COVID-19 has not only changed our personal lives, but it has also changed the way we conduct business.
Today’s focus is how we can avoid the spread of germs.
Ironically, according to Times Magazine, the stapled handshake was embedded in the patient-doctor relationship. Embedded to the point that handshakes between the two happened 83% of the time according to a 2007 analysis.
With that being said, The American Journal of Infection Control revealed that a handshake transfers nearly twice as many germs as a high five.
Now, the handshake is no more, at least for now.
Shaking someone’s hand was the first and last action during a business matter.
“I, myself, always believed the handshake would show me how strong a person is.”
TEC Group’s Social Media Specialist, Hannah says, “No one likes a weak handshake from a potential employee or a boss.”
Now that this world is waving goodbye to handshakes, others are thinking of what the new handshake will be.
We have one word: Bow.
“Personally, I never liked the handshake. Too much touching.” Says Recruiting Manager, Kyle. “The significance given to a handshake is man-made like any courtesy, we have the power to collectively change it and I think we should. I’ve always been interested in the much more reverent and hands-free bow, as exhibited in countries like Japan.”
With that, others show a spark of hope when it comes to a handshake comeback.
Tracy, Senior VP of Specialty Services says, “I think that it will take a while for the handshake to return, but it will eventually. For now, eye contact and a warm smile will have to suffice.”
But, we can’t be too confident while moving forward with the handshake. Samantha, TEC’s Safety/Benefits Coordinator says, “I think handshakes will need confirmation from the other person before you just go ahead and reach out your hand.”
Behavioral-based interviewing is a big term that just means that interview answers should be framed as stories. Hiring managers know that you can tell them whatever they want to hear. For example, you can say, “I’m hard-working and work well with others,” but your potential employer wants you to prove it with specific examples.
One fail-safe behavioral interviewing technique is called the STAR format. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result, which are the steps that each story/ answer should follow.
Situation Set the stage of the story. You don’t have to describe your entire life leading up to the event, but give enough background so that a complete outsider can follow the context. Don’t forget to explain the problem you faced.
“When I was an HR director at ABC Company, we got an important new client that needed 500 pieces completed in two weeks. At the time, our team averaged just 50 pieces a week.”“ABC Dresses was a brand-new wedding dress vendor that was operated entirely by the designer. As part of a team of interns, the designer wanted us to help spread the word about her dresses.”
Task Establish the goal you were trying to reach. Your task should not be a job duty that you routinely performed. Instead, use a specific event or project.
“In order to fulfill in time, I needed to hire at least four new writers before the beginning of the project.”“Our team decided that a social media campaign was the best way to spread brand awareness. Our goal was to reach 1000 followers on each of four platforms by the end of the three-month internship.”
Action Describe what you did or how you achieved the goal. Make sure to focus on your efforts, not the efforts of a team. Help the interviewer see how your brain works when faced with a challenge.
“The first thing I did was make a priority list so that I didn’t neglect my other duties during the hiring process. Then, I deployed the job openings on all avenues I thought would be effective. Additionally, I asked my coworkers to share the openings with anyone that might be a fit. Finally, I organized group interviews to speed up the initial vetting process.”“My job was to conduct market research so we could target the right audience. I identified an appropriate sample group: a nearby college campus. I developed a survey that was short and easy, yet specific and actionable. I set up a booth at the food court for high-visibility to students who had a minute to spare during their lunch. I also brought chocolate as incentives.”
Results Tell what came of your efforts in as quantitative terms as possible.
“Not only did we fulfill our clients’ order, but we also delivered with only a .01% error rate, received five even larger orders from the client in the future, and added four new high-performing writers to our team.”“With the results of my survey, we were able to align our target audience with that of online influencers and interest groups who we partnered with. We reached our goal one week before the end of the internship. The growth velocity we started continued and after another three months, sales increased by five times.”
