Why You Need to Bank on Your Employer Brand

Why You Need to Bank on Your Employer Brand Talent attraction for banks can be very difficult, its a high pace industry with a very men in suits image that in many ways is only appealing to men who seek to live that lifestyle. Its fair to say talent in most banking institutions are not as diverse as wed like it to be, so we sit down with Debbie Celado, the Employer Branding Lead at Citizens Bank to understand the strategies she has put in place to take the companys employer value proposition to a new level. Have a listen to the interview below, keep reading for a summary and be sure to subscribe to the  Employer Branding Podcast. Listen on  iTunes,  Stitcher Radio,  Google Play  or  SoundCloud. In this episode you will learn: What the corporate culture is like at Citizens Bank About Citizens Banks talent challenges What the number one challenge is at the company in terms of recruitment What employer branding strategy is put in place at Citizens Bank and why their EVP Maximize your impact is the main driver of this What branding initiatives Debbie is most proud of What hard employer brand lessons Debbie has learned along the way Debbies top 3 tips for employer brand managers Why Zappos and Starbucks inspire Debbies employer brand process Whats up next for Citizens Banks employer brand

Interview Lessons from the World of Podcasting

Interview Lessons from the World of Podcasting I’m multi-tasking. Not something I’m particularly good at, but listening to Marc Maron’s podcast  with President Obama I’m reminded how interviewing techniques, questions and the process  employers have used for hiring over decades is broken. Employers know it. Job-seekers feel it.  Stats confirm it. Maron starts the podcast rambling about how nervous he is, “I’m panicking all morning,” his  attempt to prepare questions, then the President walks into the garage and he and Maron just  start having a conversation. It’s about eight minutes in and Maron says, “…wow we just jumped  into it.” Exactly. A real conversation. Ditch the fire response interview. Go for the conversation. Every college student and graduate who has worked with me knows I think the fire response  style of interviewing generates lazy questions that yield canned answers. Maron, and I give  props to the President as well for the style and direction of the interview, he just said, “…we just  dove in, I went with it.” Wow, they’re covering everything and more you would want in a job  interview. Here’s what I’m hearing: Transitioning from high school to college Guns Racism Healthcare Basketball Ageing Family His children (Malia is driving!) His father Michelle’s family Religion Comedy Washington politics  A Hawaii-induced mindset Post-9/11 policies Bin Laden Basketball Oh did I say basketball? That’s a lot of ground in an hour. Not what are your strengths, weaknesses, where do you want  to be in five years questions. Breaking for a rant. While listening to the podcast and taping on the keys, I’m googling ‘interview  process broken’. Im not including the person name or the company, because, well, this  infuriates me. traditional interviews dont allow you to know the real person youre hiring. “I ask questions  like ‘what would other people say about you,’” she says. She also doesn’t just ask the old  â€œwhere do you want to be in five years,” but instead asks where they want to be in 10 or 20. It  makes them off guard and you get some really interesting information from them.” Really! First, the idea that you want to catch someone off guard in an interview is hostile, mean,  pointless. Where you want to be in 10, 20 years is the same old tired question. The world can  spin off its axis; that about screws that plan. There are so many other ways to find out in an  interview what others think about the candidate. Nothing in this person’s interview style  suggests they will get to know the real person. I coach job candidates to go in for the conversation. Get the interviewer off their script so they  can really get to know you and the value you offer the company. That’s how you demonstrate fit. You have to start the dialogue. It’s tough when you’re not experienced at interviewing but it can  be done. The real art Maron and the President display in the podcast is listening. A good interview, and I think this podcast counts as one ([another google while listening and  writing,] downloaded 735,063 times in the first 24 hours of availability, and more than 900,000  times in the first 36 hours,) requires listening. It’s Improv. Interviewing is performance created at  the moment it is performed. It’s a dialogue, it’s collaborative and demands listening to each  other. Im listening and I get that Maron had an idea of what he wanted to cover (notice I did not say  ask) in the podcast and the President, with his experience, knows how this stuff goes and flows. Interviewers also know what they want to cover and learn from job candidates and job  candidates know what interviewers want to hear. Except, interviewers and interviewees are so  intent on getting the boxes checked off that they half-listen and/or listen to what is familiar. That  is no way to learn anything about anyone. High-five at the end. I’m coming to the end of the podcast and I just heard one of the best things about it. Maron and  the President gave each other a high-five. Yep, they just complimented each other on how well  the interview went. That would be an interesting way to end an interview instead of the  obligatory thank you and what are the next steps. (Yes, you still do need to do that.) Try this in your next interview. Answer the ‘tell me about yourself’ question (you know it is the first question you will be  asked) but end by asking a question of the interviewer to get the dialogue started. Try,  â€œâ€¦and how did you start your career or how would you describe the ideal candidate for  this position. If they won’t play, try it again by saying something like, “I know you have a lot of  questions for me, may I ask you something first?” Then ask ad open-ended, thought-starter question to get things going: “What do you think makes people successful in this  job/at this company?” Keep the dialogue going by asking questions throughout the interview. I advise job-seekers to never let the interview end with the interviewer saying, “What questions do  you have?” Because there’s only five minutes left, that’s a throwaway question. The  interviewer does not intend to answer your questions in a way that you will learn  anything. If the interview went well, say so, “I learned a lot from you today about this job and  company. Thank you for a great conversation.” Let me know how your next interview goes when you took it from checking boxes to a  conversation. Thanks Marc Maron and President Obama for an interesting conversation and a great lesson in  interviewing.

