This Simple Benefit Could Help You Recruit Top Talent

This Simple Benefit Could Help You Recruit Top Talent Seventy-eight percent of professionals have experienced feelings of burnout at some point in their careers, according to new research. The OnePoll study delved into the shifting workplace needs and health concerns of 1,000 employed professionals between the ages of 24 and 40 and found that increasing workloads, an endless barrage of slacks and emails, and end-of-year deadlines are all contributing to professionals feeling exhausted. The study also took a look at the benefits that are actually helping professionals to thrive and tackle burnout, and those benefits that could make a large impact on recruiting and retention efforts. There was one clear winner. More than half of professionals surveyed (58%) revealed that they would be more likely to accept a job that offered a fitness and wellness package, and the same number would be more likely to stay in their current role if these benefits were offered. One in three professionals who had previously participated in an employer-sponsored wellness or wellbeing program reported lower levels of stress and improved morale. The results of this study show that wellness benefits will be a necessity for attracting and retaining top talent in 2020. Top companies that compete for superb candidates need to offer benefit packages that illustrate their commitment to the health of their teams. In fact, 88 percent of professionals say they would be more likely to recommend a company as a good place to work if the company supports their well-being efforts. That makes wellness benefits a necessary tool for recruitment, retention, and referrals. As Head of Corporate Programs at ClassPass, I have spent the past two years working directly with companies of all sizes to implement meaningful benefits that will help employees to improve and manage their stress. Adobe, Facebook, Mitsubishi, Airbnb, and Glossier are just a few of the employers who are already seeing a positive impact from making ClassPass available to their teams. The ClassPass Corporate Program gives employees one easy to use membership that they can use to book a variety of fitness and wellness benefits. The setup is simple: employers subsidize or entirely cover the cost ClassPass credits, and give their employees complete control over how they use their credits towards experiences such as boxing, barre, Pilates, treadmill classes, massages, gym time and more. We have discovered that there are three key ingredients to making corporate wellness programs successful: 1. Make it simple. The biggest benefit hurdle I hear most often is difficult reimbursement policies and challenging onboarding processes. HR teams already have enough on their plates as it is, and to manage multiple invoices, receipts and tracking tools can be cumbersome and frustrating. Added to that, is the challenge of onboarding a program that adds more burden to the HR team. Look for a one-and-done program such as ClassPass that will minimize the amount of setup required. It should be as simple as possible for a team member to get started with your benefits. 2. Make it global. The average business traveler takes seven trips a year. Professionals want a benefit that will travel with them and help them to keep their routine on the go. ClassPass is a clear winner in the global category, as we provide access to 26,000 boutique studios, gyms, and wellness providers worldwide, in almost 30 countries. It’s seamless to book a 45-minute cycling class, a hot yoga session or even a massage (available in our wellness options) between meetings. Look for a benefit that is going to be easy for your full company to take advantage of, whether in their hometown on the go. 3. Make it social. The most important element of any new benefit is getting the word out. Get early buy-in from vocal team members and team leaders who can spread the word to others and post frequently about the benefits in a slack channel. Encourage teams to work out together two in three of the surveyed professionals felt working out with a colleague would help to build camaraderie in the workplace. With ClassPass, employees can opt into sharing their workouts with colleagues and tagging along for classes. We have also seen companies organize department-wide competitions, such as tracking which team racks up the highest number of hours of usage and doing a healthy lunch for the winners. Regardless of which benefits you offer, be vocal about their existence. With 75% of professionals surveyed responding that it’s their employer’s responsibility to contribute to their health and well-being, make sure you communicate that you are a company that prioritizes programs that tackle burnout and improve employee well-being. About the author: Nicole Wolfe, is Head of Corporate Programs at ClassPass.

