Are You Really a Good Job Seeker

Are You Really a Good Job SeekerAre You Really a Good Job SeekerIf you are looking to improve your chances of getting a job and become a better job seeker, there are a few steps that can support you in the process. From creating personalized documents to expanding your network, here are six things that good job seekers do during their job search.Up-to-Date and Personalized DocumentsOne of the key things HR professionals look for is current and updated documents. Additionally, they look to see that documents are written in a manner that is professional and personalized to the company and lokalitt being applied for.KnowledgeableGood job seekers are very knowledgeable, not only of their experiences and skills, but also the company and job they are interested in. During the process of communication with the company, good job seekers will know about the company, what they do, and have a general idea of what their desired position will be responsible for and how they can make a positive im pact on the company.Communication SkillsDuring the job search process, communication skills will be put to the test with the use of keywords in the search, through email, in professional documents, on the phone, through video conferencing, and in person. Having the ability to convey clear and concise messages each time is essential.Follow UpThroughout the process of job searching, making the effort to follow up on emails, phone calls, and interviews can make all the difference. Successful job seekers are sincere and polite while ensuring that hiring employers remember who they are and what they can do for the company. Following up is more than answers to questions or a thank you. It shows employers that you have initiative. If youve followed up but still havent heard back, here are five reasons why the employer might not respond after a job interview.NetworkIn todays job market, all good job seekers have an active network that they nurture and work to grow. A lot of jobs are never p ublicly advertised, so through a well-maintained professional network, good job seekers are able to find those hidden opportunities.Professional BrandJust as a good company has adopted a brand, so do good job seekers. Having a personal/professional brand is a great way to get employers interested and to network with the right connections and apply for the best-matched jobs.There are numerous ways to show HR that you are qualified for the job you are applying for. The above six tips are designed to help create a more successful job search process by being prepared when your interest for the job makes it to the HR professionals.If you are looking for more support, there are several job search services that are worth paying for that can increase your job search success.What do you do in your job search that sets you apart and makes you a good job seeker? Share your job search tips with us in the comments section below

Solicit Honest Feedback and Improve Customer Satisfaction

Solicit Honest Feedback and Improve Customer SatisfactionSolicit Honest Feedback and Improve Customer SatisfactionSolicit Honest Feedback and Improve Customer Satisfaction.D. Dave Power III, founder of J.D. Power and Associates, and subject of POWER How J.D. Power III Became the Auto Industrys Adviser, Confessor, and Eyewitness to History(2013 Fenwick Publishing Group)Since founding J.D. Power and Associates in 1968, Ive had the opportunity to work with scores of businesses across all industries. Regardless of the product or service they offer, I could landsee that their success welches inextricably tied to their ability to listen to customers and then make improvements to achieve customer satisfaction.How Customer Feedback Raised the BarIt was sometimes hard to convince managers that an independent survey of their customers was beneficial. Especially in large, entrenched organizations, some individuals were just too invested in the status quo to be interested in change - even if it meant an improved bottom line.Often, I would need to go to the top leadership in order to find the will and courage to shine a light on what the customer was thinking. We would employ a range of strategies to obtain an unvarnished understanding of what our clients customers were thinking.As a result of our findings - and the hard work of the companies who took that feedback and made significant improvements - service and product quality across all industries has taken off over the decades.These improvements have, however, raised the bar of customer expectations, making it necessary to continue to keep close tabs on customer opinions in order to stay competitive.Gather Customer Feedback on a BudgetFor small businesses on a budget, it is not necessary to engage a market research services company like J.D. Power to conduct customer surveys. You can take the principles behind the work weve done and apply them to your own operation in a way tailored to your needs.Here are my top five pieces of advice for achieving customer satisfaction through listening to the voice of the customer1.Something is better than nothingAs long as you are taking steps to engage customer opinion, you can start small and keep it simple. Just asking every customer about his or her experience with genuine interest and concern is important.Consider calling customers for feedback, or sending a short email survey a few days after service was provided. There are now low- and no-cost on-line survey services like Survey Monkey and Zoomerang that are ideal for small businesses.Whatever your means of communication, make sure that the request for participation comes from you as the owner or manager with a sincere appeal for honest opinions it will likely elicit more thoughtful responses and it will demonstrate how important customer satisfaction is to you.2.Set a processMake it a point to collect feedback from your customers at regular intervals rather than sporadically or without clear intent. We found that systematically and directly asking customers for feedback provided the most reliable, actionable responses.Make it a process to carefully look at the information when you get it back. What sort of trends do you see? Do any new ideas to make things better for your customers pop up? Any apparent problems? By making this a sincere routine process you are more likely to give focus to what you need to do to improve your customer satisfaction.3.Dont be afraid to hear the rantsOf course, no one likes to face criticism As a small business owner you pour your time, energy, heart, and money into your business and finding out that customers dont like everything you do can be difficult to hear.Its important, though, to disengage from taking critical feedback personally and instead take an attitude of curiosity and openness. Positioning customer feedback for yourself and your employees as an opportunity to learn whats working well as well as whats not is often helpful.Encourage a spi rit of problem-solving by eliminating the fear of being reprimanded solutions and willingness to improve are what youre after.4.Listen to employeesEmployees are not only your best teammates for identifying strategies for addressing customer concerns theyre also often another resource for learning what the customer is thinking.Ask customer-facing employees to report any feedback they receive in passing. Be receptive to hearing their solicited and spontaneous feedback for how the business is run - but keep it from becoming a gripe session by focusing on solutions and finding ways for them to take ownership of that solution.5.Focus on qualityAdopt the principle of continuous improvement and never lull yourself into the notion that youve addressed all concerns. Look at customer feedback with an eye for targeting where you can continue to make tweaks to improve the quality of your product or service.That is the only way to stay competitive as well-informed, discerning customers exercise their choices. You know its a competitive world and you need to be figuring out what must be done every day to keep getting better.Author BioDave Power is the subject of POWER How J.D. Power III Became the Auto Industrys Adviser, Confessor, and Eyewitness to History (2013 Fenwick Publishing Group), in bookstores now.

