IT Archives - The Resource Collaborative

5 Keys to Promoting your Company Brand to Prospective Employees

October 20, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

We have all seen the company ratings come out each year – top 50 places to work, best technology companies to work, and fastest growing companies in XXXX. AND, we always read these lists, almost as a guilty pleasure, to see who has made the list! Candidates are particularly interested in these ratings and as the millennials are demonstrating, the factors that make a company “a place I want to work” are changing…it is no longer about choosing a place to work for the next 10-20 years, it is about company culture, the learning experience, flexibility, growth potential and, oh, yes – who are my co-workers! These are top factors that are influencing job choices being made by candidates today.

How does your company promote itself?

1. A company that demonstrates “human interactions matter” will make certain the candidate experience throughout the hiring process is a thoughtful and useful one.

* Send information about the opportunity in advance of any interviews.

* Communicate about the “real” benefits through a brief summary.

* Provide useful information about the business of the company.

2. A company that demonstrates they “set their people up for success” will make certain that candidates have what they need to be successful during the hiring process.

* Explain the hiring process.

* Provide information that will be useful during the hiring process, like appropriate dress, eliminating surprises.

* Be certain interviewers explain what it will take to be successful in this position.

3. A company that has “employees who are happy to work there”, will demonstrate this directly.

* Be certain your website has videos and personal messages to candidates from employees.

* STEP OUT: During the hiring process, schedule current employees, in similar positions, to speak to candidates directly.

* Communicate about company social activities…”getting to know you”.

4. A company that offers flexibility, learning and growth, will demonstrate this through a brief look at “how people work” in the company.

* Do a walk-through of the workspace to show an open, collaborative work environment.

* Communicate the offerings of formal training for new skills.

* Highlight the career mentoring employees receive from seasoned managers.

5. A company that “embraces social media” as a means of communication will be certain it is being reflected in a positive light.

* Encourage your employees to positively communicate their work experience through social media.

* Be prepared to explain any negative information circulating on social media.

* Use innovation on social media to communicate that special something about your company.

For assistance in hiring talented professionals for your organization, please give TRC a call at 917-681-3041.

5 Questions to Ask a Perspective Employer

October 14, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

In every interview comes that dreaded moment when the interviewer asks, “do you have any questions for me”? While silence is not a faux pas in an interview, you should come prepared to answer this question, since it is inevitable, and since the interview is a 2-way conversation!

Here are 5 questions that will demonstrate you are thought-full, prepared, and leading the pack:

1. I noticed last week that (a. – this is where you fill-in with a news item you read about the firm), how do you think this will effect (b. – again, fill-in with possibilities)?

a. The CEO has tendered her resignation b. the senior leadership team

a. The firm is moving to a new location b. the morale of staff

a. The announcement of a digital program b. next quarters sales projections

2. I read that you have been with the company for X years and that you came from a smaller environment similar to mine. Can you tell me about your transition and what the bumps in the road were for you?

3. The mission statement on your website is what really made me interested in the firm. Can you explain to me how you think this practically plays into your job on a daily basis?

4. Culturally, I have come from environments where all employees worked collaboratively – even including those who worked remotely. Since this opportunity is a remote opportunity, how do you all create inclusiveness among the teams?

5. Can you tell me the characteristics of a person who has served in this function and done so with success?

These questions are among many you could choose and craft for a specific opportunity. The key is to make sure they cannot answer them with a simple “yes” or “no”, or you will not learn anything. Make certain you are asking a question the interviewer can answer – your purpose is to express sincere interest, not to embarrass the interviewer. Always remember – an interview is a discovery tour – for the interviewer AND for the candidate!

ellen.shepard@trcollaborative.com

5 Characteristics of an “Employee of Distinction”

October 2, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

5 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN “EMPLOYEE OF DISTINCTION”

1. Resourcefulness – Can they figure it out? Beyond skill-sets, can they figure out what, who, where and when something is needed to make a decision or solve a problem?

