Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Will Paper Soon be Obsolete Not Exactly.

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Will Paper Soon be Obsolete Not Exactly. Last year, theAssociation for Information and Image Management(AIIM) surveyed over 500 constituents to learn more about the adoption of paper-free processes. In the research, 68 percent of respondents said they believe paper-centric processes to be unacceptable, yet 21 percent find their paper use to be increasing. Although the thousands of external paper documents that fill our filing cabinets and archives slow down response, restrict access, and involve re-keying, copying, and filing demands, most organizations have yet to address more than 5 percent of the possible processes that could benefit from electronic workflow, and 18 percent haven’t evenstarted the processof going paper-free. Other key survey findings include: On average, respondents feel that driving paper out of their processes would improve speed of response to customers, citizens and staff by a factor of 4.0X. Those with more experience with paper-free processes report an even greater speed-up of 4.6X. On average, respondents feel that driving paper out of their processes would improve productivity by 29.7 percent, rising to 35.4 percent for those with more experience. Thirty-one percent of respondents scan pre-process, with 10 percent using digital mailrooms. Digital mailrooms are twice as popular in Europe as they are in North America. Nearly a third of respondents areprocessing electronic documents, forms and PDFs separately from scanned paper. Twenty percent print them out, including 13 percent who print them out and scan them back into the capture system. Fifteen percent of respondents are currently using smart devices to scan or capture forms â€" more likely by their own employees than by customers. Paper-free adoption challenges Why do organizations hesitate toplanand implement paper-free systems? AIIM’s respondents mention the age-old issue of physical signatures as most important, followed by legal admissibility. Even though electronic signatures are in fact legally admissible, those who operate in a consumer environment have struggled to replace physical signatures on financial agreements and loan applications. Other objections include cost of equipment and inflexible workflows. The mostresistant groups, perhaps not surprisingly, are legal, finance, and administration. C-level executives are four times more likely to be in favor of paper-free processes than against. TheBusiness Improvement,IT and Records/ Compliance departments are also likely to be in favor of going paper-free. For more, check out the full post on Intuits Fast Track blog.

How to Give Honest Feedback to Candidates

How to Give Honest Feedback to Candidates Job-seekers are routinely advised to seek feedback when they are not successful in securing a role for which they have interviewed.    Feedback is the communication to an applicant who has been unsuccessful in securing an offer of employment for which they have applied, with information about the reasons they have been unsuccessful. It may also include suggestions as to how the candidate may improve their interview technique. Feedback may be provided on request from an applicant or given automatically to all unsuccessful applicants. If a candidate seeks feedback you don’t have to oblige but given the importance of the employer brand, you may choose to do this for at least some candidates. Providing relevant interview feedback is the final part of the recruitment exercise is and should leave a positive impression of the company. Candidate experience The candidate experience is key and social media could mean that reports will be posted far and wide by interviewees. Some of the people interviewed will work for competitors or go on to work for them, or for customers. You don’t know where a candidate will find their new role but you do want them to speak well of your organization. Interviewing managers may be busy but the candidate took time to interview and will be disappointed if there is no personal feedback. Constructive feedback may make all the difference for their next interview. Bear in mind that some candidates may be suitable for future vacancies so keeping them in the loop is useful. Disappointed candidates make well post about their interview experience and if they perceive their experience to have been negative the comments they make may leave an adverse impression of the organization to be found by other candidates doing pre-interview research. Three top tips Depending on the role and how they performed at an interview, feedback is likely to be based around: How well the candidate met the job requirements mention strengths, as well as weaknesses and stress the particular areas the organization is seeking to cover How the interviewer thought the candidate would fit into the team/culture How the candidate rated alongside other applicants let the unsuccessful applicant understand that they were less successful in a strong field Try to offer constructive feedback on skills or interview technique as these are things that the candidate can aim to improve. Honesty is important and tries to be specific and realistic. If a candidate was not as strong as others who interviewed then give that as feedback. Good feedback provides the applicant with the means to move forward with their career plan. If you decide not to provide feedback, for some reason, it is important to be transparent; give the reason why it will not be provided. Moving forward Some applicants may seek detailed personal feedback to assist them with future applications; an interviewer may feel that they cannot meet such expectations due to the pressure of resources and time, but efforts to offer comprehensive feedback as far as possible will be appreciated. You may be able to give advice on how an applicant could improve in any future applications, may be able to suggest alternative routes by which the applicant could secure a suitable role or information about other vacancies. 10Eighty would advise that feedback should be offered which states the reason for rejection and what the applicant needs to do to move forward. Good feedback will enhance the reputation of the organization and improve the applicant experience.

