Is Your Website Helping You Attract Talent

Is Your Website Helping You Attract Talent Websites have been around as long as emails, and have been declared dead as many times. But they still hang in there and every company still  needs to have one. Nowadays, people will search the net for information before  making most decisions just look at the popularity of review websites like Tripadvisor and Glassdoor! It goes further than though when people want to move jobs, they are certain to browse  a companys presence online to decipher whether theyd like to work there. In addition, an attractive careers page  is often the funnel for  engaged  candidates to express their interest and apply.  How do you design and build an effective website for your organisation? Ive had a chat with Keren Lerner  to get some answers. Have a listen to the interview on iTunes, SoundCloud or keep reading for a summary. With social, mobile and apps why do we still need websites? Well, I guess two reasons. First of all, assuming that your website is well-planned and well-designed, and youve written really great succinct copy, your website is where you can express whats unique about your business. And you can divide up the information in a way that makes sense for how you want other people to experience it. Its where you can have complete control of how you are perceived. When it comes to social media like Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook, they complement the online presence that you have, but they are not something you can completely control. You cant control the interface. You cant control if theyre going to shut it down one day, and the content thats on those websites is not really owned by you or hosted by you. Its on their servers, so anything could happen. In comparison to social, websites can be seen as very static. How do you drive engagement on a website? If you have well-written headlines, that will be the reason why people will arrive at your website because youve got a blog and youve shared your blog articles with well-written headlines, and then once they are there, they will be able to explore, look around, and see what else you do. The other ways to drive engagement on a website and make it less static is by having compelling messages where you ask thought-provoking questions, you highlight links to pages that answer the biggest questions that people have. And you can always build in the commenting feature that you have on social media sites into websites. Youve probably seen comments on blogs and on some websites. Theres quite a lot of conversation that happens between people after theyve read a particular blog post within a website. And you can host videos as well. Videos give a lot of movement and enticement to websites. What are some of the common mistakes you see that companies make with their sites? One of the biggest mistakes people make Im sure everybody is guilty of this in some respect is just putting it up and forgetting about it, thinking that your work is done once youve launched the website and then not thinking about your website very often.  Another one is thinking that you can do it yourself, make your own website when you dont have any sense of design or attention to detail. You have to be quite honest with yourself on how good you are at that sort of thing. How long does it normally take to build and launch a new website? From the first briefing meeting where we know everything we need to know to get started on the design, its between one and two weeks to start to show initial designs, and then for tweaks on those designs, a couple of days. Once those are decided, inner pages between one or two weeks again, and then the coding part, two to three weeks to coding and content entry. If the client is really efficient, then we can get most average-sized websites 15 to 20 pages with a blog and WordPress launched within about two months. But sometimes delays occur because people need to ask around or they are not sure about something or they need time to write the content. Theyre not sure about outsourcing it to a copywriter. Those are the things that delay projects. So two to three months is average. What is  the structure of a good and effective company website? I  like to always have Home, About, Blog, and Contact as main links. Although you could vary the name of the About page to About Us, About and the company name or Who We Are, that sort of thing. I like to have a Meet the Team page, if there is a team. I think its important to show the people who are in the business because thats one of the things most people are curious about when they visit websites. They click on the Team page, and they want to see the person that they know. And then when it comes to services that the company has, it depends on how many there are, but if you can group them into categories and put them into the main navigation, it gives more of a sense of what the company does rather than just having a generic word Services. So for example, if the company is a consultancy company and they specialise in investment banks, instead of just saying Consultancy, they could say Consultancy for Investment Banks. How can you show the return on investment on a website, and what are the metrics for it? I meet many people who go, Dont look at my website. Its terrible. Dont have a website youre embarrassed by. So thats the first measurement.  I guess the second would be traffic. So you can measure whether theres an increase in traffic to your content, to your website, to your website pages in your blog posts through Google Analytics which is a free tool from Google. And then the next way to measure it is your conversion. So how many people are responding to the calls to action you have on the website? How many people are getting in touch via the contact form on your contact page or going to your most important case study or reading the blog post you want people to read or just picking up the phone and calling you? What are the best website technology platforms? Well, we really do like WordPress. We specialise in WordPress. I suppose if you speak to different coders and developers, theyll all say their favourite is the best one but from our clients point of view, when weve had clients whove come to us with websites that were coded in some bespoke system or on Joomla or Drupal, theyre always complaining about how difficult it is to update. So WordPress is not that way, though theyll be people wholl say, For me its really annoying to update. You have to learn a few skills to do that, but once you learn the ins and outs of it, its not difficult at all. Its very flexible. Follow Keren on Twitter @TopLeftDesign  and be sure to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast. Top  image: Shutterstock

