Navigating Recruitment Challenges in Childcare

Navigating Recruitment Challenges in Childcare Squaring off against high demand, retention challenges, and reputation management are all part of the talent attraction game for this education and childcare provider. Derek Johnson is Talent Attraction Manager at KinderCare Education. Have a listen to the episode below, keep reading for a summary and be sure to subscribe to theEmployer Branding Podcast. Listen onApple Podcasts,Spotify,StitcherorSoundcloud. In this episode you’ll learn: • How the companys cultural change impacted recruitment• Why traditional recruiting methods stopped working• What Spotify has got to with their recruiting• How they came up with the Confidence for Life message• Why their candidate assessments are vital for recruitment You can connect with Derek  here.

Resume Writing Tips to Avoid

Resume Writing Tips to AvoidThere are so many resume writing tips to avoid, that it can seem like a daunting task to find the right one for you. It can also be hard to know where to start and determine if what you are currently doing is the best way to approach a particular situation.Knowing which resume writing tips to avoid will help you focus on the skills and experience that you have that will make you a good fit for a position. What some people may not realize is that you can always use creative resume writing techniques to come up with the perfect cover letter. For example, don't write your cover letter like you would normally and as though it was your first time at it.Resume writing tips to avoid also include using a blank resume for your cover letter. This can really make the difference in a successful job interview. Instead of showing that you are clueless about the job you are applying for, your potential employer will see that you have experience and knowledge to help you succeed.When doing this, be sure to spend time finding out as much as you can about the position you are interviewing for, before you go into the job interview. You should make sure that you know how to conduct yourself when addressing a potential employer. You should have an idea of how to handle yourself around him or her.Businesses run on trust. If they feel that you can get along with them, they will be more likely to hire you. While resume writing tips to avoid should still include the experiences you have in business, what they should avoid including some of the personal information you might include on your resume.While it is a good idea to show off all of your accomplishments, it is also a bad idea to put any of your personal information on your resume. While you want to sell yourself, you don't want to put too much of yourself on your resume.Remember that just as what type of cover letter to use, resume writing tips to avoid should also be different depending on the type of job you are looking for. Don't forget that even if you don't want to sell yourself at the interview, it doesn't mean that you cannot sell yourself to a potential employer.Getting to know a potential employer and showing him or her that you know him or her will be necessary in order to get the job. Be sure to be prepared before going into the interview room and ready to answer all of their questions.

7 Visualization Techniques to Calm Your Anxious Mind

7 Visualization Techniques to Calm Your Anxious Mind Everybody in the world is anxious. Professionally and on the street, it feels like you’re surrounded by natural enemies. And the most lethal of all is yourself: you with your insecurities, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and habit of saying the wrong thing. Right? Nope. We live and work in a system where anxiety feels like the base state. We’re told (often in very polite, aspirational ways) that we should do better, look better, earn more, compete with our neighbors, quantify our successes and failures and even our personalities. It sounds more like the jungle than the summit of human civilization. At some point, people and structures who benefit from a worker population living in fear took control, and all we got was anxiety and dreams of the next iPhone upgrade. There are some that say that rather than fight or soothe your anxiety, you should weaponize it, scream about it, let the exploitative classes know this may be just a feeling, but feelings are real (perhaps, indeed, they are everything). But there are others who, not unreasonably, suggest taking care of your mental health first. Get some time off. Demand your employer gets you a shrink. And check out some of the visual meditations you can do to bring yourself down to Earth when your nerves have you hanging by a string. Different visualizations work best in differing circumstances. The paned window meditation works well in a situation such as lying in bed awake at night when it is quiet around you but your inner voice won’t hush. Picture your thoughts as a gang of people standing outside an imaginary nearby double window. Calmly close the window and feel the voices quieten to a silence. Aaah! The serene beach technique works in the opposite circumstances. If you are surrounded by literal stressful noise or a situation that makes you anxious (such as waiting for a plane to take off), imagine yourself on a golden sandy beach. This is a full-body immersion technique: imagine not just the view, but the sounds of the waves, the warmth of the sun on your toes, and your breath slowing as you relax. The stop sign technique is useful if you are already familiar with your mind’s annoying machinations. For example, when you make a mistake, perhaps that inner voice immediately starts hating on you, telling you much of the stuff we mentioned in the first paragraph. This type of anxiety just feeds itself. Your personal insults become involuntary personal slogans, kind of the opposite to positive affirmations (well, that’d be negative affirmations then). To use the stop sign, catch yourself when you start doing this; close your eyes and picture a bright red STOP street sign. Calmly, quietly repeat to yourself, ‘stop, stop, stop…’ in your head, if you’re not in an appropriate situation to whisper it out loud! The final one is a little more designed for when that anxiety is mixed with rage. Rage is a valid emotion (aren’t they all?) but can get in the way when you’re trying to strategize improvements to the work culture around you. When you’re stressed and crushed by work and office nonsense, close your eyes, picture a blender full of food, and press the big red button to start it blending (for heaven’s sake put the lid on first). Listen to the noise of the blade whirring through all that fruity pulp and grinding the chunky bits. And then switch it off and listen to the sound fade away. It’s anti-ASMR for the YouTube channel in your mind! The good folk over at NetCredit have produced a guide to seven visual techniques like this, and they’ve even made some animated gifs to get your imagination going. Visualization meditations might not change the world, but once you find some inner calm you’ll be in a much better place to initiate the revolution. About the author:  John Cole writes on behalf of NeoMam Studios. A digital nomad specializing in leadership, digital media, and personal growth topics, his passions include world cinema and biscuits. A native Englishman, he is always on the move, but can most commonly be spotted in the UK, Norway, and the Balkans.

