Saturday, May 30, 2020

The Role of Virtual Reality in Recruitment

The Role of Virtual Reality in Recruitment What is the most “difficult” part of recruiting? The part when the selected candidates have to come for an in-person interview with the manager of the company. This is rather tricky because the company has to come up with a schedule that suits both the manager and candidates alike. Sometimes it means for a recruiter numerous valuable hours lost every year spent planning, inviting and rescheduling. Luckily, the advancement of technology comes to their aid, allowing them to check out potential candidates without scheduling any interviews. This can be possible with the help of virtual reality (VR), a technology that started revolutionizing the way we live and do business, and it will continue to put its imprint on many aspects of our lives. And as many stated it will disrupt the recruitment field. How will virtual reality help the recruitment sector? Well, the aim is to interview potential candidates in the virtual environment provided by technology, without wasting time needed to schedule live interviews with each of them. Is this possible? It is, as more and more companies go for this option because it helps them save time and makes them more efficient at this process, shortening its duration and allowing the company to get back to its full potential and working power in no time. Sounds quite amazing, do you think? BUT…. You probably read or hear similar things from companies that are trying to sell VR solutions or VR services to the recruitment industry. The reality of VR right now VR allows candidates to actually SEE the role:  There are many ways to use VR in recruitment, one way is that virtual reality gives people the chance to see whether a job is suitable for them or not. This way, they will make the recruiters’ task easier, as they will only apply to those jobs that fit their future career plans.  But in reality, you still need to ask your candidates to install an app, buy the headset (or cardboard) and ask them to spend their time to watch the VR video. In this case to see what the role would be like on a daily basis. And instead of presentations that will get them excited to work for that company, this could very quickly turn into the most boring VR movie ever. VR allows candidates to actually SEE the office: The second application of VR in recruitment is to use it for virtual office tours. All the virtual office tours that I saw it didnt tell me anything about the atmosphere at the office or about the company. Everything in these videos was perfectly staged, clean desks, smiling people, PR talk on how cool and happy people are working there, but you can check Glassdoor of that company, and you will see a very different reality and not the virtual one. These virtual office tours will not show you companies as they truly are, at least I haven’t seen any good videos so far. The example of virtual office tours reminded me of a story that one friend from Prague told me. He worked for a big company, and when their CEO was coming from the UK for a visit, they already planned his whole trip and office tour. But they show him only the part of the office that was ready for his visit, and by ready I mean that everything was cleaned, freshly painted , people got new chairs, everything was perfectly staged, and the office looked like new. But they were also afraid that their CEO would change his plans and want to see something else from the office, like the second or third floor, or some other part of the office that wasn’t ready. So is  there a future for VR in recruitment? VR is excellent technology especially for the gaming industry, but I dont see a future for virtual reality for interviews. Two avatars doing an interview didn’t sound right to me. Even the tools that are using AI for evaluating your interview need to see your face and how you are going to react to questions. VR in recruitment will bring benefit only if we are talking about VR from Star Trek or Matrix. For VR to have a use case for interviews, it needs to be able to simulate everything that a human can experience or imagine experiencing. Is there a future for VR in recruitment? We will see, I think that at this moment it is just throwing money from the window and I am not expecting that VR will be playing a more significant role in the near future. But VR has a future for sure, but bigger than VR will be AR (augmented reality). We will see more and more companies choosing AR instead of VR for their recruitment activities. Imagine job fairs where candidates would be able to use their phones near the company stands and see in the AR short presentations about the company or products that the companies are providing. Of course, there are still many unknowns when it comes to using VR and AR in recruitment, but, even so, there are startups and companies that see VR as the solution that will help them find the right candidates in the shortest time possible. VR is an exciting thing, but AR will have a better future. Especially since AR could become a great addition to employer branding and it will bring better results and candidate experience than VR.  VR in recruitment is another buzzword so be ready; you will hear about it more often in the future. About the author: Jan Tegze is the author of Full Stack Recruiter and results-oriented Talent Acquisition Leader with extensive experience in full life cycle recruiting, and broad knowledge in international recruiting, sourcing, recruitment branding, marketing, and proactive, innovative sourcing techniques.  