Listen carefully to the questionAsk for clarification if you’re not sure what is being askedAnswer all parts of the questionTell a storyQuantify your resultsUse examples from past internships, classes, team involvements, community service, or work experiencePrepare multiple answers ahead of time so you don’t draw a blank during the interview
Driving for results: Tell us about a time when there was an obstacle preventing you from successfully completing a project. How did you get around the obstacle to obtain success?Innovative Solutions: Our company is always looking for innovative people who can achieve solutions. Tell us about a time that required a unique solution and how you achieved it.Customer Focus: Give us an example of how you took negative customer feedback and were able to achieve a positive result.Coaching: From time to time we all work with peers who are not performing or doing a good job. How have you handled that in the past?Building trust internally: Tell us about a time where you have worked with an individual who had different opinions from your own and how you handled that.Job satisfaction: Describe an occasion when you had either many or not many opportunities for creativity in your work. How satisfied did that make you? Why? What was the job that made you the most satisfied or dissatisfied with your work? What made it most satisfying or dissatisfying?Pride In One’s Work: In your job at xxxx, what was your definition of a job well done? Do you feel you did a good job? How could you tell? Provide an example. What were the standards for success in your position at xxxx? How did you meet the requirements? Do you have a recent example you can describe? Provide an example of a situation where you knew that a process was being done poorly. What did you do to correct it? How did that turn out?Making Decisions: Describe an instance when you had to analyze and interpret financial or numerical data. Describe a recent problem you discovered in your job at xxxx. What information did you use to identify the problem? Tell me about a complicated problem you encountered at work. What did you do to get a better understanding of the problem?Teamwork: Provide a situation where brainstorming produced differing or conflicting ideas with others. How did the goal get accomplished? Describe a time when you worked with a coworker to come up with roles and responsibilities. Have you ever helped someone come up with an idea? Give an example.Self Awareness: Tell me what areas you excel technically? What technical areas are your weaknesses that you need to improve?
How long have you been staring at that blank page? Well, stop stressing and start filling the page! After all, you can’t edit words that don’t exist. Formatting preferences are subjective, so don’t worry about that until you have the following information written out:
Your legal first and last nameContact information
Phone numberEmail addressPhysical address (or at least your city and state)Job history, starting with your current or most recent position
Start and end dates of each positionNames of employersJob titlesJob responsibilitiesYour achievements in each positionHighest level of education
GPADates of enrollmentName of school or organizationOfficial title of degree or certificationExtracurriculars of noteAny other relevant skills or accomplishments
CertificationsAwardsLanguages
After you have your facts straight, it’s time to think about what your potential employer wants to see. You don’t need to include every job you’ve ever had, just the ones that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. Even if you don’t have all the technical skills, you can demonstrate problem-solving, working well under pressure, taking initiative, etc.
Which person would you hire out of these three resume lines?
Candidate 1: “Manager” Candidate 2: “Managed a team of 14 associates” Candidate 3: “Increased team productivity by 10% by setting individual goals with the 14 associates I managed.”
Even if candidate 1 led an army of 700 to conquer the state of Florida, based on resumes alone, candidate 3 sounds the most impressive. Don’t be like candidate 1! Show your potential employer exactly why they should hire you in as specific terms as possible. Make a conservative estimation where exact data is missing and be prepared to tell the story in the interview.
When you get to the point where you’re not making any more progress, step away and revisit it in a day or two. Colleagues and friends can also lend a fresh eye.
Your resume is the only first impression you get to prepare and deliver in perfect condition. Use it wisely and remember, your recruiter can help you with anything that’s still tripping you up.
Aside from qualifications, like work experience and know-how, employers want their employees to possess certain “soft skills.” Before we tell you what the most commonly desired skills are, let’s state the obvious. Hiring managers tell you exactly what skills they want in the job description. Many candidates only skim the posting before applying and then never return. Rereading the job description carefully before an interview will help you focus your answers around what the interviewer wants to hear.
