into the hiring process without realizing how unprepared they actually are! This list of common interview questions for financial analyst positions will help you find the job you’ve always wanted. 1. Do you […]

The post 17 Common Financial Analyst Interview Questions & Answers appeared first on Career Sherpa.

3 Reasons To Work For Avis At Airports

3 Reasons To Work For Avis At Airports

Avis is one of the world’s largest car rental providers, offering its customers control and personal touch during their car rental experience. Its convenient airport locations are the foundation of its business. If you’ve ever wanted to be an integral part of a company, working for Avis at its airport locations could be the perfect career for you.

Avis is dedicated to expanding on-demand mobility solutions and personalizing the customer experience. As a member of Avis’s airport teams, you would play an important part in this mission as they handle everything from keeping the company’s cars clean and well-maintained to making sure customers find the right vehicle and options for their needs.

Want to work for a company with an action-packed, high-energy workplace that values its employees? Avis might be the right company for you.

Here are three reasons to work for Avis at airports:

1. A Company Culture That Is Driven To Help You Be Your BEST

Avis understands the value its employees provide to the company through their talents, skills, and unique personalities. Its employees are the reason for its success, and that is reflected in the company culture.

Here are the four pillars of Avis’s company culture that help you be your best at work:

Driven to be the best (together)

Avis provides an employee experience where you can be proud of your work, driven to be your best, and valued for who you are.

The will to win

Employees at Avis are motivated, so the company makes sure they feel they’re in the driver’s seat of their careers. If professional and personal development is your goal, Avis is a great fit because the company provides advancement opportunities and progression plans.

Development and progression

Due to advancement opportunities, progression plans, supportive managers, international opportunities, and a huge range of training, your professional and personal development will move a lot faster with Avis, resulting in a rewarding career journey.

Driver of future success

A big part of Avis’s company culture is its mission to remove friction. At Avis, employees are encouraged to generate ideas that solve problems internally and externally for customers through state-of-the-art solutions.

2. A Focus On Diverse Hiring To Close Pay Gaps

Avis believes a diverse workforce means richer ideas and broader perspectives when considering the needs of its customers, stakeholders, and employees. Therefore, the company focuses on diverse hiring to close pay gaps and ensure the success of its business.

There are three key components of Avis’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that help them attract and retain employees:

Recruitment

Avis makes sure that its recruiters have the skills necessary to understand and recruit diverse candidates. The company uses a partnership approach to send out roles to 600+ employment and diversity sites. It also proactively builds meaningful relationships with over 15,000 local diversity organizations.

Global Gender Pay Equity

To help guide the company and measure its progress toward its diverse workforce goals, Avis set a target of maintaining 100% gender pay equity at all levels of the organization by 2030. The company plans to accomplish this goal through “global compensation programs and policies to drive pay equity through standardized reward programs.” Avis also uses global guidelines and standards to make compensation decisions for all new hires and promotions.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

As an equal opportunity employer, Avis is proud to provide an inclusive workplace where employees can bring their whole selves to work. To ensure all employees feel valued for their uniqueness, recognized for their diverse talents, and have a voice, the company has created several ERGs. These ERGs advocate for equality and opportunities for advancement. They also help to “facilitate discussions around best practices and resources to promote more targeted cultural and racial understanding and diversity.”

Other components of Avis’s diversity, equity, and inclusion focus include its unconscious bias learning and awareness educational campaign and its commitment to supporting diverse suppliers.

3. A Variety Of Jobs In Airport Operations

One of the best reasons to work for Avis is for its variety of jobs. If you love everything you’ve heard about Avis so far, here is a list of some of the jobs in airport operations:

  • Mechanics & automotive technicians
  • Drivers
  • Shuttle bus drivers
  • Car cleaners
  • Rental sales associates
  • Rental store customer service representatives

Want To Work For Avis?

If you’re interested in working for Avis, visit the company’s careers page to learn more!

What Employers Are REALLY Looking For In Job Candidates

What Employers Are REALLY Looking For In Job Candidates

The longer your job search drags on, the more you start to doubt your interviewing abilities. Or worse—you start to doubt your skills and experience as a job candidate, which in turn affects your interview confidence.