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Employee Engagement Not Just for the Big Boys

Employee Engagement Not Just for the ‘Big Boys’ Employee engagement continues to be a buzz topic for HR professionals. An increasing number of employers now understand the importance of creating an energised team, which is willing and able to go the extra mile, and recognise the benefits this can bring to the bottom line. However, from speaking to owners of SMEs, it seems that many are holding back from introducing employee engagement initiatives for fear it will cost them lots of money, and even more manpower. They believe it is the domain of the big businesses, with enviable budgets, only. But this isn’t the case, SMEs can take inspiration from the giant corporations and scale down the ideas to work for them. In return they can look forward to greater revenue growth, higher customer satisfaction and increased productivity. Finding ways to support staff, encourage and reward them and put them at the heart of decision making creates a great place to work, and helps attract and retain the most talented people. This is why Pure is such a keen supporter of employee engagement and why our team has taken the time to research what organisations of all different sizes are doing. We hope these ideas will save SMEs some time and provide them with some inspiration. Many of the ideas have come from our own Best Employer Eastern Region Awards, through which we’re seeing more and more fantastic engagement strategies being created by smaller companies, plus some of our own company ideas! 1. Engaging work opportunities Google has ‘20% time’ which enables employees to develop their own projects at work, while spending the other ‘80%’ on their ‘proper’ job. This has generated a lot of great ideas for the company. Smaller companies can still replicate this by providing employees with the chance to put forward project ideas through events such as company away days, or via line management sessions, with appropriate time then allocated to help them implement the idea. 2. Giving staff a voice Groupon takes employees’ opinions seriously, and gets them involved by running staff focus groups. If you don’t feel you have enough employees, or the time, to run a focus group, encourage employees to share their opinions through a dedicated area on a staff intranet. Or set regular opportunities for people to put forward their thoughts and ideas, as part of monthly meetings for example. 3. Wellbeing Statistics show that 85% of workers believe that employers have a responsibility to look after their health and wellbeing. We’ve discovered that Mars offers discounted gym memberships, wellness weeks, health screenings, support for people who want to stop smoking and free activities such as yoga, football and badminton, plus on-site physiotherapy. But we’ve seen smaller companies introduce successful wellbeing programmes on a far simpler scale with ideas such as lunch break walks, swapping biscuits for fruit in meetings and simple chill out zones to encourage employees to take a proper lunch break. 4. More time off Deloitte has introduced TimeOut, the right to request a block of 4 weeks leave, without salary and with no requirement to justify what the time will be used for. Here at Pure we simply provide employees with an additional half day holiday on their birthday and an extra 2 weeks paid holiday in their 5th, 10th,15th, etc. year. 5. Fun Fridays We’ve seen a lot of companies find ways to reward their teams at the end of a busy week, bringing all the team together with little effort and in a way which encourages everyone to get involved. For example one of our best employers holds a beer and cake Friday, with all the team taking a turn to bring in a cake which is scored and the company provides the beer. 6. Inspiring communication Another of our best employers makes a point of encouraging staff through inspirational stories involving speakers from their customer base, who describe the difference the company’s service has made to their life. This could easily be recreated by sharing the best customer reviews, feedback or comments in regular emails, or company newsletters, so they are shared with all team members.   7. Charity challenges Charity challenges bring teams together as well as providing a feel good factor for the business as a whole. Some of our team recently chose to take on the Three Peaks challenge to raise money for charity. We gave the team 2 days off to do the challenge and kick started the fundraising with £1,000. The rest of the company showed their support for the Three Peaks team by taking on an additional challenge to walk 500 miles during lunch breaks. 8. Recruitment Recruitment plays a key role in driving motivation and engagement. Recruiting motivated people and then providing them with a wide range of opportunities, recognition and rewards will help to maintain an engaged workforce.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Eat your salad first, and other career strategies