5 Tips to get Your Candidates in to the Digital Marketing Game

5 Tips to get Your Candidates in to the Digital Marketing Game The digital marketing industry is growing, and with it are the number of employment opportunities available. However, while there are more roles to fill than ever before, brands and agencies are only hiring the best candidates.  As such it has never been more important for candidates to be equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills to be successful in their next interview, role or promotion meeting. Arisara Quinn, HR Talent Acquisition Manager at leading digital marketing agency, Search Laboratory, offers expert advice on how to ensure your next candidate is destined for success in securing a progressive career in digital marketing. 1. Knowledge of the latest industry news and trends is crucial The digital marketing industry is fast-paced and a major part of staying ahead of the game is to live and breathe the field in which you want to grow and develop., Making sure candidates are following suit and can demonstrate their knowledge of current trends and the latest news is a key aspect of helping them to secure a new role. Encourage candidates to proactively read industry publications and keep on top of news relating to the wider field of digital as part of the recruitment process to help them shine through in interviews. This is particularly important for those looking to kickstart their career in digital, as they are not keeping up with trends as part of their day to day career. Sharing across industry publications such as The Drum and Search Engine Land so they can brush up on their knowledge may be the difference between getting an entry-level job, and not. 2. Put data in the driving seat Being able to analyze and interpret data is one of the most important skills to master in digital marketing in general, but particularly so for paid media roles. If you are advising graduates at the very start of their digital marketing careers or working with those looking to move into paid media after a career elsewhere, it’s vital to make sure that they can demonstrate their analytical skills. Have your candidate prepare real-life examples of where they have analyzed large data sets to solve solutions for their interviews, as this will help hiring managers to assess their ability to work with data and encourage them to show initiative by identifying how they would use data to improve a current problem the recruiting company or industry has. 3. Get industry-specific training and qualifications Having industry qualifications is a big tick for hiring managers, and getting the right qualifications will set your candidate apart from others in the application process. First-time or entry-level candidates can complete online courses and take exams, some of which are completely free and widely recognized. It’s all about your candidate showing commitment to their career, and by taking qualifications outside of their day-to-day remit they undoubtedly demonstrate their keen interest and dedication to the industry. Google has free short courses so candidates can become certified in Google Analytics, a platform that applies to almost all areas of digital marketing, and Google Ads which is extremely relevant for paid media. Other platforms like Digital Garage, which offer digital skills tutorials for all levels, can help candidates to understand digital solutions, which may help during the interview process. 4. Find and engage with digital influencers There are more influencers in the world than the Kardashians, and it pays for your candidates to be following, engaging with, and sharing content from digital marketing influencers. Not only can this broaden their knowledge of the industry and help them keep on top of trends, actively engaging and sharing their own take on news and insights shows genuine interest in the field and helps them to build their online thought leadership profile. Some good profiles to follow include: John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google Mary Haynes, Owner of Mary Haynes Consulting and expert on E-A-T in SEO (Expertise, Authoritativeness Trustworthiness) Barry Schwartz, Owner of Search Engine Roundtable. 5. Demonstrate an ability to deal with difficult situations Being an effective problem solver is a sought-after trait in many industries, yet few are able to thoroughly illustrate how they fit this skill set in an interview situation. Ensure your candidates are well versed in being able to relay multiple situations where they have faced a tricky problem and were able to successfully overcome it. Digital agencies are fast-paced and those working in digital marketing need to be able to communicate and build relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders of all seniorities. Candidates who can eloquently demonstrate their client-handling and rapport building skills will be looked more favorably upon by hiring managers than those who cannot. Working in digital is an exciting place to grow a career as it is an ever-changing landscape with constant updates, new methodologies and evermore streamlined ways of working. Although there are more jobs available than ever, standards are high, and competition is stiff. Helping your candidate to sell their experience and skills in a relevant way will ensure they are successful in securing that role and prospering in their careers. About the author: Arisara Quinn, is an HR Talent Acquisition Manager for Search Laboratory. Arisara is responsible for finding and recruiting new team members for both the Leeds and New York offices.

