10 Tips to Grow Your Employee Engagement

10 Tips to Grow Your Employee Engagement Employee engagement is a concept often ignored by organizations. After hiring a candidate, companies do not plan any strategies or policies which can keep the employee enthusiastic about work. This is an essential aspect of employee retention and promotes stability among employees for a more extended stay in the company. Before knowing why employee engagement is essential, you must understand different categories of employees: Engaged employees are those who treat their work as their second home. They take complete responsibility and ownership of their work and stay loyal to the organization. They are the upcoming leaders and remain with the company for long. Not engaged employees are those who are pretty happy with their job but only do what their job profile demands. They do not work for the mission, goals, and values of the company. However, with the right approach, you can convert them into engaged employees. Disengaged employees have no zeal to perform. They spread negativity in the organization by talking about how unhappy they are with their work and office culture. There is a rare chance that you can convert them into engaged employees. According to Mental Health America, disengaged workers cause massive losses in productivity â€" between $450 and $500 billion a year. Furthermore, the only ? of US employees are engaged in their workplace. This calls for a growing need to engage your employees at a high level to ensure more productivity and better results. Here is how HR managers can improve their employee engagement: 1. Give Right Tools to Work Job satisfaction depends a lot on company’s infrastructure. This means devising processes and providing tools to employees using which they can complete their job. You must find out tools which can enhance employees’ productivity. They can complete a job quickly with distinct processes and boost their efficiency. 2. Provide Training Employees look for a culture which offers continuous growth. They want to work in an organization where they can see a rising graph in their career. It is important to provide regular training to employees to help them gain more skills. Organize training and enroll your employees in the same. This will provide them a sense of belongingness with the organization, and they will feel motivated when they learn something new. 3. Recognition There is no doubt that appreciating employees for good work is the key to having an effective employee engagement. Giving them rewards in the form of gift coupons and monetary benefits is very encouraging. Conduct monthly meeting and recognize efforts of employees. 4. Introduce Open Communication A clear communication gives insights into what is going on in the mind of an employee. Know how your employees feel by conducting surveys, team meetings and using suggestion boxes. Be a good listener. Encourage them to speak up so that you can implement changes which you feel are right. 5. Share Numbers Your employees should know what is happening in the company. They must be aware of the numbers. Share every good and bad news with them so that they feel part of the organization. 6. Promote Company Culture Make your employees clear about company culture which includes goals, mission, and values. Encourage them to fit into the system by listing down the benefits. 7. Engage Right from the Start The best way to kill an employee’s enthusiasm is giving him the monotonous task of filling out forms on the day of his joining. You can change this concept by introducing employees straight to work. Attach a mentor or a work buddy with the new joiner to make him feel engaged and part of the company right from day one. 8. Regular Feedback Giving frequent feedback to employees is more encouraging than discussing it annually in a performance review. Timely review of their performance helps them in updating their skills and performing as per the company’s expectations. Use both formal as well as informal methods of communication to do the same. 9. It’s Time to Destress Them Working non-stop for long working hours under pressure and deadlines build stress among employees. Organizations should take the responsibility of making their employees stress-free and feel happy about working. Organize fun activities which are both fun to play and useful to learn. Take them out for outings or organize parties as an annual reward. 10. Offer Work-life Balance Work-from-home options and flexible timings provide freedom to employees to work from anywhere at any time. Providing these facilities will result in more engaged employees than unhappy employees working in cubicles from 9 to 5. There is no hidden secret for increasing employee engagement. These simple tips can make your workplace more meaningful for the employees. There is no need to invest a huge amount of money in engaging your employees. By following simple practices and with creative strategies, you can quickly promote a happy work culture in your organization. After all, employee engagement is the first step towards building a happy workforce. Author’s bio: Lovepreet Dhaliwal works with RChilli Inc, a leading resume parsing software provider which helps in speeding up your recruitment process. An MBA in HR and marketing, he has over six years of work experience in business development and strategic sales.