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese This is How to Have a Happy Career

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese This is How to Have a Happy Career No matter how much you like your job, there are some days you feel as if you could walk out the door and never return. That's pretty common, especially when you have the kind of day when everything seems to go wrong. But if you start to realize that your feeling of boredom or frustration or stress is becoming a common theme, then you need to take action. If you don't, those feelings may affect your performance to the point that you get fired or the boss passes you over for a big opportunity. Neither of those outcomes is good for your career, so it's important that you be the one to manage a career turning sour. First, don't take this situation too lightly or too seriously. While this may sound ridiculous, only you can make an internal assessment of the situation and know a) that you're prone to drama and you could be making this situation much worse than it really is or b) you tend to avoid your feelings, and your career is about to go off a cliff. Second, take a breather. If possible, try to get away from your career for a while. If you can't get away for a quick vacation, at least try to use your weekend to detach. This means letting everyone at work know that you're going to unplug (you can make up a creative reason here, or give no reason at all) and then really do it. Set up an auto respond to emails, turn off notifications of the latest basketball score and get away from screens. Period. Third, occupy yourself with something completely unrelated to work. Buy a paint by numbers kit and do it. Go dig in the dirt and plant something. Buy a kite and fly it. Repaint your bedroom. Bake a batch of cookies. If you want this to be beneficial, then you can't cheat. You can't fly a kite while checking your email. You can't bake cookies while reading an industry news website. Once you've had this time away (a week is ideal, but a solid two days away may do the trick) then it's time to take your internal temperature again. Do you feel better about your job? Are you starting to remember how much you like what you do? Have new ideas been popping into your head while you were planting a new elm tree? If so, then you know that your career crisis isn't serious, and just needs some tweaking. Would you like to talk to your boss about training in a new department? Is it time to talk to your team about better ways to communicate? Do you want to attend a few seminars to learn some new skills or come up with new ideas? On the other hand, if you find after having some time away that you would still like hide under your bed at the thought of returning to work, then things are more serious. You need to really dig deep and find the root cause of your unhappiness and whether it can be fixed. If you have a mentor, now is the time to talk to him or her. If not, try writing down the pros and cons of your job and doing an assessment of what can be changed and what cannot. Ultimately, no matter how many career coaches or mentors you have, you still are the one who must do the work and figure out whether your job is working for you or not. By knowing how to make an internal assessment, you're more likely to handle career bumps before they become a full-blown crisis.

Writing Skills on Resume

Writing Skills on ResumePoor writing skills on resume may just lead to a bad interview. The truth is that poor writing skills in resume can greatly affect the interviewer's decision to hire or not.Poor writing skills in resume can leave many a prospective employer pondering about you. While there are instances when resumes can make you the first impression, it is not a universal truth. There are many people who write good resumes. If you wish to make your resume look good, there are some tips and pointers that can help you.Before you commence on your writing task, you should find out what criteria the company uses to determine the presence of a writer with solid writing skills. First and foremost, your resume should be able to bring value to the company in question. A good resume always points out the value and importance of the job. It should be a career-oriented resume. It should outline all the relevant work experience to the company.You should also make sure that the resume you a re submitting is structured in a way that helps the interviewer to understand what your objective in joining the company is. In fact, the question for which you are in the job hunt should be listed as the first sentence of the resume.Next, you should determine whether the overall content of the resume is good. Not only does it matter how you present yourself, but how you present yourself is of great importance because it adds credibility to your resume.Different aspects should be highlighted. There should be an objective statement at the top of the resume that helps the reader realize how important the person is in the company. The next paragraph should highlight how you met the company's objectives. The last paragraph should detail all the relevant work experience related to the position.After following these guidelines, you can now begin to work on your writing skills. You can spend time thinking about the best ways to convey your ideas and perspectives. For example, it is very po ssible to make use of creative writing skills if your resume is about you. In this case, all the necessary creativity is required.In addition, it is important to know how to type a resume well. Although there are many free templates that you can choose from, you should still check out a few professional resume writing services. These professionals are well-versed in creating professional looking resumes and thus, offer you with comprehensive resume writing services.