Consistently successful careers stem from consistent personal decisions

Consistently successful careers stem from consistent personal decisions Consistency is an important part of any career. Its not just doing good work all the time. It goes beyond what quality your work is to what quality of person you are. Being consistent is letting people know they can rely on you, and its following through on what you say youll do because thats what people do who care. My problem with consistency is that I am a tornado, and I have found my tornado nature is both wildly inconsistent and difficult to change, which makes me think that co-dependency on a stable (read: low-maintenance) boyfriend might help. So I think I need an ENTP. So, Im only dating those from now on. (Yes, the 25-year-old is an ENTP. Personality type is ageless.) But my inconsistency is no small problem. Heres an example. I agree to new photos of me for a publication even though I have done tons of photo sessions already and have a gazillion expensively-lit ten-people-making-it-happen photos of myself. Not only do I say yes, but I agree to do it the day before I leave for the SXSW conference. And I tell the magazine Ill get a fake tan. Because its a summer issue. Ive never gotten a fake tan and it seemed like maybe it would be fun. Maybe Id end up looking like Im in an artsy Versace ad where everyone has big attitudes and big tans. But at the tanning place I got extremely nervous that maybe tanning places in Madison, Wisconsin suck. I realized that a messed-up tan was no problem for the photographer. He can Photoshop it. But I cannot Photoshop myself at SXSW. But I already said Id get the tan. And I am trying to be more consistent. Following through on getting a fake tan would be the consistent thing to do. After all, I didnt have a commitment to just the photographer, but also to Jan. Jan is the spray-tan lady. I tried to be trusting but once I got my clothes off, there was no more trust: It occurred to me that I would have this tan for my sex romp with the 25-year-old, and I imagined all the ways that spray tanning could be done incompetently. I ask Jan a barrage of questions: Should people with freckles get a tan? Is that too much too wrong in a Michael Jackson sort of way? Does the spray stuff pool in my belly button? And what about under my breasts? Will that part be white? Jan charges me double because of the questions. I pay, because maybe its true that you get what you pay for. Four hours later I do the photos and we end right at five because its family dinner night, even though my ex and I are not the family youre thinking of. And I worry a lot about being consistently there for family stuff, because, remember, you never have a problem at work that you dont have at home as well. I get home to dinner and scoop up my three year old and kiss him. He says, Something smells like dirty socks, and starts taking off his socks. I panic. I ask the Ex if I smell. He says, I dont want to smell you. He is working on setting boundaries. Then he says, Do you have a fake tan? Crap. I cant ask the ex if I look too stupid to go to SXSW. Bad boundaries. And the risk of smelling like fake tan seems very bad in the 25-year-old department. So I take a shower. Then I call my friend Sharon who is a hairdresser. I am a very inconsistent friend to Sharon and do terrible-friend things to her like only call when I need something. Fortunately shes a hair stylist to the rich and famous in LA so her knowledge of how to groom to perfection complements my own lack thereof, and I call her a lot. She says buy Nioxin. And she says, You are doing too much. Sharon consistently gives me good advice. I tuck the kids into bed. After I sing to them so that they will have childhood memories of me being a consistent parent. I take one more shower for good measure. I answer email, return phone calls and IM the 25-year-old to see if he is feeling excited to see me which takes a while since hes not the type to say so without prodding. Then its 1am and its time to pack. I pack almost every week to go on business trips. But SXSW is not a normal business trip. It is prom for bloggers. And Im not sure what to wear. So I pack everything. I take two suitcases for five days. I speed on the highway and I make the flight. But my suitcases dont. I tell myself, fine. Ill get them on the next flight. I tell myself, be calm. Consistent people do not come undone over late baggage. I get on my plane to Dallas. I sleep. I land. I get on my Blackberry and answer emails because consistent people do not let emails pile up when they travel. I call into the office. I find my gate, and I do not miss my connecting flight. Then I go to the bathroom. I stand in the stall while I finish an email. I sit on the toilet and I am amazed at how dark I am. I pull down my pants to my ankles to inspect my legs. The airport bathroom light is not flattering, but is likely true. And the truth is that people will know this tan is fake. I tell myself not to panic. I can have sex with the lights out. But theres no way SXSW is happening in the dark. Crap. So far, I have somehow maintained consistency. Then I leave my Blackberry in the bathroom stall. And I fly to Austin before I notice. I fall behind on emails. I miss a phone call at 10:15. I also miss the 10:45. Two more people who think Im unreliable. And I miss my radio show. My guests call in and listeners tune in, and Im not there. And neither is my consistency.

