Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Do New Paid Sick Time Laws Affect You

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Do New Paid Sick Time Laws Affect You This year is shaping up to be an interesting one for HR compliance. The most buzz, it seems, is occurring around paid sick leave. In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama asked the U.S. Congress to pass national legislation granting American workers the right to paid sick days when they or their family members get sick, or to deal with sexual assault and domestic abuse. Paid sick leave is another benefit that most develop countries provide to workers but the U.S. has up to this point resisted. Instead, most employers have what is known as a single-bucket system for any and all paid time off. Since nothing goes through Congress quickly, Obama also recommended that state and local governments pass legislation. Now, in 2016, this is where most of the action is. Since Obama’s call,four states and 23 cities havealready passed sick leave laws, and as a result, nearly 10 million Americansare now covered by a guarantee to earn paid sick leave. In cities like Spokane, WA, the new legislation requires businesses with 10 or fewer employees to allow them to earn up to three paid days off a year, and larger ones to give workers five days. Spokane’s sick leave bill exempts construction workers, those doing work-study jobs, and seasonal and temporary employees. For more on this issue, head over to the SilkRoad blog.

Hidden Job Market Search Advice

Hidden Job Market â€" Search Advice It is a new but very simple conception for many people. It was estimated that approximately 80% of job positions are occupied by those who got ones using own social network. But sometimes its not enough and the job market keeps change all the time.   So it is very important to keep an eye at job search advertisements that may be very productive if you use the hidden job market â€" online searching. This is a perfect network that connects people you may need yet you could hardly reach on your own. To get the job of your dream through Internet you should make the following steps: Identify what exactly you are concerned about in details, your demands and visions of your future job; Find the most appealing offers on job searching sites like JobTonic, select vacancy to your liking, learn all you can about your future responsibilities; List contacts of potential employers; Contact them directly. The first step is very important as it forms what youll get in the end. Planning of your future life not only organizes thoughts but also pushes you in the direction of your aims. It clears mind and makes you focus on primary things like personal growth as the result of career development. Do not be fast to agree with the first offer. Try to learn more about business and culture of companies you want to work for. Dont waste your time reaching out to a company that won’t be suitable for you. And dont stop on the first refusal. There is a vast variety of different organizations you may have never considered or heard of that will gladly have you in their circles. Many vacancies are available in small businesses, so you should extend your job search not to miss the opportunity to find a decent job within them. Find the names and contacts within the company of your interest. Do not only contact a hiring manager, find also the department heads, people who are currently working there, etc. With the advantage of the Internet these days finding a work email or address phone number is just some clicks away. The last step is to contact an employer or a recruiter in person. Prepare carefully for the interview as it is the main point in the process of hiring new employees. Many sites nowadays publish useful tips of how to pass one successfully. Good luck! 0

