Survey 5 things job seekers want to know before applying

Survey 5 things job seekers want to know before applyingSurvey 5 things job seekers want to know before applyingWhen youre an employer that wants to attract top talent, be careful how you tell the story of your company in public, because there are eyes online who are watching your answers very closely.According to a newsurvey from Indeed, job seekers need to know about a companys stability before they submit their application.Top answers job seekers want to know about a company before applyingMore than wanting to know about a companys snazzy vision or their potential manager, job seekers wanted transparency about the companys state of affairs. Is there high turnover? Are numbers in the red? Job seekers wanted to know if the job they were applying for today would still be there in the future. These were the top considerations job seekers had when researching a company they wanted to work forThe stability of the company (47%)Insights around benefits and perks, flexibility, and salary r anges for relevant roles (45%)Information about growth opportunities (41%)Company management (34%)Companys mission and vision (31%)This strong need to know about the companys reputation makes sense. Before you jump ship for a new job, you want to know more about where you will land. You dont want to be surprised by pitfalls that employee reviews and reports in the newspapers could have alerted you to avoid.Indeed found that when companies did not provide enough information about themselves online, job seekers became suspicious and less likely to apply. An absence of available online information caused 70% of job seekers to automatically distrust the company.As Indeeds Paul Wolfe put it, Today, then, its not enough to just post your jobs online. Job seekers are viewing your jobs in context. Providing rich information about the experience of working at your company is essential to building trust and getting applications.

How to Jump-Start Your Career Without Going Back to School

How to Jump-Start Your Career Without Going Back to SchoolHow to Jump-Start Your Career Without Going Back to SchoolMaybe youve hit a wall in your career, and cant quite seem to land that promotion. Or your real-world experience has shown you another career path youd like to pursue, but you dont yet feel qualified to take the leap. For some, sharpening the pencils and heading back to school is the go-to solution, but it shouldnt necessarily be your default. Sometimes your best move can be circumventing school altogether, says Jenny Blake, author of Pivot The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One. School will always be there if you decide you want to invest in it. But spending a boatload of money and potentially loading yourself up with debt to get to the next level may not be necessary. Heres a game plan to follow instead. Define Your Desired Outcome Outcome-oriented investing is all the rage in the financial world unterstellung days, and youll be in great shape if you can do t he same thing with your career. Instead of looking at what youre lacking, or getting stuck on feeling behind, focus on what you want your success to look like a year from now. If youre not sure what to aim for, think about what youre best at, what you most enjoy, when youre most in the zone, and what people come to you about most often for advice. Use those strengths as clues to propel you toward related learning or research you can do to move towards your outcome. Hone Your Mission Take your personal strengths and set them to paper. Then, make a concrete list of what you need to learn. Focus on the right skills- ones that are worth your time and may help break down any career walls you might be facing. Then conduct a sanity check to be sure the skills on your list are valued by people who would want to hire you. You can do this by asking a native to coffee- someone already doing what youd like to do- and asking about the top strengths required to be successful in their role. Th en, find your own gap, says Pamela Mitchell, founder, and CEO of The Reinvention Institute. And, before you get started on filling in the blanks, take a good look at your background and make sure you havent already done something similar in the past. Mitchell says that as a career coach, she regularly sees people forget about certain qualifications and accomplishments theyve completed in their prior work and other histories. Explore Skill-Building Platforms You can add new skills to your repertoire and round out your existing knowledge at no charge or at low cost in many cases by taking online courses through platforms. Some of these courses offer certificates of completion, which can help you demonstsatz your level of expertise to current or future employers. Some universities also offer classes through extension programs, which are open to all students without needing to be accepted to the university itself, such as U.C Berkeley and Stanford University, among others. Where to Find Career-Building Courses Lynda.com This site offers a wide variety of video courses taught by industry experts working in many different industries and roles, such as software, creative, and business. The company offers a one-month trial of free classes and is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. LinkedIn members receive a certain number of free courses each month as part of their membership.CreativeLive This organization broadcasts free live classes to people all over the world, ranging from topics like How to Write a Blog Post That Drives Traffic to Build an Etsy Storefront That Sells.Khan Academy Take advantage of free courses and practice sessions on everything from engineering and the humanities to computing and finance.General Assembly This entity offers paid skill-building workshops (online or at brick-and-mortar campuses) in areas like design, marketing, coding, and data. The company also offers regular networking events by skill area and location.Coursera This online education-foc used technology company offers free and paid online courses in areas like data science, computer science, business and machine learning from top schools like Stanford, Yale, Duke, and Johns Hopkins- and financial aid is available for those who qualify.Itunes and Audible These two online resources can open the door to audiobooks and podcasts for learning the ins and outs of many new topics. Most podcasts are free, and a subscription to audiobook platform Audible is $14.95 per month after the 30-day free trial. (Membership grants you one audiobook free per month, plus 30 percent off any purchase.) Seal the Deal With Some Experience Theres a reason learn by doing is such a popular piece of advice- it builds your skills and your resume at the same time. Get miles on yousays career and executive coach Maggie Mistal. Once youve gained new skills and put them into practice, you can list them in both the skills and experience sections of your resume.In the beginning, you may need to off er your assistance at a reduced rate or pro bono, so reach out to local startups and offer them this deal. Sites like TaprootFoundation.org, VolunteerMatch.org, and Idealist.org are also great places to start if youd like to gain skills while working with a nonprofit. Itll likely be easier to get your foot in the door and put the skills youve learned to use. Another option is Catchafire.org, a website that matches talented people to causes theyre passionate about. Input a topic you care about, as well as what youre good at, and the site helps you find a project to contribute to that incorporates both. By choosing this route, you can contribute to a good cause- and beef up your resume while youre at it.

