Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom What Diversity Really Means

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom What Diversity Really Means Lighthouse ResearchPrincipal AnalystBen Eubankshammered home the importance of culturally embedded diversity and inclusion practices. According to Deloitte, employees that rated their employers highly for bothdiversity and inclusionwere 80 percent more likely to say their organization was high performing. Corporate boards with three or more women have 50 percent higher return on equity, and 40 percent higher return on sales. McKinsey research found that inclusive workforces have 57 percent greater collaboration, 42 percent greater team commitment, 19 percent greater intent to stay, and 12 percent greater discretionary effort. Furthermore, companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to perform about average. When it comes to specific talent practices that generate results, Eubanks said we must first stop thinking of diversity as a program. Diversity training alone doesn’t work, according to the EEOC, because there’s nothing tangible that impacts people emotionally. Rather, diversity and inclusion must be part of the culture and all phases of the employment lifecycle. Here are some examples cited by Eubanks: Recruitment Diverse candidates come into organizations because someone has purposefully gone out and found them. Pinterest, for instance, increased engineering hires from underrepresented groups from one to nine percent. Referrals must be targeted and intentional, and we must ensure that when we are hiring for “cultural fit” we are screening for traits like honesty, work ethic, and commitment (which have nothing to do with race, religion, gender, etc.). High-Level Mentorship In order to ensure pipeline diversity, mentorship has to be strategic and supported at the highest levels of the organization. For example, at Proctor Gamble, 10 percent of executive compensation is tied to diversity goals, and every executive must sponsor an employee resource group, serve as a cross-cultural mentor, and raise the number of diverse hires and promotions in their department. For more of Eubanks thoughts on diversity, check out the full post on the SilkRoad blog.

Interested In a New Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Interested In a New Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The title of this article applies both to those who already have jobs and to others who vie for jobs. So, let’s think first about what it takes to hold on to a job versus getting a new one. At least three conditions must be met for holding on to a job: (1) You must have the skills. (2) You must get along with the boss. (3) You must get positive peer and customer reviews. For getting a new job: (1) Your résumé must intrigue the reader for further exploration. (2) Your résumé must make a strong first impression. (3) Your résumé must exude confidence. (4) You must possess excellent interviewing skills. Which is harder nowadays: holding on to a job or getting a new job? The answer is, both are equally hard. Why is it so important to interview well? The answer is that interviewing is a competitive art. Indeed, it has an acting component that requires your beating the competition by convincing the interviewer you’re the ideal candidate. It’s a fact that interviewers are biased, subjective, and influenced by preconceived ideas. It’s also known that nice guys finish last. One person is getting the job, and all the rest are losers. Many job candidates feel nervous during interviews Nervousness is caused by focusing on self. Once the candidate focuses on the other party, nervousness disappears! Practice mock interviewing till you’re confident about both content and delivery. It would be very helpful to know in advance what’s important to the interviewer. Surveys show that for hiring managers, the most important thing is to ensure that a candidate would fit well into the corporate culture. Next, the interviewer wants to see a candidate’s passion and excitement for the opportunity. It’s important to have superior oral communication skills and other communication skills such as body language, steady eye contact, and assertiveness. A candidate should be well groomed and in proper attire. During the interview, a candidate should be able to convey being a good match for the job description, to express having the required technical skills, and to show thorough knowledge of employer. Try thinking like the interviewer The interviewer knows you’re there to sell yourself, but he’s not ready to buy everything you want to sell. He’s open to buying only when you relay facts or when someone else provides information about you. There’s one question you can count on being asked: Do you have any questions for me? When prompted by this critical question, you must ask some good ones. Good questions propel you to the next stage; bad ones fail you. For instance, don’t ask questions that involve your own personal agenda. Being prompted for questions is a sign that the interviewer now has all the information wanted and needed about you. At that point, he is eager to move on. Good questions cover the favorability of your candidacy, the traits that are important for the job, and what the interviewer perceives might be difficult for a new employee in the initial period. Don’t ask questions you were supposed to previously find the answers to on your own. After the interviewâ€"based on the information you gained through answers to your own questionsâ€"you’ll be very able to present a compelling case via the composition of your thank-you letter.   You are on your way for success.

