The Spark - Igniting Possibilites Blog - Page 27 of 30

How To View RESULTS In A Different Way

Results are a consequence, effect, or outcome of something. The word can also have a negative connotation to some people which can cause them to feel uncomfortable when they hear it in the business world. We have a new way to look at RESULTS to give yourself more meaning behind the word!

R: Recognize Individual Contributions Toward The Group Goal

Taking the time to recognize how your people are helping the team can keep employees bought into accomplishing the goal. Letting someone know that you appreciate their efforts on an individual level is just as important as recognizing the team as a whole.

E: Ensure Employees Are E3 (Enjoyably engaged in the experience)

Being enjoyable engaged in the experience can be the difference between enjoying work and hating it. Enrolling a person in the culture is much easier if there is a positive connotation to that culture. Make sure to engage your employees in activities to keep their spirits up and add fun into the workplace. You can do this through events, recognition and more!

S: Stop Making Excuses and accomplish what you say

Excuses don’t help anyone accomplish a goal, so stop making them! Take ownership of the situation and your role while you work together to move forward and reach the next level within your team.

U: Understand the Situation/Goal and What Needs to Accomplished

Knowing the expectations of your people and what your responsibilities are can be a huge factor in the success of a team. Make sure that everyone knows the role they must play to make the team successful in accomplishing the overall goals.

L: Leverage Personal and Team Strengths To Overcome Issues

You are a magnificent person full of skill and knowledge, but no one in this world knows everything! Leveraging your network of other beautiful people and their skills can help bring alternate perspectives to your team.

T: Train Others To Be Better Than You

Building up the skills of your people and growing their careers is a goal of every good manager. Make sure you are talking with your team to find out what interests them, what skills they want to build and where they want to be in the future of their career. Once you know what they want, help them grow!

S: Synergize & Get To Performing

Team chemistry is a real thing, and buy-in is needed to accomplish your goals. Make sure you have the right people for the project and get them together early to start building that trust and comradery. A tight and friendly team works together better as the team’s trust allows for real and powerful feedback which in turn creates better performing teams.

Utilizing this alternate view, you can set different expectations with your people on what it takes to get the RESULTS we want as a team.

Processes

5 Signs Your Company’s Culture Is Going Astray

The pulse of your company is within the culture of your business. Excellent company culture creates a feeling of trust and understanding with your employees. This feeling helps to show them that they are a part of something more significant within the company. However, there can be times when your people don’t feel that trust in their jobs. How can you tell when your company’s culture is going astray?

1. Employee Dissatisfaction

When you talk to your employees, do you understand their goals and aspirations? Unhappy employees can be dissatisfied with a myriad of things in the workplace. It could be due to being underpaid/undervalued within their position or having a limited path for career growth. Sometimes it can be as simple as a lack of interest in the place they currently are and wanting something more. Your employee’s satisfaction hinges on your ability to not only communicate and listen to their wants, needs, and desires but also to act and help your people to buy into your company culture.

2. Missed Goals

Are your teams missing their marks for success within the group? That could be sales goals, team goals or any other commitments not met. Do you see a lack of engagement among your employees to get those goals accomplished? It may be a sign that your people are losing motivation and drive for the company goals. Be sure to communicate clearly why the goals are important and how their contributions are essential as well. This feedback will help to show them the value they create and allow for a forum for feedback to determine if there are any other issues present that need addressing.

3. Communication/Alignment issues within Employee Layers

Both communication and alignment are integral to having high performing teams. It comes from the different levels of the company as Managers must align with their groups and vice versa. When you lose that alignment between the layers of your employees, errors increase, and productivity is affected, not to mention the break of trust that could occur between management and employees. Make sure you are cascading messages appropriately and continuously communicate with your people about what the goals are and their roles in helping conquer that goal.

