Thursday, May 28, 2020

How to Create an Employer Brand Video that Stands Out

How to Create an Employer Brand Video that Stands Out With video representing 74% of all online traffic, video content really does rule the internet waves. So it’s no wonder more and more companies are tapping in with employer branding videos to enhance their profile and attract top talent. Employer brand videos are a great way to engage prospecting applicants and communicate your company’s story, brand, culture, and mission in a way that words and images simply cannot. Is there a special formula to getting it right? How about getting it more than right, and standing out? Read our tips on creating an awesome employer brand video, and learn from other company videos who have smashed it. Be concise There is no one-size-fits-all length. Depending on what you want to say and how you say it, varying lengths will work better. But as a rule of thumb, people have a short attention span, so keep it concise and short. It should be long enough to communicate your message, but short enough to maintain engagement throughout the entire video. The best way to do this is to define your message and set out your objectives. Ask what you want people to know/believe/feel about your company after watching the video. By defining the purpose of your video, you can tell your message more succinctly. Show your employees People connect best with other people, so keep it human. Your employees are your biggest asset, they are the DNA of your company, and they will communicate your culture best. Candidates want to know if they are a good match with their potential colleagues, and your video can give a candidate an idea of what your workforce is like. Moreover showing your employees will humanize your company. So how should you direct your employees? You don’t. Be authentic. We all can get nervous in front of a camera so prepare your employees, but avoid being overly scripted, and let your them be themselves. This very simple yet effective video by HM strips it down to just its people, focusing the limelight on the diverse personalities and individual stories of the company. If you want to create a video of employee testimonials, then show workers of all levels and departments this will enlighten candidates of your full workforce. Ask simple questions (no more than 5), and let them do the rest. Here are some questions you could ask: Who are you, what country do you come from and what is your job title? How has your job changed since you started working here? What does your job involve? Do you have any advice for people thinking of applying to work for the company? What’s are the challenges in your job? What motivates you? How has your work been recognized in the company? What is a typical working day for you? What is one of the most interesting tasks you have worked with? What do you like most about your job? What is special about working here? How has the company helped you grow? What was your first month on the job like? This video by Pinterest takes candidates behind the scenes of the company, giving a glimpse of office life through employee testimonials.  Through the individual stories of their employees, we gain insight into the company’s culture, career growth, products, work environment, core values, and company mission All under 3 minutes! Culture With job seekers placing an increasing importance on company culture, it’s important to communicate your culture right. Your company culture is made up of your goals, vision, and values so tell it, show it, express it, and film it. You can do this in a number of ways, perhaps you simply let your people do the talking, or maybe you show your values in what you do, maybe it’s the fun you have around the office, the diversity, or perhaps it’s the change you make in the world. Company culture is unique to each organization, so the best way to communicate it will be unique to you. Just look how Foundation Medicine showed their values in transforming cancer care in this creative yet simply made video.  Their belief is that each patient, story, and employee is unique, and through this simple but clever idea they celebrate individual uniqueness, that together, can collectively “transform cancer care”. Additionally, they engaged their employee by involving their diverse team and tapping into the power of social video with #uniquelyFMI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC6HMMS_RVA Think outside the box We’ve laid out the minimal rules: be concise, show your employees, show your culture. But from here you can run free with how you want to communicate to your audience. Provided that you stay true to your brand and what you represent, you don’t have to be limited to traditional ideas of employer brand videos. Whether your company preaches commitment, people, innovation, fun, or change don’t just say it show it. GE Take GE. Now we don’t expect you to possess anywhere near the budget or means of their scale, but we can all learn from their boldness to bring employer branding video to new heights.  Through a single story, they unite what it is they do and represent. Yes, the blockbuster production is on a scale thats unattainable to most, but your company can find the same emotional appeal with your own inspiring narrative that goes beyond corporate avenues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0qkWRqTdM Medallia Or how about Medallia’s “We Are Medallia” video, a spoof of the Broadway play A Book of Mormon. The video features Medallia employees singing the benefits of working for the company.  A pretty simple concept that brings together their workers to showcase the fun spirited office culture, whilst addressing their benefits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpAvkvuVOFYt=1s Twitter This parody Twitter video about making an employer brand video showcases a cool company that’s not scared to have a laugh at themselves.  The meta, tongue in cheek video also shows you how NOT to make a recruitment video, but beneath the well-executed satire, they still manage to address their missions, values and highlight their roles, benefits, career growth, and international achievements, whilst making us laugh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vccZkELgEsU We can all learn from the masters, but no one knows your brand, culture or story as well as you do, so you need to communicate it best to you. Be authentic, think different, and dont be afraid to stand out.

