5 Things Candidates Really Want from Job Postings

5 Things Candidates Really Want from Job Postings If you belong to the 75 percent of HR managers who are struggling to attract and recruit quality employees, it’s time to start considering what job seekers are looking for. It’s the season of giving, so give job seekers the job posts they want this year. Creating job postings with the candidate in mind will satisfy their wants while drawing more candidates to your posts it’s the gift that keeps on giving! Here are five gifts you can give to job seekers via your job posting: 1. Uncomplicated applications: Searching for a new job is stressful enough without the added frustration of a time-consuming or complicated application process. According to a survey from Jobvite, 51 percent of employed workers are searching for a new job, and don’t have the time to register to the job section of your website and fill out lengthy online forms. Ditch the forms and any other hoops you are making candidates jump through and simplify your application process. Consider using job boards or search sites that allow job seekers to upload their resumes directly. Ask candidates to send in their resumes as part of the initial application process. If you’re still attached to your forms, only send them to candidates you are interested in after reviewing their resumes. 2. Detailed  descriptions: Job seekers want to apply to positions they feel they have all the details on, and won’t waste their time on job postings that leave them with questions. However, too much detail will overwhelm candidates. Instead, include the information job seekers are looking for. According to another Jobvite survey, 77.3 percent of job seekers said the job description was the most useful information in a job posting. Include specifics about the job responsibilities and expectations. The element of surprise will turn candidates off, so be as straightforward as possible. Salary ranges and benefit details were the second and third most important position details, respectively. Although excluding compensation information may seem like a strategic move, doing so could lead the best candidates to ignore your job posting. Adding a compensation range could help boost applications. Less than 20 percent of job seekers found information about a company’s diversity, community initiatives, and FAQs to be helpful, so leave out these lesser details. 3. Mobile optimization: Job seekers expect to view and apply for job postings from anywhere, and about 27 percent expect to apply to a job from a mobile device. If your posting is not available or optimized for mobile, you could be alienating a good portion of candidates, especially Millennials. At the very least, job seekers should be able to view your job posting on their mobile devices. At best, they should able to apply to the position from any device in just a few simple steps: 4. Unique descriptions: Just like you’re likely to skip an unoriginal resume, job seekers are likely to skip bland job descriptions. What sets the position apart from others? Why should the candidate want to work for your company, and not a competitor? Break free from the traditional, boring language of job postings and capture job seekers’ attentions. Crafting unique yet informative job descriptions takes time, but attracting top talent is worth it. 5. Simple job titles: Although creative job descriptions will intrigue job seekers, creative titles will annoy them. No one is searching for “sales superstar,” “technology innovator,” or any other out-of-the box title. If a job seeker does stumble upon your unorthodox title, they will likely be confused and skip over it. Job postings are not BuzzFeed, and click bait won’t work. Stick to tried and true job titles candidates know and will be looking for. This season, give job seekers the gift of detailed job posts, simple applications, and mobile optimization. Although changing old practices to fit the needs of job seekers may take some time, doing so will help to attract the talent you’re trying to reach. What feedback have you gotten from job seekers about your posts? What else do they want from recruiters this holiday season? Author: Robyn Melhuish  is the Communications Manager at MedReps.com, a job board which gives members access to the most sought after medical sales jobs and pharmaceutical sales jobs on the Web.  

Want To Achieve More At Work Get A Good Nights Sleep!