Leading Change
Embrace and cherish competitionReach for discontinuityBe passionate about achievingHave an energy to deliverDeliver as a way of life (we deliver what we promise)Keep things simpleAct quickly and decisivelyAct with integrity
Leading People
Coach people beyond what they believe possible and give them freedom to actEnsure freedom of informationHold yourself and others accountableDemand, share & reward successGenerate optimism through customer-focused visionMake tough callsBuild only the best teams and develop leadersTreat people with dignity and fairness
The 16 qualities above can be categorized and demonstrated as follows. If you prepare clear examples of how you’ve shown each quality, you will check off almost everything on the list:
Communication — Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message.Driving for Results — Setting high goals for personal and group accomplishment; using measurement methods to monitor progress toward goals; tenaciously working to meet or exceed goals while deriving satisfaction from that achievement and continuous improvement.Innovation — Generating innovative solutions in work situations; trying different and novel ways to deal with work problems and opportunities.Customer Focus — Ensuring that the customer perspective is a driving force behind business decisions and activities; crafting and implementing service practices that meet customers’ and own organization’s needs.Coaching — Providing timely guidance and feedback to help others strengthen specific knowledge/skill areas needed to accomplish a task or solve a problem.Building Trusting Relationships — Using appropriate interpersonal styles to establish effective relationships with customers and internal partners; interacting with others in a way that promotes openness and trust and gives them confidence in one’s intentions.
When you reach the point where you’ve already applied for all of the jobs that LinkedIn is suggesting, you will probably cry. But then remember, there’s no problem that money can’t solve (not really, but there’s a reason you need a job…). Scrounge up thirty bucks and let LinkedIn Premium give you a leg up over the cheap, not-yet-as-desperate competition.
The first thing you can do with Premium is take a look at the cheap shots. You’ll start seeing percentages next to job posts that tell you what percent of applicants for that job you are more qualified than. You get a confidence boost and a chance to drown out your inferiors for just one payment a month!
Premium also conveniently puts your application at the top of the list. Because reading through dozens of applications is not a fun thing to do. Recruiters will be relieved by your “look-no-further” resume saving them from wasting time.
Additionally, you’ll have access to free LinkedIn courses to earn extra certifications. They usually only require watching an hour or so of videos and answering a few questions at the end. It’s a great way to learn and grow your profile, even if you’re not on the job hunt.
When you’re feeling particularly aggressive, you have an allowance of inbox messages and connection requests you can send free of requirements. In case you didn’t know, you can’t just reach out to anyone on LinkedIn without having some kind of commonality, like mutual connections or previous employers.
With your allowance, you can flag down recruiters, fellow university alum, or possible future co-workers in a company you really want to work for. Just don’t be overbearing. You can’t go wrong with mentioning your interest and asking for advice. People like to feel needed.
LinkedIn connects the professional world in a game-changing way. Gone are the days of knocking on doors and hand delivering resumes. The algorithms are to the point where you can get interviews without even applying for a job.
Great tools can be challenging to figure out and utilize to the fullest. Start with these tips and enlarge your possibilities.
The perfect answers to interview questions won’t get you hired if the interviewer is asleep. This is your wakeup call. Use it wisely.
Do you have a name-deflecting brain? If you said, “Not when I have an interview” then congratulations — you are correct. Remembering an interviewer’s name is almost as important as remembering your own. Use that precious information to your advantage. Hypnotize the interviewer with the sweet sound of their own name during the interview (without being over-bearing). They will be more attentive and know that you care about relationships.
How you speak at home is your business as long as certain habits don’t slip out in the office. Vulgar language and curse words act as strong red flags against you in an interview. Either learn self-control or pretend you’re at church with your grandma — whatever works.
Silence is not the enemy. It’s ok to collect your thoughts for a second. What you don’t want to do is speak too quickly and loudly while rambling on without making a clear point. On the other hand, speaking too slowly, quietly, or mumbled will lead to the same result — wasting an opportunity to impress your interviewer.
There’s a difference between being professional and being a hollow shell of a human being. Shocker, I know. If your potential employer didn’t care about who you are, they would’ve just made their decision based on your resume. Believe it or not, interviewers have other things to do and are often very bored during an interview, so don’t waste their time.