Monday, May 25, 2020

7 Ways a Journal Can Help Your Career - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

7 Ways a Journal Can Help Your Career - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Keeping a journal might seem like a holdover from your bygone days of tea parties and sleepovers, but this remnant from childhood is anything but childish. Keeping a journal, even if you’re only jotting down a few words or sentences every day, can be an invaluable way to organize your thoughts, keep track of your best ideas and help you advance in your career or your business. First â€" Pick your Journal If you’re like most of us, the idea of buying a journal conjures up images of brightly colored Lisa Frank books with tiny locks and keys that would likely be lost before we had a chance to fill its pastel pages. Go ahead and toss that image in the trash bin where it belongs. For journaling, you need a high-quality notebook that can easily store all your ideas without falling apart. Moleskines, the favorite of authors and entrepreneurs alike, can make a great journal. They come in a variety of sizes, so you can pick up a small one to carry with you throughout the day or a larger one to keep on your desk or at your bedside. Now that you have a journal to use, what purpose can it serve for you? An Idea Storage Facility We all have those great ideas throughout the day â€" when we’re in the shower, when we’re mixing our morning coffee or while we’re driving through traffic. Sometimes our best ideas come to us right as we’re about to fall asleep, or right after we wake up. Having a journal handy to write down those ideas is the best way to keep them safe so you can review them at a later date. Don’t fall into that trap of telling yourself that you’ll remember these ideas. You might think your memory is like a steel trap, but when it comes down to it, we take so much information in during the day that it’s easy to forget even the most important ideas. Studies have shown that writing things down using pen and paper helps memory retention as well, so by writing down your ideas, you can make them easier to remember even if you don’t have your journal handy. If writing isn’t your thing, dictating into your phone or another digital recording device is a great way to keep all of those ideas in one place. It doesn’t help your memory retention quite as much as writing your ideas down, but it can be a useful alternative if pen and paper won’t cut it. A Lesson Teacher In theory, we’re supposed to learn from our mistakes so we don’t make them again, but in reality, that rarely happens. We’re quick to put our mistakes behind us but slow to learn what those mistakes can teach us if we ever do learn at all. A journal can be a great place to write down your mistakes. Once you have them written down, you can analyze the situation, figure out where you went wrong and figure out the best steps to take to grow. You don’t need to double back and fix your mistake. Instead, you need to use it as a stepping stone to grow and develop as a person. A Soundproof Room Occasionally, we all have bad days and just want to walk outside and scream our frustrations at the sky. Unfortunately for most of us, that will end with someone calling the police and you having to worry about a disturbing the peace charge. Keeping a journal provides you with a soundproof room where you can scream, rage and vent all you want without disturbing the neighbors. It’s a safe place where you can get your frustrations out in the open and process them, without worrying about bottling everything up and potentially snapping on the object of your frustrations. This isn’t just good for your career â€" it’s good for your health. One study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that bottling up all your negative emotions can actually increase your risk of developing heart disease and some forms of cancer. Protect your career and your health â€" keep that journal handy and vent often. An Advanced To-Do List We all write our to-do lists, whether on post-it notes or the memo app on our phones. The lucky ones will remember where they put them and actually get them done. For the rest of us, they get forgotten, collect dust and eventually end up in the garbage. Keeping a journal can help you make sure those lists, work-related or otherwise, get done. Creating a bullet journal or a hyper-organized to-do list can help you keep track of all the things you need to do throughout your day, week and even month. It’s essential if you work in a busy or fast-paced environment where deadlines are fast approaching or quotas have to be met. Starting a bullet journal is easy. Some websites might try to convince you that you need a lot of fancy tools or toys, but all you need is a good pen, a journal and something you can use to draw straight lines. Take the time to spend 20 minutes setting up your journal, and if you keep up with it, you’ll never have to worry about missing a deadline or forgetting an important meeting again. A Dream Board We’ve all heard of dream boards. You plan out your next five or 10 years, write it up and put it on a bulletin board or somewhere you’ll see it every day. They’re designed to help turn your goals into something tangible and give you a way to keep you on the path toward them. They inspire you, but if wall or desk space is at a premium, they can also be a great source of clutter. That’s where a journal comes in. Use your journal as a portable dream board. Reserve a few pages for things that inspire you â€" quotes, magazine clippings, pictures or anything else that makes you want to get up and work toward your goals. That way you can keep your inspirations with you no matter where you go. A Step Builder Everything we do has steps we have to follow. Wet, lather, rinse and repeat. Add water, then coffee and then turn the coffee maker on. It’s all a series of steps, and when we’re trying to progress in business, in life or in anything, we have to take the time to figure out how to build that next step. Keeping a journal is a great way to keep your step building in one easy-to-access place. Don’t lose track of your progress by looking backward. Instead, look at the progress you’ve made and use that as a stepping stone to help you move up and forward. An “Out-of-the-Box” Thinker You’ve probably been told to think outside the box your entire life. We’re all encouraged to sit in boxes and think outside of them, but when you spend so much time inside those four walls, it can be hard to get out of them again. Keeping a journal is a great way to encourage your out of the box thinking. When you write down your ideas, you have to go over them again and again as you get them down on paper. This gives you a chance to see the ideas in a different light, effectively encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. You don’t have to write your deepest, darkest secrets in a bright pink, locked journal, but keeping a journal, a notebook or a moleskine with all your ideas, advice and inspirations in it is one the best and easiest ways to help your career.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Accountant Cover Letter Sample - Algrim.co