Want To Achieve More At Work Get A Good Night’s Sleep! Career women who are doing their best to juggle various demands often sacrifice one important ingredient of success: a great night’s sleep. Although skimping on zzzs can enable you to get an urgent project done or impress your boss with your zeal, it can also hamper your progress in the long run.  A crucial  Sleep in America  poll  found that women are more likely than men to have difficulty falling and staying asleep, and to experience more daytime sleepiness at least a few times a week. How can  sleep deprivation affect your health  and your work performance? How can a lack of sleep affect women’s performance at work? A study undertaken just this year by researchers at Uppsala University found that sleep loss impacts the working memory differently in women than in men. In the study, a group of men and women completed working memory tasks after a full night of sleep or a night of wakefulness. Contrary to what researchers predicted, the working memory performance of men was unaffected by one night of sleep loss. Women, however,  had problems remembering digits  and their overall performance was reduced. The effect of sleep deprivation on women’s health A University of Warwick study found that women who get less than the recommended eight hours of sleep per night have a  higher likelihood of heart disease  and health-related issues than men who lack sleep. The study found that levels of  IL-6 (a type of protein related to inflammation) are higher in sleep-deprived women. The findings showed a higher risk of both coronary heart disease and death from cardiovascular disease. It should be noted that sleep deprivation in both women and men is also related to a higher risk of stroke, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions. How can you get a better night’s sleep? The secret to a good night’s sleep is the right blend between comfort, routine, and stress reduction. Your room should be cool and dark, and completely silent. If you need to, invest in blackout curtains and soundproofing.  A mattress with the right firmness  for your sleeping position is also key. If you sleep on your back, for instance, a firm mattress will ensure you don’t wake up with a backache but if you sleep on your side, you need a good memory foam mattress that will ensure your entire body is well supported. To create a peaceful bedroom, keep gadgets outside the room and consider  calming colors like green or blue  in your design. Make it a point to sleep at the same time every night, establishing a routine which may involve having a warm bath and performing controlled breathing exercises. Take stress by the horns Often, the reason women toss and turn is stress. This needs to be tackled during the day, through proven stress-busting activities like meditation, yoga, or Tai Chi. At night, progressive muscle relaxation will ensure your muscles aren’t tight and tense. Aim to do at least half an hour of vigorous exercise a day as well; this will boost feel-good hormone levels and ensure you are tired by bedtime. Most people can be sensitive to the effects of sleep deprivation, both physically and mentally. Make sure you follow a strict routine, converting your bedroom into a place you associate exclusively with rest. Make sure that stress and anxiety don’t keep you tossing and turning at night. Finally, if the problem persists, a visit to a sleep specialist is key to rule out more serious problems such as sleep apnea.

Outsourcing Can Give You More Control over Your Business -

Outsourcing Can Give You More Control over Your Business - Whether you have your own business or you are running a business for someone else, you are likely to be pulled in many different directions at once. As with every successful woman, you are likely to have learned that one of the best ways that you can pay attention to the work that you have to do is to delegate responsibility to subordinates. The question is what work should be delegated to which departments or employees. The right delegation is the true sign of a great business woman. It is the reason why outsourcing should always be an option you are willing to use. Outsourcing is a great opportunity to allow others who are more qualified than yourself or your employees to handle certain tasks. It is also a great way to make sure that certain tasks are not taking up precious time or attention from what employees should be focused on. Outsourcing can also be a great way to make sure that you are paying less to get better results on things which you might be tempted to do within the office. You will find that the more you outsource certain aspects of your business, the more profitable your business will be in the end. Trust the Experts There are certain things that you simply do not have people on your staff who can handle with any authority. Other things you simply do not have the ability to handle. Things like  credit card processing  have to be outsourced to different companies. Make the decision to allow those with the expertise to handle certain business aspects to handle the parts of your business where you might lack the knowledge or expertise to have the greatest impact. By having experts working on these tasks, you will get better results overall. (This is where the need to outsource trusted companies comes in, like the ones offered by asianprosource.com). Keep Your Staff on Task There are certain things like payroll which it is possible for your staff to handle, but it will suck up a lot of their attention. The more attention that they are giving to tasks they might not have been hired for, the less time they will be able to use to work on their actual jobs. Slowing down production is only one of the dangers you face here. You also run the risk that the quality of the work being accomplished will diminish when your staff is constantly detracted from their tasks. Allowing tasks to be outsourced will help to keep your staff focused and on point. It is actually quite easy to  simplify your payroll services  by outsourcing them to a company that specializes in this type of work. These payroll companies provide professional services like payroll administration, tax payment, online payroll entry, and ASO services, which leaves your staff with more time to fulfill their other work commitments. In addition, you can trust that the work has been done right, since you will have a team that is dedicated to completing it. The less time your staff has to spend on these administrative duties, the more success you will have as your company expands. Save Time and Money By having an expert work on the tasks that you need to outsource, you will not have to spend a lot of precious time training staff or learning how to handle  merchant account tasks for example. Instead, the tasks will be handled by those who already know what they are doing. Best of all, they will be able to do the work better than you would have been able to do it. By getting it done faster and with less problems, both time and money can be saved. By Shannon Suetos.