A Personal Branding Tale Part 3 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

A Personal Branding Tale Part 3 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career You have been in your new role after being promoted for close to one year â€" you have done an excellent job and executed on all tasks. As a result of your leadership your team has exceeded expectations. You have even managed to keep up with your blogging â€" you are well known around the company because many of your colleagues read your blog. While there have been the occasional naysayer you have dealt with it by ignoring the negativity and focusing on the positive. It has worked so far. Through your blogging activities and social networking you have created a reputation as a thought leader in your field. You are respected both within and outside the walls of your company. You have written a few articles for trade magazines and have even been interviewed by other bloggers that thought your ideas would be valuable content for their readers. You have more job security than most people because of your performance at the company â€" but mostly because you have developed and nurtured a powerful social network safety net. If something were to happen and you lost your job â€" you have a strong network to help you. Other mid to high-level managers have reached out to you from different departments of your company and asked for your advice. You have more relationships than most of your colleagues at your company. Through your relationships at the company and solid performance you maintain a high level of influence at the company. Your colleagues listen to you. Then early one morning you are sitting in your office and your phone rings â€" you are surprised that the person on the other end works for your biggest competitor. They have heard about you through your personal brand and would like to meet with you. After a few meetings (on your time) this competitor of yours makes a very compelling offer â€" you have a very big decision to make. You decide to meet with your boss and talk things over to see if they are willing to match or exceed the offer being made to you by your competitor. After a few meetings your company decides to meet the offer being made by your competitor â€" you gladly accept. Your personal brand just helped you receive a raise and a few more benefits at your company. Personal brands have value â€" how much is yours worth? Author: Chad Levitt is the author of the New Sales Economy blog, which focuses on how Sales 2.0 Social Media can help you connect, create more opportunities and increase your business. Chad is also the featured Sales 2.0 blogger at SalesGravy.com, the number one web portal for sales pros, the professional athletes of the business world. Make sure to connect with him on Twitter @chadalevitt.

The Real Reason You Arent Getting a Promotion

The Real Reason You Arent Getting a Promotion You’ve been working hard, and your accomplishments are beginning to stack up. Anyone can see that. But despite your impressive performance, you’re finding that you’re not exactly popular among your co-workers. And the promotion you expected did not happen. What’s going on? Are You Connecting? Or Conflicting? Well, let’s take a look at your communication skills. You’re likely making a mistake or two. Not the kind that outright get you in the doghouse. You’re smart enough to stay away from off-color jokes, racially biased comments, or being overly talkative during a meeting. I’m talking about the kind of communication habits that prevent you from really connecting with people. Every time you interact with someone, you have the opportunity to connect or conflict. And while a missed connection doesn’t always result in outright conflict, you can end up in a neutral zone that eventually affects their evaluation of you. Like at promotion time. We’d like to think that our accomplishments speak for themselves, but that isn’t always the case. Effective communication with the people at work can make the difference when it comes to how you’ll be spending the next year or two. So, connect or conflict. The choice is yours. How To Connect With People at Work Here’s a three-step process to help you make better connections at work. Step 1: Recognize that people have different communication styles The clues to a person’s communication style are in their observable behavior â€" their body language, posture, tone, pace, inflection, volume, and their choice of words. Your fast-paced, loud-talking boss who confidently leans in and always makes direct eye contact has a different communication style than your quiet-toned, relaxed, non-emotional co-worker who leans back in his chair during a conversation. You’ve probably already noticed how different they are. But did you know that if you come on strong, use big hand gestures, and speak forcefully with both of these people, it’s likely that one of them will see you as a decisive go-getter, while the other labels you tactless and aggressive? So notice the different styles displayed by the folks at work. They matter. Step 2: Understand that people have different goals, reactions perceptions Some of us are task oriented, while others prefer to focus on people. Some folks have a need to follow rules and procedures while others want to be in charge. While these differences aren’t visible by the observable behaviors mentioned above, they do affect a person’s communication preferences. If you interact with them enough to determine “I just don’t get that guy!” then your perceptions of the world are likely on opposite ends of the spectrum. Understanding that the folks at work have different goals, reactions, and perceptions than you do puts you one step closer to making a connection. Step 3: Speak Their ‘Language’ Once you’ve identified the differences between you and your fellow communicator, you’ll know if you need to adapt your style at all. You might choose to speed up or slow down your speaking pace. Maybe you should increase or decrease your volume. Perhaps you’ll decide to immediately ask about results and deadlines. Or maybe you’ll choose to chat a bit first about how your teammate feels things are going. Yes, it takes some effort. Maybe even a little planning. But if you consider, recognize, and adapt your differences when interacting with your boss or a co-worker, you’ll improve your connection with them. And next time, youll get that promotion. Image courtesy of pasukaru76.