Not Offering These Benefits May Cause You To Lose Top Talent - CareerMetis.com

Not Offering These Benefits May Cause You To Lose Top Talent Source: Pexels.comWhile you put a lot of energy into finding the ideal candidate for an open position, you might be missing something even more important: retaining and attracting top talent through the employee benefits that you offer.Just like you’re interviewing qualified candidates to see if they’re a good fit for your company, they are also interviewing you to determine if you provide value for them as a long-term employee.While the average employee stays less than five years at a company, that might be a lot shorter if there’s little reason to stay on.evalBenefits are a huge part of the incentives that both attract professionals to a company, as well as compel them to stay. If you’re not offering these benefits, you may not be able to retain top talent.1) Robust Health InsuranceWhile you’re required by law to provide employee-sponsored health insurance to any employee who works full-time, you aren’t required to adhere to any particular plan or policy.And yet some po licies While paid parental leave isn’t No one wants to stay in their current position forever, or even more than a year or two. Certainly, it’s disruptive to have someone leave a role, but you’re better off putting the energy into training that person for another role within the company than recruiting from the outside to fill it.Make sure you offer training and mentor programs and encourage managers to check in regularly with their charges to understand both their short-term goals for their current position as well as long-term goals for their careers.5) Retirement Even if you can’t justify a budget for building out a nap room, consider how you can offer a little more incentive for people to want to work for you, as well as keep your current staff happy.Could you convert the meeting room into a yoga studio at lunch every day?Would employees enjoy a book club?What about starting a rock climbing group that meets monthly?What you offer employees is as important as what you get from them. Make sure that you’re competitive in your industry by making your work environment more appealing through the benefits and perks that you offer.And remember the importance of showing your staff that you care about them. Sometimes it’s the little things, like matching retirement contributions, that show them that they’re not just a cog in the wheel of this machine.

Wasting Time in a Job You Dont Like

Wasting Time in a Job You Dont Like You can meet some of the best people through work. Recently, I reconnected with a wonderful Canadian couple on their family trip to NYC. My husband and the other gentleman had worked together years ago during our Arthur Andersen days. Great people very smart, fun, and loving with two beautiful children who just loved Mercer. Of course, the conversation led to career (with and without some prompting from me). Heres what I found interestingOur friend had shaved his head as part of his three-week vacation. Talk about letting your hair down. His workplace up north was too conservative and such self-expression wouldnt fly. So for three weeks he got to look the way he wanted and was ecstatic about it.Our friends wife felt great about the steady nature of her job but not the content. With a sigh at one point, she said she wished her husband would get promoted so she could quit her job. Are these feelings you share? Do you feel you cant be yourself at work? Would you rather not work at all? I cant help but take to heart these insights. Yes, they were shared quickly and in passing (not sure my friends would even remember saying them as part of the long and very fun conversation.) But to me these are critical clues that something is amiss and further exploration (dare I say it, Soul Search) is warranted.Coincidentally, I was contacted by a talented writer from Forbes.com to weigh in on an article about what to do when you hate your job. If you know me, I believe there areno coincidences and everything happens for a valid reason. It was an honor to be quoted and the article is full of great advice. However, my point about Soul Search wasnt included so I want to share it here. Why people remain in jobs in which theyre unhappy:From my experience working with thousands via my coaching practice and SIRIUSXM show, people often stay in jobs they dont like because they dont realize what else they CAN do. They havent taken the time to identify what makes them happy or where the ir talents lie. They havent clarified their values and thought about how theyd like to use their abilities to make a difference and align their work with their purpose. Too often people assume work is supposed to be a chore so they dont even look for anything other than that when embarking on a job search. If you hate your job, what you can do about it:The number one thing you can do is Soul Search BEFORE you Job Search. Look back on your life and career to those projects that you did enjoy. Delve into each situation and get to the important details such as the role you played, the skills you used, the outcome you produced and anything else about it that made it fun/engaging for you. You can also ask others about your best skills, abilities and talents. This is a great way to stop taking your strengths for granted and to articulate what it is you do for others that is so special.I have found that when looked at from this perspective people come up with more exciting, more rewarding and more fulfilling career possibilities than when they just scour the job boards and shoehorn themselves into whats out there.I find people desiring a career change also dont have the proper mindset. It is easy to look at what is wrong, what you disdain, and what doesnt work, but it is more beneficial to look at what is working and to be appreciative of the aspects of the job that can enable your next career move.Ive learned that offering unsolicited advice doesnt work out for the best, eh? So I didnt share these insights with my friends. But if you or someone you know feels they are wasting time in the wrong job, feel free to pass this along or better yet, tell them to call in for advice on my weekly SIRIUSXM radio show. Living fully while on vacation is a good start, living fully everyday is what you were meant for!(NYC photo courtesy of Maveric2003.)

Local Farms Fresh Produce Program - Hallie Crawford

Local Farms Fresh Produce Program This is cool. My friend Sarah told me about a local farm in her area that drops off seasonal, fresh produce to a drop off location where she can pick it up on designated dates. Then I read about it in Body and Soul magazine so I have to try it. The farms will either allow you to harvest your own produce or collect it from a drop off location. You get a variety of fresh, locally grown, seasonal organic food often for less than the price you’d normally pay for organic produce at the store. Plus you’re supporting your community and receiving seasonal produce which is much fresher and sometimes completely unique to your region. You can find a local farm at their web site. Go to LocalHarvest and type in your zip code. Their spiel: The freshest, healthiest, most flavorful organic food is whats grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies. Enjoy! Hallie www.HallieCrawford.com