Top 5 Time Management Tips for Recruiters

Top 5 Time Management Tips for Recruiters When I was a journalist, I organised my life by spinning plates. I quickly became  a certified expert at successfully balancing twenty tasks at once, and soon found myself with two really exciting opportunities staring me in the face.  One  being to join the circus, the other to forge a  career in recruitment marketing. After I missed the annual circus auditions, I chose the latter. What I’ve learned along the way  is that to be successful in recruitment,  youve got to manage your  time effectively. Here are five tips to help you get the most out of your working day: 1. Don’t confuse working long with working hard The first rule of time management to is measure it in terms of successful results, not activity. Confusing activity with results is a toxic way of killing precious working hours and it’s vital that you measure your productivity in regards to working smarter, not longer. For example, if you have a call booked in with a client you should always set out an agenda. What do you want to achieve from the call? By planning your results you’re ensuring the phone call isn’t a complete waste of time. Twenty quality calls are better than fifty pointless ones that you make ill-prepared. 2. Step away from the to-do list Treat your calendar like your  Bible, and stay vigilant. It’s time to ditch the to-do list that has the same points carried over the past  three days and instead, have your daily tasks set out religiously in your diary, and stick to it. Both your client and candidate processes should be resilient enough for you to have a scheduled time to speak to them, if not, then it’s time to work on your processes. If anyone calls/emails at random times of the day it’s OK to get back to them when you’re free, don’t fall into the domino trap of being reactive. Always be proactive. 3. Tackle the complex tasks in the morning Everyone has experienced trouble getting their wheels rolling in the  morning, however studies show if you start the day right (get up earlier, eat breakfast etc) you can accomplish a lot before you even realise you’re tired. Fear is still asleep until around 9am so always tackle the most complex tasks first and sail through the rest of the day doing the tasks you enjoy. After all, the king of productivity, Benjamin Franklin, once said, ‘The early morning has gold in its mouth’ and we all know recruiters aren’t the type to pass up on gold. 4. Score your candidates There is nothing worse than candidates missing calls, rearranging interviews and leading you up the ‘no commission this month’ garden path. To avoid the aforementioned, it’s important to always know the difference between a lead swinger and an ideal candidate. The time efficient way to identify this is to quantify their value based on important factors that will make it a quick and easy process for both parties. Ask yourself these  whether they are Exclusive? Immediately available? Open to new markets? Excited by clients? Easy to keep in contact with? Do they listen to advice? 5. Control your clients Controlling both your clients  and candidates can be the difference between a three-day and a three-week process. There’s no point in having a top candidate with a client that doesn’t cut the mustard. The better the client, the more significant the process will be, therefore, there’s a better chance of the candidate getting the job (and liking it). Do they have a good retention rate? Do they have clear promotion targets? How good are their incentives? Mastering the art of time management is down to developing a habit to automate your routine tasks, giving you more time for you to spend on tasks that need a little more TLC. About the author:  Megan Hill is the Operations and  Marketing Manager at ion Search Recruitment to Recruitment.

Software Skills on Demand

Software Skills on Demand Embed from Getty Images (This article originally appeared in my column in the Florida Times-Union.) If you’re in a career transition, you may need to brush up or acquire skills to be competitive. If it’s been a while since you’ve used the latest version of Office software, or a job posting requires a skill you don’t have, Lynda.com can help. The site (named for its founder) bills itself as an online learning company that can help anyone learn business, software, technology and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals. Lynda.com offers over 4,200 online courses on software, design, marketing, business skills such as accounting and database management, sales, leadership and communication, and programming languages. Hobbyists can improve their skills in writing, songwriting, photography or animation. The courses are also offered through a partner company in English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese. The site is a subscription service that was purchased by LinkedIn in 2015. You get a free 10-day trial, after which you can join month to month with no commitment for $24.99. You can get an annual subscription for $19.99 a month or select a premium membership, which allows members to download practice documents for courses and access courses from mobile devices. Udemy.com also offers low to mid-price courses taught by national experts. Udemy claims that 10 million students have access to video training in one of its more than 40,000 offerings. When you purchase a class, you get unlimited lifetime access to it on any device, and the courses are covered by a 30-day money back guarantee. Udemy classes have an average of on to three hours of content, with a minimum requirement of at least 30 minutes of content; video must comprise 60 percent of the course. A quick search of Udemy for Excel training offered many options at various price points, including 61 free courses. The most expensive courses cost $299, but there were many options under $50. Pricing is set by the instructor (Udemy takes a slice of each enrollment fee that is generated through their marketing, but allows instructors to keep 100 percent of revenue from students they bring to their courses.) Pricing also roughly correlates to the number of lesson hours the course offers. The courses are listed by price point and by level (beginner, intermediate or advanced.) Many courses offer quizzes so you can measure your understanding as you progress. Udemy also offers self-improvement courses and hobbyist training on what seems like an endless list of specialties. Many of the trainers are authors and nationally-recognized experts in their field. The course I took from marketing expert Seth Godin was insightful and the video production was exceptional. Godin provided many online resources and self-assessment tools that students could download to supplement their learning. Online academies make learning available at your own pace, 24 hours a day. They also offer business and government organizations plans for employee training. With price points for every budget, the proliferation of online training academies means that there’s no excuse for not having some mastery of an essential skill for your next career move.