Where To Find Freelance Product Designers in 2019 - Algrim.co

Where To Find Freelance Product Designers in 2019 - Algrim.co It can be difficult these days to find truly helpful resources on where to hire high quality freelance product designers. The usual route for most people seems to be posting part-time or freelance job listings on various job boards. In my experience, this doesn’t work so well. Primarily because you’ll be receiving an influx of resumes and portfolios to look through and your time will be spent deducing who is a good fit versus actively pursuing the conversations with professionals who you already know are a good fit. I’m here to help give you some great places and techniques for finding freelance product designers. Our goal will be to find a designer, who is seemingly a good fit for our project. So I’m going to go ahead and assume you are either prepared with the type of product you want to create or the category of company you’re in. For your project, a good place to start in terms of search criteria is either by device, project space or location for the designer. For example, iOS application, landing page, web application, these are all area’s you can search by in the sites I will show you next. Having that prepared ahead of time will help you save time in the future while having conversations with designers. Places to find designers OK, so here’s what you’ll want to be sure you do, go to destinations where designers are. This is a common mistake, not going to those places. If you are looking for engineers, you’ll want to go to GitHub. If you are looking for designers you’ll want to go to Dribbble or Behance. These are the two best places to find freelance product designers and freelance graphic designers for hire. And you don’t want to be the one posting the opportunity, but you want to be the one reaching out to each freelance designer and starting the conversation. Dribbble is a fantastic resource because it allows you to search for the criteria we brought up earlier. Work of designers who had experience in iOS, web applications or anything else you might be looking for. Maybe it's making your landing page conversion rate optimized. Maybe it's developing an amazing onboarding flow. There’s an opportunity to search for these keywords and then see real product examples right in dribbble. From there you can see either if the designer has a full-time job or is taking on new work. The platform makes it easy to see this and then ultimately reach out that person via email. Generally speaking your UX designer, web designers, mobile designers are all inside dribbble. Behance is also another fantastic place to start looking for freelance product designers. I would say that this community has more of a branding and graphic design background traditionally, but there’s some amazing work in there from multi-disciplinary designers. Similar to our technique with dribbble, you can search for designers by your optimal criteria and get to a point to where you want to reach out to them via email. Once more, our biggest lesson here is going to destinations where designers have a community. And then be part of their community if you can. Avoid more widely known marketplaces, which I will not name names. Mostly because they will be filled with overseas options that suffice the need of some, but may not come with the highest quality work. If you are going this route for hiring a freelance product designer for any type of project, you could expect to compensate that person in the $10k - $50k range depending on the work. That’s what would be considered average freelance product design compensation depending on the need. Saving you time I’m going to jump ahead and give you some pointers on how you can save time in advance by clearly communicating a few points of interest right up front. You’ll quickly see, through the techniques above, that you’ll get a good response rate and probably many phone calls scheduled. But you’ll be spending a lot of time deciphering who is a good fit and making sure you are making a good decision for your existing or future business. Here are some techniques you can try out to save you time and headache later on. Start the conversation with clear expectations. Don’t be afraid to share budget and project details in the initial email. Two things may come from this, the freelancer might say, “Hey this isn’t a good fit for me, but I might know someone who is.” Which is great! Or maybe they’ll say, “I’m glad you told me about this because I don’t have X, Y, Z piece of work in my portfolio, but let me go ahead and show you that.” Managing the expectations