Function Form is More Than a Cover Letter

Function Form is More Than a Cover LetterYou want to use the function form to achieve your desired resume writing success. However, you may not be aware of how to do so. Let me take a look at the process in a bit more detail.The most important thing to understand is that the function form is much more than a cover letter. The two together serve as your main tools for creating a resume that will effectively convince the employer to contact you. The quality of your resume is often the deciding factor on whether you are contacted for an interview or not. Of course, if you are contacted, your resume will help to persuade them to choose you for the job. To do this, you need to present them with a detailed and professional resume that is able to stand out above the rest of the applicants.Of course, you may wonder what is the difference between a functional resume and a generic one. Function form is a very specific job search strategy. It is also referred to as 'function to capture'. In a n utshell, it is designed to bring a subject back to the main point of the letter, rather than the other way around.So what is a functional resume? It can be broken down into two sections, namely the cover letter and the introduction. They serve as direct guides to the rest of the letter, providing you with both the main points of the letter and its conclusion.The cover letter is a direct expression of your self, the way you see yourself. A well-written cover letter tells the employer what you have to offer, and in the process gives them something to remember you by. A strong cover letter is likely to be a compelling one, just like your resume. It will stand out above the rest of the letters in the pile and can make a person think about contacting you.Another very important part of your functional resume is the introduction. The introduction should be short and effective, telling the employer why they should choose you over the other candidates. It should come across as a statement of fact, rather than opinion.Finally, the concluding paragraph of your functional resume should act as a conclusion. This will explain what you wanted the employer to know about you and what you expect from the interview.Your functional resume is only as good as the efforts you put into its creation. You can improve the quality of your work, however, if you spend some time researching what is needed in order to create it. This will ensure that it is the best it can be, ensuring you achieve your goal of obtaining a job interview with your resume.