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Eat your salad first, and other career strategies Every year I get loads of candy over the holidays, and every year I feel compelled to eat it as fast as possible. This is because I always make a New Year's resolution to lose weight and eat healthier, so I figure the faster I consume the candy, the faster I can get on the road to being skinny and fit.Guess what? It never works. Because before you know it, Valentine's Day is rolling around and that means more candy. Which means I need to get busy scarfing it down so I can get back to losing weight and exercising.New Year's resolutions are tough. But unlike other people who think they're a waste of time, I sort of like them. It gives me hope every year to think that I want to do better, to be better.I also have found that it pays to be more realistic when setting goals for myself. So, while I might not always eat healthy stuff, I've promised myself to eat the salad BEFORE the MMs.Here's the story I did on resolutions for your career for my Gannett column:The problem with making resolu tions regarding your career is that you become so busy with your job, or so stressed by everyday work events that you quickly lose sight of the things you want to improve. For example, maybe you decide that you want to begin the new year by being more organized. But a quick look at the hundreds of e-mails awaiting your attention, the foot-high stack of reports leaning against the wall and the constantly ringing telephone makes you quickly scrap the plan. Whos got time to get organized?The key is not being too ambitious. After all, most people are doing more work than ever, and you dont need to add to the pressure. Dont make such sweeping plans that you would have to clone yourself a dozen times in order to accomplish a goal. At the same time, dont try to tackle too many things at one time. Think about putting a new idea into play for each month of 2010. Who cares if you make a resolution for January or September? The point is that youre trying to make life better for yourself, and t hat timetable belongs to no one but you.Here are some ideas to get your started:1. Get more organized. Thats a resolution that can be pretty ambitious, so instead plan to spend 10 minutes at the end of every day noting your top three most critical tasks for the next day. Take everything else off your desk except for those materials and write the list on piece of paper or your calendar so its the first thing you see when arriving for work.2. Improve skills. Most people have figured out that to survive in todays business climate they must make themselves more valuable by learning new skills. But deciding to go back to school can be a daunting challenge, especially if youre working full time. Find a seminar at a nearby college or through a professional group, and attend. Maybe its an evening session on how to use social media or how to speak publicly. The point is to find one event that is an investment in yourself professionally. 3. Network. Instead of casting a wide net at an event a nd passing out business cards randomly or adding 500 people to your list of Twitter follows, target five people a month to add to your network. You can decide whether to call them, connect with them via LinkedIn or even ask them to lunch. Just adding five people a month means you wont feel overwhelmed and end up doing nothing, and ensures you make a more meaningful connection because you wont be rushed.4. Focus on quality. A lot of companies like to say theyre focused on quality, and deluge employees with memos and reports on the subject. But there are ways to focus on the quality of your daily tasks that can make a real difference in how you are viewed at work. Try proofing every single e-mail before you send it, making sure you use proper grammar and spelling. When you leave your personal message for callers, stand up and smile while speaking. Your message will make you sound energetic and approachable.5. Take the high road. Deciding to be a nicer person is a wonderful goal, and one many people like to put on their resolution list. But the guy in the cubicle next to yours drives you crazy by eating chili cheese dogs with extra onions at his desk. The receptionist puts your mail in the wrong box. Lots of little aggravations can challenge your be nice resolve at work, and before you know it, youre upset with yourself after making a snide comment or getting in to an argument with a co-worker. Instead, make a commitment to pay a sincere compliment to one co-worker a day, especially to someone who is getting on your last nerve. Prompting yourself to see the good in someone can help put petty annoyances to rest.What are some resolutions we should make for our careers this year?Social Bookmarking

Monday, May 18, 2020

Take risks to be your true self at work

Take risks to be your true self at work I intuitively knew to hide my kids when I started having them, because I had already had a rip-roaring career where I steered clear of women who doted on their kids. (Its always women, even today.) The kids were annoying to me. I couldnt understand why the women would lose focus on their jobs to get stupid  about their kids. I made sure to stay in male-dominated departments so as to not get sucked into the kid thing by proximity. I made sure to take no maternity leave. (A terrible decision, but one that many women make.) Even with all my precautions, my editor suggested that instead of writing a workplace column I should write a womens column. That suggestion  pissed me off but I just vowed to hide my kids more. I have written  many posts about how important it is for gay people to come out of the closet at work.  They earn more money, for one thing, because if you are your true self at work people like you more, and likable people earn more money. But of course this does not apply to women with kids. There is no grand study that says if you are your true self you make more money. There are only studies that say womens true selves are working part time while they have kids. On my blog, for years, advertisers paid to reach people at work, so I had to be careful to steer clear of parenting topics. Professionals have been  harder to find online than moms, so I get paid more money to separate myself from moms. Did you ever notice how much art is on this blog? Like this and this? Its because Im scared to put too many pictures of my kids here. Maybe someone is counting and theres a tipping point when advertisers will banish me to the world of mom blogs. And did you see that photo of that New York City elevator shaft up top? Its a secret museum. Heres the inside: I like that I found a photo of a hidden museum to use as a way to hide my motherhood on a post that most obviously should have a photo of me and my kids. If Italio Calvino is getting  credit for the deconstructionism of the realist novel, then I want credit for the deconstruction of the realist blog post. But it gets old, trying to hide that Im a mom. And trying to hide that Im torn between work and kids. Its clear to me now that Ive been having a five-year identity crisis while I pretended to write about my own career as if its not affected by my kids. Im done with that. But I still get nervous doing anything kid-related in a business setting. Even if someone else is talking about kids, I stay quiet. Last week I was writing a  blog post  about Geoffrey James new book, Business Without the Bullsh*t,  and I asked him to send me a photo of himself. He sent this one. And I thought, Wow, that is a really terrible photo, so I asked for a non-headshot-y one. Then he sent me this one of him and his kids: And I immediately liked him. I like him better with his kids. I respect him more for what I know hes having to manage at work and at home to write a book, have a job, and take care of kids. Here, he looks more vulnerable and more real. And I think probably I look that way, too, when I let people really see me. The biggest barrier to homeschooling is not that parents dont get it. They get it. Parents are not stupid. They know school is sucking and they know their kids would rather be at home doing stuff they love. But parents are scared of devaluing themselves by becoming the person at work who lets their kids take over their life. We dont value that. Which sets up childhood and adulthood as competing interests. Parents cannot have fulfilling (career-based) adulthoods if they are affording their kids a charmed (home-based) childhood. If we can start celebrating parents when we see them at work, well all feel more able to make choices that are true to us at our core, and not just true to our desire  to conform to historic icons of power at work. After all, the only alternative to being true to ourselves is to feel like a human version of that museum: boring and outdated on the outside, but vibrant and alive inside, with almost no one seeing or even knowing whats there.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Pharmacy Resume - Create Your Perfect Resume