Accountant Cover Letter Sample - Algrim.co Accountant Cover Letter Template Download our cover letter template in Word format. Instant download. No email required. Download Template Related Hiring Resources Staff Accountant Job Description Sample Accountant Job Description Sample Staff Accountant Resume Example Tax Accountant Job Description Cost Accountant Job Description

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Act Better, Live Better - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Act Better, Live Better - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation is producing the grand finale of a four-part series on personal branding. After months of smart people sharing wise words about blogs, social media and other tactics to network with employers (in this case: casting directors, producers, directors and development executives), about 200 people are gathering in the grand auditorium to hear two hours that might be titled: “The Ugly Truth About Your Reputation,” which is not coincidentally the name of my new book, coming this August. No coincidence about my book title, because this audience is coming to hear me talk for two hours. Just me. Two hours. Hmmm. So, I have been pouring over fresh commentary from the world’s most important people in show business, the decision makers in film, television, stage and online entertainment venues. What I want to pin down is how these moviemakers find lesser-known or unknown actors, select them and give them a career. It’s clear the same rules apply for young managers or college students breaking into business. Whats the secret to a great audition? I caught some huge light-bulb moments from Bernard Telsey who cast “The Normal Heart” and “Catch me If You Can, ” Daniel Swee, of Lincoln Center Theater and Jim Carnahan of Roundabout Theater. Commenting in The New York Times, these casting directors answer this question: “What’s the secret to a great audition?” Their answers are profound for anyone else who is trying to establish a personal brand and find meaningful, well-paying work. Telsey: “When somebody surprises you and takes you to an emotional place that the material is demanding but you wouldn’t have thought of … it makes you want to be in a room with them longer.” Swee: “The key to preparing is spending (your) time … figuring out who this character is.” Carnahan: “One of the biggest traps … is trying to be what we want (you) to be… You’re better off being yourself.” Spend time, figure out the character Personal brands: spend time figuring out who you are. Take assessments, indexes, quizzes, or journal, doodle, leaf through paint swatches at Home Depot, and decide what you would do with your first million. Figure out what makes you laugh, cry, feel engaged, gets you excited and keeps you going.   Learn to express exactly that, all of it. Be you so authentically that revealing yourself gives us goose-bumps, our own light bulb moments and leads us to demand that we want to know you better. Make us feel that our organizations, productions or deals won’t be as great as they could be if we fail to get you on-board. As actors and screenwriters hear from me constantly: I cannot make you better at your craft. I can only make you act and write better in the online and on-ground environments that get you the opportunity to use your skills. Be earnest about improving your skills and relentless about getting visibility for them. For the rest of us non-theatrically inclined â€" don’t dismiss what the casting directors are saying. They could easily be the hiring managers or dealmakers you want to connect with. And, you could be the star they are looking for. Consider every opportunity to communicate an audition for the greatest job you’ll ever have. Author: Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Understanding Biculturalism in a Professional Context