Personal Finance for Millennial Career Women

Personal Finance for Millennial Career Women No matter what year you were born in, there’s no denying the fact that planning for your financial future is extremely important. For the most part, all is well and good while you’re still young, able-bodied, and healthy. But as depressing as thinking about these scenarios may be, by actually preparing for these things you might just feel a little bit lighter, knowing you’ve planned for your future past your prime. This is relevant to every generation, but it turns out to be a particularly tricky subject for Millennials. Brought up in a period of abundance to (comparatively speaking) wealthy parents, later faced with an economic crash that killed many a hope for a wealthy future. This has left many of them disillusioned, saving money wherever they can, and prioritizing attainable things like experiences and a work-life balance over material things and making it big. Though many negative stereotypes about Millennials prevail, they’ve certainly been dealt a tough hand in life when it comes to financing. The question is: how are millennial career women handling it? Millennials and retirement planning how’s that coming along? There’s no denying the fact that life becomes harder once you’re past your prime. Many people try to prepare for that through retirement planning. In the past, this was easier, as not only did jobs pay comparatively more, but people could also rely on good pensions. Nowadays, pensions are pretty much a thing of the past whether you live in the US or the UK, if you’re young now, your chances for a pension that’s sustainable are low. What with all the cliches surrounding Millennials about how they’re lazy, entitled job-hoppers that can’t get off their damn phones you’d expect that they probably don’t have much planned for the future. After all, living in the now and destroying once-lucrative industries is all they care about, according to the media. However, it turns out that the majority of Millennials actually plan for their retirement in some capacity. Despite being drowning in student loans, many US Millennials actually have quite substantial savings in their 401(k)s more than their Generation X counterparts at that! Despite their lower incomes, they are actually doing a good job in preparing for their financial futures. It turns out that there might actually be something optimistic in store for them, and it’s largely thanks to their own efforts in that regard. How do they do it? It’s surprising how much money can be saved for a good and steady retirement if you only know how to manage your finances. It turns out that most UK and US Millennials actually realize this and are actively working towards making their lives easier in the future. How does that happen? They are very aware of the fact that living month-to-month isn’t sustainable in the long run. Many Millennials carefully analyze their bank statements from the previous months in order to decide how much money they’ll need to spend on essentials during the upcoming months. They carefully consider where they can reduce costs eating out, coffee, unused gym memberships, etc. A good rule of thumb here is the 50/30/20 rule generally, you spend about 50% on your essentials, 30% on flexible desired costs, while 20% is put away for savings. They do their best to get a nest egg. While saving for the future is important, it’s also incredibly important to save for a time of dire need. This may often mean the month is going to be a lean one, but as a result, they are ready to cover any expenses should an accident happen. The best place for this type of fund is an account that allows for instant access if you’re smart, you’ll find one that gives you the best interest rate. They diversify investments. Contrary to popular belief, many Millennial career women do have long-term goals in mind, and in order to achieve that, they often turn to invest capital. The best way to achieve good results here is to have a diverse portfolio right from the getgo, as this helps minimize any potential losses. And while some Millennials definitely do chase after trends, such as cryptocurrencies, many realize this may be too risky a venture at this point and stray far away from investments they don’t understand. They work with a financial planner, such as Responsible Equity Release. With a financial planner, it’s very easy to set up a saving strategy that will help you not only make your life a little easier, but also make your future much more secure. You’ll also gain the knowledge you need in order to make your own sound financial decisions in the future. Will Millennial Career Women be OK? While nothing in life is certain, and Millennials have definitely been given quite the formidable task, it turns out that they deserve a little bit more credit than they’re given. Millennials in the US, UK, and all around the world are quickly adapting to the shifting economic climate and have found ways to make their futures a little bit more certain than they looked just a couple of years ago. With a couple of smart strategies, Millennials are still in the process of getting ready to face that challenges that come with managing personal finances, but they’re doing quite a good job for now.   Are you one of the millennial career women who are on track?