Recruiters How to Love Hiring Managers Who You Hate

Recruiters How to Love Hiring Managers Who You Hate In recruiting, the two most important factors are quality and speed. Hiring managers often get in their own way, by slowing the recruiting process down and not hiring the best candidate available. Because of this they are restraining success and growth of the business they work for and last but not least annoy recruiters every single day. A few months ago I visited iRecruit. iRecruit is an awesome annual HR event in Amsterdam, completely focused on recruiting, organized by the same people who organize HR Tech Europe. At the first day of the event I attended the keynote presentation (“Try Harder is Not a Strategy”) by John Vlastelica. Hiring managers suck: Not only was I impressed by the capability of John to wake up a big room full of sleepy conference delegates, I was even more impressed by what he was actually saying. I am not going to repeat everything he said, but want to focus on one of the topics he spoke about and a frustration I hear recruiters complain about every day: Hiring managers who do not do what they should be doing such as giving recruiters the feedback they need to go forward, leveraging their networks, communicating properly with candidates who have been carefully approached by the recruiter etc. etc. How to create the perfect hiring manager: Inspired by and according to John, here’s what you should do to help hiring managers help you: Frame    The first problem is that many hiring managers don’t like recruiters and because of that are not very motivated to help them. Recruiters often speak a language that is not theirs and because of that there is a lot of misunderstanding. If you frame what you do by understanding the pain of hiring managers, they will understand that by helping you, they are helping themselves. Hiring managers do not care at all or very much about compliance, cost, source of hire or emotions, they care about getting great talent fast: Quality and speed. Frame accordingly and hiring managers will finally start doing what you have always asked them to do. Train If hiring managers are motivated to do what you want them to do, it doesn’t mean they will automatically be good at it. Once people are motivated, they will be willing to learn. So start teaching them! Teach hiring managers how to leverage their networks, how to source, how to interview, how to sell etc. Engage Get hiring managers involved in sourcing strategy, interviewing leadership and closing tough candidates. This is a much more successful strategy than being two parties who just throw things at each other. Reward Once you have motivated, trained and involved hiring managers, the trick of course is to keep them that way. The best way to do this is by rewarding them. Here are a few ideas: ?Include metrics in performance reviews that have do with recruiting participation and recruiting results. Give public acknowledgment to outstanding recruiting achievements. Create great hiring stories of hiring manager success and share them. When you make new employee announcements, be sure to mention the source of hire if it is from a referral. When you make promotion announcements, include the recruiting track record and capabilities when describing why that person was promoted. Gather data per hiring team and per hiring manager and publish it internally. Give engaged hiring managers priority. Write LinkedIn recommendations for great hiring managers. Focus on delivering quality fast: ‘If you deliver quality fast, you are golden. Anything you are trying to say or do that is not connected to quality and speed will be seen as a waste of time by your hiring managers.’ John Make sure your hiring managers see that what you are doing is connected to quality and speed (FRAME), that you enable them to help you (TRAIN), get them involved (ENGAGE) and don’t forget to pay them back when they help you to show them your love and keep them motivated (REWARD). Do you love or hate your hiring managers? What is your biggest frustration when dealing with hiring managers? What do you currently do to train, engage and reward them? And what are you going to change about that today? Author: René Bolier is  Partner, Marketing Sales Director at  onrecruit.eu.