Understanding Biculturalism in a Professional Context Photo Credit â€" Pixabay.comIt may come as a surprise, but most Americans are bicultural As a professional, you probably only use cultural norms from the dominant culture in which you are employed, i.e. American professional culture. Now, arguably, there are a wide variety of “American” professional cultures, from old-school cubicle traditionalism to new age rock-climbing-beer-drinking modernity.No matter which of these you are working within, however, they are all still arguably “American.” We could get even more heady and dive into the depths of what is really “American,” but lets stick with a wider perspective, and focus on how other cultures within America can interplay in the workplace in a beneficial way.The benefits of diversity in the workforce were disseminated widely in 2016, but the benefits of biculturalism remain lesser known. Although overlapping, diversity and biculturalism only intersect on certain topics. Diversity refers to more than just cultural identi ty.For example, diversity can refer only to one’s heritage, which does not always mean that one has the culturally inherited norms of that ethnicity. Diversity can also refer to disability or capabilities, gender, and other characteristic identifiers.Biculturalism, however, solely refers to characteristics, skills, knowledge, and other traits attributed to a culture you were raised in or are acculturated into. Put simply, for example, you might have Latino roots, but were not raised within Latino culture at all, therefore your ethnicity may be Latino, but you are not bicultural necessarily. If you are truly bicultural though, you have a deep understanding of two cultures in a unique way.Biculturalism, then, is the under-appreciated gem for workplace opportunity. For example, the benefits of understanding niche markets as a cultural insider because of your biculturalism are unparalleled. In essence, because you are from a culture, you are often considered an “expert” in the cul ture, and therefore, at minimum, can give insights into tastes, norms, acceptable standards, interest levels, and so on.For example, as a Latino you might better understand if an advertisement for a certain product is insulting to other Latinos The benefits of biculturalism logically should run parallel with the benefits of being bilingual, diversity, and intercultural connections. Hence, being bicultural provides a strong opportunity for success. You never know, understanding your own biculturalism may even get you promoted, or land you your next job!

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Exploring The Easiest Ways To Build A Website