early on will help you save a lot of time trying to figure out fit on the initial phone call you have. Then you can focus the first phone call on the understanding of the product, project, business and goals. Go through the process and hypothetical scenarios. The next thing you want to understand is someone’s experience level. Unfortunately, working with freelancers can be tough to gauge their actual experience. Some work in the portfolio may have never made it live, which is a good sign that someone wasn’t able to get the project out into the market. For me, this is one of the biggest key indicators of experience. I would prefer the work to be small and less intense, but have gotten to fruition and launched rather than see something big in the portfolio. Because that tells me the person has experience communicating their designs and strategy to all parties involved (product managers, other designers, head of product, engineers, CTO’s, etc.). If you can go through a working scenario of how that person is going to champion their work all the way to the end, from the get-go, it will save you a lot of headaches finding a perfect fit. Avoid asking the boring questions. If you ask someone how you go from wireframe to prototype, that’s like asking someone how they put peanut butter on an apple. There are not too many ways to answer that which will give you a good understanding of their experience. Instead maybe talk about how they were able to get something launched and what the process for getting it launched was. Or maybe ask what they do when a project goes on longer than expected and how they calibrate that. Something deeper, scenario-driven, than retrospective driven. Get a visual proposal. Getting a proposal should be pretty easy. In fact, you can even ask the designer to put together some pretty visual ideas of what they might do so that you can get a sense of their skill sets one more time. You don’t have to ask for spec work. That’s when you are basically asking them to do the job before you pay them. Don’t do that. But its okay to get a really visual proposal and strategy behind it. In fact, all great freelance product designers should know how to do that. Ask for quotes vs. references. If the freelance product designer doesn’t have some quotes from clients (which is a great thing to have as a professional in general), ask for some. Maybe they’re lacking a few key case studies on the work at hand. If that’s the case, ask for some quotes from happy customers. I would avoid asking to speak with their clients and confirm they did good work, simply because of the time and respect factor of that other person. On the use of freelancer marketplaces Ultimately your budget will be the deciding factor in where you go for fulfilling your freelance design needs. If you are an individual looking to get a few assets created as an explorative process, there's plenty of cheaper places to go. Like 99designs or freelancer.com. I have no issues with these marketplaces when you are in that scenario. As for a more serious business using these marketplaces to get work done, I would highly recommend not doing so. Primarily because design can be subjective to who you are asking for design. And generally speaking, you should be looking for a specialist, who can understand your business needs in more detail to drive forward true results. This will have the most impact on your investment and make all stakeholders happier with the work at hand. Again, ultimately your budget will decide where you go. But I would say if you have a budget of more than $1,000 â€" consider working directly with more junior designers and giving them options of including it in their portfolio as part of the compensation. Or find ways to compensate the junior designer to make up for the cash compensation you can't provide at the moment. Conclusion Working with freelancers has many advantages. In fact, I often suggest many startups to work with freelancers versus trying to hire in-house. Firstly, it's more flexible, where you can scale up and down your budget/spend/burn. Secondly, they get more experienced professionals for less money. And lastly, they’re able to address a need much faster than trying to hire. Hiring a designer might take a considerable amount of time, given that persons personal life and current professional work. And usually, when the need arises, there’s a fast turn around time desired. If you decide you really like working with a freelancer, you can always offer them a full-time job as well. That opportunity becomes much easier to manage for both parties when they’ve had the chance to work together.