You may begin to ask yourself, “What are employers really looking for in a job candidate?” The good news is we can help you understand just what you need to convey in a job interview to stand out to employers and finally land a job.

Employers want you to answer three questions they won’t ask you directly. So, it is your job to answer those unasked interview questions in order to move on in the hiring process.

Here are three things you should be sharing in your job interview to make the right impression and send the correct message to potential employers:

1. How Do You Save Or Make Companies Money?

The first thing you need to convey in your job interview is how your skills and expertise save or make a company money. You are a business-of-one. As an employee, you provide a service to an employer. So, in your job interview, you have to prove to the employer that the services you can provide for the company will either save or make them money.

It comes down to your ability to justify the initial cost it would take to hire you. Most professionals don’t know that it costs an employer between 130% to 140% of their salary to hire them. It’s a big investment for a company to hire a new employee. That’s why you need to convey your efficiency and effectiveness as an employee in job interviews.

To prove you could save or make a potential employer money, quantify your past experience (on your resume and in the interview) and cite examples of how you’ve saved or made your previous/current employer money. Once a potential employer understands that you will provide a good return on investment, they will automatically consider you a great candidate for the position.

2. How Do You Like To Deliver Value?

Professional woman shakes the hiring manager's hand during a job interview

Make sure you talk about how you deliver value too. No employee performs a job the same way. We all work on tasks differently and go about accomplishing goals with different processes and strategies. If a company doesn’t think you’ll be able to do the job the way they want you to do the job, you probably won’t be offered the position.

In order to explain how you deliver value, you need to know exactly what you do and how you do it. During a job interview, let the employer take a peek inside your brain to help them get a better idea of how you would perform certain tasks that the job requires.

A great way to explain how you deliver value is by answering behavioral interview questions with the STAR technique. Begin answering a behavioral interview question by describing the situation or task you were faced with. Then, explain how you took action, walking the employer through your decision-making process. Finally, quantify your results so the employer can clearly see how you deliver value.

(If you’re not sure how you deliver value, take this free quiz! You may be surprised by the results.)

3. Why Do You Feel Connected To The Business?

Job candidate answers the hiring manager's questions during a job interview

The last thing you absolutely want to convey to an employer is how you feel connected to their organization. Consider the company culture and their mission, and use that to your advantage.

During a job interview, it’s important to explain to an employer how you feel like you’re a part of their “tribe.” Why do you want to be a part of the team of people dedicated to solving this specific problem? You can also talk about why you admire their products and services, why you understand and identify with their customers, and what you love about the way they do business.

Tie all your pre-interview research back to what excites you about working for the company. Employers want to hire people who would integrate well within their organization. By talking about the above factors, you’ll connect with employers on a deeper level and show that you’re passionate about the job. Therefore, you’ll come across as a great cultural fit.

You can also begin to convey that connection to a potential employer in your disruptive cover letter. A disruptive cover letter catches an employer’s attention and gets them excited about you as a candidate. So, even before you walk through the door to your interview, an employer will already feel a connection to you.

Knowing what to say in an interview in order to make the right impression can feel incredibly overwhelming, maybe even impossible. If you follow these three tips, you’ll be sure to send the correct message to an employer, and ultimately increase your chances of landing the job.

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.


Looking To Find Your Next Great Hire? 5 Tips For Incorporating Storytelling Into Your Recruitment Efforts

Looking To Find Your Next Great Hire? 5 Tips For Incorporating Storytelling Into Your Recruitment Efforts

Warby Parker, the uber-cool retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses, had an insight: glasses are too expensive. The company used this premise to craft a story and build a brand.

Disney uses storytelling successfully, too, by helping families imagine the magical moments they will create at one of its entertainment parks.

Good stories evoke emotion and inspire action. Translated into business, a good story can also attract top talent and help existing staff understand, embrace, and put your company’s mission into practice.

So how can you create a compelling narrative that piques the interest of job candidates and gets them over the finish line to work for your company?

Here are five steps for incorporating storytelling into your recruitment efforts:

1. Take A Fresh Look At Your Company

Business storytelling concept

When was the last time you took a 360-degree look at your company? No matter how long you have worked there, taking a step back and looking at your company through a fresh lens can benefit your recruitment efforts.