Splice time in new ways to have more of it

Splice time in new ways to have more of it I have been trying to think of time differently, so I dont panic because I dont have time to do that. I have a job that requires about 60 hours of work a week. And I homeschool my kids. So the only way to get by is to stop thinking of time in terms of work time and personal time. I dont have enough time to fulfill the needs of those two categories. I have to find new categories so that I feel like I have enough time. Tuesdays my son and I drive four hours to Chicago for piano lessons, cello lessons, and orchestra rehearsal. I used to think of it as a terrible day where I drive eight hours and get no work done. But then I realized I could do work while I drive. So I recategorized drive time as work time, and then I felt better about getting work done on Chicago days. Then I noticed that I could also work during orchestra rehearsal. Its true that parents are supposed to be paying attention. But its not like individual lessons where I have to write every little missed note on our list of things to practice. Orchestra is a place where a mom can fade into the audience. And pull out a laptop. So I wrote a blog post during orchestra and I told myself I can pretty much recategorize Tuesday as a work day with two music lessons stuck in the middle. At the end of the session, my son brought his cello over to me and he whispered, Mom, I cant believe it. That was the longest bathroom break I ever took. Fifteen minutes. I said, You didnt take a fifteen minute break. We all would have noticed. He said, Everyone did. The orchestra teacher left the classroom and got me. So, fine, orchestra is not a place where I can check out and do work. But still, I am trying to figure out how to look at time differently. And here is a list of ways Ive thought of and none have gotten me in as much trouble as my Tuesday idea. Work life/Home life This is the typical divide. It is useless because its not helping anyone feel better about themselves. And also, if we really wanted to divide time this way wed all put away our iPhones. The other thing about dividing life between home time and work time is that there is then clearly not enough time. So we go nuts. And we always revert to overlapping the two. This is why I started coming up with new ways to think about time: to make enough space that I wasnt feeling overwhelmed by my lack of time all the time. Doing time/Not doing time You can get tons of work done without actually doing it. You can hire people and delegate. One of my favorite things about coming home to a clean house is that I didnt have to do it. There is something magical about time when I am getting things done and not having to do them. So I try to have a bunch of things each week that I have passed off to someone else. They have to be big enough projects that when they are done, I feel that relieved sense of accomplishment you get from doing something significant in your work. Phil Libin, founder of Evernote, writes that  you dont want to be the smartest person in your company. This is because if you surround yourself with bright people they get more done without you. I  know that virtual assistants are all the rage right now. I caution you to hire a very smart one. The joy in getting things done when youre not doing them only comes when its done well. Fun time/ Play time I hate fun. Fun drains me. But I like ideas. Actually, ideas are fun. Fun to me is reading and writing all day, and every so often, someone pops in to listen to me talk about what Im thinking, and then I go back to reading and writing. That is a great day for me. I have a son who thinks fun is play and excitement. Its a problem for me. I am not the joyous type. But my husband loves fun. When we were dating, he would try to be goofy and it would make me cry. Its stressful if you dont understand role playing, which is what I think goofiness is. So he is very happy that I have a playful son. And I am very happy to not play. We divide our family time between fun and other stuff. I do most everything else. Its easier for me to do dishes and clean bedrooms than it is for me to play kickball and jump off the rope swing. So I look for times when the family is doing their fun which is play, and its a nice time for me to do my fun, which is more like work. Of course. Nice time/ Critical time One of the biggest weaknesses I have is making time for a marriage. Its not natural for me to stop my work to take care of emotions. So I started trying to measure the amount of time I spend with my husband. I told myself if it wasnt an hour a night, the marriage wouldnt last. If it wasnt an hour in the morning, we would have a bad life. I told myself all kinds of time-constrained truisms. But what Im thinking now is I can divide the day into positive comments and negative comments. Psychology Today reports that marriages do well if you have at least 5 positive comments for every one negative comment. I can do that. And when its difficult, I tell myself Ill be rewarded for my kindness with the ability to help him perfect one thing. Engaged time/Unengaged time People actually dont mind working long hours when they are engaged. Burnout is not a result of how much work youre doing but what type of work youre doing. So instead of organizing time into work time and personal time, you could organize it into time when you like what youre doing and time  when you dont like what youre doing. This is actually my big gripe with Tim Ferriss. He says he only works a 4 -hour week, but he really means he only does four hours a week of work that is not engaging to him. People are doing this with learning as well: binge learning. This is when people take courses that are compressed, and they watch all the courses at once, sort of like watching a whole season of Arrested Development  at once. Days/Weeks A lot of times you have a day where you do no work or a day when you do all work. And then you might feel that the other part of your life is in trouble. But instead, you can think in terms of weeks and months. You can have a week where you mostly work, and a week where you mostly dont work. Thats balance, but in a larger picture. The idea of balance seems impossible hour by hour, but there are other ways to think about having a balanced life. And you know how you can tell if your way of thinking about time is working? It feels good.