How to Pay Off Six Figures of Debt - Classy Career Girl

How to Pay Off Six Figures of Debt 9 years ago, I was six months pregnant. I hadnt gotten the mail in nearly a week. I didnt want to. I was dreading the bills that were going to be in there. We made good money but we were living paycheck to paycheck and the amount of money we owed was growing, not getting less. I had no idea if there was going to be enough money to pay it all. Maybe you’re a wife or a mom. Maybe you dread looking at your checking account too.opening mail when you know there are bills to pay and maybe not enough money to pay them? Do you think to yourself, I can not pay off this mountain of debt with my income or other financial obligations? Been there too!  With baby number one on the way, both my husband, Scott, and I were working full-time  jobs with a good income. We purchased a perfect starter home in growing area and I started to feel the pressure to continue to keep up with the “Jones”.  We ate out, A LOT! We bought new furniture! We bought what we wanted. We used credit cards for nearly everything. That’s what you are supposed to do, right? We needed a bigger car for the baby, so why not buy my dream SUV.  Then, since I had my dream car, my husband should have this dream car too, right? Of course!  It was at this point that I started to have “that bad feeling” that something wasn’t right. Something Felt Wrong My husband assuring me that taking out a second mortgage to get a better interest rate for the car was a smart idea.  I continued to feel that bad feeling  every time I viewed our checking account online or paid the second mortgage. Even more than the feeling of all the debt we had created, I dreaded every single morning. I dreaded getting up and rushing my baby out the door to leave her in someone else’s care and then give them ¼ of my paycheck every month.  I loved my job but I loved my baby more! Fast forward 18 months and lots of car and 2nd mortgage payments, I was depressed. The overwhelming feeling of the debt growing stronger by the day.  Scott and I didn’t talk about money.  I harbored some ill feeling towards his car. I knew every month that we didn’t have enough money to pay for everything we were purchasing, let alone pay off debt.  To top it off baby number 2 was already on the way and I counted the days until I could stay at home with my two babies. But I also even more dreaded the days when I would have to leave ½ my paycheck and my two babies with someone else for the day. Add that to the fact my husband was not happy with his job and commute of almost 2 hours one way to work. The tension between us and the scary feeling of not knowing how to change kept getting stronger. We knew something had to change! I just didn’t know how to talk about it without blame or any idea of what to do about it. We “needed” the cars, the house and all the stuff. I  wanted to stay home with my two babies but I couldn’t see how.  There were too many expenses and not enough income. We were sinking and we knew it. At the same time Scott was given the opportunity at work to transfer. We both thought, “OK, it gets us closer to our family, lowers our cost of living and we can sell the house.” Then I would start thinking, “What if I can’t find a job?” We had 2 mortgages and by this time it was 2008 and housing prices were falling  fast.  I was also 34 weeks pregnant. We finally made the decision moving was better than sinking farther in the hole we were already in, even though we still had no idea how to get out. I was thrilled to be closer to family but the timing was still awful  and I was scared out of my mind about finding a job. We made the move and Scott commuted back and forth on weekends for about a month. It was close to a 4 hr extremely boring drive. So… he downloaded an audio book that unwittingly changed our lives. We Found Our Path If you read Annaa post 15 Ways to Pay Off $80,000 of debt, you know she started with The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and so did we! It gave us the pathway that we couldnt see for so long.  Scott called me on one of his car drives and said, “You need to listen to this. We are getting out of debt.” The next phone call from my husband was when I was at the hospital having a baby monitoring test done. As my doctor finished telling me I I had to now be on bed rest for the next 2 weeks Scott said, “I am selling my car when I get home this weekend.  It’s a good thing I was already laying down. I am pretty sure the baby jumped too! He was selling his dream car? I didn’t believe him yet, but I finally agreed to read the book. He did end up selling his car as well as most of the furniture in the house before we moved 6 weeks later.  I began to see we didn’t really need any of it. The expensive car, house or furniture. I knew in that moment if he was willing to sell his dream car to pay off debt, I had to at least try. The Hard Part Of Getting Out Of Debt It was not easy to part with everything. If you have heard Dave Ramsey you may have heard, “sell everything but the dog.” We did!  We sold down to the bare minimum, going from a 1,600 square foot house to a 3 bedroom apartment.  