During initial introductions, spend a few minutes exploring common interests. You can ask where the interviewer is from or mention something interesting you did recently. People like people that are like them. Show personality, make an impression, and stand out.
Are you ready for the big guns? The questions you ask about the position and company can score you major points. First of all, if you ask the interviewer about their opinions, you get more honest answers and build your relationship with him or her. Your questions also reveal your priorities, interest in the position, knowledge, and preparedness. Use these examples to ask golden questions:
What have you liked best about working here? (You’re interested enough to visualize yourself working there)Would you say that you’re goals are focused more on branding, reach, SEO, or something else? (You are knowledgeable about marketing)Are you friends with your coworkers? (You value relationships at work)Have you found it to be true that this company values honesty? (You prepared by researching the company)
In the end, the interviewer is looking for a future coworker. So, if you help them enjoy the interview, you prove that they’d enjoy working with you on a long-term basis.
Not only does the Jobs tab function as a typical job board, but it also has a pretty cool dynamic with the rest of the platform. Since LinkedIn is for all professional, not just the ones looking for jobs, the top of the Jobs page has a button for you to set your current career interests.
The best part about the career interests settings is that you can tell recruiters that you are either actively applying, casually looking, not looking but open to opportunities, or not open to opportunities. Remember when we established that you can’t apply for all the jobs? Well, this feature helps the jobs find you.
Although your job search status can’t do all the legwork for you, it does give recruiters permission to message you without connecting with you first. Recruiters are constantly searching for the best employees, so if they find you before you find them, the door is open.
Understand that secrecy isn’t guaranteed. Even though your job search status is only visible to paid job posters, LinkedIn doesn’t claim liability if your current employer sees you’re looking for a new job. This downside is rare, but it couldn’t hurt to prepare for a frank conversation with your boss.
Also understand that if you’re actively looking for a job, you still need to apply for specific positions. Bummer, I know, but deploying this resource should speed up the process. LinkedIn helps out by giving employers the option to let you use your profile as your application. This means that you have fewer buggy, redundant, outdated, suspiciously lengthy applications to face.
The rest of the career interests settings are all about what you’re looking for in a job. This includes location, job title, industry, company size, and type of employment (full-time, remote, contract, etc.) If you get road rage, you can even enter your address and limit job searches by estimated commute time.
The more information you enter combined with the jobs you apply for through LinkedIn helps the algorithm make increasingly better job suggestions.
Although you may feel like you already have, you can’t apply for every job. The reality is, companies have dozens of job boards to choose from. Some only post jobs on their own site and still others don’t formally post openings at all. But don’t worry; you didn’t want to suffer through that many applications anyways.
Thanks to LinkedIn, you can advertise your abilities without knowing all of the possibilities. Three main features hold the resources you need to win on LinkedIn: your personal profile, the Jobs tab, and Premium perks. Don’t miss out on opportunities by leaving these digital stones unturned.
Your LinkedIn profile can get stronger the more work you put into it, but at the very least don’t leave any of the major fields blank. A recruiter isn’t going to message you unless they think you’d be a strong contender. Don’t let blank spaces read as big question marks that make them think, “Thank you. Next!”
At this point, I find it necessary to point out that LinkedIn is not Facebook or Instagram for a very important reason. Your profile represents your professional self for the purpose of publically networking. Reserve personal content for those other social media platforms. If personal content on LinkedIn won’t damage your professional persona, it will at the very least distract from it.
Even if you’re happily employed, that might change if your employer doesn’t like how you represent their brand online. Show that you know that there’s a time and a place for different things.
What does your face have to do with your qualifications? Nothing, but it helps people remember you, which is nice when you want to be the one that comes to mind when managers make hiring decisions.
You probably (hopefully) won’t get an offer based on your picture alone, but it can get you passed up. Sloppy pictures bring your judgment into question. Is that how you’ll dress when you meet with a potential client? Do you have something against showering?
