Ep 103 - Tackling Workplace Optimism and Positivity with Shawn Murphy - Workology

Ep 103 - Tackling Workplace Optimism and Positivity with Shawn Murphy - Workology Episode 103: Tackling Workplace Optimism and Positivity with Shawn Murphy (@theshawnmurphy) Work doesnt need to be a soul sucking nightmare especially when you consider how much time you spend at the office versus your home, with friends and family. A Root Inc. found  that 68 percent of employees believed their senior managers were more focused on their own needs and less interested in inspiring others. A  Towers Watson study  found that less than half of respondents believed senior managers were interested in employees well-being. I wanted to explore more about how can we promote workplace optimism when leaders, employees and team members believe that no one is focused on each other, just themselves selfishly. So today we are focused on how to increase optimism and productivity in your organization, workforce, and team. Selfishly, I’m excited for this podcast interview. Episode 103: Tackling Workplace Optimism and Positivity with Shawn Murphy (@theshawnmurphy) Shawn Murphy dives in right away to discuss how companies can increase their workplace optimism and positivity. This is definitely a challenge especially with so many outside factors impacting employees happiness and optimism. Where does a company begin? Shawn discusses some practical solutions that companies can take advantage now to improve the work environment driving productivity and engagement. Shawn walks us through the differences between optimism and happiness. One might think they are the same thing but they are very different. Shawn also touches on the best way to determine an employees strengths and weaknesses. I asked him if he prefers or suggests an assessment like Strengths Finder or DiSC over another. He tells me that those surveys while effective are not the only way to understand how teams and their team members can best work together. In order to begin creating an optimistic work environment, you dont have to make big changes. The key is to understand whats important for your employee population and begin making small but targeted changes. These might include flexible work schedules or setting team goals to better align your employees with their personal goals and the larger company goals. Shawn has a great article form Inc. that goes into more detail of ways to make small changes in the workplace without breaking the bank. I think it always a huge concern as leaders are always monitoring costs. Ive included a link to the article in the resources section of the transcript. How Do You Measure Optimism? Happiness and optimism are such fuzzy words. They, like most things related to human capital are also hard to measure. Shawn talks me through some of the best ways to effectiveness measure optimism in the office and how to communicate those changes you are experiencing to your senior business leaders. For myself, sometimes optimism is just a feeling. Its something that just grabs you when you walk into a meeting or an office meeting making them extremely hard to measure, but when its happening and the stars have aligned the feeling is magical making for some of the most innovative work ideas and team collaborations Ive seen in my career. Shawn was a wonderful guest on the podcast. While he shared many great insights, he also is the founder of a popular workplace leader blog called SwitchandShift.com. He has many more resources and articles from himself and others that you can check out there. Connect with Shawn on LinkedIn. RECOMMENDED RESOURCES The Optimistic Workplace ~ Shawns book The Secret to Happy Employees at Your Workplace Utah University Study: Happiness Doesnt Impact Performance Ep 21: What is Employee Motivation with Susan Fowler  ~ Podcast 10 Tips for Creating an Optimistic Workplace How to Subscribe to the Workology Podcast Stitcher PocketCast iTunes Podcast RSS Google Play YouTube *A special thank you to my production team at Total Picture Radio.

What Can You Do to Improve Your Search

What Can You Do to Improve Your Search During a systems administration meeting for work searchers, we discussed their greatest disappointments with work search. They recorded things like, not hearing back from managers, not being considered totally equipped for a vocation, no names recorded on work postings. There were different things as well, in any case, these dissatisfactions have a work-around. They arent works of art. As indicated by Newton: To each activity there is consistently an equivalent and inverse response . Change Your Expectations In the event that you dont hope to hear again from a business, you wont be disillusioned or frustrated. If you need an answer, how might you get one? Discover A Contact Name You can and should discover a contact in the organization who can mindfully investigate where they are in the process. Hopefully you have just seen somebody who inside as a type of backer for your resume. Is it accurate to say that you are utilizing LinkedIn? Have you asked everybody in you quick system? Contact HR You could contact the HR Department and ask them where they are all the while and quickly present yourself as an intrigued candidate and why you would have any kind of effect to their organization. Are Your Qualifications, Traits and Personality Coming Through? In the event that you arent the ideal fit, at that point maybe you havent worked superbly accounting for yourself. Recruiting is a mind boggling process, it isnt pretty much having the privilege skills. It is tied in with being the correct fit in the organization. Sure, here and there you wont have all that they are searching for, however on the off chance that the questioner (and others in the association) like you and you are in any case a solid match they could hire you, really! Fit can mean numerous things, as Ive just said. Sometimes associations have certain instructive requirements. Those will be troublesome and here and there difficult to survive, particularly at the present time, yet it has been done and should be possible so dont let it prevent you from applying or seeking after a chance. Rather than stalling out, discover the work-around. Youll feel so much better!