Reality and the City

Reality and the City Dear Carrie Bradshaw, You are a  [swear word] liar. This is the  first line of Jen Lancasters book, Bright Lights, Big Ass.    Ms. Lancaster  has a point. Ever since my aunt  was in law school downtown Chicago (I was a  whole 10 years old complete with a perm, poofy bangs and a size 9 shoe) I knew I wanted to grow up and live in the city.    I  have felt the same allure for Chicago  ever since: the energy, the hustle and bustle, the business people everywhere, the big companies, the fashion, the buildings, the lake So here I am, almost 26, a resident of Chicago.   I am living out my own dream, yet at the same time, all that glitters is NOT gold.   I know a lot of you college seniors and recent grads are thinking about making the move to the big city, whether it is New York, Chicago, LA, San Fran, or anywhere else in the world.   Definitely do it.   The people you meet, the opportunities you get and the culture you experience are priceless.   BUT, you MUST be cut out for it.     So today Ill take a break from dry resume and job search talk and inject a bit of entertainment into your day.   True Stories About MY Life in the City My first apartment was an interesting one.   Everything seemed OK at first (other than the fact that my bed barely fit in my room) until a pungent scent of mold started infiltrating our 800 square foot 2 bedroom apartment. Im talking a freshman year boys dorm + mold smell.   My own mother wouldnt even come in when she visited. After the smell, came the bugs.   After  several  rounds of exterminators, the  bugs were  still there.    I didnt  realize African safaris existed in  Chicagos Gold Coast neighborhood, but I was wrong.   Oh, and there are also typhoons here.   Such as the one that came from my neighbor above who left his kitchen sink on before going out of town for a week.   One night I walked into my room to find a huge rush of water coming out of  the ceiling.     It ruined my bed and put me out of a room for 2 weeks until the ceiling was repaired.   I guess thats what you get for paying $700 each in rent in Chicago. I could write a whole post about the shanningans that went on in that apartment thanks to my roommate.   I  had a ton of fun with her and she was a good friend,  but things came to an end when I was called after I moved out and  was repeatedly accused of stealing a bottle of $6 Yellowtail wine.      After several attempts at trying to replace my own bottle of $6 wine, I  havent seen her since.   Except a few weeks ago when her mugshot was  on the morning news- apparently my concerns about her lifestlye werent so crazy after all. I was super excited to head to work that  first Monday morning  in the city.   I walked to my car feeling  awesome and then stopped in my tracks only to  see all of my car windows  were bashed out.   A short time later someone threw a beer bottle at my windsheild and broke it.   Unfortunately, another time,  someone decide to bless my car with human feces.    There are many more examples of car vadalism, but you get the idea.  At this point I knew I had to get  a parking spot which I definitely couldnt afford.   So I started working as a brand ambassador for liquor companies after my day job.   I got paid to go to bars, socialize with people and have them taste our drinks.   Nothing was racy about it, except the one promotion event which required me to shine shoes.   Hmm.    Overall,  this side job  was a good experience and paid well, but was a bit odd compared to my nylons and suit type of day job.   So I got my parking spot, but parking spots arent such a good idea for those who dont pay attention.   One morning on my way to work, I pulled out of my parking garage only to hit a man in a wheelchair.   He fell out of his chair.    I thought I killed him.     I happened to be really decked out that day for an event I was attending after work, which for some reason only made me feel and look that much dumber.   How stereotypical that a done up blonde girl in a  cute  skirt suit, huge Chanel sunglasses and a flash red luxury car would hit a man in a wheelchair. Ugh.   I obviously wasnt strong enough to pull him back up into his chair in my heels, so luckly  two men came by and got him back into it- all the while scowling and cursing under their breath at me.   I appologized and  gave the victim my hot pink Ms. Career Girl card.   I  figured a law suit was on its way to my  inbox. Instead, the guy called my phone that night to let me know he was ok and asked if Id like to go out sometime. REALLY?!   Now I question if that man was really disabled in the first place.  If this was some kind of sick pick up line, he really took it too far. As you can tell, having a car in the city has been a source of stress over the past few years.   It took me  2.5 years and a new job in the Loop to take public tran to work.   Talk about glamour. Theres nothing I love more than 2 full busses that pass me by when Im running late only to be squished into bus #3 like a sardine early in the morning. But now I need my car thanks to my dog Giada, whose favorite game as a baby was jumping out of the car window while the car was moving.   And as you can guess, raising a puppy in a high rise presents its own challenges.   Try potty training a dog from the 25th floor!   There comes a point when your doorman just looks at your face, shakes his head  and knows your puppy peed in the lobby or  elevator again.     Doing normal things like grocery shopping in the city is not as fun as it looks either.   In the movies people have one brown grocery bag with a french loaf  and bouqet of flowers sticking out.   In my world, grocery shopping includes  carrying  4 heavy and over stuffed  bags of groceries only for the bags to rip and break all over the street while I am on a business call on my headset.   I now have a cart- you know, the ugly  ones grandmas  use- and I am proud of if it! After all of this, I wouldnt trade living in the city for anything.   Ive grown accustomed to $10 drinks and  10.5% sales tax.   I know that wherever I go I will meet interesting people.   Im convinced that my career and outlook wouldnt be the same had I stayed in the suburbs.   I also know that there is always an adventure and another hilarious story just around the corner!

Synonyms For Resume - The Best Way to Boost Your Skills

Synonyms For Resume - The Best Way to Boost Your SkillsThere are many synonyms for resume, but the best is the professional one. Whether you're a young, inexperienced or old professional, it's a must to know them and to use them for your own benefit. You can also find out the proper synonym when your resume is ready for submission to the employer, but for now, we will list some of the more commonly used ones.The first one is the personal history. Your personal history is what you have in common with the employer. Knowing that he is looking for fresh and productive professionals who have been present for a longer period of time is important.It would be even better if you have some proof of your employment background. A copy of your resume, if you have any, will be enough to make the employer aware of that. On the other hand, if you are applying for a different job, you can just provide an email address and let the recruiter know that you will be submitting a resume later.The next is t he skills. With the success rate of your skills being high, your resume will do you a world of good. Moreover, these skills are usually based on your previous employment. Some of them are: organization, communication, reading comprehension, math and science.Other skills include having an online degree, working for an organization as an employee, volunteering, or being involved in a club. Your summary statement should highlight your contributions to the organization, and not your work as an employee. These skills can be obtained through other means.The last one is the achievements. That's where you bring up your achievements as a professional. To illustrate the points in your accomplishments, you can simply mention your achievements in your work, education, or volunteer activities.The qualifications of your accomplishments can also be mentioned in your resume, such as experience in the same field, experience with the same kind of machinery, or some specific thing that you did when in your position. A relevant example is your involvement in the help desk. A short explanation about your experience with that is all you need to mention.Once you find the appropriate synonyms for resume, you will be able to fully appreciate them. From the moment you find the job that suits you, you can start to shape your resume. Synonyms for resume can help you when it comes to focusing on the parts that you are going to highlight.

