5 Candidate Traits that Phone Interviews Miss - Spark Hire

5 Candidate Traits that Phone Interviews Miss - Spark HireVideo bewerbungsinterviews arent supposed to replace final, in-person interviews with your dream hire. However, video interviews do make excellent substitutes for other, more antiquated, parts of the hiring process. More importantly, they make excellent substitutes for a part of the hiring process that is famously loathed. Phone interviews are unpopular among candidates. Turns out, they also miss a lot of information that is vital for interviewers. Here are 5 candidate traits that phone interviews missBody LanguageBeing able to see a candidates body language is one of the advantages of video interviews. This may be one of the obvious advantages, but its obvious for a reason. Body language, which is of course invisible during a phone interview, conveys a lot about a candidate. Does your interviewee lean forward and use pranke gestures? Or is s/he slumped in the seat and disinterested? A phone interview could miss these importan t traits. Speaking of being slumped down in the seatEnthusiasmA video interview has distinct advantages over phone interviews in determining enthusiasm an indispensable trait for new hires. While some candidates can convey enthusiasm vocally, a video interview gives a more complete picture of a candidates feelings toward the job. Leaning forward, active listening, and eye contact are all signs of enthusiasmas is how a candidate presents him/herselfPresentation SkillsA video interview lets hiring managers know which candidates know how to give an effective presentation. Unlike phone interviews, which are fairly one-dimensional, a video interview requires candidates to think about their visual presentation as a whole. Is the lighting good? Is the candidates outfit appropriate for a video interview? Does s/he speak loudly enough? A candidate who does all of these things well knows how to make a good presentation, and you can be sure that s/he will represent your company well.Ability to do HomeworkOne-way video interviews allow candidates to answer a hiring managers set of questions on their own time. This means that they have the ability to give their answers some thought before-hand. While the phone interview shows which candidates think on their feet, one-way video interviews show which candidates can provide a well-thought-out response to a challenging question.Comparison with Other CandidatesThe ability to compare candidates side-by-side is one of the greatest advantages of video interviews. Because video interviews are recorded and stored, hiring managers can re-play an interview as many times as needed to make the correct decision between two candidates. You can even bring in more stakeholders to help you compare the interviews. Try doing that with a phone interviewDo you think video interviews should replace phone interviews? What are the advantages? Disadvantages? Leave a comment below, and start a conversation