2. Distinctiveness – Are they unique in style – presentation, thinking, assumptions or do they follow the crowd?

3. Relentlessness – Do they “go for it” – possessing unbridled passion for reaching the goal?

4. Fearlessness – Do they keep the goal in laser focus and overcome objections and obstacles with relative ease?

5. Thoughtfulness – Do they consider everything – people, actions and costs? Are they “thought – full” and willing to share humbly?

ellen.shepard@trcollaborative.com

How to Hire the Perfect Employee

September 9, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

First, why would you want to? PERFECT is over-rated when compared with adjectives like innovative, curious, resourceful, humble, emotionally mature, positive, diverse and a host of others. So, ask yourself when you have listed all of the “hard” skills necessary to qualify for a particular opportunity, what are the “soft” attributes that will allow someone to be successful in this position at your company with their colleagues right now.

Rank your top performers across the organization and list the “soft” attributes they have in common – these are probably success factors for leaders in your company. This is a good way to round out the job description to make certain those assisting with this search go beyond the hard skills in sourcing the best candidates for you to meet.

Now, that you have a group of candidates, how do you conduct an interview to determine, beyond the “hard” skills who possesses these success factors? Here are some tips from team builders that may be useful to you:

1. Ask “why should I hire you?” A great candidate will have given thought to this question and knows how they can add value and how to express it.

2. Give a couple of “what if” or “can you tell me about a time when…” scenarios to see how the candidate thinks and also to see if they are willing to share their experiences – good and bad.

3. Ask for a candidate to explain a time when they felt they had failed or not done their best and what they learned. A good candidate will appreciate that success is often built on the shoulders of failures and will be honest in their reply.

4. Ask them to give you a pitch on what your company does in the world. Great candidates will have done their research.

5. Leave time for them to ask you questions. Great candidates will ask smart questions.

Remember that the formal hiring process is not something most managers participate in more than a couple of times a year and for candidates, even less so. Hiring does not come naturally…do not leave your “gut” at the door…how you feel in your gut about a candidate does matter. Steve Jobs said…”Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needle in the haystack. You cannot know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut”.

ellen.shepard@trcollaborative.com

5 Hashtags to Define Company Culture

July 8, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

THE PREMISE: If an alien landed in your office on a day when everyone was operating at peak performance, your “culture” is how they would describe your business.

1. #THEFISHSTINKSFROMTHEHEADDOWN – The leader of your organization exemplifies the culture.
2. #EMPATHYANDCOMMUNICATION – How do you communicate with one another?
3. #DECISIONMAKING – How are decisions made and by whom?
4. #STRUCTURE/PACE – Are you starting or growing or maintaining?
5. #DIVERSITYANDINCLUSION – How is your employee retention rate?

We look forward to your comments…and do not hesitate to contact Ellen Shepard.

ellen.shepard@trcollaborative.com

Digital Transformation of the Workplace – Impact on Hiring and Retention

June 16, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

Much has been written and discussed about digitization and how it could/would/should impact our lives and our job. As stewards of healthy workplaces, it is critically important that our thinking stretch to understand the impact this will have on the ability of corporations to hire and retain the best employees.

In its research report titled “Predicts 2015: The Digital Workplace Underscores the Benefits of a Consumerized Work Environment”, one of their key findings is that “Digital literacy is not about tool proficiency, but about how well people apply that knowledge to making decisions, cultivating relationships, building reputation, and mobilizing colleagues, teams, communities, or networks to rally around a common cause. Digital literacy focuses on the application of digital insights obtained by mastery of technology, and how those skills become ingrained in people’s behaviors, attitudes and culture”. A key take-away from this is that technology teams need to be encouraged to include employees across the organization in the productive use of their technology and not continue to hold the corporate technology as sacred.

