Why Recruiters Need Emotional Intelligence (Now, Like Never Before)

Why Recruiters Need Emotional Intelligence (Now, Like Never Before) We talk at length about how and why the candidates we recruit must be high on the EQi scale but often fail to turn the mirror back on ourselves. As we rely more on data in the recruitment process, the value of recruiters rests in the ability to practice high levels of emotional intelligence to manage both talent and clients. It’s all about relationships. We’re in the business of relationships; creating,  developing and finding leaders who excel at them. From sourcing the right fit to learning how to say no in a way that does not alienate others to building bridges to smoothing out conflicts, recruiters who can master relationships soar to new heights. As we move into the machine age, nothing is more evident in our work as well as the positions we source for, the importance of emotional intelligence. It is the critical underpinning and essential skill that determines whether individuals will not only survive but thrive in the fast-approaching era of work where machines will take over much of the technical work while humans workplace value resides in leadership, creativity, and interpersonal skills. Recruiters need high levels of emotional intelligence to manage relationships and mitigate conflict. Headhunting can easily go awry when negotiations begin and successful negotiations requires being able to see both positions at the table and build bridges. The end-goal is that both parties walk away happy. It signals a successful placement. Putting emotions aside, knowing when to pause, thinking before speaking or acting, and managing conflicts are all critical at this point. As companies look to bring on board new talent and talent seeks to advance their careers, we play the role of connector and relationship management. We broker talent deals. Much like a Hollywood agent, our strength and contribution lie in our ability to play the role of matchmaker and negotiator. The better your social skills, the higher you rise. Recruiters must build long-term relationships and connections to thrive. As a talent broker, recruiters’ ability to play the role of matchmaker relies on a well-developed network. Each placement becomes another link forged. Maintaining relationships over years requires attention to people. In our transaction oriented society, it means to really excel, we must go beyond the transaction in our work. In many ways, the placement marks just the beginning. Exceptional recruiters possess strong interpersonal skills and integrity. Interpersonal skills ultimately will decide whether you succeed or fail. Can you manage your impulses? Can you manage change? Can you adapt to shifting client priorities and needs? How agile are you? Can you build rapport in difficult negotiations or do you become defensive under pressure? These are all skills recruiters must possess as they connect talent with potential employers while supporting the objectives of both talent and companies. It requires a lot of finesse. Building strong relationships requires demonstrated dependability, maturity and integrity. The people we work with trust us, and often we become confidantes privy to sensitive information. In today’s world of email leaks and failed transparency, trustworthiness has become a highly sought currency. Trustworthy people are emotionally intelligent. They are not mired in the weaknesses self-centered people suffer from. Emotionally intelligent people can see, understand and recognize opposing perspectives and then build a bridge between the two. They look to resolve conflict through a win-win scenario. Anyone who has been in the recruiting business for a while knows that’s the secret to a successful negotiation and a talent placement that will stay. It’s our job to help foster those types of negotiations. Emotional intelligence creates the foundation for effective relationship management. It’s the underpinning of efficiently navigating the maze of personalities, biases and human instincts that can quickly go array. Great recruiters can self-regulate, as well as manage the fears, aspirations and disappointments of candidates. We need to be masters at the art of persuasion. Empathy and emotional intelligence may just be the golden keys to becoming an exceptional recruiter in the machine age. After all, we’re in the human capital game. Author: Caroline Stokes is the  Founder of Forward  Human Capital Solutions. She is an executive career coach and headhunter.  For more information  about how to  grow your EQi, head to her website to get in touch.  

Drive More Traffic to Your Personal Brand with Q and A - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Drive More Traffic to Your Personal Brand with Q and A - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Question and answer websites are popular places where hundreds of online users are interacting daily. If you want your brand to have more of impact online with increased opportunities consider the participating in these, which also helps establish your expertise. How can you make your online presence more meaningful? By answering the latest questions in your niche in a way that provides helpful insights and links. The ability for your brand to offer advice is a good way to make new connections and engage with other professionals in your industry. Once you have participated in a few discussions you will start to see growth on your website and social networks. Let’s take a look at how his can be a benefit for you. How to Make the Most Out of Question and Answer Websites Here are some key areas to focus on when providing expertise to your brand’s audience online. • Choose content you’ve already covered Your blog is a goldmine resource when it comes to finding questions on a particular topic to answer. By focusing on a specific area in your niche you can find targeted users who need answers. Use your previous articles as a reference for cross promotion and help them at the same time. • Create a professional profile Make sure your brand’s name, important links, and descriptions are high quality with consistent information to your other online properties. Always use a professional headshot and provide your full name and title. Credibility is a key to success on QA websites. • Ask your own questions If you need ideas for topics on your blog or would like to build up your network with other professionals then asking your own targeted questions can help get you there. Be sure to compliment other users on what they have to offer, and soon your brand will become a part of their visibility list. • Keep your answers brief Your brand will want to provide information that is concise, to the point, and include any helpful links that are reliable resources. Longer explanations can be directed to an outside source or to your own blog. Question and answer websites are a powerful and free way to build influence, network, and drive more leads to your website and social networks. Use these platforms on a regular basis for best results while paying attention to your traffic and statistics.