How a Premier League Football Team Kicks Goals on Social Media

How a Premier League Football Team Kicks Goals on Social Media How do you create amazing content to engage a  global audience thats full of completely unique individuals, with different interests, ages  and locations? Each and every brand and company will have its own set of challenges but as they say, with challenge comes opportunity! Take  Arsenal Football Club; an English professional football (soccer) club based in North London, that plays in the Premier League, aka the best level of English football. With  over 50 million followers on social media, their editor has his work cut out for him! How do they it? How does the team bring their online presence to life for such a diverse audience?  I’ve spoken to Chris Harris of Arsenal to get the full score. Have a listen on iTunes, SoundCloud or keep reading for a summary of our conversation. Tell us about Arsenal F.C. and what you do there, please? Arsenal Football Club is a Premier League club. We go back to 1886 and are currently under Arsène Wenger, who is just past his 20 years in charge. Its a very historical, a very successful club, a very traditional club in the English Premier League. I run the editorial team and I look after Arsenals digital content so the website, anything you see on social media, would be my remix. Tell us about your social and digital strategy I suppose  the overarching strategy, its a pretty traditional model that to reach, to engage and to monetize within that its video first, its mobile first, more and more. But I suppose as well as that, I should point out we have a multi-platform approach. We deliver content where our fans are, that could be across any social media channels. But we have a digital membership as well. We have a unique content proposition on our owned channels, arsenal.com, ArsenalPlayer. We show our highlights, our live press conferences, our live match day shows, big events as well, exclusive interviews. But we have to understand that we can build up that number but at the same time youve got to have a strategy for every single churn that will going to where the fans are. You have to be present everywhere and you have to have a different strategy. Were very sort of fond of segmentation, we need to make sure our fans can consume the content they want where they want it. And I think, well one thing thats changed in recent times, a lot of  your listeners will know that we have eight million on Twitter, were approaching the same number on Instagram, getting towards 40 million on Facebook, but that is vanity figures. Its becoming to me less and less important, its more now of how engaged those fans are. Who is your typical follower and what is their behavior? Its very hard to describe a typical follower, because we have such a global fan-base and a fan-base that stands generations as well. I mean, what appeals to a 40 year old in London may not appeal to a 14 year old in Jakarta for example. We want to provoke an emotional response to the content we make and if someones watching our Arsenal Nation chat show on YouTube, or if theyre sharing footage of Mesut Ozil giving his shirt to a young fan after a recent win over Chelsea, or whether were speaking to a fan in their language using the right tone, if were making a Diwali video for our Indian fans for example. The pride that comes, I think, from fans sharing a moment, whether its with their own club, or their own country, thats the kind of thing when we think of a typical follower. Thats how they engage with us. What campaigns are you most proud of? I think, just going back over this year, I think I really like what weve done with our summer signings. The way we announced our signings on Twitter and beyond. You may know that and your listeners may know this that Arsenal have a big army of fans on social media, some of them quite angry, some of them less so, and the impatience of waiting for signings were just at peak when the transfer  window is up and running. And we had a player, Granit Xhaka, you would have heard of, we announced him this year in a very different way, where we re-tweeted fans who had grown, shall we say, impatient about the lack of an announcement. And theyd seen pictures of the signing being leaked thats in all sorts of things and every other media establishment, but we hadnt had the official word from the club, of course. So when we announced it, rather than just a straight announcement, we re-tweeted some of those fans and we made them part of the story. And when we put the first official pictures up, we m ade a point of saying that this is your second look at our first summer signing. I think thats just a bit more self-deprecating, a bit more humor and just enjoying what our fans provide us in terms of material on social media. I think thats been a shift for us this year, the tone of voice is just gone, its a bit different, its a bit more humanized now. I think we are much more in touch with our fans. I mean, we will always act like a club, but I think we think like fans a bit more now. How do you interact with Arsenals players on social? Well, as youd expect, some of them are more active than others. Players like Mesut Ozil have huge numbers of followers, millions in his own rights. And we work with him, his representatives and maybe things that we work together on the maybe ways that we help him grow awareness of certain campaigns. Per Mertesacker is a good example, when he was named as captain in the summer weve just gone through, we worked with him to announce it over our Twitter channel. So we work hard with the players. Some are very, very proactive, others less so, but and I think thats going to become more and more prevalent. I think players are taking more control over their own brands. Not an easy match today. But level on points with @premierleague P1 and our sixth win in a row. ????? #AFCvSCFC #COYG #Gunners @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/yfy37l8MPv Mesut Özil (@MesutOzil1088) October 15, 2016 How big is the team and are you always on stand-by? Its a big team, yeah. When I go back, Ive been here 14 years unbelievably, and the media landscape has changed just completely transformed since then. There used to be a website, there used to be four or five of us in an office and now its a team of journalists, an editorial team, a big design team. We have a huge production team, Im inspired by them every day at some of the stuff theyve turned around. On a match day itself, we used to have maybe one or two people working and the guy doing the reports he would hold up a handycam and do the interview afterwards himself, while asking the questions. So it was very much of one or two-man show. Now its about 20 people on a match day and thats just editorial and production. Follow Chris on Twitter  @chrisharris1975.