Need Effective Visual Branding How to Vet Designer Candidates - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Need Effective Visual Branding How to Vet Designer Candidates - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career What vetting steps do you take with  visual  designers to determine whether they are able to create  effective  visual  branding  components that are reflective of your brand? Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)  is an invite-only organization comprised of the worlds most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year and have created tens of thousands of jobs. Learn more at  yec.co. 1. Put Them Through a Multi-Layered Interview and Testing Process During recruitment every design candidate is put through a general interview (a walk-through of their current portfolio), a UX test to evaluate their research and usability process, a  visual  test to determine if the  branding  they created is suitable for the product and a cultural Interview to determine fit for our company.  Candidates  are then scored from 0 to 10.  Jinny Hyojin Oh,  WANDR 2. Carefully Review Their Portfolio When Im vetting potential  visual  designers, I take a very close look at their portfolio. The things I look out for are any common quirks or mistakes and if they have a wide artistic range. Im not looking for a one-trick pony who can create the same design with hundreds of tiny variations, and Im not looking for anyone whos sloppy or likes to cut corners.  Bryce Welker,  Crush The PM Exam 3. Ask Unexpected Questions During the Interview You can’t rely on portfolios alone; you must ask questions that go deeper. Have  candidates  go through the  visual  choices they made and explain what inspired them to create the pieces in their portfolio. Ask an unexpected question and have them critique a competitor’s design. This will give you insight on how they work creatively and their fit with your business’s  visual  design goals.  Samuel Thimothy,  OneIMS Integrated Marketing Solutions 4. Hire Them for Small-Scale Freelance Work First After talking to a  designer  and looking over their portfolio, I hire them as a freelancer for a relatively small task. If they do a great job, I have more confidence about hiring them for more substantial work in the future. This way, I can assess their ability to create designs that match our brand, but also their soft skills and reliability.  Justin Blanchard,  ServerMania Inc. 5. Look for a Consistent, Creative Vision Across Their Past Work A lot of our brands have a friendly mascot attached to the logo. So, when were in the process of creating a brand and selecting a brand new  designer, its important that they have experience creating friendly mascots for other companies if that is the style we are going to go forward with.  Syed Balkhi,  WPBeginner 6. Set Clear Creative Guidelines for Designers to Follow Our business is all about design, so vetting is a huge part of our process. Over time, weve developed a set of creative guidelines for our artists and contributors. These guidelines clearly define what were looking for, as well as the types of design mistakes and pitfalls we want to avoid. By clearly defining our expectations in the beginning, were able to avoid difficult conversations later.  Shawn Rubel,  Vecteezy 7. Check Their References Finding the right designers is key to ensure that we are maintaining brand consistency for clients. My process involves a rigorous review of  candidates’ portfolios and reaching out to references. I really believe in the value of speaking to references to understand a candidates work ethic and quality of work product.  Adam Wright,  Associated Graphics (AGI) 8. Test Their Creative Limits and Adaptability To see how adaptable a  designer  is, ask them to create three vastly different concepts using your existing brand guidelines. This challenges them to work within some creative constraints but evaluates their ability to think beyond the types of designs that youve already created. Youll want to hire the designers who can demonstrate original thought and adherence to brand preferences.  Firas Kittaneh,  Amerisleep 9. Ask Them What Software They Use Sometimes you will find a great  designer  who is using a software that doesnt complement what you already have. This will make it tricky for you to change any colors down the line, make a background transparent or just be able to play around with your new design yourself. Before I agree to hire a new  designer, I will find out what software they are using and the file types Ill be receiving.  Chris Christoff,  MonsterInsights 10. Give Them an On-the-Spot Test I always ask applicants to create a design on the spot based on a set of parameters (i.e., size, target audience, etc.). We inform them ahead of time in case they want to bring their own materials. How one works can reveal much about one’s capabilities. For example, those who proactively ask for more details as they work show me that they can be flexible and can achieve our vision for our brand.  Diego Orjuela,  Cables Sensors 11. Evaluate Their  Visual  Storytelling Skills Being a good  designer  isnt enough when it comes to designing  branding  materials. The ability to communicate complex ideas and brand stories is a unique skill, so your  designer  needs to be versed in  visual  communication.  Visual  communication graphically represents information to efficiently and effectively create meaning. A pretty design isnt enough to communicate what truly drives your brand.  Amy Balliett,  Killer Infographics 12. Consider the Types of Questions They Ask You Pay attention to whether the  designer  is asking the right questions via a questionnaire or email to learn about your brand and get a sense of the messages you want to convey. See if the  designer  connects to your brand story and feels a connection to the project â€" otherwise, you risk the end-product feeling detached and not representing your  brand and vision.  Eng Tan,  Simplr 13. Ask Them About Their Process and Challenges I hire several designers every year for my company and my way of interviewing is asking in-depth about their process. A good  designer  will talk about the process with confidence and will give some examples, while inexperienced ones can not. I also give them some challenges we face in design and listen to their responses.  Piyush Jain,  SIMpalm 14. See How They Respond to Your Feedback It is important that designers are willing to tailor their unique creative energy to strongly reflect the brand. Offering a candidate a design challenge is a great way to see how the candidate thinks about your brand and, more importantly, how the candidate accepts feedback. The right  designer  will always be able to make revisions and focus on the greater good of the brand.  Kevin Yamazaki,  Sidebench