Plan Your Work - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Work Your Plan / Plan Your Work - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A few years ago one of my colleagues at Microsoft used to say this all the time. “Working my plan.” He said it matter-of-factly and without much fanfare. This is what he would say every time someone asked him: Hows it going? Whats going on? Or, What are you working on? Initially I thought this mightve just been a passive aggressive behavior. Which is all too common in the workplace especially at tech companies. However, as I got to know him better I found out that that really was the way he got things done. He planned. And, he planned some more. Then he focused on execution of his plan. Is this the only way to get things done? Of course, the answer is no. “If You Don’t Prioritize Your Life, Someone Else Will” ~ Greg McKeown, Author of Essentialism The point here is that having a plan is important. Even if those plans go awry at times theres still a plan in place to manage the overall goals and to get back on track. Will plan to go sideways at times? Of course they will. Thats the nature of a plan. However, if you didnt have a plan in place you wouldnt know that your plans have gone sideways. Think about that for a moment. If you dont know where you are going, any road will get you there. ~ Lewis Carroll What are some tips and tricks for creating viable plans? Everyone has some ideas of what their plans and goals are. However, not everyone has a concrete, specific and measurable way of developing, managing, and executing on those plans. Here are Three Things to Keep In Mind: TIME Management Three Tips to Get More Time In Your Day Just Say No The Response You are Searching for is NO Dont forget the metrics: “What gets measured gets done.” ~ Tom Peters There are a lot of ways to define what your goals are. One of the most common way to define goals, especially for those that are new to the working world, is to let your manager tell you what your goals are. Thats not a terrible strategy, but its not a long-term strategy. Consider this HBR article from Greg McKeown “Prioritize Your Life Before Your Manager Does It for You” and think about the viability of YOUR career before kowtowing to everything your manager might ask. Remember, they have an agenda too. Also, keep this in mind from the legendary management thinker and guru, Peter Drucker. “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” As you plan and think about your career the way youre going to stand out is by developing your own ability to create a plan and execute it effectively. Which means selecting the things that interest you. It means knowing what you want AND what you don’t want. It also means you need to have the backbone to stand against things that you know don’t add value. Remember … the goal is to Stand Out in YOUR Career. In order to do this you will want to Work Your Plan / Plan Your Work.

Should You Have Your Office Professionally Decorated

Should You Have Your Office Professionally Decorated Having your office professionally decorated is a great idea. Not only does it show your employees that you take pride in their work place it also presents a much better image to potential clients, competitors and those attending interviews. A professionally decorated office means that you can represent your brands core values and objectives visually to both your staff and clients. What sort of décor is best? The type of business you have determines what type of décor is best suited to your brands’ vision. For example, if you run a trendy London PR company, décor which matches the young, hip and fresh type of brand you are is essential. By having the right décor you’ll attract the right kind of people when they come for interviews and be more desirable as an employer. Obviously if you run a professional law firm then a slick and chic décor will be much more suited rather than going for something more edgy. It’s a good idea to think about impressive office spaces you’ve been to before and then think about what type of image you would like your business space to represent. What is there to consider? There are lots of different things to consider when having your office professionally decorated such as practical things like workspace limitations, desk space and cost. Then comes all the aesthetics such as the colours, lighting and interiors. Often when thinking of making huge changes to your office environment it’s a good idea to consult employees on what they think would work first and come to some decisions together. Once you have a rough plan, call in expert office designers who will be able to take you through the whole process from start to finish. They’ll audit your space first and then help you decide on the best look for you. What are the main advantages? Obviously the main big advantage of having your office professionally decorated is that it will help to boost productivity. Studies show that a well-designed office interior can boost business productivity by up to 25% and make you more desirable as an employer. Often if you have a successful business but things seem to have become a big stagnant, or newer competitors have cropped up and you’ve lost staff or momentum, having a big office revamp can be just the ticket to help motivate you and your employees once more. Image Source; Image Source