How you need to compete in an era of disruption

How you need to compete in an era of disruptionHow you need to compete in an era of disruptionMy Grandfather was a horse trader. Born in 1900, he used a team of horses to move everything, from rocks to lumber. Cars started an era of disruption, but horses still moved the other stuff on ur Wyoming ranch.In 1926 the first Ferguson tractor was built and it wasnt long until that disruptive technology changed my Grandfathers life. Horse traders were out of a job and he had to pivot to keep food on the table. Hed always been a horse trader he had no formal training for anything else. He hired himself out to fix fences until he saved enough to buy a tractor. He used the tractor to put up hay on neighboring ranches. All the while, he saved money to buy more grazing land for cattle.My family still owns the ranch. He didnt have to sell because he believed he would prevail in spite of difficult circumstances. He figured out how to embrace the era of disruption that changed his life forever.Ment al toughness is believing that you will prevail in your circumstances rather than believing your circumstances will change. As a leader, you need to be mentally tough in your response to emerging technology that will alter the way your people live and work.There is nothing you can do to prevent the escalation of innovation and adoption of new technology. Every C-suite executive in the world is asking themselves ansicht questions How to compete in an era of disruption? Can I embrace disruptive technology and use it to squeeze out competition? Should I protect entrenched positions, or re-invent my business?You get it right and your company can successfully compete in todays digital economy. You dont get it right, you lose and move on.Here is how you need to compete in an era of disruption1. Intentionally create a collaborative environmentMore and more CEOs are obsessed with the question of whether or not their companies are truly Amazon-proof. Improved collaboration is essential if th ey want to approach this challenge to maintain a competitive advantage in this era of disruption.This goes against the grain for many of us because of the media, education, and even the way in which we were raised by our parents. From a young age we understand a clear power structure between children and parents, students and teachers, and employees and bosses. This power dynamic disempowers us not only at home and in school, but in the workplace as well.Many CEOs and leaders pay little attention to how they create collaborative environments. In order to build trust, its essential to bring people from all levels of the organization together to have informal discussions and share experiences. The idea of authority needs to shift into a more enlightened way of thinking that brings people together as peers and not just a cog in the power structure.How to make it work for you You may need topersuade your team members to buy into your idea. To be successful, you need more than a title or position to persuade them to accept your agenda. Ask them open-ended questions because it encourages people to give you long form answers instead of a simple Yes or No response. This is where the buy-in begins. Rather than being told what to do, they provide at least part of the solution.2. Grow your companys digital DNA nowThe vermgen benefits of new technologies are tremendous- but so are the challenges as you prepare for their impact. You cannot wait until these technologies emerge before you decide on a strategy. If you wait, it will be too late to capture the benefits or react to the consequences.Its not too soon to grow your companys digital DNA. If youve freed up your valuable IT resources to work on innovation rather than infrastructure, youre already headed in the right direction.Many CEOs are already being challenged by their Board of Directors to make digital technology improvements a priority. They are asking the hard questions that will drive their companys strategy.Ho w to make it work for you Hand over infrastructure to an outsource provider. Let someone else worry about software updates and upgrades. Refocus your limited IT resources on innovation and new technology. Experts predict that zero infrastructure (IaaS) organizations are the future.3. Act like a venture capitalistVCs meet with entrepreneurs and emerging technology companies and finance the ones that appear the fruchtwein promising. They spend a lot of time on research and due diligence for active deals.Think about setting up your own process to support early-stage tech companies. Assign technology scouts from your team who can meet with companies initially and figure out which ones are interesting. If you are a smaller company, look for ones that might be good partners. If youre a larger corporation, look for ones that might become acquisitions.Create a process where you can test and utilize emerging technologies. Discard them quickly if they dont give you a leg up on your competitio n.Experimentation is hard for bigger organizations, since they tend to focus on execution rather than innovation. Innovation requires experimentation, and this is where risk is introduced at a granular level. To counter this risk, you will need to set up an experimentation process.The ability to pick ourselves up when hit with disruptive technology is called resilience. In todays competitive culture, resilience has become a critical skill because it takes more than talent to succeed.The ability to bounce back requires that we learn from our mistakes. When we do, we learn how to take smarter risks next time.How to make it work for you Create a culture of smart risk-taking in your company. Smart risks are small enough that they dont jeopardize the business. Clearly communicate the limits of risk-taking to your teams. Put procedures in place for review to make certain there is no breach of those limits.4. Expand training programsDisruptive technology creates operational challenges. The nature of work will continue to change and the need to upskill your menschenfreundlich resources will only accelerate as new technology replaces many traditional jobs.The advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) is clear the human response is not. Many schools and organizations now embrace teaching through online video or hybrid courses which consist of both online and classroom experiences. Artificial intelligence systems monitor these programs and assess student performance. Employees are also self-training with online material.You will need to maintain a flexible and agile mindset to keep ahead of changes. If not, a crisis can quickly develop.The capacity to say no to the call of temptation and desire to quit is called willpower. It is the ability to find the energy, motivation, and enthusiasm to keep going even when youre tired, anxious, and looking for a way out.How to make it work for you Do not quit when you feel you can no longer deal with a crisis. Instead, find ways to adapt to your new circumstances. Have the willpower to stay in the game but be flexible in your attempt to correct a situation according to your idea of right. Disruptive technology is changing the definition of what is right all the time.This article was originally published on LaraeQuy.com.