Exploring The Easiest Ways To Build A Website Getting by in the world of modern business is impossible without a website. Missing out on loads of opportunities, those who choose to ignore this area will usually regret it in the future. A website gives you the chance to share information, draw in more customers, and, above all else, dominate a space which is open to everyone. Of course, though, when it comes to actually building something like this, most people don’t have any idea where to start. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the easiest ways to get this sort of work done, along with showing you exactly where each one will excel. A Developer For a lot of people, simply paying someone else to handle this work for them will be the most obvious answer to this sort of challenge. When you’re running a business, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a huge amount of time to spend on something like this, so passing it onto someone else makes a lot of sense. There are loads of developers to choose from out there, with websites like www.freelancer.com being the perfect places to find them. Of course, along with this, you could also consider the idea of going to a company to help you out, though this will often be a lot more expensive. The Pros: Going for an approach like this will almost always result in a very professional website. You will have the chance to dictate exactly how you want the pages to look, while also having access to the insight of someone with a lot of experience working on the internet. Of course, as one of the biggest benefits of this sort of approach, it’s impossible to ignore the ease which will come out of it. Altogether, this makes for a very promising way to get yourself online, but it doesn’t come without its problems. The Cons: When someone else builds a website for you, you will be reliant on them for a long time. Making small changes will be hard when you don’t know how everything was put together, and it could take your company a long time to get things done when they are busy. Along with leaving you to rely on a developer, taking this sort of route is very expensive. A huge amount of time has to go into making a website, and you will have to pay for all of it, with professional rates being much higher than a lot of small companies can spare. A DIY System Currently, WordPress is the single most popular way to build a website which is accessible to all kinds of people. The tools themselves are completely free, and you need only pay for a hosting account to get yourself started, making it much cheaper than paying a developer to help you. Along with this, WordPress sites are much easier to work with than a lot of the other systems out there, with the entire system being put together for use in loads of different environments. Below, you can find some of the pros and cons for this sort of route. The Pros: Thanks to its ubiquity, there are hundreds of guides around the web which can help you to get started with WordPress. This makes it very easy to break ground on the site you’d like to make, without having to put loads of money into studying or getting help from someone more experienced. The system is incredibly stable, and there are loads of themes and plugins available for it which limit the work you have to do to putting together the pages and making the whole thing look good. The Cons: Of course, though, if you’re not very good with computers or simply don’t have much time, getting to grips with WordPress could be a challenge. You will have to learn as you go, using guides which aren’t always up to date, and a lot of people will find this frustrating. Being one of the most popular platforms for website building, WordPress has a lot of viruses being produced for it, and this can create huge problems if you ever find yourself infected with something which is hard to get rid of. Something In Between For those who don’t like the options above, you could consider the idea of using something a little more specific. Companies like www.contractorwebsites.com have made a strong name for themselves in recent years. Giving you the chance to skip most of the work by starting with a template which is already relevant to your business, this sort of tool will make the process faster than both hiring a developer and making the site yourself. Of course, though, like the other options, it comes with some downsides which are worth considering. The Pros: When you choose to use a product like this to build your website, you will be starting yourself off in a really good position. The people running these companies have a lot of experience in their field, and know exactly what your website will need, making it easier to design it. Along with this, it won’t cost anywhere near as much to go down this sort of route as it would to have a developer work on the site for you. The Cons: Unfortunately, while it will be faster and cheaper than a developer, you won’t get quite as much freedom using a system like this. Being limited to certain business types, a lot of assumptions will have been made about the sort of site you need, and this will close off a lot of the options you would have had with WordPress or a developer. For some, this won’t matter too much. For others, though, it could be make or break, and you may have to look towards another route to get your site made quickly. Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start looking at the website options available to your business. There are a lot of people out there with the skills to help you with this sort of work, but you will still have to do a large amount of the legwork for yourself.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Java Developer Resume Sample

Java Developer Resume SampleIf you are interested in a job as a Java developer, a resume should be your first step to getting an interview. However, you must understand that it is just one part of your application. To have the best chance of being hired, you must make sure that your resume is polished and professional.There are a few tips for writing a great resume. Your aim should be to highlight all the relevant points while avoiding unnecessary details. Try to list all your skills and experience, rather than simply listing your job title. A good resume will not only describe you, but also show how you can add value to the company.A resume may sound easy to write, but it is not as simple as it looks. Many prospective employers view resumes as a formality - and they don't even care how they look.A well-written resume can help you stand out from the crowd of candidates who have applied for the same job. A resume contains facts and figures, and offers an overview of your skills and ex pertise. Make sure you showcase your writing skills, using word craft and vocabulary to define your position.You can find a lot of Java developer resume sample online. You can use them as a guide and build up your own resume style. But the real challenge lies in making your resume stand out among the rest of the applicants.You need to have a format for the resume, and make sure you use it effectively. Try to avoid writing too much, since this will not only take up more space, but will also be difficult to read. Write a strong first impression and a message about your skills and experience, and then move on to the other details.A great resume has the structure and organization. You need to organize your resume in chronological order, and start with your job title. You also need to separate your experience from your duties, since the job you hold is different from the tasks you perform.