Professional Writing a Resume

Professional Writing a ResumeProfessional writing a resume may sound difficult but it really isn't. The job market is far from over and with the ongoing economic recession, jobs are harder to come by. So don't put off the writing of your resume just because it's not as easy as it once was. It will pay off in dividends, because you'll make that first phone call.A great resource for professional writing a resume is CareerBuilder.com. Here you can look up numerous organizations, companies, and companies that want to hire you, which means they have an open position waiting for you. They also supply you with various free resources and software to help you create a resume that will be effective and to show employers what you have to offer.Computer programs and resources make professional writing a resume so much easier. These programs can assist you with the job search or you can use them yourself. Some of these programs may cost money. But no matter how hard you work on your resume, you s till need to know how to present it. You should be prepared for this when you select the program or resource you use.In the real world, your resume has to be flexible. Because of the economic recession, there is more competition. In order to stand out from the rest of the candidates, your resume must be accurate, professional, and able to attract the attention of the employer.Your resume needs to talk about your career goals. You may even mention certain skills you possess, but make sure it is clear what those skills are. If you mention a skill but don't make it clear what it is, you may come across as dishonest.Before your resume goes out to the world, be sure you have reviewed it with your prospective employer. Often, the employer will ask you to edit a section of your resume to make it more professional. This isn't a problem because you can do it yourself. Simply change the language to be more professional.When you have edited your resume, and if it is passed, then send it back t o the employer or company's opinion before you take it to an editor. Many editors can do several things with your resume, which includes making it appear professional, cutting and pasting it to your personal website, sending it to the appropriate contact persons, or sending it to a human resource company to be formatted. If you are invited to an interview, you may be asked to go through a style check with the hiring company's agency.Professional writing a resume may seem difficult, but it really isn't. The job market is far from over and with the ongoing economic recession, jobs are harder to come by. So don't put off the writing of your resume just because it's not as easy as it once was.

How to Add Value to Your Resume With Your MBA - CareerAlley

How to Add Value to Your Resume With Your MBA - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Theres no doubt that earning an MBA can give your career a boost. Research shows that a graduate degree in business can increase your earnings potential by 50 percent or more, and many employers will only consider candidates with an MBA or similar degree. Your resume should make it obvious to an employer why they should hire you. That means you need to have a laser-like focus on what makes you the right candidate. Tweet This However, the MBA has become the most popular graduate degree, with about 200,000 people earning the credential every year. So, while your business education is certainly valuable, it doesnt always make you stand out from the competition as much as you would like to. Therefore, when you are writing your resume, you need to find ways to demonstrate the real value of your degree and your experience. source List Your MBA Properly The first thing to consider is how you list your business education on your resume. In the education section, which will most likely go after the skills and experience sections if you have a few years of work experience under your belt, you need to list the degree you earned and where it was earned. Which comes first depends on what you want to highlight. If you went to a top-tier school, youll list that first, then the degree you earned, i.e.: Prestigious Business School, City, State Masters of Business Administration. If you want to highlight the fact that you earned the degree rather than the school, reverse the order, noting the degree first then the school. If you concentrated on a particular specialty, mention it only if it is related to the job youre applying for. Focus on Skills Employers are more interested in your skills and what you can do for them than they are in the fact that you earned a degree, so its important to include a skills section in your resume. You want to show employers that you are ready to take on any challenges you face and meet the demands of their business. Therefore, explicitly mention the skills you developed during your MBA studies, ensuring there is a mix of both hard and soft skills that demonstrate you are a good problem solver, an analytical thinker, and a team player the most in-demand qualifications among employers today. Consider the focus of your MBA program and how it prepared you for new opportunities. Some MBA programs focus heavily on problem-solving, or financial skills, while some programscenter on innovation and leadership. Think about the work you did throughout your studies, from class assignments and case studies to group projects and presentations, and the skills you developed that would benefit an employer. Whether youre just starting out with your career decisions, and youre not sure what you want to do, or youre looking at ways to further your current career, or even if youre hoping to make a career change sometime soon, you may want to look into what education can do for you. What Can Education Do For Your Career? Get Specific If, during the course of your MBA studies, you took courses or completed projects that are especially relevant to employers in your field, include them on your resume. Keep in mind that the keyword here is relevant; your resume shouldnt be a copy of your transcript, but rather highlight specific areas where youve received education and training. Graduate projects are another good way to showcase your skills. Where you include this information is up to you; typically, it would appear under education or academic experience. Be cautious when including projects under your experience section, as you do not want to imply that you worked for a company when you didnt or that your experience was professional. When including projects, such as those that you work on throughout your entire MBA experience, your capstone or a thesis, list the course name, the title of the project, and a few bullet points describing your role and the outcome of the project. For example, if your project won an award or was featured at a conference, include that information on your resume. source Streamline Your Achievements Your resume should make it obvious to an employer why they should hire you. That means you need to have a laser-like focus on what makes you the right candidate. Many people make the mistake of listing all their achievements on their resume, thinking that it will impress employers. Often, though, the opposite happens, as employers arent sure where to focus and cant get a clear idea of who you are and what you can do. For that reason, you need to streamline your achievements, skills, and experience, so only the most relevant and impressive appear on your resume. Use your MBA experience to make it clear why you are the best, and youll stand out. Although the job market has improved vastly in recent years, competition for top positions is still fierce. By highlighting the right experience and aspects of your MBA education on your resume, you wont be left behind or left out when employers look for top talent. Great Resumes Fast Price: Impress Employers with a Professionally-Written Resume. Your resume will include the right words, information, format and design employers want on your resume. Learn how to outsmart applicant tracking systems (ATS). Impress Employers We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to make a resume and cover letter that gets you hired. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search