At Duffy Group, our storytelling process starts by completing a detailed intake form to learn as much as we can about our clients. This includes the company’s organizational structure and business goals, what distinguishes the firm from others in the industry, what the culture is like, and even what causes the company supports in the community. This is followed by an on-site visit to get a firsthand look at the business in action, see the company’s workspace, and meet the people who work there.

Consider doing the same. You’ll be surprised at what you learn.

2. Put Yourself In The Candidate’s Shoes

Recruiters / hiring managers talk to a job candidate during an interview

Why would a new hire want to work for your firm? What are the perks and what makes the work fulfilling? How do other team members feel about the company? What do they like best and what makes them stay?

Whether you work with a recruiter or handle recruitment internally, this process can be illuminating. You may take your company’s flex hours, remote workdays, or community giving for granted, but these benefits can be differentiating factors.

3. Use Your Company’s Mission As A Selling Point

Recruiter / hiring manager talks to a job candidate during an interview

Build your recruitment story around your company’s mission. That doesn’t mean slapping your company’s mission statement on your website. Instead, put the mission into context and bring it to life with data points and real-life examples of why customers flock to your company and why employees love working there.

Not long ago, our Duffy Group team helped a nonprofit serving special-needs children hire a new CEO. The board of directors preferred hiring someone with a special-needs child, a preference you would never include in a job description. In our story, we explained why this was important and then pitched it to our trusted network to find the ideal candidate for the job.

4. Find Your Voice

Storytelling, voice concept

When telling your story, it is important to find your company’s unique voice. It must be authentic and reflect the core values of your company. It should reflect your brand and be consistent with the story you share with staff and your company’s external marketing. Most important, it must create a meaningful connection with candidates.

5. Customize The Story For Your Audience

Recruiter / hiring manager utilizes storytelling while talking to a job candidate on her laptop

Although the overall theme of your company’s recruitment story should never change, you can customize elements of the story to speak to different audiences.

To help a law firm client woo a highly prized senior tax accountant from a large public accounting firm, we wrote the firm’s story and the candidate’s story. The firm offered knowledge-based growth, potential career advancement, and a 45-hour workweek. The candidate wanted multi-focused learning opportunities in a new field with the potential to grow his career. It was a perfect match, made possible by knowing what each side valued most.

Some final thoughts: Remember that a good story is memorable, so use powerful words and examples that give candidates a clear and visual idea of the working environment, the job, and the contributions they will make to the company.

Top 5 Ways To Attract Talent To Positions That Do Not Offer Working From Home

Top 5 Ways To Attract Talent To Positions That Do Not Offer Working From Home

As we move beyond the pandemic, many businesses ask employees to return to the office. Despite two years of hybrid and flexible work arrangements, many employers emphasize the value of in-person collaboration and client connectivity for maintaining high-quality products and services.

While employers have made their plea, the challenge is that the talent pool applying for critical positions has shrunk. According to Inbusiness.com, 63% of the workforce now works flexibly, meaning businesses must find creative ways to lure top talent back to the office despite the competition.

This week, a client talked to me about her struggles attracting talent due to her company’s in-office work policy and inability to offer flexibility like other businesses. She anticipated these questions would arise in a candidate interview and wanted a well-thought-out response. How does an employer address the issue of work-life balance when candidates raise the question in an interview? I was empathetic and hoped to deliver some recommendations to her and others struggling.

Here are the five top ways YOUR company can attract talent if working from home is not an option:

5 Strategies Employers Should Use To Attract Talent To Positions That Do Not Offer Working From Home

Woman shakes hands with the hiring manager before her job interview

As someone who has worked remotely for the last half of my career, I understand the appeal. However, after collaborating with numerous clients and my colleagues in person post-pandemic, I missed the personalized connection and appreciated the benefits of in-office work. And let’s remember the value of face-to-face conversations and the opportunity to build strong relationships with colleagues and superiors.

The energy of a shared workspace is challenging to replicate in a virtual environment and can be stimulating. Some candidates feel the same way; you must know how to find them. Here is how you can identify those in your pool who are interested.