The Top Cities in America for Women in Business

The Top Cities in America for Women in Business The number of women in executive roles and women-owned businesses has steadily risen over the last decade, with more than 9.4 million firms owned by females, generating over $1.5 trillion in sales. In fact, one in five companies that earn over $1 million in revenue are now women-owned. With these numbers only set to rise in the future and with more female CEOs in America than ever before, it’s a great time to be a woman in business. But, where are the best locations for the highest chances of success? ShareFile’s Businesswomen Power City Index has revealed the top 20 cities in the country for women in business, with some surprising results. The index ranks cities based on several pertinent metrics including women vs. men wage gaps, executive jobs held by women, female-owned businesses, female buying power, and the average income earned by women in the metropolitan areas. Coming in first place is Baltimore, MD, with a high percentage of women business executives (31%), women-owned businesses (23%), and the best place out of all the cities evaluated for buying power. In second place came Tampa, FL, and our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., was third. With a population of over 620,000, Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland, and benefits from being centrally located around other thriving metropolitan areas, such as New York City, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. Almost a quarter of all jobs in the city are in Science, Technology, Maths, and Engineering sectors. Notably, it is home to many highly-reputed companies, such as Under Armour, McCormick Company, and The Cordish Companies. Tampa, one of the largest cities in the Sunshine State, managed to bag second place by having a combination of a high percentage of women-owned businesses (22%) and women business executives (31%), followed by a small wage gap between women and men (13%). Another significant city on this list is Los Angeles, CA, which reportedly has the smallest wage gap between men and women (6.6%), although the city’s buying power lowered its overall score (ranked 48th), as properties in LA and the cost of living are infamously among the country’s highest. Also worth mentioning is Denver, CO, another city that made the top 20. The Colorado city has the highest number of women-owned businesses in America (25.6%) as well as a relatively small gender wage gap (14.7%). The stigma that surrounds women in business today, concerning the number of women in executive positions, salaries compared to men, and female-owned businesses is gradually becoming less of a taboo subject. And in light of this year’s Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women list, we look up to powerful and influential women such as Marian Ilitch ($5.1 billion net worth), Diane Hendricks ($4.7 billion net worth), and Judy Love ($2.9 billion net worth), who continue to take the business world by storm and pave the way for more women to achieve success in today’s economy. This guest post on women in business was authored by Lauren Pritchett Lauren Pritchett is a member of the marketing team at Citrix, where she is also involved with the Women’s Inspirational Network. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband, daughter, and rescue dog.

Calling All Grads - Mind Your First Job

Calling All Grads - Mind Your First Job This post is an excerpt from the book,  Calling All Grads! Turning a Degree Into a Job. Available from Amazon for $7.46. You’ve been hired. Time to ditch some old habits.  Finding that first job has been a long, slow process. It took much longer than you â€" and your parents â€" thought it would. But dozens of resumes later, you‘re finally at the end of the never-ending tunnel. Etiquette In Your First Graduate Job Before you bask in the fluorescent glow of employment, remember that one phrase a family member probably shared with you as you headed out on that first day on the job: ?Don‘t screw it up! Good advice, you know. It‘s one thing to find a job but it‘s something else to keep it. Sure, you can use some of the same skills that brought you here, but there are plenty of other lessons you‘ll need to learn. To have some employment staying power, you‘ll need to be open to the occasional reboot of your perceptions. Katharine Purnell, Vice-President of student affairs for the American Intercontinental University in Weston, Fla., says your first goal should be proving to your employer that you are an integral part of the organization. ?Don‘t expect too much right from the start â€" this isn‘t about easy duties, flexible hours, freedom to surf the Internet, high salary or a fancy title. That will all come over time to those who earn it. ?The first job will start you on that career path. Value it and be patient. It‘s simple, Purnell says. Just stay focused on the job, and do it well. ?Work hard and stay away from the gossip or anything else that distracts you from doing the job you were hired to do. ?Be prepared to earn your way up the career ladder. Making An Impression In Your First Graduate Job Making a good first impression on the people you meet is important. Dawna Stone, Tampa Bay-based co-author of ?Winning Nice: Succeeding in Business and Life Without Waging War, says to be polite and energetic when you‘re introduced to your new co-workers. ?Be positive in your first interactions and your excellent reputation will soon precede you. ?First impressions are often lasting impressions, so make the most of every new opportunity to make a great one.  How you dress for your first job is important as well. ?Remember, you‘re not dressing to impress your peers, you‘re dressing to impress your supervisors. ?In our increasingly casual culture, there are still limits. Take your cues on appropriate dress from people above you, not the people at your level.  You are bound to make new friends at your job as you will likely be surrounded by people your age, remember they are your co-workers, not your buddies. ?Save your rowdy behavior and discussions of highly personal issues for your non-work friends. ?If you want to be viewed as a professional and someone your coworkers look up to, you need to act professionally even in non-work situations. Online Reputation In Your First Graduate Job Although you may be used to tweeting your every move and posting visual summaries of your weekend bar crawls, you might want to take it easy on the keypad for a while. And tell your friends that those embarrassing pics of you are no longer for public consumption. ?Employers absolutely check your Facebook page and Twitter feeds, so be careful what you post and what your friends post about you. ?The golden rule is never to write, do or say anything online that you wouldn‘t write, do or say in person. Even if you think your profile is private, remember that it‘s the world wide web and nothing is ever entirely private. ?Limit yourself to one exclamation point per professional email. ?Don‘t use cute acronyms like LOL, or smiley or frown faces. Also, be sure to use proper capitalization. This article was excerpted from the new eBook Calling All Grads! Turn a Degree into a Job, edited by careers writer and editor Marco Buscaglia and published by Tribune Media Services, Inc. For more information or to purchase the book, visit  http://amzn.to/callingallgrads-kindle. 0