Kill your chair before it kills you - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Kill your chair before it kills you - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Most of us spend most of the work day sitting down. We sit at our desks, we sit in meetings, we sit down at lunch and we sit down for seminars, phone calls, orientations and just about anything else that goes on during a regular work week. Which is why this excellent NY Times article by Zack Canepari is so important. It opens with these provocative words: Your chair is your enemy. It doesn?t matter if you go running every morning, or you?re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting ? in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home ? you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you. We all knew that sitting down all day is bad for you, but I at least thought that you could offset this with plenty of exercise outside of work. I was wrong. The article goes on to list two reasons why sitting down is so bad for your health. First, its extremely passive which means your body burns very few calories while you sit. Just standing up activates your whole system to a much larger degree and burns more energy. As the article says: Part of the problem with sitting a lot is that you don?t use as much energy as those who spend more time on their feet. This makes it easier to gain weight, and makes you more prone to the health problems that fatness often brings. But it doesnt stop there. Apparently: when you spend long periods sitting, your body actually does things that are bad for you. Actively contracting muscles produce a whole suite of substances that have a beneficial effect on how the body uses and stores sugars and fats. Theres science to back this up: A study of people who sit for many hours found that those who took frequent small breaks ? standing up to stretch or walk down the corridor ? had smaller waists and better profiles for sugar and fat metabolism than those who did their sitting in long, uninterrupted chunks. Go read the whole article its a great read. To all of this, Id add that in my experience being physically inactive also dulls my mind. If you sit down passively all day, this makes it harder to be creative, energetic and motivated. So whats the solution? Given the problem, its obvious that solution cant be all about exercising before and after your work day. This wouldnt address the fact that youd still be sitting still for long periods of time. The solution has to be about integrating movement into the work day. Here are three things you can do about this: 1: Take a lunch walk Make it a tradition to take a short walk with some co-workers every day after lunch. Not only is this a chance to get moving, it can also be a nice way to chat with your co-workers and refresh workplace relationships. 2: Get up and move regularly Make it a rule to never sit down more than 30 minutes at a time. Then you must get up to stretch, go smoke, get coffee, go chat to someone in the next office, whatever. Set a timer to remind you if thats what it takes. Theres even software you can install on your PC to remind you to get away from the PC :o) 3: Work standing up some of the time There are many things you can do at work, even if your butt isnt firmly planted in your chair. You can have stand-up meetings which have the added advantage that theyre a lot shorter! You can do your phone calls standing up, which has the advantage that your voice sounds clearer and more energetic. You can even work on your computer standing up if you have a desk that raises or can find a high table. Bonus tip I really, really like the Specialized Lunch Ride: Your take How much of your work day is spent in a chair? Have you thought about how this affects you mentally and physically? What do you do to get out of your chair? Please write a comment Id love to hear your take. Related posts The science of touch Top 10 signs youre unhappy at work Monday Tip: Get Out! P.S. I wrote this post standing up :o) 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