7 Key Time Management Skills to Share with Your Employees -

7 Key Time Management Skills to Share with Your Employees - When an employer looks for good skills in their employee, they are not just watching for hard talents like being able to navigate through the computer system. Soft skills are just as important, and sometimes even more so. Being able to effectively manage your time is a soft skill that employers desire in their staff because ultimately it streamlines the work and increases the company’s bottom line. Effective time management results in deadlines made, customers satisfied, regular hours without added overtime due to ineffective work in normal hours, and much more. When your employees are staying busy with productive work, it also results in job satisfaction. Because of all of these important aspects of this skill, it’s crucial that you train your employees on how to manage their time wisely. Here are 7 key time management skills that you need to share with your staff today. Time Management Skills Every Employee Should Have  Truthfully, these are great skills for employers to have, too, so as you are teaching your staff, be sure you utilize these strategies for productivity yourself! Plan ahead. When your employee walks into work each day, they should know exactly what needs to be done. Setting daily, weekly, monthly, and long-term goals is important to enhanced productivity. Work with each of your employees to help them learn how to set goals, create a realistic timeline for each goal, and then break it down into manageable tasks. It’s also a great idea for you to provide your staff with time management tools like synced calendars across the company, task organization apps, and other programs that will help them to manage their time. Discover more ways to streamline time management with a little online research. Learn how to differentiate priorities. While everything must get done eventually, employees need to learn how to tell the difference between what is on the hot burner and needs to be completed before it starts a fire and what is simmering nicely waiting for its turn. In order for them to learn how to prioritize, many people have to have this skill modeled for them. In a new job, it’s difficult to automatically know what is urgent and what can wait, especially since some tasks, if delayed today, will result in urgent fires tomorrow. Organization is crucial. Maybe you have that employee that swears they are organized in a disorganized way. They have junk all over their desk but they know exactly where the item they need is. In the long run, this is not effective. When someone has to spend time trying to find an important document or item that’s needed, even a few seconds adds up. There’s a saying, “A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind,” and that goes for workspace as well. Make this a big point in your company and follow through on ensuring your employees understand the importance of organization, too. Understand how to handle tasks efficiently. Most jobs have regular components that are dealt with daily. Employees need to know how to handle those tasks in the most efficient manner so they are not wasting time every day on unnecessary repetition. Communication is important. One of the biggest complaints that employees have about their employers is lack of communication. The only feedback that the staff gets in many companies is when they make a mistake. As an employer, you must open a dedicated line of communication between you and your employee, letting them know exactly what needs to be done to complete a task you have assigned and allowing them the ability to communicate with you to ask questions and make suggestions along the way. Learn how to create an uninterrupted space. When you are working on a deadline, it’s important to be able to manage interruptions professionally. Turning off your phone and emails, hanging a sign on your door asking for no interruptions, and checking all lines of communication before beginning work on your important project are all key ways to create an uninterrupted space. Limiting distractions by having an organized desk is also integral to this time management skill, since having to stop to find the next thing you need or being distracted by post-it notes reminding you of yet another deadline or item on your to-do list is all part of time lost and deadlines missed, as well. Create a personal life/work/health balance. Some employers are pleased with and reward employees who put their whole life into being productive at their job. They work first thing in the morning to the end of the day, allowing just enough time to stumble home and catch a few hours of sleep before repeating the schedule the next day. As an employer, you need to talk to your staff about the importance of a healthy balance between personal lives and work. You may have a company that has urgent deadlines and constant pressure, but if your employee is working into a slow early death, they won’t be very good for you in the long run. Your company should encourage their staff to take regular 10-minute rest breaks and an hour lunch break through the day, eat healthily and get outside into the sunshine or exercise for at least a few minutes every day, and schedule a balance of time to have a personal life. Without these important parts of each person’s daily life, employees end up stressed and burnt out, or their bodies begin to lag and performance deteriorates quickly, sometimes without warning. Time Management is Good for the Whole Company  When your staff is effectively managing their own time, it frees you up to do the jobs you need to do without having to micromanage everyone. It gives the employees the satisfaction of knowing that they are able to productively get the job done with your trust in them and helps the company to flow well overall. Take the time early on with each employee to help them develop good time management skills, and the reward will pay off exponentially during the course of their employment. If managing time on your own seems like a difficult task, you may get advice from others or sign up for hands-on time management training. You will learn how to evaluate the use of time, identify goals and set priorities, develop an overall time management plan and much more.

Words For Fashion Designers

Words For Fashion DesignersWords for fashion designers can be a bit difficult to come by. Even, the most well versed writing students with degrees in creative writing have difficulty with the job descriptions and hiring specifications for fashion design. It's no wonder that people go the extra mile to get their resume written.For those people who are already great designers but are looking for more work, the goal is simple - make yourself known. Once you begin to build up a portfolio of your works and begin to attract the attention of the industry it will be time to get yourself together and put the skills you've developed into practice.Getting your resume out there will require some care. It's important that you not spam the system. It's a good idea to place a link to your site or blog in the resource box. Try to include some of your best work so that your prospects will have something to choose from.On top of being creative, there are a few items you need to have on your resume: A cover letter, employment history, portfolio and interview information. The cover letter is where you will start to make a first impression. If you can speak to the reader without too much fluff and can tell them why they should hire you then you're well on your way.Once you've got the interviewer interested in reading your resume, it's time to get your portfolio. You will want to take a look at the company that you are working for, as well as its competition. There is nothing worse than looking through your portfolio and finding nothing. Be creative and go with the colors and fabrics that would work for you and for the current design trends.The next thing you will need is a job description. This should be short, concise and to the point. You will want to offer an outline of what the position entails as well as an example of past work.When you are writing your resume, avoid jargon, a wardrobe and logo just yet. The job of a fashion designer is hard enough to fill. You need to put you r best foot forward. You will also need to complete the appropriate forms.If you have the right kind of skills and a good reputation, it's possible to get a job. The problem is that most designers are looking for more than just a resume. However, once you have the right kind of resume written and the right kind of skills and the right attitude, you will be on your way to success.