Businesses have levers to pull when attracting talent:

1. Personalize your hiring approach.

Internal recruiters and department managers must be aligned on all aspects of the job, including incentives and the positioning of the position in the market. Treating candidates with respect and regular check-ins while waiting for a decision will speak volumes.

Research shows that personalization is vital to keeping candidates engaged in the recruitment process. One effective way to personalize the experience is by exploring the candidate’s motivations. If you cannot personalize your interactions with candidates, hire an external recruiter who spends time understanding the company’s value proposition and the candidate’s motivation.

2. Emphasize the benefit of in-person collaboration when speaking to the candidates.

While remote work has become more prevalent in recent years, you can emphasize the benefits of working together in the same space for improved communication, faster decision-making, and better team bonding. Research has shown that in-person collaboration can lead to higher productivity, increased creativity, and stronger working relationships.

3. Brand your work culture to increase a candidate’s desire to work for you.

Illustrate your company’s critical differentiators on social outlets, websites, and other media to showcase your competitive advantage. A strong company culture can be a significant draw for job seekers, especially those who value community and belonging in the workplace. You can highlight your company’s values, mission, and vision to show candidates what they can expect when they join your team.

Testimonials or employee success stories demonstrating how your company supports and invests in its employees are the perfect way to draw people in. To my surprise, I hired someone recently, and she selected Duffy Group because we are a women-owned business. She had multiple offers to work with other well-known consulting practices for more money. She chose our company because she was respected during the process and loved our culture.

4. Strategize with HR on additional incentives.

Employers can offer more competitive salaries, improved health and wellness benefits, work-life balance programs, and resume-building opportunities. One effective way to personalize the experience is by exploring the candidate’s motivations. As an employer, asking critical questions about what motivates a candidate is essential.

Discuss with your HR team the incentives that make the most sense for the job. Understanding the candidates during your recruitment stage is critical to know what motivates them, and you should encourage the hiring manager to flex when possible.

5. Consider a phased approach.

If you are not ready to offer a fully flexible or hybrid work schedule, consider a phased system. For example, you could start with a limited number of remote work days per month or a relaxed start and end time. This can help ease employees into a new way of working and demonstrate that the company is open to change.

One remote example that comes to mind is a CPA firm in Boston. The perfect candidate was already working remotely but was unsatisfied with the opportunity. If the candidate were to pursue this job, there would be a commute, and his work environment would change. Getting the candidate to say yes meant the employer had intimate discussions with the candidate about what attracted him to the position and decided to offer (some) flexibility by suggesting he work in the office for the first month to get to know the staff and his team since this was a leadership role. More employers are becoming more flexible when employees have established themselves.

Lastly, be proud and confident in the role you’re offering the public. The client I spoke of earlier should understand that every job provides someone an opportunity to serve. Likewise, ensure your recruiting teams understand what motivates each candidate. Some processes can last months. Employers should develop the most personalized recruiting approach possible if they are eager to hire, establish a good rapport with candidates, and get them to say yes, too!

How do you compete?

Sources:

1. “2023 Hiring Trends: What Recruiters Need to Know” by Lizzi Hart, LinkedIn Talent Blog, January 12, 2023: https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/talent-on-tap/2023/2023-hiring-trends-what-recruiters-need-to-know

2. “2023 HR Predictions: The Year Ahead for Hiring, Recruitment, and Talent Management” by Sharon Florentine, CIO, January 3, 2023: https://www.cio.com/article/3652121/2023-hr-predictions-the-year-ahead-for-hiring-recruitment-and-talent-management.html

3. “5 Hiring Trends That Will Impact Your Talent Acquisition Strategy in 2023” by Brandon Metcalf, Forbes, December 19, 2022: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonmetcalf/2022/12/19/5-hiring-trends-that-will-impact-your-talent-acquisition-strategy-in-2023/?sh=7718463c1b3d

6 Reasons Why Your Resume Isn’t Getting A Response

6 Reasons Why Your Resume Isn’t Getting A Response

It can be hard to ascertain if it’s your resume, the job market, or who knows what else when you’re job hunting and your phone just isn’t ringing. Your mind begins to wander as you anxiously await an employer’s call or email.