7 Tips to Make your Resume Stand Out CareerMetis.com

7 Tips to Make your Resume Stand Out â€" CareerMetis.com Courtesy of the massive adoption of new communication technology such as slide shares and videos, there have been predictions that job application tools such as resumes would be a thing of the past. However, the predictions have been proved wrong. More than ever before resumes and cover letters have become as important as the qualifications of a candidate for a job.Nevertheless, there has been a drastic change â€" resume writing has become a serious business. The New York Times confirms the fact that the way you present your resume will largely determine whether you get the job or not.evalHere are top tips on how to best pen your resume in pursuit of your dream job according to Find My Profession.1) Know what you are looking forSo many people want to get employed for money or prestige. Even if you qualify for a certain post, don’t apply for it if you are not passionate about the kind of job being offered.Keep in mind that the first step towards writing an excellent resume is determ ining what you really wantâ€"only then can you write it whole-heartedly.2) Show your Winning EffortOne of the details you will give in your resume is your accomplishments in your career. You will, of course, let the interviewer know that you won a coveted award or were selected for a prestigious program. Remember that it is all about standing out.Thus, you need to show how hard you worked for recognition. In other words, you must let your potential employer know that a certain number of people were competing for the position but you rose above them all.3) Detail your AccomplishmentsMany people explain their achievements in previous work endeavors through plain words. If you want to stand out, go the extra mile of quantifying your accomplishments.According to Forbes, job applicants should bring out the details not only in words but also in numbers.evalLet the prospective employer, for example, know that you managed 400 employees or you were in charge of fulfilling the needs of 100 cl ients during your time at your previous post.4) Only Reveal the Most Relevant ExperiencesDon’t make the mistake of including experiences or even skills that are not relevant to the job you are applying for. In other words, you have to revise your previous resumes to fit the current job requirements.If there’s a big gap in the period between your former job and the current one, show that you spent your time constructively. For instance, state that you were involved in a volunteer program.5) Associate yourself with Popular BrandsYou may not have directly worked with the biggest brands in the world. However, you should find a way of making a connection with them.evalYou will not only build credibility but also show that you are serious in your work. Even the slightest connection can take you steps ahead of the rest of the applicants.6) Consistency is KeyDon’t send different messages even if you are forwarding your resume to different employers. Establish and maintain a personal b rand. According to CNBC, consistency in resumes will show the recruiters that you have successfully established yourself.Furthermore, know the kind of company you are sending your resume to and research on the most commonly used phrases on its website. For instance, use such verbs as advertised, promoted and marketed when explaining your marketing achievements to an established company.7) Contact the EmployeesIt might seem taking it a bit too far, but reaching out to the people working for your prospective employer will be a great help. Remember that they are the insiders who can give you an insight into what is really needed.Don’t hesitate to tell them about your job application plans and let them provide you with feedback on what you already have.Final RemarksWriting a resume may seem easy. However, writing an outstanding resume calls for talent, hard work, and experience.If you are still not sure about how to make your resume stand out, consider getting professional helpâ€"it c an greatly increase the chances of getting the position you deserve. In fact, according to the New York Times, finding professional help in writing a resume is an important part of the job-seeking process.Use Find My Professions coupon to get professional resume writing help at reduced rates.