Case Study Why Good Candidates are Ignoring You

Contextual analysis Why Good Candidates are Ignoring You Contextual analysis Why Good Candidates are Ignoring You The nature of a vocation posting can hugy affect the quality and amount of employment searchers who apply. Be that as it may, what establishes a quality activity posting? To all the more likely comprehend what makes a great job posting, we look at explicit models and their outcomes. Employment Titles Three employments were posted on simplyhired.com, from tantamount areas, for mid-to senior-level programming engineers. The best-performing posts, numbers 1 and 2 underneath, were seen by about twice the same number of individuals as occupation post number 3. Here are the titles alongside the components that decided their intrigue to work searchers: 1. Senior Software Engineer/Software Architect 2. Senior Software Developer 3. Programming Developer/Senior Software Developer On the off chance that you are happy to offer a senior-level title on the correct applicant, lead with that data. The initial two employments put the senior title first, while the third covers it after an increasingly junior title. Work title like post 3 may make a mid-level applicant question whether he is sufficiently senior to apply, while a senior up-and-comer may feel overqualified and not trouble tapping on the posting. Shifted wording can help work postings appear in more quests and explain competitors' impressions of the job. Employment post 1, the best performing title, utilizes the words designer and modeler in a similar title, while work post 3 rehashes engineer. Make sure you incorporate the most significant, graphic catchphrases in the title itself to be considered by the biggest number of qualified competitors. Sets of responsibilities When you have work searchers taking a gander at your posting, the expected set of responsibilities ought to empower the most qualified possibility to navigate and start the application procedure. The accompanying two activity posts both have the title Visual Designer, yet the depictions shift enormously. Occupation A got more than twice the same number of snaps from candidates as Job B. How about we investigate the reasons why. Here are the presentations for the two employments: Employment An Introduction Visual Designer produces visual answers for [Company's] retail and web channels, including: Interior and outside store signage, crusade and occasion insurance, regular postal mail promoting, publicizing media, and web symbolism, which incorporates landing page and email declarations. The perfect applicant has inventive pizazz, knows about current visual patterns for [retailers in our industry], has broad information on the most recent PC structure programming, and a comprehension of material expenses and time limits which can affect ventures. Occupation B Introduction Were searching for a Graphic Designer who flourishes off utilizing configuration to make a business progressively productive and in coordinated effort to the organizations in general showcasing system. Somebody who thinks outside about the container, and can take their structure idea across various medias, for example, Print, Web, Products, Advertising and Social Media. We want to discover somebody that appreciates a high-vitality condition, as much as we do, and is propelled and enthusiastic.This individual ought to have an enthusiasm for [our industry] and needs to work with an organization that is at the highest point of their industry game. This position can offer you the opportunity to have your work seen anyplace, we need somebody who can remain focused, by setting needs, and doesnt get derailed the ordinary obligations, for example, calls and emails.Candidates ought to have a degree in plan or comparable field. In the event that competitors don't have a degree in plan or relat ed field, they ought to have at any rate 2 years involvement with the field. The prologue to Job An is short and forthright. It plainly gets out the significant obligations of the visual originator and gives a short rundown of significant individual qualities. Employment B's presentation is twice as long because of its utilization of platitudes and catchphrases (e.g., consider new ideas, top of their game). Occupation Requirements Every one of the two occupations detail the prerequisites for the activity â€" both in a simple to-peruse bulleted position. Employment A gives a depiction of what the planner's everyday obligations may look like under the basic occupation capacities. The rundown begins with solid activities and afterward advances to gentler aptitudes (think inventively, work inside cutoff times). Employment An at that point records the information and aptitude necessities required for the activity. Again Job A's rundown begins with express solid necessities (degree, programming capability) and afterward moves to milder abilities (spurred submitted), and finishes the rundown with pleasant to haves (Knowledge of Word, and so forth an or more). Employment B bounces directly to the prerequisites area, however sprinkles pleasant to-have characteristics with required abilities. Employment A Requirements Fundamental Job Functions: Plan insurance including: all outside/inside signage, occasion signage, item handouts, deal flyers and coupons Create unique crusade designs for exceptional undertakings and significant retail occasions Configuration web designs for landing page, web pennants, email declarations, and web-based social networking content Oversee printing creation process with print sellers Think innovatively to deliver new thoughts Function admirably with tight cutoff time requirements Perform different errands and obligations not yet distinguished, getting from the changing need of the business Occupation Requirements: Illustrations Design degree and 3-5 years of expert plan work understanding Solid composition and relational abilities Skill in work area distributing apparatuses, for example, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash Capacity to create systems for formats and masterful ideas and make visual pictures that connect with, draw in and sell ideas Exceptionally energetic focused on the improvement of top notch work and individual profitability Working information on Word, Excel, Outlook Access an or more. Occupation B Requirements All up-and-comers should meet the accompanying extra necessities: Capable on Mac with information on PC Capable in Microsoft Word with information on PowerPoint and Excel Capable in Adobe Creative Suite including: Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop Photoshop modifying abilities an or more Essential web information Video, altering, or movement aptitudes an or more Solid typography abilities with an eye for cohesiveness and marking Remains current on [our industry's] patterns Capacity to duplicate compose and edit Profoundly composed with tender loving care Information on and involvement in Social Media Capacity to work autonomously with little management, just as, in a group Capacity to shuffle different ventures regularly under a tight cutoff time OK with information, analysis and changes The two occupations wrap up by posting organization advantages and directions on the best way to go after the position. In spite of the fact that the two occupation postings are comparative long and search for comparative up-and-comers, Job A got more than twice the same number of snaps as Job B. By obviously and articulately spreading out the capacities and prerequisites of the activity, competitors had the option to rapidly peruse Job A's portrayal, choose if they were a fit for the activity, and apply. Employment searchers seeing Job B's depiction were confronted with the all the more overwhelming undertaking of swimming through the underlying talk to comprehend what the activity required. They likewise expected to intellectually reorder the aptitudes rundown to figure out which abilities were required and which were just pleasant to-haves. Confronted with this test, the greater part of the certified applicants who may have applied to Job B chose to continue looking and eventually applied to different employments. Peruse Related Articles: Your Message or Theirs? Assume Responsibility for Your Employer Brand