We did keep the dog for a short time, but eventually gave her a better home too! We knew that we had to start big or we would never get there. We had 6 figures in debt on cars, personal loans, student loans and credit cards. Most people told us we were crazy and it was ok to have car loans and mortgage payment and credit cards.  I could only think, “How is this Ok?” These debts were eating us alive and once we made the commitment to get rid of all of them, we had to have some bigs wins to keep us going. I will not say this process was easy. It wasn’t. It did give us a safe and non confrontational avenue to talk to each other about our money. It gave us a clear picture of what we wanted. Once we figured out budgeting, also not easy but doable (you can see one of our first budget spreadsheets here),  we were able to make small wins and watch them add up. I said to Scott probably 100 times during this process we dont have enough money to pay off everything fast enough. Fast enough, I learned is a relative term. Everyone has a different process and goals. Yes it did take us longer than we had originally planned. The Setbacks There were setbacks along the way. The hardest but ultimately most rewarding was selling our house. We had to take out 2 loans to write a check for $72000 at closing. We still have those loans on the wall as a reminder to never go back to someone or something owning us. They were the last to pay off before freedom and as much as it hurt to take them out it felt so good to make the final payment and close the account. Another setback was my husband leaving a job with no other job in place. While we didn’t pay off or save much during that period, we were able to live on my income alone until he found a job. The Finish Line Fast forward again, we ARE finally DEBT FREE! We even flew to Nashville to scream it on the Dave Ramsey Show. It really doesn’t matter how long it took to pay off or how much we paid off. What you need to know is that no matter your situation, income, or amount hanging over you, if you feel like you are sinking there is a way out. I knew I wanted to be at home with my babies more than I wanted that nice house or fancy car. My husband wanted the flexibility to be with his wife and kids and call his own shots instead of reporting to someone. Now we work together. [RELATED: How to Attack Debt as a Couple] We wanted to help people build a better life for themselves. We knew we could not do any of those things with debt hanging over our head. There have been many times when I wanted to  just a get a loan to get that car or just take vacation and put it on a credit card. Then I see those two loans and think of that $72,000 check I wrote to sell a house and all those heavy feelings of desperation come back and I look the other way. I would have never dreamed 9 years ago of paying for a trip to Nashville to scream “We’re DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!” with cash. I would never have dreamed of going to Corsica to celebrate my father in laws wedding with cash. Another dream come true is to be able to stay at home and help my husband grow a business where we are totally in control of our schedule.  We are also planning a trip to Europe soon taking all 3 kids for 4 weeks.   To summarize our steps to paying off six-figures, heres what we did: 1. We were honest with ourselves about how debt made us feel (that bad feeling every single day). 2. We opened our lines of communication and talked about how we felt and what we wanted our life to look like. 3. We made a decision to not sink any farther in the debt hole we were in. 4. We moved to a more affordable (and smaller) house. 5. We sold anything and everything we could (including the dog). 6. We listened to podcasts and books like Dave Ramseys Total Money Makeover for motivation and inspiration. 7. We started budgeting. 8. We focused on small wins to give us motivation. 9. We made career decisions that were right for us in the long-term, rather than the short term. 10. We rewarded ourselves at the end with a trip to tell Dave Ramsey himself so we knew the goal  we were working towards. When you don’t have debt, your money can do anything you want it to. Yes, we still make choices and yes we still sacrifice, but I get to choose where to spend it and its not my BILLS!!!!!

Classy Career Girl Annual Reader Survey (Dec-12)

Classy Career Girl Annual Reader Survey (Dec-12) Its that time again!  Time to start planning for the new year and to re-evaluate my goals and priorities.  So what does that mean? Its time for you to tell me what you want to see here so I can bring it to you! Last years reader survey  told me what topics you love and what you wanted to see more of on this blog. I asked you what your top issues were and I heard over and over that you felt stuck in your careers and needed help getting unstuck. So I created the Get Unstuck Bootcamp and offerred it twice throughout 2012.  Its now available for anyone to take at any time and you can learn more about it here. So this is exciting! What will I learn on this reader survey that will impact you and me? Click here to take the very short survey.  Seriously 4 questions and that is it! Thank you ahead of time!!