Resume Writing Services in Northern Virginia

Resume Writing Services in Northern VirginiaThere are many professional resume writing services in Northern Virginia. Many of them specialize in a specific industry or group of industries, but the fact is that there are hundreds of companies that offer these services.Because of the enormous amount of resumes and applications that are submitted to one or another of these writing services each year, it is often necessary to hire the help of a professional who has experience in this field. This will save you time and ensure that you do not make any mistakes or get it wrong on your resume.First, remember that you have to be able to read the resume well before you can write it. The information that you submit must be crystal clear and concise. If you do not have the knowledge and skill needed to read it, then you should not even attempt to write one.In order to write a general resume, you will need to know what that means. Generally, this means that you will need to know your goals for th e job that you are applying for. This includes knowing what kind of work you want, whether you want to become a part of an organization or just to move up to a better job.You will also need to know what the company does in the community in which you are looking. Is it an office that is located in an area that is known for being safe? If so, this will affect how you write your resume.How about the knowledge of the technical skills required for the job? Knowing this will help you to express yourself in a more effective way. When you know that you need to communicate technical issues as they relate to the position that you are applying for, you are ready to start writing your resume.The next step is to decide how you are going to format your resume. Remember that you will need to send it in to the company before you can begin writing it. They will then be able to review your resume and determine if it meets their standards.Once you have submitted your resume to a company, the process o f writing the rest of your resume is very simple. They will provide you with a kit containing all of the templates that you will need to write your resume. It is simply a matter of following the steps as outlined in the kit and choosing from the templates that you like.

Interview Follow Up Checklist to Help You Land?More Offers in Your Job Search - Sterling Career Concepts