Branding on Social Media Made Easy 15 Fail-Proof Strategies - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Branding on Social Media Made Easy 15 Fail-Proof Strategies - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career What is one no-fail technique you use to personalize your brand voice on social media? The following answers are provided by members of  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the worlds most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched  BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. Give Your Audience Value   Your audience is constantly bombarded with media 24/7. The only way to stand out (instead of adding headache) is to provide your audience with information they will actually want or need. So before I do anything on social media (whether its sharing an article I wrote or just tweeting), I ask if its something my audience wants to see or just a self-promotional piece.    Elle Kaplan,  LexION Capital   2. Use Unpolished Footage   We are using video more and more to communicate our brand and create a deeper connection with our audience. The key for me (and our brand) has been shooting and releasing raw video â€" that is, footage that is not polished or rehearsed. Our engagement increases the more we release videos that are true and authentic.    Andrew Thomas,  SkyBell Doorbell   3. Hire an Experienced Community Manager   Hiring a community manager who knows how to create a distinct social media presence is invaluable to your online community. If you have a person whose main role is to be the voice of your company, your brand will always have that unique personal voice.    Dave Nevogt,  Hubstaff.com   4. Dont Be Afraid to Have an Opinion   Businesses tend to play it safe on social media. This means making broad generalities, not saying anything controversial or not disagreeing with someone. A great way to personalize your brand voice is simply to have an opinion. This creates polarity. Sure, everyone may not agree with you. However, if youre authentic and stay professional, you might just increase engagement.    Antonio Neves,  AntonioNeves.com 5. Respond to Queries as Quickly as Possible   Social media is noisy and there are a lot of brands that get it wrong by thinking that its OK to not respond quickly â€" or even worse, to not respond at all to social media queries. At LSEO, we deploy an always respond as quickly as possible model as our brand voice. We care deeply about connecting with customers and prospects and we respect that they want an immediate response via social media.    Kristopher Jones,  LSEO.com   6. Share Transcripts of Interviews With Founders   We manage the tone and voice for small businesses on social media.  Our process with each client is to spend several hours interviewing the founder or CEO of the company about all aspects of their business. We then transcribe the interview and use the transcript as the foundation of our voice on social media. The more we can mirror the message of the CEO, the better our social efforts will be.    Brett Farmiloe,  Markitors   7. Share Expert Insights Through Influencers   We continuously strive to add value to our readers and while weve built thought leadership in our domain, we continue to interview specific experts and influencers (via video, blogs, etc.) to address some of the most pressing concerns or queries our audience has. As a result, audiences now turn to our brand to learn everything about appreneurship.    Rahul Varshneya,  Arkenea LLC   8. Share Inside Looks at Your Company   We share a lot of content about what we do every day and what a normal day at the office looks like. It shows who we are and what we represent in our brand. It also humanizes the experience for the audience, making it more engaging.    Angela Ruth,  Due   9. Stay True to Yourself   First, understand yourself. Ask, “What are two or three words I  can use to describe my brand voice and style?” For me, the answer would be  upbeat, honest and direct. I also stick  with this on social media and in my articles, posts and videos. When you understand and mirror the personal  voice and style you have in the “real world, you will naturally personalize your  brand voice in the virtual world.    Ajit Nawalkha,  Mindvalley   10. Develop a Character   Try coming up with a character best suited for your brand, and stay true to that persona. Always ask yourself, Would that person say that? If you develop a full bio and background, you can really gut-check your posts much easier.    Erik Huberman,  Hawke Media   11. Humanize the Brand   An easy way to humanize your brand is to share your failures. Your online audience will absolutely relate to posts and writing that explains a shortcoming. But dont panic â€" your failure doesnt have to be a bad thing. For example, 5 Things We Learned About Recruitment After Hiring the Wrong Person, is a post that humanizes your brand by identifying with the difficult problems of hiring staff.    Peter Boyd,  PaperStreet Web Design   12. Monitor Your User Feedback   We constantly monitor user feedback. It’s not a difficult process. We simply try different things and see what works for our audience and what doesn’t. We also like to ask past clients what their experience was like. For example, what was it about our marketing that they resonated with, and why did they choose us over other companies?    Ismael Wrixen,  FE International   13. Incorporate Humor   If you cruise around our website and social profiles, youll see some humor. Of course, theres professional material and case studies, but the concept of the website is mostly about sophisticated jokes. This has resulted in dozens of startups emailing us with, Guys, great website!    Yoav Vilner,  Ranky   14. Understand Your Audience   The most important step in finding your  brand’s social media voice  is knowing your target audience. You need to have a crystal clear image of who you want to serve to be able to reach them.  Once your target audience is defined, I  recommend creating a fictional persona with all the characteristics, traits, and their age, gender, income and interests.  This will be your buyer persona.    Anthony Davani,  Kreoo/The Davani Group   15. Create a Video Response   We like to occasionally post video responses to questions or comments people have on social media just to show the humans behind our brand. This works well because its so low effort, while the payoff is huge. It takes two minutes to record a quick webcam video, and the person on the receiving end of the equation feels like youre making a genuine connection with them.    Chris Savage,  Wistia