7 Tips For Web Developers to Drastically Improve Their Skills - CareerMetis.com

7 Tips For Web Developers to Drastically Improve Their Skills The online business is flourishing at exponential lengths. The dependency of the people on the internet and technology has magnified the demand for online services and products.Businesses are adopting different online strategies to boost their business. They are investing significantly in developing their websites to provide a pleasant experience to the users.evalThis has increased the demand for web developers in the industry all over the world. The website developers at any cost cannot provide an excuse for slack off.The increasing number of new entrants has increased the competition in the industry, therefore it is essential for Web Developers to constantly learn and improve the skills to remain on the top ladder and ahead of the game.The list of 7 tips has been compiled to help the neophytes and practicing professionals to improve their web development:1. Practice coding everydayIt first and the foremost important tip for improving your skills is to practice the codes every day. No matter how old or how cliché it sounds it is a simple truth that works its magic.Practicing to code allows you to eradicate the error or finding a different and effective approach towards solving an issue. It increases the speed and reduces the chances of making error assuring quality work.Developers must be able to consistently practice the codes it helps them in learning the shortcuts and make them practice codes without relying on mouse or touchpad.It aids us in realizing what our main strengths are and which area needs improvement. We can practice codes on Windows and Mac by creating a localhost. A local host allows us to make as many mistakes as we can because it can be reset back to zero.2. Participate on GithubevalGithub provides a platform for developers to participate in open source project, which allows developer a wider audience who can give feedback. It also allows developers to learn from other’s code as well.In Github,open source project one can also contribute w ithout any codes. A developer can update documentation or change a wiki that shows that he is nurtured upon the code and can communicate on how to use it.A developer can create an update version of an existing project and can create a modified version of it. You can also assist a certain project either by fixing minor bugs or improving project stability. It doesn’t matter which option we opt with, it widens our understanding and introduce us to a new method that other people might use.Further, participation in Github also gives us an option to collaborate in which we have a supervision on our work; we become part of a team that exposes us to a new learning opportunity.3. Grab freelance workevalAnother great tip for improving the web development skill is to get hands on a freelance project and get that developer brain in gear. It helps us to get out of our comfort zone. It also helps us in building our network.This is a great opportunity to improve as we have to run with what we ar e assigned with and get to practice new style in developing. These help us to discover and explore a new area, to adapt to new skill set.These projects make the developing skills better and make one a more versatile web developer. Another benefit is that you get to earn some extra cash.4. Teach others what you knowIt is said, “If you truly want to learn something than teach that thing to someone else”. Not only in developing side but also in other professions this trick is to show its magic. It is a great way to continue to learn and share your knowledge, perhaps you might learn something, or see a perspective that was foreign to you.For teaching, you have to organize your thoughts and structure which is a great opportunity to review what one already knows and what one needs to learn more about. It also requires us to search a topic to back it up with an example which leads to more and better understating of the issues faced and how to resolve those.It helps you get all the code s and tactics at your fingertips. In it, there’s nothing to lose but only a lot to gain.5. Find something innovativeTo stand out from the crowd one needs to find or come up with something innovative. To be innovative one needs to seek inspiration out of the internet. There are a lot of examples of both poor and great websites that could be found internet. Most of these websites are just a modified version of the other.One shouldn’t spend too much time working on the samples but consult different sources of inspiration for being creative. This could include the published work, building design, and natural scenes.6. Set a regular practice timeIf we look at tip no one and six both seems to be same but that is not the case. Scheduling regular practice time is important you aid you in becoming an expert in the field. If you are practicing continuously for hours we will not be able to produce anything that, make you more productive because of the retention that decreases if we spend m ore than a certain amount of time on something.evalPracticing overtime can make you go under stress resulting in sloppy codes and missed deadline of the work you hold. Find a break away from work so that your ability to think clearly does not deteriorate. Set a reminder for you practice time, this way you will be more motivated to push through the most intensive coding sessions.7. Pay attention to trendsWeb development and designing are rapidly changing and a single technique or style doesn’t stay for long. The website world is heavily driven by trends.The developer needs to keep an eye open to recognize the new trends that are being followed and equip himself with them. It is important to be updated to stay in the top tier of the ladder.Also, keeping an eye of a critic helps to see the trends happening right in front of you, it is not necessary to adopt them but it keeps our work trendy. Or maybe we can break the monotony of work and introduce something new in the developer’s w orld.To improve your development skills we need to pay special attention to the fundamental of developing and mastering the coding which makes our work stand out and speak volumes of it.eval