Interview Follow Up Checklist to Help You Land?More Offers in Your Job Search Interview Follow Up Checklist to Help You Land?More Offers in Your Job Search Knowing how to follow up after one or more interviews can be confusing, even for the most savvy job seeker. Here is a checklist of things you can do to leverage your post-interview activities and potential employer interest. At the end of the job interview: You must always ask what the next step is. One of the most discouraging situations is to believe an interview went well, only to hear nothing back from the company. One way to hedge against this is to get a verbal commitment as to the next steps. If the company says they will contact you no later than next Wednesday, you know you can safely follow up on Thursday when you have not heard back by then. Dont think the worst: If you have not heard back from the company you interviewed with, please dont assume they are not interested in you and never ever act annoyed or defensive. Leave short, friendly, professional messages confirming your continued interest. Use your common sense: Dont pester, but be persistent. Try to use your intuition based on the people and the corporate culture you are dealing with to know how aggressively to follow up after a job interview. Some companies love aggressive post-interview follow up, as it is part of their culture. Other companies might find it off-putting. Leave a great post-interview follow up voice mail: You can say something like: Hi Mr. Brown, this is Mary Elizabeth Bradford. Its Wednesday morning and I am following up on our initial meeting and very excited to connect back with you. I will be in the office all day today; my number is 212-555-1212. Thanks and I really look forward to speaking with you again. Dont tell them you will call again if you dont hear back from them. They may wait for you to do just that! Send a thank you letter to follow up after your job interview: I find that hard mail is much preferred over email for thank you letters. The best way to write powerful thank you/after-interview letters is to mirror, match, and repeat back a summary of key points you discussed in the interview. To do this right, you will want to be taking short notes during your interview. The primary things you want to pick up include their main challenges, the kind of person they are looking for and anything positive they shared about you and your potential candidacy. Keep your letter short under 200 words. Yes, you read that right! Include a P.S. in your interview follow up letter: Do you know what always gets read in a letter? The P.S. or post script. If you have occasion to write one, its a good idea. Just be sure what your P.S. says is meaningful enough. No soft statements like P.S.: Did I mention I am a team player? Send a follow up list of short testimonials: References, endorsements, and testimonials almost always have a greater impact than any other piece of information we can give a potential employer. Thats because they come from a third party perspective, which legitimizes you and authenticates what you are probably communicating with them yourself. It builds trust very rapidly more rapidly than any other way I know. Suffice it to say, having a page of testimonials you can use as a leave behind or attach with a post-interview thank you letter is one of THE WISEST moves you can make in your job search. It will seal the deal, so to speak. These tips have helped thousands of job seekers reach their career goals quicker and more easily, and I know they will help you too. I wish you every success in your job search. Guest post by Mary Elizabeth Bradford, CERW, MCD. Would you like to learn how to quickly and easily get more interviews, shorten your job search and increase your salary? Check out my website www.maryelizabethbradford.com for free articles, free resources and to sign up for my free audio mini-seminar 5 Simple Steps To Find, Focus On and WIN Your Dream Job Starting Today! Job-Search Coach, Internationally Certified Master Career Director and Internationally Certified Advanced Resume Writer Mary Elizabeth Bradford is The Career Artisan. Want to make your next tele-seminar or live event dynamic, memorable and inspiring? Contact me to find out how!

How Not To Lose Money On Side Hustles

How Not To Lose Money On Side Hustles Whether you are looking to set up a trading account or become a freelancer or a contractor for a marketing firm, it is important that you are prepared for the challenges. You might invest money in your business or your property portfolio and see no return, or even make a loss. Below you will find a few tips on how not to get burned when setting up your side hustle in order to increase your earning potential. Know Your Trade Whether you are getting started with property investment or copywriting, you need to first study the market. Be the best version of yourself and improve your skills. You will need to learn how to manage your time and money, keep an eye on your projects, and seek advice. Being professional can help you avoid some of the mistakes amateurs make when starting up a part time business. Learn how to calculate your costs and find funding options. Learn About Your Industry No matter if you are entering a copywriting market or the property investment world, you have to do your research. There are several free online industry reports you can use to find out more about the trends, the most common mistakes, the chances of success, and the regulatory background. You need to know the political, economic, and market conditions of your industry before you decide whether or not your business idea will work. Study the Competition Instead of simply brainstorming and coming up with a business idea, you will have to find a way to differentiate yourself in the competitive marketplace. You must study your competition and offer more value for less if you would like to succeed. Collect quotes, price lists, and feedback scores from companies involved in the industry, so you can find a way to differentiate yourself. Team Up with Experts Nobody is born knowing everything. Chances are that you are not an expert in commercial properties, so why not seek expert advice? There are plenty of great companies offering help with commercial investment properties so you don’t feel like you are shooting in the dark when trying to make the right decisions. They will do the research on your behalf, so you can maximize your profits and minimize your risks.   Invest In Your Education  No matter which business you would like to get involved in to earn money as a side hustle, you will need to invest time and money in your own development. There are fantastic free and low cost courses available that will help you open your horizons and improve your knowledge. Alison, for example, has  a number of great business-related courses; from money management to marketing. You need to learn how to budget and manage your time, no matter what your chosen side hustle is. To maximize your chance of making a profit on your side hustle and reduce the risks, it is important to learn how to gather information and improve your skills needed to succeed.