Fortunately, technology has come pretty far, so you don’t necessarily need to pay for a professional headshot. Portrait mode on iPhone Plus is giving photographers a run for their money. The type of camera isn’t important as long as the picture is clearly focused.
Find a well-lit (preferably with natural light), simple background. Dress in business casual or business professional attire that’s clean, pressed if necessary, and simple. Comb your hair, trim your beard, or do whatever you do to be well-groomed. Make sure your face is centered and the frame cuts off somewhere between your shoulders and mid-torso. Now smile! Or at least look approachable.
Remember, the purpose is to show your face and not make a bad impression. Please, no car selfies or cropped group photos. If you want to use a picture of yourself that you already have, it better be a solo shot that you didn’t take.
The banner, or cover photo, is a trap. Unless your company has an official branded banner, this picture should be nothing but a simple stock photo of nature or abstract triangles. Ok, you have a few more options than that. The point is, don’t think the banner photo is an opportunity to “personalize” your profile with pictures you would use for your Facebook cover photo. Pick a simple, clean, and non-distracting pic. Pixabay has free, no-strings-attached images, as do a few other sites. But do not leave the default photo; that demonstrates laziness which is the number one trait that you don’t want in an employee.
The bio is your introduction, also known as an elevator pitch. It can be short and include your career passions, objectives, and proficiencies.
It’s not a company bio; that’s what company pages are for. It’s also not a job description; that’s what the experience section is for. Most of all, it’s not an invitation to talk about your personal life.
Ever heard of a resume? Welcome to the experience section. The main difference with LinkedIn is that you can (and definitely should) link your job history to each of your employers’ LinkedIn company pages.
Note: the pages won’t connect unless you click on the exact page from the list of suggestions that comes up when you start typing the company name. If the correct logo appears, you’re all set.
If you had multiple positions with one company, they should appear under the same company section. You’ll input each position as different “experiences.” They should automatically connect as long as the companies are input the same and the dates overlap. It looks better this way because it shows you’re promotable and loyal.
You don’t need to include your babysitting job from 32 years ago, but go ahead and add all of your relevant and legitimate job experience. The job description should be in list-form and focus more on your accomplishments than your daily tasks (see Skills section below). If you can’t remember specific numbers, dates, or titles, it’s okay to estimate within reason.
Inputting a new experience will update the headline under your name at the top of your profile by default. If you prefer a different caption, you can edit it by clicking the pencil under your banner photo.
As with the experience section, connect each of your schools’ pages to each of your relevant degrees. Add the name of your degree and approximate dates of attendance. The description section should be a list of extra projects or organizations you were involved in at each institution. You can include your GPA or test scores if you chose.
Same goes for your volunteer experience. Connect to the pages of the organizations you’ve worked with. Write the name, dates, details, and outcomes of your service role.
This is the place to show off all of your talents and know-how. They can be soft or hard skills like “Marketing,” “Customer Service,” or “Quickbooks.” Add anything you have real experience with and don’t you dare lie.
Endorsements back up your claims with credibility. The more of your connections that endorse each skill, the more valid the skill. You can ask coworkers, friends, or schoolmates to endorse you, but it’s easier to just endorse them first. Go to their profile page and scroll down to the skills section. Endorse as many skills as you have witnessed them demonstrate. They will get a notification and more than likely endorse you back. If someone endorses you first, repay the effort (as long as you’re honest).
If you really want to put it all out there (which you do), there’s a place for any career details you can think of. Your profile can display the languages you speak, the city in which you currently live, your number of connections, your contact info, your resume or other documents, and LinkedIn articles that you’ve posted or shared.
Other highlights include the Accomplishments section which is for certifications, awards, publications, or any concrete evidence of your abilities. LinkedIn even has its own courses for you to earn certifications. Per your request, letters of recommendation from your connections will show in the Recommendation section. The Interest section shows company pages that you follow. Not only will following companies help you keep up with industry current events, but it also shows potential employers that you do.
Working from home can be a big change. And it can take a toll on you!
TEC Group, Inc. is here to weaken the blow of being stuck at home with these helpful tips.