Brand Lessons from YouTubes Top Ten...Spice Up! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Brand Lessons from YouTubes Top Ten...Spice Up! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career YouTube has released a list of its top ten videos of 2010. I learned something. I learned that if you want to be “most watched,” be Justin Bieber or a talking orange. Let’s ignore the titillating topic of transient tastes and concentrate on my favorite of the videos, an Old Spice ad, and what it has to do with your brand. Have you ever heard of Old Spice? It’s a men’s aftershave that my father used to use an extremely long time ago. The Old Spice brand disappeared over the past 30 years, however. Everyone stopped using Old Spice. Who knows why? Maybe it was associated with our fathers; maybe aftershaves were out of favor. The reason doesn’t matter…the brand does. Does it look like a product your father used to use in this ad? I don’t think so. Ralph’s on to something A client of mine, Ralph, revives old brands for a living. He’s really good. He and I designed what I call a “cocktail party question,” a question that you can ask in any mixed group of people that will help you move towards your career goals. Ralph’s question was, “What brands haven’t you used lately?” Works like a charm to get people talking. Breck, Canoe, English Leather, and Old Spice would always come back in his answers. He now had real-time market research to aggregate and take back to the owners of the brands as proof that they needed him. Rejuvenating a brand can be done with new strategies and fresh marketing. Why waste a good product’s brand name? Rejuvenating your brand Why waste your brand name? What is it, to start off with? Is it old, irrelevant or non-existent? Have you, like Old Spice, refreshed it lately? If your brand is stuck in history (the star football player or prom queen version) or needs to be upgraded to reflect your future, it’s time for some action steps. How do you revive your brand so that your future becomes aware of you and their image of you isn’t mired in your past brand or, worse yet, not mired in anything? Oh, the tough part… I never said this would be easy. “If I want my future to become aware of me, who is my future and what do I want them to believe? This means that you have to do the thinking, the part that a lot of people would love to avoid. If you don’t do your own thinking, however, of who should know about you and what you want them to believe, you’re at risk of bouncing off of whatever hits you, “pinballing” as I call it, in The New Job Security. Walk the talk Set it. Do it. Old Spice wants their brand to be sexy, young, affluent, exotic. Look at the visuals in the ad and you’ll see all of the subliminal messaging. Let’s say that your brand is that of a strong leader, expert in your discipline, global, and director of teams that die to work for you, as did Ralph (our expert that revives old brands). One path to creating that brand is: •      Identifying strategies that are going to make your division and company more profitable and using your political astuteness to present them to the right people in the right order. •      Demonstrating that you master the competencies that your profession requires for professional excellence…you might even become the thought leader by writing and speaking about these. •      Knowing global cultural norms, speaking at least one other language, and, ideally, having lived in another country for a while. You know technology so you can communicate seamlessly. •      Growing the people who work for you. If your staff feel like you’re helping them achieve their goals, guess how your reputation spreads around the office. You become The Man/Woman to work for really quickly. Re-fresh your brand See how you just one upped Old Spice? You set the direction of your brand. You’re demo-ing the actions every day that keep it future-focused and alive. You’re not going to need a brand rejuvenation like Old Spice because you’re spicing up your brand every day. You’re hot! Author: Pam Lassiter is author of the award winning The New Job Security and Principal of Lassiter Consulting, a career coaching firm doing outplacement or internal growth programs for companies or individuals.