Avoiding CV Writing Mistakes

Avoiding CV Writing MistakesEvery employer that you are interviewing for can use a resume, and most of them will check your resume before hiring you. You have to know that these resume mistakes will not be overlooked and that you will not get a job just because of these errors. It is not enough to know these mistakes and have them go away; you must be able to avoid them all together if you want to increase your chances of getting hired.Mistakes like using a spell checker or grammar checkers are so easy to make and they are mostly done without even knowing why. There are a lot of potential employers out there who will simply make the mistake, and you can then find yourself in the position of needing a cover letter or a resume. This is the worst mistake to make. It could cost you a job.Next, using irrelevant personal details in your resume is not only bad-for-you, but it is also not good for the interviewer. If you use personal details about your personal life, such as when you met you r husband or what your kids do, the person will not know how to relate to you in this application. They will most likely assume that you are somehow not suitable for the job, and that you will not fit into the job as well as they would like. If you do not feel comfortable talking about your personal life, you should stay away from using that information. The best thing to do is to use your talents in a way that will not make the person think that you are unqualified.Another important issue with spelling and grammar is what you say on your resume and how you say it. Do not use slang terms, abbreviations, and improper grammar. When you submit your resume, if the employer wants to correct the mistakes, they will need to know the exact spelling and grammar of your last name.Another common mistakes that you will make in writing a resume is using the first and last name interchangeably. In order to make sure that your resume is easy to read, you will need to ensure that you are always say ing your first and last name. Also, while you might think that a cover letter is sufficient, it is not. If you have an opening on your resume that is too long, you should write a paragraph describing what you can do for the company instead. Having a letter will be a burden to them, and will mean that you will have to take the time to write a nice letter to get the job.There is also a tendency to list your past job in the opening of your resume, and while you might feel that you know a lot about your previous employer, they might not necessarily have asked you to apply for the job that you were applying for. Sometimes, it is worth the money to send them a cover letter and write a small paragraph explaining why you should be hired. You should also ask to interview if you are applying for a position that you know nothing about. If you can, you should also have an interview to show your abilities, if possible.Finally, putting your occupation or career in your resume will not always be a good idea, unless you were asked to put something about your previous employer in the ad itself. The only time that this is okay is if you were asked to speak about your previous position at the job fair. In that case, you should only list what you know about the job, and the specific duties and responsibilities that you performed.These are some of the easy mistakes that you can do when writing a resume. They are easy to make, and they are easy to correct if you can show that you did know the specific position that you were applying for and that you can show that you have a strong knowledge of that job. Try to write in the resume as if you were speaking to a boss, and make sure that the employer can understand you.