4. High Turnover

People leave toxic environments and bosses, not jobs. When you start to see your best people moving on and are continually trying to catch up with hiring and training, you could have a problem with your company culture. Turnover can come from several different sources, but it almost always is due to the employee wanting a better situation to work within. Identify the problems of the dissatisfaction of your people by talking to them regularly and change your work environment when needed to avoid losing great employees.

5. Increased call-outs and absences

If you are working in an environment that irritates and upsets you, would you want to show up? When you’re seeing your employees calling out more and more, you should take that as a signal that there could be an issue with how your people are viewing the job. Sometimes there are extraordinary circumstances that cause someone’s absences, but the only way you can find that out is by communicating with them. If they are unhappy, then take the steps necessary to help correct the relationship with the employee and listen to their feedback wholeheartedly.

Positive cultures and environments bring out the best in your employees. It can be easy to get bogged down by the busy work of the business, but the world doesn’t work without the people who live in it. Making sure your employees feel like an integral piece of success helps give your people something more.

People

Resume Writing Tips from a Recruiter

Do you know what recruiters are looking for when they read your resumé? There could be bits of key information that you may be missing that could hurt your chances of getting hired. We sat down with IntelliSource Recruiter, Kurt Cushman, to learn more about what he looks for when hiring new candidates.

“I think the real trick to writing meaningful resumes revolves around playing to your strengths. Every situation, person, and job are different, so saying there’s one resume style that trumps all is a misrepresentation. Here are just a few things that I have seen that stand out and can help you get noticed for an interview opportunity”

-Kurt Cushman, Recruiter for IntelliSource

Add Your Strengths at the Top of Your Resume

Graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard with education being your strong suit? Add that first! Do you have tons of skills that are highlighting your ability for the job? Add that first! Take the best you have to offer to the company and highlight those strengths.

Highlight Tenure at Previous Jobs

Make sure to put the dates on the same line as your job title in bold. For instance:

Recruiter: May 2014 – May 2018 IntelliSource

This will help you stand out for those jobs you spent a lot of time at and can help you get a look for a position looking for long-term commitment candidates.

Keep the Writing to a Minimum

Many people fall prey to resumes that turn into a short story. The purpose of a resume is to give a quick snapshot of experience, skill, and education/certifications. Don’t give enough information that your resume could suffice for an interview. Just like when you are taking notes in class, a few bullet points for each position of job responsibilities, and possibly a major achievement or two, is plenty. The rest of the achievements and responsibilities can be vetted through the interview process.

Follow the Old Adage of “Short and Sweet”

This expands on “keep the writing to a minimum”. Unless you have worked only one position for 10+ years, there is rarely a reason to list any experience past a decade. Very few positions require more than 10 years of experience in a field; and in today’s ever-changing world, any experience that happened prior to 10 years ago is rarely relevant to what that job would entail today. I have almost never seen a resume that has gone beyond 2 pages that I thought needed to. If you notice your resume start to get drastically long, start by removing any experience that isn’t relevant. If you are concerned about there being a large gap in your employment history, you can keep the experience listed, but don’t list any responsibilities or achievements.

Don’t Add References or Your Exact Address to a Resume

Add the city and state that you are located in, but not the exact address. As long as we know generally where you are located, that is enough. Any further questions about commute/relocation can be addressed in the interview. Concerning references, any employer/recruiter that requires them is aware that they can ask for references, you don’t need to list them or that they are “available upon request”

Put Job Title’s Before the Company and Make Sure it Stands Out

The purpose of this is to make sure the hiring manager, HR representative, or Recruiter, can tell if your experience is relevant immediately.

Don’t Make it Too Fancy or “Loud”

While a colorful, eye-popping resume is fitting in some occasions (such as with a Graphic Designer), an unnecessarily complicated resume can make it appear like you are attempting to compensate for lack of skill or experience.

Following these tips from Kurt, you can help put yourself in the best possible position to get an interview for jobs you are applying for.

Q2 2023 Heroes of the Quarter