Word Resume Template Freebie - The Marshmallow

Word Resume Template Freebie - The Marshmallow Word Resume Template Freebie The Marshmallow Sometimes, the simplest things are the best. That’s certainly the case with sweets. Have you ever eaten a perfectly executed piece of chocolate cake, or lemon curd? Did you know that a homemade marshmallow is an exquisitely delicious confection? It’s true! That’s because great marshmallows are made with care from the best ingredients. We call this particular resume template The Marshmallow just for that reason. It has all of the best ingredients for a perfectly designed resume. Of course, the most important ingredient is you! It takes your skills, experience, and education to perfect the resume template that we have provided for you. Do you think you have a winning combination to help you achieve your career objectives? Stop wasting time!Download The Marshmallow today, then see exactly what you can do to get the job of your dreams! And if you are struggling to find the best “ingredients” for your resume, consider browsing out delicious resume examples for inspiration!If this resume has helped you land that dream job and you have a few minutes, please stop by and leave us a feedback in a comment below ; ) File size: 190 KB Format: .docx Downloaded 2,520 times License: Free, personal use only. Please read the license terms for resources. Download previous article How to Ask Your Boss for a Personal Reference Letter next article How Long Should your Cover Letter Be? [Hint: Not Too Long] you might also likeThe Freelancers Resume Creative Resume Template for Independent Workers

Steps to Writing a Resume and Cover Letter

Steps to Writing a Resume and Cover LetterFor a job seeker to be successful in their job search, they need to follow certain steps to writing a resume and cover letter. This ensures that you get the opportunity to have your resume or cover letter read by prospective employers. If you do not make a resume and cover letter for an employer, they will never read it nor send it on your behalf.Before you write a resume or cover letter, you must do some important things. First, consider what type of work you want to do, whether it is inside or outside the workplace. Ask yourself if you will have to provide an office for yourself at home, or if you can work from home. Think about what types of tasks you are capable of handling.Write down important facts about your job, such as what industry you work in, the length of time you have been employed, and the duties you have completed. Employers who only know your name, and don't know where you worked before, may not be impressed. In order to make them remember your name, give them some background information about you.Be sure to use proper punctuation and grammar throughout your resume and cover letter. It's also important to keep your resume or cover letter in chronological order. It's okay to start off with some accomplishments, and then go on to describe your job history. Include details about your work history in each chapter.You can even help to create a professional appearance in your resume or cover letter by using it in presentations, and other contact situations. Some people take the time to write a cover letter and resume at the same time. It is best to use a template, since many of the things mentioned are common to all resumes. A template allows you to see how a resume or cover letter will look and avoid rewriting it as you work on it.After you have written your resume and cover letter, and your text seems easy to read, try making it a little more professional by typing it into the computer. Just be sure to chec k the spelling of your text, and make sure to go over it again if you make a mistake. It is very important to follow the guidelines for spelling, grammar, and punctuation, even if you have a professional-sounding text.Lastly, make sure you scan your paper into a high quality paper shredder, in order to make it as quick and easy to erase as possible. If you are going to throw away your resume or cover letter, you are going to have to do it. This makes the writing process much easier, and it can help you avoid those inevitable mistakes that are so common to people who are writing professionally. Scanning your resume or cover letter into a paper shredder will make it much easier to delete in a way that allows you to save your most important details, and any mistakes you might make while writing.Following these steps to writing a resume and cover letter can help you get a job, and give you a chance to get a job quickly. Don't get discouraged if you make mistakes. They are going to happe n.

Is that Your Dead Brand Walking

Is that Your Dead Brand Walking According to Mary van de Wiel, you can spot a Dead Brand Walking a mile away, lets face it. Its not a smart business strategy. But you know one when you see one, right?On the other hand, you can sense when a brand has that special spark. Thats when youre in the money. (Without it, youre toast.) All great brands need that irresistible spark. Its exactly what attracts business like crazy. FYI: Your brand wont sell a thing if it aint got that zing.  The good news is that help is here!  Expert:  Mary van de Wiel (Call her Van),  Chief Brand Officer, Zing Your Brand Co., NYC,  Better known as Brand Therapist and Master ProvocateurCan teach you how to:Coax out the power and sass in your brandSpot the cracks, and fix them.Find your zing, so you get that ka-ching! Its what your business needs to succeed. Its also what Van does best.So whens the last time you checked your brand pulse?We all have a personal brand and more and more of us are creating our own business brands as well.   Ive lea rned a lot working with Van on my own brand and you can too.