How to Hire Employees Who Make a Perfect Fit

How to Hire Employees Who Make a Perfect FitHow to Hire Employees Who Make a Perfect FitIf youve ever spent a month or more recruiting and bewerberinterviewing accounting and finance candidates, you know what a time-consuming process it is. If you want to know how to hire employees who start out strong and stay that way, keep reading.After all, if your new finance manager, business analyst, internal auditor or compliance officer doesnt work out, your time will have been wasted, and youll have to do it all over again.Knowing how to hire employees right the first time is a matchmaking skill that a surprising number of organizations dont have.What are their shortcomings? To find out what hiring managers encounter with hiring failures, Robert Half Finance Accounting recently conducted a survey of CFOs. Their responses revealed four ways companies and new hires might find themselves at odds.See survey details in our Top Reasons for a Failed Hire infographic.1. The skills stumbling blockN early four in 10 CFOs interviewed (38 percent) cite mismatched skill sets as the leading contributor to hiring failures.Every job has its own qualifications, from education and experience to certifications. Theres also a full range of skills requirements, such as data entry and account analysis. And then there are soft skills - must-have abilities with regard to adaptability, leadership, communication, collaboration or technology.The divergence occurs when people are offered - and accept - roles they arent really qualified for.How can you avoid a mismatch in skills and know how to hire employees who fit?Make a list of essential skills required for the position, and clearly define them in your job description and interview.Develop a system for identifying the key skill sets you need in candidates.Conduct detailed reference checks with specific questions about the candidates skills.2. Hazy performance expectationsThe No. 2 reason CFOs in the survey gave for failed hires is that the new employee has unclear performance expectations. This is a communication issue.Its difficult for new hires to meet performance goals when managers havent set clear expectations and regularly checked in with them to make sure they understand what they should be doing. Ideally, employees also need to know what their part is in the companys overall strategy.How can you prevent this cloud of communication?Set specific and measurable standards of performance from Day 1.To the degree possible, tie the job responsibilities with company or departmental priorities. Explain this to candidates during the interview and repeat for the new hire.Touch base with the new hire by the end of the first week to discuss his or her chief responsibilities and the specific outcomes that you expect.Have a process in place for goal setting, feedback and holding employees accountable.Looking for more advice on hiring finance and accounting staff?VISIT OUR HIRING PAGE3. Personality crash-and-burnsOne of the factors that gets overlooked in the hiring process is that personality counts. And while skills and performance can be developed on the job, you cant expect personality or attitudes to change.The ideal is to be able to read a persons character before you make the job offer. Tough to do, yes, but it is possible. Look for candidates whose outlook and passion matches the role and complements your other team members approach to the work. Similar personalities as well as different ones can enhance your teams dynamics. Just remember Diverse personalities are important to creating good teams, but bad chemistry is bad chemistry.How can you hire someone who will be compatible?Conduct a behavioral interview with questions that ask what the candidate would do in certain situations, such as conflicts with coworkers.Ask open-ended questions that prompt creative, thoughtful answers and allow candidates to talk about their motivations and frustrations.Probe for deeper answers that might raise red flags, such as an unwillingness to change, impatience, apathy or negativity.4. Company culture misfitsIn the survey, 15 percent of respondents said a failure to fit in with the company culture was the top reason for a poor hire.The key to putting company culture at the heart of your hiring is to make sure youre selling your company and what its like to work there. You want candidates to know ahead of time what to expect, with no surprises. Is your office more about team or individual efforts? Is management top-down? What defines success? You should be able to communicate those workplace characteristics and find out how they correspond with the person you want to hire.Find out more about organizational culture, the make-or-break factor in hiring and retention.How else can you know how to hire employees who match your company culture?When conducting reference checks, learn about the candidates work styles, strengths, areas for improvement and work ethic.In interviews, be strategic wit h your questions and ask about the type of work environment where a candidate might flourish - or struggle.Ask others on your team to meet with the candidate during the interview process, and consider their opinions.Last piece of advice? Dont rush the process of assessing a candidate. First impressions dont always pan out.Finally, if you want to know how to hire employees who make the perfect fit, tap the extensive networks of a specialized staffing firm, which gives you access to a larger talent pool. A recruiter can also help you evaluate candidates based on the required skills, performance expectations, personality and company culture fit. Kathleen Downs Kathleen Downs, a senior vice president with Robert Half Finance Accounting, started with the company in 2000. Before that, she was CEO of a recreation/retail/education organization in Bonn, Germany. Kathleen is actively involved with a number of professional organizations within the finance and accounting field and sits on several not-for-profit boards.