How to Show Your Cultural Fit in a Job Application

How to Show Your Cultural Fit in a Job ApplicationHow to Show Your Cultural Fit in a Job Application14Successful job seekers take the time to tailor each resume and application to the specific job for which they are applying. The best resumes and applications provide specific examples and proof of accomplishment that match the job description. But, while the right skills and experience are important, being the right cultural fit, and proving your values match those that are important to the employer, can be equally important.In many cases, the person who gets the job is not necessarily the most qualified, but instead, the one who is the right fit for the company culture, or who most closely aligns with the company mission and values.Heres how to show your cultural fit in a job application1. Preparation Learn about the company missions and values.It can seem difficult to show that type of fit on a cover letter, resume, or job application but it can be done. It starts with preparation and research, sayscareer coachBethany Wallace. Dont just randomly peruse the company website for 30 minutes and think thats enough to understand the companys mission or values.Be strategic in your approach, says Wallace, who also has an extensive background in higher education, having worked for nine years as an adjunct English instructor at the college level, a director of career services, and an academic advisor.When on the company siteLook for a company media kit, an In the News page, or a community involvement or social responsibility page, says Wallace. Find information, news releases, or stories that provide examples of that companys social or community involvement. Follow the companys Facebook or Twitter page, where itslikely to engage and promote photos, articles, and news related to itssocial/community involvement. Become as familiar as possible with not just statistics, but also with information about how the company is posturing itself in the community or world, says Wall ace. How is the company selling itself and branding itself? This is important. This helps you gain insight on the pulse of the companys ethics and values- the corporate culture.When you find those items, be sure to note them, and fill your cover letter, resume, and application with examples that match itsculture, mission, and values.2. Look beyond the company website for relevant information.Denise Felder, a Minneapolis-based career adviser who works with individuals and employers to close opportunity gaps in education and employment, also recommends researching business blogs or other online resources (Glassdoor, LinkedIn) to learn how thosewho currently work, or have previously worked, for the company align with the company culture and values.Says Felder What values and social issues do they promote through their own absatzwirtschaft? What are industry insiders, competitors, and current and former employees saying about their culture? If you like what the company stands for, then match the keywords and phrases on your resume, cover letter, and social media profiles to align with their priorities.3. Provide specific examples on your cover letter, resume, and application.If you were part of a team that spent a volunteer day working for Habitat for Humanity, or were part of an employee group that volunteered for the Special Olympics, list that on your resume. If you were on your employers social committee or active with your employers cultural diversity employee resource group, add that to the resume or write about it in the cover letter. Better yet, provide specific examples of the types of things you did on those committees in both the cover letter and resume.List projects, research, or other activities that youve done that demonstrate your values, says Felder. Include work activities, school projects, and community involvement. Give concrete examples of committees you served on, events you participated in, or other projects you were a part of.4. Highlight pa st experience- even if its not your current job.During your research, did you learn that a company is a nonprofit organization thattends to hire employees with strong backgrounds in the nonprofit sector? If you have related experience, whether it be part-time, full-time, or volunteer, play up that experience and that one nonprofit gig on your resume.Even if you dont normally emphasize that position heavily, this might be the time to add a few more accomplishment statements to describe your work in that position, says Wallace.Adding a sentence about this related experience in a bulleted profile list at the top of your resume, before your experience, is a good place to reference this related experience. Also mention this in the cover letter.If you do get to the interview stage, be prepared to talk about behauptung experiences at a more in-depth level. Be sure to be able to provide concrete examples. If the interviewer is asking, they are seeking to really learn how you are a cultural fit.Then, if your employer asks for references, take it a step further and ask your references to talk about your social awareness if contacted by the employer.With each application, you can coach your references to highlight your skills and experiences relevant to the position, says Felder. Choose references who are familiar with your work related to whichever values you want to highlight. Ask your references to mention these activities in written, online, and phone recommendations.5. Sell yourself as the right fit.Remember, part of applying for a job is selling yourself as a candidate. Sell your skills and experience, and back it up with examples of how you fit the company values and culture tohelp you stand out amongst other job seekers.To sell yourself well, you need to convince the person reading your cover letter and reviewing your resume that you are not only a great fit for the position, but that you are also a fit for the company culture, and within the team you will be wor king closely with, says Wallace.Use these examples and methods to do just that.Check out additional resume tips.Readers, what do you do to demonstrate your cultural fit in a job application? Share your tips by leaving a comment