How to Write a Healthcare Resume

How to Write a Healthcare ResumeIt is difficult to create a winning resume when you're handling healthcare-related subjects. But when you follow these simple tips for resume writing healthcare, you'll be able to succeed in developing your healthcare resume, no matter what industry you are from.Make sure that your resume does not contain any medical or health related phrases or terms, such as healthcare consultant, medical assistant, registered nurse, physician, or nurse practitioner. This could just make the employer wonder if you know anything about health care, and how qualified you are to get hired. Also avoid employing the word 'healthcare' on your cover letter as well.Never use a short sentence or paragraph for your opening, including the first line of your resume. You may just ruin the credibility of your resume if your header is too long, and it could make the job more difficult.Resumes must present a picture of who you are and what skills you can offer. If your resume does no t give a proper idea of who you are, chances are high that it won't be read by the employer. Make sure you write clearly, so that you won't have any issues with your resume being misinterpreted.Your career objectives should be clearly written on your resume. Showing too much of a personal side on your resume will just lead to a disaster. Also, be sure to include both past and present jobs and achievements you've accomplished in your career.When you have something written down, or you've included some details on a job interview, explain to the employer why you are the best person for the job. This will help make them think of you in a positive way. Being yourself and describing yourself as an expert and efficient individual will set you apart from other applicants, and it's a skill that employers look for when hiring.Keep in mind that if you do come across an interview with an employer where you did not get the job, and you're sure that you are well-qualified for the position, don't give up. You can always ask for additional information or meet with them to discuss your resume. While it may seem silly to do this, it could help your case.Never underestimate the value of asking for advice from healthcare career experts. They'll not only provide insight into the field, but will also be able to help with various employment scenarios.