The Power of Habit - Book Review

The Power of Habit - Book Review http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/In this post, I wanted to summarize the key lessons I learnt from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.The author employs investigative journalism to study human behaviour.Ever felt stuck because of your bad habits or addictions? Then this book is for you. The book will provide you the real reasons we develop bad habits addictions, and how to make immediate changes for positive results.An additional bonus from the reading the book is understanding how companies use predictive analysis to get you to buy more of their products.Decisions vs HabitsevalWe are under the misconception that most of our daily decisions are conscious and we have a high degree of control. However, this is farther from the truth.Studies have proven that about 40% of our daily actions are not actual decisions, but habits.Our Brain acts as our central command system, and its job is to make decisions for us. However, the brain likes to spend less of its resources on maki ng those decisions for us.The human brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort. And for this, it uses habits. The brain subordinates this function to habits. As a result, the brain spends less time making decisions.So most of the things that we do are actually habits â€" brushing our teeth, eating, showering,etc. we don’t consciously think of daily tasks. Similarly we don’t consciously think of our habits This comes as a relief. Because if our habits are set in stone Most of us have experienced this. In some cases, on a daily basis.Why is it hard to say no to junk food? Why is it hard not to overeat Cue is a trigger that prompts you to take action. In the Facebook example,the buzzing of my phone causes to me to check Facebook. And the Reward is the feeling of social validation or connectedness that I feel.In the case of exercise, a cue would wearing your exercise clothes. And the reward is the endorphins we get immediately after exercising. Or the reward could be the ta ngible results â€" better physique, the weight on the scale,etc.To change any habit or create a new one â€" take a closer look .Understand the cue, the routines and rewards. By noticing the cue and focusing on the rewards, we can fall in the routineshttp://charlesduhigg.com/how-habits-work/The Importance of BeliefevalThis is crucial. For any habit to be permanent, we require for it to show immediate benefits. In the case of exercise, it is the immediate endorphin rush. And the long term benefits of exercise will be a better physique.However, when we do not see any benefits or changes â€" we start to doubt ourselves and eventually go back to or old self-limiting habits. If we don’t see changes of a better physique, we start losing hope and there is a probability that we stop exercising.That is why, it is very important to use the power of belief. The moment we believe that things will get better, the habits start to get stronger.Take the case of Alcoholics who have fought for month s and in some cases years -their addiction of alcohol abuse. They see the damage it has done for them, and they do want to change, however the journey looks dismal.This is where groups like Alcoholics Anonymous have done a great job. People joining the group/attending meetings are exposed to other’s success stories. And this slowly gives them hope. They start believing that they too can change for the better.Weight Watchers is another such program. It has been successful for decades, and continues to attract new members. When members meet, they see constant progress in their peers. And this helps them to believe that they too can succeed.The Importance of Group SupportAnother advantage of the groups concept such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Weight Watchers, is the support of the peer group. Numerous research has proven that the odds of forming a positive habit increases many folds with the help of a group.We are social creatures, and there is subconscious craving to look good infron t of our peers. And this motivates us to keep moving forward. This reinforces positive behaviour.Keystone HabitsThere is a correlation between the different spheres or elements of our lives. Often we notice that when we change one particular habit, things start changing in other areas of our lives. It seems as if we start fixing one area of our life- soon other areas are positive impacted.Take the case of exercise for example. Anyone who starts exercising soon see the immediate benefits in energy levels. They slowly start making changes with their diet and nutrition. And instead of spending money on junk food they start spending it on healthy alternatives.They also notice that this affects their spending habits. They are no longer buying groceries on impulse and overspending. They become more conscious with money. And slowly they start to change their social life because of the new found vitality. And then sooner or later, they start making changes to their career.If someone is look ing to make a positive change in their lives, start off by identifying one keystone habit and start applying it right away. Soon things will start to change in other areas.There are numerous other nuggets of wisdom that you can obtain from reading the book. The author uses lots of real-life case studies and examples that validate each of the point.If you are looking to make positive changes in your career of life â€" start off by reading this book.Additional ReferenceHow Habits WorkGoodreads PageWhat has been the most important thing you have learnt from reading this book?