Questions for Corn Explaining Twitter on Your Resume

Questions for Corn Explaining Twitter on Your Resume 11 Flares 11 Flares On Thursday night, @HeatherHuhman and I were featured guests on #u30pro, a popular, and quite bad ass Twitter chat.  The co-moderators of #u30pro (@davidspinks, @CubanaLAF, @SJhalestorm), brought us on to converse with folks about the nights topic, negotiating a job offer. While the chat was winding down, I announced that anyone with further questions should holler.  Not long after sending that tweet, I received an @ message from Jessica Malnik (@jessicamalnik).  Here is Jessicas tweet/question. After digging deeper into her question, Jessica stated that she was mostly looking to understand how to explain her use of Twitter on a resume.  To answer her question, I immediately sent her two tweets back. My first tweet stated that a new section of the resume should be created.  This can simply be called Microblogging on Twitter @jessicamalnik.  Underneath, include bullets or a paragraph to explain how youve used it to your advantage. Dont forget to include a link, directing them to your Twitter account. In the second tweet, I went into specifics about what the paragraph should/could state.  Explain exactly how youve used it.  Has it been to gain knowledge, or to reach an influential person? Include something that the employer will find of value to them. Find out what will interest your specific industry, and look for ways you have, or can start doing those things yourself on Twitter.  Pick out a few of your Twitter success stories, then drop those nifty stories on your resume. Simply stating that you tweet doesnt automatically guarantee they will check you out.  Share one, or several of your Twitter accomplishments, and they will be much more inclined to see what you have been up to in the Twitterverse, and more importantly, why they should hire you. Do you have a Question for Corn?  Send me an @ message on Twitter to @CornOnTheJob Do you include Twitter on your resume?  Yes/No?  Why/Why not?

How to get a job when youre overqualified -

How to get a job when youre overqualified - Shouldnt it be easy to get a job if you are more than qualified even overqualified for the opportunity? If youre an experienced engineer with a Ph.D. and youre having trouble landing an entry-level engineering job, it can be tough on your morale. However, you should not be surprised when employers dont jump at the chance to hire someone who isnt a perfect fit for the job, even if that means turning away someone with too many qualifications. How to get a job when youre overqualified? While you may think employers should be happy to have overqualified candidates fill their positions, the opposite is actually true: many employers wont even consider a candidate with too much education or experience. Why? They worry the candidate will be too expensive. Employers assume (probably correctly) that the overqualified applicant will leave at the first chance to land a better opportunity. Hiring managers may be concerned an overqualified candidate would become easily disgruntled and unhappy in the job. No one wants to bring on a potential grumpy Gus or sad Sally to their team. How can job seekers address these concerns? Target appropriate jobs. Apply for jobs well suited to your background and work experience. Now that you know that getting a job beneath your qualifications isnt necessarily easier than landing a more fitting position, stop wasting your time applying for jobs that hiring managers dont want to hire you to do. If opportunities well suited for your are few and far between, consider investigating other industries that require similar skills and write a great resume that proves your skills in another field are transferable to the new field. (It can be a tough sell, but its a better use of your time and more likely to land you an offer than applying for jobs below your grade.) The best way to transfer industries is to network with people who work in the organizations where youd like to land a job. If you can convince new contacts that youre well qualified, they may be willing to refer you for a position, and studies show referrals are much more likely to land interviews than people applying for jobs online. Address the salary issue. Maybe theres a good reason youre applying for jobs similar to what you did 5 or 10 years ago. If youre purposefully ramping down your responsibilities, make a point to explain that to the hiring manager. Most applications list a salary requirement; make sure to fill it in with a salary range appropriate to the job. On your cover letter and in conversations with hiring managers and networking contacts, explain why, at this stage of your career, you recognize there are more important things than a high salary. Identify positives, such as work-life balance (if appropriate) and the opportunity to work for an organization with a good reputation and talented colleagues. Give good reasons for wanting the job that dont make you sound desperate for a paycheck. Make a time commitment. When you have a chance to speak to someone about the opportunity, make it clear that you plan to stay in the job for a certain amount of time. If you are committed to this type of job, make it clear that the opportunity is a destination, not a jumping off point for you. Make a convincing case for why the job is a good match. Its always up to the candidate to make a case for why he or she is a good fit, but its even more important for overqualified workers. Study the job description and be able to point out exactly why youre a good person for the job. Make a convincing case that this job, at this stage of your career, is exactly what you want to do. photo by Global X