Why Cant We All Get on the Same Page on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Why Cant We All Get on the Same Page on Martin Luther King Jr. Day I got a lot of calls and emails today from people who work for companies that I assumed would have been closed because its Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But Martin Luther King Jr. Day has always seemed like one of those holidays open to enormous interpretation and frankly I dont get it.Companies seem to have all sorts of reasons for making Martin Luther King Jr. Day optional and you can read more about the ambiguity of MLK day over on Cynical Girl.  Some say it is too costly to make a paid day off, it lands too closely to the Christmas/New Years holidays, or that people would rather have a day off at another time. Some companies make it a movable holiday, i.e. give up MLK Day and get the day after Thanksgiving off. And while the day is considered a national holiday, not all schools are closed either, which you would think would give kids a mixed message.So what you are left with when a company makes the holiday optional, is a corporate culture that has the potential to become polarized which goes against everything the holiday stands for. The people who want the holiday off may resent taking a personal day or unpaid day to observe it or may feel slighted that it is a day off, but at the expense of another day, as if the day isnt as much of a holiday than others such as Labor Day or Memorial Day.It just seems like bad business practice to make the holiday so loose and open to interpretation. You are bound to piss someone off. And I guess you could argue that there are other groups that feel that their holidays arent given as much credence as more mainstream   American holidays such as the Jew who has to take personal or unpaid days to observe Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur.But I dont think that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is really about a specific group. And while its focus stems from an African American who championed the rights of other African Americans, his message is about equal rights for everyone. Lets face it. Whether you are an African American, a Latino, a w oman, a Jew, a Catholic, a Muslim, someone with a disability, gay, lesbian, transgender, an older American, a younger American, or anyone in between, chances are that you have been discriminated against at some point in your life. Heck, there is even name discrimination. So I think its good that there is one day a year where we honor Dr. King, but more importantly take time to reflect on the destruction of discrimination and the value of tolerance. And I think its about time that we all got on the same page when it comes to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. What do you think?

5 Ways to Enhance My Job Security - CareerAlley

5 Ways to Enhance My Job Security - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. In todays economy, having a full time job is a wonderful thing. However, how secure is your job? There are ways to enhance your job security in any economy. These helpful ideas and tips can keep you employed in a wake of layoffs. Stay Current and Up-to-date Make sure that you are on the cutting edge of new technology by taking continuing education classes or other job-related skills. Especially good for older workers is to take computer and keyboarding classes so that you can learn to increase your typing speed. Other projects to look into are social media guides to keep you current on using Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and LinkedIn to your advantage. Find Long-term Solutions If your company has long-term projects that are going to take years to complete, make sure you get on those projects. Hardly any company is going to remove you from a long-term project because the time, money, and effort it will take to bring someone else up to speed is too great. Long-term projects can offer some job security. Become an Expert Another good job security idea is to become an expert in your field. One way to do this is to build your reputation. Write an article and get it into a trade journal, write ebooks on your job, set up a website, do anything that equates your name to your job field. Make sure your bosses are well aware of these projects, as it will help build your reputation in their eyes. It may seem like a cheesy way to do it, and you may be heckled by your coworkers, but your boss wont see it like that once your name keeps getting mentioned. Hell want a piece of that pie. Keep an Eye on Your Aging While it shouldnt matter, it may. Keep an eye on those grays, that bit of belly youve gained, or that slouch youve had. Stand straight and exercise. Dont be viewed as old be viewed as a seasoned employee. Another way to help is to make sure you dont become grumpy and jaded, keep a nice rosy personality while youre in the workplace. Get Schooled Some HR departments can find you employee money to go back to school and learn more in your field. This works in two ways, you are more educated which is an asset to the company and the company has invested in you. They are much less likely to fire you or lay you off if they have money invested like this. So you see, there are ways to keep yourself a valuable asset to the company. Lessen the odds of getting fired or laid off when you are keeping yourself current, educated, and rising above 100 percent. About the Author: Tina Samuels writes for many companies including Reputation.com. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Joey Trebif [emailprotected]