How to Decide Between Two Quality Candidates

How to Decide Between Two Quality Candidates High-quality talent is hard to come by. If you’re lucky enough to have two equally qualified candidates competing for the same role, you’ll need to act fast if you’re going to secure your top choice. Before you begin to look at new ways to assess your final two candidates, it’s helpful to explore new data from the  Office for National Statistics  so you can make an objective, informed decision. Current UK employment market Employment has continued to rise  over the last five years, with the private sector taking the largest share of professionals. The market has also seen a large influx of self-employed individuals with niche, specialist skills. Interim and temporary employee numbers have soared from just 14,000 to 4.80 million year-on-year, meaning that finding and keeping a highly skilled individual for a permanent in-house role is harder than ever. Employment rate is 74.9%, the highest since record began There are 115,00 more private sector professionals than in December 2016 70.4% of women are in workâ€"the highest rate since records began Although 56% of financial services firms recently stated that they were hiring for permanent finance and accounting professionals, the FinTech sector growth spurt is adding hiring pressure. Traditional firms are losing skilled talent to start-ups, who are perceived to be more fresh and innovative. The  digital transformation  that many workplaces are currently undergoing means that nearly half of businesses (46%) are creating new teams and a third (31%) are hiring new technology professionals. Almost a third (32%) of HR directors have said that they’re increasing the number of administrative and HR professionals within their company. The need to maintain service levels and manage digital communications has meant that these roles are becoming key to economic growth. Skills shortage in the UK Determining how to choose between two candidates for a job isn’t the only concern that businesses face.  Our research  shows that 92% of HR directors are finding it a challenge to source skilled professionals. When you combine that with  longer hiring times, acting quickly and decisively when making your choice becomes a top priority. To navigate the technology talent shortage, a third (33%) of finance leaders say they plan to launch upcoming transformation projects with the help of temporary or interim professionals. Compliance, accounting, and business/financial analysis remain some of the harder roles to fill within the accounting and finance sectors, due to changing regulations and reporting standards. When you look at the hiring landscape as a whole, it’s not hard to see why having two highly skilled candidates to choose from is a rare luxury. But how do you determine the better fit? Choosing between two equally qualified candidates Although there are plenty of tried and tested interview techniques, being torn between two job candidates means you’ll have to use new ways to assess what a ‘good fit’ looks like. 1. Look at the long-term Immediate needs may feel more pressing, but don’t forget to look to the future when choosing between two candidates for a job. Businesses are changing rapidly to  negotiate the digital shift, so it’s worth considering which candidate suits your business’ long-term plans. Assess which candidate displays a wider range of useful technical skills, an interest in learning and development or good leadership potential. 2. A company culture fit Finding the right fit for your  company culture  can mean the difference between an employee who stays until that ‘new job excitement’ wears off, and one that integrates faster, performs better and stays longer. Our research into happiness at work  showed that employees who felt they had good relationships with teammates were 2.7 times more likely to be happy on the job. From this perspective, the right candidate will bring a healthy mix of appropriate temperament to the team dynamic, as well as skills. 3. Interest and enthusiasm When you think back to your meetings with both candidates, which of them seemed the most engaged throughout the process? Who asked questions and seemed the most inspired? Which candidate was the quickest to follow-up with you after the interview? Recalling details like this can help you gauge which candidate wanted the position more. Still can’t decide? If you’ve used all these assessment methods and still can’t decide which candidate to hire, then you might like to consider hiring both. Due to a depleted candidate market, finding two great candidates is a rare opportunity to grow your business with quality talent. If the decision to hire both is supported and sustainable long-term, ensure that you differentiate each role, making them independent from one another, so each employee feels like  their contribution makes a difference. Once you’ve made your decision, take a few extra steps to really  impress your preferred candidate to get them on-board swiftly to ensure they don’t opt for a competing offer. About the author:  Phil Sheridan  is the managing director for Robert Half International’s UK operations where he is responsible for leading the organisation’s strategy and direction across more than 20 office locations.

Lost In Translation 50 Words That Dont Translate

Lost In Translation 50 Words That Dont Translate I admit it.  If I watch the SuperBowl at all, its for the funny commercials.  But sometimes the advertisers turn out serious ad campaigns that go so completely wrong, laughter is the only payoff.  Translation fails produce some gross, funny, and sometimes shocking results. Heres some classics stumbles when English just didnt make the translation to the foreign audience. English got milk?  became  Are You Lactating? in Mexico. English Come alive with Pepsi! became  Pepsi bring your ancestors back from the dead! in Chinese. English The Jolly Green Giant became    Intimidating Green Monster in Arabic English  Schweppes Tonic Water became    Schweppes Toilet Water in Italian Thats a pretty narrow market, dont you think? Ill pass on this one. And we dont want to leave out fruits and nuts . . . Roasted monkey what?? Actually, I prefer my bananas with the bone in. And some English words have no foreign equivalent.  Spam, pimp, and facepalm, for example, have simply been imported into other languages because theres no similar term.  Which gets one to wondering, how many foreign words are there that dont translate into English well?  Surely, there are hundreds. All very good reasons to brush up on the native tongue of those summer destinations you have in mind.  A slap in the face could be the least of your worries! Weve come up with 50 odd, strange, unusual, and sometimes humorous ones for your afternoon tretar break . Infographic courtesy of MorningTrans   What? Magnus