There was a time when this was unthinkable – employees had to deal with many devices in an effort to keep corporate technology separate from their personal technology. The world has become a smaller place and it is just impractical to continue along this path. After all, if you are hiring the appropriate staff and have thoughtful technology guidelines in place, and the staff is productive and the results are present, why should using a personal iPad, a laptop issued by the company or Facebook for research be in question?

In fact, and here is the important kernel of wisdom here… if you do not allow some autonomy in gaining digital literacy across the workplace you will appear arcane and it will be increasingly more difficult to attract top talent and retain them! Here for your detailed pleasure is the Gartner “Predicts 2015: The Digital Workplace Underscores the Benefits of a Consumerized Work Environment”.

http://resources.cio.com/ccd/assets/78349/detail

For excellent Human Capital and Talent Acquisition Services, contact The Resource Collaborative at: info@trcollaborative.com or call us directly (908) 376-2012

Sparking Innovation within your IT Team

June 2, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

The best technology teams today are those who have a commanding understanding of the business of their organization and then are able to fast forward to enable the business prerogatives with innovative technology – i.e., competitive advantage.

Technologists are usually very interested in the latest “tech stuff” out there…truly superior technologists are those who can imagine how to apply the appropriate “tech stuff” to empower their businesses…this may mean leaving a widget or two in the dust, but the results will be creating value for the organization.

As you build your technology team, you need “doers”, those who want to apply known technology and get real satisfaction out of the completion an effective deployment can deliver. In addition to this critical attribute, I have found that in any group of technologists, there are those who really have a natural curiosity and constantly want to push the envelope and see how far a hypothesis can go…these are the folks who you want to cultivate as innovators.

There was a time when we could have robust technology R & D budgets to sift through possibilities and send only those with solid results through to deployment. Today, technology changes so quickly, having a formal R & D function may not be practical. Instead, you should be looking to hire members for your team who will produce results and will also naturally “test” new possibilities.

These folks have certain attributes to look for:

*Good Listeners – they need to hear what the business is requesting to make certain their curiosity stays the course of “value”;

*Domain Experts – they understand the business of the organization thoroughly and keep abreast of goals and visions;

*Consensus Drivers – they have credibility across the organization

*Collaborators – they do not think technology drives the business, they allow the business to walk arm in arm with any initiative

Oh, and they should be great technologists! Certainly not an afterthought, but as you can see, an innovator needs more than excellent hard skills, they need to be leaders!

How do you enable innovation on your teams? For team-building expertise, please contact us:

TRC at info@TRCollaborative.com

Has Your Organization Reached Digital Customer Maturity?

April 14, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

Tormented? Driven Witless?  Whipsawed by Competition?

Ah, the race is on…who will win the customer? The “C” group in most organizations has been scurrying to structure a plan to enact the technologies and processes to keep pace with the ever-changing road of data to the prize, “the customer”! Have you taken measure of your organization’s digital maturity? According to McKinsey, “A company’s digital quotient (DQ) is a function of how well defined its long-term digital strategy is, its effectiveness in implementing that strategy, and the strength of its organizational infrastructure and information technologies.” How you engage customers digitally matters profoundly! It matters because of immediate opportunities for sales and because many of the decisions a customer makes are informed by the quality of their experiences all along their journey.

The rate at which changes in technologies are hitting the consumer is with lightning speed and organizations need to be able to be proactively innovative…ensuring the customer journey is satisfying, embraced and yields results. Organizations need to gather and assess information, data in all forms to get a full 360 degree understanding of their customer. Create a compelling customized customer experience that is relevant at all stages along the customer journey.

Organizations need to be willing to dedicate teams to the consistent pursuit of iterative testing, learning, and scaling—at a pace that many may find challenging.

In some organizations this initiative has suffered due to the ongoing conversation about which functional business group should lead this process. Then there are the organizations who have made significant progress by establishing cross-functional teams comprised of representatives from marketing, e-commerce, IT, channel management, finance, and legal. Often these teams operate in a “war room” posture – prototyping, reviewing campaign results, making tough decisions quickly and always trying a new idea.