Traveling Careers The 5 Most Important Skills to Be Successful - CareerAlley

Traveling Careers The 5 Most Important Skills to Be Successful - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. A career that takes you abroad can bring you many great experiences and opportunities a lot of other careers cant. Traveling to new places for work also often puts you in a position where you are solely responsible for your own success and failure. Careers such as photography, politics, pilots, flight attendants, commercial drivers, and a lot of sales positions demand that you be able to do your best while constantly on the go. Here are the five most important skills you need to be successful in a career on the road: 1. Time Management When you are working out of town your schedule is your life, one poor judgment call or mistake on your part and you risk everything falling out of order. A missed flight, late arrival to a meeting, or late delivery will happen at some point. Its important to be as prepared as you can for deadlines and it is definitely necessary to do something for yourself every once in a while to relax and distress. Just make sure business is always taken care of before pleasure. 2. Flexibility There will be times when forces outside of your control prevent you from doing your job. A person meeting you could have missed their flight, be behind on their end of work, or you could be asked to have something done ahead of schedule to meet a higher executives demands. Careers that involve traveling leave plenty of possibilities for inconveniences so it is important to be able to adapt. 3. Ability to Self-Motivate Being in a career where so many things are out of your control is going to throw more tough days at you then you can imagine. Always find a way to motivate yourself whether it is focusing on the possibility of a promotion, raise or remembering someone who is counting on you. 4. Communication Traveling will constantly put you out of reach of the people you are working for or with. As the old saying goes The show must go on. If something has happened that will prevent you from meeting a deadline or getting your task done, let the right people know as soon as possible. In most of these careers a mishap on your part affects your employer as much as it affects you. Keep a charged cell phone, know of a place with accessible internet, and be sure to check these lines of communication regularly. 5. Improvising This is perhaps the most valuable skill you can have in a traveling career. When a task or deadline needs to be met and there are circumstances that prevent you from doing your job, the best employee will find a way to get it done. If a traffic accident has blocked a road and prevented you from getting a load to its destination you improvise and find another route. If your partner or someone you work with is not there to assist you with a presentation you have to be able to pull it off yourself. Traveling careers can be very rewarding but also be hectic at times. If you decide to pursue one it is important to embrace the mentality that you will get better as you go. If you are passionate about your work, dont let the inconveniences that sometimes come with traveling get you down. The important thing is to do something that makes you happy. Mark Kinsel is the President of Driver Solutions and for the past 19 years has passionately shared his knowledge and experience to help young truckers find their way. He enjoys writing, fishing, and helping drivers find the best truck driving jobs out there. 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. Visit me on Facebook

How Many Skills to Put on Resume?

How Many Skills to Put on Resume?Everyone wants to know how many skills to put on resume, so that employers will find them worthy of hiring. There are many reasons why the number of skills to put on resume is important and many are as follows:The number of skills to put on resume is not arbitrary and there are rules that govern how much a person can have. To find out what the required number of skills to put on resume is, one should consult an employment recruiter. Sometimes the recruiter asks the person whether or not he has more than the required number of skills to put on resume, but sometimes, the person is asked to take some tests to determine if he indeed has more than the required number of skills to put on resume. It is very important to hire an employment recruiter as the latter can take care of all the questions related to the number of skills to put on resume.When hiring a person, companies also ask how many different skill a person can have. To get a better idea of this, he should take the personality test that is conducted by the employment recruiter. If the person does not want to do the tests, then hiring an employment recruiter can still help a lot.The problem with knowing the number of skills to put on resume is that it can be considered irrelevant if you are new in the company or at the same company for the past few years. The number of skills to put on resume should also be relevant and if the person is not sure about it, then asking him to take tests can help a lot.The number of skills to put on resume must also be related to the position you are applying for. For example, if you are applying for a managerial position, then you should have more skills than if you are applying for a sales manager position. Once you find the number of skills to put on resume that is most appropriate for you, then you can just fill up the application form and send it to the company.Once you have found the number of skills to put on resume that suits you, it is important to be consistent and try to apply those skills consistently throughout your career growth. Even if you are a newbie, you can still do the things you have learned in the courses you have attended and applying them in everyday work will help you achieve success in the long run.In order to know how many skills to put on resume, it is best to ask the company about it. You can also ask your friends and colleagues and they will surely give you the number of skills to put on resume they know. This can also help you narrow down the possibilities and get some ideas about how many skills to put on resume.So, now you know how many skills to put on resume and the number of skills to apply consistently for career growth. If you are thinking about how many skills to put on resume, then you should also ask yourself if you will still have the job after you have applied the skills and applied them consistently and your employment history proves the success that you achieved with the skills .