Why you should compare apples and oranges

Why you should compare apples and orangesWhy you should compare apples and orangesMany idioms in English have flummoxed me since I started learning the language in middle school. But one tops the list comparing apples and oranges. The first time I heard the phrase in my freshman year of college, it stopped me in my tracks. The conversation went something like thisThats like comparing apples and oranges.So what?You cant compare the twoFollow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWait, what? What do you mean I cant compare the two?Theyre too different.At this point, dear reader, you may want to turn around and look away. Im about to compare apples and oranges.Theyre both fruits. Theyre both round. They both have a slight tangy taste. Theyre about the same size. And they both grow on trees.Yes, theres more that unites apples and oranges than divides them. (Scott Sanford of the NASA Ames Researc h Center took this comparison a step further. He used infrared spectrometry to compare a Granny Smith apple and a Sunkist orange and showed that the spectra of the two fruits are strikingly similar. The study, with the tongue-in-cheek titleApples and Oranges A Comparison, was published in the satirical scientific magazine,Improbable Research.).Yet, the idiom thrives because, as human beings, were terrible at binnenseeing connections between seemingly dissimilar things, however minor their differences might be. Instead, we compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. In ur professional lives, we look to the competitors in our own industry and copy from their playbooks. In our personal lives, we adopt the fashion sense of our friends and echo their political views. We use idioms like apples and oranges to stop the comparison conversation before it even begins.But to me, theres little to be learned from comparing similar things. Breakthroughs happen when we see the similarity in th e dissimilar and combine and recombine apples and oranges into a creative soup.Originality often consists in linking up ideas whose connection was not previously suspected, wrote William Beveridge in his 1957 book,The Art of Scientific Investigation. Decades later, Steve Jobs echoed the same sentiment Creativity is just connecting things, he said. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didnt really do it, they just saw something.Albert Einstein called this idea combinatory play, which he believed is the essential feature in productive thought. Combinatory play, as Elizabeth Gilbertdescribes it, is the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another. During moments of difficulty, Einstein would grab his violin and play Mozart to decipher the music of the cosmos.Steve Jobs borrowed from calligraphy to create multiple typefaces and proportionally spaced fonts on the Macintosh. Leonardo da Vincis inspiration for art and te chnology also came from the outsidein his case, nature. Larry Page and Sergey Brin adopted an idea from academiathe frequency of citations to an academic paper indicates its popularityand applied it to search engines to create Google. In crafting his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin was inspired by the economist Thomas Malthus, who argued that populations tend to outgrow resources, creating a competition for survival.Darwin then began to ponder which populations are better situated than others to survive. In creating the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg was inspired by the equipment used for pressing wine grapes.Great musicians also use combinations. Iron Maidens music combines the unlikely elements of Shakespeare, history, and heavy metal. The late David Bowie was a master at re-mixing. As David Moldawerwrites, Bowie would assemble chunks of text from various sources, cut them up, and rearrange them to forge lyrics with surprising and memorable combinations of words, images, i deas. The legendary record producer Rick Rubintells his bandsnot to listen to popular songs while they produce an album. Instead, he says that theyre better off drawing inspiration from the worlds greatest museums than finding it in the current Billboard charts.But we cant combine ideas if we dont see the similarities between them. Most of us remain in our humanities track or science track and shut off our minds to concepts from across the aisle.Life, it turns out, doesnt happen in compartmentalized silos.Whats ordinary in one field is extraordinary in the other. A revolution in one industry can begin with the adoption of an idea from another. Yes, in many cases, the fit wont be perfect. But the mere act of comparison will spark new lines of thinking.The next time someone accuses you of comparing apples and oranges, wear it as a badge of honor. And dont stop with apples and oranges. If youre a doctor, attend a conference for real estate professionals. If youre an English major, lear n about quantum mechanics. If your day job is an engineer, pick up a copy of Homers Odyssey.When it comes to unleashing originality, nothing beats the cross-pollination of ideas from seemingly different places.Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned law professor and bestselling author.Click hereto download a free copy of his e-book, The Contrarian Handbook 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, youll get the Weekly Contrarian - a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers only).This article first appeared on OzanVarol.com.

This is the grossest place in the airport

This is the grossest place in the airport This is the grossest place in the airport Anyone who manages to not get sick after traveling on a plane, even if it is only an hour-long domestic flight, has the immune system of a superman. Let’s face it: Airports are cesspools of germs just waiting to infect us.But when you think of the absolute grossest places in the airport most of us would maybe think of the plane or the waiting area gates or maybe somewhere in the bathroom as the most germ-filled places, but that would be wrong. Nope, the real danger is pretty much the first stop you make when you arrive at the airport: the ticket kiosk.  According to InsuranceQuotes.com, the kiosks have more than 1,475 times the amount of bacteria than your house’s toilet seat. Gross. Check out the infographic below for some more details on the germiest airplane surfaces.To determine this the research team  conducted 18 tests across six surfaces from three major U.S. airports and airline flights.   They found that the average self check-in screen had 253,857 CFU (colony-forming un its) which is more than 11 times the average CFU of an airline gate armrest and 13 times the average CFU of an airport water fountain button. In other words, you should be wearing latex gloves and a face mask when you go to print your boarding pass.When you are at the kiosk the most common type of germs you will come in contact with are gram-positive cocci (organisms that can create an infection consisting of, containing, or discharging pus), gram-positive rods (probiotic bacteria that can also be pathogenic) and yeast. Check out more of the germs that are all over the airport in the infographic below.