Many job seekers have contacted us and said, “I think it’s my resume, but I’m not sure.” After reviewing their documents, we find ourselves telling them, “Yes, it’s your resume,” 99% of the time.
So, how do you know if it’s really your resume or if it’s something else?

Take a look at these six mistakes job seekers make on their resumes, and if one or more of them can be found on yours, that’s probably why your resume isn’t getting a response.

1. It Still Has An Objective Statement

An objective statement is a section of a resume that expresses your goal of securing a future position. What this statement fails to do, though, is substantiate your fit for the job opening—or articulate the value you offer to the employer should they choose you over another candidate.

Ditch the objective statement and utilize a personal branding statement and experience summary instead. An experience summary is a list of skills you have that are needed for the job you’re applying for. They’re hard skills and transferable skills, not soft skills.

By having an objective statement on your resume, you’re missing out on the opportunity to start proving your value to the employer within the first few seconds they glance at your resume, which is exactly the purpose of a personal branding statement and experience summary.

2. It Lacks Any Form Of Personal Branding

Hiring managers read a job applicant's resume during an interview

When employers read a resume, they need to see what attributes you bring to the position. It helps them differentiate between you and other viable candidates. Are you deadline-driven and customer-focused? These are important to employers and how they operate business. What is it that’s important to the employer from whom you’re seeking to obtain employment? And how do your expertise and experience correlate to their greatest need?

Personal branding is about how you market yourself to the potential employer. They have a need to fill, and you have to figure out how who you are and what you offer meet that need—then effectively communicate that to the employer. If you can’t meet a need, then they won’t see the value in choosing you over another candidate who does.

3. It’s Fluffy

Job seeker on laptop works on his resume

Your career summary and work history are full of fluff and filler words that could apply to every job seeker on the market. Here’s an example of what we mean:

Dynamic, results-focused IT specialist with broad-based expertise in project oversight, systems implementation, process improvements, and integrating cutting-edge technology that exceeds expectations. Proven ability to quickly analyze key business drivers and work directly with internal/external staff, leveraging a team-centered effort that increases profitability.

Sure, it might sound good, but it hasn’t told us anything specific about who this candidate is, their experience/expertise, and what they offer the employer. It would be better to address how many projects the candidate has overseen, which processes they improved, the outcome of the improvement, and how the cutting-edge technology they integrated exceeded expectations. But just saying they exceed expectations is vague; tell us which expectations were exceeded and by how much.

4. Skills & Accomplishments Are Not Highlighted

Job candidate gets nervous when the hiring manager reads her resume during an interview

The top third of your resume is the most important section when the hiring manager is giving it his or her initial scan. This is your prime opportunity to market your skills and achievements. Remember the experience summary we mentioned above? That’s where you’ll write the skills you possess that are needed to succeed in this particular job.

Highlighting your skills in the experience summary will draw the hiring manager in and entice them to keep reading. Then, as their eyes move down your resume, they’ll see all of your accomplishments underneath your work history. What career successes are you most proud of that correlate to the job you’re applying for?

5. Duties And Responsibilities Have Taken Over

Woman on laptop revises her resume while job hunting

Bullet points that only share basic duties and responsibilities fall short every time. Maximize the space on your resume by using the STAR method (situation, task, action, result).

Talk about the challenges you faced, how you addressed them, and what the outcomes were. This makes the information contained within your resume much more impactful.

6. Metrics, Facts, And Figures Are Nowhere To Be Found

Hiring manager confused by the job candidate's resume during an interview

Give the employer something to remember you by. Don’t just tell them you reduced costs. State a percentage or dollar amount. Manage projects or clients? Put a number to it. Ask yourself questions like how much, how many, and for how long? This is how you quantify your work experience on your resume. It’s the secret to getting a call from an employer.

Asking yourself questions like the ones above leads to answers that help you define your successes, develop your personal brand, and market yourself more effectively to potential employers.

Review your resume with the six points above in mind. Ask yourself if your resume reflects any of the above. If it does, then use the tips and advice we’ve provided to correct the issues within your resume—and ultimately improve its response rate.

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.