Often, organizations find that they require skill-sets they do not have onboard. Since most of these folks are in high demand, an innovative cross-functional team could decide to re-train internal resources, recruit bright college graduates who have grown up with many of the analytical and web design skills needed, or collaborate with specialty resource providers, like TRC (www.trcollaborative.com) to assist them in their team building.

By all accounts organizations who succeed in this new age of customized marketing will look like customer centric technology organizations – embrace it!

Is this a TBT Moment?

February 5, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

The only thing certain about Technology is Change! Every time we go through the initiation of a new disruptive technology, and yes, there have been many times before digitization, that the technology team has needed to manage the status quo, while simultaneously implementing the new horizon. So the question remains, how do we know which change to embark on first and which is worth investing in for the overall benefit of the company, in due time? We came across this article, http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/Running_your_company_at_two_speeds which is an excellent resource that demonstrates how businesses can effectively combine the emerging digital process with traditional ones and how to determine when it is worth to disrupt your companies current technological flow.

This bifurcation of effort and skills is normal for talented technology teams and their leaders. Let’s take a moment and reflect on our past experiences, to account and move forward this time around. As technology leaders, we do not need to re-invent the wheel. The pace and sequence of implementation and adoption should always be a joint decision between business users and technology teams – this alone will keep the disruption to a meow instead of a roar! This is an opportunity for the technical folks to explain the process – the dependencies and what choices/options exist. Assisting business users in gaining understanding and knowledge should be welcomed and embraced – this will allow for huge payoffs going forward, as well as a more knowledgeable business user at the table when the next opportunity for technical transformation occurs.

Ultimately, can we all agree, that the choices of “what, when and why” change will happen should be driven by business need – ah, yes…back to that old “bottom-line” scenario. Before you disrupt your business processes, take a keen look at the 3 w’s and ask your organization some soul-searching questions:

Why – are we looking at a specific change/transformation?

What – will we gain – if we do or do not change?
What – could we lose – if we do or do not change?

When – now – implications?
When – later – wait and see – implications?

Please share your thoughts on how best to move all of this digitization forward in an organization? We would love to hear your experiences.

It’s Always Been All about the Customer!

January 12, 2015 by Ellen Shepard

All of this fuss about predictive insights into customer behavior, customer market share and customer focus is not new…It all started many years ago when technology folks introduced the concept of contact lists and files…way before most CRM systems, as a way for sales and marketing folks to keep their contacts and activities in some reasonable order. Then, Zeus of Marketing said “this is not enough”…we need to be able to track what we are doing with each prospective customer and continue to do so once they are our customer – enter, the CRM system!

Fast forward a few years and I can remember when large diverse service organizations, like commercial/retail banks realized there was yet more to be had…we have customers who participate in one area of our service offerings and we should be able to capitalize on this information across the enterprise to be able to qualify them for other “go to market” opportunities. This was no little wake-up call…this was a technology revolution in its infancy…enter large relational databases and data warehouses with the capability to gather and house all of this customer information. At this point, the tools needed to retrieve this information in useable format, were complex and could most productively be used by an IT staff in responding to requests from the various marketing/product teams.

We are in the midst of an exciting opportunity to, once again, transform the organization’s customer relationship capabilities. What makes this time so different is that if positioned collaboratively, the IT Team can finally take its place at the table, not as an enabler or support arm, but as an integral part of the business’s capability to identify, target and service customers, not only from within the organization, but now from anywhere, anytime!

To do this effectively, both IT and Marketing needs to understand the digital transformations that need to occur and agree to face them as one team. It is time for these groups to work together to produce measurable results – ah, and that should mean reaping the accolades, and walking across the coals of the fires together! This will require a clear understanding of emerging and disrupting technologies – by everyone… the huge difference today, from when we have done this in the past, is that now your business success is tied to how well you understand, deliver and manage emerging technologies.

How are you handling this transformation within your organization? How is the Technology-Marketing relationship evolving? What has worked best?

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