How to Write Great Resume Bullet Points

How to Write Great Resume Bullet Points How to Write Great Resume Bullet Points So you’ve read lots of resume advice, and you know that your resume needs strong, results-focused bullet points. But try as you might, you don’t really know how to write those bullet points. I sympathize â€" it’s very hard to write about yourself in this way. Most of us have been taught to be humble and modest about our accomplishments, and now suddenly we’re required to brag about them. It feels very uncomfortable. As a professional resume writer, I use a simple formula for getting my clients to open up about their successes and I know it will help you too. The C.A.R. formula for resume bullet points At first, I don’t want you to worry about writing resume bullet points. Instead, focus on just developing stories of your work successes. This takes the pressure off because you’re not worrying about finding the right words â€" all that’s important is to write your success stories. The formula for writing your stories goes like this: First describe the challenge. This is the situation that needed addressing. It may be a problem (something went wrong) or an opportunity (you spotted a potential improvement that others hadn’t identified) but either way, it’s your starting point. Next, describe the action you took. This is where you talk about what you did to solve that problem or capitalize on that opportunity. Finally, you outline the result. This is the outcome of your actions and, if possible, it should be presented in terms of numbers, so that your impact is clearly understood. (For example, “my change led to a 5% sales increase over the next few months.”) However, including numbers won’t always be possible. If that’s the case, just describe the result in words (for example, “the customer was completely satisfied with my solution and wrote a thank you letter to my manager.”) An example Here is a sample story to show you how this works in practice. Challenge: My boss was brilliant but quite disorganized and had fired a few executive assistants because things kept falling through the cracks. I think the problem was that the other assistants weren’t assertive enough. Action: I asked for two daily meetings, one at the start of the day and one at the end. I promised my boss that if he gave me this time I would make it pay for him. And it was true â€" by meeting twice a day, I was able to stay on top of everything. I also took over his calendar, and attended many of his meetings. In this way I always knew what was happening and what needed to be done. Results: About two months after I started, my boss called me in and gave me a raise. He said his work life had never been easier. His wife also called to thank me because he was getting home earlier. The errors and missed deadlines almost completely went away. Now turn your stories into resume bullet points Once youve written four or five strong stories for each of your positions, you need to condense each one into a concise bullet point that tells the story. Make sure that the challenge is included as this gives context, but be sure not to sound too negative. Let’s have a look at how this works in the story above. Earned a raise and thanks from the CEO after taking charge of his hectic schedule and ensuring smooth organization. Completely eliminated missed deadlines within 3 months. Notice how this bullet point doesn’t describe the CEO negatively (no mention of his disorganized management style) but still gets the point across. Here’s another example, this time of a sales rep who took over a region with slumping sales. Grew sales 15% in just 4 months, reversing long-standing sales decline by personally meeting with each customer, identifying business needs, and using solution-selling techniques. Do you see how the challenge is included (long-standing sales decline) but I led with the result as it’s the most impactful part of the story. In most cases, it’s best to lead with the result in this way. This simple formula makes bullet points easy Taking the time to write out your CAR stories will make all the difference when it comes to developing strong resume bullet points that really pack a punch. For more tips and tricks to spice up your resume, be sure to sign up for our free resume writing e-course. You’ll learn many of the secrets we use to create killer resumes for our clients â€" and you won’t have to pay us a penny!

Financial Managers Need to Be More than Just Finance Experts

Financial Managers Need to Be More than Just Finance Experts Financial Managers Need to Be More than Just Finance Experts Of course financial analysis skills are important. Good financial analysts are in demand, and companies are asking for professionals who can work analytics, create models and uncover hidden costs or opportunities for profitability. If you have a high degree of analytics skills, you can develop new solutions for your company’s needs and make yourself valuable to your employer. Many financial analysts have become stars in their company for uncovering hidden profitability and developing innovative models. However, when it comes time to move up from financial analyst to financial manager, you could be passed over for a promotion because you haven’t proven that you have other skills. In order to be an effective financial manager, you need proven business skills like leadership and communication. You need to be able to effectively communicate about more than just financial matters with people in marketing, research, IT and other departments. Financial management isn’t just about accounting or internal audits. As a financial manager, you will have to work with business professionals of many different disciplines to find solutions to their needs and provide them with the best tools to do their jobs well. Financial managers also need to be able to see past the models and metrics and understand what drives business. It’s not enough to create a model for the marketing department that helps them negotiate prices and payment terms with clients. You need to be able to understand how your company as a whole works in order to become a successful financial manager and possibly CFO. In order to develop your business skills, you should look for opportunities in professional development outside financial skills. Your company may offer leadership training or management seminars, or you can find outside training in these skills from business organizations or even colleges. When searching for financial professional development such as seminars or conferences, see if there are special programs for financial professionals that focus on business skills like leadership or management.