Stop Undermining Yourself

Stop Undermining Yourself It’s easy to undermine yourself without realizing it until it’s too late. You’re probably doing it now in some part of your life, whether that’s at work, at home or with friends. Here are some examples I’ve come across. See if you recognize yourself doing something similar, and whether you think it’s a habit worth breaking. How you receive a compliment Years ago, a friend of mine had just competed in her first big sporting competition and beat out a lot more experienced competitors. I was thrilled for her and inspired by her awesome performance, and told her so. She surprised me by saying, “Oh, it’s nothing. I don’t work so I have more time to train.” Well, the last time I looked, looking after three small children and a full-on professional spouse is a 24/7 role. Plus, I knew how hard she had trained to become an elite athlete. Here was my aspirational role model sounding like Clark Kent rather than Superman! I felt deflated. Now, I know my friend’s modesty was genuine. But if I hadn’t known better, this would have gotten me thinking some or all of the following thoughts. And none of them are good for your career or relationships overall. And this is why. A compliment is a gift, and it’s an art to receive that gift graciously. Imagine someone gave you a gift that they had specially chosen for you, and then you toss it in the trash right in front of them. Would you ever be that rude? Receiving a compliment this way can also come across as false modesty, which is a type of arrogance. There’s the implication that you’re so much better than me that you need to say something to make me feel better about myself. Since most people are somewhat insecure, receiving a compliment this way can make others feel inferior. Alternatively, this kind of overdone modesty can make you seem insecure and unconfident. Just when people want and expect you to own your abilities and performance, it’s vital not to do the opposite. Imagine giving that impression to your boss, team members, or colleagues at work. It could be a career-limiting move. I have personally been guilty of this bad habit, and I’ve committed to make a change. In fact, some of my friends and I had gotten into a pattern of downplaying our capabilities. It was a little like a Saturday Night Live or Monty Python skit, only we were doing it for real, not laughs. It went like this. I would compliment my friend on ABC. She would say, “Oh, that’s nothing, but you’re so much better than me at DEF”. On we would go, trading self-denigrating comments until we’ve reached all the way down to XYZ. We had made it into an art form. An annoying one, but still an art form. So what to do instead? The gracious, confident and considerate way to accept a compliment is to simply say, thank you'. When you put yourself down A separate but related way I’ve undermined myself just happened today at my gym during a WOD, which stands for “workout of the day”. First a little background. In my Cross Fit gym, there are three versions of the WOD and you choose the one that’s the right degree of difficulty for you: the RX (prescribed) which is the hardest, the Scaled version which scales back the degree of difficulty, and the Fit version which is scaled back even further. Most of the time I’m on the Fit version, and occasionally I can do the Scaled version. And the RX version is for the elite athletes and super strong folks. At the end of today’s WOD, a fellow Fit version person said, “this was really hard today”. I agreed with her. And it would have been okay if I had left it at that. Instead, I added, “and I wasn’t even doing the real version!” Mistake. Our trainer, Chris, said, “WHAT?! I never want to hear you say that again! You did the real workout. Everyone does it according to their ability. But the Fit version is the real thing.” He then went on to give the example of his not being able to lift as much weight as his workout partner who’s 8 inches taller and weighs a lot more. Yet, Chris is pound-for-pound every bit as elite an athlete. This was a great wakeup call for me. And I realized I’ve been doing this for years. Maybe even decades. At work, at play, and definitely in the gym. Why it’s a problem When I said those words, I intended to honor the people who did the RX for their huge accomplishment. What I didn’t realize then, but certainly understand now, was that I was way off the mark. Here are the three ways this was “bad form”. 1. I undermined myself. That little addition showed my insecurity about my physical abilities. Not only that, it could look like I was “fishing” for a compliment â€" inviting someone to say, “no, no, the Fit version is challenging too and you finished before I did”. And it was a put down to myself when I need to be my own best friend. It’s the flip side of “do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. If I don’t want to put down other people, I mustn’t do that to myself. 2. I insulted others. As it turns out, 80% of the people in our session were doing the Fit version. So when I said what I said, I not only undermined myself, I put them down as well. Not only that, I undermined my compliment to the RX’ers. That added statement made it feel to them like I felt I needed to put myself down to lift them up. As if their accomplishment wasn’t sufficient on its own. 3. I disparaged the system. Cross Fit is an inclusive system that’s meant to encourage everyone to get fit and keep improving. By putting down the Scaled and Fit versions, I was clearly violating that positive ethos. And I love Cross Fit, so the last thing I’d want is to put it down. I won’t do that again. Instead, my takeaways are: Cheer for others without comparing myself to them. We each start from where we are, not where we wish to be. Keep learning and improving according to my ability. Life is about progress, not perfection. Honor myself and my accomplishments, just as I honor the accomplishments of others. Their gain is not my loss, and putting myself down to lift them up harms us all. Honor yourself and your accomplishments, just as you honor the accomplishments of others. The work version Undermining yourself in the giving and receiving of compliments is so easy to do in other contexts as well. I’ve seen it happen regularly in the office. For example, “Your group really had a great year. My team and I never could have pulled that off.” “Thanks, but what we did wasn’t much in comparison to what your team did on that XYZ project.” The home version At home, this looks like putting down your family members in comparison to someone else’s.   For example, “Why can’t you behave like Auntie Anna’s children?” “My son could never do that. He’s terrible at math. And lazy too.” “Congratulations on Junior getting into Oxford. My kids could never get into a school like that.” This happens so often in the Chinese culture of my parents’ generation. Fortunately, my parents were not of this mold, but I know many others whose parents were. And of course, everyone is embarrassed: both sets of offspring, and probably the parents too. No one wins. It’s a starker example of the harm that’s done when we undermine ourselves and others in the process. How will you keep from undermining yourself? So now, it’s over to you. To what extent are you undermining yourself in the way you give and receive compliments? Which habits have you fallen into that you commit to change? Leave a comment to share your experiences, and what you're going to do differently.

