Team Building Activities - Increase Employee Motivation

By Meadows Leland
  
Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy  

In the corporate world, the most pressing problem is employee attrition. People are switching their jobs very rapidly. From a company's point of view, this is rather detrimental to progress. This is because over a period of time, you tend to invest a lot in terms of training and tacit knowledge in an employee. Thus, when he leaves your company, you lose a valuable resource. Also the problem arrives when you need to hire new employees to replace the older ones. They will have to be hired, selected, trained and then assigned to various responsibilities. All these things have a cost attached to them. This is the reason why companies these days are trying very hard to increase the motivation levels among employees, and to inculcate in them a sense of loyalty and belongingness towards the company.

Corporate events for team building

Corporate events are all about this these days. If your company is planning to organise some, you must ensure that they are conducted extremely smoothly, without any glitches. This is the reason why you must consider hiring the services of a good event management company. These companies are professionals in organising various corporate team building events. These events give your employees a break from the hard work they have to do routinely. They also teach employees the value of working as a team, and inculcate in them a sense of loyalty and trust for the company.

Team building activities

Team building exercises organised by these companies aim at inculcating among the teams a sense of commitment and understanding. These exercises help members of a team break the ice between them, and understand each other better. They also help employees understand the value of working as a team, and what can happen if people give their individual egos and needs more importance. This is accomplished with some amazingly creative team building challenges, like obstacle courses which teams have to accomplish together. Only when they work together and synergise, they will be able to win. It is a lot of fun, and your employees will enjoy every minute while they learn a lot.

Fun team building games and parties

Team building games, which mainly aim towards ice breaking and try to teach employees the importance of effective communication, are very well loved by all kinds of employees. Your employees will be asked to play simple games and perform group activities which will require them to work together. Some examples for this include developing a collage. A corporate team building exercise like this is extremely effective, because of its innovative and non-pressurising, non-boring style.

The most loved are themed parties. Simple themes may be given to employees, which are hilarious and fun. These parties help employees become more comfortable with their superiors, and enjoy some light moments. These activity days will be extremely well loved by your employees, and they will look forward to it each year. With such innovative team building ideas, you can improve the productivity of your employees very greatly.

Do You Want a Standout Resume?

By Edward Turilli

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy 

What is considered an effective resume?

An effective resume is a hard copy or an electronic document whose primary purpose is to win the approval of a potential hiring manager who has considered you a job candidate qualified to compete for a position opening. Your resume must be planned and presented in a way to clearly persuade a job recruiter to further investigate your stated and strongly implied potential strengths, related industry experience, proven value, training, education, abilities, potential growth, and best return on investment for the company. This credential should immediately indicate what you can offer an employer through highlighted qualitative and quantitative performance evidence, rather than promises that lack solid and convincing substantiation.

Your honesty in creating this personal document is highly important for, if selected for interviewing, you will likely be judged by total strangers as to the content of your resume against your actual interview performance and appearance. Therefore, your resume must bear a close "resemblance" to you when you are interviewed in person.

To be effective, your resume must be written in the most appropriate format for your total experiences, especially your work history. Choosing the best format is crucial and should be carefully designed by a certified professional resume writer to produce a powerful credential. The three most prominent resume formats are chronological, functional, and the combination, or hybrid, the chronological format being the most used and liked by human resources people for the ease of following applicants' work history and professional focus and development. This format also highlights any breaks, or gaps, in the chronology of employment, sometimes raising a "red flag."

When gaps in employment occur - especially for explainable and legitimate reasons - use the functional format which emphasizes accomplishments in employment rather than indicating when you worked. If you are changing your career or are returning to civilian employment from government work, use the functional or the hybrid format to emphasize your ability to transfer learned skills, accomplishments, leadership, and rigorous training to move into the employment of the profit or non-profit arena. In addition, retired, injured, downsized, and older workers returning to employment may elect to choose the functional or hybrid model.

"Ten Commandments" on Preparing Your Resume

1. Individualize yourself. Since many hiring managers review more than a hundred paper or electronic resumes a day, your resume will have to fit the required, or ideal, position's profile to stand out from most others under review. Does your resume stress unique qualities in your overall value, leadership, and achievements? Challenge the reader to invite you for a face-to-face meeting by aggressively marketing your individual resolve and potential value to the firm while verbally bidding for personal recognition as a standout applicant among the competition.

2. Focus on and quantify your specific accomplishments. Show (do not just tell) what you have achieved in your past employments to increase revenues or improve an organization's effectiveness. For example, "Led innovative research in XYZ project development that resulted in generating $250,000 in new billings in the first six months," or "Spearheaded a manufacturing cost reduction project that saved the division 15% in overall production costs." Use key words to emphasize your specific individual accomplishments in numerical terms to indicate your value, or return on investment. Hirers may scan your resume for industry-related key words. Key word lists for each occupation / job are located in many publications in libraries, stores, and online.

3. Use positive, proactive language. Confidently and credibly promote your attributes. For example, "Ably assisted in saving ABC Company $55,000 during the first 12 months through improved sales training techniques." Rather than just a dull employment history, your resume should reflect a positive show of ambition and pride in your achievements with detailed proof of personal and job related accomplishments. Quantify your contributions with solid evidence and prove your leadership ability in providing planned project strategies and guiding their implementation to reach positive results.