What success looks like at 20, and 30

What success looks like at 20, and 30 Women in their 20s have an advantage over men in their 20s because all men want to sleep with women in their 20s. And women have power over men who want to sleep with them. I remember having this power. The first time I wrote about it my editor had to call the magazines lawyer. Now its pretty well understood by women that its easier to get stuff done in the office when everyone wants to have sex with you. There is even science to back up the recommendation that women should flirt at work to get ahead. And there is precedent that when you are in a meeting with a smart young woman, you can switch it to a date if you feel like it. Women know this is the rule, and theyre on their toes at all times. So I was floored when this ABC newscaster got fired  for writing that she gets better interviews when the person shes interviewing has a crush on her. I like her honesty. Its a joke that she got fired for writing it. And part of me thinks that she got fired, really, for writing that sometimes she does interviews bra-less. The person who fired her is probably a guy who asked her out and got turned down. When I was clicking through links about the woman at ABC, I found a paper by economist Alvin Roth concluding that it is impossible to be happier than your spouse. This makes sense to me. All the research about what makes a happy marriage suggests that the marriage is a team. There needs to be a clear division of labor, for example. When couples know who does what chore and they dont have to discuss it, the couples are happierregardless of who does more. (And, seriously, we all know the wife does more, even if shes the breadwinner.) There needs to be a team agreement on how to fightJohn Gottmann calls this fighting fair . And there needs to be a team agreement on who is taking care of the kids (And the most statistically reliable solution for keeping a marriage together is the woman stays home with the kids.) So what I realize is that I needed to make a big shift in my life: from thinking that men are useful tools for getting where I want to go, to men being potential teammates. Its a more difficult shift than I anticipated because if youre really good at work in your 20s, then you are probably already leveraging your ability to make men nuts over you. And if you are really good at marriage in your 30s then you are leveraging your ability to be a good teammate and care about the guys feelings. When I was winning the career game in my late twenties and early 30s  I didnt realize  that the game changes when you have kids. In my 20s I was running Internet companies and making tons of money and I was great. I was not great at school, but I was great at work, and I had a career that people respected. And the interesting thing about school is that in your teens you are on top of the world if you are great at school. But the game changes in your 20s and school doesnt matter. Work matters. That was good for me. Then I needed to have kids. I literally just woke up one day and wanted kids. It was like a brain implant or something. So I hired a headhunter for $10K to find me a husband and then I married someone I already knew. And then I had kids. And then you know what happens? It doesn’t matter if you had a great career. Because the world of husbands and kids is about keeping things together. Did you get a husband who makes a lot of money? Great. You can stop working if you want. Did you get two kids before your eggs dried up? Great because fertility treatments are  largely ineffective for older women. So the game in my 20s was to have a great career. And I like to win, so I played that game. Then I realized, sometime around  when my first husband was asking for a divorce,  that if I didn’t pay attention to my family I wouldn’t have one. And that’s what matters in this next part of life. I don’t want a big career and no family. And I don’t want to have to choose, but really, you do have to choose. I miss the time in my 20s when I was hot and young and all I needed to do was get some guy to take me to dinner and I could reengineer my career. There is no grand solution or a magic formula to avoid problems in adult life. But there is a sense of knowing whats coming and being ready for it. So women who have grand careers in their 20s can be a little less smug about success, and little less guilty about leading men on at the office. And women in their 20s who cant figure out a career can find solace in the fact that their time will come. 6 Things to do in your 20s to make your 30s good