How to craft a CV that will stand out - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

How to craft a CV that will stand out Having a killer CV is essential when you apply for a job that requires one. It cant blend into all the other CVs that look almost identical to yours. But when youre trying to keep it professional, you cant do anything too whacky. So when recruiters look at hundreds of CVs for each position, how are you meant to make yours stand out? It can feel an impossible task but you can make your CV eye-catching. There are a number of things you should do if you want your CV to get you through to the next stage of the recruitment process. Start with the ones below: Keep It Short and Readable Your CV needs to be as concise as possible, while still showing off the best bits about you. Ideally, it shouldnt be any longer than two single sides of paper. It needs to be well-spaced too so that its easy to scan. As much as it might be nice for people to read it thoroughly, its probably going to get a quick glance at most. Making it readable means you cant make the font smaller to fit more in, either. You need to think about including all the parts of your work, education and skills that are relevant to the job. Theres no need to list everything youve ever done in an attempt to impress. Use a Professional Service If you dont know where to start, using a professional service could help you craft your CV. They can put together all the essential information in a format that recruiters want to see. Theres a science to the perfect CV and they can help you get it right. Use a service like Purple CV to make sure you get a CV that has been written from scratch. Its a good idea to get one main CV and then to tweak it every time you apply for a job. You can have a CV created for different stages in your career and even a specialist one for a highly specialised field. Customise for Each Job Its essential that you review your CV for each job you apply for. Dont assume that its one size fits all, especially when youre applying for a diverse range of jobs. You need to make sure your CV fits in with the objectives and tone of the company. Each time you send out your CV, make sure youve taken a look at the job description and researched the company. Include a Profile and Objective If you summarise why you should be hired in a couple of sentences, you should. Thats part of the purpose of a personal profile and an objective. You have the chance to lay out your key attributes and where youre hoping to take your career. Its also an opportunity to say what the rest of your CV doesnt. Everything else will show your past and present activities, but you can also talk about what you want for the future. Writing the perfect CV isnt something you just do once. You have to keep adjusting it for each job and throughout your career.