5 tips for building your personal brand in the workplace - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

5 tips for building your personal brand in the workplace Even at work, you have a personal brand. What are people saying about you when youre not in the room? Are you giving off the right vibe to your colleagues and conveying the brand you want to at work? Developing your personal brand is essential for the advancement of your career â€" it is what makes you special and how you’ll become more valuable to an organisation. Here are a few tips on how to develop your personal brand: Get clear on your unique value proposition To become respected in your company or industry, you need to be very clear on what unique value you provide and how to connect that to your company’s mission. Most people â€" and I see it all the time with my interview coaching clients â€" are not that clear on what makes them different from others. This is the reason they don’t get the jobs or promotions they are after! To read the rest of the article, please view my post on Careerealism website: http://www.careerealism.com/personal-brand-workplace/

What Exactly is Career Coaching Is it for You - Hallie Crawford

What Exactly is Career Coaching Is it for You All professionals want to feel happy and successful in their careers. After all, we spend most of our day at work. Unfortunately, 70% of American professionals are not engaged at work, and 51% are looking for new positions. This means that the majority of professionals do not feel happy or successful in their careers. If you fall into this majority group of professionals, how can you find the job or organization that is a good fit for you? How can you find career fulfillment? For many, this is hard to accomplish alone. Career coaching can play a big role in your career development and provide you with the ongoing support you need. A professional career coach is a someone who will help you make informed decisions about your career choices. But beyond that, they will help you discover who you really are and what you want out of a career. A career coach will not make professional decisions for you; they will help you find the confidence you need to set and reach your career goals. While a professional career coach can help you with “the basics” of your career, such as job search and networking tips, they can help you with things such as: Identifying opportunities at your current job to become a more valuable employee Building better relationships at work Your work/life balance Building your personal brand Your long-term career plan Working with a career coach can be a satisfying experience and your coach can be a great team player. Unfortunately, some professionals feel that it means they are somewhat “weak” to need or work with a career coach. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Just as professional athletes, actors, and musicians work with coaches to help them hone and refine their skills, a career coach can help you do the same in the business world. By working with a professional career coach you are investing in yourself and your professional decisions. This will help to ensure your long-term professional success. How do you know if you need a career coach? Ask yourself the following questions: Does your current position provide you with fulfillment? Would you like to work in a different capacity? Are you struggling with your resume or LinkedIn profile? Are you unsure how to get to the next level in your career? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you can benefit from working with a career coach. From helping you find the right career fit to helping you become a top performer at work, a career coach isn’t just for those who have extra money to spend. Anyone who want to find out more about themselves and how they fit into the business world should consider career coaching. When you decide to invest in yourself, the information you gain from career coaching will stay with you and guide you for the rest of your life. If you would like more information about how you can benefit from career coaching, download our free briefing today!