How to Be a Good Manager of Creative Professionals

How to Be a Good Manager of Creative Professionals How to Be a Good Manager of Creative Professionals If you’re looking to move your creative career forward, becoming a manager can represent an important milestone. Here are some new manager tips to help you not just survive but thrive. The first time I became a manager was equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking. I got promoted, and overnight I became responsible for managing key projects as well as the team members I had previously worked alongside at a consumer PR agency. Moving from peer to boss was challenging. While I was excited about my new responsibilities, figuring it all out was tricky. Having a new title and job description is one thing, but being adept at leading a team requires keen soft skills and some trial-and-error experimentation. A big part of the challenge comes from managing varied personalities, as different people respond best to different leadership styles. If you’re new to leading a creative team, here are some tips on how to be a good manager: Understand what success looks like Your first priority is to understand the big picture. Make sure you’re clear on the overall organizational goals and what your creative staff is expected to accomplish. This requires input from your boss and other higher-ups, so be proactive and solicit insights and direction. When you have a firm grasp on the most important objectives and deliverables, you can take strategic steps to put your employees in position to knock their respective assignments out of the park. Assess your team Do an informal assessment of your team members. If you’re relatively new to both management and your company, it’s helpful to gather thoughts from your boss or other managers who’ve worked with your creative team. Doing so will help clarify the group dynamics, opportunities and challenges you may need to navigate or address. Carefully review organizational charts and job descriptions, and also take time to more fully understand your team members’ roles, responsibilities, levels of experience, interests and professional development needs. Reviewing recent performance evaluations can be instructive, but make a concerted effort to get to know each direct report directly. Determine your own strengths and weaknesses Before you can allocate the right resources or people to creative projects it’s important to analyze the skills and shortcomings of each employee (see point above). During your early weeks on the job, it’s also more important to conduct an honest and thorough self-assessment to identify your management strengths and weaknesses. This type of self-reflection can be uncomfortable and humbling, but it’s critical to identify areas where you need to improve. Remember: There’s no such thing as a perfect manager. Also, regardless of what your weaker areas may be, keep in mind that there is an abundance of resources for leadership development that you can explore, such as management books and podcasts, professional courses (online and off) and in-house training if your company offers it. Here are a few posts on common management concerns. How to Lead a Successful Creative Team Meeting 7 Tips on Giving Feedback to Employees Writing Job Descriptions for Creative Positions Lead by example It’s vital to practice what you preach if you want to earn the trust, respect and loyalty of employees. Your team members will look to you to set the tone for how the creative group operates. While you’re not a robot, and everyone has good days and bad days, it’s important to maintain a positive, professional attitude at work as an overarching philosophy. Acknowledge the contributions and achievements of others, and give praise when it’s due. Leading by example also means taking responsibility for your actions (and your team’s actions) when things aren’t going well. As a manager, you’re required to hold people accountable - and the same applies to you. The buck ultimately stops with you now. Be consistent in how you manage your team and don’t play favorites. In addition, establish a culture of good communication. Strive to be crystal-clear when communicating with staff members individually or during meetings. Don’t leave messages open to interpretation, and make sure your employees feel heard. Be an open and observant listener. Plan to address some conflicts Often the hardest parts of being a leader is dealing with conflict. I always keep an open door for any concerns, but I also encourage team members who encounter an interpersonal problem to come to me with a potential solution. Resolving conflict also requires an understanding of when to intervene and when to back off. While you don’t want your creative staff running to you every time a trivial tiff occurs, you can’t afford to ignore friction once it starts damaging morale and productivity. As a new manager, you obviously want to start strong, but remember that it’s not your job to please everyone all the time. Work on these strategies and you’ll be well on your way to carving out a reputation as someone who creative people want to work for. Octavia Goredema is the founder and editor of Twenty Ten Talent, a career resource for talented young black women. Find her on Twitter at @OctaviaGoredema. Tags