Pharmacy Resume - Create Your Perfect ResumeIf you want to keep your job in a competitive healthcare setting then a good pharmacy resume is essential. You can create one yourself and get that much-needed edge over the competition.The first thing to look for in a good pharmacy resume is some information about the applicant. Be careful not to go overboard in filling out this section but you do need to be sure that they have some pertinent qualifications that would be required of them. It is also a good idea to include a list of education and experience that the applicant has.Check for the following during the process of making a pharmacy resume: Any reference to the applicant having a formal training, and certifications, any certifications from healthcare organizations, proof of an internship or fellowship program. Many people believe that a strong medical background automatically qualifies them for the job, but many times they can overlook some of the more specialized fields that requ ire certification. Also it is a good idea to check for training as well as experience.A good pharmacy resume should include a listing of credentials in all of the fields that are relevant to the job. If you are applying for an Internal Medicine position then they might check for a certificate in Internal Medicine from an accredited institution. Other items that might be requested are medical school transcript, degrees or certifications in fields like OB-GYN, Pediatrics, and Child & Adolescent Medicine.Along with this, a completed application must contain all the necessary information that they request including, name, address, phone number, email, driving license number, any references, and your desired start date. If they are a State licensed pharmacist, there will be a request for a copy of their license.Pharmacy resumes are used for an assortment of reasons: They help to better identify a potential employee as well as indicate their educational background and experience. These do cuments are used for various types of positions and are sometimes used for individual purposes such as a job interview.One of the most important things that a successful pharmacist must have is integrity. This is what sets the person apart from the rest of the competition and allows them to become the leader within the company. This is why the applicant must not only show their knowledge of the pharmaceutical field but also display their ability to make hard decisions.By following these guidelines you can create a valid pharmacy resume and show employers exactly why you are the best candidate for the job. After all, if you want to keep your job in a competitive healthcare setting then a good pharmacy resume is essential.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

An inspiring story - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

An inspiring story - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Heres another great little video from youtube: My friend Stephen Hopson who is deaf from birth and a pilot and a professional speaker talks about a life changing moment. Also, catch Stephens excellent blog at Adversity University (and isnt that a great name). Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Friday, May 8, 2020

Is it the economy... or you - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

Is it the economy... or you I got back from Italy several days ago, where I met up with some business people, employees and job seekers.  The interesting thing was that almost all of them had an attitude that as Italy is screwed financially, it meant they should give up on dreams and aspirations! Sad. That got me thinking its too darn easy to blame the market. Yes, there are fewer jobs. Maybe 50-70 applicants to each instead of 25. But if you dont stand out, the volume of competition is irrelevant. The inconvenient truth as they say, is that economy or not, the good shine through. Every day I see candidates applying for jobs with resumes not tailored to specific vacancies and even if they get to an interview, nothing they do or say, makes them stand out! And they cant understand why they are still job hunting 6 months down the lineHELLO!! But you know what, it IS tough out there but you can change the odds beyond your dreams, and its easier than you can imagine. You want head hunter calls and to make sure they put you forward, you need your resume to pass the ten second recruiter test. Then when you meet, you need to be brilliant at articulating the value-add in your personal brand and use essential tools to control the outcome of every interview. Its all a whole lot easier than you think. Let me show you. Lets have a quick chat over the phone or Skype if you are abroad, and see if we can transform your job search and well leave the economy out of it:-) The call costs nothing click on the link below and let the technology fix a time for us to speak: http://my.vcita.com/daba43a1/scheduler   Look forward to chatting. Warm regards, Margaret Buj Interview Career Coach