6 Tips for Finding a Job After Medical School - CareerAlley

6 Tips for Finding a Job After Medical School - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Medical school is a tremendous investment of time and resources, but in some ways, the real work begins once youve finished: finding a new job and starting a career. To be sure, youll be looking for a job in a field that pays well, is prestigious, and in which youll be able to distinguish yourself but that doesnt mean it will be easy. Graduating from medical school is a tremendous accomplishment all by itself. You have before you a tremendous degree of opportunity, the chance to decide what to do with your future as a medical practitioner. Tweet This Fortunately, there are some tried and true ways to find a job after medical school. Here are 6 tips for doing precisely that. Image by Ernesto Eslava from Pixabay 1). Your School Probably Has Online Resources Its virtually a guarantee that your school will have online resources to provide you with information and expert tips, places to search, etc. (For one example, see https://www.sjsm.org/resources/). Take advantage of these online resources: you have no reason not to, and they are likely to help you guide your search and discover promising prospects. 2). Get Guidance from Faculty Ideally, before you graduate, take the time to chat up the faculty and ask them for guidance. Your faculty will have plenty of wisdom and practical tips to share, and theyre bound to set you up with a good list of Dos and Donts. But this isnt simply a tip about how to get tips: faculty can give you hands-on guidance through the process of job-searching and interviewing. Theres also a good chance theyll know people who will be able to help you, possibly provide you with contacts to help you on your journey. Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay 3). Network With Peers Networking with your peers is as simple as taking the time to get to know them, and then sharing information with each other. In particular, you can share information about job openings. You may be surprised at how effective this can be. If you think about crowd-sourcing job openings, thats essentially whats happening here: youre sharing information with others and receiving it from them in return. Another aspect of this, too, is what can happen over time, beyond your first job. After all, youll probably be back in the job search at some point. Why not cultivate contacts and network now, so that you can reap the rewards over time? You never know, a contact you make in this season of life could end up being a point of contact in applying for another job in the future. This can even play into getting to know the employers. Medical school is a tremendous investment of time and resources, but in some ways the real work begins once youve finished: finding a new job and starting a career. To be sure, youll be looking for a job in a field that pays well, is prestigious, and in which youll be able to distinguish yourselfbut that doesnt mean it will be easy. 4). Use Niche Job Sites When you go to look for a job, which sites do you use? If youre like most people, you have probably used commonly-available job boards with listings for jobs in essentially every industry. While thats understandable before medical school, now that youve completed medical school its a good idea to use niche medical job sites, specific to healthcare and hospitals. One of the reasons these sites exist and are as important as they are is because so many healthcare-related job postings on the more generic sites have been getting bombarded with many spammy applications from people mass-applying for jobs they arent qualified for. So, if you go to one of these niche medical job sites, you will find many jobs that are not even posted on the likes of Indeed or CareerBuilder. 5). Location, Location, Location Its fairly common for people in general, in practically every industry, to want to work in a particular geographical locale. However, if you are willing to broaden your focus beyond one specific area or a handful of preferred areas, you may find wonderful opportunities in areas that were not even on your proverbial radar. Take the time to figure out which geographical areas need what specialties. You might be surprised by what you find, and youre likely to have a better-informed search for it. Image by MasterTux from Pixabay 6). Think About Types of Practice Presumably, youve already selected a specialty, but that still leaves the question of where and how you will practice medicine. For example, do you want to work for a private practice? If the answer is yes, what size? Or do you want to be a sole practitioner? What about a hospital setting? If the answer is yes, again, what size? Also, what type of hospital? Dont be shy to think about other questions, including lifestyle and where you want to live, i.e. city, suburb, rural countryside. The choice is yours to make, but what you choose will have ramifications for where to look and how to guide your search. Conclusion Graduating from medical school is a tremendous accomplishment all by itself. You have before you a tremendous degree of opportunity, the chance to decide what to do with your future as a medical practitioner. Practicing medicine to help others is a truly noble endeavor, one that comes with tremendous commitments and responsibility. Hopefully, the 5 tips discussed here will be helpful to you in guiding your thinking after medical school. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search