4. Always be honest and truthful. Avoid lies, half-truths, and exaggerations on your resume and cover letter. You can often reverse or "soften" a known or obvious career related weakness if challenged in an interview by admitting that you learned much from this experience which has taught you a good lesson. If you have wide gaps in your employment chronology, write your resume in a functional or in a hybrid format. Accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative!

5. Present a powerful, impressive resume. Recruiters prefer well crafted resumes, for they are impressed by candidates' show of diligence and a high level work ethic in introducing themselves with care. Use only clear, easy-to-read fonts, and avoid overuse of italics, underscores, and bold lettering. Paper resumes must be printed on top quality 24 to 28 lb. white, off-white, ivory, or light gray resume stock, with matching cover letters and envelopes. Use a variety of appropriate action verbs written in the active voice and interweave powerful modifiers. Avoid repetition, and be consistent and brief throughout.

6. Target your resume. Your employment objective may be stated atop the page or, for more impressive attraction, simply bolded without a heading. Examples: "IT manager / Business Process Manager" or "Motivated, highly experienced professional seeks a position as company representative in Pharmaceutical Sales." Your cover letter will indicate a specific job title in reference to your job application. Follow this with a powerful "Profile" of your professional highlights and related skills.

7. Examine other resumes in guiding the assembly of your own document. Locate top level examples in nationally published resume compilations found in book stores, libraries, and the Internet. Software applications can be helpful, but beware of resume templates, for they tend to be generic, pre-spaced, sparse, and unrelated to one's particular needs. Ask a trusted person to react in honest judgment to your completed resume, for your resume is your "occupational fingerprint," a personal credential that should distinguish your unique qualifications from competing candidates.

8. Proofread carefully throughout. Avoid errors in spelling, grammar, English usage, and mechanics. Be consistent in your application of spacing, punctuation, bulleting, and other physical aspects. Be aware that the level of precision and perfection of your resume will likely be a determining factor in a hiring manager's selection of interview finalists for a position. Have another "pair of eyes" read it over and offer objective criticism.

9. See yourself through the reviewer's eyes. Since hiring managers retain ideal candidate profiles for positions to be filled, job candidates ought to "reverse roles," placing themselves in the reviewer's position. Determine what key skills, experiences, achievements, and other criteria that a hiring manager will seek in the ideal candidate. Research as much as you can to locate those company needs to fill the position you seek. Discover the cultural climate, average employee experience, and company working conditions. This vital "breaking and entering" technique may give you an advantage as the hirer cuts through the clutter of hopeful job candidates' resumes in search of suitable employees.

10. Perceive your resume as an opening tool to gain personal contact in an interview. Soon after mailing your resume or submitting one electronically, send a brief follow-up letter or note to the hirer to punctuate and reestablish your keen interest and proactive nature in gaining an interview and ultimately winning the open position of employment. Your resume should deploy confident, high energy language to convince a hirer that you are determined to succeed in a career with this company or organization. Remember, submitting a standout resume can open doors of opportunity along a lighted path of career success. Don't be locked out in the dark!

Winning Resumes

By Mel Otero

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy 

One key to a winning resume is defining your career goal. Without a clear career goal, it is impossible to prepare a targeted resume. Assess your interests, skills, education, strengths and work experience. Be sure this assessment is honest and accurate. Write this down and begin the process of organizing your thoughts. You need to focus on the career you really want. As you set your goals and get focused, a sense of confidence will occur. You will have a clear picture of what you want to do and you will be ready for the next step. If your interests, skills, education and work experience fall into more than one career category, you will need more than one resume. Each resume will focus on your skills, education and experience that appeal to an employer for that specific career position. At this first stage of launching a job search, organization is vital. Create a folder for your goal list, thoughts, ideas, copies of the resumes and the cover letters.

Your first decision in writing the resume is whether to use a chronological format or functional format. In general, the chronological format is preferred by employers. However, if you are seeking a career position in a new field, the functional format will allow you to focus on skills, education and accomplishments that can be transferred to the open position. If you select the functional format, it is to your advantage to create a "combined format". The combined format emphasizes the transferable skills, education and accomplishments but includes an accurate chronological work history. You can find sample resumes on the Internet or purchase one of the resume writer software packages. The importance of the resume cannot be overstated. It is worth the investment of time and money to arm yourself with the best tools to assist you in creating an excellent resume.
Keep in mind that no matter what career you pursue, the resume is your first opportunity to sell yourself. Research has determined that a resume is initially reviewed for 10-30 seconds. In other words, you have 10-30 seconds to grab the attention of the reader. Use job titles and skills headings as an effective tool to get the reader's attention. If the job titles or skills headings are unrelated to the open position, the resume will most likely be tossed. Remember that in the current economy, the employer may receive hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes for a single position. To expedite the initial review process, employers will discard resumes that do not appear related to the open position. The final resume should be letter perfect. It should be printed on good quality white bond paper, not on fancy parchment paper. Be sure the resume is not too long or too short; it is suggested that one or two pages is appropriate. After the resume is in final form and before you send it to anyone, read it aloud and then have someone else proof read it. There is only one opportunity for a first review of your resume. You need to convince the prospective employer within those first few seconds that you have the ability to solve company problems. You are the solution!

Mel Otero, author, has worked in management in the mortgage banking industry and title insurance industry for over 25 years. She has started web sites and written articles to provide information, resources and inspiration during this difficult economy. She has also been mystery shopping part time for over five years.