Why You Are Attracting The Wrong Men

Why You Are Attracting The Wrong Men In Sex and the City Season 2 Episode 13, Carrie decides to see a therapist at the encouragement of her friends, who are sick of hearing her talk about Mr. Big. Upon hearing of her misadventures in dating, the therapist says, “Well, the thing they all have in common…is you. Maybe you’re picking the wrong men.” After the session, annoyed, Carrie tells her girlfriends, “I do not pick the wrong men! They pick me!” But at the end of the episode, we see that Carrie has indeed partnered with another ill-suited mate. Why does this keep happening?   FEAR. Fear of anger, fear of abandonment, fear of commitment, fear of intimacy…these are all real fears. As Best-selling author  Elizabeth Gilbert  recently said  to  Oprah,  Your fear is the most boring thing about youits just  the one we all got wired with when we came in. Dont listen to it. Onward! Take the following analogy:  Selective Listener : Inaccurate Info :: Selective “Emotioner”: Absent Authenticity Some people are selective listeners; they only hear the information that they desire to hear, which is often inaccurate and not the entire story. Selective ‘emotioners’ (not a word, I just made it up for this analogy), are similar; they only experience some feelings, (so they don’t get burned), and are maybe preventing getting hurt but are also missing out on being their true, authentic self. Reversing ingrained behaviors takes awareness, reflection, and work. Be patient with yourself as you gather up the courage and willpower to break the cycle of acting out of fear. Once you are acting as your strong self (instead of as your afraid self), you will stop attracting men  who are wrong for you. To combat your fear of anger: If you used to be the agreeable people pleaser, visualize yourself speaking confidently to your partner or to a family member. You might even write down what might happen if you don’t drop this bad pattern. Could you be unhappy? Would you weaken your sense of self-respect? Identifying the unpleasant penalties associated with NOT finding your voice can be the push you need to STAY empowered in each of your interpersonal relationships. Eradicate your fear of trust:  I found an awesome cartoonist’ depiction of what this looks like, titled “To Love At All.”  If you had a partner that lied or accused you of lying, imagine a relationship with openness and trust. What things will he say and do that will make you feel safe? You may even reflect on the consequences of avoiding committment. How would it make you feel if your partner did not 100% trust you? Coming face to face with the result of what an uncommitted relationship looks, feels, and behaves like can be the upsetting fodder you need to ensure you cultivate healthy  reliance in your next relationship. In order to attract the right kind of guys, fears  of not being good enough or undeserving of love must be banished. These might be potential ways you are self-sabotaging. You must meet them, halt them, and stay your strong, confident, kick-ass self! From a self-assured place you will attract the perfect guy  for you who knows, maybe he will be  an Aidan ?? How do you stay empowered? Paint? Workout? Tell me for a RT! @kellymc247 Columnist Archive Image 1, Image 2,  Image  3, Image  4

Resume Builder For Free - The Secrets of Finding the Most Powerful Resume Builder For Free

Resume Builder For Free - The Secrets of Finding the Most Powerful Resume Builder For FreeIt's easy to find a resume builder for free, but where do you find a good one? There are plenty of them available on the Internet, so where do you go from there? I will show you how to find the most powerful resume builder for free.So what is a resume builder anyway? In order to build a killer resume, a person needs to have a few different pieces of information that they can use. The first piece of information would be their skills and the second would be their education. The skill that you want to include in your resume is a requirement and you will need to have it.Another requirement would be the job that you're resume is for. If you're looking for a job in marketing, your resume should be tailored for that field. A good way to get this information is by creating a 'company profile' within the software.This will allow you to narrow down the field of potential jobs that you're applying for. You will want to use these 'skills' as a guide to help you through the rest of the process. Once you get into the process, it's not difficult to build a good resume.Now, if you're going to use a resume builder for free, the next step is to do some work. Your software will give you a template for a free resume, but it won't be the one that you end up using.It might seem easy enough to get started with a free online resume, but the reality is that it is very difficult to construct the most effective resume for free. Your templates are usually very basic and it's impossible to fully customize them. This is why you need to use the right software.For the best results, use a good software. You want to find one that has great features that will allow you to get the most out of the program. Also, make sure you make the most of what you paid for, because there are all kinds of places that will provide free resume builders.Make sure to get the best resume builder for free before you spend any mo ney at all. Your free resume builder is useless if you don't know how to use it properly.

Handling salary questions during an interview - Sterling Career Concepts

Handling salary questions during an interview Handling salary questions during an interview To start, try to deflect the question. Explain that salary is not your top concern and that you are focusing your search on identifying the right opportunity. If pushed further, it’s critical at this point to provide a range: “The positions for which I’m interviewing are in the $70-80,000 range.” By addressing the topic this way, you are not locking yourself in to a dollar figure. I’ll explain why this is important. If the maximum of the salary range for a given position is, for example, $80,000, and you answer with a firm dollar figure of, say, $85,000, you’ve just potentially priced yourself out of the job. On the flipside, for that same position that pays a maximum of $80,000, if you answer that you’re looking for $72,000, you’ve potentially just left $8,000 on the table, because Human Resources or the hiring manager may note your answer of $72,000. At that point, you or the recruiter working on your behalf may have an uphill battle to push any forthcoming offer higher. I speak from experience. I encountered this scenario numerous times as an executive recruiter. It can be quite damaging if a recruiter is trying to negotiate an offer for X, but the hiring manager heard the candidate personally say he or she would take, for example, $5,000 less than X. The problem could’ve been avoided if the candidate had answered the question using a roughly $10,000 range. One last piece of advice: if you are working with an executive recruiter and slip during an interview, forgetting to answer a salary question with a range, tell your recruiter. Don’t try to hide or gloss over your mistake. He or she needs to know what you said in order to effectively negotiate any forthcoming offer. We coach our clients to ace the interview. Call or email for details.

Speaking of mistakes... - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Speaking of mistakes... - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Danish physicist, Nobel prize winner and all-round nice guy Niels Bohr once said this: An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. Remember that the next time someone calls themselves an expert. And, yes, I do it too :o) Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related