Say NO to Social Media . . . Sometimes - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Say NO to Social Media . . . Sometimes The first few months of this year, I  had a particularly heavy writing schedule â€" finishing up my ebook and an unusually large number of client projects in the pipeline at once, along with my regular blog writing routine, and everything else that goes with running a thriving business. My typical start-of-the-day routine â€" checking email and catching up with Twitter and other social media â€" was eating into my most productive morning writing hours. I was finding that, by the time I took care of social media and moved my thoughts to writing projects, I didn’t have enough clear-headed brain power to do the work well. Even if I told myself, I’ll just take a quick look and, if there are no fires to put out, I’ll leave responding until later, it didn’t help. I always got sucked in . . . and distracted . . . concentration gone. Pretty quickly I began falling behind. Something had to give. The answer may seem obvious, but I guess I was so used to my routine, it took a few days to shake myself out of it. Here’s what I did, and plan to  continue  doing: No matter what â€" whether I was expecting a critical email or not â€" for the first 2-3 hours (more if possible) of every day that I had a writing project in front of me, I wouldn’t check email or social media . . . at all. Once I burned myself out with writing, or once I’d reached that day’s writing goal, I hungrily jumped into email, Twitter and the rest. This time management practice has worked so well for me â€" boosting productivity and giving me that deeply satisfying feeling of accomplishment early in the work day. I actually get more done in a day, in fewer hours. It’s really all about prioritizing tasks and fitting them into my day when I’ll best be able to complete them. Related posts: How Much Social Media Is Enough? Dealing with Social Networking Burnout How to Lose Friends and Alienate People with Social Media Social Media: Never on Sunday? photo by Widjaya Ivan 00 0

Coming to our conference Introduce yourself! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Coming to our conference Introduce yourself! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Our first International Conference on Happiness at Work is only a week away. We currently have 200 participants coming from 17 countries and we cant wait to meet all of you in Copenhagen. We would love to know a little?bit more about you, specifically: One thing that makes you happy at work Your most important question about happiness at work What you most hope?to get out of the conference Write a comment below and share your thoughts. 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

The Importance Of Federal Resume Writing Guidelines

The Importance Of Federal Resume Writing GuidelinesFederal resume writing guidelines are important because it is you, as a person that creates a job opening. In this article, you will learn more about your unique role in the process of creating a new position opening. You can use this information to create a new position opening that will move forward for you and your organization in an effective manner.Federal resume writing guidelines include human resource management, which involves the appointment of an executive officer. This can be someone who handles personnel issues, manages recruitment activities, or even works with clients. When you implement these skills, you can create positions that advance your career. In turn, this will bring more success to you as a person, company, or organization.Human resource management positions require a great deal of detail when it comes to selection and evaluation of candidates. Once you start your hiring process, you have to make sure that yo u send out the correct messages to the right people. If you do not, your recruiting efforts will be unsuccessful.If you run a career development area at your company, then you should consider hiring an external recruitment firm to handle your job opening. With the help of these professionals, you can get information out there quickly so that you can recruit your best talent. You may also consider hiring a professional to set up your opening. This can save you time, since you can eliminate the need to contact and screen candidates yourself.It is always important to follow federal resume writing guidelines when you plan to promote an opening. You want to take the time to create a great job description that includes the criteria that will help you find the right person. This will help you increase your chances of landing the individual that you want.As you are describing the job requirements for the prospective employee, be sure to be specific. Do not create a job description that is n ot easily understood by your potential employee. Do not make any references to salary unless it is clearly stated in the job description.Keep in mind that one of the career development needs that you have is being able to generate a good attitude and how to get along with others. Do not forget to include these as part of your job description. You want to make sure that the person you are recruiting for is someone that can contribute to the success of your company. Not only that, but you want them to be someone that fits into your desired style and company culture.In conclusion, if you need to improve on your career development needs, then you will want to consult with a professional. They can help you design a job description that you can use to attract the right candidate. Use these federal resume writing guidelines to improve your job search.