How to List Education and Training

How to List Education and TrainingWriting a resume is the first step in making a life altering decision. A few simple questions you need to ask yourself are: 'What do I have to offer'how can I best represent myself'. After that you need to write out a resume that suits your personality and needs. The next question is how do I list education and training, or whether it should be written out at all?Many people think about the format for a resume when they are writing a resume, how to list education and training. The reason this is important is because they do not know what to list. One can get into a fight if they list everything or do not even list anything at all. Of course there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. This article will help you think about how to list education and training.First, if you have no formal education and training you do not have to list it on your resume. You can list your level of education and training at the bottom of your resume. Also be sure that the resume you use is easy to read and neat. Another tip to remember is never to leave out anything.In addition, if you have no formal training, you must be prepared to give one. Many people choose to go to school before applying for a job. When writing your resume be sure to list any formal training you have ever had including training from professional organizations, community college, technical institute, trade school, universities, and more.Second, if you have any professional experience, you must include it. Do not shy away from professional experience. It does not mean you should list all your time with a company related job. It means you did work for that company.Third, try to find some time where you learned something about communication skills. You can give examples from your school days or professional life. Always be sure to include these learning experiences on your resume.Fourth, as a matter of fact, you can go back as far as you want to list your experiences with past employers. If it is something from your school days, remember that you can do this as well. It is important that you list all the schooling you have had up to now. It is not a bad idea to include hobbies or volunteer activities that you have participated in.Lastly, always be sure to list the skills and abilities you acquired from your learning. Also remember that it is important to list education and training when they are relevant to the position you are seeking.